Three Books at Once!

I have three books piled up on my desk right now that I must return to the Kalamazoo Public Library soon as I've renewed them twice. So this blog will be about all three of them - talk about killing one stone with three books! In order of reading, here they are:

Book One - Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (you have no idea how I pronounce this name - comes out sounding like Paolo Backilagagaupi)

This book is a bit Mad Max meets the Exxon Valdez meets BP Oil. Life, as we know it, is gone. Oil, gone. Compassion, gone. Life is simple - survive or don't. Doesn't matter one way or the other. Especially if you're a ship breaker diving into the guts of an old oil rig pulling out the miles of copper wire to sell for scrap. And, of course, the only ones who can fit into those pipes in the ships? Small, thin children.

Nailer is great at finding stuff to recycle and other stuff, too, that will help keep his father happy and stop the beatings. Nailer's life is one giant SURVIVOR as safety is not a word he uses lightly. When he finds the ultimate scavenge opportunity, a new solar/wind powered vessel, he also finds a girl who could be worth more money than any pile of scrap. So begins the adventure....

But friendship and sacrifice and honesty and trust are all issues in this book. Things that, I think, are so essential to life - a good life. I enjoyed this book and will surely recommend it to people but I can't say that there was any moment when I found myself saying..."Oh, Wow. This is important." So enough about Ship Breaker. Read it. If you like dystopian societies with redemption (which I really do need in books), then you'll like it.

Book Two - Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

What the heck is Incarceron?? What the heck is going on in this book? Took me a while to figure it out but it was so worth it! Turns out Incarceron is a prison (get it - incarceration?) but it's ALIVE! It thinks, plans, moves, rumbles, shifts, breathes, watches, and talks. It talks!

So there's two worlds going on in this book - world one = Incarceron and world two = outside. Finn is inside Incarceron and Claudia is outside. Each trying to get to the other. Really weird stuff goes on in this book. Lots of adventure, interesting settings (it's a talking prison!), and the characters are fascinating. And just what is going on with Claudia's father, the Warden of Incarceron? And what's up with this odd world that's in the future but decides that it likes Medieval times better so switches the entire world back in time?

There's a lot going on in this book that I wanted to make some kind of graphic organizer to plot it all out - who goes where, who knows who, what's happening there, what time period is this, stuff like that. It actually would be quite fun to do that.

But nothing much that struck me personally on this one either but, again, it's a great read so go get it and read it. I think there might be a sequel to it but am not sure.

Book Three - Black Swan Green: A Novel by David Mitchell

Set in England, 1982. Each chapter is like a short story written by Jason Taylor, 13 years-old, as he talks about a year of his life. And the kid has a stammer - not a stutter - a stammer. Did you know they are different?

What a dull, yet fascinating, life. What can possibly happen to a 13 year-old kid in England? Lots. Here's a taste of his life using quotes from various chapters (can you figure out what's happening?):

"Now Tom Yew's body jerkjerked judderily jackknifed and a noise like a ripping cable tore out of him. Once more, like he'd been booted in the balls."

"So anyway, Arthur Evesham's kingdom'd uglified since his death. A Stature of Liberty lay like a dropped murder weapon. Pooh Bear looked like an acid attack victim. The world unmakes stuff faster than people can make it. Jimmy Carter's nose'd fallen off."

"Dad made his way to the bathroom like he was in zero gravity. I heard him undo his zip. he tried to piss quietly onto the porcelain. Piss drummed onto the bathroom floor. A wavery second later it chundered into the bog. The piss lasted forty-three seconds. (My record's fifty-two.)"

The language in this book is beautiful and confusing at the same time as it's British slang at it's best. And the writing is dense and elegant.

And then there's the bullies. Bullies. Bloody bullies. They do horrid things all in the name of "boys having fun." But they are, and always will be, bullies.

That is what got me in this book. The bullies. And more than what the bullies did, it's about what Jason did to stand up to them. This isn't really a spoiler because you can see it coming - but Jason actually does what I need to do - stand up to the bullies and call them out.

Bullies are everywhere - not just in the playground. They are in corporate offices, schools, stores, families, neighborhoods - they are everywhere. But Jason stood up and said, "No more." That makes all the difference. No more. No more.

Stand up. Say it with me, people....."No more."

Excellent. Now I can return these books and maybe begin the double, two-foot high stack of books on the floor next to my desk?? I am. Started one last night...

My New Blog

I've been thinking about starting a blog for awhile now and, having gotten over my fear of just how to do this thing, I finally decided to just jump in and see what happens. My fear mostly came from actually creating it - having to commit myself to some cool background, choose the BEST color EVER for a blog, try not to compare it to other blogs that I read and adore (how will my blog measure up?), and the constant fear of what if I don't make sense?

I know I have something to write about - in fact I have lots to write about - so...what the heck? Find a free blog, be amazed at all the cool backgrounds, and quit the whining about not knowing what I'm doing and just do this thing.

So here I am.

I have a need to write about what I'm reading. I am a voracious reader and I need to talk or write about these books. Here's how I experience books:

• Reading changes me. I believe reading changes people (I know it changes me). Or it can change us if we let it.
• Some of the best people I know I've met in the pages of a book. In fact, Ender Wiggins is the best person who has never lived.
• Books amaze me. Authors use the same 26 letters I use and they come up with these amazing stories. I am jealous.
• I learn from the stories of others. I learn about myself, others, life, etc.
• I strongly relate to many of the books I read. I find those moments to be powerful.
• I frequently use pieces of books to explain or make sense of something. For example, sometimes life is just one big Cobbbles Knot. Know what I mean? If you've read Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli you will.
• I frequently find myself trying to explain something by talking about something I've read. Books and stories are so much a part of me that I sometimes don't (or can't) separate the real from the read.
• I practice bibliotherapy - I learn from what I read. Reading is therapy.

So that's some of the things I think about reading and books. Thus my blog called Reader Baer. What I hope to do is to talk about the books I'm reading (or have read) and write about what I've learned about myself, life, others, whatever. This is not meant to be an analysis of any book - there will be no literary criticism in any form in my blog - rather this will be about experiencing books. For, to me, reading is far more than just decoding the words, speed, fluency, prosody, etc. - it's about life.

This blog is not meant to interest others in reading these books. In fact, there will most likely be spoilers in here as I intend to talk about any part of the book that I need to write about - even the ending. So there you have it. Be aware.

One more thing - I've been saving up a lot of reading to write about. In fact, I recently read three books from the Kalamazoo Public Library (thank you, Stewart!) that I keep renewing so I can write about them. I'm thinking that I may be blogging a lot for a few days - depending on if this thing actually saves and I can get it posted on my Facebook page. We'll see.

To jump right in...recently I read A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) by Ursula K. Le Guin. It's the first in a series but I'm not sure if I'll read anymore - although I do like Ged, the main character. It's a fantasy in the same spirit as Tolkien's Middle Earth or Lewis' Narnia, both of which I love. Interesting story line - young Ged realizes he is a wizard and this documents his journey and education.

Here's the interesting thing to me - at one point in the book, because of his insecurities and fear of rejection and his need to impress people (particularly a girl), Ged releases an unnamed, dark shadow on the earth that almost destroys him. His journey, which was difficult to begin with, now becomes one of urgency as this shadow is hell bent on killing Ged and no one knows what else it is capable of doing. Ged is constantly running from the shadow so his wizarding education is ended and he is forced to roam the world looking for a place to hide.

Spoiler Alert - I intend to tell what happens because this is where I find the story compelling.

At one point in the book Ged realizes that he can no longer run from this shadow. In fact, he needs to pursue it and as soon as he changes course, the shadow flees. Ged quickly realizes that he must catch the shadow as his very life depends on it. When Ged confronts it in the darkness of a cave, here's what happens:

"Aloud and clearly, breaking that old silence, Ged spoke the shadow's name and in the same moment the shadow spoke without lips or tongue, saying the same word: 'Ged.' And the two voices were one.

Ged reached out his hands, dropping his staff, and took hold of his shadow, of the black self that reached out to him. Light and darkness met, and joined, and were one."

At this point in the book I stopped. Reread, reread, reread, reread, reread. Then it struck me. I am Ged. The dark and the light - all of it is a part of me. But how often do I run from the dark or want to stay with just the light?

I am Ged.