Don't know if there are any William Gibson fans here, but I read his latest book, The Peripheral, this month and thought it was very good. The world building was fantastic, and although I was a little let down by a very tidy ending, I would still rank it among my favorite sci-fi books from the last year or so.
I read Cat's Cradle and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater this month in my Vonnegut re-read project. Cat's Cradle is still pretty great, although it's funny how much I remembered the post-apocalyptic parts of the book considering how little of that there actually is. Mr. Rosewater was not my favorite of his, but it was one of the novels I hadn't read before, so the completist in me is happy to have read it.
I finished The Last Policeman series (The Last Policeman, Countdown City, World of Trouble). Easy books to read, and I liked the setup for the mysteries (society is breaking down as an asteroid will destroy the Earth very soon).
I also finally got around to reading Citizen by Claudia Rankine. It's a powerful book. I was looking for where others posted their thoughts (I know Pepper and CH have read it as well), but didn't immediately find it. It's very much worth a read.
33 thoughts on “First Monday (Observed) Book Day”
Cat's Cradle was definitely set up to be about the apocalypse, so it makes sense that that part would stick with you. I wanted more of that, but what we got was just very to-the-point.
My reads this month:
Breadcrumbs - I finished reading Anne Ursu's book to my kids. My 5-year-old applauded when it was done, and then gave a neat little summary of his own volition, so I know he got it. I was afraid he was a little too young for it, and he might have been, but he got something out of the book for sure, and every once in a while he's referenced it since. I enjoyed it, in that it was a different take on the "kids travel to a different world to face a bad guy" story. There was no fighting, which was kind of neat. And there were lots of fun references, including many to Joe Mauer, but I suppose that's to be expected from Batgirl, huh?
The Trumpet Of The Swan - Just started reading this one to the kids. I remember it from 1st grade. It's been enjoyable for the first 20 pages or so, and is certainly more accessible for my daughter than the last one was.
100 Years Of Solitude - I'm still plugging away, and I love this book, and the prose is beautiful, but the fact that it's unrelenting exposition makes it hard for me to read for long stretches. I crave a break, and that leads me to just put it down whenever there's a new paragraph or something.
Damned - This was one of the audio books I read while in the car. Chuck Palahniuk. It started a bit slow, and... the plot is kind of rambling. Or unimportant, maybe. It's a skewered take on the afterlife, and, more, acceptance of the fact that we will all inevitably die. It's quite witty and playful, but a bit too indulgent at times, and I craved more substance. Apparently there is a sequel (Doomed), and maybe a third one coming? I'd read them, based on the first one, since it was easy enough, and mildly entertaining.
The Kite Runner - Another audio book. Read by the author, which I think was a mistake (though it was very nice to have accurate pronunciations), because he just didn't have a voice that did the drama enough service. As for the drama... I appreciated much of it, and lamented much of it. There were things that happened that just happened for no real reason, and with no real impact, but that were over-the-top dramatic.
I'm thinking specifically of the guy committing suicide when his son dies crossing the border. We've never met the guy or his son in the story, they have no real impact, it's not character motivated, it just happens and we witness it for... a reason I can't figure out.
At the same time, I appreciated some of the nuance that went into the story, especially in the denouement, where things weren't just magically, suddenly, all good. There were realistic and lasting effects on characters, that were concrete, not just vague "you're left to wonder where their lives will go" kind of stuff.
The biggest barrier for me was that the narrator did not have an accurate appreciation for the severity actions, and this made him unrelatable. He spent the first half of the book telling us about this awful thing he did as a kid, and wants us to treat it as some awful thing, but... he was just a kid.
Witnessing a rape and not shouting out for it to stop and getting yourself beaten up might be cowardice, but it's not evil. And then the actual bad thing he did, framing the victim and forcing them to leave, was rushed in the book, so we got a lot more attention on the act of cowardice being evil then we did the actual act of evil.
I also didn't believe his reaction to reveals, such as
When he finally figured out, several hundred pages after the readers did, that Hassan was his brother.
Anyway... I finished it. That's something.
I'm doing the same thing with 100 Years of Solitude . I read about fifty pages, then read another book, then come back for fifty more pages, etc. I really like the book, but just can't plow through it. My current interruption is The End of Baseball by local author Peter Schilling. It's quite good.
Speaking of GGM, I read a little more in Love in the Time of Cholera. I need to make more progress in that.
I am about three chapters in to Proof. Pretty entertaining so far.
re: William Gibson. I read Neuromancer a long, long time ago and was underwhelmed. Maybe I should dip my toe back in and try something else of his.
I always enjoy a well-built world, so perhaps Peripheral connected with me more than it will with others, but I was hooked.
I'm excited to read this.
Neuromancer & Mona Lisa Overdrive are my favorite Gibson. Idoru is good, too, but it's the middle book of that trilogy and the only one of those three that I've read. I'd give Gibson another go.
The more distance from Citizen I get, the less I like it. The most effective passages for me were the parts written in second person, which strongly resonate with Du Bois & Ellison. I don't have much patience for the critical theory stuff, which unhelpfully abstracts things that don't need abstration.
The most effective passages for me were the parts written in second person.
I agree wholeheartedly. We'll see how it sits with me, but I was affected by the book in a way that doesn't happen very often for me.
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides. For an expedition that was so much a part of the national consciousness when it was happening as compared to the Corps of Discovery, this story had little none of the historical staying power of Lewis & Clark's explorations. Well researched and compellingly written, Sides gives interesting scientific observations nearly as much space as the personalities and biographies of the men who participated in this voyage.
Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley & Ron Powers. I have not seen the movie and, despite my naval career, knew almost nothing beyond the basic, horrifying statistics, regarding Iwo Jima. In addition, as I learned in reading this book, I, like many (most) Americans was highly influenced by the propaganda of the time, so much so that I'd completely accepted the conventional wisdom regarding the flag raising on Mount Suribachi. The author did a fantastic job broadening the story of those six men; giving a more detailed and nuanced explanation of what the war in the Pacific was like and its long-term consequences to the men who fought it.
I haven't read nor watched Flags, but I'm currently reworking my way through The War (the Ken Burns documentary), and that Pacific theater... wow. They've touched on some of those long-term consequences, and haven't shied away from some of the harder issues. It's been a worthy re-watch.
There was a story a few months ago that Doc Bradley wasn't actually in the iconic picture. I suggest you track it down. Very interesting stuff after getting the details in the book.
That was a cool story.
Two fantastic translated books I read this month:
Street of Thieves by Mathias Enard.
Translated from French, nominated for this year's Best Translated Book Award, it's just a really good story that's really well told. It's current and exciting and it kept me reading throughout. A young man growing up in Morocco is exiled from his family and falls into a tenuous relation with a radical Muslim group during the Arab Spring. I really liked it, and the independent publisher (Open Letter Books) puts out lots of great books, so you should get this one.
The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu.
Translated from Chinese, nominated for the Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Awards. A sci-fi book with so many ideas it seems to burst with them. This is my vote to win the Hugo award. The second book in the series comes out next month, and I'm very excited to read it.
I have decided to focus my summer reading on American classics that I haven't read yet. I printed out list of the most assigned books in American Lit classes. I am starting with Huckleberry Finn. I think Scarlet Letter might be up next.
I've read Huck Finn. In 8th grade (because I remember the teacher), I did a comparative book report on Tom Sawyer vs Finn. I was much more fond of Finn, and in the notes on my assignment, the teacher indicated she felt the same way. I had not talked about it with her (or anyone else) before writing it, so the ideas were fully my own. Felt good to have confirmation.
She also had a last name spelled like mine (identical to the MLBer Brennan), and pronounced it like I did. She was nearing retirement, so maybe she's passed away.
I reread Huck last year and liked it, but not as much as I remembered.
I had a goal this year to read 10 classics. I am stuck on #2 (Treasure Island)
I think I'm over it
Although I've had Huck Finn on my night stand for weeks now.
- The Last Policeman, by Ben H. Winters *** I was more interested in the world than the mystery, perhaps because I never really connected with the narrator's character in the way I did with Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade. Yes, that's an entirely unfair comparison, but reading Chandler & Hammett early set very high standards for this genre.
- Primal Leadership, by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, & Annie McKee ** Read for a course on leadership & ethics I'm teaching in the fall. Emotional Intelligence for MBA students. I'm occasionally amazed at the differing standards of "academic writing" across disciplines; this was not the good kind of amazement.
- Generating Buy-In, by Mark S. Walton *** Read for the course I'm teaching in the fall. A breezy but serviceable introduction to effective communication & using stories as a way of cultivating support for initiatives, programs, etc.
- The Branch Will Not Break by James Wright **** A Ohio poet with Minnesota connections (Wright was close friends with Robert Bly). Half of the book was quite good, the other half I'm going to need to re-read immersively against other work from the period.
- The 'Nam, Vol. 1, by Doug Murray/Marvel Comics **.5 A trade paperback of a comic series following grunts in Vietnam in 1967. Each issue is the equivalent of 30 days in-country, easily the most interesting part of the narrative.
- The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety by Alan W. Watts *** Read after hearing Merlin Mann mention it on one of his podcasts. A meditation on the significance of the present (and our myopic focus on the future) imbued with Eastern religious teaching.
- When The Wind Blows, by Raymond Briggs *** A (somewhat less effective) graphic novel equivalent of Threads, a very difficult film about nuclear apocalypse.
- Pride of Baghdad, by Brian K. Vaughan/Vertigo Comics ** A graphic novel of the early days of the Iraq War told from the perspective of a small pride of lions from the Baghdad Zoo. The colors are the best-executed part of this book. I understand why Vaughan wanted to tell this story, but I don't appreciate the way he went about the end.
CH, have you seen The Photographer? It's a graphic novel and it seems like it might be up your alley.
I have not, but now it's on my list. Thanks! Looks like it might be similar to some of Joe Sacco's work (I'm thinking Palestine & War's End, specifically).
You've got an empty link there on "Pride of Baghdad"
Read Words Without Music by Phillip Glass. A Glass fan from Satyagraha at the Met it was interesting to see how he got there
He would probably make my Who Do You Invite To Dinner list.
Just finished The Siege by Arturo Perez- Reverte - a fan from the Alatriste series. More for the canon.
I found Ender's Game and Maximum Bob at Goodwill for $0.99 each today. I loved the Elmore Leonard I've read before (as well as "Justified") so I'm excited to read it. Hopefully I have it done in the next two weeks and I can pass it on to my uncle while he's up for the wedding. I think he'd like Leonard as well.
Ender's Game is my little brother's favorite book, so I figured I'd give it a whack. I'm not the biggest sci-fi fan, but I know enough about the story to think I'll enjoy it.
Ender's Game and the first sequel are outstanding. I'm always bothered by the ridiculously young ages that Card chooses for the main characters (which the movie adjusts), but it's entertaining, and a worthy choice for top sci-fi book (recently supplanted).
No books after 1989. Understandable given polls, but disappointing
??
You didn't look down very far I guess. I used this poll to catch up on newer ones that I hadn't read yet, and found several winners.
Cat's Cradle was definitely set up to be about the apocalypse, so it makes sense that that part would stick with you. I wanted more of that, but what we got was just very to-the-point.
My reads this month:
Breadcrumbs - I finished reading Anne Ursu's book to my kids. My 5-year-old applauded when it was done, and then gave a neat little summary of his own volition, so I know he got it. I was afraid he was a little too young for it, and he might have been, but he got something out of the book for sure, and every once in a while he's referenced it since. I enjoyed it, in that it was a different take on the "kids travel to a different world to face a bad guy" story. There was no fighting, which was kind of neat. And there were lots of fun references, including many to Joe Mauer, but I suppose that's to be expected from Batgirl, huh?
The Trumpet Of The Swan - Just started reading this one to the kids. I remember it from 1st grade. It's been enjoyable for the first 20 pages or so, and is certainly more accessible for my daughter than the last one was.
100 Years Of Solitude - I'm still plugging away, and I love this book, and the prose is beautiful, but the fact that it's unrelenting exposition makes it hard for me to read for long stretches. I crave a break, and that leads me to just put it down whenever there's a new paragraph or something.
Damned - This was one of the audio books I read while in the car. Chuck Palahniuk. It started a bit slow, and... the plot is kind of rambling. Or unimportant, maybe. It's a skewered take on the afterlife, and, more, acceptance of the fact that we will all inevitably die. It's quite witty and playful, but a bit too indulgent at times, and I craved more substance. Apparently there is a sequel (Doomed), and maybe a third one coming? I'd read them, based on the first one, since it was easy enough, and mildly entertaining.
The Kite Runner - Another audio book. Read by the author, which I think was a mistake (though it was very nice to have accurate pronunciations), because he just didn't have a voice that did the drama enough service. As for the drama... I appreciated much of it, and lamented much of it. There were things that happened that just happened for no real reason, and with no real impact, but that were over-the-top dramatic.
At the same time, I appreciated some of the nuance that went into the story, especially in the denouement, where things weren't just magically, suddenly, all good. There were realistic and lasting effects on characters, that were concrete, not just vague "you're left to wonder where their lives will go" kind of stuff.
The biggest barrier for me was that the narrator did not have an accurate appreciation for the severity actions, and this made him unrelatable. He spent the first half of the book telling us about this awful thing he did as a kid, and wants us to treat it as some awful thing, but... he was just a kid.
I also didn't believe his reaction to reveals, such as
Anyway... I finished it. That's something.
I'm doing the same thing with 100 Years of Solitude . I read about fifty pages, then read another book, then come back for fifty more pages, etc. I really like the book, but just can't plow through it. My current interruption is The End of Baseball by local author Peter Schilling. It's quite good.
Speaking of GGM, I read a little more in Love in the Time of Cholera. I need to make more progress in that.
I am about three chapters in to Proof. Pretty entertaining so far.
re: William Gibson. I read Neuromancer a long, long time ago and was underwhelmed. Maybe I should dip my toe back in and try something else of his.
I always enjoy a well-built world, so perhaps Peripheral connected with me more than it will with others, but I was hooked.
I'm excited to read this.
Neuromancer & Mona Lisa Overdrive are my favorite Gibson. Idoru is good, too, but it's the middle book of that trilogy and the only one of those three that I've read. I'd give Gibson another go.
Regarding Citizen, yes, it's definitely powerful. Here's my discussion with CH. And here's where I first mentioned the book.
Is it bad that I assumed someone else would find those for me if I left it in the post as it was?
It's only bad if you assumed that person was Pepper.
Then it's bad.
I'll let you in on my super secret technique.
The more distance from Citizen I get, the less I like it. The most effective passages for me were the parts written in second person, which strongly resonate with Du Bois & Ellison. I don't have much patience for the critical theory stuff, which unhelpfully abstracts things that don't need abstration.
The most effective passages for me were the parts written in second person.
I agree wholeheartedly. We'll see how it sits with me, but I was affected by the book in a way that doesn't happen very often for me.
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides. For an expedition that was so much a part of the national consciousness when it was happening as compared to the Corps of Discovery, this story had
littlenone of the historical staying power of Lewis & Clark's explorations. Well researched and compellingly written, Sides gives interesting scientific observations nearly as much space as the personalities and biographies of the men who participated in this voyage.Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley & Ron Powers. I have not seen the movie and, despite my naval career, knew almost nothing beyond the basic, horrifying statistics, regarding Iwo Jima. In addition, as I learned in reading this book, I, like many (most) Americans was highly influenced by the propaganda of the time, so much so that I'd completely accepted the conventional wisdom regarding the flag raising on Mount Suribachi. The author did a fantastic job broadening the story of those six men; giving a more detailed and nuanced explanation of what the war in the Pacific was like and its long-term consequences to the men who fought it.
I haven't read nor watched Flags, but I'm currently reworking my way through The War (the Ken Burns documentary), and that Pacific theater... wow. They've touched on some of those long-term consequences, and haven't shied away from some of the harder issues. It's been a worthy re-watch.
There was a story a few months ago that Doc Bradley wasn't actually in the iconic picture. I suggest you track it down. Very interesting stuff after getting the details in the book.
That was a cool story.
Two fantastic translated books I read this month:
Street of Thieves by Mathias Enard.
Translated from French, nominated for this year's Best Translated Book Award, it's just a really good story that's really well told. It's current and exciting and it kept me reading throughout. A young man growing up in Morocco is exiled from his family and falls into a tenuous relation with a radical Muslim group during the Arab Spring. I really liked it, and the independent publisher (Open Letter Books) puts out lots of great books, so you should get this one.
The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu.
Translated from Chinese, nominated for the Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Awards. A sci-fi book with so many ideas it seems to burst with them. This is my vote to win the Hugo award. The second book in the series comes out next month, and I'm very excited to read it.
I have decided to focus my summer reading on American classics that I haven't read yet. I printed out list of the most assigned books in American Lit classes. I am starting with Huckleberry Finn. I think Scarlet Letter might be up next.
I've read Huck Finn. In 8th grade (because I remember the teacher), I did a comparative book report on Tom Sawyer vs Finn. I was much more fond of Finn, and in the notes on my assignment, the teacher indicated she felt the same way. I had not talked about it with her (or anyone else) before writing it, so the ideas were fully my own. Felt good to have confirmation.
She also had a last name spelled like mine (identical to the MLBer Brennan), and pronounced it like I did. She was nearing retirement, so maybe she's passed away.
I reread Huck last year and liked it, but not as much as I remembered.
I had a goal this year to read 10 classics. I am stuck on #2 (Treasure Island)
I think I'm over it
Although I've had Huck Finn on my night stand for weeks now.
Currently I'm reading Robert & Edward Skidelsky's How Much is Enough?: Money and the Good Life. Up next is This Present Moment, Gary Snyder's new collection of poems.
Recently read:
- The Last Policeman, by Ben H. Winters *** I was more interested in the world than the mystery, perhaps because I never really connected with the narrator's character in the way I did with Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade. Yes, that's an entirely unfair comparison, but reading Chandler & Hammett early set very high standards for this genre.
- Primal Leadership, by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, & Annie McKee ** Read for a course on leadership & ethics I'm teaching in the fall. Emotional Intelligence for MBA students. I'm occasionally amazed at the differing standards of "academic writing" across disciplines; this was not the good kind of amazement.
- Generating Buy-In, by Mark S. Walton *** Read for the course I'm teaching in the fall. A breezy but serviceable introduction to effective communication & using stories as a way of cultivating support for initiatives, programs, etc.
- The Branch Will Not Break by James Wright **** A Ohio poet with Minnesota connections (Wright was close friends with Robert Bly). Half of the book was quite good, the other half I'm going to need to re-read immersively against other work from the period.
- The 'Nam, Vol. 1, by Doug Murray/Marvel Comics **.5 A trade paperback of a comic series following grunts in Vietnam in 1967. Each issue is the equivalent of 30 days in-country, easily the most interesting part of the narrative.
- The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety by Alan W. Watts *** Read after hearing Merlin Mann mention it on one of his podcasts. A meditation on the significance of the present (and our myopic focus on the future) imbued with Eastern religious teaching.
- When The Wind Blows, by Raymond Briggs *** A (somewhat less effective) graphic novel equivalent of Threads, a very difficult film about nuclear apocalypse.
- Pride of Baghdad, by Brian K. Vaughan/Vertigo Comics ** A graphic novel of the early days of the Iraq War told from the perspective of a small pride of lions from the Baghdad Zoo. The colors are the best-executed part of this book. I understand why Vaughan wanted to tell this story, but I don't appreciate the way he went about the end.
CH, have you seen The Photographer? It's a graphic novel and it seems like it might be up your alley.
I have not, but now it's on my list. Thanks! Looks like it might be similar to some of Joe Sacco's work (I'm thinking Palestine & War's End, specifically).
You've got an empty link there on "Pride of Baghdad"
Read Words Without Music by Phillip Glass. A Glass fan from Satyagraha at the Met it was interesting to see how he got there
He would probably make my Who Do You Invite To Dinner list.
Just finished The Siege by Arturo Perez- Reverte - a fan from the Alatriste series. More for the canon.
I found Ender's Game and Maximum Bob at Goodwill for $0.99 each today. I loved the Elmore Leonard I've read before (as well as "Justified") so I'm excited to read it. Hopefully I have it done in the next two weeks and I can pass it on to my uncle while he's up for the wedding. I think he'd like Leonard as well.
Ender's Game is my little brother's favorite book, so I figured I'd give it a whack. I'm not the biggest sci-fi fan, but I know enough about the story to think I'll enjoy it.
Ender's Game and the first sequel are outstanding. I'm always bothered by the ridiculously young ages that Card chooses for the main characters (which the movie adjusts), but it's entertaining, and a worthy choice for top sci-fi book (recently supplanted).
No books after 1989. Understandable given polls, but disappointing
??
You didn't look down very far I guess. I used this poll to catch up on newer ones that I hadn't read yet, and found several winners.