Ever since I put down Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I’ve been looking for “the next one.”  You know, the next series that I could really get into, that would capture my imagination and inject a little magic into my days and maybe be my excuse for staying up nights to read.  First, I thought it might be the Tunnels books, but the first one of the series was one of the few books that I have really, honestly hated, and I never picked up any of the others.  Then, I thought it might be the Hunger Games trilogy, which was fantastic, sure, but it wasn’t what I’ve come to think of as Potteresque.  It was too dark, too violent.  (Oh, sure, Harry Potter books have their moments of darkness and violence – but not on Hunger Games scale.  And it’s okay; I did really like the Hunger Games books.  But they aren’t really in the Potter style.)

Then I found the Percy Jackson series.  These books had been on my radar for quite some time, but they kept getting bumped by other books.  Finally, I decided that the best way to get to them sooner rather than later was to listen to them on audio during my long commutes.  (This isn’t a post about the audio production, but I’ll just say this: I wasn’t a fan.  The narrator did that thing I hate, where he talked in a squeaky voice to represent a woman, and that just makes me gag.  Plus, he read some pretty strange and/or stereotypical accents into the characters.  Annabeth’s stepmom, who is described as having dark hair and being from San Francisco, got a pretty offensive “Asian” accent, as did half-blood Ethan Nakamura.  Some of the other half-blood campers were inexplicably read as being from Texas or Australia.  It was just weird.  But the story was good enough to get me past my frustration with the audio narration, even though I did plenty of eye-rolling at some of the voices.)

What I really want to talk about, though, is the story – which was fantastic.  At the beginning of The Lightning Thief, the first book in the series, sixth-grader Percy Jackson is on the verge of being kicked out of yet another school.  Percy has dyslexia and ADHD and can’t seem to stay on a teacher’s good side.  Trouble follows him wherever he goes.  Then one day, his nasty math teacher turns into an actual demon and tries to kill him, and his Latin teacher gives him a ballpoint pen that turns into a sword.  What the…?, you’re thinking.  That pretty much sums up Percy’s thoughts, too.  It turns out that Percy is a half-blood, or demigod.  He’s the child of an Olympian god and a mortal.  Since Percy knows who his mom is, it follows that his dad is the immortal parent.  Percy is whisked off to Camp Half-Blood, a summer retreat for other demigods, where he trains in fighting monsters (who follow half-bloods wherever they go).  But his stay at camp is short, because it turns out that someone has stolen Zeus’s master lightning bolt, and Percy is the prime suspect.  To clear his name, he’ll have to journey to the underworld and retrieve Zeus’s property.  And even if he manages to complete his quest, it’s just the beginning of his problems… because a new threat is rising that could spell the end of Mount Olympus.

That was a rather long introduction to the point of this post: what I found really compelling about these books.  There were a few things:

I loved the underlying mythology.  I’ll admit that Greek myths are one of the holes in my reading experience.  Greek mythology was a semester-long English class in my high school, but I didn’t take it.  It was the “Regents” level course, and I was in “Honors” English, so we had a different program of study.  So my knowledge of Greek myths is pretty much limited to a children’s book I haven’t read in over twenty years.  But from what I remember, the mythology in this series is sound.  Percy draws on the stories of old Greek heroes to help him in his quests, and Riordan nails the details of each story (at least, as far as my limited knowledge attests).  I’m sure he spent buckets of time researching Greek mythology, and it shows.  These books are silly and fun, but they’re also smart, and don’t think otherwise.

The characterization of the gods was spot-on.  Riordan takes the gods and makes them modern, but he keeps the essence of each.  Ares, the god of war, rides a motorcycle and calls everyone “Punk.”  Aphrodite is obsessed with her makeup.  Apollo tools around in a red convertible “sun chariot” and recites goofy poetry.  Artemis is a too-serious twelve-year-old girl.  Hephaestus is covered in motor oil and talks like he’s from New Jersey (one of the few accents in the audio production that I actually thought was funny), Dionysus is serving as camp director for 100 years after being ordered to dry out, Zeus is a slick executive in a pin-striped suit, and Poseidon wears a fishing vest and sports a terrific tan.  If the gods really were alive and active today, they’d be exactly as Riordan paints them.

The central conflict was… dare I say… COMPLEX.  So, these are YA books, and you’d think that as a result, they’d be pretty simplistic.  The stereotype is that YA adventures tell stories of good and evil struggling.  The good characters are definitely good, and the evil characters are clearly evil.  It’s my one critique of Harry Potter: there’s very little grey there – Voldy and his cronies are bad to the bone, and Harry is never tempted by their messages.  Sure, Sirius is a complex character and Harry deals with his realization that his dad bullied Snape, and of course there’s the big surprise about Snape at the end (oh, simmer down, if you haven’t read those books or at least seen the movies by now…) but there’s no question that the Order of the Phoenix is the right side to be on if you’ve got any kind of ethics.

Not so with Percy Jackson.  Early in the series, Percy discovers that Kronos is rising and planning a Titan takeover.  And the weird thing is, quite a few half-bloods are defecting from camp and joining the Titan cause.  Why?  If Kronos succeeds, Olympus will be destroyed and civilization as we know it will end.  Sounds like a pretty easy choice, right?  You should fight for Olympus.  And it is a pretty easy choice for Percy, because he has a good relationship with his dad (I won’t spoil the books by revealing Percy’s Olympian parent’s identity, but it’s pretty obvious from the first chapter who his dad is, and it comes out early in the first book, so).  But those half-bloods who’ve chosen to throw their lots in with the Titans don’t enjoy the trusting relationship that Percy has with his godly parent.  They feel unloved and abandoned by their parents, and it’s not too far a leap for them to rise up against them.  Or they’re the children of “minor gods” (like Ethan, a son of Nemesis) and have no place at Camp Half-Blood, and can you really blame them for being angry?

Sure, the Titans are, in general, pretty nasty pieces of work.  But the gods aren’t perfect.  They’re petulant, uppity, overly sensitive, and can be downright cruel.  At the end of the third book, just after Percy has saved Mount Olympus (again), they spend a chapter debating whether to kill him.  Bit of a disconnect there, right?  Percy’s loyalty doesn’t waver, but by the fifth book he seems to have begun to understand why some others might not be as steadfast in their support of Mount Olympus.  He learns more about his enemy Luke, and he comes to understand why Luke turned to Kronos – which is knowledge Percy will need when it comes time to confront Luke once and for all.  And as Percy – and the reader – gain more understanding of the legitimate grievances harbored by half-bloods on the other side, they are able to be more compassionate.  The question is, will their compassion lose the war for them?  I won’t tell you what happens – you’ll have to read the books – but I will tell you that The Last Olympian was one of the only books that’s ever prompted me to cry when one of the villains dies.  Because by the end, you can see clearly that the Olympian gods have lots of faults and have made some major mistakes, and while they may be the better alternative, they’re going to need to make some big changes in the future or else face another war. 

The Percy Jackson books were deceptively complex.  I finished The Last Olympian more than two weeks ago, and I’m still thinking about it.  I loved these books because they were funny and imaginative, but also because they were far more thought-provoking than the usual YA offerings.  And I’ll be going back for re-reads; I’m sure there were plenty of jokes I didn’t catch, and plenty of philosophy too.

Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby.  I literally can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book.  Here are my reads for August, 2013…

A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens – I had been working on this since February and was only about a quarter of the way through, because I was reading it on my phone.  (I downloaded it to read in coffee lines, but turns out, it takes FOREVER to get through a book when you’re only reading it in five-minute spurts.  Who knew?)  Anyway, I finally decided I was tired of seeing it mock me on my Goodreads “currently reading” shelf, so I pulled out my hard copy (one of the complete set that my grandmother gave me) and blew through the rest of the book.  Once I sunk into it, it was amazing.  And I was a soppy mess at the end.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, by Cheryl Strayed – I had mixed feelings about this.  I wanted to love it, because I loved Strayed’s collection of Dear Sugar columns, Tiny Beautiful Things.  And I did think the description “like Eat, Pray, Love, except the woman has actual problems and is not annoying” was pretty apt.  But there were still times when I wanted to shake Cheryl and ask “What were you thinking?”  I’m glad she found herself on the trail, but she could have done so with less whining if she’d thought to break in her hiking boots or test out her backpack or, you know, prepare AT ALL.

Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books, by Paul Collins – This was a cute library find.  Paul Collins, his wife and their toddler son move to Hay-on-Wye, a Welsh town that is famous for its multitudes of used bookshops.  Cue musings on British life and arcane old manuscripts.  My eyes glazed over during some of the block quotes, but I really liked the parts about British snacks and TV.  And baby Morgan was too cute.

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, by Daniel James Brown – I can’t recommend this highly enough.  This book was, in a word, outstanding.  I can’t remember the last time I gave a non-fiction book five stars on Goodreads, but this one deserved all five.  Brown’s retelling of the journey nine young men from the University of Washington took to the 1936 Olympics was captivating.  The glimpses into Hitler’s propaganda machine were chilling, but the main focus of the book – the life story of Joe Rantz, one of the nine, and his crewmates, and their rise from obscurity and adversity to become one of the greatest rowing crews of all time, was heartwarming and exciting.  At one point, I was on the edge of my seat and had to take a deep breath and remind myself that these races took place 100 years ago, and are not actually going on right now.  Brown’s writing took me right back.  WOW.

The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #5), by Rick Riordan (audiobook) – Another great “read” for my commutes home!  I loved the final installment of Percy’s adventures with Annabeth, Tyson, Grover and Rachel.  Riordan’s characterization of the Olympian gods is such fun (and so spot-on!) and while I never really doubted that Percy would save the day, it was fun to go along for the ride.  I actually have a lot of thoughts about this series, so check in on Friday for a post devoted to Percy and pals.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple – I just loved this.  Bernadette Fox is a reclusive former architect who has become so antisocial that she outsources her life to a virtual personal assistant in India.  Her husband is worried and the other moms at her daughter’s private school are fed up with her.  But then, Bernadette disappears, and when she disappears, everything changes.  Bernadette’s daughter Bee is convinced that her mother wouldn’t just vanish, and she undertakes a wild quest to find her mom.  The book is an epistolary novel, made up of letters, emails, faxes and documents that “Bee collected,” with a little straight narration sprinkled in whenever Bee needs to fill in a hole in the story.  The result is a sweet, whimsical and uplifting novel about love and family and never giving up.  I’ll be buying a copy.

The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England, by Ian Mortimer – Earlier this summer, I read Mortimer’s previous book, The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England and this one was, if it’s even possible, more fun.  There’s lots to chew on here, and Mortimer doesn’t skimp on research, but his way of presenting the facts of daily life in Elizabethan England – as a travel guide for those interested in visiting the reign of Elizabeth I – is so creative and such fun.

Thrush Green (Thrush Green #1), by Miss Read – So, it was kind of hard to focus for the first fifty or so pages, because there was this voice in my head screaming NOT FAIRACRE!  NOT FAIRACRE!  NOT FAIRACRE!  But once I got over the NOT FAIRACRE!-ishness of it, Thrush Green was, as I knew it would be, a sweet read, perfect for a little comfort reading prior to the big move.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot’s Guide to the Land of Knitting, by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (audiobook) – Another “travel guide,” heh.  I forgot I had this on audio and found it kicking around my car, so I decided to give it a quick listen during my last week of commuting to DC.  Fun, as everything the Yarn Harlot does is, and it made me want to knit.  I especially love the lists and quizzes she sprinkles in.

I sort of thought that I was having a slow reading month.  We traveled to Buffalo one weekend, another weekend I spent entertaining guests for Peanut’s birthday party, and much of my so-called “free time” got eaten up by packing this month.  But in looking over the list, I still managed to get through quite a few books, and two in particular stand out as being absolutely outstanding reads.  The Boys in the Boat is my non-fiction pick of the year thus far, and Where’d You Go, Bernadette was utterly captivating.  This month, I’m looking forward to Septemb-Eyre, which will be the perfect excuse to re-read my all-time favorite book.  As for the rest of the month, I’m thinking I’ll indulge in some good comfort reading by finally making that return to Avonlea I keep saying I’ve got planned.  One thing’s for sure: I’ll actually be reading books from my own shelves for the bulk of September!  Or at least, for the first week or so, until I get a Buffalo library card.  Which is, naturally, tops on my agenda.

Rachel: Umm, well, what struck me most when reading Jane Eyre was uh, how the book was so ahead of its time.
Teacher: If you’re talking about feminism, I think you’re right.
Rachel: Yeah, well, feminism, yes, but also the robots.

Okay.  Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system.  I’d promise it won’t happen again but… I can’t.

So, this month Kerry from Entomology of a Bookworm is hosting Septemb-Eyre, in which the internet will devote itself to my favorite book of all time, Jane Eyre.  (Side note: Did you know that Jane Eyre was my favorite book of all time?  Did I, like, ever tell you that?  Or, like, did I ever make you read my Jane Eyre scarf?  Because that’s some awesome stuff right there.)

In all seriousness, when Kerry proposed hosting a read-along of Jane Eyre, I had an uncomfortable realization: despite the fact that I regularly proclaim that it’s my favorite book (oh, and it is), it’s been years since I read Jane Eyre.  This spring I read Villette, along with Beth from Too Fond and Amal from The Misfortune of Knowing, and had a grand time.  And the whole time I was reading Villette, I kept thinking to myself, “I really need to re-read Jane Eyre.  I must get around to that.”  Then I realized that Penguin Drop Caps’ “B” choice was Bronte, and since I’m in love with Penguin Drop Caps, and with Charlotte Bronte, and since my only other copy of Jane Eyre is in a hefty one-volume collection of all of Charlotte’s works, with Emily’s Wuthering Heights thrown in for good measure, I obviously bought the new, flame-orange edition.  Because, flames.

It’s possible that I might be getting a teensy bit off track in this post.  Sorry ’bout that.  Anyway, as far as introductions go:

Me: I’m Jaclyn.  I live in Buffalo, New York, as of this past weekend.  Most of my books are still in boxes, but I made sure to specially label the one with my new copy of Jane Eyre inside so I could get right down to the business of neglecting unpacking and reading instead.  If you’re popping over here from the Septemb-Eyre linkup and don’t know me, here’s a brief synopsis: I’m 31, married, mom to a one-year-old, addicted to books in general and English literature in particular, Anglophile, travel fiend, tea-holic, hiker and Sabres hockey malcontent/fan.

The Readalong: Kerry dreamed up Septemb-Eyre to provide an excuse for readers everywhere to neglect their housework.  (Right, Kerry?  That’s why we’re doing this?)  Okay, joking aside, this is the introductory post to a fun and frolicsome month of reading Jane Eyre and then discussing it with like-minded nerds.  The schedule is as follows: on September 9th we’ll post about Chapters I-XI; on September 16th, Chapters XII-XXI; on September 23rd, Chapters XXII-XXIX; and on September 30th, Chapters XXX-End.  My daughter might get in on the action too with a Peanut’s Picks post at some point during the month.

Why I’m Reading: Why not?  Okay, for reals, I have loved Jane Eyre since I first read it, back in high school, and it’s been way too long since my last re-read.  I was probably going to re-read this anyway, soon, and I had so much fun with the Villette readalong that I jumped at the chance to examine Jane Eyre through another virtual book club.  That’s really it – no big revelations here.  I love this book, and I just want to read it again.

Are you participating in Septemb-Eyre?  Do you love Jane Eyre too?