A few weeks ago I received a package in the mail, and made an ungraceful sound when I realized that inside was an advance copy of Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood. It doesn’t come out in the U.S. until next month, and I got a copy in my grubby little hands early. The problem is that I don’t have much to say about it! I liked it. I liked every story in it. Through it all runs a thread about aging, with grace or without, with humor or without. There are characters I liked, and characters I didn’t, but most of all I simply enjoyed it.
I always like when Atwood embraces an element of the speculative in her stories, even if it might only be figurative. But mostly she draws people so well that it doesn’t matter if she’s taking you to a place where friends reincarnate themselves to protect you from yourself, or only to a place where plain, dirty vengeance is enacted with a stone.
Atwood shapes a short story very well, packing a lot into a few dozen pages, so I guess what I’m trying to say is this is good.
The other book I finished is a YA novel by Michelle Tea, called Mermaid in Chelsea Creek. It’s entirely possible my expectations were too high for this book, based on the cover and title. I had dreamed it into being something that it didn’t end up being. It was fine. The characters were good, especially the way the friendship between Ella and Sophie was drawn. Some beautiful imagery, and I like that so far, there’s no hint of “she thinks she’s plain but she’s really beautiful” that you get a lot in YA books. Sophie has ratty hair and a long face, and no one pretends that she’s the one the boys look at (that’s Ella).
And there’s a seed of something interesting, these fairy tale elements that could build into a great world, but… This book was all background to the story I wanted. It was a third of the book it should have been, spread out into its own book. All of the “This is why you are the chosen one,” but never moving past that.
I’ve since learned that it’s supposed to be the first of multiple books, which, of course it is. The second book was supposed to come out in June of 2013. No, July of 2014. No, some future unknown date. It’s not out now, at least.
I’d probably pick up the next book, to be honest. The lack of plot/action isn’t enough to put me off of the rest of it.
Other reading
A Rational Conversation: Will Bikini Kill Ever Make The Rock Hall Of Fame? YES let’s all talk more about riot grrl and lady-fronted bands. Constantly!
I was drawn to those bands because they were the girls I wanted to be; or they were the girls that looked like and sang about stuff I was interested in and wanted to be a part of, but wasn’t sure how to find it. (Elizabeth Spiridakis Olson)
The Last Halloween by Abby Howard. I hadn’t been reading this, and then I caught up all at once this morning, whoops! It’s really great, and creepy, and funny, and gross.
