Jonathan Franzen Has His Hate On for E-books

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American novelist Johnathan Franzen (author of Freedom and The Corrections) managed to upset a fair number of writers, publishers and fellow readers this morning, according to my Twitter feed—an article from Sunday's edition of The Telegraph outlined arguments Franzen made in a speech at the Hay Festival in Cartagena, Colombia, about the damaging effects of e-books on the civilized world. In typical Franzen form, he managed to insult all readers in possession of e-book editions and he managed to turn paperback books into The One Reading Experience Worthy of His Work.

*Gag*

In essence, his arguments against e-books are as follows:

• If a reader spills water on a physical book (or p-book), that book will continue to function. If a reader spills water on an e-book (or its equivalent reading device, really), that unit could be irreparably damaged. P-book = Superior format.
• Where technological updates could render single e-books obsolete (think of those endless system updates), a p-book sitting on a bookshelf can always be accessed, even ten years into the future. Hence, capitalists want you to buy the e-book since, presumably, you will have to purchase your favourite books every few years.
• "Serious" readers want permanence. Ink on paper is permanent. E-books suggest indefinite new edits and updates can (and will…?) continue throughout the book's e-life. A lack of permanence means we will lose hold of  our "system of justice" and "responsible self-government.” Therefore, e-books = ANARCHY. DOWN WITH CHANGE!
• Too much change will make readers want to kill themselves by their eightieth birthdays. Jonathan Franzen turns fifty-three this year.
• One of the reasons Jonathan Franzen loves Barack Obama as the American president relates to Obama's identity as a fan of Franzen's book Freedom a Real Reader.

Headdesk ∞ 

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I hate that this article has brought Franzen's name to the forefront of literary news again, and I know I'm falling victim to his goading with this one. But I can't stand it when readers (or writers) bash new book formats with such weak arguments. I mean, I do agree with the concerns regarding technological updates—I knew a girl who had a first generation KOBO e-reader, and once the third generation unit had been released, she stopped receiving e-mail updates from the KOBO store because her unit was roughly two-years ancient. I know e-book retailers talk about The Cloud and how those purchased e-books exist out there, but what happens if the retailer's business goes bankrupt? And what happens if their business is purchased by a competitor? Now, I don't have an MBA or anything, but I'm pretty sure the annexing business doesn't want to cater to the needs of those customers who bought the now annexed and obsolete e-reader …

But, in regards to Franzen's statements about "serious" readers—well, he can just cliff himself for that one. How can one be more dedicated to reading if one buys a paperback edition? Wouldn't paperback readers be inferior to hardcover readers, if we're going to entertain Franzen's delusions for a moment? And how is spilled ink more valuable than the XML data and XSL products that now format written documents for p-book printers and for their e-book counterparts?  No, actually, I think the Most Serious of Serious Readers would want their books handwritten—in blood. Yeah, that would enhance the permanence of the book, eh? That should ward of those anarchistic e-books. Definitely. Why did no one think of this earlier…?

It's difficult for me to get a hate on for e-books when A) they're almost half the cost of those precious paperbacks Franzen refers to, and B) e-readers are far more portable than their p-book counterparts (I'm looking at you, George R.R. Martin and Haruki Murakami…and numerous others). Also, according to other commenters such as CBC News, e-books are eliminating the embarrassment associated with buying Harlequins and erotica collections, which are helping the genre to thrive despite our economic troubles. (Maybe this is the anarchy Franzen's getting ruffled about?)

That being said, I still buy my favourite works in a p-book format, and the library offers a great selection of p-books for us poor readers to borrow. But to value a reader based on her format of choice strikes me as crazy talk—people reading in ANY format bring value to the work. They're the ones who keep publishing relevant and keep book conversations alive. Even if we all ended up reading e-books in the future, isn't the important part of that equation the fact that we'll still be reading?

I know I'm biased in calling this, but Moffatt: 1 | Franzen: Ridiculous.

Transmission Four (VLOG)

"IF YOU RUN HOME QUICKLY AND POLISH YOUR BOOTS YOU WILL STILL BE BACK IN TIME FOR THE CAKES AND JELLIES."

I will say no more.

Weekend Booklinks (Jan. 22nd–Jan. 28th)

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Saturday means an abundance of hours in which to unwind and reflect on the past week. Or, you could comb the Internet for strange book-related articles and images to share with other bookish kids in the world. Whatever floats yer boat:

• Imagining Toronto, 100 Books You Should Read: In response to the BBC's list of the UK's best loved 100 novels, writer and teacher Amy Lavender Harris decided to create her own list of books highlighting Toronto. It's an impressive list, and an excellent introduction to Toronto's place in literature.
• Huffington Post Canada, Style for Book Nerds: 10 Literary-Inspired Looks for a Well-Read Wardrobe: From newspaper nails and notebooks, to a colourful array of literary t-shirts, the well-read fashionista ought to check his/her style against these helpful suggestions.
• PWxyz, The 5 Books that Inspire the Most Tattoos: Readers may or may not be surprised at the top five. For instance, Fight Club: No surprise. Where the Wild Things Are: Did not see that coming.
• Flavorwire, 10 Cult Literary Traditions for Truly Die-Hard Fans: Definitely a fun and informative list. Did you know there's a Hemingway Look-a-like contest? And a marathon reading of the nautical classic Moby Dick? These strange, true, and thriving traditions are likely to floor you.
• ≤ZERO, Literature meets Pokémon: Yes, you read that correctly. And yes, you gotta read 'em all!

Review: Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer

Title: Everything is Illuminated
Author: Jonathan Safran Foer
Length: 276 pages
Format: Paperback
Genre: Fiction; Literary, Magic Realism
Publisher: Harper Perennial / 2002
Cover Design: Gray 318
Source: Literati League
Rating: ✮✮✮✮

Reason to Read: Everything is Illuminated was selected for this month's Literati League meeting (where the Literati League is also the best book club. EVER.)

***

"I am not a bad person," he said. "I am a good person who has lived in a bad time." (227)

Jonathan Safran Foer (the fictitious character, not the author) is a young American Jew who travels to Ukraine in search of Augustine, a woman who may have saved his grandfather during the Nazi liquidation of the small family shtetl of Trachimbrod. Armed with an old map, several packs of Marlboro cigarettes, and endless reproductions of his grandfather's photo of Augustine, Jonathan sets out across Ukraine's countryside with a motley crew of Heritage Tour guides—his translator and soon-to-be comrade, Alexander ("Alex" or "Sasha") Perchov, Alex's "blind" Grandfather (who is also the driver on their trek), and the Grandfather's "seeing-eye bitch" (Sammy Davis Junior, Junior)—to uncover Jonathan's lost roots and to discover his own grandfather's salvation from the Holocaust.

The novel follows two main narrative arcs: 1) A magic realist novel-in-progress imagining Trachimbrod's history from the 1700s to the 1940s, as written by Jonathan; and 2) A straightforward account of the group's search for Trachimbrod, as recounted by Alex in a rather amusing broken English. Both narratives are connected through the detailed letters Alex writes and attaches to the chapters he sends to Jonathan—through this one-sided personal correspondence, the reader learns how both men are using their writing to process their pain, to imagine a better future for themselves in light of multiple generations of darkness, and to edit their memories for an unspecified audience. Though a single moment can illuminate the darkest secrets of a town's or a family's past, both Jonathan and Alex demonstrate how narratives can be reworked, and therefore redeemed, in the present tense in order to create a stronger foundation for the future family members.

L-R: Alex (Eugene Hutz), Jonathan (Elijah Wood), and Grandfather (Boris Leskin)

in the film adaptation of Everything is Illuminated (2005)

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So, I can confirm this now—almost every member of the Literati League cried at some point during this  novel. Even me, the one deemed "a monster" when I did not shed a tear for the film adaptation of The Notebook nor the Pixar sob-fest known as Up. But really, I don't know how any reader could make it through this one without a pathetic breakdown of sorts—in fact, we launched our discussion on Thursday by comparing which scenes induced the greatest waterworks (to see which readers had emotional overlaps, I suppose).

Serious though, book clubs will find an impressive number of conversation starters when it comes to Everything is Illuminated. I admit, any attempt to recap the general plot of this book is almost impossible to write—Foer creates a narrative timeline that flows both forward and backward in time, and even quickens or slows in pace depending on the events of a given scene. He references and cross-references small moments or details throughout the text, all of which could easily be missed on a first reading of the book. Yes, indeed—Everything is Illuminated demands multiple re-reads and various conversations on its subject matter—and the book is completely justified in doing so. In fact, I found the Literati League's discussion opened the text in ways I hadn't anticipated (which proves the relevance of group reading projects, I do believe).

Foer balances his text between deeply humorous scenes (i.e. the infamous vegetarian confrontation, Trachimbrod's town records, LIFE, AND THE LIFE OF LIFE), meditations on the difference between actual love and the misguided love of love, reflections on writing and the active construction of memory, and descriptions of those heartbreaking, sob-inducing moments (i.e. Yankel's protection of the young orphan, Brod, and his efforts to remember her in his old age; the creeping revelations regarding the abuse in Alex's family; and the Grandfather's tragic decision during the war that brought both evil and good into his world, etc.)—and while it seems like a broad spectrum of topics to tussle with, Foer does so with great care and an obsessive eye for telling details. I can only imagine how an undergraduate seminar might tease out the meaning of this novel, especially in the cases where a class would dedicate an entire semester to studying a single book. I would have loved to explore these pages in those excitable undergrad years, and I feel a reader could spend countless hours navigating this text with highlighter in tow, all in the hopes of uncovering new insights and missed layers of meaning…

For now, I leave you with the film trailer for Everything is Illuminated. Be warned, dear reader—the book and film differ greatly, but both are worthy of your attention:

Every time! I tell you, the vegetarian scene—as a veg-head, I understand Jonathan completely. Well, except for the potato bagging, of course… Also of note: Each Literati Leaguer managed to snag different editions of Everything is Illuminated (re: we all had covers with completely different colour schemes). How bizarre is that?

And also, the treat I made for the League's potluck: Jon-fen's "NO SAUSAGE?!" Bean Salad.

BOOM!

Ideal for: Book club members who need to shake up their same ol' picks; Readers who are not afraid to weep in public (because you most certainly will, folks); Fans of experimental fiction, magic realism, and nonlinear narratives; Readers who gravitate toward historical fiction, especially relating to the Second World War.

Booking Through Thursday: Writing or Riveting?

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Booking Through Thursday offers blogonauts a chance to reflect on their reading tastes and to otherwise luxuriate in bookish puzzles and preferences. Each week, a new question is posed to the Litoverse at large, and fellow bloggers are invited to share their insights and opinions on their own blogs or in the BTT comments. This Thursday, we tackle an age-old question:

What’s more important: Good writing? Or a good story?

(Of course, a book should have BOTH, but…)

I would agree: a book possessing both qualities stands a great chance of earning that coveted five-star rating around these parts. But, more often than not, a book's strength will come from one of the two aforementioned characteristics—either the language or the plot will win a reader over, even if the other happens to be underdeveloped. In this case, I would opt for a strong, complex plot line over intriguing sentence structure/writing style. Stories can be powerful even in the absence of purple prose or clever twists with words. Now, I do appreciate a well-crafted sentence, and I also take note of an author's word selection and word placement while I read; however, a writer's style can only go so far to compensate for a weak story.

Case and point: Contemporary poetry. I like to peruse literary journals from time and time, often to check out what the younger poets are exploring in their work. And wow—I've encountered a lot of gorgeous sentences that mean nothing and do nothing for the poem. And, in a form where thoughts are allowed to wander despite the writing's compressed and precise style, a "plotless poem" can be a tough piece to slog through. I often think this is the reason so few readers explore the work of modern poets, but that's a post for another day,

For now, I cast my vote for Riveting over Writing.

Bookmice Intro (VIDEO)

NOSTALGIA BOMB'D!!1!

For blogonauts who are not 'in the know', Bookmice was a children's television show that aired in Canada during the 1991-1992 season. As the title would suggest, the show revolved around the secret life of three mice (Norbert, Zazi, and Leon) who lived inside a library. And guess what? They were wicked obsessed with books. I mean, the mice siblings even put Wishbone to shame, their appetite for books was so all-consuming…

And for those who do remember this show, you will be pleased to know YouTube (as I write this) has a few episodes posted.

LOOK TWICE!!

Review: Runaways Vol. 1, Brian K. Vaughan

Title: Runaways, Vol. 1
Author: Brian K. Vaughan
Illustrator: Adrian Alphona
Illustrator: Takeshi Miyazawa (Issues #11 & #12)
Length: 448 pages
Format: Hardcover
Genre: Comic; Supernatural, Teen
Publisher: Marvel
Cover Design: Adrian Alphona
Source: Friend Loan (Nathan)
Rating: ✮✮✮

Reason to Read: Nathan and I were talking comics last month—turns out he's got Runaways on his bookshelves, and I have a n00b's knowledge of the comic book world. Sounds like a perfect reason to explore a new collection.

***

The combined forces of teenage angst and the urge to rebel are the two impulses keeping these kids alive—oh, and a genetically modified velociraptor, newfound alien/magician/mutant powers, and a sweet pair of fire-infused mechanical gloves.

You know, the usual stuff.

Runaways chronicles the lives of six "normal" Californian teenagers who are forced together each year due to their wealthy parents' annual (and top secret) business meeting. As the adults sequester themselves in a private room at the Wilder residence, their teenaged offspring spend the evening locked in the deepest of purgatories (i.e. the Wilder games room). With each kid coming from a different part of the social spectrum, the group dreads their forced exposure to one another. On a whim, Alex Wilder offers to relieve the teens of their boredom and suggests the group spies on their parents' charity fundraising initiative; however, their nosiness reveals a shocking truth: their parents belong to a secret criminal society known as The Pride, a collective controlling all illegal activities in Los Angeles. As if their criminal tendencies weren't foul enough, these duplicitous adults are also ritualistically murdering young women from the city—an act their children witness from behind a two-way mirror. With their true natures exposed, The Pride will take all measures necessary to protect their organization—even if it means destroying their own children to do so.

L-R: Gertrude, Karolina, Chase, Alex (on moped), Nico, and Molly

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An epic storyline, I know. It's not every day a teen learns her (or his) parents are supervillains bent on the destruction of your home town and the world in general. In an alternate universe where supernatural heroics and costumed vigilantes rule the streets, you've gotta think it would suck to learn your parents operate a massive underground network of evil and darkness. 

"GAWD, Mom and Dad—why do you have to ruin my life like this?!"

All joking aside, I can definitely understand how teens would gravitate toward Runaways—as young'uns, we all had that sneaking suspicion that the adults in our lives were conspiring against us. Whether it's an adult's innate abilities to embarrass their offspring in public, or whether it's an adult's dedication to undermining the forces of good in the world, teenagers cite various reasons for hating their parents. Yes, teens possess a different set of sensitivities to their social surroundings. In this instance, Brian K. Vaughan imagines the ultimate comeuppance for the under-twenty set—he takes those victimized kids, infuses them with otherworldly powers and tools, and sets 'em loose against the world order envisioned by their parents. Runaways offers the ultimate revenge fantasy of wayward teens jonesing for their chance to outwit the authorities and rise up against the status quo. On that note, Vaughan delivers in spades. 

Immediate favourites among the teens are Alex Wilder, the cunning and underhanded brains behind the teen uprising, and Nico Minoru, the gothic magician-in-training who captures the romantic interest of numerous allies throughout the first volume. Both prove to be clever kids in their own rights, and their abilities to lead the pack are impressive. Though, the storyline revolves extensively around Alex and Nico, often to the detriment of the other teens in the principal cast. Gertrude Yorkes (daughter to the time travellers) and Karolina Dean (the extraterrestrial) are intriguing figures; Gertrude strikes me as a hipster-in-training who probably has a secret nerdy streak to her, and Karolina's alien genetics and personal history offer potent new story threads for future comics. However, in the first volume, both characters tend to take a secondary role in the action and never overcome their "outsider" status in the group. On the other end of the equation are Victor Stein, the unlovable and athletic meathead of the gang, and Molly Hayes, the eleven-year-old girl who acts more like a seven-year old most of the time. Also, I was a touch distracted by the random vampire appearance—not sure what he added to the plot, aside from mild sexual tension and a story-telling tangent…

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Now, I know this is volume one, and I know there was a formidable cast of characters to handle (re: six teens and twelve parents, not to mention secondary characters…), so not everyone could be developed to their fullest. I imagine (and hope!) later volumes will offer deeper insights on the original teens, especially now that their parents have been dispersed (I say that now, but this a comic book we're dealing with—characters can disappear, but secret corridors always exist to lead them back into a story arc…) 

I had a mixed reactions to this first volume, but I'm willing to hold out for Runaways in the long run—maybe I'm hearing the echoes from my own teenaged years buried within me, but I have the sense these kids aren't finished their revolution just yet…

Ideal for: Superhero junkies looking for a fresh spin on the good vs. evil dynamic; Rowdy adolescents who are either comic book–obsessed or rarin' for their own rebellion; Folks who like a little surrealism in their graphic reads.

Transmission Three (VLOG)

So, a later-then-average video upload this Sunday—I am recuperating (re: nursing a rather lavish hangover) from a wedding I attended in Niagara Falls on Saturday night, but I was genius enough to film this earlier last week. YAY, FORETHOUGHT!

This week I introduce the second book in The Night Watch tetralogy (which will place me at the halfway point for said 2012 Reading Challenge), I discuss the Scotiabank Giller Prize and its books, I perform a magic trick, and I also get a makeover (and I'm not referring to the toque…). Watch on!

Weekend Booklinks (Jan.15th–Jan. 21st)

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Another wonderful week for books and book-related niftiness on the great wide world known as the web.  Click on through to discover a the highlights as selected by yours truly:

• CanLit is Sexy: Proving JT never brought sexy back—it was hiding in Canadian literature all along. Tumblr, what on Earth did we do with our memes before you?
• Flavorwire, 15 Great Works of Literature-Inspired Nail Art: Lacquer those nails with the finest English-language literature—personal favourites include Lord of the Rings, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and Alice in Wonderland.
• The Bygone Bureau, "In the Land of the Non-Reader": Jonathan Gourlay experiments with abstinence—of the literary kind. Avid readers might liken this to torture porn, but Gourlay addresses a darkly fascinating idea: what happens to the mind in the absence of the written word?
• ShortList, The 50 Coolest Books Ever—Such a grand statement, and such a wicked list of books. I was glad to see Chuck Palahniuk representing with two titles there. Which books have you browsed from the Definitive List of Cool?
• Flavorwire, The Ten Most Expensive Books in the World: Sure, cool books are…well, cool and all, but what of the books who like to be shown a good time? You know, the ones who favour the high rollers and the sweaty wads of cash exchanged in the back rooms of the auction house? Prepare to be gobsmacked by the price tags attached to the following ten books, kiddies.

Review: Solanin, Inio Asano

Title: Solanin

Author/Illustrator: Inio Asano

Translator: JN Productions

Length: 432 pages
Format: Paperback

Genre: Manga; Slice-of-life, Drama

Publisher: VIZ Media / 2008

Original Publisher: Shogakukan / 2006

Cover Design: Inio Asano

Source: Library

Rating: ✮✮✮✮

Reason to Read: I sampled the first chapter of Solanin on VIZ Media's iPad app a number of months ago, and I only just discovered (while browsing) that the local library had the finished book on its shelves. Huzzah!

***

"There's nothing cool about these characters. They're just your average 20-somethings who blend into the backdrop of the city. But the most important messages in our lives don't come from musicians on stage or stars on television. They come from the average people all around you the ones who are just feet from where you stand."

(Inio Asano, 2008—Afterword)

Such humble words from a mangaka who's left me rattled with his unflinching portrayal of a young girl's struggle to find the purpose in life. I know there are readers out there might roll an ironic glance to the ceiling and discount Solanin for the sheer fact of its being manga, but I can assure them of their ignorance in this case. When manga hits the mark, it touches a very raw and very real place in a reader, much as a regular novel might. Where North American comics prize their superhuman heroes and their otherworldly heroines, Japanese manga tends to reflect the lives of real kids living in uncertain times. And I can think of no other work that deserves more praise than Solanin for its honest, complex depiction of the quarter-life crisis as experienced by a handful of college friends facing the Real World for the first time.

Meiko, Kato, Rip, Al, and Naruo

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Meiko Inoue is a small town girl and recent college graduate who works as an average drone in the heart of Tokyo. She fetches tea, photocopies reports, and resists the urge to fall asleep at an office that manufactures office equipment. She lives with her boyfriend of six years, Naruo Taneda, who works nights as a part-time freelance illustrator for another nameless design company. In their spare hours, the couple manage to get together with their friends/former "Pop Music Club" members from college: Rip, the drummer, works at his family's pharmacy; Kato, the bassist, has started his sixth year at school; and Al, Kato's girlfriend, works in a clothing store where her boss is eager to shuffle her off to another location (with an "older" clientele). The gents find solace in their old songs, but the trio haven't tried to find a professional venue for their work for the past two years.

With his pittance of a paycheque, Naruo relies on Meiko for shelter and sustenance. But, after two years of working in the same stifling office space, Meiko decides to quit her job without warning—and with nothing more than one year's worth of savings to support her. With no plan and no guidance, Meiko drifts through her days in search of what will make her feel happy and fulfilled. Meanwhile, Naruo senses the new pressure—in the absence of a regular, substantial income, he is forced to choose between longer hours at a frustrating dead-end job or a last shot at pursuing his music with the band. He must weigh his own confidence against his need to measure up to the world around him; however, the cost of both options turn out to be far too much to bear…

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As I stated earlier, I was rattled by Solanin namely because the subject matter hits a touch too close for comfort. Inio Asano strikes a scene that's at once believable, palpable, and relatable—he captures the unfocused angst of the young adult and renders it both beautiful and tragic. Asano explains in his afterword that he wrote this manga as a twenty-four-year-old recent graduate who found himself debating whether he could make a decent go as a professional mangaka. His doubts about his artistic talent, his fears over risking his uneventful and good life for the sake of change, and his questions over what constitutes true happiness overwhelm the pages of Solanin, and I think these are universal issues among the twenty-something crowd out there. He handles his characters with great care and humanity, to the point where I could see reflections of myself and my friends within this group's dynamic. Asano also manages to work in brief moments of slapstick humour (re: embarrassing public displays of vomit) to break up the drama in Solanin—which, impressively enough, adds extra weight to those dramatic scenes.

I found the one drawback to the manga was Meiko's transformation after the Event that Shall Not be Named (due to its epic spoiler-y nature)—I was surprised she'd adopt someone else's dream so completely, and almost lose herself to the unfulfilled goals of another person. But, to see Meiko come into her own and accept her imperfections brought me back around to Solanin in the end. 

In 2010, Solanin was made into a live-action film (again with the book-to-film tie ins; I swear, I'm not profiling, here), and I have to say, I think the cast looks flawless. I mean, crack open a page of the manga and compare the actors to the drawn figures and WOW. Perfect match. I was tempted to post a trailer in this post, but I felt the spoiler-to-trailer ratio was a little high. I think your time would be better spent with the manga version first, if only to appreciate the uncanny resemblance of the film cast to their drawn counterparts. 

Ideal for: Manga disbelievers who ought to be converted; Listless, fearful, or dissatisfied twenty-somethings in need of the reassurance that they're not alone in this; Readers who like stories about bands or that special band-induced camaraderie; Artists (in any medium) who need a shot o' inspiration.

Edgar Allan Poe's 203rd Birthday, and "Ulalume" (VIDEO)

Edgar Allan Poe, ohparapraxia

The Grand Master of the macabre, Mr. Edgar Allan Poe, celebrates his 203rd birthday on this dark and dreary January 19th—you know, if it was possible for a human being to live that long. And if he hadn't died in 1849 from ~mysterious causes~ and the like. In honour of the man, I offer some A/V for the masses: here's the late Jeff Buckley reading Poe's classic, eerie poem, "Ulalume". The performance of this poem appears on a tribute compilation titled Closed on Account of Rabies (produced by Hal Willner), and the album, in my opinion, ought to be reissued to preserve such a mesmerizing reading:

Happy Birthday, Mr. Poe

Review: Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K. Jerome

Title: Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog!)
Author: Jerome K. Jerome
Illustrator: Vic Reeves
Length: 221 pages
Format: Paperback
Genre: Fiction; Humour
Publisher: Vintage Classics / 2011
Original Publisher: J.W. Arrowsmith / 1889
Cover Design: Vic Reeves
Source: Library
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮

Reason to Read: I came across this book in an article discussing hilarious Victorians, and Jerome K. Jerome was cited as a prime example of said historical hilarity. I opted to follow the article's recommendation and am thoroughly pleased that I did so.

***

Have you ever had one of those moments where, for reasons beyond simple explanation, you stumble across a book that fulfills some unknown literary craving you've been harbouring for longer than you care to divulge? Where, upon reading the first page of a text, you start compiling a list in your head of the friends and family members you will disown should they turn down your recommendation of the aforementioned book?

Well, Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog!) has accomplished the unthinkable—Mr. Jerome K. Jerome, Victorian extraordinaire, has won himself a five-star rating from this blogette right here. Apparently, I had a hankering for aquatic (mis)adventures featuring three men, one boat, and one roughnik of a fox terrier.

We cannot choose our passions—we can only choose to pursue them. And oh, the pursuit was a fine one indeed.

Three Men in a Boat, Paul Rainer (1955)

As the book opens, J. airs out his various ailments with his fellow invalids (re: closest friends), George and William Samuel Harris, and with his canine companion, Montmorency. According to a book J. discovered in a library, he is a veritable walking hospital packed with every disease known to mankind—with the notable exception of housemaid's knee, much to his chagrin. As a remedy, the gents decide to head out on the River Thames for a fortnight's worth of adventuring in a bid to cure one another of the general malaise of the nineteenth-century. Of course, the river has other plans in mind for our wandering heroes…

Between navigational challenges and mealtime disasters, and between epic battles with vicious swans, tea kettles, and an impossible tin of pineapple, the three men struggle to survive their pleasant jaunt along the river while offering a glimpse into the delightful pandemonium afforded by life on England's open waters.

I found myself paralyzed from laughter on more than one occasion, and Vic Reeves's apt illustrations added an excellent shot of visual slapstick to some of the funniest moments in Jerome's classic. Some of the absolute gems of Three Men in a Boat include:

• The first attempt of the gents to set up the canvas top to their boat, thereby proving that an Ikea-induced level of frustration is, in fact, not a recent phenomenon;
• The powerful and violent struggle of three adults against a tin of pineapple;
• An imagined conversation between Montmorency and an intimidating cat (with picture);
• Three men being assholes to the steam-launch boats clogging the Thames;
• And the polite denial of George's abilities to A) sing comic songs, and B) to play the banjo, which is discussed on several occasions.

Three Men on the Shore…who were once likely in a boat.

Jerome proves to be the King of Conversational Tangents, and he has a flair for exaggeration—it's often his extravagant descriptions of river-based anger and cursing that put me over the edge, and his ability to distract with side stories is impressive to witness. I know I could natter on about how stunning this book is, and I know I could threaten to firebomb you should you refuse to read the book, but I thought I'd leave you with a selection of text to tantalize you instead.

One of my favourite sections deals with J.'s aversion to visiting cemeteries and reading epitaphs on his holidays (a pursuit for which Harris has a definite penchant). In one of J.'s narrative offshoots, he discusses a time where, after stopping by a churchyard on a sunny morning ramble, he was accosted by the man in charge of minding the graves:

'I've come as soon as I could, sur' he replied. 'My missis never see you till just this minute. You follow me, sur.'
'Go away,' I replied; 'leave me before I get over the wall, and slay you.'
He seemed surprised.
'Don't you want to see the tombs?' he said.
'No,' I answered. 'I don't. I want to stop here, leaning up against this gritty old wall. Go away, and don't disturb me. I am chock full of beautiful and noble thoughts, and I want to stop like it, because it feels nice and good. Don't you come fooling about, making me mad, chivvying away all my better feelings with this silly tombstone nonsense of yours. Go away, and get somebody to bury you cheap, and I'll pay half the expense.' (71).

…And the scenario only gets more frantic and hilarious from then on out. Absolute gold. I thought Victorians were a stiff and stilted lot, but Jerome has proven me daft and wrong. In fact, I take back what I said before—all who do not read said book will have to be firebomed. I would apologize, except that it is the right thing to do.

Ideal for: Former deniers of Victorian literature; Fans of P.G. Wodehouse and other clever, silver-tongued British authors; Readers in need of a meandering, episodic jaunt (both literary and nautical).

Julian Smith, "I'm Reading a Book" (VIDEO)

Bookish kids, rejoice—our shared obsession with the written word is now immortalized in a solid, danceable track thanks to one Mr. Julian Smith. While this video/song combo has been making the rounds on the Internet since around this time last year, it still serves as an addictive anthem for all those young'uns who seek out books in their spare time. And, according to numerous user comments attached to this video, high school faculties are getting on the bandwagon and adopting "I'm Reading a Book" as an all-purpose intro to schools assemblies.

You're welcome, literate population.

Review: Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw

Title: Pygmalion
Author: George Bernard Shaw
Length: 125 pages
Format: Paperback
Genre: Theatre Script
Publisher: Akasha Publishing, LLC / 2008
Original Publisher: Brentano's Press / 1916
Cover Design: D. Karbach (sundara_design.com)
Source: Library
Rating: ✮✮✮

Reason to Read: I have read a fair bit of George Bernard Shaw in my day—I first found Shaw when I attended an arts high school as a drama kid, and I later become an English student who stumbled across Shaw repeatedly. Despite all that, I've managed to avoid Pygmalion. Until now.

***

HIGGINS: Making life means making trouble. (108)

And so sums up Henry Higgins's general approach to the wide world in George Bernard Shaw's timeless play Pygmalion. While his motto does have a rather satisfying tongue-in-cheek attitude about it, Higgins's words signal to a deep-seated desire to meddle in the lives of others, especially in the lives of the less fortunate, and most often for personal gain. But Higgins meets his match in the form of a down-and-out flower girl named Eliza Doolittle who educates her tutor on the real conditions of women living in the fin de siècle world.

Oh yes—we are wading through the rapids of early twentieth-century sociocultural and gender politics, people. Oh, breathe in that academia with me…

Phonetics professor Henry Higgins has a penchant for studying and collecting accents found in British society, and his talent for locating a speaker's origins is uncanny (i.e. he can name the birth places of an individual's parents based on that person's accent alone; he can name a person's current residence down to the street based on the lilt in their voice). Following a bet with his friend and fellow linguistic enthusiast Colonel Pickering, Higgins tutors the very Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle in the refinement of her speech and the cultivation of a proper middle class manner. When at last Eliza emerges as the flower of England's garden party circuit, her education reveals greater complications than anticipated—as Higgins's sense of victory fades, Eliza shows her tutor that becoming a lady entails far more than just speaking like one.

I can appreciate how scholars would have a field day with Pygmalion. Shaw tends to argue for all sides of an argument and never allows his audience to become complacent with one point of view. In this instance, we see how Eliza's refinement now renders her financial independence impossible as her ladylike demeanour will bar her from employment in London's flower shops (which was Eliza's initial goal, readers will recall). However, Higgins calls her out on her presumptions toward him—Higgins identifies that Eliza's new elegance demands a man who will fawn over her and lavish her with attention, but he insists on his permanent bachelorhood and his disinterest in his charge overall. What it all boils down to is a difference in perception: where Colonel Pickering treats Eliza as a young lady once the bet commences, and where Freddy Eynsford Hill places Eliza on a pedestal of affection, Higgins continues to treat her as a flower girl. Where Eliza wants to be acknowledged for her transformation, Higgins insists he sees people for their "soul"—once a flower girl, always a flower girl.

Shaw has a knack for cooking up the best food for thought, wouldn't you say?

I found Pygmalion kicked off by Act III when Eliza makes her first appearance in respectable society (re: Higgins's mothers' parlour with the Eynsford Hill family). Imagining a posh-accented woman speaking in Cockney grammar was delightful and made up for the slower pace and the repetitiveness of the first two acts. But the real substance of the script appears in Act IV when the reader is thrown headlong into that classic, argumentative volley that Shaw writes so well. If you can hold out until then, you will be rewarded with quite the complex portrait of early twentieth-century life for the middle class. In fact, some readers (or re-readers) might find interesting correlations between that period of time and our own modern age, what with the heavy financial onus placed on the middle class…

Oooh, I like it when a text approaches meta. Someone get me my academic journals and a few hours of free study at the reference library…

Ideal for: Shaw junkies and Shaw festival regulars; Fans of My Fair Lady who'd like a little less Audrey Hepburn in their Pygmalion (though really, how many people would that be?), Kids who want to revisit their high school curriculum out of nostalgia or maybe boredom.

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Transmission Two (VLOG)

Welcome to the second transmission from Across the Litoverse. This week, I discuss a new book (taken on loan from a friend), a new manga collection (because you will never be free of manga so long as you read this blog), and the unthinkable occurs: I orchestrate a POETRY BLITZ.

And some of you might remember a certain film from Transmission One…one I was all drooling over at the end of that last video…you might just find a review of said film if you press Play on the new video above…

Just sayin'.

Weekend Booklinks (Jan. 9th–Jan.14th)

Howdy, folks—here's a collection of book-related links I've rustled up over the week. Thought I should share 'em with everyone who fancies herself (or himself) a reader in these parts:

• WellMedicated, 45 Beautifully Designed Book Covers: Andrew Lindstrom, a freelance web designer hailing from Vancouver, BC, walks us through a selection of eye-catching, colourful book covers. 
• io9, All the Science Fiction and Fantasy Books We're Dying to Read in 2012: I believe the title speaks for itself. Get insider access to the hottest sci fi/fantasy books slated for release over the coming months. Includes new title from William Gibson, Stephen King, Robert J. Sawyer, China Miéville, Paolo Bacigalupi (!!), Charlaine Harris, N.K. Jemisin (!!), Mira Grant, and a whole lot more.
• Buzzfeed, Milwaukee Public Library's Brilliant Ad Campaign to Get People Reading More Books: Quite crafty and quite amusing—well played, Milwaukee Public Library. Well played.
• The Huffington Post Canada, Is Literary Fiction a Sham?: Alternative Ways to Classify Books: Flip the bird to "literary fiction" and discover new (and viable) methods to classify books. Nerds unite!
• LitReactor: The Supplemental Material, Calling All Bookish Dr. Who Fans: MOTHER EFFIN' TARDIS BOOKCASE. WANT WANT WANT.

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Review: The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

Title: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Length: 374 pages
Format: Hardcover
Genre: YA; Dystopian, Action, Romance
Publisher: Scholastic Press / 2008
Cover Design: Elizabeth B. Parisi and Phil Falco
Source: Library
Rating: ✮✮✮


Reason to Read: I stated via Transmission One (and via the 2012 Reading Challenges page) that I would delve into The Hunger Games to uncover what All the Fuss was about. I am one book down with two more to go.

***

Well folks, I have done it—I have been initiated. I have lived The Hunger Games and have returned. No, I did not burst into flames or take an arrow to the temple upon opening said book as I feared I might. As I mentioned above, I slated The Hunger Games trilogy into what I call the "All the Fuss" Reading Challenge of 2012 since A) this series has garnered a rabid fan base rivalled only by the Twihards, and B) I wanted to know what said high school girlies and gents were fussin' about. Lo, I have questioned, I have read, and now I shall review:

Winning means fame and fortune. 

Losing means certain death. 

The  Hunger Games have begun…

Amid the ruins of the former North America lies Panem, a nation comprised of twelve isolated, though highly specialized, districts is ruled under the iron fist of the Capitol. In the aftermath of a failed rebellion among the districts, the Capitol created a televised spectacle known as the Hunger Games to further subjugate the districts and to appease the violent appetites of Capitol citizens. Each year, one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen are selected by lottery from each district and are then forced to participate in the Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. 

Out in District 12, an area known for their coal mining, sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen ekes out a living for her mother and younger sister, Prim, by hunting in the forests beyond the town's limits. Though her actions are illegal according to Panem law, the Peacekeepers and other officials in her district ignore her ventures over the fence in exchange for the first claim on fresh meat. During the selection process for the 74th Annual Hunger Games, the unthinkable occurs—twelve-year-old Prim, with only one ballot to her name, is selected to represent the girls of District 12. Katniss volunteers to take her sister's place and believes she has signed her own death certificate in doing so—but Katniss is a survivor and has proven herself beyond the confines of her town. But if she aims to win, she will need to weigh survival against humanity and life against love…

Yes. The stakes are sky high, kiddies. And some of them might get lodged in a tribute's neck if he or she is not moving fast enough…

I admit, I had a tough time rating The Hunger Games. On one hand, Katniss friggin' rocked the world at the start. She's cunning and outspoken, and she had a nice bit of crazy in her while training for the Games (re: shooting at the distracted Gamemakers during her private assessment). But then she got into the arena and survived in a love nest with Peeta, who she couldn't figure out had legit feelings for her…? I don't know, she's skilled at reading the signs around her, I don't know how she managed to miss his heart on his sleeve and all. Though, Peeta's infected leg might have distracted her a touch, I suppose. And also, I was surprised the contestants believed the whole "Oh, yeah, if both partners from the same district survive, then you both win!!" ruse. With two singles left in the game, and two duos remaining at that point, how could anyone believe such a lofty promise? And how do people purchase real estate in the Capitol? Why are their kids never selected for the Games? Or are these questions dealt with in later volumes of the work?

Bah, I know I'm picking at the plot here and ignoring the bigger picture—the book series, and the upcoming film series, has claimed the world as I write this. I mean, The Hunger Games dropped in 2008 and has continued its ascent among the dystopian teens of our times since then. And I am pretty sure that if those girlies and gents have to wait a moment longer for the film release, our streets will be flooded with rioting and mockingjay pin gougings galore…

All joking aside, I got the impression while reading The Hunger Games that, had I been a preteen in 2008, I'd have been all over these books. I mean, one ass kicking heroine + unjust, murderous government + impossible romance = potent read for the young'uns. Also, the fact that our heroine kills only when someone else has been harmed or as an act of mercy levels the playing field a little as well.

I'll be curious to see how the film version pans out. Strange how the first three books I've read for 2012 were also adapted for the silver screen. I swear, no bias intended. I just think the idea of Lenny Kravitz portraying the costume designer Cinna will be epically fantastic, and I would justify watching the movie for that reason alone. So, in case you've been living under a rock for the past year, here's The Hunger Games trailer for your perusal:

Ideal for: Dystopian junkies of all ages; Preteen readers who like a little rebellion and gore with their romance; Lenny Kravitz fans who think he'd make a killer Cinna (holla!)

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LitReactor's Required School Reading (and the Endless Debate Therein)

Chuck Palahniuk tipped off his Twitter followers to an article over at LitReactor discussing that timeless classroom quandry: what to do with an English class's required reading list? Does it encourage young minds to refine their literacy skills, or is it the reason more adolescents become book-hating (or book-avoiding) adults? Are classroom books presented as a launching point for children to discover new ideas and authors, or do kids see books as an obstacle between them and that precious piece of paper at the end of their educational ordeal?

LitReactor's columnist John Jarzemsky offers a window into his early fascination with books and the eventual disinterest he developed in his high school years once teachers and school administrators foisted dense, dull books onto students from the American Literary Canon (though, to be fair, he did cite girls and other intoxicants as distractions from his private pursuit of reading, which I can't fault him for). But the main point remains: Jarzemsky's initial love of books never disappeared despite the dryness of his class texts. As an adult, he found himself returning to the "required classics" of those high school lists to experience them from a new, mature perspective. With the pressure of standardized testing and classroom discussions in the past, adults are free to enter those books from a distance and find new interpretations with a slower, thorough read. But are adults even choosing to do so?

I suppose the article struck a chord with me since the Moffatt clan added a new generational branch to the old family tree in 2011. With a seven-month-old nephew on the scene, I am (obviously) gunning for him to be a reader. Since becoming an Auntie, I've witnessed how the adults surrounding him aim to pass on certain interests and hobbies to the wee one—where I hope he values books, others want him to cherish music or develop a love for sports or any number of other activities first. We're all coming from the same place on this one. We look to the pursuits that brought us excitement and happiness as children, and we aim to give those same experiences to this little bundle of redheaded joy.

But how does one connect a child with those positive reading experiences when core curriculum, according to Jarzemsky, actively works against that goal?

I think back to my childhood and marvel at my siblings' own disengagement from books. I came from a house where both my mother and father read to us kids and also read in their free time. My mother gravitates toward mystery novels (to the point where I full-on believed she'd read every mystery novel at our local library when I was young) and my father has a soft spot for Canadian history books and literary fiction. Both parents took turns reading to me and my two siblings at bedtime, and all three of us kids attended summer reading programs at the local library. In essence, we each came to books from the exact same path and had virtually the same curriculum to contend with.

Yet, as adults, I am the only one who reads for pleasure.

Of course, everyone has their own interests and we can't all be voracious readers (much as it pains me to write that). But how is it that two out of three children from the same household lost their initial love of reading? Did it happen in the classroom, or was it a natural course of action for them? Did one bad experience beget more, or was there no real enticement from the start?

I know these questions can't be answered with a single blog post, but I've been mulling over them whenever I sit down with my nephew to read. Granted, he's at The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Canada 1 2 3 level at the moment, so the issues aren't as lofty as they'll become. In any case, I've got my eye on children's literature now and the bid for this young'un's literacy is so very on.

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Review: The Complete Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi

Title: The Complete Persepolis
Author: Marjane Satrapi
Translator for Persepolis: L'Association, Paris, France / 2003
Translator for Persepolis 2: Anjali Singh / 2004
Length: 342 pages
Format: Paperback
Genre: Graphic Novel; Autobiographical
Publisher: Pantheon / 2007
Original Publisher: L'Association, Paris, France / Four volumes produced in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
Cover Design: 2007 2.4.7. Films
Source: Library
Rating: ✮✮✮✮

Reason to Read: I've stumbled across this book so often (in the form of reviews, newspaper articles, and online recommendations) that I've taken it as a sign to read it.

***

I believe that an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few extremists. I also don't want those Iranians who lost their lives in prisons defending freedom, who died in the war against Iraq, who suffered under various repressive regimes, or who were forced to leave their families and flee their homeland to be forgotten.

One can forgive but one should never forget. 

(Marjane Satrapi; Paris, September 2002—Introduction)

So begins Persepolis, one woman's account of her unforgettable childhood and coming-of-age experiences under Iran's Islamic revolution in the late twentieth-century, her isolated adolescent years spent in Vienna, her sweet and terrible return to Iran as a young woman, and her eventual self-imposed exile from her homeland as an adult. Marjane Satrapi's honest and clear introduction echoes throughout her work—though she lost beloved family members who were labelled enemies under the new regime, and though she lost close friends as casualties in the war against Iraq, Persepolis honours their place in Satrapi's life and offers another act of defiance against a government attempting to erase them from Iran's history.

I know, a rather lofty statement for me to make about another person's memoir-in-comic-strips, but as a reader, I could feel that defiance threaded throughout the work. Satrapi was raised to both value knowledge and the pursuit of learning, but also to question her educators and to push back against lessons that misconstrue her lived experiences. Throughout the first half of Persepolis, her parents' efforts to keep the young Marjane balanced and sceptical under the repressive new regime are remarkable for their attentiveness. Her father insists on referring to BBC radio to confirm news presented on government-sanctioned stations and he teaches his daughter to poke holes through her teachers' lectures on state-supported martyrdom. Her mother insists on taking her daughter to women-led demonstrations in Tehran and teaches Marjane when to speak out against slander and gossip in defence of her friends (as in the short comic "The Jewels") and when to forgive a person for the errors of his family. Most importantly, her grandmother teaches Marjane to always keep her dignity and be true to herself—words our author comes to understand well in her adulthood.

Her family's lessons become invaluable once Satrapi travels to Vienna for her high school education and must face the Western world for the first time—she meets with students and teachers who deny her experiences of war and denigrate her Iranian roots due to their own limited knowledge of the Middle East. Even upon her initial return to Iran, Satrapi must undermine her arts college who would have her attempt to draw "nude" female models (i.e. women covered in loose-fitting veils), and who would disallow her to draw even the clothed male form (FYI, she and half her class form a private drawing group to practice drawing the real human form—refer to "The Socks" for the full story).

Satrapi's use of black and white inking was an excellent decision on her part—I often found the stark contrast between the two heightened the tension of certain moments, in particular the scenes depicting the most violent moments in her childhood (e.g. representations of massacre, the bombings of her home town, images of young boys sent to die with plastic "keys" to the afterlife, etc.) Oddly enough, I think an abundance of colour might have distracted readers from the stark reality of these scenes—the consistent use of black and white levelled the distance between serious and humorous memories, making it harder to anticipate how each of her short comics might end. I had no visual cues to tip me off as I turned the page, and I would only discover the outcome once I landed on the exact panel. Impressive, to say the least.

Also, I found Satrapi's paired-down language and blunt sentences were perfect throughout Persepolis. I was surprised how often a simple phrase could prick the tears from my eyes—I'm not one to cry over books, but I was nearly set over the edge a few times there. Darkly humorous or even light-hearted moments were followed by dire lessons on torture, political imprisonment, and injustice. For instance, a simple bath turns into a young girl's meditation over her grandfather's imprisonment in a cell filled with water (25). Or, in the first part of the book, the dual presentation of Uncle Anoosh's "bread swan" gift (literally, a swan fashioned from a piece of bread) to Marjane becomes heartbreaking: first, upon his release from prison, and once again as a memento given before his execution (70). Never have the words "star of my life" brought me so, so close to the waterworks…

I'm intrigued to check out the film after finishing the collection. According to the little advertisement dot on the front cover, Persepolis (the film) was the winner of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize and a nominee for a slew of other high-profile awards, which would explain my foreknowledge of the of buzz around this book (and film). Make sure to check out the trailer below—it offers an excellent introduction to the book, given that the film duplicates the book's style quite well. Definitely, Persepolis is a remarkable work with haunting moments that are bound to sit with readers for a long time coming. 

Ideal for: Readers with a penchant for memoir-ish graphic novels and real life comic works; Scholars with a background in Middle Eastern studies who need a fresh perspective on Iran's Islamic Revolution; Fans of book-to-film adaptations; Teens in need of an eye-opening on the world out there.

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TYPE Books, "The Joy of Books" (VIDEO)

Ever wonder what your favourite books get up to once the lights go out? Toronto's TYPE Books (883 Queen Street West) left their cameras rolling one evening and discovered the secret, colourful life of their book stacks—I feel this marks a new age for indie bookstore advertisements, don't you think?

There really is nothing quite like a real, paper book. 

Review: The Night Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko

Title: The Night Watch
Author: Sergei Lukyanenko
Translator: Andrew Bromfield
Length: 489 pages
Format: Paperback
Genre: Fiction; Supernatural, Fantasy, Action, Horror
Publisher: William Heinemann: London / 2006
Original Publisher: AST / 2004
Cover Design: Not listed
Source: CM Collection
Rating: ✮✮✮

Reason to Read: As a part of the 2012 Night Watch Reading Challenge, I vowed to read all four parts of Lukyanenko's tetralogy this year. I own two of the books, and I'd read this book quite a while ago, so I figured it was time for a refresher.


***

"All that stands between the Darkness and the Light is the Night Watch…"

Epic sentiments for a cover design, no doubt, but the statement offers an excellent jumping point into the complex bureaucratic magic employed in The Night Watch. Unbeknownst to the human citizens of Moscow, a war between agents of the Light and the Dark has marred their streets for generations. Supernatural beings known as the Others maintain the fine balance of Good and Evil among the human population, and among the Others themselves, under the guidelines of The Great Treaty—a tense "ceasefire" signed by the leaders of the Night Watch and the Day Watch. The Treaty created the two watches as a means to monitor the magic use of the Others—the Night Watch, comprised of Light Ones, monitors the Dark (e.g. vampires, werewolves, witches, warlocks, shape-shifters, etc.) while the Day Watch, comprised of Dark Ones, monitors the Light (e.g. magicians, sorceresses, healers, seers, transformative magicians, etc.). Despite their best efforts, The Treaty has created a new Cold War among magic users, waged in the deeper layers of reality known as the Twilight, with the fate of humanity as its prize…

A young Other  looking into the Twilight in The Night Watch film (2004)

See? I promised an epic plotline, and I delivered one. I opted to kick-start 2012 with regulated magic, stifling political deadlock, and the potential End of Moscow for ALL TIME.

So, the book itself took on an intriguing form—rather than appropriating the standard novel-length approach, The Night Watch is comprised of three interlocking novellas set over a six-month timeframe. And wow, what an active six months it was…

Destiny (3–188)

Anton Gorodetsky, a young Other from the Night Watch, patrols the streets and metro of Moscow as an active agent for the first time. As he's closing in on a vampire accused of poaching humans and of turning a victim into one of his own, Anton encounters a woman on the metro with serious trouble brewing around her. Svetlana has come under a powerful curse capable of exacting plagues and other tragedies on Moscow's population, but Anton has his hands full after saving Egor (a young, uninitiated Other) from the clutches of the renegade vampire and his new mistress. At the command of his boss, Anton teams up with a powerful Other named Olga, a woman locked into the form of an owl as punishment for a past error in judgement. Together, and with the rest of the Night Watch, they struggle to remove Svetlana's curse and to protect Egor from the vampires after his blood.

Among His Own Kind (191–350)

An uninitiated Maverick, with an unwavering dedication to his concept of Goodness, takes to the streets to enact his own so-called purification of the Darkness. In the early morning hours, he hunts down low-level Dark Ones in a bid to clear the streets of evil forces; however, his ignorance of the truce outlined under The Great Treaty complicates Anton's place in the Night Watch. With no leads on the vigilante, and with a serious accusation launched by the Day Watch, Anton becomes the main suspect in the case. His trial would involve an intense interrogation carried out by the Day Watch, in which his mind would be turned inside out to find the truth. With the clock running, Anton must dodge the Dark Ones until his team can find the Maverick.

All for My Own Kind (353–489)

Under the oppressive heat of a Russian summer, and with an unusual silence stretching between Light and Dark, the Night Watch takes a rare vacation to the countryside home of Tiger Cub, a female transformative magician (re: a Light shape-shifter). While the team gets drunk on cold vodka and high off of the stunning vista, a mysterious courier enters Moscow with a package that could alter the fate of the world as we know it…

Olga (in owl form) and Anton from The Night Watch film (2004)

And even though I've pumped up the book so much, I still had a three-star experience with the work overall. I sensed a definite "energy sag" in the middle of the book, one involving a whole lot of vodka, kebabs, and repetitious Anton-angst instead of vortex-dispelling and Book of Destiny altering.

You know, minor quibbles.

Yet the book opened with such intense action and such shocking revelations about the role of the Night Watch—I was gunning for a solid four-star rating by the end of the first story, not gonna lie. Lukyanenko creates a great atmosphere of paranoia, and readers are encouraged to distrust characters at each turn. I was also intrigued with the bureaucratic aspect of the watches, namely the fact that vampires and werewolves needed hunting licenses just as healers and Light magicians needed licences to perform their magic. I think fans of the fantasy/horror blend will discover great action and heady philosophical debates in this first book of The Night Watch tetralogy. And the next book promises an insider's glimpse into the Day Watch, so who knows where the rest of the series will take us…

Ideal for: Readers with a penchant for Cold War politics and fantasy/horror mash-ups; Nerds who like a shot of the philosophical in their genre fiction; Folks who like their morals in a fine murky grey inside of a solid black or white; Readers who like to feel paranoid while diving into a new work.

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