Books I Read September 21st, 2006

If you have some burning desire to hear me talk more, I am here doing so.

Gifts by Ursula K. Le Guin – Magical mountain youths struggle with their violent society, growing powers in this fast and well-written metaphor for puberty. Nothing about this is starkly original but it's sweet and well-done, which is not something I often feel about fantasy. I'll pick up the sequel most likely.

True North by Jim Harrison – The scion of capitalist monsters in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan struggles to become a decent man in a miserably corrupt world, does a lot of fishing, sleeps with women. Harrison has a knack for descriptions of our ruined environment in a way which reads as at once beautiful and depressing, and his characterization is sympathetic and swift. I tend to not love these sorts of bildungsromans but this was enjoyable without being hyper-masculine or terribly self-indulgent. Also made me really want to visit the Midwest.

The Best of R.A. Lafferty by R.A. Lafferty – I kind of had an inkling that Laffterty's odd brain and bat shit writing style would work better in short form rather than as novels, and I'm pleased to see I was right. These are odd and interesting and even when they don't work that well they aren't that long. I particularly enjoyed the one about junkies skydiving.

The Autumn of the Middle Ages by Johan Huizinga – Elaborate, detailed, complex discussions of the cultural and aesthetic values of the three estates (really just the first and second). Pretty quickly I realized this wasn't of that much interest to me but I maintained out of a sense of stoic masochism.

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress – A mathematician predicts the end of the world while in the future a small group of survivors time-travel to steal children in hopes of surviving it. It's not the first time I've seen this sort of an idea but Kress has a talent for grim characterization, and the plot moves at a swift and ruthless pace.