Signs Taken for Wonders

Yep, I'm alive. And I now have a revised draft of my academic book manuscript, even if there's still some tweaking to be done. So I emerge from out of my hermit hole for a quick "best of" roundup of the books I've read for pleasure this year. Just in time for Christmas!

Books read for Pleasure:

Memorable Fantasy novels:

Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death?

Okorafor takes the familiar fantasy quest narrative, moves it to post-apocalyptic Africa, anchors it with a strong female protagonist, weaves in interesting postcolonial themes, and includes a brutal scene depicting female circumcision that's going to stick with me for years to come. With that description I've either turned you off or on this book. You decide.

Valentine, Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti

It's unfortunate that Mechanique and The Night Circus came out in the same year, because they're both lovely examples of magic-realist circus fabulism. But Valentine's writing is haunted by the trauma of war and by visions of flight, and in the end, I thought it was just splendid. By a hair, Mechanique takes the "best novel about a fantasy circus" award for 2012.

Urban Fantasy Debut, Honorable Mention:

If you've read the rest of this list you'll notice that I've included a suspicious number of books whose descriptions include the word "death" or "murder." 

You know what book is NOT all about death and/or murder? And is frothy fun with an innovative magic system?

Michael Underwood's Geekomancy. In which characters "power-up" for battles by watching Buffy and The Matrix, because in this world, being able to recall dialogue from The Princess Bride translates into epic magic sword-fighting abilities. Mike's a friend of mine and his debut novel's a geekarific blast.

Memorable YA:

John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

2 smart teens meet at a cancer support group and fall in love. The narrator, 16 year old Hazel, let's us know from the first page that she has a terminal diagnosis. As she and everyone around her know, this love story will not have a happy ending. But Hazel's story is witty, sharply-observed  compelling and -- like love itself -- worth the trip.

Best Lit Award Winner:

Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies

I don't know how Mantel managed to make a stream-of-consciousness novel about Thomas Cromwell so interesting the first time round, let alone for a sequel. If anything, Bring Up the Bodies is even better than Wolf Hall. This time, Cromwell's scheming not only serves Henry VIII's whims but Cromwell's desire to avenge his mentor's death. A bloody good book on all levels.

Memorable Psychological Thriller #1

Gillian Flynn, Dark Places

This was the year Flynn broke through with Gone Girl, the mystery every book club loved to read. But while I liked Gone Girl, Dark Places -- Flynn's 2nd novel -- was the one that really blew me away. The premise: as a 7 year old Libby Day famously survived the massacre of her family and served as the key witness in the trial of her older brother. 25 years later, manipulative Libby has blown through her charity money and is desperate for cash. So when a macabre club obsessed with notorious crimes invites her to be a paid guest speaker at one of their meetings, Libby is willing to go. What she doesn't expect is for the questions they ask to stir up ones of her own.

Flynn has a great command of voice, and it's on full display here as she jumps between time periods and points of view. Skillfully done.

Memorable Psychological Thriller #2

Tana French, Broken Harbor

It's not quite as memorable as In the Woods, but Broken Harbor is French's best since her debut. There's just something... unsettling about this story of a detective called in to investigate a horrific murder in a  nearly-empty Irish housing development. The murder seems straightforward, but like the collapse of the Irish housing economy, so much turns on perception. And perceptions can't be trusted. For those of you who read Freud's essay on the Uncanny: Exhibit A.

Memorable Non-Fiction

Katherine Boo, Beyond the Beautiful Forevers

I heard Boo speak when she came to Delaware. Having heard her stories of the personal risks she took in investigating the murder of street kids in Mumbai, I think the thing that impressed me the most about the book is: none of those stories are there. Bucking the usual investigative non-fiction trend, Boo leaves herself out of this book entirely. Instead, we get to witness the unfolding lives of Mumbai slum-dwellers as though we're flies on the wall. The people we meet are memorable and their stories are devoid of the expected cliches of struggle and triumph. Well worth the read.

Preston and Stezi, The Monster of Florence

What if you decided to research an old murder case as famous in Italy as the Jack the Ripper murders are in the Anglophone world? What if, thanks to a corrupt Italian police system, you became a suspect? This non-fiction story is a jaw-dropping narrative about random - and institutional - forms of evil.

Allende, The Sum of Our Days

Didion's Blue Nights was excellent, but f***ing depressing. In contrast, Allende's description of the years following the death of her daughter is warm, poignant, and has stories about hallucinogenic tea and domestic scandals. So this one's my pick.

Best Academic Book (I.E. Book not read for pleasure)

Lauren Benton. A Search for Sovereignty: Law and Geography in European Empires, 1400–1900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

This meticulously researched history of legal geographies examines the ways that certain types of space -- mountains, rivers, oceans etc. -- challenged imperial sovereignty. Benton convincingly argues that certain types of legal problems -- mutinies, for example -- became associated with certain types of anomalous space. For those of us interested in imperialism and geography, Benton's book is a fascinating and elucidating read.

Go vote, Americans.

I just saw Looper and enjoyed the hell out of it. Props to the script: the foreshadowing was very, very subtle. Also, I appreciated the fact that the writers didn't rely on a cast of stereotypes, but developed their minor players. Hell, even red-shirt assassin-guy got some character development, and he was only on screen for, like, 5 seconds.

The Master - aka Paul Thomas Anderson's film about the early days of Scientology, starring Joaquin Phoenix as a crazed veteran-turned cultist -- is pretty much everything you'd expect from the director of Magnolia and There Will Be Blood. In other words, I'm still not sure what I watched. It was good, and Phoenix's performance was amazing. But the pacing of the movie was strange. It didn't hit the narrative beats I was expecting, or make them the focus of the scene when it did. I could talk about what I think the movie was about, but there's no point spoiling it.

I will say that at least one person walked out of the film screaming that it was disgusting, which was strange. This was made stranger by the fact that the "sex" scene that offended her wasn't even a real sex scene, but an odd masturbation scene, and the angry lady had sat through much weirder shit by that point. So this is a film that can really push people's buttons, apparently. Or, bore them to the point they fall asleep (the person in the aisle next to me.) So... yeah.

Cabin in the Woods was all it was rumored to be. I was charmed by it, and by the killer unicorn, and by the Japanese school girls with the happy frog. My only complain is re: the appearance of the Lovecraftian gods. THAT'S NOT WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE. The end.

A Separation -- the Iranian domestic drama that picked up the Oscar last year -- is definitely worth a watch if you like foreign films. It's an interesting slice-of-life in Iran. It's not a happy movie but it's not relentlessly tragic either.

That's it for now.

Because it's also been a while since I've done one of these...

A Knight's Tale: The TV Series?

“'Battlestar Galactica' show runner Ron Moore is developing a TV series adaptation of Brian Helgeland's 2001 medieval romantic adventure flick "A Knight's Tale" for Sony Pictures.

The original film starred Heath Ledger as William Thatcher, a medieval peasant masquerading as a knight and competing in tournaments, along the way meeting real life figures like The Black Prince (James Purefoy) and poet Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany).

My analysis: *Could* be a good idea, at least for those of us who’d respond well to a medieval who’s-who with Queen songs and tournaments.

This could be fun, although my skepticism alarm is going off: All-Female "The Expendables" Planned

"Dutch Southern has come onboard to pen the estrogen-fuelled riff of the star-studded action franchise. Several prominent actresses affiliated with the action genre are already said to be in talks with the company."

"Said to be in talks," eh? Can I have more vague with that vagary? There's also the fact that I don't think the average Hollywood studio exec could think of a female action lead beyond Angelina Jolie. So we’ll see if this project pans out.

In cool YA adaptation news, the "Z for Zachariah" film is going ahead with Tobey Maguire. The big question is who the female lead will be. I'm hoping for an unknown actress.

In polar news, Matt Damon is making a “South Pole” (read – Scott & Amundsen) movie starring Casey Affleck. This does not sound like a good idea. No it does not. Not at all.

First of all, if there's a polar exploration movie that needs to be made, it's Endurance. Ships being crushed by ice, men being hunted by leopard seals, people jumping off mountains because they're going to freeze to death if they spend another minute at that altitude - *that's* a Hollywood polar movie.

Secondly, the Scott-Amundsen story has already been portrayed, fantastically, in the BBC's brutal The Last Place on Earth miniseries.

Thirdly, Casey Affleck? WHAT? No, no, no, no, NO.

Finally: Argo ending altered so as not to annoy Canadians.

Damn straight.

My second dystopian question for you mighty lj types: what television shows (and episodes!) might you teach in a class on dystopias?

Q. "What were you thinking, drinking bubble mixture?"
A. "I wanted turn into a bubble."

It's a good message, and stuff like that.

Back from a wonderful, lobsteriffic Maine trip with . The weather was gorgeous, so we ended up cycling and boating a lot. We also caught a very strong production of Shakespeare's Coriolanus during an evening stop in Boston, which seems like a wonderful city. I hope to get back there at some point to see people and, you know. Things.

Now for something completely different. Courtesy of my brother, I present you with two videos you may well have already seen.

#1: if you need a chortle



and #2: if you want to restore your faith in humanity

Jeff Ragsdale: The man who gave the world his number

I'm looking for a respectable academic source on the mythology of underground space (caves etc.) in British culture. This includes folktales, Christian theology etc. Any suggestions?

A quick reading report.

I continue to be enthralled by Hilary Mantell, who shows in Bring Up the Bodies that stream-of-consciousness can not only reveal character but also crank up suspense. If you like political intrigue and Tudor court politics then you should have already read Wolf Hall. BUTB is next in line, and it's just as good as WH. My favorite use of  flashback / telling detail in this novel: Cromwell bracing his wrists when Henry turns on him. It's a chilling, tense scene that also provides a lovely illumination of Cromwell's childhood. I'm sure we'll see more of these recollections in Book #3.

Gilian Flynn's Gone Girl is a gripping psychological page-turner. I love the instability of the narration, and the twist in the plot caught me by surprise. But on finishing it, I can't say that I  believed in these characters. The villain in particular was just too effective. Also, everyone in this novel is a variant on a serial-killer story character type, which I realize fits with the novel's look how enmeshed we are in pop culture theme, but ultimately meant that I didn't find these character unique or compelling.

Also, I read 50 Shades of Grey. It was better than Twilight, and that's... pretty much all I have to say about that.