Review: Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers
Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers by Henry Jenkins
(This is one of my “lost reviews”—reviews I wrote and finished but, somehow, never posted to the blog! I read this last May. Enjoy!)
Let me just say this upfront—this book made me want to be a better fan, to the extent that I finally joined TheOneRing.Net’s forums and decided to actually make a conscious effort to get through Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (I like it just fine, but it’s just… it’s just not clicking like Doctor Who does, you know?) I stumbled across Henry Jenkins through his discussions on the implications of fanvids and was blown away by the fact that Media Studies actually studies fandom and takes it seriously in an academic context. You can imagine the sense of immense validation I felt. Alas, because his work is academic, his books are harder to find through public libraries—but PINES did kick up Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers, which I gleefully put on hold.
Booking Through Thursday: Writing or Riveting?
What’s more important: Good writing? Or a good story?
(Of course, a book should have BOTH, but…)
Oh, these ultimatums are always so nerve-wracking! In my sleepy haze, I initially reached for “good story”, and I think that remains true. If it’s a good story, simply efficient writing doesn’t bother me. We can’t all be great stylists, but the construction of a a good plot requires equal talent. Of course, I value both equally, but the idea of reading a beautifully written book where nothing really happens doesn’t appeal to at the moment.
However, that being said, bad writing ruins good stories. Bad writing ruins everything, really. So you really do need both.
Review: A Companion to Wolves
A Companion to Wolves by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
While I don’t care for N. K. Jemisen’s fiction, her musings on speculative fiction as a genre are usually worth a look. So when she mentioned A Companion to Wolves in passing in a post on the possible feminization of epic fantasy, I investigated further. While the “companion animal” idea smacks too much of supermarket paranormal romance to me, the fact that Monette and Bear were brutally deconstructing it grabbed me. I love deconstruction, especially in speculative fiction. I was expecting something along the lines of The Magicians (but with spirit wolves!)—what I got was something much more.
I love it when that happens!
Quite shamefully, I know very little about queer history. (To be fair, I was humiliatingly late to the game.) But there’s no excuse for ignorance when there are libraries to learn from, so let the education begin.
Review: The History of White People
The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter
As I’ve mentioned here before, I enjoy volunteering at my local library in my hometown. (Even if other volunteers keep scheduling themselves over my hours, exactly how our supervisor asked us not to. Ahem.) Over the summer, I came across The History of White People, which I was putting on hold for a patron. After encountering the antiquated concept of “white races” in Kathy Peiss’ Hope in a Jar, I was intrigued by the construction of race. On top of that, my school is offering a class on constructions of race in antiquity, which I cant’ take because it conflicts with another class. But it sounds so interesting! I’ve realized how important it is to see your own culture and experiences through someone else’s lens, and this seemed like a fantastic place to start.
The Sunday Salon: New Year’s Resolution
And so, I return from Ireland, with much work to do—academically, professionally, and personally. I feel really behind; I mean, it barely feels like 2012 to me, since I experienced it in Ireland and not here. (And my posting buffer has been much reduced, to my dismay.) I’ll be writing a series of Sunday Salons on my adventures abroad (about three or so), but I thought I’d take this first Sunday back to do something most people did weeks ago—my New Year’s resolution!
Page to Screen: Restoration (1995)
Restoration
based on Restoration by Rose Tremain
After watching X-Men, I wanted to look into Ian McKellan’s filmography a bit more. In doing so, I stumbled across Restoration, a period film from 1995 that not only features Ian McKellan, but also stars Robert Downey Jr. Since I haven’t seen much of Downey’s work pre-drug bust, I nominated it for Tuesday Night Movies with a cinephile friend of mine since it was unavailable on Netflix as a DVD but available on Instant. (Obviously, this was before Netflix separated the two services in a frankly rude move.) I didn’t even realize it was based on a novel until the credits, but I was sufficiently stunned.
Booking Through Thursday: Skipping
I saw this article the other day that asked, “Are you ashamed of skipping parts of books?” Which, naturally, made me want to ask all of YOU.
Do you skip ahead in a book? Do you feel badly about it when you do?
Oh, what a ghastly thought! I can’t skip ahead in books, even if the book is a collection of essays or short stories that actually allows you to do so without possibly missing anything important. I’m just petrified that I’ll miss something, you know? I have the same problem with television, films, and book series. For instance, I want to read Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy so I can watch the film, but I feel like I have to start at the beginning of the George Smiley novels because I might miss something. Perhaps this is why I feel so lethargic when it comes to mysteries, since they’re nearly inevitably series…
Review: Far From Xanadu
Far From Xanadu by Julie Anne Peters
My recommendation for Far From Xanadu comes from the dearth of butch heroines in literature, let alone young adult literature. Malinda Lo recommended it on Tor.com, so I thought it was worth picking up. This is actually a harder title to come by, if only because this book actually has two titles—the original Far From Xanadu and the recent reissue under the title Pretend You Love Me. But rest assured, they’re the same book.
The Literary Horizon: My Faith in Frankie, A Flight of Angels
My headlong rush into mainstream comics has made me feel as if I’m leaving more independent (if in tone and not in publisher) and original material behind. Today’s recommendations are all pretty much courtesy of The Unwritten (drop everything and go find a copy now!)—one was written by Mike Carey, and the other merely advertised in its pages. And both deal with celestial beings!
