A Deepness in the Sky

Stats

A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge

2000 Hugo Award Winner

Got it from: Public Library

774 pgs

Before FTL tech had made it to Vinge’s Zones of Thought universe, a human ship ventures deep into the slow zone to exploit explore the secrets of the mysterious On/Off Star.  While the “spider” species inhabiting an orbiting planet provide one of humanity’s greatest discoveries, the crew quickly realizes the ship is harboring secrets of its own.

I may have inadvertently reviewed A Fire Upon the Deep…

I had high expectations for Vinge after his first Hugo win, and A Deepness in the Sky did not disappoint.  I read close to 90% of this book during our incredible vacation to Minnesota this summer and the fact that I was able to read so much of it on what was an insanely busy, fun, and beautiful trip should also speak to the quality of A Fire Upon the Deep’s equally masterful follow-up.

Despite being different books, they share more than a few similarities.  Humans trapped in a remote piece of space.  Cool tech that fundamentally changes the way people live.  There is another previously undiscovered alien culture which is surprising for its familiarity and weirdness all at once.  The On/Off Star provides another astrological oddity.  And of course, there’s an unexpected, and in the end beautiful, entanglement of human and alien cultures and problems.

That the two books are similar isn’t a problem for me though.  I still like A Deepness in the Sky for a lot of the same reasons that I liked A Fire Upon the Deep, and they are each separately great works of science fiction so I’m not all that bummed that some themes are mirrored in this one.  A Deepness in the Sky reinforces how robust we all thought Vinge’s “Zones of Thought” universe was in his previous Hugo winner and satisfied a serious itch to go back there.  That these two books may be thematically similar is a problem that we should be celebrating.

And beyond that, we can celebrate the spiders.  If nothing else, A Deepness in the Sky solidifies Vinge as one of the greatest creators of alien species in all of science fiction (I certainly haven’t read enough SF to actually make this claim but I’m convinced anyway).  He does this thing where you get to spend extended time with the creatures but it’s a slow reveal anyway.  In A Fire, early on when I already loved the dogs but then realized that they weren’t really just dogs or wolves, they were so much…cooler, it literally made me drop the book.  And throughout the entire book Vinge gradually gives up more and more about the species, each new reveal forcing readers to make serious structural changes to the beings taking shape in our heads.  The same thing happens with the “spiders” in A Deepness in the Sky, only times infinity and right on up until the final pages.  It is really something to behold.  For some reason the spiders didn’t quite have the same awe factor that the Tines did as a species, but I had a more intense connection to individual spiders like Sherkaner Underhill, than I did to with any individual Tine, even if I wasn’t as captivated by the species as a whole.

And that’s what makes A Deepness in the Sky so unceasingly readable.  Vinge’s treatment of aliens alone makes each of the Zones of Thought books magnificent.  And that’s just one of the hundreds of truly brilliant ideas included in this story.

Recommendation

Read A Fire in the Sky first and then come here.  It wasn't my favorite of the two but this is still Required Reading.

HEP SCORE

Universe 3/5

Social/Political Climate 5/5

Dialogue 4/5

Scientific Wonders 5/5

Characters 5/5

Overall 22/25

Last Year Was Great, But...

I enjoy reading everyone’s year-in-review posts a lot.  I think its equal parts voyeurism and wanting to see friends happy and successful.  Whatever your reason for reading these things… here’s mine:

Last night, I was feeling pretty …meh… about 2013.  When I mentioned this to Ali, she thought I was crazy, and I’m glad I’ve sat down to write this because it made me feel better.  Still, most of the things that make me happy about 2013 also make me a little bit sad, so there’s plenty to feel meh about.

I began 2013 still feeling really happy about finishing the marathon in 2012.  But I completely failed to run much in the past year.  I hardly exercised in general for that matter.  This is pretty disappointing.  After running over 300 miles in 2012, I’ll bet I ran for a maximum 20 miles in all of 2013.  I have my (poor) excuses, but they didn’t keep me from gaining 20 pounds in 2013.

Obviously, one of the things that made me happiest in 2013 was finishing the Hugos.  Despite that it’s not much of an accomplishment, it felt like one to me and even though it took me longer than I had set out to take, I was still pretty proud of myself for having seen this challenge through to the very near end.  But then I’ve really stalled on completing the reviews.  I’m going to try to get on the way to finishing though, and I’m into the last ten reviews so it should happen soon.

And although I finished the Hugo’s this year, I did not read much at all (outside of school).  To be fair, I am a full-time grad student and employed full-time so I feel like I have something approaching a legitimate excuse here.  Nevertheless I feel pretty bummed about my reading stats from the past year.  For the first time ever, I actually listened to more audio books than I read in print.

I like to keep track of some stupid reading stats, but it’s mostly just to help me remember and reflect on the books I’ve read.  I keep spreadsheets for everything, so you can see my embarrassing stats below:  14 print books.  Being 3 graphic novels and 1 young adult.  10.15 days listening to audiobooks.

There are some things I feel unequivocally happy about from this past year: I’m working toward a master of arts from the University of Florida.  I FINISHED READING ALL THE HUGOS!  We took a spectacular vacation this summer to my home state of Minnesota where my 4yo daughter met my grandparents for the first time.  My wife and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary (we started dating in high school over ten years ago).

We had a great year but I guess after consideration I’d only say I feel slightly more positive than negative about my goals from this time last year.  I feel like I could have worked harder to achieve my goals last year, but also optimistic that I'll do better this year.  Some of my resolutions relevant here being:

• Finish reviewing the Hugo’s
• Vote for the 2014 Hugo’s!
• Manage my time spent on school better (this was only reason I didn’t get more done this year…not enough free time…)
• Transition this blog into something else and keep up with other bloggers better
• Balance my reading between print, audio, and graphic novels better (more print and graphic novels please)
• Read more books published in the last year
• Run another race or two (dare I commit myself to a half-marathon???)

Well, this is getting long so I think I’ll save more (favorites of 2013 and maybe some pictures) for later…  Good luck to you all in the new year!

Paladin of Souls

Stats

Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

2004 Hugo Award Winner

Got it from: Own it (found it in the $1 bin at the library)

470 pages

Dowager Royina Ista, previously cursed and so profoundly grief-stricken as to be marked as mad, sets out on a religious pilgrimage, intending to right herself in the world once again.  A different kind of madness ensues.

Bujold does what Bujold does best

The most compelling aspect of Paladin of Souls is the part of science fiction and fantasy that Bujold does so well.  Ista is a wonderfully conflicted, funny, and smart female protagonist who struggles to know her gods and the people around her in a way that is at once completely foreign and weirdly unsettling, yet also totes-compelling, human, and eerily familiar. 

The differences between life on Bujold’s Ibran Peninsula and modern life abound, but are overshadowed by a very intimate and very warm human story.  Maybe Bujold’s worlds aren’t as confoundingly different from our own as a Ringworld for example, but Bujold brings her readers there in a very different way.  Rather than devising spectacular tech or weird aliens Bujold pulls readers into her worlds by the emotions.  To be fair there is some pretty rad stuff thrown in there too…Chalion is a place where:

• direct experience of any of five capricious gods (and demons) is possible; and
• rescue by hunky, sword-wielding, horseback-riding, sweaty muscle-men is not just possible, but AS WONDERFUL AS YOU IMAGINE IT TO BE; and
• sexytime is just a little bit unsettling; and
• people will literally chop your gods-damned head off.

Knowing what we know about Bujold’s skillz in her other Hugo winners (there's a Bujold Skillz meme in here somewhere...), and considering even just a short list like that, are you prepared to say you don’t want to read this book?

I really want to love this…

As I do best, I have jumped into the middle of a Lois McMaster Bujold series.  And as has been the case in the past, it doesn’t seem to matter much.  I’d say as far as my enjoyment of the Hugo’s goes, I’d lump this in with any of Bujold’s other winners.  Which is to say that it was a pretty damn decent book and I liked a lot about it, but it also wouldn’t be the first book I recommend to someone wanting to break into the Hugos.  Maybe reading them out of order has caused some problems again, but I don’t think so.  Paladin of Souls is good as a stand-alone novel.

Paladin of Souls is one of just few of what I have come to think of as the Spiritual Hugos in which dealings with a divine being or matters dealing with spiritual practices take precedence over other more traditional SF & F elements.  I have tended to like these books, but not really love them and that’s pretty much what’s happened once again.  Everything about Paladin of Souls appeals to me on a conceptual level and I really want to love every page, but it doesn’t ever elevate itself beyond just the sum of its parts.

Recommendation

If you were a fan of Barrayar, this would be another great read.  In fact, Ista was to me a character very much akin to Cordelia Naismith.  If you thought Cordelia was maybe a little too ultra-confident sometimes, you won’t see that in Ista.  However, while she seemed a little more rounded out as a character, she’s still been lumped the same exact space of my brain (my brain is just a tiny chest of drawers) and so have the two books.  To be clear it’s a good space, but it’s also the same space as her other books.

There is also a lot of horseback excitement.  Which is to say that from a strictly level-of-horseback-excitement view, I guess Paladin of Souls is your clear winner.

HEP SCORE

Universe 3/5

Social/Political Climate 3/5

Dialogue 4/5

Scientific Wonders 3/5

Characters 4/5

Overall 17/25

My last post was October.  That is really bad.  As you know I’m all caught up on the Hugos, but I’m still reviewing the last 10 or so.  I’ll be trying to pick up the pace again.  Also, I’m trying to finish the first Mouse Guard by David Peterson (a graphic novel) by the end of the year because my reading list for 2013 is pretty embarrassing and I need to spice it up at the last minute.  Because that will change everything.

Caffiene has never killed anyone...right?

This was me preparing for a long night with inappropriate applications of caffiene well into darkness.  I was writing, but unfortunately not reviews.

The news that I actually wanted to share was that I am caught up again on the Hugos. I actually finished Redshirts...I don't know...maybe a week ago.  I don't have any conception of time anymore now that I no longer have Hugos to tick off the passage of time against.  Either that or my brain is busted.  Hmm, yeah, it's probably busted.

I just finished a really exhausting project so no caffiene tonight. Just sleep. But I should get to at least one review this week!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Stats

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

Audiobook read by Jim Dale

2001 Hugo Award Winner

Got it from: Public Library

20h 37m

The same, but darker.

Trying to make sense of so many questions…

I’ve read the Harry Potter series twice now and I always enjoy them as fun, familiar, and not very challenging.  Preparing to read it in the context of all of the really great SF/F titles that have earned the Hugo, I was a little perplexed and to be honest, earnestly dreading this read (is it possible to dread earnestly?  Because I was very intent in my dread).  I would never admit to this, but there may have even been a moment in time when I sort of chose to listen to the audiobook so that I could only half pay attention and just be done with it with minimal effort.  And I was even less excited about writing this review.  Now, I’m glad I’ve taken some time to stew over it, because I’ve developed a slightly different perspective.

Initially, I was concerned that the pendulum swing of voter fickleness (is that a word?) had swung from the very hard SF choices of the 90’s to what appeared to be little more than a popularity contest in the 2000’s (Vinge, Gaiman, Bujold, and Rowling, all with large fan bases, account for half of the Hugo’s).  But really, that’s a silly comparison; after all, people like Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, and LeGuin have been getting repeat wins since the beginning.

My fear that Rowling’s win would only evidence the number of fans rather than the quality of the book was probably unwarranted as popularity has always influenced Hugo Award voting.  But my concerns about the book went beyond popularity too.  I joked that this was the same Harry Potter only darker.  I’ll get to the darker part in a minute, but Rowling really does lean heavily on the safe and predictable at times.  I wondered for a long time why this book won, if none of the others (which are written very similarly) had even been nominated?

I have also been seriously delaying this review (earnestly delaying it), then writing and rewriting major portions of it for the last month or so, trying to decide what to defend (I think there’s plenty worth defending) and what to criticize (probably even more).  But just now, I don’t think I’ll go there except to remember that if any book signaled Rowling’s attempt to transform this series to something darker, it was this one.  There’s a lot that feels rote-Harry-Potter about this book, but even amidst really awful moments like the entire World Cup Quidditch Cup, Rowling was able to introduce a sense of pervading and seemingly permanent doom.  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire shed quite a lot of the happy-go-lucky, even-if-something-bad-happens-it-will-turn-out-alright-in-the-end feeling of the first three books.  Rowling’s fourth installment had some real weight (physically too), and even a sliver of emotional depth.  In all fairness, it’s not entirely undeserving (just mostly).

So I guess, while it might seem that I could get behind arguments in favor of- or in opposition to- this win, I think I still lean toward being opposed to this win.  At the same time, I’m of the opinion that the question of whether this or any of the Harry Potter books are deserving of the Hugo is irrelevant.  That Harry Potter won the Hugo seems to say more about the award process to me than the worthiness of the book.

The Hugo Award, at least for best novel, is only marginally about the crowning of this year’s best SF/F work.  It’s a fan process.  It’s a thing anyone can do (if you can pay).  It’s a popularity vote.  And yet, we also know that people are supposed to be voting for the “best” of the year.  I don’t think any of that is bad necessarily, but I think it’s probably necessary to remember before starting to read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in the context of quite a few really distinguished SF/F novels.  It might be a little more fraught with questions of legitimacy (rightfully IMHO), but it is still fun, immersive and sometimes a little gross.

Recommendation

If you’re trying to finish off the Hugo list like me and, like I was, regretting this one, just know that despite being a little miffed about this Hugo, I still think there’s plenty to enjoy.  Overall, I enjoyed the book.  Not my favorite HP, definitely not my favorite Hugo, but still worth the time.

If you’ve already gone through the print books and you think you want to read them again, I recommend giving the audiobooks a shot.  Jim Dale is always great, and he has such a Harry Potter-y voice that he’s doubly good here.

HEP SCORE

Universe 5/5

Social/Political Climate 4/5

Dialogue 2/5

Scientific Wonders 4/5

Characters 3/5

Overall 18/25

Hey! In case you didn’t notice, I actually finished the Hugo’s just a few hours before Redshirts was announced this weekend.  I considered that a challenge completed, though I have already started reading Redshirts, and I’m sure I’ll end up reviewing it here later.

Finished...For Now

Well, I guess I won't get to enjoy this view (below) for much longer.  Congratulations to ALL the Hugo winners who are not reading this!

I've still got to get to a number of reviews yet, and I feel like I still have a lot of other thoughts that I've been meaning to take down here, but right now I'm still feeling like I've completed something.  Combined with the excitement of the streaming Hugo Award Ceremony and the all the pictures and status updates from LoneStarCon, I'm feeling pretty happy.  Gee, having finished all the Hugos sure made this year's announcement feel different.

Now off to the library to get Redshirts!  Oh wait, it's Labor Day... TOMORROW THEN!

If You Can Believe It....

For those of you who have been aching for me to finish this damn thing already, your wait is almost over.  I'm reading the very last Hugo.  A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge.  In between semesters I hope to get a few of these reviews done that have been waiting and soon this will be over.  Sad.  Happy.  It's been so much fun. 

I wish I had read Among Others last, it would have felt very fitting somehow.  Oh well, only about 600 pages of Vinge to go now.  I hope you're all having a great summer  (all two of you...including my Mom).

I thought you all might like an update...

Here it is, from WWEND's BookTrackr:

Despite my inactivity here, I am still moving forward and I hope to unleash a torrent of reviews soon as my workload is considerably lighter than the past 8 weeks.  I should be back to regular posts in a matter of days...maybe a week? We'll see...

FYI this count isn't entirely accurate since it doesn't include All Clear, which I am currently listening to.  Other than that, the last two are A Deepness in the Sky and Among Others.

Tally ho!

The Hugo Death Sentence

I recently mentioned that I have backed off my original goal for finishing the Hugos.  I also thought I might have a better idea of how far off I am.

It took me nine weeks to read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell.  It was an extraordinarily long book, but it wasn't nine weeks long.  While I was reading it, I was also studying for the GRE and I may have watched an episode or two, or a season, of Downton Abbey when I wasn't jamming books in my face.  

Now I have found myself back in school, still working, still a dad, and with just over a handful of Hugo's left, some of them being nearly as ridiculously long as Jonathan Strange.  That is to say, I've taken too long to finish the Hugo's and now I'll have more reading with more urgent deadlines and all of my usual things to do and a lot less time to fit the Hugo's in.

I had originally envisioned that I would go back to this year, but I had also thought I would be done with the Hugos by then.  Ha!

So, how do I now approach these final Hugos?

Well, to start, I should explain that I am a slow reader, or I should say that I am a careful reader.  I read and re-read passages that are confusing, enlightening, awkward, or just rad.  I stop and think.  I drink a little wine.  I figure reading a novel should be taken seriously and approached with the same gravitas that any thousands of years old craft deserves (kind of makes you wonder why I started this challenge right?)  Okay, sometimes I read while Emmeline watches Powerpuff Girls or My Little Pony, but when I can, I like to have all my things arranged and I like to dig in.  This challenge aside, I take forever to read even the shortest books and I like it that way.

When I started this challenge, I finished each book with days to spare.  I was psyched, the books were shorter, I was staying up until all hours of the night and operating during the day on a tiny, coffee fueled replacement brain.  Since then the books have grown longer, I've taken on more commitments, staying up past midnight has become a death sentence, my brain is real (and still tiny) and I've had trouble getting through any book in under two weeks.  Erg.

With that in mind, my first thought was to just finish them out via audiobook, because it's possible that I could end up reading these until the end of time, but that's out because they aren't all available at my library.  Also, apart being a little disappointed about not meeting my self-imposed goal, I'm not terribly depressed about the idea of continuing this for a little longer.

I don't know yet how easy it will be to balance my required reading and my Hugo reading, but with just few to go, I don' t imagine it will take me more than a few more months.  I might take a while to finish the longer books and my posts might be a little irregular for the first few weeks, but hopefully I'll get into a groove soon and everything in the entire world will be perfect.  Let's plan on that.

And if all else fails, instead of "64 books in 64 weeks", The Hugo Endurance Project will just have to mean that I'm "reading books to death".  It might be a confusing goal at first but I assume the autopsy will clear it right up.

Rainbows End

Stats

Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge

2007 Hugo Award Winner

Read by Eric Conger

Got it from: Own it

14h 46m

After medical treatments make it possible for Alzheimer patients to completely recover, Robert Gu finds himself in a pretty intensive rehab program.  He isn’t the person he used to be, and he doesn’t live in the same world either.  He was a famous poet in a world similar to ours. Now he is no one, learning how to “sming” and how to interface with computers.  It is during his rehab at Fairmont High School, that Robert becomes embroiled in a conspiracy plot to end all conspiracy plots.

Multiple realities

So there is one reality where an author has an uncanny ability to tap into the most salient features of some really complex issues.  In Rainbows End, Vinge reminds us how well he capitalizes on our most deep-rooted fears and our most lofty scientific achievements.  In beginning this book, I had figured Rainbows End for another goldmine of Vinge-y, SF goodness…but I didn’t labor under that delusion for long.

I was excited by the opening computer/chemical warfare plot.  I was reminded of the cyber-attacks on nuclear facilities in Iran going back a couple of years and I thought Vinge might have been preparing to go bigger.  I was strapping myself in for Vinge’s brand of ultra-paranoia.  It harkened to the message boards in A Fire Upon the Deep and man…I ate that stuff up.

In the first chapter, “Mr. Rabbit visits Barcelona” (Sweet title. I loved it), Vinge was poised to capitalize on how compelling and/or dangerous the convergence of several technological advancements could be in a world where anonymous access is taken to just about every extreme, and I was ready to follow him wherever he wanted to go.

Taken separately, individual elements of Vinge’s future were awe inspiring, but the other reality of Rainbows End is that as these elements come together and the story starts to drag on and on, the final product doesn’t seem equal the sum of its parts.

I almost think this is worse than having just written a story that falls flat altogether.  Vinge touches on all the right topics and sets himself up for a home run, while everyone is batting blindfolded.  Instead of just striking out, as authors do sometimes, in Rainbows End, Vinge lets go of the bat and injures some unsuspecting kid in the stands hoping to catch a foul ball.  And I think I might have been that kid, because this one left me confused.

While I admit to exclaiming audibly at the coolness of this or that bit of tech or social construction quite frequently, I didn’t much enjoy the overall story.  Tension? Not so much.  Compelling characters? Nope.  Cool world, but there was never any reason to be in it.

Recommendation

Consistent with my last Vinge experience, Rainbows End incorporates a plethora of themes both scientific and psychological, and fantastically so, but it also lacks a lot. Comparing the two Hugo winners that I’m familiar with, Rainbows End feels like it occupies a specific place and time in a way that A Fire Upon the Deep did not.  I don’t have much interest in re-reading this one, but I am curious how it will hold up to another ten years or so.  I might be wrong; it could be like good wine.

I actually started this review several weeks ago and before I chucked everything I had and started again, I noticed that this audiobook was only fourteen hours.  Not terribly long as far as audiobooks go, but it felt longer than some of the longest I’ve gone through so far.  I guess even though the concepts were interesting, they only had the power to captivate for so long.  Perhaps I’ll enjoy the shorter stories that Rainbows End was based on instead.

HEP SCORE

Universe 4/5

Social/Political Climate 5/5

Dialogue 3/5

Scientific Wonders 4/5

Characters 3/5

Overall 19/25

Stardust Read Along Pt. 2

Well, Stardust was an interesting interlude between the two other Neil Gaiman novels.  I’m glad to have participated and I always enjoy read alongs because the questions either require that I think differently about the book or force me to articulate some half-formed thoughts.  Carl is especially good at generating questions that get to the meat of a story, but also some of the fun too.

Of course, one of the best parts of a read along is visiting and discussing with other bloggers.  For Stardust, it has been a great, smart group and I can’t wait to hear from everyone again.  Thanks again Carl for organizing this and I look forward to the book vs. movie discussion to follow.

So how about Carl's questions.

1.  In the first part we saw a naive, wool-headed and self-involved Tristran.  What are your thoughts about Tristran and his personal journey now that the book has ended?

Carl did a good job of bringing me around to Tristran during the last discussion.  Tristran’s journey was predictable but fun, funny at times.  At first I wasn’t sure he had changed all that much by the end.  Now that I’m sitting here thinking about it more, I like that Tristran’s journey resulted in a realistic personal growth.  We saw his unhealthy infatuation with Victoria vanish, his niavete lessen, but his sudden choice to travel the world with Yvaine recalled some of the old impulsive, romantic Tristran.  It seemed a very human way to “grow”.

2.  The star, who we now know as Yvaine, also experienced a transformation of her own.  So I ask the same question, what are your thoughts about Yvaine and the journey she took?

I had a hard time getting on board with Yvaine’s transformation.  I thought the progression from hating Tristran, to feeling obligated to him, to falling in love with him was forced and frankly, I failed to make that last jump from obligation to love.  I thought for a minute I had missed something.  Yvaine seemed to rather abruptly change her mind about him at each stage and I never really developed much of an emotional connection with her.

I never really saw her as destined for something bigger either.  We meet her as a fallen star with a broken leg, helpless and I felt rather insipid at times.  That she would later become a wise and balanced ruler was certainly a more appealing fate than just wasting after Tristan died, but I never got a real sense of a trajectory from her.

I wouldn’t say I was particularly upset about her character or her journey, but frankly, I didn’t really follow her transformation very well and as a result didn’t have much of a connection to her.

3.  The villains of the story came to interesting ends, but not necessarily expected ones.  How do you feel about Neil Gaiman's handling of the Stormhold brothers (who had remained at the end of Part 1) and the two witches, the one Lilim and Ditchwater Sal?

This was certainly the most interesting treatment of villains I can recall for a long time.  I mentioned how much I enjoyed seeing the witch queen humbled while at the same time demonstrating her terrible power.  Gaiman only intensified his very unusual handling of villains and I only enjoyed it, and them, even more in the second half.

4.  Were there any descriptions, characters, settings, plot threads that stood out to you personally during this second half of the book?

I was rather touched by the carefree approach to experiencing the world that overtook Tristran and Yvain after leaving Victoria.  There was this one last thing tethering them to Wall, Tristran’s family and society.  Once that was eliminated, and combined with the feeling from the first half of the book that Tristran’s parents could have done with a little more upfront honesty about Tristran, their choice to just aimlessly wander was deeply satisfying to me. 

5.  At the very end of the book we see that Tristran and Yvaine's relationship and fate echoes that of Aragorn and Arwen from The Lord of the Rings.  If this question makes any sense to you (lol), what comparisons and/or contrasts do you see, especially in the fates of Yvaine and Arwen?

I came to this same conclusion about the two couples myself.  I’m not sure I have a lot to add about that here though as it was mostly just something of a passing thought once or twice.  What did strike me a differentiating the two was that Yvaine didn’t seem nearly as concerned about what her life would be like with Tristran gone.  Perhaps this is the result of a life span counted on a galactic scale, or because Yvaine was less emotionally tied to her man?  I’m not sure I have that answer, I admit it has been several years since I read LOTR.

6.   What are your overall impressions of the story now that it is done?

In broad strokes, I liked it.  Probably my favorite of Gaiman’s stories that I’ve read.  I was fun and whimsical in a vague and vaguely dark way.  I think this is one to be read several times over the course of a life.  I imagine it would take on drastically different meanings each time.

7.  If Gaiman were to return to Wall/Faerie, would you take another journey there?  If so, are there any adventures hinted at in Stardust that you would like to see Neil expand on?

My first inclination was to say that all I cared about was Dunstan, but I think I’d also revisit Wall/Faerie for more about any of the villains.  Any of them at all.

The End of Everything

As we all know, I am the worst at things.

This blog was meant to chronicle my time spent training for my first marathon while at the same time reading through every Hugo Award winning novel in as many weeks as there are winners, or the other way around.  Being that there are 64 Hugo winners, including the retros, this meant that had I stayed on schedule the entire time, I would have finished reading every Hugo novel ever, yesterday.  Anyone keeping track (to my knowledge this is just me, and that is only sometimes), knows that this has not happened.  In fact, I still have yet to finish eight more Hugo's.

Books like Cyteen, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell, and the Mars Trilogy, combined with a ton of really poor excuses (which I'm going to lean pretty heavily on anyway) to pretty seriously delay progress at several points over the last few months and even though I'm so near the end, I know that I have a couple of whammies that could still make my life difficult.

At the same time, listening to audiobooks more than I ever thought I would, has also allowed me to make some good time when I otherwise would not have been able to.  Currently, I've started, and found many excuses not to dig into, Paladin of Souls and I'm also about two-thirds through American Gods audiobook.

Continuing progress notwithstanding, I have obviously failed meeting my reading goal for this challenge.

The silver lining here is that there are about two maybe three people actually reading anything I write here, and fewer people who care, so I'm thinking no one will really hold it over my head and I can just keep chugging until I get there.  Except for myself.  You know I'm going to lord it over myself every chance I get.

So, I'm hoping that, if I haven't upset the SF gods too much, I will have an amended goal within the next few days.  I should be telling you all how disappointed I am, I am I assure you, but the writing has been on the wall since somewhere around week two, so I've had some time to come to terms with my inadequacies (see first sentence).  In terms of the stages of grief, I'm well into Shoving Down Emotions and Proceeding as if Everything is Fine (probably because of all the "handshakefullness" workshops I've been attending).

Light up the comments if you'd like.  I deserve it.  But know that I'm still going strong, just slower.  And to those of you who have been around since the early days AND to those of you who continue to leave comments and encouragement: THANKS AND PLEASE STICK AROUND!

Oh, and if you see my wife around, remind her how patient and forgiving she is :-)

Stardust Read-Along: Pt. 1

Over the past year, I’ve participated in several of the (non)challenges hosted by Carl over at Stainless Steel Droppings.  In that time, I’ve had to pass on quite a few read-alongs that he has also hosted and which have always looked amazingly fun.  When I saw that he had one planned for Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, which is short and sounded fun, I thought it was not only a good chance to hopefully redeem my opinion of Gaiman after a not so enthusiastic reading of The Graveyard Book, and also the opportunity to participate in one of Carl’s read-alongs as I’ve been waiting for so long to do.

So here is the first installment.  As Carl suggested, I’ve been listening to Gaiman himself read this one and like I said in the case of The Graveyard Book, Gaiman does a fantastic job reading his own work.  Carl has also suggested we take these questions as we please and I’m doing just that.  I’m getting to this late after-all.

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1.  We have spent a little time with Tristran and even less time with the star.  What are your initial thoughts/impressions of our two protagonists?

2.  There are some very interesting potential villains introduced in this first half of the book.  Do any of them particularly stand out to you? If so why or why not?

At first I didn’t care much for any of the villains, but I became very interested in the Witch Queen toward the end of Chapter 5.  Her goats were interesting and her chariot even more so, but what I really appreciated was that we see her fooled so early in the story.  She is still clearly a force to be reckoned with and will no doubt cause some serious trouble for Tristan but she’s also liable to be tricked when her guard is down too.  It didn’t so much endear me to her as it did to the storytelling itself.  I like that Gaiman’s villains can be pretty terrifying even when we see that they can be tricked into paying too much for the milk (that is totally not a saying but I’m going with it).

3.  In Chapter Three, just after the section with the brothers in Stormhold, Neil Gaiman gives us a description of Faerie that includes "each land that has been forced off the map by explorers and the brave going out and proving it wasn't there...".  What imaginary lands do you then hope are a part of Faerie?

4.  We do not get to spend a great deal of time in the market but while there we are given a number of interesting descriptions of the wares being bartered or sold.  Which if any of them caught your eye, either as items you would like to possess or ones you would most certainly hope to avoid.

5.  If you have read much of Gaiman's work, particularly his short fiction, then you have come across some rather graphic and disturbing portrayals of sex.  Gaiman offers up something very different in the way of a sex scene early on in Stardust.  What are your feelings of the scene either in general or as a contrast to other Gaiman-penned scenes involving sex?

I didn’t so much enjoy the sex scene per-se, but I did enjoy how emotionally charged it was, without being graphic or disturbing as Gaiman’s other portrayals have been.  Instead, I came away feeling very much a part of the fleeting yet strong and unspoken connection between two people.  It seemed like something that shouldn’t be overlooked and felt real and important.  In a world that was so quickly established as something different than our own, their meeting seemed so real.  Of course, anything Gaiman writes has an essentially other-worldly quality but, and especially in contrast to the market scene, this scene imparted a sense of grace and beauty that was shockingly endearing. 

6.  I suspect Neil Gaiman is influenced by a number of fairy and folk tales in Stardust.  Are there any elements of the story that made a particular impression and/or reminded you of other fairy stories you have read or are familiar with?

7.  And finally, which of the many side characters introduce have caught your eye and why? Or what else about the story thus far is of interest to you?

The dynamic between Tristan and his father, Tristan and his mother, and between the father and mother themselves was just great.  Gaiman really just hints at a quiet anxiety but even the nub he shows us hints at a pretty complicated family dynamic that I really wish we could have heard more about. The truth just seemed to hang about the air and though the family put on pretty taciturn airs, all the little things apparently made a huge impact on Tristan’s upbringing.  Meanwhile, his father’s acceptance and special attention only highlights what they were all trying so desperately not to point out.  We didn’t get much of a look at the family, but what we did see was fraught…in the most intriguing way.

Similarly, I was, at least initially, very interested in what could have made Tristan’s mother leave him at the Gates of Wall.  I think we’ll probably get a better flavor for the pressures and fears that lead her to make such a difficult choice as we get further into the book, but maybe not.  In any case, it only contributed to a very much understated sense of mystery surrounding Tristan that I was quite thrilled with.  Compared to Gaiman’s other books I’ve read (just a few of them), this has been the most absorbing beginning for me.

Of course this is also where my only complaint comes in so far.  I couldn’t help feeling there was something missing in Tristan’s character.  I didn’t get the sense that his family life, excessive teasing, and his deep love for Victoria didn’t make for the strong connection with Tristan that you might expect.  He seemed oddly impervious to the weirdness and meanness, and the outright rebuffs Victoria deals him.  You’d expect his reactions, or lack thereof, to somehow manifest themselves as an extraordinary sense of determinedness or other such capability.  Instead he came off rather uncaring and emotionally inept at times.

Finally!

I'm sure some of you thought it might never happen, but I finally finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell.  On April 7th, 2013 at 10:10 pm.  If you haven't read it, this is something of a life moment for me.  That's all I have for you.  Start celebrating!

The Yiddish Policeman's Union

Stats

The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon

2008 Hugo Award Winner

Read by Peter Riegert

Got it from: Public Library

10h 45m

In Chabon’s alternate history, European Jewish refugees were allowed to settle in Sitka, Alaska during WWII.  Israel was destroyed after only a few months, and now after sixty years, the Federal District of Sitka is set to revert to the state of Alaska.  In the midst of the gloom and the impending finality that surrounds the district and its inhabitants, Meyer Landsman, an alcoholic homicide detective, finds himself pulled inexorably into the murder investigation of the son of a powerful organized crime boss.

Reading in three dimensions

No one can deny that the Hugo list, which has tended to the representation of male and WASPy perspectives, could use an infusion of diversity.  Some of my favorite Hugo’s have been those that more inclusive of a wider array of human experience, but they’re few and far between.  I was pretty excited by the title, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, for that very reason.  Chabon’s win has the added benefit, or curse, of being the kind of book that tests our boundaries, and as a result, reaches fans outside the genre.  And that’s probably a good thing.

At the same time as I’m happy about this book as a kind of border crossing, I’m not a great fan of alternate history as SF.  I’m not aware of much critical discussion regarding the topic, and maybe this is my fault.  Maybe there is a true dearth of scholarship on the fringes of SF, I’m not sure.  I suppose I should do some research.  I do know that I don’t find that the most often repeated justification holds water.  After all, doesn’t every book ask, “what if?”, in some way or another?

Whatever your perspective of the appropriateness of considering this book, or alternate history in general, as a part of the Science Fiction/Fantasy universe, this book will hopefully be one that, years from now helps us to better understand the genre.  Other than this, I feel pretty ambivalent about The Yiddish Policeman’s Union.

Chabon in fact conceived of the book as a result of something of an odd question - What if there was a place that would necessitate a translation manual from English to Yiddish.  What countries would such a manual (he happened across one called “Say it in Yiddish”) be necessary?

Chabon’s Sitka, Alaska, was a pretty wonderful exploration.  There is a very real sense of place and space – a feeling of a living breathing place – which is the result of some truly great prose.  It tricks you into grabbing hold of the direct and austere noir elements which he then slyly pokes holes in with unexpectedly sardonic witticism and cynical-yet-florid descriptions.  The effect is that every street, building, and room, has something of a unique texture and feeling of actual depth.  It felt like reading in three dimensions.

Despite amazingly great writing, I thought the story itself was lackluster at best.  I’m normally a fool for a story with such dark and hopeless characters and places, but something kept me from really sinking into this one.  Even by the end I didn’t have any particular feelings about it.  I hope it wasn’t because I was forced to listen to the audiobook, but it could have been.  There were countless times that I wish I could have lingered on a scene or phrase.  I guess this is all good reason to return, at a time when I’m more prepared to give it some real effort.  Honestly though, I don’t know what would motivate me to do that.

The audiobook

When I started this decade, I was committed to “no more audiobooks”.  Then I checked out Susanna Clarke’s mind-bogglingly long winner and felt I had no choice but to listen during my commute if I wanted to finish the Hugo’s anytime soon.  A vague awareness of the book’s critical reception had only heightened my anticipation and I had been excited to read The Yiddish Policeman’s Union for the cover alone so I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get the feel of real pages. 

Peter Riegert’s reading was the perfect substitute.  He was great for capturing the gritty-noir and the uncomfortable air of something impending.  Perhaps his gruff sound took something from the moments of levity in Chabon’s prose, but I loved every minute of his reading.

There is also an interview with Chabon at the end of the book which was helpful.  I appreciated the better understanding of where Chabon was coming from, the genesis of Jewish Sitka, and his intentions.

Overall, I was happy with the audiobook.  I don’t know that I would really encourage anyone else to listen but if someone were anxious to, I wouldn’t stop them.

Recommendation

Despite recognizing that this was an amazing book, I find myself deeply perplexed as to how it was nominated and won Best Novel.  I’m not completely convinced that it belongs here and Chabon himself admits that he never thought of it as science fiction while writing it.  I normally don’t care much for what an artist thinks of their own work once it’s in the public sphere, but in this case it seems telling.  I’m not diametrically opposed to it winning, I just need better context.  For everyone else, there’s plenty to like here.  Just know what you’re getting into.

HEP SCORE

Universe 5/5

Social/Political Climate 4/5

Dialogue 4/5

Scientific Wonders 3/5

Characters 2/5

Overall 18/25