Libertine: On the Prowl

Vidi, vici, veni -- I saw, I conquered, I came. _______________________________________________________________

Self Censoring Readers

01:45, 2009-Apr-10 .. Posted in books .. 1 comments .. Link

Recently, I overheard two women at work talking about the books they’d read. One mentioned to the other about a novel she’d read where the main plot was about one woman’s adulterous affair. She asked the other woman if she wanted to borrow the book. The other woman declined, stating she didn’t want to read about such things because she thought adultery was immoral.

I rolled my eyes at this, thinking this woman must be very limited if she restricted herself from reading books about topics she didn’t agree with, even if it was fiction. What was this woman afraid of, I wondered. Did she think if she read a story about adultery, that she would suddenly want to have an affair?

People read about things all the time that they’d never do in real life. Mysteries and crime novels are quite popular with a lot of people, but it doesn’t mean that such people approve of murder or will suddenly go on a killing spree because they like reading a good mystery.

It really boggles my mind at how depressingly narrow-minded so many people can be.

Current Booklist

01:27, 2008-May-17 .. Posted in books .. 7 comments .. Link

This is the book I'm currently reading, which is the fifth of a currently ten book series known collectively as The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. The main character is a private detective, who is also a wizard. I came upon this series awhile back when looking for books that would appeal to adult Harry Potter fans. And this series fits the bill nicely, while also appealing to fans of more traditional detective novels.

Following below are a few books I hope to read soon.

The 18th book in John Sandford's Lucas Davenport mystery series

Escape by Carolyn Jessop

This is a tell-all memoir from a former member of the FLDS church.

Beyond Straight and Gay Marriage by Nancy Polikoff
The Publisher's Weekly blurb sums this book up best:

Polikoff, who has taught, litigated and written about family law, civil procedure and sexuality for more than 30 years, deftly argues that the law's narrow definitions of family and marriage no longer work in today's society—not just for the LGBT community but the country at large. With many households following untraditional family models, Polikoff says, we need to look at ways the law can change to value all families beyond those created by marriage, including same and different-sexed, married and unmarried couples. Polikoff draws on legal history and contemporary (often eye-opening) court cases to make her argument. Topics such as inheritance, tax consequences, workers' compensation death benefits, social security, probate, adoption and health care, plus their impact the diversity of today's family units are simplified for the reader. Polikoff wades through legislation and legalese with style and substance, plus a touch of flair. Impeccably researched, the book offers an evocative read that takes in the full breadth of the issues affecting marriages and avoids pedantry while remaining persuasive.

I'd be curious to know what my readers are reading and planning to read in the near future.

How Much Money Is Enough?

11:19, 2008-Apr-17 .. Posted in books .. 3 comments .. Link

This past week, Harry Potter author, JK Rowling, has been testifying in court in a suit she brought against a fan, Steve Vander Ark, and publisher RDR Books, for attempting to turn Vander Ark's long-established website, The Harry Potter Lexicon, into print version. The Harry Potter Lexicon is a popular reference site to the popular book series.

Rowling claimed that publication of the lexicon has "gutted" her plans to publish a comprehensive Harry Potter Encyclopedia and that Vander Ark's book would be plagiarism. Vander Ark's publisher contends that the books would fall under a fair use allowable by law for reference books.

I don't buy Rowling's contention. First of all, Vander Ark's Lexicon is simply a handy guide to the Harry Potter world; it only arranges Rowling's own words by topic in encyclopedia form to make it easier for fans to look up things. He doesn't claim that he wrote any of the original material. In other words, he's an arranger, not a composer. Anthony Falzone, the attorney representing the book's publisher, countered that the encyclopedia, meant to be a companion to the books or the films, not only does not diminish the original novels, but actually enhances the enjoyment of them. Falzone said the point of the Lexicon is "to organise and discuss the complicated and very elaborate world of Harry Potter". Indeed, what's the point of buying the Lexicon, if one does not buy the original books first?

Secondly, the Lexicon was not meant to supplant Rowling's planned Encyclopedia and cannot for one simple reason. His Lexicon is limited to material already revealed in the books. Rowling's Encyclopedia, on the other hand, will contain background information not included in the books that will flesh out what has already been written. This information was not included in the novels so that the novels would flow better and for reasons of avoiding excessive verbosity. Rowling's Encyclopedia, above all, will answer all the unanswered questions readers still had after finishing the final novel. Most Harry Potter fans will want a copy of both the Lexicon and the Encyclopedia and, if made to choose, nearly all would choose Rowling's book over Vander Ark's.

Rowling has said "This isn't about money." I don't buy that, either. For one thing, the Lexicon site has been online since 2002 and Rowling never complained about it until Vander Ark planned to turn the site into a book. Warner Bros. had even flown him to the set of the fifth Harry Potter movie and used his lexicon every day during production, without Rowling objecting to his role as a consultant.

Earlier today it was announced that Judge Robert Patterson advised Rowling to settle her dispute with Vander Ark out of court.

Having read the various news articles about this case in the last few days begs the question: How much money is enough? JK Rowling is already the richest woman in the UK, considerably richer than the Queen herself. Her suit against Vander Ark, whose internet Lexicon has only served to help increase popularity of Rowling's books, smacks of petty greed in my view. She'd be much better off if she simply let it go and not fret over any small profit Vander Ark could gain from the publication of the Lexicon, as it could only be a paltry sum compared to her fortune.

This is just my opinion and your mileage may vary, of course.

New Books For Deep Space Nine Fans

11:57, 2008-Mar-28 .. Posted in books .. 3 comments .. Link

Fans of Deep Space Nine have four new books to look forward to this spring. Three of the books are a trilogy all bearing the subtitle, Star Trek: Terok Nor. These books are a prequel to Deep Space Nine and tell the story of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor before the Federation took over in 2369 and cover the years 2318 to 2369.

The first in the trilogy, Day of the Vipers, 2318-2328, was published last week and I'm reading it now. The other two, Night of the Wolves, 2345-2357 and Dawn of the Eagles, 2360-2369, will follow in monthly intervals. This is a story I'd long wished that would be told and from what I've read of the first book so far, they're doing an excellent job of it.

The fourth book, Fearful Symmetry, picks up the threads of unanswered questions from the third season episode, Second Skin, where Kira discovers that there was a Cardassian spy who had been surgically altered to look like her. The episode ends without revealing what had happened to this Cardassian spy. This book will answer that question. As this was one of my favorite DS9 episodes, I especially look forward to this novel.

What Kind of Reader Are You?

12:45, 2007-Dec-18 .. Posted in books .. 5 comments .. Link

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Literate Good Citizen
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Old vs New Technology

01:26, 2007-Nov-10 .. Posted in books .. 11 comments .. Link

Recently I read an article over at Alternet that addressed the question as to whether digital books and e-books will replace traditional ink-and-paper books.

The author cited the convenience of digitized; that books that fill rooms in traditional book form, can all be reduced to disks and read on computers and PDAs. At present, there is a woefully inadequate inventory of such books, nor is there a device designed just for this purpose that displays digital books to their best advantage.

I have no problem with digital books as an added format, much in the same sense as audio books. I'd hate them to entirely replace traditional books, however. Reading is a sensory experience in addition to being a way to gather information and to be entertained. A sterile file of book disks in no way can compare to browsing a used bookstore with every corner crammed with books, redolent with the slightly musty smell of old print, coffee, and prowling store cats. Nor can it compare to the fresh ink smell of new books and the artistic dust jackets.

At home, the sight of my my many overflowing bookshelves make me feel content and at home, and give every visitor insight into my personality in a way that no disk file ever could.

I think many other people believe likewise and while they will no doubt use this new format, especially when space considerations are at a premium and in work situations, I don't think bibliophiles are ready to part with real books just yet. And traditional books have one big advantage: they are not subject to hard drive failures, corrupted software, power failures, dead batteries, and so on.

When the internet first caught on in the 1990s, I'd thought at the time that traditional newspapers would gradually disappear, just as vinyl records did after the introduction of CDs, and as DVDs inched out VHS tapes. But this hasn't happened. I still see traditional printed newspapers everywhere, even though I usually read my local newspaper online. And I still like to get a printed Sunday paper every now and then -- you can't take a computer into the bathroom with you like a newspaper when you want to spend extended time in there answering the call of nature.

Similarly, when the VCR took off in the late 70s, many people worried that this would be the end of movie theaters. This didn't happen either, mainly because the industry made sure of it by not releasing movies directly to VHS, and delaying the release for a time sufficient for films to make a profit in theaters. Secondly, most people like the experience of going out to the movies. It's a traditional date activity, most movies are seen to their best advantage on a big screen, and there's nothing quite like popcorn from the movies. Movie theaters do as much business as they did before the VCR, DVD, and so on, and will likely continue to do so.

One technology where early predictions were wrong was that of TV. Many people in the late 40s and early 50s thought television was a gimmick; a passing fancy whose novelty would soon wear off. Obviously such naysayers were dead wrong on that one, There were others who predicted that TV would mean the death of radio, and were equally as wrong. Radio changed, but it didn't die; it adapted.

To return to the original subject, ink-and-paper books may one day be overshadowed by digital books, but I don't think it's going to happen in my lifetime. At least I hope not.

Thoughts?

Predictable Fiction

03:06, 2007-Oct-17 .. Posted in books .. 23 comments .. Link

Quite some time ago, I wrote about reading some of the romance novels one lover had lying around. I criticized their predictability; that they always ended, without exception, in a monogamous marriage, no matter how unlikely a candidate for marriage the main male character seemed in the beginning.

Now, I'll elaborate a bit -- romance novels are most definitely not the only culprit here. In mystery/crime/thriller novels, you know from the very beginning that the good guys will always win in the end and that the main character will not die, no matter how dire their circumstances become during the course of the novel. This also holds true for movies in both genres.

You also know that if they do something really stupid while looking for clues to solve the mystery, they'll nearly always get caught and temporarily captured by the bad guys, though they'll be rescued in the end. And they WILL do something foolhardy, never choosing to take the safer paths. Said bad guys will usually take the time to gloat, to confess to the good guy what they've done bad so far and what mayhem they have planned for the good guy, in order to waste time so that the cavalry can come save the day just in the nick of time.

As romances are always told from the female point of view, mysteries/thrillers are always told from the good guys' point of view, in the same way that history is nearly always recounted by the winners.

Where's the "thrill" in thriller if you know how it's going to end before you even read the first page? Why must the good guys always win? Mystery/thriller fiction is supposed to be just that; fiction, a make-believe tale of "what if". There shouldn't always be a morality, "crime doesn't pay" lesson in fiction, as fiction is mainly about entertainment, not a prescription of what "should" be.

I'd like to see some fiction told from atypical points of view -- romance from a male perspective that doesn't always end in a monogamous marriage and mystery/thrillers told from the "bad guy's" point of view. Indeed, I'd like to see more novels where the dividing line between good guys and bad guys is blurred; where the characters on both sides of an issue are multifaceted and each have points of views and agendas that make sense to them.

What would you like to see different in the types of fiction you read that you currently see very little of? And if you know of any authors who write less predictable plots, feel free to list them in the comment box.