Kenzaburo Oe

I have found a new adorable old-man author for my collection. This is Kenzaburo Oe, a Japanese author whose fiction revolves mostly around the Post-WWII years (and especially post-Hiroshima) in Japanese history.

My favorite of his novels is Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids. It follows a group of young boys (juvenile delinquents, if their paranoid elders can be trusted) as they are shunted from one village to another, seeking shelter from the elements and the air-raiding armies. They are finally abandoned by their adult supervisors in a mountain village and left to fend for themselves for a few days, only to be punishedfor finding ways to survive when their supervisors return. I won't give away all of the surrounding circumstances or the conclusion, but I can say that I defiantly recommend the novel. It's a short read- I read it in about a day, and it's not even two hundred pages long. It's a bit of a mix between Battle Royale and Lord of the Flies without the campy flavor of the first or the...well, actually it's almost as disturbing as the latter, and it's a good study of the tension, paranoia, and social insecurity caused by war and the mistrust of youth.

I've also got a copy of his Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness, which contains four short novels including a semi-autobiographical story about a man coming to grips with having a mentally challenged son (that is the PC term these days, isn't it?) and another story following the dying days of a man with liver cancer (which he's probably imagined).

Christopher Barzak's The Love We Share Without Knowing

I have my first contender for 2009's top five books.

Christopher Barzak's The Love We Share Without Knowing is a collection of interlinked short stories which explore the concepts of identity and nationality, namely Japanese and American. The stories follow a varying cast of characters, some of whom meet at various points of the book and some of whom vanish altogether after one fateful event. Each character, however, is linked to the others by a twisting thread of love (some would say fate, others chance), giving the collection its name. Not every character gets a chance to tell his or her story before vanishing from the overall storyline, which makes me wonder if maybe, just maybe, there will be a sequel volume of a sort. (I especially wanted to read the story of the man who spends hours alone in a Japanese love hotel and writes in the love hotel's diary, expressing his views on the heartbreak and joy that other patrons, and humans in general, all share.)

I'd read "In Between Dreams" in The Solaris Book of New Fantasy (which is included in this volume as well), and was at first very intrigued by Barzak's use and re-interpretation of Japanese myth in a contemporary (Japanese) urban setting. It helps, of course, that this particular story deals with the kitsune, or fox spirit, which is probably my favorite aspect of Japanese mythology. Barzak uses the kitsune in several of the stories, tying the stories together by playing off of the spirit's mischievous and rather untrustworthy cleverness. I was also very curious to see if The Love We Share Without Knowing delved into the past of the gay American character, Danny, who is trapped in a supernatural coma by his jealous Japanese lover, Kenji. To my delight, Danny got his very own story, though sadly Kenji's side of the tale remains untold.

Overall, I was very impressed with the collection, and I've been thinking about picking up Barzak's other book, One For Sorrow. I've also ordered a short story collection that happens to have one of Barzak's stories, but I haven't read it yet. (It's still in the mail, actually.) I'm looking forward to what else Christopher Barzak comes up with.

Vintage: A Ghost Story by Steve Berman

Does this make the third post in a row that mentions Steve Berman? It does, it does! Berman gets a gold star!

So after spending the last two or three months waiting to come across a copy of any Berman book (I don't know why, but I had a huge aversion to ordering one used off of Amazon) I finally located a copy of Vintage: A Ghost Story. I've already complained in a previous post about how I feel about finding his YOUNG ADULT novel in the literature section- it's not that I don't feel young adult books can be literature, but rather that I have a horrible sneaking suspicion it was shelved among more 'adult' literature to avoid scandalizing anyone (parents, namely) since it is a gay ghost/love story. To make things worse, I found it there after hearing about the Amazonfail controversy. The whole thing just rubbed me the wrong way.

At any rate, I bought the book Friday night, started reading it Saturday morning, and had it finished by midnight Saturday. It's a fairly slim book and an easy read, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was a great book to help me recover from my hellish day at class and work- it's a very sweet love story between two boys (and between one boy and a ghost boy) that refrains from becoming too sappy and saccharine to stand. The main character and Mike, one of the main love interests, are simply too cute with one another, especially in the very early stages of their budding relationship when neither of them are too terribly sure of what is expected of them. I was not, however, too fond of Josh (the ghost and the main character's other potential love interest) and found him to be selfish and controlling. My reaction to him may be a complement though- I'm not totally sure Berman made him in order to be liked (or perhaps Josh just isn't my type). Forget the pig-headed jock, guys- the cute little artist boy is way, way better for you.

The story itself is fairly predictable. Goth boy meets ghost boy, falls in love, and realizes ghost boy may not be quite as good for his health as perhaps he'd like. Then goth boy meets (or actually realizes he's been there all along) the artistic little brother of his best friend, starts falling for him, and realizes that a relationship with a living person who can't kill you with a mere touch may be a much better thing overall. Did I mention this was a gay teen love story? In the 'grown-up' fiction section? Anyway. Cute, refreshing story, if a little simple.

What made the book was Berman's portrayal of what it's like to grow up gay in a small town. I'm not talking about all that coming-out, woe-is-me shit that every gay teen movie ever produced has tried to pass off as a tear-jerking story, I'm talking about how it feels to live in a constant state of anxiety and hope. Did that cute guy waiting on your table at dinner pay a little more attention to you than the diners in the next booth? Was that pretty girl looking at your shirt, or your...well, I'm sure we all have imaginations. Was that sharp look you got from the customer you just helped a disdainful glance because of your youth, or do they know and are they planning on waiting for you outside with a lynch mob? Maybe your parents know, maybe they don't, and wouldn't we all like to have an aunt like the main character's, who takes him in after he runs away from home and his angry parents? I have an aunt I like to think would have done so, if I had asked, and as a consequence whenever the character appeared in the book I pictured her as my own aunt.

The main character isn't ashamed of his sexuality- his reluctance to be open about his gayness stems rather from a fear of reprisal. He fears being attacked and targeted, though he doesn't at all feel that he deserves such treatment. The issue of being completely out in high school is also examined through one of Berman's lesbian characters- she's upfront about her sexual orientation from the start, and while she doesn't receive any shit about it from other characters she does unnerve the main character with her frankness. She lives on the edge of what he perceives as dangerous territory, and while he respects her for it and desires that level of honesty for himself he can't help but measure the costs against the benefits. His own experiences have taught him that other people don't always accept homosexuals- he told one student at his previous school about his sexual orientation, and within a week was turned into a victim of harassment and verbal assaults from a number of people in his community, including his own parents (every gay teen's worst fear- that Mom and Dad won't understand). At the same time, is slightly oddball aunt loves him no matter what he does or who he loves, and while she makes him agree to basic ground rules of behavior (his boyfriend is not allowed to spend the night- which is the same rule she would impose if he had a girlfriend instead) the rules are made in love, not for punishment. She parents and guides him, without trying to change something that is very integral to his nature.

Berman also explores teenage drug and alcohol use in a manner that neither vilifies nor glorifies getting drunk, huffing, or even trying out Ecstasy. That is to say he doesn't condemn kids for experimenting with things they really shouldn't experiment with, but he does look at the consequences of careless actions, from mild ones like hangovers to much more serious ones such as cheating on a partner while drunk or the tragedy of accidentally killing oneself while huffing. Parents probably wouldn't like this aspect of the book, but it's a more honest look at drugs and teenagers than the majority of young adult books I've seen would dare try. There are no scare tactics here, only a calm pointing out of the potential risks and an acknowledgement that kids will be kids, no matter what parents think.

I will be awaiting the next arrival of a Steve Berman book on my shelf now. He's edited several titles that intrigue me as well, and we all know what a whore I am for short story collections! I'll be sure to keep posting. (Also, my apologies if any of this isn't terribly logical. I'm rather tired at the moment and it's all I can do to keep my spelling somewhat accurate.)

Reading List

Just Finished:
Pirate Freedom by Gene Wolfe

By 'just finished' I mean I read the last page less than two hours ago. This book was my first Gene Wolfe experience, and while I wasn't exactly overwhelmed, I was intrigued enough that I think I'll pick up one of his more renowned books before too long.

Reading at Work:
The Involuntary Human by David Gerrold

This is my lunch-break book, partially because it's a collection of shorter works ranging from Star Trek screenplays, novel excerpts, short stories, and quotes from the character Solomon Short. It's been great fun!

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.

Is there anything about this book I can say that hasn't already been said? I'm reading a third printing of the first edition, priced at $100, which means I can only read it when I'm sitting with a customer back in our locked collectibles room, where it's located. I am in love.

About to Start:
The Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant

This is a collection including Jeffrey Ford, Margaret Muirhead, Kelly Link, and a large number of other writers all previously published in the lit magazine Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet.

The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice by Catherynne M. Valente

First off, Valente gets a gold star for being mentioned in three blogs in a row. Secondly, this is the sequel to The Orphan's Tale: In the Night Garden, and if it's anything like the first, I'm in for a hell of a ride!

Impatiently Awaiting:
Logorrhea: Good Words Make Good Stories edited by John Kilma

This anthology contains works by Jay Lake, Hal Duncan, Michael Moorcock, Marly Youmans and Jeff Vandermeer, among a number of other great writers (it's just that the ones listed are the reasons I ordered the book).

Top Reads 2008

I was digging around Half Price a few days ago with my friends, pulling out old favorites and recent good reads (and, of course, new eye-catching titles) when I came across a copy of The Book Thief. I handed it over to one of my friends and told her that it was probably one of my favorite books from last year, probably in my top five. That got me to thinking, though...What have I read recently (as in the year 2008) that really moved me? That was so good, every time I see another copy of it, I'm tempted to buy it and send it to someone else who needs to read it? My coworker and I read Hal Duncan's Vellum at the same time, and a number of our other coworkers heard us talking (very animatedly) about it and started reading it, too. Now everytime we get a customer named 'Seamus' or 'Renard' or 'Carter', we twitter a bit, exchange significant looks, and in general scare the living hell out of said customer.

Anyway, that's part of the joy of finding a really good new book, right? You share it with people you love and you know will love the book almost as much as you (because you always have first rights to fangasming, since you discovered it, right?). Well, these books made the cut out of the massive stack of things I read in 2008 to be listed as my top five. Not all of them are new- or even from this decade (Delany's for example), but all are excellent reads which I've pushed to customers at my job or to my friends and coworkers. My copy of Vellum is starting to look a bit tattered from being loaned out...maybe I should keep the next copy I buy...


The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente (I have a link to one of her interviews on my last blog)



The Motion of Light in Water: Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village by Samuel R. Delany (It's the only non-fiction book to make this list, and yet somehow it's still about SF. Go figure.)



The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Ok, ok, it's a YA novel...don't judge me! Get the book and judge it!)



Vellum and Ink by Hal Duncan (I'm counting these on one line because they're a...duology. I guess)



Perdido Street Station by China Mieville (This is another I keep talking up to customers. I plan on re-reading it sometime soon, too)

Interview with Valente and a Gaiman Essay

I've been playing around on the internet this afternoon instead of writing like I told myself I would do (or even reading...that half-read copy of Gene Wolfe's Pirate Freedom is giving me heartbroken puppy-dog eyes from my bedside table...), but I suppose something good came of it- I found a Bat Segundo Show podcast interviewing Catherynne M. Valente, the author of The Orphan's Tales and Palimpsest (I've read the first volume of the first and can't wait to get my hands on the others). It's 45 minutes long, but she's extraordinarily well-spoken and engaging and the interview is totally worth sitting down for. I found myself nodding in assent with most of her points, and her descriptions of her new book Palimpsest have me positively drooling with excitement. If her uncanny ability to structure her stories in fascinating, captivating ways holds true (and by all accounts, it does) then her new book is going to be absolutely amazing. I don't know how long I'll be able to hold out before I order one...maybe after I'm finished with Wolfe.

Valente's interview isn't the only treasure I dug up today, either. Neil Gaiman offers a collection of essays on his website, and I found one- on the 'genders' of various books and the development of his very 'male' novel American Gods- to be particularly interesting.

It must be a Gene Wolfe kind of day, because Gaiman closes out his essay with a quote from Wolfe on how writers really write- "You never learn how to write a novel. You just learn how to write the novel that you're writing."

Comic Books are Eating my Soul!

This is a re-post of one of my work-related blogs. I took out the really work-related stuff, but you can find the original post (and others put up by myself and my co-workers) at the Recycled Book Blog. Anyway, enjoy-

New (Actually Old) Discovery- I just picked up Preacher...and I'm so mad at myself for putting off reading it until now! If you are unfamiliar with the series, it's a story starring a (very) wayward Texas preacher named Jesse, his ex-girlfriend, Tulip, who hunts him down for abandoning her, and an Irish vampire called Cassidy who has a habit of getting into barroom brawls. In the first issue, Jesse is bestowed with 'the voice of God' by Genesis, a creature born from the so-called union of an angel and a demon. With this 'voice', Jesse has the power to command people to do his will...which results in various interesting and rather entertaining situations that I would rather not divulge and spoil for potential readers. Suffice to say that between Jesse's 'voice' and Cassidy's classic one-liners, I was laughing through both of the volumes I've so far read.

It's a great series, and very deserving of its popularity. Preacher is intelligent but accessible, clever but never cutesy, and above all a great read. Vertigo has struck gold once again with this series.

I've also picked up an older Marvel title, Universe X. What's fascinating about this one is that it's an alternate future epic, which not only projects new and terrifying ideas about what could happen to people we grew up thinking of as heroes. Some, like Warren Worthington III (X-Men's Angel) and Steve Rogers (Captain America) simply face age and their own faded glory. Others like Susan Storm Richards (the Invisible Woman) and Professor Xavier (if you don't know who he is, why are you reading a blog about comic books?) are no longer alive, and still others face a perversion of their powers that makes day to day life an unprecedented challenge (Namor the Submariner has been infused with the Human Torch's powers, meaning he can't leave his home under the sea without half of his body bursting into flames. Also, Daredevil is no longer the Man Without Fear- he is the Man Who Cannot Die, who performs outrageous stunts such as literally eating grenades in vain attempts to take his own life). Captain Marvel, on the other hand, returns from the dead (sort of...again) to save this universe from itself... only, he is reborn in the form of a golden-haired child, the son of Adam and Eve (both of whom are perfect constructed beings...and I'm sure you caught the reference behind the names). All in all, it's a heavy read, being two volumes (and each volume averaging 350 pages of illustrated greatness) of a dark, somewhat depressing revision of Marvel Universe history, but it's nonetheless a fascinating and thought-provoking look at our favorite, long-standing superheroes...and the ravages of time.

Universe X is part of a series of revised Marvel history which also includes Paradise X and Earth X.