On a quest

The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan (Hyperion Books, 2005)


First of all, I'm moving! While this is fantastic news, I find moving totally stressful, and am getting mixed messages about whether I'm normal in how completely nutty I get around moving. Which means that I simultaneously have no time whatsoever to read and want nothing more than to just curl up and lose myself in a story.

And Percy Jackson provides just the right kind of story. I remember thinking when the series first came out that is sounded like a way of cashing in on the success of Harry Potter, and truth be told it's difficult to avoid that feeling. But kids who are "different" at some sort of boarding school is a children's literature trope that long predates JK Rowling.

I'm getting off topic. Percy is just finishing sixth grade at the start of the novel, and trouble always seems to find him. Which is why he gets sent from school to school. Turns out this is because he is the son of a human woman and an god from Olympus. Oops. And not just any god.... So while a huge part of the story is about Percy's attempts to fit in and find his place in the world - difficult even in a camp filled with half-bloods like him - what drives the plot is his efforts to, well, save the world by taking on an almost impossible mission. And in so doing, clear his name and gain his father's recognition. Plenty going on, and pretty much all the kind of themes that resonate with kids Percy's age.

But readers of all ages can find enjoyment in Percy's story. I struggled a bit with the 12 y.o. male narrator and a writing style that I found too much that of a 12 y.o. male. So my problem, not the book's. But once I accepted Percy's voice for what it was, I had a great time in his world. I'll be looking for the rest of the series. (And Riordan's series involving the Egyptian gods, I believe!)

Lad lit

Love & Other Recreational Sports - John Dearie (Plume, 2003)


Without bothering to do my background research, my understanding is that there's a lovely genre of British fiction that is the male equivalent to chick lit, and it's called lad lit. This includes stuff by writers like Nick Hornby.

I think that's what Dearie is doing here. Except I don't know that the genre really exists in America. It certainly doesn't look like that's how it was marketed.

Check out this cover. Does this look like it's being marketed toward men??? (Sorry for the mirror image problem.) Or are women the primary readers of lad lit?

These questions aside... well, actually I'm not sure I am able to place them aside, because they so strongly shaped my reading experience.

I'm battling through Proust (losing) and brought this along as lighter fare for a weekend out in the desert. So I sprawled in 100 degree shaded heat, and read about Jack and his adventures in (or avoiding) the Manhattan dating scene.

Let's compare Jack to a chick lit heroine. He is male, he is successful in the corporate world, he doesn't seem to get too excited about things. Hmm, not doing so well. And yet he has also been burned by a former lover, dresses well and enjoys the finer things, and gets his best advice from his friends and family. Wash.

And here is where I look at the back of the book and see that it was indeed marketed to women, claiming to provide insights into the mind of the dating male. Is this what Dearie had in mind when writing? I'm skeptical.