Wow, haven't updated this in a while. Where have I been?
Good readings...
Howl's Moving Castle, which is about to come out as a movie from Ghibli Studios. The book was a fun preview, and I can't wait to see what they do with it as an anime. Howl is a wizard that lives in a castle that moves, and inside the the castle, you can set the door to open in a variety of different worlds. Howl isn't the best wizard in the world, and needs to be kept in shape by a variety of helpful humans and creatures.
And for more in a magical theme....
Ariel,
Lireal, and
Abhorsen, by Garth Nix. I suspect there will be more to come in this series, as I feel Nix left it open to continue. The story of two worlds jammed together, with a wall that separates them. It's day on one side, night on the other, winter in one land, spring somewhere else. It's also magic-driven on one side, and mechanical on the other. Both sides must come together to defeat an ancient evil. You know, the defeating the ancient evil thing again, but actually, the world has depth and a backstory to it, and a logic. Read it just to get to the part where you look at the stars beyond the last gate. That's an amazing scene in the third book.
Also reads:
The Kite Runner -- good even if the ending is contrived. The story of a boyhood in Kabul before and after the horrors of war. Not a lightweight read, deals with a lot of hard issues. I wonder why the women aren't stronger in the book.
Collapse, by Jared Diamond. Let's get good and depressed over how mankind's communities have died in the past. It's a great read, good survey, covers the themes of how we build in our own destruction. The chapter on the Chacoan culture was a little light, and is covered better in
Anasazi America.
If I haven't mentioned it below, because I can't remember and can't see it,
Persepolis and
Persepolis II by Marjane Satrapi. Great comic-style personal histories by an Iranian woman. The format really works for her tale of coming of age. Gripping. Hard. Black and white.
