Bookstore Moment

So, I've always heard tales of people requesting odd books, getting titles wrong in strange ways, and in general getting literary information very, very mixed up, but I've never really had to deal with these bizarre mistakes myself.

Well, I guess I can't really say that anymore. Today I was shelving a stack of graphic novels (all very mediocre and cheap) when a woman walks up to me and asks if we have a book by "Alex Scrub".

"Alex Scrub"? Well, needless to say, I'm not familiar with the author, so I ask if she knows what "Alex Scrub" writes. I'm assuming young adult, but she doesn't seem to know- she's looking for the writer for her brother. Ok then, we'll go ask the computer. Let's see what books "Alex Scrub" has written so I can help her find them.

Well, an Amazon search for "Alex Scrub" doesn't turn up any hits, so she calls her brother to make sure she has the writer's name right.

"Alice"? Alice? Alice in Wonderland? Is she looking for a title, not an author?

"Oh, no, no, Atlas!" Atlas? What? "Atlas Shrugged! Do you have a book called Atlas Shrugged?"

"Upstairs in classic literature, ma'am. You'll see it first thing on your right. Have a good day."

Currently Reading

Just Finished-
The Orphan's Tales: Cities of Coin and Spice by Catherynne M. Valente

This was every bit what I was expecting and hoping it would be. The mystery of the orphan girl's origin finally comes clean in this volume, and the story was beautifully told and just as mesmerizing as the first. I think the first is still my favorite book of the two, but that's due mostly to the fact it surprised me. I went into the second book knowing what Valente was capable of, and boy-oh-boy did she deliver!

On Hold?-
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

I'm not totally sure why I seemed to have stopped reading this book. I was enjoying it, but I didn't really click with it, you know? I'll give it a week or two and try to pick it back up once this semester's over and I have a little more spare time and energy. (And did anyone else find that the book wasn't nearly as gross as its reputation implied? I was expecting to be disgusted and appalled through the whole thing, but so far there have only been two or three little moments where I went "ugh!")

Reading-
Trouble on Triton by Samuel R. Delany

Actually, I only started this one this morning, but I've been moving along at a good clip (except for the little break from reading I took, where I watched The Corpse Bride and cooked lunch) and I'm nearly as far along in Triton as I am in Mainspring. It's much harder reading than Mainspring, too- damn you, Delany, and your complicated scientific and philosophical passages that make me slow down, read, re-read, contemplate, and play connect-the-dots in my brain. This isn't easy for me to do first thing in the morning! Delany, if you weren't so damn good at it and totally worth the struggle, I'd hate you.

Mainspring by Jay Lake

I've waited how many months now to get my hands on a copy of this fucker? Too many, that's certain. I've read a few of Jay Lake's short stories and browsed his blog (livejournal? don't remember now) a time or two...and I've waited. And waited. And waited. Every time I saw a copy at B&N or Half-Price- not that I ever shop at bookstores other than the one I work in, of course- I'd talk myself out of buying it (I can't support the competition, right?) because eventually- EVENTUALLY- we'd get a copy at my job and I'd get my employee discount and all that jazz. In fact, a copy came in a few months ago- and my coworker (it's a good thing I like him!) snatched it up before I saw it! So I waited. And waited. And Waited. And lo and behold, what comes in last Saturday but my very own copy of Mainspring! I even did a little victory dance for the benefit of my coworkers (especially the one who nabbed the other copy!) and I bought the little fucker before I left that night. I win. (And the book's been pretty damn fun, too!)

Awaiting-
Dark Reflections by Samuel R. Delany

Yes, there are still some Delany books I don't own. And yes, that number keeps shrinking. This particular Delany book is somewhat semi-autobiographical in that the main character- a probable stand-in for the author- is a black, gay poet, as Delany was before he turned to science fiction (and then to 'literary' fiction...but whatever). The character's life is told in reverse- that is, he starts out as a succesful older man and as the story progresses, the reader is gradually introduced to him as his younger and more ambitious self. At least, that's what all of the reviews and summaries I've seen have said. I'll have the book by the end of the week, and then I'll know more.

Nova Scotia: New Scottish Speculative Fiction edited by Andrew J. Wilson

This was a 2006 finalist for the World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology, and holy hell but does it have a great line-up. Ken MacLeod, Jane Yolen, Charles Stoss, Neil Williamson, and seventeen others contributed to this collection, and I have no fucking clue as to how in the hell this thing is out of print. (Why? WHY?) After all, "forget, the Loch Ness monster, Brigadoon and all the usual tartanalia: Nova Scotia examines the Scotland of the 21st century and offers 22 unique insights on living in this New Scotland". And yeah, I totally stole that from the website.

New Additions to My Wish List-
The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia

My friend (the coworker who snagged that first copy of Mainspring, actually) swears by this woman's writing, and from what little I've seen I must say I'm excited. Hopefully I'll like her as much as my coworker does, which is frankly very possible.

In the Forest of Forgetting by Theodora Goss

This is a short story collection by a writer who I've read in Lady Churchill's (well, ok, I've only ever seen The Best of compilation), and every time I've fallen a little more in love with her work. Now that I've found a collection of her stories, I have to get it.

Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy edited by Ekaterina Sedia (not so new on my wish list, but it will probably be one of the next few things I order online)

Sedia again. This anthology contains works by Jay Lake, Hal Duncan, Anna Tambour, Forrest Aguirre, and Catherynne M. Valente, and I'm starting to see a trend in the authors whose short fiction I collect. Anyone else detect a trend?

There are a number of other anthologies that I've been eyeing, but I'm trying to keep my consumption level down for the time being. But just wait. They will be mine!

Kunoichi Says Hello

New (Online) Toy!

I recently joined LibraryThing.com, which allows users to keep an online record of their books (and allows for book voyeurs such as myself to peek at the shelves of other collectors without getting the cops called on us). Sadly enough, it's very entertaining, and you can check out the libraries of your friends and your favorite authors. I think there are even forums and such...though I've been so busy scoping out who has my favorite books that I haven't really paid much attention to those features. Neeways, my profile page is located at http://www.librarything.com/profile/bookjockey18 and I'd love to have company. Plus, I'm a book whore and I love to look at other people's shelves, and the more the merrier, right? Right.

Oh, and that shadow that's been hovering near your bookshelf... You know, the one behind you? It isn't what you think! I was just... Please don't call the cops...

(More) New Books

I was bad this week- I bought more books, even after my spending spree last week and after paying on my gigantic expensive layaway. I also adopted a few abandoned books from our donation closest at work, but that only makes up for it a little bit.

Anyway, this week's new acquisitions list contains-

Mainspring by Jay Lake

The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny


The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki Shikibu (though I prefer this edition, which I also own)

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (Norton Critical Edition)


The Eternal Champions Series, Volumes 1, 2, and 3 (The Eternal Champion, Von Bek, and Hawkmoon)

And, because I'm a loser who can't kick the deadly habit...

Han Solo's Revenge by Brian Daley (sorry, no accurate Amazon image)

The Trouble With Tribbles: The Birth, Death, Sale, and Final Production of One Episode by David Gerrold

The Search for Meaning in "American Beauty"

Throughout the film “American Beauty”, the audience watches as the characters argue, fight, cry, and seduce their way through life, seeking to understand what it all means and why sometimes life has to be so difficult. As friends, lovers, and family members, they use one another as scapegoats and as modes of escape to avoid dealing with life- or, perhaps, to deal with life in the only way they know how. Most of the characters are self-obsessed, materialistic, and insecure to the point of neurosis and are completely unable to connect with other people, or really even themselves.

Carolyn Burnham is one of the neediest, most insecure characters in the movie. She spends most of the film trying and failing to find some source of reassurance to offset the isolation she feels. She chants mantras to herself, promising that she will do one thing or she will not do another, though she can’t fool even herself into thinking she has a chance of following through and finding happiness. The only character Carolyn connects with for even a little while is the arrogant Buddy Kane, who winds up abandoning her when her husband discovers their affair. Kane is far more concerned about his professional appearance than his romantic entanglements, and he selfishly leaves Carolyn behind to deal with the mess their affair has created. On the other hand, Lester Burnham, Carolyn’s husband, is not terribly upset about his wife sleeping with another man. He has felt isolated from his unfeeling wife for quite some time, and in fact finds it liberating that Carolyn is no longer trying to bend him to her idea of what a proper family is. He takes his new freedom from his wife’s control and runs with it. He starts smoking pot, working out, and quits his white-collar job to flip burgers, all in order to relive the happiest time of his life- his teens. He then takes the hunt for his lost happiness and youth a step further and seduces (and allows himself to be seduced by) his daughter’s best friend, a terribly insecure ‘beauty’ named Angela. Angela, meanwhile, is using both Lester and his daughter Jane to fuel her own search for herself. She puts up a front of confidence and success, when really she’s a scared little girl who is desperate for a way to feel special and loved. Angela feeds off of Lester’s sexual attention and off of Jane’s ‘plainness’ in order to separate herself from the ‘ordinary’ people she sees every day. The arrival of Jane’s new boyfriend, Ricky, makes this increasingly difficult for her. He calls her out on her behavior, declaring that Angela was never actually Jane’s friend but was really using her to increase her own confidence. Ricky also sees through Angela’s pretentious disguise and says to her face he finds her boring and plain. Ricky is himself an odd character. He toys with the emotions of other characters on several occasions, from egging his father on into two unnecessary physical confrontations to exposing Angela’s cruel method of finding self-assurance. On the other hand, he seems to be the only relatively happy character in the movie. His obsession with filming ordinary and sometimes gruesome things stems not just from a morbid sense of curiosity, but also from a deep-seated appreciation of the beauty that exists in the everyday world. He alone has a sense of self-confidence, and doesn’t feel ‘exposed’ or ‘naked’- even when Jane is filming him when he is very much physically naked.

Ricky is, sadly, the only character in the movie with a perception of his own self-worth. The other characters spend the entire movie flitting from one argument to another as they try desperately to find their calling, their soul mate, or their place in the crazy world they live in. Like families and neighbors often do, these characters have formed tight relationships- or perhaps just loose ones- which enable them to find new ways of learning about themselves and each other in meaningful ways. Even the missteps and missed opportunities offer lessons in how human beings interact with one another and how those interactions change the way people see each other and themselves.

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I wrote this one for a sociology class (Marriage and Family Relationships). Again, I had a two page limit, which I went over by just a tiny bit, once I put in the heading and everything. I'd never seen the movie before, and I've got to say- it's delightfully screwy.

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.)

New Arrivals

I went on a bit of a spending spree yesterday and came home with a few new books. Most importantly, I added to my Delany collection, and then I finally found a Steve Berman novel! It's amazing how hard it is to find his books around here. I can't believe Barnes & Noble actually had a copy, though I have a bit of a problem with how they had the book shelved in the general fiction section when the book explicity states "Young Adult" on the cover and is aimed at gay teen readers. After the Amazon fiasco last week (link is to Gaiman's journal on the subject), I'm not too pleased to see what could be construed as a form of censorship in my local B&N.

Anyway, on to the books.

Camp Concentration Thomas M. Disch


Vintage: A Ghost Story Steve Berman


Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia Samuel R. Delany



Babel-17/ Empire Star Samuel R. Delany



Ode to Walt Whitman Fredrico Garcia Lorca


In Search of Duende Fredrico Garcia Lorca

Also, I just realized that every single one of these authors is (or was) gay. What does that say about the prominence of GLBT writers and titles, Amazon?

Upcoming Releases- 2009

So instead of reading or writing or really doing anything remotely productive, I spent the evening browsing Amazon and checking out upcoming releases by my favorite writers. I already have Anne Bishop's new book The Shadow Queen (which I'm not as pleased with as I had hoped, unfortunately) which snuck under my radar until I stumbled across a copy at Barnes & Noble. To keep this from happening again, I decided to compile a list here for books I'm gonna have to order A.S.A.P!

First off is Jeff Vandermeer's Booklife: Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21st Century Writer. Though I normally avoid books on writing like the plague on society they are, I think I'll have to break my own rules and check this one out. Vandermeer's non-fiction is, strangely enough, the reason I started reading him in the first place, and this book looks like it's going to deal with issues that actually are important for modern day writers including, as Amazon.com claims, "personal space versus public space, deadlines, and networking, [and] the benefits of interacting with readers through new technologies". This one is due out in October, so I've got a while to wait before I can get my hands on a copy.

China Mieville's new novel, The City & The City, is coming out this May. I'm fighting the urge to pre-order it...at least until it gets a little closer to the release date and my willpower breaks. I'm a little behind on my Mieville books, but this one looks pretty intriguing and I just might have to bump a few things down on my reading list to make room for it.

I was hoping to get a copy of Catherynne M. Valente's Palimpsest at one of my local bookstores, but once again I forgot how weak the fantasy sections in my Hastings and Barnes & Noble are. I'll be buying this one off of Amazon before long, I fear.

Neil Gaiman has another children's book (Crazy Hair) due out at the end of May. I already have a copy of his other new children's book, The Blueberry Girl, and I love it. Charles Vess' artwork is unbelievably beautiful in The Blueberry Girl, and I'm sure Dave McKean's illustrations in Crazy Hair will be as odd and wonderful as they always are.

Oddly enough (for me), I'm greatly tempted to read Drood by Dan Simmons. Like books on writing, I tend to avoid fiction about writers, but I think Simmons may be on to something with his novel about Charles Dickens and his last, unfinished manuscript, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Besides, this is one giant sucker of a freaking novel, which hopefully translates into plenty of reading entertainment for me!

I'm also looking out for a copy of Steve Berman's Mr. October's Naughty Bedside Reader, which doesn't have a release date yet, sadly. Like Valente, I'll probably have to order this one off Amazon, since my local bookstores don't know who he is, either (ugh! I need to have a chat with the people who pick stock. Whoever these Robert Jordan and R.A. Salvatore guys are, they need to quit taking up so much room on the store fantasy shelves!).

Bookmarks!

These are just awesome-
Stolen from
http://www.miragebookmark.ch/be_0_exhibition.htm

Marvin especially makes me squee!