A Natural History of Dragons: Quit Dragon Your Feet and Read This Book Already!

Look at the cover! It's so pretty!

If you’re anything like me, and I pray to God that you’re not, then you are horrified by the thought of just purchasing something without having “sampled” it yet. And in this case, I am of course referring to books and movies. Only on two occasions have I purchased a book because I thought it might be good and it turned out to be a BIG MISTAKE. And I mean “big” in the sense that I wasted several hours of my life attempting to read and like these books, but failing. And more than that, my competitive streak deflated at the thought that I was not returning to finish those books. Since then, I have not bought anything I haven’t read, seen, tried on, sampled, whatever.

It’s a good thing, then, that recommendations exist! I would feel much more at ease buying a book or movie from a source I valued, and such was the case of this book. Hank Green (for those of you not familiar with Nerdfighteria/Nerdfighters, Vlogbrothers, YouTube or John Green, the author of several best-selling Young Adult fiction novels, is an entertaining and pretty geeky vlogger whose videos I watch, and you should too) recommended several books in an early April VEDA video. Now, the other two were science fiction novels, and true sci-fi literature is something I have not delved into too deeply. But the third piqued my interest, partly because it had the word “dragons” on the title. Ever since How to Train Your Dragon, I have been started loving dragons. Hank Green's recommendation was interesting, as well. He described A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan as “If J. K. Rowling, Charles Darwin and Jane Austen had a baby, that would be impossible. That would be a messed up baby. But if they wrote a book together, it would be this book.”

Is that not one of the strangest combinations of writers you've ever heard of? Okay, maybe not "ever". I could wrap my head around the Jane Austen and Charles Darwin part of it, and the Jane Austen and J. K. Rowling part, but could not fit all three of them together coherently. So I got it. And I read it. And I liked it.

One of the hardest questions I've ever had to answer. 

A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan is about a Victorian Woman named Isabella, and she is fascinated by dragons. Because dragons exist in her world, which is also Victorian England, but it’s called Spirling, but Brennan isn't fooling anyone, and she knows it. The just knows that Spirling is basically England, but with dragons. Isabella is fascinated by the anatomy and engineering of dragons. She wants to know how they work, how they behave, what they eat, what their lifestyles are like, where they live, everything. She is scientific, curious, headstrong and adventurous, a combination which often leads her into trouble and danger.

She and her husband join a small observation party, to study the rock wyrm(dragons) in Vystrana. This country is essentially Russia or some similar Eastern European country, but it’s hard to place it exactly. Lately, there have been dragon attacks, and this hardy group decides to find out the cause and stop the dragon attacks.

There is a good deal of intrigue and mystery as to why these dragon attacks are happening, and it’s not as simple as it would seem.  I love mystery, and often books with mystery have kept me up until early hours (6 a.m. one time) in a desperate attempt to finish the book. This book had enough intrigue to keep my attention, but not enough to stay up  too late (early?). I would gladly sacrifice several hours of sleep for the right book, but this was not such book.

The characters themselves are likable, and I liked that Isabella was adventurous. However, because this book is largely plot-based and mystery-driven, none of the characters have very strong personalities. They do not do outrageous things, have hilarious sayings, have a lot of character development or develop strong relationships. In fact, it was fitting to the writing style, given the fact that this book is set in Victorian times and Isabella is compared to Charles Darwin. In this sense, Brennan wrote it in a Victorian English style, but not so much that if Jane Austen were to rise from the dead and for some reason decide to pick up this book, she would not confuse it with one of her peers’ works. That might drive away some readers who lack the patience or tolerance for a less-than-dynamic writing style/voice.

The ending, too, wrapped a little too quickly and neatly for my taste. It was confusing, especially since the book is largely plot-based. I mean, I can understand wanting to finish a book that has already been going on for 300 pages, but this was a little too simple. It is just a book for entertainment, and Brennan knows that her readers are not expecting some profound declaration about the current state of society. In a way, the ending is satisfying.

There are some really gorgeous works of art by Todd Lockwood; he does fantastic fantasy art found here and here. If you like art, then I would suggest checking out his stuff.

Just of a few of the, well, few illustrations in the book. 

All in all, it was something you might like if you like scientific, adventurous and a little bit of dry humor, (“Between that and the abseiling, I think I left enough skin behind on those rocks to cover an entire person”), then you would not be remiss in reading this book. I mean, come on! It has dragons in it! If that’s not enough to convince you, then I don’t know what is.

A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Just Don't Panic

Thank God I have WiFi so I can update this blog post about sci-fi!

Was that too forced? Yeah, I thought so, too. But it is true, if it is corny. Speaking of sci-fi and humor, it’s time to review a book! This week: Douglas Adams’ A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy!

I realize that it has been around for a long time, what with being published in 1979 and all, but I only got around to reading it a month or so ago. And now that I have read it, I don’t know what took me so long to start reading it! It made me laugh out loud, and the plot and characters were interesting and compelling enough to keep me hooked. To get the humor, I would have to say you have to like slightly sarcastic, very silly, and at times dry British wit. As I mention later, if you like Doctor Who or Monty Python (or if you have good taste, you like them both), you would like this 5 book series.

I found I was pleasantly surprised by how the book moved along and didn't know much about it beforehand, so I would recommend just closing out of this web page, getting your hands on the nearest copy of this book and digging in. It’s not that long of a read, anyway! I really don’t want to ruin anything for you. Or you could just let me spoil the unadulterated joy of reading something unique and completely new fiction. It’s your choice.

Have you read it yet? Or do you need your interest piqued a bit more?

Ugh. FINE. I’LL LET YOU INTO SOME OF MY INSIGHTS. But don’t say I didn't warn you. Er, recommend to you. You know what  I mean.

Arthur Dent, a middle-aged British man is dragged on an interstellar adventure by his eccentric friend, Ford Prefect. They meet up with Zaphod Beeblebrox and Trisha Macmillian(the only other Earthling) and travel through a series of hilarious hi-jinks that lead to the ultimate question: What is the meaning of life?

If the names above don’t put you off (and you haven’t even read the names of other planets, races and alien characters), then strap in for a hilarious and ever twisting ride, because there isn't really any other way to describe it. It’s like Monty Python and Doctor Who in book form with a character resembling any other character played by Martin Freeman, who usually plays a slightly annoyed guy who gets dragged into adventures over and over in different genres, and for that reason is cast as Arthur Dent in the movie.

To be fair, he plays that role REALLY well. 

I could try to separate the plot and the humor, but they just go hand in hand so well together! For starters, the whole thing starts off with Arthur’s house being torn down to make way for a new highway. Then the Earth is destroyed to make way for an inter-galactic highway system; oh, the irony. That’s exactly the kind of thing Douglas Adams does in his book: he mercilessly pokes fun at anything and everything. It’s honestly some of the most brilliant stuff out there! A depressed robot? People being tortured by having to listen to some awful poetry? The answer to the meaning of life being 42? Totally brilliant! I mean, who thinks of this stuff? He is truly inspired.

I think my favorite part was when they have the Answer to the meaning of life, but now they have to find the Question to the Answer, and as it turns out, the Earth was the final computer to calculate the Question, and it was just moments away from discovering the Question before it was destroyed to make a hyperspace bypass. Amazing.

Don’t even get me started on the infinite improbability drive! Just bloody brilliant.

I have been reduced to fragments and incomplete clauses, that’s just how great this book is. I can’t even- I just can’t describe it to you. You’ll just have to take my word for it and read this hilarious and intriguing book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, in bookstores since 1979.

Edit: I've just seen the movie, and maybe it was just me, but I wasn't very impressed. I think it’s just one of those things that your imagination can get perfectly, but there isn't yet a way to get that onto the screen just right. 

Game, Set, Matched

Okay, I lied. I'm too eager to just post one book review a week. Do you know how many books I've read recently that I can review? At least 6! That means this thing would last about a month and a half, and that's not even including the books that I will read! (I'm really hoping this isn't a phase and that I will continue to review books at least once a week, but given my track record, I can't promise ANYTHING. 

Oh my God! It's the main character of the book! It all makes sense now!
Note to readers: if you can't picture the main character, just look at the cover. Also, I do have to give props to the designer of the cover, but it's a bit of a stretch to say it's the representational of the theme of the book. 

            Boy, dystopian futures are all the rage right now, huh? You can almost certainly pin it on the Hunger Games trilogy in 2008, and ever since then, it’s been a jump-on-the-bandwagon-sci-fi-YA-fiction freak fest. Okay, the freak fest part I don’t mean, because I do happen to enjoy a healthy dose of sci-fi, but I really wanted to end that very hyphenated phrase with alliteration.

             Matched, by Ally Condie is no different than several other YA dystopian futuristic novels; it has a teenage girl who is a little more special than everyone else somehow in a society with a strict, orderly and oppressive government in the future, but so far in the future we've found life on other planets, just renamed countries and odd names and stuff. Oh, and there’s a boy she likes. And another that she did, but doesn't.

The point is, this book wasn't special enough to separate it from all the others in its field. I mean, she has a crisp writing style and paints a picture of the world Cassia is living in well enough, but not so much that you want to beat your head against the wall as you exclaim, “WE GET IT. YOU CAN DESCRIBE STUFF.” However, we never really get to know the main character. Even after 369 pages (heh heh), I’m still not entirely sure what her personality is. I know she loves her family, is really good at sorting, and really likes this guy named Ty.  Other than that, what else do you know about her? Not a whole lot, which doesn't bode well for this book. Aren't dystopian futures about the people in that universe and the events that occur? She doesn't do a great job of letting us get to know Cassia. That is, unless Cassia is a vapid airhead, in which case, she does a great job of fleshing out the main character. I mean, Condie puts in a few places that Cassia’s personality test predicted some rebellion and fierceness, but we never really get that! OK, so she secretly broke a few rules, but not in a way I would truly classify as rebellious.

           And then there’s the other characters: Xander, whom we get a good idea of him as a 2-D character: handsome, smart, rule-follower, affectionate, a real golden boy. Ty, the other love interest, is quiet, very smart but hides it by acting perfectly mediocre, tormented by his past, and mysterious. He’s probably the only truly likable character; that is, he’s the only one you really feel anything for at all.

            The plot moves along well, but all this “Oh my goodness, I love this one guy but am matched to another” junk was starting to fray my nerves. Unfortunately, it’s a pretty substantial part to the story.

The best thing about this book is the possible future she creates; the perfect society run by the government (literally called The Society) which regulates everyone’s lives to a tee to ensure a perfect and equal life for everyone. I thought she could have really expanded on this idea, the balance between a world without diseases and obesity, a world without unemployment, really old age or depression/strife, but also a world without the freedom of choice, creativity, or rebellion. Now there’s a topic I was really interested in: is it worth it to trade cancer for a government assigned job and mandatory relocation when necessary? Is it worth it to trade diabetes and obesity for tasteless food perfectly designed to your body’s needs? (Obviously, no one wants to be obese, but would you choose to be perfectly fit if that meant you had to eat bland porridge for three meals a day?) Well, you get the point. But that whole trade offs of personal freedoms for a perfect society intrigues me.

           All in all, if you’re a sixteen-year-old girl, which I am not, you might enjoy this more than me. Unless you like Twilight and obsessive teen girls, then this is less your style, but more than the Hunger Games. (My point is that she at least didn't go over the top with the lovey-dovey “let’s just be together forever even though we’re 17” sort of stuff.) However, I would recommend the Hunger Games if you have been living under a rock or in a hole, or God forbid, under a rock in a hole.  *Shudder* Or Divergent/Insurgent, which I thought were pretty decent, even other people didn't like those two. At least there was no love triangle, though! 

Bossypants: A Review

      Upon the shocking revelation that I will be reviewing books (Whoa! Your like totes the first person ever to review books online or in general!!! OMGZ lolololol you shuld b an editor!) Yes, that was poor grammar and spelling ON PURPOSE.

            Here goes nothing!

            Anyone who has any sense of humor or has any respect for American sketch comedy has heard of Tina Fey. If you haven’t, and I highly doubt that, I would suggest holing up in your room, locking the door, popping some popcorn and watching several straight hours of the best of SNL. The nineties edition. And then watching all 7 seasons of 30 Rock, because that show is amazing. She says in her book that they didn’t have many viewers, and that honestly shocked me. I love that show, and I can’t imagine why more people didn’t watch it! Probably off watching The Big Bang Theory. Losers. (Now, it’s not like The Big Bang Theory hasn’t made me laugh, but just because it’s about three scientists and an engineer does NOT make it a smart comedy. Plenty of people have written about this, and I do not have the energy to get into an argument about this. You can read some other people's extensive rants about it here and here.  

            But I digress. The point is that if you love comedy or have a sense of humor, you would love Tina Fey’s book! She’s funny, fresh, funky, fantastic and all other words beginning with “f”! Okay, not all words, but you get my point. The book chronicles important moments (i.e. hilarious things that happened to her and not so much the sentimental ones) from her childhood to current day, but not so much that you have to take a break.

            If you like reading and learning about how it is that she went from awkward child in Pennsylvania to an awkward adult in New York, and along the way worked in sketch comedy and became a writer for SNL. I adore SNL, so I was extremely curious how one goes from just an average person to someone working for a major network, especially on a big hit show like SNL.

            I know a lot of you are thinking that you already don’t have enough time to read, let alone waste your time actually reading nonfiction, but I can assure you, it’s still entertainment, and you get to pick up little funny Fey tidbits along the way!

            Just buy it, alright? Or get it from your local library! Because everyone knows I hate paying for stuff, so I prefer the library.

Next week: I review the third Percy Jackson Heroes of Olympus, Mark of Athena. See ya then!

It's Book Reviewing Time

How long has it been since my last blog post? A while? Don’t remind me.

However, I would like to offer this exciting piece of news! I am going to be posting weekly book reviews of books that I am reading. You see, for a while, I was the type of person who would make semi-passionate speeches about how e-readers are destroying our culture and the book industry, blah blah blah. It was exactly the type of argument a ranting and not-quite-believing person with a case of sour grapes would make. I would like to point out that I do not actually believe in that argument; in fact, I believe e-readers are perhaps enabling people to read more, such as having an iPod might cause you to listen to music more often. It is the sort of speech I would make though, as I often try to rationalize why I do not want what I want. Needless to say, it rarely works. (Once, when I was a very immature person in eighth grade told my best friend that, when she got a cell phone, she was going to get cancer because I read an article about it in the New York Times. Wasn't I horrible eighth grader??)

Long story short, I was allowed to have my mom’s old Nook Color (she got a Galaxy tablet for her birthday, and man, that thing is the bomb!) and I immediately set about buying any book I have read and liked or any book I was interested in reading. So now, having read quite a few books (6 exactly, not including re-reads) in 2 weeks), I have decided to start reviewing the books and leaving them here on my blog for other people’s enjoyment. I cannot promise that there will be any sort of pattern or genre that I will choose (I like pretty much anything, as long as it is well-written), but I can promise weekly book reviews!

Feel free to leave your thoughts about the book or about my review, whether you agreed, disagreed, whichever. Also, I love getting suggestions for books, so feel free to leave recommendations!