Whatcha Readin' May 2010 Edition

Sorry for being late! Have a great Cinco Del Mayo all!

I am reading the first in the Temperance Brennan novels by Kathy Reich.

Last Month’s thread.

Let’s see…Post Captain; Fighting Techniques of the Napoleonic Age and I’m starting on Joe Abercrombe’s The Blade Itself and the collected issues of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac.

I’ve restarted two books I was reading a couple of months ago but didn’t finish: Coyote by Allen Steele and God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question - Why We Suffer by Bart Ehrman.

I’m reading The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett. Epic fantasy, second in a series of five. I’m about a third of the way in and have no complaints.

THE HELP
By Kathryn Stockett

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/books/19masl.html

“In “The Help,” Kathryn Stockett’s button-pushing, soon to be wildly popular novel about black domestic servants working in white Southern households in the early 1960s, one woman works especially tirelessly.”

Excellent read.

I have a copy of The Help, but have not yet read it. I’ve heard a lot of other good reviews, so I suppose I should start it.

I just finished The Cavalier in the Yellow Doublet, by Arturo Perez-Reverte, the latest in his series about a swashbuckling soldier-for-hire in 17th Century Spain. I enjoyed the first four books, but this one seemed aimless to me. The plot never really got off the ground, so there were a bunch of scenes that seemed pointless because they never really connected to the others in way that made me care what was happening. I came close to not finishing it all, which is extremely rare for me.

My current read is The Fourth Part of the World by Toby Lester. It’s supposed to be a history of the map that first put the name “America” to the New World, the 1507 Waldseemüller map. But I’m halfway through and, so far, it’s been about the history of European mapmaking in general. Still interesting, but I can’t help feeling that it’s padding to make up for the fact that Lester didn’t have enough material to write a complete book about the Waldseemüller map. We’ll see if I still feel that way after finishing the book.

Heh–I just finished the first one in this series. Liked it pretty well, but wasn’t blown away by it. I’m now reading The Dream of Perpetual Motion. Not sure what I think of it so far. It’s far more stylish and poetic than I thought it’d be, and it has real potential, but I worry it’ll veer off into either cliched steampunk or else creative-writing-student navel-gazing. Hopefully it’ll avoid these pitfalls and be excellent.

I’m listening to Lou Grant read me Carl Hiaasen’s new kid book, Scat. The book is great, probably Hiaasen’s best YA book yet, but Ed Asner takes some getting used to. He sounds about a thousand years old and like he’d rather be doing anything else other than reading a kid book out loud. I keep expecting him to throw the printed book at me and yell, “here lady, read it with your eyes, like your supposed to.”

Glad Carl Hiassen brought back his charming eco-wingnut Twilly. Next to Skink he’s my favorite endearing Hiaasen whack job.

I am reading Dreadnought by Robert Massie. So far, an excelent book that is a great companion to “The Guns of August” and “The Proud Tower”, both by Barbara Tuchman.
I am also reading “The Day that Nietzche cry”, it is a good book. Unfortunately I only read it while commuting and lately I have been captivated by a couple of podcasts: Filmspotting, The Norman Conquest and This American Life.
I just bought a book by Terry Pratchett because this author has been highly recommend in the Dope. The title is “Guards, Guards” and is part of the Discworld series. Any opinions about it?

“Mistress of the Vatican” by Eleanor Herman

Meticulously researched and presented in a highly readable “story” format, it is the story of Olimpia Maidalchini who was the true leader of the Vatican during the reign of Pope Innocent X. Fascinating.

Game Change, the book about the '08 election. Fascinating and extremely readable – unfortunately, I have a couple of things other than read on the to-do list for tonight and tomorrow.

Finished John le Carre’s A Most Wanted Man. Not really very good. I like le Carre’s Cold War material best. He seems to have lost his sense of purpose since that ended. I have a love/hate relationship with the author, as I enjoy the spycraft but always find his moralizing a bit high-handed. Sometimes that’s justified, sometimes not. Can never seem to sympathize with the shlub conflicted protagonist we’re supposed to identify with. Instead, I invariably sympathize with the efficient, seasoned spymaster who is always helping antagonize the protagonist.

Have started Private Dancer, by local author Stephen Leather. It’s been billed as the ultimate bar novel and carries a strong reputation. When it first came out five years ago, you couldn’t buy it, but rather the author made it available for download over the Internet for free. I never got around to doing that and so finally bought a copy in a bookstore. They say this book should be given to every single male planning a first trip to Thailand, and so far I have to agree. A young Brit falls for a bargirl in 1996 Bangkok. I’m only 52 pages into it, and already I recognize the type. First-person from the viewpoint of all of the characters, and we know from the first paragraph that Pete the Brit ends up killing Joy the bargirl, as he’s in the process of fleeing the scene. The rest of the book is flashbacks, even from Joy’s view. After spending decades in the Bangkok bars myself, I can vouch for the authenticity of the tone and story and can see now why this book has proved so phenomenally popular.

EDIT: I see from the link provided above that it’s still available from the author for free by download. So far, I can recommend it.

Ah, I see the free download is of an “early version,” not the finished product available in stores. Will still be worth a look, though.

I just stumbled on The Cult of Personality: How Personality Tests Are Leading Us to Miseducate Our Children, Mismanage Our Companies, and Misunderstand Ourselves by Annie Murphy Paul at the local library. It looks interesting.

Finished Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs, the first Temperance Brennon Novel. Fans of the Bones TV series may be disappointed to learn that there is very little resemblance between the TV show and the books. The book Brennon has more in common with Kay Scarpetta than the TV Brennon. They are both female Anthropologists that work with law enforcement, and both are named Temperance Brennon - that is pretty much where the similarities end.

Unlike TV Brennon, book Brennon, while competent, is not portrayed with savant-like abilities, nor does she struggle with normal social interaction. She is middle-aged and divorced with a daughter in college. She works in Montreal and the book is heavily interspersed with French phrases. I may be too juvenile, but every time I she referred to a CUM officer it took me out of the book - I always thought: Doesn’t she know what that means in the States? (I forget what CUM stands for, but is basically an acronym for the police force she works with.)

The writing was competent and the mystery functional. I found the book to be about 200 pages too long and will likely skip the rest of the series. Fans of Kay Scarpetta may wish to check it out.

My wife’s book club read The Help and really liked it a lot, as did a very well-read friend of mine.

I just finished Philip Matyszak’s Legionary, a history of the Roman army in the form of an illustrated instruction manual, taking a soldier through the 25 years (!) of his career from recruitment, to training, deployment and battle, then his wounding, death, triumph or retirement. Very interesting, and just light-hearted enough in tone to mask the essential bloodthirstiness of the topic.

Rereading The Sane Society by Erich Fromm in conjunction with the trilogy by historian/writer, Richard J Evans on Germany’s social and military evolution beginning with The Coming of the Third Reich. The second and third volumes are The Third Reich in Power, The Third Reich at War.

To overly simplify Dr. Fromm’s 350 some pages, given a society of ten where three are normal and seven are abnormal- universally speaking of innate human characteristics- the three become the abnormal and the seven are now the norm. The manipulated personality becomes alienated man. There are contemporary parallels. The second volume deals with Germany’s occupations, at least in the early pages. Now, after major combat declared ended on May 1st, begins the eighth year of occupation of another country by a more powerful one. . . . Rather reminds me of a Chinese maxim, “Ask a question and seemingly appear foolish for five minutes; ask not and remain a fool forever.” Learning answers to questions asked as a child in this parallel reading.

On the trilogy: “This is history in the grand style, the kind of large-scale narrative that few historians dare to write these days. It is difficult to imagine how it could be improved upon, let alone surpassed.” The Washington Post

fj

I read her other two books Sex with Kings and Sex with the Queen. Both were excellent so I imagine this one is probably quite good as well.

I’m reading The God of the Hive, the new Holmes/Russell mystery by Laurie R. King. Just finished Hay Fever by Angela Miller, about her experiences running a Vermont goat cheese farm.

I listened to The Help audiobook. Excellent performances.

:smiley:

My current read is Darkness: two decades of modern horror, edited by Ellen Datlow. A mixed bag, as these anthologies always are.

I just finished a YA audiobook called After, by Amy Efaw, about a fifteen year old who gives birth in secret and puts the baby in the garbage. It suffered from being told in the present tense and having a thoroughly unlikeable main character, but it held my interest enough to keep me from having to listen to the radio.

My new audiobook is Road Rage, which contains two novellas, Duel by Richard Matheson, and Throttle by Stephen King and Joe Hill. I’ve never read Duel, but I’ve seen the movie about ten times. They haven’t remade that one yet, have they?