Books – Page 2 – From the disheveled desk of Nathan Bak

Judging a Book by its Cover

I often judge books by their covers and when I saw the cover of The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart I immediately decided that it was a book that my family would enjoy. I was correct.

It is supposedly bad to judge a book by its cover, but I find it to be quite effective and, although I don’t necessarily have a definitive algorithm in mind, there are apparently some “rules” that book covers tend to follow. Over the last few years, I’ve read a few articles about studies where AIs are trained to identify the genre of a book from the cover. I’ll leave an exhaustive search of those sorts of articles as an exercise for the reader, but I will highlight “Does the cover tell you something about a book? Use AI for genre classification” (20 February 2019) by Viridiana Romero Martinez as a fun sampling.

In the case of The Mysterious Benedict Society, the title is certainly a draw, but it’s the fantastic artwork by Carson Ellis which make the book cover (and the covers of the sequels) stand out. The title could be for a murder mystery or horror novel or even a dystopian science fiction book. The art somehow makes it clear that it’s a story about children and for children yet it does not pander to the “norm” (whatever that is). It’s playful and yet dark at the same time. Although not apparent at the first glance, after reading to book one can see the level of detail from the text that went into the visual.

Sometimes I make an incorrect assumption when judging, but I was certainly correct when it comes to The Mysterious Benedict Society and the sequels/prequels.

The Mystery of the Haunted Cul-de-Sac

My cul-de-sac was reported to be haunted; not near my house, but at the other end. Most of the mysterious events seemed to be in proximity to the abandoned (vacant with a “For Rent” sign out front) house on the street. I had a carefully neutral response when informed by my daughter of the alleged haunting, but as a whole I was pleased–a haunted cul-de-sac is certainly interesting. At least as long as it’s the other end . . .

As the unexplained incidents increased, it seemed like we might need to prepare for a Ghostbuster’s style end-of-the-world battle scenario. But instead of succumbing to fear of the unknown, my daughter and her crony, in true Nancy Drew style, founded a detective agency to investigate.

I don’t recall having read Nancy Drew books except for when her path crossed with the Hardy Boys and they collaborated on a mystery. For my daughter, however, they have been a source of entertainment–both during the reading and then during the inspired adventures. With a sleuth bag in which carry detective gear, one is always ready for a mystery.

There was much detectiving and investigation as the girls went up and down the cul-de-sac and deliberated in their office (the gazebo). Eventually I was informed that all of the mysterious occurrences had a logical explanation. I think this was a relief to my daughter who replaced fear of the unknown with confidence of comprehension. However, now she needs another mystery. Also, I will miss living on a haunted cul-de-sac . . .

Sheldon, Cow Expert!

My family has many happy memories associated with our after dinner reading. Gordon Korman’s No Coins, Please is one of very few books that has warranted being read aloud twice as a family. There are many hilarious passages throughout the text, but probably the most memorable is when one of the characters announces “Sheldon, Cow Expert!”

Those words are perhaps not funnier than the rest of the book, but for some reason the first time those words were read over the dinner table the family was reduced to uncontrollable laughter which continued for some time. The second time we read this book, despite (or perhaps due to) being anticipated, similar mayhem ensued. And now that phrase and book are associated with one of may happy moments we have shared.

Although not extremely flexible, we nevertheless find situations where we can quote those now immortal words. Whenever we do, the family joins together in laughter and any unfortunate bystanders simply stare quizzically–we’ve mostly given up trying to explain. It’s just to hard to explain who Sheldon is, what a Cow Expert is, why Sheldon is a Cow Expert, why he announces “Sheldon, Cow Expert!” and why it is so funny to my family.

A Better Movie?

The Princess Bride is a great book and a great movie. I recently read Cary Elwes’ book As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride and learned a lot about the making of the movie. Normally the book is better than the movie, but in the case of The Princess Bride I think the movie is just as good as the book and arguably better because it has had a wider influence. Reading Elwes’ book caused me to think a lot about why The Princess Bride movie is so great.

I like a good story, but even a good story needs to be told properly. When verbalizing a story, I use different words and sentence structures than when I am writing the same story. There are many ways and mediums to tell the same story and many of those have been used to tell the story of The Hitchhiker’ Guide to the Galaxy. Some stories, or at least some narratives, tend to work better for certain mediums and I think often when a good book is adapted for screen that the movies isn’t as good because the medium isn’t as right for the story. But this is not the case for The Princess Bride.

William Goldman, a gifted author, wrote The Princess Bride book in 1973. But Goldman is also a gifted screenwriter, and I think in the years between writing the book and then crafting the screenplay he thought a lot about how to tell the same story in a different way. This means that the movie, while not 100% faithful to the book, is still faithful to the story.

Both the book and the movie tell the story of a six-fingered man, iocane powder, rodents of unusual size, true love and more. The book can provide a depth of details that couldn’t effectively be conveyed in movie format, but the movie is incredibly quotable. I wouldn’t go so far as to claim the movie is better than the book, but I think it is just as great because it is the same story told by a creator skilled in telling a story in two different mediums.

My Accidental Introduction to Yoshikawa Eiji

I really enjoy the writings of Yoshikawa Eiji. I’ve already written far too much about Yoshikawa and his writings in my thesis Yoshikawa Eiji’s Three kingdoms as Japanese literature, but in that sort of academic paper there isn’t much opportunity to mention my personal experiences with his writings.

I encountered Yoshikawa by accident. I was at a Barnes and Noble bookstore looking for a Yoshimoto Banana book (a very different author) when I saw a paperback of Musashi (actually, as I later learned, only the first part of the story) and bought it based only on the information on the cover. I often find myself reading multiple books during the same stretch of time, and I remember while reading Musashi I was also reading Foucault’s Pendulum so the two books will always be strangely linked in my brain despite having little in common. I was sad when I reached the end of my incomplete Musashi and so I soon invested in a volume containing the complete text. Since then, I’ve spent many hours reading various writings by and about Yoshikawa Eiji in both English and Japanese.

When I read the literary works of Yoshikawa Eiji, I enter a vivid world with rich characters. Unlike many books where the protagonist is a generic “everyman” or “everywoman” (although typically with a bit of spunk) which take place in the “here and now” or thereabouts, Yoshikawa’s books take place during specific times and places in history centered around actual historical people. Of course there is a lot of fiction filling in the details. In the past I have said that if a person is going to read only one book of Japanese literature, it should be Endo’s Silence. However, typically when I am recommending a book to introduce someone to Japanese literature, I will suggest Yoshikawa’s Musashi.

A Knife in the Dark

I have happy memories associated with Little House on the Prairie and the other books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Some people seem to consider the books to be “girly” or fluff, but I think them to be a great read both for what they are and for the memories experiencing the books with family.

I was about five or six when my mother read the series aloud to me and my older sister. The things I remember most from the story are 1) the kids using the pig’s bladder as a ball and 2) the snow fort and subsequent snowball fight. But what I remember best was that while my mother was reading about the struggles of the Ingalls’ family, my father would quietly appear in the doorway behind her and mime the story–somehow even the most somber of stories was hilarious when depicted in that manner. When my sister and I would burst out laughing, my father would disappear behind the corner before my mother could turn around.

A few years ago, while visiting my parents, I stole those same books (which technically belong to my sister) to share with my children. We spent a few months of after dinner reading time working our way through the series. The kids found the stories interesting and entertaining.

In order to carry on the tradition of silliness, and also to make sure everyone was paying attention, I would occasionally slip in a little bit of extra content. Typical favorites would be to add “A Ghost in” at the beginning of a chapter name and/or append “of Doom” to the end. So while reading These Happy Golden Years and not long after advertising “Sleigh Bells of Doom”, I read out the chapter title “A Knife in the Dark”. Nobody believed me until I displayed the actual text. So now that chapter (or at least the title) is probably the family favorite and best remembered both for the ominous tone and for the memory of disbelief.

Some may say that the “Little House” books are for girls, but to me they represent fatherhood. For the stories about about the fathers in the books. For the stories acted out by my father. And for being a father with children dubious about a chapter entitled “A Knife in the Dark”.

Escaping to Discworld

A couple years ago I had a lovely six months reading through Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series. This summer I’m binging on Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. I’ve read most of them before, but I’m really enjoying consuming the books in mass quantities. There are several reasons I think they make great summer reads.

It’s nice not to have to worry about what to read next–you just grab another book in the series. However, the Discworld series adds an extra dimension because I can easily jump around between storylines thanks to Jakub Oleksów’s reading order guide (there are newer versions than the one in the link, but they don’t always seem to mention the artist and I think he should get credit for his creation). If I should need a break (I didn’t) from the misadventures of Rincewind (a “Wizzard” who cannot do magic), I can easily switch to another storyline such as the city watch or industrialization. So in the Discworld series there is something readily available for any mood (or at least any of my recent moods).

The Discworld novels, for the most part, are written such that they can be appreciated on various levels. The entire family engaged in much laughter as we read aloud Tiffany Aching’s encounter with the Nac Mac Feegle in The Wee Free Men. Boy #1 and Boy #3 can read through the same book and enjoy it for entirely different reasons with Boy #1 commenting that he “got” so many more of the jokes on his second read now that he’s older. Boy #3 decided to build The Mended Drum out of Popsicle sticks.

It’s easy to pickup where you left off (or even where you’ve never been) in Discworld. The novels are great to take with on vacation because it’s not necessary to reserve a few hours in a special reading spot in order to appreciate the text. I just tossed a couple of books in the suitcase when packing for each trip in July, and had something to enjoy as time permitted.

Some people categorize Pratchett’s Discworld novels as silly (they are) or state that it’s not “real” fantasy (just another way of saying silly), but that is the intent. I’ve heard some people say that if you’ve read one Discworld book, you’ve read them all, but that is like saying if you’ve eaten one ice cream cone, you don’t need to eat another one since each book provides its own unique satisfaction So this summer, even though I’ve been keeping busy, when I do find a few minutes to escape, I love heading over to Discworld.

And the question is?

I was still in elementary school when I was first introduced to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Initial contact was the 1984 video game on a Commodore 64 which I initially thought to be a clone of Zork, but quickly discovered it was much sillier. I died frequently and never made it very far, but I learned to put on a robe before trying to access the pockets and to lay down in front of bulldozers.

Later (but still during my elementary school years), the BBC showed the television series. I was expecting something like Doctor Who (and Douglas Adams even wrote “City of Death” which is one of my favourite Doctor Episodes), but quickly discovered it was much sillier. Of all the bits in the show, the thing I remember the most is at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe where the animal that wants to be eaten.

In middle school I finally read the first book and in high school school I read everything available in the series at the time. I also explored and enjoyed the world of Dirk Gently and his Holistic Detective Agency (my favourite part of those books being the sofa in the stairway). By then I was sufficiently well-versed in the works to be able to claim to know the location of my towel.

In college there was a guy in the dorm that had the original radio show in cassette tape and he was kind enough to let me make a copy. I’m typically not a fan of that sort of audio format–it’s much slower than reading and requires more effort than media that has associated visual components. Nevertheless, I really enjoy the radio show and it is my preferred version of the story. Over the years first the radio show (now in mp3 format rather than cassette) has continued to provide entertainment during road trips.

I enjoy the silliness associated with “The Guide” in all it’s many forms–it has been and continues to be a source of entertainment for me and my family. If I had to choose a favourite media format, I would have to go with the radio show version. While I suspect that more people have read the book, I feel it is definitely worth a listen.

Sherlock Holmes: Predictable and Original

2016-10-09-18-12-22

Several years ago, my wife and I purchased a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories as a Christmas present for our niece and I mentioned that I had never read any Sherlock Holmes save an abbreviated version of Hound of the Baskervilles I encountered in fifth grade. I believe my wife was appalled at this dearth in literary knowledge and as a remedy I soon received a nice version of the Sherlockian canon. I like to consume literature in bulk–there was no intimidation at 2000-3000 pages, but rather a comfort of knowing there were many hours of reading material immediately available to me. And so I began.

I really enjoy reading about the various adventures of Sherlock Holmes, but initially I was surprised at how well I could predict the outcome. Not only did I out pace Watson, but sometimes even the great sleuth himself. Initially I assumed I was just incredibly clever, but soon reality set in there was the realization that, though the details were different, the “twist” was something previously encountered. I had read various mysteries including a binge with Agatha Christie while in college. Before that I had ready Hardy Boys novels (also in mass quantities) and watched episodes of Scooby-Doo. Sherlock Holmes was quite original when it was written, but it has since become the foundation upon which most modern Western mystery is built.

I think I enjoy the short stories more than the novels; that’s odd considering my general preference towards quantity. The short stories come across as more tightly written and more focused on the mystery rather than a lot of back story. Also, since I usually had a good idea where the story was headed, I think I missed out on a certain measure of suspense.

Even though most modern readers won’t be thoroughly astounded by the genius of Sherlock Holmes because of the predictability, it’s not due to lack of originally for it is the original. Reading the text is a fun journey to the early days of the mystery genre. If you haven’t yet experienced the world of Holmes and Watson, enjoy the originality and don’t fret the predictability.

Farmer Giles of Ham

Tolkien Books I have long been familiar with Tolkien’s The Hobbit and also The Lord of the Rings, but remained mostly ignorant of his other works apart from a 1982 print of The Silmarillion which somehow ended up in my collection. This past Mother’s Day my wife received a couple volumes of other Tolkien tales and I noticed in one that among the “other books by the author” it listed The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and was intrigued enough to order it in a volume combined with Farmer Giles of Ham.

When the book arrived, I took a quick peek and immediately selected Farmer Giles of Ham as the next after dinner read aloud book for the family. Upon completion, the family unanimously agreed that it is a terrific tale. I think what made it so great for the entire family is that the writing is very Tolkienish, but it’s an easier read of a fantasy story (perhaps more a fairy tale) as compared to the more well-known stories involving hobbits and elves.

The story certainly contains a sufficient quantity of elements to hold the attention of all ages: An unexpected hero going on a quest, knights, a magic sword, giants, dragons, battles, and a talking dog named Garm. There was also the unconventional inclusion of a blunderbuss. There are no spoilers here, but it can safely be said that the story is both amusing and entertaining.

In true Tolkien fashion, all the key players have clever names; often both a formal “book-Latin” name as well as the common “vulgar” name. Even the the book title is referred on the title page with the lengthier “The Rise and Wonderful Adventures of Farmer Giles, Lord of Tame, Count of Worminghall and King of the Little Kingdom”. These names tend to be more pompous and less serious than what I’ve seen in other works by Tolkien. While the reasoning behind the names is explained when appropriate, the descriptions do not seem to require as many lengthy history lessons or descriptions of lineages as compared with that with which I was previously accustomed.

The writing style is elegant, but also accessible. Tolkien puts words together in clever combinations that not only tell the story, but also contain wit enough to make reading alone pleasurable even were there no plot. I did find the tone less formal than is typical. Also, I think the words used are a little easier–I think I understood all the words and only had trouble pronouncing a few.

While not at the same literary level as The Lord of the Rings, Farmer Giles of Ham is a fun, accessible story. Many people (especially younger readers) stall when reading Tolkien for the first time due to the immensity of Middle Earth and the history and culture that is described between (and occasionally even during) the action scenes. For those who have started and failed or those that want a more gentle introduction, at under 80 pages Farmer Giles of Ham may be just the thing.