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Posted by Christopher Waldrop
September 5, 2008 |
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It was a time of changes and endings, when what had been green turned red and brown, and what had been blue turned gray–a sad time, because there was no more summer.
–from Oscar Lobster’s Fair Exchange, by George Selden
I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to the Second Annual Just Write Summer Reading Contest, and, if you didn’t contribute, well, there’s always next year. This year was a nicely mixed bag.
James says,
I just finished Armageddon’s Children by Terry Brooks. OK, I admit I am biased and will also say now that if you have read his The Word and the Void, and Shannara series you will get a lot more out of this book in the way of plot. But on its own the book shows just how great a writer of modern fantasy Brooks is. From the opening scenes you are filled with a sense of impending terror and through the first half of the book you are firmly planted into this doomed landscape, bewildered if there is hope. Just when you begin to believe that there is no mercy in sight, a chapter changes and you are introduced to the one race of beings that may just save the day. Brooks lifts you at this point and gives you a sense that all is not lost. Then the fight back begins. The characters are well developed and intricately researched. You get to know these people deeply and you are frightened for them, relieved for them and feel their joy and pain. Armageddon’s Children is the first of three books. The second has already been published while the third is due out this summer. So if you are hooked you will be able to get the other two in the series to finish off the adventure. So if you are looking for some escapism, albeit in a dark time in human existence, and need it to be well written, descriptive with deep characters, this is the book for you.
Heather, also known as Little Miss Know It All to those who are familiar with her blogs on politics and stockpiling and coupons, says,
Right now I’m reading Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife, my 
attempt at finding good summer fiction. Well, its very trashy at the beginning, and I wasn’t quite sure I was going to make it through all of that. But as you get to the second half it really improves. I love reading more about how my favorite characters turned out, more social comment in the mark of Austen. however, I’m not sure Austen would have approved of all the sex. 
[Or maybe she would.--CW]
I’ve also been reading Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner, a good story of four new moms and life after birth. Not bad, but definitely a light summer read.
Last, my favorite, I’ve been re-reading The Time Traveller’s Wife, an excellent book that I would recommend to anyone!
And last but not least, reader Joell comes through with some seriously cool sounding graphic novels:
I’m actually recommending two books. The one I just finished is called An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil, by Jim Munroe. I picked it up at Wiscon at least 2 years ago, and then this past May talked to Munroe for a while at the launch party for his latest book, the graphic novel Therefore, Repent! After reading the comic, I was so taken by Munroe’s work that I went back to my shelf and found Opening Act and devoured it too. Therefore, Repent! is a graphic novel about the rapture, and what might happen after. An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil is about two friends, one of whom is a demon-worshipper. When the other discovers this, she thinks the rituals would make a great performance art piece for a gallery opening, and of course things escalate from there. The thing that is great about both books is that what they are really about is the way we create our own realities with the narratives we make up to explain what’s going on around us. Both books end with completely unexpected revelations, and while the characters deal with 
the ways that their expectations have been disrupted, the same thing happens to us as readers.
Munroe is really cool guy, whose first book, Flyboy Action Figure Comes with Gas Mask, was published by Harper Collins. Then he decided to walk away from large scale commercial publishing and build his own indie publisher, No Media Kings. Obviously, more than just his books are about challenging the accepted, traditional narratives.
So that’s two of the books I read this summer, and both of them were waaaay more fun than the two books on African libraries that I read for my global libraries class.
Thanks everyone for the eclectic mix. And now the hat can be put away for another year and I’m off to do some reading.
Comments
Some cool selections. I want to check out therefore repent.