klara and the sun

I read one of Kazuo Ishiguro's novels a few years ago, and it just didn't kick it for me.

Klara and the Sun did. I didn't love this book, but at least I got it. The story is solid, and looks at a potential future we may all experience at some point when robotics and artificial intelligence get to the point that they make it into the home, in much the same way that personal computers, and the internet did. Its not clear to me that Artificial Friends or AFs as Ishiguro calls them will make the leap from page to reality in our homes as quickly as the PC or the interwebs, but I do think its out there as a possibility.

In the future that Ishiguro has created, all AFs are a little bit different. This is what I'd call soft SF, so he doesn't get into why exactly they're all different, but I'm under the impression that its due to their brains. Perhaps they're manufactured in some kind of self-assembling process, which allows for variations? In any case, Klara is different than her peers: she is more observant of the subtleties expressed in the humans she interacts with. She does however remain naive about many of the basic things around her, regardless of how long she spends in the world. There is also a mysterious observational quirk Klara experiences, often when she is in stressful situations, and whether that is just part of what differentiates her from other AFs or if its typical for AFs is also a mystery.

This book was interesting, and the interactions between humans and AFs was examined in interesting ways, that reminded me a little of my post on the emotional ties humans may eventually develop for robots as they take on these important, supportive rolls in our lives.

women of troy

Pat Barker is an English writer that’s been at it for 40 years or so. She’s won the Booker prize and has a few other accolades. When I did a web search for the cover of this book the title hit on this book and two other things, well, maybe it’s two variations of the same thing: The Trojan Women, a play written by Euripides in 415 BC, and a modern play adapted by Jacob Kempfert and Benji Inniger for Bethany Lutheran College. A little more scrolling gave me a movie of the same name about a women’s basketball team.

The story takes place in the aftermath of the War of Troy, as told by Homer in The Iliad. I wouldn't call this a sequel to The Iliad, but a different perspective, focused on the people ravaged by war and typically forgotten. The story is told from the POV of the women living in the camp of the victorious Greek or Achaean army, taken from their homes in Troy and forced into slavery, or in some cases matrimony, by their Greek overlords.

Barker writes of how these women manage to express their wishes, and strive to fulfill their own agendas, even under the strict supervision of their captors, as women have always had to do when living in a patriarchal societies. Barker also shows us is that there is very little difference between women who are stolen from their homes and families, and often their own husbands, who live as slaves and those who are forced to marry the higher echelons of the invading army. The very men who killed their families, and murdered their male children.

This was an interesting read, and the writing is simple and to the point. You can see why Barker has won a number of awards.

rembrandt affair

This Gabriel Allon installment is copyrighted in 2010, so its a step backwards in the overall story arc of the Allon series for me, but I've never tried to read these in order; I've always just read what ended up in my hands at the time. Like this one.

The Rembrandt Affair is number 10 in the series, according to Book Series in Order, so that puts it in about the middle of the story arc as it it exists thus far. Daniel Silva has it down, and I guess you could say the structure of each book in the series is a little reminiscent of the others, but I think that's probably what dedicated readers of series are probably looking for. If the formulas formulae? didn't work, I guess no one would use it.

Allon decides to look into a long lost Rembrandt for a friend, a project he does on his own time, outside his relationship to the organization he works for. That is until he puts his foot into a problem that quickly becomes an international issue. 

Trouble ensues.

This was a good one in the series. While based on the same formula as many of the others, its was fun to see a variation. Dedicated readers of the Allon series will enjoy this one. 

I finished this one a week or so ago, so I'll try and post the most recent book I just finished.

lord of the rings

Is this a re-read? Yes.

This may be the fourth time I've read this... maybe? could be the fifth? The first time I was a teen; maybe 15 or so? I suppose I could do that math, but the results would include some guess work. I was assigned The Hobbit in the 8th grade, and then I actually read The Hobbit the summer after the 8th grade. I think I read The Lord of the Rings in high school, which I borrowed from my Uncle, or.... maybe he got another copy and gave me his old one? Yes, I think that's right, those iconic 1970s paperbacks, as shown on the left.

The second time I read through them I read these same books, but after a while, they started to take a beating, and the glue binding was starting to break down. So at some point, I bought a one volume paperback edition. I did the one volume thing so I could get to the appendixes when I needed to. In the three volume versions, the appendixes only appear in the third volume, so you need to carry that around if you need it. The one volume paperback is fine, but the stresses on the glue binding are too much and its been falling apart for a while. Because of its size, its also cumbersome to read, and I eventually went out and bought a three volume set of paperbacks, which is what I read the last time through, in 2016. But the one volume is fun, I think I'm going to try and re-bind it.

After reading through this a few times, I've begun to see some of the rhythms in Tolkien's writing shining through a bit. There are some spots where he seems to be impatient to get to the next (major) point and the narrative, and doesn't provide as much of the detail of those moves are accomplished as he had in other places. I wonder if this is pressure from publishers, or a self-imposed pressure or editing on his own part. You may have heard that one of Tolkien's regrets about The Lord of the Rings is that its too short. In response to the questions and opinions of critics and others, Tolkien offers no quarter, response or apology, in his Forward to the Second Edition, but offers only this to those who have complained that the book was too long:

"The most critical reader of all, myself, now finds many defects, minor and major, but being fortunately under no obligation either to review the book or to write it again, he will pass over these in silence, except one that has been noted by others: the book is too short."

This can probably be read two ways: at face value, or as a subtle jab at his critics, which was only partly meant or facetious. After having read through a number of times, I believe Tolkien did have more story to tell, and while he may not have been referring to The Lord of the Rings specifically, I think he did see a number of his works still spinning in his head, which he was unable to get into print. Tolkien complained a number of times about not having his notes in order, and that peccadillo, along with the rigors of his non-writing life, prevented him from bringing many of those other stories to fruition. I wonder what we'd have if Tolkien had a computer. Would it have increased his productivity, and if so, would there have been a cost to that, in the quality of his work? Perhaps from a lessening of the contemplative way he wrote, and re-wrote, in longhand? mmmm...

All this to say, I believe I've said it all in other reviews of this book. I didn't break down my review this time into three chunks to correspond to the traditional three volumes, only because this is well traveled ground, both for me and for many others. I did want to get some of my thoughts down on why reading a one volume editions vs. the three volume (they both have pros and cons) and on the length of the tale itself. On that point I will add that if you are left wanting more, there is a little more in the Appendices, and I can recommend highly enough that you read them. In fact, back in 2016, when I read through all of these books the last time, as noted above, I recommended that if you are re-reading the Middle Earth books that you read the Appendices first, right after The Silmarillion, and before The Hobbit. This time I was just reading The Lord of the Rings, but I did read all of the notes in the front matter, and the Appendices at the back, before I began the body of the text.

Tolkien is a champion world-builder and creator of mythologies. The Lord of the Rings has a depth and richness that is unmatched by most of its counterparts in fantastic fiction. It still has staying power, the ability to thrill and entertain, even after multiple readings, which hasn't been dimmed by the films, in my mind at least.

Read this book.

the secret servant

My wife has looked up of Daniel Silvia’s books and bought a copy of all of them used, for cheap, on the interwebs. This has given us both an opportunity to read some of the earlier Gabriel Allon books we haven’t yet read. Or perhaps we have but have forgotten. The Secret Servant is not the first book in the series, I’m not sure what that would but the evernet knows. 

Yep, it’s The Kill Artist. This book is the seventh in the series, while it’s not recorded on this blog, it’s possible that I read it before I started keeping track. It’s also possible, that because Allon books often have both a similar story arc and subject matter, that just feels like I’ve read it. In any case, I thought that this was a good installment in the series and there were a few things covered here that I don’t recall hearing about before, and in some cases, helps to fill in some of the backstory referred to in later installments.

Silva and Allon fans will not be disappointed. If any one knows of an author writing similar stories from the Arabic perspective and history, leave a comment below. It might be interesting to see an alternative viewpoint.

 

 

vineyard in tuscany

Ferenc Maté has been writing for years; this book is from 2007 but the time period it recalls is closer to the 1990s I think, after Maté and his wife moved from New York to Tuscany, and bought a small house near the vineyards with their young son. After staying in that small house, becoming friends with their neighbors--who operated their own small vineyard--Maté became enamored with the idea of owning his own vineyard. A Vineyard in Tuscany: A Wine Lover's Dream is his love letter to Tuscany's wine making culture and history, and is his story about how his dreams came true.

Organized in a mostly chronological order, this book follows the Maté family's journey from wine lovers to wine makers. The text appears to be based on Maté's diary entries from the period when the story takes place. The notes aren't complete enough to form an entire story arc, but enough to help you follow along. Its a curated glimpse into the origins of the Maté Winery, which is by all accounts, a very successful, small, family run winery.

Many chapters of the book are stand alone stories and anecdotes related to their search for and eventual purchase of a collapsing ancient villa, its restoration, the clearing and preparing of the fields, the planting of vines, to their first run of wines. They had a lot of expert help in all of these endeavors, and it seems to have cost a pretty penny. Maté acknowledges the help he received through stories and in explicit thanks in the back matter. The back matter also includes a number of recipes of the simple foods Maté raves about in the book. My guess is that you'll really need to have local ingredients to make them taste the way he describes them, but it can't hurt to try! one of these recipes is cooked on burning grape vines. yeah, hold my wine whilst I grab some of my vineyard trimin's

If I had to guess, this book appears to have been roughly outlined by Maté and then given to his editor along with the copies of his journal entries for polishing. I may be wrong, but if that's the case, then perhaps the editor deserves more credit. I have no evidence of that however, and it could just be that this book was meant to read like it does; a relaxed, slightly disorganized, free associative remembrance of a wonderful time in the author's younger life with his family.

A fun book to read before a trip to Italy, for sure.

sweet tooth

To prepare for this review of Ian McEwan's Sweet Tooth--NOT to be confused with the book that inspired the Netflix show of the same name--I was looking for a cover shot, and another cover showed up that was very familiar. I wasn't searching for another book by McEwan, but maybe I picked this book up at the same library book sale. Maybe they were donated by the same fan. Who knows?

Sweet Tooth is the name of an operation, undertaken by the British secret service, and our protagonist is just getting her feet under her, learning the ropes at her new job, when she is tapped, along with a group of other new young women, to take on this task. Seems pretty thankless; a kind of late, cold war, down-with-communism effort that doesn't seem like it has the potential to win many hearts and minds.

The overall pace of this novel is a little slow, and the stakes aren't especially high. This isn't a James Bond story. I actually got to within about a hundred pages from the end, and I put it down to take a break and read something else. I don't do that often, so yeah, pretty slow. But I'll tell you, when I picked it back up, I was glad I did. The last hundred pages or so were not what I was expecting, and the book ended up being better than I thought it would be. 

I'm a pretty slow reader, and I usually read in short spurts (at breakfast, before going to sleep, maybe 20 minutes at a time) so it takes me a few weeks to pound through a book. If you're a fast reader, then this probably won't be a problem and I can recommend it as a pretty good read. If you are a slower reader, this one might be okay if you have a little more time on your hands, and don't necessarily need a book that keeps you rapt. Like, maybe you're going to the beach, but you also have to keep an eye on the kids, so they don't get swept into the ocean.

music of the spheres

The Music of the Spheres is the first novel by Elizabeth Redfern, which was published in 2010. Since then she has released one more book that I can find; Auriel Rising, which doesn't seem to have done all that well, given that its hard to find.

The Music of the Spheres doesn't appear to be a wildly popular book either, as I don't get a lot of hits for it when searching the web.* The plot was compelling, but perhaps the book was longer than it needed to be. They used a smaller font when printing it, perhaps to keep the size down (420 pp.) With a larger font, it could have been a considerably larger tome.

The story takes place mostly in 1795 London, during the month of June, and follows Jonathan Absey's increasingly frantic search for those responsible for his daughter's murder. What he ends up uncovering is much more geopolitically charged, and he begins to believe that his daughter's murder was just a small part in a much larger plot having to do with the end of monarchies and the rise of republicanism in Europe.

Perhaps it was Redfern's nod to realism, but readers do like a happy ending, I think or at least something nice to happen to someone along the way, if only to lighten the load of the reality of death.

Nope.

I did find myself wanting to know how it would all end, and I kept up hope, until that end came.

Nope.

 

* I even had trouble finding a decent cover image, and had to take my own photo, which I rarely need to do.

sirens of titan

1959.

That's when The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut Jr was published. I read a paperback copy that I found on the (many!) shelves of the house we stayed in up in New Hampshire over the Independence Day weekend. This has become an annual trip with my family, and this year's foray was another success. I had never read this sci fi blast from the past, and it looked pretty good, and not all that long, so I took it for a whirl.

So, right off, folks reading this book today will  see that its dated. Not just in the wildly inventive scientific speculations, which have clearly been been proven false since it was written, but also the number of quirks about 1959 society that Vonnegut assumed would last into the indefinite future, and, you know...haven't.

I've seen this a number of times in classic SF, from Asimov and others, who foresaw a world where alien carrying spaceships bopped around our solar system, and humans are augmented and/or armed with super-cool laser technologies, but where women are still fetching coffee. asimov, one could argue, got it even worse

That said, this book has got some pretty original thinking, some wild ideas, and speculates on some pretty crazy ways to accomplish one's goals, despite the worse-case scenarios you may be living in. Its also witty in many places, and pretty funny in some others. There are also some over-arching themes, and even some interesting views on the development--and potentially the very existence--of human life on earth, that reminded my a little of the Hitchhiker's Guide.

This was a fun little throwback, and a treat to read for those interested in classic Sci Fi.

homer & langley

Homer & Langley is a novel by E.L. Doctorow, and it follows the lives of two brothers living in New York city from their boyhood to old age in their family mansion on Fifth Avenue, overlooking Central Park. The Collyer Brothers, were left alone when the flu pandemic of 1918-1920 carried their parents away not long after the older brother, Langley, returned from the Great War with his lungs burned and his body scarred by mustard gas.

The story is narrated in the voice of the younger brother, Homer, who has slowly lost hist sight in his early twenties, and so the brothers stay together in their family mansion, and try to take care of each other. They keep on the staff--the cook and the housekeepers--for as long as the money and the staff patience holds out, but both eventually drift away.

Perhaps it's post traumatic stress disorder (shell-shock in World War I) or maybe that, combined with the abrupt loss of his parents, but Langley isn't coping well and begins to obsess about a number of things, including getting his brother's sight restored, saving newspapers that his brother might one day read, helping his brother where he can by providing him with things he thinks may help, and a manic interest in a self-made theory that all things that happen are merely repetitions of things past, including people, which are the replacements for earlier generations.

Homer's voice calmly tells of his brothers eccentricities, their early adventures, his learning to play piano, the glamour of the roaring 20s in New York for two wealthy young brothers, and how their rudderlessness and idle combined with what was left of their wealth began to both isolate them from the world, and especially in Langley's case, from reality. By the 1970s, the two recluses live in a rabbit warren of hoarded stacks of newspaper and junk, through which the blind Homer can no longer find his way, and is afraid to try given that Langley's paranoia has driven him to booby trap the narrow paths against intruders.

The story ends as you might expect. A quick look online reveals what you may already know: that the Collyer Brother's story is true, and the facts in the case served as fuel for Doctorow's novelization. The birth order of the brothers was changed, and their story extended into the 1970s by Doctorow's story, leaving them at a ripe old age, when in fact they both died in their mansion in 1947 when Langley was 61, and Homer was 66. 

The house, after it was cleared of trash (120 tons, according to the Wikipedia article!) was declared by the city to the be unsafe, and in the summer of the year their bodies were discovered, the house was razed. In the 1960s, the city placed Collyer Brothers park on the site, which incidentally, is not across from Central Park, but further up Fifth Avenue in Harlem.

The real story seems much more bizarre and horrifying than Doctorow's fictional view of the inner thoughts of these brothers would have us believe. I don't think Doctorow really captured the insanity the two were clearly gripped by at the end of their lives, but perhaps Doctorow's theory is that Langley was crazy, and Homer was an innocent victim, swayed by the love of his brother and caretaker to portray him in a positive light. myeh.

E.L. Doctorow died in 2015.

original sin

I've read a few books by PD James now, and this one ranks up there with the others. there may be only two others yep, that's what I found* PD James is again writing here about her favorite detective, Adam Dalgliesh. Dalgliesh was also the man of choice in both of the other books I read as well. Dalgliesh is a solid character, and he does tend to get his man, but there wasn't so much dectectiving in this one as much as there was an unraveling of the plot by the murderer. Don't get me wrong, Dalgliesh and his team did plenty of good detective work, they just didn't really need it in the end. Unless you consider that perhaps all their hard work is what caused the failure of the murderer to conceal their tracks in the end.

James spins a tight yarn. Original Sin was written in 1994. The other two I read, The Black Tower is 1975, and Devices and Desires, is 1989. So this one is more recent; is this book, near the end of her career, less captivating than her early work, or does it show the polish of decades of writing? I don't know, I haven't read enough of her work to be able to answer that question. I can tell you that, like the other two, this was a slower read, but still fun and entertaining. I didn't read it instead of other things, as I sometimes do with great books.

PD James died in 2014 at 94. According to her website, there are 13 Adam Dalgliesh novels, and a bunch of other stuff she's written. Her website seems to be missing the last one in the series The Private Patient (making it 14 Dalgliesh** books.)

* That's two others that I have read. Now, is it possible that I read another P.D. James book before I started this blog? Sure, but I doubt it. I heard about James on a summer reading piece on the local public radio station a number of years ago, and I thought she might be something my wife would like. 

She didn't.

**  The Adam Dalgliesh character has appeared on television in the UK a fair amount it seems. Baroness. James was, and continues to be it seems, a very well known writer in the UK, and folks seem to enjoy the Dalgliesh character; there was a number of episodes of Masterpiece Mystery, featuring Dalgliesh, which began in the 80s and ran for years, a number of television movies , and there is currently a new TV show, on since last season.

read this book

'Read this book' or a version of that statement, is typically the last line in one of my book reviews for a book that I am recommending. Sometimes I qualify that recommendation, and many times I add something like 'and do it right now' if I think the book is great. Anyone who has read through this blog a little has probably noticed that.

Now, I've spend a hour or so, and I went back through each of my 550 posts over the past 13 years and I've found all of those books that I've given the 'Read this Book' credit to and tagged them that way. So, if you mouse on over to the tag cloud on the right of the page titled "what i'm talking about" and click on the tag read this book, you'll get a sort of all of the reviews that have that tag, arranged in order of most recent to older.

As as was going through my past reviews, I found a few that probably should have included the Read this Book phrase, such as The Count of Monte Cristo, but if they didn't, I didn't tag them that way. I'm happy to report that there are very few books that I really liked that don't include my accolade of choice. Going forward, I will also tag future reviews in the same fashion.

I hope this is helpful to some. i'm hoping that its helpful to me too

gambler's anatomy

A Gambler's Anatomy is by Jonathan Lethem. I don't know him, but it seems as though he's been cranking away, writing books, in spite of that. 

This is a character driver story and the backgammon that it hangs on it interesting tack. I played a bunch of backgammon when I was a kid, after we got a neat little kit that closed up like a briefcase, and had red and black leather (or leatherette) triangles on green felt on the board, and sweet little dice cups to roll the dice, and heavy, dense checkers (also called stones, pieces, or men) made of some kind of composite. I had a rude awaking when I played a teacher in high school during a study period and everything I had done, over and over again against my siblings, fell to ruin.

I was continually surprised, every time this story jigged and jagged. When I first met Bruno Alexander, I felt like I understood him, and where he was headed in life, altho I didn't have good idea where the overall story was headed. If you had told me where Bruno would end up, or had suggested some of the ways that he got there, I would have said you were crazy. 

In the end, I'm not sure why I met Bruno Alexander, or why I even cared about his story, but I did, so good on you Jonathan Lethem. On a side note, I was driving by the local church while I was reading this book,* and they had finished a tag sale earlier in the day and had left the remnants on the curb for free. I stopped with my son to look, and what did I find? A handsome wooden backgammon set made in Syria. No checkers, but perhaps I'll make those on the lathe out of wood. This was a fun and interesting read.

 

* No, I wasn't reading while driving. It normally takes a few weeks for me to read a book, so I have plenty of time to eat, sleep, work, or stop by a free tag-sale giveaway during that period.

once a spy

Keith Thomson is pretty new to the novel gig. Having written this book as his first novel, it looks like he's gone on since Once a Spy was published in 2010, to write two more, one of which is a follow-up to this one. He's also written at least one non-fiction book about pirates, which, according to Thomson's website, was published today, and is based--at least in part--on his own treasure hunting exploits. Thomson has also written scripts, does some painting, is interested in aircraft, was an editorial cartoonist for a paper out of New York, and played semi-pro baseball in France. So... busy guy.

I've read a fair amount of spy, and spy-type books, and this one comes at the genre from a whole different direction, which is refreshing. There were some things about this story that reminded me of the Chuck TV show. * And I'm a little surprised to hear that there is a sequel to this book, but I can imagine how that might be something the publisher might have been interested in, and the author did have a little wiggle room to continue the story.

Like a lot of good spy stories, there are a number of plot lines cranking along from the beginning, and it isn't always clear where and how the come together. Thomson did a good job of weaving those plot lines to leave us guessing. I'm going to keep my eye out for the follow-up.

 

* Chuck ran for 5 seasons on NBC beginning in 2007. Chuck was good, by the way, so check it out if you have the chance.

the martian

The Martian is Andy Weir's first book. Obviously this book made a big splash, especially when you consider that Weir self-published this book originally! Gives hope to all the struggling novelists out there, right? yeah, me too I saw the movie a few years ago, and it was good and I figured I'd read this at some point, and as it often happens, I run into a book like this at a book sale. This copy came from a library book sale, and looks like a British copy, which may have been purchased for a flight home perhaps?

I read another book by Weir a couple of years ago, which I recommended. I said then that I'd seen some murmurs on line about potentially making a movie based on that book. Haven't seen it yet, but who knows. The Martian as a book, is much more involved than the movie, as is typically the case. So seeing the movie a few years ago didn't prevent me from enjoying this book at all. Writing a novel with a single protagonist, who has no one to speak to, seems like a daunting challenge, but Weir does a good job of delivering this story in way that kept me engaged from beginning to end. I enjoyed this more than I expected to.

What I think holds this story together is the science, and the problem solving Weir's character Mark Watney has to continually do in order to stay alive. As I said to my wife, understanding modern science and technology, the ability to project forward where the technology might go, and then using fiction to test those technologies is a tactic that many great SF authors have used. Asimov and Stephenson are two authors that come to mind that do this.

Read this book.

futuristic violence & fancy suits

David Wong is the pen name of Jason Pargin, who until somewhat recently was an editor of Cracked.com. Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits is his 2015 novel, and introduction to Zoey Ashe, which will appear--or has, by now appeared--in some future novels... Yep, a quick look tells me that Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick came out in October 2020. And can only assume that more are on the way. It looks like Wong writes under his own name now, but because David Wong is the author of the book I read, I'll just stick to that for the duration of this little ditty.

According to his website, David Wong has been surprised by the response to his novel writing, which began with his 2009 John Dies at the End, which was made into a movie in 2012. Not so surprised that he couldn't crack out a sequel or two for that one as well. I heard about the John Dies movie, but I didn't see it, and I didn't know that it was based on a book at the time; at least not that I can recall. I wouldn't have recognized Wong's name on the cover of this book, which I picked up at a library book sale, but the publisher helpfully included the John Dies credit on the cover for me. thanks, advertising The title was catchy, the artwork (on the softcover edition I read) reminded my of this cover, and that story was pretty good. 

And the cat flying through the air? That's some hijinx right there! So I bit, and it worked out pretty good. I think it was a dollar

I got about halfway through this thing, when I said to my oldest that this book looked like a movie script to me, and if it was done right, could be The Fifth Element of this time. Here's why I say that: Sci Fi/Action/Comedy, with dashes of mystery and romance, and a pinch of kitsch. All in the face of world-annihilating evil. Its a tricky recipe for story-telling, and there aren't a lot that can pull it off. Need another example: Kung Fu Hustle. Watch that immediately if you haven't seen it.* Its missing the world-annihilating-level evil, its more of a home-town-annihilating evil, but its got all of the other boxes checked.

This book checked the boxes for me, too. I was reading this outside my normal reading time. I was skipping other things, like chores and feeding myself, to read this one. It probably could have been 50 pages shorter, tho I'm not sure what exactly I would have cut. I can tell you that one word showed up a few too many times in the text for my taste, but maybe that's just me. Zoey Ashe is a great character, and Wong obviously had fun writing her. I can see why he'd want to reprise her in some other stories. I guess we'll see how that goes.

 

* This command assumes you've already seen The Fifth Element. If you haven't, put your hamster down, and go do that now. Then watch Kung Fu Hustle. Then Read This Book.

ready player two

I didn't read Ready Player One, I saw the movie. I know, bad reader. <rolled newspaper to the snout> * I have, however, now recently read Ready Player Two, and it was pretty good. It was fast moving, funny, adventurous (in a what-I-assume-a-gamer-D&D-mash-up-in-the-future-would-be way) romantic, sweet, and slightly sickening around the edges. Ernest Cline is a few years younger than I am, so he was exposed to a lot of the same pop culture stuff I was, but I'm a little older and so missed al\ lot of the video game wave that came just as I went off to college while kids of his age were discovering video games outside the arcade, which is where I was most likely to play them. My dad did bring home a Pong console, with woodgrain contact paper on it, that we attached to our TV for tennis and racketball games. that was it tho

Cline has created a group of characters, that between them, have encyclopedic knowledge of of their areas of interest that would make any geek proud. It has always amazed me how so much minutia can be absorbed by a serious fan of something, when every outward sign would seem to indicate that they geek in question would be incapable of that knowledge. But that is what I think Cline's genius is; getting us to understand that the enthusiasts** in his stories aren't unlike us, or incapable, or in any way inferior to any of us who don't happen to know Gandalf's real name, all of Inigo Montoya's lines in The Princess Bride, Prince's songwriting credits for other artists, or the name of the first female protagonist video game.***

And like any good video game there were plenty of Easter eggs. Most of which, I probably missed, but go geeks! I had fun reading this, there were plenty of things for me to geek out on given the time period these future protagonists are looking back to (the last 40 years or so.) It went fast, and I would definitely read another one based on this read, but it looks like it took about 10 years to get this one done since the last, so we shouldn't hold our collective breath. Next question: will Spielberg make a movie of this one two? Maybe, I think is the answer. The first movie did really well so, my money is on yes.

* I know, relax, no one does that to dogs anymore; where you gonna find a newspaper?

**  yes, enthusiast = geek hey, are you reading ahead?

*** that's just good trivia, you'll have to figure that one out yourself.

termination shock

I will read whatever Neal Stephenson writes, and I'm typically not disappointed. Termination Shock however, was a little slow. I borrowed this book from the library, and I had it for 4 weeks and a day. maybe two days? That's not because I didn't read it, I did. I read a little everyday, but I wasn't absorbed, it didn't take over my life, I didn't spend hours on the couch after weekend breakfasts gobbling this one up. It was good... it just wasn't great.

After an exciting start, this really book got rolling at about page 100. You know; characters developed, stage pieces set, a few teasers floating out there to keep us interested, and I'm ready for that baseline to drop...

Page 300, and the baseline hasn't dropped.

Inspired by Moby Dick, you say? Maybe, that's a good guess. MD is pretty slow, after all. Written in time when folks had nothing better to do, and perhaps appreciated a long tale to stave off boredom. And maybe this is Stephenson's answer to that in our times, with COVID and folks having no place to go. But I'm not buying that. Melville's Pequod perhaps could hold the attention of his audience, but Stephenson's audience has the interwebs, and Netflix. And Candy Crush, or whatever.

A timely glimpse into our possible future? Yep. A well thought out story arc, based on real world problems and science/reality based solutions, as well as believable and appropriate reactions to said problems, and their proposed solutions, helping us to better understand how these news stories we hear about today may actually play out in our futures? Yep, yes, and right on. All that is there, as you'd expect from Neal Stephenson, as well as that well plotted story arc. Just... you know... not enough juice.

For me anyway.

I'm not recommending this one,* but this experience alone doesn't change my stance on Stephenson, he hasn't always knocked it out of the park. Read some of the other stuff. I'd start with Seveneves, and Snow Crash, and then perhaps Diamond Age. You can see all of the Stephenson books I've read (since this blog started) by going to The Books tab. You'll find 10 of his books listed there along with links to my reviews/comments. And if you look to the right, you'll also see that Snow Crash is enshrined in my list of 'great' reads.

* If you love Neal Stephenson and who doesn't you should go ahead and read this. Its a good story, the characters are great, and he's just so smart, its a pleasure to read his prose. Its just a little slow-paced.

museum of desire

A quick search of the books tab here at the blog confirms that I haven't read anything from Jonathan Kellerman in the recent past, and I don't recall ever reading anything by this guy, which may be a little odd given how prolific he has been. This book, The Museum of Desire, is the latest* in a long series of books about psychologist Alex Delaware. The Delaware series start in 1985, and the front matter lists 34 of them prior to this one. Kellerman also writes some nonfiction, children's books (which he has also illustrated) graphic novels, other novels outside the Alex Delaware universe, and has co-authored some books with his wife, Faye Kellerman, and his son, Jesse Kellerman. take a breath, bro

Not having read one of these before, I can't tell you if Dr. Delaware is normally involved in helping the police to solve murder cases, but that's the impression I have. And while I can imagine a series of crime procedural novels with the staying power to endure four decades, I can't really imagine Kellerman's success with this series is typically driven by how Dr. Delaware helps his patients come to grips with how they relate to their peers and the world around them, but who knows. 

Milo Sturgis is the hard working, pastry eating LA Detective that Delaware has hitched his wagon to for this ride into the realm of the bizarre. The crime they are investigating is a strange and twisted multiple murder. You can see right away why Sturgis would want to bring in his old friend the doctor to help him figure this one out. The story arc follows a series of starts and stops in the investigation, including some interesting false trails that seemed as tho they may have worked out. think I just described writing

There isn't a lot of glamour, and it seems clear that Kellerman is trying hard not to fall into the trap that television and movies have done with crime procedurals, by making up something flashy that real police work doesn't include, but again, who knows, I'm not a police detective. But there is lots of pounding the bricks, knocking on doors, and chipping away at the case to try and find leads. Kellerman keeps enough balls in the air to ensure the story doesn't suffer because of this. 

All-in-all, pretty solid, with a dash of outrageous.

* 'Latest' is probably wrong, as this was published in 2020. Kellerman pro'ly cracked out one or two more since then; lets see... Yep. Serpentine in '21, and City of the Dead, this year. really ought to do research ahead of time #editonthefly

march 2022

 

It's that time of year!!!!! It's March, baby! Let's DO THIS!

As all four of you know, I like to celebrate the end of winter each year with the incunabular illumination March calendar. We've all heard that March comes in like a LION and out like a LAMB, but there's a whole month in between there, that starts our very lion-like and slowly shifts toward lamb-like, and folks want to know what those incremental shifts are, so they can plan their day. They don't want to guess. Should I wear my duck boots? My down coat? My umbrella? My chair and whip?

Welp, wonder no longer. Or indeed, WONDER at its greatness. Gaze in awe at it's completeness. Revel in its splendor.

March 2022

March 1 - Lion: Of course. Its in like a lion, right?
March 2 - Tiger: Even bigger than lions,. Year of the Tiger this year.
March 3 - Bear: As Dorothy said/sang. 'Oh my!'
March 4 - Shark: the 'great white' is still with us. Hopefully, not as toothsome
March 5 - Wolf: Not Wolverine, just the basic red riding hood eating kind.
March 6 - Bull: No kidding. Watch the horns.
March 7 - Moose: Wet, swampy, big, and heavy.
March 8 - Eagle: I saw a bald eagle flying over the Mystic River in Medford last week!
March 9 - Scorpion: Doesn't look dangerous. May be hiding in your boot.
March 10 - Dingo: Looks like a dog... with friends... but not so friendly.
March 11 - Hawk: Swoops down on you.
March 12 - Lynx: Scrappy, wary, may sneak up on you.
March 13 - Bat: Watch the skies at night.
March 14 - Monkey: It'll cling onto you; watch the tail. HBD Coleen!
March 15 - Snake: The Ides of March. Eve was like: 'Seems like a good idea!'
March 16 - Ox: Its not all kisses and hugs, but it is reliable.
March 17 - Elephant: Huge, gray, goes on forever. Trunk at the front tho.
March 18 - Raven: Like Poe said.
March 19 - Stag: Also called a Hart, altho that typically refers to red deer.
March 20 - Crab: Hard, wet, pinching. First day of spring!
March 21 - Goat: Will eat anything. This one is tough, but on the small side.
March 22 - Horse: Hard working, handsome to look at.
March 23 - Pig: Its a sty out there.
March 24 - Dog: Lets play outside!
March 25 - Dolphin: Wet but Bright.
March 26 - Rooster: Up early, and some of the color is coming back.
March 27 - Turtle: There are water types and dirt types.
March 28 - Toad: They love the mud, but the grass is popping where the sun shines.
March 29 - Robin: They're out there, and so are the worms.
March 30 - Rabbit: Shrublands will be covered with winter fluff. HBD Kelton!
March 31 - Lamb: Warm, woolly, and delicious grilled.

liar's dictionary

This book was weeded from my local library, I assume because they had multiple copies when it first came out. This is the second book/first novel from British author Eley Williams, if I'm understanding the book jacket information correctly. 

'Dictionary' in the title gave me my first clue that this was going to be a book by a word nerd author, and I was right; Williams is definitely a word hound and this book is just busting with them. Obscure, archaic, quirky, and just plain made up words.

The Liar's Dictionary is a story told in parallel, both now and in the past, * and centers on the little known Swansby's New Encyclopaedic Dictionary; which has lexicographers chipping away at words and their varied meanings, and somewhat more importantly, what the words mean to them. But that's not all, there is a little of everything here: love, romance, obsession, intrigue, terrorism, tragedy, mystery, censorship... yeah, everything.

Williams even lets her characters run off with the narrative, spinning away into streams of consciousness, and free associative thought processes, laid bare. That tactic is (thankfully) rare, but it lends a sense of realism that almost echos one's own thoughts while reading. And its funny! In many places, I got a kick out how these characters dealt with the stresses of their complicated, and interwoven lives. This book isn't very big, but there is lot in here. I'll be looking for Eley Williams' next venture.

Read this book.

 

On an unrelated note, invasion of your neighbor, Ukraine, seems like a crummy way to celebrate Defender of the Fatherland Day, or Red Army Day, this February 23rd, Vlad.

* the parallel stories, told now and in the past, and tied together with mystery and modern sleuthing reminded me of my recent reading of The Lost Apothecary, and reading them so close was an interesting contrast. It makes me think that some kind kind of thematic reading series might be fun to work on at some point. Ideas? Leave a comment!

black swan green

Being a 13-year-old boy, isn't the greatest thing to be, but it isn't the worse either. I've had this book on my reading list for a while because Dave Mitchell wrote it, and I've liked everything that I've read written by him this far. I couldn't help thinking that this novel had to have some autobiographical information. I mean, how is it possible for a guy to write about the day-to-day of a 13-year-old boy in the first person without including some of his own inner dialog from that stage of his life. The book takes place mainly in 1982, and I bet Mitchell was about that age in '82.

I wondered if some of the fantastical that has appeared in many of Mitchell's other books would show up here, but after a while it became clear that this was a story about a boy.* Jason Taylor's life in a small town in the English countryside seems boring an uneventful to him, and most of his peers, but that is only the story on the surface. Mitchell takes us into the inner dialogs, hopes, and fears of a teen boy, and while we all know that the world will eventually become wider for him, what he knows now is the world he lives in, and Mitchell helps us to reconnect with those feelings we all had as kids.

Black Swan Green is sweet, tragic, exciting, violent and in some cases heartbreaking, but all from the point of view of Jason. Is this the best of David Mitchell's books? No. But was it entertaining, fun, and in in some places really funny? Yes. Teens can say anything, and they often do. Mitchell takes advantage of the recklessness of his teen characters to say things adults may filter out, and even when he doesn't say it out loud, Jason's inner dialog often fills in the blanks.

 

* The fantastic is not completely absent, but in the context of this book, it could be seen as the imaginings of an adolescence boy. Trust the internet and the nerds who live there to inform me that, like a lot of Mitchell's books, characters sometimes appear in the periphery of other books. That is apparently the case here as well, but I missed.

lost apothecary

I started reading a book by Nick Tosches called In the Hand of Dante, but I put it down when I was given a recommendation to read this book; The Lost Apothecary . I'll get back to Tosches at some point,* but when I put the current book on hold at the library, I also asked for another one and its just come up so I'll read that first.

The Apothecary is the debut novel by Susan Penner. Its labeled as mystery at my library, but I'd say intrigue-historical may be a better classification, and its almost light enough to be teen, as it also has some of those elements often seen in teen fiction, altho it does have some more adult themes that teens may be bored by. The story is two fold, or maybe threefold, part taking place in late 1700s London, while some of it takes place in modern day London. The stories are woven together in that the modern day protagonist is trying to understand the story of which she has discovered some clues.

There is a great little 1700s map of the section of London where the action takes place, and it appears that some things have stayed the same, but others have changed drastically. I have no doubt that the mysterious places mentioned in the book no longer exist, if they ever did, in London, but who knows. Its fun to check back on the map and see where these things are relative to one another, and some other larger elements such as the river, and some of the major streets that still are there.

At the root of it, this book is a celebration of the solidarity of women, and how they have to look after and support one another or they'll be forgotten. some of that 'support' is a little grim tho Penner does her part to point out forgotten women in history, who are forgotten simply because the history was written by men. She also reminds us that women long preserved the old ways and old medicines long after the medicine of men became the norm. This was a fun one, and a welcome break from the hard, strange writing of Nick Tosches.

 

* I'll try and remember to come back here and put a link when i write a review, you for those of you using this blog to do research or whatever.

prince without a kingdom

First off, A Prince Without a Kingdom, is apparently book two (2!) sometimes called a sequel, as in intended to be read after the first book, which is called (in the English translation) Vango: Between Earth and Sky. I will be recommending that you read this book, go ahead, skip right to the bottom and check. see? but I assume I won't have to suggest that you do that after reading the first volume. we'll just assume that one is good too

Versions of this book in English apparently also include the word Vango first in the title, moving the Prince and Kingdom bits into the rank of subtitle. It also includes a big note that reads "Book 2" which would have helped in my case.

Vango is the protagonist in this story, and I have to say the narrative jumped right in to what felt like the middle of the story when I started, but we know why, so lets not belabor the point. too late bro! This is an action adventure from the get-go. Reminded me a little of Emil and the Detectives, a 1929 children's adventure written Erich Kästner and illustrated by Walter Trier. you can see it listed in my all time favorites in the right hand column Vango is a little like Emil in that he's dropped into this adventure/mystery as a reluctant hero that must try and resolve it. But Vango is more grown than Emil in this book, and so his problems are more dangerous than little Emil had to deal with. His adventures also take him further afield.

This is a swashbuckling story of old. Simple in form, but infectiously rich in daring, adventure, romance and intrigue. In that way it reminds me of "The Crimson Pirate." Burt Lancaster and his first mate Ojo, played by Nick Cravat, rollick through their adventures with abandon, going out of their way to live their lives on their own terms, but always on the look out for injustice and tyranny along the way. Lancaster's character is Capt. Vallo, by the way. Inspiration for Vango, perhaps?

The cast of characters is as wide as the 1930s and 1940s world Vango and his friend float through. Timothée de Fombelle is a treat to read, at least that's my impression based on the translation by Sarah Ardizzone. There were phrases here and there that caught me, and then I remembered that this is a translation, and thought 'Nicely done Sarah Ardizzone.' Fombelle also takes full advantage of his position as author and leader of the conversation between himself and the reader, and I was delighted to be included in a few witticisms he shared, but was kind enough not to point out.

Read this book.