Wed Reading Meme

Taking a break from apt hunting...whole slew of places to look at. At the end of this search, I will have literally traveled around a good portion of Brooklyn.

1. What I Just Finished Reading?

Eh. I gave up on Lord of Light by Roger Zelzany and duly returned the faded but well-loved paper back to co-worker. Who told me that he was glad we were such good friends that I could return it to him with an honest appraisal and not lie. In short, he did not take my dislike of the novel personally. We had an interesting discussion about Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley - which I've more or less decided to get rid of. Co-worker had also tried to read it back in the day and just could not get into it. He didn't know MZB's, ahem, nasty back story. So, I enlightened him - not the gritty details (I don't even know the gritty details) - just the gist. I also enlightened him regarding Orson Scott Card - which depressed him, because he was enjoying a new sci-fi series by Card, and now couldn't read it.

Me: But you were checking them out from the library, it's not like you were giving him any money. You can still read them...
Co-worker: Now, I don't even want my library to carry them. Although...that is censorship.
Me: And...it's not like he's writing about it. As far as I can tell, I admittedly haven't exactly read him.
Co-worker: No, it's not evident in the writing...
Me: TS Eliot was the same way - you could not tell from his writing that he was anti-semitic.
Co-worker: Eliot was different though - when another writer critiqued him for being anti-semitic, he was gracious about the critique and said the man had the right to do so and should not be blasted. (Co-worker is Jewish.)
Me: I didn't know that. Makes me feel better about Eliot. Because once you know this stuff it sort of interferes with the writing. MZB is a perfect example. I didn't like her writing to begin with. Now, if I read her...
Co-worker: Yes, now that you know that she was evil...it's a major distraction.
ME: Well, I wouldn't exactly call her evil...I try not to demonize people based on their actions, it's the former defense attorney inside me. But, I'm not sure I can read her either, not that I wanted to before, without my mind going there. Sort of like Mel Gibson - can't watch him without thinking about the things he's said. It jars me out of the story. Or for that matter Orson Scott Card - I couldn't get into Ender's Game before, now...
Co-worker: Does bring up some interesting things about the First Amendment and Free Speech.
Me: That was what I was thinking. The line is a thin one. Should we be avoiding these artists work? Shouldn't they have the right to express themselves. Shouldn't Scott Card's books be available in your library regardless of his beliefs or political actions?
Co-worker: Problem with Free Speech is it isn't free if you don't allow speech that you do not like from people you don't like.
Me: Although there are instances - such as hate speech or speech that incites hatred...but again fine line.

The other book I attempted to read was Halfway to the Grave by Jeanne Frost - this is the first book in the Cat and Bones urban fantasy series. Which frankly reads like a S6 Spike fanfic with the serial numbers filed off and a few changes. The heroine drove me nuts. And the hero, well, think S6 Spike - except no chip. I think I would have enjoyed this book about five or six years ago, or even two years ago, when I was still mildly obsessed with Spike. But, alas, I'm over it - so the book just grated on my nerves. I made it about 50 pages, and gave up. Stuck with Zelzany longer - 145 pages.

So far the only urban fantasy writers that I can safely recommend are Jim Butcher, Kim Harrison (books 1-7, stop after 7 (at least I think it's 7, Ever After is the last decent novel in the series)) and Illona Andrews.

2. What I'm reading now?

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck - which for some reason or other I managed to miss reading in high school and college. It was written in the 1930s and Pearl S. Buck is amongst the first women to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938. The book won the Pulitizer in 1932. It's about life in China in the 1920s and 30s, told in the point of view of a poor farmer, named Wang Lung, who through various struggles becomes prosperous. The narrative style is fable or parable. Simple - like what you might read in Aesop's Fables or a book of Chinese Fables.

Wang Lung is not really all that likable. He starts out a penniless and humble farmer, who values land above all things. In the beginning of the novel, he journey's to a wealthy house in the city - where he takes one of the kitchen slaves, chosen by his father, as a wife, O lan. She's ugly but sturdy, and does not have a split lip or is pock-mocked. So, while he's a bit disappointed, he's satisfied. Women are treated as property or slaves throughout the novel - a realistic depiction of how women were treated in China during the 1920s. Pear S. Buck was a Women's Right's activist in China.

The story is a bit slow in places - a page-turner, it's not. But oddly compelling. I want to know what happens, even though I can't say that I care all that much about Wang Lang. I do, however, care about his wife - O Lan, who is my hero. The poor woman gives birth to four children by herself with no assistance, and goes back to work in fields without complaint after the first two births. She says little and when she speaks it is with precision and pragmaticism. And from her perspective, Wang Lang is better than a lot of other men. She's not wrong about that. At least he decides not to sell his beloved daughter to get back to his land.

Oh an aside, during my walk at lunch today...I ran into three male co-workers who play catch in the park.

Co-worker : You want to play with us? You can bring your mitt?
Me: Play catch? Uh. No. You wouldn't want me too.
Co-worker: Do you throw like a girl?
Me: No, I throw like a boy.
Co-worker: Then we could use you.
Me: A really awkward little boy. Seriously there are girls who throw better than I do.
(Although to be honest, I can throw fine. It's the catching that I suck at.)

Co-workers moved on...walking faster than I felt like walking. I don't think they knew how to respond to that. I may have offended them. But I'm tired of that comment. It's idiotic. I watched them play catch with two female co-workers - the women threw better than they did.

3. What I'm reading next?

Eh, whatever strikes my fancy, I suspect. Been reading on a lot of trains lately - doing a lot of train traveling this summer.