I popped over to Amazon to see what people were saying about Eragon by Christopher Paolini before I sat down to write this. It seems this is one of those books where you either really like it or hate it. It was getting either 5 stars or one. With that said…

I didn’t like it. It’s not that it was bad; it was trite. With a bad book, you can stop reading after about the first hundred (or fewer) pages and go on with life. With a trite book, you keep reading hoping that it will eventually get better. And in the end you’re disappointed. So what didn’t I like? Obviously, Paolini is influenced by George Lucas, Tolkien and Anne McCaffrey. So much so that he used their plots, characters and world descriptions. The only thing original about this book is that he managed to combine all of them. Eragon-Aragorn carries a named sword, is in love with an elf princess and is chased by Urgals-orcs (with some Krull-Urukhai thrown in). The elves are tall and graceful and came to this world from another. The dwarves, short and stocky and live underground and have a terrible relationship with the elves. Eragon has to come to terms with his destiny (like Luke Skywalker), is accompanied by an old man who trains him and then dies 3/4 of the way through the book (too bad he didn’t talk to Eragon from the grave) and then is accompanied by someone slightly older than him that has a shady past. He also managed to rescue said elf princess from a dungeon before she betrays her people. And the Dragon Riders (of which Eragon becomes one) have fallen on hard times and aren’t respected by the people any more. Eragon, of course, has to change all that. And, of course, he will.

The real problem, though, is that I just didn’t care about the characters. Oh, Brom dies. How sad. Oh, Eragon gets attacked again. Whoopie. Oh, Eragon succeeds in killing off the bad guy. Wow. Neat-O. Big deal. So what? That, I think is the real disappointment: there isn’t any real tension or emotion in this book. Oh, I think there was supposed to be. But, Paolini started this when he was 15 and finished when he was 19. I guess you can’t expect a great novel from one so young.

Actually the full title is: Baghdad Without a Map and other misadventures in Arabia, by Tony Horwitz. I picked it up for two reasons: one, I needed a break from fiction. And two, I really have liked Tony Horwitz’s other books (well, okay, I really liked one and kind of liked the other). I wasn’t disappointed. He’s a good journalistic writer, and has fascinating adventures. I guess I still have a journalist in me somewhere, because I find myself becoming nostalgic about reporting, even though he doesn’t paint it in a very favorable light, especially in the Middle East of the 1980s. It begins with his wife being transferred to Cairo and his desire to get free-lance writing work. The book is compiled from all sorts of adventures he had and paints an interesting portrait of the people he met over three years in the late 80s. So, it’s pretty out of date. That said, it’s still pretty interesting. He goes to pretty much every Arabic country plus Israel and Iran (he was covering Kohmeini’s funeral). The only updating he does is in the last chapter, when he re-visits Iraq during the first Gulf War. I’d like to know what he thinks of the area now. It also reminded me that I once read Nine Parts of Desire by his wife, Geraldine Brooks, and I’d like to find it and re-read it again.

Getting to the last of the old book log. From here on out, it’s new stuff…

The Watsons Go to Birmingham — 1963, Christopher Paul Curtis: This was a terrific book — a wonderful portrayal of a black family in early 1960s Flint, MI. It was hilarious (all the way through the end): the narrator called his family the “Wacky Watsons” and they were. And it was touching especially towards the end. As a bonus, Curtis included a nice endnote about the Civil Rights movement. I loved every minute I spent reading this book.

Holes, Louis Sachar: An interesting book, and a well-written one. I really liked Sachar’s use of myth and the main character’s family history to help the plot line along. Give it time – I didn’t like it at first, but it grew on me as the story progressed.

Skeleton Man, Joseph Bruchac
A great ghost/mystery story. Girl comes home from school to the news that her parents are dead and long lost “relatives” are taking over. She doesn’t believe the “relatives” or that her parents are dead…

The Wish List, Eoin Colfer
About a girl who dies and is given a second chance at redemption by being sent back to help a man she had wrong. A really good book; better than Artemis Fowl.

The Lion Tamer’s Daughter and Other Stories, Peter Dickenson
I remember that they were good ghost stories, but I don’t remember anything about them.

The Thief Lord, Cynthia Funke
An interesting tale – runaway children on the streets of Venice – with a very interesting ending. I think it might have lost something in translation (I think it was originally written in German); some parts felt awkward.

Hoot, Carl Hiaasen
A delightfully unusual, fun little book about Florida, burrowing owls and finding friends. Loved it.

The Islander, Cynthia Rylant
A very slight book, though not a memorable one – I think I liked it, but I’m not quite sure.

Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Susan Vreeland
Interesting series of short stories, working backwards in time. All include reference to/or are about a Vermeer painting.

Books you’d most likely find in a traditional English Lit class…

Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen
I remembered really liking this one the first time I read it. I didn’t like it so much the next time, but perhaps because I went through a phase and read them all back to back. This was near the end and I was probably Jane-Austened out.

Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen
I didn’t particularly like this story. Perhaps I ought to re-read it sometime.

Nicholas Nickleby, Charles Dickens
A good story (that falls apart at the end), but I, for one, need to remember that Dickens wrote for the serials and to make money by publishing his stories. This is not a novel that I could read chapter after chapter in one sitting. I needed to parse it out. Still, now I can say I’ve read something by Dickens. (I have a problem with the way he portrays women, but that’s another issue.)

Room with a View, E.M. Forester
It’s been years since I’ve read this, and I still think it’s an excellent little, silly portrait of English people in love with Italy. The movie’s just as good, too.

The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
I hated it in high school…but liked it much better as an adult. Though I still think it would have made a better short story.

Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
I read this one because it was referred to in another book I read (the title escapes me now) where the character praised it. I thought since I’d never read any Hemingway why not start with this one. I realized about half way through that Hemingway is one of those authors for whom the style of writing is more important than the story. I finished it, but I wasn’t thrilled by it.

Daisy Miller, Henry James
A short novella – and an intriguing story about a young American woman in Europe and her lack of “propriety” that eventually leads to her downfall, of sorts. An interesting commentary on propriety and its place or lack of place in society.

Washington Square, Henry James
Of the two James books I read, I liked this one better. The heroine, while not exactly likeable, was more sympathetic, and I was glad for the choices she made through the course of the novel. She showed strength of character and resolve.

Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
This has been sitting on our shelf for years, and I finally got around to reading it. An interesting book, though a bit pretentious. Vonnegut seems to be like Hemingway: more concerned with the way things are written rather than what it’s about.

I don’t really know what to say about The Moorchild, by Eloise McGraw. It was the 1997 Newbery honor book. It’s about a half-fairy child that grows up with the humans for a while before she realizes who she is. The dedication says “to all children who have ever felt different” and I guess that’s what the book is about: celebrating and learning to deal with being different from others. It’s an okay book. I enjoyed reading it; I just wasn’t super-thrilled excited about it.