Tag: books

Book Review: THE GRAVEYARD BOOK tugs at adult children’s heartstrings

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

Another wonderful modern fairytale by Neil Gaiman. At this point, I have no excuse whatsoever for not poring through every single story that Gaiman has ever written, because each story feels impactful and poignant.

I listened to the full-cast production of The Graveyard Book on Audible. I’m used to Gaiman narrating his own stories and being a fantastic storyteller. The full-cast production of The Graveyard Book is stellar; each voice actor brings nuance and feeling to their character(s), and the voicing brings real life to the scenes in a way I normally do not expect from audiobooks.

This story follows a boy who was raised in a graveyard after his family were murdered when he was a toddler, and eventually learns how to survive in the world outside. The boy, Bod, short for Nobody Owens, also must ultimately learn about the man who killed his family.

Gaiman writes primarily from the boy’s perspective, and Bod’s narrative voice grows naturally as he ages, a credit to Gaiman’s writing, and the voice actor’s work. Bod develops a close if curious relationship with his guardian, a not-quite-human-being named Silas who has an uncanny ability to fade into the shadows. Silas does not express the usual paternal emotions for his charge, but throughout the book, the emotional bond Bod has with Silas, and the other residents of his graveyard, are unshakable.

Yet again, Gaiman masterfully inserts pieces of folklore into his story to make it feel supernatural and mysterious and familiar all at once.

This is the third Neil Gaiman story I’ve read, and he is quickly bounding to the top of my favorite authors list. I cannot rave about this story enough, so I’ll stop myself before this gets out of hand.

Steve D

Review: THE WRONG ONE delivers thrilling twist

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Audible recently offered The Wrong One as part of some kind of sale. I’ll always give free books a shot, and I could definitely not say no to a novella by Dervla McTiernan.

I’ve read the first couple installments of McTiernan’s more well-known Cormac Reilly series, following a Dublin-born detective trying to figure out his career in Galway as he solves often strange cases.

McTiernan’s crime stories always have a slow burning build, usually following multiple characters, until the threads twist into an intense third act. It may sound formulaic, but the characters are always well-developed, and the twists are enough to put a reader off-kilter.

So, I went into The Wrong One expecting to be hooked from the start. Admittedly, I was not. The Wrong One uses two voice actors to narrate the respective point-of-view narrators in the story, and I was not a fan of the first narrator. I’ll go into a little more detail below, in a section marked for spoilers.

This first narrator had an odd inflection to his voice that irked me. The second narrator was good, fitting for a teenaged boy who thinks he knows everything.

Despite my issues with one of the narrators (and the character they were playing), the story’s tension ramped up rapidly with a looming realization and twist that only McTiernan can deliver with such fluidity and emotional weight. I ended up enjoying this story quite a lot. Now I just want to go read more Cormac Reilly stories.

Steve D

Spoiler section with some further thoughts…

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Alright, so I didn’t like the first narrator, playing Simon, had an inflection that made him sound emotionally vacant and like a know-it-all from the start, making him virtually unlikable. Then, as the story progressed, it becomes clear that Simon is more than full of himself — even delusional — about his advances towards Clara and her obvious (to everyone but him) complete disinterest in him. Then, his pathetic delusions became overbearing, then possessive, then manipulative, and then, holy shit it was him the whole time! Great twist. I’m telling myself that the strange voice-acting of the character was completely intentional to throw the reader off-balance from the start. Totally worked.

March Write Day: Plans to Execute

On By Steven D'AdamoIn FantasyLeave a comment

The shortest month of the year is through, and I half-heartedly wish I had a few more days. It’s been a good month overall, I just had a lull in the middle.

But an ending is also a beginning, and I’m pleased that a new month is starting.

Last Month’s Goals

  1. Complete my first round of revisions on Uprooted, The Herb Witch Tales #1.
  2. Read three books.
  3. Exercise at least three times a week.

Complete first round of revisions on Uprooted?

No. I’ve gotten about halfway through my draft. This is the primary lull I mentioned above. I just didn’t sit down enough nights to read through my story. Sometimes revisions, just like writing, is about number of sessions as much as productivity per session.

The good news is that halfway through, I like this story. The pacing is a little disorienting at first, which is intentional, and I can feel it slowing down into its middle rhythm. This first revision pass-through is about the overall flow, so feeling through those ebbs and flows is a good sign of how readers might engage with the story.

This revision process is also highlighting likely next steps for me. I think I want to complete this read-through of Uprooted, focused on overall flow and only obvious edits, and then read through again to trace scene placement and length.

Examining the scene placement and length per scene will help me determine whether particular scenes are unbalanced against others, or where natural breaks in the narrative occur. I wrote this story into ten chapters, but do the chapter breaks make sense? Are they too long? Because this is a novella, I’m starting to think that I should have more numerous but shorter chapters to help make the story more digestible.

I just want to validate that idea with a second read-through.

Once I have a good handle on the overall narrative flow and the scene breakdown of Uprooted, I’ll switch gears and follow the same process for New Earth, allowing me to ensure that the two stories make sense together as well as independently.

Read three books?

No, but I read two and started a third. I also made more progress on A Memory of Light. I got stuck on a longer nonfiction book, Dawn of the Code War, which is a bit of an oral history of the FBI’s, and the US’s, initial foray into cyber attacks. Really interesting read, but not the type of thing I can power through in a weekend.

I’m currently reading a short thriller, The Wrong One, by Dervla McTiernan. I’ve read a few of her Cormac Reilly books, so I did not hesitate to pick up this short story on Audible.

Next, I’m looking for some fantasy / historical fiction. Might be going back to Bernard Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom series… I’m on book eight.

Exercise three times per week?

YES at least in the back half of the month. I finally bit the bullet and paid for a workout app program thing. I chose Asana Rebel, since they had a one-year subscription deal and I kept seeing their ads. (Your Instagram marketing campaign worked on me, Asana Rebel! Curse you!)

I started with their intro program and am moving onto full yoga sets. It’s not terribly difficult for me to find 10-15 minutes of exercise time in a day. 20-30 minute sessions will be tougher. I’m thinking I’ll intersperse their yoga sessions with resistance training and… dare I say it? Sprinting.

I’m not into running, although I’ve been told I’m built like a runner. I’m not interested in long-distance running, but sprinting to build leg strength sounds okay. I just need to figure out what that type of workout looks like.

Asana Rebel is nice, because they push notifications to you about a weekly goal — mine is three workouts per week — and quiz you on your mood and what types of exercises may help you in the moment. At the moment, I like the structure it provides. I just need to be disciplined in building on top of it, so that’s what March will be about.

Goals for March

  1. Revisions for Uprooted, The Herb Witch Tales #1. I need to complete my first read-through focused on narrative flow and pacing.
    • Then I need to complete a second read-through to reverse engineer scene structure and chapter layout.
  2. Read three books. Pretty straightforward. I also want to continue making good progress on A Memory of Light. I’m at the point where some narrative chips are starting to fall, and it is both dreadful and exciting.
  3. Exercise at least three times a week. The app is making me do three workouts per week, at minimum. So that’s baseline. I also want to start adding in other forms of training, so I’m mentally aiming for 4-5 workouts per week, and I’ll see how my routine develops from there.

Steve D

Book Review: SECRET SON is family and sociopolitical drama wrapped in one story

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

Secret Son portrays the life of a young man in a Casablanca slum trying to find his way. Caught between the stories of orphanhood and struggle his mother raised him on and the discovery of his real family, Youssef tries to understand who he is versus the various roles that society asks him to play.

As a fatherless boy from a poor area, Youssef’s prospects are limited until he finds a glimmer of hope in the discovery of his unknown wealthy father. Youssef is suddenly thrust into the elite circles of Casablanca life. As he tries to fit into this new world, he must navigate college, friendships, life as a working man, and the opposing wishes of his parents — the mother who raised him, and the father he always wanted.

Ultimately, Youssef’s uncertainty leads him astray, and he must find a way out. Like many disillusioned adults, he turns to the only people who seem to understand his struggle, a local political organization who promise to help the people of Morocco.

For the first part of this story, Youssef is the only point-of-view character. However, this changes when the meeting between he and his father is told first from his father’s perspective, and then again from Youssef’s. In this and other mirrored scenes, the reader is able to understand the interior thoughts of each participant — how they react to and often misunderstand each other. I found myself relating to each of the characters in different ways, whether Youssef’s desperation for a path forward, his mother’s attempts to set him on that path, and his father’s hope for a brighter future with his newfound son. Other characters, as well, helped to fill in the gaps between these three, to give the reader a full picture of the history of this family.

The abrupt ending and non-finality of any characters’ stories were surprising but fitting. The notions of Family, Identity, and Home don’t have beginnings, middles, and ends. They are relationships an individual evolves over time that shape one’s decisions and outlook, but rarely settle in one place.

Lalami captured the turmoil of family, of adolescence, and of despair amidst social stagnation in ways that many will be able to relate to. Great story.

Steve D

February Write Day: Revision Time

On By Steven D'AdamoIn FantasyLeave a comment

January was cool. I feel like it somehow took me three weeks to get over the holiday craziness and get back to a normal routine.

Work has slowed down for me, and for a day or two last week I even felt a little bored.

But, the next thing is always coming.

I’ve managed to do a lot of reading and TV/movie watching this month, which has been a nice change of pace. I just need to balance that a bit with revisions for The Herb Witch Tales duology, starting with Uprooted.

Last Month’s Goals

  1. Start revising The Herb Witch Tales, #1 and #2.
  2. Read three books.
  3. Exercise at least three times a week.

Start revising The Herb Witch Tales?

Yes, I have started. I’ve gotten about a third of the way through the first story, and I definitely could have done more if I had focused a bit better. I’m just reading through my draft on my laptop, focusing on overall flow and consistency more than anything else. I’ve started leaving comments in the margins whenever a significant theme or an important detail crops up, to ensure that I can refer back to it later.

I intend to read through both stories in this way, looking for overall flow and consistency, before reading again to look for deeper thematic resonance, and then ultimately style and wording. So, I think I’m in for three phases of revisions before sending these to other readers.

I’m not sure how I’m going to approach that yet. I’d like to send them to my editor, for sure. I think I’d also like to use beta readers, but I’m not certain how I will find/work with beta readers yet.

In any case, a vague timeline for these stories is starting to coalesce in my mind, but it’s still to early for me to verbalize that yet. I’m making progress, and that’s good.

Read three books?

Yes, and I’ve already made it almost halfway through another in the final days of the month. On top of that, I made some little progress on A Memory of Light. I’m into the middle third of that novel now, and I’d like to pick up the pace a bit. I just need to give myself more time to read at night.

Exercise at least three times a week?

Not quite. I had a predictable post-holiday slump, for whatever reason. I’ve picked it back up in the last week though, with more of a focus on yoga. My flexibility has suffered without doing any yoga consistently for a while, so I’d like to change that.

A random imgur gif I saw the other night reminded me of a balance and leg strength exercise I used to on one of those balance board balls. I need to get back to something like that.

Now, however, I’m debating whether I should start buying equipment, or just find a gym again. I haven’t had a gym membership since the 2020 lockdown, and it’s hard to imagine finding time to go to the gym regularly. So I might have to make do for a bit.

Goals for February

  1. Complete my first round of revisions on Uprooted, The Herb Witch Tales #1. I’d like to jump into this revision phase with more intention, so now we’re back to real goals. If I can get started on revising New Earth as well, all the better.
  2. Read three books. I’ve made a good start for the month, and I’ve found a few one-off fantasy books on Audible that I might try to dive into.
  3. Exercise at least three times a week. With my more deliberate focus on self-care and a less arduous work routine ahead of me, I’m finding it easier to find time during the day for a decent yoga session. I just need to show up.

Steve D

Book Review: 1984, and Truth against totalitarianism

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

I just finished reading 1984 by George Orwell for the first time. Somehow, this book was not part of my high school reading curriculum. I feel like my high school English class had a huge reading list, and each class read only a selection — friends of mine read 1984, and my class read Brave New World, which I loved.

This book is a must-read for anyone who feels compelled to understand the psyche of fascism and totalitarianism.

If a reader comes to this book looking for character development, reasonable plot pacing, or much scene work beyond didactic dialogue, they will not find it. They will also be missing the point. From a story perspective, I really enjoyed the section focusing on Winston and Julia’s relationship, even if their time together ended rather abruptly.

Orwell’s story is a mechanism to explain the idea that totalitarianism seeks control as an end itself. The ideology doesn’t matter. Control over every aspect of life – even over thought, if it can be achieved – is the entire aim of the totalitarian system. To gain power over people and keep it is the only goal.

This book is a product of its time and timeless, as applicable a warning against fascism now as it was seventy years ago. As a lover of history, I was interested in the alternative rendering of the post-WW2 order, but I know there are likely other stories where this is the focal point, rather than the exposition dump Orwell uses. This section was particularly frightening to me as the end of the book drew near, as it provided a view into a world where Truth does not matter – even upon learning the truth about your reality, a totalitarian system’s entire existence is predicated on controlling you in spite of it.

Steve D

2023 To be Read & To be Watched List

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I wrote a TBR / TBW last year, and then never followed up on it. Turns out, I didn’t end up getting to about half of the things on my list in 2022. That’s not really a negative — I just ended up focusing my reading and TV/movie energies elsewhere. So, why not provide an update?

To Be Read in 2023

I’m going to take a mulligan on the first… four entries on this list, since these were all on my 2022 list.

The Wheel of Time

I’ve been slowly but steadily making my way through the final book in this series. I’ve mentioned it a few times before, but I’m not really in a rush to finish this series. First of all, the final trilogy of the series has been intense and incredibly satisfying. The final book, A Memory of Light, has been exponentially more intense, in a good way, than any of the thirteen books that precede it. But it means that I’ll read a couple sections, then stop to process a bit. I’m basically savoring this read, and not regretting it in the slightest.

The Saxon Stories, or The Last Kingdom series

I’ve read the first seven books in this series now, and while the last couple installments haven’t been as exciting to me, I still intend to continue the series. These books are great ways for me to pad the Read list on GoodReads, since I tend to get through them pretty quickly. So, I always look for the next one when I need an easy, action-packed read.

An Encyclopedia of Tolkien

…which my wife got me for Christmas two years ago and keeps tempting me from the shelf. After the joy of watching Rings of Power last autumn, I’ve been burning to get into this deep-dive of Tolkien lore.

The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music, by Dave Grohl

Dave Grohl’s memoir, which my wife got me for Christmas last year. I’m generally not a memoir type of reader, but I love Dave Grohl, and I don’t want this book to sit unloved on my shelf for years at a time. I need to check this one off my list.

Some new fantasy series

I legitimately don’t know where I will turn next for epic high fantasy series after I finish Wheel of Time, and the opportunity is honestly exciting. There are several candidates on my Want to Read list on GoodReads, such as Rachel Caine’s The Great Library series, Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone, Patrick Rothfuss, or a Brandon Sanderson series. I am open to recommendations, so leave a comment!

Social science-y type books

I will, of course, continue to read some history, politics, anthropology, or linguistics books as I go, just to mix it up, but those are usually decisions of the moment.

To be Watched in 2023

Honestly, this one is a little more difficult this year. In early 2022, I was excited about all of the shows and films in the MCU, Star Wars, and other IP universes. A lot of those properties were mediocre, at best, and I will definitely be more skeptical of them going forward. I think I need to pay closer attention to more “prestige” TV shows this year.

The Bear

I’m already halfway through this eight-episode show on Hulu, but I’m really enjoying it. I like Jeremy Allen White, and the restaurant setting pulls at a few of my memories from my years in the service industry. This one has me focused for now, but I know it will go quickly.

The Last of Us

This is on the list exclusively because a friend of mine asked if I wanted to watch it with him. This is the same friend with whom I’ve watched The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Ballers, and House of the Dragon, so this show will be our next shared viewing experience. I never played the video game this series is based on, and I don’t know much about it other than zombies. Big fan of Pedro Pascal, though, so I don’t need any more convincing.

More Movies

I’d like to go to the movies more this year, but I’m not sure how I’ll swing that, just based on my schedule. I feel like I only went to the movies once or twice all of last year, though, so I can probably do better than that.

I really just want to watch more movies that I’ve never seen before. There are likely tons of movies I could list out that many would consider classics, or must-see, which I have not seen. Listening to The Big Picture podcast on The Ringer is entertaining in its own right, but also a constant reminder of how little I’ve scratched the surface of movie lore from the last few decades.

I have no idea where I’m going to start. I just want to make it a point to watch more movies. Maybe one per week? That seems ambitious, but I will try.

Recommendations?

Is there any book, movie, TV show, or documentary that I am blatantly missing from this list? Anything you feel like you’ve been screaming at people to get on board with? Please tell me about it! I love sharing reading and watching experiences with people.

Steve D

Book Review: THE PAGAN LORD grinds series progression to a halt

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The Pagan Lord is the seventh book in The Last Kingdom series by Bernard Cornwell, and this has been my least favorite of the series so far.

This installment has all the trappings of a classic “middle book”: no major plot progression for Uhtred or other main characters, stagnant action that lacks excitement or real stakes, and no new characters to liven up the story.

After several years of relative peace, the Saxons and Danes feel restless and wary for the next war that most don’t truly believe is coming. Uhtred, as always, if on the lookout for the next war, and his instincts end up proving correct.

However, this book feels like a regression for Uhtred as a character, who makes a rash mistake that leads to him being outcast by the Saxon kingdoms. Uhtred is bitter in his old age and still clings to his dream of retaking Bebbanburg, which makes him more desperate than in previous stories.

The wisdom and growth as a leader we had seen from Uhtred in recent stories seems to have eroded, perhaps because he has been rudderless for several years. It is perhaps fitting that this story also feels largely rudderless, like its protagonist, but it does not make for a very enjoyable read.

With both of his sons grown into men, Uhtred’s successes and shortcomings as a father are also on display. He is ashamed of his eldest son for becoming a priest, but his actions are those of a petulant child who did not find his heir in a son whom he largely neglected as a child. His second son is a brave lad eager to prove himself as a warrior, but Uhtred does more to put him down than build him up. Uhtred’s daughter, Stiorra, another child to whom he hasn’t paid much attention, is also notably absent from his life.

This was a decent story, but I’m hoping Uhtred snaps out of his funk. The narrator was okay, but did not bring the same intensity to the story that previous narrators have. Here’s hoping book eight picks up the pace again and Uhtred finds his way.

Steve D

Book Review: DEATH OF KINGS ages the series gracefully

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Death of Kings is the sixth book in the series of a thousand names… The Last Kingdom, The Saxon Stories, The Saxon Chronicles… This book serves as a nice change-up for the series at a point where the general arc of each story starts to feel predictable

  1. Uhtred clashes with his liege-lord, King Alfred of Wessex and yearns to be free of his oath.
  2. A Danish lord raises an army an threatens Wessex.
  3. Uhtred meets his army and kills the Dane in battle, bolstering his reputation.

That’s reductive and not really fair to a series I have greatly enjoyed, but it’s not hard to see how some readers might become bored of that type of formula.

Death of Kings plays with that formula a bit to lull both the reader and Uhtred, our protagonist, into a sense of complacency and end on a bit of a surprise. Yes, Uhtred must confront a Danish army, but he is now trying to do so in league with Edward, the newly raised king of Wessex, who is young and well-liked, but untested and uncertain.

The story proceeds and it feels as though our characters are approaching war… but the war doesn’t come. Uhtred is baffled by this, until he realizes a crucial piece of information, and the confrontational battle we’ve come to expect out of these books comes with a unexpected suddenness and a surprising turn of events.

This book is also an interesting advancement of Uhtred and several other characters. We meet an older Uhtred and walk with him through a changing of the guard, so to speak, among the leaders of both Saxon and Dane. There’s a lot of good character work with Uhtred, Aethelflaed, and Edward, and it’s clear that the relationship between these three will be pivotal going forward.

Steven Perring is a good narrator who brings a somewhat wiser and less intense voice to Uhtred. This feels appropriate given Uhtred’s Old Man Status (he’s 45 and describes himself as an old man with a graying beard), although I do miss Jonathan Keeble’s iconic narration from previous installments.

Steve D

See reviews of previous installments in this series here.

Passing on the Storytelling Love

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Life, On StorytellingLeave a comment

Our four-year-old loves to read before bed. Reading has been baked into his bedtime routine since he was a baby. He takes a bath, brushes his teeth, gets his pajamas on, picks some books, and then we snuggle up to read.

I always let him pick the books. I tell him how many we have time for, and he makes the picks. He usually goes through phases of reading three same three to five stories ecru night for a couple weeks, until a new set is chosen.

I usually read to him. He loves hearing each story told in a certain cadence. He asks questions about the words he hears and the pictures he sees.

For a while, I tried to teach him basic reading as we went, sounding out the letters of simple words like “dog” as we read. He was not into it. He would just like to be read to, thank you very much.

He tells fantastic stories to himself as he plays, and he tries to tell us about his imaginary party house we have yet to see.

A couple months ago, I was worried that he would be slow to pick up reading on his own. After talking about it with my wife, I realized that was a premature idea.

For one, he’s still too young to really grasp reading on his own, without being a prodigy. And two, my mom read too me every night before bed until I was much older than he is now. Maybe 10? And even once I started reading too myself, I read a lot of the same books over and over.

The Redwall series, various Calvin and Hobbes collections, Animorphs, probably some Roald Dahl.

I didn’t pick up The Hobbit until I was 12, and I didn’t expand my reading list much beyond what was assigned to me in school until I was in college.

I was a late bloomer as a reader. And the four-year-old might be, too.

I’m cool with that. It may just give me more time to read with him. And the chance to share some of the novels I loved as a kid.

He loves stories. He loves hearing them told, and he loves telling them, even to himself. I’m just here to listen.

Steve D