Science Fiction & Fantasy Writing

Today a colleague and I were discussing books.  As you probably know by now, I love books.  I love the pages.  I love the words.  I love the smell.  I love the sound of the pages.  I really love books.  (To the point that it has become somewhat of a problem and periodically I give up purchasing books for periods of time so that I can read the ones I have.)

I will read almost anything.  Once someone makes a recommendation -- And please, leave comments with recommendations if you have any -- I will add it to my 'to read' list.

Our discussion today was the exception.

The exception to this rule is often sci-fi/fantasy....yes, the entire genre.  Though I find that when I give it a chance, from time to time, I really enjoy something from this genre.  But, when it is good, it is really good and when it is bad, it is really bad.

As mentioned in my previous post, I really enjoyed The Giver.  And there are others - Ender's Game, Harry Potter, The Martian Chronicles, Brave New World.  Some of these books top my favorites list.  On the other hand, some sci-fi/fantasy tops my least favorites list.

Sometimes I just don't understand how an entire genre can be so polarizing.  There seems to be no middle ground for me with this.  Does anyone else feel this way?

The Giver

I read The Giver by Lois Lowry for book club last week.  My first thought was - how is it possible that I wasn't required to read this in school?  Almost everyone in the world seems to have read this in school.  Where were my teachers on this one? 

My second thought - I can't believe this is a children's/young adult book.  I'm not trying to sound extremely cliche here but this was deep, profound, touching.....insert whatever other cliche book review word you'd like to here....

I'd recommend this one to anyone and everyone.  It's so much more than a children's book.  It only takes a couple hours to read so there are no excuses for not reading it if you haven't yet.

The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown

This isn't a raving review.....But I finally finished "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown this weekend.

I can see why some really liked this one.  It's typical Dan Brown style.  Fast paced adventure.  A little history thrown in.  More interesting than not.  Had I read this before Angels & Demons and The DaVinci Code, I probably would have really enjoyed it.  That said, it's too much like the others for me to love it.   It just took me a while to finish - five months for me to read a book is unheard of and that's what this one took - and I can't rave about something that I had to force myself to finish.

'tis the season....

I love December and holidays and the snow.  I was thinking about how fast this year has gone by.  Faster than the rest - it is a smaller percentage of the whole than last year was after all.

This year has been one series of roller coaster rides after another.  Some big changes.  Some seemed like they might be awful when they happened but it all ended up being ok. (Just like so many people told me)  So lucky for me, I can say that all in all, it has been a good year and I am in a good place right now.  Even the few things that have been driving me crazy lately are minor in the grand scheme of things.

So in preparation for the new year, it's time to start thinking about the New Year's Resolution list.  I did alright with last years - I made it to four of five Utah National Parks.  I only purchased three books.  I am nowhere near my reading goal of 36 complete books - But got through two thirds of that.  I don't think I'll be able to finish the rest in the 26 remaining days of the year.  I crossed a couple items off my bucket list (camping, making a quilt, and starting my own business)

One of next year's goals - definitely blog more, read more, and the big one i think will be finding a new hobby....I'm undecided on what it will be but apparently I need a hobby.....at least that's what p. fisher says....

Book Reviewer Cliches

This made me laugh out loud....I was looking for book club book selections today and came across this article in Examiner:

The top 20 most annoying book reviewer cliches and how to use them all in one meaningless review

I think the only thing that could have made this list more complete is "A coming of age story"

"1. Gripping
2. Poignant: if anything at all sad happens in the book, it will be described as poignant
3. Compelling
4. Nuanced: in reviewerspeak, this means, "The writing in the book is really great. I just can't come up with the specific words to explain why."
5. Lyrical: see definition of nuanced, above.
6. Tour de force
7. Readable
8. Haunting
9. Deceptively simple: as in, "deceptively simple prose"
10. Rollicking: a favorite for reviewers when writing about comedy/adventure books
11. Fully realized
12. At once: as in, "Michael Connelly's The Brass Verdict is at once a compelling mystery and a gripping thriller." See, I just used three of the most annoying clichés without any visible effort. Piece of cake.
13. Timely
14. " X meets X meets X": as in, "Stephen King meets Charles Dickens meets Agatha Christie in this haunting yet rollicking mystery."
15. Page-turner
16. Sweeping: almost exclusively reserved for books with more than 300 pages
17. That said: as in, "Stephenie Meyer couldn't identify quality writing with a compass and a trained guide; that said, Twilight is a harmless read."
18. Riveting
19. Unflinching: used to describe books that have any number of unpleasant occurences -- rape, war, infidelity, death of a child, etc.
20. Powerful"

The Hour I First Believed

"The Hour I First Believed" by Wally Lamb was quite the book.  It has been a while since I have read something I enjoyed this much.  It was riveting. (that's my word for when I want to sound like a publication reviewing a book.)

I haven't read any of Lamb's other books ("She's Come Undone" and "I Know This Much Is True" were both Oprah books and on my 'to-read' shelf on GoodReads) so that may be part of why I liked this so much.  I often find that when reading works by the same author, I like the first I read better than any others.  There are exceptions (Kurt Vonnegut) but generally speaking, this is how it goes for me.

Starting in Littleton, Colorado in April 1999 just before the Columbine shootings, it followed a couple who worked in the school through their life and the changes that took place after facing an event that turned the world as they knew it upside down.

I expected a little bit more about Columbine but was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't focused so much about the actual event than it's effects moving forward.  There were a number of stories going on throughout the book and each of them felt like they could have stood alone but worked well together.  (It reminded me of when we went to see 'Seabiscuit' in the theatre and my sister said, "that was like seeing 5 movies for the price of one.")

The Bucket List

If you know me, you know that I obsessively make lists.  Everything from 'to-do' today to 'to-do' in life.  I referred to my list in an earlier post and here it is: the 'to-do' in life list.  I don't have the full 100 but it does expand occasionally.  For now the 60 or so things I have to do are keeping me plenty busy.  Some things are definitely more likely to happen than others, but I'll make the effort to get through it.  And really, what fun is a list like this if it's not a challenge??


(Here is the key: Not yet started  Complete  Started at some point but haven't gotten very far  A work in progress)

• Get a masters (A whole class in - Really enjoyed that Finite Element Analysis though)
• Get a Ph.D. (I'm thinking in religious studies - just to learn about it - I already know the topic of my dissertation)
• Climb The Great Wall
• Raise $100,000 for charity (Over a couple years I organized fundraising events)
• Run a half marathon
• Learn a second language (This all depends on what we define as learning a second language.  I know Latin pretty well but can't speak it.  If we don't count Latin, then this is barely started since I only know a handful of words in about twelve languages)
• Learn to play guitar
• Learn to play piano
• Try to surf
• See the Pyramids
• Write a book
• Join the Peace Corps
• Go on a safari
• Start a scholarship fund
• Make a quilt 
• Learn to knit
• Learn to draw/paint
• Run for public office
• Visit Denmark
• Visit Switzerland
• Visit Italy
• Visit Spain
• Visit Portugal
• See the Taj Mahal
• Go to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day
• Set foot in all 50 states (Up to 35 out of 50)
• Go deep sea fishing
• Ride in a hot air balloon
• See a baseball game in every MLB stadium (4 out of 30)
• Be a groupie (in the follow a band around for an entire tour sort of way...not the band-aid sort of way)
• Meet a U.S. President
• Learn to cook
• Start a restaurant
• Buy a house
• Read the Bible cover to cover
• Scuba Dive
• Learn to fly a plane
• Sky dive (It terrifies me)
• Learn to box
• Learn to dance
• Camp (Last week I crossed this one off the list)
• Go to the top of Mt. Timpanogos
• Stop at the view area (I don't know why I haven't done this yet - And for that matter, I'm not sure why it's on my list but it's something I always mean to do on my way home)
• Finish a triathlon
• Learn to ride a motorcycle
• Invent something
• Start my own business
• Ride a gondola in Venice
• Go to the opera
• Go to the movie theater alone
• Dine alone
• Ring the NYSE bell
• Be a delegate for a political party
• Donate a gallon of blood (I am 5/8 of the way there.  Only 3 more pints)
• Read all of Kurt Vonnegut's work (I think I am about half way there.  He wrote a lot of books)
• See the 7 wonders of the world
• Set foot on all 7 continents
• Go to all of the National Parks in Utah (2 of 5 so far - Arches and Zion down...Canyonlands, Bryce, and Capitol Reef left)

Handle With Care

I finished “Handle With Care” last weekend. I have to say it was disappointing. I also should say that I was prepared for disappointment after reading many of her books. A couple years ago, I read Picoult’s “My Sister’s Keeper” and really enjoyed it. It was a story of a family with one child who had leukemia and another conceived to be a genetic match and live life as a perpetual donor to her older sister. I enjoyed the story – and the writing style as each chapter is told from a different character’s perspective.

Since then, I have read a few of her books and they all seem to follow the same formula: a tragedy, multiple perspectives, one tragic character, one character denied much needed attention, and some surprising twist at the end. Though, now the surprises are getting quite predictable.

“Handle With Care” followed the same pattern. Willow is born with osteogenesis imperfection – brittle bone disease. Amelia is the much neglected older sister. Then comes the wrongful birth lawsuit as Willow’s parents sue their obstetrician for not informing them early enough of this condition….

I’m sure you can imagine how this all pans out. It is an easy enough read. And not awful. Just disappointing when comparing it to Picoult’s other books.