I made myself a list of things I wanted to remember to talk about, and look, it’s almost a little poem:
Happy with comments
Front teeth; portrait appointments
Lost phone list
Crown, and already chipped
Too much apocalyptic fiction
However, I notice there is only one happy thing on the list. Well, that is consistent with my recent mood, which has been cranky/stressed.
I think part of it can be traced to the last thing on the list. I started with The Road, as I wrote about in this post, which led to a lot of great suggestions in the comments section for other apocalyptic fiction. So then I read Oryx & Crake, which I liked a lot—until the end, when it presented a terrible dilemma, went on a bit about how terrible the dilemma was…and then ended. I don’t have to have every little loose end tied up (even though I WAS hoping at some point for a letter from someone explaining why they’d done something a certain way), but if I have to write the ending myself I want to be paid fairly for it. Worse, because of the many, many times the lead character thought to himself that the clues were there all along right in front of him and he should have been able to figure it out, I felt like the author thought I SHOULD know what ending she had in mind. And I am someone who doesn’t even like to TRY to solve a murder mystery, but instead waits contentedly for the author to let the detective explain it to me.
Then I read Pure. It’s not young adult, but I’ll bet there were a lot of arguments at the publishing house about whether it ought to be. I liked that one TOO, but it’s a trilogy so of course it didn’t END-end, and then my library doesn’t have the second book and there’s an inexplicable “can’t be requested” tag from the library in the system that DOES have it.
Then I started World Made by Hand, and that’s where I stopped. One of the main downsides of apocalyptic fiction is that it tends to be preachy and told-you-so-ish, and this was either the worst one of the group so far or else I’d just already reached my limit on “Look what could happen if you don’t listen to what I think is wrong with the world” lecturing. I think it was the latter. And I’d already been wondering if I should take a break from the theme, because I’d been feeling increasingly paranoid, twitchy, and impotent-despairful, and also unable to tidy the house because IF THERE’S AN APOCALYPSE WE MIGHT BE SORRY WE BLITHELY THREW OUT THIS HOLEY SOCK. So this afternoon I’m going to go to the library, return the rest of the books I’d checked out, and pick out something where the world is still basically the way it is.
Some of the twitchiness and despair, though, can be attributed instead to dental work. I had the first step of a crown done this week, and I just hate everything. A little piece of the temporary crown chipped off the very first day, and I have three more teeth the dentist says need crowns in the relatively near future, and I just hate everything. (Except the new comments system. I do love that.)
Ugh, I am sorry about the dental work, boooo. The night before I had my last baby, I broke a tooth and I had to go to an Immediate Care place for dentists, which was kind of nasty. The cement that he put in my mouth was supposed to last six months and my babe just turned 18 months, so, I guess I’ll have it forever? Anyway I hear you, it’s so hard to have that dentai work, right up next to your BRAIN, so unpleasant. I can’t read too much of that kind of book either, I’ve never even read The Road! Have you read Bossypants or Is Everyone Hanging out Without Me? By Tina Fey and Mindy Kaling? Those are fun recovery books. I hope everything magically gets better or at least tolerable.
RE: Oryx & Crake, did you know it’s actually the first in a trilogy? I had no idea the first time I read it either, but I loved the second installment, Year of the Flood SO MUCH that I started rereading as soon as I finished it. The 3rd book hasn’t come out yet, but it’s worth picking up the second.
OH!!!! NO I DID NOT!!! Going right now to see if library has it. …Er, or maybe I should read some other books first, THEN see if library has it!
I second the fact that Year of the Flood is amazing! Though it also might make you question throwing out holey socks, LOL. It explains a lot that Oryx and Crake didn’t.
I haven’t read Oryx & Crake. So when I saw that you were disappointed with the ending I was hesitant to suggest other titles by Margaret Atwood. But then when Lissie said it was part of a trilogy that made me want to suggest some more Atwood books.
Did you like her overall style? I only ask because if you did, most of her books aren’t apocalyptic in nature. Her books deal with the subtleties of relationships between women friends, enemies frenemies. Which I thought you might like considering recent posts about group dynamics, etc. I really like The Robber Bride. It has a tidy ending (not to spoil anything).
The Handmaid’s Tail is my all time favorite by Atwood. Still kindof post-apocalyptic, but just SO GOOD. I think I’ve read it 10 times.
I was about to come and say that – I’m sorry I recommended such an unsatisfying book, Swistle! The second one isn’t so much a sequel as it is another story set in the same world (trying not to spoiler) but I have high hopes for the third one which is expected this summer and is called Maddaddam.
Okay, after loving and pimping “Pure” to a fare-the-well I went ahead and bought the second book book in the trilogy, paying good money for it and everything, and now I’m not sure I like it. (Although for someone like myself, who never ever buys books with money but always “buys” them with overdue fines, the like bar is very high.) It’s on my Nook, so if you have a Nook and would like to borrow my copy, that can be arranged. But I’m not sure I like it, so you may want to stick with something non-apocalyptic.
Om gosh Swistle, I read “The Road” on a trip to San Diego and I had to go in the airport bathroom to bawl uncontrollably. I was depressed for a week. For real. The movie is something I just cannot handle. Cannot do it. I love, love post- apoc fiction as well – “The Stand” by Stephen King is my favorite book. “Alas, Babylon” I liked as well.
Don’t even get me started on teeth. Root canal =$1200. Crown = $1200. IF I could find a way to regrow and transplant teeth cheaply, I’d be a billionaire.
Luckily, my husband’s uncle manufactures crowns as we’ve both needed a few in recent years.
But, but…the phone list? Portraits? DON’T HANG UP YET!
Haha, I was thinking this too! School portraits with missing teeth are adorable; need more detail!
Yes. YESSSSSSSS. I also have the problem of overdosing on apocalyptic fiction, dysfunctional family fiction and/or memoirs, and serial killer mysteries. You need some brain palate-cleansing, easy reads, and then you’ll feel better about the world in general. :)
Also, “for Mothers’ Day,” Dunkin’ Donuts has brought back its “cupid’s choice” donut. Just saying. I plan to celebrate Mothers’ Day ALL MONTH LONG!
Last Summer I hit the wall simultaneously on post-apocalypic and Young Adult fiction. I started a book that was fine, but suddenly realized part way through that I simply could not handle another: (1) dystopian/post-apocalyptic future, (2) teen love triangle or (3) trilogy. It’s taken me until last month to read a post-apocalyptic novel, I still haven’t gone back to YA, and I actively refuse to start books that are not stand alone novels. I’ll probably relent on the last two at some point, but the mere thought of enjoying another book for 5/6 of it only to learn it’s the first in a trilogy at the end makes me want to throw things.
Ugh crowns. I’ve got three of them and every one of them took forever and cost too much. I don’t understand why they all have to be done in what feels like 1,000,000 stages weeks apart causing me to have to take an inordinate amount of time off work simply to chew my food. Harumph.
I have noticed that my fiction reading falls in three distinct categories: teenage apocalypse; vampires; trashy romance. Not exactly any literature or high art. But may I suggest you switch to one of my other genres of choice? I’m really late to this one but I just read the first Sookie Stackhouse book and it wasn’t great but it was fun escapism and a decent mix of vampires and a dash of romance. I’m currently reading Gone Girl which I do not recommend for a depression palate cleanser but I was trying to get out of my category rut…..
I still love The Road. I know others hated it, but I loved it. Don’t get me wrong, it was depressing as hell, but it stuck with me forever, so I consider that a sign of a good book. My favorite post-apocalyptic book right now is One Second After. It’s about what happens after an EMP hits. I felt the book did a better job of addressing issues/questions I had in other books of the genre, such as “What happens to people who need medicine?” or “How long does it take society to break down?” (Not effing long, that’s for sure.) I found it fascinating and more scary than other books because the possibility of the event actually happening is more realistic.
Have you read One Second After? It’s about what happens after the U.S. is hit with an EMP. It’s my favorite post-apocalyptic book, and I think the author does a much better job addressing the questions I usually have with the genre, like “What happens to people who need medicine?” and “How long does it take for society to break down?” (Spoiler alert: Not very long.) It takes place in present time, and for that reason, I found it more relatable and more frightening, since the possibility of an EMP attack actually exists.
Ugggh, crowns are the worst. I grind my teeth a lot (during the day, so a night guard doesn’t help unless I wear it 24-7) and have gotten a crown each year for the last three. I just feel like I’m in this downward spiral where I’ll be a toothless grandma with a feeding tube. Perhaps we can live in the same nursing home!
When you mentioned almost-names the other day, I immediately thought of “The City of Ember” by Jeanne DuPrau. Her characters have almost names – Lina (Liiiiii-nah, not Leeeee-na) and Doon and Sadge and Loris. I appreciate how you can tell the genders of the people – Lina’s a girl, Doon’s a boy. Their names sound like them. It’s great. (I know a girl named Kahtavius and I’m like, no, that’s a boy’s name. Girls end in A and boys in O or Us. Latin!)
It’s also post-apocalyptic young adult fiction. It’s the first of four. The second, “People of Sparks” is okay – a lot about racial tension, I thought. The third, “Prophet of Yonwood,” took me a long time to get into (and spoiler alert, it’s set about 250 years before The City of Ember). The fourth, “Diamond of Darkwood,” was completely amazing. Oh, I just loved it. Tied the whole thing together, happy ending, realistic for the characters, just a great great book. Soooo good.
The City of Ember is also a movie with Saoirse Ronan, who’s now a big famous actress. She’s absolutely perfect as Lina. There are a couple of changes (of course!) from the book to the film, but they do a great job in translating the book to the big screen. She’s so awesome that I honestly wanted to name my daughter Saoirse (shear-sha, I believe) and I was totally jealous when there was another newborn at the pediatrician’s with the name Saoirse! (My family didn’t like that it’s impossible to spell and pronounce and I do agree.)
I found Cadbury eggs, like the Christmas solid chocolate balls, after Easter and I really wanted to send you a Crappy Day Package stuffed with Cadbury eggs (not the yucky creamy ones!) and now I totally want to send you the books and movies! I love them so much I want to share them. The books are really cheap on amazon or in your kids’ Scholastic book orders, if you do those.
I wanted to mention that Oryx & Crake had a sequel that wraps up that particular cliffhanger but I see someone already did. I didn’t know that it’s going to be a trilogy (you learn something new every day.). But I do want to caution you: The Year of the Flood is not likely to improve your mood. It is very dark & violent (there’s a higher than average amount of r@ping, even for Margaret Atwood) and the larger conflicts of O&C are largely dismissed in favor of new conflicts & new characters. Proceed with caution.
My library doesn’t have the second Pure book yet either, even though it came out in February. It says that it’s “on order.” So maybe that’s why you can’t request it at the other library. Who knows?
Ha! I managed to reference “World Made By Hand” into my non-Thesis.
Ha! Love the comments!
And I love the new comments system as well. And I love the book receommendations. And I want to hear more about the portraits too! And…
Crowns. Yuck. I hope the dental work is cheaper and less painful than expected.
I’m not a huge apocalyptic fan – but I do enjoy it occasionally. Now I’m sitting over here in knots wondering whether or not I’ve read The Road. I feel like I have but I can’t figure out if I’m confusing it with something else. The curse of a bookworm….eventually it all starts to criss-cross in your brain. *sigh*
I finally worked out that if I get a ‘can’t be requested’ error when I try and request a book from my library system, it is because the book is on order, so I need to remember to go back later and try again. But it is not in any way obvious that that is the problem.
Crown, and already chipped:
This happened to me last summer and I cried. But, after that, things seemed to work out better than I expected. The dentist replaced the crown for free as it was just a few months old, and my husband pointed out to them that they they told us it would last 10 years. The dentist used a different ‘more durable’ material for the new crown, and so far it has not chipped. Although, I do live with a mild level of anxiety that it will break at any moment.
I was going to go look on Goodreads to see what to recommend, but instead I just sent you an invitation.
And also, re the song in the dream, my brain also does things like that. Who’s team are you on, brain? Who feeds you? Ingrate.