Category: Books

We are reading Harry Potter. We are on book 4.

The nurse, Madam Pomfrey, is able to LITERALLY grow bones back in people’s bodies, yet Harry Potter hasn’t once asked to have his eyesight corrected. Glasses fogging up during Quiddich? Let’s just use a quick ever-clear spell on the glass. Ahh perfect, this makes much more sense than chanting “opiticaperfect!” and granting the most critical player on the team Eagle vision.

Come on people! Get your magic on!

In a fantasy/science fiction book it’s usually breaks in logic and common sense that bother me more than disobeying the laws of the universe.

Stranger in a Strange Land?

I couldn’t finish it. The book had an enjoyable concept but its dated writing style lost favor with me very quickly. Honestly, I’m stunned that it’s considered highly on sci-fi book ratings lists.

I have since picked up Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, written in 1974. The narrative prose still feels fresh. It’s poetic and interesting.

Why do some books like Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) age while others are still so vibrant (Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Dune (1965)) ? I wonder if it’s personal taste or something that’s embedded in the styles of writing.

I haven’t a clue, but I’m glad to have found an enjoyable read.

This week, during our carpool to work, NPR was talking about banned books.

Sander: “I agree that some books should be banned.”

Mike D: “…”

Sander: “For example: all those books that they make you read in high school. I think Ethan Frome should be banned. Literacy would skyrocket by 80% if that no one had to read Ethan Frome.”

Mike D: “ha! That is actually an excellent example. I hated that book. Though I don’t remember much about it. Something about a sled accident.”

Sander: “A guy is sad in the winter for 230 pages.”

This weekend Jen and I swung through the local Library to grab some fall reading material. I tend to switch back and forth between science fiction/fantasy and non-fiction. And since my most recent book was all about the design and construction of Brunelleschi’s dome in Florence, it was time for me to blissfully surrender to fiction literature.

But I needed a recommendation. So I decided to start crawling through the unread books on this NPR ‘your choice’ list.

Here’s the start of the list:

NOTE: the formatting is way easier to read if you open the ‘read more’ link below.

Lord of the Rings: Yes
Hitchikers Guide: Nope
Ender’s Game: Yup
Dune: Yes
A song of Ice and Fire: Negative
1984: Yes
FahrenHeit 451: No
Foundation Trilogy: Yes
Brave New World: Yup
American Gods: Yes (didn’t like it)
Princess Bride: Saw the Movie – didn’t know it was a book
Wheel of Time: No.
Animal Farm: Surprisingly not
Neuromancer: nope
Watchmen: yes
iRobot: yes
Stranger in a strange land: Reading it now!!
Kingkiller Chronicles: Yes

and then after these first 18, with the exception of Stardust and the Time Traveler’s Wife, I haven’t read any! That gives me a paltry record of: 13 out of 100. 13%… Terrible.

What’s your science fantasy literacy rate?