Bad Stuff and Good Stuff

I have never thought of myself as a particularly tough critic of books. I like stories of all kinds; they just have to be believable and compelling. Maybe that's a high bar to set for every book (and having tried to actually write stories with those qualities, I guess I should say that it actually is...), but I don't think it's too much to ask.

This past week I've been struggling to read through another stripped book from my days at Barnes and Noble, Alchemy and Academe, edited by Anne McCaffrey. It's an anthology of fantasy short stories that fit in with the theme expressed in the title, and three stories in, I'm already avoiding it in favor of reading anything else at hand.

I should probably back up and explain that, not being a huge fantasy fan, I've never read anything by Anne McCaffrey. I have heard good things about her work, however, and I know she has some whole thing about dragons going on. I have no doubt that she has written some good stories in her time; what I question is her ability to choose (or possibly find) stories that fit in with her theme.

So far there hasn't been any sign of the things that actively turn me off in fantasy stories (namely fairies... man, as soon as a fairy shows up in a story, I am out of there). Instead the first three stories appear to be stories about academics or philosophers doing... well, whatever. In one the academics were in outer space (Sonya Dorman's "A Mess of Porridge"), being boring and obtuse, and also eating porridge. There's also one ("The Institute" by Carol Emshwiller), which is about an institute of higher learning for old women. Sort of interesting, but certainly not compelling. The third story I read, "Condillac's Statue" by R.A. Lafferty, was about philosophers making a statue come to life by adding senses to it... zzzzzzzzzz. Seriously, at least the first two had some feminist subtext.

I am starting to really dread reading the rest of this book, and I suppose it just proves that there is a reason some books don't sell; not all books are good. I will probably fight my way to the end of it, because even more than reading crap, I hate it when I am defeated by a book. I know that's not rational in a world where ever more interesting reading material is produced and we have a finite time allotted in our lives to enjoy it, but it's just my personality.

On the upside, I started reading the first The Walking Dead graphic novel (subtitled Days Gone By, author Robert Kirkman, art by Tony Moore and Cliff Rathburn), and it's a ton better than 30 Days of Night was. I'm sure I will keep reading this series for quite a while.

Also, the Walking Dead book is going to stay on my shelf for a long time, while I will take inordinate pleasure when I finally let myself recycle Alchemy and Academe.