Books I Still Need to Read

I'm reading much slower than I used to read so I've decided to record my wish list of books to here so I can remember and anyone interested can know what I'll be reading:

Snuff by Terry Pratchett
I am currently working on this book and about halfway through if not a little more.







The Fault in Our Stars by John Green






Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan








Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory







Mastiff by Tamora Pierce







The Goblin War by Hilari Bell







Triumph by Carolyn Jessop







Changes by Mercedes Lackey

A Good Book

Today I finished reading I Shall Wear Midnight. I won't review it before the rest of you unfortunate souls have a chance to read it. Of course, be sure to read The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, and Wintersmith first. I will say that it's an excellent book (of course, how could it not be?). I was relieved to read it because it's been a while since I've read a book of its quality. The type of book that reminds me why I love books. But more importantly the type of book that can rescue you from darkness and help you see the world in a different light. A good book is beyond precious because it's what makes you understand what precious is.

On a writing news note I've decided to reintegrate my Twitter into my blog because that's where I'm giving my writing updates. See the side-bar.

BEST THING EVAH!

So I arrive home today to the world's best delivery. The new Terry Pratchett book. That's right. Because I went to the American Library Association's conference I get this book not only for free but EARLY before the rest of you suckers! Okay, fine, I'm probably the biggest Pratchett fan of my blog audience so the rest of you aren't nearly as envious as you should be.

How America Protects Us From British Grammar

I've preferred British authors all my life. If you asked me to name my favorite authors, there would inevitably be more British than American in the mix. This means I've often considered myself to be quite savvy when it comes to distinctive British slang. Heck, I even had some articles published in an incredibly small British magazine. Seriously small. Like I may be the only one to still own copies.

I roll my eyes when American publishers change British book titles like Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Philip Pullman's Northern Lights. It annoys me when they take the extra British u's out of words as if our American brains will melt upon seeing them. Who doesn't already know that they have an excess of u's across the pond?

Yet, somehow, I had never known of the difference in British quotation marks. It seems that, instead of quotation marks, the Brits use what look like apostrophes but are actually what they call inverted commas. This had entirely escaped me until I was recently reading the newest book, Unseen Academicals, by my favorite author, Terry Pratchett, and noticed that all the dialogue only used single quotation marks. My brain started to slowly melt with the consistency of what I perceived as a grotesquely glaring error. All the dialogue was barely protected from the surrounding words, crouching half-naked inside these inadequate half quotation marks! Was it a mistake? Was it some literary metaphor that I wasn't clever enough to grasp? Or was it a secret message from Pratchett telling us that the apocalypse would be brought by an excess of apostrophes? The mystery was just as bad as how much the apostrophe overload was making my eyes water.

But, finally, I can breathe easy again knowing that, while it is still a mistake for the American edition to have inverted commas, it's not a mistake on the author's part (thinking of Terry Pratchett as less than infallible was also quite difficult for me). For once something distinctly British just completely skipped past the censors, and I learned something new. I'll never give up my love for the full bosom of the American quotation marks. However, knowing that a whole country of people apparently read these flat-chested little dialogue markers every day with no ill effects, aside from a propensity to produce great literature, will help me immensely in making it through this otherwise brilliant book.

For Adults

Though I'm of the opinion that stuff that's inappropriate for children is often not understood by them. So mostly, it's just funnier for adults.

I quite liked this joke but I was a little surprised as it's more explicit than any of Pratchett's actual writing.

Nation

I figure I should review this book before I forget about it. So I finished this book a few days ago. I was slow to get around to it even though I love Terry Pratchett because it wasn't Discworld and I had been told it was a little dark. Sometimes I don't mind dark, but I hadn't been in the mood for it. Still, I knew the darkest Pratchett would have humor and light, so I finally went for it.

I'm glad I did.

First I'll give a run through of the story and what I thought without spoilers. And then I'll do a spoilers version.

NO spoilers or tree-octopi

In a parallel world much like Earth, a terrible plague hits 19th century England, killing the king (along with 138 of his successors). While they race to crown the next king before any other country can lay claim to their throne, halfway across the world, a tsunami strikes a small island, known to the inhabitants as Nation. Only one boy is left alive on his once thriving island, and he must pick up the pieces of his destroyed world while fate ties these two seemingly unrelated disasters and shows how sometimes you can go so far from home that you come back again.

SPOILERS and tree-octopi

I won't lie, some of the darkness I had been trying to avoid in this book scratched open fresh wounds. But in the end I think it helped me a lot to think about life and loss. At the same time there were still parts that made me laugh or smile. My favorite humorous line was "It was like a Jane Austen novel with less clothes."

Despite the incredible circumstances of the story, I found the main characters to be very real and human. Mau, is just about to attend the ceremony to make him a man when the wave hits and everyone he has ever known or loved dies. I deeply admired his spirit as he pulled himself out of grief and fought many real and metaphorical (often both) battles with the god of death, Locaha. His cry of "Does not happen!" embodied his determination and strong will. At the same time, he is a boy who was never proclaimed a man and he's haunted (literally) by the voices of his granfathers. I might not have suffered nearly as much as Mau, but I could relate to his feelings of loss. And what recent graduate into this economy doesn't feel a bit lost at sea? Mau did all the things required of him to become a man, but when he returned home, there was no one to declare him one. A bit like having the degree but not yet achieving the profession.

I also understood Emintrude (Daphne) reinventing herself after she is shipwrecked on the island. For Mau she's a reason to stay alive, a pale-skinned "ghost girl." It's an irresistable romantic set-up (hence the above mentioned Austen reference), except that I knew Pratchett too well to have high hopes of anything coming of it. Still, Daphne is much more compelling as an individual character than a romantic interest. Plus they're both probably only about thirteen. So I respected Pratchett's decision even if I was a bit disappointed by it.

Oh, and there weren't nearly enough tree-octopi. You can't just have tree-octopi and not use them. One of them should have eaten at least one mutineer. Some cute little pet in the epilogue doesn't count. I want blood!

At the same time, aside from the failure of the romance (and lack of lethal tree-octopi action), the ending was entirely satisfying to me. The going far enough to come home again is a beautiful concept, but despite being home again, I feel I haven't yet done the journey to earn it. That image only made me feel that I have so much farther to go. Instead, what really spoke to me about the ending was that it essentially said the world can seem to end. But life still goes on.