Greg Bear
Chloe Hooper
I think I should have read this alone, in one sitting, with a cat on my lap. It's a deep, dark book full of feminine imagery and imgination. I should have loved it. As it was, I read it between bouts of work and only in short grabs of time, and it proved confusing as hell. Hooper's story explores themes of giving up the sexual ambiguity and "innocence" of childhood, specifically dealing with perceptions of violence and death, desire, love and honor and the various roles sex and imagination play in supposed adulthood. She paints this all on the backdrop of a true-crime murder story, in which she juxtaposes her own situation with her imaginary versions of events, and then how a child's book would present it, deepend with all the above themes. Again, it is an amazing book. I just didn't like it this time 'round.
Robert Zelazny
This is an excellent example of a series novel meant for the short attention span of the average fantasy / sci-fi enthusiast. It hints at a greater depth of storytelling, creativity and personality, but seems content to deliver a series of episodes strung together with no real sense of pacing, crisis or denoument. It is comfortably predictable, easily consumable and generally imaginative. I can see why creative individuals spun it off into fascinating role-playing game and unique system, but I don't see how it could have done so on it's own merits. I may pick up a few of the other titles from the series (I began with the second book and may want to scrounge up the first one at least,) if I remember to.
C. S. Lewis
I was thrilled when I found a paperback copy of this classic, in the same edition I read as a child (not pictured, as Icould not find online image of old cover art.) It was this book that introduced me to a love of fantasy and the depths of the library at my old elementary school. That eventually struck a rebellious chord in me at my new school, scoffing at the meager library offerings and the pointed indication that fantasy was of the devil and would not be welcomed at the cult ... I mean church. This is a wonderful story, told in sparkling and loving detail, in a strong voice that would not hold with today's need to homogenize children's literature. There is war and death and hate in Narnia, and we hear all about it while still maintaining a level for children to enjoy. C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien were contemporaries and friends, and one can easily tell the influence of each the other to his art.
Robert Heinlein
Monotonous. Offensive. Unintelligible. In that it reminds me of a Laurell K. Hamilton novel. At least in her smut there are vampires and werewolves cavorting about. In this book it's an elderly man in the body of his nubile secretary, chanting and playing grab-ass with his nurse, doctor and aged lawyer. The internal dialogue gimmick stales before it matures into something interesting, and dies a confusing death near the (blessed) end of the book. Feminism has taken bounding leaps in language and usage since the writing of this book, which I am only assuming is a product of it's long-passed times.
Amy Tan
This is my second read of Amy Tan's first book. As a longtime fan or her work, I found that her later books are able to exploit the emotional resonance of her style and gimmickry of her storytelling that is introduced to us in The Joy Luck Club. She tells eight stories with two or three vignettes apiece in the space of a compact 1980's novel. While this does not provide adequate exploration of each woman, (sadly easy to confuse with each other given the unfamilar names) it does allow her to sneak in her surprises while underscoring the depths of emotion; maternal love and regret. It is not a comfortable concept, but a beautiful one in her voice.
Puzzling and Improbable Questions and Answers
Bill McLain
I think the most entertaining part about reading this book was that Branden had just finished reading it as well. Thus that in random conversation, we would drop these interesting tidbits and trivia, and then attempt to out-do one another with our eccentric knowledge. This book is useful for cursory examinations of unknown and unlikely facts, but as such does not delve into further detail or discussion. Some websites are cited, but also in generalized fashion. It is worth the read, but for those looking to slueth into greater understanding, it can be frustrating.
Ximenez Gallardo C. and C. Jason Smith
My first read of 2005, I devoured this at work in the week and a half after Christmas. A feminist reading of the Aliens films with a sense of loving fandom within the tracings, this book reminds me of the kind of heated conversations I've had with overly educated fans in college, just without the dorm room backdrop. I've always enjoyed diving headlong into thematic readings of my favorite films. Expereincing a movie or other performance is a personal experience and I greatly enjoy seeing through someone else's eyes. In this case, two sci-fi fans who can get past their dislike of a movie to find their own themes underneath. (Mostly involving vaginas.)