Reading Highlights of 2009

I read a lot. My entertainment time is dedicated to reading. I watch almost no television. I seldom play computer games, just a few ancient ones now and then. It has been well over a year since I've watched a movie. My primary use for the Net is to find things to read (and occasional T&A). Furthermore, I'm omnivorous in my reading. I believe even honest crap (as opposed to bullshit) has interesting things to say about humanity and that so-called Great Books are often pernicious nonsense (often, certainly not always).

The second half of this year, I made the conscious decision to read more books (including digital books) and fewer articles. Consequently, I will easily average more than one book read per week this year. There are tradeoffs in this decision. Reading fewer articles implies less knowledge of current events. Books, on the other hand, provide more context, but it's easier for me, at least, to wallow in light fiction without really intending to do so. Light fiction isn't bad; it is a window into popular consciousness, but a steady diet of it tends to become somewhat nauseating, analogous to eating too much sugar.

The fiction book of the year is Jonathan Strange & Mr Morrell by Susanna Clarke. This is what literary fantastic fiction should be. To hell with the "magical realists." If you like fantasy at all and haven't yet given it a try, I urge you to do so.

The most delightful book of the year is Life With Father by Clarence Day Jr. It's a memoir about the author's parents, especially his eccentric father. Most of the stories in the book take place near the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. Besides being one of the funniest things I have ever read, it is informative about life in the upper middle class of that era. I give it my highest recommendation. (It can be found online at the Project Gutenberg Australia site.)

The most enlightening book of the year is The 10,000 Year Explosion by Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending. It makes a strong argument that not only is human evolution ongoing, it has greatly accelerated since the invention of agriculture. If you want to understand what is going on with the human race, you need to understand the information in this book.

The most disappointing novel of the year is The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton. I suspect that the book makes sense if one can crack the code of the symbolism, but I couldn't, so it made little sense to me. I suppose I failed because Chesterton was a Catholic apologist and I'm not religious. I find symbolism enriching if it fits the context and is also meaningful on a mundane level, but the symbols in this book had to carry most of the weight of the narrative. Ultimately, I found the novel annoying and over the top. (It is easily available online.)

The most disappointing nonfiction of the year is Greek Religion by Walter Burkert. The subject has interested me since sixth grade, on and off, and the information in the book wasn't disappointing. Much of it was new, and the book provided deeper context for things I had already known. Burkert, furthermore, appears to be the living expert on the subject. The writing itself, though, was dry and difficult. (The book is a translation, so it might not be all Burkert's fault.) A glossary of persons and of the many Greek terms he throws around would have made the reader's task much easier, too. I can only recommend the book to those with a large amount of background knowledge or who are willing to work hard. Google and Wikipedia, most likely, will be your friends if you tackle this one.

The best long Web fiction of 2009 are the continuing serial Tales of MU by Alexandra Erin and the ongoing series of novels about newly teenaged Bec by the pseudonymous BarBar. Both projects have been going on for multiple years. Also recommended is the written "television series" Shadow Unit. (In reality, it's a series of novellas or novelettes.) The project is led by Emma Bull and Elizabeth Bear, two fairly well known names in speculative fiction.

Finally, the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris and the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich are both a lot of fun. I prefer the Sookie Stackhouse books. I like the protagonist and the genre better. Ms. Stackhouse works at her full capacity more often than does Ms. Plum, so she is a more engaging character. The Stephanie Plum novels are more comedy oriented, if one is looking for a laugh.

Recommended Reading: William Poundstone

I've just found this blog owned by William Poundstone. He's one of my favorite nonfiction writers. I've read eight-and-a-half of his eleven books (I'm in the middle of reading one), and all of them have been good. He writes a lot about the implications of mathematical ideas, but it's in an entertaining way, not dry at all. He also likes uncovering inside information (secrets).

Recommended Reading: Life With Father by Clarence Day

Find it here. Laugh a lot.

Recommended Reading: His Dark Materials

I finally got around to reading the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. It was marketed as "young adult" literature--a marketing category to which I have never paid attention--so I didn't hear about it when it first came out. When I did hear about it, I was in no great rush to read it, but I eventually saw it being sold at a discount, picked it up on a whim, and added it to the to-read pile.

Now I have read it. If I hadn't known it was marketed for kids, I never would have guessed. It doesn't much read like books for kids, other than the most important characters being young. Furthermore, I'm surprised that the publishers chose to market the trilogy to children. The subject matter is heavy, and the message is strongly anti-religion.

Anyway, Pullman is inventive, and the narrative is absorbing. The third volume, The Amber Spyglass, doesn't tie everything together as tightly as I would have preferred, and I'm not convinced that some of Pullman's narrative choices were necessary, but the books are nevertheless excellent. To my taste, they are far better and more creative than Harry Potter, which I suppose, in its later volumes at least, is the most obvious fantasy series for comparison. (The Narnia books might be an even more natural comparison, but I haven't read them.)

Christians of a more dogmatic sort probably should avoid the trilogy. It will upset them. Also, despite the marketing, I would hesitate to give it to anyone under fifteen or so, and only to someone that young if they are relatively well read. Pullman draws upon Christian texts considered as mythology, Christian apocrypha, Greek and Roman mythology, Gnosticism, animism, archaeology, anthropology, modern physics, and no doubt stuff that I failed to recognize. Therefore, much in the books will be over the head of someone who has not done a lot of reading. For people who are familiar with most of the stuff in the preceding list, or have picked it up indirectly by reading the canon of fantasy literature, I recommend the trilogy highly.

Progress Report and Recommended Reading

I have about a thousand words of Chapter 10 written. I don't know when it will be finished, but at least I've started to make some progress again.

If you are looking for something to read, Emma Bull is leading an interesting Web project here. I've read four of Ms. Bull's novels, plus one more she wrote with Steven Brust, and I enjoyed them all. The writing on Shadow Unit isn't as polished, but it's entertaining nevertheless.

Bec by BarBar

I don't think I've recommended this yet: Bec by BarBar is webfiction of the highest quality. BarBar is one of the Web authors who is writing at a nearly professional level of competence. Actually, I've read conventionally published fiction that was much worse.

The novel is about an unusual adolescent girl, a protagonist that I doubt would put off anyone who has been reading my serials. The story is non-fantasy, but the title character is interestingly weird. So is her mother. Highly recommended.

The site linked is Storiesonline, and they publish some stuff that is frankly pornographic, so you might want to take that into consideration if you read at work. Storiesonline demands registration from their readers, but they've never spammed me. I suspect they do it as a form of self-defense, because of some of the material they have.

Bec itself, in my estimation, is probably suited for a teen audience and older. The sexual content is very mild.

Gunnerkrigg Court

Gunnerkrigg Court is not bad at all. I've read that Neil Gaiman likes it.

Good Essay

Distributism vs. Redistributism--good little essay by Dr. Pournelle, something to think about.

Two Things Worth Reading

Magic by Lazlo Zalezac isn't finished yet, but it is funny and well written. It's on the Storiesonline site, so you might need to take care if you read at work.

Evo and Proud is an anthropology blog worth going back and reading from the beginning if human nature interests you. In fact, reading from the beginning is the best way to use the site; the knowledge builds.

The Secret Commonwealth

Hardcore fantasy readers might find The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies by Robert Kirk and Andrew Lang to be interesting reading. Lang, a nineteenth-century folklorist, had printed and wrote a long introduction to a seventeenth-century manuscript by Kirk.

Both parts are worth reading if you like the topic. The language is old, and by our standards the spelling is eccentric, but you will see where this little book has had an influence on contemporary fantasy. Definitely read the footnotes and make free use of Google.

A Change in the Weather

I've finally read the entire archive of A Change in the Weather. It's good stuff.