Recent Reads

8. The Paper Menagerie
I read this short story as part of the Books on the Nightstand's Project Short Story. I am not a big fan of the short story, so figured this is a good way to read at least one a month this year.

This story was the first story to win all three major science fiction/fantasy awards: the Hugo, the Nebula, and the World Fantasy Award. And there-in lies my problem. All these awards, and I was not blown away. The story explores the theme of identity, a tough one for most of us, but it can be especially thorny for bi-racial or multi-racial kids. There are some amazing books written on the topic, and while I liked this story, this is not one of them. Rating: 3 stars.

9. Finn
I read Huck Finn so long ago that I barely remember the plot, yet was intrigued by the notion of exploring the life of a minor character in the story - in this case Huck's father Pap. The writing is lyrical, and poetic, and really quite wonderful. Even the dark humor is well done. The story moves back and forth in time in a manner that takes getting used to, but in the end I did not rate this book higher because I was not sucked in by the story. While the characters are really well flushed out, I simply did not care about what happened to them. Rating: 3 stars.