Book reviews for the month of April 2011

Doing a bit of house cleaning and I thought I'd take a first pass at catching up on some book reviews. Not comprehensive since I don't seem to be able to remember half the stuff I read. But in any event, welcome to my memory palace. It's a bit threadbare and unkempt but the bookcase has a fine collection of ideas both old and new.

Let's start with fiction...

"Cryoburn" by Lois McMaster Bujold is like going home. I wish she'd write more Miles adventures, they remind me of my mom (who was an avid reader of Ms. Bujold's) and the family of readers she fostered who all clamor to this day to read the next one. If you haven't read any of her work just go buy any of them. This one is classic and caps the series to some extent. I won't review it any more than just say, buy it.

"The Passage" by Justin Cronin was a post-apocalyptic exploration of government research and vampires gone wrong and the thousand years it took to restore humanity. Worth reading if you're into that sort of thing.

"The Kingdom of Ohio" by Mathew Flaming is an alternate history of New York's and the country's gilded age. it's a fun novel about time jumping maidens and battling inventors and of course love.

"The Oracle of Stambul" by Michael David Lukas explored the town of Sophia and the city of Istanbul and what it would be like to be an oracle in the time of emperors. A nice alternate history lesson that fits well with the Kingdom of Ohio in some ways.

"Solo" by Rana Dasgupta was also partially set in Sophia and follows an old man's recollections of his life and memories and dreams. Poetic and sad and meditative and experimental. Rumination on different forms of government and what they meant to someone caught up in the moment and forced to live through it all. I will buy the next book by this author, I think he will be one to watch.

"Deep State" by Walter Jon Williams is spooky. I reviewed his previous book, "This is Not a Game" and this one takes up where that one left off. It would be curious to find out when he actually wrote this book because it basically outlines one way that the revolutions in the Middle East may have started in vivid detail. Not deep but prescient.

"Devil May Care" by Sebastian Faulks was not even cotton candy. Predictable and a bit of a chore. Read something from the "Atrocity Archives" instead if you need a Bond fix.

Like, "The Fuller Memorandum" by Charles Stross. Although always a favorite writer and if you haven't read any of his books this is as good as any to start, he seems to have worked out all his "IT guy who helps stave off cross-dimensional nazi-demons while looking for a good wi-fi signal" demons and hopefully is moving on to another universe.

While I'm on the subject of things that go bump in the night I might as well review "Kraken" by China Mieville. A classic tale of the secret underlying structure of London and the Universe at large as seen through the eyes of a giant squid god. He's got a new book coming soon so catch up!

"Surface Details" by Ian M. Banks is another walk down memory lane. I've been a longtime fan of Mr. Banks and his "Culture" universe. It follows the resurrected life of a sex slave killed before her time as she seeks revenge and the question of whether virtual hells should exist or not. If you need to get up to speed on the culture, read "Consider Phlebas."

Non-Fiction?

"Reality is Broken" but luckily Jane McGonigal has some ideas about how to fix it. I encourage you to read this book. It feels important to me though you'll have to work through a bit of repetitiveness in places. It resonates well with my belief that gaming is an emergent and pervasive property of the trillion node network (aka the age of ubiquitous computing).

Insights from the book?

At their most basic ALL games have a few key characteristics:
1. Goals (because we like to reach them)
2. Rules (think of these as Unnecessary Obstacles). Golf wouldn’t be so fun if the goal of getting a little white ball into a little hole was as simple as walking over and dropping it in the hole.
4. Feedback Loops, so you know if you’re reaching your goals (which is the obvious connection to a world where everything is connected, at least if it’s connected in the right way)
5. Voluntary Participation (because otherwise it feels like work… or survival)

"The Information" by James Gleick kills me. It is a fun, sometimes brain-bending if you're not mathematically inclined, but always engaging tour through the history and idea of information itself.

"Moonwalking with Einstein" by Joshua Foer is a nice counterpoint to "The Information" in that it explores in a light-weight-hearted and playful way the history of memory and how humans handle information. My favorite line is where he notes that inventory and invention have the same root. His point is that it would be hard to invent if you didn't have raw materials in your inventory to recombine in new ways. Other great stat? He recounts a study where participants were asked to view 2500 images (pile of five dollar bills, red boxcar, etc.) and then had them later choose between those images and ones that were almost the same (pile of one dollar bills versus five dollar bills, blue boxcar versus red boxcar, etc.) and the participants were able to successfully pick out the ones they had seen before 90% of the time. Funes lives.

A few more books...

"Anathem" by Neal Stephenson is ok if you like math-geek monks living out the rises and falls of civilization "long-now"-wise with the chance that those mathics have maybe learned new technologies that involve the many worlds interpretation of the universe, and then top it off with the intrusion of visitors from one of the other world-strands who are probably not visitors but invaders. I can't quite tell what he was thinking in writing this book. After the wonderful dive into historic fiction of his last few I wanted more of the same. Still fun to read if you like that sorta stuff.

"The Little Book" by Seldon Edwards is a time travel love story set at the turn of the last century in Vienna. It is the first (and probably only book) by the author (he spent his life writing it). It reads like it took someone maybe a bit too long to write it (overwrought?) That being said it was a fun exploration of time travel (of course with a young Hitler), Freud, and a time and place many of us don't know much about. I enjoyed it.

"The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga just won the Man Booker Prize (I thought Salman's book should have won it by the way because even though it wasn't his best it was richer than this one). All that being parenthetically said, I enjoyed the read. It is another first time writer (though an accomplished reporter). It is a mildly comic "murderer coming of age in a pretty screwed up have and have not world" sort of story (oh yes another one of those). Very compact exploration of Indian Society and the mind of an antihero.

"Slam" by Nick Hornby is yet another coming of age tale (About a Boy and High Fidelity where coming of age stories in different vein). Set in working class London with a teen who idolizes Tony Hawk (and maybe talks to him). The main character gets slammed pretty hard by life, maybe travels occasionally through time (hmm is time travel the new black?), and ultimately makes it through to the other side, older than his years. Small, good, and quick read.

Other things...
Films?
"Sunshine" by Danny Boyle (of Trainspotting & Millions & 28 Days Later fame) is a bit bloody but blindingly buildingly brilliant exploration of science fiction themes (like the sun is going out, we're all trapped on an ark and there is a murderer loose, space travel is long stretches of boredom complimented by moments of terror, and ecologies are fragile things). Anything Danny makes I will watch and this is no exception. He has a new one out called "Slumdog Millionaires" that promises to be good as well.

"Synecdoche, NY" is confusing, difficult, looping, lingering, halting, sprawling, small, dark, and somehow ultimately worth seeing again (I think people will love or hate it or a little of both and if you love it you'll end up wanting to see it again 24 hours after seeing it for the first time).

Music?
Department of Eagles and Beirut. Good.

Books 'n' Stuff December 07

I'm about at the point where I need a really good book to read. I don't seem to be able get through Al Gores newish one or Steven Pinker's either (though I'll keep working on them over grape nuts and the morning sun). So I'm just going to capture some of the things I have managed to read/see/etc in the last few weeks.

"Born Standing Up" by Steve Martin is a memoir about growing up as a magician, banjo-player, comic. He's a good writer and this is a solid bit of flashback that captures the hard lessons of fame and practice and inventiveness and humor. He was an overnight success that of course took years of people thinking he was just weird before the actual night came. Nicely done, short, sweet.

"I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson has been re-released with the release of a new movie remake ("The Omega Man" was an example of a sorta previous retelling of the story). It was released along with a collection of his other stories, all written mid-century. It's a good capsule reminder of the mores of the time as well as a perfect, tight little gem of a story that turns the vampire myth on its head. Worth reading if you like horror or classic pulp fiction.

"Samedi the Deafness" by Jesse Ball is trying so hard to be good but it falls down in many ways. I had to start 3 times before I could care enough to get through his format. In the end it was an OK bit of fiction. An evil genius is plotting to commit some horrendous act on the country and our protagonist stumbles upon (or is meant to stumble upon?) the machinations. Some have said the book was like Lewis Carroll meets Kafka. Meh. It is a first novel so I'll suspend judgment.

I saved the best for last...
"No Ordinary Time" by Doris Kearns Goodwin (she wrote "Team of Rivals" which was easily the best book I've read in a long while) is a perfect glimpse into life in America in the late 30's and 40's during the run up to and culmination of the war and in particular how the Roosevelts (Eleanor, Franklin, and their extended clan) managed to guide the country out of the depression and into its adolescence. It came out a few years ago but I was hungry for something more by this author so I searched it out. It is perfect. Franklin was masterful and his wife was clearly the wife of the country. I didn't know much about Eleanor (or Franklin) beyond the broad strokes of their story. As with "Team" Doris does a deep dive into actual letters, notes, newspaper articles, and interviews with family members to give the reader a deep sense of the time and the minds behind the people. It is a testament to another incredible pair of people who helped America come of age. Read it.

Not books...
"No Country for Old Men" by the brothers Coen was really a compact little movie about the senselessness of evil and the ultimate randomness of life.

"The Fountain" was a movie not many people saw (now on DVD) that integrated the story of genesis, the story of Spain's search for the fountain of youth (and plundering of the Americas), and the MAYAn history of the beginning of the universe, in the form of a love story (possibly) across time. Wonderfully brooding soundtrack (Kronos Quartet), perfect special effects that seem effortless (and apparently were mostly microphotographic films of liquids and bacteria), nicely drawn story. By the director that brought us the painful and powerful "Requiem for a Dream."

"I'm Not There" is a movie about Bob Dylan in the form of a collection of stories about fictional characters that shared many of Bob's life experiences. The film is more collage than straightforward biopic. I enjoyed it, although it may be seen as flawed in any number of ways, mostly because it stretched the boundaries of storytelling in new ways. Great soundtrack, Antony and the Johnsons brings a seriously heavy rotationwise cover of "Knocking on Heaven's Door" to the mix and Jim James and Colexico shake it up with "Going to Acapulco."

"The Knee Plays" was a tight little series of abstract plays performed in the eighties back when we lived in Chicago. It was a collaboration between Robert Wilson and David Byrne (with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band providing backup). I bought the cassette tape that night and played it until it was in tatters. David just re-issued it as a CD, I've been waiting for years. Classic fun with words and music. My favorite song is called "In the Future" and is just a running list of conflicting predictions of the future (like "we will all have our own unique style" and "people with boring jobs will take pills to relieve the boredom").

Books 'n' stuff, November 07

I'm still in the middle of a bunch of books, and I haven't had a ton of time lately but finished off these few while traveling.

"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy was a let down. It was probably over-hyped by the notoriety that it got via Oprah and her club. Given that the new Coen brothers' movie is based a book of his I thought I'd give it a try. Basically a post-"end of the world" novel about a boy and his father walking on a road across what is left of America. I just didn't get anything out of the book. No brilliant insights into mankind, no clever twists on story, just slogging through the basics of survival. Find food, lose food, get beat up, beat someone up, flashback to life before the end, wake up in desolation, repeat fifty times, end.

"Gentlemen of the Road" by Michael Chabon is a treat. A short little adventure set back 300 or 400 years in the past on the roads of the middle east. He admits that he originally called this book "Jews with Swords" but got too many snickers from friends. If you like his feasts (like the recently reviewed book about yiddish policemen) you'll enjoy this slim morsel. He just writes so well and has such fun with his characters that its hard not to devour it in a single sitting.

"Fragile Things" by Neil Gaiman is a collection of short stories and poems of horror and fantasy. I think I like his long form work better Maybe resetting every few pages and reading the same kinda story (or at least the same theme) so many times from so many different angles is just too much to take. This might have been better if I checked out a story or two and then hid the book away for a month or two before reading another story. In any case I think this is the year of Neil Gaiman with his recently released "Stardust" which was quite well done to the upcoming Beowulf movie that he co-wrote. If you haven't read "Anansi Boys" or "American Gods" you're missing some fine fantasy (and bear in mind I don't like fantasy as a rule).

"The Book of Lost Things" by John Connolly is a good enough example of why I don't read fantasy. It wasn't bad but it wasn't in any way rewarding. Basically the tale of a boy growing towards manhood during World War II in England. He stumbles into a world of stories (mostly riffs on Brother's Grimm tales) and learns how to be a better person by the end.

"The State of the Art" by Ian Banks is a collection of short stories from a master. If you've never read any of his novels this would be a good place to start. Many of the stories are set in his future civilization called the "culture." Think English manners and sense of humor but with a few thousand years of evolution and stagnation. It makes for a curious projection into the future of society and how it may work. All good.

Not books...
"The Darjeeling Limited" by Wes Anderson is another typical Anderson film. If you like his films you'll really enjoy this one. The cinematography is perfect, the colors are amazing, the characters are just plain fun and the locations (throughout India) are breathtaking. Anderson always makes some location into a character, in this case its a train (in other movies it was a sub, a building, or a school campus). For a taste of the movie they released a prequel called "The Hotel Chevalier" for free on iTunes. Watch it and decide if you want to see the movie, note the colors and the framing of the scene, gold. By the way, great soundtrack too.

"Across the Universe" by Julie Taymor is a flawed film but a worthy experiment in retrospective history-telling and musical collage. Formula? Take a bunch of Beatles songs, weave them into a story about a boy named Jude and a girl named Lucy with plenty of sidebar characters (the best of course being the three played by Joe Cocker). Include someone crawling in through the bathroom window and a cameo with Bono in a slightly too long psychedelic sequence add some freaky costumes left over from one of your Broadway productions and beat the audience senseless with edits, repeat. If you like the Beatles and can stand a bit of amateur directing, its worth seeing... on DVD.

Books 'n' stuff, September 07

Something to do while the paint dries on my soul.

"Afterword" by Jeff Van de Meer is an eccentric, convoluted, multithreaded memoir of a sister trying to piece together a brother's life in the fungus underground. It's written in the form of an afterword that just won't end with asides, and backtracks and notes in the margin from the brother that she thinks is dead to his sister that he can't find. Its set in some alternate world where the citizens above aren't quite sure that the citizens below are real. Worth reading if you don't mind density and an expose from another place and time.

"Sunborn" by Gregory Benford is a fine read for those who like this killer B's style of hard science fiction. In this case the story is about life between star systems made of very tenuous plasma born of the sun and the earthlings who are trying to figure out what exactly is going on.

"Spook Country" by William Gibson feels like a stretch from someone who has worn out his welcome in cyberspace. It's not a bad story as far as stories go, fun to read, tightly paced, good characters. But. But he tries so hard to coin new words that feel dated the moment you read about them, that feel obvious the moment he says them. His big idea this time? GPS-based augmented localized overlay art. Just don't look for the next Neuromancer and you'll be fine.

"Brass Man" by Neil Asher is one of a series, "Grid Link" is another. I found both of them to be fast and furious reads with a dash of space opera and a touch of "I, Robot," and maybe a nod to Sam Spade. Neil is fairly new and worth watching.

"Thirteen" by Richard K. Morgan is a flashback of sorts to Cobra-like supermen ala Timothy Zahn. The premise is simple, mankind has created genetic variants that are throwbacks to a more aggressive time to help fight their wars. When the wars are over what do you do with these poor supermen? Throw in re-engineered humans that have bonobo traits for a little local color and a far flung exile colony on mars, mix it with a bit of post-american breakup commentary and season with CSI Miami and you've pretty much got the story. Appetizing treat.

Music?
Regina Spector (ok, gotta say oddly enough I'm loving the new JCPenney commercials one and all... yes, JCP)
Menomena
Peter Bjorn and John
TV on the Radio
Will.I.Am (ok, he's a bit silly but one or two of his songs channel Kansas or Styx or something)
Feist (remixes and collaborations)
Ben Harper

Books 'n' stuff July 07

Yes I decided to read some science fiction this month...

"Quantico" by Greg Bear is a little different from one of the killer Bs. This time he forgoes the more futuristic elements of his thinking for the very real threat of biological terrorism. He provides a chilling account of how basically high school students or berserkers of any ilk could effectively destroy civilization or fan the flames of religious fanaticism with a few mail order pieces of equipment, an ink jet printer and some patience. This is named "Quantico" after the FBI training grounds of the same name. He clearly researched the FBI and related agencies in depth and this book reveals some of the positive and negative aspects of governmental organizations. A good read. If you like it buy all of Greg's books they are well worth the time.

"The Rosetta Codex" by Richard Paul Russo was an engaging diversion. Basically the life story of the child of a major leading family who is marooned on the bad side of a planet and his susequent climb back to status while stumbling upon the mystery of dum dum dah ... the "rosetta codex." Basically it is a boy gets stranded, boy grows up, boy meets aliens kinda story. I've also read a few others by RPR and they are all well written space operas.

"Glasshouse" by Charles Stross is a dive back into the universe defined by one of my favorite CS books, Accelerando, or at least I think it is (the same universe). The book starts with a man who has just erased all that he knew, gets talked into joining an experiment to recreate a lost time in our society (the late 1900's and early 2000's), and ends up fighting a nasty virus. Charles is probably the most forward looking writer today in terms of taking this world of ours and carrying it to its logical extremes. He seems to have three modes of writing. 1 is far future (like this one), the 2nd is alternate world fantasy, and the 3rd is james bond meets the IT crowd by way of mathematically created demon portals. They are all recommended reading.

"Harm" by Brian W. Aldiss is a dark story about england becoming more aggressive with their treatment of anybody non-native born (like someone who hasn't come from 100 generations of bad food, bad teeth and silly walks). It splits between torture and a disconnected fantasy world lived out by the victim in his waking dreams. Somber stuff. Well written but not my cup of tea.

And on the not sci-fi front...

"Werewolves In Their Youth" by Michael Chabon. Having just finished his most recent novel I took a walk back into the past and read a collection of his early short stories. Not bad, a few gems. Kinda depressing in a "jeez this guy writes way too good but all his stories seem to involve a failed marriage and slightly rumpled characters" sorta way. I think I like his novels better, maybe it gives him more room to expand and get off the obvious stuff that his dreams are made of.