Leviathan Wakes

Leviathan wakes / James S.A. Corey. -- New York : Orbit, c2011.
582 p. ; 24 cm.
(The Expanse ; book 1)
ISBN: 9780316129084 (pbk.)
"James S.A. Corey is the pen name of fantasy author Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck..." page 567

1. Conspiracies – Fiction. 2. Interplanetary voyages – Fiction. 3. Science fiction. 4. Space warfare – Fiction.

813.6

Even though he grew up in the gravity well of Earth, executive officer Jim Holden of the Canterbury is comfortable with his job hauling icebergs from the rings of Saturn back to the fifty million customers now living in the asteroid belt. In the century and a half since it was settled, the Belters, long and lean by Martian or Earth standards, have developed their own culture and ethos, but still Holden is comfortable among them. But his comfort disappears when his ship gets a distress call that turns out to be bait for an ambush. What Holden does in the aftermath ignites an interplanetary war.

Part military science fiction, part detective story with a touch of horror the authors (Cory is the joint pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) have stuffed Leviathan Wakes full of action, adventure, delightfully inventive plot twists and interesting characters. The nearly 600 page tome seemed to speed by as I read it and left me in eager anticipation of the next installment of the saga.

D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths

D'Aulaires' book of Norse myths / by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire ; preface by Michael Chabon. – New York : New York Review of Books, [2005], c1967.
xiii, 154 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 31 cm.
ISBN: 9781590171257
Includes index
Originally published as Norse Gods and Giants. Garden City : Doubleday, 1967.

1. Giants – Mythology. 2. Gods, Norse. 3. Mythology, Norse.

293.13

The creation of the world, Frost Giants, and Gods as recorded by the Icelandic eddas is presented by the D'Aulaires in color filled large format lithographs and clear English prose. Originally published as Norse Gods and Giants, short introductions of the Aesir Gods and the Jotun follow the creation story. These in turn are followed by the adventures of Loki and Thor, and then the final battle of Ragnarokk. A helpful index that includes a pronunciation guide is appended.

The Poetic Edda

The Poetic Edda / translated with an introduction and explanatory notes by Lee M. Hollander.— 2d ed., revised. -- Austin : University of Texas Press, [1962]
xxix, 343 p. 24 cm.
Contains pronunciation guide, glossary, index and list of names
Selected Bibliography: p. 327-328
LCCN: 61-10045
ISBN: 0292764995 (paperback)

1. Edda Sæmundar --Translations into English. 2. Eddas --Translations into English. 3. Mythology, Norse – Poetry. 4. Nibelungen --Romances. 5. Old Norse poetry --Translations into English. 6. Sagas --Translations into English. 7. Siegfried (Legendary character) --Romances.

839.61

I was fortunate to have recently read the D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths before I tackled this more challenging read, which the D'Aulaires had cited as their source. The University of Texas, where he was Professor of Germanic Languages, in 1962, published Professor Hollander’s revised translation. The Edda, literally grandmother in Old Norse, is a collection of poems by different poets arranged to tell the stories of the Norse gods and heroes. “Collected by an unidentified Icelander, probably during the twelfth or thirteen century, The Poetic Edda was rediscovered in the seventeenth century by Danish scholars.” In order to retain as much of the poetry of the original, much of which comes from alteration, Hollander made a point of using as many Germanic derived words as he could in his translation. Many of the words he chose did not come from modern English. For example, hight instead of named, eke instead of also, rede instead of counsel, etc. A glossary is included as an appendix, but of the above three examples, only the first is included. While this adds to the authentic sound, there is a trade-off in comprehension. I found myself alternating back and forth between the text, the footnotes and an online edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. Even so, it’s a very lively collection of poems, full of battles, revenge, gods, giants, and even a talking dragon. Part of the verve comes from Hollander himself who is frank and forthright in his opinions. For example part of his introduction to the sequence “The Plaint of Oddrun,” includes his opinion that, “Aesthetically, too, the poem is inferior. Though facile, it is full of inconsistencies and irrelevancies, due in this instance, not only to a problematic and utterly disordered text, but also to the mediocrity of the poet."

The Children of Odin

The children of Odin : the book of northern myths / by Padraic Colum ; illustrated by Willy Pogany. – New York : Collier, 1984, c1920.
271 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
ISBN: 0027228908

1. Mythology, Norse. 2. Volsunga saga. English. 3. Nibelungen.

293.13

Norse mythology retold as a very satisfying prose narrative by Irish writer Colum. It has remained a favorite since its first publication in 1920. Like the D'Aulaires, he draws upon the material of the Eddas with the addition of the heroic tales of Sigurd, the Volsungs, the Nibelung, and their cursed treasure.

Who Fears Death

Who fears death / Nnedi Okorafor. – New York : DAW Books, [2010]

386 p. ; 24 cm.

ISBN: 9780756406172

1. Africa – Fiction. 2. Fantasy fiction. 3. Feminist fiction. 4. Genocide --Fiction. 5. Magic --Fiction. 6. Racially mixed people -- Africa --Fiction.

813.6

In the future, in an Africa that is almost entirely desert, angry and determined Onyesonwu (her name means Who fears death?) demands that the village sorcerer Aro teach her the Great Mystic Points. He refuses because she is a girl. She is also Ewu, a racially mixed child, a child of weaponized rape. Her biological father was part of the army that burned her mother’s village to the ground. He was also a powerful evil sorcerer. In addition to her unusual skin color, Onyesonwu has also inherited his magical power. Using the raw power of her untrained magic she forces Aro to take her as a student. She will use her magic, her anger and her determination to stop the genocide and save her people.

William Shakespeare's King Lear : a graphic novel

William Shakespeare's King Lear : a graphic novel / by Gareth Hinds. – Cambridge : Thecomic.Com 2007.
122 p. : col. ill. ; 28 cm.
ISBN: 9781893131064
1st ed.

1. Graphic novels. 2. Lear, King (Legendary character) -- Comic books, strips, etc. I. Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. King Lear. II. William Shakespeare's King Lear. III. King Lear.

741.5973

This is the most successful adaptation of Shakespeare to the graphic medium that I have read. Wisely, Hinds keeps large parts of the original dialog so the poetry and the passion of the play are undiluted. In supplementary notes at the end of the text he explains his choices.

To the text he has added superlative composition. Dialog is presented in a script typeface of his own design that’s clear to read and complementary to the composition. For most of the work he either adapts or abandons the traditional comic panels. He uses line—sometimes a dotted line to indicate the path of a character across the page—to move readers’ eyes through the story. So the most emotionally charged scenes brilliantly swirl and hurl across the page. Towards the end of the book watercolor washed illustrations contrast with adjacent sharply inked lines to highlight the King and Cordelia, at first in his joy at being found by her and reconciled and then in his overwhelming grief at her death.

Hinds also uses the graphic medium to produce an effect that would not be possible in a stage production, a panorama. The first use is static. Lear’s castle is shown in the dark and from a distance on page 11 to close the first scene. More action is introduced on page 23 the reader sees Edmund at first conferring with Curan on the center left of the page and then below laying in wait to deceive his brother who is approaching from a dark path on the right side of the page, all this done in a single dark blue and green full page panel. But the more engaging use of the effect begins on page 32 Gloucester is pleading with Cornwall not to put Kent in the stocks in a panel on the upper left, immediately to the right in a circular panel Cornwall proceeds to do so anyhow. This panel is outlined in a large red circled connected to the same action in smaller scale in the large, more than half page panel below as Edgar emerges from the hole high in the tree in which he has been hiding and views the scene from afar. In the following full page to the right he strips himself down against a plain white background to transform himself into mad Tom. On the next page (again a full-page panel) he slips over the wall to escape as Lear and his company approach in the background. On page 38 the swirling winds of the upcoming storm dominate the page as Edgar creeps away and Cornwall and Regan approach to confront the enraged Lear. Nine pages later, tiny white outlines of Lear, Kent and the Fool stand beneath the lighting flash and a great “KRAKOOOM!” of thunder. A dramatic double page spread of the clash of the British and French armies sweep across pages 94-95, a scene that necessarily happens off stage in the play.

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman / Laurence Sterne ; read by Anton Lesser.—Franklin : Naxos Audio Books 2009
15 sound discs (19 hr., 2 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in. + 32 p. booklet ; ill.
ISBN: 9789626349670

1. Autobiography--Authorship--Fiction. 2. English wit and humor. 3. Experimental fiction. 4. Parent and child--Fiction. 5. Stream of consciousness fiction.

823.6

This is a very silly book. It’s strewn full of humor from wordplay, typographical shenanigans, and mock scholarship to slapstick and bawdy ****** innuendo. There are a few random bits of Tristram’s life and opinions scattered randomly in the book—and it is a very random book—although Tristram himself is a very minor character being at the same time an omnipresent and garrulous narrator. He provides mountains of opinion from his father, Walter whose opinions are strong, scholarly, forcefully put, and occasionally contradictory, and from his humble and effacing Uncle Toby (especially when he gets on his HOBBY-HORSE, military fortifications!) and from their neighbors Dr. Slop and The Reverend Mr. Yorick, who stop by to offer their varied learned scientific and theological advises. There is also a chapter on mustaches, a chapter on noses—quite a lot about noses—poor Tristram doesn’t have much of one due to Dr. Slop’s sloppy use of the forceps at birth—and a chapter on chapters.

Lesser's vocal characterizations are excellent. The reader, director, and producers are also to be congratulated on their skillful and ability to turn *********, omissions, and squiggly lines and other typographical jokes into a properly silly aural experience.