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Wed Reading Meme
Jun. 11th, 2014 09:39 pm1. What did you just finish reading?
Playbuilding as Qualitative Analysis by Joe Norris - go see previous post for the full review.
It was a bit dry in places as most academic writings tend to be, no getting around that, but otherwise quite informative and surprising in places. Highly recommend for the sociology, media professors, and theater students out there, also play-writes.
2. What are you reading now?
Another urban fantasy novel - The Skin Game by Jim Butcher, amongst the better written of the genre, although if you know anything about this genre - that's not saying much. To be fair - these novels tend to be written on the fly. By that, I mean, really quickly. The writers push out about a novel a year, plus multiple short stories, anthologies, novellas, and various other things just to break even. AND they do not necessarily have either the editorial or publishing house support that the more prominent literary novelists obtain or for that matter the rigorous training. Expecting high quality writing from pulp genre fiction is rather like watching a daytime soap opera or Bones and expecting to see, well The WIRE, or for that matter reading a Spiderman or X-Man comic and expecting Persepolis, Maus or The Watchman. In other words? Expect typos, syntax errors, repetitive phrasing, and absurd moments.
It tends to come with the territory. I tend to hand-wave most of this. But I know a lot of people can't.
That said? I notice less of this in Butcher's Dresden novels than the others. Charlain Harris (The Sookie Stackhouse Series) is by far the worst, I found her unreadable after a while. LK Hamilton (Anita Blake)? Oh dear. Just a slice or two above Harris, if that. Kim Harrison (Rachel Morgan)? Started out okay, went steadily down-hill from there, her last two books contained sentences that grated, and some rather awkward phrasing. Attempted Shannon Meyer's Tracker series - unreadable, also dirt cheap, so you do get what you pay for. Illona Andrews? Amongst the better ones, believe it or not. Repetitious in places but not nearly as bad as Hamilton and Harris. Also cleaner in style. I actually prefer Illona Andrews over Butcher - more interesting mythology, supporting characters, and wittier dialogue. Butcher's jokes don't quite work for me - too obvious. Andrews is far more snarky and wry. Also, it helps, that she has several kick-ass female characters.
Another distinction between Butcher and the other urban fantasy novelists - Butcher is amongst the few male writers in this field. Also amongst the few that doesn't delve into paranormal romance - his novels tend to be more action packed, with little to no sex. That may or may not be gender related - I've notice male writers focus on action sequences and fighting, while female writers focus on erotica and sexual scenes. Which is interesting. Not all, there are exceptions. I'm amongst them. Illona Andrews is the other one who focuses more on action than sex, although has a female lead and is a female writer.
The Skin Game so far is pretty good. Despite what it may seem, I'm enjoying it and rather like the series. It's definitely action-packed. Delves a bit into Dashielle Hammett and Raymond Chandler territory, think Philip Marlow meets Harry Potter by way of The Maltese Falcon, without quite the finesse of either JK Rowling, Chandler or Dashielle Hammett - but let's face it few people can aspire to Hammett's Maltese Falcon or Chandler's The Big Sleep. Butcher like most noir and urban fantasy writers really tortures the heck out of his lead character, both physically and psychologically. It gets to the point in which you wonder if Dresden will ever catch a break. Also, like most of these novels, the lead character is basically fighting for his soul - or to not become a monster and fall back into the abyss.
If you have issues with demon/angel mythology or Christian mythology in urban fantasy - this novel will most likely annoy you. I know several people on my flist gave up on the books after Death Masks. And it has some of the same problems that Death Masks had - which was my least favorite of the Dresden novels. Also, I'm not a huge fan of Michael Carpenter, who always felt like a one-dimensional stock character to me, too good to be true. I prefer his wife, daughter, and well the rest of the family - who are far better developed. I think Butcher means for Michael to be foil for Harry or a contrast to Harry's choices, along with his family. But it never quite gelled for me. At any rate, if you didn't like Death Masks and find the Knights of the Blackened Denarius, not to mention the archangel Uriel, and the Knights of Sword (swords forged from the nails on Jesus's Cross) to be a bit silly and a tad obvious? You'll struggle with it. (I personally prefer the books that focus on the fairies and wizards, far more interesting. When Butcher delves into religion, my teeth are set on edge.)
Also at this point? If you haven't read any of the other books, don't start here. You'll be hopelessly lost. It refers to a lot of characters from previous books, with very little exposition or explanation, pretty much assuming we all know who they are. (I'd admittedly forgotten most of them, so was confused in places.) I'm always intrigued by how series writers sum up the previous books so that their readers don't get lost and they can attract new readers. Some do it better than others. Butcher isn't bad - and to give him credit, this is the 14th or 15th book. So there's that.
And yes, I'm enjoying it a lot more than it sounds. But I'm also thinking that I may be getting a tad bit burned out on the genre. Small wonder - only read over 10 books in the genre over the space of four months.
3. What I'll be reading next?
Promised co-worker that I'd read Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny which is described as a sci-fantasy classic. Co-worker treasures it. He loaned me his old 1970s paperback, with tiny print. It may kill me. At the very least I'll have to read it with my reading glasses. (I can no longer read tiny print...you know you are getting older, when you have contacts for distance, and have to wear reading glasses to read tiny print.)
After that? Who knows.
Playbuilding as Qualitative Analysis by Joe Norris - go see previous post for the full review.
It was a bit dry in places as most academic writings tend to be, no getting around that, but otherwise quite informative and surprising in places. Highly recommend for the sociology, media professors, and theater students out there, also play-writes.
2. What are you reading now?
Another urban fantasy novel - The Skin Game by Jim Butcher, amongst the better written of the genre, although if you know anything about this genre - that's not saying much. To be fair - these novels tend to be written on the fly. By that, I mean, really quickly. The writers push out about a novel a year, plus multiple short stories, anthologies, novellas, and various other things just to break even. AND they do not necessarily have either the editorial or publishing house support that the more prominent literary novelists obtain or for that matter the rigorous training. Expecting high quality writing from pulp genre fiction is rather like watching a daytime soap opera or Bones and expecting to see, well The WIRE, or for that matter reading a Spiderman or X-Man comic and expecting Persepolis, Maus or The Watchman. In other words? Expect typos, syntax errors, repetitive phrasing, and absurd moments.
It tends to come with the territory. I tend to hand-wave most of this. But I know a lot of people can't.
That said? I notice less of this in Butcher's Dresden novels than the others. Charlain Harris (The Sookie Stackhouse Series) is by far the worst, I found her unreadable after a while. LK Hamilton (Anita Blake)? Oh dear. Just a slice or two above Harris, if that. Kim Harrison (Rachel Morgan)? Started out okay, went steadily down-hill from there, her last two books contained sentences that grated, and some rather awkward phrasing. Attempted Shannon Meyer's Tracker series - unreadable, also dirt cheap, so you do get what you pay for. Illona Andrews? Amongst the better ones, believe it or not. Repetitious in places but not nearly as bad as Hamilton and Harris. Also cleaner in style. I actually prefer Illona Andrews over Butcher - more interesting mythology, supporting characters, and wittier dialogue. Butcher's jokes don't quite work for me - too obvious. Andrews is far more snarky and wry. Also, it helps, that she has several kick-ass female characters.
Another distinction between Butcher and the other urban fantasy novelists - Butcher is amongst the few male writers in this field. Also amongst the few that doesn't delve into paranormal romance - his novels tend to be more action packed, with little to no sex. That may or may not be gender related - I've notice male writers focus on action sequences and fighting, while female writers focus on erotica and sexual scenes. Which is interesting. Not all, there are exceptions. I'm amongst them. Illona Andrews is the other one who focuses more on action than sex, although has a female lead and is a female writer.
The Skin Game so far is pretty good. Despite what it may seem, I'm enjoying it and rather like the series. It's definitely action-packed. Delves a bit into Dashielle Hammett and Raymond Chandler territory, think Philip Marlow meets Harry Potter by way of The Maltese Falcon, without quite the finesse of either JK Rowling, Chandler or Dashielle Hammett - but let's face it few people can aspire to Hammett's Maltese Falcon or Chandler's The Big Sleep. Butcher like most noir and urban fantasy writers really tortures the heck out of his lead character, both physically and psychologically. It gets to the point in which you wonder if Dresden will ever catch a break. Also, like most of these novels, the lead character is basically fighting for his soul - or to not become a monster and fall back into the abyss.
If you have issues with demon/angel mythology or Christian mythology in urban fantasy - this novel will most likely annoy you. I know several people on my flist gave up on the books after Death Masks. And it has some of the same problems that Death Masks had - which was my least favorite of the Dresden novels. Also, I'm not a huge fan of Michael Carpenter, who always felt like a one-dimensional stock character to me, too good to be true. I prefer his wife, daughter, and well the rest of the family - who are far better developed. I think Butcher means for Michael to be foil for Harry or a contrast to Harry's choices, along with his family. But it never quite gelled for me. At any rate, if you didn't like Death Masks and find the Knights of the Blackened Denarius, not to mention the archangel Uriel, and the Knights of Sword (swords forged from the nails on Jesus's Cross) to be a bit silly and a tad obvious? You'll struggle with it. (I personally prefer the books that focus on the fairies and wizards, far more interesting. When Butcher delves into religion, my teeth are set on edge.)
Also at this point? If you haven't read any of the other books, don't start here. You'll be hopelessly lost. It refers to a lot of characters from previous books, with very little exposition or explanation, pretty much assuming we all know who they are. (I'd admittedly forgotten most of them, so was confused in places.) I'm always intrigued by how series writers sum up the previous books so that their readers don't get lost and they can attract new readers. Some do it better than others. Butcher isn't bad - and to give him credit, this is the 14th or 15th book. So there's that.
And yes, I'm enjoying it a lot more than it sounds. But I'm also thinking that I may be getting a tad bit burned out on the genre. Small wonder - only read over 10 books in the genre over the space of four months.
3. What I'll be reading next?
Promised co-worker that I'd read Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny which is described as a sci-fantasy classic. Co-worker treasures it. He loaned me his old 1970s paperback, with tiny print. It may kill me. At the very least I'll have to read it with my reading glasses. (I can no longer read tiny print...you know you are getting older, when you have contacts for distance, and have to wear reading glasses to read tiny print.)
After that? Who knows.