Wednesday Reading Meme?

1. So? In case you are at all curious... the winner of the Great American Read was "To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee", get full results HERE.

I was actually greatly relieved by this result. There were books on that list that...ahem, made me worry wonder about my fellow citizens. Also, as I was telling a social media friend on FB, if this had been done in 2001 or 2005, the winner would have been Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand -- for a long time that book and James Joyce's Ulysess was at the top of every "favorite" or "best" book contest on the internet or elsewhere. I didn't mind Ulysses so much, although I seriously doubt most people read it, but Atlas Shrugged? (SMH). I can complain about Atlas Shrugged, I tried to read it. (I don't believe you should judge a book unless you've attempted to read the book first.) Made it to page 596 or so, before giving up.

Also, I was glad it was a book by an female American writer, about racism and empathy. Not to mention a book that I actually had voted for. Although I was rooting for Beloved by Toni Morrison (which would never win).

What's interesting about "To Kill A Mockingbird" winning is the program was sponsored by the Broadway Play adaptation of the book, with Jeff Daniels starring as Atticus Finch. I personally think he's too old to play Atticus, but I also have difficulty seeing anyone by Gregory Peck in the role.

Here's the final rankings...with runner's up:

( final rankings of the 100 Books in the Great American Read )

This is not how I would have ranked those books. But then there are quite a few books on that list that would never have made mine.

That said? Quite a few did better than expected. And I was relieved that 50 Shades of Grey, Alex Cross Mysteries, Gone Girl, Flowers in the Attic, Twilight and Atlas Shrugged are far down the list.
I would put Outlander and Gone with the Wind way down that list like close to last, as well. But that's just me.

I'm thinking I should have voted more often.

2. What I'm reading?

* I finished An Unkindness of Magicians -- which was interesting, but not quite as good as expected. Full review is in a previous post.

* Currently reading Artemis by Andy Weir, which I can't remember how to spell. It's the sci-fi follow up to The Martian. Also first person narrative, with a smart-ass main character narrative voice and lots of scientific detail -- so the writer can show off his research and knowledge. I actually enjoy both of these things in sci-fi. I'd call this more hard sci-fi than sci-fantasy or sci-fi soap opera. More along the lines of Asimov or Philip K. Dick, but not quite as good as Asimov or Dick (few are). Very casual writing style, which again works well for me -- I love the casual/snarky writing style. (This shouldn't surprise anyone reading this post in the slightest. We tend to like the styles that we write in ourselves or think in. It's easier to read. If you think and write in a formal academic writing style, you will prefer that. If you think like Henry James, you will prefer that. If you think like technical manual, you may prefer that. It's always easier to read a style that fits our preferred manner of communication. Just as it is more preferable to read a book in one's first language. Also writing style can save or kill a book, it tends to be subjective to the reader, and there is a general boilerplate style publishers love that bores me to tears...see James Patterson. Actually that's the reason I gave up on Anne Leckie -- I can't stand her writing style, it kept lulling me to sleep, particularly after a long day of reading construction contracts and technical scopes of work. Too frigging bland. But, if you are reading this as your second language or in translation -- I can see how it could be problematic. Slang does not translate well. Oh, that reminds me of an interesting story...

Polish Co-worker: I've bought two of your books. Sending one to my sister in Poland.
Me: My book? I'm flattered but why?
Polish Co-worker: Using it to learn English.
Me: Really? But there's a lot slang.
Polish Co-worker: I want the slang. It's New York slang. She needs to learn it. Helps a lot.

Who knew? I guess that makes sense in a way. I suck at languages, so it bewilders me.)

Anyhow, what's interesting about this book is the huge risk the writer takes in narrative voice and protagonist point of view. Weir, a white male of a certain age, chooses to write in the voice of a young Saudia Arabian female, Jazz Bashara. He also includes a correspondence between Jazz and a Nigerian boy, Kelvin when they are teens. Jazz is currently in her early twenties. Not only does he write in a Saudia Arabian twenty-something female voice, but he writes her as if she were a guy. She's not girly, in the least. Or even remotely feminine. Very male in her mannerisms, attitude, and how she talks. And if I didn't know she was female, because I'd been told prior to picking up the book, I would have thought she was a guy until she said otherwise. It's sort of jarring at first, but I'm coming to appreciate it a great deal -- mainly because it's so subversive. I'm sure this style has pissed off several readers -- who think of women as well only "feminine" and can't envision a gal who isn't really feminine. Jazz isn't. She's tough as nails. Abrasive. Curses a mean streak. Drinks. Gets laid when she wants to. And is a smuggler. She is actually Han Solo, from the film Solo, except as a girl not a guy.

So we have a noirish sci-fi novel about a smuggler who will do practically anything to make a buck, and it's a woman. Normally in these books it is a guy. Weir is playing with gender stereotypes. Go Weir. Does he pull it off? Hard to say. The plot is bit muddled. I'm getting lost. Not quite sure how the lead character got a great room for one night, after struggling to be able to buy an EVA suit.

The science works (as far as I know) and the character (the lead) is interesting, but I'm losing track of the other characters. This was a problem in The Martian as well -- Weir seems to have troubles with supporting characters. In The Martian he pulled it off -- because really, the guy was stranded all by himself on Mars. The other characters had one purpose, to bring him home and save the group hanging out there in space. So the conflict is there from the start. Here, it's not very clear and I'm having troubles understanding the characters motivations or where it is going.

So, I like the narrative style, but I'm getting a bit lost in regards to the plot -- in part because he keeps interrupting it with little correspondence flashbacks. I like the correspondence flashbacks well enough...but I don't find them humorous, just insightful. It helps me understand Jazz, the protagonist, better. But, at the same time, they sort of pull me out of the story, and I get confused as to where we are in the plot. The plot is far too convoluted for these snippets, which appear to have nothing to do with it.

Also, there's a lot of world-building and exposition that needs to be unloaded here, and for the most part -- he's doing okay with it, but it gets muddled in places. Mainly everything to do with the task the protagonist has decided to undertake in order to make big bucks. Unlike The Martian, Jazz is a bit of an anti-hero, and her task is not necessarily a nice one and could hurt a lot of people. Although it's not clear at the moment, how. There's a lot going on behind the scenes here that isn't conveyed in a clear manner.

So..we shall see.