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Sorry I Read ItIt's too bad that Stieg Larsson could not have believed in his own talents enough to avoid appealing to the basest of human instincts to sell books. I bought Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to read for book club. But I'm sorry I spent one penny on it or read one word. Men's brutality to women is not a subject that I care to read about. How could the author look his own mother in the face after conceiving and writing of such brutality. Not that the entire book is trash. There is worthy material there, enough to keep me reading beyond the point where I should have bailed out. But I did bail out long before the end and only wish I had done so sooner.
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Might as well start with the setI bought the 3-book set because the first two books in the series were being passed around by my students so much, they were getting pretty dog-eared--and (verbal) fights were breaking out about who got what book next. (These are high school kids.) As a teacher whose heart goes out to learning-challenged kids, I have to appreciate the fact that Percy Jackson, the protagonist, has ADHD and dyslexia--issues that only enhance his heroics, not detract from them. The books are easy and engrossing, with plenty of sword brandishing and sarcasm, so they keep teens reading. There are, of course, mini lessons on Greek mythology throughout the books (often as the ever-valiant heroes are being attached once again by another fury or hydra or what-have-you), so I appreciate that, too.
I stop just short of a five-star rating here as I have read as far as Book Four and I would have liked to see Riordan be a bit more creative with his plot devices. The fourth book opens with Percy beginning school at yet another new school and this time it's the cheerleaders who are not what they seem to be, but that's only slightly different from how the other books open. Some situations have been used so repeatedly that I've begun to predict how our heroes will be backed into a corner with no way out this time--and who will save them.
Overall, though, I think this is a great series for young folks.
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Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Ultimate Guide
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Leave the root beer and monster dust behind, pleaseHailed as the second coming of Harry Potter, demigod Percy Jackson and his gang of Greek myth sidekicks has now splashed onto the silver screen. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I have read all five books of the series, including the final one, The Last Olympian.
Like the profitable Potter series, each book features an adolescent hero battling the forces of evil with magic. Numerous battle scenes, a splash of romance, hair-raising scrapes with monsters, prophecies, clueless adults as well as adults who seem to get it--these are the market-tested elements found in both series.
Percy Jackson seems aimed at slightly younger audience than Potter, and is also not quite as long and involved. Author Rick Riordan employs breezy American dialog and cultural landmarks, and his scenes are less dense and complex than Rowling's. By and large, the prose is snappier and flows better--Riordan was a published mystery writer before taking up Percy, and it shows.
Up until The Last Olympian, that is. Alas, Riordan falls under the WOW (World of Warcraft) syndrome--where a battle scene gets stretched out for page after page, with made-for-CGI monster after monster getting dusted (literally) to the point of boredom. The problem, from my point of view, is that after too many impossible escapes, protected by his Achilles-like invulnerability granted by a dip in the River Styx, Percy's actions get repetitive. Yawn.
There's killing and mayhem, but it all seems so sanitized: war as an adventure park, not a bloody mess. Thus instead of bleeding, monsters simply disintegrate. This is done to placate the parents of younger children, but it detracts from the story. Another example of this is when a bunch of satyrs show up in Manhattan, and in order to get psyched up for battle they drink root beer. Please.
Riordan does gets high marks for appealing sidekicks Grover the Satyr and Tyson the Cyclops, as well as an off-again, on-again romance between Percy, son of Poseidon, and Annabeth, daughter of Athena. He is quite clever at using various elements of Greek mythology throughout, although I notice that the chthonic gods Dionysus, Demeter, and Persephone are vastly toned down and, in the case of Demeter and Persephone in particular, flat as cardboard. I suppose the darker elements of Greek myths--and there are plenty--need to be tamed for younger readers, but it leaves an unappealing taste in my mouth.
Another other thing that bugs me about the series is the American hubris factor. The idea that the Greek gods decided to abandon Greece (and, apparently, other countries as well) for the cultural wellsprings of the U.S. strikes me as preposterous. I'm convinced that he put Olympus, the seat of their power, over Manhattan as a selling point to the New York publishing industry. Whereas the evil Titans based their headquarters on Mount Tam near SF. Come on, Rick, you can do better than that! (Spoken as a Bay Area resident, here.)
Oh, and then there's the ridiculous notion that a summer camp of teenagers is capable of holding off the forces of evil and saving the world--it's like, instead of bombing Pearl Harbor, the Japanese bombed a high school in Hawaii. While Percy and the other heroes battle the bad guys, the gods conveniently abandon Manhattan to the teens in order to merely slow down a humongous monster halfway across the country disguised as series of superstorms. Meanwhile, the muggles have no clue why New York is totally trashed.
Muggles? Drat. I meant mortals.
Finally, since this is the last book in the series, how successfully does Riordan tie up the loose plot ends? Mixed marks here. The love triangle between Percy, Annabath, and a mortal with special powers named Rachel Elizabeth Dare gets resolved nicely. The crux of the story--how the evil Titan Lord Kronos is defeated--is a bit trickier. It all has to do with a Big Prophecy and how Luke, a former camper and son of Hermes, became possessed by Kronos. It gets a bit philosophical near the end, kind of a nice contrast to the oodles of monster dust all over Manhattan. I was a little confused and I'm not sure I buy it all, but I did care about the main characters at the end, so Riordan must have done something right.
At the end of the book he refers to this as the "first" Percy Jackson series, and the author says he's working on a new one. I probably won't read it, unless he leaves the root beer and monster dust behind.
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Fun read for the political junkies"Game Change" is about the 2008 election campaign. It is not about what positions the candidates took on issues, but, rather, about the demeanor of the candidates and the conduct and management of the campaigns. It reads like a novel, and I found it fascinating. I, however, am a political junkie, so consider the source.
The book starts with the pre primary debates, although it doesn't describe all the players or all of the debates. Ron Paul, who, in my opinion, won at least one debate was hardly mentioned. Mike Gravel, who similarly won two early debates before he disappeared from them, wasn't mentioned at all.
Having said that, there is lots of mention of the inner workings of the other campaigns. Neither one of the Edwards came out looking good despite the fact that, in my opinion, John Edwards won at least one debate. Apparently a lot of what we learned after the campaign was already known by the insiders, and it was a good thing he was not nominated.
Since I had followed the campaigns so closely, there were few surprises. We see that Hilary Clinton, who knew her stuff and had had Whitehouse experience, ran a loose disjointed campaign. She definitely appears to be more of a policy wonk than an executive and is probably perfectly suited to the job she has now. The book explains how Obama persuaded her to be his Secretary of State.
We see how McCain rushed into decisions without all the facts. I did learn how nasty a temper he has from a description with of a "discussion" he was overheard to have with his wife. (I would have left him on the spot and the next time I got in touch with him would have been through lawyers.)
We already knew that Joe Biden puts his mouth in gear before he engages his brain at times but that he is honest and knowledgeable. In my opinion he won at least one of the early primary debates.
We all knew that poor Sarah Palin was tossed into the national scene with no background whatsoever. She is quick and witty but was way out of her league, and her trainers knew so little about her that they managed to compound the problem. The authors found her a sympathetic figure.
The authors misjudged Lieberman whom they called a liberal except on security, but who is a conservative except on the environment. He definitely was under consideration for McCain's vice president.
And we see through it all that Obama, besides understanding the issues, is methodical about finding out all the facts before making a decision and has good executive ability - with his well run campaign as an example. He doesn't make a decision without thinking of the long term implications and always does his homework. He was competent in the debates, but he did not shine.
The book is easy to read and gives us good insight into the personalities of the players. I had trouble putting it down. (I think the most surprising thing in the book is how many of the candidates used foul language. I suppose the reason Clinton shocked me is that I remember hearing the word f***k only once all the time I was growing up, and she grew up in the Midwest. I am, however, pre baby boom.)
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