I Shouldn't Admit to This...

I told my roommate yesterday that the books I've been buying lately are the kind that I wouldn't want people discovering on my bookshelf. Naturally, she asked if they were porn or something, and naturally, I acted scandalized and said, Of course not!

They aren't morally objectionable (mostly), just tasteless. I couldn't resist visiting the "Teen Fiction" section of Barnes and Noble the other day (and naturally, "visiting" means that I bought a few books). Any self-respecting college senior (especially an English Lit minor, for heaven's sake) shouldn't be caught dead in that section of the store, but the temptation was too strong. Reading ought to be fun, after all, and most teen fiction isn't out to make some profound (and depressing) statement about the human condition, or some such nonsense. (I think I ought to write some, in fact.) It's mostly either really shallow girly stuff (there's actually a series called Gossip Girls), or sports stories, or school-age comedies, or adventure novels, or...fantasy.

Ever since Harry Potter became such a runaway success, there's been a glut of young adult fantasy on the book market. I, for one, am ecstatic about that. Fantasy is good stuff, and young adult fantasy is usually even better, as it is generally unencumbered by the "mature" ("depressing") themes or the sexual material you often find in adult fantasy.

The first book I devoured was Artemis Fowl, by Eoin Colfer. This one's a romp. I highly recommend it to anyone who's looking for a fun, quick read. I read it in 4-5 hours, and while I do read a bit on the fast side (although it's a dinosaur gait next to my boyfriend, who's got some sort of Turbo-Read gear he uses to read Harry Potter books), it's an easy couple of days' work for just about anybody.

The story centers around the enigmatic character of Artemis Fowl, a 12-year-old boy who just happens to be a genius, a millionaire, and a criminal mastermind. It's sometimes hard to tell whether or not we're supposed to be rooting for him; he seems like more of an anti-hero than your average teen fiction protagonist, but every story needs a fascinating villain, no? (Much like the Harry Potter series, the Artemis Fowl books aren't appropriate for younger children, who need a clearer demarcation between good and evil. For teens and up, though, they're great fun.)

In this particular adventure, Artemis is trying to exploit the extraordinarily well-hidden, underground race of fairies that still lives near the Earth's core. Far from intending to expose their existence to humanity, Artemis is only interested in their Ransom Fund: one ton of 24-karat gold. He may have one or two more endearing interests as well, but you'll just have to read the book to find out. Besides the twisting and turning plot (which I couldn't always predict beforehand), another source of fun is the tongue-in-cheek narration and the sassy sarcasm of several of the characters. However, that could be seen as a weakness, too: all the characters have the exact same sense of humor. Haha I enjoy sassy sarcasm, though, so I didn't mind a bit. The style in general reminds me very much of David Eddings, although not nearly as long-winded.

As an added bonus for the nerds among us, the book has a code written along the bottom of every single page. If you're smart enough to crack the code, presumably there'll be some kind of message for you, a rather long one, in fact. I haven't cracked the code yet, because I'm trying very hard to resist the urge. My past experiences with codes have always been very disappointing. For instance, when I was a kid, my brother and I were really into this computer game called Command and Conquer: Red Alert. The game manual had Morse code along the bottom and sides of every page, so my brother and I spent hours decoding it. It rambled on and on about big ants or something...eventually we figured out the clues and found a hidden part of the game where you fight really big mutant alien ants, instead of tanks. I'm sure you can imagine my disappointment. All that work, just for a stupid ant-fighting scenario! Or just think about A Christmas Story, where the kid works really hard to crack the code, and all it says is to eat your vegetables, or something. Boo.

I'm sure I'll eventually give in to this code-cracking temptation, though. I'm not the sort of person who can leave any challenge unconquered, even a cheesy stupid one like this. Ah well. Then it'll be on to the next book: The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. Think of me what you will, I'll just enjoy my romp in immaturity. :)