Book of the Week

Michigan-born author Zev Chafets investigated the racial complexities of pre-riot and post-riot Detroit in his 1990 book Devil's Night: And Other True Tales of Detroit. It was one of the few books about Detroit that I found to be worth reading even if Chafets leaned a bit much upon personal anecdotes in order to make a point sometimes.

Of course, in the wake of recent events, some might argue that Chafets tried a bit too hard to end his book on a happy note. But I know many Detroiters who would beg to differ.

Then again, one of the reasons I chose to buy this book back in 1990 was because the author name-dropped the name of a Detroit journalist to whom my favorite first cousin was then married so perhaps I'm not the most objective critic this book could have.

A Long, Thankless Trek Through Darkest Europe

There is undoubtedly a great novel to be written about a world in which Islam and Christianity has switched places but the Harry Turtledove novel Through Darkest Europe isn't it.

The chief problem with the novel isn't that it's a bad book -- merely a repetitive one. Turtledove keeps making the same point over and over again and while I appreciate his literary efforts on behalf of Team Tolerance, a little bit of his prose goes a long way.

The sad thing is that there used to be a time when reading the latest Harry Turtledove novel was not such a chore. But those days seem long-gone.

Book of the Week

It is tempting to recommend Natalie Haynes's book The Ancient Guide to Modern Life if for no other reason that it is that rarity of rarities -- a historical book that manages to make a better case for the Internet than most of the pro-Internet puff pieces in existence. But it is also a great history book as well. Not many historians can write prose as accessible as Ms. Haynes. Not every historian tries. And while I must admit to having a slight bias in favor of this book due to its emphasis on classical history, I have yet to come across a recent book that does such a good job of relating such history to modern times. (Well, Will and Ariel Durant did a good job but their work is not exactly recent.)

Of course, there could be some budding history major out there at this very moment who is aiming to prove me wrong about all this. Then again stumbling across such a writer would hardly be the worst experience of my life.

Book of the Week

Believe it or not, there was a time when writer Ed Morales was capable of writing in plain English. But nowadays he seems more prone to write in culturebabble...

Perhaps it's better to remember his best books of yesteryear rather than kvetch about the dubious stuff he writes today. And of all the books of his that I have the good fortune to read, Living in Spanglish: The Search for Latino Identity in America is the one that I like the best.

Movie Quote of the Week

Excuse me. What are you doing? Yeah, you. Were you just putting that book away?

It looked like you were just... putting that book away. I guess you didn't know we have a system for putting books away here. Now I'm curious. You were just randomly putting that book on the shelf, is that it?

You've just given us a great idea. I mean, why are we wasting our time with the Dewey Decimal System when your system is so much easier? Much easier. We'll just put the books anywhere. Hear that, everybody?! Our friend here has given us a great idea! We'll just put the books any DAMN place we choose! We don't care, right? Isn't that right?
--Parker Posey, Party Girl (1995)

Book of the Week

It's like Ms. Tung knows me. Personality-wise, at least. Gender-wise, of course, is another issue.

Book of the Week

I always had a soft spot for both horror novels and books about Spanish history and while the late Les Daniel's novel The Black Castle was not exactly the ideal combination of both, it was certainly a more memorable read than I expected.

The novel introduced a Spanish vampire named Don Sebastian de Villanueva, who, for reasons of his own, helped out his own clergyman brother Diego. Eventually Don Sebastian turned against his brother -- again for reasons of his own. The results weren't exactly heroic but then again Sebastian's brother was not the type of clergyman most modern-day Christians would wish to root for.

One of the various editions of the Don Sebastian de Villanueva books described him as the vampire who is horrified by man. And indeed, there was much emphasis on real-life historical horror in the Villanueva books. To be fair, there were many moments of supernatural horror as well. However, the main point of the Villanueva books was obviously that mankind already produced enough demons without the aid of the supernatural. And it's hard to watch the daily news and argue with that statement.

Sueños (Dreams)

I usually don't try to read books in my dreams -- perhaps because I do enough of that while I am awake.

However, I have seen dead people in some of my dreams. No, seriously. After certain relatives and close friends have died, I had a tendency to see them in my dreams. I tried talking to them but fortunately they never talked back. Or should that be unfortunately?...

And no, I did not write all that just to win the "oddest blogger on the Internet" award.

However, I'll be sure to let you all know if I ever see Nick Andros in my dreams...

Random Thoughts

1. Damned heterosexuals. Always flaunting their lifestyle in public. There ought to be a law, I say. There ought to be a law.

2. Ray Bradbury's short story "The Pedestrian" is set in 2053. So we're right on schedule with those driverless cars.

3. There is no god but Science and Darwin is his prophet.

4. I like big books and I can not lie.

5. La vida es cabaré y los cabarés, cabarés son.
(Life is a cabaret and the cabarets are cabarets.)

6. I was partial to dark comedy in my youth -- before experience taught me that life was quite darkly comic enough without my having to write about it.
--Burgess Meredith, Clash of the Titans (Alternative Universe Version) (1981)

7. Experience tends to trump ideology.

8. If they can do it to them, they can do it to you.

Quote of the Week

I know some who are constantly drunk on books as other men are drunk on whiskey.
--H. L. Mencken

Apparently the Japanese Do Have a Word for It

But I'm not sure it applies to me. After all, I actually try to read all the books I buy. Sometimes more than once.

And yet the mentality behind this word does not quite seem all that foreign to me. No pun intended, of course.

TV Quote of the Week

I read books. That's like the Internet but printed on paper.
--Sydney Rae White, Marley's Ghosts, "Episode Two"

Quote of the Week

After all, if you believe that no one was ever corrupted by a book, you also have to believe that no one was ever improved by a book (or a play or a movie). You have to believe, in other words, that all art is morally trivial and that, consequently, all education is morally irrelevant. No one, not even a university professor, really believes that.
--Irving Kristol, New York Times Magazine, March 28, 1971.

Libros de San Valentín (Valentine Books)

¡Feliz 200 Aniversario, Frankenstein!

According to Mira of the For the Gothic Heroine site, this year is the 200th anniversary of the first publication of the Mary Shelley novel Frankenstein. Not all writers from that long ago are fortunate to have had such influence upon the cultural world as Ms. Shelley's book. Indeed, many such writers are lucky if their words are still remembered.

TV Quote of the Week

You can't judge a book by its cover. But you can by its first four chapters, and certainly by its last.
--James Spader, The Blacklist, "Anslo Garrick"

Halloween Books

Only thirteen?

I wonder what this book is about.

Halloween is one of the four seasons?

I actually want to see how this book turns out. However, I doubt they have it at my local library.

Halloween with the three Ms. You can't beat that.

I actually like this title. However, I'm sorry they never published a sequel called November Dreams.

What you write a title like that, you better deliver!

Quote of the Week

There is no book so bad but there is something good in it.
--Miguel de Cervantes

Summer Books

Book of the Week

Now that I have read Rick Najera's autobiography Almost White: Forced Confessions of a Latino in Hollywood, I owe him an apology. I never realized how much of a struggle he had with his various projects before I read this book and though part of me wants to be still skeptical, I have a greater appreciation for his work now than I did before. Of course, it would have been nice if Najera's own work had made such apologies unnecessary but you can't have everything.

Anyway, I can't guarantee that I will like his next film project but I would like to read his next book.