Category: Literature

My Search for Good Steampunk Literature

Posted April 12, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature / 7 Comments

Steampunk and literature is an odd combination and I’ve often found it hard to find decent examples of this genre. It has gotten to the point where it is easier to look for the genre Alternate History instead of trying to find good Steampunk that isn’t the generic mass produced Young Adult novels. I’m not saying all Steampunk or YA novels are mass produced rubbish but when I look at the most popular Steampunk list on Goodreads I find the top ten are pretty much 4 different YA book series;

Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger
Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld
The Clockwork Century series by Cherie Priest
The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare

I’ve not read many books from these series but I tend to think of those books are either Paranormal Fiction or Fantasy with very small elements of Steampunk. I know this genre is hard to categorise because it often features elements of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, horror, and paranormal but from a literary point of view it’s hard to find to find exceptional novels in this genre. Often this genre is generalised as Victorian alternative history featuring anachronistic technology, or futuristic innovations.

So if we leave out the obvious influences, such as Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and even Mary Shelley are there any Steampunk novels that a wannabe literary snob like me would consider worthy? I can only think of two.

The Difference Engine by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling

Often considered one of the first Steampunk novels this had pretty much everything I want in a Steampunk novel; the Victorian/Sci-Fi mix worked really well and it was nice to read a book with one of my heroes, Lord Byron, in it. The book follows a world changing with the invention of a mechanical and analytical computer. The book focuses not only on the technological boost but also the social change that come with it. Although at times it did drag on a little, this is definitely a recommended read for someone interested in getting a feel for the Steampunk genre.

Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway

Having recently mentioning this book in my trending books post, I thought Imight read this book before everyone else does. I’m glad I did. I hope this book gets read by many people; it has so much to offer. Angelmaker is a Steampunk adventure unlike anything I’ve read before, featuring a mystery involving Joe Spork the son of a gangster, a spy and his quest to stop the evil villain Shem Shem Tsien and his doomsday device. While this book may feel more like a plot for a Bond movie the writing is what makes this book so great; while many people compare the style to Charles Dickens, I think that it was the Victorian writing style that made this book such a standout.

I’m interested in the Steampunk genre, so I would love to know what people think about it and what they would recommend to others. I will continue my search from great books,

even in the Steampunk genre and I hope to never rule out a popular YA books as good literature.

Cybersex with George RR Martin

Posted March 16, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature / 5 Comments

I’ve now read the first two books of The Song of Ice and Fire series (also known as Game of Thrones, thanks to the TV series) by George RR Martin. While I do like the epic story that is slowly coming together in this book, I have one big issue with these books. While reading the book I feel like I’m having cybersex with a creepy old man. This old man is living out all of his fantasies on to the pages of his book and I feel very very dirty when reading it. Every sick and twisted fantasy has come alive on the pages of these books, from lactating breasts, BDSM, rape and even incest. It sometimes feels like it’s a 15 year old writing the scenes but knowing he is now 65 years old doesn’t help at all. Lines like “It tastes salty sire; like the sea” doesn’t help his case and sound very tacky. I will continue reading the series; only to keep ahead of the television series but I’m not in a hurry for more cybersex.

Reamde and my Fears of Large Novels

Posted February 15, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature, Thriller / 5 Comments

I don’t normally read books that are over 1000 pages and after reading Reamde, I’m a little reluctant to read something this big again. Not that there was anything wrong with this book; but sitting at over 1100 pages, it was a big task chipping away through this book. Neal Stephenson provides a story full of nerdism, thrills and a lot of action, dipping into aspects of organised crime and terrorism. My first thought of this book was the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) game that this book is based around; every aspect of this game is covered in this book. It takes all the aspects he liked about World of Warcraft and gave it a face lift, threw out all the parts he didn’t like, even going to the extent of making the world geographically accurate for people interested in mining. But the underlining reason for T’Rain, is the gold farming market; while Blizzard tries to crack down on farming, this game is based around a potential money laundry scheme. While T’Rain was created for sinister reasons, the creation of the game and the employee of popular fantasy writers turned the game into a huge success. Just reading about this game made me want to play it. This game serves as a background for the main plot in Reamde.

While there is a lot happening in Reamde, the main plot is centred around a virus, which encrypts files and hold them for ransom for T’Rain gold. This virus affects a computer containing sensitive documents of the Russian Mob, who do not wish to pay the ransom but set out to hunt down the people behind the virus and make an example of them. Along the way many people become involved including the T’Rain founder, a T’Rain employee, some Chinese gold farmers/hackers, a Russian mercenary, a Hungarian hacker, the CIA, MI6 and some international terrorists.

While I enjoyed the ride that Reamde took me on, I can’t help thinking that there is a lot of fat that needs to be trimmed. I’m not sure if being a bestselling author Neal Stephenson had the freedom to fatten this book up, or the editors didn’t do a good job, or they intentionally left the book this long; but I think that this book could haveeasily been turned into a 700-800 page novel without losing any of the plot. While this book was really enjoyable for a nerd like me, I still can’t help but wonder; does it need to be this big?

Which brings me to the point of this blog post; do you find big novels daunting? I know some people prefer a longer novel, because they are not ready to leave a world so quickly; it’s possible these people are fast readers or not so easily distracted. I often think that I tend to get bored with the world, often wishing for it to end. This could be because I’m easily distracted, or because I’m impatient and want to move onto a new book; I often procrastinate reading by reading another book. I’m just curious how people view large novels; would you prefer them or do you try to avoid them? In the past I think I would avoid them, often dreading reading books that are more the 600 pages but I’ve come to the realisation that I can’t put them off for too long. My to-read pile is growing at an alarming pace and the amount of larger novels are making me feel a little uneasy.

In the past I think my average novel is about 280-300 pages long (thank goodness for pulp novels and their need to wrap up in under 300 pages) but I’ve had to push myself to tackle some of the bigger novels. There are too many classics that need to be read and there are a few recent releases that seem to be critically acclaimed that I’ve got my eye on. Personally my reading goal is 100 books a year but maybe next year I should focus on a page count instead of trying to push myself to read 100 books. Please let me know your thoughts of larger novels; I would love to know the pros and cons of them.

Remakes and Modernisations

Posted December 14, 2011 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature / 8 Comments

With recent rumours of another American Psycho movie adaption, I thought I might throw my two cents in about remakes and modernisations. First of all, I’ll start with American Psycho; I’ve read the book and seen the 2000 cult classic. Whether you liked it or not, there is no denying that the movie captured the essence of the book, with all its darkness and satire. Also, let’s face it; can you really imagine anyone else but Christian Bale playing Patrick Bateman? Ellis has said he would approve of the remake if Miles Fisher plays the lead (if you have seen the music video ‘This Must Be The Place’ then you will know why). But I can’t see the remake working as it is said it will also be a modernisation; I don’t see how the dark comedy will translate at all.

Apart from this movie, there have been many books that have been remade into movies and modernised but how often does it really work? With superhero and comic book franchises, it works because there are so many different avenues and story lines to explore but with a book you really are bound to the same story.

This brings me to a modernisation that I’ve actually enjoyed, two in fact, both from the same book. This Book was Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel ‘The Scarlet Letter’. The first modernisation was the film Easy A, which took the concept of The Scarlet Letter and transferred into a modern high school environment. This movie took the concept of adultery and the effects of passing judgment and applied it to the high school issue of bullying. It was incredibly main-stream but I enjoyed it none-the-less.

The second was something I’ve not seen before, I modernisation in book form; this was Hillary Jordan’s young adult novel ‘When She Woke’. Like most YA novels, this is set in a dystopian society in the not so distant future. In the world, The Church governs all and the church is pretty much like Westboro church. As a form of punishment Hannah Payne has her skin altered bright red so the world will know her sins. Now she has to live in a society that will judge her without knowing her.

The concept of remake of a remake or modernisation done like When She Woke is new to me and I wonder how many books are remakes or modernisations. Which brings me to another thought; what is the difference between a remake and a homage? The lines seem to blur between the two but I would love to know your thoughts in the comments below.

Pulp Fiction

Posted October 26, 2011 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature, Pulp / 4 Comments

Thanks to the “1001 Books to Read Before you Die” list I’ve been able to explore all types of genres in an effort to find a favourite. I believe I’ve found this genre, and that is Pulp; not crime or mystery in general, but the dark and gritty style of Hard-Boiled and Noir novels. Pulp fiction originated as a type of inexpensive fiction magazine published from 1896 through the 1950s commonly releasing adventure, detective/mystery, fantasy, gangster and science fiction stories. One of the more famous pulp magazines was known as Black Mask which produced a lot of crime stories which became the basis of the Hard-Boiled and Noir genres.

Now there isn’t much difference between the two genres, both written in a laconic, dispassionate, often ironic style of realism. Hard-Boiled is the detective genre, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex, made famous by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. While Noir focuses on a plot where the protagonist is the victim, suspect, or perpetrator; this style was commonly used by seminal author James M Cain. While the two genres are not black and white, often authors like Jim Thompson would blur the lines by writing about a detective or police officer being the perpetrator of the crimes.

In the film industry these types of movies are all classed as noir movies, which has been a huge success in France and in recent years has been modernised (both in films and literature) creating a new genre known as Neo-Noir. This genre is not necessarily a crime melodrama set in modern times but often set in the future (blending Noir with Science Fiction and Cyberpunk).

From my experience, the pulp genre seems to become popular in waves; first in the 1930 and 40’s with the original greats like Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and James M Cain. Later in the 1950 and 60’s it was revived again with authors like Jim Thompson, Ross MacDonald, David Goodis and Charles Williams. Then again in the 1980 and 90’s with authors like Elmore Leonard, Robert B. Parker, Walter Mosley and James Ellroy. It is possible that this genre is on the verge of making another come back; with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo been compared to this genre and the popularity of the new video game LA Noire which has sparked a book of short stories based in that world. I can only hope, but with so many dime store books to catch up with, I think I will be alright without the genre making a comeback.

I really took to these genres, simply for the gritty realism, strong dialogue and wittiness and/or irony. While I have a lot to get through, I thought I would end this post with a top 5, for anyone interested in trying this genre out. If you have any recommendations, please let me know.

5. Pop. 1280 by Jim Thompson

The experimental style of Jim Thomspon made him one of darkest authors in this genre. The protagonist in this book is disturbing and still remains very realistic.

4. Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett

While many people would choose The Maltese Falcon, this book has more violence, gangsters and corruption.

3. The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy

Using a true crime as the basis of this book, The Black Dahlia is both modern (written in 1987) and keeping to the same style and feel to many of the great pulp authors.

2. The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain

This book was full of sexuality and violence that was startling in the time and was ended up being banned in Boston. It’s a shining example of what a good noir novel should be like.

1. The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler

While some people would recommend The Big Sleep or Farewell, My Lovely; The Long Goodbye gets the nod from me for its social criticism and autobiographical elements.

Literary Paris

Posted October 4, 2011 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature / 13 Comments

Paris is a city full of culture, with a rich history and recently I was able to visit this beautiful city and now all I want to do is talk about the literary side of this city. No, I didn’t get to go the Jules Verne Restaurant on the Eiffel Tower and I didn’t get to visit Oscar Wilde’s grave but I did see some very interesting sites, thanks to an iPhone app and some exploring.

SAM_0185 — James Joyce’s Apartment in Paris

One of the first places we saw was the apartment of James Joyce. Joyce lived in the apartment during the 1920’s and 30’s and it was here were he penned his masterpiece Ulysses.

Completely by accident we then came across the Panthéon. Originally a church, the Panthéon is full of history, mainly dedicated to the French Revolution. In the Crypt you can find many of French’s great heroes from the French Revolution as well as some of the country’s greatest writers including Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas. Completely by accident we also found that the Panthéon is the place where Foucault pendulum is on display. For those who don’t know, this pendulum shares the same name as a conspiracy masterpiece by Umberto Eco.

While the original Shakespeare and Co book store was forced to close its doors when owner Silvia Beach refused to sell the last copy of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake to a Nazi officer, the store did reopen in 1951. The original served as a gathering place for writers such as Ernest Hemingway, William S. Burroughs, and James Joyce in the 1920’s. The reopened Shakespeare and Co strives to cater to writers and readers in the same way as the original, seeing many beat writers such as Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, and William S. Burroughs again. The Shakespeare and Co bookstore initially published Joyce’s book Ulysses in 1922. While Ulysses and books like Lady Chatterley’s Lover was banned around the world, readers can both buy and borrow these books from the Shakespeare and Co book store. This bookshop also appears in the new Woody Allen movie, Midnight in Paris.

The upscale Rue Gît-le-Cœur hotel was once a rundown hotel with no name, popularly known as the Beat hotel. This hotel was in the 1950’s saw many Beat authors including Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Derek Raymond, Harold Norse, Gregory Corso, Sinclair Beiles and even William s. Burroughs who completed his book, Naked Lunch, in the hotel.

Oscar Wilde spent his last days in exile in L’Hôtel room 16. While there is a story going around that Wilde’s last words was ‘Either this wallpaper goes or I will’ many people believe his last words really were “I am dying beyond my means”. Other famous guests include Marlon Brando and writer Jorge Luis Borges.

While there is much more I can talk about in Paris, including the L’Académie française; the French Academy involved in protecting and preserving the French language as well as handing out the Country’s literary awards. I did have to spend some times looking at the sites and art of Paris as well. This is a beautiful city with so much to explore and discover. It is rich in history and culture and I do hope to return there again someday.

My Issues With The Book Thief

Posted August 3, 2011 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature / 10 Comments

I felt the need to write a new blog post because it’s been a while and this book has been bugging me all night; time to create some controversy. I recently read The Book Thief, a book that has come highly recommended to me, but I’m struggling to see why. As many people know The Book Thief is a young adult book by Australian author Markus Zusak that has been an international bestseller and has won numerous awards. The book tells the story of a teenage girl living in Nazi Germany who likes to steal books. While most people adored this book, I never was able to get into it and I wasn’t really sure why; this seemed to keep me up all night, so I thought I would share what I liked and didn’t like about it.

The Writing

For the most part, this novel is well written; almost in a poetic way. But at the start of each part, I’m not sure why Zusak has to list every main character that will appear in the next section, it felt a bit like a screen play in that aspect and I really felt as if he was giving away the story before it actually happened. This was only a minor problem but it did bug me a little. As for the rest of the writing, it was an unusual style that took awhile to adapt to but it really did work with the narrative.

The Characters

I never really got into any other characters in this book. I felt Liesel didn’t even need to steal books in the end but it didn’t really seem to stop her. Hans seemed to be a typical nice guy that didn’t know how to say no, Max didn’t really do much that was of interest, Rudy only cared about kissing Liesel and the only person that seemed to be colourful was her foster mother, Rosa. I thought all the characters were two dimensional and no one really had any depth. Quite frankly, I didn’t care what happened to any of them, the only person that seemed interesting was the Narrator; Death.

The Narrative

I like the fact that Death was the narrator; he did offer a unique perspective on some very dull characters. It took me a while to get used to the fact that Death wasn’t a dark character but a hopeful observer, but as my wife pointed out, Death wouldn’t be haunted by himself; it’s the humans that are haunted by him and we are the ones that think he represents an ending. It turned out that Death was haunted by humans, leading to some interesting themes throughout the book.

The Plot

I don’t know if it was my need for the macabre, the fact I wanted a dark YA book or the fact that it was set in Nazi Germany; but I really wanted this novel to be darker than it actually was. Being in war time Germany, you would expect something exciting to happen. They hide Max; the Jew in the basement and there was some bombings but apart from that, there was nothing of a climax in The Book Thief, it felt like it dragged on and never went anywhere. I really thought Zusak was holding back and was too afraid to go to a dark place and it ended up been too light and fluffy for a war time story.

The Major Themes

While this does appear to be a light read, there are still some very interesting themes throughout this novel. The main theme that stuck with me is the way Death is trying to understand the two sides of humanity; while the Nazi’s are cruel to the Jews, one member of the party, Hans, shows nothing but kindness and compassion towards them. While this is confusing to Death, it really is an interesting theme to have in a YA novel, where the majority of the readers are at a point in their life where they need to find their identity. Other themes that showed up in the book included guilt and the value of works (as a reader and a writer).

The Book Thief is for the most part a nicely written YA story, but the potential was there for something far better. I understand the fact that holding back for a YA novel, but I’m sure the readers know that war is a dark and scary place and the writer could have used that to make this book a more exciting read. I hope people enjoy this book, but for me I expected much more. What did others think of this book?

What is Wrong with Dark YA Novels?

Posted June 9, 2011 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature / 0 Comments

As most of you have heard, a few days ago The Wall Street Journal released an article about Young Adult (YA) fiction been excessively dark and parents being concerned about the effects of this on their children. While I’ve not read much YA, I do feel the need to defend it as I am a fan of dark imagery. For starters, this is nothing new; parents have been concerned about their children and what they do for a very long time (possibly forever) and teens will always feel an attraction to doing something their parents don’t approve of; whether it’s to rebel or just curiosity. Apart from that, controversial YA books are nothing new; The Catcher in the Rye is the first book that comes to mind, being the one most censored book in the world and always getting complaints from parents when their children have to read it. In the 1970’s, there was Go Ask Alice which to this day has been slammed for been too controversial for teens to read.

In the world today teenagers are exposed to a lot of questions and getting very little answers. While they may not all be abused, a lot of them have to deal with being harassed, neglected or even the feeling of being misunderstood. Sometimes a parent or a teacher can help but sometimes they are just too embarrassed to ask, so they are drawn to these books because they are looking for answers.

Some are just reading these books for information, they may not have questions that need answering. They are just curious; either about things they’ve experienced (loneliness, heart break, pain) or about things they haven’t experienced yet (sex, drugs, suicide).

So from what I can gather; Teenagers read dark YA fiction for three main reasons;

1. They are dealing with similar issues as the characters in the book.

2. Even if they don’t have a similar life as the characters, they share similar feelings.

3. They read books for the same reasons that adults read books: for fun; to explore another world.

While these books may seem dark, I’ve noticed the hashtag #YASaves going around twitter, where people talk about how reading these books may have helped them and even saved their lives. The main reason for this (from what I can gather) is that these books are showing them why certain behaviours are dangerous. Literature connects us and these YA novels just act as a bridge between the darkness of our thoughts and reality. It can save us by showing the dangers of the thoughts we may be having and the effect they would have on yourself and others around you.

This whole discussion about dark novels, feels close to the discussions of censorship (to me). We have to remember while these young adults read books like this, it doesn’t mean they are going to turn into something bad, it is more likely to do them good than harm. (At least they are reading.) I feel the need to read more young adult fiction (not the ones about fairies) and see just how dark they are, but I have a huge to-read list and may not get to a YA book for awhile. However I know many adults that do read these books and none have ever mentioned them being harmful. I would love to know what others think of the Wall Street Journal article and YA novels in general. What do you like/dislike about them and what is your favourite?

Is there Pre-Tolkien Fantasy?

Posted June 3, 2011 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature / 0 Comments

Last night at Trivia, I was having a conversation about The Lord of the Rings and its effect on literature and fantasy. I asked the question ‘What fantasy was there before Tolkien?’ A question that I thought I would get some interesting answers but it was a question that they didn’t know how to answer. Was there fantasy before Tolkien? While J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis would be the ones responsible for making fantasy popular; the genre isn’t really that new. While the concept of a fantasy genre may seem new, a lot of it draws from Epic Poems such as The Odyssey & Beowulf, but also from Fairy Tales, Fables and Myths. I’m not a huge fan of fantasy as a genre, so I might be missing some information, but from what I can find the first Fantasy novel was by George MacDonald but writers like Lord Dunsany have been writing short stories beforehand. For more about pre-Tolkien fantasy, check out this list from Goodreads.

Another thing I’ve noticed about fantasy, while this is often a new world with commonly known races; Tolkien’s Elves, Hobbits, Orcs, etc have been used time and time again. I know there are probably people that differ from Tolkien’s world but it seems to be a template that is being used far too often. While I haven’t read the Lord of the Rings books, I’ve seen the movie and can see similarities between Tolkien and other books, movies and games in the fantasy genre.

We owe a lot to J.R.R. Tolkien for everything he has done for speculative fiction; I would like to know, can books step out of his shadows and reinvent the races or the genre successfully? Also I would love to know more about the fantasy genre and all its subgenres. What would fantasy novel would you recommend to people?

The Eucatastrophic Ending

Posted May 17, 2011 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature / 0 Comments

Is it just me, or do eucatastrophic*, Hollywood or happy endings always seem like we are wrapping things up in a tiny little bow. I know there is a time and a place for this but I’ve found that life is not neatly wrapped up, so why do it in books or movies. I’m a big fan of noir and books like Wuthering Heights, Anna Karenina & Frankenstein, so maybe my opinion is biased. But I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately (especially in the aspect of movie adaptations changing the ending to make the story come together) and while I think there are many decent books with a happy ending (To Kill a Mockingbird, Shipping News or The Lord of the Rings) they just don’t sit well with me.

So why do I prefer a book with a more realistic ending? Apart from the fact that I like dark/gothic imagery, I think the fact that a book that ends on a less than happy note often has a more lasting effect on the reader, giving the reader something to ponder, talk about and even make them feel more superior than the protagonist. Sure, happy endings leave their audiences happy; if only for a little while. For a lot of people, happiness is hard to come by and they like to escape at any chance. I think my major issue with happy endings is this simple fact; happy endings tend to be too predictable, and I like to be thrown off guard with an unexpected twist or plot turn.

I know there is a time and a place for a happy, sad or realistic ending. I would like to know what you think in regards to the advantages and disadvantages of happy endings.

*Eucatastrophe is a term coined by J. R. R. Tolkien which refers to the sudden turn of events at the end of a story which result in the protagonist’s well-being.