Book Log 5/2016 - Alison Kinney: Hood

I haven't always reviewed the non fiction I've read, quite often because if it'sa book I'm using for research I dip in and out of it and don't always read the whole thing from cover to cover, but those I do I've decided to include in my booklog.

Alison Kinney: Hood
A book that concentrates on the humble hood, its use, symbolism and meaning. The cover has a rather medieval Robin Hood style hood, which put 'history' very firmly in my head. So, in fact this book was not what I expected. That's not to say it's not interesting or well written, but it concentrates very heavily on the American experience. It's mostly the history of the hood in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The first quarter of the book is exclusively the symbolism of the hood in terms of the executioner and the executed with the greater part of these examples drawn from those American states which still have the death penalty. It goes into detail about the quasi-medieval executioner's hood in Florida, and doesn't spare grim details about executions in other states, including the symbolism of the executed being either hooded or masked to spare the feelings of the onlookers and hide the grim reality of lethal injection or electric chair.

Then just when I was feeling pretty depressed there was the second quarter which went into details of the Ku Klux Klan, briefly about the Spanish Inquisition, and then hits hard at the American inhumanities at Abu Ghraib where prisoners were disoriented and dehumanised by hoods as well as being waterboarded. This is not cheery stuff.

The second half of the book examines the results of wearing a hood in a modern context, from the treatment of peaceful hoodie-wearing protesters in Seattle who were attacked by police with tear gas and rubber bullets, to the experience of the middle-aged white woman asked to remove her hood in a shopping mall. It then goes on to examine the experience and the 'crime' of wearing a hood while black, in particular covering the killing of black youth Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, which leads the narrative into the Black Lives Matter campaign.

All in all, not a history of the hood, but a close examination of the hood in a particular context. The history and symbolism through the ages is not completely ignored, but it is largely a contemporary commentary.

I find it hard to allocate a star rating. It's a good book, possibly even an important book. It says a lot that should be said, but I didn't enjoy reading it.

Book Log 6/2016 - Seanan McGuire: Every Heart a Doorway

Nancy is sent to Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children because her parents can't cope with her. They think she has a screw loose and don't believe that she's been through a portal into another world, a world of the dead which has left her changed - and longing to go back.

Nancy discovers all the students there have their own story, their own world (each one very different from the others) and their own longings to return. Miss West is, herself, a returnee, so she understands and knows that for most of the children a return to their particular world is impossible, so she teaches them how to get on with life in the only world they have.

Nancy is barely unpacked when the first murder happens. The authorities generally turn a blind eye to happenings at the school, but they can't totally ignore a murder, and they certainly wouldn't ignore two... or three.

It's up to Nancy and her fellow students to catch the killer. There's a good cast of somewhat unusual characters who don't fit in, not only because of their fairyland experiences, but there's some gender fluidity - a tras teen, an asexual teen, etc. Even so it doesn't feel as though Ms McGuire is simply ticking the diversity boxes, all the characters have a part to play.

I'm not entirely sure if this is aimed at YA. It would certainly be suitable for older teens, but reads well for adults, too. This is a novella, but perfect at the length it is. Very enjoyable.

Book Log 7/2016 - Julie Kagawa: The Iron King - The Iron Fey #1

Meghan Chase is at that awkward age - just about to turn 16. Something doesn't feel quite right with her world, and to be honest it hasn't done since her father disappeared, even though her mum has settled with a new chap and Maghan has a young half brother. There's a dark young man watching her, and her school friend Robbie is acting weird.

It all kicks off because Meghan's little bro is whisked off to fairyland and an antisocial changeling left in his place. To cap it all Robbie turns out to be Robin Goodfellow - yes, Puck himself, and Meg's dad, it appears, was not her dad at all, because she's actually the daughter of Oberon.

Of course, she has to try and rescue her brother despite Puck's warnings, so off she goes to fairyland where it seems that everything/everyone she meets wants to eat her. There's a fair amount of travelogue-through-fairyland before Meg reaches her father's court and discovers that the dark stranger is actually the son of Queen Mab, Oberon's opposition, but that doesn't stop her sixteen year old hormones from kicking in.

There are few surprises here. A talking cat guide, rivalry between Puck and the Unseelie prince, some native nasties, another journey--then we get to the meat of the tale. There's a third court, an Iron Court and that's where her brother is.

Number one in the Iron Fey series, and the author left a nice loose thread hanging for the next book, but it might be a while before I get round to reading it.

Book Log 8/2016 - David Tallerman: Patchwerk

A mind-bending trip across the multiverse in which scientst/spy  Dran Florrian, his ex-wife, Karen, and all their analogues in other timelines try to prevent  a terrible disaster which could destroy all worlds. In fact in might be happening right now. Dran has to keep his creation, Palimpsest, from the hands of Harlan Dorric, who wants to weaponise it.

From a futuristic world, to a steampunky airship world as D'ren Florein, this drills down through the multiverse, keeping up the pace and dramatic tension as our hero finally figures it out. There are some great ideas in this and a solution that works for me.

Book Log 9/2016 - Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward: Writing the Other

An interesting overview of writing diverse characters. As a writer you always worry that you're not doing it right. There are many traps for the unwary from racial stereotyping to cultural appropriation. I got to the end of this book with a sigh of relief. I don't seem to have fallen (horribly) into those traps yet.

The book began as an idea formed at a Clarion workshop. It's American, and to a certain extent reflects the experience of being black in America, but does expand to a much wider overview. Otherness can be defined in myriad ways. It covers race religion, gender, sexual orientation etc., but Shawl and Ward don't really cover  class, which is important in a lot of cultures across the globe, if not (arguably) in America.

There were writing exercises which I skimmed past, being part way through the first draft of another novel. Did I learn anything? There was certainly food for thought, but mostly I learned that characters are individual and that there's a certain amount of 'otherness' in most people, you just have to look for it. It's not always the obvious thing.