magician king trois

According to an earlier blog post, the first time I read The Magician King (book 2) I was a little disappointed when I compared it to The Magicians (book 1). Where the first book was vibrant and new, the second was a combination of catching up with a character--Julia, who had fallen off the page in the first book, and was now back--and following Quentin through the next stage of his life. Quentin is on a quest to save the world, or something just as critical, but he wasn't exactly sure what his task was until he neared the end. and neither were we

Quentin and Julia both grew as people in this book, and while it wasn’t as exciting as the first book, it was entertaining. I was also interested to read (in the earlier blog entry) that I suspected, but wasn’t yet sure, that there would be a third book.

The second time a read book 2 was just after book 3 came out and I may have rushed thru it. At that point, I still saw it as a 'middle book' of a trilogy, in the ways I’ve described that about other books in the past. This time through (the third time) I didn’t feel that; this time The Magician King read as a stand alone and moved the characters and overall storyline forward in a way that was hard to see without the benefit of the foreknowledge of book three that I now have.

Julia’s life, and story of the keys (Quentin's quest) read like a well formed adventure of its own, similar in to the individual books in The Chronicles of Narnia, which is one of the obvious inspirations for this series.

Read this book. yay, you got a promotion! who's a good book?

the magicians tres

So it its been a few years, and I decided to re-read Lev Grossman's Magicians Trilogy. This is partially because they made a Syfy series from the books (you can see it on Netflix) that I have found entertaining, but a little too 90210-ish for my tastes. They've also gone a bit off the rails in terms of following the books, but then again, different possibilities or storylines, is specifically discussed in the books, so I guess its just a different timeline/universe the Syfy show is about.

I'm not going to dive too deep into these books, as I've written about them before, but I did get a slightly different sense this time of the overall story arc, and the growth and maturity of Quentin Coldwater, in particular. I will also say that Grossman's dialogue is spot on, the banter and sarcasm of the young characters is hilarious. This is the third time I've read The Magician's since 2011, so your boy Lev is doing something right.

It holds up! I was not disappointed.

You can read my 2011 thoughts on this one here.

einstein's dreams

Einstein's Dreams is a cute little novel by Alan Lightman, about the dreams Einstein has in the weeks surrounding the publication of his theory of relativity. Lightman imagines Einstein working through various scenarios involving time, and what it would mean if he was wrong. 

 

Night after night, Einstein dreams of how his town and its people might deal with time that runs backwards, or if it skipped around randomly rather than moving always forward. These dreams are nearly all that occurs in this story, other than a short introduction describing Einstein's discussions with his friend Besso, to which he returns to a few times over the weeks, for coffee or lunch, to discuss his dreams. So the novel reads like a dream journal, as dictated to his friend. Each interlude with Besso is also illustrated with a great little townscape--of Bern, presumably--but the illustrator is not credited and I can't find them on the interwebs either.

Lightman digs pretty deep into the science in these little fables of life and how it would be if we knew the future before it arrived, or if we lived backward through time, or in circles, endlessly repeating our lives. Its a fun little book.

 

 

PS: It seems like this book was a popular item for art students and graphic artists to illustrate as a project. Many examples of the artwork this book created are online.

indispensable wisdom

The Big Book of Indispensable Wisdom, is a collection of three books, published by Reader's Digest. I'm not sure where this book came from, but its been sitting on my shelf for a few years. The three books are: The Classics, My Grammar and I...Or Should That Be Me?, and Easy as Pi.

I know, its adorable.

There are a series of authors, and copy editors involved, so lets just say that these three books were edited by Pamela Johnson. Each has its own focus, but all of the subject matter is treated the same: 'You know this stuff, we're just going to remind you what you forgot since high school, and have a laugh doing it!'

None of the three subjects is explained in any depth. I think the idea is to cover as much ground as possible, and give the reader a framework to organize their own thoughts and memories on these subjects that we already (should) know. There were a few trinkets and additives that were new to me, and that was fun. All in all, it wasn't an awful read, and it certainly didn't read like a text book, but I certainly didn't find myself laughing along with the crummy jokes and enjoying myself. I finished, I guess that's something.

kim

I don't think I've read Rudyard Kipling since I was a teen; that was probably Captains Courageous. A quick look at the Books page here on the blog tells me I'm wrong; I read The Jungle Book; Just So Stories in 2010, but didn't write about it. Anyway, I guess you could compare Kim with The Jungle Book, in that it focuses on a young man or boy in India. In both stories the boy has 'gone native' and ends up moving toward a more civilized (less wild) life as a young man. Perhaps its a parable on how we all grow: from a life of play and fantasy as a child, to the norms of society as an adult.

Perhaps they're just boy's adventure stories.

Kipling was born in India during the British rule (1865) but was sent back to England as a 6 year old for his education. He returned to India at 17, and worked there as a journalist and poet until he returned to London as a well known author at 24. So he spent some formative years in India, and you can see why he focused some of his well known stories on young men in India.

Kim (Kimball O'Hara) spends his early life as a street urchin, begging for his meals, and doing odd jobs where he can get the work. His street savvy has caught the attention of a horse dealer, who keeps his eye on the young Sahib, living as a local, and speaking to vernacular.

The story takes place over a number of years (roughly 1898 to 1902) and across a huge swath of India, from the Himalayas and Umballa (Ambala) down through New Delhi and Lucknow, to Benares (what is now Varanasi.) By train, and often on foot, either on an errand for the horse trader, or in the company of a Tibetan lama, whom he adopts and becomes a chela (guide) for in the lama's quest. In time, the lama, the horse trader, even a wealthy widow with her own children and grandchildren, become a kind of family to Kim who has lost his own family. They help him find purpose, education, and an connection to his lost European roots while allowing him to remain true to his 'street' self when he needs to. In the end, Kim even finds wisdom.

There is more to it than that, including a cloak and dagger theme that runs through the book, that I wont get into. I was a little surprised by it, but it gave the story I depth I wasn't expecting when I got into it.

Read this book.

the stranger

The Stranger (L'estranger) by Albert Camus, translated by Matthew Ward, is a small book, only 123 pages, but its a chilling, tightly written glimpse into the mind of a what, sociopath? pschopath? I don't know well enough to tell. I'm not sure we had the words to describe the man Camus tells this story about in the 1946, maybe we did. Again, I'm not the person to say. I'm sure the interwebs knows.*

Its written is short, staccato sentences, especially in the first half, that according to Ward, the translator, Camus based on what he called the 'American Style.' So we find ourselves wandering along with this fellow, as he goes off to the funeral of his mother, spends some time at work, with neighbors, at the beach, and with a girlfriend.

Told in the first person, after a while its becomes clear that our man Meursault may be lacking in empathy, but its goes further than that. Stranger is right; Camus tells a tale of a man that just doesn't seem right, and in the end, isn't really right at all.

It was creepy, but a good read. Thanks to Lino for loaning me this book. I apologize for keeping it so long.



* Looks like psychopath is closer to what I was thinking. Thank you internets.

road to mercy

My wife likes the action novels of the detective and spy variety, and she can read a book in a day, so someone that can crank them out is a plus. So we have a lot of books around the house by writers like Danial Silva, Lee Childs, Brad Thor, and today's writer; David Baldacci. The Long Road to Mercy is the entrance novel for a new character, which I assume we'll be seeing again, Atlee Pine. Pine is an FBI agent, who likes to work alone rather than in a big office somewhere like New York or Los Angeles. She would also prefer her territory to be less populated as well, so she works in a remote FBI office, not far from the Grand Canyon, and has a significantly larger physical area under her jurisdiction.

Atlee Pine's resources are limited, her office furniture is worn out, and possibly second had, and her office assistant is a hot ticket. We'll be seeing more of Carol Blum too, I'm sure. Pine has made friends with the local law enforcement folks as well, and where she is, that includes the sheriff's department, Navajo Nation Police, US Park Rangers, and some ICE agents that also rent space in the same building as her office. These local friends act as a kind of emergency back-up system Lee can turn to in a pinch, and they can turn to her as well.

Pine is described as a 6-foot-plus, beer drinking, competitive weightlifter that almost made the US Olympic team, who has some pain in her past. Blum is an older, smaller woman, with six adult children, no husband, a selection of skirt-suits and pantyhose she wears to work, and has no problem making and/or delivering the coffee.

This story begins with an incident down in the canyon, that seems more odd than anything else, but soon appears to be much more than it appeared to be. The Park Rangers call on Pine to help with some of those oddities, and Pine soon discovers that things just don't add up. Overall, I thought this was pretty good, and I'd read another of Atlee Pine's adventures without hesitation. I'm sure my wife will bring one home at some point.

other woman

The Other Woman is a Gabriel Allon novel by Daniel Silva. I actually read this one before,* and I even came to this blog to check, but I guess I hadn't written about it, or maybe I did but I just couldn't find it. Oh well, its on here now.

True to form, Silva has written another story of international espionage of a scale that has the potential to unhinge the world as we know it, and who does the world look to to solve it, but the Israeli intelligence service, because (as Silva would have us believe) they are nimble, technologically advanced, and ruthless enough to get the job done without splashing it all over the front pages of the worlds newspapers. if there are such things any more

The other reason a 'third party' is needed is because there are potential implications for both the American and British secret services, MI6 and the CIA, respectively. And they would both like some distance, if not complete deniability. That's where our man Allon comes in, and not only that, if things go well, Allon is known to be happy to let the credit fall to his American or British counterparts as the case may be.

In this case however, I think those two services would rather drop through a hole in the ground and disappear as what this case quickly turns into is a mole hunt; a mole that may have, and probably has, compromised both the American's and the British, given their close ties. This one has some good twists and turns, and a great backstory that helps tie it into reality and give the story some depth.



* Not long after re-reading this, I went in search for something else to read and found two other books my wife bought, and found that I had read both of those as well, some time in the last year. I guess I'm getting sloppy maintaining this blog, I only wrote about one of them. I haven't written about Hidden Order by Brad Thor. If I remember, I'll add it to the year's reading list

lost things

The title of this book gives a pretty good idea about the kind of story you're about to get into, but its also the title of a mysterious book in the story. The Book of Lost Things is, like many of those stories where young people find a doorway into a magical place, is presumably written by the main protagonist after his adventures in the alternate universe he has discovered. The place our young man has found, is decidedly darker and more grim than the more familiar Narnia, Wonderland, or Neverland. The door to this place opens when the when the land of stories begins to bleed into our world.

And that only happens when a young person begins to suffer from sorrow and loss, which can sometimes bring on envy, and even hatred of another young person they've come to blame (wrongly) for their losses. Hmm... if that kind of child on child hatred is something that helps to crack open the door between the worlds, then whatever is drawn to it from the other side can't be good. yeah, its not

John Connolly has put together a pretty creepy book, that reads a little like a young adult story written for adults. Its all the creepiest parts of Grimms Fairy Tales (and other old stories) reimagined as the even nastier 'real' stories that inspired the fairy tales. David brings these stories with him into the world of stories, along with his own demons, and they blend together in a series of adventures that seem to be leading him toward some kind of conclusion.

As David makes his way through this world, meeting, heroes, monsters, witches, and wolves if he's actually heading back toward home, which he says that he wants, or if he is actually being drawn further into an imaginary world he may not be able to escape.

This story is creepy (as I said) wild, funny, satirical, sweet and sometimes sad. Its a lot like the fairy tales that inspired it, as I guess you'd expect. Connolly has done a great job of spinning a yarn that is both familiar and new.

Bonus: The backmatter in this book includes Connolly's analysis of the various fairy tales he used in the story, what he took from them, and then the text of the original fairy tale itself.

past tense

Past Tense is a Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child. I'm pretty sure this is the 754th Reacher novel; I may be off by one or two, I didn't read them all. Thankfully, this one doesn't appear to be one where Child stepped back into Reacher's past to fill in the blanks in the timeline. I've had a little experience with that type of Reacher story, and I wasn't all that excited about it.

Reacher does take a trip down memory lane in this one however, being in the neighborhood where is dad grew up, he decides to take a look around and see if can uncover more of his father's roots. This turns out to be a little trickier than Reacher had hope, not least because his father joined the marines at 17, and didn't do a lot of talking about his hometown when Reacher and his brother were growing up.

As one would expect, there is also some crap going down locally that may call for some ass kicking, and its a good thing our man is in town to pass it out. There seems to be no end to local good ol' boys that just don't understand the physics of a guy that stands six four and weighs as much as a buffalo. You know what I mean... think Tom Cruise, that'll give you a good idea what I'm talking about.

Ass kicking, sarcasm, protection of innocents, three large meals a day, and pants pressed under a mattress. This one has it all, and I'm sure will be a hot with the fans.


Note: This is the last of the books I read while on vacation a few weeks ago, now I just need to catch up on the other books I've read since I got back.

astray

Astray is a series of short stories, which I didn't know until I got into it. I don't usually spend a lot of time on a book jacket, just enough to determine if it might be interesting. This habit is a sword that cuts both ways; I'm not a fan of spoilers, so avoiding the blurbs can often lead to surprises. Some are pleasant, some less so. This surprise fell somewhere in the middle. These short stories are all based on folks that strayed away from their normal track or orbit in life. Some by choice, some not. Additionally, these stories come either directly from, or are inspired by, old records, news items, and letters by and about actual people. Emma Donoghue researches these old stories, mostly from North America's earlier history, and then imagines the story behind what she's read. An interesting concept.

Donoghue has separated the stories into three groups: Departures, In Transit, and Arrivals and Aftermaths. Many of her characters are struggling; with change, with life, loss, poverty, death, and for a large percentage, homosexuality, which I'm sure was extremely difficult a hundred or two-hundred years ago, but does seem over represented, so I assume that is also one of the themes Donoghue is exploring.

The stories are varied, and the characters are well written and engaging. I won't go into the stories themselves, as there are a bunch of them here, only 10 or 12 pages each, mostly. Emma Donoghue is probably best known as the author of Room, didn't read it as well as the subsequent screenplay for the movie of the same title. didn't see it

She's authored a variety of things, listed at her website, and has been honored multiple times for her writing. I'll have to keep my eye out for Room, and some of her other stuff.

magician's tale

I borrowed this book from the collection of books tucked away in a cabinet in the house we stayed in on the beach. I assume the collection of books is assembled from both the owners of the house, and those left behind by other visitors over the years. The front cover was torn away, so I'm guessing that the cover image I've posted is the correct one based on the color scheme which carried onto the rear cover of the copy I read.

The Magician's Tale is from the mid-1990s, written by David Hunt. A quick look online tells me it was pretty popular when it came out and spent some time on the best sellers list.

The Tale is told in first person by a strong female character, Kay Farrow, who is an independent photographer working in the streets of San Francisco, documenting the people living on the wrong side of the law, and one of the less savory neighborhoods of the city.

Our hero has come to know many of the characters who live in the neighborhood, and has become quite friendly with some of them, spending time photographing them, documenting their lives, and the way they live. Farrow captures the lives of the street hustlers, and the johns that pay for their services, with eye toward producing a photo journal of the neighborhood. What sets Farrow apart, aside from her retired cop father, is her colorblindness. Not just red-green confusion, but a total lack of color sensitivity. Hunt's character is a professional photographer who can only see in shade of gray. Guess what kind of film she shoots with.

This story is edgy, smart, progressive, thoughtful, dense, intricate, exciting, and satisfying. If you have a chance, find this book in your library, keep an eye out in used book sales, or stay where I did this summer. Its in the cabinet at the end of the table.

Read this book.

friends of the dusk

Phil Rickman is an English author described as a writer of 'supernatural and mystery novels.' He's pretty deep into it at this point, and because this book had the feel of a recurring character, I took a look-see and sure enough: the Merrily Watkins series has 16 books, and I happened upon a recent one, from 2015, is number 14 in the series. Merrily Watkins is his most written about character by far. All of his writings, in the order they were written is on BookSeriesInOrder.com, as is the quote about his penchant noted above.

Merrily is a vicar in the Church of England, and an exorcist, which the church apparently refers to as deliverance, rather than exorcism. I don't recall seeing it in the text, but perhaps that makes Merrily a deliverist? She lives in a small town in England close to the border with Wales, which may have even been part of Wales at some point. Anyhow, maybe Wales is just spookier than England proper, who knows, but I don't think Americans are Rickman's target audience, too many Englishisms in the text. I get the feeling that Merrily maybe a little bit like that lady in our TV show, Murder She Wrote. I've talked about Dame Angela Lansbury's character before in similar situations. There's something weird about mysteries and homicides popping up around some sweet lady, episode after episode. is it me, or is it weird that British born Dame Angela, recently knighted by the queen, plays a homegrown detective in Maine? Anyhoo...

Rickman sets the tone early, its creepy and slightly eerie very early on, and tension slowly builds throughout the story. I don't think its a spoiler to say that the tension Rickman built up was squandered in my opinion. I was expecting some kind of ass-kicking, pits-of-hell-unroofed finale, but maybe that's the ugly American talking. The story was resolved just fine, but with more whimper and less bang. I guess that's appropriate for a vicar. Maybe the target audience is similar to Murder She Wrote, and Rickman and his publishers don't want to give anyone a heart attack, but don't let me dissuade you, I've only read one of these books, and otherwise it was very good. Spooky, as I said, tightly written; Merrily Watkins is a well developed character, and her personal story is engaging as well.

If I see another one, I'll probably pick it up. Hopefully earlier in the series. I enjoyed it overall, just a little let down at the end.

you suck

Yeah, You Suck!

It doesn't really have an exclamation point but it seems like a good opening for this follow-up to Christopher Moore's Bloodsucking Fiends. I didn't plan on read this second book of the trilogy so quickly but my wife and oldest were shopping at consignment shop and found a hardcover copy of this for cheap.

This doesn't feel like the second book in a trilogy, which in my experience can sometimes move the overall storyline forward, whilst both answering some questions from the first volume and adding more questions to the storyline in turn. Second or middle books can sometimes feel link a link between two larger stories that make up the beginning at the end. Who knows, if I get to the end I may change my mind, but this book does read like it wasn't orignally intended to be the second of three. It reads like more of an afterthought.

It was fun, but basically more of the same.

unexpected guest

...and some catch-up.

I'm on the last day of my vacation and I finished a few books before I left, and then read three on vacation, so... catch-up. In order of reading, for me more than you, most likely exclusively for me I need to get down my thoughts about:

An Unexpected Guest
You Suck
Friends of the Dusk
The Magician's Tale [UPDATE]*
Astray
Past Tense

The more recent reads will follow on in short order, but now, we're at An Unexpected Guest by Anne Korkeakivi. According to the bio on the book jacket, Korkeakivi has lived in France and Finland, and is now, or was at the time this was written (2012), in Switzerland, married to a UN lawyer. To me, that means writing about the intrigues of diplomatic life is probably not too much of a stretch. It also seems pretty clear that Korkeakivi enjoys food as it is woven lovely into this tale.

This is not a big novel--less than 300 pages--and it moves along pretty quickly, taking place over the span of just a few days in Paris. Clair Moorhouse is an American married to a British diplomat, who discovers that she needs to step up with very little notice, to play host with her husband for a small group of people. Clair spends her time planning the dinner, while all of the other things in her life, and suddenly her past, come swirling into view demanding her attention.

The story revolves around Moorhouse's ability to keep all the balls in the air when it seems certainly that she can't handle one more thing to happen. Life seems to conspire against her success in ways that seem both human and real. Korkeakivi does a job job of knitting those things together, following Moorhouse as she plans, dodges, reevaluates, puts out fires, retools, and moves ahead, making it clear that even though her husband sees his job as critical and complex, his wife's is just as much, and at time more so.

Its always fun to read a book written by someone with a different perspective. Korkeakivi's time overseas hasn't given her the voice of a foreign writer, but an American writer with a European influence is probably a good way to put it. I enjoyed the tension, the intrigue, the dark secrets, and the sumptuous foodie details.



* UPDATE: I found a picture on my phone of this book that I borrowed from the house were were staying in.

fourth hand

I picked up John Irving's The Fourth Hand at a library book sale. Not because I was looking for it--or even knew about it--but rather, I've read a few of Irving's books and I expected a treat. Irving writes a carefully plotted, intricately woven novel, typically about normal American folks dealing with normal American stresses, typically through the clarifying lens of some abnormality. A typical Irving character is challenged in some way, or possibly challenged by living with other folks who may be challenged more than they are. Irving characters may be physically or intellectually challenged, located somewhere personally lonely on the gender or sexuality spectra, furries, addicts, insane, a farmer or a wrestler.

Maybe all of those things.

But Irving uses these perceived abnormalities to accentuate and elevate the human feeling in a way that clarifies the story of their struggles for us, and allows us to see inside those issues like our our. It bother mirrors and magnifies our own thoughts and feelings as human beings, and draws us into the story deeper than we might have otherwise. But only if we are willing. As an author, John Irving does his job, but we need to do ours as readers and bring our understanding and empathy to the mixture in order to get out of his writing what Irving puts in.

Patrick Wallingford is a TV journalist who loses his hand during a report from India, and the accident is caught on film. Wallingford then become known as the guy who lost his hand, as the clip is watched hundreds of thousands of times worldwide. A hand surgeon in Boston would like to be the first to successfully perform a hand transplant, and a Wisconsin truck driver and Green Bay Packer fan wants to be the donor, or maybe its his wife that wants him to be.

Where these three people, and those around them, come together, each wanting something from the others, is where this story comes together. A small slice of the bizarre, served à la sexe, gives this story the juice which powers it forward, and makes it such a delight to read.

Read this book, and everything else John Irving writes.

bloodsucking fiends

Christopher Moore you crazy bastard!

My wife got me this book when we were away for the weekend a few weeks ago. I haven't read a Christopher Moore book in a little while, so I was looking forward to it. I read it right after another book with the sub-title A Love Story, but this one is completely different.

My oldest saw me reading this and said, I think Moore wrote another one about vampires. I took a look on Amazon and found two books that had Bloodsucking Fiends in parenthesis after the titles: You Suck, and Bite Me.

Thinking that there may be more I went to my favorite series tracking site FictFact, only to find that they have been shut down! By Amazon! For what they describe as an inadvertent "infraction of their terms." yeah, clickedy-click on the link and read the sad news for yourself. looks like I'll be providing links to a competitor's book site for all of the links on this post!*

Based on what I've found, it seems as though the Bloodsucking series is just these three books, all sub-titled A Love Story, by the way. adorable Lucky for me, it seems like Bloodsucking Fiends is the first in the series, so I can enjoy them in order, given the chance. According to Chris Moore's page, You Suck is next, and then Bite Me.**

Christopher Moore is a master at retelling a story in a whole new (read crazy) way. This is his take on the Dracula story but he's not trying to retell Bram Stoker's story, this is a modern story with a completely different story arc, and chock full of zany characters, sarcasm, comedy, and crazy situations. Moore is a treat to read, and a balm for hardworking soul who needs a little break from the norm.

Read this book. Read the whole sucking series!


* In an attempt to do this, I went to Barnes + Noble, and rather than them being happy to see me, they auto linked me to a splash page offering me a discount. Not a pop up, but a whole new page, in the middle of my typing in the search bar. I exited out of that, resumed typing and what did a get, another window, a pop up this time floating right over what I was doing. Nope! All done, never again. Barnes + Noble's website is now dead to me.

** You could always ask Moore the reading order if you see him... Might go something like this...
You: Hey Chris, what's next after Bloodsucking Fiends, bro? 
Moore: You Suck, Bite Me.
You: Aw.

red thread

The Red Thread is sub-titled "A Love Story." Its a sweet, melancholy book with a beautiful, romantic, and historical sweep. With a twang of that timeless love in Jitterbug Perfume; one of my favorite books. you can see it over on the right of the page, down just a bit with my favorites. read it prior to this blog, so maybe its time to read it again  It doesn't rise to that level, but I did enjoy it, and basically pounded it over two days, this beautiful first weekend of summer, mostly sitting in the yard.

I read the hardcover, which is bound with a thin red ribbon to use as a bookmark which I thought was a nice touch. I'm pretty sure I picked this book up at a library book sale, but not at my own library. I think I got it in Dracut, Mass. at their ongoing book sale.

Young auctioneer Shen comes across the first four chapters of a centuries old memoir of a Chinese author with a similar name to his; Shen Fu. Shen soon discovers that Shen Fu's story has parallels to his own. When he meets Ruth, they read together and the two of them find similarities to themselves, and how they begin to feel about one another.

When Shen and Ruth meet Han, the sexy singer and free spirit who is so unlike themselves, they are both enthralled, but also see reflections of the woman that Shen Fu and his wife meet in 1700s China. The stories weave back and forth along with their pursuit of the remaining two chapters of the book which have been missing since the first four chapters was originally published just after Shen Fu's death.

The story is a wistful, sweet, and sometimes heartbreaking look at how things stay the same, no matter how much they seem to change. People's feeling for one another, and perhaps even their destinies, are unchangeable.

A quick look on the interwebs presented a little surprise for me. The really was a Shen Fu who wrote an autobiography called Six Records of a Floating Life, which includes four chapters. I haven't read it, but I suspect that Nicholas Jose has, and this may be a retelling of that story from the Qing Dynasty writer, also known as Sanbai.



On a side note, its interesting that the book I'm reading now, is also sub-titled "A Love Story" but it is sooo different than this one.

havana room

I'm pretty sure this is the first I've read of Colin Harrison; I'm going to have to keep an eye on this guy.

The Havana Room is a story about a lawyer in New York, and the things that happen to him as he tries to lead his simple, normal, boring life. Things that definitely aren't simple, normal, or boring.

This is a story John Grisham would write if he could. Now, if you're a big fan of John Grisham, that's great. I'm not saying he's a bad writer, what I AM saying is that this is a book that John Grisham would probably like, but its more gritty, honest, dark,--and two steps outside the mainstream--than what Grisham is writing; which I think is a good thing.

That all being said, this story doesn't hinge on our boy Bill Wyeth being a lawyer, but his expertise does help with the plot lines. The Havana Room doesn't take long to get rolling either. We meet our guy, living that normal life, which then gets unnormal pretty quickly. By page 20 its all gone to shit. Then as Wyeth blows around New York like a ghost of himself, he stumbles upon the Havana Room, and life promptly goes to Shinola.

Harrison has put together a well paced, thoughtful, mysterious and modern noir. Its a look at how far a guy will go when he feels like he may have lost everything anyway, all the while hoping that he hasn't and that there may be a way back. Or perhaps forward and through, which is maybe better anyway. Harrison's characters do and say things you assume some folks do and say, but you've never witnessed. Or at least, not to this degree. It adds a sharpness to the story that pulled me in and along for the ride in much shorter order than I usually finish a book.

Read this book.

And you keep an eye out for Colin Harrison too. And if he writes something, drop me a note in the comments below. In the meantime, I'll be checking out some of his earlier stuff. you know, at some point

rasputin's shadow

Rasputin's Shadow is a Sean Reilly novel by Raymond Khoury. I may have read another Sean Reilly novel, but I don't remember. Sure enough, the internets knows when I don't: Reilly was in the Templar books, with a different partner, maybe? yeah, you can look that one up yerself

Reilly is unlike a lot of book cops, in that he is younger, mostly undamaged, has a family, and isn't stomping around in an old rain coat chewing on cigars and struggling with addiction of whatever variety. His partner is kind of a wise ass, and more of a sidekick. He doesn't figure much in the story, and is a little two-dimensional.

Khoury is usually writing about some old-timey, mysterious thing that has found its way down through time to now... and needs some solvin'!

Enter Sean Reilly.

This time Reilly is working on a mystery that seems to tie back to how Rasputin was able to ingratiate himself into the very laps of the Tsar and Tsarina of Russia, when he was reportedly an unkempt scoundrel with little or no training, education or bathing, apparently. Khoury's take: perhaps its was a magical, modern technology, invented a hundred years ago, then forgotten.

Or was it? sounds legit

the drop

Harry Bosch is back at it in The Drop by Michael Connelly. I've read a few of these, and I usually get them from my wife, but this one came from a used book sale at the library. I know, you can get books for free at the library, but I usually take a little longer to read, and end up renewing, AND, when I buy them I can crank a little back into the library, both when I buy them, and potentially again when I return them to the book sale donation box. just works for me

Bosch is dealing with a variety of things in this one, from his personal relationships, to department politics, to city politics, to corruption, cold cases, and crazy DNA evidence. There is a lot going on and Connelly does a good job in this one keeping the balls in the air and walking us through this story.

The Drop is a double entendre, referring to both Bosch's position and an element in the case he's working. Crafty. I think this is a good addition to the Harry Bosch series and if you've enjoyed thus far, this is a good one too.

spook country

Spook Country is a novel by William Gibson, the grandfather of CyberPunk. I only say that because I bet he hates hearing that by now. I've read me some William Gibson in the past, and this one was a little...meyh, for me. The biggest problem was that this book took a while to get rolling... like, a hundred pages. Once I got past that and had a pretty good idea what this thing was all about, then I enjoyed the rest of it.

After taking a quick look around, I found (to my surprise) that Spook Country is actually the second book in Gibson's Blue Ant series. The first was Pattern Recognition, and it apparently shares some of the same characters, and I guess there may be some other connections.*

This one has little cyber edge to it, there's some virtual reality bits, and some tinkering around on the interwebs here and there, but its mainly weird, warmed-over cold war players and some shading money dealings. The strangely SPECTRE-esque quality of Blue Ant is a little campy, and that along with the cold-war taint, does give this whole book a throwback quality that I assume was the intent.

If you're a Gibson fan, I guess you'll enjoy this. If you've got a pal who can summarize the first hundred pages for you, even better. Crack it open there and give it a go. I can do that for you, if you'd like, just add a comment and I'll be happy to. hint: nothing happened.



* Take a look at my review of Pattern Recognition, by clicking on the link in the text above, or here. I wrote that the story didn't gel until about halfway thru, and then I enjoyed the rest. Maybe thats something else this series has in common? Not really sure I want to read the last one now...

artemis

Andy Weir wrote The Martian--big book, big movie; didn't read, did see--so I figured I'd give this book a go. Artemis is also space oriented, and I guess you could call it SciFi, where I guess you'd probably say that The Martian was more Speculative Fiction. I know they're both SF, nerds can fight it out over here-->

Artemis takes place a little further in the future, at a space station on the Moon, that has a civilian population, so I guess you'd call it a colony. The moon colony, Artemis, is a little like the early European colonies in that they are remote enough that the folks that really should be controlling them (Earth folks) are really too remote to actually control squat.

That fact, along with our gal Jasmine "Jazz" Bashara, are the engine that drives this story. Weir does a great job putting together a world that is both familiar and foreign, futuristic, yet totally grokable. yeah, I'm looking at you Robert Heinlein, you crazy, dead bastard

Artemis is fun, well written, easy to read, and a little hard to put down. Jazz Bashara is a great character, and I don't know Andy Weir very well, but if I was a betting man, my money would be on see her again in another installment.

Read this book. 

And I guess I'll have to look up the first one at some point. 

Note: According to one source I found, they may also be making a movie out of this book too.

razor girl

Razor Girl is a 2016 novel by Carl Hiaasen. I haven't read Hiaasen's stuff before, but he reads like a cross between Elmore Leonard and Tom Robbins (who shows up in my 'Favorites' list on the right.) Yeah, like that, so strap in and hang on.

Razor Girl, who is better known in the text as Merry Mansfield (that's "Merry, as in Merry Christmas!" and Mansfield, as in va-va-voom!) runs into our man Lane Coolman early on in the story, which makes me think that these two will be the main characters moving forward.

Nope.

That ends up being a guy named Andrew Yancy, who was also  in Hiaasen's Bad Monkey. Yancy is an ex-cop, living in Key West, trying to stay out of trouble--but not too hard--when Merry Mansfield drops into his life. Things start out as a simple misunderstanding, but quickly spin out of control. Throw in some petty crime, some wannabe, back-woods, racist, reality TV folks, members of the Calzone crime family from New York, a 1-800 lawyer, and some imported super-sized rats, that may or may not be intelligent, and you got yourself a romp!

This book reminds me of those frenetic, ensemble cast movies of the 60s and 70s. Movies like Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, and What's Up, Doc? Actually, Merry Mansfield reminds me of Streisand's character Judy Maxwell, in What's Up, Doc? I'm also reminded of things like Get Shorty, and Pulp Fiction (both movies based on books by Elmore Leonard.)

This book was a blast. I'll be looking for Bad Monkey, and others by Carl Hiaasen.

Read this book.

39 steps

I’ve heard the title The Thirty-Nine Steps before but I think that’s because they made a movie with that name years ago. This volume has two short stories by John Buchan but I hadn’t heard of the second one or of Buchan either. The blurb on the back cover talks about how Richard Hannay is the proto James Bond but I’m not sure what that is based on. I was under the impression that Ian Fleming based the Bond stories loosely on his own observations while working for the British secret service.

Both of those stories follow a similar story arc and are led by similar protagonists, the reluctant hero; a man who is clearly a patriot, has certain latent skills, is a gentleman (obviously) and who happens to find himself in the right place at the right time to prevent a calamity that would certainly mean the end of Britain as he knows it, and may perhaps mean the end of the civilized world. What’s a man to do? what, what

Each of these short stories is broken down into a series of chapters that play like mini episodes or adventures in the overall story. The chapters have names like The One-eyed Red Mustachioed Groomsman or The Weeping Lady in Ermine so you have good idea where our man be headed or at least who or what he may run into along the way. yeah, I made those chapter titles up.

These two tales were fast-paced and fun and I can certainly see the similarities to Fleming’s Bond. Makes me want to go back and read some of Fleming’s stuff, it’s been years since I have.

A quick look at Wikipedia tells me that Richard Hannay appears in a total of 5 Buchan stories, and that The Thirty-Nine Steps first appeared in Blackwood's Magazine in 1915.

The second story in this slim volume is called The Power-House, and follows the adventures of Edward Leithen, a British MP and lawyer, who I think also appears in a number of Buchan stories. Unlike Richard Hannay, Leithen is more of a home-body, rather than a man-of-action as Hannay is. Leithen seems to use his brains, and careful consideration to take care of business. You won't find this guy hiding in a tree, in borrowed pants, out on the moors waiting for an execution squad to wander past in the night. You're more likely to find Leithen at the club, chatting up some credulous acquaintance whilst sipping a whiskey and soda.

Both were fun. Read this book

patriots logo update

My son suggested that I add the name of team to my new logo design for the New England Patriots. The Pats rolled out a new team name design, or wordmark logo, in 2013 that is basically old timey football jersey lettering arranged as though its written around the inside of a cylinder (or a stadium?) Maybe its supposed to represent team members standing in a huddle? Who knows, but its a little goofy, and Flying Elvis is pasted on the bottom like an afterthought. Is this the first part of a new logo phase in? Man I hope not, if its going to be more like this.

The pre- and post-2013 Patriots wordmark

We need something new, bold, clear, and bright. That both respects the heritage of the team's 60 year history, and looks forward to the next generations. I do think the newer wordmark is clearer than the old one, but there has to be a better way of tying it to the logo without just jamming it in there, and old time font isn't helping.

till we have faces

Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold is a novel by C.S. Lewis, who (as everyone knows) is the author of the Chronicles of Narnia. What I was surprised to learn is that Lewis was mainly an author of non-fiction, did a little bit of fiction, and other than Narnia, wrote almost nothing else for children.

Till We Have Faces is a retelling of the Cupid and Psyche story, who earliest known rendering was put down by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (or Platonicus) in his Metamorphoses in the second century BCE. Lewis uses the myth as a starting point, or what he calls a 'source' for his novel in a note in the backmatter of the book.

In Lewis' version, the story does not focus on Psyche or Cupid, but is rather told from the point of view of one of Psyche's sisters. In the original story, Psyche is the youngest, and most beautiful of three sisters, daughters of a king. When she meets Cupid in the original story, she falls in love with the god, and her sisters, jealous of her good fortune, contrive to trick her into betraying the command of her lover to never look upon his face. Lewis has the oldest daughter, the story's protagonist, visit Psyche alone, and unlike the original story, can not perceive (or even conceive) the splendor and love in which her sister now lives, and thinks she is victim of some horrible trickery.

This is Lewis' view of man trying to understand the magnificence of God, and failing. He even describes the relationship between Cupid and Venus, his mother in terms similar to the Christ story. In some cases they are one in the same, being both mother and son, shadow and light, ravager and savior. The telling is similar to the original only in its beginnings. The story itself focuses on the struggles the eldest sister has in life and her relationship with the gods. She even sets her will against the gods, but in the end accepts that the gods are great, and indeed beyond our understanding, even if they do things that enrage as well as enrapture us.

This was an interesting read. I don't know that the happy ending I hoped for, or even the tragic ending that can also occur in myth, ever came to pass. The story just sort of ended when it was over. If one was reading it for its Christian overtones, one may have a different opinion of the ending, but I'll leave that for others to decide.


Update: I forgot to mention that I picked this book up from a 'Little Library' in Dracut, located at the rear of the town hall parking lot. Leave a book, take a book.

time's convert

Deborah Harkness has written a follow up to the All Souls Trilogy; this one is called Time's Convert, and it takes place in the same universe as the original trilogy. Is this the fourth book in the trilogy, the first book in a second trilogy, or is it just another tale from this universe Harkness has created? Who knows. I assume Deborah Harkness knows

I'm pretty sure I said I'd keep an eye out for Harkness' next book, but I'm also pretty sure I figured she'd be on to something else. I'm not saying that this was bad, I was just looking forward to seeing what else she could do.

Time's Convert follows on pretty quickly after the Souls trilogy, but the focus moves off of the couple who were the focus of the trilogy, and onto the next generation.

[PAUSE]

So I went back and read the review I wrote for the last book in the trilogy, and I did give it a good review, and I actually said that I'd 'keep me eyes peeled' for her next book. I also mentioned that she'd left things open for a follow up, so... I guess I'm a genius. that's all I'm saying

This IS a pretty good follow up, I just wish it was something else. I think Harkness has the talent to do something else, presumably in the historically influenced fiction/fantasy genre, but who knows? If you enjoyed the All Souls trilogy and you're looking for more, I think you'll like this one. The overall goal of the plot isn't as grand--in the end its just busy work and waiting--but it was fun.

days of rage

Pike Logan is compared to Jason Bourne, Jack Reacher, and Jack Bauer, by an author name John Lescroart, according to a quote on the front cover of this paperback. I don't know who Lescroart is, and I've read a few Jason Bourne stories, and a few more Jack Reacher stories, and in my opinion, Logan doesn't compare to those two characters. I'm pretty sure Jack Bauer is the Keifer Sunderland character for the 24 TV show, but I never watched that, so I don't know.

Pike is also a nickname. The character's real name is Nephilim Logan. Reminds me a little of the character name Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch. I think the idea with historic names like these is they bring their history--and some juice--along with them. The Nephilim were early angel/human hybrid beings of immense size and power. So Pike Logan is a big dude, who talks about himself 'being the weapon.' I guess its pretty clear where Brad Taylor was going with this one. typed 'giant' into google is my guess Logan is just 30 pounds or so lighter than Jack Reacher if memory serves, and both Reacher and Jason Bourne were also pretty handy without weapons, so perhaps that's where the comparisons originate.

What is missing in Pike Logan is a framework that we can credibly hang all of the disparate, in not contradictory, personality traits upon. Logan is at once sweet, and thoughtful, and prone to black-out-rage killing. yeah, not sure I can relate He is leader of men and women, and cares deeply about them as people, but also has trouble being led, or following orders. The chain of command is import to him, yet his often disobeys, and is in a sexual relationship with a woman who is essentially a subordinate. He both encourages his girlfriend kill when necessary, while telling her not to worry when she fears the effects killing has on her. He clearly worries about her physical safety, but dismisses her mental safety. To all of this, add that he seems to attack most jobs blindly, and struggles along by will and grit alone. Everyone around him seems to die, including multiple team members. I can't imagine why anyone would go to this guy, never mind when the mission is absolutely critical, which is apparently his specialty.

Days of Rage is not a crappy book, but it certainly wasn't the best thing I've read recently, and it certainly wasn't the best think Brad Taylor has written that I've read. I guess I'd give it a myeh.

pride and prejudice

Jane Austen was bangin' out the hits back in the day, and Pride and Prejudice is one of her best known. Sense and Sensibility, and Emma are others she is probably most famous for. They were published in the early 1800s, with help from her brother, and here's where I want to kick a trash bucket across the floor; No one knew who wrote them until after her death, even though the first runs of many of them sold out right away.

Pride and Prejudice is written from the POV of Elizabeth
Bennet, and gives a marvelous glimpse into the mind of a young, English woman of the upper middle class--the daughter of a gentleman, as she is described in the text. Eliza is intelligent, quick-witted, bold, and is not the type to lie down and let the men in her life tell her what to do. She is, however, able to make her feelings known, and is certainly not above love and caring for men.

As the title indicates, Austen seems to be making her own thoughts clear on the silliness of the separation between the classes, who one assumes, looked upon her and her own family, as they look upon Eliza Bennet and her family, with both too much pride and distinct prejudice. Given that Austen was born in England just a few months before America declared its independence, one can imagine that she grew up in a society that was rapidly evolving amidst that struggle against aristocracy.
Pride and Prejudice celebrates those both inside and outside the aristocracy who rebelled against these societal sins.

That societal struggle is what underlays this story, but the principal narrative is one of relationships, love and romance, peppered with jealousy, envy, obstinance, stupidity, shamelessness, scandal, absent-minded-zealotry, scoundrels, and mean girls. whateverrr Its fresh and timely still, which must explain why it has been adapted so often for movies and plays.

Read this book. I've read it before, that's why is on my 'great' list, to the right. And I'll probably read it again.