Mai Jia
Rong is a young boy with autism and a proclivity for math. His mentor pushes him to challenge himself in problem solving and patterns and the regularity of the problems becomes a comfortable/safe place to retreat. When he is recruited into a special military unit charged with codes and code breaking, Rong is finally at home. But when he finds himself entering into an addictive battle to break some unbreakable codes and simultaneously maintain his humanity, finding balance is not easy. It seems Jia's aim is to open a new window into a life as an autistic man. Unfortunately, the actual novel is not as engaging as this treatment sounds like it could be. I have not read enough translated works to be familiar with the feel of a translation, but my "feel" on this one is that something is lost in the translation.
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Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Geek Love
Katherine Dunn
A family of carnival sideshow freaks is the center of this novel. The father is apparently an amateur experimental geneticist who used radiation, chemicals and any other mutagen he could think of on each of his children when they were in utero to create the next big sideshow sensation. I am not sure if the voyeuristic nature of looking in on the family was supposed to be appealing or if trying to see the humanity in the "freaks" was the point. I was not particularly interested in the former and the later was not compelling storytelling.
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A family of carnival sideshow freaks is the center of this novel. The father is apparently an amateur experimental geneticist who used radiation, chemicals and any other mutagen he could think of on each of his children when they were in utero to create the next big sideshow sensation. I am not sure if the voyeuristic nature of looking in on the family was supposed to be appealing or if trying to see the humanity in the "freaks" was the point. I was not particularly interested in the former and the later was not compelling storytelling.
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Saturday, January 10, 2015
The Cowboy and the Cossack
Claire Huffaker
Originally published in 1973, this is a classic western novel set in eastern Russia. The story follows a band of Montana cowboys hired to drive a herd of cattle into the interior of Siberia. They discover from the beginning that in addition to all the traditional hardship associated with driving a few hundred head of longhorns, they also need to navigate the political situation in a new place, from the bribes needed to initially dock their boat to the nuances associated with each local bureaucracy. The bulk of the story follows this band of American Cowboys and their relationship with their Cossack (i.e. Russian cowboys) escort. This could easily have devolved into cross cultural hi-jinks, but instead Huffaker takes an approach which is able to authentically explore cross cultural differences and similarities between these two groups. Within the rugged, individualistic, zero-emotion world of cowboys we are exposed to a surprisingly vulnerable and introspective look at friendship, loyalty and duty. And like any well written western, the action and suspense lasts right up to the last few pages.
Read
Originally published in 1973, this is a classic western novel set in eastern Russia. The story follows a band of Montana cowboys hired to drive a herd of cattle into the interior of Siberia. They discover from the beginning that in addition to all the traditional hardship associated with driving a few hundred head of longhorns, they also need to navigate the political situation in a new place, from the bribes needed to initially dock their boat to the nuances associated with each local bureaucracy. The bulk of the story follows this band of American Cowboys and their relationship with their Cossack (i.e. Russian cowboys) escort. This could easily have devolved into cross cultural hi-jinks, but instead Huffaker takes an approach which is able to authentically explore cross cultural differences and similarities between these two groups. Within the rugged, individualistic, zero-emotion world of cowboys we are exposed to a surprisingly vulnerable and introspective look at friendship, loyalty and duty. And like any well written western, the action and suspense lasts right up to the last few pages.
Read
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Code Name Verity
Elizabeth Wein
This is the first book I have read by Wein. This is part of her "Young Pilots" series, and from what I can tell, she is developing a series of books that normalize heroic women in roles that we normally only see for men. In this case, young women in Great Britain during WWII becoming pilots and spies. This story is told in two parts, the first about Verity (the spy) and the second about Kittyhawk (the pilot). About half of each is told in flashback to develop the characters and introduce their relationship. This is not a cartoonish, hero story. Instead, it is a plausible historical fiction about life in WWII England and Nazi occupied France. I suppose it is more on par with the historical portions of Blackout by Connie Willis and The Imitation Game than it is with most of the young adult feminist empowerment reading that I have seen lately. Maybe the realism is what made me appreciate it even more.
Read
This is the first book I have read by Wein. This is part of her "Young Pilots" series, and from what I can tell, she is developing a series of books that normalize heroic women in roles that we normally only see for men. In this case, young women in Great Britain during WWII becoming pilots and spies. This story is told in two parts, the first about Verity (the spy) and the second about Kittyhawk (the pilot). About half of each is told in flashback to develop the characters and introduce their relationship. This is not a cartoonish, hero story. Instead, it is a plausible historical fiction about life in WWII England and Nazi occupied France. I suppose it is more on par with the historical portions of Blackout by Connie Willis and The Imitation Game than it is with most of the young adult feminist empowerment reading that I have seen lately. Maybe the realism is what made me appreciate it even more.
Read
The End of Your Life Book Club
Will Schwalbe
People who love books will love this book. This is a memoir written by Schwalbe about the two years between when his mother was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer and when she passed. During those two years, the two of them engaged in a personal book club with just the two of them. The memoir is both a fascinating introspection about the end of life and familial relationships and a great survey of the books these two encountered. It is not a series of book reports, but the themes that arise in their discussions of the books are the same themes the arise in their lives, giving insights to each reader that are often unexpected and necessary voices to be heard. Books are held in reverence in their own right, and this is well communicated throughout. Loved this.
Read - Read - Read
People who love books will love this book. This is a memoir written by Schwalbe about the two years between when his mother was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer and when she passed. During those two years, the two of them engaged in a personal book club with just the two of them. The memoir is both a fascinating introspection about the end of life and familial relationships and a great survey of the books these two encountered. It is not a series of book reports, but the themes that arise in their discussions of the books are the same themes the arise in their lives, giving insights to each reader that are often unexpected and necessary voices to be heard. Books are held in reverence in their own right, and this is well communicated throughout. Loved this.
Read - Read - Read
Friday, December 5, 2014
Against the Night
Kat Martin
I think the library is putting titles onto my wishlist. Either that, or my memory is bad. Well, we know the latter is true anyway, but I still think the former. I was looking for something to read and this showed up on my wishlist at the library. So I got it and read it. Hmmm... It is a formulaic offering of detective, crime thriller. An ex-special forces turned private detective takes on a client who is looking for her missing sister. The client is a mid-western school teacher who has come to LA to search for said missing sister and is working in an exotic dancing club to make ends meet while here. You get the picture. I just don't think I would have put this book on my list, even if I was looking for something in this category...
Skip
I think the library is putting titles onto my wishlist. Either that, or my memory is bad. Well, we know the latter is true anyway, but I still think the former. I was looking for something to read and this showed up on my wishlist at the library. So I got it and read it. Hmmm... It is a formulaic offering of detective, crime thriller. An ex-special forces turned private detective takes on a client who is looking for her missing sister. The client is a mid-western school teacher who has come to LA to search for said missing sister and is working in an exotic dancing club to make ends meet while here. You get the picture. I just don't think I would have put this book on my list, even if I was looking for something in this category...
Skip
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Stranger in a Strange Land
Robert A Heinlein
Heinlein sets the story with the first expedition to Mars. An expedition baby is born and raised by Martians. When the second expedition returns, it returns with The Man from Mars. Lots of political intrigue (citizenship, rights of ownership, wealth inheritance, etc.) swirl thorough the story and lots of scientific intrigue (The Man from Mars knows a much more advanced science than earth humans). But this is really a story about community and belief. Heinlein paints a picture of the future that is fascinating and has enough logic built in that the reader believes that it could be true. And apparently Heinlein's biggest concern is with religious fundamentalism. Unfortunately, while this may have been ground breaking in its time (1961), it does not hold up. The portrayals of the church are too predictable and stale, too evangelical/christian centric to be realistic as future church. I much prefer the cyberpunk approach of Neal Stephenson in Snow Crash for how to envision a future thinking of faith. But who knows, 50 years from know, someone will be saying it doesn't hold up either.
Wait
Heinlein sets the story with the first expedition to Mars. An expedition baby is born and raised by Martians. When the second expedition returns, it returns with The Man from Mars. Lots of political intrigue (citizenship, rights of ownership, wealth inheritance, etc.) swirl thorough the story and lots of scientific intrigue (The Man from Mars knows a much more advanced science than earth humans). But this is really a story about community and belief. Heinlein paints a picture of the future that is fascinating and has enough logic built in that the reader believes that it could be true. And apparently Heinlein's biggest concern is with religious fundamentalism. Unfortunately, while this may have been ground breaking in its time (1961), it does not hold up. The portrayals of the church are too predictable and stale, too evangelical/christian centric to be realistic as future church. I much prefer the cyberpunk approach of Neal Stephenson in Snow Crash for how to envision a future thinking of faith. But who knows, 50 years from know, someone will be saying it doesn't hold up either.
Wait
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