Book Reviews for October

I'm flooding the blogosphere with posts today, but hopefully no one's getting irritated at my sudden talkativeness yet. I would have put this off a day or two in interest of nice post spacing, but then I figured that it'd probably be best to post my Book Reviews for October before November is over, so here you go!

How to Train Your Dragon, by Cressida Cowell
I nearly chose this to be my Book of the Month. I knew nothing about this book series before I heard of the movie adaptation that came out earlier this year, and then I didn't even want to watch the movie. I ultimately did, however, and what a glorious surprise it was. "How to Train Your Dragon", the movie, is now one of my favorite films ever. That being said, even though I loved the film, I had read that it was basically nothing like the book it's 'based' upon, so I was not interested in reading the book at all either. When my younger sister got it for her birthday, however, I caved and decided to give it a try. The result? I know can proudly say I love both the book and the film. Yes, they are very different, but each is unexpectedly moving and funny in their own way. I strongly recommend this book. The author's writing style is very refreshing--witty, surprisingly poignant at times, and never dumbed down for children in the way that so many kids' books are nowadays. There's a smattering of crude juvenile humor in it which I could have done without, but overall it was such an unexpectedly delightful read, I loved it anyway. There are moments of real beauty here, and I'm interested in reading more of the series now.

The Road to Civil War, by Brian Michael Bendis
My brother is very fond of graphic novels and even attempting to start his own webcomic. He's also a big fan of Marvel, and so he borrowed this from the library. I read it just because . . . eh, because I'll read pretty much anything as long as it's within grabbing distance. I am not well-versed in the ways of comic books, so I can't really compare this with any others, but I did enjoy it. There was a lot going on in the storyline, the art was mostly excellent, and there were some moments that made me chuckle aloud. Pacing was very good, and the script was stellar. It made for an entertaining half-hour or so of reading and looking at the pictures.

Flashforward, by Robert J. Sawyer
I'm a dabbler in science-fiction. If it gets too science-y, I lose interest. If it gets too silly, I lose interest because I can't believe in it any more. For me, the characters should always be the focal point of the story. So at first this seemed like a real winner to me: a story about a fascinatingly novel concept, with strong, sympathetic characters and a clever mind game running throughout the book. You might know the general premise from the television show which was loosely inspired by this book (the two are not much alike at all): During a science experiment the entire planet loses consciousness for a few minutes, everyone's collective consciousness leaping forward in time a few decades. When people return to the present, all sorts of scientific, sociological, and philosophical ramifications occur. All this was brilliantly entertaining, but then I felt the story fell apart in the last few chapters. I find this happens to most science-fiction books I read: they are let-downs at the ending either because the plot is suddenly vapid without the science, or the science flat without the plot. This was the latter, and what a shame it was. I cared intensely about the characters at the beginning of the book, but by the end I didn't care about them at all. Still, if you are a fan of science-fiction you might enjoy this book. It does contain scatterings of sexual content and language, so be warned.

Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon
This book hurt me more than any other I read during October. There was so much going for it--a historical time-traveling story going from post-WWII England to 1800's Scotland? YES PLEASE!--and so much research was obviously done, and so many characters were almost interesting--but Gabaldon absolutely butchers it. In the end the plot is just an excuse to write about graphic sex practialy every few pages, and that was such a heartbreaker for me because the book could have been wonderful. I have absolutely no desire to read this book again, nor any other part of the series. How sad.

The Widow and the King, by John Dickenson
This is a difficult book to review. The imagery and style are generally beautiful, a little reminiscent of Ursula K LeGuin and Madeline L'Engle, but distinct from each, and there were many elements to the story itself that I liked a lot. The story, however, flowed instead of progressing, so despite a large variety of characters I was interested in and liked, I ended the story feeling like I had been cheated out of knowing them better, as the author never really delves into any one deep enough, instead spreading himself too thin between them all. The story skips from person to person without letting you know how big a role each person will have, which is ain interesting narrative experiment but in the end just made for uncomfortable reading, as I couldn't tell who to form an emotional attachment to. Also there was a major character I simply couldn't care for until the last few chapters of the book, and a minor character that flitted on the edge of being major the entire book who I really liked and was frustrated by how his role in the story ultimately played out. Some serious editing and tightening of the story wuold have made this book amazing; as it is, I recommend it and am interested in reading the author's other book, but am still sad that it was not anywhere near as good as it should have been.

The American Revolution, by Bruce Lancaster
A history book is my Book of the Month! Who'd have thought it? But it's true! If you are interested in learning about the American Revolution at all, please read this book. It's an absolute gem and definitely one of the best history books I've ever read. Very clear to understand, solidly researched, and it manages to draw forth emotion from the reader, to make the reader invest his or herself in the events and people described without straying away from facts in favor of narrative power. I loved it. For instance, when Lancaster is describing the secret nighttime American retreat from New York, he writes of the boatsmen who ferried the army across the river: "this performance [all night ferrying men 2 miles across the river in constant danger of British artillery fire] of Glover's and Hutchinson's men had none of the desperate intoxication of the charge of Lord Sterling, Gist, and the Marylanders, none of the bitter heroism of unnamed, uncounted men who turned to face bayonets with empty muskets. But it had a grim, dogged glory of its own" (149). You see that? That, right there, is poetry, my friends. In a history book. I actually got emotional while reading a passage near the end of the book describing the American army triumphant. I copied it out because I loved it so much, and so can include it here for you as well:

“There was a new tenseness in the crowds of onlookers as they turned to look at the bronzed, fringe-shirted men, staring in sudden comprehension that pages of their on history were being leafed through before their eyes. Here came Lafayette with Vose and Wyllys and Laurens, bringing on the New Englanders. James Linton led out New Yorkers under Goose van Schaick and Philip van Cortlandt, Jerseymen with Elias Dayton, Rhode Islanders with Jeremiah Olney. The trim panache of Anthony Wayne ushered in Walter Stewart’s Pennsylvanians, and loose-striding Virginians swung by under Thomas Gaskins, followed by Mordecai Gist’s Marylanders. Traces hissed, ironshod wheels thudded over sand, and here came fat Henry Knox heading the Continental artillery, with John Lamb of New York and Virginia’s Edward Carrington, released by Nathanael Greene to serve on Virginia soil.
The passage was dazzling, hypnotic. People stood on tiptoe to pick out leaders who, up to now, had been largely names on a smeared newssheet. They looked for Parson Muhlenberg, so closely identified with their own troops, rigid Baron von Steuben, the Georgia Colonel Samuel Elbert, the devoted Chevalier Duportail, or Moses Hazen of the Canadian regiment. Now they saw them all, men of whom they had heard or read, under whom or with whom sons or husbands or brothers had served.
Tramp of foot, thud of hoof and grind of wheel seemed to mutter out the whole story of these men and their absent fellows, of the American army in which they served, and the cause for which they, and their country with them, had endured so much for so long. There were sinister undercurrents that told of divided counsels, of selfishness local or widespread, of men who had made a profit from the sufferings and deaths of others--harder tones of plots, betrayal, and downright treason. But there were other, brighter chords telling of earlier days when men shouted that there must be no more Virginians or New Englanders or Carolinians, “but all of us Americans!” Repeated were the uneasy yet determined tones of Minutemen waiting on scores of village greens through an April night of ’75. The rowlocks of the Marbleheaders could be heard, creaking as they saved a beaten army to fight again. Icy ruts crunched under gun wheels along a winter road to Trenton, and unseen forest trails crackled as men glided forward to close on Burgoyne. The voice of a British prisoner of war could be heard, telling of a wide, poverty-stricken district where whole families had but one blanket, having parted with the others “to supply their soldiers, yet you would be surprized with what cheerfulness they bend to [such sacrifices] to obtain that idol, Independency.”
So harsh and ugly tones, bravely triumphant or eternally enduring tones told the story of a people and its army, that army whose men were always too few and were always just enough” (336-7).

This book is interesting, informative, and poetic; it makes the times and peoples of the American Revolution real and immediate, stirs real emotion in the reader, and is extremely well-researched and supplemented with a grand variety and selection of quotes from contemporary materials. And so it is absolutely my Book of the Month.