Dust and Spores

Magic's Promise / Mercedes Lackey
New York : DAW Books, 1990
320 p.
The Last Herald-Mage, bk. 2

The wild magic is taking its toll on the land. Many Heralds and Herald-Mages have died fighting to preserve the peace. Even Vanyel, the most powerful of the Herald-Mages is almost at the end of his strangth, in need of a respite from the dual threats of war and dark magic.

I'm going to keep this brief because I don't have much to say. I read this last week during the read-a-thon, and it ended up being a good choice for that because I found it engrossing. It's a strong narrative and a compelling story, and if you've read Magic's Pawn, the first novel in the trilogy, I'm going to suggest you try to ignore how angsty and whiny it is and try this one out because it's far better.

Vanyel, our protagonist, still has some unresolved feelings about the events of the first book, which occured 10 years before the second, but he doesn't obsess on them so much as last time. The first significant portion of this novel (more than half) is very domestic. Vanyel returns to his childhood home (castle) and deals with family issues, and it is these things that make the book strong. Lackey has a knack for character interaction and day-to-day living stuff. Reading it, I almost forgot I was supposed to be expecting some sort of huge tale of might and magic.

She does get there, though, but even this aspect of the novel has to do with the destruction of a family, a lost boy, mentorship, and identity. It's a creative, fantasy-style conflict that also ties into the themes of the first half, making Magic's Promise a tight, well-crafted work. If you've read the first and are iffy, give this one a shot. If you haven't read the first, maybe skip and and give this a shot anyway.

The Lost Books of the Odyssey / Zachary Mason
New York : Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2010
vii, 228 p.
Orig. published in slightly different form in 2008

Zachary Mason's brilliant and beguiling debut novel, The Lost Books of the Odyssey, reimagines Homer's classic story of the hero Odysseus and his long journey home after the fall of Troy. With brilliant prose, terrific imagination, and dazzling literary skill, Mason creates alternative episodes, fragments, and revisions of Homer's original that taken together open up this classic Greek myth to endless reverberating interpretations.

The Lost Books of the Odyssey is punctuated with great wit, beauty, and playfulness; it is a daring literary page-turner that marks the emergence of an extraordinary new talent.

So, I haven't read the Odyssey yet, but being in my Greek Stuff mode and making (very slow) progress on the Iliad, I thought this would be a nice quick book to read in the spirit of all that. And it really was worth it.

The book is basically a series of vignettes that add scenes to the saga of the Odyssey and retell (or recontextualize) some that you may be familiar with. They're all very different, and it's important to know going into it that they're independent of one another. They don't provide a continuous narrative, and oftentimes the plot and character development between two sections is contradictory.

This is inspired writing. Some of the parts are epic like one would expect from the old Greek tales. Others are more intimate and modern. But all of them vivify Homer's tale and the characters therein. I approached this with a fairly strong knowledge of the Homeric heroes and the tales of both the Trojan War and Odysseus' journey, and I suggest anyone who reads this do the same. This book depends on the Iliad and Odyssey, a background in which will greatly enhance the experience. Happily, I believe this will work the other way around. Mason's work will color the way you approach Homer's timeless epics.

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Y'know what? I hate to do this so close to the home stretch but I am SO TIRED that I'm dozing off 3 times a page at this point. Air, water, tea, pacing, none of it is enough to keep me up. I'm afraid I have to call it quits. Almost 20 hours I made it... and y'know, I feel good about that. I've had fun. I've read 3 great books and parts of a couple more. I made it a lot longer than I thought I would, and I'll have a brand new goal of "All the way" for this fall's read-a-thon. So thank you hosts and hostesses, cheertators and cheertatrixes, he-readers and she-readers, and everyone in between. It's been lovely.

Titles of books read in this span:

• Magic's Promise / Mercedes Lackey -- p. 260-320 (finished)

Pages read in this span: 61

Running total of pages read since started: 779

Books finished since the start:

• The Lost Books of the Odyssey / Zachary Mason
• The Stranger / Albert Camus
• Magic's Promise / Mercedes Lackey

Mini-challenges completed:

• Hour 1 Mini-Challenge
• Where In the World Have You Read? Mini-Challenge
• Mid-Event Meme

Other activities this span:

• The drifting off
• The saying of goodnight

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh.... I'm getting sleepy, but my book's getting good. There's a good chance this is the last you'll hear of me until morning, but hey, maybe I'll surprise us.

Titles of books read in this span:

• Magic's Promise / Mercedes Lackey -- p. 190-259 (in progress)

Pages read in this span: 70

Running total of pages read since started: 718

Books finished since the start:

• The Lost Books of the Odyssey / Zachary Mason
• The Stranger / Albert Camus

Thoughts on current read: Unnnnh.... brains....

Mini-challenges completed:

• Hour 1 Mini-Challenge
• Where In the World Have You Read? Mini-Challenge
• Mid-Event Meme

Other activities this span:

• The running out of lattes
• The inserting of many eye drops

Ding ding, it is officially one hour past my bedtime, lectors and lectrices, at least on days when I'm up at 7 like I was today. I got into my pajamas, which was probably a bad idea, but it couldn't be helped. I will not retire to my bed, but my couch is very comfortable and sometimes I spend the night on it for no reason other than whim. But I will persevere!

Titles of books read in this span:

• Magic's Promise / Mercedes Lackey -- p. 142-189 (in progress)
• A History of Philosophy, vol. 1: Greece and Rome / Frederick Copleston -- p. 127-132 (set aside... might have to give up on this one for the night)

Pages read in this span: 54

Running total of pages read since started: 648

Books finished since the start:

• The Lost Books of the Odyssey / Zachary Mason
• The Stranger / Albert Camus

Thoughts on current read: Magic's Promise... uh still good. Even moreso? Yeah I like it even more.

Mini-challenges completed:

• Hour 1 Mini-Challenge
• Where In the World Have You Read? Mini-Challenge
• Mid-Event Meme

Other activities this span:

• The buying of one last latte to be consumed slowly over the next few hours
• The taking of a long, luxurious bath
• The changing into pajamas
• The writing of a very important e-mail I was supposed to have done 12 hours ago

Ok, cue low-grade tiredness. Maybe it's digestion, but I think maybe it's time for some tea. Was one-track this time 'round, just read my silly fantasy novel for a while. It got good after all!

Titles of books read in this span:

• Magic's Promise / Mercedes Lackey -- p. 77-141 (in progress)

Pages read in this span: 65

Running total of pages read since started: 594

Books finished since the start:

• The Lost Books of the Odyssey / Zachary Mason
• The Stranger / Albert Camus

Thoughts on current read: Magic's Promise did indeed improve. I'm halfway through now, and it's surprisingly domestic, all about the main character's visit home after a long time. He's basically dealing with personal problems, but Lackey has a good sense of character in this one, and the whispers of trouble on the horizon keep me expecting it'll take off. Quite good.

Mini-challenges completed:

• Hour 1 Mini-Challenge
• Where In the World Have You Read? Mini-Challenge
• Mid-Event Meme

Other activities this span:

• The eating of delicious sushi
• The having of yet ANOTHER wazz (stupid lattes)

1. What are you reading right now?
I'm mostly concentrating on Magic's Promise by Mercedes Lackey and A History of Philosophy, vol. 1: Greece and Rome by Frederick Copleston.

2. How many books have you read so far?
I've read (meaning picked up and read) 6, but have only gotten to the end of 2.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
Honestly, I'm loving this philosophy book. I'm also going to maybe reread Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin, which I haven't read in years. And maybe some Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics in the collected editions when it gets late. I have had those sitting around for a while.

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?
Yeah, if you read my "Plans" post yesterday, you know my "special arrangements" are basically "lie to people that I'm out of town." :-)

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
I got into a text-message exchange with my mom, but I like talking to her, so I multi-tasked.

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
My fatigue level, which is like zero. I think I'd peter out by now, really.

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Nope. Wait, yes, pony rides.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?
As a Reader, I'd do exactly what I'm doing now, but I'd do it in my 5th Avenue penthouse. REALISTICALLY, however, I'm thinking this would be a super-fun thing to do with someone else. I really like reading with people (like, on opposite sides of the room) and also it'll probably be useful to have someone with me in the late-night hours. Online Cheerleaders are great (and I seriously mean that; I didn't know you guys would actually write RHYMING CHEERS) but they can't put an airhorn to your ear when you're dozing off.

9. Are you getting tired yet?
No more than usual. I have sushi coming, so I'll perk up.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?
I get up and meander around every now and then. Also, I have all the windows in my house open. Stuffiness is nobody's friend, and sometimes you don't realize how little air you're breathing when you're engrossed in a good book.

You will all be disappointed to know, cats and kittens, that I was unable to book J-Lo for the Halftime Show, but I do have some yummy sushi coming that you can all pretend you are eating with me. But hey: HALFTIME! Wheeee! My page counts are lower now than they were at the beginning, but it's because I'm reading books with far more words on the page than I was before. And this 500-page philosophy brick is slow-going.

Titles of books read in this span:

• Magic's Promise / Mercedes Lackey -- p. 50-76 (set aside)
• A History of Philosophy, vol. 1: Greece and Rome / Frederick Copleston -- p. 96-126 (in progress)

Pages read in this span: 58

Running total of pages read since started: 529

Books finished since the start:

• The Lost Books of the Odyssey / Zachary Mason
• The Stranger / Albert Camus

Thoughts on current read: My "current read" is once again that history of Greek philosophy, and I'm loving it. I've finished the first two parts: "Pre-Socratic Philosophy" and "The Socratic Period". Up next: "Plato". I have almost zero background in philosophy, and this author has a great way of assuming knowledge at first, which makes it very difficult, but then explaining things anyway, so you start out all "WTF?" but a few pages later you're all "Oh hai, I gets it!"

Mini-challenges completed:

• Hour 1 Mini-Challenge
• Where In the World Have You Read? Mini-Challenge

Other activities this span:

• The ordering of dinner (Sushi!)
• The deciding to take a bath later
• The having of another wazz

Wowza, creatures and creaturettes! Ten hours down. Not bad. I pushed through the afternoon lethergy and am pretty good to go with now in terms of energy. Here's the rundown:

Titles of books read in this span:

• Magic's Promise / Mercedes Lackey -- p. 15-49 (in progress)
• A History of Philosophy, vol. 1: Greece and Rome / Frederick Copleston -- p. 81-95 (set aside)
• The Professor of Desire / Philip Roth -- p. 136-152 (abandoned for good finally)

Pages read in this span: 67

Running total of pages read since started: 471

Books finished since the start:

• The Lost Books of the Odyssey / Zachary Mason
• The Stranger / Albert Camus

Thoughts on current read: Magic's Price, it turns out, is far better than it's predecessor. Still not too deep into it, but it's not whining at me at all. Little talky, though, and much of it repetition of feelings, but once the plot starts, I'm hopefully it'll move along.

Mini-challenges completed: Hour 1 Mini-Challenge

Other activities this span:

• The walking of Around the Block to get air and perk up
• The getting of a latte
• The drinking of said latte
• The NOT seeing of Sexy Latte Boy

Eight hours past, and now it's four. I'm getting my early afternoon sleepiness, but I've never fallen asleep at my desk at work, so I can definitely push through this right now. Maybe I'll go get a cup of coffee soon... see if Sexy Latte Boy is working.

Titles of books read in this span:

• The Stranger / Albert Camus -- p. 34-123 (finished)
• Magic's Promise / Mercedes Lackey -- p. 1-14 (in progress)

Pages read in this span: 104

Running total of pages read since started: 404

Books finished since the start:

• The Lost Books of the Odyssey / Zachary Mason
• The Stranger / Albert Camus

Thoughts on current read: Being only a few pages in, it's hard to say. The first book in the Last Herald Mage trilogy was a little too emo-kid for me, but this one seems like it will be less so... just some light-hearted fantasy.

Mini-challenges completed: Hour 1 Mini-Challenge... I'm not doing these like I thought I would be... partially because my camera is sick and at the doctor's, and a lot of them kinda require one.

Other activities this span:

• The eating of lunch
• The texting of mom for a while

Another two hours flown by, lords and ladies! This one went faster than the others, I'd say. Pretty weird. Usually I start showing signs of fatigue after reading for 6 hours, but it doesn't seem to be happening yet.

Titles of books read in this span:

• A History of Philosophy, vol. 1: Greece and Rome: From the Pre-Socratics to Plotinus / Frederick Copleston -- p. 47-80 (set aside... loving this, but it's slow reading)
• The Stranger / Albert Camus -- p. 1-33 (in progress)

Pages read in this span: 67

Running total of pages read since started: 300

Books finished since the start:

• The Lost Books of the Odyssey / Zachary Mason

Thoughts on current read: The Camus is very different than I expected. It hasn't quite gotten off the ground entirely yet, though, so I don't have a total conception. But I'm liking it.

Mini-challenges completed: Hour 1 Mini-Challenge

Other activities this span:

• The transferring of clothes to the dryer
• The having of a wazz
• The ordering of lunch (from my neighborhood French/Senegalese restaurant)

Hello again, cats and kittens! Four hours gone, and it feels like nothing at all. I finished that awesome book this time around... and that's kinda it. Not really sure what I'm gonna do next yet.

Titles of book read in this span:

• The Lost Books of the Odyssey / Zachary Mason -- p. 118-228 (finished)
• The Decipherment of Linear B / John Chadwick -- p. 74-80 (set aside.... too dense!)

Pages read in this span: 116

Running total of pages read since started: 233

Books finished since the start:

• The Lost Books of the Odyssey / Zachary Mason

Thoughts on current read: I'm sort of between projects right now.

Mini-challenges completed: Hour 1 Mini-Challenge

Other activities this span:

• The finishing of a latte
• The starting of the washing machine

Hey there, dudes and dudettes! It's been a great 2 hours in which I've read half a novel. (Though it's technically not a novel, I think.) Anyway, I'm wanting to get back to it because it's super good, so... ok here's the rundown so far.

Titles of book read in this span: The Lost Books of the Odyssey / Zachary Mason -- p. 1-117 (in progress)

Pages read in this span: 117

Running total of pages read since started: 117

Number of books finished since the start: Zero, awwwww

Thoughts on current read: Most excellent. Very skillfully written.

Mini-challenges completed: Hour 1 Mini-Challenge

Other activities this span:

• The drinking of a latte
• The eating of coffee cake

Where are you reading from today?

New York City!

3 facts about me

1. I'm a librarian who doesn't work with books.
2. I have a stuffed pillbug from IKEA named Klappar Skalbagge who will be my reading partner today.
3. I like pie.

How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?

20. Half of them are things I've started in the past and abandoned or forgotten about. (I want my bookmarks back, basically.)

Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?

Uh, no, because I don't want to set myself up for disappointment when I fall asleep at 2 in the afternoon. :-)

If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, Any advice for people doing this for the first time?

I'm not a veteran. My advice is LOTS OF COCAINE! Just kidding, my advice is do not forget to feed the cat because it does not care that you are reading.

Alright, I just overslept a tiny bit, and I'm feeling a bit more tired and lethargic than I'd hoped, but I am primed to start on time today nonetheless! It's 7:24, and I'm gonna get a tune-up (grab a shower), start my engines (grab a latte), and hit the ground running.

7:25. Clock's ticking! Off I go.

Before I saw the post inviting participants to talk about Read-a-Thon plans, I didn't think I had any. I was just gonna dive in and go. But upon reflection, I realized that I've been putting things in motion for a little while now.

I made sure to plan nothing for that day, obviously. Last fall something came up at the last minute that stopped me from participating, which was super annoying. So I told a few people that I was doing it this year and wouldn't be available. The thing is, with most of the people I know, saying I'm unavailable because I'll be in my house reading for 24 hours is not an acceptable excuse. So to cull accusations of "ditching" and "being anti-social", I just decided to make up a big old lie because apparently I am not above lying to my friends for the purposes of being alone. Anti-social, what?

Anyway my lie is that I'm going to D.C. for the weekend. Living in New York, it's a short and inexpensive bus ride with the benefit that nobody I know here knows anybody I know there. Oh and as far as they know I'm leaving tonight so nobody expects me to go out because I don't want to be tired tomorrow. And it also will allow me to sleep all day Sunday. DON'T TELL!

I should let it be known that I'm not lying to my advanced friends, just some of the peripheral ones.

In terms of provisions, I have a whole bunch of tea and that is all. I believe there is some old guacamole in my fridge as well. I'm afraid to look at it. So I go grocery shopping tonight.

Books? The only thing I know is that I'm going to intersperse shorter novels with parts of things I'm currently in the middle of such as a book or two from the Iliad or a couple chapters of my philosophy book. In the interest of not spending infinity dollars, I allowed myself only one new book for the 'Thon: The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason. So I'll probably start with that. The rest of the material will have to come from my extensive TBR pile, which is crammed into my bedroom closet until I get permanent shelves installed in my apartment. (This is going to be a total home-improvement summer, P.S., so you should all be excited for me.)

So that's it! Tea and a book and a dastardly lie. See you guys at the Lincoln Memorial! *wink, wink*

March was one of those months that took infinity years to pass by, and now April is zooming like a .... something something. Anyway that's why this is late. Because that explanation makes so much sense.

March was also very non-fiction-heavy. So, uh... ok here's what I've got:

Fiction

• The Expedition of Humphry Clinker / Tobias Smollett -- I petered out on this one. Overall: Feh.
• The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony / Roberto Calasso -- I haven't reviewed this yet because I'm having trouble doing so. This book was so good I don't feel like anything I can say will do it justice. Seriously.
• Fahrenheit 451 / Ray Bradbury -- Uh, I also didn't review this one because I read it in a couple hours and then forgot I did so until just now. So maybe later. It was... fine. It was what you expect from a book they make you read in high school.

Non-Fiction

• Women in Greek Myth / Mary R. Lefkowitz
• Greek Homosexuality / K. J. Dover
• The Nature of Greek Myths / G. S. Kirk
• The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory / Cynthia Eller

Anyway, April promises some interesting stuff. I just finished Rusalka by C. J. Cherryh, which wasn't my favorite book ever but still was pretty cool. (That link is to her ugly ugly webpage.) I'm also working on a book on the decipherment of an Ancient Greek writing system called Linear B, a history of philosophy series, and uh... yeah maybe I'll pick up Mists of Avalon again. Dunno why I stopped, actually, that book's pretty good.

The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why An Invented Past Won't Give Women a Future / Cynthia Eller
Boston : Beacon Press, 2000
276 p.

Many of us have come across a story about ancient, female-centric, goddess-worshipping societies in some context or another. These are typically evoked as paradise societies wherein people enjoyed peace and prosperity due to gender equality and a reverence for females and their child-bearing capabilities.

Many of us are also familiar with those artifacts that get dug up now and then -- the "goddess statues" that generally look like very full-bodied women, which people have taken as evidence that it is a representation of a mother-goddess used in worship. I've personally always wondered, though, how we can possibly know what a statue like that was used in a pre-literate society that left behind no records. Couldn't it just as easily be a piece of art or -- dare I say it -- an erotic pin-up girl? I've always wondered that, but never pursued the question.

But Cynthia Eller has. In this rational and thoroughly-researched book, she examines the theories and rationales put forth by feminist scholars, particularly the archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, for the most part casting light on how flimsy the argument for a matriarchal society in prehistory.

Feminist herself, Eller outlines the reasons why a past matricentric society is appealing to many women for reasons of empowerment and to provide hope that we can have gender equality and eventually reform this idyllic society. But she maintains that much of evidence for such a past is spurious, derived from scholars seeing what they want to see in artifactual and artistic evidence. Her arguments are convincing and rational. In fact, I think she often concedes even too much to the scholarship she is disputing.

This book is not long and quite readable, so interested in the flip-side of this conception of history that's worked its way into an almost universal conception of how things may have been (whether we give it much thought or not), this is definitely worth reading.