ender / books

[jazzfish]

Creating the Innocent Killer: "God, how I would have loved this book in seventh grade! It’s almost as good as having a nuclear device." A disturbing analysis of _Ender's Game_. One of the problems I've always had with the book was Graff's reliance on I did it, and it worked as a justification for what he and Ender do. "The ends justify the means" is nothing more than an attempt to avoid the consequences of one's actions, and one that should be easily swatted down by any serious moral/ethical thinker. (For the record, I /did/ love both _Ender's Game_ and _Speaker for the Dead_ in seventh grade.)

The above came out of the comments to Authors I've Given Up On, featuring such once-considered-greats as David Eddings, Robert Heinlein, the aforementioned Orson Scott Card, and Ursula K. Le Guin. Most of the authors I've given up on were those whose work I adored in high school and have since moved past: Eddings and Card, of course, but also Piers Anthony, Mercedes Lackey, Spider Robinson . . . my library will attest to my difficulty in Giving Up on an author. Stephen R. Lawhead, after being sorely disappointed by his additions to the wonderful Pendragon trilogy; Robin Hobb, for going from "here is this awesome world with awesome things in it" (the Farseer trilogy) to "here are some awesome things that don't necessarily fit well into the world but dammit they're in there anyway" (Liveship Traders); doubtless someone will remind me of others in the comments. (And Le Guin's short stories, YA books, and essays are, in general, superior to her "adult" novels. I'm just saying.)

Speaking of books, The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair is worth drooling over. "Tolkien's hand has the beautiful italic swoopings of Elvish, which led me both to the obvious but never-considered knowledge that when we see Elvish in the books we are looking at Tolkien's handwriting and the less-obvious pondering of what influence Tolkien's handwriting had on the shape and contours and production of his letters."

Galactus Is Coming!: "Son, the law of averages and the sheer number of giant space men who want to kill you means probably one will get through at some point." Jack Chick meets Marvel. Priceless.

Currently it looks like I'll be spending Thursday evening and much of Friday doing nothing at all. Downtime good, but other people also good. So, let me know if something cool happens.

Comments

[laughin.livejournal.com]

I tried reading something by Card, not Ender's Game. Awful stuff.

[jazzfish]

I keep wanting to say "hey it's not all that bad" but not really coming up with any good examples of 'not all that bad.' _Treason_ and _Wyrms_ had some really nifty ideas, but the Homecoming ("The XXX of Earth") and Alvin Maker books were /horrid/.

What broke me for Card was a scene at the end of the third Alvin Maker book. Alvin looked into a kid's cells and slightly tweaked "the twisty parts, the parts that made him who he was." A hundred years before Watson and Crick this guy knows DNA when he sees it. Bleh, says I.

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

My biggest disappointment was Robert Holdstock. Everything after Mythago Wood, Lavondyss, and The Bone Forest just kind of fell flat. Okay, The Hollowing was pretty good, but everything else was pretty much crap.

I am going clubbing tomorrow night! I would urge you to come, but I plan on dancing all night and I won't be good company. You should come with company. :)

[jazzfish]

I've read _Mythago Wood_ and _Lavondyss_ but that was long ages ago. They're sitting on my shelf waiting for me to pick them up again. I'll stop after _Hollowing_, though. :)

Hm. Tempting. I'll see if I can find any cool people to come with me.

[rbandrews]

What makes you think Card agrees with Graff? Ender certainly doesn't. I read Graff as someone who didn't really understand what he was part of until it was far too late to stop it, and by the end of the book he is grasping for excuses why he shouldn't kill himself. See his conversation with Chamrajnagar when they first arrive on Eros, for example. He's not happy about who he's turned Ender into.

[jazzfish]

Graff's unhappy about what he turned Ender into, but he's not at all unhappy with the results. He did it, and it worked, for values of "worked" that include "saved humanity by exterminating the buggers." If given another chance he'd do it all over again without a moment's thought.

[rbandrews]

I don't think he's happy about exterminating them, just uses "it worked" as a way to rationalize it.
For that particular book, though, it's easy to discount anyone who didn't like it as someone who didn't understand it, and so I'm going to.

[mikailborg.livejournal.com]

Still reading Heinlein and Robinson, but I've had to give up on Anne McCaffrey, Tom Clancy, Piers Anthony, and William Gibson. I'm afraid to read the Quicksilver books, for fear they might sour my taste for Neal Stephenson; and Ringworld's Children just barely salvaged Larry Niven for me.

[laughin.livejournal.com]

Clancy has been boring, but I still feel the need to pick up his books in the hopes that MAYBE he will get better.

[rbandrews]

Clancy has gone beyond boring into brave new realms of dull, but I still feel the need to pick up his books as part of a weightlifting regimen.

[jazzfish]

Gibson? Really? I adored _Neuro_ and _Count Zero_ (hey, haven't we had this conversation already, a couple years ago?) and thought _Mona_ was alright; I've not read the next three. Well, I read _Virtual Light_ and _Idoru_ sometime before the third came out but haven't read them since then.

_Pattern Recognition_ I rather enjoyed, though, more than Mona even.

I like Snow Crash and will read Diamond Age eventually, but I suspect I will feel about the Baroque books the same way I do about Crypto: someone needs to get this man an editor, stat.

[rbandrews]

Diamond Age actually has an ending, it just happens about three-quarters of the way through the book.

[rbandrews]

I still think In The Beginning... Was The Command Line is his best, though.

[scathach.livejournal.com]

This has nothing to do with Turkey Day, but I'm coming home DSec. 22-28. I'm expecting a tour of scenic McLean, VA.

[nerwende.livejournal.com]

Robin Hobb, for going from "here is this awesome world with awesome things in it" (the Farseer trilogy) to "here are some awesome things that don't necessarily fit well into the world but dammit they're in there anyway" (Liveship Traders)
I'm curious to hear what are the things in Liveships that you think do not fit in. :)