1. In your blog, list any books you’ve read but haven’t reviewed yet. If you’re all caught up on reviews, maybe you could try this with whatever book(s) you finish this week.
2. Ask your readers to ask you questions about any of the books they want. In your comments, not in their blogs. Most likely, people who will ask you questions will be people who have read one of the books or know something about it because they want to read it.
3. Later, take whichever questions you like from your comments and use them in a post about each book. Link to each blogger next to that blogger’s question(s).
4. Visit other Weekly Geeks and ask them some questions!

Oh, Dewey, your timing is perfect! Because I have this book I’ve been wanting to review and I just have no idea how to start.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned my total lack of interest in graphic novels. Then I thought I better put my money where my mouth was, and try actually reading one. So I picked up a copy of the graphic novel version of City of Glass, by Paul Auster. I thought this would be a good entrée into the genre, since I had read the original novel already. See? I could compare the same story, told “graphically” and told in prose.

Well, it was years ago that I read the original novel and I had forgotten what a strange, disturbing, avant-garde book it was. Heck, never mind the graphic novel aspect; I wouldn’t know where to begin to write about the original. Let’s see… there is stuff about mistaken identity. The author shows up as a character in his own story. There is stuff about the nature of language and the Tower of Babel. There is stuff about insanity and child abuse. And it’s all weird. Weird, and bleak and confusing. And strangely riveting.

Soooooo, how do I review this graphic novel? Can you suggest some questions to help me out? If you read graphic novels, what things do you think about when you review them?

We have a free subscription to a magazine called Saudi Aramco World. My husband, who teaches high school social studies, signed up for it a few years ago when he was given short notice that he would have to teach “Middle Eastern Civilizations.” He’d never taught this class before, and he had to bone up quickly. Along the way, he discovered this magazine. The curriculum has since changed, and the class isn’t even offered any more. Nevertheless I continue to send back the renewal card each year.

According to the inside cover, “Saudi Aramco, the oil company born as an international enterprise seventy-five years ago, distributes Saudi Aramco World to increase cross-cultural understanding. The magazine’s goal is to broaden knowledge of the cultures, history and geography of the Arab and Muslim worlds and their connections with the West.”

It is a beautiful glossy magazine, absolutely gorgeous, with very high production values and great typography. As a desktop publisher myself, I find it inspiring. The articles are fascinating, too. I end up poring over the whole thing, cover to cover, every issue. It’s like a prettier National Geographic that focuses only on the Middle East.

One of my favorite articles was a biography of a historical figure I’d never heard of: Ziryab (“The Blackbird”), a musician who lived in Spain around the year 800 A.D. He was basically the medieval version of a rock star. He brought all kinds of ideas, fads, and fashions to Spain (from Baghdad) such as, for example, dessert. Yes, dessert. Some other good ones were about Saluki dogs; ceramic tilemakers in Tunisia; the history of the Obelisk, told in the first person from the obelisk’s point of view (!); and the biology of Saharan cypress trees. All written in an engaging style and perfectly calculated to appeal to history & culture dilettantes like yours truly.

I feel guilty for liking this magazine so much. Because it’s also a stunning piece of propaganda. There are times when I feel like it’s soiling our house. First of all, this thing comes from the world’s largest oil company. NOT something I am interested in supporting! And second, in the five or six years that I’ve been reading it cover to cover I have never ever detected any reference to a current event. I mean, if they are really serious about broadening knowledge of their culture and their connection with the West, perhaps they could start by explaining why they think it is okay to EXECUTE someone for talking to an unmarried member of the opposite sex. Just a thought.

I have some rationalizations to explain why I continue subscribing. First, since the magazine is free we are actually costing the oil company, ha ha! And second, remember in Little Women when Amy wears the carnelian ring as a reminder to herself not to be so vain? I always thought her argument was a bit specious, but whatever. Anyway, I keep Saudi Aramco World lying around because it reminds me that propaganda comes in many forms, and it can be seductive.

Other times I think that the reason I keep it is to remind myself not to generalize too much. Living here in the post-9/11 USA it is easy to forget about the beautiful things that came from the Arab and Muslim worlds. And make no mistake, there is great beauty. It’s hard to reconcile, though.

What do you think? Would you subscribe to this magazine?

A couple of times I had characters who kept “journals” and I actually wrote up their journal entries. (This was in the pre-kids olden days, of course, when I actually had time on my hands.) Writing those journals was probably the most fun I’ve ever had writing anything, and it’s a lot of fun to go back and read them. Not just because they are reminders of bygone thrills, chills, & belly-laughs, but because D&D campaigns make such great stories.

Worldwide D&D Game Day is coming up on June 7, and our group will be entering the Tomb of Horrors that day. Maybe my character will bring along a diary.

Anyone remember Lotte’s Locket by Virginia Sorenson? I would love to get hold of a copy of this. Little Danish girl goes on an ocean voyage (what is it about me and ships?) and comes to America. I think it was America. She wrote letters to her best friend back home. I loved this book and I wish I could remember it better. I think I read other books by the same author but this was my favorite.

When I was in sixth grade I discovered Lois Duncan. Down a Dark Hall and A Gift of Magic were my favorites — oh I would love to read those again. And, in the same genre, A Candle in her Room, by Ruth M. Arthur, along with every other book by her that I could find. Oh, and Jane-Emily by Patricia Clapp. They were all creepy gothic horror stories and I ate them up.

Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George. My first wilderness survival story. My grandmother gave it to me for my birthday, inscribed “To Julie (no wolves)” — but I would have loved this book even if the main character didn’t share my name. That is, I loved the part where she was out on the tundra with the wolves; the other parts of the story (her “husband,” etc.) were not so good.

Another favorite author: E.L. Konigsburg. I especially loved her two historical novels: A Proud Taste for Scarlet & Miniver, about Eleanor of Acquitaine, and The Second Mrs. Giaconda, about the woman who was the model for the Mona Lisa. The writing was somewhat dry, but the subject matter was fascinating.

I taught myself to read (my mom tells me) when I was about four. She says it was very sudden — I woke up one morning and I could read. I don’t remember this, but I do have two memories from my very early reading life that I thought I would share because they illustrate aspects of my personality that are still very evident today.

First. I remember having a library book called In the Big City. I loved this book. It was a Dick & Jane type book, but a little longer and somewhat more advanced than simply “See Spot run.” I can very clearly remember the pleasure I felt in being able to read it. I also remember loving the pictures. There was one problem though. I misread the word City in the title — I thought the C was hard. I imagined that for some reason the entire story took place within the gaping maw of a giant kitty. I could not understand why they never mentioned this curious fact in the otherwise-banal story.

So, um, what does this say about my personality that’s still evident today? Well, I never asked about the kitty. I figured it out for myself (at least I thought I did), and came up with a crazy theory on my own. To this day, I would rather figure things out on my own than ask someone else. Often, to my detriment. :-P

Second memory. Another library book, a beginning reader called Ann Likes Red. I did not like this book. I didn’t like seeing Ann spelled without the e (my best friend was named Anne), and I did not like the text font, which was either Futura or a look-alike. Of course I did not have the vocabulary at the time to be able to say that I didn’t like the font. But I have a very clear memory of my awareness that I didn’t like the story because I didn’t like the way the words looked on the page. And to this day, of course, I am not only obsessed with typography & design, but I am still, constantly, pondering the relationship between form and content.