Author: HCNewton Page 565 of 629

Saturday Miscellany – 3/7/15

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On March 7, 2015

In Books, News/Misc.

Yee-ha! 3 posts this week. Not my goal, but not shabby.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to hannah19smith for following the blog this week.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

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On March 6, 2015

In Fantasy, Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

by Catherynne M. Valente

Hardcover, 247 pg.
Feiwel & Friends, 2011
Read: February 19 – 20, 2015

But what September chiefly noticed were their hats.
Any child knows what a witch looks like. The warts are important, yes, the hooked nose, the cruel smile. But it’s the hat that cinches it: pointy and black with a wide rim. Plenty of people have warts and hooked noses and cruel smiles but are not witches at all. Hats change everything. September knew this with all her being, deep in the place where she knew her own name . . . For one day, her father had put on a hat with golden things on it and suddenly he hadn’t been her father anymore, he had been a soldier, and he had left. Hats have power. Hats can change you into someone else.

There’s much more to be said about the true nature of seasons, sentient keys, the immorality of novelists, the thoughtfulness of smoking jackets, the desires and drives of shoes….But I’m getting ahead of myself.

So last week, I found myself on the end of a batch of pretty heavy books, and needed something light and breezy — hopefully cheery, too. So I grabbed this off my daughter’s shelf (had been meaning to get around to it since I bought it for her 3 years ago). It didn’t at all fit the bill for what I wanted, but thankfully was an enjoyable read about a girl named September and the improbable trip she takes to (and around) Fairyland.

Those were all big words, to be sure, but as it has been said, September read often, and like it best when words did not pretend to be simple, but put on their full armor and rode out with colors flying

Who couldn’t love a hero like that?

While her father is off fighting in Europe during WWII, and her mother is spending her days with Rosie the Riveter (and doing her best to take care of her daughter, it should be stressed — she hasn’t been abandoned), September is convinced to join someone calling himself The Green Wind to go for a ride on his flying leopard to visit Fairyland.

Once there, she meets all sorts of incredible people, creatures, animals . . . and other things that I can’t really describe. She befriends a Wyvern and sets off on adventures — eventually being drafted by the unpopular, practical and efficient Marquess (who replaced, the wonderful and beloved Queen) into retrieving a magic object for her. This quest sends her (literally) all around Fairyland in an effort to obtain this object and save her friends.

The sensibility here is something like taking The Phantom Tollbooth, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles and throwing them into a blender with Neil Gaiman’s children books. Almost. To me, and I get the sense that I’m in a distinct minority here, this comes across more as a technical exercise — “how many strange and quirky things can I work into a narrative?” Despite the setting, target audience and obvious authorial skill it feels joyless, there’s no sense of play. Unlike the other works I’ve compared it to, there’s almost no fun here.

Yes, it’s a children’s book. But it’s not just for kids — in fact, there’s a lot here that very few children will pick up on (I’m willing to bet that I missed a trick or two). Not as amusing as I hoped for/expected, still, a good read for children or adults who aren’t afraid to read a book marketed for children.

—–

3 Stars

Pin Action: Small-Time Gangsters, High-Stakes Gambling, and the Teenage Hustler Who Became a Bowling Champion by Gianmarc Manzione

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On March 5, 2015

In Uncategorized

Pin ActionPin Action: Small-Time Gangsters, High-Stakes Gambling, and the Teenage Hustler Who Became a Bowling Champion

by Gianmarc Manzione

Hardcover, 336 pg.
Pegasus Books, 2014
Read: March 4 – 5, 2015
This is just not that good.

It started off promising, there’s a confidence to the writing, it’s a world I know nothing about — so I could learn a lot, it starts with a whole bunch of colorful characters, and Manzione’s passion for the subject is evident and real. But it didn’t take long for me to see that the confidence isn’t necessarily deserved, the cast wasn’t being used well, and I wasn’t going to learn all that much (at least not right away, it turned out), and while he cared a lot — I just didn’t. Eventually, around the half-way point, the book found its way and became tolerable — but, by then it was too late — Manzione had already lost me.

The first few chapters are a hodgepodge of stories about the “Action Bowling” scene in and around NYC in the 1960s. They center around wunderkind Ernie Schlegel, but Manzione spreads the wealth — telling stories about several bowlers of similar aptitudes at the time. But really, these chapters aren’t a stories of bowling, they’re stories about small-time gangsters (see the subtitle) — think of some of the small anecdotes in Wiseguy, told without Pileggi’s style. The bowling’s just an excuse for criminal and/or stupid behavior.

The last half of the book is all about Schlegel’s professional career — from the rocky start, to accomplished (but not championship heyday), to the last bits of glory. This is the best part of the book, no doubt about it. But Manzione has difficulty maintaining the story line, keeping the narrative tension going, and basically becomes rabid fanboy (I’ve got no beef with rabid fanboys, readers of this blog know I can go that way myself — but it didn’t fit here)

The greatest weakness of this book has to be the writing. Manzione has a tendency to “nest” stories in other stories that in other stories worse than Inception. It’d be pretty easy to lose track of the ball when he’s doing this. He frequently seems to operate on the philosophy: never use one sentence when you could use three instead. Throughout there’s an overuse/over-reliance on superlatives. And lastly, I’m not sure how many Ali/Frazier metaphors one book can take (but it’s less than this one tries)

One unexpected pleasure for me was that as a long-time listener to The Nerdist podcast, it was fun reading so much about Billy Hardwick.

Just can’t recommend this one, it wasn’t horrible, but I’m sure there are better books about professional (or gambling-enhanced amateur) bowling out there for anyone who’s looking for that.

—–

2 Stars

Stone Quarry by S. J. Rozan

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On March 4, 2015

In Fiction, Lydia Chin & Bill Smith, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, S. J. Rozan

Stone QuarryStone Quarry

by S. J. Rozan
Series: Lydia Chin & Bill Smith, #6

Hardcover, 276 pg.
Minotaur Books, 1999
Read: March 3, 2015I feel a little awkward about this one, because I haven’t found (read: made) the time to review the previous book in the series, but I just finished this one and didn’t want to put it off, in case I forgot the experience. So far, the Bill Smith novels in this series haven’t thrilled me — they’re interesting, they deliver what they promise, it’s fun to see these two from a different perspective, etc. But I just don’t like them as much as the Lydia Chin novels.

Until now. (you saw that coming, didn’t you?)

And honestly, reading the book jacket copy saying that Rozan had won two pretty prestigious awards, both for Bill Smith books befuddled and annoyed me. But I think I’m over that now.

Like the other Bill novels, Rozan tends to get a bit more writer-y, more noir-ish, a bit more moody than the Lydia novels which tend to be more plot and character-driven.

We’re not in New York City this time — Bill’s been hired to work for someone upstate near the fishing cabin he retreats to from time to time. So we’re plunged into a new world — a world Bill is familiar with, but a stranger to. The case he’s investigating is quickly overshadowed by other events that concern people Bill’s semi-close to, and it’s not long before the bodies start to pile up, the secrets and lies start to get exposed, and Bill is repeatedly assaulted. Small town politics, police corruption, corporate — and garden variety — criminals are everywhere, and a few (relatively) innocent people are caught up in it all.

There’s been some progress/advancement/development/insert your own word in both the professional and personal relationships between Bill and Lydia, that’s obvious. But it’s all happening between the books — which is an interesting way to go about it, keeps the books focused on the mysteries and from changing into something else. Not that I’d necessarily mind what it changed into (and still may), but I appreciate the approach.

Something about Stone Quarry — and, no, I can’t tell you what, I wish I could — struck home with me — the ambiance, the characters, Bill’s reactions, the story, the strong sense of place (and the tie between the characters and the place) — in a way that nothing else in this series has. In reading breaks between the last few chapters, for some reason my mind when to the experience of reading Lehane’s A Drink before the War and Parker’s A Savage Place. Neither one of those books, or this one, have much in common at all — but they all left me feeling the same way. There’s a bit of melancholy, a sense of dissatisfaction (with the events — not the book), yet knowing that the author put you right where he/she wanted you the whole time and brought you to those feelings. Now, I don’t think this book is as good as those two (which is not a criticism, almost nothing can touch those two for me), but this was really satisfying.

—–

4 Stars

Saturday Miscellany – 2/28/15

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On February 28, 2015

In Books, News/Misc.

Bah. Another content-light week for me. Sorry! Really. But between work and … everything else, I just haven’t been able to do much writing. I did get three half-posts composed this week, but haven’t been able to seal the deal on any of them. It’s pretty frustrating — I know exactly what I want to say about these three books when I’m doing something else, but when I sit down to write? It’s like pulling teeth. Let’s hope for better next week. I did get to update my Reviews in Progress page, so you can get at least a hint about what I’m thinking.

Without further ado, some dds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

    This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:

  • Dorothy Parker Drank Here by Ellen Meister — I really enjoyed Meister’s previous story about Parker’s ghost, looking forward to this one.
  • Canary by Duane Swierczynski — this looks like a good, solid, probably hyperviolent adventure. I won’t hurry to get this, but it’s on the list.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Melisa R for following the blog this week.

Saturday Miscellany — 2/21/15

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On February 21, 2015

In Books, News/Misc.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

    This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:

  • Half the World by Joe Abercrombie — #2 in Abercrombie’s Shattered Sea series. Which reminds me, I need to get a hold of #1.
  • Department 19: Zero Hour by Will Hill — been ages since I’ve read a Department 19 book, looking forward to digging in — this is a fun series about a group of Vampire Hunters mixed with a special operations force.
  • Shoot This One by Javier Grillo-Marxuach — from The Middleman to LOST to Charmed to Helix, and did I mention The Middleman? by Javier Grillo-Marxuach is one of the more interesting TV writers around. This collection of essays looks very appetizing.


Gemini Cell by Myke Cole

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On February 20, 2015

In Authors, Fiction, Myke Cole, Urban Fantasy

Gemini CellGemini Cell

by Myke Cole

Nook, 384 pg.
Ace, 2015
Read: February 4 – 9, 2015He started off strong three novels back, but Myke Cole is one of those authors who gets discernibly better with each book (I assume that will stop at some point — not that I’m in a rush for it), and this one seems like a major step beyond Breach Zone. So when I say this is a well-written book, I mean really well-written. But man, I really didn’t enjoy this book. It’s not his fault, well, let me rephrase it: it’s not Cole’s abilities or voice this time. I don’t know what it is. I guess I just don’t like the story or the characters all that much, as skillfully as they’re delivered to us?

Early on in the Great Reawakening, years before (possibly many) the Supernatural Operations Corps is in full swing, the U. S. Government has begun to use magic resources for its own ends (and, presumably, other nations are doing the same). One of these resources is a magician who can take the recently killed and unite their body and mind (slash soul?) with the mind (slash soul? again) of a long-dead warrior to create a Firestorm-like entity to use as the ultimate special-forces operator. Because somehow, this union gives them super-strength and abilities, while not feeling any pain or bleeding. As they’re technically dead, they can use them for anything, and if things don’t go right on the mission — oh well, what’s one more corpse? It’s a little more complicated than that, but that’ll do for now.

So, we have Jim Schweitzer, loving husband, doting father, and SEAL. His professional artist wife, Sarah, doesn’t fit in with the other Navy wives, and is really tired of not knowing where he is, when he’ll be called upon for a mission, and so on — puts her foot down. Family or Team. Just as he’s about to choose, a hit squad of people who shouldn’t know who he was, somehow find out and invade their home, wounding Sarah and their son and killing Jim. Giving the magician a fresh subject. Jim turns out to be one of the best (if not the best) of this reanimated soldier project, partially because he holds on to his humanity and memories better than most.

Sarah and Jim’s team member Steven, grieve his death (unaware that he’s not totally dead) and support each other in this time — while trying to figure out just what happened to his body, which is mysteriously not available for burial.

There’s one character we spend far too much time with given what happens to him/her by the end of the novel. One character who might as well be twirling a mustache in a couple of scenes. Mostly, everyone is this mix of motives, morality and action which are probably intended to depict the gray-ish nature of us all, but frequently come across as the products of an indecisive narrator. Jim battling his new soul-mate for control is just the most obvious example of the good vs. bad in all of us.

Cole explores similar themes to his past work — how honorable people/soldiers can function in inherently less-than-honorable conditions and systems. Who, ultimately, do soldiers fight — and why they do so. Cole’s said that this is to be a not at all subtle metaphor for PTSD, and I can see that — I’m just not sure it’s a helpful one (yet).

While I said Cole’s at the top of his writerly game, this isn’t a perfect book. At least once, he repeated a metaphor within a couple of pages (I don’t normally get that picky, but that one really took me out of the moment). And his sex scenes? Not good. They’re not Tom Wolfe bad, don’t get me wrong. But they read like . . . exactly like a sex scene written by a guy who’s better suited for describing Special Operations forces eliminating high-value enemy targets.

My major beef with this book is the magic. We’re four novels into this world by now, and the previous three have established some pretty clear rules for magic — at least the types of magic usually displayed in the U.S. But it’s clear that there might be variations throughout the world. So, it’s believable that we’d find another type of magic here. Also, this takes place quite a while before the Shadow Ops series, so changes may have occurred between now and then — if magic can appear and reappear, it can evolve, right? But it still feels too different (realizing I might have misunderstood this book, or the three others) — particularly the different (deeper?) magic that comes into prominence in the final chapters. I’m not saying there’s not a decent explanation for this, there very well may be — but given what we know about the universe this just doesn’t work. Which shouldn’t take away from the really strong and effective way that Cole used this bending/breaking of his own rules, because the last couple of chapters were great.

See what I mean? I can’t decide what I think about Gemini Cell — and I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of weeks, started writing this three days ago (you probably can’t tell that a lot of effort was put into this, but trust me). At this point, the only thing I’m sure of is that I’ll be back for the sequel, Javelin Rain, and hopefully that’ll wash all this away.

—–

Rating: I’m still not sure — somewhere between 2.5 – 4.5, I think.

Robert Crais’ The Promise Delayed Again?

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On February 18, 2015

In Elvis Cole/Joe Pike, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc., Robert Crais

Since I talked about the last one, I figured I’d better talk about this one, too. According to an e-mail I received yesterday, and an update to the Robert Crais Facebook page, we’re looking at another delay for The Promise by Robert Crais: November 10. Which makes it almost exactly 1 year late.

I don’t know if it’s a publication thing, Crais putting some more finishing touches on it, or what — it’s just aggravating. Nevertheless, I’ll wait. I can be patient to let Crais and his publisher put out the book they want to, make sure it’s right, however hard that’s getting to be.

Still . . .

Plus One by Christopher Noxon

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On February 17, 2015

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

Plus OnePlus One

by Christopher Noxon

Hardcover, 303 pg.
Prospect Park Books, 2014
Read: February 10 – 11, 2015
From The Next Best Thing to Landline to Funny Girl to this, I think I might have reached my limit about fictional TV writers. Sadly, this was the wrong one to go out on.

You could, I think, make the case that most of this book reads like the prequel to Landline from the husband’s perspective — and in many ways you’d be right, but still, you shouldn’t do that.* This is the story of Alex Sherman-Zicklin, the husband (and Plus One) of Figgie. Figgie had been wife, mother and struggling TV writer, who is now an Emmy-award show runner of a multi-Emmy-winning cable comedy. Which means all of the sudden, she’s the bread winner (winning far more bread than he ever did), so he quits the job he’s not happy about to be a “domestic first responder.”

He quickly becomes bored, gets a creepy-friend (also a Plus One), falls in lust with a butcher/food blogger, ignores his kids, and does several other deceptive, marriage-damaging things covering the range from pathetic to devious to potentially criminal. Which coincided with Figgy taking up with trust-destroying antics of her own. If this selfish loser had just talked to his wife about what was going on, almost everything that happened could’ve been avoided. Not that self-involved Figgy was much better, really — I don’t see what either of them saw in the other.

Alex, his Plus One pal (whose name I’ve already forgotten), and (to an extent) the butcher are characters — everyone else is pretty much a plot device or place holder. Even Figgy is more of a presence, maybe an obstacle, than a character.

Somewhere in there I was supposed to laugh, I’m sure, but I didn’t manage more than an almost-grin.

The last chapter, maybe two, saved this one for me and turned it from a book I really didn’t like to a book I don’t mind too much. It’s still not a book I’d recommend, just one I have no antipathy for.

—–

* That’s two books in as many months that I’ve compared to Landline — just when did this become the standard by which I judge all fiction?

—–

2 Stars

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson

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On February 16, 2015

In Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

FirefightFirefight

by Brandon Sanderson

Hardcover, 416 pg.
Delacorte Press, 2015
Series: The Reckoners, #2
Read: January 30 – February 2, 2015

…as she’d left, I’d glanced at her gun.
This time, when she’d pointed it at me, she’d flicked the safety on. If that wasn’t true love, I don’t know what was.

We’ve all been there, right?

In the months since David did the impossible by killing the Epic Steelheart, he and the rest of the Reckoners have continued their war against the Epics — successfully enough, that Newcago is beginning to rule itself (sure, with the puppet government that Steelheart allowed, but it’s starting to come into its own). The last few of these have been sent by the Epic that runs Babilar (Babylon Restored = Manhattan), Regalia. So, David, the Prof, and Tia leave the rest of the Newcago crew to keep order, and head to Babilar to see what they can do about Regalia.

Meanwhile, David’s trying to convince the Reckoners that Megan wasn’t a traitor and murderer, and while an Epic, she deserves a second chance. And not just because he’s gaga for her.

It’s possible that the city of Babilar is the happiest city in contemporary YA dystopias. It’s definitely one of the most upbeat depictions of Manhattan that I’ve ever read/seen. Which is saying something, considering that it’s pretty much flooded (and ruled by an Epic who can control water). But thanks to a religion/philosophy/frame of mind (depending who you ask) — possibly Epic-induced, possibly spontaneous — the people of Babilar are a lot more positive, have a certain joie de vivre, and are a lot less interested in the work of the Reckoners than anyone else we’ve heard of in this world (and poor Dave is rather befuddled by this). I don’t want to get too descriptive of it — Sanderson will do better than I ever could, anyway — so let me leave it with this: I’m not crazy about the water, and I might be persuaded to move to Babilar.

One thing I’d forgotten from Steelheart was Dave’s general goofiness and voice. I did remember how bad his metaphors were (particularly, as it was pointed out to him that they aren’t even metaphors at all), but I didn’t remember how fun Dave was as a character when he wasn’t being more driven and vengeful than a teen-aged Bruce Wayne. Maybe Sanderson didn’t stress it as much last time out, or given Steelheart’s death, he’s lightened up. My guess it was a failure of my memory — but I really enjoyed Dave’s voice here (think Peter Parker à la Bendis), and would’ve kept with the book just for it , even if I stopped caring about the rest of the story (little chance of that happening, I should say).

But even with Dave’s snappy narration and Babilar’s vibe, there’s a lot of suspense in Firefight. A lot of deception, treachery, and danger everywhere. In the brightest of moments lurks a real possibility of the world becoming a darker place than it has been since Calamity and the advent of the Epics. Sanderson attempted a real balancing act here, and pretty much pulled it off. Up to, and including a great cliffhanger that makes the wait for the final volume of this series all the worse.

The only other note I can think to say here is that Sanderson has the most creative use of Fortune cookies in fiction here. Inspired. Read it for yourself.

Fun, fast-paced, exciting tale of super-powered dictators and the people resisting them — give Firefight a read if you’ve already enjoyed Steelheart. But go back and grab Steelheart first if you haven’t.

—–

4 Stars

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