I was vastly disappointed in Foundation. It was written by a man that didn't understand human nature whatsoever. So much of it was 'we win because we are smarter than you, and there's nothing you can do about it.' Right, because even if you accept the premise, dumb people clearly recognize their limitations. The characterization in it was atrocious.
Cat in the Dark, by Shirley Rousseu Murphy. Feline Sleuths Joe Gray & Dulcie are doubly occupied by both a deadly financial scam and a theiving Tom named Azrael from out of town.
Call of the Wild by Jack London A change of pace here, this only took me a day or so to read. I'm not entirely sure it deserves its literary status, but it's vivid and elemental. Transcendent by Stephen Baxter According to Goodreads, Baxter is now my most read author after Enid Blyton (11 titles). This is set in his Xeelee Universe and unfortunately is not one of the better entries. Baxter usually applies speculative physics to produce a version of the far future that is both astounding and believable, but here he is lurching into something more like fantasy. His universe also is getting a tad claustrophobic after so many stories and the near future stuff about global warming is not that interesting.
Been rereading Bruce Catton. This Hallowed Ground and currently A Stillness at Appomattox, and then one I haven't read yet, Mr. Lincoln's Army. I love his prose: intense, flowing, capable of being beautiful and straightforward by turns without jarring.
Here's a fascinating book about the UK's secrect Remote-Viewing Spy Program during the 70's & 80's called The Psychic Spy. It's currently available on Kindle, and will be available in soft cover this Thursday, September 5th. Oh yeah, the author is a friend of mine.
Dubliners by James Joyce Joyce's early short story collection, all of the stories linked thematically. Much more readable than his later uber-literary stuff (seriously, has anyone ever tried to read a page of Finnegans Wake, what the fuck?) It's very, very good. Joyce seems to have been co-opted by the Irish establishment since, but this is a searing enditement of the entire repressed, paralysed culture near the turn of the (20th) century, the objectionable aspects of which were deepened after independence, and remain even still.
Just finished Wool by Hugh Howey, first in a series, brisk, enjoyable read. More engrossing than any book I've read lately. The premise is that humanity exists only in "silos", below ground skyscrapers that are self sufficient. The environment outside is unsuitable for humans, and people have survived for so long that they've forgotten any life except for that within the silo. People are routinely condemned to "clean", which means go outside and clean the sensor array before they die. Stuff happens, shenanigans ensue. It would make a good cable series in the right hands.
Hyperion by Dan Simmons This is very, very good sci-fi and I recommend it to all here. It's certainly the most effective "page turner" I've read in a while. (I stayed up last night until 3am to finish it.) The universe it's set in is most intriguing and the story is really well told, in six different styles, ones for each of the protagonists as they journey to the mysterious world of Hyperion to confront The Shrike, a time-travelling killing machine. But damn - I hate cliffhangers! I think I'm going to have to read the sequel very soon and hope that it can tie up the loose ends, which are many.
There are three sequels, Rick. The Cantos is one the finest, most satisfying sci fi collections I've ever read, it's hard to even categorize. I've read it twice in it's entirety. I'm almost jealous, enjoy.
Badfellas by Paul Williams. Some non-fiction for a change, this one chronicles the history of organised crime in Ireland since the 1960s. It's a subject I didn't know that much about so it was informative, but unfortunately the writer is a crusading tabloid journalist, and the book is very tabloid as well. He's more interested in embarrassing and exposing the criminals than providing any insight or perspective. While there's a "narrative" running through the book concerning major figures like Martin Cahill and John Gilligan, it's also a fault that too much consists of rhyming off lists of names and crimes that don't mean much. Mixed quality at best.
Hard Times by Charles Dickens. Not as good as the other Dickens' books I've read, but it's still Dickens, which gives it certain qualities. There is what Orwell called a "generous anger" throughout at the inhumanity of 19th century industrialism, but it must be conceded that it's all a bit of a straw man. It could have probably done with being a bit longer given that some parts felt rushed, and the phonetic speech was unnecessarily difficult to read. That said, lively prose and interesting characters keep the reader entertained.
Books I read this year....woo boy!! That's a long list. I will make a partial list here 11/22/63 - Stephen King The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury Father Night - Eric Van Lustbader Sunday at Tiffany's - James Patterson The Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins The Marseille Caper - Peter Mayle Merry Christmas, Alex Cross - James Patterson. 10 Jack Reacher novels Poseidon's Arrow - Clive Cussler Warm Bodies - Isaac Marion Soft Apocalypse - Will McIntosh Hero - Perry Moore A bunch of James Patterson books that I can't recall the names of. A bunch of David Baldacci novels. About 12 of the Walking Dead graphic novels. Another bunch of books I took out from library but can't seem to list.
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy With the possible exception of American Psycho, this is the most violent book that I have ever read. There are no sympathetic characters, just about everyone is a mass murderer and there are elements that I'd suggest can be argued to approach some kind of perverted satanic or anti-Christ version of the New Testament. A fair depiction of mankind, or even of the American west? Probably not. There is a lot to think about, and I'd be interested in hearing from anyone else who has read it, and in seeing a film version. Definitely a cut above most, but ultimately I don't think its reputation as "novel of the century" is deserved, and I liked The Road more - which despite it's utter bleakness contained some shred of positive humanity.
Although I enjoyed Blood Meridian, I got a little tired of the endless description of the landscape of the Southwest. Still, Judge Holden is a great character. I'm not sure what he represents--death, war, the violence that creates order--but he is fascinating. This scene has stuck with me:
Yes. And funny enough, it's closest to my least favorite movie version, Coppola's DRACULA. It's... prosy, even though the story is told in letters and diary entries entirely. But then I'm not into vampires, not even the classic ones. Impressing what and how much people here read. Where do you guys find the time? I'm having a really bad conscience about this - I burned through books in my younger years, one per week at least. These days my schedule is full. Work, child, and when I'm done I'm in no mood to read. I'm not (yet?) so far as to watch reality crap on TV but one movie, maybe, and I'm off to Dreamland However, started Baxter's Manifold Trilogy lately. Still on the first one, TIME. A good read but I'm afraid it's losing the realistic edge rather sooner than later. But it's exciting enough to whip out the e-reader while commuting instead of playing around with my smartphone.
Fiasco by Stanislaw Lem. This is my fourth Lem novel. The translation from Polish is well-done, as usual by Michael Kendel. It concerns an expedition to make contact with an alien civilisation on a distant star. There are some highlights, notably the opening sequence and the parts focusing on the DEUS computer (The observation that even the supercomputer is created with human biases and limitations is interesting), but a lot of it felt like mashed up repitition of ground already covered in Solaris and His Masters Voice. That means that the difficulty of communication with The Other is forefront, but even accepting that I found myself fairly appalled by the actions of the humans in the story. The narrator seems to give them a lot of latitiude, which I'm unsure is intentional.
Knocked out the sequels, Shift and Dust, Shift really expanded the story and history, and Dust wrapped the story up. The ending felt a little forced, but I was glad to see it end satisfactorily. I'd give the series 3.9 out of 5 stars. I'm halfway through PKD' s Martian Time Slip, I'd forgotten how that man made other writers look like bloviating hacks.
I just finished Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 by Ian W. Toll. I decided for a change of pace and just started Star Trek: Destiny: The Complete Saga by David Mack.
Nearly finished Doctor Zhivago. Visited some bookshops today, picked up the following: Candide by Voltaire The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy I also have the following on my coffee-table, waiting for my attention: Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson The Mote in Gods Eye by Niven and Pournelle For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway Gravitys Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon Collapse by Jared Diamond Dialogues and Natural History of Religion by David Hume There aren't enough hours in the day. That lot will keep me going for a while.
Reread Three Nights in August. Interesting perspective, having about a decade's distance from most of the names involved this time. Tony La Russa had his detractors in St. Louis, but there's no question about his passion for the game.
Candide is one of a small number of books I ever was assigned for school and then reread later for pleasure. It holds up really, really well. It's not overrated unlike most of the "classics" foisted off on high school and college students. So long as political satire is your thing it should be a great read.
I picked up Tatiana, Martin Cruz Smith's latest in the Arkady Renko detective series; like the other books in the series, it's a pretty fast read. I'm also reading an old Perry Mason novel, The Case of the Lucky Loser. Except I'm reading it in Russian, so it's actually Дело Счастливова Неудачника. My Russian vocabulary is still not very large, so it's pretty slow going...
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. Minor revisions aside, I was already very familiar with the story through the David Lean movie (which is great). I'm not sure if it was that, or something lost in translation from the Russian, but while this was a decent read, it'd didn't grab me as it's reputation for being "great literature" would suggest it might have. At times more subtle in it criticisms of Bolshevism than the movie, Paternak nevertheless must have had balls of steel to attempt to release this in Soviet Russia. Zhivago comes across a a little bit as a serial philanderer too, unsympathetically so. That said, there are moments of genuine lyricism and it's nice to get this crossed off the list.
I picked up "Find Me" by Romily Bernard a couple weeks ago at a meet n greet and book signing for the author. she's actually pretty cool person to meet, she's a nice girl very friendly. We talk for a few minutes and discussed huge cock pics, and she said she would love to pick my brain sometime for a future book over some of what we discussed. and she also signed the book I bought two so that was neat. I've only read about eight or ten pages so far, I just don't have that much time to just sit and read a book lately.
Candide by Voltaire Short, snappy and funny. Voltaire satirically eviscerates Leibniz's "best of all worlds" philosophy by putting his protagonists through all sorts of torments, having a go at church, state, his peers and any number of other things along the way. I was trying to work out which of the characters, if any, was speaking with his voice. The only bit I'm sure where that appears is the very end. Highly inflammatory in its day, it probably loses its edge given that its conclusions are so obvious and accepted nowadays, and due to distance from some of the historical events referenced. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway Another short one to cross off the list, this only took a couple of hours. A nice story, well told, evocative in places. But not particularly deep, or provocative, or exceptional in any way. Maybe I'm missing something but was Hemingway given the Nobel prize for this in lieu of his "body of work"? As an aside, I'll note that I've been back and forth to Blood Meridian since I finished reading it, and I'm going to have to upgrade my review of it. It was difficult to get out of my head afterwards, and it certainly rewards re-rereading with the perspective of the whole giving a fuller understanding. I'll have to call it one of my favourites now.
