Reading out of Jealousy

I don't think I'm very funny as a writer. When I get a laugh, it's usually when I'm being completely serious and don't expect anyone to laugh. Actually, the last time it happened, I thought it was a rather sad moment. But my teacher laughed. I don't mind. Whatever.

I have this imaginary version of myself who is funny. She is the sort of writer who skillfully wields understatement and hyperbole to draw out the ridiculousness of a situation without breaking her readers suspension of disbelief. Usually when I actually try to do this, is falls flat. And when I am being truly myself, I don't want anything to be ridiculous. I just want to be taken seriously. I flash back to my three year old self; my eyebrows sore from being pushed up to their highest possible elevation in an attempt to convey the tragic situation of a few stick figures I had drawn, to an adult who thought I was adorable, but was completely missing the point. I can take myself lightly, but everyone else must assume I am deadly serious at all times. And for goodness sake, don't smirk at me like that.

But enough of my wounded psychology.

I've been enjoying the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. I grabbed it from the school library to look at the action sequences. I hate writing action scene because I think I'm pretty bad at it. So I am looking for examples (if anyone would recommend a middle reader or young adult book with fist fighting, chase scenes, spies, ninjas, or super hero type action, I'd appreciate it). Percy is a first person narrator. He has that dry humor that I always think I ought to have. It has taken me a book and a half to realize that this is the concrete realization of the humor for which I strive. I am not sure if I should adore him for pulling it off, or find it slightly annoying in person. 

Ironically, two other authors who pull off variations on this style of humor are Austen and Dickens. I can only read one Austen novel a year or I shall become very depressed and raw from the cynicism. And as for Dickens... When I am not reading Dickens, I very rationally tell people that I appreciate his work for it's humor, the intricacy of the plot details, and the character sketches. But when I'm reading him, those are exactly the things I hate the most.

Back to Percy Jaskson. These books are kind of a Harry Potter knock off, when you look at a summary, which may be why they got published. But, like all good books that look like Harry Potter, no one thinks of Harry Potter when they are reading it. It's a completely different world. It's America, it's Greek mythology, it's really geeky in fact. I would probably read it for the references to Greek myth alone. I don't know a lot about Greek myth, but mythology in general makes me happy. Then there is the wackiness of the premiss. If the god Hermes was running around in modern Delaware, what would he look like?

It's a bit too odd, in some ways. Perhaps it's a hair too believable. Only in this kind of culture could you write a book for middle schoolers in which the main characters are the illegitimate children of Greek gods, who haven't changed at all since they were sleeping around with mortals and not giving the products a second thought in ancient Greece. The driving force for many of the demigod characters is this complicated, angry, hurt, betrayed relationship with their parents, mortal and immortal. That's gotta be a product of the cultural decay of the family. It's quite sad.

Anyway, I have tried very hard to dislike these books. They aren't really my thing. When I am imagining my type of fantasy book, I want it to be taken a little more seriously. But every now and then, I get totally sucked in. At one point a very frustrated daughter of Athena is trying to spell cyclopes and can't do it. She is generally a Heromine Granger type know-it-all. So this made me very happy. I instantly identified with her, naturally. She just wants to be taken seriously, and she can't spell. All the demi god characters are dyslexic and ADD which makes the whole thing pretty goofy, and also makes me feel like I would fit right in.

Drums

At Christmas I am often reminded that the changes in my personality are quite organic. I guess, I remember that I am the same person I have always been, only older, If that makes sense. When I list the sorts of books and movies I loved when I was little, it looks nothing like my taste now. But I can see how one set of tastes grows out of another.

How does this relate to Christmas... well, who remembers the drummer boy stop animation video. It was never a classic in my house, but I know it is in many households. I would have loved it as a little girl. But I can't actually sit through it now. But I've always loved the carol that the movie was based on. Ironically, when I was little I liked it because I liked to say "pah-rum-pum-pum-pum." (My other favorite christmas was Oh Holy Night because it had the line "Fall on your knees")

When I was a teenager I was glad that the a cappella quartet group I was in didn't end up singing it because I couldn't get through it without tearing up. At that point, I loved it because of the second verse. I identified with the boy who is impoverished and never good enough. "I am a poor boy too/ I have no gift to bring/ that's fit to give a king"

I heard a version once that was by a band that had a great drum solo in the middle. I have never figured out who did that version, but I liked it.

I love a good choral version of this song, but somehow, it seems like the perfect song for a rougher sound.

 It's about not being polished, or high brow, or good enough for the elite, deeply religious people who really understand Christmas. Of course, that is a great contradiction because a sincere follower of Christ, no matter what their intellectual or social status, is not an elitist. So they will kneel at the manger beside the smelly shepherds and the heathen kings, and the little boy with spiky hair who makes a lot of noise on his drum set.

I like the expression on this guys face while he beats the heck out of that drum set. I have no idea who he is.

So perhaps there is a part of me that still secretly loves the sappy and melodramatic spirit of the song. I know a lot of people hate this song for how cheesey it is. But I grew out of the type of girl who took such things very seriously. For example, I totally took Star Wars Episode One seriously until Episode Two came out and I realized that it was completely ridiculous.

So I never get tired of hearing a new version of the Drummer Boy Song. I even put up with the Celtic Women singing it, but I will spare you that video.

"I played my drum for him/ I played my best/ then he smiled at me/ me and my drum"

It's a very simple gift and a very simple acceptance from God made man.