Cameron Does NOT Recommend: Memoirs of a Geisha

Time to talk about a book that I absolutely hate, Memoirs of a Geisha. Now I am going to come right out and say that this review may be a bit biased, I'll go into why at the end. For now, I'll just tell you what I think of this book.

Memoirs of a Geisha is a book about a little Japanese girl whose father sells her to a geisha training house, essentially a training house for upper-class prostitutes. Now, many people will say that I am unfairly labeling geisha. Those people should go read the wikipedia article on geisha, yes the article mentions that there were many geisha who were simply entertainers, but many of them were still prostitutes. This is further illustrated by the fact that to become a geisha most women had to go through a mizuage, essentially a paid sex act, to become a geisha in first place. Enough with that tangent. Sayuri, the little girl, trains to become a geisha. Along the way she meets "The Councilman" who shows her some kindness. At this time she decides she wants to be his mistress. Later, she is freed by the geisha house's cruel ownership by manipulating a few men to bid very highly for her mizuage, the right to take away her virginity. She is then employed to be an entertainer to a high businessman, who has lost one of his arms. This man shows her much respect, and seems to care for her. During WWII, he is able to secure for her a job in a factory, so that she can keep from going to the streets. Afterwards he continues to show interest in her, but his friend is the Councilman. So Sayuri decides that in order to be with the Councilman she must disgust the businessman by being caught having sex with a man that everyone (including her) feels is a nasty pig. Somehow, this plan works, and she becomes the Councilman's mistress, even bearing him a son who she must take to the US to raise on her own so as not to bring the Councilman shame. The end.

Yep, that is the book. I really didn't like this book. For one, there are no good men in this story, they are all depicted as vile in one way or another. I know that some men are bad, but really all men? Even the love interest in the book, the Councilman, is a unfaithful man who sends his mistress away to raise his bastard son. Now many people will point out that in Japanese culture at the time this was the way of life. Be that as it may, I still don't think it's right. Just because another culture functioned that way doesn't make it right. I feel marriage is sacred, and I dislike it when it is portrayed as fleeting. Another thing is that our "hero" is a woman whose sole ambition is to be a mistress and she goes about accomplishing it in a terrible, terrible way. Now as to her getting out of her situation the way she did, I could sympathize with that a little, she was doing what she had to. But the plan of hers to get with the Councilman is terrible. How can I root for that?

Now for the bias explanation. To be fair I really didn't like this book and I would not suggest it. I read it because at the time I was dating Torrie, a girl I loved. She gave the book to me as a present. While I was reading it, she broke up with me claiming "Cameron, I know that I've told you I love you but I don't. And I don't think I ever did." It tore me to pieces. I finished the book, feeling that it was my penance. I could tell you all sorts of stories about how badly Torrie treated me and the painful things she did and said, but not here on this blog. Suffice it to say that I may be a little overly harsh on this book because of the person who gave it to me. It is well written, I'll give it that. It just has a morally negative story.

Let me know what you think in the comments below and be sure to FOLLOW my blog for more. Thanks

Cameron Mostly Recommends: The Golden Compass

I would actually give this one 3.5 stars out of 5 stars. I just reread The Golden Compass for first time in 7 years. I was a little disappointed. I remember this book being fantastic, amazing, a literary masterpiece. Reading it again, after being introduced to great literature, I realized it wasn't as well written as I had once believed. Don't get me wrong, it was still very good. The problem is that I have been reading books that are amazing at showing me characters. To be clear, the authors showed that a character was brave, wild, loyal etc. by showing me their actions and their thoughts. Pullman, in The Golden Compass, does more telling. "Lyra was a fierce and wild child." I know it's a small thing but I feel that it was less enthralling a read. I actually had to kind of force my way through it at times because it wasn't as engaging. 

On to the story. I still really like the world he built. The idea of daemons, people's conscience or soul, being a spirit animal always by their human's side was immensely intriguing. Pullman explored many aspects of the idea and did very well with it. The book follows Lyra and her daemon Pan, whose friend Roger gets kidnapped by a mysterious group known as the Gobblers. The Gobblers have been snatching children all over and taking them to the cold and wild North, where talking, ferocious bears and fierce human warriors make their home. Lyra joins forces with a group of gyptians and sets out to help find her father with the help of the Alethiometer, a magical compass that can give you answers to almost any question and which only Lyra can read. 

On to some of the issues with the this book. 
First: I have read other reviews criticizing Lyra as being an overly passive protagonist. While I do agree that she is not as active as other heroes, she is still doing things and being proactive. I liked her, and the rest of the cast for that matter. 

Second: Now on to the real controversy of this book, the religious one. Now it is my opinion that the trilogy is very anti-christian. However, this book isn't. It does bash a parallel universe's version of the Catholic Church, and let's be honest, only some of those jabs are being made at the real Catholic church. Most of the ones that do apply, apply to some of the acts the Catholic church made in the dark ages, some of which were kind of horrendous. Modern day Catholicism is a very different thing than it was during that time and I've known some very devout Catholics that I believe are some of the best people I've known (Looking at you Elder family). Really, the thing that I feel he openly bashes is the idea of original sin. Now, as a Mormon, I don't believe in the idea of original sin. I believe that man will be punished for his own sins and not for Adam's transgressions. As such, I didn't find this part to be offensive, but I can see how for some it might be for others. All-in-all, it does feel as though Pullman might have had a bit of an agenda here. However, it doesn't detract from the story.

Overall I'd suggest this book. I liked it. The concept of daemons, or spirit animals or whatever, is really cool and I kind of wish it was one that another, more skilled author would look into it as well.

Cameron Recommends: The Way of Kings

I know what you all are thinking, "another Brandon Sanderson book? Really?". Yes, really. He is just that good. 
The Way of Kings is a heavyweight, weighing in at just over 1000 pages. But man alive, is it good. I just finished it for the second time and it was even better the second time around. Sanderson is a master at putting little clues to twists in his book without you even realizing it. Not only that, he crafts his characters with such care that you really do care about them and their story. 

I guess I should give a brief summary of the book. The Way of Kings is the first book taking place on Roshar (for which their will be 10 books) and Sanderson does an amazing job with the worldbuilding. On Roshar, terrible tempests, known as highstorms, hit every few weeks. As such the vegetation and animal life has had to adapt, most animals have hard shells and most plants are able to creep back into the earth to avoid the storms. Most of society also has adapted to deal with the storms, cities are built deep into the sides of cliffs and buildings are all made of hardened stone. 

The story mainly follows 4 people, Szeth, Kaladin, Dalinar and Shallan. Shallan is a young girl, leaving her family's estates for the first time in order to become the apprentice to a well known scholar, the heretic sister to the king. 

The Assassin in White

Highprince Dalinar Kholin, the brother of the King who was murdered. Before he died, his brother directed Dalinar to an ancient tome called The Way of Kings, which leads Dalinar to start questioning the warlike and competitive Alethkar way of life. 
Szeth is a Shin man cast out by his people and condemned to do the bidding of his constantly changing masters. He becomes the Assassin in White, sent to murder the king. 
And then there is Kaladin, the MAN! Kaladin is the main focus of the book. His story is told in two ways, one his present story, where is a a slave sold into the army of a competitive HIghprince who values riches over human life. The other way is through flashbacks, showing how he got to that point in the first place. 

This book is so good. Oh man it is so good. I love it. The sequel is coming out next month, and as such I just re-read it. It was even BETTER the second time through. So get get it. Go read it!

Cameron Recommends: Avatar The Last Airbender

Hey everyone, I have another recommendation for you, it's Avatar: The Last Airbender. No, not the terrible, terrible, awful movie by M. Knight Shamylan (or however you spell that guys name). The horror of that movie makes me shudder, brrr, so bad. No, I'm talking about the original TV show.

Simply put, Avatar; The Last Airbender is one of the greatest television series of all time. It has everything a great series needs: humor, action, deep characterization, a touch of romance, an interesting setting, satire, the list goes on and on. The story is about a mythical world where some people are born with the ability to bend one of the elements, either earth, air, water or fire. People bend these elements by using martial arts. The writers and creators of the show enlisted the help of martial arts experts in order to create fighting that was realistic, despite the fact that they are flinging fire or water at each other. Each element is given a distinct type of martial arts fighting style that they felt encompassed the idea and feeling of each element. It's pretty interesting to see.

YES!

In order to keep balance in the world there is one person who can bend all four elements, the Avatar. In addition to being the person who can bend all the elements, he is the bridge between the spirit world and mankind. Upon his death, the Avatar is born into one of the four nations, always rotating fire, air, water, earth, fire and so on.

The world is split into four nations, one for each element. However, the fire nation invaded, wiping out the air nomads and all the airbenders in the hopes of killing the Avatar, who was a child in the air nation at the time. However he survived. One hundred years later, he wakes to find the world in chaos, the fire nation is close to conquering the water and earth kingdoms. Even though he still just a teenager, he must learn to master all four elements and bring balance to the world.

This show is incredible guys. Now, before you go judging a book by its cover I have a few things to say. I was very hesitant to watch this show. I was introduced to it by a friend of mine, Dave Loomis. It looked an awful lot like anime to me, which I do not enjoy (despite my younger brother's several attempts to convince me otherwise). Well I was wrong to be suspicious. While The Last Airbender may look like an anime series, it isn't. It is completely American made. The creators simply chose Chinese culture as a basis for the show. While the animation may look like anime, it is far from it. Also, the whole thing was originally done in English, so no weird lip syncing or subtitles. And though it may seem to be directed at kids, it covers several very adult themes and concepts.

I love this show, it is perfect. The first season it's a tad slow, but it gets better as the show goes on. This series also has one of the most interesting and compelling character development arcs I've ever seen or read, I literally cried. Just go watch it. If you live near me, I have the whole series on DVD and I'd love to watch it with you.

Have you seen Avatar? What do like about it? Let me know in the comments below.

Cameron Recommends: The Name of the Wind

Oh man, it's time for another blog post, and surprise, surprise it's another book review. So let's get down to it.

My little brother Chandler is great, he is a bookworm like me (though he doesn't read as much as me). He read this book (not sure who recommended it to him) and he loved it. He talked it up for a while and then two years back he got the paperback for me for my birthday. I was in the middle of another book so it took me a while to get to this one. The first 50 pages or so I was skeptical, I wasn't really sure what was going on. Then it took off and Oh how I LOVE this book.

One of the things that makes this book so fantastic is the writing style. There are essentially two stories going on, the present day and the past. In the present day an innkeeper is living with is assistant in a little town. Weird stuff is going down in the world but nobody really knows why. A biographer, known simply as "The Chronicler" shows up and reveals that he has figured out that this innocent innkeeper is actually Kvothe, hero, lover and kingkiller. He begs for the chance to tell his story and Kvothe agrees to tell it to him over the next three days. This section of the book is all told from 3rd person limited point of view.

Then we get Kvothe's story. Book one, The Name of the Wind, is the first day of Kvothe relating his tale. Man is it interesting. This section of the book is told from a first person point of view. He tells of his parents and how he grew up as essentially part of a mobile theater group that would pass from town to town and perform. Then tragedy hits and he spends time as a street vagabond in a large city, then he goes to "The University" where artisans and magicians learn their craft. This is NOT at all like Harry Potter though, this school is very different, not everyone can perform "magic" and magic is very limited in its abilities (essentially it's all about transfer of heat and energy, which appealed to my scientific mind).

The book is mostly this past story, but it is broken up a bit, with the third person limited point of view in the present being inserted here and there, like during the lunch rush at the inn or when a stranger comes knocking. The breaks make you excited to get back to the next section of the book, whether it be craving to know what is going on in the present or wanting to know what is going to happen to Kvothe in the past.

The book is beautiful, the writing is superb, and the story is compelling. I LOVED THIS BOOK. I would probably put it (along with its sequel, A Wise Man's Fear) in my top 5 favorites of all time. I'm eagerly (and yes impatiently) waiting for the third day to come out. So go pick this one up, it's well worth your time.

Thanks for reading, let me know what you think in the comments. Are these recommendations useful? Have you read this book? If so, what did you think?

Lots o' Love

Cameron Recommends: Angels and Demons

With the Christmas break I have had a more time to myself than usual. This translates into more reading, more TV and, believe it or not, more blog writing. Today I'll be reviewing one of the books that I have read during the break; Angels and Demons.

My friend, Kyle Dority, is a Dan Brown fan. He is also a reader. A couple of weeks ago, he mentioned that he'd be spending a couple of weeks in Dubai during the break (lucky jerk) and that he wanted something good to read. Without hesitation I offered my paperback copies of the Mistborn Trilogy, one of my favorite series of all time (I did a Cameron Recommends about it a few months ago, check it out). He felt like he ought to return the favor, so he lent me 3 of his Dan Brown books. He told me to start with Angels and Demons. After school got out and at the tail end of a week with the flu, I decided to pick the book up.

I have recently read a lot of fantasy novels, which makes sense seeing as how that is what I normally read. The last fantasy book I read was somewhat hard for me to get into, even though I really liked. What I hadn't realized was I needed just a good piece of fiction to help freshen up fantasy again. This book satisfied that need, and man did I enjoy it. Now, I must confess that I saw the film and so certain plot twists of the book had already been revealed to me. I really wish that they hadn't, I feel it would have made the book so much better. However, I knew what to look for. Even knowing the basic plot the author had me second guessing myself. At a couple of points I thought to myself "Hmm, am I remembering the film right" or "Maybe they didn't follow the book that well, lots of movies don't". You know that is good, thrilling writing when that happens.

Time for a quick synopsis of the story. Robert Langdon is a professor of symbology and history at Harvard University. He is in his forties and is an active swimmer. Early in the morning he receives an urgent phone call and fax with an ancient, never before seen symbol, the Brand of an dead society whose purpose was to bring down Christianity.  Langdon has written books about this group and even theorized as to what their brands would look like, but nobody in living history has seen them. It appears that this dead society isn't as dead as the world was lead to believe. The ensuing adventure is one of hidden clues, dark purposes, and murder. (Pretty good setting huh? makes you want to go read it)

I really did enjoy this book and I recommend it. One other note on the film. I really didn't like the movie, the twist felt contrived and didn't make a whole lot of sense. The book, on the other hand, makes the twist make a TON more sense and gives the ending a lot more weight.

Thoughts, comments, jokes? Let me know in the comments. Also remember to follow.

Cameron Recommends: Popcorn at a Movie

Yep, that is right, I am writing about popcorn today. But first check out this awesome video I found of a popcorn kernel popping in super slow motion.

Cool, right? Anyways, now that we have that out of our way, down to business. Popcorn is a movie goers favorite snack. Everybody knows this. The question is, why? For most people, I don't know. I love it because it is so darn tasty. I mean, popcorn is by far my favorite snack of all time. However, I think it goes deeper than that, it goes back to my roots. 

My family has always been big into movies, especially ever since my dad was put in a wheelchair. It is something that we all love and can all talk about. Even at times when things are a little tense or awkward at home, we can talk about movies. As a kid, getting popcorn (generally the microwave stuff) was a treat. My parents would go out and I'd be babysitting and get permission to cook some and watch a film with my little brothers. Those are great memories I have, just chilling with my brothers, enjoying movies and popcorn. 

So go pop yourself some popcorn, or get some at the next movie you go out to see. Maybe it can compliment some fond memories of your own.