#2/30 - 2016

You helped me.
I remember.

Today I will remember
that feelings can come out sideways.
Mouths are sloppy, haphazard things,
not meant for precision work.
Teeth grip the syllables too long,
and some get left behind,
as yet too raw for consumption.
Sometimes feelings can come out
too big
they break the jaws that hold them back

leaving sharp edges to

cut and bloody

the ones that may come next. 

There's rosemary, she said, that's for 
remembrance
Pray you, love, remember--



and I do.

#1/30 - 2016

I've often been told
your body is a temple--
do not desecrate it.

over the years
I've learned to assuage those voices casually
to smile blandly and nod,
acknowledging their obvious concern for
what I do with my own body
and then continuing on my quest
to decorate.

to decorate
not desecrate
this body of mine is an empty room
a brand new apartment
one that I can paint
and adorn
and renovate
to my interior decorator's delight

FEB - The Island of Dr. Moreau

February review for Eclectic Reader's Challenge 2016: The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells, 1896. [Takes Place on an Island category]

The Island of Dr. Moreau is a classic, one I've been meaning to read for a long time. Thank you, Orphan Black, for giving me the final push! (Season 3 featured a secret encoded in a copy of this book by one of the scientists responsible for the clone experiments.) I'm not sure I really have much to say about The Island of Dr. Moreau, other than that it was a quick read that I enjoyed as well as felt a little off-put by. For those who are not familiar with this book, it is about a scientist, Dr. Moreau, who removes himself to a remote island after society discovers that he has been experimenting with something called vivisection, which is experimenting surgically on live animal subjects. The story is not told from his perspective, however, and he does not show up right away. Instead, we come to this island and experience its horrors through the eyes of a shipwrecked man named Prendick. Prendick is rescued by Montgomery, who is assisting with the delivery of a fresh crop of animals to his associate Moreau on their island, and through a number of mishaps, Prendick ends up joining the two men on the island as well, although he is not necessarily wanted. Prendick finds out what Moreau is doing on the island, following the anguished cries of animals to an off-limits lab where he conducts his vivisection experiments that he populates the island with. Everything pretty much goes downhill from there, although the real action only takes a few days, and the rest is just Prendick going slightly insane by himself on the island while he waits for a ship to pass by and pick him up.

After his experience, Prendick becomes somewhat of an island unto himself, a veritable social pariah, so paranoid and paralyzed is he by the things he has seen. I suppose anyone would be, after seeing both your living companions killed and the social experiment devolve into madness and violence and you have to survive it somehow. It is a bit hazy (to me; I could be remembering things incorrectly) how long Prendick spent on the island, but this seems very much in keeping with the island mentality, where time passes differently and the outside world has no hold on what comes to pass. Prendick spends much of the book yearning for the outside world, to escape the hellishness he is experiencing on the island, but when he finally re-enters society, he finds himself almost inclined to return to the solitude of his exile. This juxtaposition/reversal is one of many that Wells exploits in Prendick's tale.

H.G. Wells was lauded as a relatively prescient man, however extreme his version of the future might have been. Perhaps it is this prescience that allows his works, while clearly ensconced in the realm of science fiction, can still be so relevant today.

JAN - The Poet

January review for Eclectic Reader's Challenge 2016: The Poet by Michael Connelly, 1991. [Serial Killer Thriller category]

I started reading The Poet by Michael Connelly last year, originally intending it to be my selection for PI fiction, but I ended up putting it down because Jack McEvoy, the protagonist, is actually a reporter, and not a PI--although I suppose I could've argued a transference, I've made similar "edits" to categories before. But I was intrigued enough by the concept to want to find another opportunity for it to work for me, and lo and behold, here came "serial killer thriller" for me. Jack McEvoy is a crime reporter who specializes in death, covering the murder beat for his paper. His homicide detective twin brother was recently found dead in his car, having ostensibly killed himself after a particularly rough and unsolved case--or so it would seem. Going back over the facts obsessively, reopening old wounds and delving into a dark corner of his brother's work, McEvoy finds links to a number of other would-be cop suicides and is on the case, so to speak. After securing the assignment, he begins to follow the trail of a sinister serial killer whom the FBI nicknames The Poet, after his use of Edgar Allan Poe lines in the "suicides." The book follows McEvoy as he enmeshes himself into the federal pursuit of The Poet, utilizing his research and knowledge to propel the investigation as well as find the end to the story and justice for his brother.

One of the reasons I was excited about this book because of the Poe trope that was woven throughout, as I am a sucker for all things Poe, but unfortunately, Poe was not utilized as heavily as I wanted it to be. (But I was still happy that it was there.) I enjoyed the scenes where McEvoy sits with his copy of Poe's works and tries to find meaning in the deaths, try to link the words to some shred of wisdom or truth in the context of Poe. It was a very literary book, in that sense, paying much attention to the logic of meaning and outlining the path of detection. It was incredibly readable, despite being published 20 years ago, although there are dating elements, such as the revelation that digital photography was used representing a major break in the case. Not to mention, you know, print media moguls still being a thing. Ohhh mid-90s concerns.

One of the reasons I was not excited? Serial killers. Especially serial killers with surprise child pornography/pedophilia thrown in. This was not an easy book to read, especially considering the chapters narrated by a card-carrying child pornographer/murderer, William Gladden. At first, his chapters seem completely out of left field, but they soon begin to link up with the case--I am unsure if I was just actively ignoring him until the book slapped me in the face and told me they were connected, or it really wasn't that heavy-handed, but either way, I didn't see it right off the bat. I'm not sure what else to write about this aspect of the book, especially without giving away some of the twisty twists, but suffice it to say that it was an uncomfortable slog.

I  relished the presence of a strong lady in the book, FBI Special Agent Rachel Walling, the best of the best who clawed her way onto her team with her talent and badassery and is fiercely protective of her position there. Spoiler alert, she and McEvoy do sleep together, which is slightly annoying and maybe uncalled for, but I suppose it did add some elements of complication and tension to the case politics. But that's just it: was that the only reason they slept together? I don't know, maybe I'm jaded.

Although for the most part I enjoyed this book, I had a hard time getting started and writing this review, for whatever reason. Maybe it was the subject matter, maybe I just didn't find the little kernel to pull at me like I have in some of my other selections, but here I am, trucking through a month too late. Maybe I need to have an editor who yells at me to get my ass in gear, like McEvoy does--and then I could ignore him, like McEvoy does too!

Recap 2015: A Third Year of Eclectic Reading

Herein begins the ultra-tardy recap of my third year of eclectic reading, everybody! Thanks for stickin around! I've done this three times already, and it's thrilling to see that even though I'm late at times, I have finished it off every time. I have kept myself in school, so to speak, and this time I don't get docked points for papers turned in after the deadline! 2015 was a crazy year for me. I lost my job, spent a few months unemployed, found two jobs in quick succession, and spent the second half of the year settling into the one I chose, learning and growing and expanding my brain--not just because I was working for a neuroscience startup! I noticed that I read a lot of books that featured strong, real ladies this year (not much of a surprise, but always worth mentioning), as well as a number of books dealing with personal growth and change and what you wanted to be when you grew up (so to speak). Again, I warn of spoilers, because one cannot have adequate recaps or discussions without spoilers, so tread carefully, my friends!

Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
January - diversity
The first book I chose for 2015 was one featuring diversity, The Secret Life of Bees, about a little white girl who runs away with her nanny and finds a home with three black sisters who have a secret connection to her late mother. I've always thought of diversity as an interesting concept in reading, being that it is so based in the reader's perception, so diversity has to be explicit or else readers will most likely fill in their own backgrounds for un-filled-in characters. This book was the first in the trend of strong, real ladies, not only myriad different female roles, but the ways in which they can shift and change as you age.

Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lundqvist
February - set in a country starting with S, Sweden
Finally, I found a good creepy vampire story, one that I was actually loath to turn the light off on when I was done reading for the night! Let The Right One In played with the lore in ways that I hadn't seen before, and it was a genuinely creep-tastic read, which was thoroughly thrilling. This was a stark contrast to Bees, which showed you the hope and light within everyone, where Let The Right One In showcased the grimness and dankness inherent in much of human nature. An interesting juxtaposition, to say the least, but one that I very much enjoyed. Because after all, what is the light without its contrasting darkness?

Graceling by Kristin Cashore
March - YA Adventure
Graceling was a very easy read, complete with fabulous world-building and ridiculous naming mechanics, but it was overall a good strong girl exposure book. This book combined the threads I mentioned in my intro of strong ladies and what do you want to be when you grow up, being an incredibly heavy-handed coming-of-age story for Katsa, who is Graced (ostensibly) with killing, turned into a monster by a man who once claimed to be her family. She learns through her relationship with Po that her Grace may not actually be killing after all, that she's been looking at herself skewed for so long that that was just how it seemed. The possibility for good and change within her took some time and care to find, but she did, and she was able to save a little girl's life because of it.

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester 
April - microhistory
Nerd heaven! This is a microhistory of the Oxford English Dictionary, lovingly and colloquially referred to as the OED, and it describes the efforts of the men who created it many decades ago. As a word nerd, I harbor an undying love for the OED, and though it is technically nonfiction, I loved this book as a "profile" of it. It gives the reader a chance to see the OED almost as a character in and of itself, learning as you progress its history, its birth, its secrets.

Veronica Mars: Mr. Kiss and Tell by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham
May - PI fiction
VMars! This is the second of the novelizations of Veronica Mars's life adventures upon her return to Neptune after the events of the Veronica Mars movie. The strongest of the strong ladies, one of my favorite role models, and although I read this one as a book and not an audiobook narrated by VMars herself (Kristen Bell) like the first, I could still feel her seeping through every word. Mr. Kiss and Tell dealt with heavy issues like the rape and murder of a call girl, and the intricacies of it made it one of my longest and most involved reviews of the year, one that I forced myself to cut short before I rewrote the whole book. Veronica Mars has always helped me to think about and champion the hard things, bringing the grit of life out into the open.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
June - contemporary romance
The Rosie Project was a different kind of story/character than I'm used to. I wasn't sure at first, but the pages kept turning! Simsion did a great job of making a character that I wasn't sure would be palatable hold my attention simply because the entire framework of his highly logical mind was laid out for me to follow like a roadmap, and I was fascinated. The biggest question I had reading this book, especially the end of it, was the idea of changing oneself and the difference between making a change for yourself or for someone else, and whether the latter was ever okay if it led to something that made you happier in yourself. Again, 2015 was a year of transition for me, and thoughts of personal growth/working on myself were never far away, and this book helped me see it from maybe a different point of view than I ever would've considered before, namely that of a borderline autistic middle class white Australian man.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
July - epistolary fiction (sort of)
This was sort of my cheat book for the year, only sort of epistolary; it was more like I wanted the book I was reading to work because it was the end of the month and I didn't have time to read another whole book, so I made it work. But it brought up some interesting questions because it didn't quite fit. Gone Girl is about a husband whose wife disappears with barely a trace on the morning of their wedding anniversary, and the first part of the book switches between his present and her diary recounting when they met. Now, SPOILERS--it is later found out that this diary, and really the whole disappearance, was a fabrication on the part of Amy, the wife. This brought up the incredibly interesting idea of the journal as reality but also as a constructed version of events. What is reality, really?

Mind Gym by Gary Mack with David Casstevens
August - sports
I read this for roller derby. Around this time, I was considering trying out for full B-team status, and I was having a lot of feelings about that. Leaving the team I'd started with after barely a whole season, possibly missing out on some opportunities with that team later in the season, but open to the possibilities that being a full member of the B-team would allow me, all these thoughts were spinning me around so much that I was changing my mind hourly about tryouts. I was recommended this book as a perspective on how to keep my head on straight through all of it, how to allow myself to improve and learn without berating myself for failures or perceived shortcomings, and while much of it was anecdotal, there were many portions that I still refer back to in my derby career. This book focused a lot on what is it that you want, and how are you going to help yourself go out and get it.

Eve by Elissa Elliott
September - retelling of a fairytale or myth
Eve: A Novel of the First Woman is just that, a book about the biblical Eve, told from her perspective as well as that of her (imaginary?) children. I love "historical fiction" like this--I use quotes because of the contentious nature of Eve as a historical character. It is a re-telling of the archetypical female character, the first female character, and I loved it because it allowed her to be flawed, to be fucked up and imperfect without taking all the blame for everything women have done ever, which she is so often forced to do.

The Martian by Andy Weir
October - SciFi in space
Funny! This book was very funny. Which was great, because I find space to be slightly terrifying, especially the concept of being trapped in space with no recourse or exit. Weir was knowledgeable enough and prepared enough that his tale was plausible, and only sort of terrifying, and the fact that so much shit went wrong over and over again and Mark Watney, the astronaut, still survived still made sense because space is hard.

Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
November - fiction for foodies
Fiction for foodies was such an overwhelming category, and there were actually a number of attractive books that I had already read, so I chose one that was on my to-read shelf. Framboise Simon is the narrator, and both her young self and her old self share the narration. It was another multi-faceted portrait of ladyhood, one that toyed with young and old, mother and daughter, and everything that goes along with.

Magic Kingdom for Sale--SOLD! by Terry Brooks 
December - published before 1991
Magic Kingdom was Terry Brooks's first book that wasn't set in the Shannara universe. It was easy/low fantasy read, about a man who bought a magic kingdom out of a catalog and realized he had to save it from ruin once he got there. It was a clever stab at a mid-life crisis, an overwrought lawyer being asked by the universe, What do you want out of life, how are you gonna find it/go get it? December always seems to be a time of transition, and it seemed fitting that I read this book when my job got pretty stressful and I started thinking about looking for another one. Sure, I probably won't be able to buy a magic kingdom to go and save (God knows I don't have a million bucks cash lying around to pay for it), but it begs the question, what exactly is it that I want moving forward? I'm about to hit my mid-twenties, the millenial quarter-life crisis looming, and I still haven't found my dream job. And I might not, but I should get myself out of the comfort rut and keep looking. Maybe there is a magic kingdom out there somewhere for me.

Time for final thoughts. I began my writing year with a promise to dedicating myself more to my writing, being on time with my posts, and here I am two months late with my recap. But I can't fault myself too much, because I am still writing, but I am also living, moreso than I think I ever have before, and once this headiness passes, I may be able to get my schedule under control once again. But for now, I'm going to keep reading, keep living, and hope I can get my things published in a sort of timely fashion. Stay tuned!

{Link to my 2014 recap  ~  Link to my 2013 recap }

DEC - Magic Kingdom For Sale--Sold!

December review for Eclectic Reader's Challenge 2015: Magic Kingdom For Sale--Sold! by Terry Brooks, 1986. [Published Before You Were Born category]

This is probably one of the most open-ended of categories, "published before you were born" (which for me is 1991), and that's possibly why I left it until the end of the year: I couldn't make a decision with all the possibilities that were given me. For a while, I toyed with the idea of going back to a classic, something I've chipped away at but never fully finished, but I ultimately decided to go with a quick, fun read and Magic Kingdom For Sale fit the bill. Magic Kingdom For Sale--Sold! by Terry Brooks is his first post-Shannara endeavor and one that cemented his status as a solid fantasy writer in the 1980s. It tells of Ben Holiday, a jaded widower and high-powered lawyer who is bored with his life when he comes across an advertisement in a Christmas catalog, promoting the sale of an honest-to-God magic kingdom for sale for the very low price of one million dollars. Unsurprisingly, Ben decides to take this strange offer, and very soon we are in the magical kingdom of Landover, where everything is pretty much dying and only slightly resembles the blossoming land that was promised.

We follow Ben on his journey from high-powered Chicago lawyer to bumbling king of a failing magical kingdom, and it seems that everywhere Ben turns, things are going to hell. His less-than-skilled court magician, Questor Thews, accidentally causes him to sleep away 7 of his 10 allotted decision-making days (he is allowed to back out with only a nominal fee within 10 days of acceptance of the mantle) and no one in the land is willing to recognize a new king. Something called The Tarnish is eating away at the kingdom, something Questor associates with the lack of a rightful and capable king. Ben has to try to secure the pledges of the various powers in the land, all the while attempting to convince them that he is worthy of their pledge as well. The cast of characters Ben accumulates over the course of his journey, both in his band of followers and in those he meets on his journey, are each unique enough to remember, but not entirely deep enough to have significant development or character arcs. Everyone stays pretty much the same, pretty much the way you knew they were going to be from the beginning, if that makes any sense. Rather, the character development is expected rather than organic. This is the way Ben and Questor must come to think because this is the way the story must end. And I am not saying this in a negative or derogatory kind of way: sometimes you just need to know where a character is going. As is to be expected, there is a point in Ben's quest where he has to go where everyone has spent the entire book telling him not to, and it is here that he truly understands the man he is supposed to be in order for this whole kingship thing to work. Like I said, relatively unsurprising, although entertaining.

Magic Kingdom was most definitely a "lighter fare" fantasy read, something I could dip into every night before bed or on the bus on my way to work without having to rebuild an elaborate world in my head prior to opening it up again. Brooks's prose style is very straightforward, very telling, although he is capable of quite the turn of phrase. It was an excellent choice to cap out the year, reading by the fire while the snow blew and all those winter cliches, and it was fun to see an early Terry Brooks try his hand at something smaller.

Eclectic Reader Challenge 2016

Year Number Three of the Eclectic Reader Challenge 2016!
Here are this year's categories:

Categories

1. A book about books (fiction or nonfiction)
2.  Serial killer thriller
3.  Paranormal romance
4.  A novel set on an island
5. Investigative journalism (non fiction)
6. Disaster fiction
7. Steampunk sci fi
8. Any book shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize
9. Psychology (non fiction)
10. Immigrant Experience fiction
11. YA historical fiction
12. A debut author in 2016