Couple more titles

Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
This was a very cool book--one of the first ones I read this year.  A fictional narrative of the Battle of Thermopylae where 300 (or so) Spartans stood against the entire Persian army (reputed to be hundreds of thousands strong), the book is filled with great moments of heroism and leadership.  The Spartan king, Leonidas, comes up with inspiring messages to his troops and always seems to have the right answer to address any situation.  Pressfield does a great job preparing the historical landscape so that the battle is more meaningful.  It would be nice to see him do the same with the Athenian victory at sea against the Persians that followed soon after the Hot Gates fight, but better to celebrate what we do have than lament what we don't.  The book is filled with great insights into human nature and fascinating observations about war.


The characters are well-developed and interesting, and the history (which I hope is fairly accurate) of the time period is as engrossing as it is depressing and disturbing.  I've read The Iliad and The Odyssey several times each, and they suggest a bleak, unforgiving, survivalist mentality that pervaded Greek culture, and while this book reflects that perspective to a degree, King Leonidas of the Spartans seems much more pensive and philosophical than warlike and vindictive, as he is often portrayed.  The culture of the Spartans, as illustrated in the novel, is harsh and violent, but not mindless and one-dimensional, as with the movie 300.  Don't get me wrong: I enjoyed the movie, but I admit it was cartoonish and unrealistic.  Gates of Fire is much more realistic and, as a result, more enjoyable in the empathy it develops.


True Grit by Charles Portis
This was a February choice, and the serendipity of the season matched the tone of the novel: Bleak, harsh, direct, and unforgiving.  The narrator, a woman reflecting on a significant event from her childhood, is the same as in the film versions.  She is caustic and opinionated, unyielding and resourceful.  She knows her own mind and is a great companion on this journey of vengeance.  I saw the film version with John Wayne many, many years ago, and then the more recent re-make with Jeff Bridges (which I liked better), but the book helped develop the characters in ways the films could not.  The wry observations made by the narrator and her frequent attempts to rationalize her decisions made the book a great companion for the films.  Lots of humor, lots of action.  The irascible Rooster Cogburn is difficult to root against.  The characters are well-developed and compelling, and each one is driven by his or her own goals, making this a realistic piece of fiction.  The grittiness and details of the book make it easy for readers to immerse themselves in the setting.  This is a good winter read--not for the beach.

A Guide to Fantasy Literature by Philip Martin

I read this a couple months ago and have just now gotten around to posting.  This was a somewhat disappointing text.  I was hoping for something new and challenging, but this lacked the authoritative voice and originality that I was looking for.  The author didn't seem scholarly so much as enthusiastic and amateurish.  It's a short, easy-to-read guide that would appeal more to a casual reader (or writer) of fantasy than a scholar. There are few academic references in the book, but there are a whole lot of quotes from fantasy novels and authors. The organization is logical, and the prose is readable if not elegant. There are a few errors in the book--typos, really--and the author does not risk much, intellectually-speaking, or open himself up for serious critique.  It's pretty bland, overall.  The divisions of fantasy literature, or "rings" as the author denotes them (possibly a nod to Tolkien), into High, Adventure, Fairy-tale, Magical Realism, and Dark are over-broad, rough, and expansive, like cutting a piece of paper with an axe. The way the author describes it, "Dark Fantasy" is actually just horror literature, and most serious scholars would put more distance than Martin between the category of fantasy and fairy-tale or magical realism.

The first half of this short book deals with fantasy from an academic perspective and is more interesting to a reader than the second half which deals with fantasy from a writer's perspective. The first half is also more illuminating; the second half is fairly generic, as the information can be found in most books that deal with fiction-writing as a craft.

I recommend this book to a casual reader who knows little about fantasy but would like to broaden their understanding. A serious reader or scholar would likely find little of value here that might expand their knowledge base or challenge their thinking.  Farah Mendlesohn is MUCH more illuminating to read.

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Short post today.  A really fascinating book filled with great anecdotes and applications of Gladwell's central concept.  Essentially, he says we humans should trust our instincts because, generally speaking, we're accurate on our first impressions--even if they take place within the blink of an eye.  We may not be able to fully articulate these impressions, but we shouldn't let that stop us.  There's a caveat, though: If we don't have a significant experience with something, or if we let our prejudices cloud our judgments, then we are apt to make a poor choice.  I guess the upshot is, trust your reaction to something if you know enough about it, but make sure your position isn't influenced by prejudices.