Whee!

So. Went to the Bloggess' book signing last night at A Real Bookstore in Dallas. Went all by myself and managed not to have a nervous breakdown, yay!

(Even though there was no reception for my phone and the wi-fi was a really really unfunny joke, thus rendering me completely internet-less for the evening.)

I got there about twenty minutes after they started giving out wrist-bands and so I ended up in the second group for the signing. Then I had an hour and a half to kill until the reading. I had planned to go buy my book, get my wristband, and then leave the store in search of dinner, but people were already camped out for the signing and there were no chairs left that weren't being saved.

So I found a chair off to the side (hey, bookstore), and sat down to knit for a while. After a bit I wandered over to their café to see what they had but nothing really looked appealing to me so I wandered back and found a new seat and knit some more, thinking I would just grab dinner after the signing before heading home. Then they made some announcements and I started having flashbacks to the Brandon Sanderson signing which lasted forever and got worried that by the time I got out of there all of the decent food places would be closed. So I went back to the café and noticed on second glance at the menu that they had hot dogs, so I got one (it came with chips) and a cookie and a can of sweet tea. It was not really the dinner I had imagined taking myself out for, but it wasn't that bad. I led with the cookie.

I ate in the café and by the time I was done it was almost go time, so I found a shelf to lean against behind the seats and waited for things to get started. Before too long, out came Jenny Lawson to greet us and do a quick reading from her (New York Times best selling!) book (Let's Pretend This Never Happened) and take a few questions. Her reaction on walking out and seeing us all gathered there?

"Holy shit. There are a lot of you."

Thus began an evening of laughter. Afterwards we were sorted into our signing groups and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the line actually moved along quite quickly. I was knitting in line and a woman near me commented on the bread bag tab I had my tail wrapped around (something I picked up from my mom), relieved to see someone else doing that. We struck up a conversation and talked the whole way up to the table. It was random, but nice (and now I have ideas about using kool-aid to dye yarn with my daughter when she gets a little older). I was actually kind of proud of myself.

I think all told I was in line for less than an hour. Yet when I got up to her I didn't feel rushed at all. They handed her my copies of the book to be signed and an employee was on hand to take pictures for anyone that wanted one. I chatted with her for a few seconds, telling her about laughing so hard I couldn't breathe (which she agreed was awesome except for the part where I almost died from reading her book--I told her it was okay because she is just that awesome).

Jenny Lawson and me.

I did make her a present (more on that next week) and gave it to her, but I told her she didn't have to open it right then. Mostly this was because I didn't want to hog her and I knew they wanted to keep the line going smoothly. Also a little bit because I was nervous that she won't like it and didn't want her to have to feign appreciation. She promised to look at it later and I hope that she likes it, but it's okay if she doesn't. It was just me trying to say "thanks" to her for her blog and her book, both of which I just find so completely amazing.

After I had my books signed I made another beeline for the restroom before hitting the road for the long drive home. When I got in there, I found this guy hanging out in the stall:

Well hello there, sir. They sure do seem to be making the bathroom attendants smaller these days, don't they?

It was the perfect random way to cap off the evening for me. I pondered taking him home as a souvenir, but decided to go ahead and leave him to cheer up the next visitor instead. I mean, for one thing, his owner could have realized he was missing and wanted to go back to retrieve him. For another, I don't know where he's been. So, yeah. Still, it amused me quite a bit.

After that I headed home and rocked out to Crystal Gale (true story) on the way. I was in such a good mood that I wasn't even bothered by the delays due to construction. This is a major victory for me, you guys. You have no idea.

All in all, a wonderful evening. Despite it's (to me) somewhat inconvenient location, I really like A Real Bookstore. I will definitely consider attending any signings they might hold in the future, and highly recommend them to you as well if you are in the area.

Book Recommendation: Let's Pretend This Never Happened

Jenny Lawson (also known as The Bloggess) wrote a book called Let's Pretend This Never Happened.

It came out this past Tuesday and is a (more or less) true memoir of her life to date. She talks about growing up way less than privileged in a rural West Texas town. She describes a childhood with a father who randomly decided to become a taxidermist (and ended up being really good at it) and who also had a penchant for bringing home random wild animals (like bobcats, or turkeys he insisted were quails) to join the family as pets.

If you are aware of her or her blog, you also know that she suffers from depression and all kinds of anxiety. She discusses that in her book as well, in a frank and amusing manner, because it is part of who she is and she has learned to be fine with who she is. She also wants people to know about this stuff so that they can recognize it in others (and either be supportive and helpful to those others or avoid them at all costs per their discretion). Don't get me wrong, she discusses some painful and unpleasant moments from her life, right along with the good stuff. But she still somehow manages to inject humor into those moments. It's a dark humor, sure, but humor all the same. She got me to laugh at a situation that I have never been able to laugh at (can barely even talk about because something similar also happened to me and usually thinking about it happening to anyone just makes me want to cry). That's worth the price of admission right there.

I'm only about a third of the way through, but I can already tell you that it is fantastic. There is a chapter dealing with her time working in HR and all of the weird crap she had to put up with in that job. You can find an excerpt of that chapter here. But when I got just past the bit I had already read before on her website, I hit a bit that had me laughing so freaking hard I had to get up and walk away from the book because I couldn't even finish reading the sentence anyhow, and also, I was getting close to blacking out from the lack of breathing because of the aforementioned laughing.

She's on tour right now and will be in Dallas next Thursday. I'm going. By myself even, because her discussions of her anxiety makes me feel like maybe I should just suck it up and stop being so damn shy. See, she's good therapy, too. Also, I feel like I should make her a present, because this is woman who needs all the hugs in the world for many, many reasons. I shall have to think on what that present should be though.

I want to give this book to every woman I know, it is so wonderful and wrong and awesome. Mother's Day is coming up too, now that I think of it. If you know a mom who can handle some colorful language, hey, this might make a good gift. So, if you are looking for something interesting to read, hey, look, here's a great suggestion. You're welcome.

No, seriously. You're welcome.

Just make sure that you're not operating any heavy machinery or anything when you pick it up.

Oh Dear

Well, I saw The Hunger Games yesterday. It was fantastic. Of course. A good story, well written, well acted, with some very immersive cinematography. It was just over two hours of pure escape, and it was a lovely way to spend my afternoon (though the story itself of course dealt with some less than lovely topics).

There were some definite deviations from the book, but I didn't have any problems with them. I like the way they got around how much of the book is Katniss internally thinking about how things are playing to the audience and the game-makers. I thought that worked really well, and was not at all surprised at the end to see that the author, Suzanne Collins, had a screenwriting and executive producer credit on the film. I am glad she got consulted and was given final approval on those changes. The other changes mostly served to keep the narrative streamlined, I felt, and though I was sad at one character getting totally left out, I understood why it was done that way.

There were several moments when I teared up or was just outright crying. They did an amazing job of conveying the emotional impact of that story. Even though I knew pretty much what was coming the whole time, the second that Katniss volunteered to take Prim's place in the games, my heart leaped into my throat. It was crazy.

This movie is insane good. Even if you haven't read the book, I think you would still enjoy it quite a bit. Then you would go out and buy or borrow the books. Because, damn.

I had really intended to hold off on reading the next two books in the series until after I had finished some other stuff. I really did. But the ending of the movie, and some hints at what the fallout for the characters to come might be left me craving for more.

I started Catching Fire yesterday. I had a really hard time putting it down last night. I about cried when I finished my designated "last" chapter for the evening, because all I wanted to do was turn the page to find out what happened next. I've played Dragon Age for a sum total of I think thirty minutes since I've gotten back from my trip. Suzanne Collins has created a world and characters that just suck you in and keep you immersed from start to finish. Even now I am  itching to get back to the book.

Man, I love when a book does that to me.

Have a great weekend folks. Hopefully you've got a book that you are enjoying as much as I am this series!

May the odds be ever in your favor.

Irregular Reading

You know, I have noticed over the last few years that my reading habits have altered quite a bit. For one thing, I don't read nearly as much as I used to. I think this is largely because, with a few exceptions, I don't like reading during my daughter's awake time. This is partly because I want/need to keep an eye on her and interact with her, which is hard to do when my nose is in a book (I get really immersed when I read and tend to become completely oblivious to my surroundings). Also though, it isn't as enjoyable for me to read because I am so easily distracted, I have a hard time sinking into the story. Then, a lot of my child-free time is spent doing other things I can't do when she's up and about (and playing video games).

That isn't to say that a good enough book won't get me to find a way to read read read, however.

Case in point:

Even though I am about halfway through the final Eragon book, Inheritance, and knew that I would have at least some quality reading time when I went on my trip last week, I did not take the book with me to California. This is because the book is freaking huge and I really did not feel like trying to lug it around in my carry-on, weight-wise or space-wise. So instead I took a stack of comic books and my shiny new Kindle, which I hadn't really taken out for much of a spin yet (even though it is already crammed full of books for me to read).

I finished the comic books about halfway through the flight out and then fired up the Kindle and pulled up The Secret Garden. I started reading this to my daughter at bed time, a chapter or two a night, last November. But right around Christmas she decided she wanted to start interacting with story time and we've been reading her picture books together instead. I knew it was coming, but I wasn't really expecting it to happen in the middle of an awesome book. Silly me. Anyway, the book was available as a free download from Amazon (huzzah for public domain!) so it was one of the first to get loaded on my Kindle. I love love love that story, it is one of my all time favorites, so I really wanted to finish reading it. I finally got the chance this past week.

Not too long into the return flight, I finished that book. Then, I scrolled through my Kindle for a bit deciding what to start reading next, knowing that I probably wouldn't finish it before I got home and returned to Inheritance (not to mention A Clash of Kings, which I am reading along with Leigh over at Tor.com). After a little bit of waffling, I decided to give The Hunger Games a try. I have been wanting to read it for well over a year now, and with the movie so recently in theaters, it has been more on my mind than ever. Plus, it was right there at my fingertips. Easy decision, really.

But back to my point. I got about a quarter of the way through it on the flight, and even though I have had plenty of other stuff to do since I got home, I made the time to keep on reading this story. Because ohmygoodnessitissoamazing. I mean, I knew that it would be good. Several fellow readers close to me in whom I have complete trust have recommended it highly. Also, the internet discussion of it has suggested at its wonderfulness quite clearly. It's one of those rare series that I have recommended/gifted to people even without reading because I believed the people who told me it was so good. But wow, I was not prepared to not be able to put it down. It is rare that a book gets me like that these days. It is quite a wonderful treat, to be honest.

I finished it up on Tuesday and immediately dropped a few dollars at Amazon to pick up the other two books in the trilogy, but I am hoping I can make myself wait to read them. I still have some other books to finish. Which, now that I think about it, is another way my reading habits have really changed over the last few years. Outside of school, which I don't really think counts for leisure reading, I have never been one to read more than one book at once. This past week I had three going. That's more than a little bit insane to me. Still, a good story is a good story, right?

Do you have any weird reading habits? Have you noticed yours changing over the years as life presents you with new and differing circumstances? What books have you picked up and just not been able to put down?

I can't help but wonder how my habits will change further over the next few years. As my daughter gets older, will I be able to revert back to my old reading habits a little bit more? Will I start juggling even more books as I try to pre-read anything she wants to get her hands on to make sure it is appropriate? Hmm...I definitely look forward to seeing where this road I am on takes me to next, that's for sure!

In the meantime, well, today I get to take myself out for a lunchtime movie date. Guess what I am going to see?

Kid's Picks

I've mentioned before what an avid reader I am. My husband is much the same way. There isn't a room in our house that doesn't have a few books tucked away somewhere (whether they are supposed to be there or not). One of our biggest fears when deciding to start a family was that our daughter might not take to reading. So far, that fear seems to be wildly unfounded. She loves books, and they are as much her toys as the ponies and stuffed things and building blocks.

Once she started sleeping through the night, in her own room, I began the nightly ritual of reading to her before bed. While she was still super little, it was just to get her used to that as part of the nighttime routine, and for her to get used to me reading to her. So I would read children's books without pictures, classic books maybe a little above her age range, and she would usually drift off (or bounce around in her crib) while I did so. We have finally hit the point where she has started wanting to actively be part of this routine. She now wants to pick from her (large) selection of picture books at bedtime, bringing me several stories to read to her as she sits next to me and engages in the story.

So I thought for today's post I'd share with you her top five favorite bedtime books.

That's Not My Dragon

This book is just cool. It features a small mouse trying to find his dragon. He looks at a different dragon on each page, pointing out why it can't be his dragon. One's ears are too tufty, another's tongue is too fuzzy, and so on. The really nifty thing about this book is that for each dragon, you can actually feel the thing the mouse is pointing out. There's a little bit of fluff for the tufty ears and what feels like a piece of velcro for the fuzzy tongue. It's wholly wonderful. Of course, at the end the mouse finds his dragon, so there's even a happy ending. In addition to touching the different textures, we also like to have her find the mouse for us on each page to make it a little more interactive. Baby Girl has actually memorized this one. The other night, she "read" it to me. That was awesome. I also learned, thanks to some friends, that the publisher actually has made several of these books, with different animals and such (and in many cases different textures to explore as well). We just got That's Not My Dinosaur and I can't wait to see how she responds to it!

Does a Zebra Fly?

This one is pretty cute too. It features several different African animals and starts out with a silly question about that animal, with an illustration showing them acting it out. The illustration is on a flap, behind which we get another of the animal doing something it actually does. For example, the page with the title question shows the zebra flapping it's arms for all it's worth, trying to take off. The flap reveals, however, that while a zebra can't actually fly, it can use its stripes to help hide. I like that this book has an educational element about the animals depicted. For extra fun, we like to count the animals on each page.

First Words

This one is pretty straightforward. On each pair of pages it features an item with the word written next to it. The fun bit is that there is a flap on each set of pages behind which the two items are combined. So for example the page with frog and ball then show a frog sitting on a ball. Some of them are really silly, like the green beans in the sock or the egg wearing a scarf, but it is lots of fun. Baby Girl has most of the words down pretty well, and she has even started being able to put the combinations together (she really has "mouse rides in the wagon" down). She very much enjoys opening up the flap I think.

Belly Button Book!

My husband and I are also both huge fans of Sandra Boynton, so of course we have a multitude of her books in Baby Girl's library. This one is by far her favorite though, I think. Basically it is just hippos singing the praises of their belly buttons (and balloons), which kids of course find endlessly amusing.

Hippos Go Berserk!

Another Boynton classic. This one has lots of fun illustrations and easily lends itself to serve as a lesson in counting. Plus, it is a fascinating treatise on the party habits of hippos (and one non-hippo guest).

Of course, she has many, many more books, but these are the five that see the heaviest rotation, both at bedtime and when she feels like "reading" to herself. I think our worries that she might not enjoy reading were all for naught. She does truly seem to take pleasure in looking at and touching and arranging books. She can spend hours going through our books as well as her own (our poor bookshelves will never be properly arranged again, I fear). I'm sure it doesn't hurt that she often sees me and my husband curled up reading. She understands that it is something we enjoy doing and therefore must be fun.

It also leads to super cute moments like these:

Reading time!

This was our family reunion in 2010. My husband was taking a break and catching up on his reading and Baby Girl wanted to join him. She very much wants to be like her daddy. As evidenced in this one:

Checking out Daddy's book.

This was earlier last year. She stumbled across her father's book and climbed up on the couch with it. No one else was around, I just happened to wander in and find her like this. It was an awesome moment in parenting.

How about you? What books do your young readers enjoy the most?

Winter Reading List

Holy cow, my book pile just keeps on getting bigger. It's ridiculous, it is. Sigh.

I finally finished reading George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, first in his A Song of Ice and Fire series and the source material for that apparently awesome television series that aired this past spring (whoo! I finally get to watch that now, don't I?). I took it slow, reading along with Leigh Butler over at Tor. Two(ish) chapters a week. It took a while.

I am really not sure if I will be able to hold back on the next four books though. That ending. Man. I mean, man.

Currently, I am reading Brandon Sanderson's Elantris. I will probably do a write-up of my thoughts on that when I finish it in the next week or two. It is pretty spectacular so far, and the ball has just started rolling downhill.

Leigh's ASoIaF read-along is on hiatus until January. I am thinking once I finish Elantris I might try to squeeze in the conclusion of N. K. Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy, The Kindgom of Gods (it just arrived on Tuesday, much to my delight). After that I want to wrap up Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle with Inheritance, which has been hanging out in my pile for about a month.

Probably I won't get finished with those two before Leigh starts up with A Clash of Kings, but I figure I can stick to the read-along schedule on that until I do. Then I can just plow through the rest of Martin's insanity. It will be like ripping off a band-aid, I suspect. Yeesh. That man. Not very nice to his characters. It's kind of delicious and terrible all at the same time.

After that...well...who knows? There are oh so many to choose from. There are worse problems I can think of.

Does anyone else have this kind of insanity going on in their bookshelves? What are you guys reading? (Please for the love of Pete, no suggestions though, I am full up at the moment!)

My Favorite Scares

Well, Halloween is right around the corner, and everyone is going on and on (and on) about all of the best scary stuff out there. I figured I might as well jump on the bandwagon. I know I recently decried the genre of horror in the wake of how annoyed I am by all of the absolute crap that gets pushed in my face this time of year,  every year. But that was, I think, unfair to horror. It's not that I don't like horror, it's that an insanely significant percentage of what passes for horror is honestly crap. It's not good. It just isn't. Yes, there's this nebulous field in the middle comprised of stuff that is so bad it ends up being good (or at least enjoyable), but that classification is much rarer than most people think. Especially these days when people make (or pretend after the fact that they were trying to make) "so bad it's good" on purpose. I am pretty sure that can only actually happen by accident.

But I digress.

I have also mentioned before that my favorite author is Stephen King. I am sad to say that a lot of people out there who are only familiar with his filmed work might be under the impression that he often falls under the "crap" category himself. These people are dead wrong. Unfortunately, there have been many disastrous attempts to adapt King's work to film and television over the last few decades. The reason these attempts so often result in, well, horror (though not the intended kind) is that King's work very largely is about ideas and a lot of his best scenes exist in the character's minds, or in internal dialog. That kind of stuff is just really difficult to translate to a visual medium. But the fact that people keep trying to do so (and every once in a while succeed) should tell you something. If you've never read any of King's work but have watched something based on one of his books hoping for a good scare and come away disappointed you need to do yourself a favor and go read the source material. Then you'll get it.

I am actually lucky enough to be getting to go see King in person next month when he comes through Dallas on his current book tour. My husband is a wonderful person and decided this was an opportunity we just could not pass up. I am very very excited. Between that and all of the horrible not-horror being shoved in my face at present, I have been thinking a lot about King, and about those really enjoyable scares I have found along the way.

Which is all a rather long-winded way of saying that today I thought I'd give you my top three favorite scary books. I could make a whole top ten (at least) just out of King's work, more than likely, but he only wrote two of the top three that came to mind when I started thinking on the topic, so I thought I would just stick with that.

3. It by Stephen King

Oh man, this book. I first read it all of the way through when I was in high school, I think, although it might have been junior high. I had long been aware of King though, my mom being a big fan of his as well (where do you think I got it from, eh?). Like most people my age with a well-developed fear of clowns, I can lay the blame for that solely upon this book. When I was in fifth grade there was a television miniseries based on it, that of course my mom watched, and with one television in the house, so did I (and so did a lot of those kids who ended up scared of clowns). While this miniseries fell somewhere in the middle quality of adaptations of King's work, Tim Curry's turn as Pennywise the clown, amazing and frightening as it was, had nothing on the written version. I get shivers just thinking of it, and to this day I still can't hear "Für Elise" without getting the creeps. It was my gateway King, and during college I read it again every summer, staying up crazy late reading and terrified to turn the lights out once I had finished for the night. Worth every minute. 

2. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

I honestly don't know how to describe this book. It is simultaneously the most freaky and fucked up book I have ever read. (Sorry for the profanity but that is the most accurate word.) It's more or less about this guy's quest to find out about an ostensibly haunted house. But it is so much more. Somewhere along the way it takes about four left turns at once and you are left struggling to keep going. It is a complete mind-trip and even the way the book itself is designed and printed adds to the experience. I barely made it through one reading of this book, but once was enough. This is a book that will never leave me. It is real work to read, but I am glad that I did read it, to be certain, and anyone who likes horror and haunting stories should definitely check it out. But do it in a well-lit room, with plenty of people around. On a random but kind of cool note, Danielewski is the brother of musician Poe, and her album Haunted actually ties in quite a lot with the book, the version of "Hey Pretty" with the spoken dialog takes that dialog directly from House of Leaves.  In the book there are lyrics quoted from the album. There was definitely a bit of collaboration between the two when the book and album were being created. So if you're a fan of Poe and horror but haven't read this book I would definitely recommend you check it out.

1. Bag of Bones by Stephen King

The story of an author who retreats to a cabin in the forests of rural Maine and then becomes ensnared in a supernatural plot, Bag of Bones is trademark King at its best. This is an amazingly powerful story and being written later in his career truly reflects how much his writing skills continued to grow and improve the more he wrote. The imagery in this book is vivid and startling. My scare-factor from this book was heightened by my first reading experience of it, to be sure. During spring break my freshman year of college some friends and I went to spend a long weekend at the unfinished cabin one of my friends' uncle was building in the middle of nowhere, Texas. We were pretty much camping out, and I had more than one good scare staying up late into the night reading this book in that cabin. Reading this book I have been the honest to goodness most scared by a book I have ever been in my life. Needless to say, I was pretty delighted to find out that A & E has made a miniseries adaptation of this book (the miniseries always seem to do King's work better justice than outright movies) that is due to air in December. I am really looking forward to that!

So there you have it, my top three favorite scary books. If you were looking for something good to dig into before Halloween, well, now you've got an excellent list of suggestions, don't you?

Reading Recommendation: N.K. Jemisin's The Inheritance Trilogy

In one of those weird quirks of life, I have ended up following the blogs of several authors whose books I actually haven't read. However which way I stumbled upon those blogs, reading them has definitely made me want to read their books as well. But my reading pile (as has been previously established) is not small, and rarely stops growing.

One of those authors that I have been following is N.K. Jemisin. I discovered her when she filled in as a guest blogger for John Scalzi while he was out on a tour (I think) last year. I find her blog absolutely fascinating, whether it be about her writing process, her actual works, her commenting policy for the site, or her views on gender and racial equality. Everything she writes is extremely well written, and I rarely find myself disagreeing with what she has to say. Even when I do, the way she expresses herself allows me to respect her opinions nonetheless. Often what she writes challenges me to think about my own writing and actions. I'd say that makes her blog pretty worthwhile reading.

Her voice is a unique one in the world of fantasy, though as she points out, it shouldn't be. She has written many short stories, which I would like to check out at some point, but her primary project to date is The Inheritance Trilogy (not to be confused with Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle--think Eragon--which was initially supposed to be a trilogy but ended up expanding to four books, thus becoming a "cycle" rather than "trilogy").

Earlier this year my husband surprised me with the first two books in the trilogy, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and The Broken Kingdoms (the third book, The Kingdom of Gods, is due out next month). I was finally able to dive into this series recently, and I found myself absolutely devouring the two books. They are fantastic! Much like Jemisin herself, her work is unique and very eloquent.

I think my favorite thing about the books is that each one is its own story, with its own characters. Book two is set some time after the end of book one, and deals with the ramifications of all that passed in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. While some characters from the first book appear in The Broken Kingdoms, they only appear when they are integral to the story, and they are supporting cast rather than main characters. The two books are set in the same city, but the settings could not feel more different. Yet there is a sense of familiarity there still that does tie them both together and allows the reader to revel in the continuity of story, even with all of the differences. It is wonderful, and I delighted in it. I am definitely looking forward to seeing how the third book continues this style.

I think for fans of fantasy this trilogy will be a must read. Even more so for readers who crave strong female characters--which are so sorely lacking in other forms of entertainment these days. Even better, if you are a fan of fantasy looking to convert a friend or loved one to the genre, this might be a great gateway series. It is fast-paced and so a quick read, and will only clock in at three books when done (Jemisin is already working on her next series which sounds equally intriguing). The setting, while not our "modern" world, is urban, and while still deliciously fantastic it is also amazingly familiar, something that I think will make this breed of fantasy more accessible to newcomers.

I don't want to give away too much of the story itself, because I would hate to spoil the joy of uncovering it on your own. But I can tell you that The Inheritance Trilogy is about gods. Actual living gods and their interactions with the mortals they created in the world they also created. It is also about family, in many different senses of the word. Another theme that runs through is facing one's past and confronting those things we thought we had left behind. Of course there is love in there as well--all kinds of love--and extremely well written. Even as these fantastic events, these impossible events, unfold before the reader's eyes, they are wholly believable.

So, for those of you looking for something interesting and entertaining and good to read? I cannot recommend N.K. Jemisin more highly.

I Think They Are Reproducing When I Am Not Looking

Yesterday I finished the second book in Fandemonium's Stargate Atlantis Legacy series. This is the series (I think it is planned to be six books, but I could totally be making that up) that sets out to provide answers to all of the questions left when Stargate Atlantis finished its five-season run on television. Without going into too much detail, I will say that so far it is completely AWESOME (I want Jo Graham to be involved with every Stargate Atlantis book that Fandemonium puts out going forward, seriously). If you are feeling the forthcoming lack of Stargate goodness, you should really check these books out.

After I finished the book, I put it on the bookshelf and then went to grab the next book in my reading pile. Ahh, my reading pile. After retrieving the next book to read, I went ahead and did something I have been meaning to do for a while now. I tackled the pile and gave it a good reorganizing.

It needed it.

I had been putting the books on a dresser in the bedroom in two vertical stacks (and one messy pile of comic books and graphic novels). These stacks were starting to get perilous though, and frequently I have found myself pushing books closer to the wall so as to prevent toppling. So yesterday I pulled everything off the dresser (then dusted because, um, yeah) and spread it all out and really took a look at what I had.

I sorted the books by priority, as in, which books I really wanted to read and in what order. This is harder than it sounds. For instance, the last four books are last not because I don't want to read them very much but because I will have to read the first three books in that particular series again before I can get to those four. Still, I think I managed a good queue. Then I put them back on the dresser in a much neater (and hopefully safer) fashion. They are now in three horizontal rows, with the ones I am most excited about in the front.

I have four books pre-ordered from Amazon right now (one of which will immediately go to the front of the queue when it gets here, the other three are of middling priority). I am going to try very hard to only purchase any new books in series that I am already reading for the rest of the year (i.e., Stargate books). Plus, every six weeks I get a new Stephen King book because I am totally doing the Stephen King book club thing. Some of these are just hardcover versions of books we already have in paperback and are upgrading, but those that aren't will go to on the pile in the back. I don't think there's any way for me to not continue adding to the pile. Me not buying any new books is not a thing that is going to happen. But hopefully I can stanch the flow until I get some of these knocked out.

Also, I have resolved to do a reorg after I finish a "row" to keep the pile from turning into a leaning tower of scary again. That just seems like a sensible idea.

This whole project has reminded me that I don't read anywhere near as much as I like to anymore. Sadly, I am pretty sure video games take the brunt of the blame for that. I am usually playing during the time that is most ideally suited for me to read. I think when I finish my current game sequence, I may need to take a break from video games again for a while and dive into the books. With the nicer weather coming on hopefully that won't be too difficult, since reading outside will have a decent appeal.

Right now my plan is to read the book I just started (another Stargate book, the last in my pile for the time being and a quick read) and then get to my huge pile of comic books and graphic novels:

My current pile of graphic novels and comic books to tackle.

Once I've survived that, it will be time to start climbing Everest.

The newly reorganized reading pile.

I am actually really excited about that first row! For the curious, here is what it contains:

Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik (part of the Temeraire series)
Blackveil by Kristen Britain (part of the Green Rider series)
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (book one of The Inheritance Trilogy)
The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (book two of The Inheritance Trilogy)
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Star Wars: Knight Errant by John Jackson Miller
Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit by Mercedes Lackey

So, yeah, good stuff all around.

Props to Scalzi

This week it was announced that the book Old Man's War by John Scalzi has been optioned for a movie. Yay for Scalzi!

What I love even more than the news that an awesome sci-fi book has been optioned to be made into a movie is the very upfront and realistic way in which Scalzi is discussing the news.

He is very calmly reminding his readers that the movie, while he has high hopes for it to be awesome, will most definitely not be the book. This is because in order for the story to make the move from printed page to silver screen, changes will have to be made. That is why when a book is made into a movie it is called an adaptation. Scalzi very calmly reminds his enthusiastic fans that even if the movie based on the book somehow goes wonky and is royally screwed up, it will in no way, shape, or form harm the original book, which already exists as it is and isn't going anywhere.

I give Scalzi two big thumbs way, way up for this.

So often when a group's favorite book gets translated into a movie, a big chunk of the audience will waste time and effort nitpicking all of the differences between the two, often lessening their enjoyment of the movie greatly, if not completely. I can admit I have been guilty of this myself a time or two, though I try really hard to judge a movie adaptation on how well the story is portrayed in this new medium, rather than the little details. Sure it is fabulous when the movie-makers get the little details just right, but let's face facts. Everyone who reads a book pictures the characters and events described within in their own unique way. When a screen-writer, director, and producer adapt a book to a movie, they are only showing us their unique vision of the author's text. It may not be the same as ours, but that doesn't mean it is automatically bad.

Sometimes authors don't help the cause by publicly lambasting the resulting movie. I would think it is safe to argue that in those cases, the author was usually shut out of the creative process while the movie was being made. When the author doesn't decry the movie we see on our screens, that probably means that they were at least engaged by the screen-writer/producer/director's interpretation of their story, even if it isn't necessarily what the base audience was expecting. Sometimes that can lead to some very interesting results.

For example, Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Did you know it was not originally a book, but in fact first appeared as a radio play aired by the BBC? Yup. I am lucky enough to have copies of that original series, and I can tell you it is very, very different from the book of the same name that Adams subsequently published. I love them both though. The spirit of the story and of the main characters was very much the same in both versions, to be true. Some of the events were slightly different, sure, but that was because Adams really got what I am trying to say here. Different mediums lend themselves to different stories. Sometimes you can do things in one that aren't feasible in the other. The more recent movie of the same name was also very different from the book and the radio series, but I still love it. Adams worked with the movie's creators until his death, and they were dedicated to making sure the finished product was something he would have approved of. Knowing that, and keeping in mind the fact that Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a track record as a fluid story, flowing from medium to medium and shaping itself to fill each new cup specifically, allowed me to keep a more open mind than at any other movie based on a book I have ever seen.

It's so easy to get upset when your favorite part of a book gets left out of the movie, or worse, included but changed in a way that you don't care for. But movie-makers aren't going to stop adapting books to film any time soon. To be honest with you, I'd rather they do that than make another Saw film, or another remake of a movie that only came out ten years ago. So I am going to do my best going forward to keep Scalzi's words in mind whenever I go to see a movie adapted from a book that I love. I urge you to do the same.

Besides, there's always the chance that the next film will get it just right, and that's worth the risk of a shaky adaptation in my books.

Happy weekend folks, and don't forget to check out today's new Gronk, all about the perils of board games!

Getting Past the Knee-Jerk Reaction

So, a few days ago I stumbled across this quick little post on io9.  It is just a little blurb announcing that the forthcoming fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series will not, in fact, be the last movie in the franchise.  Seems like Disney is gearing up to make a fifth and a sixth film as well, which it is looking to film simultaneously and then release as two films, similar to what it did with films two and three.

My instant, automatic, knee-jerk reaction to this news was "Oh God, why?"  But then something funny happened.  I started actually thinking about it and realized that, you know what, I am actually okay with this.  I love all three of the Pirates movies that we've had so far.  I am truly really looking forward to the fourth one.  I mean, come on, they're big epic set pieces with pretty boats and fantastic costumes.  Johnny Depp says and does many bizarre and often humorous things.  Orlando Bloom is pretty when he channels Errol Flynn.  I actually like Kiera Knightly, though I am not sure why.  Jack Davenport is all kinds of crazy awesome.  Plus, it's historical fiction, which I love.  Also, pirates.

Clearly, I am not alone in this, and there are many like-minded individuals out there, or Disney wouldn't be bothering.  These movies aren't exactly cheap to make.  I am not going to complain.  As long as these movies continue to entertain me, I will continue to go see them.  People who have not been entertained by previous films in the franchise, and expect to not be entertained by future films in the franchise should not go see them.  When people like that start to outnumber people like me, it seems pretty self-explanatory that Disney will stop making these movies. 

But that's not really the point of this post.  The internet is already undergoing a mild explosion at the news (heck, just check the comments thread on the post I linked to above for all of the negativity spewing forth from people who had the same knee-jerk reaction I initially had).  I will leave that be.  There's nothing I can do or say to stop it, so it seems silly to comment further on it.

Why do we, the public, get so darn offended when one movie turns into two, or three, or more?

Seriously, give it a moment to kick around in your brain.  These days, whenever a sequel is made, unless it is an adaptation of, say, a preexisting book series where we know we've signed on for several films to tell the story, there is almost always a huge public cry of indignation and outrage.  Sure, it is likely that a continuation of a story may be unnecessary, but unnecessary doesn't always equal bad.  Just because one story in a particular world was told satisfactorily, that doesn't mean that there aren't more stories from that world to be told.

These are the main objections I tend to see to the continuation of a movie franchise:

1)  The studio is just trying to milk as much money out of us as possible!

Well, duh.  I am completely over this complaint.  I am sick of it.  Done.  The movie industry is just that, an industry.  It is completely, utterly, and totally about making money.  They are trying to sell a product that they think we, the public, not only want, but will give them money to see.  Every once in a while, a big budget film is made that turns out to be art, but that really isn't the goal.  When it happens, it is an unexpected, if delightful, side-effect, but side-effect it is.  If you want to see art when you go to the movies, move to a town where you have access to an arthouse cinema.  Otherwise, understand that what you are getting when you go to see a movie is a product, designed to be sold to the masses.

If enough people enjoyed the original film, there's a good possibility there is a market for more in that franchise.  Sometimes, a story for a completely new and spectacular thing gets pitched, and the studio loves it but isn't sure that we'll bite.  But they look at it and think that it might work as a story set in an existing franchise, and so it gets made as a sequel instead of its own story.  Yeah, okay, this is a little insulting.  But apparently the studios are scared to make movies these days if they aren't 100% sure they will sell.  Nine times out of ten, that means they are going with the known quantity over the unknown.  It sucks, but it is the system.  You know it is the system.  If you keep supporting that system by going to see the stuff that they give you, then your soapbox for this particular issue is pretty much nonexistent.  There are two ways to fight the system:  Don't go see the big-budgeted mass-market films you think are crap, and do everything you can to support the unique, independent, truly different films that do manage to get made.  Griping on the internet is gonna do diddly squat though.

2)  This just shows that there are no original ideas left in Hollywood anymore!

Okay, look. I am not going to deny the veracity of that statement.  But if my choices are a new story set in an existing franchise or a remake of a movie that I still clearly remember seeing in theaters at some point in my lifetime (dude, I'm only 30, that's not a huge catalog), well, I am definitely going to take the former.  I can get behind extending one movie into a series of movies.  The remakes still give me the heebie jeebies unless they are done well and a significant period of time has passed between the original and the new one.  Very very few remakes fall into either one of those categories, and so, I don't go see them unless I have a compelling reason to do otherwise.

Also, as I noted above, there are plenty of "new" story ideas being pitched all of the time, it's just that right now new=scary to movie studio execs, so those movies are not getting made.  This is sad, but unlikely to change in the current economy.  Also, honestly, there really are very few actual new ideas left on this earth.  We as a species have been telling each other stories for thousands of years now.  At this point, we're just getting variations on a theme.  What we're asking for when we want "new" movies is a really cool variation that is unlike those that have come before. 

If I would be forced to answer my own question, I would say that the reason people get so upset about a movie becoming a franchise is that a) the follow-up movies aren't any good, and b) the follow-up movies somehow diminish their enjoyment of the first.

Granted, often, the first part of this claim is right.  Just because Hollywood is embracing the idea of series over one-shots doesn't mean they have actually figured out how to pull it off.  If you didn't like the sequel to a beloved movie, I can see being irritated that you wasted your money on seeing it in theaters.  But...that's not the kind of grudge a person really needs to hold on to for more than a day or so, is it?  After that, your trust has been lost.  There's no point in getting angry about future movies in the franchise.  Just don't go see them.  Then the only thing about those you have to worry about is the marketing campaign, which, honestly, should be pretty easy to ignore assuming you are capable of turning off your television/radio, changing the channel, not surfing a website you know will be taking about the movie, deciding not to look at a billboard or other print ad, etc.

The second part of that answer, though, that's just bull.  I am sorry, but if you liked the first movie, you liked it.  The second, third, whatever movies in that franchise are separate entities.  You can completely ignore the fact that they exist and just watch the first one over and over at your leisure.  If seeing the second one points out huge plot holes you didn't know existed in the first one, well, that sucks, but those plot holes were still there when you watched the movie and liked it the first time around.  Chances are you would have noticed them eventually.  I know I've addressed this specific topic before, about a sequel's actual inability to lessen your enjoyment of whatever it is a sequel to, so I won't get into it too much here.  It just baffles and saddens me, and I think people who use this as an excuse are just looking for a reason to be angry.  And honestly, if that's the case, that's a whole different set of problems that need to be addressed.  Let's not blame the movies, okay?

What strikes me as so odd about this regular reaction to a movie turning into a series of movies is that it is pretty much the exact opposite of the way things work in the book world.  There are plenty of stand-alone one-shot books out there, certainly.  But there are tons of series, and no one seems to bat an eye if one book turns into a trilogy or if a planned trilogy turns into an eight book run.  People often, in fact, seem to beg for them to do so. 

Maybe this is just me, and maybe this is why I have less of a problem with the movie conundrum than others, but I love book series.  Most of the books I read are series.  Sure, a one-shot or even a trilogy is easier to get into further on down the line, and with an extended series, you run the risk of never finding out how the story ends.  But with the really good series, each book is a stand-alone tale.  There should be an overarching story arc, sure (one that lasts for just a few books or for the entire series), and the stories should all be about the same person/group of people or at least set in the same universe.  This way they can tie together and fit under the umbrella of a series.  I think what I enjoy most about these is that when I pick up a new book in a series I am already invested in the world I am diving into.  There is less for me to figure out, and so I can enjoy the details more and jump right into the action of the story.  I don't have to wonder why this character is doing X while that one is doing Y, because that is just how I would expect those people to behave.  It is lovely.  Upon reflection, I am sure this is why I have gotten so much more into television series than movies over the last few years. I don't think it is a bad thing for movies to take advantage of this formula. 

I guess maybe the better question here would be:  Why do people get so emotionally involved in movies that they let themselves get so worked up about more of the same being made?  I mean, really, if a movie comes out that you don't want to see, don't get mad that it got made instead of, possibly, something that you did want to see.  Just don't go see it.  Instead, go watch the movie you did enjoy again.  Or pick up a book, or watch a television show.  Heck, go for a walk outside and enjoy reality for a bit.  There's plenty of originality there, I guarantee you.

Me, well, now that I've realized I have this knee-jerk reaction, I know that I need to work on getting past it.  If enough of us can do that, then I think the world will be a much better place.  Full of loads of second-rate movie sequels and series, maybe, but also full of happier people.  I'll take the first any day if it means I can have the second.