Book Reviews: Spock's World, Duane; Miss Rumphius, Cooney; Three Quarters, Huff

[juushika]

Title: Spock's World (Star Trek: The Original Series)
Author: Diane Duane
Published: Pocket Books, 2001 (1988)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 365
Total Page Count: 291,500
Text Number: 955
Read Because: recommended by amberite, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Vulcan debates seceding the Federation; the narrative takes a deep dive into the planet and the people's origins. Both of the Duane Star Trek spinoffs I've read impress me with their minutiae and scope, things the source material lacks as a matter of course. (It works as often as not—it doesn't feel particularly like Star Trek, but expands on things I wish the series could have explored.) It's a natural fit to an ethnography of Vulcan, although in combination with a political/low-action A-plot and episodic historical B-plot it can read as distant and slow. But it's always thoughtful—although I don't always agree, particularly as regards emotion. It sounds good on paper, particularly reframing things as a mastery of emotion rather than an absence or suppression of emotion; but in actuality, contemporary Vulcan emotion feels too frivolous and historical Vulcan emotion too tame—there's a lack of tension and therefore justification for Vulcan practice (and, well, the book itself). But it kept me thinking about that tension, about where it should lie and how it could be better expressed, about the line between cultural practice and sociological necessity, about the line between mastery and repression. I'd call this more engaging than successful, but I'm glad I read it.


Title: Miss Rumphius
Author: Barbara Cooney
Published: Puffin Books, 1985
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 291,530
Text Number: 956
Read Because: discussed by phoenixfalls, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Miss Rumphius is a woman with three goals: to travel the world; to live in a house on the coast; to leave the world more beautiful than she found it. This is a picture book from my childhood which, too my delight, holds up. It hasn't aged perfectly*, but the gentle exploration of selfhood and personal joy and forms of engagement with the world is accessible and gently idealized; set against the remarkable art, with dreamy pale colors and precise, detailed acrylics, it's evocative and wishful. And it was gently formative to my young self: the beauties we create in the world may seem strange to others, but they have value.

* Once I found my joy, my chronic pain went away!


Title: Three Quarters: A Quarters Collection (Quarters Book 5)
Author: Tanya Huff
Published: JABberwocky Literary Agency, 2016
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 292,345
Text Number: 960
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Three short stories set in the Quarters universe. Two are about Bannon and Vree prior to their appearance in the books; the first is the best of the collection, an unambitious but enjoyable assassination story that engages the aspects of their dynamic I love, but the other leans towards humor and is less successful on account. The last is about a younger, able-bodied Evicka, and relies on a miscommunication trope which I find particularly tiresome. I usually avoid tie-in short stories, even for series I like, especially when the stories are written for themed anthologies, because they aren't as fulfilling as a novel. I should have followed that instinct here. These are fine, but only that.

Comments

[felinejumper]

I LOVE Miss Rumphius, even though I didn't read it as a child—it was nice to be reminded of it here! I also really liked Virginia Wolf by Kyo Maclear, both for being beautiful and for being SO SWEET.

[juushika]

I'll request Virginia Wolf from my library! Reading Miss Rumphius made me want to read a few more kids'/picture books, but I don't have any starting place but those I remember from childhood, so a rec is very welcome. The art looks lovely.

[felinejumper]

<3 The same friend recommended both of those to me, so next time I see her I will try to remember to ask for the rest of her collection and see if there's anything else I can pass along!

[sixbeforelunch]

Spock's World gets a lot of attention, but honestly it's not my favorite Duane at all, for many of the same reasons that you mentioned. The Vulcan world building is compelling, and fantastic in parts, but it doesn't entirely work for me.

[juushika]

I find myself thinking about it a lot, esp. as I continue my TOS rewatch, which is the same effect I got from her Dark Mirror. I feel like Duane and I are on similar wavelengths re: things we thought were interesting in canon, things to expand upon. I'm not content with her expansions—but the intent/food for thought sticks with me.