The Handmaid's Tale

After reading The Lovely Bones, I wanted something that was not depressing so I started reading Island: How Islands Transform the World by J. Edward Chamberlin.  My thought was that a nonfiction book should be the opposite of depressing. Unfortunately I was having a really hard time reading it; I would get twenty pages in and have to stop.  After this happened the second night, I reached over to my shelf and grabbed The Handmaid's Tale.  And read 90 pages in one sitting!  

Now make no mistake, from looking for a non-depressing book, The Handmaid's Tale was not a great choice.  It tells the story of Offred, a woman of the Gilean Republic.  Gilead is what became of the United States after some disasters destabilized the world.  Part of the disasters is that many people (men I think?) have become sterile.  So women of childbearing age have become handmaidens, or women who are present only in the hopes that they will get pregnant.  There's a very clear household hierarchy, where the man's wife is ruler of the household; the wives only tolerate the presence of the handmaidens because they can no longer conceive themselves but they want babies.  (I got the feeling that the wives in question were too old to be bearing children).

So Offred goes about her life, explaining what it has become but also remembering what it was like before, when she had her own name, and lived in the United States with her husband, daughter, and cat and was able to see her best friend Moira.  

I really liked the juxtaposition between the two stories, particularly in the beginning.  The beginning of the novel was so good.  Unfortunately I felt like it started to fall apart a bit as it progressed because the plot isn't really that interesting.  Offred's Commander starts inviting her into his rooms at night to play Scrabble (so illegal on many levels - he should not be alone with her, and she should not be using reading skills).  He eventually invites her out to the Commander's "club" (it's very much one of those types of clubs with women everywhere in weird/skimpy costumes).  There she is reunited with Moira for the evening.  After that, the Wife has set her up to have sex with their hired hand Nick because the Wife really, really wants that baby.  Offred starts having an ongoing affair with Nick, risking everything and also losing interest in a lot of the other aspects of her life (this was probably around when the story felt boring to me, plot-wise).  Eventually she is whisked away, whether to a horrible fate or to freedom, we are not made to know.

Except that we know something: the end of the book has a lecture from the future, where professors have uncovered her story, which was left on cassette tapes.  So she at least got away long enough to tell her story to someone (and to have it recorded).  I thought the lecture was a really neat touch to end the book with.

The Handmaid's Tale really felt like something I should have read while I was in school (particularly in University).  It's one of only two stories I've read so far by Margaret Atwood (the other two being "Bluebeard's Egg" and The Edible Woman).  It feels oddly topical right now, with what is going on in the United States.  It's an interesting story with some major flaws in its execution (as one reviewer pointed out on Goodreads, the setting makes no sense because the United States wouldn't go from the way it is today into a weird oppressive society in like a year's time).  I think it was very much worth reading, but it is by no means a favourite book of mine.

The Orenda

I don't know if you're familiar with Joseph Boyden's The Orenda, but the book has been getting a lot of press lately.  It was longlisted for the Giller Prize, shortlisted for the Governor General's Award, and won this year's Canada Reads competition.  I went to see Joseph Boyden speak at my local university (prior to the book wining Canada Reads this month).  The talk was entitled "'The Past and the Future are Present': Race Relations in Canada."  So I thought the talk was going to be focussing on race relations.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize it was going to focus so heavily on his newest book, The Orenda, which I hadn't yet read.  So after hearing him speak, (and asking him to sign one of his older books, Three Day Road, which I purchased there), I borrowed The Orenda from my brother and started reading.

This post is going to have spoilers.  There's a lot I want to talk about it in, so if you don't want to know what happens, you may want to stop reading now.

The Orenda is a historical novel that looks at the conflict between the Iroquois and the Huron Nations.  The Europeans have come to the New World, and have begun trading with the Native People.  The French have allied themselves with the Huron, but part of that alliance means the Huron must let a Jesuit Missionary live among them.

The novel follows three people: Bird, a Huron warrior who lost his family to the Iroquois, Snow Falls, a young Iroquois girl adopted by Bird after he kills her family, and Christophe, the French Jesuit Missionary who is brought by Bird to live among the Huron. 

Of the three main characters, Bird was my favourite.  He was haunted by the loss of his wife and children, and so he adopts Snow Falls in the hopes of alleviating some of that pain.  He is the one who brings Christophe into his people, recognizing that bad may come of it.  And despite nearly killing the missionary several times, he doesn't (even saving the man's life when he knows it might be best to let him die).  Bird is complicated, growing and changing as he struggles to ensure his people's survival against the Iroquois. 

Snow Falls was a very interesting character, especially in the beginning of the book.  She saw her parents and family killed before her eyes, and then was supposed to become part of the family of the man who killed them.  That is an extremely difficult situation, and so she behaves like a wild animal, trying to keep her new people (who are supposed to be her enemies) away.  But slowly she becomes one of them, even finding to her shock that she has learned to love her new father.  Unfortunately, around this time she became a lot less interesting in a way, being relegated to a woman who does women's work (like have babies).  While it's stated that she has her own magical/special abilities, beyond being told she'll learn to use them, we never actually see her learning them.  This is a real shame. 

Snow Falls also helps the man who becomes her husband kill an Iroquois band, which I thought was an interesting point within the book.  But nothing much comes of that either, which was another shame.  When that happened, I thought that maybe Snow Falls would actually take up arms to help defend her new people against her old people.  I think that incident brought to mind this essay by Kameron Hurley, in which a history professor tells her that women have always fought in battles throughout all of human history.  If ever there was a point when women should be fighting alongside the men, it was most definitely the climax of the book, when the Iroquois attack the Jesuit Missionary, which is where the remaining Huron have fled to.  And sure, maybe Snow Falls and Sleeps Long wouldn't be fighting because they recently gave birth.  But why were ALL of the other women hiding along with the children and the elderly?  Shouldn't some of them have been fighting for their survival, too?

Anyway, that was Snow Falls.  The final main character was Christophe, the Jesuit Missionary who came from France to convert the Native People to Christianity. While reading Christophe's chapters, I was struck again and again by the arrogance of the Europeans.  It reminded me a lot of reading Sir Richard Burton's First Footsteps in East Africa back in 2009.  I didn't really say much about that book back when I read it, but Sir Richard Burton is very down on the people in East Africa.  He goes into the continent thinking the people are stupid because they are amazed by the most simple European things.  Christophe is very much like Sir Richard in that regard.  He thinks the Native Americans are simple savages, people who have the possibility of one day becoming great (ie European), but who are hopelessly misguided by Satan.  Christophe believes he must bring them into the fold of Christianity.  It was at times very hard to read his way of thinking and his arrogance, even knowing that it is historically accurate (again, look to Sir Richard Burton's book for proof). 

Christophe is joined by two other missionaries, Gabriel and Isaac, part way through the book.  Gabriel is rather stern, and becomes Christophe's right hand man, especially after the sunnier Isaac is tortured by the Iroquois.  While Isaac is returned to his people, he is a broken man (both literally, as they destroy his hands, and mentally).   The interplay between the missionaries was at times interesting, especially since Isaac seemed to understand the Huron better than the other two men ever could.

The other two characters I'd like to mention are Gosling and Fox.  For her part, Gosling was a very mysterious Ojibway woman who lived with the Huron.  She helps Snow Falls find her way with her new people, while at the same time annoying Christophe to no end.  Fox is Bird's best friend and brother in arms.  The two are always out hunting together, and they know what the other needs without having to speak.  Fox had an amazing end in the book, single-handedly harassing the Iroquois army and returning when it seemed like he had surely perished!  As the book went on, Fox easily became my favourite character over even Bird.

The Orenda is told in three parts.  The first part was easily the best, telling of how Snow Falls came to be part of the Huron people.  This was also how Christophe came to learn their language, and how Bird strengthened his people's ties to the French.  The second part was mainly about the hardships that befell the Huron, particularly the diseases that killed many of them after the Europeans arrived.  This is also the story of Snow Falls growing up into womanhood.  The final part is the fight for survival against the Iroquois.

While reading The Orenda, I was struck by how much the Native People reminded me of Vikings, in their way.  They were stuck in a circle of violence, where they were constantly trying to avenge themselves of wrongs the other inflicted (which were likewise the other's revenge).  Sure, the methods and beliefs of both people are very different (I've never come across torture in viking literature the way it was present within The Orenda), and I'm not trying to paint them in a similar light.  But to me, that circle of violence was one and the same.

The torture was something I'd like to comment on as well.  Along with Isaac, several characters are brutally tortured within the book.  Bird brings three captive Iroquois back to the village; two are tortured to death (while the third Bird adopts at the request of Snow Falls).  During the third part of the book, the characters (especially the men) worry about surrendering or being captured, knowing that they will be tortured to death if they do.  And Christophe meets his end being graphically tortured for three days by the Iroquois.  These were all very hard sections to read, no matter who was on the receiving end of the torture.

One last think I'd like to comment on is the interesting tie-in within The Orenda to another book I read for school, Leonard Cohen's Beautiful Losers.  Okay, it's not necessarily a tie-in per se.  It's just that if I had never read Beautiful Losers, I would never have picked up on the references to Catherine Tekakwitha (who is apparently Snow Falls' child within The Orenda).  Right when Gosling first told Snow Falls about her vision of Snow Falls' daughter and how she would be a Holy woman for the Crows (the missionaries), I knew who Snow Falls' daughter was supposed to be.  And this was later confirmed when the Iroquois chief, Tekakwitha, adopts the child at the end of the book.

So now that I've read The Orenda, I'm not really sure what I think about it.  Certainly it was an interesting historical epic, especially in the first part.  And sure, there were many characters I liked, and others I didn't (which is to be expected).  The beginning was quite good, but the middle really dragged.  And then the end happened.  I already mentioned the torture of Christophe, which I wasn't fond of.  But the end in general was  rather strange.  None of the main characters died through most of the book (even when facing raiding parties and disease).  But then the end happens and a bunch die quite suddenly, from war (understandable), to poison (which while you can say was somewhat foreshadowed, it still seemed weird, especially when shown from Snow Falls' perspective - she ate a poisoned wafer, but didn't want to be rude and spit it out).  Overall though, I was intrigued by the story, and I am glad I read it. 

Reread: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

A number of years ago, I wanted to read Alice in Wonderland. So my brother bought me a copy as a present. But before I read that copy, I ended up reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in a treasury I bought for a Children's Literature class. With the wealth of Alice related stories that are now out there, such as the made-for-TV movie I really enjoyed, the video game, and even the new Disney movie, I decided that it was high time I reread the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. And it was high time that I read the version that my brother bought for me!

Alice is a ridiculous but fun romp through Wonderland. After witnessing a rabbit check his pocket coat watch and run off, Alice follows him through a rabbit hole. While attempting to follow him, she meets many strange creatures and has many strange adventures. From growing and shrinking in size, finding a never-ending tea party and playing crochet with live flamingos and hedgehogs, Alice never has a dull moment in Wonderland.

As I said, I originally read Alice for a Children's Lit course. I'm actually really glad that I did so, because I wouldn't have gotten the allusions had I simply read it on my own. Alice likes to try showing off her learning, and every here and there she attempts to recite what were well-known poems at the time the story was written. But Wonderland is a backwards place, and all of the poems turn out wrong. Luckily I was familiar with some of the original poems because I had read some of them earlier in the class, and the others were referenced within that edition of the book.

Alice is a quick read and it was fun to go back to it. But now I am excited because I am going to read Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There for the first time ever!

Ever World: Search for Senna

School is over, leaving me free to read whatever I want now. I was originally going to read something like Mogworld by Yahtzee Crowshaw, but in the end I decided to go with the first Ever World book. I apologize for the spoilers that will inevitable happen as I review all twelve books.

Ever World came out around the time when K.A. Applegate was also working on Animorphs. I was really into the Animorph books, so I was interested in reading something else by the same author. For reasons I don't remember anymore, I just never picked these books up at that time (probably because I was already into one indefinitely long series and didn't want to get into another one at the same time). So a year or two ago, I found the first six books for sale at a used book store. It was a really good deal, and I thought that might be all of them. Unfortunately, when I got home I realized that this was only the first six of twelve books. But with the help of the library and a local used-book store (the Bookshelf) for the 10th book which the library was missing, I was able to get a hold of all of them; I'm going to read them all one after the other (as long as I stay interested in them).

Search for Senna opened with a bunch of teenagers sort of fighting in a parking lot. I was intrigued with some of the stuff that was going on (it was a fight over a girl between two guys), but I wasn't sure that I cared enough to keep reading. But I soldiered on, and am extremely glad to have done so! Not long after the fight, this group of teenagers gets transported into Ever World when Fenrir, the wolf from Norse mythology, kidnaps Senna. The rest of the group finds themselves prisoners of Loki. They escape and find themselves in a viking village and later heading off to war. Meanwhile they have no idea where Senna is, and everytime they fall asleep they find themselves awake in the "real world."

After all of my viking reading late last year, how could I not be intrigued by this? I even knew more about some of the stuff that happened than the know-it-all smart kid Jalil (of course the giant snake is Loki's son - it's the world serpent!) I honestly think I'm enjoying Ever World more now (thanks to my readings of the Eddas) than I would have back then! Ever World is off to a great start and I hope it keeps my interest through all twelve books!

School Book: Convent of Pleasure

Here it is: the final School Book of my MA. In a way, Margaret Cavendish's Convent of Pleasure (which is included in Paper Bodies: A Margaret Cavendish Reader) was the perfect last reading because it is an extremely short play. At a time when it's getting harder and harder to concentrate on school related things, short is a good thing.

That being said, I thought Convent of Pleasure was just okay. It is the story about the Lady Happy, who decides she wants to retire from the world of men and live only in the company of women. Her father has just passed away, leaving her as his sole heir, so she has the money and the grounds to provide for herself and her selected ladies, to the vexation of the men who wanted to woo her. Convent of Pleasure starts out as a fun romp, but loses its appeal by about Act 3. Both Acts 3 and 4 have weird plays which are meant to show the pleasuarable activities the ladies are occupying their time with. But the way it is written, these scenes kind of go all over the place so it isn't always clear what is part of the play within a play and what is the character's own lamentation. I guess it was a good idea that just didn't quite work.

But now that I have read this, I just have to write a few papers and then I am free to read the books that matter to me! I can't wait!

Reread: Charlotte's Web

For the class I TA, I had to reread Charlotte's Web. I've read it a few times in the past (both when I was younger and when I took Children's Lit a few years back). And I have to say, reading it again felt like revisiting an old friend. There were a few things I didn't remember until after they happened, but otherwise everything was very familiar, especially all of the characters. Charlotte's Web really is a wonderful story and I'm glad I had this chance to reread it.

For those that don't know this story, it is all about the young pig, Wilbur. He discovers that he is going to be killed by the farmer in the winter. His best friend, the grey spider Charlotte, decides that she's going to save him. It really is a lovely tale, and well worth reading, no matter how old you are!

Also, here is a picture that I had drawn on the back inside cover of my copy when I was younger. :)

School Book: 'Tis Pity She's a Whore

Today I read John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. I've never read anything by John Ford before, and this was quite the introduction to his work.

The play starts out with Giovanni telling his tutor that he is in love with his sister. His tutor, a Friar, tells the young man to pray to heaven in the hopes of redemption from this wicked path. But Giovanni goes to tell his sister, Anabella, about his feelings, only to discover that she feels the same way about him. But she is being pressured to choose a husband.

And so this is the story of their incestuous relationship and all of the complications that arise around it. I wasn't expecting the subject matter, but it was a really good play and I really enjoyed reading it.

School Book: The Changeling

Today I read The Changeling by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley. It's the final play that was included in Three Revenge Tragedies. I don't normally like to do this, but I am going to talk about some very specific points in the plot (particularly the ending), so *Spoiler Alert* for anyone who plans on reading it.

I thought The Changeling was a really great read. Like The White Devil, it is about a strong female character, in this case Beatrice-Joanna. Beatrice is due to marry Alonzo by her father's orders within a few days, but she meets and falls in love with Alsemero. Deciding that she would rather marry Alsemero, she enlists the help of De Flores, her father's servant who is in love with her, to off Alonzo so she can be with the man she loves. But De Flores will not be bought off, but instead insists that she pay him with her virginity.

The most surprising thing about this play was the ending. The sub-plot involves two gentlemen who are respecitively feigning being mad and being a fool to gain the love of Isabella, the wife of the Doctor. They are found out, and the Doctor's man, Lollio sets them on a collision course to kill one another. At the same time, because they are both missing from court, they are blamed for Alonzo's death. Alonzo's brother seems ready to go after them in revenge. But none of that happens. Alsemero finds out that Beatrice was unfaithful to him, and he discovers with whom. The two confess to Beatrice's father and Alonzo's brother, but kill themselves before anyone else can make a move. And so they die, but bring everyone else back together.

While I did really like The White Devil, I thought the ending of The Changeling really put it apart from pretty much all of the revenge tragedies I have read so far. There wasn't a big pile of bodies at the end. Instead only the two who deserved death were dead at the end. And by dying by their own hands, no one had to be punished for seeking their own revenge. The Changeling was a fantastic play, which was well-worth reading. It was definitely one of the best out of this class!

School Book: The White Devil

I read The White Devil over a week ago, but I guess I forgot to write about it.

I liked The White Devil a lot more than The Revenger's Tragedy. I think this was partially because The White Devil wasn't built up as much as The Revenger's Tragedy was. It was also a lot easier to figure out what was happening. It also had a lot more happening much quicker than The Revenger's Tragedy.

The White Devil is the story, rather loosely based on the real-life figure, of Vittoria Corombona. Vittoria is married to Camillo, but her brother panders her to his lord, the Duke of Brachiano. They fall in love with each other, and hatch a plot to kill off their spouses so that they can be together. The plot succeeds, but brings about some unexpected complications, such as the ire of a Cardinal, Brachiano's wife's husband, and Lodovico, an Italian count who loved Brachiano's wife. Things quickly get out of hand, ending quite tragically for almost everyone involved.

The White Devil isn't quite as crazy as The Revenger's Tragedy, but I thought it was the better of the two plays. It had a better pace and was just a lot easier to relate to. And the character of Vittoria was far better crafted than any of the characters from The Revenger's Tragedy.

School Book: The Revenger's Tragedy

Like Women Beware Women, Three Revenge Tragedies has multiple plays in it (The Revenger's Tragedy, The White Devil and The Changeling). Like the plays in Women Beware Women, I'll write about these plays separately

Today I finished reading The Revenger's Tragedy. I was rather excited to read it because a few people have told me that it's really good. And it was pretty good, once you can figure out what's happening. I think the main problem is that the protagonist enters the play already seeking revenge. It seemed to take a lot to figure out what had happened to make him want revenge against both the Duke and his son. But not knowing what had happened didn't really hamper the play. It still built up momentum and came to a fantastic (and somewhat hilarious) conclusion.

So even though it seemed a bit tough to figure out the beginning of the play, it was a great read. This is another one which I heartily recommend!

School Book: The Tragedy of Mariam

I haven't really felt like reading any school books lately. But I buckled down and actually read The Tragedy of Mariam earlier this evening. It was a short read, which was great. Some of the speeches were a bit long and there were a few places where I wasn't altogether sure what was happening, but it was an okay read.

The basic story (spoilers!) is that the king, Herod, is presumed dead by his people and his queen, Mariam. This turns out to be false, leaving many people, Mariam included, rather unhappy. But Herod's sister, Salome, turns this to her advantage, getting rid of her unwanted husband and her sister-in-law to boot. In the end Herod realizes his mistake: Mariam was not untrue to him. But unfortunately it's too late, as he's already put her to death. The argument, which is right at the beginning of the play, gives all of this away, which was why I didn't feel too bad repeating it here.

The really interesting thing about this play is that it is what's known as a "closet drama." It was written by a woman in the 17th century. It was intended to be read by her friends and herself; it was not intended for publication. I thought that was pretty fascinating as we always hear of the male playwrights of the period (like Shakespeare, Middleton and the like), but no females. For that reason alone, this is worth a read.

School Book: Bartholomew Fair

Today I read Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair. I didn't really feel like reading it, but now that I have I can work on other things tomorrow (and sleep in! I'm super tired right now!)

But that being said, Bartholomew Fair was a pretty entertaining read. It was a bit hard to follow at times (particularly when one of the characters started speaking in stage-Scots). But the characters were all pretty funny. Like most of the other plays I've read so far for Sex, Gender and the Early Modern, Bartholomew Fair was a city comedy, so it shows the citizens engaged in daily life (although you can't take this as a depiction of accurate daily life for the Elizabethan/Jacobean people).

Bartholomew Fair tells a strange tale about marriage and courtship. A widow will only marry someone who is mad. A young gentlewoman is supposed to marry a rather childish man, but would prefer to marry anyone else. These people are all running around the Bartholomew Fair, encountering prostitutes and cutpurses.

As I said, it's an entertaining read. If you're looking for something a bit different from Shakespeare, definitely give Bartholomew Fair a try!

School Book: A Chaste Maid in Cheapside

A Chaste Maid in Cheapside is one of the other plays included in Women Beware Women. I didn't have to read A Chaste Maid in Cheapside yet, but it was rather short so I decided to read ahead a bit so I can concentrate on my second class this week.

I have to say that I really enjoyed A Chaste Maid. There's a lot going on in this play, and once you understand just how bad most of the characters are, it's really funny. Moll, the daughter of a goldsmith, is being courted by two men. One of them, Sir Walter Whorehound, is an adulterer, and happens to be the man her parents approve of. The other one, Touchwood Jr., is the man she loves, but her parents want nothing to do with him. Moll and Touchwood Jr. try multiple times to get married in secret, but every time they are thwarted by her parents. Sir Walter has many kept women, including the wife of Master Allwit, by whom he has three children. Master Allwit knows he is being cuckolded, but could care less - he gets to coast through life without having to pay for anything. So the subplots tend to revolve around adulterous affairs with the other women in the play.

I have to say, I love the irony with Moll's name. As I learned from The Roaring Girl, "Moll" was a common name for a whore. And the Moll of this play happens to be the only chaste maid in Cheapside (which is another irony - the joke is that there are no chaste maids in Cheapside).

I admit, right near the end I wasn't quite sure if this was going to be a tragedy or a comedy. The very end was unexpectedly surprising. All in all, I really enjoyed reading this. It was short and good fun.

School Book: Epicoene or the Silent Woman

This is the first play I've ever read by Ben Jonson. I wasn't really sure what to expect. Luckily Epicoene or the Silent Woman was a lot better than The Roaring Girl. It wasn't the best thing I've ever read, but it was highly entertaining and all came together in the end quite nicely.

Epicoene is the story of the gentleman Morose. Morose has decided that his nephew and heir, Dauphine, is good for nothing, so he wants to marry so his nephew will be disinherited. The only problem is that Morose absolutely hates noise, so he needs to find a woman who is relatively silent. He finds what he thinks is the perfect woman and marries her immediately, only to find that things aren't what they first seemed. Epicoene is a hilarious comedy full of all kinds of unpredictable twists. The only problem was that the dramatis personae gave away the biggest twist of all, which really took away from the play as a whole. Other than that it is a great read.

School Book: Women Beware Women

This book has four of Thomas Middleton's Plays: A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, Women Beware Women, The Changeling, and A Game at Chess. I won't be reading all four of these plays for this class, so I decided to write about each play as I finish it. So far from this book I have only read Women Beware Women.

Women Beware Women is a strange tragedy. It takes you on a crazy adventure through lies, lust and more lust. It starts out with a man who has just married a gentlewoman; he tries to hide her in his mother's house while he is away for a few days. But by chance the Duke sees her sitting in a window and desires her. At the same time, an uncle desires his neice, so his sister spins a false tale to make her brother's dreams come true.

Women Beware Women is largely a tale of deceit. But the treachery goes so many ways, it will keep you reading out of curiosity to see the story through to the end!

School Book: The Roaring Girl

I'm really sad that I had to start the year off on this blog with a school book. I was in a reading mood this holiday season and really wanted to read one of my Mercedes Lackey books that are backed up. But on the plus side this is my final term before I am free to read whatever I want, so here's to plowing through these last few books.

The Roaring Girl sounded to me like it would be a lot of fun to read. I mean, the title character is a woman from the 1600's who dresses like a man and generally stirs up trouble. The basic idea of the story is that Sebastian Wengrave wants to marry someone whom his father thinks isn't rich enough. So Sebastian tries to shock his father into letting him marry her by pretending to be madly in love with the Roaring Girl. From the back of the book, the play sounded hilarious and I couldn't wait to read it.

Unfortunately, the summary was a lot better than the actual play. The Roaring Girl doesn't make an appearance until quite a ways into Act 2. And Act 2 is full of random people who aren't really interesting in the whole scheme of things. (It's a bunch of women and men who run some shops. Gentlemen show up and try to cuckold the shopmen). Quite generally, everything that happened seemed rather boring. I honestly had a hard time reading this and I'm glad it's over. I'm also really glad that I did finish it rather than letting it linger on. I'm sure we'll have some interesting things to say in the class about it, but if you're just interested in the play on its own, you're better off giving it a pass for something by Shakespeare or Marlowe.

School Book: The Poetic Edda

I was working on a different paper, but was having a lot of trouble with it. So to take a break, I decided to read The Poetic Edda, which conveniently also helps me with school work.

The Poetic Edda was a really interesting read. I'm glad I read The Prose Edda before it though, because Snorri's work really helped me understand a lot of what was going on. I also found that I'm getting familiar with the Norse structures and allusions (kennings in particular. There aren't many in Eddic poetry, but I can pick out some of the more simple ones referring to blood and warriors).

That being said, The Poetic Edda is still a bit confusing. I think a lot of the confusion stems from us just not knowing a lot about their mythology. There were a number of instances where the note for a confusing line might say that the original is confusing or there is debate among scholars.

But overall, I really enjoyed the Poetic Edda, both the first poems about the gods and the later heroic poems (particularly the poems relating to the Volsungs). I think the only poems I wasn't too fond of were the ones concerning Helgi. There were three of these. The first one was alright, but the second was confusing and the third seemed like a confusing copy of the first poem. They were alright, but not as good as the other poems in this collection.

School Book: The Prose Edda

I know I said The Reluctant Fundamentalist was the last book on the term's reading list. And that's true. But Snorri Sturluson's The Prose Edda was a book I wanted to read to help me with a final paper (and it will be followed by the Poetic Edda).

The Prose Edda was written by Snorri Sturluson back in 13th century Iceland. In it, he recorded the old pagan mythology as best he could (he was writing a few centuries after Iceland was converted to Christianity and the old ways were being lost). As such, The Prose Edda gives us most of what we know of pagan Viking culture.

The Prose Edda was a fun read. It's pretty easy to get through, as long as you can make it past the long sections of ancestry (which were not as bad as those found in the Tain). It's a great overview of Norse mythology (and was a really good introduction for someone like me who only knew a very limited amount).

School Book: The Reluctant Fundamentalist

This is it: the last book on this term's class reading lists. And I have to say, it was an excellent read, perfect for the last book of the term. I don't know what exactly I was expecting but Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist definitely exceeded all of my expectations. And I'm not 100% sure why.

A big part of the appeal was how it was written. The main character, Changez, narrates the entire book. He is telling an American visitor to Pakistan his history, how he came to America for school, how he loved a woman named Erica, and the circumstances that brought him back to Pakistan. But it is an unusual first person narration. Changez doesn't give you the words of the American, but instead replies to what the man tells him. It makes for a really interesting read.

Another appealing part of the book was Changez himself. The more I read, the more I genuinely liked him. He has a sophisticated way with words that was extremely unique, but also put you at ease; he is a likeable guy. And while his is a narrative that you do not see very often in North America (it tended to be a bit anti-American near the end, but this was completely understandable within the narrative), Changez was always a regular guy who was easy to relate to.

I also agree with Philip Pullman's endorsement on the front cover: "Beautifully written . . . more exciting than any thriller I've read for a long time." The Reluctant Fundamentalist was beautifully written. And it really was a page turner, even if it wasn't really like your typical thriller. The more I read, the more I wanted to keep reading.

All in all, The Reluctant Fundamentalist was an excellent book. I definitely recommend it, no matter your reading preference.

School Book: Captain America: The New Deal

It isn't every day that I get to call something like this a school book. But Captain America: The New Deal is indeed on the reading list for my Literature After 9/11 class! And I was really lucky to find a copy locally - it's been out of print for awhile and will be reprinted in December of this year.

I don't know a whole lot about Captain America. To be perfectly honest, I think most of what I know (and my opinion of him) was formed while playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 with a friend on Xbox 360. When all was said and done in that game, he seemed like a real jerk and I didn't really like him. And while my opinion hasn't really changed, it didn't stop me from enjoying this book.

Captain America: The New Deal has such a ridiculous concept: Captain America takes on terrorists! I kept telling everyone before I read it that I don't think the terrorists have much of a chance (unless there's some kind of super villain behind them). I don't want to give any spoilers here, so I won't discuss one way or the other what happened. But the basic plot is that several months after 9/11, a small town in the middle of the US is held hostage by terrorists. It's up to Captain America to save the day, defusing the bombs and rescuing the entire town. The story itself is very exciting, although there were a few confusing pages. Nick Fury appears, which is always a plus. And there was a really great sequence right near the beginning with Captain America searching for survivors at the Twin Towers' Ground Zero.

Like I said, it's a bit on the ridiculous side, but all in all Captain America: The New Deal was a really good read.