Some recent reading
Dec. 12th, 2023 06:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bookofdanielvol2Just some thoughts on some of the books I've recently completed.
Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl
This is the first-hand account of Heyerdahl's 1947 raft voyage from Peru to Polynesia, with the goal of proving that these Pacific islands could have been colonized by those traveling westward from the South American mainland. Those conclusions are generally rejected today, but the voyage is an interesting chapter in the history of 20th century anthropology, and as a read it makes for a good seafaring adventure story.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton
One of those famous novels that I generally understood the references to, but never actually got around to reading. The writing style is characteristic of its time, and the goal of playing on the reader's emotions is obvious. But overall I think it worked well as a character study of the quiet teacher whose own career is somewhat unremarkable, but becomes distinguished by his dedication to the education and improvement of others, and finds his own form of happiness along the way. As a sometimes-adjunct professor, I'd be lying if I said that it didn't hit home just a little bit. It's a quick read to check off the list and overall I'd recommend it.
Before Shadowgate by F.X. Nine & Ellen Miles
This was one of the Worlds of Power books based on third-party NES games, which were all outlined by Seth Godin (aka "F.X. Nine") and written by another author, in this case Ellen Miles. Most of the Worlds of Power books were essentially strategy guides in story form, just adapting how the player would move through the game, but this one for Shadowgate (itself originally part of the "MacVenture" series for Macintosh computers) is unique in that it's actually meant to be a prequel story to the game. That certainly makes it more memorable than most of them, and the quality of the writing is a step up from, say, the Mega Man 2 book (perhaps the most famous of the Worlds of Power series, which was also written by Miles). However, it also doesn't *really* tie into the game itself all that much, outside of the wizard Lakmir appearing, and even gets the name of the villain wrong (calling him "the Warlock King" when, throughout the game, he's referred to as "the Warlock Lord"). It's ultimately just kind of a generic YA fantasy adventure story that moves a little too fast - virtually every short chapter is punctuated with an encounter with another generic fantasy creature, most of which also appear nowhere in the game, with an audience-surrogate main character in a kid who becomes so powerful so quickly that he can't possibly lose.
Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage
The "evil kid" concept has plenty of precedent in books, movies and TV - The Exorcist, The Omen, The Bad Seed, The Good Son, Children of the Corn, Children of the Damned, Beware! Children at Play, the Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life," and on and on - but this did a pretty good job of taking that general concept and placing it in a present-day 2020s setting. It teased but then pulled back from having a supernatural element, and I think was better for it; that angle was more than adequately covered in some of the aforementioned predecessors. A lot of people on Goodreads seemed to be down on the ending, but I think it was fine - you didn't really think this would end happily, did you?! Overall a fast, solid read that should keep you entertained, but may not stick with you like, say, The Exorcist.
The Crimson Cage by John Lees, Alex Cormack & Ashley Cormack
A graphic novel that dares to ask the question, "what if Macbeth, but wrestling?" Set in the early '80s, this follows Chuck Frenzy, a regional wrestler who is willing to go to any increasingly-terrible length to become the World Champion, but his desire to be on top will ultimately lead to his downfall. The story follows the Macbeth framework, which works quite well transposed into the territorial wrestling world of the early 1980s, and features characters that, while fictional, will certainly be familiar to both fans of Shakespeare and longtime wrestling aficionados - Van Emerald, the World Champion for whose title Frenzy lusts after and who fills the Duncan role, is an obvious Ric Flair surrogate, for instance; Sharlene Frenzy, Chuck's wife/valet who is in the Lady Macbeth role, takes on a Sherri Martel-like appearance halfway through as they become more corrupted, and Emmet Crowe, the Macduff role, dresses like Cowboy Bob Orton did back then. I won't spoil the ending too much, but the way the prophecy is resolved - that going into his steel cage match against Crowe, Frenzy will not lose his title in the ring as long as the roof on the cage stands - is pretty clever. This features detailed, gritty and often gory artwork that fits the theme (the '80s territories could be bloody, after all, and Shakespeare could be bloodier). I quite enjoyed it.
Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl
This is the first-hand account of Heyerdahl's 1947 raft voyage from Peru to Polynesia, with the goal of proving that these Pacific islands could have been colonized by those traveling westward from the South American mainland. Those conclusions are generally rejected today, but the voyage is an interesting chapter in the history of 20th century anthropology, and as a read it makes for a good seafaring adventure story.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton
One of those famous novels that I generally understood the references to, but never actually got around to reading. The writing style is characteristic of its time, and the goal of playing on the reader's emotions is obvious. But overall I think it worked well as a character study of the quiet teacher whose own career is somewhat unremarkable, but becomes distinguished by his dedication to the education and improvement of others, and finds his own form of happiness along the way. As a sometimes-adjunct professor, I'd be lying if I said that it didn't hit home just a little bit. It's a quick read to check off the list and overall I'd recommend it.
Before Shadowgate by F.X. Nine & Ellen Miles
This was one of the Worlds of Power books based on third-party NES games, which were all outlined by Seth Godin (aka "F.X. Nine") and written by another author, in this case Ellen Miles. Most of the Worlds of Power books were essentially strategy guides in story form, just adapting how the player would move through the game, but this one for Shadowgate (itself originally part of the "MacVenture" series for Macintosh computers) is unique in that it's actually meant to be a prequel story to the game. That certainly makes it more memorable than most of them, and the quality of the writing is a step up from, say, the Mega Man 2 book (perhaps the most famous of the Worlds of Power series, which was also written by Miles). However, it also doesn't *really* tie into the game itself all that much, outside of the wizard Lakmir appearing, and even gets the name of the villain wrong (calling him "the Warlock King" when, throughout the game, he's referred to as "the Warlock Lord"). It's ultimately just kind of a generic YA fantasy adventure story that moves a little too fast - virtually every short chapter is punctuated with an encounter with another generic fantasy creature, most of which also appear nowhere in the game, with an audience-surrogate main character in a kid who becomes so powerful so quickly that he can't possibly lose.
Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage
The "evil kid" concept has plenty of precedent in books, movies and TV - The Exorcist, The Omen, The Bad Seed, The Good Son, Children of the Corn, Children of the Damned, Beware! Children at Play, the Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life," and on and on - but this did a pretty good job of taking that general concept and placing it in a present-day 2020s setting. It teased but then pulled back from having a supernatural element, and I think was better for it; that angle was more than adequately covered in some of the aforementioned predecessors. A lot of people on Goodreads seemed to be down on the ending, but I think it was fine - you didn't really think this would end happily, did you?! Overall a fast, solid read that should keep you entertained, but may not stick with you like, say, The Exorcist.
The Crimson Cage by John Lees, Alex Cormack & Ashley Cormack
A graphic novel that dares to ask the question, "what if Macbeth, but wrestling?" Set in the early '80s, this follows Chuck Frenzy, a regional wrestler who is willing to go to any increasingly-terrible length to become the World Champion, but his desire to be on top will ultimately lead to his downfall. The story follows the Macbeth framework, which works quite well transposed into the territorial wrestling world of the early 1980s, and features characters that, while fictional, will certainly be familiar to both fans of Shakespeare and longtime wrestling aficionados - Van Emerald, the World Champion for whose title Frenzy lusts after and who fills the Duncan role, is an obvious Ric Flair surrogate, for instance; Sharlene Frenzy, Chuck's wife/valet who is in the Lady Macbeth role, takes on a Sherri Martel-like appearance halfway through as they become more corrupted, and Emmet Crowe, the Macduff role, dresses like Cowboy Bob Orton did back then. I won't spoil the ending too much, but the way the prophecy is resolved - that going into his steel cage match against Crowe, Frenzy will not lose his title in the ring as long as the roof on the cage stands - is pretty clever. This features detailed, gritty and often gory artwork that fits the theme (the '80s territories could be bloody, after all, and Shakespeare could be bloodier). I quite enjoyed it.
