Friday, finally

[lunabee34]

1. I am really sad about Anthony Bourdain. I have always enjoyed his TV persona, and I think the world will be a little less rich without him.

2. So, guess what I just hit on the Re-Read My Own Shelves project? That's right--Earth's Children by Jean M. Auel. I have such nostalgia for this series. I started reading it as a pre-teen and then had to wait like 14 years for Shelters of Stone to come out. LOL Ayla is a running joke on FFA for good reason. She invents whistling! And Oil of Olay! And needles! And surgical stitches! Jondalar is so sad; he can't fall in love because his dick is too big and ladies are first scared of his enormous manhood and then they get addicted and clingy. But Ayla's vagina is the only one cavernous enough in the Paleolithic to accommodate him. That's how he knows they're meant to be! As much as these books are ridiculous in multiple aspects, they are fun reads even if they don't live up to my memory of how awesome they were when I was 11.



The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I think I first read this when I was 11 and in the 6th grade. My best friend brought a copy from her house, and we made a book cover out of construction paper so the teachers wouldn't know what we were reading. LOL

I loved this series when I was a kid/teen. Unfortunately, I don't think it holds up to my memories. The characters are compelling, the plot is interesting, and all the information about how ancient peoples lived (hunting, making clothes, foraging for food, etc) is really interesting (although it can be tedious at times to read three pages of description of deciduous tree leaves). But the writing is not that great; the strength of this series is in the story and not in the beauty of the prose.

If I remember correctly, the series also doesn't live up to the promises it makes all the way back in this first book. Creb sees that the Clan is going to die out and that Ayla's people will remain; he also sees that Clan/Other hybrids will survive. I'm pretty sure as the series progresses, Ayla has dreams about her son Durc and some future confrontation with him. Conflict between Clan and Others is continually referenced. The series pretty clearly telegraphs to me that it will end with Ayla seeing her son again and/or somehow brokering some sort of peace between Clan and Others. And none of that happens. If I remember right, that outcome is being hinted at even in the penultimate book. Such a wasted opportunity.

That being said, I really enjoyed the re-read, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series; I don't think I ever read the final book, but I read the wikipedia summary of it, and I am skeptical that it's going to be a satisfying ending. I remember when it came out, people were annoyed with the ending (although to be fair to Auel, when you take GRRM lengths of time to finish a series, people are going to be annoyed regardless).



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The Valley of Horses by Jean M. Auel

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I had forgotten how much of the narrative of these books concerns where babies come from. I find that part extremely tedious.

But Ayla invents the domestication of animals! And the bra (although, technically, she does that in the first one)! And the headband (although technically she does that in the next one)! LOL

I still find the story very compelling; Ayla surviving on her own is fascinating. Jondalar and Thonolan travelling is also very interesting. The writing is still not great.

Jondalar's magnificently sized organ of manhood gets way too much page time. I just about died laughing when I re-read that part where Ayla is the only woman whose womanhood can accommodate Jondalar (so she's got a cavernous hoo-ha? Jondalara's rattling around in there? IDK LOL)

Definitely a good read if very silly in places.



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The Mammoth Hunters by Jean M. Auel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This one is my favorite of the series.

It's got the strongest writing and the biggest cast of characters. I think part of the issue with The Valley of Horses is that Ayla is in isolation for so much of it; talking to other characters is naturally more exciting and dynamic.

I love Rydag and how Ayla brings him so much joy and changes his life. That part is genuinely moving. The Mamutoi are good people, and I enjoy Ayla and Jondalar interacting with all sorts of people.

As always, all the parts about how to make stuff like lotion and lodgings and clothing are very cool, and the parts about sharing Pleasures are ridiculous and tedious.



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3. Bonus book:

Limericks: Too Gross by Isaac Asimov

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Well, that certainly is a thing I read.



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Understanding Writing Blocks by Keith Hjortshoj

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is a slim volume but worth reading. Because it's published in 2001, nothing he's saying about the writing process is very new--just standard comp 1 textbook writing is recursive and etc. What I do think is valuable is insight into why doctoral students and faculty often falter in their efforts to produce dissertations, books, and publishable articles (especially in the humanities). Everything Hrjortshoj has to say about the lack of support and direction for humanities doctoral students was true in my personal experience. He's also got some clear solutions to prevent doctoral students from being paralyzed and stalling out on finishing their dissertations; I think this would be very useful for anyone who's directing graduate work (along with admin like chairs and deans) to read.



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Comments

[monanotlisa]

Well, that certainly is a thing I read.

*giggle*

Thanks for the laughs this morning.

I hadn't consumed any Anthony Bourdain, but I too am sad by proxy. He seemed a down-to-Earth voice in an industry that can get too full of itself, so to speak.

[lunabee34]

You are welcome! Laughing is a good thing. :)

I loved his travel/food shows. Kitchen Confidential rubbed me the wrong way, but on the whole, I really enjoyed his contribution to the cooking world. I am so sad that he's gone.

[slightweasel]

I got such a kick out of Valley of Horses when I was 12. My mom would have had a conniption if she'd known what it was about, but hey, it was a really thick book with horses on the cover, so how bad could it be? xD

[zulu]

Same, but my mom can't blame me! I was a voracious reader at that age, and when I ran out of my own books, she said "go look on my bookshelf," where Valley of the Horses was sitting all innocently. I don't know if she'd read it, or forgotten the contents, or didn't mind. It made me want to be a paleoanthropologist, though! Plus I read the good parts to the other kids on the bus. If you know what I mean and I assume you do.

[lunabee34]

Oh, do I.

I have fond memories of reading the good parts of these books out loud at sleep overs. Rosemary Rogers (Sweet Savage Love) was also good for such recitations.

[lunabee34]

Heeeeee. My mom, too. She had no idea what I was reading half the time and would not have liked most of it. LOL

[sholio]

I kinda wish these books hadn't become such a cultural joke at this point, because they're awesome books to read when you're 11 or 12 (the age I read them at) - er, obviously all the sex is going to be very much Not Parentally Approved, but it's not like kids don't know, and I remember just skipping all those parts at the time.

But basically they're just straight up Mary Sue Being Awesome, with an emphasis on the young female protagonist building/making/inventing stuff (plus the "escaping to the wilderness" fantasy), and it's actually fairly unique for female protagonists (as opposed to male ones ... I don't think self-inserty badass genius inventors are that uncommon for male characters). And yeah, a lot of it is cheesy and silly, and I intentionally haven't revisited them as an adult because I suspect the suck fairy would have visited them in a major way, heh. But they were glorious escapist reading at an age when I just wanted to make myself little slings and fantasize about living in a cave building stuff.

[kore]

Oh, I did that so much with the bit where she's in the cave surviving the winter in the first book. It was like escapist porn in a time when I was being tortured by school and messed with my by parents. At one point I made a list of all the flowers/herbs mentioned in this notebook (my mother quashed the idea of my living on them by pointing out that the flora/fauna were different in the modern US SW, hah).

[lunabee34]

*hugs*

I can see how reading about Ayla's survival would be really comforting.

[lunabee34]

I think it is so fascinating that pretty much everyone who has commented about these books read them at roughly the same age.

Ridiculousness aside, I love these books hard. I think Auel is very good at writing a story that can make readers emotionally invested. Even while I'm rolling my eyes at some parts, I'm still tearing up when Ayla worries that Jondalar's people won't accept her or when she's missing her son.

But, Sholio, oh lordy. I wish I could say that as a kid I was into these books because they were giving me a badass female protagonist. Oh no. The main, ah, thrust of my interest in this series as a preteen was all about the Sharing Pleasures. LOL So much self-insert fantasy potential (especially surrounding the concept of First Rites; did I want a supernaturally sexy man to teach me the ways of pleasure in a culturally sanctioned ceremony? Oh, hell yes I did).

Now, the Sharing Pleasures parts totally bores me, and I skip them. But that was the main draw for wee!Lorraine.

[goss]

I just about died laughing when I re-read that part where Ayla is the only woman whose womanhood can accommodate Jondalar

Ahaha. Oh man...I too was given the Auel books (by my cousin) when I was 11/12 years old. They were a fascinating read for sure. Also, I became a sort of "dealer" as they made the rounds for every pre-teen girl in my school. You should have seen the condition in which they came back to me. Well-worn indeed. LOL. My name somehow remained linked to the Valley of Horses at school, making mention of it years later in my high school year book under my picture. *facepalm* :b

[kore]

What got passed around in my school was V.C. Andrews. It was like pre-internet preteen girl samizdat.

[lunabee34]

OMG, yes.

So much VC Andrews. My sexuality didn't stand a chance. LOL

And didn't you love those double covers with the cutouts?

[kore]

OMG, WHAT WERE THEY CALLED, STEPBACKS? There used to be a WHOLE SITE devoted to the Andrews covers and models....I think this was it?

http://www.completevca.com/bio_artists.shtml

http://www.completevca.com/lib_doll_attic.shtml


It might've been the madteaparty one, which is dead. sigh.

[lunabee34]

Yes!

I loved the ones for Ruby and My Sweet Audrina. And one of them had a spiderweb on it, I think. So cool.

[kore]

Those were really popular for quite a while in mall bookstores, from what I remember -- thrillers and horror and gothic type books had them. But Andrews made them blazingly popular.

[lunabee34]

You win the thread.

All hail Goss, dealer of Paleolithic porn! LOL

I love that it ended up in the yearbook.

[kore]

I loved Cave Bear and literally read my copy to pieces as a kid, reread Valley a bunch of times, and somehow completely stalled out on Mammoth Hunters. My favourite bits were always about Ayla living alone and surviving, since I felt so isolated, so when she interacted with other people, it wasn't my catnip. I was also greatly annoyed by the "I love her but I'm not good enough for her/I love him but he doesn't want to fuck me" trope, which I didn't realize at the time was a trope and other peoples' catnip. I kept mentally screaming JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER!

I also remember thinking Jonadalar's bro was a lot hotter than he was, hah.

[sholio]

I remember being really upset about Jondalar's brother getting killed at age NINE. Or however old I was when I first read that book (I think I was about nine or ten). I liked him!

[kore]

He was such a sweetheart! Whereas Jondalar was kind of this cold fish creep (because he was So Irresistible To All Women). What was his name anyway? Thanalon? ....hah, Thonolan, almost had it.

[lunabee34]

Oh, yeah. The constant everyone falls in love with Jondalar trope was old after the first book in which it appeared.

[lunabee34]

Yes! I was sad about this go round, too, especially since he lost his wife and kid. :(

[kore]

I think that was one of my first reactions of "but I like the sidekick, not the Dreamy Hero," heh.

[lunabee34]

I agree re: Thonolan. He seemed if not more physically attractive then certainly to have a more attractive personality. He didn't have Jondalar's temper.

[kore]

-- OMG, I was just reading this and I TOTALLY FORGOT HE THOUGHT HER SON WAS AN ABOMINATION. What a jackass! I'm sure Thonolan would have thought no such thing.

[lunabee34]

LOL

To be fair to Jondalar, pretty much all the homo sapiens think that, and he pretty quickly changes his mind and is appropriately repentant. He says he's sorry with his penis very well.

[kore]

Thonolan would apologize better

[lunabee34]

Ahahaha.

He would.

[cathexys]

OMG, didn't we all get imprinted on Ayla? It was pretty awesome in principle though, wasn't it (And I still like some of the abstract concept things Ayla accomplished even if it's all very nonscientific). That was the age of the shared memory/skill thing, right? Mists of Avalon and Fires of Troy had some of that too, I think.

As for Valleys of the Hoses--I just remember the lengthy (for what I'd get out the library :) sex scene. That was actually kinda hot unlike the Henry Miller stuff, for example that was supposed to be sexy and never was.

[lunabee34]

Yes!

I was super into the sex scenes as an adolescent/young adult. I don't care for them now, but I'm not entirely sure that's the fault of the sex scene. I'm pretty bored with porn period nowadays and almost always skip that part of fanfic. But back when I was into porn, I thought the sex scenes were very tittilating, especially the part where sexuality was celebrated and encouraged.

[kore]

Valley of Horses has a surprising amount of Ayla-centered foreplay in it compared to other romance/adult novels of the time, IIRC.

Henry Miller, gag. Another 'sexy' writer who turned me off cold was John Updike. He was so clinical and nasty, and saw women as animals.

[lunabee34]

The only Henry Miller I've read is Tropic of Cancer and that was 20 years ago, but in my memory the sex was supposed to be awful and reflect badly on the protagonist (I think, like I said, it's been a long time).

[archersangel]

i never read this series. at one time i wanted to, but then found out some of the plotlines & thought; "maybe not."

i can't recall what i was reading at 11-12, maybe mysteries? or some trek novels? i recall some sort of teen romance (with a helping of against) phase.

ETA: i know i was reading sleepover friends at about that time. possibly some babysitters club. other than that. i'm not sure.

[lunabee34]

There is a fair amount of rape in the books along with child death/harm, so it's not for everyone.

I was always trying to read stuff I knew my parents wouldn't approve of. I wanted to grow up way too fast. LOL

[lyr]

I remember liking Clan of the Cave Bear okay, though I read it when I was ten, so I doubt it would hold up so well for me now either. But I never got much further, because Valley of the Horses was at least half really bad porn, and the proportion seemed to increase thereafter. Good porn, mind you, I'd've read. But all that special magnificent manhood with healing powers? No. I do remember it now when I'm writing sex, though - as a reminder of what not to do.

[lunabee34]

Yeah, the frequency of porny interludes drastically increases as the series progresses. I skipped just about every sex scene on this re read.