The Power of One (Dan Simmons novel!)

THIS WEEK I logged 960 pages by reading one novel, and even though I may finish another book this weekend, I'm calling it a day.  That book, that massive, shelf-busting behemoth of bookish beauty, was Dan Simmons' The Terror. 

It's my favorite of the year so far.  Also my favorite of Simmons'.  Possibly the quickest 960 pages I've ever read. 

It was pants-soiling good.  Not just in the terrifying way, either.  Slap your mother good.  Smash a guitar good.  Declare 2012 the Year of Captain Crozier and His Terrifying Arctic Monster good.  Quit your job and become an Inuit good. 

You think I'm overstating my case, but I'm not.  Behind the glowing blurbs, the enthusiastic reviews, and the clever premise lurked a novel that literally made me squeal (to mine and my co-worker's massive embarrassment). 

If I were Dan Simmons, I'd have sent the manuscript off to the publisher, made myself a stiff drink, and spent the rest of my career introducing myself as "Dan Simmons, author of The Terror.  It's that good."

The only downside about finally reading it is that I keep staring at the next contenders on my bookshelf and shaking my head in disappointment.  And they know it, too, all those books with their 'awards' and 'critical accolades' vying for attention.  Let's face it, Cutting For Stone and Let The Great World Spin, you're going to try too hard to make me feel something deep and emotional.  It won't work.  You're going to fail.  My heart is trapped at Terror Camp with Captain Crozier and Lady Silence, and I want the Bad Thing on the Ice to eat your gooey entrails. 

WEEK FOUR TOTAL: 3487!

READER'S NOTE: In order to make my (secret) goal of 40,000 pages by December 31st, I need to average 769.23 pages per week.  January has me riding at 871.75, over 100 pages per week above the goal.  That's right, I've got statistics on my side... Kate will crumble!

Rob.

Cthulhu Calls Collect:

Ok Book Geeks, here's my list for the third week in January.  Not too shabby... if you haven't noticed, I'm still ahead of Kate. 

(Hopefully she hasn't noticed that my lead is composed of books that are... not challenging.)

Wings of Fire, Charles Todd, 320p.  Anne's mom put me on to this series of post-WW1 mysteries with Ian Rutledge; I really like them.  The 'mystery' part itself is solid, but what really sucks me in is the psychological development of the main character.  I read most of James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux series for the same reason, but I think in terms of consistent writing, Todd has the edge.  Of course, I'm also a sucker for anything in that time period.

Boneshaker, Cherie Priest, 416p.  Almost totally forgettable.  I'm on a steampunk kick to begin with, and I was really happy to find this one at the local library (Support your library, dammit!), but it made almost no impression on me whatsoever.  I think the neat parts about the setting just put me in mind of the Fallout games, and that's territory well tread.  I'll probably give her other books a shot if they fall into my lap, but compared to the other things I'm reading, Boneshaker failed to impress.

The Osiris Ritual, George Mann, 319p.  So. Very. Good.  This guy's series about Sir Maurice Newbury and Miss Victoria Hobbes are great little novels.  They strike me as having the best, most enjoyable parts of the Danger Girl comics coupled with a real sense of setting and environment.  To be so fast-paced, Mann seems to get the little details right that keep my brain soaked in Victorian-era London's images and sounds.  Highly recommended for escapist fun. 

I'm also still reading The First World War: A Complete History and making my way through The Terror.  I actually started The Terror last week, and it actually made me physically colder.  If Simmons keeps up the quality of the story for the next 800 pages, it will probably be my favorite of his novels.  Drood was phenomenal, but this one has me sinking down into my sleeping bag, hoping the bad thing in the dark won't get me.  Points. 

Next up is a foray into Dickens.  That's right.  I've never read A Tale of Two Cities or Bleak House... both of which are promising.  I have three concerns with Mr. Charles and myself: First, that although I love books that evoke the same time period, after reading so much steampunk, Sarah Waters, and historical fiction, Mr. Dickens' style will put me off and I will give up.  Second, Portlandia, Doctor Who, and Downtown Abbey will eat my free time away.  Third, that my utter loathing for Great Expectations (High School Rob still wants to beat up all those terrible, terrible people.) will resurface with a vengeance. 

I will channel Nick Hornby's love of Bleak House for my own.  

Next week, the monthly wrap up.  Reassessing tactics and strategy.  Major gains along the eastern front are promised.  Onward to victory!

WEEK THREE TOTAL:  2527!

Forgot One

I also read Tea Obreaht's The Tiger's Wife. Totally deserving of all the hype, it was an awesome book, fantastical in a way that wasn't overdone, strong characters, and relateable. Four stars, highly recommended. 336 pages, which puts my actual total at: 2,208

Mid January Update

I have actually had a pretty good reading month thus far, thanks to a flight to LA and back. Here's where I stand:
All The Pretty Horses: Finished this one for 124 pages.
 A Summons to Memphis: Good book, won the Pulitzer in 1987, interesting story and narrative, and short. I always love a short book :) 207 pages.
 March by Geraldine Brooks. This one was an awesome piece of historical fiction, based off of the dad in Little Women and his going to be a chaplain during the Civil War. Won the Pulitzer in either 06 or 07. 276 pages.
 Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie. This one has been a bit of a slog, only 174 pages in.
 Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout. Great book, won the Pulitzer recently,    I think 2009, I love Maine and this book definitely features imperfect characters and explores the complexity or relationships and personalities in daily lives. I love books that are really able to capture how to that person their life and all the relationships in it and how they view the world are so powerful. 268 pages.
Homer and Langley by E.L. Doctrow. Possibly my favorite of the January book reading. It's the story of two brothers who live in a brownstone on 5th avenue, one (the narrator) is blind and the other returning from the First World War after being injured by mustard gas poisoining. It's basically a tour of the 20th century through their eyes. Phenomenal. 206 pages.
The Stone Diaries, by Carol Shields. Won the Pulitzer in 1995, I appreciate it's literary value as it traces the life of an ordinary woman through the 20th century, but had a hard time getting in to it, not a lot of connection to the characters. 359 pages.
Rabbit is Rich by John Updike. Another one of those books where I don't think I like it, but I read it for four hours straight on the plane ride home and couldn't put it down. He's kind of like a more vulgar Richard Ford. I am about 2/3rds of the way through. 258 pages.

 Grand Total: 1872.

Pages more than Rob at press time: 400 exactly. That's right. If you ain't running with it run from it.
Kate

It was a time of foolishness:

The shame.  The total shame.

Not only did I not come anywhere near my page total from last week, I only read ONE BOOK between the 7th and the 14th.  Granted, it was a good'un - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre, and I followed its' finish up with seeing the excellent movie version last night... but damn.  One book, a whopping 380 pages to add to my total, and that's really it. 

I want to make excuses by saying that I did read an additional 200 pages in another (unfinished) book, I did have a hellaciously difficult week at work, I did read this month's Game Informer cover to cover, I did have a 2-hour online exam to take, and I did go to Greensboro to run, visit people, spend quality time with my girlfriend at fine eateries...  But the Throwdown doesn't accept excuses, and I'm guessing that neither will Kate.  She's been on vacation this whole time, living the fashionable life in L.A., probably getting ready to drop a shockingly large number on my unsuspecting head.  As of now, she is suspiciously silent on the matter.

One tactical update from the weekend - during my visit to Edward McKay's in Greensboro I picked up some 1200+ pages of Dickens, two novels I believe I can read quickly and therefore regain some ground.  I hope. 

WEEK TWO TOTAL: 1472.

Book Stroke (Suffering From):

I believe that 2012 will be a good year. 

My belief is based on little more than the enthusiasm that working on Geek Throwdown has stirred up in my attitude toward reading.  Not that it takes much to light the bonfire, but it's always nice to feel like my neurosis is justified.  The new year starts with a ready-made excuse for me to (once again) scour used bookshops for secret treasures, scam recommendations from friends like a Soviet spy looking for potential double agents, and obsessively make and remake my 'To-Read' list on scraps of notebook paper that follow me everywhere like sad confetti.  I love what good books mean to me, and damned if I'm not knock-kneed and misty-eyed over a Reason To Read Even More.

Check back in three months when the words start to get all wobbly and my hold on reality begins to... become not good. 

What's important now is that by the end of week one, I've read Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol, Spin State by Chris Moriarty, and The Affinity Bridge by George Mann.  I know I was supposed to start with Salman Rushdie, but since the library held a really nice fancy copy for me, I just couldn't bring myself to inevitably trash such a beautiful book with my filthy fingers.  So here we are.

Kozol's book was appropriately incendiary and seems to confirm plenty of beliefs I have about the world.  It strikes me as the kind of nonfiction that should be read by most people but probably won't.  Ach.  We know how that goes.

Spin State was aces all around.  It had the right shades of Blade Runner and took off in a direction I didn't expect, and the chronic info-dumps were fun and readable.  Moriarty's story was character-driven and interesting.  The ending was especially abrupt and well-timed, more of a cliff-hanger that didn't feel like a nasty cheat.  I don't know how many authors out there are doing the 'Sci Fi Noir' bit but it's a trend I like, a lot.  Looking forward to the sequel.

The Affinity Bridge was fantastic, literally, and went by way too quickly.  I'd nearly picked up a copy at Malaprop's in Asheville back in November; I'm glad I found a cheap copy the other day and gave it a shot.  Hellaciously good even in its' airy derring-do, like a great episode of Buffy or Firefly. 

Not sure what to read next, I've got Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, The Terror, and Charlotte Gray all demanding attention. 

These are times when I am literally in love with books, reading, libraries, and being literate.

PAGE TOTAL, WEEK ONE: 1092!

Geek Lightning

Kate Walsh

When other little girls pretended to be princesses, she pretended to be able to read.

When other kids were stealing their mom's clothes and jewelry, she stole her books.

Her idea of teenage rebellion was reading all of the books expressly banned by her Christian high school.

Instead of sticking with the practical chemistry major, she chose to succumb to fate and pursue the ultimate book geek goal. That's right. English literature.

This is the ultimate book geek.

Lines of Battle, January 1:

As of midnight last night, these are the books I am grandfathering into the Throwdown and the page I am currently on:

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel, p. 296
A Complete History of World War 1 - Martin Gilbert, p. 309
Decision Points - George W. Bush, p. 209
Savage Inequalities - Jonathan Kozol, p. 110
Believing in Jesus - Leonard Foley, p. 60

One more thing.  Now that the Throwdown has officially begun, this is my secret weapon:

This Machine Brews Cups of Victory.