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So, I Read a Steampunk Novel…
2010 at 5am Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
Two years ago, I had never heard of Steampunk (and if pressed, I would have guessed it had something to do with music). Three months ago, I’d heard of it, and I could even name a few books in the genre, but I still had no idea what it actually was. Two weeks ago, I read Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker and got thoroughly schooled in the matter.
(NB for the uninitiated: Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction/speculative fiction that is set in an era or world where steam power is the predominant technology.)
So, Boneshaker.
In the early years of the Civil War, when people fueled by rumors of gold flooded into the Pacific Northwest, Russian prospectors in search of a way to drill through Alaska’s ice and get rich quick put out feelers for an inventor who could create a machine that would do the heavy lifting for them. They found a Seattle man named Leviticus Blue, who said his Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine was could do just that. So the prospectors commissioned the maverick Dr. Blue, and the Boneshaker was born.
But before the Russians could start drilling, the Boneshaker rumbled out of Dr. Blue’s garage and tore up the ground beneath the better part of Seattle. (Whether this was an accident or a deliberate act of malevolence is hotly debated and remains unknown.) And that’s not all! Not only did the Boneshaker ruin the foundation of the city, it released a toxic gas that turned the denizens of downtown Seattle into walking dead.
Zombies!!!! Read more
Maria Was Wrong.
2010 at 5am Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
The beginning might be “a very good place to start,” but I’m here to tell you that the ending is an even better one.
I’m just a little more than halfway through Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, and I am alternately amazed by how wonderful it is and outraged that no one put it in my hands sooner. It makes me want to shut out the rest of the world and hunker down in a quiet room for as long as it takes to finish it. It’s been a while since I’ve read a real “don’t look at me, don’t talk to me, and by god, don’t expect me to interact with you” book, and The Secret History is just doing it for me like whoa.
Thanks to last week’s Bookrageous podcast, I’ve had literary tropes and techniques on the brain, and it dawned on me (just as I was falling asleep—don’t you love it when that happens?) that one of the things I’m loving about this book is that it begins with the ending. The narrator opens the book by telling us about a murder he helped commit (presumably years ago, as it seems that he is writing the story with many years’ experience and perspective since), then he goes back to the explain how he met his accomplices and what, exactly, transpired that led him to participate in the murder of someone he once considered a close friend.
While most authors spend time hinting around about THE BAD THING that will happen, Tartt gives it away on page one, and it turns what is really a linear narrative into so much more. By starting at Point B, then rewinding to Point A and showing us what happened in between the two, Tartt relieves us from wondering what will happen, and that frees us up to think about how it happens. And that—the how of a story—is so much more interesting, isn’t it? The how is the meat. The how is where the real tension lives. The how is what keeps me reading, and it is why I am a reader.
What-happens-next makes for entertaining reading and all, but I find how-did-we-get-here much more compelling, and the fact that I am turning pages like a madwoman waiting for an event that I already know will happen is a testament to Tartt’s ability to build tension. I have 200 pages to go, and I’m already convinced this is one the best books I’ll read this year, and it has the added bonus of making me think about other books I’ve read and loved recently that also begin with the ending. Read more
The Sunday Salon 11.28.10
2010 at 9am Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
Happy post-Thanksgiving Sunday to those of you in the U.S. I hope you’re still just as full of carbs and ready for wall-to-wall Christmas music as I am. We’re about to launch them into heavy rotation here at Casa Schinsky.
The husband and I spent a lovely few days with his family in St. Louis, where we pre-gamed for the feast by gorging ourselves on sandwiches and the best malts in the world at Crown Candy Kitchen (seriously, if you’re in the Lou, you must make a stop; I don’t mess around about malts), and then I commenced to falling in love with first Flannery O’Connor and then Donna Tartt (whose novel The Secret History is rocking my world like WHOA and will almost certainly be my favorite backlist read of the year), and I have to say that now I’m pretty sold on the idea of spending the rest of this year reading books that have been languishing on the TBR for far too long.
The blog was relatively quiet this week, but I did launch the Bookrageous Podcast Literary Lovefest (spoiler alert: I rave about Mr. Peanut and Skippy Dies again) and The Book Lady’s Black Friday Buying Guide….which can also function for, you know, the rest of the pre-holiday days that aren’t Black Friday.
And because I just had to get in on the multi-platform fun, I started a Tumblr blog (because I need another project like a hole in the head). Don’t worry—the Book Lady flagship is still going strong, but I wanted to try out the format of shorter posts and the Tumblr community, and so far (even though I’m only on day four), I’m enjoying it as a place to explore my in-process reactions to my reading and to find fun new bookish blogs to follow.
Sure, it’s one more thing to keep up with, but right now, it feels like a supplement, not an added concern, and I’m all for expanding the conversation as long as it continues to be fun and exciting.
And now it’s back to the couch and The Secret History for me. If you’re in the U.S., how was your Thanksgiving weekend? Read anything great?
I’ll tumbl(e) for ya…
2010 at 11am Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
Which is to say that I started a Tumblr blog…because, well, sometimes I need to say things that are longer than tweets but not quite as long as full blog posts, and the whole Tumblr community thing is fun, and I wanted to try it, and what can I say? I caved to the pressure.
And now that I’m over there, I need fun people to follow, and since I know my readers are pretty much the best bookish people around, who better to ask than you all? So, do you Tumbl? Do you follow tumblrs? Who do you loooooove?
While you think about it, here’s the Culture Club to entertain you:
Shout out those FridayReads!
2010 at 5am Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
I know you’re busy scarfing down those Turkey Day leftovers and hunting down the best Black Friday deals today (and if you’re shopping for books, make sure you hit up my Black Friday buying guide), but I hope you’ll take a minute to share what you’re currently reading—-books, magazines, papers, work stuff, cereal boxes…whatever—in the comments here, on Twitter with the #fridayreads hashtag, or at the FridayReads Facebook page.
Remember, everyone who shares a reading selection is entered for bookish prizes, and FridayReads founder Bethanne Patrick (@thebookmaven) will donate $250 to First Book when we break 5,000 participants in one day.
Bloggers: direct your non-tweeting readers to share their FridayReads here, and you’ll be entered for a special prize. Just drop a link to your post below.
Me? I’m finishing Flannery O’Connor’s Everything That Rises Must Converge and beginning Donna Tartt’s The Secret History.
