A-Z List 9: All the Ms!

At the end of A-Z List 2, I claim that there are LOTS and LOTS of books out there, but still a finite number.

Is that true--are there only so many books out there?

 

I determined to read through all fiction "M"s. And granted, that is a lot of books but to make it a little less daunting, I determined (1) I will stick only to the Ms in my local libraries; (2) I am allowed to stop after one chapter; (3) I accept that the project may take years.

 

Jian Ma - Sarah Maas

 

Jian Ma: Ma writes satiric, critical pieces of Communist China. China Dream is a dystopia novel, of which genre I am not terribly fond. However, the first chapter does a chilling job of capturing the Lord of the Flies mob violence of young people, only institutionalized and touted as advanced thinking and idealism. Why anyone thinks 18-year-olds are automatically great thinkers is beyond me. Jian Ma doesn't (it occurs to me that the association of youth with insight is the continuing romanticizing of childhood that started in the West with the Victorians).

 

Kathryn Ma: The Chinese Groove is contemporary fiction dealing with real life. I found the main character engaging--which appears to be half the battle when trying to snare a new reader.

 

Ling Ma: Bliss Montage is a set of short stories. The first "Los Angeles" grabbed me, being a story in first-person of a woman who lives in L.A. with Husband--who speaks in $$$$$$--and 100 ex-boyfriends. But--and this statement will become a recurring theme--I'm not all that into sad modern life. It isn't that I never want a book to reflect reality, my emotions, something I've been through. I just find sad modern life by sad modern people not particularly reflective. My life is both easier and harder than that.

 

Kari Maaren: Weave A Circle Round is contemporary fantasy. I found the opening quite engaging and continued reading past Chapter 1!

Mazen Maarouf: Jokes for the Gunmen is a set of short stories in a war zone. Somewhat surreal. 

Sarah Maas: I discovered that Sarah Maas is incredibly popular. I wanted to read/start one of the shorter books available and had to put one on hold since all the others were checked out!

 

I can see why. The book I picked was The Assassin's Blade, a group of novellas. The main character of the first novella is a sixteen-year-old young woman, Celaena, an assassin in the Black Widow and Yor tradition. Think Elsa, only these heroines cause way more damage. 

I approve. Better assassins than sad stories. And the main characters seem to be ready to grow and change--more in the L'Engle tradition than the "heroine can already do everything perfectly" Mary Sue current tradition. I did stop reading when I realized that the book was about giving a main character a harrowing origin story--and I've endured enough harrowing origin stories to last a lifetime. 

 

Another recurring theme: I am generally more interested in how people cope than why life was unfair to them.