Saturday Miscellany – 7/25/15

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On July 25, 2015

In Books, News/Misc.

Been reading a book this week that I’m really not enjoying. Which has made it hard to write — it has helped me spend more time tweaking the coding and features, etc. of this site, though. Anything rather than read that book. You ever have weeks like that? Worst of it is, I think it’s probably a really good book. I just couldn’t stand it.

Anyway, in response to some reader suggestions and requests (okay, one suggestion and one request), I’ve made it easier to find books by rankings, now and I’ve made some real headway on better organizing reviews by author (at least the ones I talk about frequently) and I’m also going to include a little introduction to each.

So, here are the 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:

    Small list of New Releases this week. Phew! My TBR pile is huge after the last couple of the weeks, need a light one (and I’m not just talking that impossibly long list I keep on Goodreads and Amazon — I’m talking my literal pile, too). But what we have is going to be so, so good. Here’s This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:

  • The Redeemers by Ace Atkins — Quinn Colson returns and finds some sort of trouble — couldn’t tell you what, not going to bother reading the blurb, just going to jump in.
  • Who Let the Dog Out by David Rosenfelt — uh oh, trouble at Andy and Willie’s dog rescue operation?
  • Lessons from Tara: Life Advice from the World’s Most Brilliant Dog by David Rosenfelt — because why should Rosenfelt only publish one book this week? Some of what the real Tara taught Andy Carpenter’s creator.


Re Jane by Patricia Park

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On July 23, 2015

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

This is frustrating…I’ve been working on this post for a couple of weeks now, and have spent a lot of time re-writing, re-writing and throwing out material. I finally decided what to keep and how to organize it, I think. I’m tempted to just put this cover image next to a big .gif of a thumbs up and call it a day.

—-

Re JaneRe Jane

by Patricia Park
Hardcover, 338 pg.
Pamela Dorman Books, 2015

Read: July 6 – 8, 2015

There are two ways to look at this book — as a retelling of Jane Eyre and as a novel on its own terms. It’s clearly indebted to Jane Eyre — frequently, the allusions are subtle; sometimes, she might as well be jumping up and down waving a flag. Still, Park’s her own writer — this is its own story, with its own characters — and a heroine who’s not just Brontë’s best-known character thinly disguised.

If you haven’t read Jane Eyre, first of all — shame on you. Secondly, yes, you can read this and appreciate it — you’ll just miss some of Park’s cleverness. Instead, what you’ll get is a straight-forward story about the trials and travails (and travels) of a young Korean-American woman.

Jane Re’s a half-Korean college graduate who becomes a nanny for the daughter of a couple of silly (white) New Yorkers — she’s a stereotypical college professor in Women’s Studies, he’s a henpecked high-school English teacher. Their daughter was adopted from China, and is now old enough that she doesn’t need a nanny — which makes the whole thing a greater challenge. Still, it’s better than the alternative — returning to live with her uncle and aunt, who were forced to take her in after the death of her mother in Korea (and her family there being unwilling to keep her).

Then through a series of events you can read about yourself, she finds herself living for a bit in South Korea. This is as fascinating as you’d think it’d be. It’s not just about a young South Korean woman, it’s about a young half-South Korean woman, raised in the States (by people who left Korea decades before), trying to acclimate to Korea. A stranger in the U.S. to many because of culture and appearance, finds herself a greater stranger there for the same reasons.

Which leads to . . . spoiler stuff. Which is even more interesting. Along the way there’s a whole mess of family issues, stranger-in-a-strange-land issues, self-acceptance issues, romance issues, and other things I can’t pair with the word “issues.” Jane goes through a lot, I’ve got to say — maybe a wider-range of challenges than Eyre. I frequently found myself wanting a bit more spunk, a bit more chutzpah from Jane throughout. But, like her namesake, when she needed it, she found it within — and it was great to see.

Park makes a pivotal choice in her selection of chronological setting — and one that worried me. It’d have been so easy to go wrong with this, and I’m used to seeing it go badly — but Park pulls it off, and actually makes it work for her.

In the end, I liked Jane. I rooted for her. I liked (some of) her family and friends. I was invested in the story. It’s not going to go down as good as, or as important as, its inspiration — but it’s a well-written, warm, look at a woman learning how to take charge of her life.

—–

4 Stars

Kitty Saves the World by Carrie Vaughn

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On July 21, 2015

In Authors, Carrie Vaughn, Fiction, Kitty Norville

Kitty Saves the WorldKitty Saves the World

by Carrie Vaughn
Series: Kitty Norville, #14

ARC, 325 pg.
Tor Books, 2015
Read: July 14 – 15, 2015
4 1/2 Stars
Easy title to live up to, no?

About the same time that I posted my review of the previous book, Low Midnight, where I talked about “future Kitty novels,” Carrie Vaughn announced that this one would be the end. So much for my predictive ability. Now, at the end, I see that Low Midnight was well-placed in the series, and I have a better understanding of the role it played in setting up this book. Which is not to say that I wouldn’t have preferred a few more books in this series, but if Vaughn had to end it now, I’m glad she did it like this.

This couldn’t be less obvious a last novel. Kitty name checks and/or visits everybody we’ve met along the way, it’s like the last few minutes of “The End of Time” before The Doctor regenerates into Matt Smith. But Vaughn does it so smoothly, it’s only when you stop and think about who’s shown up that you even notice what she’s done.

I don’t really have much to say about this — it’s the 14th and final novel in a series. Don’t let this be the first one you read — do let this be the last. Start with one of the first few (if not the first, Kitty and the Midnight Hour).

This is different than the rest of the series, not just because it’s the end. There’s plenty of action to be found — not a lot of time for character development, growth, relationships, new characters (well, maybe a couple) — it’s all about Regina Luporum and her allies versus Dux Bellorum, anything else is a distraction (however pleasant a distraction). Which isn’t to say that the characters are unimportant — it’s Carrie Vaughn, characters are the core. But they’re very busy here, and don’t have a lot of time to chat, reflect, or anything like that — they have a world to save.

The final showdown with Roman didn’t go as expected, but better. The scenes following that were great, and the ending was everything a fan could hope for.

One criticism — and, now that I think about it, this applies to the series as a whole — Kitty tells us time after time that her pack is what’s important, it drives her restaurant/bar New Moon, it keeps her in Denver, it’s what motivates her, blah, blah, blah. But really, outside of the occasional chat while picking up an order with Shaun and references to the group hunting on the Full Moon, we don’t see them. The pack that Kitty cares about is the other one — Ben, Cormac, Amelia, Alette, Odysseus Grant, Tina, Rick, Matt, and the others that fill her life and align themselves with her against the Long Game. I’d be fine with it if Kitty were just a little bit more honest with herself/us about it.

I’m going to miss Kitty, Ben, Cormac and the rest, and the next year is going to feel a little strange not getting any new adventures from them. But this was a great way to say goodbye.

—–

4 1/2 Stars

Saturday Miscellany – 7/18/15

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On July 18, 2015

In Books, News/Misc.

This is one of those weeks where I’ve been working a lot here — and frustratingly enough, you can’t see it. I’ll try to finish a few things next week. Reading so many good things lately, I want to share them with you.

In the meantime, here are the 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:

  • Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee — maybe you’ve heard of it
  • Armada by Ernest Cline — Loved it — you should buy it (and read my take on it)
  • Scents and Sensibility by Spencer Quinn — Just finished this — so, so good. Chet and Bernie are at their best here.
  • Hostile Takeover by Shane Kuhn — I frankly didn’t see the need for a sequel to The Intern’s Handbook, but man I’m looking forward to it.
  • Last First Snow by Max Gladstone — The looks just as good and unconventional as the rest of this sequence.
  • Cold Iron by Stina Leicht — wasn’t that interested (not disinterested, mind you) until I read her Big Idea over at Whatever, and now it’s on my short list.
  • Alive by Scott Sigler — Book One of the Generations Trilogy. Looks interesting, I know at least one of my kids is going to be wanting this
  • Once Upon a Crime: by P. J. Brackston — Gretel (of Hans and…) is a P.I. Huh.
  • Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor — this First Contact tale looks a little…different.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Michelle Kim for following the blog this week, and to The Reader Who Lives a Thousand Lives for following the ugly BookLikes version.

Murder Boy by Bryon Quertermous

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On July 15, 2015

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Murder BoyMurder Boy

by Bryon Quertermous
Series: Dominick Price, #1

Kindle Edition, 256 pg.

Polis Books, 2015

Read: July 11 – 14, 2015File this one under “There’s no accounting for taste.” And by that, I mean mine. By all accounts, this is one that should’ve appealed to me. The premise promises something like The Wonder Boys meets Fargo and Koryta’s endorsement (among others) makes it seem like that promise is fulfilled.

But nope. Just didn’t do anything for me at all. Didn’t find it funny. Didn’t buy any of the characters. I wanted the protagonist/narrator to get smacked around and dumped in the trunk of the car for everything after chapter 4 (and I wouldn’t have been incredibly concerned with the state of his health while in the trunk). Really, nothing about it (apart from the premise) appealed to me.

Quertermous mingles in some thoughts (maybe insights?) about narrative — both what we read and what we construct for ourselves. There’s actually a lot of metanarrative fodder for thought sprinkled throughout. And if I liked this book — even a little — I think I’d have found it insightful and entertaining. But as things were, it just came across as pretentious and annoying.

I might — might — give this another shot when the sequel comes out. Or I just might try the sequel, to see if it was my mood, the kind of books I’m reading at the moment, or something else that shows my problem with the book was internal. But right now? Just humbug.

—–

1 Star

Dusted Off: Kitty’s Big Trouble by Carrie Vaughn

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On July 15, 2015

In Carrie Vaughn, Fiction, Kitty Norville

While starting the post for Kitty Saves the World, I noticed I’d reviewed only two other books in this series here. Unthinkable. It was one of the first UF series I ever tried and it’s one of my favorites to this day. Turns out, that somehow I’ve only written one other post on the series. I’m still having trouble coming to grips with that. So, I figured I’d better throw this up before I forgot.
—

Kitty's Big TroubleKitty’s Big Trouble

by Carrie Vaughn
Series: Kitty Norville, #9

Mass Market Paperback, 307 pg.

Tor Books, 2011

Read: July 3 – 4, 2011
It’s been far too long since we’ve had a new Kitty Norville adventure, and Carrie Vaughn didn’t disappoint with this one.

We begin with Kitty’s most recent hobby–trying to out historical figures as weres or vampires or whatever. Which is a lot of fun, and is a well Vaughn hopefully returns to.

But the main action focuses on the Long Game between various vampire factions that we’ve seen a few peaks into lately. Kitty’s ally Anastasia is racing against Roman for possession of a magical artifact that could turn the tide in this competition forever.

Honestly, I don’t think this was the strongest entry in the series plotwise–this seems more about setting the stage for bigger things down the road. But while setting the stage, we get to spend some good quality time with some great characters, learn more about Cormac’s situation, and meet a few new characters (a couple of which I hope to see again, soon).

Should add that it took me far too long to get the title, and when I finally did I wondered where my head had been for a couple hundred pages.

Can’t wait to see what trouble Kitty gets into next.

—–

4 Stars

Armada by Ernest Cline

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On July 14, 2015

In Fiction

ArmadaArmada

by Ernest Cline

Hardcover, 349 pg.
Crown Publishing, 2015
Read: July 10 – 11, 2015This was fun, loads of fun. Not as good as Ready Player One — not sure it could’ve been, so let’s just take that off the table. But, it taps into the same vein of pop culture, gaming, and a desire for something that’s missing — family, father, social acceptance, etc. You take these elements, add a sense of humor and an adventure-driven plot and you get a winning read.

Now, Zack Lightman isn’t Wade Watts — he has friends, he has a great Mom (good grandparents, too, it seems), and some sort of a future. Okay, his life is a lot better than Wade’s. But, it’s not perfect. Especially when he — and he alone –sees a space ship from a video game outside the window of his High School. He figures he’s losing his marbles. And, you have to admit, the evidence is pretty convincing.

Until the next day, when another spaceship from the game lands at school — and others see it. It’s from the Earth Defense Alliance, and they’ve come for Zack. Not just Zack — all over the globe, they’re recruiting the best players of a couple of games (one flight combat-based, one ground-war based) to join a global force to defend the planet from an immanent alien invasion.

On the one hand, this is a dream come true for a die-hard gamer, SF nut, and daydreamer — a chance for glory, a chance to save the world, a chance to…meet a hot programmer-slash-gamer. On the other hand, did I mention the immanent alien invasion and near-certain death of all humanity (including Zack)?

Cline doesn’t give us anything new here – he takes every movie/novel/game about battles in space, alien invasions, First Contact, and so on that he’s seen/read/played (and actually tells you in the narrative which are the major influences); mixes them up and gives us one, big, gooey SF mishmash. I could read that all day long. Actually, I did. And I’d gladly do it again.

Ready Player One had a very limited cast — but Cline doesn’t repeat that. Zack has a couple of friends in high school, an ex-girlfriend, an old enemy, a mom, a boss. And then there’s everyone in the EDA that he meets — some higher ranking officers, his teammates and a new love interest. There are common bonds between all of them, but they’re not all just variations on Zack (like RPO‘s Wade and co.). I liked every character — even the less noble ones. These folks had heart, they had style — each one of them made me smile in a different way.

It’s easy to write-off Cline’s stuff as a litany of pop culture references with a thin veneer of plot. But that’s a mistake. His strength is the soul he puts into these characters. It’s in the interpersonal relationships, emotions, stakes — that’s where he shines. Even when you know something’s going to happen, even when you can see it coming 10 miles away, Cline still nails it. The ability to get to the emotional core — what some might call the emotional truth — of a scene, of a connection between characters? That covers up for a lot of shortcomings.

The worst thing about this book? I’ve read every Cline novel in existence. So the wait begins for whatever’s next.

I won my copy of this from the nice folks over at Read It Forward, if you’re not checking into that site on a regular basis, you’re missing something.

—–

5 Stars

Pre-Release Thoughts on Go Set a Watchman

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On July 13, 2015

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc.

Go Set a WatchmanDoing my weekly grocery shopping today, I noticed that some eager-beaver stockperson had put out Go Set a Watchman already. Now, I don’t normally buy food and books at the same place — but, c’mon! A day early, a few bucks off, how could I not?

Well, pretty easily, it turns out. The sales system wouldn’t let me purchase the book. It kept saying, “Do Not Sell.” The clerk tried every trick she knew, the manager who was innocently passing by only to get roped into helping her did, too. I asked, “Is it maybe because the book is being released tomorrow?” Light bulbs went off over their heads — yeah, that was it. Probably. It was as good a guess as any.

So, I thanked them for their efforts and went away with just the food I was supposed to get.

Still, having it in my cart — in my hot little hands got me thinking for a minute. More than a minute, actually. I don’t remember the last time I thought that much about a book before I actually, you know, read it. This was the literary equivalent to being a ticket holder to The Phantom Menace pre-release showing (yup, I had one, and I missed the show — don’t ask, it’s a long, embarrassing story with the punchline of me buying two sets of tickets to that letdown). As formative as the book was for me (and many), there’s just as many ways this could go wrong as…well, The Phantom Menace. Except, this time we’re all braced for it not being that good.

Right? I mean, no one expects another To Kill a Mockingbird, do they? It’s mostly a question of how big a let down is this going to be. Are we going to end up wishing that Lee had been dead for a few decades before this saw the light of day, so she wouldn’t have to witness the backlash? Or is it just going to be mildly disappointing? A “close, but no cigar” kind of thing.

But with it there in my shopping cart, I started to wonder. . . Dare I hope? Is there a chance that it’s actually good? After all of us wishing for decades that she’d put out a body of work as good/almost as good as Mockingbird, but resigned to reality — are we now going to be lamenting anew her small literary output?

I know reviews are starting to come in — I’ve managed to avoid them all so far (but it’s getting harder). I never bother with preview chapters of anything — they’re never enough. So all of this may be moot — I don’t know, and probably won’t until sometime Wednesday at this rate. But, I gotta tell ya, I’m nervous — with just a hint of eager anticipation.

What about you? Are you going to read it? Are you going to jump on it, or take a wait and see approach? Do you expect a big disappointment?

Saturday Miscellany – 7/11/15

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On July 11, 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:

    A good crop of New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon — but next week’s list is gonna be a killer (literally, if I was able to get my hands on everything I want next Tues.):

  • Splintered by Jamie Schultz — the really strong second volume of the Arcane Underground series. I got wordy about it here.
  • The Fraud by Brad Parks — the 6th Carter Ross mystery looks to be a great read — Parks has become one of those authors I just grab automatically — don’t care what the book is about, I’m reading it if he wrote it.
  • Time Salvager by Wesley Chu — I have little patience for time travel stories (with a couple of notable exceptions), but Chu’s setup is one that really appeals to me. Will be diving into this one ASAP. Check out his Big Idea from Whatever.
  • Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine — love the premise. Am eager to see if the book can live up to it.
  • Letters to Zell by Camille Griep — this alternative take on fairy tales looks promising.
  • The Six by Mark Alpert — there looks to be a hard-SF bent to this YA SF about terminally ill teens piloting combat robots.
  • Bum Rap by Paul Levine — I was a huge fan of Levine’s Solomon vs. Lord series, but was never inclined to check out the Jake Lassiter books. This crossover between the two just might give me the excuse.
  • Master of Formalities by Scott Meyer — looks to be as inventive and fun as his Magic 2.0 series.


Reread Project: The Snapper by Roddy Doyle

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On July 10, 2015

In Authors, Blog Series, Fiction, Reread Project, Roddy Doyle

The SnapperThe Snapper

by Roddy Doyle
Series: The Barrytown Trilogy, #2

Paperback, 212 pg.

Penguin, 1992

Read: May 20 – 21, 2015Naturally, after one of the best rock band novels ever — one fully of music, laughs, and style — Doyle follows it up with a heartfelt story of a young woman who gets pregnant after a one-night stand. Who wouldn’t?

Now, Sharon (the young woman in question) is the sister of Jimmy Rabbitte — The Commitments’ manager. So there is a tie — and we saw a little of their father and the rest of the family last time. Still, this feels so different, it’s hard to conceive of them being part of a trilogy. Oh well — it works — so who cares?. Carried along by Doyle’s inimitable style, this story — which could easily have been maudlin, overly sentimental, or sappy; comes across as genuine and heartfelt instead.
Where The Commitments was full of laughs, raunch, and style; The Snapper is full of laughs, family and heart. It’s not just about one member of the family this time — it’s all of them. The focus is on Sharon and her father, Jimmy, Sr.

Sharon finds herself “up the pole,” much to her distress. She knows who the father is, a one-night stand (something far less meaningful, actually) she wishes had never happened. Unwilling to let anyone know the father’s real identity, she makes one up (which also relieves her of the need to let the real guy have anything to do with the kid). Initially, she’s in sort of a denial — she knows the baby will change everything. But that’s months away — right now, she and her friends can still hit the pub after she gets off working at the supermarket and pretend that everything’s just like it was a couple of weeks ago. Eventually, she starts to make the changes necessary, but only when she has to. There’s personal growth here for Sharon, when she has no choice. But honestly — other than questionable taste in men, and an utter lack of awareness about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome — she seems like she’s got her head screwed on right already.

Jimmy, Sr. seems like the kind of guy you’d like to hang out in a pub with occasionally — I think he (and his friends) would get old quickly if you hung out with them all the time. Generous, funny, and gregarious. Maybe not the most responsible guy around — but he’s making ends meet (mostly), and doing (almost) his best for his kids. Eventually, he seems to get his act together for Sharon — or at least he tries. Which just makes you like him more — even as (because?) he just doesn’t make it some times.

While these two are on the forefront of Doyle’s attention, we do get some time with Sharon’s siblings (even Jimmy, Jr. — a little bit — who’s still trying to make it in the music business) and long-suffering mother. We watch the family stumble along through financial woes, various school clubs, a bicycle club or two, and being the subject of neighborhood gossip. These all might not be as well-rounded as Sharon and her father are, but they’re close enough that you think you know them.

Back in college, I read The Commitments a lot — but I think I read The Snapper more. It’s not as fun as its predecessor, but it’s a better novel — populated with actual people, actual growth, and something that looks a lot like actual life for many people. The Rabbites could be your neighbors, and you’d be happy to have them, which makes getting to spend time with them between the covers of a book just that pleasant.

—–

4 1/2 Stars

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