You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know

You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know: A True Story of Family, Face Blindness, and Forgiveness by Heather Sellers

Heather Sellers is face-blind—that is, she has prosopagnosia, a rare neurological condition that describes the inability to recognize faces. Growing up, unaware of the reason for her perpetual confusion and anxiety, she took what cues she could from speech, hairstyle, and gait. The truth was revealed two decades later when Heather took the man she would marry home to meet her parents and discovered the astonishing truth about her family, herself, and living with mental illness. In this uplifting memoir, Sellers illuminates a deeper truth: that even in the most chaotic and heartbreaking of families, love may be seen and felt. (via Goodreads)

So, I’m a little face-blind.

I didn’t realize this until about seven years ago. How do you get through the first thirty years of your life without realizing that you don’t recognize people sometimes? I went to a very small grade school; I never had a big circle of friends in high school and college. Familiarity helps and I didn’t have to interact with that many unfamiliar people. Also, it was something that I hadn’t questioned. It was my perception of normal. As Heather Sellers is told repeatedly, everyone forgets names and associations on occasion. That’s just normal. Face blindness is different from that. For me, some faces don’t get remembered: mostly round faces and faces without a prominent feature. What changed seven years ago is that I had  become part of a larger social group, a group that knew me better than I knew them. I’m the website manager for Valley of the Sun Ultimate. Despite being a behind-the-scenes person, I had become an identifiable within the organization. Eric and I were also regularly captaining teams. And I started introducing myself to people…sometimes the same person. Over and over and over again.

As the kids say, “Awkward.”

Around that time, Eric read a New York Times article about prosopagnosia (an article that includes Heather Sellers as it turns out) and certain things started making sense to me. I have a better chance of recognizing an actor by their voice than their face. I’ve always been most attracted to tall guys with angular faces and/or big noses. I’m generally socially nervous when dealing with women. (Women are tough. Soft features. Changing make-up.  Changing hair styles. Yet, with a disconcerting homogeneity in appearance within a group. There are a lot of blonde girls with pony tails that play ultimate!)

Sellers has a lot more going on. When the summary mentions her “living with mental illness,” it’s not her own. She grew up in a split household with a schizophrenic mother and an alcoholic father. Even without face blindness, her childhood was not conventional. Yet, for her, this was “normal.” That’s a concept that I’ve been contemplating for a while now. We all start out thinking that our experience of life is normal. It’s not until later when we’re out in the world that  someone else’s normal contests our own.

In You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know, Sellers addresses both her realization of face blindness, but also her return home and, for the first time, seeing the reality of her mom and dad. The thing that makes this memoir “uplifting” is that Sellers has a choice. She could bemoan how dysfunctional her life has been. She could decide that her parents have stolen her childhood and face blindness is the cause of her every social failure. Sellers chooses a more optimistic slant. For her, face blindness has been an invaluable coping mechanism, teaching her to deal with uncertainty in a unique way. She realizes that as much as she’s loved her parents through thick and thin, they love her in kind.

This parallel is borne out in her public admission of face blindness. While people might not understand face blindness, their reaction is generally more accepting than she expected. The biggest hurdle she encounters is other people’s perception of her normalcy. “But you recognize *me* all the time,” her friends and colleagues repeat. That’s the problem with work-arounds. If you’re good at them, no one realizes you have a deficit. You might not realize you have a deficit. I had learned the trick of being early to meet someone (so he/she has to pick me out of a crowd) without realizing that it was a trick. It’s just polite to not be late, right?

We all just want to be “normal.” None of us are. The best we can do is to realize the truth behind Ian Maclaren‘s statement, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” That includes being kind to yourself.

Genre: Non-fiction memoir
Why did I choose to read this book? I have mild face-blindness myself.
Did I finish this book? (If not, why?) Finished it!
Craft Lessons: More like a self lesson here instead of a craft lesson.
Format: Adobe Digital Edition
Procurement: Greater Phoenix Digital Library

Saturday Cinema / Book Review ~ Jaws

Like dinosaurs and the solar system, sharks intrigued me at an early age. In fact, I probably watched Jaws (and its sequels) at a too-early age (on TV or video) and that’s been the cause for my unease with swimming. No harm done, really, and my curiosity about sharks has endured.

Jaws, the novel by Peter Benchley, was published in 1974–the same year that I was born. I think I originally read it in high school, so it’s been a good 20 years since I’d read it the first time. Jaws, the movie, was released the next year and is credited as being one of the first summer blockbusters.

It’s a film I watch once every couple of years even though I’m not a particular fan of disaster movies, and I would contend that Jaws has much more in common with disaster flicks than any other kind of horror movie. Every aspect of Jaws is just a little better than all others of its ilk. The dialogue is sharper, shots are lined up in more novel ways, the characters are all more clearly drawn and better acted, and the music and sound design is bar none. It’s also a great lesson in film-making restraint. Bruce the mechanical shark was a bit of a non-starter and forced Steven Spielberg to be very creative with yellow barrels.

The movie is more succinct than the novel. As Benchley mentions in the introduction to the 2005 edition of the novel, he was given the opportunity to write an early screenplay treatment, but was advised that he’d need to cut the romance and Mafia subplots. The characters in the movie fit together better. The interplay between Quint, Hooper, and Brody in the movie is a joy to watch. In the book, all the relationships are more contentious. Brody is more guilt-wracked, Hooper seems more like a hobbyist, and Quint is more…monstrous and he doesn’t come into the picture until the last fourth of the book. Strangely, the movie more easily gives these characters back-stories. The screenwriting elegantly conveys Brody’s alienation from the town and Hooper’s wealthy but somewhat eccentric past. Quint is given the opportunity to put horror into perspective with his past serving on the USS Indianapolis.

The book does a better job of imperiling Amity. In the movie, the mayor comes off as a little too hysterical. The books shows us more of the town and its people. As dangerous as swimming is, closing the beaches affects many, many more lives. There’s more reality to the book, in some ways. The shark’s death, for example, is less spectacular. The ending comes very abruptly, but not unreasonably so. What else is there to say once the foe has been vanquished?

Nebula Nominated Short Stories 2013

I haven’t been in much of a science fiction/fantasy mood lately so I only got through the Nebula nominated short stories this year. The winners will be announced May 18th at SFWA’s annual banquet.

SHORT STORY Nominees

• “Robot“, Helena Bell (Clarkesworld 9/12) – I may be at an age when I don’t want to read YA fiction, but I don’t want to read Old People fiction either. Or having recently lost my grandparents, this hit a little close to the bone.
• “Immersion“, Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 6/12) – Had a hard time getting into this story, but it was worth the work.
• “Fragmentation, or Ten Thousand Goodbyes“, Tom Crosshill (Clarkesworld 4/12) – This is very much a “middle age” fiction, and I’m happy to have some of those issues being addressed in speculative works.
• “Nanny’s Day“, Leah Cypess (Asimov’s 3/12) – I found the sci-fi technology elements distracting. Would it have been better without them?
• “Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream“, Maria Dahvana Headley (Lightspeed 7/12) – Best line I’ve read in a while: “He looks at the crow’s feet around her eyes. Side effect of smiling. Crows walk on those who laugh in their sleep. He tried to tell her, but she did it anyway.”
• “The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species“, Ken Liu (Lightspeed 8/12) – Read this one back in August of 2012. Enjoyed it quite a bit, especially interesting in this age of books vs. ebooks. “Everyone makes books.”
• “Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain“, Cat Rambo (Near + Far) – “Were there any sorrows, any passions that might lead her thoughts along the same groove till it gave, eroded into madness?” Cat Rambo is also becoming one of my favorite authors.

(Links courtesy SF Signal)

As a general thing, I liked that many of these stories were geared more toward an older age group. I have nothing against YA fiction, but its characters do deal with a certain set of problems that are the problems of young people. This is why Dune, despite the young protagonist, isn’t YA fiction. Paul Atreides deals with problems that aren’t related to his age. The majority of these short stories deal with the problems of middle age (or at least past YA or even past NA): cheating spouses, the decline of parents’ health, custody of children, aging in general. It’s actually sort of refreshing. Despite that, I like Ken Liu’s “The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species” the best. I’m a sucker for meta fiction about storytelling.

Also, I really hope Looper wins the Ray Bradbury Award for dramatic presentation. I liked Avengers and Cabin in the Woods, but I think Looper may be the best time travel movie out there and a damn nice stab at an interesting SF world.

The Prince of Mist

The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

A mysterious house harbors an unimaginable secret…

It’s wartime, and the Carver family decides to leave the capital where they live and move to a small coastal village. But from the minute they cross the threshold of their new home, strange things begin to happen. In that mysterious house still lurks the spirit of Jacob, the previous owners’ son, who died by drowning.

With the help of their new friend Roland, Max and Alicia Carver begin to explore the strange circumstances of that death and discover the existence of a mysterious being called the Prince of Mist; a diabolical character who has returned from the shadows to collect on a debt from the past. Soon the three friends find themselves caught up in an adventure of sunken ships and an enchanted stone garden; an adventure that will change their lives forever. (via Goodreads)

I’ve been meaning to read Carlos Ruiz Zafón. He seems to be a very interesting author. This is one of the first books he published and is middle grade/YA. I picked it up because I wanted a nice little scare and that’s pretty much what I got. It reminded me of Lady in White and Something Wicked This Way Comes,  the film rather than the book. It’s certainly something I’d recommend to my niece, Gwen, who is currently on the prowl for fun ghost stories.

My main complaint is that the individual pieces don’t quite hang together in the plot. It’s sort of a conglomeration of spooky things, but there isn’t quite enough explanation  as to why all the pieces should fit together. I *did* very much liked the not entirely happy ending. I’ll be reading more Zafón.

Genre: YA Ghost Story Mystery
Why did I choose to read this book? After 14, I was still in a sort of Scooby-Doo mood. With its mysterious house and shipwreck, it fit the bill.
Did I finish this book? (If not, why?) Finished in a couple of days.
Craft Lessons: A couple of spooky things does not a spooky plot make.
Format: Kindle ebook
Procurement: Greater Phoenix Digital Library

Sherlock Holmes and the Needle’s Eye

Sherlock Holmes and the Needle’s Eye: The World’s Greatest Detective Tackles the Bible’s Ultimate Mysteries by Len Bailey

Embark on a journey through the Old and New Testament with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson as they explore exotic and spice-laden places in search of clues.

The detective and the doctor travel back in time with the help of a Moriarty-designed time machine to investigate ten Bible destinations, unlocking clues to ten Bible mysteries. The most fascinating crime cases are those that are already solved, those that have been investigated by the police and brought to a swift, satisfying, and almost inevitable conclusion. So it is with Bible stories which the reader may consider familiar and unremarkable. But under close scrutiny these stories give up their hidden clues, their long kept secrets. Like a jewel newly polished, they sparkle and shine with a fresh, introspective light.

While traveling back in time to witness certain scenes, Holmes and Watson unravel ten different Biblical mysteries, including the following:

• The Hanging Tree: Why did Ahithophel hang himself?
• Righteous Blood is Red: Is Zechariah the son of Berekiah or Jehoiada in Matthew 23?
• You Miss, You Die: Why did David take five stones against Goliath?
• Dead Man Walking: Why did Jesus delay in coming to Lazarus in John 11?

(via Goodreads)

Sherlock Holmes is a hot property. Always has been, but currently we’re experiencing a Sherlock renaissance. In addition to the usual baseline of adaptations and pastiche, there are currently two contemporary-set TV series as well as a successful movie franchise. CBS’s Elementary is the first series on a major American TV network in almost 60 years. Which means, if you want to use Sherlock Holmes to sell your product, now’s the time to take advantage.

And that is what Sherlock Holmes and the Needle’s Eye by Len Bailey feels like to me: a book taking advantage. Even when considered in only a historical light, there are some interesting little textural mysteries in the Bible. While many of the ones in this books can be addressed with a couple Google searches, Bailey does seem adept at navigating his source.  Unfortunately, I don’t think he has the Holmes chops to pull it off. The Holmes aspect is clunky and uneven. Our framing story involves Holmes building an extremely dangerous time machine, based on plans confiscated from Moriarty, to solve Biblical mysteries suggested in writing by a mysterious client. Where it might have been more appropriate (and more fun) for Holmes to have discovered a Wellsian time machine, Bailey spends a couple pages fumbling around with relativity to justify his science fiction. Presumably this is meant to give some credence and patina of science to his biblical investigations. Similarly, there is a digression on the nature of pain about a third of the way through the book. While it seems scientifically sound, it is very out of place in the flow of the book.

Holmes has a reputation for being erratic when bored, but not even I can quite buy the concept of him building a machine that could take out blocks of London, even if he did decide to building it on a flammable ship on the Thames. Likewise, the Biblical mysteries don’t seem up to snuff for Sherlock Holmes to be interested. Most of them are solved pretty simply by pointing out an illuminating detail found somewhere else in the Bible. Skipped are glaring mysteries like the size of Noah’s ark or Jonah’s time in the whale. A little science thrown at those might have been interesting.

I picked Sherlock Holmes and the Needle’s Eye partially by mistake, but was still game despite my misgivings. Holmes and religion aren’t two things that easily go together and that’s the contrast that Bailey is banking on. I could see the chapters of this book being a series of sermons at church that’s striving to engage its younger population. And these stories would be fine in that context. But they don’t work as a book. Neither the popular theology nor the Sherlock Holmes are anywhere near satisfying.

Genre: Non-fiction.
Why did I choose to read this book? Chose it due to my liking of Sherlock Holmes, but misread the title. I thought it had to do with Cleopatra’s Needle.
Did I finish this book? (If not, why?) I did. It was a chore.
Craft Lessons: If you’re going to use a very well-know character to sell your work, you need to know that character very, very well.
Format: Kindle ebook
Procurement: NetGalley

14

14 by Peter Clines

Padlocked doors. Strange light fixtures. Mutant cockroaches.

There are some odd things about Nate’s new apartment.

Of course, he has other things on his mind. He hates his job. He has no money in the bank. No girlfriend. No plans for the future. So while his new home isn’t perfect, it’s livable. The rent is low, the property managers are friendly, and the odd little mysteries don’t nag at him too much.

At least, not until he meets Mandy, his neighbor across the hall, and notices something unusual about her apartment. And Xela’s apartment. And Tim’s. And Veek’s.

Because every room in this old Los Angeles brownstone has a mystery or two. Mysteries that stretch back over a hundred years. Some of them are in plain sight. Some are behind locked doors. And all together these mysteries could mean the end of Nate and his friends.

Or the end of everything… (via Goodreads)

A few weeks after I moved into my current apartment, I closed the door to the back bedroom from the inside of the room and found that the doorknob on the other side, which I had not seen until then, was of a completely different shape. Instead of a normal round doorknob, it was one of the push-down handle sorts. There isn’t another one like it in the entire apartment. While it’s not a big deal, my landlord just had two mismatched handles,  for a moment I was disturbed. It’s that feeling that Peter Clines wants to invoke in 14 and he succeeds often enough. This book is similar to Mark Danielewski’s House of Leaves. Danielewski’s book does a better job of capturing that unease, but Clines’ 14 is saner, more coherent, and doesn’t require textural acrobatics. 14 is more genre and less literature, and that’s not a bad thing.

The characters really made this book for me. Nate could have been a whiner, but he’s not. He’s just a guy in his 30s that’s ended up in a very plain life. I don’t mind at all going on this adventure with him. I was especially appreciative of Clines’ capable female characters. Veek and Xela (and even Debbie and Mandy) are each very different but each has believable talents that are important in the story. They’re not just window dressings.

Plot-wise, 14 veers one way before shooting off in an interesting direction. I could use one word to describe 14 that would completely explain it, but that would be a big, huge spoiler. The characters did make a decision toward the end of the book that I didn’t feel was justified beyond the need for characters to see certain things, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker.

Genre: Mystery, horror
Why did I choose to read this book? I like mysterious buildings, whether haunted or otherwise.
Did I finish this book? (If not, why?) Yes! Quick read. Finished it in a three days.
Craft Lessons: Don’t be afraid to take chances. Clines is doing his own thing here and it works.
Format: Kindle ebook
Procurement: NetGalley

Yes, once again, my review numbers are off. I’ll be posting about book #18 next week on its release date.

Stuck in the Middle with You

Stuck in the Middle with You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan

A father for ten years, a mother for eight, and for a time in between, neither, or both (“the parental version of the schnoodle, or the cockapoo”), Jennifer Finney Boylan has seen parenthood from both sides of the gender divide. When her two children were young, Boylan came out as transgender, and as Jenny transitioned from a man to a woman and from a father to a mother, her family faced unique challenges and questions. In this thoughtful memoir, Jenny asks what it means to be a father, or a mother, and to what extent gender shades our experiences as parents. “It is my hope,” she writes, “that having a father who became a woman in turn helped my sons become better men.”

Through both her own story and incredibly insightful interviews with others, including Richard Russo, Edward Albee, Ann Beattie, Augusten Burroughs, Susan Minot, Trey Ellis, Timothy Kreider, and more, Jenny examines relationships with fathers and mothers, people’s memories of the children they were and the parents they became, and the many different ways a family can be. Followed by an Afterword by Anna Quindlen that includes Jenny and her wife discussing the challenges they’ve faced and the love they share, Stuck in the Middle with You is a brilliant meditation on raising – and on being – a child. (via Goodreads)

I read Jennifer Finney Boylan’s first memoir, She’s Not There, about her transition from male to female back in 2004. It’s an articulate book, devoid of sensationalism, about a topic that is beyond most people’s experience. Ultimately, it’s an autobiography that isn’t about being transsexual. It’s an autobiography about being a person.

Not surprisingly, Stuck in the Middle with You is about parenthood more than about being transsexual and a parent. Boylan wants what most parents want for their children: for them to grow up to be good people and not leave them with any burden. Against anecdotes from her children’s lives and her own childhood, she interviews other men and women about fatherhood and motherhood. What’s it like to have an absent parent? To be adoptive parents? To be gay and want children? To lose a child?  What’s the “norm”?

In the end, it seems the norm is what anyone has that works. “I don’t want to disappoint you,” one of her sons says one day, “I think I want to stop playing the tuba.” Boylan admits that she’s lucked out. Her world has been very accepting of her change, and that isn’t the case for many transsexuals. Her sons have seemingly avoided stigma as well and, after her first book and the publicity it generated, insisted that their mom use their real names in this book. But as any parent, any mother, Boylan still worries about her boys.

Like She’s Not There, Stuck in the Middle with You is well-written and humorous, though maybe lacking during the interviews. Boylan’s best talent is making her situation relatable.

Stuck in the Middle with You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan is slated for release on April 30th from Crown.

Genre: Non-fiction, memoir.
Why did I choose to read this book? Had read Boylan’s previous memoir, She’s Not There and enjoyed it.
Did I finish this book? (If not, why?) Yes!
Format: Kindle ebook
Procurement: NetGalley ARC