Borne by Jeff Vandermeer...book review

Borne by Jeff Vandermeer (2017)

This is the most recent version of cover art, but the thing on the front does not really seem to me like the creature that is described in the book.

I heard about this book from various literary sources as a hot title for 2017, and after reading the sample on my kindle decided to continue on and read the whole book. This is probably one of the weirdest books I've ever read besides Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick. You have to be able to suspend all logical belief and accept bizarre realities when you delve into this post-apocalyptic, eco-disaster type of book that seems like a melding of Science Fiction and Fantasy put together. 

Depiction of the giant murderous bear Mord.

In this book you will find a giant Godzilla type flying monster bear, memory beetles, alcohol minnows, bio tech run amok, scenes of pollution and desolation and a blobby anemone type creature that learns to talk and can't stop "sampling" any kind of life it encounters. The dialogue between the books narrator, Rachel, and the blobby creature Borne (which is where the book gets its title) is entertaining, heart warming and heart breaking at the same time. 

An entry in the Bourne art contest, from the author's blog.

Overall, this book has a dark tone and its rather like a grizzly auto accident that you can't look away from. It makes you think, makes you depressed, and tends to drag a bit in the middle by almost being too morose. 

The ending did satisfy me but it certainly did not tie up all the loose ends that were brought up in the book as the story unfolds, if it had been too neatly explained at the end it would have ruined the books impact in my opinion. Vandermeer fans will enjoy the descriptive, lyrical writing of the author but be prepared for some emotional baggage as you read it. I can't figure out if I liked reading it or regret it. I am not in a hurry to read more books by this author, but he does have a fantastic imagination and a talent for pulling you into the world in the book. During the reading I was recovering from a partial disability so it fit with the emotional zone I was in at the time.

Read Your Shelves!

Read Your Bookshelves!

For many readers the new year brings new book reading challenges. Some people love book challenges, some don't. I am of two minds about them. I like them and I feel trapped by them as well.... It is nice to have a goal to work for, and then when you accomplish it, rewarding to check it off and give yourself a nice pat on the back. The downside to that is you also might be the type to beat yourself up mentally if you happened to not reach your reading goal. I find reading goals do tend to motivate me but I often I start to feel like I can't read anything else unless it is within the confines of the specific challenge and then there is another book I am really interested in reading, but it does not fit in the challenge, so I am reluctant to start it but not all that interested in reading the next challenge book. I've decided on a compromise reading challenge that allows me to have some goals to accomplish but yet gives me some flexibility to deviate from the plan a bit and read as my heart desires as well. I'm excited about it!

This challenge, the "Read Your Bookshelves Challenge" serves two purposes- you get to more fully enjoy the books you already have on your shelves, and you get to set and reach some reading goals. This is a 12-month challenge, with 12 books as the goal. You can approach it in two ways. The first way is to just go to your bookshelves and grab one book. That is book number one for your challenge. Then you grab 11 other books next to it on the same shelf and they become the rest of the books in your challenge. Make a nice list and have fun crossing each book off as you read it. It is an achievable goal of 12 books. The second approach is that you start with one of your bookshelves and grab a book off of it. After you get that first book chosen, proceed to choose one book from each of your successive bookshelves and they become your challenge reading books. Again, it is nice to make a list and post it someplace so you can see your wonderful progress as you work your way through all 12 books in the challenge.

Knowing myself, I will read more than 12 books in a year, but this kind of challenge allows me to have a realistic, not an intimidating, goal and still have the ability to follow my reading whims if I decide to delve into a particular genre or author in a more specific way. I still get the satisfaction of reading the books I already have (a long term goal of mine), and not being trapped to only read specific titles I chose one day at the beginning of the year. 

Here's my Read Your Bookshelves Challenge list for 2018:

Read Your Bookshelves Challenge (I went with each successive shelf and my shelves are arranged alphabetically by author. I stuck Spillover in at the end because I wanted another science book in the list and because I had also just purchased it.) You can read them in any order you desire or you can work your way through the list in order.

• The Creative Brain (Nancy Andreasen)
• Between a Heart and a Rock Place; A Memoir (Pat Benatar)
• Academ's Fury #2 Codex Alera (Jim Butcher) (I read #1 previously)
• Graceling (Kristin Cashore)
• Crossed (Ally Condie)
• Victorian and Edwardian Ghost Stories (various)
• A Darkness Forges in Fire ( Chris Evans)
• The Fantasy Writer's Assistant (Jeffrey Ford)
• The Jaguar Prophecies ( P. Gunderson)
• Twice Told Tales (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (N.K. Jemisin)
• Spillover; Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic (D. Quammen)

This list is a nice variety of genres-Science, Fiction and Non-Fiction, Fantasy, YA, Ghost Stories, and Literature, right up my alley! Now your job is to make your own list and get reading!!!