Ten Days that Shook the World by John Reed. This is an account of the 1917 October Revolution in Russia by an American communist. There'a an immediacy about it which convincingly portrays the chaos and contingency of history, and the import of the events, not shirking on the detail. However Reed is nakedly partisan and his objectivity fails when dealing with the Bolsheviks, who he portrays in heroic terms even as they take the first steps on the path towards dictatorship and undermining that which they claim to be fighting for.
Graves of The Golden Bear: Ancient Fortresses and Monuments of the Ohio Valley by Scott Wolter & Rick Osmon. Interesting history read.
And yet his book was banned by Stalin, who he mentions just once in passing, unlike Trotsky who he venerates throughout.
Johnny U by Tom Callahan Very interesting read, a lot of anecdotes and information about the great Unitas. It gives a very strong sense of the sort of man he was, and a sense of many of his teammates, family, and other associates. Unfortunately, the prose suffers from weak transitions and jumbled ideas, so that it feels a bit incoherent at times. There were also many times I wanted to read deeper into a topic and was disappointed when the author moved on to something else. Still worth a check-out from the library.
Hadji Murat by Leo Tolstoy This is about one of the central figures in a 19th century conflict in Chechnya and thus retains its relevance today.More of a novella than a full novel, I think it could have done with being longer to flesh out its characters a bit. That said, it does hit the right notes. It's genuinely tragic. The chapter involving the egotistical, incompetent Tsar in particular I thought was masterful and must have been controversial at the time of publication, even if that was after the authors death.
I'm going through Alan Dean Foster's Flinx & Pip books. Up to the eighth in the series. I read his earlier works way back in college, and just now picking them back up. His later works aren't as fun, but delve a little deeper in some things. My bitch is the opposite, I dislike ebooks, and one of my favorites, the Tran Ky Ky books, are only available in ebook form . Next up is Ian Bank's Culture series. I have the first three, will pick up the rest if I like them. I'll also read the above mentioned Hyperion series.
Might I recommend a good European horror/mystery novel written by some bloke I know: Demons Dwell: The Tower
The Golden Ball is the least detectivey book of Christie's I've read. It's a collection of short stories about individuals who have the chance to grasp the golden ball of some extraordinary opportunity. It's sort of divided into two parts, with the first part being largely about people in proximity to crimes and intrigue, and the second part being heavy on the supernatural. I can't say there were any standouts, and there were two or three stories I felt could have used another page or two to fulfill their potential, but I enjoyed the read and re-read.
Moby Dick by Herman Melville I decided to read this as its so often been listed among the most influential ever written. And you can see why - the language is majestic throughout, think Shakespeare crossed with the King James Bible. The tale of the whale-hunt is fairly thin, but what there is of it, particularly the opening and closing chapters, is really excellent stuff. Alas for the middle portion of the book. I'm sure that it represented Ahab's obsession or some such but chapter upon chapter about the obscure minutiae of whales and whaling - the whale's skull, the whale's tail, the history of whale-hunting, the history of whales in art - punctuated by very little actual storytelling, grates. And who am I to second guess, but there didn't seem to me to be much point to all of that.
Last book I read was, "Short Stories About You" by Jeffery X Martin. There's a review of it here in MC.
Litany of the Long Sun - Gene Wolfe On another world, one that may yet turn out to be the colony of a colony of Earth, a not-priest receives a vision while playing not-basketball that urges him to save his worn-down not-monastery from being foreclosed. While on this quest, he uncovers unsettling truths about his world and the source of his faith, breaks into places, gets embroiled in political intrigue, and runs into a surprising number of naked women. I enjoyed reading this book, or rather volume of two books put together, although it was never can't-put-down stuff. The prose is solid, the world-building is delivered in manageable amounts without stopping the flow (and the second half begins with a glossary of names in case you can't keep the gods straight), and the characters are all likable to some extent or another. Wolfe refers to many things by their English Earth equivalents, while mixing in old words that look meaningful or alien enough (patera, azoth) and Spanish terms as well. The story itself is interesting and unpredictable, but not so fast-paced or melodramatic as to get you on the edge of your seat. There's a second volume that I intend to read next, to resolve the plot and world-building threads and because I legitimately look forward to reading more.
http://www.amazon.com/Jodi-Taylor/e/B00DOSKIHU/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1403319883&sr=1-1 I'm halfway through the third installment of the saint Mary's series and I am quite impressed. For our brand-new writer she has considerable talent. The world building is great (albeit very very British) the layers of the plot are laid without obvious contradiction and the characters, while perhaps lacking in back story are nicely introduced. The plot is somewhat episodic which is not necessarily a bad thing for me as I tend to view everything I read visually as if it were a TV series or movie and I can easily imagine a nice little fun series based on this concept and set of characters. But the very best thing about it by far is the wonderful little smart-alecky sense of humor built into the writing style. If you find the name of the first volume sounds like fun, it is. I would recommend anyone at least try the first one and see if you like the style. I'll definitely be watching for future work by this writer.
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy Less ambitious and less grim than either of the two other McCarthy novels I've read. It's still fairly dark, and there is some violence but there's also romance - both in the usual sense and also with regards to the titular horses. Ultimately it's another deconstruction of the western genre. There's a bit of Spanish in it, which irked me a little, but overall it's a fairly good read.
Read Pratchett's and Baxter's 'Long Earth' books. These feature a reality where people can 'step' to alternate Earth's, although the other Earth's are mainly sapient-free, and iron cannot make the jump. The first book involves a natural stepper (most people have to use a device) and a Buddhist AI (claiming to be a reincarnated Tibetan motorcycle repairman) exploring 'west'-wards to offset a potential threat. The second explores humanity's various responses to stepping and the exodus to other Earths, with the economic implications and government attempts to declare stepwise land as under its control, and the third with stepping across Mars, the aftermath of Yellowstone exploding on the 'original' Earth and the appearance of a new type of human. All three are okay. Very readable, but... It's like looking at a draft sketch of the Mona Lisa. Each book could've been a trilogy of wonder, really digging into some of the concepts. Maybe it is Pratchett's Alzheimers, I don't know. There are discoveries like a civilisation of humanoid canines, who cannot step, other humanoids who gave birth to our myths of Elves, Kobolds and Trolls, gaps where the Earth was either never created or was destroyed (and which get used for space exploration), the fact that stepping 'west' on Mars does not take you to the same reality as stepping 'west' from where Earth used to be - if you crossed to that Earth, are you in a new long Earth? Or on the same one? The main character isn't terribly interesting, although his surrounding ones are, and seems to get put through the mill rather a lot in the heroic sacrifice trope, and the resolutions - pleasantly done via jaw-jaw rather than war-war - can be a little too pat. It'd make a good series, especially with the exploring. The need for airships lends a nice Steampunk feel to it, and a Long Earth Trek would be both visually pleasing and easier on the purse strings than a space one whilst still exploring and telling similar tales. Base something off The Long War, and you could mix politics and exploration in one show.
Epiphany of the Long Sun - Gene Wolfe Much the same strengths and weaknesses of the first book/volume/whatever, and quite a satisfactory end to what seems to be, in the grand scheme, currently the middle story of three. I don't feel that the experience suffered from not having read the first story; in fact, I figure it was probably best for me to plunge in and be as in the dark as the protagonist. Again, the prose is very even-keeled, even as it describes exciting or pivotal events. It works well. As in Litany, there is also a lot of time spent on people talking and figuring things out aloud. Again, it works well here, because the stuff being discussed is interesting enough and characterization is developed at the same time as plot and back story. The one major criticism I have of this duology/two-part quadrilogy/whatever thing is that there are about five times where I was dropped back into a plotline that had advanced while the narrator was elsewhere, with distractingly unclear results. I like in media res well enough, but if the type is this small and I'm still floundering around for traction after two or three pages while the characters all understand it pretty well, that is not an ideal situation. I will say that a certain person's speech pattern could be decidedly annoying at times, but in the spirit of the narrative, he is only as Pas made him. Anyway, I'm glad to have read this, and I recommend it.
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson Back to some sci-fi for the first time in a few months. This is epic, challenging stuff. Interesting characters, which the book switches between periodicially, each with their own distinct point of view standing for a broader range of opinion about what should be done to Mars. One debate is between reds and greens who are in favour and against terraforming respectively, the other is between earth-based interests and frontier types who want an independent society. My criticisms would be that things seem a little too "easy" - perhaps unavoidable, but regular shuttles from Mars, significant terraforming and a population of tens (?) of thousands inside a few decades is pushing things for what aspires to be a realistic portrayal of the near future. And that there's too much scenery porn that detracts from the story at certain points. Ultimately a lot of it is not about Mars specifically but what happens when on a frontier when a new society has to be created from scratch. Worthwhile and I'll probably follow it up with the rest of the trilogy at a later point.
Crooked House -- Agatha Christie Yeah, this is probably one of her better novels. No recurring characters here, so there's more room for the other thing she does so well: take a bunch of people with distinct personality types, loves, hates, beliefs, and loyalties, stick them in a pressure cooker of close quarters and suspicion of murder, and see what happens. There's even a theme-clue or two in this one: the way that the Leonides ruthlessness crops up in family members.
Let's see, haven't read much lately, what I have read was: The Supreme Commander: The War Years of Dwight Eisenhower - Ambrose is always a good read. He does a good job of analyzing the thought process and intent of Ike, and how that lead to some of his greatest successes - and a couple of dramatic failures. One really interesting aside was how bat shit insane the French were after France fell - Ike literally had one of their leading generals locked up in Gibraltar because he was making outrageous demands on the Allies which was going to hurt them when they were going to invade to free their people. France's upper echeleon just couldn't adequately deal with their fall from power and the fact that their greatest living hero, Petain, was a nazi collaborator. Finished up Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series - read the last five. Mostly meh - good to see some closure, some nice individual moments, but some really weak plot points and IMO Brian Sanderson was not nearly the writer Jordan was. I had read the first 8 at various times, and heard that the ending was good. Personally I wasn't that impressed, though it was nice seeing some old friends - the first couple of books on this were quite well done back in the day. The Unofficial Guide T0 Disney World - which I've read cover to cover now, lol. Can't say it really belongs in this list, as its reference, but somehow it worked out that we've been to Disney 3 times in the last year, so this helped me get the most out of our time there. Right now recently started Capital in the 21st Century by Piketty. Some really interesting historical analysis on the social eras which several of the greatest economists lived and how that impacted their theories in the first chapter. Getting into the more staid economic analysis now, which so far is reiterating what most people are already aware of. But in just a few chapters in.
I'm currently going through Jim Butchers The Dresden Files. A multi-volume, Urban Fantasy (up to 15 now) series based in and around an alternate Chicago. In this Chicago, magic works and Harry Dresden is the only wizard listed in the Yellow Pages (under "Wizards"). The series is seriously funny, and the humor is dry, sarcastic, and very self-deprecating. Harry bumbles, jokes and insults his way through one (mis)-adventure to another. The Dresden Files does have an over-all series arc, but it doesn't become apparent until later in the series. Each book is self-contained, but the books build upon each other. There is quite a lot of character development. Harry grows not only as a wizard, but also as a person. His maturity is natural and never overtly forced. The secondary characters are nearly as well developed as Harry with several bordering on main status. Some writers are really good at characterization (Heinlein, Eddings), some are good at world building (Tolkien, Bradley). Butcher excels at both, which is fairly uncommon. His characters are alive and deep. The world he created is detailed, internally consistent and a lot of fun. And unlike most long series, Butchers books don't decrease in quality. At least as far as I have read (I'm on book 12 right now).
Finished Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain a couple of weeks ago. I figured since I like his teevee shows so much (except for A Cook's Tour--which isn't very good because he was too much of a teevee noob when he did it and the production values are way too dated--I should say out of date because they look like they should be from the mid-90s instead of the early 2000s ) I should check out the book that made him famous. It's okay. Some funny stuff. Some informative stuff. Much like the teevee shows, though, I like older, wiser Bourdain more than I like younger, cocky Bourdain. I bought a used copy on Amazon for...$0.01. The shipping was $3.99. While I'm waiting on David Lean: A Biography to arrive, I'm rereading It Takes More Than Good Looks to Succeed at Television News Reporting by a reporter who Paladin and O2C get to watch regularly (if they watch teevee news at all).
My favorite part of that book is at the end, sitting in a Japanese Starbucks, he realizes how small and unworldly he really is.
I'm assuming that's at least a partial catalyst for his first teevee series. Which is really hard to watch after watching his later shows. On-camera, he's sort of the same, just younger. The voiceover for A Cook's Tour is terrible, though. It sounds like he's reading a book report. Not animated at all.
I'm trying to read Under the Dome. It's hard. Last year I read a ton before my daughter was born. Now that seems impossible.
Chaos: The Making of a New Science by James Gleick This one is about CHAOS theory, which the layman typically knows of as the butterfly effect, shorthand for how most dynamical systems are very sensitive to initial conditions. Sounds boring, but it's all quite beautiful and profound. The book goes through the history of how it was developed. It's a little too anecdotal (I don't really care about the personalities of the people who developed this stuff) and I would have appreciated some more detail instead, and it's also a bit dated having been written in the 1990s. But overall an enjoyable eye-opener.
