two and a half more

The Wordy Shipmates -- Sarah Vowell (2008): This was great! I've never really studied the period in depth, so WS was an eye-opener as to how off base the general Puritan reputation is. Despite more mentions of Fonzie than I would normally expect in a book about Puritans, I did find this book somewhat drier than Assassination Vacation. After consideration, I think it comes down to this: Assassination Vacation was not just about history, but Sarah Vowell's active pursuit of history -- she tracks things down (with accomplices), visits sites, museums and interacts with other obsessives. There was a lot of movement and latitude for that, but Wordy Shipmates covers a topic (the Puritans) which is more confined by geography and chronology. Her subject is interesting and her thinking as sharp as ever, but when you get down to it, apart from one trip with her nephew and sister it's pretty much just Sarah and a stack of primary sources. I love primary sources and I learned A LOT about the early settlers, but for me it lacked the swing of Assassination Vacation.

I did, however, develop a little crush on Roger Williams. "It's one thing for nonviolent nonbelievers to throw up their hands at the way the faithful of various religious faiths seem to come to blows over dogma. But Williams, a diehard zealot, is unflinching in his recognition that other diehard zealots are equally set in their ways. And while he would happily---happily!---harangue any other persons of faith for days on end about how wrong they are, he does not think they should be jailed or hit or stabbed or shot for their stupidity, the eternal flames of hell being punishment enough."

Zealots of today, why can't you be more like your (spiritual) older brother Roger?


Highway to Hell -- Rosemary Clement-Moore (2009): Wheee! this is my favorite Girl vs. Evil so far. [There are three in the series to date: 1) Prom Dates from Hell 2) Hell Week 3) Highway to Hell] I like it because it feels like Clement-Moore has settled into her Maggie Quinn universe, I like it because this one features a roadtrip AND el chupacabra, I like it because it's fun to say el chupacabra and reminisce about that X-Files episode which was totally gross. Anyway, it was fun to see Maggie and friends away from their typical college town setting. This one reminded me of one of my favorite stand alone Elizabeth Peters novels (Summer of the Dragon), even though in that one the girl detective was a big supernatural disbeliever and debunker, and in this one there is mostly believing and bunking... or, uh, something. (the evil is real and has shiny red eyes!) SotD features a second-wave smartass feminist, and in HtH they're third-wave smartass feminists. Hmmmm... other similarities: they're both set in the southwest (although this one is in gulf coast texas and that one was in arizona), and they both feature a ranch. Nothing ties two books together like a ranch! (am I right or what?) I guess I'd better read the other one again and see if I've completely lost my mind, which, as always, is a distinct possibility.

The more I think about it, the more I see the similarities between a certain kind of YA novel and the E. Peters style of comic romantic suspense -- I'm just not seeing titles like that for adults anymore. Why not? Is it because the adults who want it are just reading YA? Adult fiction titles that are supernatural or supernatural-ish seem to skew either to explicit who needs subtext sexy vampires or straight up horror. That can't be right, though! I'm going to have to think some more.

Moby Dick -- Herman Melville (1851): I have made no progress on this since my last report. NONE! those poor sailors are still floating in that boat waiting for me to quit fooling around and get reading so they can do that thing they do. If I leave them much longer, they will resort to piracy or yacht rock. Do I want that on my conscience? No, I do not.