Bookish Thoughts

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish  is the fourth book in Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's trilogy (which I think I will always get a kick out of). It's a bit of a departure from the other books. Although it is bookended by hitchhiking adventures and includes a strange sub plot with Ford Prefect, the bulk of the book is a love story on Earth. Arthur Dent meets Fenchurch who, like him, is not quite normal. They hit it off pretty quickly and, after some initial trouble, fall in love. It's about time Arthur Dent caught a break, and it's nice to see him actually enjoying life. They fly around and have a bunch of sex and are generally perfect for each other. They also spend some time trying to figure out what happened to the dolphins, though Fenchurch is more invested in this than Arthur. All in all, this is a very cute story. I had a lot of fun reading it. I'm glad Marvin finally found some peace. And I'm looking forward to the final book in the tr...

The second time through Game of Thrones  was a lot more straight-forward than the first time I read it. While I didn't feel particularly lost the first time through, I definitely wasn't paying attention to a lot of the details. I didn't understand a lot of the characters. But with the knowledge of where this story goes, and who becomes important, I was able to get a lot more out of the book than the last time I read it. Martin throws a whole lot of characters at you, which makes it almost necessary to ignore most of them just so you can follow the plot. This time I was able to pick up on subtle characterizations of Roose Bolton. I kept all the families, and who they owe fealty to, straight. I even picked up on a lot more of the history. The history of Robert's war really informs the everything going on now. I'm more convinced than ever that Jon is Lyanna's son, not Ned's. Ned has too much honor to have ever cheated on Cat. Once they were ma...

The second book in Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness quartet is a big improvement over the first, though I'm not sure I'd call it great. Part of this may be that it's the first series Pierce ever wrote (I've heard her later work is much better than her earlier work). Part of it is probably that the four books were originally meant to be a single book aimed at adults. But the publisher thought the story was better suited for children and had Pierce divide the book up. In the Hand of the Goddess is still choppy in places, but it's far more coherent than the first book was. Duke Roger is plotting to kill the king and the prince so he can ascend to the throne and the threat of him hangs over the entire book, providing a solid reason for the various problems Alanna faces. Although it gets frustrating that she never suspects him of being behind the numerous attempts on her life, a reason for this is given in the final chapter. The main problem I h...

I really thought I knew what to expect when I picked up Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray . Dorian Gray has a painting down, and that painting grows older while he stays young. And, yeah, that's the basic plot. But the book ended up being a lot more than that. It gave me a lot to think about. Dorian Gray is introduced as a seventeen year old, much younger than I expected. His beauty makes him the favorite model of an artist named Basil Hallword. While sitting for the titular painting, Dorian metes Basil's friend, Lord Henry. Basil and Henry function as the angel and devil on Dorian's shoulders in some respects. But Basil is quickly corrupted by Lord Henry and decides that pleasure, beauty, and selfishness and the best traits one can hope to possess. After Dorian promises to marry a girl, then quickly changes his mind resulting in her suicide, the painting begins to change, to become ugly. It's revealed that it's not just that the painting...

I love a good fairy tale. One of my favorites is Stardust , which I've read and seen several times. My favorite version is the illustrated novel, which includes 175 paintings done by Charles Vess. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous are really add to the fairy tale quality of the book. It's like being a little kid and reading a picture book again, except for the occasionally adult content. Stardust  follows young Tristran Thorn as he goes searching for his heart's desire. Unlike Dorothy, he discovers that it's a lot farther away than his own back yard. Tristran goes off in search of a fallen star, in the hopes that he can present it to young Victoria and secure her hand in marriage. Tristran isn't the only one searching for the star though. A witch is seeking her heart which will grant her additional youth. A trio of brothers are racing to find her; the first one who does will secure the Lordship of Stormwal. And poor Ditchwater Sal would be l...

After Ray Bradbury died earlier this year, there was an outpouring of tributes from a number of writers and artists. Reading all of it made me realize how much I'd missed out by not reading any of Bradbury's work over the years. Well, that isn't quite true. I read Farenheit 451 in high school, but I missed almost all of his other books. I decided it was time to fix that. I bought Something Wicked This Way Comes and was immediately met with another surprise. The receipt for the book listed recommendations for related books, among them The Halloween Tree . When I was little there was a movie called The Halloween Tree that was one of my favorites. My brother and I rented it from the video store over and over and finally just bought it. The tape was bright orange - fitting for the subject - and it was on constantly in our playroom during October. Imagine my surprise to find that Bradbury had penned one of my favorite stories (he even narrates the movie). All of t...

One of the things that's become easier for me in recent years is putting down a book before finishing it. When I was younger, I truly believed that you had to finish every book you started, that you owed it to the universe or the author or yourself or something. Occasionally I'd put a book down and simply get distracted by other things, always with the intention to return later. This happened with both Lolita and Treasure Island . Then I would feel guilty about never getting back to the book. But with the expansion of my to-read list, I've become more willing to simply put down books I don't enjoy. The easiest of all to put down was John le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy . And while part of that was due to my evolving attitude, it was mostly due to my utter confusion at this book. After the movie came out last year, I started hearing good things about the book. I haven't read much in the spy genre, so I kept this book in mind as a possibl...