The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

I had never heard of Carlos Ruiz Zafon before two years ago. One day my now father-in-law told me about a book he had just finished called The Shadow of the Wind. He did not tell me much about it, but he showed me a quote he had written down from the novel: "The art of reading is slowly dying, that it's an intimate ritual, that a book is a mirror that offers us only what we already carry inside us, that when we read, we do it with all our heart and mind, and great readers are becoming more scarce by the day.” I fell in love with the quote and wrote down the name of the book. A few days later, in midsummer I bought and began reading The Shadow of the Wind.

The book takes place in Barcelona, Spain in in the early-mid 1900s and follows a boy named Daniel Sempere. He works at his father's bookshop Sempere and Sons. One night, when he is around ten years old, his father takes him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and tells Daniel to choose a book which he will have to protect for the rest of his life. Daniel chooses a novel called "The Shadow of the Wind" by Julian Carax. After reading and falling in love with the book Daniel wishes to find out more about the author. This leads him down a path full of intertwining stories, dark mansions, tragic love, and more. I don't want to write any more about the plot because it is a story best experienced if you know as little as possible going in.

There was one night in particular during my first encounter with this novel where a thunderstorm takes place and many frightening things happen. I was home alone that night and a thunderstorm began to rage outside of the window. I was so interested in what was going on in the story bu also frightening. I sat curled up in a blanket, with all of the lights on, against a wall and continued on reading. But it is an experience I will not forget and that I look back on fondly. That is the type of moment that bonds you with a book forever.

Prior to reading The Shadow of the Wind I knew very little of Barcelona, or Spain in general. The book made me curious. I was lucky enough to go last year on my honeymoon and was swept away with how accurately Carlos Ruiz Zafon had described the city. I kept expecting to run into Daniel or stumble upon the Cemetery of Forgotten Books around every corner. I could go on and on for my love of that beautiful city, but suffice it to say that reading the book feels almost as wonderful as being there. Barcelona is a place of magic.

This brings me to the present day where I just finished rereading The Shadow of the Wind for the first time. I actually listened to it via audio book, which was an experience in and of itself because it featured music composed by the author. This added greatly to the atmosphere. The narrator was also superb. And yet, I did not like listening to the novel as much as reading it. I feel like this book, the great ode to reading and books that it is, is truly meant to be read. But if audio book is your only way to hear this tale, you could do worse than the audio for The Shadow of the Wind.

There are two other books set in the world of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and a fourth due sometime soon. I recommend them and might do a review someday, but The Shadow of the Wind is the best of them all.  The Shadow of the Wind is close to my heart. I have loved it since the moment I read the first page. It is a book I intend to return to many times and a book I want to give to my children (when they are a bit older). It is a book full of many things, but most of all, it is full of magic.

Armada by Ernest Cline

Armada is a fast paced ride through sci-fi references and pop culture nods. Ernest Cline did a good job of mixing not only 80's references but modern references. I enjoyed that because I understood the current "Leeroy Jenkins" reference and the Patrick Rothfuss nod; in comparison to Ready Player One which mostly focused on the 80s.

What I have learned about Ernest Cline as a writer is that his stories can be a bit predictable. This did not bother me in Ready Player One because of all the action and moments that happened between the beginning and the end. In fact there is a point in that book where I wondered if what I had predicted all along was utterly wrong. But in Armada I found myself predicting what would happen and then turning the page to see it happen, over and over again. The only thing interspersed between these moments were fight scenes, whether real or in the video game, that were described in such painful detail that after the third one it just felt like they were there to take up space.

Armada did have some interesting theories, especially the idea that video games were created and funded by the government to train civilians how to fight aliens, but the theories were not overly original. It felt like Ernest Cline had taken a lot of scenes from his favorite movies and books and then smashed them all together into a novel. Now let me say that this is not a bad thing, it was really nerdy and cool and I loved it, but it just did not make me go "wow" at the end.

The only other complaint I have is the lack of deep underlying narrative. Armada seemed to be just a book about video games and alien invasions and then it turned out to be just that. There is a moment at the end that seems to try to make up for this by implying that humans need to be more compassionate and less war-driven, and I agree, but it did not feel like this was a point being reinforced over and over again throughout the novel.

I did enjoy that there was less of a love story in this novel. And I love that Ernest Cline wrote about a female president and a single mom who is kick ass and other women who can shine in their own right. I love that he writes nerdy books that feel accessible to me, not only as a nerd, but as a woman. Like I stated above, I also loved the many nods to current pop culture. This book was a fast read and full of action, which was a nice change of pace from the last book I read. I enjoyed Armada immensely, I just did not finish it and immediately want to start reading it again like I felt with Ready Player One.

Now perhaps it is not fair for me to compare Armada to Ready Player One. And maybe I would feel differently had I read them in reverse order. But Ernest Cline has only written two books and so it is inevitable that they will be compared. The thing is that I don't know if I would have even read Armada had I not loved its predecessor so much. This book just felt lackluster, I guess.

All of that being said, I think Armada will make a great movie. It has all the elements to help it translate beautifully to film and I will be one of the first in line to watch. I really enjoy Ernest Cline's writing and intend to read the next book he releases. Overall, I just feel that if I had to choose between Armada and Ready Player One to recommend to a reader, it would be Ready Player One every time. But if you like spaceships and video games and have an afternoon to kill, this is a great book for you.

Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds **spoiler warning**

Until four years ago, the closest I had come to reading science fiction was when I was ten years old or younger and reading Star Wars books. The older I got I seemed to think that science fiction was boring and uninteresting, not true literature, etc. I thought this about quite a few genres. When I stumbled across Neil Gaiman, and fell so in love, I suddenly was thrust into a world of new possibilities. The man had written in almost every genre and medium possible. So, with time, I began to let go of old prejudices but I had still not ventured into sci-fi. Then last year a good friend suggested a book called House of Suns by an Alastair Reynolds. From what he told me, I was interested. And he promised it was not cheesy or boring. I bit the bullet and bought the book.

The thing about Alastair Reynolds is that his writing is smart. I mean really smart. This guy is an astrophysicist turned author. So when he writes about space and science, it is almost on a textbook level. I am slightly ashamed to admit that he is the only author who has ever made me feel stupid. I have always had a high reading level. I read Pride and Prejudice at 11 (I wish I was kidding). So I do not tend to feel inferior to any level of writing or type of novel. And yet when I read Reynolds, he makes me feel, for the first time, like his writing is above my comprehension level. But that is part of why I love him. Thus when I first begin any of his novels, and  Redemption Ark is my third, I have to shut off the part of my brain that wants to fully and truly understand all that is happening. Unless I have a super high-tech space dictionary next to me, which I don't, I have to accept I will not understand every word used. It takes a bit of time and effort to get into a Reynolds novel, but it is so worth it.

So I loved House of Suns, but it was a stand alone novel. Eventually I went back to the book store and decided to dive into Reynolds first novel, which was the beginning of a series, called Revelation Space. That novel was the first book I read this year and I loved it even more than House of Suns. Redemption Ark is the second book in the Revelation Space world and I loved it. Both of these novels are full of rich storytelling and immersive space opera-ness. What I love is that even if Reynolds follows many characters for the first half of the novel, he will always end up throwing them together for the second half, and that is where the fun begins.

Redemption Ark brought back my favorite character of Ana Khouri, whose history is easier to explain if you just go find the books. She is a badass woman (as all of Reynolds' women are in their own right, another reason to admire him) and I enjoyed being able to follow her continued story as she tries to save the planet of Resurgam from certain destruction. The Inhibitors, a race of machines whose sole purpose is to squash out star-faring life so as to preserve not star-faring life, have awoken and are in the midst of building a frightening weapon to kill the planet. The story is more complex and rich than that, but I would fail miserably if I tried to explain it.

This series deals overall with the existence of the Inhibitors and what that means for mankind. There is mystery combined with fear, and sometimes horror, in all of Reynolds' novels and it keeps me engaged. But at the same time Reynolds' finishes each of his novels in a satisfying enough way that it could stand on its own. This man is truly brilliant and I have nothing but respect and awe for his writing. Especially because he has said that he never writes about something he does not think could actually happen or exist someday, (which is a bit frightening when I think of the idea of the Inhibitors).

The character of Nevil Clavain, who is introduced in this book, is one of the most fascinating and complicated of any of Reynolds' other characters. His story is long and not fully explained, but the glimpses at his past are intriguing. Part of why I loved this novel so much as because of this character. In fact I would recommend the book on Clavain alone. He is one of the few humans who used to live on Earth and his memories of it are insightful. His history alone seems to be the history of humans in space. Overall, I think Redemption Ark is my favorite Reynolds book so far and I recommend it, especially if you've already read Revelation Space.

Alastair Reynolds is, in my opinion, a poet and professor. It is hard to truly describe the beauty of some passages that, while they are talking about very foreign elements, use metaphors that seem stolen from a poem. Combine this with his astrophysicist background and grand ideas of space and time, and Alastair Reynolds may be the most brilliant author there ever was. He just hides in the science-fiction section. I am forever grateful I took my friend's suggestion. I am grateful I opened my mind and ventured into the world of unknown genres. Even if everything else I read is shit, finding Reynolds will be the one payoff for roaming into the science-fiction aisle.

The View From the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is my favorite author. He is also one of my favorite people, just in general. If you want an example of why, just watch this. He is an inspiration and also a creative powerhouse. This man is so prolific that he has done almost everything (and continues to): comics, books of all kinds, movies, tv shows, you name it. So for an aspiring writer he is basically the equivalent to Beyonce. (Although I do also love Beyonce.) I had the chance to meet him 4 years ago and that moment changed my life. (I cried, he shook my hand, it was a good moment.) I am going to see his "An Evening With Neil Gaiman" show next April. But I digress....at another time I will write a big gushy post about Neil Gaiman. Today I am going to stick to my thoughts on his recent book release, the nonfiction collection The View From the Cheap Seats.

Anything by Mr. Gaiman makes me a very happy reader. I bought this book the day it came out and began reading it right away but made myself take all of June to finish it because I liked knowing I had fresh Neil things to read sitting in my room. I was initially worried though because it was a book of nonfiction. I like nonfiction, but even the best of us have to admit it can be boring sometimes. I was pleasantly surprised to find that nothing in this book was boring, not even the introductions to books that were, obviously, not included.

The book is split up into ten sections and within each section are articles or speeches or introductions that fall within the category of that section. I was very happy that his Make Good Art speech had its own section and was the only piece included there. Neil managed to make me scared with his articles and introductions to Edgar Allan Poe or Dracula. He made me cry with a few articles about Amanda Palmer and Anthony Martignetti and Syria. He made me smile and laugh and nod my head in agreement with so many of his other pieces. In the end I felt happy and whole. I now have a list of books, authors, comics, films and artists to look up and enjoy. Surprisingly, The View From the Cheap Seats has become one of my top favorite Neil Gaiman books.

I do not necessarily recommend it for someone who wants to get into reading Neil Gaiman, but I would recommend it to someone who enjoys his work or has at least read one of his fiction novels. But even if one has not read a Neil Gaiman book and wants to go against my advice, one would still enjoy this book. It is full of wisdom and wit and love and wonder. It is, assuredly, a Neil Gaiman book.

I want to finish this review with a list of some of my favorite pieces from The View From the Cheap Seats. I read the book in order, but it certainly does not have to be read that way, so if you want to just peruse a few pieces listed below are my favorites:

- "Why Our Future Depends on Libraries, Reading and Daydreaming", page 5
- "Telling Lies for a Living...and Why We Do It", page 16
- "The Pornography of Genre, or the Genre of Pornography", page 39
- "What the [Very Bad Swearword] Is a Children's Book, Anyway?, page 77
- "Harlan Ellison: The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World", page 117
- "SIMCITY", page 154
- "Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, and what Science Fiction is and Does", page 177
- "2004 Harvey Awards Speech", page 300
- "Some Strangeness in the Proportion: The Exquisite Beauties of Edgar Allan Poe", page 317
- "Hi, by the Way: Tori Amos", page 389
- "Once Upon a Time", page 423
- "Make Good Art", page 451
- "The View From the Cheap Seats", page 463
- "The Dresden Dolls: Hallowe'en 2010", page 470