He is Legend.

I don't really read science fiction or horror novels much these days. When I do it's usually because there's a film version coming out, and it looks awesome. Well, I Am Legend was no different. I heard about the film over a year ago, thought it sounded awesome, and now I've just finished the book. I Am Legend, the book by Richard Matheson, you should read it. It will only take you a few days.
For those who like post-apocalyptic fiction, or science fiction, or just an interesting piece of work, it's a wonderful read. It's like a modernist "literature of of the mundane" set in the most terrible scenario imaginable. Sure, it's a "vampire" novel, but it's not really a vampire book. It's far more an experiment in morality. If you were the last human being on earth, what ethical and moral code would restrain you? That's Robert Neville's position. Everyone on the planet has been infected by the plague of 1975, and turned into either a vampire (someone who died from the plague and came back to life) or was infected but never died, and therefore is technically living with an illness. Robert, who spends his nights drunk and his days killing sleeping and hiding infected, thinking about women, and missing the world, is also pleasantly a deep-thinker, bringing up some of the most interesting moral dilemmas we know. While trying to figure out how to cure the illness, he murders thousands of "sick" people, living with a germ they happened to come upon. He also believes that it was the human wars, bombs, and germ warfare that caused such devastation. How then, can these others deserve to die? Why shouldn't he be the one to die? He is after all, the new legend, the rumor of the last man; it is the infected now who are the majority in the world.
There is a brilliant moment in I Am Legend, when Robert has been alone for about 2 years. He opens the door in the daytime and a dog runs by. For 2 years, never has a living creature been seen in the daytime; then a mangy mutt. He takes it in; it dies, and it is heartbreaking. Richard Matheson delivers on moments like these. It's a lovely scene in a scary and delightful book. And the ending, oh man. I can't wait to see Will Smith give us this ending. They better not change the ending. It is fucking unbelievable.
I Am Legend.

Holiday Reading?

If you're looking for a book or two to read over the holidays, the New York Times has posted their annual 100 Notable books of 2007. The list is long and I know that I (czf) have not read any of them, since I haven't read any new books this year. However, take a look and see if there is anything you want to read. Then read, and let Luminous know how it was.
Happy Thanksgiving and Black Friday from Luminous, the bookblog you love to read.
I find this picture hilarious. That kid looks like Denise the Menace or Richie Rich. So.

Borders Books has solved the reading problem. Finally. How, do you ask, how can they finally bring the people into the stores to buy those books and start reading once again? Television. "A new strategy at Borders will reinforce the message that its stores are not just about books: the company has been installing 37-inch flat-screen televisions to show original programming, advertisements, news and weather." Of course, these tvs aren't there for people to really watch, because the store's about books. "The screens are “not designed to be intrusive,” Mr. Jones said. Rather, he said, they are “part of a master plan to create content that will do several things for us,” like directing traffic to the Borders Web site and paving the way to more cross-promotional deals with large media companies."
Yeah. So now, when you come to the store, you can more efficiently be directed back to your house to buy online. WooHoo!

Norman Mailer Dies

Norman Mailer, the combative, controversial and often outspoken novelist who loomed over American letters longer and larger than any writer of his generation, died today in Manhattan. He was 84."

Fairwell, Norman. Someday I promise to read the Naked and the Dead.

Rowling Makes another odd Harry Potter Choice

Luminous will not transform into a blog solely focusing on Harry Potter. However, here is another post about Harry Potter. "J.K. Rowling has completed her first book since concluding the tale of teen wizard Harry Potter -- an illustrated collection of magical fairy stories titled "The Tales of Beedle the Bard." Wonderful. It's nice to see she's still writing.
Get this crazy shit. You know how Harry Potter is popular, and that adults and children the world over love and adore everything Harryish? Yeah? That must be why Rowling is printing seven copies of "Beedle the Bard". 7! "Only seven copies of the book are being printed, Rowling said Thursday. One will be auctioned next month to raise money for a children's charity, while the others have been given away as gifts...The volume, bound in brown morocco leather and mounted with silver and semiprecious stones, will be auctioned at Sotheby's on December 13 with a starting price of $62,000. " Whatever. I want to read the damn thing too.

In another J.K. note: Here is the picture of Rowling that accompanies CNN's article.
Is that really her? Does she look different to you than when she first came out and started writing the Harry Potter?


Wealth. What can't you do?

The Never-Ending Story

Today's NYTimes has (another) story on Dumbledore, and I thought I would post it, because I like this part. It's thoughtful and handles the question of whether Rowling's Dumbledore is the reader's.
Then, this: "Her heroes are the hybrids, the misfits, those of mixed blood, all bearing scars of loss and love: the half-giant Hagrid, the mudblood Hermione (whose parents were not wizards), the poverty-stricken Ron, the orphaned Harry. Perhaps speaking of Dumbledore as gay was just a matter of creating another diverse rebel against orthodoxy."
Lovely.

Harry Potter and the Half Gay Headmaster

J.K. Rowling has revealed to her legion of adoring fans that Hogwarts Headmaster and the embodiment of good motives, Albus Dumbledore, is in fact gay. For those of you who have read the books, this won't come as much of a surprise (I think), but that's not what interests me in this discussion.
What interests me is the amount of control that Rowling maintains over the Harry Potter universe after the series is completed and written. She did not include any overt reveal involving Dumbledore's homosexuality in the novels, I imagine deliberately, but there are things to make you wonder. Why do that if you are going to come out and say it later? Let people argue over it, that's part of the fun of reading.
For example, I believe that Jonah in Knocked Up is a closeted homosexual (this link is not work-friendly). That can't necessarily be right or wrong, right? If Judd Apatow came to my house and said, Sorry Chris, but Jonah is straight, what would that mean? I would still think he is gay. Shouldn't Rowling leave these kinds of questions to readers if she has not addressed them in the books? There were times in the HP novels when I thought several different characters might be gay, including Dumbledore. Now Rowling has come out and said, yes, Albus is gay, this whole time, aren't you shocked? Should authors be doing this after the fact?

Booker Winner

Anne Enright, author of The Gathering, has been awarded the 2007 Mann Booker Award for Fiction. Tis' yet another book to add to my already too long list of reading to be done over christmas break .

From the Mann Booker Site:
Over and above her prize of £50,000, Anne Enright is guaranteed a huge increase in sales and recognition worldwide...and a designer-bound edition of her book.
When asked what she was going to do with the winnings, she said she didn’t know - ‘perhaps a new kitchen!’ - and joked that she had bought a new dress that morning which she was pleased she could now afford.
For more information about the winner for this year’s Man Booker Prize please read the official press release.
Anne Enright was interviewed following the announcement by BBC Newsnight which you can view again at BBC Online.
To read a short Q&A with Anne Enright after the shortlist announcement please click here.

the Civil War

I have undertaken to read the mighty The Civil War: A Narrative. It's a giant. Three volumes (thanks BMO) of hulking 800 page glory. I started it about, oh, 6-8 weeks ago, and let me tell you this: it's slow going. I'm only 250 pages into the first volume, "Fort Sumter to Perryville," but I thought I would share some of the lessons I have learned.
1) Lincoln was one badass son of a bitch. Most people kind of know this, but I don't think most really know quite how badass he was. Unafraid to sit back and take the heaps of criticism that he wasn't doing enough, making no public reference to the Confederacy (which would legitimate their existence), calmly seeing to the dirty business with confidence. He's quite the literary character.
2)Lincoln was one unapologetically emotional man, which makes me love him the more. On hearing the death of his friend Ned Baker in the war, Foote writes:
"Lincoln sat for five minutes, stunned, then made his way unaccompanied through the anteroom, breast heaving, tears streaming down his cheeks. Orderlies and newspapermen jumped to help him, but he recovered his balance and went on alone, leaving them the memory of a weeping president."
Is there any better image of Lincoln than as a president stumbling, weeping down the streets of the capitol. Love it.
3) Foote was one badass writer. See the above quote for evidence. There are so many names, locations, rivers etc. in this damn book, and I have heard of about ten percent, but Foote handles the narrative engagingly, and keeps you moving. Plus his writing is smooth and wonderful. Read the opening paragraph of the book for proof.
4) I kind of sympathize with Jefferson Davis. This is certainly something I did not expect, and I think is a testament to Shelby Foote.
5) Despite 4, the segregationists as a whole don't seem to have gotten a worse rap than they deserve. At least at this early second year in the war that I've reached, they're as reprehensible as you would imagine.
6) Ulysses S. Grant's real name is Hiram Ulysses Grant. His nickname at Academy was Uncle Sam, and when he recieved a congressional appointment, the papers took the initials and the document read Ulysses Simpson Grant. Grant never wanted to tangle with the red tape to change it. Weird.

Pi Comes To Life

A new edition of Yann Martel's loved book, Life of Pi, recently hit the shelves, and this time it's illustrated. In order to find the right illustrator for the job publisher Jamie Byng created a cast-your-illustration-competition. To enter all you had to do was pick a scene and illustrate it as you understood it. 1800 people responded with submissions but only could win. That one person was Tomislav Torjanac from Croatia. Wanna see the illustrations? Visits Torjanac's site for a sneak preview.

How does he make the images so visually stunning? "First he sketches out the scene before painting it in oils and with a fairly free hand. Once he has completed this stage he photographs the painting, then runs it onto his computer, at which point he finishes the illustration using various digital techniques. The end result combines the painterly qualities of a great oil painting with the modern sophistication of a digital print."

Turns out Pi isn't the only well known book Torjanac has illustrated. The Cat and The Devil, by James Joyce is also an eye twisting spectacle and worth sneaking a peak at. Weather you can find a copy in English or not, I can not say.

Also, if you really liked the feel of spending in pounds when you bought In Rainbows you can buy a signed copy of the illustrated Life of Pi for a mere twenty five pounds.

Prison Library Book Removal

The US Bureau of Prisons has been considering removing all books concerning religion that do not fall onto pre-approved lists from their libraries. Critics of the plan, from both right and left sides of the country are speaking out to try to stop the decision. The Republican Study Committee released this statement: "We must ensure that in America the federal government is not the undue arbiter of what may or may not be read by our citizens.”
The NYTimes article (linked above) on the subject contains links to each religion and their approved reading lists. it's an interesting thing to see. The Philokalia is on the list, which I'm sure makes for common prison reading. Also, "A Muslim Girl's Guide to Life's Big Changes" gets to stay. Huh. Siad one inmate, "I’ve seen the list of approved books, and 99 percent of them, we never had to begin with."
What do you all think about this? Should we take books that might incite violence in people out of the hands' of prisoners? It seems like a hard thing to justify.

OBOC2007

The city of Chicago has made their choice for this fall's One Book, One Chicago: Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Published in 1952, The Crucible, was written as a allegory on the McCarthy era. His depiction of the mass hysteria during the Salem witch trials was meant to show us the way of our errors during "the red scare."

And since the Salem witch trials have come up...I learned, rather interestingly, last night while reading Glut that the witch trails were (on at least one level) a result of the printing press! Today we take printing as a given but when it was first discovered by the masses it caused a whole lot of bloodshed. "The problem?" you ask. A shift in thinking. Everyone was suddenly forced to alter their outlet for expressing themselves; from a oral and image driven culture to a very left brain linear word context. The printing press as a result caused mass hysteria. As the old tradition, one which held women in a almost mystical regard (think virgin Mary) went out the window and mass organizations began to form (again because of the printing press) women started getting burned at the stake. And in Germany, where the press was invented, and most widely used for the first 100 years after its creation, the witch burnings were by far the most severe.

I've gotten off the subject. If you want to join in on the fun of reading The Crucible with the city (you don't have to be in the city itself), take a peak at the official guidebook, which gives you a concise history of the era, CPL resources, additional reading and of course locations of book clubs meeting around the city. Also noteworthy, the Steppenwolf is producing the play and the hubby and I are going to try and go if you are interested in joining us.

And then there were six...

The Man Booker shortlist of six was announced today at a press conference at Man Group plc in London. Following the meeting, Howard Davies, Chair of Judges commented: “Selecting a shortlist this year from what was widely seen as an exciting longlist was a tough challenge. We hope the choices we have made after passionate and careful consideration, will attract wide interest.” Isn't that what they said last year, and the year before that? Ah, well. The novels are (drumroll please!):

Darkmans by Nicola Barker
"Ambitious, linguistically driven, high-octane epic with a metaphysical aspect set around a group of modern-day misfits in Ashford, Kent."

The Gathering by Anne Enright
"The story of the 12-strong Hegarty family, narrated by 39-year-old Veronica as she mourns the suicide of one of her siblings and tries to reconstruct the life of her grandmother."

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
"A young Muslim man's loves and losses, daubed against the tumultuous backdrop of the political unrest that followed the attacks on the World Trade Centre on 9/11."

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
"2007 Commonwealth prize-winner set in a village on the Papua New Guinea island of Bougainville during a brutal civil war there in the 1990s and narrated by a 13-year-old girl who has a love of Dickens instilled in her by an inspired teacher."

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan"Novella about the agonisingly awkward wedding night of a young, innocent, couple in the 60s and how it sets the course of their lives."

Animal’s People by Indra Sinha
"Dark and harrowing but also very humane portrait of a community in contemporary India whose lives were ruined 20 years ago by an American chemical company, and what happens when a young American doctor arrives in their midst."

Wish I was reading...

I am reading more than ever now that I am back in school, but it is by no means the sort of stuff I am usually reading: fiction. So today I post about a book I really want to read, but do not actually have time to read. Which is The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I have been hearing about TTW for a few years now, and everyone who has actually read it either loves it or hates it. Every time someone recommended it another person suggested I stay away. Thus I just could not decide what to do.

Then I started library school and everyone was talking about how wonderful it was (second only to Harry Potter). THEN I found out she is really active in the world of book arts and it all came together. What originally attracted me to the book it self was the pages. They are perfect. The weight it just right, the pages have the perfect amount of gloss to them and they move so freely. All books should be published (physically) as this one. Oh, and don't even get me started on the binding, it's near orgasmic. Last thing, it all takes place in my beautiful city of Chicago, and one block over from my apartment last year. So seriously, what is there not to love?

So, I've picked up a copy. And it sits on my shelf daunting me. I suppose it will be the first book I pick up over Christmas break in December, but damn that seems far away.

And let me not forget to mention, for those of you who are like me and may never have the opportunity to read it, it will be a movie next year...

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

"This is a wonderful book, brilliant and personal, rich in spiritual insight, filled with sorrow and a great sense of humor. Elizabeth Gilbert is everything you would love in a tour guide, of magical places she has traveled to both deep inside and across the oceans: she's wise, jaunty, human, ethereal, hilarious, heartbreaking, and God, does she pay great attention to the things that really matter."
-Anne Lamott

I admit I was hesitant to read Eat, Pray, Love when I first saw it popping up around town. It seemed overly emotional and girly and honestly too religious for me. But it would not go away, it was everywhere, in everyones hands, I saw people miss their train stops over this book! And so, when I had the opportunity to pick up the book for a bit less than cost I thought, "Why not?" And thank goodness I did. It was so enjoyable.

The book takes place after a very difficult divorce (enter what I thought was going to be the too emotional and girly part) but Gilbert was smart enough not to give us all the nitty-gritty of her divorce and so I didn't feel like I was listening to a stranger complain about how hard life is. It is split into three different sections (corresponding with the title) and takes place in three different countries. Eating in Italy, Praying in India and Loving in Indonesia. I too love to travel and have no money to do so right now which made reading a book about travelling the next best thing after being there myself. Each section was a bit better than the previous and the ending came together quite well. I closed the book and thought, "Look at how far she came over a single year!" It was a nice reminder that you really can turn lifes lemons into lemonade.

Also, it wasn't until after I started Eat, Pray, Love that I realized why the authors name was so familar to me. Elizabeth Gilbert is also the author of The Last American Man, another peice of non-fiction that was exceptionally well written. If Eat, Pray, Love is a woman's novel than The Last American Man is a novel for a man's man. But this is just reinforces how versitile she is. Both of these books seem to be directed for a certian people group but both go far beyond what you expect from them. If you are looking for something to read either of these books will fill a few days of your time in a very pleasent manner.

The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett

Sadly I think my excitement to read Hammett's The Maltese Falcon may have gotten the best of me--and the novel. There I was going around telling everyone..."they say its the best detective novel ever written!!" Well, it is good, of course, but best ever? The real weakness for me was all that convoluted secrecy. I know what you are saying..."Amber, it's a DETECTIVE novel, you aren't supposed to know everything!!" I understand but the whole book I was very patient about waiting to be let in on what was really going on. And then finally everything gets wrapped up in the last 20-30 pages and you realize, you pretty much new everything that was going along already. Yes, there is a bit more information but there wasn't enough for what I had built it up to be.


Now that I am thinking about it, I cannot believe I went around telling everyone it was (supposed to be) the best detective novel...obviously I am going to give that title to Crime and Punishment. My favorite of all the novels ever written (talk about a title that is hard to live up to)!!

After all this negative talk I feel I should say it was a fun book to read. And very cinematic in its nature. The setting was always shrouded by cigarettes and sexy women with bright red lipstick. And then you have the suave and handsome hero who is always just barely escaping the law. It is hard to resist. If you do not go into the book thinking it is going to be one of the greatest novels you will ever read I have no doubt you will really enjoy it.

And for those of you that are interested (and are in the small minority of people who live near by) the movie is now second in our queue, which means we will be watching it sometime next week!

When I was a kid...

Since we are on the topic of Children's book I thought I would take a moment to mention some books I recently came across that I loved as a child. Please, someone else tell me you remember "reading" Frank Asch. I stared at these books for countless hours when I was just a wee thing, totally mesmerized by the pictures, so desperately wanting to eat mooncake!

Other favorite childhood books??

Mrs. and Ms. Bush Write Children's book.

(Author and Bush twin Jenna shows her rawker/edgy side)

This is one of the more interesting book stories I have read lately. As you all follow the story of the Bush twins, I don't need to tell you that Jenna Bush is already a published author of a book called Ana's Hope, about her time with UNICEF. This I gathered from the cover.
Now she's teaming up with her mother to write a picture book (?) about kids that don't like reading. Just what kids not interested in reading books need: a book of pictures about how reading sucks. "It’s a book that I’ve always wanted to write," says Laura Bush. She also said it was going to be difficult writing a book of pictures, because "In a picture book, there are so few words." Got that?

A Man Booker Dozen

The Man Booker announced its long list today, they are:

Darkmans by Nicola Barker

Self Help by Edward Docx

The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng

The Gathering by Anne Enright

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

Gifted by Nikita Lalwani

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn

Consolation by Michael Redhill

Animal's People by Indra Sinha

Winnie & Wolf by A N Wilson

The long list for those of you who (justifiably) don't keep up with Man Booker's inner workings is the first round of finalists for the yearly prize (which I believe comes in October). The long list will soon turn into a short list and then everyone will go mad trying to read all the short list books before a finalist is chosen, right?

My only comment about the list: "Ian McEwan again!"
I've never read him, but doesn't it seem they have their nose up his ass a bit?

Unless. Already. Not Yet.

Back in January, azf read Unless, by Carol Shields. She loved it, started talking about it frequently, recommended it to everyone she talked to, and went online and bought several copies cheap to distribute to people in order to make them read it.
So I read it. Now I'm coming on to Luminous to encourage people to read it. If you didn't take azf's word, you probably won't take czf's word. But I'll add my name to the chorus, and recommend Unless, because it's absolutely brilliant. My Goodness.