Some books and a movie

[mamculuna]

The Game Laurie King. Mary Russell defends the Raj, with a tip of the deerstalker to Kipling. A pleasure, as expected. But I'm beginning to read mysteries to take them apart--how does she create all that suspense? Like seeing how Holmes' tricks work. This is the second book I've read that referred to Kim--the other was The English Patient. I feel as though I'd like to know the Kipling book but I'm afraid it will make me too angry. Will it be like reading Faulkner, or worse, in terms of racism? I've inherited some old books I've never read--I may even have it tucked away somewhere.

The Last Hot Time Delightful! The idea of the return of the magic reminded me of Sean Stewart's books, but this was not quite so dark as he can be sometimes--or maybe it was just paced a little better. The relationship between Doc and (forgot her name already!) didn't quite work for me. The elves were excellent, good and evil, high and--not high? I'm ok with elf books that have lots of Celtic references, but this once just sort of implied it without really calling it in--that worked nicely. I especially loved how it was set in Chicago--fun to know all the places (Lower Wacker Drive! Shades of Blues Brothers). But wish they'd had a scene in my favorite pub, the Duke of Perth.

100 Years of Solitude/Cien Anos de Soledad This is a re-read to make a talk at a library. I don't read Spanish well enough (and probably most of my audience doesn't read it at all) to read the original, but I'm going to it for passages at least. The first time I taught this, following several weeks of Austen, Dickens, and Conrad, one of my students came running in, delighted, saying, "Now THIS is what fiction should be!" I'm sure many would argue for some of those others, but the multitude of strange events and the unexpected twists, the perfect matching of image and emotion, the lyric descriptions--I have to say sometimes I know what he meant. Right now I'm really noticing the sleight of hand that Garcia Marquez uses to shift from one tale to another almost in mid-sentence. That movement is almost more dream-like than the strange events.

Love and Rockets Where have they been all my life!?! The art and the stories really grab my heart, and my eyes. I just read the first one, and I'm hooked. Love the Mechanic Girl (another name lost). Also Stigmata Errata.

Northfork This was a bizarre movie, but to me very satisfying. Very nice acting--loved Darryl Hannah as Flower Hercules, reminded me of her Priss in Bladerunner, hardly even grown older. And the men in black, who seemed so ominous and turned out to be so different. This is a movie I'd like to own.

Comments

[angels-nibblet.livejournal.com]

100 Years of Solitude/Cien Anos de Soledad

Oooooo thank you!
I think I'll check this one out as it sounds great from your description! Not sure if it will surpass my love of Austen though :-P Dare I, with only a few years of spanish under my belt, attempt the original...?

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

If yoiur Spanish is better than mine--you might want to try what I'm doing and use both the English and the Spanish together.

It's quite different from Austen--like a dream is different from real life.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

If your Spanish is better than mine--or you might want to try what I'm doing and use both the English and the Spanish together. Sometimes the story shifts so suddenly that you don't have any context for figuring out vocabulary you may not recognize.

It's quite different from Austen--like a dream is different from real life.

Kim

[oursin.livejournal.com]

I don't know what your particular hot buttons would be for racism. I love Kim and I think if one reads it as, admittedly, a product of its period and that period's attitudes, and using certain expressions of the day, without making the assumption that Kipling must have been a complete racist sexist pig, it stands up well. Although Kim himself is true-Brit, well, actually, Irish, most of his associates are rounded and sympathetically depicted members of various different groups within the Indian population - more sympathetically depicted than a number of representatives of the Raj. E.g. the Bengali babu is not above playing on that stereotype for higher purposes - it's not a simple caricature. It's a complex book. And Kipling's style is a joy (I've moaned before that too many of his admirers/imitators produce totally leaden prose). But I was inoculated with Kipling at a very early age via the Jungle Books and am probably not an impartial witness.

Re: Kim

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Well, that sounds worth reading. I've worked with people on the problems of reading Huckleberry Finn. While Twain's book does tackle racism head-on in some places, in others it degenerates into pure stereotyping. And sometimes it's hard to tell whether he's being ironic (usually a safe bet with Twain) or serious. I try to read things like that with two or three minds at once, if that makes sense.

Re: Kim

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Well, that sounds worth reading. I've worked with people on the problems of reading Huckleberry Finn. While Twain's book does tackle racism head-on in some places, in others it degenerates into pure stereotyping. And sometimes it's hard to tell whether he's being ironic (usually a safe bet with Twain) or serious. I try to read things like that with two or three minds at once, if that makes sense.

[rahael.livejournal.com]

I read Kim a very long time ago (I must have been 8 or 9) and i quite liked it!

But then I did say that I read all sorts of things. I'd have to re-read the book now to get my proper reaction. I can't remember it all that well.

I dislike Michael Ondaatje. But that's another story.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

I'd be interested to hear your views on Ondaatje, especially Anil's Ghost, but also his views of the relationship between the English and the South Asians. But you may or may not feel like posting about that, now or later.