Read Jasper Fforde’s latest Thursday Next novel: The Woman Who Died A Lot earlier this week - Thursday Next, former Jurisfiction officer is semi-retired (unwillingly) and faces challenges on a familial level - the future of her son, Friday is turned topsy-turvy, while her genius daughter, Tuesday attempts to thwart an angry Deity using technology. And then there’s poor Jenny. Goliath and Jack Schitt aren’t done with Ms. Next either.
The novel was enjoyable enough, but definitely part of a series; I don’t think a new reader would understand very much of what’s going on at all. In fact, I found myself wishing I’d re-read at least the last 2-3 TN novels as I was a bit lost at times myself. The plot wasn’t as twisty as some of the previous books, and the characters are still well-written; but some of the quirky humor I enjoy from Fforde was missing, IMHO. I’m not in any hurry to acquire this novel, but probably will re-read it if/when I decide to start the series over.
Stopped at the library yesterday and picked up the new Lois McMaster Bujold novel, Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance. I recommend it - I think it’s Bujold’s best novel since A Civil Campaign and The Curse of Chalion.
And now the embarrassing admission. When I was in the library to pick up the Bujold book, I also went back to the movie section to look for some movie books. I picked up a copy of Kim Newman’s Nightmare Movies (which I started today) but I also saw Olivia Munn’s Suck It, Wonder Woman. And I figured, “Why not? She’s good looking and a little light celebrity autobiography could be fun. I liked Bossypants and Jewel Shepard’s autobiography was good.”
What I found out is Olivia Munn is not Tina Fey or Jewel Shepard. Suck It, Wonder Woman barely qualifies as a book, let alone a biography. It’s Munn telling a few stories (the kind of stories she probably tells on her talk show appearances) and filling out the space between them with publicity photos. Reading this book, you get the impression that the writer had never met Olivia Munn and just pasted together this book from some magazine articles.
Right now I’m reading Dan Chaon’s short story collection Stay Awake. It’s uneven but has some very good bits in it; not nearly as scary as I’d been led to believe. I’m also reading Harlan Ellison’s collected scripts of Star Trek’s classic episode “The City on the Edge of Forever.” It’s prefaced by his long but quickly tiresome aren’t-I-wonderful-and-aren’t-they-terrible screed against Roddenberry and the studio. Interesting to see how much the script changed over time, though (and no, Scotty wasn’t dealing drugs in any of them, despite what ol’ Gene kept saying over the years).
I read that a year or so ago and really enjoyed it. A particularly clever ending, I thought.
I saw him half-heartedly flogging that on The Daily Show. What do you think so far?
I’m about halfway through The Revolution Was Televised by Alan Sepinwall, a fairly deep look at revolutionary TV shows, starting with Twin Peaks. He talks about Oz, The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Lost, The Shield and others. Even if you followed Sepinwall’s weekly reviews of the shows, there will be something new here. But it’s chock-full of spoilers, so don’t read it if you were planning to someday watch these shows.
Recently finished Sebastian Faulks’ new one A Possible Life. Five novellas, featuring five different people in different historical periods (and one in the future) linked in theme (our need for connection). I liked it a lot.
That’s good to hear! My copy is on its way.
I’m reading The Life of Andrew Jackson, by Robert V. Remini. Remini was the Historian of the US House of Representatives from 2005-2010, and this book is his abridgement of his three-volume history of Jackson. So far it’s pretty good, and plainly written.
Over the weekend read Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s latest horror comics, Locke & Key: Clockworks, which had an interesting flashback to Lovecraft, Mass. during the American Revolution. Otherwise not quite as good as the previous books, I’d say.
Also read The Great Molasses Flood by Deborah Kops, about the would-be-pretty-darn-funny-if-21-people-hadn’t-died accident in Boston in 1919.
Finally(!!!) finished Insomnia. Dear god, what an unsatisfying slog that was. I feel that I was suckered into 850 pages of sheer drudgery by the promise of 50 pages of Dark Tower related stuff. Plus, it gave me a new King Phrase to Hate: “Exalted and Revered Baby”. We’ll put that one down right next to “that fabled A-train”.
I’ve moved on to an Amazon recommend, Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities. It is, if nothing else, mercifully short after Insomnia, and so far interesting.
The imagination of Catherynne M. Valente in her Silently and Very Fast is blowing my mind. I had to come here to recommend it. It’s a story about the evolution of a single artificial intelligence through its connection to generations of a human family, recounted as myth might be. It’s so odd to see a story with such heart and such almost hallucinatory visual language up against a far-future tech tale, but she’s pulled it off wonderfully, and in only 127 pages. This is the best book I’ve read in a really long time. Available on Kindle, OOP hardcover, and for free in three parts on the Clarkesworld website.
Insomnia has been frequently described as a cure for the same.
Downloaded a sample of San Miguel by T. C. Boyle. Fell in love and bought it, only realizing later that I’d paid $14.99 for an e-book. But it’s excellent. Historical, late 1800’s and 1930’s, two families living on an island off the coast of California. This is my first Boyle.
wonderlust - good timing on your post - I just finished the audiobook version of Catherynne M. Valente’s Deathless and loved every moment of it! As I mentioned earlier - the insertion of Russian folktale elements into Stalinist Russia was incredibly entertaining, and at times, heartbreaking. Marya Morevna is one of my new favorite “strong female” characters, despite the mistakes she makes.
Valente’s use of language fit the fairy tale tone perfectly, with repetitions of phrases (“life is like that”), plot elements going full-circle and things happening in threes. Even in her descriptions of the Siege of Leningrad - she achieves the poetic: “A ration card says, This much life we have allotted you. It says, This much death we can keep from your door. But no more.”
I’m not quite sure this novel qualifies as “magical realism”, but it definitely has that flavor - Deathless was a nominee for the “Mythopoetic Fantasy Award” and that seems like a pretty good place to put it. Kudos also go out to the narrator, Kim de Blecourt - I’m sure I would have stumbled over many of the Russian proper names in print, but they flowed off her tongue marvelously.
Deathless has been added to my Christmas wishlist and I’ll definitely be reading more of Valente’s work. I’ve had *The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her own Making * on my ToRead list for awhile & it’s getting bumped to the top - I also bought Silently and Very Fast, thanks to wonderlust’s review.
Politzania: This is why I love this thread. I wasn’t sure about* Deathless* because I’m not informed about Russian History, but I have a collection of Russian boxes (folk tale depictions) which I bought in the 70’s during the Soviet Union era, and after reading your comments, I’m pretty sure I’ll love reading more about those same stories. I still have her Orphan Tales books waiting to be read too.
At first I thought I’d have to be “in the mood” for her language in order to enjoy reading her, but I learned that she actually puts me right into the mood. But I have to admit that sometimes I need to put my Kindle down due to being blinded by all the beauty of her imagination and language. I need a few minutes to let it soak in.
Finished Kim Stanlet Robinson’s Red Mars. I have Blue Mars but not Green Mars.
Until I get it, I’m reading other things. Now I’m reading a verse translation of Beowulf (Michael Alexander’s Penguin version, not Seamus Heaney’s) After that we’ll see.
I’m moving at a snail’s pace through Cloud Atlas, now just over halfway finished. Having not seen the movie, I can see how it inspired a thread titled “Unfilmable Books.” Turning this into a movie would be a considerable undertaking and frankly, although I’m enjoying the book, I can’t see it working well.
It took me forever to get halfway through Cloud Atlas too. Then I dumped it. I saw the movie a couple days ago, and upon reflection, I think it was a mess.
