Last Updated Tuesday, August 31, 2004

 

The Big Booklist: Fiction

 

The 5 People You Meet In Heaven - By Mitch Albom

    Reviewed by GMAK on 1/12/2004

    The 5 People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom is a surprising and quick moving fictional little book of what one may find in heaven. 

    Eddie dies in a tragic accident at the amusement park where he has worked a lifetime in a seemingly meaningless job as a maintenance worker.  When he awakes in heaven he finds his earthly life and its meaning explained by 5 people who crossed paths with him through the years.
    Thought provoking and entertaining, this one reminded me of the books by Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World). I have ALL of his books on my shelf.
    GMAK's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

 

Angels & Demons - by Dan Brown

    Reviewed by EK on 3/22/04

    Angels & Demons, a fast-paced little number, is the prequel to the explosive Da Vinci Code. 

The series’ popularity attests to the skills of Mr. Brown to pack a story both with action and academic riddles and keep readers hooked. 

     Mild-mannered Professor Robert Langdon, by virtue of his scholarly expertise, is drawn into the age-old conflict between religion and science.  Langdon follows a trail of grisly murders, haunted by the Illuminati—a legendary antireligious secret society, lurking in the background of every conspiracy theory.  He runs us through intricate and awe-inspiring Vatican City, following a maze of art and architecture in order to rescue the heart of Catholicism itself from a plot by its hazy ancient enemy. 

     The author’s historical knowledge and ability to weave dusty secrets and beauties into his plot is staggering. Plus, he tells you all about ambigrams, which are cool enough to justify the entire publication.  I have noticed, though, that Dan Brown really likes to indulge the fiendish villains in his books.  More often than not, the hero is just a tad too slow to prevent the bloody tableau set up by the bad guys.   This makes the book (and some of his other books too) less like reality and more like a movie starring Bruce Willis.    

     Really, though, the representative Evil Person is just a vehicle for all the other fun stuff.  As long as you’re not looking for strict realism, you will probably enjoy this book.

    EK's Rating:  3 out of 5 Stars.

   Also Reviewed by DJ on 3/22/04   

    Dan Brown exploded onto the modern literary scene last year with his amazing, well-written and extremely controversial DaVinci Code (which was a great read, by the way) but what the general reading public didn't seem to discover for a few months was that Dr. Robert Langdon, the protagonist in DaVinci, actually made his first appearance in one of Brown's earlier works, Angels&Demons, a similar work detailing the symbology professor's improbable involvement as a key player in an international crisis based on a conflict between science and religion.

    Sound familiar?  Well, as many have said, Angels&Demons is an excellent book on it's own, but it seems like it may have been a test-run for DaVinci.  Not that I hold that against him, because both are interesting, fast moving, thought provoking works worthy of your time.

    Brown apparently sets the pattern in Angels that we've seen in his books since.  The basic elements are all there:  The race against time, the confused diabolical genius, the shock of our hero being roughly yanked from his everyday routine, the horrific death(s), the quasi-historic exposition between characters that draws us in and the "mystery" that the hero needs desperately to solve (that we are all able to figure out just a few pages before he does) and the girl.  There's always a girl.

    Dan Brown might be the "Religious Man's Chrichton" but he can spin a serious yarn.

   DJ's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

 

Angus, Thongs & Full-Frontal Snogging - By Louise Rennison

    Reviewed by EK on 7/13/2004
    In the grand tradition of Bridget Jones, here is the diary of Georgia, age 14, schoolgirl of the very modern British Empire. Its reading is, for a woman of 30 with a small daughter, both hilarious & absolutely terrifying.
    I was vaguely aware that the bumbling of girls into Womanhood involved obsessive interest in cosmetics, boys, clothes, boys & boys who play loud music, but I had forgotten that youth culture actively discourages interest in anything else. Georgia is in dread of acquiring any sense of responsibility or being "interested in things," because she holds people with these qualities in amiable contempt. This should make her a total snot, but somehow she manages to be lovable & irresistibly frank.
    Which is why, of course, this couldn't possibly have been written by anyone but a grown up. I especially admire the way the author captures the deer-in-headlights quality of beginner dating. Georgie finds herself feeling non-pulsed in situations with boys that she has been led to believe will feel romantic-- mostly because it's the wrong boy, of course. But it isn't until the next day or so that she thinks "Ew! That's not what I wanted to happen," which leaves the boy completely confused. I can remember having a brain like this. The writer brings teen logic & battiness into exquisite & sometimes painful relief through the words of the character herself. As Georgie would say, "Brilliant."
    I definitely recommend this entertaining "diary" to female readers, preferably those older than 14 who will not aspire to become like Georgia.

    EK's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars

 

Beach Music - by Pat Conroy

    Reviewed by Querido on 7/9/04
    After reading this book, I am convinced that I have lived the most boring life, in the most boring city and state, with the most boring generation of all time.
    Beach Music is the story of a man who flees his hometown in South Carolina, with his small daughter, after the suicide of his wife.  Jack McCall moves to Rome to escape his past and to raise his little girl away from the South.  He has determined to never speak to his family or anyone from his childhood ever again, however all his promises prove empty when he receives a telegram from his brother, stating that their mother is dying.  Against all of his self-protective instincts, he flies back to South Carolina, to deal with his family, with his past and with the death of his wife.
    At first, the characters seemed drawn too large for life... exaggerated caricatures instead of real people.  Then I remembered a conversation with a Southern friend about Southern men, and Jack McCall and his brothers seemed a little more plausible.  Also disconcerting is Pat Conroy's flowing and rich prose in the narration of his story next to the crass abruptness of his main character's everyday language.  It makes the first few chapters bumpy and uneven. 

    Soon enough, however, the tone of the story evens out and the reader is immersed in this engaging and dramatic story about love, death, tragedy and a man coming to terms with who he is.  Which sounds horribly cliché, but too true to leave unsaid.
    Querido's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

 

The Big Picture - By Douglas Kennedy

    Reviewed by EK on 1/8/2004 - Read the Full Review

    I don’t know that you have to read The Big Picture yourself, but I admit that the sudden reverse of fortunes in the middle of the plot caught me by surprise.  We join the characters as their marriage is crumbling.  They hate their lives.  Why did they end up as suburban Conn. Gap-shoppers when they swore they’d expire in Greenwich from drug overdose first?  For the same reason as everyone else: children.  As the author rather puts it, “Accidents will happen.” 

    It’s difficult to feel sorry for either of the Bradfords, but, to be blunt, it’s all the wife’s fault.  She has already left the marriage.  Game over.  She’s just hanging around as a nominal mother—not that the kids don’t have a nanny all day anyway.  However, her husband gets a “second chance” to start over & become what he believes he was meant to be.  Beth, by default, gets the same chance.  Both end up falling back into pretty much the same life as before, only not quite as good, and must be grateful for what they have. 

    When all is said & done, the author confesses that, if we love our families, we have to become parents.  We should not necessarily sacrifice ourselves wholesale, but parents are stable, are gainfully employed, are largely bourgeois.  Really cheerful, eh?  Yeah, those of you who don’t have kids don’t believe me, or Douglas Kennedy.  Haven’t you noticed that everyone turns out pretty much the same?

    EK's Rating:  2 1/2 out of 5 Stars.

 

Box Socials - By W.P. Kensella

    Reviewed by EK on 1/12/2004

    This is an online review of Box Socials by W.P. Kinsella, who also wrote Shoeless Joe, the book on which Field of Dreams is based.  The most striking thing about W.P. Kinsella, author of Box Socials, and also Shoeless Joe, the book on which Field of Dreams is based, is his repetitive style, which adds to the comedy of his fictional situations.  He writes in a style that might usually be associated with the setting of a southern state-- such as the Carolinas, from which his family originated-- but actually the story is set in a farming area of Canada, proving that hillbillies can exist anywhere, not just the "south." 

    His style is such that he never calls a city just Fark or just Edmonton, but always "Fark, the origins of which he'll explain later," which he does, & "Edmonton, Alberta."  A person is never just "Al," but always "Truckbox Al McClintock," his full name, every time he is mentioned.  It takes some getting used to, and, for people in a hurry, might be downright irritating, but I loved it.  After reading Box Socials, I intend to check out W.P. Kinsella's other works, such as Shoeless Joe, the book on which Field of Dreams is based.

    A "box social," by the way, is something I knew about from the musical "Oklahoma"-- remember the scene with girls packing lunches to be auctioned off to boys?  That's a box social.  I thought those were indigenous to the South also, but they aren't, so we should have one here.  I think I'll get a nice box from Taco Bell...

    EK's Rating:  2 1/2 out of 5 Stars.

 

By the Light of the Moon - By Dean Koontz

    Reviewed by Juan Pescados on 1/20/2004

    By the Light of the Moon (BTLOTM) by Dean Koontz is fun and light.   Not exactly earth shattering literature but a pleasant distraction and at times very exciting.  

    Just to bother any English majors reading this, I think the best adjective to describe this novel would be "good".  The book is especially nice if you are currently reading some Pulitzer prize winning novel or a significant  biography and you need a break.  

    Kind of like needing a pop tart every once in a while.  

    The story didn't seem terribly original and I don't want to spoil things but Nano-Technology seems a bit stale.  Or maybe that's just disappointment in Crichton's book Prey talking.  Anyway, BLOTM  was exciting.   The characters were the kind of people you would want to get to know. I liked the part where they terrorized the autistic  kid by threatening to feed him Gold Fish crackers.

    The urban legend creepiness along with the X-Files like humor gave the book a really fun atmosphere.  Easy to pick up hard to put down.  

    People who liked the movie Unbreakable will like this book.   On the other hand I don't think my Mom would like this book.  In fact I think I heard her say "That doesn't make sense!" a couple of times in my Head.  But, I would still recommend it.

    Yes, this book had the literary redeeming value of a Wolverine Comic, but I really love comics.  Also, I think BTLOTM is a cool acronym and it would make a better movie than Timeline did.

    Juan's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

 

Carpe Jugulum - By Terry Pratchett

    Reviewed by EK on 1/30/2004

     Here's the basic idea in the Discworld novel, Carpe Jugulum ("Go for the throat"): vampires can fly, they can transform into animals and scary mist, they can control people's minds, and they are supposedly immortal.  So, why are vampires so easy to kill?  Garlic?  Why does a puny vegetable strike terror into a vampire?  They live in old houses that let in the sun and are falling to pieces that can be used as stakes or formed into crosses!  Are vampires just stupid?!

     In this book, a family of enlightened vampires decides that it's time to quit behaving in a sportsmanlike manner.  It's time to move into a nice, solid, well-defended castle and work on an immunity to garlic.  There's no reason to be melodramatic-- after all, they don't actually have to kill everyone.

     The only hope for Discworld is in a somewhat bashful witch with a split personality.  Only it's much funnier than my synopsis.  Also, the book pokes fun a religion, which a reader might not like, but otherwise it's... well, it's pretty offensive.

    I enjoyed it thoroughly.

   EK's Rating:  3 1/2 out of 5 Stars.

 

Cat's Cradle - by Kurt Vonnegut

    Reviewed by DJ on 5/3/2004

    I had a discussion with Juan Pescados about Cat's Cradle a few years ago after he read it on the boat.  (Another story for another time.)  Since that day I'd been looking forward to reading it myself.  Now that I've completed it, I must say I'm not quite as high on it as I thought I'd be from a science fiction point of view, but it was certainly an thought-provoking, fun read. 

    The idea is that a strange, confused scientist supposedly creates a substance called Ice 9, which is really nothing more than a super-efficient method of stacking H2O molecules together in such a way that it would A) freeze instantly at room temperature and B) never melt.

    As interesting as the idea of an icy, word-ending cataclysm is to me, I was astounded at how long it took Vonnegut to get to that point.  The bulk of this small book (only 150 pages or so) is concerned with the protagonist, an author named Jonah who wants to write a book about the day the Bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and his investigation of, arrival at, and quick ascendancy to become king of a strange island called San Lorenzo, where everyone seems to be a fervent devotee to a religion that is punishable by death.

    By the time someone finally gets around to triggering the end of the world, the reader is so caught up in Jonah's strange trip that it actually comes as a bit of a shock.  Cat's Cradle is not really a character study, not really science fiction, not really social commentary or comedy.  However, as with all of Vonnegut's books, it was a thought-provoking, paradigm-shifting, surprising ride.

    Not the greatest literature in the world, but definitely worth your time, particularly as an introduction to the strange world of Kurt Vonnegut.

    DJ's Rating:  3.5 out of 5 Stars.

 

The China Garden - By Liz Berry

    Reviewed by EK on 3/8/2004

    EK compares and contrasts the amusing similarities between

two fantasy novels, Obernewtyn and The China Garden in her piece:  2 Reviews by EK

 

The Christmas Train - By David Baldacci

    Reviewed by GMAK on 1/19/2004

    There’s something about a train – nostalgic, romantic, and historical.  Throw in a mix of uniquely eccentric, mysterious and mischievous characters on a week-long trip across the country, narrated with humor and whit and you’ve got David Baldacci’s Christmas Classic: The Christmas Train.

    Tom Langdon, a world-traveling journalist with idealistic expectations of changing the world for the better through the exposure of his work, returns home unfulfilled then takes an even less rewarding writing job.

    Christmas is coming and his girlfriend is in LA, so Tom decides to take a train from the east coast all the way across the country.  Why the train?  Well, due to his violent reaction to an overzealous security agent at the gate on his last attempt to travel, he was banned from flights for 2 years.  And his father’s last request before he died was that Tom would write about the experience of a cross-country train ride, as Mark Twain (according to legend) had started to do and never finished the work.

    The trip takes some surprising turns.  Living in very close proximity Tom becomes acquainted with a strange group: a priest, an eccentric woman who knocks him down the stairs the first time they meet, a lawyer: Gordon “Scrooge” Merryweather, an Elvis Presley look-alike, a millionaire film director, an exotic tarot card reader and a young engaged couple who want to be secretly married on the train.  Eleanor, an old unrequited love of Tom’s also coincidently shows up. 

    When the train gets stuck between two snow slides the plot thickens.  A pet boa constrictor gets lose and a “who done it” mystery develops as personal items start disappearing.  Are these strange travelers really who they seem to be?

    Throughout Tom reminisces about the era of Mark Twain, he recalls train scenes from old movies, and historical train robberies.  With the holiday magic could this be a time for second chances?  

    The book was not terribly thought provoking or a life changing but well written and an entertaining ride.

    GMAK's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

 

The Cobra Event - by Richard Preston  - 1979

    Reviewed by GMAK on 8/23/2004

    After reading DJ’s review of a book by Douglas Preston (& Lincoln Child) I accidentally picked up this one by the wrong Preston. However, it turned out to be a good one, too.

    The Cobra Event is about biological terrorism. He takes some factual government data and creates a fictional character and virus to carry out this thriller.  Trials in the use of biological weapons went on in the 1960’s until Nixon officially made a treaty with Russia and Britain that these trials would be abandoned. However, this type of work was quietly continuing around the world….

    In the 1990’s a lone terrorist working out of his apartment in New York City begins testing his genetically engineered virus – Brainpox. Unsuspecting, random victims die a horrible, cannibalistic death.  The CDC immediately creates a team to track down what the cause of this mysterious death is and where it came from. A race begins to find the source and the results are alarming.

    The book is fast paced, has interesting characters, and many exciting twists and I couldn’t put it down. After reading this book President Clinton was so alarmed by it that he instructed intelligence experts to evaluate it’s credibility. It wasn’t as frightening to me as I thought it would be, even though parts are extremely gruesome and shocking.  It does make you realize our vulnerability to a virus like this. And for a few days after I finished the book, every time I noticed my nose running, I would be alarmed for a minute . . or two..

    GMAK's Rating:  3 out of 5 Stars.

 

The Codex - By Douglas Preston

    Reviewed by DJ on 8/6/2004

    Douglas Preston, half of the successful writing team that collaborated on such hits as Relic, Reliquary and the delightful RipTide, wrote The Codex on his own, and while it as engrossing and slick as his team work, the absence of Lincoln Child eventually cripples the final product.

    An eccentric billionaire (all too frequent in Preston/Child works) fears his oncoming death and, instead of simply dividing his enormous estate of priceless art and worldwide artifacts, he constructs an elaborate, globe-trotting race that will award the entire estate to whichever of his three sons (all from different mothers) finds it first.  Along the way there's a subplot involving a vengeful ex-partner, a book of ancient Indian medicinal plants that might be able to cure cancer, a pair of bumbling cops and plenty of birth-order pop psychology.

    Preston tries a bit too hard here to be another Michael Crichton, going to great lengths to educate the reader on all manner of subjects from jungle travel to medicine to crime scene investigation.    While this is all interesting to a point, I found myself skimming along these overly descriptive passages (I'm not really interested in exactly how a colony of fire ants attacks a human) to return to the adventure of the three boys and their various travel partners.

    He particularly stumbles when he plays the "Amazing Discovery That Needs To Be Decoded" card - a popular plot device that, since Da Vinci Code, has been returned to a bit too often by today's popular fiction writers.

   Well written?  Sure. 

    Page turner?  Oh, yeah. 

    Escapist Mind Candy?  The best kind.

    Great summer literature?  Not really. 

    DJ's Rating:  2.5 out of 5 Stars.

 

Cold Mountain - By Charles Frazier

    Reviewed by GMAK on 1/30/2004

    Cold Mountain is a “Gone With the Wind type” Civil War epic.

From the beginning we figure out pretty much where the story is going and how it will end but we get there through many accounts of grizzly death and suffering. Half way thru the book I almost gave it up but now I’m glad I did keep reading to the end. It is not light reading.

     As the book opens, Inman, a Confederate soldier, is recovering in an army hospital after being given up for dead (twice) from an injury on the battlefield outside Petersburg. We learn his injuries are more than skin deep as he reviews what he has seen and taken part in – the horror of a seemingly senseless slaughter of young life. Struggling to pick up his life, when he is physically able to walk out of the hospital, he decides to desert the army. Thinking of his young love, Ada, back home he writes to tell her he is on the way to her if she will have him.

     Meanwhile, Ada’s father has died leaving her all alone with a farm. At first there seems no way she will succeed or even live until a young woman, Ruby, comes along. Ruby moves in and teaches Ada how to survive in this the worst of times for those women and children left behind when the men were called to war. Ruby’s father, also a deserter, shows up at the farm and there is more trouble to cope with.

     The story details Inman’s long walk home across the south and the people he encounters along the way – rugged, rough, and desperately trying to survive – some friendly some deadly.

    GMAK's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

 

Cosmonaut Keep - by Ken MacLeod

    Reviewed by SockMonkey on 6/25/2004   

    You know, this is probably a really good book but I’m having a tough time remembering much about it, and I didn’t read it that long ago.  It’s sci-fi, part day-after-tomorrow cyberpunk and part far-future space opera, and I admit I had trouble following the double story lines (which inevitably sort of connect) at first. 

    I’d heard good things about MacLeod’s books, though, so I wanted to like this story.  It’s not that I disliked it; I just didn’t particularly feel any strong emotion one way or another toward it… which goes back to not being able to remember much about it.  Something about colonists on a distant planet who have been away from Earth so long that it is only a barely-remembered legend, and an adventurous group of people who want to find their way back (Star Blazers, anyone?).
    That’s the far-future part.  The cyberpunk story is even less memorable, so I will just say that it involves a hacker guy and a tough girl who you just know are going to hook up and leave it at that.
    Like I said, this is probably a good book, but I usually enjoy good books and for the most part am able to remember books I enjoy. 

    Will I read another MacLeod book?  Yes, and there are plenty more to read, including future books in “The Engines of Light” series, of which Cosmonaut Keep is the first.

    Do I hope the next one I read is better -- or at least bad enough to leave an impression?

    You bet, comrade.
    Sock Monkey’s rating: 2 out of 5 socks

 

Crescent - by Diana Abu-Jaber
    Reviewed by EK on 7/16/2004
    I am perpetually drawn to novels about food, & the synopsis of this book included both Islamic cross-cultural elements and food, so there you go. The protagonist of Crescent is a chef of Middle-Eastern cuisine &, especially by Eastern standards, is too old to get married. The basic plot is a classic, the beloved, if predictable, love story. However, the author shows us some fundamental differences between American plots & Arabian Tales.
    Sirine-the-chef is half Iraqi, but is nevertheless green-eyed & fair, still beautiful in her late 30’s. A tale of romance is never, after all, about a woman with squinty eyes & stringy hair. She lives with an uncle, & her story is intermixed with an ongoing fantasy that her uncle spins for anyone who will listen. American stories have a hero, a beginning & an end like blocks in a stack. Stories from the mysterious East meander like an old uncle’s mind, weaving from one character to another, one quest to another, & an exasperating-- or tantalizing-- lack of resolution.
    For instance a minor character in Sirine’s life, a very young Islamic adherent, tells of her escape to America from a very bizarre prison: her own home. After being married off in her teens, this girl was summarily locked up by her husband, whom she saw only a few times a year. Like the proverbial damsel & the evil Genie, she must use her cunning to escape. The thread of her story touches Sirine, & is gone, still a mystery.
    Crescent is appealing & insightful, deliciously written.

    EK's Rating:  3 out of 5 Stars.

 

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time - By Mark Haddon

    Reviewed by SockMonkey on 2/9/2004

    Entertainment Weekly raved about this book, so I read it on their recommendation, and I’m glad I did.

    Christopher is an autistic English teenager who leads the reader on a quest to figure out who killed his neighbor’s dog. The first-person account is given by way of Christopher’s journal, and one of my favorite things about the book was trying to read between the lines in his telling of the story for additional clues. If you’ve read Flowers for Algernon then you know what I mean. This became even more important as the story progressed and it became clear that this was more than just a murder mystery.  Human motives and emotions are also a mystery to Christopher, and his attempt to understand the chaotic world and reconcile it to his unusual need for order unfolds with a wonderfully refreshing and compassionate frankness.
    Christopher’s view of the world is fascinating.  He takes several asides with the reader to explain how his mind works (such as when he explains why the chapters are numbered 2, 3, 5, 7, etc. instead of the traditional 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), and these are what really make this book shine.

Read this book!
    SM’s rating: 4 out of 5 socks

    Also reviewed by DJ on 2/16/2004

    the curious incident of the dog in the night time by Mark Haddon is, without question, the best fiction book I've read this year.  After reading SockMonkey's review and hearing from EK that the book was a recent critical hit, I tracked down the Recorded Books CD Set and listened in the car while I commuted to work. 

    I was soon to the point where I was finding excuses to sit in my car and listen - Lunchtime, running errands, taking the long way home...

    One of the most important ingredients to making a good book is creating a character that the reader cares about, and Haddon's brilliant creation of a brutally honest, mortally crippled boy with an amazing mind who overcomes his fears and conquers his circumstances is certainly that.  Part of me wishes that I could revisit the mind and world of this extraordinary teenager, but another part thinks that a sequel might spoil the magic.

    Three words:  Read This Book. 

    DJ's Rating:  5 out of 5 Stars!

 

Deception Point by Dan Brown

    Reviewed by DJ on 2/16/2004

    Dan Brown is, without question, a very talented writer, a very smart guy, and a savvy, clever marketer who knows what political and social hot buttons to press for promotion of his material.  Before Brown penned the excellent (but controversial and "heretical") DaVinci Code he produced a series of good books, including Digital Fortress and Deception Point.

    Like Crichton (Science) and Grisham (Law) before him, Dan Brown both educates and entertains the reader by immersing him in the world of politics and computers.  His characters are a bit stiff, but believable, the situations are fantastic and entertaining, the plots are intricate and surprising.  But Brown's true talent shows in his ability to keep the reader turning the pages.  With short, sometimes 1-page, chapters, lightning-quick cuts between characters and cliffhanger piling on top of cliffhanger, readers think to themselves, I'll read just one more chapter before I turn out the light. And soon it's 2:30am.

    Deception Point jumps right into the action and rolls along quickly until the final pages, barely stopping to breathe.  Suppose NASA is the pivotal point of debate between an incumbent President and his greatest challenger.  Now suppose that NASA (as it is in real life) has suffered through decades of overspending and laughable public failure.  Now suppose that, miraculously, NASA discovers an amazing artifact that not only justifies its existence, but changes the course of human history, and all on the eve of an election.  Now suppose that a tremendous hoax has been pulled on all of mankind. 

    While Deception Point is not Brown's best (that would be DaVinci) it is interesting, quick, and a good introduction into Presidential Politics and astrophysics.

    DJ's Rating:  3.5 out of 5 Stars

 

Empire of the Ants - By Bernard Werber

    Reviewed by GMAK on 2/2/2004

    This is a fantasy story - the Ants version of Watership Down.
    The Wells family move into a basement apartment that they have inherited from Uncle Edmond. Professor Edmond Wells was an eccentric scientist who did extensive research and wrote an “Encyclopedia of Relative and Absolute Knowledge.” He was known as a strange character. As a child Edmond’s mother worried about him because he was always trying to build himself little “dens” or “hidey holes” and burrow down into them.
    Upon his death he left a letter for the family that said, “ABOVE ALL, NEVER GO DOWN INTO THE CELLAR!” Through the cellar door, partially boarded shut, the dark stairway becomes an interest. The book turns into a mystery as the dog and people who explore “down the stairs” don’t return. What had Edmond discovered?
    Four miles away the city of BEL-O-KAN, population 18 million ants, begins to come to life after hibernation. They assess the damage of winter and get on with their intricate and sophisticated life where 64 cities are linked by a network of trails. “Are ants the true masters of the earth?”
    If you are interested in an extremely detailed fantasy about ant life you might enjoy the deep part of this book more than I did. The author, Bernard Werber, is a scientific journalist who has studied ants for 15 years so we can assume the story is a mixture of facts and fantasy. Well written and thought provoking. Sock Monkey might enjoy it.
    GMAK's Rating:  3 1/2 out of 5 Stars.

 

Eragon - by Christopher Paolini

   Reviewed By Juan Pescados (as interviewed by EK) on 3/5/2004

    Let's listen in on a chat between EK and her brother, Juan, from a few days ago, shall we?

Dashausfrau says:

    Okay, what did you read?

Juan says:

    Eragon.

Dashausfrau says:

    Excellent.  Written by a teenager, right?

Juan says:

    Yep.

Dashausfrau says:

    Does he write like a teen?

Juan says:

    Definitely not.   Except for all the plot devices are stolen from video games and star wars.

Dashausfrau says:

    Ooo. What video games?

Juan says:

    The Legend of Zelda comes to mind immediately.

Dashausfrau says:

    Elves?

Juan says:

    Oh yes.  Elves... Trolls (with a funny name)   dragons...  Swords... Magic..  Orphans looking for Heritage.         

    Princesses to be rescued.  Obi-Wan training his pupil...

Dashausfrau says:

    Sounds great!

Juan says:

    I read it a month ago.   So I don't remember it that clearly....

    But I do remember that the characters were cool. 

    And the pacing made you want to keep reading.  

    And you often felt like you had read it before and were so glad to read it again...

    Even though you hadn't.  

Dashausfrau says:

    Perfect.

    Juan's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

 

The Eyre Affair - By Jasper Fforde

    Reviewed by DJ on 1/7/2004

    The first novel I completed this year, The Eyre Affair was a recommendation from SockMonkey and the most enjoyable book I've read in the last several months.  Written in the style of the late Douglas Adams, I had a difficult time putting this one down over the Christmas season.  Thursday Next, the novel's heroine, polices an an alternate-future-reality London where time travel is commonplace and villains entering famous books to abduct major characters for ransom is the issue of the day.  As the dust jacket says, Next is "Part Bridget Jones, part Monty Python, part Dirty Harry, part Stephen Hawking."  While the mechanics of the writing were average at best (annoying phrases like "slightly shockingly" litter the book) the sheer enjoyment factor and literary jokes made Affair absolutely worth the time.   I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the sequel, Lost in a Good Book, from my local library.

    DJ's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

    Also reviewed by GMAK on 2/3/2004

    This is a great little fantasy mystery and left me anxious to read the next book in the series about Thursday Next, literary detective.

    I enjoy time travel books and this one was a new twist for me, with characters traveling in and out of literature.  Jane Eyre is one of my favorite classics so I refreshed my memory of it before I started this book and I am glad I did. It was fun to be back with the Thornfield characters from a different perspective.  With lots of action, mystery, surprises, and fun twists, the plot builds to a great ending.

    I learned about this book through DJ’s earlier review and agree:
   GMAK's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

 

Fat Girls and Lawn Chairs by Cheryl Peck
    Reviewed by UtilityGoddess on 5/28/2004

    How could I not read this book after seeing the wacky cover?
    This collection of short stories is oddly traditional and yet anything but. The short stories describe universal themes like growing up, family, love and loss. Readers can relate to all this normalcy; the twist comes when told from the outrageous perspective of a 300+ pound lesbian. I'm not generally a fan of short stories, but I laughed out loud when reading about the humorous misadventures of Cheryl, her younger sisters (affectionately called the "UnWee" and the "Wee One" as compared to the author, who is the "Least Wee") and her cat, Babycakes. These heartwarming reminiscences about unremarkable, everyday events are great "almost summer" reading.
    UtilityGoddess' Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

 

The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing - by Melissa Bank
    Reviewed by UtilityGoddess on 4/20/2004
    WARNING: This book is not about hunting and fishing in the outdoorsy sense. In short, it is the fictional coming-of-age account of how Jane Rosenal experiences love and relationships that plays off the self-help guide genre.
    Not long into the book I thought: I know this girl – and I like her. Jane has a witty (and slightly odd) take on the world that draws you in. That said, I often wanted to strangle her has she makes foolish decisions in her personal and professional life. (Jane really needs to read that “Nice Girls” book).

    After 14-year old Jane tries to decipher her brother’s behavior with the girls he brings home, the chapters skip to various points in her life: a vacation with her first serious boyfriend; her career struggle as an editorial assistant in the New York book-publishing world; her relationship with an editor 28 years her senior; and the death of her father. An unnecessary chapter is thrown in the middle, narrated by the woman who lives downstairs from Jane. You keep expecting this chapter to eventually connect with the rest of the plot, but it never does.

    Jane’s (mis)adventures may describe what it is like to be a young, single woman in contemporary America, but I suspect I have been married too long to fully appreciate it. As insightful and well-written as this book was, I was left strangely unsatisfied. But then again, a lot of “great literature” strikes me this way.
    UG's Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

 

The Glorious Appearing: The End of Days - By Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

    Reviewed by UtilityGoddess on 4/29/2004

    Fictionalizing events from the Bible is controversial stuff. As a result, people seem to have really strong opinions (either good or bad) about this best-selling “Christian thriller” or prophecy-based fiction series.

    Glorious Appearing is the twelfth book in the continuing drama of those left behind at the Rapture (when Jesus takes those who believe in Him to Heaven). It’s been just over seven years since the Rapture and almost exactly seven years since the Antichrist’s covenant with Israel. As the Antichrist has assembled the armies of the world for what he believes will be his ultimate triumph, the Believers look to the heavens for the return of Christ. Jerusalem is falling to the Global Community’s Unity Army (which is a United Nations-type organization gone awry). The Tribulation Force (a resourceful group of believers that the series follows) has migrated to the Middle East; most are ensconced at Petra with the Jewish Remnant, now more than a million strong. Only one of the four original members of the Force remains alive, and he is near death. Fierce reading, but it is supposed to be.

    As the last book in the series, readers finally get closure (much of which is not a surprise if you have read Revelations, but satisfying nonetheless). However, I suspect that those who are not familiar with the Bible have more questions than answers as the series ended. It sounds like a post-quel is planned to cover Christ’s millennial reign, so I will reserve judgment on that point.

    All in all, I am one of those who really liked this series. Although I had trouble remembering all the characters from one book to the next, I didn’t get too worked up because unlike the Bible – this is fiction. Some have argued that this series is misleading (i.e., pre-tribulation vs. post-tribulation rapture arguments) and will alienate non-believers, but I don’t think so. It is an account of what COULD happen at the Rapture to fictional people. I found it incredibly thought-provoking and inspiring. It was fascinating to see how modern society and technology might play out with apocalyptic events, whose occurrence I have otherwise found difficult to imagine on my own.

    And above all, this series is an excellent reminder to get our priorities straight in this earthly life.

    UG's Ratings:

    Glorious Appearing: 4 out of 5 stars

    Left Behind Series: 4.5 out of 5 stars

 

The Good Wife Strikes Back - by Elizabeth Buchan

    Reviewed by EK on 5/13/2004

    What I like about The Good Wife Strikes Back is that it took place in Britain.   I’m very partial to novels written by Brits & set in the U.K.  I’m not sure why that is.  Maybe I have a subconscious partiality for aristocracy, & of course Americans think anyone with an English accent is aristocratic.  That must be it: British novels have a beautiful accent.

    I found little else to like about this book.  The protagonist is the wife of a Parliament Member who, after twenty years, is facing her long-tern disgruntlements.  The only time I felt any sympathy for Fanny (isn’t that a terribly British name?) was when she lost her father, which is tragic for anyone.  It is this crisis that blows her Empty-Nest Syndrome/ Mid-life Crisis/ Weariness of Public Life/ Assorted Lack of Personal Boundaries out of control.

    Frankly, if you allow your sister-in-law to chain herself to your family & make you miserable, I don’t feel sorry for you.  Fanny’s husband is not an ogre: she could have done something about the toxic houseguest years before.  Also, if you marry a politician & you don’t have the energy or inclination to play Jackie Kennedy for 20 years, I don’t feel sorry for you either.  I really think this could have been resolved without an explosion also. 

I know that many stories are built on characters who take on unnecessary burdens from other characters, but this combination just added up to domestic whining to me. 

    Get a backbone, Sister, or at least develop an interesting addiction or philosophical awakening or something.  I expected more from a British character.

    EK's Rating:  2 1/2 out of 5 Stars.

 

Guards! Guards! - by Terry Pratchett

    Reviewed by EK on 2/13/2004

    Guards! Guards! is dedicated to all the good men who rush in mindlessly & get killed by the hero one by one.  I learned many useful things in this book: Always equip your dungeon with rations & a way out.  Don’t shake a swamp dragon.  And never call a sentient orangutan a monkey.

    This novel also reveals the secret to why all libraries & bookstores have a mysterious, other-worldly feel. Even clean, spacious, corporate bookchains run to clutter & have corners that don’t feel quite connected to reality, so it must be true.  Viva L-Space!

    EK's Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

 

The Haunted Air - by F. Paul Wilson.
    Reviewed by Juan Pescados on 4/22/2004
    Vigilante Repairman Jack is hired on to help some fraudster psychics in a turf battle with other fake clairvoyants.  Meanwhile,  the ghost of a child sacrificed by evil cultists appears in a basement and attempts to kill Jack's girlfriend and unborn child.   No, really,  that was the plot.  It is spiced up with random profanity,  and some rather tasteless violence and gore.   It was a decent thriller if your interested in the whole fork in the eye, stabbed in the groin, buried alive, drowned in blood sort of thing.   I myself am not much of a fan.
    At first I rather enjoyed the book.  The characters were interesting and I liked the expose' on how psychics work their "magic".  But the whole Vigilante thing got on my nerves, after while.   Maybe I just read to many Punisher comics as a kid, but Repairman Jack, just seemed a bit silly.   And the relationships between him and almost all the other characters seemed highly unlikely.   I know it's fiction and thus anything can happen,  but the unlikely events need to be for entertainment not plot advancement.  After my annoyance reached a high enough level I pretty much skimmed the last part of the book where the story came to a gory and predictable ending.
    Anyway, this book was given 5 out of 5 stars on Amazon by the number 1 rated book reviewer.  She is some sort of speed reader who has rated more than 7000 books.  I  am not a speed reader so this book wasted a lot more of my time than hers.   It would have made a really great X-Files episode,  but it was not a very good book.   In conclusion I highly recommend you don't bother with The Haunted Air.  

    There are too many great books (Life of Pi) out there to be reading this kind of thing.

   Juan's Rating:  1 out of 5 Stars.

 

Holes by Louis Sachar

    Reviewed by GMAK on 2/16/2004

    Holes, by Louis Sachar, is another enthralling book written for young people but thoroughly enjoyable for adults, too.

    I was a little skeptical of this one but it was highly recommended by my two sons and I’m glad I took two evenings to read it.  It is a humorous and entertaining little adventure of crime and punishment.

    Camp Green Lake is a detention camp for bad boys.  There is no lake, it’s far from green, and unusual things are going on.  The boys must spend every day digging large holes in the ground of a dried up lakebed.  Finally it becomes apparent that this digging is not just to build character but is the Warden’s search for something mysterious.

    Stanley Yelnats IV believes his family’s hard luck is because of a curse his great-great-grandfather received from a gypsy for stealing a pig. Stanley’s great grandfather did make a fortune, but it was stolen by outlaw Kissin’ Kate Barolw in a stage coach robbery. Throughout the story there are flashbacks in time to 100 years before.

    Campers Stanley and Zero are tied together by the crimes they supposedly have committed and also by a surprising revelation that comes at the end of the book. (Don’t read ahead, now.)  As the story progresses we encounter deadly yellow-spotted lizards, a foot odor cure called Sploosh, Sam the Onion Man: “eat onions every day,” 100 year old jars of peaches that keep two boys alive, rattle snake venom nail polish, Big Thumb Mountain … and more onions.

    GMAK’s rating: 3.5 out of 5

 

I, Robot - By Isaac Asimov

    Reviewed by Juan Pescados on 6/25/2004

    Will Smith fighting Robots and probably rapping about after words really appeals to me. And because my Peer to Peer software does not want to cooperate and give me an early peek at “I Robot” the movie, I had to re-reading the book. Yes, I have read it before, probably sometime in the late 80’s so it’s not very surprising that I didn’t remember it.
    Isaac Asimov (the five hundred pound Gorilla of Science Fiction) wrote “I Robot” about 60 years ago. For a Shakespearean romance that’s not very long, but when it comes to technology 60 years was eons ago. Of course, he only wrote parts of it in the 1940s because I Robot is actually a collection of short stories the last of which was written in 1970. Anyway, most of the stories were okay, but all in all I found them a little disappointing.
    You will get this again in the movie, but Asimov was really, really excited about his Three Fundamental Rules of Robotics:

• A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

• A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

• A robot must protect its own existence as long as such it does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

    Did you know that Asimov invented the word “robotics”? Cool huh. So, every one of the short stories involves robots seemingly to misbehave but in fact they are just obeying the above laws in mysterious ways. None of the stories ever involve any detectives or cool, one line spewing, black guys. Most of the time they are about a robot psychologist named Susan Calvin which is kind of cool because it reminds me of Calvin and Hobbes. Sorry, I am getting distracted here.
    Anyway, the stories are quit dated as far as the language goes. Instead of transistors or microchips the robots use vacuum cells and have positronic brains. Also, U.S. Robot and Mechanical Men, Inc. the company responsible for making all of the robots gets founded in the far distant future, the year 1982. So here it is 2004 and I still don’t have any robot slaves!
    One thing that is slightly annoying is the perfection of Asimov’s robots. They are always right. They never make mistakes. They are always physically, mentally, and morally better then us poor flesh and blood folk. And they lack the cute Pinocchio urges of Data from Star Trek. You can really tell that Asimov grew up in the Modernist era where science and technology were going to rescue us from all our vices. As opposed to the Postmodern view that technology will destroy us. I guess we are passed that now too and technology just makes it so I can download stuff. Or not.
    In closing, I’d like to say if your interested in classic sci fi from the 40’s go ahead and read “I robot”. It’s pretty okay. I would recommend that you just go watch Will Smith instead. It probably will be nothing like the short stories, but that could be a good thing.

    Juan's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

 

The Ice Limit - by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

    Reviewed by DJ on 5/12/2004

    Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are two excellent writers who have teamed up several times in the past to bring us such gripping page turners as Riptide and The Relic, as well as such disappointments as Reliquary and Still Life with Crows.  As much as I wanted The Ice Limit to belong to the former group, it unfortunately must fall with the latter.

    The story is plausible enough, at least by adventure/sci-fi standards: a wandering scientist discovers a huge meteor just below the surface of a small island off the coast of South America.  News travels despite the scientist's unfortunate demise, and soon a rich businessman decides that he must have the rock for this museum, at all costs.  Throw in an alcoholic, female sea captain, a deranged, vengeful military man and the demised scientist's psychologically disturbed ex-partner as your protagonist and you've got yourself a story.

    While well written, entertaining and intellectually stimulating in the manor of Crichton or Brown, The Ice Limit seems to be heavy on buildup and light on actual action.  The central issue, the primary mystery of the novel is the question, "What is this rock, really?"  But instead of investigation and delivery of information on the central theme, Preston and Child repeatedly return to the process of moving the rock and the hassle of the local military authorities.  I found myself skimming whole chapters, searching for a clue that they were going to return to the meteor itself, to move the plot along.

    I'll admit it: I'm a big fan of Preston and Child.  They write interesting stories with believable characters in outrageous circumstances.  They (usually) provide good pacing, excellent action and more than a little subject knowledge.  However, on The Ice Limit, they seem to have missed the boat.

    Looking for a quick, page-turning, scientific thriller?  Pick up Riptide instead.

    DJ's Rating:  2.5 out of 5 Stars.

 

In Camelot’s Shadow - by Sarah Zettel

    Reviewed by EK on 7/22/2004

    The only character borrowed more often than Queen Elizabeth for a work of fiction is King Arthur, not to mention his over-used entourage, so I didn’t think much of this title,  Plus the cover art depicted a lady with flowing red hair shooting an arrow.  Why would I pick this book up at all?   

    Because the last time I read a very typical-looking fantasy novel by Sarah Zettel, I was pleasantly surprised.  I wasn’t disappointed this time either.  In spite of the title, Guinevere is not the archer heroine but a lady called Risa, who, while red-haired, is pleasantly complex: intelligent, while still medieval; courageous, but not Xena Warrior Princess.  Rather than the usual Lancelot (that jerk is just a satellite character), she plays opposite Sir Gawain.  How many novels have you read about Gawain?  (No, really, I’d like to read more if they’re out there.)     

    Until now I hadn’t read anything about Gawain since college.  He was in the tales of the Round Table headed “Sir Gawain & the Green Knight” & “Sir Gawain & Lady Ragnelle.”  In “Camelot’s Shadow” these two classic stories are nicely combined together.  The author affixes some innovations that Chaucer never thought of— the evil necromancer plotting to overthrow Byzantium comes to mind—but I thought this added freshness to the old Arthurian recipe.

    Although it is somewhat modernized, the focus for the Lady & her Knight is their struggle to uphold the honor of family & King.  I admire the author for pulling off such an effective story about a largely extinct ideal.  All elements of the novel are also feminized, of course, but not obnoxiously so, as in, for example, a recent Hollywood movie featuring Guinevere in a leather go-go suit.  If you’re not a stickler for Arthur legends, you will probably find In Camelot’s Shadow well-written & entertaining.

    EK's Rating: 3 & ½ stars.

 

The Last Juror - By John Grisham

    Reviewed by DJ on 8/31/2004

    John Grisham reminds me a little bit of Emmit Smith.  Rookie of the year (with The Firm) and a long string of extremely successful seasons (The Client, The Pelican Brief, A Time to Kill, etc.) and then a few average seasons where he coasted on his reputation (The Brethren, The Testament, The King of Torts) finally followed by a few less-than stellar years (Bleachers, Skipping Christmas, A Painted House.)

    Now, I don't want to take this analogy too far:  The Last Juror doesn't equal the embarrassing waste of a season that Emmit had with the Arizona Cardinals last year, but I fear that if this trend continues, Grisham could be on that path before long.

    I actually liked Juror, it had an interesting idea and a quick pace, but it didn't pack that same emotional shock that was the trademark of Grisham's early work.  In all honesty, I probably liked it even more than I should have, because I identified with the hero, an entrepreneurial young journalist who decided to save a floundering small county newspaper and make it work.

    Preachy and heavy-handed, Grisham doles out his morality play about racial and sexual inequality in the 1970's deep south, wrapped around a less-than compelling murder "Mystery" that doesn't quite work.  I don't want to give anything away, but the big twist at the end was that the person I thought was guilty all along actually was.  Wow.

    It's fine for summer fare, but if you're looking for the next gripping legal thriller, try Brad Meltzer, Scott Turrow or John Sandford instead.  Or just skip it all and re-read The Firm, and remember Grisham (and Emmit) in his prime.

    DJ's Rating:  2.5 out of 5 Stars.

 

The Last Promise - Richard Paul Evans, 2002

    Reviewed by GMAK on 8/11/2004

    The Last Promise is the seventh novel written by Richard Paul Evans. He is best known for The Christmas Box, Timepiece, The Letter, & The Locket.  This novel was another love story in his style but not quite as good as the previous books since the plot was somewhat predictable.

    A young American woman goes to Italy to study and falls in love and marries a wealthy Italian Vineyard owner. Eliana soon finds herself trapped in a lifeless marriage with a controlling, unfaithful husband who has little interest in her or their little boy.  Eliana can’t leave Italy and return to America because her husband won’t allow the child to leave with her. Little Alessio has asthma and must make frequent trips to the emergency room.  When an American moves in to rent an apartment in their villa, Eliana and Alessio’s lives take on new meaning and hope. However, Ross has a dark past of his own. Their lives move through joy and sorrow in search of true love.

    GMAK's Rating: 3 out of 5

 

Legend - by David Gemmel

    Reviewed by DJ on 5/20/04

    Despite appearances, I'm not really a Fantasy Geek.  You know the type: Long-haired, Tolkien-spewing, Renaissance-fair-attending Robert Jordan aficionados that make their own chain mail, brag about their +2 Magic Shields and argue over the conjugation of Klingon verbs. 

    I'm a geek, but I'm not that far gone.

    Some of you may know The Earl, a friend of mine from Spud Country who IS that guy.  He and his lovely wife and their ferret stayed with us for a few months several years ago, along with his considerable fantasy paperback collection.  When asked which of the many volumes was his favorite, Earl grabbed a battered and torn book and held it out to me with no hesitation.  "Tolkien only wishes he could write battle scenes like this guy," he said, a twinkle in his eye, "I've read it twelve times."

    That night I started Legend and read the entire book, beginning to end, finishing about an hour before breakfast.  I was amazed, and vowed to read the rest of the series.

    Time passed, and I never did get around to reading any other work by David Gemmel.  Then, in 3rd Place Books the other day, I saw a copy of Legend on the shelf and decided to pick it up again.  It was just as good the second time around, and this time I think that I really WILL read the series, despite the lingering possibility of becoming a Fantasy Geek.

    The story is simple enough: There's this place where one group of people hates another group.  The guys from the North decide to invade the guys from the South, so they muster this huge army and prepare to cross the mountain range that separates the races.  The only way through is this huge fortress with this huge wall that bars the most logical mountain pass.  So the dramatically undermanned good guys from the South are defending this castle/fortress/wall and the Baddies from the North are attacking it.  Battle is raging by page 50 and continues, non-stop, for 300+ pages.  One large battle. 

    Oh, yeah, and there's this really old guy who fought a similar battle many years before - the "Legend" of the title - and he shows up to help the defenders but is convinced he's going to die in the defense of the wall.

    Great action sequences, great descriptions of troop movements and discussion of how to attack and/or defend such a castle with medieval-style weaponry.

    Fun, fast, engaging and bloody.  I recommend it, if you're into that sort of thing.

    DJ's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

 

Life of Pi - by Yann Martel
    Reviewed by Juan Pescados on 4/13/2004
    This book was so interesting. And not interesting in a way that would describe peanut butter and cheese sandwiches. Fascinating is probably a better word for it.

    Anyway, Life of Pi is the story of (excuse all the adjectives I will now string together) a teenage, Hindu, Christian, Islamic, Indian, zookeeper's son named Pi. The story is fairly simple. Pi gets shipwrecked in the pacific ocean and ends up in a life boat. The life boat also contains an orangutan, a hyena, a zebra, and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

    Very quickly the only two characters remaining are Pi and Richard Parker. The story of Pi's survival in the pacific ocean for 227 days is both amazing and fascinating. The ideas expressed about faith and fear were thought provoking. I laughed multiple times reading this book. I think I cried once but it was because I get emotionally vulnerable after 2:00 a.m.

    Anyway this book was GREAT. You need to read it and then you will want other people to read it so you can talk to them about it.
    Juan's Rating: 5 out of 5

    Also reviewed by DJ on 4/16/2004

    I was near the midpoint of reading Life of Pi myself when I received Juan's review, and my first reaction was, "Damn! I wanted to be the one who told people how great this book is!" 

    Well, now that I've finished it, I want to share with you that this book is indeed all that Juan said it was, and more.  I've been on a string of good luck lately when it comes to literature, and Life of Pi was no exception.  It is a beautiful, thought-provoking, entirely original tale unlike any other I've ever read.

     The general plot is this:  Pi, a multi-theological zoologist's son from India, is traveling along with his family and the entire population of his father's zoo, to Canada on an old cargo ship.  The ship sinks, and Pi finds himself on a 26-foot lifeboat along with an injured Zebra, a seasick Orangutan, a surly hyena and a 400-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.  His 226-day adventure is an amazing story that would hold anyone's attention.

     However, what surprised me about the book was not his time in the raft, but the amount of time devoted to describing his life before taking the voyage, and his search for meaning through his various religious studies and conversions.  His zookeeping background merge with his Hindu, Muslim and Christian attitudes to create a sort of New-Age, all-encompassing naturalist theology which serves him well on the raft.  What else can he do during the long months of monotony than meditate and try to commune with Richard Parker?

     Another unexpected surprise was the blindsided detour that happens near the end of the book that takes the reader from polytheistic journey to oceanic circus to… Freudian symbology?  I don't want to give too much away, you really have to read Life of Pi for yourself to experience the full beauty of it, but I feel like I should drop everything and immediately re-read the book with the revelations of the final 50 pages in mind.

     A truly excellent book.  Life of Pi will be studied in high school literature courses as an example of great literature for years to come.  Read this book, but be prepared: It is not always what it seems.

    DJ's Rating:  5 out of 5 Stars.

    Also reviewed by UtilityGoddess on 5/11/2004

    This is not a book I would have picked up on my own had it not been for the glowing reviews written by Juan Pescados and DJ.  My literary tastes are fairly plebian and I tend avoid books that win awards because, in my estimation, they are frequently depressing.

    Although Life of Pi has won the Booker Prize and Canada’s Hugh McLennan Prize for Fiction, don’t let that dissuade you. Incorporating religious, coming-of-age and survival of the fittest themes, this castaway story is both inspiring and captivating. You can’t help but root for the earnest 16 year-old Pi, whose epic voyage across the Pacific is a testament to faith and sheer grit. It is Lord of the Flies meets Jungle Book but with a wicked, mind-boggling ending that makes you rethink the previous 250 pages.

    I found this book so thought provoking that I’ve already recommended it to others. Isn’t that the ultimate compliment one can give a book?
    UG's Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

 

Lost in a Good Book - By Jasper Fforde

    Reviewed by DJ on 1/23/2004

    Ever notice that the second book or movie in a trilogy or series tends to be the weak one?     

    (And No, I'm not talking about my sisters)

    Whenever a popular author introduces a great new book and then continues with a series that follows it, the second book proves to be more challenging than the first.  This is partially due to the fact that the story itself needs to grab the reader's attention, not the introduction of new characters and circumstances.

    In Ffordes' great 1st book, The Eyre Affair, I was instantly impressed by the strange and wonderful world that these interesting characters lived in, and my interest in the detective story was heightened because of it.  With Lost, Fforde loses a little of his steam, but still pulls of an interesting, mind-bending, action-packed, comedy/science fiction/ detective story that's definitely worth your time.

    The story bogs down a bit in the second act, with Fforde thrusting his heroine, Thursday Next, into what appear to be a random series of events selected for their individual comedic value rather than their necessity for driving the plot.  For example, a single chapter that is devoted to pairing Thursday up with a popular Vampire-hunting character from the first book did little to add to the story and seemed intended to remind us that Stoker (one of many witty literary references scattered through Fforde's character names) still exists.  Then when the chapter is over, Stoker is gone and the story continues.

    Not as much a page-turner as Eyre, the witty dialogue and fantastic situations make Lost worthy of a quick weekend read, despite the fact that the major dramatic tension is never really resolved and, much like The Empire Strikes Back, we are left with what is obviously a cliffhanger for book 3 in the series, The Well of Lost Plots.

    DJ's Rating:  3 out of 5 Stars.

 

Magic Time  - by Marc Scott Zicree and Barbara Hambly

     Reviewed by EK on 4/13/2004

    I can’t resist an apocalyptic theme.  The book Magic Time is unique, in that the disaster that falls is not nuclear war or the ice caps melting—the power just goes out.  That is, everything which runs on electricity or combustion stops and never comes back on again.  What would happen if all of our electric-powered devices were suddenly useless? 

     This actually worries me now.  Without simple electricity, the whole concept of a modern metropolis crumbles.  No refrigeration; no mass transport of food from the ground where it grows to the cities.  I think I know maybe two people who have the means of survival within walking distance of their homes.  The rest of us, especially me, would be toast.  The riots and fatalities depicted in the book are all too logical. 

     Although the loss of technology is the most interesting part to me, the plot proceeds to strange diseases and metamorphoses of a supernatural nature.  If you are into fantasy books, you’ll like this stuff too.  The only vaguely annoying part is that Magic Time is part one of… two?  three?  I don’t really know.  The sequel is on its way to me in the library system.  I’m concerned that this will become another series that goes on and on without conclusion, and we certainly don’t need another one of those.

     I look forward to reading more about primitive domestic issues.  In the meantime, I’m planting vegetables in the back yard and wondering if I have sufficient property on which to raise chickens.  I think they still sell food dehydrators on QVC...

    EK's Rating:  Not Rated.

 

Magic Time:  Angel Fire - By Marc Scott Zicree and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff

    Reviewed by Juan Pescados on 4/14/2004

    At about the 5th chapter of this book I started to get the feeling that I had made a mistake.

Yep,  I was reading book two without having read book one!

     I was quite angry with myself, but I found the book so interesting that I couldn't stop! I was forced via excellent pacing and cool storyline to read about characters whom I had met in mid adventure!  

     It was horrible!   It was great!  

     Anyway, EK's review of book one pretty much matches how I feel about book two: The world that the characters are living in is creepy and yet lends itself to some very good day dreaming. What if all computers just stopped working? What if there was no electricity?  No cars?  No Television? And better yet, what if random people were suddenly imbued with strange and mysterious powers?  

     Well, the answers are in this book!  Also in the book are some really cool characters.  

     The combination of a doctor, a lawyer, a cow girl, and a crazy homeless person make for some fun dialog and neat relationships. The romance was nice too.  

     So the characters are on a quest to find another character that disappeared in book one. Creepy stuff happens to them. Various characters allude to Stephen King and his novels to express said creepiness. They have a cool adventure that does not result in the end of their quest, but does a nice job of getting the reader ready to read book three, whenever they get around to writing it.  

     Magic Time: Angel Fire is no literary classic.  The book feels a little like season two of a cult television show on the WB. But I still liked it, and it is nice to know that stupid producers can't cancel it before its time.  

     Also I really liked the cover.

     Juan's Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars.

 

Mansfield Park - By Jane Austen

    Reviewed by Querido on 1/12/2004

    I have heard Jane Austen criticized for being too trite, with not enough angst.  All of her stories have happy endings and she doesn't address the political concerns of her day.  Perhaps this is true, but it doesn't lessen her genius, or the pathos of some of her characters... notably Miss Fanny Price of Mansfield Park.
    Sir and Lady Bertram agree to take in their poor relation, 9-year old Fanny Price, at the advice of Lady Bertram's sister, Mrs. Norris.  Fanny is conveyed a hundred miles from her siblings and parents to live in an attic bedroom of the great manor at Mansfield Park, to grow up in the shadow of her cousins, harassed and harangued by her aunt Norris, put upon by her aunt Bertram, and intimidated by her uncle.  Only one friend does Fanny find in her new home: her cousin Edmund.  In such a home, we would expect timid, frail Fanny to grow up with some resentment and bitterness, and yet somehow this doesn't happen.  Fanny is everything good: patient, forbearing, mild-tempered, with not an ill word to say of anyone.
    One wouldn't expect to get far in the world with such a disposition, and of all people, Fanny expects the least. Living a life of quiet servitude is the most Fanny expects from life, and it is with an unpleasant shock that she begins to see change at Mansfield Park.  It is with even greater distress and displeasure that she finds herself caught up in events, and she has to decide if she will submit to circumstance or cling to her principles. It is an uphill battle for gentle Fanny, as unaccustomed as she is to standing against the will of anyone in authority over her.
    It is a testament to Jane Austen's giftedness that she could write a character like Fanny Price, who is in habit, temperament and health so opposite of Ms. Austen herself.  I give Mansfield Park 4 out of 5 stars, for keen insight, intelligent language, and original characters, subtracting the one star only because I wasn't entirely happy about the fate of one or two of the characters.

    Querido's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

 

The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary

    Reviewed by EK on 3/10/2004

    In high school, my favorite teacher was an admirer of the OED, so I was too.  I read this book to find out why.  It was gratifying to read that the OED lives up to its reputation for being the most accurate & most comprehensive dictionary of English ever compiled. 

    The work of collecting every word (or close to every word) took more than 50 years & a lot more money than anybody thought possible.  It could be worse, as this book pointed out.  A comprehensive Norwegian dictionary was begun at roughly the same time as the OED, but wasn’t finished until 1998—more than 100 years! 

    A comprehensive dictionary of Swedish is currently bogged down in words that begin with “S.” 

It was interesting to contemplate a time when there was no English dictionary, as such—compilations of words for the clarification of spelling & definition began as kind of a fad in the mid nineteenth century.  The sort of people who indulged in such compilation had the sort of education that makes me feel like a kindergartener in comparison: well-educated people in the Victorian era were truly, exhaustively well-educated.  Boys were taught Latin, Greek & the Romantic languages as a matter of course.  Those considered above average mastered Sanskrit & Chinese.  People who worked on the OED had, often by virtue of their readings in other languages, dizzying knowledge of history, geography, the sciences, & mathematics.  Perusal of the OED is an education in itself.  

    If anyone feels like contributing the OED to mcblah.com it would be an invaluable asset.  The 20-volume set of the current edition is only about $1000.  But if I can’t have the dictionary itself, at least I know a lot about how it was put together, thanks to The Meaning of Everything.  I feel smarter already.

    EK's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

 

Midnight and The Taking - By Dean Koontz

    Reviewed by DJ on 8/6/2004

    If you have read this site for any time at all, you know that I am a die-hard, brainwashed, wacko, heretic Stephen King fan, and have been since I first read his short stories while waiting in the living room of my sister's piano teacher back in junior high school.  That said, I don't really consider myself a horror fan, per se, although I have enjoyed the occasional H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe or, the penultimate horror publishing success, Dean Koontz.

    Like many other unsuspecting literature purchasers, I first stumbled across Dean Koontz's work while browsing my local Borders for Stephen King's books which lived next door on the alphabetical shelf.  Thinking I had discovered an unread work by the Master, I selected Koontz's Seize the Night, a truly great horror/sci-fi story about a man with a rare skin disease (he's deathly allergic to sunlight) who discovers a vast conspiracy of time-traveling evil things behind the mysterious death of his peaceful Californian parents.  By the time I discovered that it wasn't King after all, I had already finished the book and was eagerly awaiting the sequel.  Since that time I have occasionally dabbled in Koontz's books with widely varying results.

    Midnight is a typical Koontz book:  A community of peaceful Californians is threatened by a vast conspiracy of evil scientists who use technology to "Evolve" the locals into sinister wolf-like forms in an attempt to take over the world.

     The Taking is a completely different Koontz book:  A community of peaceful Californians is threatened by a vast conspiracy of evil aliens who use magic-like technology to terrify the locals in a quasi-religious attempt to destroy the world.

    While I enjoyed them both... kinda... Koontz's penchant for flowery prose in his description of hideous (and frequently slimy) evil things gets a little old after a while.  While he paints a colorful picture and certainly has a unique imagination, his heroes are often unrealistically noble and his baddies are frequently over-the-top shaggy dogs that barge onto the scene  in the first act with all the subtlety of, well, evil, invading aliens, and dominate the stories from very early on. 

    Koontz is a very capable writer, easily injecting mostly-believable characters into absolutely insane situations with a unique, page-turning style.  While the reader's suspension of disbelief may take a bit of effort and Koontz will never be the amazing storyteller that King is, his books make for quick and fun summer reads.

    Strangely enough, just as I was finishing The Taking, another Koontz book caught my eye, Odd Thomas, a story of a peaceful Californian who is threatened by a vast conspiracy of dead people who use quasi-religious magic to force Odd to help them make the world a better place.

    It should be fun.

    DJ's Rating: 

    Midnight: 2.5 out of 5 Stars.

    The Taking:  3 out of 5 Stars.

 

Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee

    Reviewed by EK on 6/14/2004

    I found this book in the church lost-&-found on a day when I

was assigned to watch the babies in the nursery & we had arrived an hour early. I was happy to get my hands on any work of fiction, even one written at a 5th-grade level.
    For all of us out there who have practiced laughing in the mirror, memorized jokes & otherwise tried to study for social interaction, here is Millicent-- an eleven-year-old girl just finishing her junior year in high school. I immediately related to Millicent as she puzzled over the lack of anyone wanting her signature in their yearbook. This book definitely resonates with nerd readers.
    The nice thing about this book is the distinct lack of addictive substances, sexual indiscretions or violent crimes. Millicent's most pressing problem is that her parents have signed her up for a volleyball team. Once again, the nerds will feel the deepest sympathy for poor Mil. We watch her deal with friendships, embarrassment, & the fact that her mom seems to have a wasting disease-- she is suddenly tired & nauseas all the time. A cheerful ending is also a nice change from adult bestsellers.
    If you are 9 years old, I give this 4 stars.

 

Monkeewrench by P.J. Tracy

    Reviewed by UtilityGoddess on 5/27/2004

    An odd (but very mysterious) bunch of techies at a software company called Monkeewrench create a computer game where the killer is always caught, where the good guys always win. But their game ceases to be a fun when a serial killer starts duplicating the fictional murders in real life, down to the last detail. Trying to prevent additional victims, a Wisconsin sheriff, two Minneapolis cops, and the game's creators set out to stop the murders. I couldn't put down this suspenseful thriller and thoroughly enjoyed its intelligent characters, quick pace and surprise ending.
    UtilityGoddess' Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

 

Mrs. Dunwoody's Excellent Instructions for Homekeeping - by Miriam Lukken
    Reviewed by EK on 2/2/2004

    Mrs. Dunwoody is an imaginary Southern gentlewoman invented from household books and notes preserved from the mid- to late nineteenth century.  There are some useful tips, and I'm always looking for tips, including recipes for household cleaners and how to discourage mice.  I was also interested in the pieces about old time Southern manners and "ladylike" behavior.

    A lot of the advice, however, might have come straight from a modern women's magazine.  If the book were less "doctored," it might be easier to swallow, but the parts about dealing with servants and other lower classes have been conspicuously left out, and the marriage advice steers clear of anything like wifely submission. 

    Mrs. Dunwoody is inauthentic, and therefore inoffensive and politically correct.  I find P.C. to be bland.  Mostly Mrs. Dunwoody piqued my interest in finding and reading authentic nineteenth century household advice, such as Godey's Lady's Book.
    Maybe I'll get around to it after several years of sitting on my couch and eating pork rinds.
    EK's Rating:  2 1/2 out of 5 Stars.

 

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin

    Reviewed by EK on 6/14/2004

    Just finished The Nanny Diaries-- about 3 years after everyone else read it.

    Oh.  My.  God.
    I am a fantastic mother. I mean, I am June Cleaver & Donna Reed & Queen Victoria next to the mom in this book. (Yes, it's fiction. It's also based on actual experiences by the authors, both former child-care providers.) My messy house is a GOOD sign, because it means that I don't confine my children to their rooms in order that all my possessions look perfectly brand new forever & ever amen. I'm not so busy making sure that my child gets into the right kindergarten that I don't have a moment to dress said child & feed him breakfast. The parents in this book (& there was a father, just barely) truly believed that, if you buy everything for your child, it is perfectly acceptable to hire someone else to love him.
    Oh, & fire that someone at the drop of a hat. & hire someone else.

It's the nanny's job to touch the child, so that the mom doesn't have to!!

    Evil Evil Evil
    I am a really fabulous, absolutely selfless mom. & so are you.

 

No Biting! by Karen Katz

    Reviewed by Querido on 2/6/2004

    No Biting! is a 'lift the flap' book.   Open the cover to see

the words "No biting your friends!" in bold letters alongside a cleverly drawn picture of a little girl in the process of nibbling on another girl's finger, while clamping
her victims arm tightly to her side.  At the bottom of the picture, it reads "What can you bite?"  Lift the flap to find the word "Apples!" over a picture of the previously feuding children happily munching bright red apples.

    My child isn't much for being read to... to much sitting and not being in
control of the pages.  So at first we were concerned that The Boy would read the book, not realize that the first pictures he saw were what NOT to do, and then feel free to bite, hit, push, kick and spit on us, all the behaviors to which the book provides alternatives.  So right away, I sat down with The Boy and pointed to each 'bad' picture and said "OH NO!" in my most emphatic tones. 

    Now he opens the pages and points at the naughty children and cries out "OH NO!" Then he opens the flap to see the good children and I tell him what they're doing and why it's such a great thing.

    I found "No Biting!" very entertaining, without too many words to bog down my child's active nature.
    Querido’s rating: 5 out of 5 Stars!

 

Now You See Her - By Whitney Otto

    Reviewed by EK on 2/5/2004

I really should not have read this book in conjunction with the new book by Dr. Laura. Now You See Her is whimsical and I guess provocative, but I was in the wrong mood. Here are the highlights that I picked up:
1.    American women over the age of 40 are invisible.

2.    Men love idealized women, not real women.
3.    Male artists unfairly equate women with the inconstant moon.
4.    Women efface themselves for other people, especially

        boyfriends/husbands.
5.    The roles of Wife & Mother aren't enough to make a woman happy.
6.    It is inadvisable to be the lover of a married man.
7.    In order to find fulfillment and "visibility," an American woman must

        move to France.

    Well at least I agree with number 6.
   EK's Rating:  2 out of 5 Stars.

 

Now You See Me - Tina Wainscott, 2002 

     Reviewed by GMAK on 8/12/2004

    A young girl, Phaedra, is lured into a back room by a Santa Claus and kidnapped from a shopping mall five days before Christmas. As the kidnapping is taking place a blind woman, Olivia, “sees” this happening through a psychic connection. As the story unfolds we learn that Olivia had also been kidnapped 16 years ago to the day, under the same exact circumstances. She managed to escape but the trauma of Olivia’s time “in the cage” caused her to become blind but with a psychic power to see certain events in other peoples lives. When Phaedra is captured, Olivia desperately tries to get the police to go look for her and her captor, but they think she is just a crazy woman and most likely not even blind.

    Olivia is finally befriended by one understanding cop as they struggle together to get the information needed to find Phaedra before her scheduled death on Christmas night. Olivia must relive the nightmare of her youth. Along the way there are surprising turns; it appears that someone is trying to harm Olivia. Could the kidnapper be someone actually involved in the case or even someone who was supposed to be dead?

    If you like to get lost in a mystery, this is a page-turner for you.

    GMAK's Rating:  3 out of 5 Stars.

 

Odd Thomas - By Dean Koontz, 2004

    Reviewed by DJ on 8/17/2004

    Imagine you are the 20-year-old only child of the world's most dysfunctional family, with a suicidal, psychopathic mother who wished you were dead from the moment you were conceived and a narcissistic pedophile of a father who's currently dating someone five years younger than yourself.  Together they made you, gave you the first name "Odd" and promptly abandoned you to your grandmother, an alcoholic professional poker player, for your upbringing.  (Keep in mind that this book is essentially a comedy.)

    Continue to imagine that you are Odd, a fry cook who has big dreams of someday becoming a tire salesman.  You are afraid to leave the only town you've ever known, a tiny, peaceful blast furnace of California desert, and that dead people that only you can see are constantly demanding that you to avenge them. 

    People like the recently-deceased girlfriend of your childhood buddy, who turns out to be the murderer.   People like a drowned salesman who jokingly uses his own severed arm as a back scratcher.  People like deranged killers and innocent victims, the old and the young. 

    And Elvis.

    As horrifying as this situation sounds, it is nothing compared to the most sinister manifestation of evil the literary world has ever known:  the Dean Koontz Metaphor!

    Hide the children, for the Metaphor Cometh:

    "The brilliant Mojave day burned at wide-hot ferocity.  The air itself seemed to be on fire, as if the sun - by speed of light, less than eight and a half minutes from Earth - had gone nova eight minutes ago, giving us nothing more than this dazzling glare as a short warning of our impending bright death."

    And...

    "When I switched off the engine and got out of the car, the fiery sun was both a hammer and an anvil, forging the world between itself and its reflection."

    Sometimes it seems Mr. Koontz creates his stories as merely a vehicle for doling out his endless, verbose turns of phrase.   In much the same way, I often think scrambled eggs exist only as a vehicle for the enormous amounts of salt I put on them.

    But I digress.

    Odd Thomas was fun, if a bit too long, and written in an odd, past-tense, confessional style, with Odd recounting the events at the insistence of his former high school English teacher, a 400-pound writer of bulimic detective stories who has vowed to sit on Odd if he does not commit his story to paper.

    A funny idea taken a bit too far, Odd is a character worth bringing back in a series of books.  Unfortunately, I'm sure that Mr. Koontz would insist on writing those stories himself, which would, of course, defeat the purpose.

    DJ's Rating:  2 out of 5 Stars.

 

On Fortune's Wheel - By Cynthia Voigt

    Reviewed by EK on 1/29/2004

    The section called "Young Adult" in the library & in bookstores puzzles me.  Why are books put into this section?  Are they shorter than "grown-up" books?  Not really.  Are they, perhaps, less graphic or violent books than the rest of the selection?  Not that I can see.  In fact, there are noticeably more vampire novels in "YA" than other places.  I don't really get the categorization, but I've decided to read more books from this section because Cynthia Voigt's books are there. 

    On Fortune's Wheel by Cynthia Voigt is set in an imaginary medieval world, but it is not, as such, a "fantasy" story.  The life of 14-year-old Birle is very down-to-earth.  Her family runs an inn, which is a lot of work, & her father has remarried since her mother's death, which leaves her feeling unloved.  You might expect that running away from servitude & family conflicts could only improve a young heroine's lot.  However, fortune is as likely to grind you down to something worse as to lift you up to something better.  We see Birle journey into both ecstasy & misery, & find out that the definition of "freedom" is entirely dependent on perspective.   

    Voigt's protagonist is young without being arrogant, & her story has the appeal of a Renaissance fairy tale without the soppiness typical of romances.  It engages both the pragmatist & the dreamer, which, in my case, are the same person.

    EK's Rating:  3 1/2 out of 5 Stars.

 

Obernewtyn - By Isobelle Carmody

    Reviewed by EK on 3/8/2004

    EK compares and contrasts the amusing similarities between

two fantasy novels, Obernewtyn and The China Garden in her piece:  2 Reviews by EK

 

On the Road - by Jack Kerouac
    Reviewed by AV8 on 6/25/2004
    On the Road is usually listed by reviewers and critics as a book that defines a generation – the “Beat” generation of the 1950’s.  I won’t argue that, but I see it as something more.
    The time is 1947, a couple of years after the end of World War II.  Sal Paradise, the novel’s protagonist, is a young veteran going to college on the GI Bill in the New York City area, living with his aunt to save money, and working hard to become a writer.  He has been overseas during the war, but has seen very little of his own country.
    He hears through friends of a person from out west who is coming to the big city.  This person is a young man who has almost no formal education, who in fact spent some of his teen years in reform school, but who, through some native high intelligence and special enlightenment, is reputed to be able to think freely and deeply and see things on a higher plane than most.
    Enter Dean Moriarity.  He arrives in the Big Apple with a spaced out girl friend, talks his way into living in someone else’s apartment, and soon dominates Sal Paradise’s life.  The girlfriend leaves, and Dean announces that he is ready to do some traveling.  Sal eagerly agrees to accompany him, telling himself that he needs to gain some “life experiences” if he wants to become a successful writer.
    What follows becomes a map-cap chronicle of drugs, sex, hitchhiking, and insane driving.  A lot of the driving is done in borrowed or rented cars, or in cars that are purchased with a low down payment, and monthly payments that are never made.  Several of the cars are reduced to junk by the outrageous driving, and then simply abandoned and left where they die.  Panhandling, stealing, and con games keep the two and their various short term friends in money to live a “crash where you can, eat what you can, when you can, but keep on partying, traveling and having adventures at all times” lifestyle.
    They cross and re-cross the United States more than once.  Dean gets married several times, not always getting divorced between marriages.  They travel to Mexico City with another friend and party hearty.  Then Sal comes down with dysentery – and Dean abandons him with strangers, broke and alone with a fever that has him barely lucid.  Dean borrows money – money that could be used for medicine and proper health care for his friend Sal – and flies back to the United States to his life of fun and adventure.

    Sal is left behind - like the cars that have been left along the road.
    We all have our own Dean Moriarity – the fast talking, pseudo intellectual who seems to know so much more than we do, and who is willing and eager to lead us down the path that supposedly leads to riches, or fame, or happiness, or Heaven, or perhaps all of the above.  We follow – and we wake up alone, sick, and abandoned, in a stranger’s home in a far away city.  The guru/vacuum cleaner salesman/self centered egotistical con artist has moved on to new fields, new territories, and new conquests, somewhere else “On the Road.”  The new friends are also gone, and we are left to rebuild our own life, alone and any way we can. And we think often of our false teacher, who is somewhere – somewhere, but not here.
    This book IS a classic.  Read it.  But beneath the covers and behind the hype, it may be something far different than you expect.

   

Oryx and Crake - by Margaret Atwood

    Reviewed by DJ on 4/15/2004

    I guess you could say that I'm an apocolyptophile - a junkie for all things doom-related.  Maybe it comes from my natural tendency towards escapism, or my melancholy nature that has me second-guessing every move I make and eternally yearning for the elusive "Second Chance."  Well, nothing allows a person to start over like a good global war or plague or Texas-sized rock blasting into the Pacific ocean at the speed of sound.

    But enough of that...

    Margaret Atwood isn't one of those authors that I would categorize as a favorite author, per se, but I have enjoyed a few of her books over the years; The Handmaid's Tale, for instance.  Also, I know that EK enjoyed The Blind Assassin. 

    With Oryx and Crake, she (Atwood, not EK) returned to the apocalyptic genre, introducing a world where humanity has nearly destroyed itself in the name of scientific progress.  We see this world through the eyes of Snowman, the lone remaining survivor who is slowly losing his mind as he negotiates his survival in this new world of pigoons (pigs genetically crossed with racoons) wolvogs (bloodthirsty wolves that look like common household dogs) and the "Children of Crake," an "improvement" on homo sapiens created by the same man who engineered the destruction of the human race.

    Snowman introduces us to this world through two parallel storylines in different times:  the present post-apocalyptic world and the world of his youth as he grows up with Crake, a boyhood friend and antisocial genius that Snowman can never quite equal.  Running through this strange life as the two boys navigate their way through corporate-sponsored high schools and into sponsor-funded universities is the enigmatic Oryx, a poor underprivileged girl sold by her parents into pornography that the boys see on the internet.  The strange relationship between the disturbed protagonist, the amoral genius and the girl with the unbroken spirit and the shifted viewpont serves as a human counterpoint to the stale, evil, corporate world that they live in.

    Interesting, slow at times, and thought provoking, Oryx and Crake was worth the time, but don't drop everything to pick it up.

    DJ's Rating:  3 out of 5 Stars.

 

Pattern Recognition - by William Gibson

    Reviewed by EK on 3/30/2004

    Souls wandering around the internet searching for connection happen upon mysterious snippets of movie footage so compelling that an entire culture of “footage” followers is born.  Among them is Cayce (pronounced “case”), a babe so smart and successful that she has virtually nothing to ground her at all. Yet, for most of the book, the world is so slick and cosmopolitan, I can’t help wanting her life. 

    Bloated corporations pay Cayce to tell them if their next trend-in-the-making will blast off or nose dive.  It’s not that she likes cutting-edge fashion; in fact, she goes to great lengths to wear only clothing that makes no statement at all, and she cuts all of the labels off.  How brilliant is that?  Unfortunately, I don’t think this level of cool can be achieved on a Wal-Mart budget.  Why is it that characters in really hip novels never buy their clothes off the racks next to the toaster ovens?

    Underworld connections… electronic isolation of being… flights to the Kremlin… sculpture made of antique computer components... corporate espionage: really fabulous stuff.  Toward the end, though, I was trying to read during a rushed part of the day and, what with the kids and the phone pulling my attention in several directions, I got sort of confused.  I’m sure that I missed even more than I think that I missed. 

    EK's Rating:  4½ out of 5 Stars.

 

A Perfect Day - By Richard Paul Evans

    Reviewed by GMAK on 1/14/2004

    If you enjoyed The Christmas Box, The Letter, or Timepiece by Richard Paul Evans this book will keep you turning the pages.  I don’t want you to know ahead of time if there is a surprise twist in the plot or an unexpected ending, but if you read the fly leaf for this book you’ll know.
    Robert loves writing and dreams to one day get a novel published.  When he is laid off from his job at a radio station his wife encourages him to take time out and give it a try.  After 25 rejection letters, and much self-doubt, his first book, A Perfect Day, becomes a Best Seller.  Life quickly begins to change and in the rise to fame a gulf grows between Robert and his family. 

    When he finds out he has only one month to live, Robert seriously examines his life and what he has lost – those who are more important to him than anything.
    GMAK's Rating: 4½ out of 5 stars

 

A Playdate With Death - By Ayelet Waldman

    Reviewed by EK on 1/23/2004

    I looked this up on kcls.org because the detective/protagonist spends most days at home with two small children.  I'm totally into an action heroine that knows about 3am feedings and diaper-changing. 

    In some ways, Playdate, which is the 3rd Mommy-Track Mystery, is typical of the genre.  Contradictory as it may seem,  a modern mystery is usually clever, witty, and incorporates a theme: cooking or poodles or chess, stuff like that.  I assumed that Waldman's shtick was motherhood, but it went a lot further than that.  Her main character is a Jewish-American and the victim whose apparent suicide she investigates is a former substance addict and adoptee. 

    I was thoroughly impressed with the author's ability to incorporate so much into a "mystery" novel.  It explains why her stuff is published in hardcover. 

    EK's Rating:  3½ out of 5 Stars.

 

The Pursuit of Alice Thrift  - by Elinor Lipman

    Reviewed by UtilityGoddess on 5/10/2004

    Alice Thrift, a frumpy surgical intern in a Boston hospital, is one of those incredibly bright people who have no social graces whatsoever.   Working a bazillion hours and lacking any sort of life outside work, Alice is wooed by Ray Russo, an unsuitable suitor who makes his living by selling fairground fudge.  Ray is inappropriate but persistent, and horrifies her friends and middle-class family.

    An imperfect heroine, Alice first comes off as an unsympathetic character, but the more she tries to deal with the world as a detached, clinical observer (and the more she fails), the more sympathetic she becomes.  Lucky for Alice, she has some good friends to give her an occasional push in the right direction as she tries to get a grip on her life. 

    The Pursuit of Alice Thrift has memorable characters and is witty, intelligent fiction.  The author lets readers know early on that her lovers will not end up happily every after -- at least not together, so don’t expect a traditional romantic ending.

    UG's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

 

The Queen’s Fool - by Philippa Gregory

    Reviewed by EK on 7/19/2004    

    Hannah Green is a fictional character who is brought to the court of the boy King Edward to be made the King’s Fool.  Those of you who know your history have already deduced that Henry VIII’s son dies early in the book & is succeeded by Mary Tudor, who is succeeded by Elizabeth, who settles down to rule for a good while, yadda yadda yadda. 

    Pardon me.  I guess I’ve read too many books about Queen Elizabeth.  In spite of this, The Queen’s Fool was able to hold my interest & proved entertaining.  While the story is primarily romantic, it revolves around Hannah’s People—Hannah & her father have spent a lifetime concealing their Jewish heritage while still trying to preserve its traditions.  England is their third home since losing Hannah’s mother to the terrible Inquisition in Spain.  Hannah has lived her life on a fragile scaffolding of lies: first disguised as a Catholic, then disguised as a boy, then disguised as an Anglican, & then, as commanded by the royals, disguised as a Fool while secretly spying for Lord Robert Dudley.

    Complicated, yes?  Well, if you like stories about the Tudors, you will probably like this.  There’s the usual speculation on Elizabeth’s moral character & the rotten, bloody clash between the Catholic Mary Tudor & the Protestant English citizens. 

    EK's Rating:  2 & ½ out of 5 Stars 

 

The Quilter’s Apprentice - by Jennifer Chiaverini

    Reviewed by EK on 5/18/2004

     Target audience for this novel & multiple sequels: conservative, married women who enjoy needlecrafts.  .  

     This book is really very sweet.  I recommend it if you like that sort of thing.

     EK's Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars

 

The R-Master - By Gordon R. Dickson

    Reviewed by DJ on 1/15/2004

    I love old-time, "Golden-Age" science fiction - Issac Asimov, L. Ron Hubbard, Robert Heinlein and the like.  My recent experience with Gordon R. Dickson's The R-Master (on recommendation from EK's brother) was, while not as enjoyable as reading Foundation for the first time, above average.

    Etter Ho is a wandering sailor floating care-free around a utopian, future vision of Earth.  When his brother has an unfortunate reaction to an intelligence-enhancing drug and attempts suicide, Etter sees that his only choice is to take the drug himself and rejoin the world, searching for a cure to his brother, who lays frozen in stasis.

    While I appreciate the premise (it seems like the idea of "Starting Over" or "Reinventing Yourself" is particularly suited to Fantasy and Science Fiction) and enjoyed the loose writing style, the narrative seemed to run out of steam approaching the climax.  The end result is a book that stimulates the reader's imagination but leaves him or her unsatisfied at the book's end.  Fun, but generally average. 
    DJ's Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

 

The Red Tent - By Anita Diamant

    Reviewed by EK on 1/15/2004

    When I was about 12, I was given a novel based on the life of Jacob and Joseph.  It followed the (Protestant Conservative) line of my Sunday School stories perfectly: Jacob was a hero, Rachel was his lifelong beloved, Leah was ugly and the purposes of the One God were carried out cleanly.  The Red Tent, by contrast, depicts an earthy, primitive existence that feels much more authentic, while knocking every Sunday School story upside-down.
    We see Joseph acknowledging many gods and goddesses -- which is logical, since the 10 Commandments were still far in the future.  There is a great deal of dust, a great deal of beer, and a great deal of blood.  Life stands upon the knife edge of death at every season, and human rhythms revolve around the most basic needs: food, clothing, protection from enemies.  A thousand superstitions and rites are born just from women's endless longing for babies who will live past childhood.  The gritty details lend color to the story much more real to life than my book as a kid.
    On the other hand, Leah is not ugly, Laban does not exact 14 years of work for Rachel, and Jacob is not given the name Israel, but changes his name himself to escape a reputation of cowardice and brutality.  The author's feminine indignation centers around the story of Dinah -- which, admittedly, one is not likely to hear in church- - but she treats the Biblical account as male propaganda.  This is a bit surprising, as the author is trashing her own fore bearers, but the trashing is very well written and gives much food for thought, as long as the reader takes in to account that this was written in 1997 in the height of goddess-mania.
    I give this book high marks for its depth and craft, but I don't recommend it to readers who dislike being shocked.

    EK's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

 

The River Why - By David James Duncan

    Reviewed by AV8 on 1/19/2004

    On my bookshelf is The River Why by David James Duncan.  He is not to be confused with Dayton Duncan who wrote a book about (among other things!) a road trip through North Dakota.  Nor is he to be confused with my grandfather Duncan Halden who was a North Dakota farmer.
    Yati recommended this book to me while she was home on vacation last summer and I bought it at a used book store soon after she left.  I read a little, put it down and read some more a few days or weeks later.  It is very good, but it is not like reading a novel.  I can only digest it in small doses.

    After several months, I am still only about two thirds of the way through it. The blurbs on the fly-leaves compare it to Catch-22 and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and I can easily see why.  A college professor of mine once said that he never did get all of the way through Catch-22. Zen and the Art is also (in part) about a road trip through North Dakota.  It also is a read-it-over-a-few-years book.  All three books are well worth reading - they make you think - they make you think A LOT - and I guess that is what good books are all about.
    The three books together, as a deep thinking, question life as you know it, get inside your own head and clean out dusty old files.   I would give the trilogy of books 5.5 stars out of 5, but as for The River Why:
    AV8's Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

 

The Road to Wellville - by T. Coraghessan Boyle

    Reviewed by EK on 3/15/2004

    I still think of The Road to Wellville as a recent book.  Actually, it’s ten years old, which made me feel old.  I intended to read it a long time ago because the style and optimism of the turn of the (nineteenth) century fascinates me.  During this, the pre-World War era, science was making such dizzying progress that people believed it capable of anything.  This gave rise to a generation of advertising scams with unbelievable profit.  In the book, for instance, the leading lady buys a tonic to cure her husband’s alcoholism, only to find that he has become addicted to opium, the chief ingredient in the “tonic.” 

    Amidst the phonies we find the ardent and fanatically sincere Doctor John H. Kellogg and his intense study of human gastronomical health.  The plot centers on his Sanitarium where the wealthy and mildly ailing would admit themselves for a lifestyle transplant.  Dr. Kellogg was a resolute believer in vegetarianism—an insane idea to Americans in the early 1900’s—healthful exercise, “laughter” therapy and positive thinking.  Unfortunately, he was also radically committed to electric shock therapy, radiation therapy, continual enemas and almost total sexual abstinence.  I get the idea, from this obviously fictional account, that the good Dr. in our day would be diagnosed as germ phobic, compulsive and a plain old control freak.

    Much of the novel holds great historical interest.  I never grasped the impact of boxed cereals—imagine eating oatmeal your whole life and then suddenly discovering corn flakes!  The writer seamlessly conveys the charm and brassiness of this decade.  However, for squeamish readers, this may not be enjoyable reading.  The microscopic focus on the bowels was too much for me.  Also, the various plot resolutions are surprisingly horrific, as radicalism and appetites clash violently.  The novel is intriguing, but I don’t plan to experience again.  

    It made me begin to feel autointoxicated. 

    Whatever that is.

    EK's Rating:  3 out of 5 Stars.

 

The Rule of Four - By Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason

    Reviewed by UtilityGoddess on 6/1/2004
    The Rule of Four revolves around four Princeton students and an unpronounceable 15th century coded Italian manuscript called the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.  Unlike many thrillers, this book is also a coming-of-age story that mixes action with unlocking riddles that have baffled scholars for centuries.  The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili is apparently a real text, a reproduction of which can be viewed online (http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-books/HP/).

    Although many compare this book to the DaVinci Code, the Rule of Four is similar only in that it is a suspenseful thriller that involves decoding.  The Rule of Four focuses a great deal more on friendship, growing up, and humanist philosophy than Dan Brown’s controversial religious doctrines.  I found the first 100 pages to be very slow and nearly gave up on it because it wasn’t clear where the book was going or why the reader should care.  Although it picked up (more intrigue and people dying suspiciously), it was too introspective for my tastes.

    Whether you read The Rule of Four or not, the chances are you'll enjoy the decoding game that the publisher put together at www.ruleoffour.com.

    UG's Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

 

Ship of Fools - By Richard Paul Russo

    Reviewed by DJ on 4/19/2004

    Imagine if someone took a really big literary blender and threw in BattleStar Galactica, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, and some StarTrek:NG Episode with the Borg.  Now strain out all the humor, intelligence and activity and add a dash of class struggle, pain, rebellion and angst. 

Serve over toast and voila!  You've got Ship of Fools, an aptly-titled book that somehow won a "Philip K. Dick Award."  Whatever that is.

    Russo can write, that much is self evident, but there is so much buildup, so much inactivity, so much obvious foreshadowing (Like cosmic, unending, perpetual foreshadowing that he wields with the subtlety of a 1976 Dodge Colt.  I wanted to scream at him, "I GET IT, SOMETHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO THAT GUY!  MOVE ON, ALREADY!) that you want to give up and skip to where the action begins. 

    But here's the twist:  THERE IS NO ACTION!  (2001 was in the blender, remember?)

    My immediate reaction was that Russo was setting up a trilogy or something, but there are no other books on this matter forthcoming and since considerable time has passed, it would appear that Russo has taken the advisable course of action and abandoned his catatonic collection of celestial idiots altogether.

    Simple plot outline:  A giant starship called the Argonos has been wandering the galaxy for hundreds of years, maybe even thousands of years, on some loosely-defined mission of finding an inhabitable planet, but every one they find is, as luck would have it, either a noxious, sulfur-spewing hell, or a perfect, utopian Eden with a (gasp!) terrible secret!  So these losers finally find a "perfect" planet and begin to explore, only to find the remains of a human colony that had recently been abandoned.  But what happened?  Where did they go? 

    To make a long, long, LONG, story short, they'd all been killed by aliens unknown and hung from hooks in some sort of Madeleine L'Engle inspired industrial complex.

    Brainiacs that they are, they decide to leave the planet post haste, but on a whim decide to follow a virtual map that they got from the aliens.  Sort of.  So they shriek like schoolgirls and flee this perfect planet because of ancient evidence of the threat of aliens they never actually see and decide to instead that the best course of action is to go and find the aliens themselves?

    And THEN, when they actually FIND them, they decide to permanently secure the Argonos to the alien ship and are shocked and terrified when bad things happen?

    Morons.

    By the time it was over, I was rooting for the Aliens.  Save your time for something else. 

    And to think, I paid an extra fifty cents to get a copy "signed by the author."

    Lucky me.

   DJ's Rating:  0 out of 5 Stars.

 

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - By Ann Brashares

    Reviewed by EK on 1/9/2004

    Sisterhood, which I read between 8 and 11pm on Tuesday and Wednesday last week, is about four teenage girls who are close friends. Women love stories about close friends, perhaps because so few of us really have any, especially that we have had ever since we were kids & with whom we share our deepest thoughts. SO-- these four are friends, & it's like a close little club, which appeals to girls of all ages, and the girls are almost-- but not quite-- stereotypes. We might name them as follows: Goth Girl, Minority Girl, Really Beautiful Girl and Sporty Beautiful Girl. Fortunately, their individual stories are not stereotypical. The narrative follows one summer when the girls are apart and they take turns wearing a really cool pair of jeans. Sounds hokey, but a good premise for jumping from one story to another so each girl gets about an equal share of the book.
    Naturally, each girl discovers something about herself by the end of the summer, which sounds tedious, but that's pretty much what books targeting women are about, aren't they? The ones that aren't about being rich or falling in love, anyway. I wish I had learned something about myself when I was 15. I certainly couldn't write cool letters like the characters this book, and I wasn't anywhere near as sensitive. (I was barely human until I was 17 and it's been slow progress ever since.) Okay, so these kids have higher level communication skills than most teenagers. It makes for better reading; especially if you're 31.

    EK's Rating:  3 1/2 out of 5 Stars.

 

The Sixth Lamentation - by William Brodrick

    Reviewed by UtilityGoddess on 7/31/2004

    I’ve always thought that interesting similarities exist between members of the bar and the clergy, especially in regard to the judicial and theological implementation of justice.  Apparently William Brodrick agrees:  the author left a Augustinian monastery to become a practicing barrister and later wrote a novel centered around Father Anselm, a former barrister who searches through the horror of the Holocaust to understand the human capacity to do evil.

    In short, the Church is thrown into a dilemma when an alleged Nazi war criminal named Schwermann claims sanctuary there.  Does it harbor him and risk a scandal in the media or cast him out into a world that wants to punish him for crimes he insists he did not commit? In the weeks leading up to the trial, Father Anselm must find out why the Church had granted the alleged Nazi war criminal sanctuary fifty years earlier—and apparently helped him escape from France and assume a new identity in Britain. As Anselm conducts his investigation, those affected by the betrayal fifty years ago quicken their own pursuit of the truth about Schwermann, the Holocaust, and their own tangled personal histories. The most moving chapters focus on Agnes Aubret, a dying French expatriate who risked everything—and lost—to save children from the concentration camps. In the brief time that remains to her, she wants to bring Schwermann to justice but must reveal her own surprising past to do so.

    The Sixth Lamentation is a story of great moral complexity dealing with the tension between appearance and reality.  A slow-motion thriller, it reveals with great literary panache who it was that betrayed the small group of young adults attempting to rescue children from Nazi death camps, and why.  Not unlike the five lamentations that biblical tradition attributes to Jeremiah, The Sixth Lamentation meditates on the nature of truth and the tragedy that humans must overcome when confronted with treachery. 

    This isn’t a light read, but it does challenge the reader’s heart and mind in the way that compelling books should.

    UG's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

 

Still Life With Crows - By Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

    Reviewed by DJ on 1/12/2004

    Still Life With Crows is the latest psycho-thriller from Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, the prolific writing duo who brought us such hits as Relic, Ice Limit and Riptide.  While it is clear that these two have excellent chemistry and writing ability, Still Life was a disappointment. 

    Still full of engaging characters and King-esque spookiness, Preston and Child seemed to give away too many clues to the final plot twist, and as such I was unfazed when the "Shocking Conclusion" finally arrived.

    Also, I have a theory that any book, movie or play is only as good as its antagonist.  (See Darth Vader, et al.)  While the tension was surely high, the unseen meanie turned out to be just another boogeyman. 

    It was fun, but forgettable.  Read the far-superior Relic or Riptide instead.
    DJ's Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

 

The Thief Lord - By Cornelia Funke

    Reviewed by DJ on 1/29/2004

    I am convinced that we, as 21st century American readers, have become callused and jaded in our views of "Magical" fiction -- I know I have.  When reading the latest Magic-related book, I'm always looking for the demonic references (a result of my religious upbringing) or the standard "Hero's Journey" elements (a result of my college education) or the hints of content lifted from previous works. (It takes a cheater to spot one!) 

     In fact, I tend to be so jaded and… well… cynical in my reading that when a truly original, "Magical" book comes along I am genuinely surprised by it.  That surprise happened with the original Harry Potter, it happened again with Holes, and again with my recent reading of The Thief Lord.

     First published in Germany in 2000 amid a wash of Potter coat-tailers, Cornelia Funke's David-Copperfield-Meets-Peter-Pan-Meets-Ray-Bradbury adventure is a truly entertaining novel focusing on the plight of castoff and runaway children living in an abandoned Venetian movie theater.  While never gaining Potter's fanatical following or economic successes, Thief Lord is at least on par with it in many ways and, in some very important areas, exceeds its more popular cousin.

     When two young brothers run away from their less-than-loving aunt and uncle to Venice, a city lovingly described to them by their late mother, they meet up with a tight band of orphans organized into a family unit under an enigmatic, masked child leader who calls himself "The Thief Lord."  After taking in the brothers, this "Family" is faced with the task of eluding a private detective hired to find and return Bo, the younger of the two brothers, and NOT Prosper, the elder.

     Funke builds the sense of family, loyalty, bravery and  honor among thieves through the children's trials in the first act, lovingly describing a tale of youthful survival among the canals, cafes and shops of Venice.  And just when the reader is getting comfortable with the idea that these street smart, tough children might just be able to outsmart the detective and evade the evil aunt and uncle, Funke turns the whole book on its ear.

     Over the course of a few quick chapters, the bumbling detective transforms into an honorable, loving and protective friend of the children, the "Thief Lord" is exposed for who he really is, and a minor subplot involving a magical merry-go-round is elevated to the foreground conflict.

    The result is quite blind-siding and, as such, the magical effect that this merry-go-round has on four people, one child in particular, is all the more powerful.  After 200+ pages of steady, careful buildup discussing the tactics the children use to hide and survive in the beautiful old city, the sudden plot change and accompanied (and ingeniously unexplained) appearance of magic into the story provide an emotional boost that carries through to the final pages.

     Nearly lost in the action are two tough questions that the author indirectly poses to the reader:  1) What is youth?  Is it an advantage or a curse?  Is it something to be ashamed of, to be held back by, or is it a refuge of peace that the elderly can only dream about.  And 2) What is freedom?  If you are safe, warm and well-fed but unloved and unhappy, are you truly free?  On the other hand, if you are cold, wet, tired and hungry but are surrounded and protected by a close group that you call your family, are you really "homeless?"

     While The Thief Lord is far from perfect, the Victorian style setting, the desperate action and the wonder of magical possibilities keeps the reader engrossed and ultimately satisfied. 

    DJ's Rating:  4 1/2 out of 5 Stars.

    Also reviewed by GMAK on 2/16/2004

    This book was written for young people but like Harry Potter, all ages will enjoy this fantasy adventure.  The setting reminded me of Oliver Twist.

    I won’t try to add much to DJ’s recent review of this book but will say that there are several twists in the plot, and a magical surprise that make this a delightful book.

    GMAK rates this one 4 out of 5

 

Thunderhead - by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (1990)

    Reviewed by GMAK on 8/23/2004

    Thunderhead is the challenging, rewarding, yet deadly search by a small group of archaeologists for the city of a lost civilization from a thousand years ago – Quivira, the Anasazi Indians’ lost city of gold.

    When Nora Kelly finds a letter in her mailbox that was mailed to her mother 16 years ago, she is startled to read that it is from her father who is presumed dead, after disappearing while on an archaeological search years ago. The letter describes the hidden location of a legendary lost city and Nora quickly and quietly gathers together an archaeological team to search the red rock canyon country of southern Utah.

    They go through terrible trials taking their supplies by horseback on impassable trails and meet with many a disaster. Hidden in those sunbaked cliffs is unimaginable treasure … but also a suffocating death.

    I truly enjoyed this book. Someone described it as moving as fast as a runaway train and that is how it felt. I read the whole book in two long evenings since I couldn’t put it down. It is full of history, legends, wonder, and mystery, then factor in greed, evil, terror, and struggle for survival of a hand picked team of eight courageous individuals. 

    GMAK's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

 

Trojan Odyssey - by Clive Cussler

    Reviewed by DJ on 2/10/04

    As with Stephen King, Clive Cussler's "Dirk Pitt Adventures" have been a guilty pleasure of mine since the '80s, when a Junior High English teacher suggested I might like Raise The Titanic.  I did, and have eagerly awaited each following volume of Pitt's globe-trotting, oceanic yarns.

    Pitt's appeal is that he represents the male ideal: he gets all the girls, he cracks all the jokes, he's tall, smart, sarcastic, suave, rich, and, oh yeah, he's saved the world on several occasions.  However, Odyssey's problems are inherited from the finale of Pitt's last adventure, Valhalla Rising when, after the book's climax, Pitt is surprised to find out that he's now the father of two full-grown identical twins.  (Don't ask.)  Always the carefree, reckless, self-sacrificing hero, Pitt is shown in Odyssey quickly transforming into a protective, loving father figure, albeit an awkward one, and as such he loses some of his punch. 

    Like Riker to Pitt's Picard, it seems that the mantle of devil-may-care chick-magnet is being passed to Dirk Pitt's son, Dirk Pitt.  (Again, don't ask.)  With the hero we've come to know and love hamstrung by the shackles of family and commitment, the inevitable ending can be seen coming from 200 pages away, and the story suffers for it.

    Still, Cussler's Dirk Pitt Adventures (as opposed to the awful Kurt Austen series) are full of enough explosions, car chases, suicide missions and heroic, World-saving achievements to impress any reader.

    Even without much of a plot.

    DJ’s rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

 

Usurpur's Crown by Sarah Zettel

    Reviewed by EK on 2/26/04

    By chance, I picked up a novel worth reading from the drug store rack.  It’s titled The Usurper’s Crown, and it is apparently the third novel written about the mystical kingdom of Isavalta. Honestly, though, I couldn’t tell it was a sequel from the story.  I figured that out from the back cover; moreover, I’m definitely going to read more of Zettel’s books.

     Here is an author who really has a blast creating her own countries, cultures and political structures. My favorite kingdom, for example, is ruled by a consortium of 9 sorcerers (not including the emperor, who is the nominal head), all of whom are covered in brilliant magic tattoos.  Even more detailed is her invention of different para-sciences. The sheer variety of mythical references at her command seems inexhaustible.  Each kingdom has its own way of harnessing magic, its own taboos, its own renegades—a fantasy-reader’s dream.  For good measure, the story even involves the “real world” on the shores of Lake Superior.  Great fun.

     Just to warn the sentimental readers, Usurper’s Crown does not end the way you would predict or want—further evidence of this writer’s talent. It far exceeded my expectations for a cheap paperback.  I’m really glad I bought this book and not that romance novel with the bare-chested guy on the front.

    EK’s rating: 4 out of 5

 

The Well of Lost Plots:  A Thursday Next Novel - By Jasper Fforde

    Reviewed by EK on 4/19/2004

    It is disappointing to find absolute proof that I am not a character in a book.  I often wondered.  In books, however, there are no tedious chores like emptying the dishwasher or going to the grocery store 3 times a week.  There are no dirty bathrooms & people rarely talk over one another-- & they can be understood perfectly even if they do.  It is highly unlikely that I am a character in a book because by now I would have been rejected by all possible publishers because no market exists for a book about folding laundry at 3pm every afternoon. 

    So by now I would have been reduced to letters & thrown back into the Text Sea beneath the lowest sub-basement of the Well of Lost Plots.

     I am boring, therefore, I am.

     Read this book.  It rocks!  & watch out for grammasites. 

    EK's Rating:  5 out of 5 Stars.

 

Wicked by Gregory Maguire

    Reviewed by EK on 3/25/04

    It took me three tries to read Wicked, the 1995 novel on which this year’s Tony Award winner is based.  I began it when it was new, and I finished it last week.  The concept is pretty simple: Gregory Maguire took the classic story of Dorothy Gale’s journey to OZ, and filled in the mysterious details.  Have you ever wondered how the Witch of the East got her ruby slippers?  Why was the Witch of the West green? 

    Flying Monkeys?? 

    The author has obviously read and enjoyed (as I did) the entire series of OZ books.  You know that The Wonderful Wizard of OZ wasn’t the only book, don’t you?  Frank L. Baum, due to popular demand, wrote a number of other stories set in OZ, which resulted in at least 100 books.  I read these voraciously as a child.  As a matter of fact, I recommend that you read The Land of OZ before you read Wicked so you can get some background—talking animals and OZ politics and what-not.  All this is mined and fleshed out in Wicked, in a decidedly grown-up style.

    In Wicked, the glittering Land of OZ is rebuilt racially, politically and socially in a manner so complicated that it feels real.  It isn’t a particularly friendly place, especially for a girl born with green skin and an allergy to water.  The girl Elphaba, who becomes the “Witch,” wades through dysfunction and corruption in her own brittle, stoic fashion.  

    The strong amoral elements of the plot were a bit much for me and I bailed out twice during Adult Situations,  (Readers, ye be warned.) but I kept coming back.  Maguire somehow makes the reader like unsmiling, practical Elphaba and dislike Glinda, the eventual “Good Witch” of Oz.  (Note: this Glinda is the sparkly movie version, not the one from the books.)  I was strangely reminded of F. Scott Fitzgerald: I was spellbound by the gorgeous language, even though the subject matter is murky and depressing.  I found the ending—a stunning spin on the confrontation with Dorothy—particularly effective. 

    EK's Rating:  X out of 5 Stars.  EK has chosen NOT to give this book a star rating.

 

The Wild Road - by Gabriel King

    Reviewed by SockMonkey on 2/10/04

    The cover of this book features a blurb by Richard Adams, and the back has a quote calling it, “a Watership Down for cat lovers," so my hopes were high.  Too high, apparently. This is no Watership Down, although it would very much like to be, and if you really liked that book, then you probably won’t hate this one. 

    It’s the story of a cat, Tag, who is visited by the magical and mysterious cat Majicou and given the job of delivering the King and Queen of Cats to a magical cat-place or all of Catdom is doomed.  The problems, among others, are that the King and Queen don’t know that they are royalty, no one is exactly sure where they are or what they look like, and an evil human called The Alchemist wants to capture them and perform bad experiments on them.  Oh, and the Wild Road in the title allows cats to travel through time and place.  Kind of like a wormhole, but I guess that might have been confusing because then readers might have thought the book would be about magical worms instead of cats.

    I did enjoy the two main non-cat characters: One for Sorrow (a magpie) and Loves a Dustbin (a fox).  The Alchemist, though, is an obscure threat through most of the book, so you never really feel too strongly about him and is therefore a failure as a villain.  The author’s choice to base him on an actual historical figure turned me off, but by the time that revelation was made, I was just reading the book to finish it.

    SM’s rating: 2 out of 5 socks

 

Witches Abroad - by Terry Pratchett

    Reviewed by EK on 2/13/2004

    Witches Abroad is an exposé of the fairy-godmother racket.  Do you really want to live in a fairy tale?  After all, if everything is worked out for you by magic, you are obligated to live happily ever after.  Or else.  This is the tale of how a rookie godmother saves Emberella from kissing the Frog Prince & being imprisoned by magic mirrors in a tower.  Or something like that.

    Also it makes fun of the French.  I think.

    EK's Rating:  3.5 out of 5 Stars

 

The X-President - By Philip Baruth

    Reviewed by DJ on 2/3/2004

    I picked up The X-President at the library a few weeks ago simply because I thought the front cover looked like an X-Files poster.  After reading the synopsis on the dust jacket, "The year is 2055 and an aging Bill Clinton's young biographer is sent back in time to stop him from making a decision that will lead to World War III..." I just had to read it.

    This strange little book is part Bill Clinton biography (although they never mention him by name, simply referring to him as "BC") part history lesson and part military-time-travel-political-study-psychological-whatever.  We see "BC" live out three stages of his life: First, when he's a medically-supported aging man still wanting to be part of the world's political scene at age 108, next as a wide-eyed teenager preparing to travel to Washington to shake the hand of President Kennedy, and then as himself in 1995, near the height of his political power and about to fall into a series of missteps that lead to his eventual impeachment.

    We watch all this through the eyes of his biographer, who has been "drafted" into a military project to go back in time and dissuade BC from passing an obscure anti-tobacco tax that, through some strange domino-effect, leads the world into a terrible war that America, it seems, will lose.

    Fun and surprising, this is not your typical science-fiction book.  I was never a big BC fan, but still enjoyed this mostly-accurate, quasi-fictional, "What-If" look into his personal, professional and public life.
    DJ's Rating:  3 out of 5 Stars.

 

The Zero Game - by Brad Meltzer

    Reviewed by DJ on 5/14/2004

    I may have mentioned this once before, but I have a pretty long commute to work each day and am currently addicted to books on tape. I read a great deal anyway, but having an uninterrupted 2 hours a day to do nothing but yell at traffic and listen to George Guidal or Scott Brick read fiction through my car speakers. Normally I turn to escapist, suspension-of-disbelief fantasy or science fiction as my literarily Twinkie of choice, but I've found that, when driving, adventure fiction keeps me both interested and keyed up enough to never forget that I'm flying a large metal casket down a boiling freeway against 40,000 other pissed off commuters at 70 miles an hour.
    This morning, on the way in, I finished The Zero Game, by Brad Meltzer, and was, overall, impressed.

Meltzer is the Grisham of Washington D.C. political thrillers, as his past bestsellers like The First Counsel and The Millionaires show, but he also has a flair for creating absurdly believable reasons for a lobbyist or congressional assistant or, in the case of Zero, a Senate Page to travel down a bizarre set of circumstances and get themselves wrapped up in life-or-death situations where they are cut off from all assistance, forced to abandon all hope of help from authority figures or friends and rely entirely on themselves.
    This kind of formula has served him well, particularly in plots like Zero and Millionaires where the protagonists are good guys at heart who are forced into doing evil deeds that they feel very guilty for, but at the same time the reader knows that, if placed in the same set of unlikely circumstances, he might have done the same thing.
    As the title suggests, Zero begins by introducing a pair of young, jaded, cynical D.C. grunts. Not the Senators themselves, but rather the research-mongering appropriations committee members who have the "Real" power over the money and where it goes. Realizing that the life on Capitol Hill isn't exactly what they had hoped it would be, they join a mysterious "game" that challenges the behind the scenes political players to pull off any number of obscure stunts, from getting the phrase "Dry cleaning" into the Vice President's speech to sneaking a Lorax (from Dr. Seuss) pin onto the lapel of a pro-logging Representative for a press conference.
    Right when things get interesting, Meltzer uses an interesting plot device: He kills his narrator. In the first several chapters we are introduced to this strange game through the eyes of Matthew, the younger of the two friends, and then his eyes are closed in a violent encounter that hints of a deeper meaning to "The Game" and the first-person narrative jumps seamlessly to the other friend, Harris, who carries the baton right to the final pages.
    The death of our hero and the jarring switch in focus gets the reader off balance enough that by the time he recovers, he does not care that the plot has taken a sudden and questionable twist that sees Harris and his sidekick, the aforementioned Senate Page, misappropriate (hijack) a private jet in order to discover a super-secret subatomic research facility at the bottom of an 8,000 foot deep pit in a played out gold mine in South Dakota.  A bit of a stretch?  Yeah, but this is adventure fiction, and it sure takes my mind off the jerk in the Suburban who's trying to merge ahead of me.

    Fun, Fast and delightfully escapist.  It's not Pulitzer-prize stuff, but that isn't what I was looking for anyway.

    DJ's Rating:  3 out of 5 Stars.

 

The Big Booklist: Series

 

A Series of Unfortunate Events - By Lemony Snicket

   Reviewed by DJ on 5//11/2004

    I first heard about the Series of Unfortunate Events from TONO, who actually went as far as to loan me the first 6 or 8 books in the series last fall.  Unfortunately I couldn't find the time and had to return them unread.  My curiosity was again piqued by the trailer for an upcoming movie based on the series (with Jim Carrey starring as Count Olaf) and decided it was time to tackle the task. 

    EK and I read the entire series, up to book 10, over the last few weeks, and I have to say that it was an excellent experience.  Quick reading, snappy writing, imaginative plots and a gradually unfolding larger mystery that sucks the reader in.  I have no idea who Lemony Snicket is, but I must give him all the credit in the world for turning out an excellent "children's" book series that is fun for kids of all ages to read.

   Book The First: The Bad Beginning

    The series begins with an introduction to the three Baudelaire children:  Violet, the oldest and an aspiring inventor, Klaus, a bespectacled bookworm and Sunny, an infant with four very large, very sharp teeth.  As you can probably guess by the book's title, something bad happens to them all right away: Their house burns down while they are on a short holiday, killing their parents.  This sets in motion a trend that will continue through the series: they are placed into the foster care of their uncle, Count Olaf, who is only interested in swindling the children out of the huge fortune that they will inherit.  Adventure, conflict and eventual tragedy ensue as the children square off against their uncle, with the children barely escaping and Olaf sneaking away.

DJ's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

    Book the Second: The Reptile Room

    This episode picks up where Bad Beginning ended, with the children finding themselves given to the care of Dr. Montgomery, their late father's cousin's wife's brother.  Things seem to be going well for the orphans, as the good Dr. introduces them to his amazing Reptile Room.  However, before long a disguised Count Olaf shows up again and the tragedies continue.  While not as inventive as the Bad Beginning, Reptile Room establishes the pattern of Count Olaf and his ruthless, murderous attempts to take control of the children's fates.

DJ's Rating:  3.5 out of 5 Stars.

    Book the Third: The Wide Window

    Still mourning from the tragedy that ended The Reptile Room, the Baudelaire orphans find themselves stranded on a dock above Lake Lachymore, wondering what their new guardian will be like this time.  Before long they are introduced to their "Aunt Josephine" who lives in a large, dilapidated old house that is perched precariously at the edge of a cliff above the lake.  "Aunt Josephine" lives in constant fear of everything, including heat registers, stoves and glass doorknobs, and studying the one true love of her life: grammar.

    But, as you should expect by now, Count Olaf, again in disguise, shows up and attempts to woo, wed and murder "Aunt Josephine."  Tragedy follows tragedy as the orphans find themselves alone.  Again.

DJ's Rating:  3.5 out of 5 Stars.

    Book the Fourth: The Miserable Mill

    Having barely escaped with their lives from the Wide Window, the orphans are given over to another incredibly distant relative, who immediately puts them to work at Lucky Smells Lumbermill.  They try to make the best of it, living in the cramped, dusty mill dormitory, and try to keep a sharp eye out for Count Olaf.

    Exausted from working all day, being given chewing gum for lunch and being paid in grocery store coupons, Violet Baudelaire witnesses a near fatal accident caused by her brother and suspects that hypnotism is involved.  Continued tragedy, unfortunate events and, eventually, Count Olaf himself follow.

DJ's Rating:  3.5 out of 5 Stars.

    Book the Fifth: The Austere Academy

    Apparently devoid of all other relatives who are willing to take on the three unlucky Baudelaire orphans, Violet, Klaus and Sunny find themselves at the Prufrock Preparatory School (school motto: Remember you will die) where they are immediately labeled as "cakesniffers" by the local orphan-hating students.

    Austere Academy, while offering the usual array of pain, exhaustion and death (Usually at the hands of Count Olaf, who makes his usual appearance) also introduces us to a new wrinkle in the Lemony Snicket universe, two new characters who have major implications on the rest of the Baudelaire story:  The Quagmires.  These two children, two of an original set of triplets who lost their brother Quigley in the fire that killed their parents, quickly befriend the Baudelaires and introduce new information that throws all of what we know about Count Olaf, the Baudelaires and Lemony Snicket himself, into a new light.

    Austere Academy really raises the whole series to a new level.  If you start getting bogged down in Miserable Mill you can look forward to all of the intrigue that happens in the Academy.

DJ's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

   Book the Sixth: The Ersatz Elevator

Fresh off of gaining a new set of allies and friends and then tragically losing them again, the Baudelaire orphans find themselves in the care of Esme Squalor, the city's "6th most important financial advisor" who is excited to host them in her 71-bedroom apartment on the top floor of 667 Dark Avenue tower because orphans are currently "In."  While Squalor is emotionally distant and treats the children like furniture, the life is comfortable until the specter of Count Olaf again raises his ugly head.

    Further adventures, investigations, amazing discoveries, midnight descents down black elevator shafts and the inevitable tragedies follow, and we are given further information about the Quagmires, the Baudelaires parents and Lemony Snicket.

DJ's Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars.

   Book the Seventh: The Vile Village

    Again finding themselves without anyone to take care of them, the Baudelaire orphans are assigned to an entire town named V.F.D.  Under the guise that "it takes a village to raise a child" they are welcomed to the town with demands that they perform all the unpleasant chores of every citizen in town.  From raking leaves to washing dishes to polishing the new sculpture in the town square and serving ice cream Sundays, the orphans try to make the best of their unfortunate circumstances.  At least, until Count Olaf shows up, this time with his new "girlfriend."

    With the Vile Village, the story of the orphans again takes a twist, seeing the children become outlaws themselves, fleeing from the authorities while attempting to foil Olaf and his evil plans.  A bad situation becomes worse as the Baudelaires find out that they cannot rely on anyone but themselves.

DJ's Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

   Book the Eighth: The Hostile Hospital

    Having been branded murderers and outlaws, the Baudelaire orphans escape a desperate situation by joining the V.F.D., or the Volunteers Fighting Disease, who travel to the Hospital to sing enthusiastic songs and give away heart-shaped balloons.  While living in the Hospital's unfinished wing, they spend their days researching the meaning of V.F.D. and discovering the existence of the "Snicket File" which, it would seem, holds the answers they are looking for about the mystery of their parent's deaths.

    But as you can imagine, their brief escape from a life on the run is ruined by the arrival of Count Olaf, who orchestrates a terrible scheme to perform a crainiumectomy on Violet.  Betrayal, murder, abduction and lectures on the history of surgical equipment follow, with the orphans leaping from a window of the burning hospital and fleeing for their lives into the vast unknown.

DJ's Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

   Book the Ninth: The Carnivorous Carnival

    Thinking that it is their best chance of survival, the Baudelaire orphans flee to the one place where they hope Count Olaf and his gang will never find them, Madame Lulu's House of Freaks.  Posing as a two-headed man who has trouble eating corn and a half-wolf baby, the Baudelaires discover that someone at the carnival has been providing Olaf with inside information to their situation, and try to investigate this source and it's connection to the mysterious V.F.D. 

    Raging lions and mob-like crowd behavior makes Carnivorous Carnival the bloodiest chapter in this unfortunate series, but also gives insight into Count Olaf and his band of felons.

DJ's Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

   Book the Tenth: The Slippery Slope

    In the final published chapter of the unfortunate lives of the Baudelaire orphans (Book the Eleventh: The Grim Grotto will be published later this year) Count Olaf begins the book by attempting to murder Violet and Klaus.  When this fails, the two older children find themselves alone in a harsh mountain landscape with their sister, in Olaf's clutches, perched on an icy mountaintop.

    As Violet and Klaus struggle to climb the mountain, they discover many secrets regarding V.F.D, the Quagmire Triplets and the possibility that after all of this pain and suffering, one of their parents may still be alive.  Of all the Series of Unfortunate Events, the cliffhanger of Slippery Slope is the worst, primarily because the rest of the books aren't readily available, but also because after making such progress, after facing Count Olaf and escaping intact, after making contact with a friend that they all thought had been killed, they lose everything in a daring escape and are separated from one another while white-water rafting an icy, dangerous mountain river in a toboggan.

DJ's Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

    I would recommend this series to anyone who wishes to sit back with entertaining, fast, suspension of disbelief fiction who wants a laugh and a good cliffhanger.  The Grim Grotto can't come out fast enough.

 

 

The Big Booklist: Nonfiction

 

Ada Blackjack by Jennifer Niven

    Reviewed by AV8 on 2/12/04

    This story has all the elements needed to make a Hollywood drama. In 1921, a divorced, impoverished 23 year old Native Alaskan woman with a young son to provide for was offered a job as a seamstress for an expedition to a remote island in the Arctic Ocean. The expedition was poorly planned, under financed, and led by a very well known but controversial Arctic explorer who chose to send four men and one woman to the Arctic while he stayed behind in the big city and basked in the glory of “his” expedition.

    Vilhjalmur Stefansson had already established his reputation as a famous Arctic explorer by this time.  His last expedition had ended in tragedy, with one portion of his group suffering shipwreck and death, while he and another smaller portion of the group had gone off on a hunting trip.  When he learned of the disappearance of his ship and its crew, he turned his back and continued on his exploration without setting up any kind of search or rescue operations.
    Why a seamstress on an Arctic expedition?  Proper heavy clothing was (and still is) the key to survival in an Arctic climate – especially on an expedition that would rely on survival in shelters built with material found on site.  Think of the TV “reality” show Survivor on an island in the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia, only without cameras and support crews, and with death being the alternative to being voted out of the tribe.
    Ada Blackjack left her son with her sister in Nome, and went on the trip.  Only two of the four men with her had previous Arctic experience.  Stefansson had set up his expedition to prove his theory of the “friendly Arctic.”  This theory held that the Arctic was not really the forbidding, hostile place that everyone thought it was.  He held that reasonably intelligent people could survive and even prosper in the Arctic using only the resources at hand, and that an expedition did not need to carry supplies enough to survive more than a few months.  The boat left Nome in September, 1921, very late in the short Arctic summer.  They were dropped off on Wrangell Island with minimal food and supplies, and the boat hurried south to avoid being caught in the ice for the winter.
    When their situation became desperate in the dead of winter, three of the four men left on a dog sled trip across the frozen sea to get help.  The fourth man in the group became ill and slowly died and Ada was left alone.  The three men who had left the island disappeared and no trace of them has ever been found.  The following summer the ice was too thick for a supply ship to arrive, and Ada spent a second winter alone.
    The story of her survival and of her life after being rescued is fascinating, but grim.  Ada Blackjack died in the Pioneers’ Home in Palmer, Alaska in 1983, and is buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in Anchorage.  This true story is one that should be read while in a warm room, wrapped in a comforter, and with a cup – make that several cups - of hot coffee close by.  The story of the wreck of Stefansson’s ship Karluk and the fight for survival by her crew was told by the same author in a previous book, The Ice Master.  The two books make for a tale that is too dramatic to be true – but yet it is.
    Oh yes, and I love it when an Alaska story has a North Dakota connection.  Vilhjalmer Stefansson was born in Canada, but at an early age moved with his family to a farm in North Dakota where he grew up.  This farm was about 40 miles from the farm where I grew up.
    AV8’s rating: 4.5 frozen Mukluks out of 5

 

Adak: The Rescue of Alpha Foxtrot 586 - by Andrew C. A. Jampoler

    Reviewed by AV8 on 8/18/2004

    In October, 1978, during the cold war, a US Navy P3C Orion, aircraft identification PD-2, left Moffett Field, near the south end of San Francisco Bay, California and flew to Adak, Alaska for a six week deployment.  During that deployment, the airplane, with her crew of 12, was scheduled to fly reconnaissance and surveillance patrols out of Adak, flying over the waters near the Aleutian Islands, and south of the Kamchatka Peninsula of what was then the Soviet Union.

    On October 26, 1978, at 8:45 am, Pilot Jerry Grigsby and his crew took off in PD-2 from Adak on patrol flight Alpha Foxtrot (AF) 586.  The flight, with 15 crew members aboard, was scheduled to fly west to just south of the Kamchatka Peninsula, and then return to Adak, a flight that should be about 9 hours long.

    At about 1 pm, somewhere west of Shemya, an island near the very end of the Aleutian Chain, the propeller on the number 1 engine malfunctioned, causing the engine to go into an overspeed condition.  Attempts at correcting the problem failed, and AF 586 turned towards Shemya to make an emergency landing at the US Air Force Base there.  The problems worsened, and fires broke in the number 1 engine compartment.  About an hour and a half later, the crew was forced to ditch the aircraft into the stormy water about 200 miles west of Shemya, and about 12 miles from a Soviet fishing vessel.  One crewman did not make it out of the sinking plane, and the pilot, who stayed with the plane until everyone else was clear, was last seen trying to swim to a life raft that was being rapidly carried away by the strong wind.  Three crewmen died of hypothermia while in the life rafts.  The remaining 10 crewmen were rescued by the crew of the Soviet fishing vessel Mys Sinyavin at about 2 o’clock the next morning, after about 12 hours in life rafts in near freezing conditions.

    The story of US and Soviet personnel cooperating to rescue the surviving crewmen of the ditched airplane despite the frictions and hostility of the cold war is the stuff that legends are made of.  I have heard this story verbally and in short reports many times.  The book Adak takes these official reports and “sea stories” and makes them into a complete story told from beginning to end.  The author, Andrew C. A. Jampoler is a retired naval aviator who flew the same type of aircraft on the same kinds of flights out of Adak in the mid 1970s. 

    The story was especially interesting to me, as I rode on Reeve Aleutian Airways Lockheed Electras in the Aleutian Islands area many times.  The Lockheed P3C Orion is the military version of the Electra.  I have recounted a story of a Reeve Electra losing a propeller in a mechanical malfunction in one of the rants I wrote earlier this year.  I got out to Adak once on a Reeve flight.  It was only a stop over on another flight, and I was only on the ground about an hour and did not get off of the airport. 

    The FAA got a lot of employees that were military veterans, and their tales were quite often interesting.  I first heard the P3 ditching story from a fellow employee and veteran at the FAA academy in the mid 1980s. 

    I also worked with the Coast Guard many times, working on Coast Guard electronics equipment, and on weather equipment that was located on Coast Guard stations in Alaska.  One of the key elements in the rescue story was the communicating done by the crew of a Coast Guard C-130 airplane out of Kodiak.  The radio operator on the Soviet fishing vessel spoke a limited amount of English, and the crew of the C-130 had to improvise to make themselves understood.

    At one point the pilot of the C-130 tried to tell the radio operator to turn on the ships horn, to help the people in the rafts realize that help was on the way.  This resulted in the following exchange:

    Soviet radio operator: “I do not understand.  Speak slowly”

    Coast Guard C-130 pilot:  “Honk, honk, honk.”

    This exchange brought much laughter from the rest of the C-130’s crew – but it worked.

    The only complaint I have about the book is that the author sometimes jumps back in forth in time, bringing in details and incidents that are not covered until many pages later.  When this happens, it makes the story confusing and hard to follow.

     People who have been to the Aleutians have good stories to tell.  This is a very good one.

     AV8s rating:  4 propellers out of 5

 

As A Man Thinketh by James Allen

    Reviewed by DJ on 2/12/04

    This little book, as the fly leaf says, has affected millions of people since it's quiet publication in the late 1800s.  Each of its 68 small pages is packed with nuggets of wisdom and advice all based on a common idea, that "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," and "A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts."

    Allen, who lived from 1864-1912, has a very direct, no-nonsense, point-by-point way of writing that is refreshing in this era of 900-page Tony Robbins Self Help Anthologies.  However, he does take the idea of brevity a bit too far, leaving the reader slightly frustrated by the fact that Allen takes great care to describe the beneficial state of mind, but makes no attempt to tell the reader how to actually get there. 

    Of course, that could be the whole point. 

    A Quick (VERY Quick) and easy read, I'll add this to my list of books I read every month or so, and hopefully I'll absorb a little more each time.

    DJ’s rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 Stars  (for now)

 

The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach

    Reviewed by DJ on 7/28/2004

    I'm a sucker for Get-Rich-Quick personal finance books.  I loved Rich Dad, Poor Dad and all the imitations that came after it.  I read them, take away a few nuggets I can work with, and happily forget the rest.  As such, I'm always on the lookout for the next "Amazing, guaranteed path to Success, Happiness and Personal Wealth!"  Or something along those lines.

    This past winter, while driving through a typical December Seattle rainstorm (the kind that my lawn and I can now only dream about) I heard a radio interview with a financial planner on NPR radio talking about the best personal finance books of 2003.  He mentioned a few random names and then spent the next half hour extolling the virtues of David Bach's The Automatic Millionaire.  I made a mental note about it, put it on my KCLS hold list and forgot about it.

    Seven months later, when the book finally came in, I read the first chapter and was instantly excited: Bach was not only going outline a "guaranteed" formula for using direct deposit and automatic bill payment services to both ensure financial prosperity and pay my bills, but he was going to show me exactly how to find something we've all been looking for:  An investment that will give a 10% annual rate of return in today's market for the next thirty years!

"'Yeah, but how can I find an investment that will return 10% annually?  Those opportunities just don't exist today!'  Wrong!  I will tell you exactly how to do this, just keep reading." 

    - Automatic Millionaire, Chapter Two.

    Here's the thing:  He never delivers on this promise.  He hints around the edges, he gives statistical examples of investments that have made 10% over the last 30 years.  He even gives super-qualified IF/THEN statements that, IF you are fortunate enough to have a company matching 401(k) plan (or a few other fortunate corporate opportunities) THEN you will almost assuredly get 10% annual return.  But that's it.  No secrets, no strategies, no special insight, no nothing.

    Of course, Bach then uses a 10% return as the basis for all of his statistical examples in the rest of the book:  Start investing $3,000 a year at a 10% average annual return at the age of 15 (yes, as amazing as this sounds, it really is an example he uses to make his point - as if a 15-year-old could earn $3,000 a year at all, much less invest it all at a 10% annual return) then it will grow into a million dollars by the time you retire!

    Wow.  Great.  Thanks.

    I would have invested $3,000 annually when I was in Junior High, but I was too busy running  from bullies who wanted my milk money.

    But I digress...

    Bach's "Automatic" formula is basically three principles:  1) "Pay Yourself First", 2) "Make it Automatic" and 3) Own a House. 

    #1, "Pay Yourself First" is an idea almost directly plagiarized from George S. Clayson's The Richest Man In Babylon, a much better book that was published several decades earlier.  This wouldn't have irked me, but Bach makes no attempt to credit Clayson at all - he simply lifts the idea, uses it as his own, and continues.

    #2, "Make it Automatic" is actually a pretty good idea, but in today's age, most people are already using direct deposit and automatic bill pay.  Also, those people fortunate enough to work for a company that allows the kind of automated payroll management he's talking about will almost, if you pardon the phrase, automatically have access to the kind of matching 401(k) and/or stock discount or other investment perks that he suggests as his secret, automatic formula. 

    #3, "Own a House" -- If I'm buying a personal finance book on automating my investments in order to hasten the day that I can call myself a millionaire, don't I already know about the tax benefits of owning my own home?  Also, Bach's Secret Formula for paying off your house early involves a bi-weekly payment plan that essentially forces you to make an extra payment or two each year.  (My thought:  "Making extra payments each year allows you to pay off your house earlier?  Well, DUH!")  Bach also assumes that the people reading his book are paid every two weeks, and therefore if they have half a mortgage payment taken out of each check automatically, they'll be forced into making an extra payment each year.  (52 Weeks/Biweekly payments = 26 half payments = 13 full payments a year.)  What he does not take into account are the people like myself who are paid on the 1st and 15th of each month.  I can have half a payment taken out of each check, but that's still 12 payments a year.

    I realize that these are minor, personal criticisms, but I was just so... disappointed by the unfulfilled promises in this book that when I reached the final pages and it became clear that, aside from common sense, working for the right company and following the advice set forth in Babylon, Bach was telling me absolutely nothing I didn't already know, that I wanted to throw the book across the room.

    If you are reading this review, then you are a computer-savvy, book-loving, well-educated, internet-minded, upper-middle-class geek, and The Automatic Millionaire will do nothing for you.  If, however, by reading this review, you choose to read The Richest Man in Babylon, then I will consider myself successful.

    DJ's Rating: 

    The Automatic Millionaire: 1 out of 5 Stars.

    The Richest Man in Babylon:  6 out of 5 Stars.

 

Bad Boy Ballmer by Fredric Alan Maxwell

    Reviewed by Desierto on 6/16/2004

    Bad Boy Ballmer paints a clear picture of what Steve Ballmer’s (Microsoft CEO since January 2000) early childhood life was like in suburban Detroit in the late 50’s and early 60’s.  The drive to succeed was planted early and was nurtured by not only his home life but also all of suburban Detroit, according to the author.
    As a biography the author does a better of job of objectively covering Ballmer’s childhood years.  Once the author introduces Bill Gates into the picture the Gates and Microsoft bashing begin and very seldom let up. 
    All in all, not a bad book if you can look past all of the Microsoft bashing.  If you’re interested in computers and enjoy history I’d recommend this as a quick read. 
    Did I mention there was Microsoft bashing in this book?
    Desierto's Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

 

The Case Against Lawyers By Catherine Crier

    Reviewed by UtilityGoddess on 4/16/2004

    I really did not want to like this book, but found that I couldn’t help myself. 

    I recently heard the author (who is a lawyer, former judge and the host of Court TV’s Catherine Crier Live) speak to a local audience and thought I should see what all the fuss is about.  It turns out Ms. Crier is really bent out of shape about the current state of law in the United States and is a persuasive advocate for grassroots change.  She argues that the great cornerstone of our democracy, the rule of law, has become a source of power and influence rather than justice and liberty. 

    Citing many harrowing examples that will make your blood boil, she specifically discusses what is wrong with valuing equality over liberty, public education, regulatory agencies, the victim mentality, the war on drugs, lobbyists, trial lawyers, monetary influence in politics, and the criminal justice system. 

    I loved the fact that this self-described moderate conservative with libertarian leanings relentlessly dishes some much-deserved barbs at both political parties.  Not only do her criticisms make a lot of sense, I was especially outraged at how much of corporate America receives subsidies yet pay no taxes. (Can you tell that I just wrote a check to the IRS for mine?)  Ms. Crier offers some common sense solutions in the last chapter, which is good because readers are pretty worked up by the time they get there.  My only complaint was that she barely acknowledged the role the media plays in contributing to some of these social ills. 

    Even if you don’t read the book, you can check out the website http://www.ourcommongood.org for more information on how to take back our democracy rather than passively accepting rules that diminish our freedom.

    UG's Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

 

Clash of the Titans by Richard Hack

    Reviewed by DJ on 7/19/2004

    Not to be confused with the brilliant B-Movie of the same name, Clash of the Titans takes a historical look at the history, development and conflict surrounding two of the biggest, most influential, most hated media giants the world has ever known:  Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner.

    Hack profiles each of the two would-be media barons from the early struggles of their respective parents up to the current ugly lawsuits between Murdoch's Fox and Ted's Time/Warner/AOL and along the way sheds some light on the development of CNN, the 24-hour news phenomenon, the invention of cable and satellite television, the FCC, worldwide newspaper journalism and the ability for a person who owns nothing of value and more than a billion dollars in debt to continue to borrow billions more.  Both men did this, taking their respective companies right up to the edge of financial ruin and bankrupts before fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on your point of view) circumstances allowed them to escape, unscathed.

    It could be said that the moral of this story is that fortune favors the strong-willed, the confident and the ruthless.  Both of these men succeeded beyond anything anyone had ever accomplished before by stepping on those around them, ignoring their families, shamelessly lying, backstabbing and cheating and, above all, spending other people's money.  Each seemed to be on the way to becoming the largest media owner in the world only to be blocked on one insurmountable obstacle:  The other.

    An interesting study in psychology, information technology, industry politics and creative corporate accounting, Clash of the Titans was an excellent read and well worth the effort.  I found myself admiring, hating and pitying these characters all at the same time, and that is the mark of a well-done biography.

    DJ's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

 

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

    Reviewed by EK on 4/6/04

    The World’s Columbian Exposition, probably better known as the Chicago World’s Fair, opened in 1893 under the intense scrutiny of the nation—or as intense as it could be without radio broadcasts, television cameras or tabloid photographers, all of which were more or less introduced at the fair itself.  Being a jaded child of the 20^th century, it is difficult for me to grasp the wonder of seeing electric lighting for the first time, let alone hundreds of incandescent bulbs at once.  For the first time, man-made light was sufficient to put off nightfall for an entire city—the beautiful, temporary White City that housed the Exposition.  The wonders on display were no less amazing and set the course of American technology for the next century.

    Paralleling the pivotal history of the Fair is a story so grisly that it seems impossible.  It reads like a perfect invention of the horror industry: remember Silence of the Lambs?  The novel’s depiction of a serial killer’s basement has stayed with me for longer than I would like.  The psychopath H. H. Holmes was no fiction.  That’s the most chilling thing to me: he really existed  He built himself a homicidal playhouse and plucked people from the crowds coming in for the Exposition.  His establishment, the World’s Fair Hotel, boasted a hidden basement where eventually police found a crematory, piles of quicklime, and fragments of human remains.  Norman Bates meets Buffalo Bill—both the Wild West performer, who took his show to the World’s Fair, and the all-to-real killer who co-stared with Hannibal Lector. 

    The author speculates that the well-lit and clean cities that we are used to today had their beginnings in Chicago’s White City.  Urban developments like garbage disposal and emergency services were only dreamed of at the end of the 1800’s.  Also we’re blessed with a lifetime of movie plot devices and TV forensics.  The average citizen today would, one hopes, at least wonder why a hotel proprietor needed a soundproof walk-in vault in his office.  The cops would probably take notice if numerous young women checked out of the same hotel, left their belongings behind and were never heard from again.  

    One hopes. 

    The story of the “devil” very much shadows the White City.

   EK's Rating:  Not Rated.

 

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: A Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss
    Reviewed by UtilityGoddess on 5/21/2004
    Does your skin crawl when an apostrophe is used incorrectly?  Do you get excited about using an ellipse properly?  If so, this is the book for you. 

    Eats, Shoots & Leaves is written for punctuation sticklers who suffer righteous indignation at the abuse heaped upon the English language by those who flout its laws.  Its militant British tone is outrageous: scholarly, passionate, witty (with wacky Britishisms like "Lawks-a-mussy!"), and even a bit snobby. 

    Even though this is book is essentially a rant about punctuation, it is amazingly NOT boring.  That must be why this sassy gem is a bestseller in Great Britain and Australia.  If you are reading this review, odds are good that you love books and the written word.  I write for a living, so I ponder geeky thinks like whether it is more appropriate to use a dash or semi-colon.  I readily admit to doing so, but I suspect that there are some closet punctuation police among us who will secretly love this book too.  After all, how cool is it that you can alter the entire meaning of a sentence by not changing a single word -- just its punctuation?! 

    Such power!  If none of this rings a bell with you and you think I'm a crazy loon, that's okay.  But I'm telling you, this book is a blast. 

    Who knew that punctuation could be so much fun?! 
    UG's Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

 

The Emperor of Scent by Chandler Burr

    Reviewed By EK on 4/2/04

    I am not a scientist.  But I know, in crude terms, how the human eyeball sees.  I sort of know the working theory of how humans hear.  All those years ago in high school biology, I’m pretty sure we did not study the olfactory system, except for those little hairs that filter air when you breathe.  I have just been informed that this is probably because scientists do not know how we smell. 

    We should not be able to smell.  It is, like bees flying, impossible.

     This is the factual account of Luca Turin, an intolerably brilliant scientist who came up with a theory of smell in the 1990’s. Until this time, the principle theory dealt with the shape of molecules sensed and translated by our nose.  Except, well, this theory was no use in predicting the smell of a molecule, so perfumers have been generating new molecules at random for decades, looking for new smells.  Turin is nefarious in the corporate perfume world precisely because a means to predict smells would put hundreds of chemists out of work.  But this is boring stuff compared to Turin himself.

     Luca Turin is characterized as moody, unpredictable, passionate, superlatively intelligent, unreliable, and otherwise marginally crazy.  This is a man who can distinguish the perfume you are wearing just by walking past you.  He can hear the meaning in modern classical music, which is staggering to me because I can’t listen to the modern stuff at all.  Chemists dislike him because he is fluent in physics.  Physicists don’t like him because he knows about biology.   Mostly this book makes me want to inhale more deeply, to taste new tastes and find new textures.  Learn more, seek more, take in as much knowledge as my limited brain can hold.

     Oh, and he says that the perfume I wear is a “low-calorie banana float which appeals to the mentally obese.”

    EK's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

 

I Dreamed of Africa by Kuki Gallmann

    Reviewed by GMAK on 1/9/2004

    This is the fascinating true story of a courageous Italian girl who goes to Kenya in 1972 at age 20.  This book "journals" about 20 years of her life in Kenya on a huge ranch over looking the Rift Valley.  Kuki has a great love and respect for Africa, the people, the land and incredible wildlife.  It is a fast moving story and her writing makes you feel like you are there. At the printing of the book, she continues to live on the ranch, despite much tragedy through the years and the loss of those she loved most due to the unsparing nature of that beautiful country.  She has created a memorial foundation to promote the harmonious coexistence of man and environment.

    I gave it a 5 star rating because I became totally engrossed in it and couldn't put it down.  I admit that is partially because I recognized many of the names and places mentioned in the book since Yati spent time in Kenya.  After reading the book I found out on line that it was made into a movie.  However, the movie reviews sound boring, so I'd definitely recommend the book instead.

    Oh, and one more thing: it will make you cry!

    GMAK's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

 

The Grouchy Grammarian by Thomas Parrish

    Reviewed by Utility Goddess on 7/9/04 

    Have you ever meet a grammarian that wasn’t grouchy?  If not, don’t hold your breath while reading this book.  Although the author refers to a curmudgeonly acquaintance as “the Grouchy Grammarian” and claims to merely be his scribe, the third person charade struck me as fake and a little weird. 

    That gimmick aside, the Grouchy Grammarian is very particular and identifies 47 rules to live by.  The author cites grievous errors of each rule (usually committed by a venerable media outlet), notes the problem, and explains how it could have been avoided.  I say “usually” because the solution wasn’t made as clear as it should have been in a few instances.  The Grouchy Grammarian covers a multitude of grammatical sins, including confusion between it’s and its, among and between, may and might, lie and lay, and homophone pairs such as lead and led. He illustrates dreadful things that people do with apostrophes, problems with subject and verb agreement, the misuse of former, the incorrect use of whom, dangling participles, malapropisms, and more.

    Throughout the book the Grouchy Grammarian exhorts readers to THINK about the words they use to avoid such pitfalls.  This is all well and good (note: the grouchy grammarian would probably hate this redundant phrase and include it in the chapter on “silly tautologies”), but I still struggle with the proper usage of lay and lie -- the more I think about it, the more confused I get!  (Which sadist decided it was a good idea to include laid in the conjugations of both verbs?)

    The Grouchy Grammarian is an entertaining way to become more aware of weaknesses in your own writing and improve upon them.  Although I’ve been rather negative, this is a fine book that is both humorous and readable.  Please keep in mind that I am horribly biased by the brilliance of Eats, Shoots & Leaves, a book that focuses on the nuances of punctuation (not grammar) but appeals to the same type of reader.

    Rating:  3.5 out of 5 stars

 

The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Dr. Laura Schlessinger

    Reviewed by EK on 2/5/2004

    It is a shame that Dr. Laura's book will probably be disregarded by many women.  Or maybe that is my perception of many women, because I am not saying that I disregard it.  Anyway, since Dr. Laura is openly religious, straight and so forth, I'm afraid her book will be written off as propaganda for the political Right, when, really, she has some excellent points that women need to hear.
    To wit, a woman expects a man to cater to her feelings, while she has no obligations to regard his feelings whatsoever.  Dr. Laura would like to point out: men have feelings too.  They don't want to talk about their feelings, nor do they want to receive bouquets of roses or go take bubble baths.  See, men aren't women, but they have feelings all the same.

    Dr. Laura suggests that the reason some wives are unhappy in a relationship is because they ignore, despise, or openly mock whatever feelings their men express.  If a woman's feelings are abused, she is encouraged to walk out and sell the rights to her story to the Lifetime channel.  If a man's feelings are abused, he is expected to take it, and furthermore to remodel himself to fit his wife/girlfriend's demands.
    I agree with Dr. Laura that this is outrageous.  Women need "cater" to the needs of men as much as they expect men to cater to the needs of women.  It's really about giving as much as you take, isn't it?  There will be plenty of women with angry arguments against Dr. Laura and her book, especially since she goes into gender roles and her reasons why wives should stay home with their kids.  I myself am not qualified to disagree, as I fit most of the stereotypes, and I am, in fact, a stay-at-home mother.  Come to that, my review will probably be written off too.  Pity.
    EK's Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars.

 

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
    Reviewed by Desierto on 4/18/2004
    Moneyball is the authors attempt to explain how the Oakland A’s have managed to remain successful (winning baseball games) while at the same time having one of the lowest payrolls in baseball. The A’s have seemed to contradict conventional wisdom that from opening day teams with low payrolls have no shot at being successful because of the disparity in baseball revenues. Yet somehow they keep winning, Why?
    The author gives credit to Bill James for starting a revolution in 1977 with a self published 17 page hand stapled document titled “1977 Baseball Abstract”. Bill James was looking for the Holy Grail of baseball, how to determine whom will be a successful big league ball player. Major League scouts are considered extremely talented if 1/3 of their “discovered” players make the big leagues. Bill James was convinced that there must be a way to objectively rate players by looking at their prior statistics and creating a few new statistics. He was birthing a new “science” (Sabermetricians) and was leading a group of fanatics (retired stock brokers and math & computer aficionados) in an attempt to turn a baseball game into a predictable equation.
    The author was given nearly unlimited access to players and management of the A’s and spent the 2002 baseball season on the inside of the organization sitting in draft prep. meetings and listening to Billy Beane, Oakland General Manager, negotiate trades at the trade deadline.
    I found myself caught up in the book because the pesky A’s have been a thorn in the Mariner’s side and somehow have been able to compete with a payroll usually half as much as the Mariners.
    I couldn’t help but think as the book was winding down “Why would the A’s want to make their secret recipe for success public?” I don’t know the answer to that question but I plan on keeping an eye on the A’s in the next few years to see if they have changed their strategy or if Billy Beane is really the smartest and slickest GM in baseball.
    Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

 

Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office by Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D.
    Reviewed by UtilityGoddess on 4/20/2004
    There is power in a well-worded book title. This one had me asking: Do only “mean” girls get the corner office? (apparently not) What mistakes do I unknowingly make at work? (several)
    Dr. Frankel, an internationally recognized executive coach, discusses 101 behaviors women learn growing up that can sabotage their career potential. That is not to say that men don’t make some of the same mistakes, but these are things to which women are particularly prone (i.e., working too hard, over-decorating your office, asking permission, smiling inappropriately, waiting to be noticed, being modest, etc.). To identify which behaviors may impede one’s career movement, the author asks the reader to take a short self-assessment and read the chapters that address their weakest areas.
    This isn’t rocket science, but it doesn’t have to be. The author points out truisms (some of which are obvious) that can elude those who haven’t though their actions through. This book generally devotes two pages to each mistake – one describes it and the other offers “coaching tips.” The discussion is quick and to the point (unlike most business meetings). I particularly like how the author suggests appropriate and sometimes ingenious responses to tricky situations. This book won’t get you a promotion overnight, but it should prompt a few behavioral changes that will improve how others perceive you.
    UG's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

 

OUR MOTHERS’ WAR: American Women at Home and at the Front during World War II by Emily Yellin
    Reviewed by UtilityGoddess on 6/18/2004
    Feeling inspired by Memorial Day and my great aunt who was a “Rosie Riveter” during World War II, I picked this book to read up on the wartime experiences of women 60+ years ago. Our Mothers’ War explores the roles of women, who have been called the “other American soldiers” of World War II. It doesn’t minimize the role of men; instead it investigates the adventures and sacrifices of women at home and abroad that have often been overlooked in WWII literature. The U.S. government asked these ladies to step into roles they had never been invited, or even allowed, to fill before. (Isn’t it mind boggling to think how few opportunities were available to women at that time?)

    From a sociological standpoint, Our Mothers’ War discusses how the war effort led to women in workforce and greater recognition of the abilities of women who had largely remained unnoticed and under-appreciated prior to the War.
    Far from impersonal, Yellin includes first-hand accounts (personal interviews, letters and diaries) to describe the thoughts and feelings of women working in war plants, mothers and wives sending their loved ones off to war, women joining the military for the first time in American history, nurses operating in battle zones, and housewives coping with rationing. Yellin also delves into more unusual tales of female spies, pilots, movie stars, baseball players, politicians, prostitutes, and journalists. I was particularly moved by the experiences of African-American women confronted with Jim Crow (Jane Crow?) segregation laws at home even as their men were fighting enemy bigotry and injustice abroad, and Japanese-American women who were locked up as prisoners in their own country.

    In short, this book is a well-done cross between an oral history and a traditional historical narrative that is scholarly but not dry.  As someone who has not experienced wartime first hand, I found it difficult not to be moved by the accounts of those who did.
    Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

 

Poplorica:  A Popular History of the Fads, Mavericks, Inventions and Lore that Shaped Modern America by Martin J. Smith and Patrick J. Kiger
    Reviewed by UtilityGoddess on 5/3/2004

    Poplorica, as explained in this book, consists of "rational explanations for frequently irrational cultural phenomena."  To that end, Poplorica revels the odd, surprising and amusing origins of twenty unlikely events, innovations and individuals that forever changed how we live today.  From slam dunks to electric guitars, permanent press to pantyhose, black velvet painting to point-click culture, high-tech diapers to talk shows – the authors cover sports, business, music, media, film, fashion, and science.  Better yet, Poplorica answers burning questions such as:
    * If homeowners hate yard work, why do most suburban homes have lawns?
    * In the best-fed country on earth, how did thin become "in"?
    * When did the "convenience" of convenience food become more important than the food?
    * Was the sexual revolution really sparked by the disastrous honeymoon of a science geek?
    * Why are today's multimillion-dollar design and marketing plans for cars based on the biggest failure in automotive history?
    * How did the invention of air conditioning radically rebalance political power and affect the paths of presidents?
    Spending approximately 15 pages per topic, these unexpected stories are written with a bit of light humor and are an easy read.  Although it spans the entire 20^th century, Poplorica is akin to a print version of VH1’s “I Love the ‘80s.”  Reading this book probably won’t change the way you live your life, but it does explain how a few weird things got that way. 

    UG's Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

 

The Right Nation by John Micklethwait and Adrian Woolridge

    Reviewed by UtilityGoddess on 7/27/2004

    I know that a critique of American conservatism sounds like a snoozer, but after being totally put off by the nastiness of most stateside political commentators, I was curious to know what two Brits from the Economist had to say about it.  I knew I was going to like this book when I read: “If you have come to the book hoping to be told that George Bush is a moronic, oil-obsessed cowboy or that the French are ‘cheese-eating surrender monkeys,’ then we hope that you paid for it before reaching this sentence.” (p. 24) 

    The authors do an excellent job explaining the paradox of the United States in the international community.  “The United States is at once both the most admired country in the world and one of the most reviled; outside its borders, ‘America’ has somehow become a code word for technological sophistication, meritocracy and opportunity as well as for primitive justice, imperialism and inequality.  No coherent object objective explanation exists as to why the hyperpower that most other governments want to emulate and befriends finds itself so often alone.”  Id.  The book then attempts to explain this phenomenon with, in my opinion, a fair degree of success.

    Divided into three parts history, anatomy, and prophecy, The Right Nation explains what the authors believe to be the most powerful and effective political movement of our age. The Right Nation argues that modern American conservatism is exceptional in that it has exaggerated the first three tenets of Edmund Burke’s classic conservatism (a deep suspicion of the power of the state; a preference for liberty over equality; and patriotism) and contradicted the last three (a belief in established institutions and hierarchies; skepticism about the idea of progress; and elitism).  Furthermore, “conservatism” is more of a populist movement to the right over the last 30 years than a political party.  Even with a Democrat in the White House, the authors believe America would remain a more conservative place than any of its peers in the West. 

    The Right nation is an engrossing, well-written, relatively unbiased, and occasionally funny analysis of American conservatism and liberalism.  If you are a “geek who loves books” on politics, give this one a read.

    UG's Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

 

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlanski

    Reviewed by DJ on 2/16/2004

    I eat too much salt.  This is a fact that can be confirmed by TO-NO, P-Short and the rest of my family.  I salt McDonalds French fries.  I think of scrambled eggs as a good carrier for salt.  I pour salt on biscuits and gravy.  Sometimes I just sit with a salt shaker and lick it out of my hand...

    Anyway, when I heard that there was a new nonfiction exploration into the history, chemical makeup, economic and social implications and world history of NaCl, I had to read it.

    Unfortunately, while it was fun and filled with interesting facts, it proved too long and bogged down with too much "World History" and not enough "Salt."  For instance, the description of how the Irish manufactured, used and traded salt was interesting, but the analysis and ENDLESS recipes for corned beef had me skimming more than reading.

    I'll try this one again in a few years, but on this reading, I was left wishing that the author had a good editor. Alas, this was a disappointment. 

Think I'll go have a salted Roast Beef sandwich for lunch...

    DJ's Rating:  2 out of 5 Stars

 

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

    Reviewed by DJ on 4/14/2004

    I'm the sort of guy who surrounds himself with fiction, I guess it's just my escapist tendencies or something, and the typical textbook-style nonfiction book, particularly ones about history are particularly foreign to me.  (Hey, you want history?  Talk to AV8.)

    But Bill Bryson's excellent exploration into, as the title would suggest, The History of Nearly Everything was a pleasant exception.  I loved this book and would recommend it as an enjoyable read for anyone who needs to brush up on their understanding of everything from the Big Bang to the rise of Homo Sapiens.

    As the very good Don't Know Much About History is an excellent resource for information about Americans from Columbus to Reganomics, A Short History is less about people and more about everything preceding them.  Dinosaurs, plate tectonics, the rise of single-cell organisms and DNA and the fall of the Dodo are all covered, but more importantly, the research, discovery, logic and debate behind them is brought to light.  For instance, infighting, backstabbing, stealing and even murder was/is commonplace among scientists struggling to be the first to document a species of fern, or to classify a particular ancient fossil.

    Bryson says in his introduction that he was always annoyed with textbooks (a statement that immediately endeared him to me) because they seemed to hide the important and interesting information and focus instead on the bland, rote-memorization-oriented, BORING aspects such as classifications, latinized names and the dates of epochs and ages long past.  These "Facts" are not only bland and stale, but are frequently inaccurate.  Instead, Bryson focuses on the humanity and process of the individuals involved, the amazing tidbits of trivia and the 10,000 foot birds eye view of the landscape of time that ties everything together.

    It's a long book, but it is worth every page.  I'm glad I took the time to take it all in, and will probably buy a copy to keep on my bookshelf.  In fact, I may have my kids read this book when they're in school. 

    It's that good - perhaps the best nonfiction book I've read this year.

    DJ's Rating:  5 out of 5 Stars.

 

Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

    Reviewed by AV8 on 2/16/2004

    In 1960, at the age of 59, novelist John Steinbeck set out from his home in Long Island, New York “in search of America.” He, along with his traveling companion, a French poodle named Charley, traveled in a camper equipped pickup truck named after Don Quixote’s horse. The book that resulted from that trip was published the following year, 1961.
    I first read Travels with Charley in about 1963 or 1964, shortly after finishing a seven thousand mile solo motorcycle trip around the western United States and Canada. I enjoyed the book then, and still do. I could remember passages from it decades later.
    In the late 1980s I re-read TWC, shortly after I had spent several months alone in Oklahoma City in a job related training course, while my family stayed in Anchorage, Alaska. I bought a car in Okie City, and near the end of my several month course, my youngest daughter, then 10 years old, flew down to spend the last two weeks with me, and also to ride back to Anchorage with me. She and I drove through the Texas panhandle, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, the northwestern corner of Minnesota, three provinces of Canada, the Yukon Territory, on into Alaska, and home to Anchorage. We played tourist, visiting Pikes Peak, Breckenridge Ski area, Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, Edmonton Mall, Whitehorse, and other places too numerous to mention. We visited relatives, got lost, got the car covered with mud on the Alaska highway, and all in all had a great time. The trip covered more than 5000 miles and took 16 days.
    TWC was just as good a read the second time as the first.
    A couple of months ago, when I was planning out my yurting through Oregon with Louie road trip, I started making a list of books to take with me. The list would focus on “road books” and/or solo adventure books. It would include some of my all time favorite books, as well as books that I have been meaning to read, but haven’t quite gotten around to yet. One main rule would be that I would only take inexpensive books, either paperbacks or ones purchased at a used book store. My thinking was that if I lost or damaged any book, such as by leaving it out in the rain, there would be no big financial loss.
    I looked for TWC in the used book stores in Bellingham, and in the Seattle area, but did not find it. The big brand name book store in Bellingham had one new copy, but it was marked expensive.
    So my box of books, 13 in all, did not include TWC. While I was visiting in Idaho, I told my kids about my box of books, and mentioned that I did not include TWC, and why. P-Short jumped up from her chair and went looking in her book case. She quickly returned with an older paperback copy of TWC. She told me that she had purchased it while in College and still had it, and that I was welcome to borrow it. I gladly accepted, and that night, in a cabin in Emigrant Springs State Park, Oregon, I renewed an old friendship. I finished TWC for the third time the following night in a railroad caboose in a freight yard in a small town near Mount Rainier.
    I am glad to report that Travels With Charley is just as good as ever. America has changed a lot in almost 44 years, but many things are still the same. Road trips still hold their same allure to some of us, even though we are not quite as agile as we once were. The big issues of the early sixties, the main one being the civil rights struggle, are now history. Things we could not even imagine in 1960, such as a group from a mid-eastern country hijacking airliners and crashing them into buildings in a coordinated attack on our country, are part of our everyday headline news.
    But America is still America, and we are still free to get on our petroleum fueled magic carpet and ride away, enjoying freedoms most of the world does not even know exist. May we always have these freedoms. Buy – or borrow – the book and read it. And enjoy!
    AV8’s rating: 4.5 tanks of gas out of 5

 

What Would Machiavelli Do by Stanley Bing

    Reviewed by DJ on 2/7/2004

    I love this book.  It is NOT, however, for everyone. 

    True story:  P-Short had to be physically restrained by Sock Monkey as she tried to throw my copy this little book out the passenger side window of my truck as we were traveling down I-5. 

    Some people can laugh at this book.  Some can't.  You've been warned.

    WWMD starts out with a short description of Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian writer and courtier who lived 500 years ago and is best known for writing The Prince, a treatise on politics and selfishness designed to teach his young benefactor how to succeed in the world of Italian leadership.  From there the author, Stanley Bing, offers a series of short chapters designed to illustrate the virtue of selfishness, rudeness and backstabbing, and the folly of truth, respect for others and being "nice."

    A few quotations:

• "Root out that unpleasant toadlike creature within you and give him the keys to the car."

• "Some of us have destinies.  Some of us don't.  If you don't believe you have one, you don't.  Sorry."

• "It is not, unfortunately, possible to own everything.  That doesn't mean you can't try."

• "Cutting off a few heads is necessary now and then, it doesn't pay to get too sentimental about it."

• "...many of you just don't really know what you want at any given moment.  This makes you losers."

• "Truth Management:  The list of accomplished liars is long and impressive.  It doesn't pay to name them all.  It would, in fact, be easier to name those who did NOT lie when it became necessary, although that might be impossible.  Those who do NOT lie do NOT succeed, and therefore are unknown."

• "Praise people publicly in a way that shames others.  'If all of you had Bob's moxie/brains/contacts, we'd all be doing better,' you might say.  Direct praise that does not involve the denigration of others is virtually worthless."

    There are several ways of reading this book.  You could read it straight-up, seeing it as literal, real-world advice for how to succeed.  You could read it as pure entertainment value, laughing at Bing's very humorous illustrations of business life.  Or, you could read it as I did:  Laugh at the tone, but still see the deeper message, that there are times when hanging your economic hat on the peg of being "nice" will very rarely bring you success, and that, by recognizing the Machiavellian maneuvers of your superiors and co-workers, you can make the appropriate moves on the battlefield of business and STILL be "Nice."

    It's short, it's quick.  Buy a copy and read it in the bathroom.

    Machiavelli would have loved that.

    DJ's Rating:  4 1/2 out of 5 Stars.

 

What’s Next: God, Israel and the Future of Iraq by Charles H. Dyer

    Reviewed by UtilityGoddess on 5/18/2005

    Published in January 2004, What’s Next is written by an Old Testament scholar and Israel tour guide.  It is a current events smorgasbord that concisely explains the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, tensions between Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam, and what the Bible says about the rebuilding of Iraq (i.e., Babylon).  In addition to containing some recent pictures of significant Iraqi sites taken after the fall of Saddam Hussein, What’s Next tells a few anecdotal stories from local Israelis and Palestinians to demonstrate their respective mindsets.  It also includes scriptural references to the “end times,” but by no means is an eschatological (love those 6-syllable words!) treatise.  Because What’s Next is a slim 130-pages in big print, it is merely a survey of these topics – but an insightful one.  It is worth your time if you have an interest in such things.

    UG's Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

 

Wind, Sand and Stars and The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery

     Reviewed by AV8 on 4/28/2004

    They found his airplane.

    According to stories that have appeared in the news media in the last few days, the Lockheed P-38 that Antoine de Saint Exupery was flying when he disappeared while on his last reconnaissance mission in World War II was recently found by divers in the Mediterranean Sea off of the coast of France. 

    Saint Ex, as he is sometimes known in the aviation community, was a popular writer of aviation books.  Several of his books have reached the status of being considered classics.  I first read an excerpt from one of his flying books while I was in high school.  It impressed me enough that I still remember small parts of it.

    I have three of his books in my home library.  These were books that I have read in the past, and bought at a used book store with the idea that “one of these days” I would re-read them. 

    After I saw the recent news reports about him, I dug out one of the books Wind, Sand and Stars, and re-read it.  It was as good as ever. 

    In 1926, Antoine de Saint Exupery, a Frenchman, was hired as a student airline pilot by the predecessor company to Air France.  Soon after that, he began flying the official French mail across northwest Africa and across the Andes mountains in South America.  The first 80 per cent or so of the book is about his adventures (and the adventures of others) in this occupation.  The last 20 per cent or so of the book is about his observations during the Spanish civil war in the late 1930s.  The last portion of the book deserves to be read slowly and thoughtfully.  A lot of it is pertinent to today’s world, and today’s wars. 

    The news media reports also told of him being the author of a very well known children’s book The Little Prince.  This was something that I did not know, or if at some time in the past I had known, I had forgotten.  I looked up The Little Prince on the internet, and then went down to the library and checked out a copy. 

    The Little Prince is one of the children’s books that has the peculiar distinction of being a children’s book that is meant to be read by adults.  In the book, the author tells a fanciful story of a miniature prince he met while he was stranded in the Sahara Desert after an aircraft engine failure in the late 30s.  The little prince has come to earth while exploring the galaxy.  In the end of the book, he flies away, presumably to return home to his own asteroid.  What happens between the time he first appears and the time that he leaves is what makes the book so thought provoking. 

    The Little Prince is thought by some to be a premonition to Saint Exupery’s own death.  The little Prince flies away, never to return.  Saint Exupery flies away on his last mission, alone, never to return.  Some book critics consider Prince to be a form of a suicide note, written during a very bleak part of World War II, while France was occupied by Germany, about a year before Saint Ex’s death. 

    Is it either one?  Read it yourself and make your own decision. 

    AV8’s rating: Wind, Sand and Stars: golden wings with one diamond

    The Little Prince: golden wings with two diamonds

 

Wingless Eagle by Herbert A. Johnson

    Reviewed by AV8 on 2/13/2004

    Herbert Johnson is a professor of law at the University of North Carolina and a retired Air Force officer.  His credentials show through plainly in this well researched, well written, and well documented aviation history book.  Professor Johnson, as the book’s subtitle states, traces the early history of U.S. Army aviation from its early beginnings through World War I.

     It is almost universally known that the Wright brothers are credited with inventing the airplane, and making the first heavier-than-air flights in December 1903.  What is a lot less known is that the Wrights’ patent infringement lawsuits slowed the advancement of powered flight for well over a decade.  Professor Johnson chronicles this litigation very well.  He also shows how political infighting, public opinion, apathy on the part of congressional leaders, and foot-dragging by “old guard” military officers added to the turning of the Army Air Service into the “Wingless Eagle” that it ended up being in the 1910 era.

     The author adds a very interesting chapter on the Mexican Punitive Expedition of March 1916 through February 1917.  Mexican bandit Pancho Villa had crossed over the international border and attacked Columbus, New Mexico on the night of March 9, 1916. General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing was sent on an expedition into Mexico to punish and/or capture Pancho Villa.  This expedition was the first US military operation that used both aircraft and trucks.  The story of the expedition alone is worth the price of the book. The use of aircraft was a failure, mainly due to the primitive aircraft the Army had available.

     The author also discusses at great length the start of World War I and the difficulties and frustrations of the large scale buildup and training required at virtually no notice.  He points out that American pilots flew European built aircraft in the war, as there were no American made fighting planes available that were not already obsolete.

     The book is well documented with end notes, and has an excellent bibliography.  It is recommended for reading by any serious student of early 20th century US military aviation.

    AV8’s overall, average rating: 3.5 frozen Mukluks out of 5

 

WINNING EVERY TIME: How to Use the Skills of a Lawyer in the Trials of Your Life by Lis Wiehl
    Reviewed by UtilityGoddess on 6/18/2004
    Want to learn how to be persuasive like an attorney without going to law school for 3 years like I did?

    Lis Wiehl, a former federal prosecutor and University of Washington law school professor, offers accessible and practical advice to make your case in the personal trials of your life. Wiehl explains what attorneys do to win a legal case and how eight rules used in the courtroom can help you successfully advocate for yourself in consumer issues, in the workplace, and with your family. Winning Every Time includes examples from real people and situations that exemplify each rule, ranging from how to get a raise to raising kids. This book empowers those who are too timid to confront others, too emotional (either angry or teary) to get the result they seek, or anyone needing to improve their people skills.
    I cannot say I learned these concepts for the first time by reading this book – but after graduating from law school and trying legal cases of my own, I should hope that I already know some of this. Nevertheless, it sets out sound strategies learned in law school that I generally take for granted. Thus, I give it a dual rating:
    For Non-Attorneys: 4 out of 5 stars
   For Attorneys who should already know this: 3 out of 5 stars