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RATING SYSTEM:
BUYING A BOOK If you would like to buy any of the books reviewed below, simply click on one of the links below the book cover or at the end of the review, which will take you to the book at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk, whichever you decide. There you will be able to purchase the book and I will get a certain amount back from it. Every book you buy will help me greatly. Thank you. |
THE HUNT FOR PLANET X: NEW WORLDS AND THE FATE OF PLUTO BY GOVERT SCHILLING: Dutch author Govert Schilling is an internationally acclaimed astronomy writer who has published more than forty books and written for many publications, including New Scientist and Science; he even has an asteroid – 10986 – named after him. In The Hunt for Planet X, he answers just about every question you might have about our solar system, from why Pluto was demoted from being a planet, to who discovered which planet, when, and how.
In a volume divided into thirty chapters, Schilling covers everything from the days when planets, moons, and other galactic objects were first discovered – giving a brief history lesson on each person and how they discovered said object – up to the present with why Pluto isn't a planet any more, to what's being discovered right now, and what the future holds for astronomy. The book is filled with glossy photos of the important people in astronomy, as well as the planets, asteroids, and whatever else Schilling is talking about. There's even a helpful index and extensive chronology in the back of the book, starting with Galileo, taking readers on a quick journey through time up to 2007.
The Hunt For Planet X is a great resource for any (scientifically minded or not) person looking for answers about our solar system, what exactly people are looking for up there in the great blackness of space, and how they're finding it. It is an invaluable reference for those wanting either quick answers or long discussions on the mysteries of space.
| CONTAGIOUS BY SCOTT SIGLER: Scott Sigler began his writing career by recording podcasts of his books and attracting the interest and support of listeners around the world. This eventually landed him a publishing contract. After the success of last year's Infected, Sigler quickly followed up with the sequel Contagious. It looks like the world is pretty much doomed. The aliens have invaded and they're slowly taking over by infecting people on the genetic level with a virus that grows and takes over the body. Symptoms of the virus including indicators of the common cold, as well as the apparent need to kill your fellow man for no apparent reason, and some scary looking blue triangles. Humanity's hope rests on the shoulders of former football star Perry Dawsey who was actually infected, but under the skillful hands of Margaret Montoya, was brought back from psychopathic insanity, albeit agonizingly. Dawsey now has the ability to know where the aliens are mounting a new offensive, but he is a reckless killer who gives new meaning to the term loose cannon. Sigler has a specific over the top style, holding nothing back. His characters are loud, large, overbearing, and not for those looking for finesse. But this world is a tough place, and you have to be tough to make it through. It's all about balancing the costs: how much are human lives worth? Under the government of a new President, decisions have to be made, quickly, with little time to consider repercussions. It is, after all, the end of the world. |
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Originally published in the Sacramento Book Review.
THE SOMNAMBULIST BY JONATHAN BARNES: Welcome to a Victorian England where a little bit of magic still exists, as well as some possible time traveling, and some of the strangest and most unusual characters you’ll ever meet. There is the title character, the Somnambulist as he is known. An outlandishly tall giant who never says a word and is a strange looking creature who attracts the interest and eyes of everyone he passes, and has an addiction to milk; as a matter of fact milk appears to be the only thing he ever consumes. He also possesses a unique condition whereby he can be stabbed and skewered by any object through any part of his body, any number of times, and not suffer any pain, blood loss, or apparent harm. He is a science-defying freak who is never thoroughly explored in the book. Then there is Edward Moon, the other member of the magic duo, who has a penchant for sleeping with freakish looking women with the more disfigurements the better; the bearded girl is his favorite! Moon fancies himself a skilled detective with a successful history except for one case that went terribly wrong. Alas, this is also not fully explained in The Somnambulist. The story begins with the bizarre death of an actor and builds to a complicated and stupefying conclusion that will leave the reader trying to wrap his or her mind around it.
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Originally published in the Sacramento Book Review.
THE ENCHANTRESS OF FLORENCE BY SALMAN RUSHDIE: Sir Salman Rushdie, best known for The Satanic Verses which earned him multiple death threats forcing him to leave his native land and live in Britain, returns with what he calls his “most researched book” which took “years and years of reading,” in The Enchantress of Florence. A remarkable novel told in a way that mixes story with history and fable, making it seem like an enchanting tale á la 1001 Nights that leaves one wondering which parts of it are true and which are from the imaginative mind of Rushdie. An enigmatic character from distant Florence pays a visit to the Mughal emperor Akbar the Great. Through Rushdie’s eyes we see two very difference worlds: the high renaissance of Italy juxtaposed with that of India. The magic in this story is indirect and subtle lending it a romantic and fantastic air that simply adds to the setting and plot. It is Salman Rushdie at his best, telling wonderful, moving, magical stories within stories.
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Originally published in the Sacramento Book Review.
RASL BY JEFF SMITH: Writer and artist Jeff Smith, of Bone fame, returns with an original concept in Rasl. In The Drift, Rasl is a classic young tough guy who's been messing around with magnets and magnetic fields and has invented a way of traveling across dimensions into parallel universes. It takes a lot out of him each time he drifts, explaining his alcoholic ways. For his occupation, Rasl is an art thief, stealing art from other dimensions to sell in his own. But in this first volume, something is terribly wrong. There's an assassin out to get him, following him somehow across the dimensions. It's nonstop action for Rasl, as he tries to save his skin, while continuing to research the powers of magnetism that make it possible to cross the dimensions of space. Rasl is a great new story from Jeff Smith, who will be publishing two more volumes in the series.
Want to get yourself a copy? Click HERE for Amazon.com
Originally published in the Sacramento Book Review.
BORN TO BE GOOD BY DACHER KELTNER: In a time when this world seems a bleak place with suffering and death across the continents, economies plummeting, societies approaching collapse, and a general despair in the air, one has little else to turn to. But then there’s Born to Be Good. Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and director of the Greater Good Science Center, presents a book that offers hope in humanity to those who feel there is none. The first part of the book is spent on the Confucian concept of jen, “which refers to kindness, humanity, and reverence,” as well as Keltner’s thoughts on the Eastern Religions and what they offer in “being good.” The second part of Born to Be Good is spent researching and delving into the anthropological reasoning behind being a good person, and how it exists intrinsically in our DNA and our species, proving examples in other animals, as well as Homo sapiens. The last part of the book combines these two spheres of thought into a cohesive whole using what Keltner terms the jen ratio. Keltner fully believes there is absolute goodness in humanity, and Born to Be Good is an uplifting and enlightening read in these dark and dower times.
Wan to get yourself a copy? Click HERE for Amazon.com
THE CANTERBURY TALES BY GEOFFREY CHAUCER, TRANSLATED BY BURTON RAFFEL: The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by one of the greatest writers in history, up there with William Shakespeare himself. Originally published in the late fifteenth century, it has appeared on high school reading lists, and serves as one of the most important medieval texts – if not the most important – ever written and published.
Chaucer tells the story of 29 pilgrims who set out on pilgrimage from London to Canterbury. Pilgrimage was a common event in many people’s lives in the medieval world, especially if they were looking to be pious and guarantee their ascent into heaven; it was also a good way for those who had committed sins to be absolved of their actions. The Host of this pilgrimage sets the stage in the “General Prologue” by asking each of the pilgrims to tell four stories; two on the way to Canterbury, and two on the way back to London. The storytelling will help pass the time, but will also serve to enlighten the group about the lives and actions of the pilgrims.
While Chaucer never fully completed his 124 stories, ending at 22,, there is nevertheless a wide selection of stories from most of its main characters. “The Knight’s Tale” is the story about two royal Theban cousins who love the same woman. There’s “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” as she discusses her life of five husbands and the importance and sacrifice she has made in marriage and being a wife. “The Miller’s Tale” mocks the life of a carpenter who is fooled into believing a flood is coming, while the clerk sleeps with his wife. In the final story, “The Parson’s Tale,” the Parson talks for a long time about the importance of being just and pious and faithful to God.
The Canterbury Tales is not just a collection of entertaining stories from the fifteenth century, but is a most fascinating insight into the way of life of these people, what they considered funny or sad, what they wore and ate, and what sort of a role the church truly played in their lives. Chaucer even inserts himself into his book, arguing back and forth with the Host, as he is challenged to tell a superior story.
In this new translation from Burton Raffel, much of the original text is preserved, even though Raffel admits that in any translation, it is ultimately going to be different as it is that, a translation. Nevertheless, where possible, Raffel keeps and maintains the rhyming scheme, giving life to the stories and making the old oral tradition of storytelling come alive off the page. This new translation of The Canterbury Tales is perfect for anyone who enjoys these old texts, or for a student having trouble reading the early Middle English; it is even ideal for families to learn through reciting the stories aloud and hearing these classics come to life through voice, as they were originally meant to.
HOW TO LIVE: A SEARCH FOR WISDOM FROM OLD PEOPLE (WHILE THEY ARE STILL ON THIS EARTH) BY HENRY ALFORD: Henry Alford has written for Vanity Fair, The New York Times, and The New Yorker, and is the author of Municipal Bondage. In his latest book, How to Live: A Search for Wisdom From Old People While They Are Still on This Earth, he does just that, providing insight and viewpoints from those who will not remain for much longer on this earth to give those who still have a while to go a greater respect and appreciation for life and what one can accomplish with it.
In the first chapter, Alford lays the ground rules, explaining that while there are certainly intelligent young people, one is most likely to find experience and wisdom from those over seventy who have simply lived much longer. Beginning with his stepfather and mother, Alford moves on from interview to interview, surprised at the response he gets from perfect strangers. In addition to interviewing some famous people like Edward Albee, Harold Bloom, and Phyllis Diller, it is the people we know nothing about who tell the most moving stories; like the retired schoolteacher who survived Hurricane Katrina, but lost her home, all her possessions, and even her husband, but still lives each day to its fullest. While How to Live is not all fun and games with some sad and sobering life stories, Alford balances it out with some funny stories like his descriptive tour through Sylvia Miles’s stuffed and cluttered apartment.
Whether you start the book with expectations and preconceptions, or pick it up for curiosity’s sake, you will ultimately be surprised and delighted with what people who have spent at least seventy years on this planet have seen and what they have to say about it and life.
DAEMON BY DANIEL SUAREZ: Daniel Suarez has designed and developed enterprise software for the defense, finance, and entertainment industries, as well as being an independent systems consultant; he’s also an avid gamer. So it’s no surprise that in Daemon he has created a world and plot that involves all these facets, resulting in a fast-paced, riveting, exciting novel that is a combination of classic Michael Crichton and The Matrix.
Daemon begins with Matthew Sobol, a renowned computer programmer and video game designer, dead from cancer. It is upon his death, when the obituary is posted online, that the dormant daemon is unleashed upon the world. In this world – just like our own – everything is automated and computerized: banking, transportation, defense, government, patient records; there are few things remaining “off the grid.” The daemon works fast and incredibly efficient, beginning a systematic takedown of technology and world systems, causing deaths and the collapse of companies, and a financial meltdown that is scarily similar to the current economic climate.
It’s up to Detective Sebeck and computer genius Jon Ross to try and stop the daemon somehow from destroying everything. Then there is The Grid, the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game – in the style of World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online – created by Sobol, where the daemon secretly begins recruiting the disaffected but brilliant youth who play the game as part of its efforts to bring down technology and society.
Whether you’re a gamer, a computer person, a network specialist, an Internet aficionado, or just someone who likes books about technology and possibly the end of the civilized world, Daemon is the book for you. Expertly written by Daniel Suarez, who knows exactly what he’s talking about, Daemon is a book that will have you on the edge of your seat from page one to the very end, and waiting for the sequel, Freedom, due out in 2010.
DEATH’S DAUGHTER BY AMBER BENSON: Calliope Reaper-Jones has a simple life in New York, a city she loves. She cares little for her boss and job, but enjoys the fashions and the stores, and is on the lookout for the perfect hunk to marry and spend the rest of her life with. And Calliope thinks she might’ve found him, when she’s all set to go on a first date and finds a monster standing outside her door. The monster isn’t in her imagination either, but the first in a series of events, including the meeting of a little faun, that eventually breaks the “forgetting spell” Calliope had cast. It is then that she faces the stark realization and forgotten fact that she is Death’s daughter.
The reason her perfect little life has been dramatically changed is because her father, CEO of death, as well as the “members of the board” and Calliope’s sister who is an assistant to her father, have all been kidnapped. Which mean’s there’s no death, the life and wealth and immortality afforded the family of death will be voided and they will lose everything. So it’s all up to Calliope; she must become Death to save the family. Only this was the one thing she never wanted. She will also have to complete three trials to prove herself to the gods that she can do the job. She meets Woden, Persephone, and Kali who just really has it in for her. And the first of the trials is merely to capture one of Cerberus’s puppies, the veritable hellhound of hell.
Amber Benson, author of the Albion series with Christopher Golden, and who played the character of Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, does a great job creating some compelling and interesting characters in this original story. Calliope is a strong protagonist that you don’t want to mess with, while Kali is a goddess you never want to get on the bad side of. Then there’s the Devil’s protégé who just turns Calliope to horny mush whenever she sees him. Death’s Daughter is a funny, entertaining story that gives you a healthy dose of mythology mixed with some great characters and thrilling plot. A recipe that leaves readers anxiously waiting for the next book of the trilogy due out next year.
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DROOD BY DAN SIMMONS: Our Mutual Friend was the last book that Charles Dickens wrote “THE END” to and published. On June 9th, 1865, Dickens was on a train journey with his mistress. A section of track over an upcoming bridge was missing, but the warning to stop the train hadn’t been set far enough away, and at this time for a train to make an emergency stop it was required to pull the emergency break on each car. It was a catastrophic and devastating accident, like that of a horrific plane crash. Most of the cars were destroyed, almost all the passengers killed or horribly injured. The only first class car to make it in one piece was Dickens’ car. He survived, going back into the train that was hanging off a the edge of the bridge to get his coat which contained his latest chapters for Our Mutual Friend. Almost five years later, to the day, Charles Dickens died. It was after this incident, known as the “Staplehurst disaster” – where Dickens could never travel comfortably again, fearing for his life – that the author began his obsession with death, the mysterious, the macabre, and the paranormal. He began the most strenuous and exhausting series of readings of his life, which almost killed him. He also began work on The Mystery of Edwin Drood, his last book which he never completed, but remains to this day one of the few mysteries which has never been solved.
Wilkie Collins, a fellow writer and good friend to Dickens in the last years of his life, is the unreliable narrator in Drood. On the outside, Collins reveals himself as a caring and dutiful friend to Dickens, but he hides many secrets: his addiction to laudanum, consuming glasses of it each day while others take only drops; as well as to morphine and opium. He suffers from rheumatic gout, which affects most in a specific area, but in Collins’ case he suffers the agony throughout his body and especially in his head, often rendering him helpless with pain. It is through this drug-addled mind that we see Victorian England and the last years of Dickens life. Collins has also been visited throughout his life by another version of himself who he communicates with and when unable to write, hands over his pen to this doppelganger; as well as a tusked creature that he fears. Wilkie Collins is clearly not of sound mind.
Then there is the character Drood, dressed in black hat and black opera cape. First seen by Dickens while searching for survivors at the Staplehurst disaster; yet each person that Drood attends to mysteriously dies. He lives within the deepest bowels of London, in the Undertown. Beneath the stench and horrors of Dickensian London exist nightmares never dreamed of, and it is here that Dickens goes to visit Drood, joined by Collins. Simmons doesn’t hold back with the vivid detail of this world, shocking and disgusting the reader, but forcing them to unstoppably turn the page and keep reading.
The story continues, balancing the literary world as Collins writes and publishes his books, while Dickens performs his exhausting readings; then there is the growing mystery of Drood and his recently acquired acolytes who bare the same haunting, macabre visage which terrifies Collins. And yet to satisfy his opium addiction, Collins must travel each week into the Undertown to receive the necessary drug.
Simmons does another incredible job with his new book, after the success of The Terror, creating a complete and detail-filled world as seen through the eyes and addled mind of this unique character. Weighing in at over 777 pages, it is a heavy tome that could continue on and never end. Drood is a special book that will stay long in the mind and thoughts of the reader, long after the last page has been turned, as he or she contemplates the meaning of Drood and what Dickens was really trying to do with The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
For an exclusive interview with Dan Simmons and his latest book, check out Episode 4 of BookBanter.
Want to get yourself a copy? Click HERE for Amazon.com
I SAW YOU . . . EDITED BY JULIA WERTZ: The next time you pay a visit to Craigslist (and I’m sure you check it every day now for the job postings), look under the “Personals” column and you’ll see a option titled “Missed Connections.” It’s where men and women seeking women or men recount a recent chance meeting with someone who captured their heart in the blink of an eye. Perhaps it was a short but sweet conversation over the purchase of a latte; or gazing into one another’s eyes on the train to the work; or even the smile from a distance. We all see people each day, strangers whom we wonder might be; strangers who might even be the one. But then the opposite of serendipity blocks your path and you never see the person again. If this is the case, then Missed Connections is for you; where you can pour out your heart to that human who stopped you in your tracks for a second, with the lone hope that he or she may one day read it and somehow find you.
In the fall of 2006, Julia Wertz, cartoonist and creator of The Fart Party, put up a blog requesting comic strips from volunteers inspired by “Missed Connections”. Soon her inbox was overflowing! In I Saw You . . ., Wertz collects them together, providing a short introduction to why and how she did this. The result is a very entertaining book featuring a wonderful variety of artwork from some of today’s finest graphic artists as they take a sentence or two and turn it into something happy, or something sad, but always entertaining piece of art.
So whether you’re looking for a laugh, or for your heart strings to be pulled by some sad words and some sad eyes, I Saw You . . . is the book for you. A perfect paperback to read through in your spare time, while on the bus to work in the morning, as you glance up at that special someone looking right back at you, never to see them again.
THE THING ABOUT LIFE IS THAT ONE DAY YOU’LL BE DEAD BY DAVID SHIELDS: David Shields, author of Dead Languages and Body Politic: The Great American Sports Machine tackles a heavy subject that most of us spend each and every day trying to ignore and pretend will not happen as much as possible: death. The title says it all, and Shields doesn’t beat around the bush, putting the irrefutable truth right there in front of you. It’s the one guarantee in life and Shields wants to tell you all about it.
Part science lesson into our slow but inevitable demise, and part personal experience from Shields’ life; The Thing About Life is That One Day You’ll be Dead is divided into four parts: Infancy and Childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood and Middle Age, and Old Age and Death. The book began as an idea when Shields forced himself to come to terms with his father’s old age, at 97, and the fact that he would soon die; while his father maintains a vitality and optimism that he’s going to keep on kicking. Shields takes you on a step by step journey, from birth when the process of death truly begins, offering nonstop facts about growth, development, and the progressive steps towards death; while throwing quote after quote from every person you can think of about life and death.
The book doesn’t attempt to answer anything, nor force the reader to make a decision on death or life. It is an introspective journey into the biology of humanity, peppered with personal anecdotes from Shields, leaving the reader to make his or her own decision on how they feel about the fact that they will – as we all will – one day die and cease to exist.
AGINCOURT BY BERNARD CORNWELL: There are few battles in the history of the world that are most remembered by name, even by those who know or recall little from their high school history classes. The Battle of Hastings is one; the Battle of Trafalgar is anther; the Battle of Thermopylae is perhaps another, known to a lesser extent. Then there is the Battle of Agincourt (or Azincourt, as it is known in French), which took place on October 25th, 1415. For many, William Shakespeare springs to mind with his immortal play, Henry V, and “we few, we happy few.” Or perhaps the image of Kenneth Branagh making a memorable performance as the king who battled unbeatable odds. Ultimately its is the battle of the few triumphing over the many. And now Bernard Cornwell has finally written his take to put our questions and qualms to rest in his classic, skilful style.
It was an stunning and in some ways incomprehensible victory of the British over the French in the midst of the Hundred Years War. And what was the key advantage? The British longbow. Cornwell has already explored the beauty and importance of this historical weapon in the Grail Quest Series, and returns with one of his strongest characters yet in Nicholas Hook. The name is real, taken from a list of archers of the time, along with most of the other characters in the book. But Cornwell is not simply spinning a great, adventurous yarn from a relatively unknown piece of history. The Hundred Years War, and in particular the Battle of Agincourt, is well documented. In Agincourt, we do not see the familiar heroes who defy the odds; many die, many suffer. It is a bloody, harsh reality, this war, that in some cases will leave the reader stunned with the graphic description.
In Cornwell’s best piece of writing to date, he doesn’t hold back, giving many gritty details and revealing a tough and sad world. But ultimately we all know the British eventually triumphed; it makes for a much needed and happy conclusion to this ugly battle that left so many dead. Agincourt is a special book that deserves a place on any medieval historian’s or medieval fan’s shelf, as well as an important spot for any Cornwell fan. It is a book that will provide many answers, as well as both entertain and delight, and terrify and repulse. Cornwell tells it the way it really was: cold, exhausting, painful, and very bloody.
THE BLACK MIRROR & OTHER STORIES: AN ANTHOLOGY OF SCIENCE FICTION FROM GERMANY AND AUSTRIA TRANSLATED BY MIKE MITCHELL, EDITED BY FRANZ ROTTENSTEINER: In this fascinating new collection from Wesleyan University Press readers get to see a great anthology of original science fiction from Germany and Austria spanning over a century of work. Editor Franz Rottensteiner offers a lengthy introduction spanning the entire history of science fiction in Germany and Austria, going into detail on the important authors starting back in the eighteenth century and continuing up to the present. Rottensteiner also does a great job of discussing German and Austrian writers who were eventually published in American magazines and anthologies and became popular in the United States.
The anthology is divided into sections by era, the first five stories being published in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In this early period, science fiction stories were a lot more ponderous and philosophical, critiquing the way of life and its meaning and worth. In the next era, set between the World Wars, Hans Dominik in “A Free Flight in 2222” has the world not developing space travel and making it to the moon until the early twenty-first century; but after this hurdle is reached, we travel on to each of the planets by the end of the century. It is an interesting outlook from 1934 on a space race that in reality began with the moon and essentially stopped there.
In the title story, “The Black Mirror” from 1983 by Erik Simon, the world has made first contact with an alien race, but because of the distance, ships from Earth and ships from their planet take years to arrive. And now the aliens are arriving with a new invention: a giant silver mirror of immense beauty on one side that cannot be broken or shattered. On the other side is a black mirror that is in fact nothingness. It is a black hole in which an unbelievable darkness can be seen, and whatever is thrown into it, disappears forever. At first humanity is delighted at this amazing invention, and then begins to consider every possible item that can be tossed into it, without regarding any consequences. “Bit by bit , they’ll throw the whole universe,” one alien says to the other, uncertain as whether humanity has doomed itself.
In stories from the more recent period, there are stories debating the merits of technology and the Internet and whether in the long run it will benefit or hinder humanity. What is perhaps most interesting in this collection is that science fiction stories from Germany and Austria are really no different from those written by American authors. Ultimately, humanity has always and always will hold a great fascination for the future and what it may entail, no matter what country or culture they are from. The Black Mirror is a great science fiction collection that opens a great window into a world of foreign literature that many English speakers have never known, which will hopefully lead them on to reading more of these works from other countries.
= Don't bother reading 
