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Random Tag Tuesday: 2019 Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag

09 Tuesday Jul 2019

Posted by mrericness in Random Tag Tuesday

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Book Tag, Books, Random Tag Tuesday, Reading

Random Tag Tuesday is a new feature I wanted to try out just to mix things up a bit.  The name is a throwback to my college days when Tuesdays were the day for, well, random adventures.  For my blog, it will mean that on any given Tuesday I’ll tackle one of the many tags I always wanted to write about but never got around to.  Please note that most of these will come from my backlog notes and that I am terrible about keeping track of where I find these. As such, I probably will rarely, if ever, tag anyone.  It is not personal.

Since we’re still right around mid-year, this is probably going to be one of the least random tags I post under this header.  I do seem to be a couple of weeks late to this party, though, so I guess I have that going for me.  Either way, a tag felt like a nice, fun way to ease back into things after the holiday.

1. Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2019

I’ve actually been really lucky in all my selections this year so this is kind of a tough call.  The two clearly at the top list for me are 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson and Circe, by Madeline Miller.  The former was sci-fi at its absolute best, offering up a wondrous view of the future that mixed compelling scientific theory, political intrigue, environmental awareness, and told a gripping story.  The latter was a powerhouse story that provided a very moving and personal view of mythology that really flips the script on some popular stories.

2. Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far

The Dark Forest, by Liu Cixin.  The follow-up to one of my favorite novels from 2018, this one took the story of alien first contact and impending conflict to new heights with plenty of thought provoking scientific and social dilemmas.

3. A New Release You Haven’t Read Yet But Want To

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, by K.J. Parker.  I’ve seen some very positive initial reviews and both the title and concept sound absolutely fascinating.

4. Most Anticipated Release for the Second Half of 2019

This had been Mistborn: The Lost Metal, but unfortunately I found out recently that’s been delayed a bit.  I’m not sure I’m up enough on upcoming releases to have a second choice here.

5. Biggest Disappointment

My biggest disappointments this year have been rather minor thus far.  I’ll call this story a toss up between Brandon Sanderson’s Warbreaker and the People’s Future of the United States compilation that I just finished.  Warbreaker, despite its importance, just felt hastily put together and incomplete while the People’s Future felt a bit uneven with just as many hits as misses.

6. Best Surprise

Tough call, but probably Luo Ji’s plan to fight the Trisolarians in The Dark Forest.  I won’t ruin the surprise!

7. Favorite New Author

N.K. Jemisin.  She’s more of a new to me author since she’s been writing for several years now, but I’ve read quite a few of her short stories recently and have been very impressed.  They’ve made me think, they’ve made me angry, they’ve me laugh, and they’ve made me hungry and I am absolutely ready for more.  Photo courtesy of nkjemisin.com and photographer Laura Hanifind.

8. Newest Fictional Crush

I don’t usually have these and this year, so far, is no different.

9. New Favorite Character

Hard to pick just one since no one in particular has stood out above the rest yet.  Some of my favorites so far include Anthony Dey Craze from Lagoon, Swan Er Hong from 2312, and Circe.

10. A Book that Made You Cry

I haven’t had one of these this year.  I guess Circe probably came the closest though, as some of the parts about the fears associated with parenthood really struck a chord with me.

11. A Book that Made You Happy

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers.  While I didn’t love it unequivocally, there’s no denying that this was a feel good story.

12. Favorite Book to Movie Adaptation

I don’t really watch movies anymore so I couldn’t tell.  I am cautiously optimistic that the latest Dune reboot will good, though.

13. Favorite Review That You’ve Written

Probably my review of How Long ’til Black Future Month.  I just had a lot of fun with that book and enjoyed the challenge of picking only 5 or 6 of the short stories from it for the review.

14. Most Beautiful Book You’ve Bought This Year

I haven’t bought any books this year!  Favorite cover goes to Circe.  I just really like the style.

14. Books You Need to Read by the End of the Year

In no particular order, I’d like to read the aforementioned Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, get started on Brandon Sanderson’s White Sands comics, and read at least one more Kim Stanley Robinson novel.

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Random Tag Tuesday: The Book Addiction Tag

11 Tuesday Jun 2019

Posted by mrericness in Book Tags, Random Tag Tuesday

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Blog Life, Book Tag, Books, Random Tag Tuesday, Reading

Random Tag Tuesday is a new feature I wanted to try out just to mix things up a bit.  The name is a throwback to my college days when Tuesdays were the day for, well, random adventures.  For my blog, it will mean that on any given Tuesday I’ll tackle one of the many tags I always wanted to write about but never got around to.  Please note that most of these will come from my backlog notes and that I am terrible about keeping track of where I find these. As such, I probably will rarely, if ever, tag anyone.  It is not personal.

This next tag has been kicking around on my list for a while now, and it seemed rather timely since I’m in the middle of a reading spree!

What is the longest amount of time you can comfortably go without picking up a book?

I usually start feeling it if I go more than two or three days in a row without a book.  I don’t often get to read on weekends, so by the time I get on the train to work Monday morning I am ready read!

How many books do you carry on your person (or kindle) at any one time?

I rarely, if ever, have a physical book on me these days and if I do it is the one that I am currently reading.  There’s probably hundreds on my kindle, though many of them are on there only because I share the account with my wife.  Sometimes to great benefit, others to my great amusement.

Do you keep every book you buy/receive or are you happy to pass them on to make space for more?

After a recent, and major, decluttering effort we’ve actually trimmed down our hoard of books rather significantly the last few years.  All were either given away via Facebook marketplace or donated locally. As such, we don’t really buy that many physical books anymore and the majority of my reading comes from the library.

How long would you spend in a bookshop on a standard visit?

Depends on the circumstances of my visit.  I probably could spend hours in a shop of sufficient size and quality, though usually it’s more like 30 minutes, or whatever the attention span of my son is on that particular day.

How much time per day do you actually spend reading?

I believe the only appropriate answer here is not nearly enough!  I average about an hour a day on a typical week.

Where does the task ‘picking up a book’ appear on your daily to-do list?

It is an essential part of my morning and afternoon transit routine.

How many books do you reckon you own in total (including e-books).

Easily hundreds.  Most are in electronic form.

Approximately how often do you bring up books in conversation?

Depends on who I’m talking to.  At least one or two times a week I guess, though to be fair I am an extremely quiet person.

What is the biggest book (page count) you have finished reading?

Probably Oathbringer, by Brandon Sanderson.  Official page count is 1,248.

Is there a book you had to get your hands on against all odds i.e searching bookshops, online digging etc?

I don’t think there has been, actually.

A book you struggled to finish but refused to DNF?

Armada, by Ernest Cline.  It felt like an almost insultingly patronizing cash-in on nostalgia and derivative of the more interesting Ready Player One.

What are 3 of your main book goals for 2019?

  1. Get caught up on or complete some the series I am in the middle of.
  2. Read and review 25 books.  It’s a humble yet realistic number for myself.
  3. Make a plan for tackling, or at least organizing, my TBR list.

Have you ever had the privilege of converting someone into a reader (maybe via inspiration or incessant nagging)?

No.  I don’t feel the need to force anyone into something, though most people I know read plenty anyway.

Describe what books mean to you in five words?

A healthy escape from reality.

 

Mayflower Brewing Company – Leather Bound Books

05 Tuesday Feb 2019

Posted by mrericness in Beer Reviews

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Tags

Baltic Porter, Beer, Beer Review, Books, Craft Beer, Massachusetts, Mayflower Brewing Company, New England

As soon as I saw these cans posted by my local bottle shop I knew I had to review it.  I don’t often find brews that cross over into my love of books, so I am going to jump at them every chance I get.

Beer Name: Leather Bound Books

Brewery: Mayflower Brewing Company (Plymouth, MA)

Style: Baltic Porter

ABV: 8.0%

Description: There’s not much info to be had on this one, but I did find some details here.  It’s listed as a full bodied Baltic porter kept smooth by lager yeast and a long conditioning period.

Appearance: Dark cola-brown with reddish hints on the pour that transitioned to looking more or less black in the glass.  Wisps of off-white coating laced the top.

Smell: Notes of leather and dark malts.

Taste: It had a looming leather and tobacco-like presence presence throughout with notes of light roasted malts and toffee mixed in a various points along the way.

Mouthfeel: Medium-thin body with low carbonation.

Hype: At this point I am well aware the dangers of buying a beer on name along, but I’m always up for trying something from the folks at Mayflower.  They somehow fly under the radar locally despite consistently putting out some amazing brews.

Overall: I have to say the taste, in good way, very much delivered upon the name.  I enjoyed this brew even though it’s definitely a bit different than most of the beers I tend to gravitate towards.  An interesting evening sipper, try this out if you’re in the mood for something a bit different.

2018 Year in Review Part One – The Books

02 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by mrericness in Book Reviews

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Blog Life, Book Review, Book Tag, Books, Year in Review

It’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone, but here we are in January 2019!  Before I get started on a new year of book and beverage posts, I wanted to take a look back at my 2018 WordPress experience.  Since my blog has a bit of a split personality between book and beer reviews, I’m going to do this in two parts. Today we’re looking at my year in books.

Honestly I feel like I had a pretty solid year on this front.  I put more effort into being a “book blog” this past year and am happy with the results.  While I didn’t read as many books as I would have liked (and really, who does?), I don’t feel like I squandered any opportunities to do more.  I did the best I could in the time I had and I’m happy with that. I read some excellent books this past year and had a lot of fun doing so.

I didn’t set any personal reading goals, but easily my proudest moment as a reader this past year was seeing my love of books passed on to my son.  He’s two and a half now and very much into being read to. Not only will he ask people to read books to him, but if they’re too slow to do so he will grab the book himself and push the issue.  It’s adorable and impossible to resist, especially now that he has a very clear idea of what he wants. Warming the heart even more, his favorite book by random chance happens to also have been mine when I was his age – Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go!

As for the site, you can probably tell by my end of year awards that I certainly lucked out I my selections.  I also mixed up my reading list a bit more than I had last year, both in terms of not reading only within a series as much and by selecting from a more diverse list of authors.

I’ll close this post by looking at my top five most viewed book reviews last year:

  • Communion – A True Story, by Whitley Strieber:  The “true” story of the author’s attempts to confront and explain his thoughts and feelings surrounding a series of alien abductions that took place in the mid-1980s.  Honestly, I am actually kind of surprised that this was my most viewed book review. I originally posted it in October 2017 and it didn’t really get a lot of traction at the time.  I feel like it’s also pretty obscure as well, so I don’t really know what to make of this.
  • Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ‘72, by Hunter S. Thompson: I expected/hoped that this post would do well in an election year.  It’s actually kind of sad how relevant this book still is and I certainly didn’t pull any punches (towards either side) in the quotes I selected back when I reviewed in October 2016.
  • Men without Women, by Haruki Murakami: I suppose this one makes a bit more sense since Murakami is a pretty popular author who had a new release this year.  Originally posted in August 2017, this post sees some pretty regular traffic despite this not exactly being my favorite Murakami work to have reviewed.
  • The Collapsing Empire, by John Scalzi: Again, this one makes a lot of sense to me since the sequel had a very successful release in late 2018.  Initially posted in mid-2017, this is another review that seems to get regular attention.
  • Radio Free Boston – The Rise and Fall of WBCN, by Carter Alan: Rounding out my top five, I was happy to see a post from this year make the list!  WBCN was the radio station I listened to during my middle and high school years and I had a lot of fun reminiscing about those times while learning a bit about the station’s history.

So there you have it, my 2018 year in books.  Join me on Friday as I indulge in a similar exercise for my year in beer!

The Second Annual BeerrantsAndBooks Blogger’s Choice Awards

31 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by mrericness in Book Tags

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Blog Life, Blogger's Choice Awards, Book Tag, Books, Happy New Year, Reading

Hello and welcome to my Second Annual BeerRantsAndBooks Blogger’s Choice Book Awards!  In preparing for this post I’ve gone through my notes on all the books I reviewed this past year and compiled a list of my favorite characters and stories.  I’m quite pleased with how strong all the nominees were this year, though that did mean making my final decisions was no easy task!

To note, I considered for these awards any book I read in 2018, regardless of when it was initially published.  As much as I’d like to, I simply don’t have the time to focus solely upon new releases. With that said, bring on the nominees!

Best Leading Male Character

Dalinar Kholin (Oathbringer, by Brandon Sanderson – Book Three in the Stormlight Archive): Oathbringer was Dalinar’s turn to take center stage in the Stormlight Archive and he certainly made good use of his time.  In this book he emerged not only as a leader capable of uniting humanity, but also someone who may have the potential to stand up to Cosmere bad guy Odium as well.

Hadi (Frankenstein in Baghdad, by Ahmed Saadawi): Hadi stands out on this list in that unlike the other characters here, he is not a fantasy hero.  Instead, he’s a junk trader with a drinking problem who has spent months morning the loss of a friend who died in a suicide bombing.  To find purpose in his grief, he begins the grim task of collecting body parts and sewing them together in the hopes that a completed corpse can get a dignified burial in honor of his friend.

Kvothe (The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss – Book One in the Kingkiller Chronicles): Although Kvothe was the star of two books I read this past year, I am nominating only his performance in The Name of the Wind as it was his most likeable.  In this book we are told (by him) about how his seemingly exceptional skills, determination, and wit enabled him to rise from an orphan living in poverty to a gifted aspiring arcanist.

Roaden (Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson): The Prince of Arelon, Roaden is an idealistic, charismatic young man who pushes his father to implement economic and social reforms their kingdom desperately needs.  On the eve of his wedding, however, he is afflicted by a disease called the Shaod and exiled with others like him to the city of Elantris. On the verge of giving up, he instead finds a new purpose in organizing his fellow outcasts.

Winner: I went back and forth on all of these characters, but ultimately my decision is Roaden.  I found him very likeable and thought his selfless desire to constantly work for the betterment of others helped push him past the often arrogant Kvothe.

Best Leading Female Character

Adda Karpe (Barbary Station, by R.E. Stearns): Adda was truly a joy to meet.  An extremely talented programmer/hacker and aspiring space pirate, she was also an extreme introvert (like myself!) who finds the energy and motivation to get through the day by cuddling her girlfriend and harvesting the hallucinogenic mushrooms she uses to help focus on work.

Lisette Toutournier (Everfair, by Nisi Shawl): A free-spirited French woman who rises to a highly influential position in the fictional African nation of Everfair.  In addition to her diplomatic skills, her keen intellect and life-long fascination with machines put her right at home in her new surroundings.  Through the course of the book, her duties and obligations push her to confront both her identity as a woman of mixed race and the dynamics of her decades spanning relationship with the ex-wife of her former lover.  

Sarene (Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson): After learning of her husband-to-be’s suspicious death upon arriving in a foreign land, this cunning, sharp-tongued princess wasted little time establishing herself in her new home.  Between inserting herself in local politics, training the previously idle court ladies in fighting techniques, and providing humanitarian aid to the outcast people of Elantris, she becomes a force for good in an otherwise stagnant kingdom.

Shallan Davar (Oathbringer, by Brandon Sanderson – Book Three in the Stormlight Archive): Shallan overcame a lot in this story; she came to grips with her multiple personalities, confronted her past family traumas, resolved a love triangle (further complicated by the aforementioned multiple personalities), and stepped into her powers as a Radiant.  She also played a pivotal role in some very key situations, cementing her position as a key player in the fight against Odium.

Winner: I honestly could (and even did) make a case for each of these women and indeed went back and forth on my final decision multiple times.  Upon my final review, however, I found Lisette to be the best choice.  She was a deep, multifaceted character whose story exposed me to a fresh perspective that really made me think.

Best Supporting Male Character

Bast (The Wise Man’s Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss – Book Two in the Kingkiller Chronicles): Companion to an older Kvothe in his guise as an innkeeper, Bast is certainly more than meets the eye.  Not only is he a fae/demon of some kind, but underneath his often laid-back and jovial exterior lies a ruthless desire to see his tutor restored to his former glory.

Da Shi (The Three Body Problem, by Liu Cixin – Book One of Remembrance of Earth’s Past Trilogy): I’m pretty sure you’re not sure you’re supposed to like him, but this detective had a certain vulgar charm and ruthless cunning that made him stand out for me.

Kiin (Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson): Sarene’s uncle and political exile, Kiin was a kindly family man, excellent cook, and former pirate who provided his niece with some much-needed support in her new home.

Winner: This one goes to Bast.  He was just such an interesting character and I feel like we’ve only scratched the surface of what is going on with him.  I can’t wait to learn more of his backstory and see what inspires his a actions. Assuming, of course, that this series ever gets finished.

Best Supporting Female Character

Devi (The Wise Man’s Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss – Book Two in the Kingkiller Chronicles): An underground money-lender who despite her pixie-like appearance and flirtatious nature has by all accounts earned her nickname “Demon Devi.”  She also turns out to be an extremely gifted alchemist and sympathist who enjoys collecting favors from interesting people.

Lift (Oathbringer, by Brandon Sanderson – Book Three in the Stormlight Archive): Lift used her “awesomeness” to steal more than a few scenes in this book, most notably by crashing the private visions of a minor deity and later on by playing a key role in foiling the plans of a considerably larger one.  She also managed to keep her irreverent, and hungry, outlook on the world despite having matured a bit since her previous appearance.

Sam (The Last Days of New Paris, by China Mieville): A mysterious photographer/secret agent who joins forces with the main character Thibaut to navigate the Nazi and demon infested streets of Paris.  Her true intentions, however, remain something of a mystery.

Winner: As much as I gave some serious last-minute consideration to Devi, it felt wrong to not choose Lift.  She’s such a fun character to have around in any situation.  She’s also the nominee I’d most want to hang out with; maybe hit up an all you can eat buffet to chat about life, the universe, and everything before she runs off.

Best Supernatural Character

Exquisite Corpse (The Last Days of New Paris, by China Mieville): The physical manifestation of a surrealist art exercise, it didn’t speak at all but its presence certainly loomed large throughout the story.  It’s fascination with, and protectiveness of, Thibaut brought an added curiosity to an already weird tale.

Wyndle (Edgedancer, by Brandon Sanderson – Book 2.5 in the Stormlight Archive): Lift’s vine-like spren companion and proud owner of a chair garden in the Cognitive Realm.  For as impulsive and capricious as his partner may be, Wyndle is equally level-headed and logical.  Often a voice of sense and reason, his kindly advice and dry humor brings a balance to the duo that makes them quite a team.

Whatsitsname (Frankenstein in Baghdad, by Ahmed Saadawi): A corpse sewn together from human remains collected at bomb scenes throughout downtown Baghdad, the Whatitsname came to life when entered by the soul of a slain security guard.  Initially seeking revenge for each of its parts, it ultimately comes to question the righteousness of its quest.

Winner: The tough part about this category was that not was each character so different, but the stories they came from were all very different as well.  After some deliberation, the winner here is Whatsitsname, on account of the questions it raised about the roles of justice, vengeance, and order in a society racked by violence.

Favorite Science Fiction Book

Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie (Book One of the Imperial Radch Trilogy):  Simplified greatly, this was the story of a once-sprawling troop ship AI now confined to a single, human body through a complicated series of political maneuverings and betrayals.  Seeking revenge for its lost lives, our main character pins her hopes on locating a lost relic from a conquered civilization.

Persepolis Rising, by James S.A. Corey (Book Seven of the Expanse Series): While the old powers in the Solar System have been slowly rebuilding their strength following the cataclysmic events of the previous novel, new forces emerge from beyond the ring gates seeking to expand their reach.  

The Three Body Problem, by Liu Cixin (Book One of Remembrance of Earth’s Past Trilogy): The story of a modern-day Chinese research scientist who stumbles upon a Cultural Revolution-era conspiracy involving contact with alien life.

Winner: This really came down to Ancillary Justice and The Three Body Problem, and I really had to think hard about which story I liked more.  I put myself in a tough position on this one, so I am going with my gut answer and deciding upon Ancillary Justice. As much as a I loved the harder sci-fi angle of the Three Body Problem, I got into the story of Ancillary Justice in a way that made it very hard to pick against.  Moving on before I change my mind.

Favorite Fantasy Book

Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss (Book One of the Kingkiller Chronicles): This story began the journey of the prodigy Kvothe.  After escaping from a group of demons that murdered his parents and traveling companions as a child, Kvothe overcame being a penniless orphan to enlist in a prestigious University to study the magical arts.  Along the way, he makes a rather impressive and memorable list of friends and foes.

Oathbringer, by Brandon Sanderson (Book Three in the Stormlight Archive): The forces of Honor and Cultivation are gearing up for their first direct confrontation with Odium with nothing less than the fate of their world in the balance.  And as if that wasn’t enough, each of the story’s heroes have some pretty major personal issues to work out as well

Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson: Once a beacon of progress, the city of Elantris has fallen into ruin after magic system supporting it has faltered.  In its shadow, the Kingdom of Arelon is desperately seeking to secure its borders against the rapidly expanding Fjorden Empire.

Winner: There is now way I can’t pick Oathbringer.  I don’t know if that’s entirely fair given where it occurs in its series, but my expectations for this going in were sky-high and the book more than delivered.  It was a very long book, but still felt packed full of action, world building, and character development that culminated in one epic battle.

Favorite Non-Fiction Book

Radio Free Boston – The Rise and Fall of WBCN, by Carter Allen: A behind-the-scenes look at Boston’s WBCN radio station from its founding in 1968 to its eventual demise in 2009, told by the people who worked there.

Barrel Aged Stout and Selling Out: Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business, by Josh Noel: The story of how Chicago’s Goose Island Brewing Company rose to become one of the early champions of “craft beer” in the United States and how its sale to the multinational conglomerate known as AB-Inbev changed the American beer industry.

Summer of ‘68, by Tim Wendell: An examination of the 1968 baseball season and how the World Series matchup between the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals reflected the social unrest going on at the time.

Winner: I’m going for the nostalgic pick here and selecting Radio Free Boston.  It was a fun and informative look at my favorite radio station growing up.

Well, that rounds out my 2018 awards.  It was a great year for reading and I look forward to seeing what 2019 has in store.  See you all in the new year!

20 Questions Book Tag

27 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by mrericness in Book Tags

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Book Tag, Books, BookTag, Questions, Reading

I’ve seen this tag making the rounds lately and thought it would be fun to play along.  Hopefully I’m not too late to the party.

  1. HOW MANY BOOKS IS TOO MANY BOOKS IN A SERIES?

Generally speaking I feel like if you’re going beyond a trilogy, there should be both a compelling reason to do so and a plan for where the series is going.  There are a few longer running series that I love, but what they all have in common is that they clearly have a destination in mind.

  1. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT CLIFFHANGERS?

They’re fine so long as the author intends to keep the series going in a timely manner.

  1. HARDCOPY OR PAPERBACK?

The last few years I’ve been doing almost all my reading via Kindle and switching between the actual device and the app on my phone.  I really love the portability and convenience of being able to borrow ebooks from my local library.

  1. FAVOURITE BOOK?

What kind of sick tag asks a reader to make a choice like this?  There are so many books I like for so many different reasons that I’m not sure I could choose.  Gun to my head answer: Children of Dune.  Don’t ask how often I changed that before hitting publish.

  1. LEAST FAVOURITE BOOK?

Another tough choice.  I tend not to remember the bad ones, but I do recall particularly disliking Ethan Frome and Tuesdays with Morrie.  Both of these I had to read for school, though.  The former was forced upon me as a seventh grader and the latter upon entering university so I do take that into account.  With the exception of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle I think I’ve disliked nearly every book I’ve had to read.  This is some kind of unwritten rule, right?

  1. LOVE TRIANGLES, YES OR NO?

If they fit the story, fine I guess.  The trope doesn’t really do anything for me either way.  Just don’t add it for the sole purpose of selling the book.

  1. THE MOST RECENT BOOK YOU JUST COULDN’T FINISH?

I’m pretty selective, so this doesn’t happen often.  My last DNF was First and Last Men, by Olaf Stapledon but that was a few years ago.  It was a very dense hard sci-fi novel written in the early 1930s that I just couldn’t get into. Ernest Cline’s Armada recently came very, very close.

  1. A BOOK YOU’RE CURRENTLY READING?

Currently reading Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson.  I’m absolutely hooked on his Cosmere universe, so I’ll be reading a lot from him.

  1. LAST BOOK YOU RECOMMENDED TO SOMEONE?

Frankenstein in Baghdad, by Ahmed Saadawi.  Consider it recommended again.

  1. OLDEST BOOK YOU’VE READ?

Depends on how we’re treating translations.  It’s Homer’s Odyssey if we’re going with the date of the original and probably Dune (1965) if not.

  1. NEWEST BOOK YOU’VE READ?

Again, it depends on how we’re dealing with translations.  It’s either Frankenstein in Baghdad (English language translation published January, 2018) or Collapsing Empire, by John Scalzi (March, 2017).

  1. FAVOURITE AUTHOR?

Gut answer: Haruki Murakami.  Moving on before I change it.

  1. BUYING BOOKS OR BORROWING BOOKS?

Borrow.  My library card gets a real workout, especially since I can use it for ebooks.

  1. A BOOK YOU DISLIKE THAT EVERYONE SEEMS TO LIKE?

American Gods, by Neil Gaimon.  So many people whose opinions I value spoke highly of this, but I just never really got into it.  Perhaps it was a victim of hype.

  1. BOOKMARKS OR DOGEARS?

I’ve been known to do both, as place savers and as a means to keep track of passages I particularly like.  Depends on the book and what I happen to have handy to use as a bookmark. Some of the most well loved books in my library have extensive dog-earing while others have multiple bookmarks.

  1. A BOOK YOU CAN ALWAYS REREAD?

There are a few books I reread with some regularity, most notably Frank Herbert’s Dune series and Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ‘72, but those depend highly upon my mood.  For an anytime reread I would have to pick The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

  1. CAN YOU READ WHILE HEARING MUSIC?

I do a lot of reading on the subway so I’m pretty good at phasing out background noise, but I don’t think I could purposefully listen to music and be able to focus on reading.

  1. ONE POV OR MULTIPLE POVS?

Really depends on the book and the author.  Both are fine in the proper context.

  1. DO YOU READ A BOOK IN ONE SITTING OR OVER MULTIPLE DAYS?

Multiple days.  I no longer have the luxury of sufficient time to finish a book in one day.

  1. ONE BOOK YOU READ BECAUSE OF THE COVER.

With credit and thanks to the folks at: http://hyperion-cantos.tumblr.com/

Hyperion, by Dan Simmons and it turned out to be one of my favorites.  The image of the sunset gleaming off the Shrike as it stares out across an alien landscape captivated me for years before I even read the book.

Book Review: Men Without Women, by Haruki Murakami

04 Friday Aug 2017

Posted by mrericness in Book Reviews, Fiction

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Book Review, Books, Fiction, Haruki Murakami, Reading

I’ve been a pretty avid reader of Murakami for some time now and as such made sure this new release got on my list as soon as possible.  As luck would have it, my hold came through only a few days after finding myself in-between books for the first time in several months.

Men Without Women is a collection of short stories featuring male protagonists and their complex, often troubled, relationships with women in their lives.  Rather dark in tone, issues of death, separation, and personal/societal estrangement are common features throughout all the stories in this volume.  Each character is lost in some way and have either resigned themselves to their situation or spend their days searching for something within themselves that may or may not be within their power to find.

On the whole I found this collection to be something of a mixed bag.  There were a few stories that I liked, but aside from those none of the others appealed to me as much as I had hoped they would.  The overall feel of the book was generally very bleak and it didn’t seem to have that same sense of magical realism that usually draws me into Murakami’s work.  While each story was without a doubt well-written, Murakami does an excellent job setting a scene and building characters throughout, these just wasn’t really what I was looking for.  None of the characters captured my interest all that much and as such I couldn’t get fully invested in their stories.  Appropriately enough, I didn’t make it through the one from which the collection took its name.

That said, there were two stories that I was particularly taken by.  Kino, my favorite of the group, is the story of a recently divorced man trying to open a new chapter in his life by converting his aunt’s tea house into a bar.  When something happens to drive away his two most reliable guests, a mysterious book-reading man and a stray cat, Kino is advised to get out of town for a while and lay low.  This was the one story that really left me wanting more and also the one that best captured the otherworldly mysticism that usually draws me into Murakami’s books.  The other note-worthy story for me was Samsa in Love, a tale far creepier and horror-like than anything I’ve read from Murakami to date.  It’s protagonist, a man named Samsa, regains consciousness in a boarded up room.  Disoriented and in a great deal of pain, he gradually comes to his senses and begins exploring his surroundings, taking step by excruciating step through an unfamiliar house.  As he does so, the reader slowly gets the impression that something is very wrong.  Samsa doesn’t seem fully comfortable inside his body and certain thoughts suggest that he may not have always been human.  His awkward interactions with a hunchbacked young woman he encounters adds to the sense of foreboding and gives the story a very eerie vibe that for better or worse goes unresolved.

Overall though, I surprised to say that I consider this book a miss for me, a rarity from this author.  After reading a number of other reviews I realize that I am in an extreme minority in my opinion here, so I’ll say that dedicated Murakami fans would probably find this worth checking out (I wouldn’t fault someone else for being more into these stories than I was).  That said, for someone new to the author I would personally recommend they start elsewhere.

Book Review: The Collapsing Empire, by John Scalzi

21 Friday Jul 2017

Posted by mrericness in Book Reviews, Sci-Fi

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Book Review, Books, John Scalzi, Reading, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction

Recently published in March 2017, this book had been on my radar ever since news of its completion dropped late last year.  Irreverently fun and thought-provoking, John Scalzi is an author I’m always looking to read more from, and the beginning of a new series gave me an excellent opportunity to do so.

Several hundred years in the future, humanity has spread out across the stars with the aide of the Flow, a naturally occurring phenomena that allows for rapid transit between fixed points in space.  Politically organized as the Holy Empire of the Interdependent States and Mercantile Guilds, these settlements rely upon a complex system of trade to ensure their mutual survival since the Flow-accessible worlds, with one notable exception, are not particularly friendly to human life.  As the story opens we meet the dying leader of this Empire as he is offering final advice to a young woman named Cardenia Wu, his illegitimate daughter and unsuspecting heir to the throne.  Included in this briefing is the revelation that the Empire, and humanity as a whole, is threatened by one rather inconvenient truth; namely that the Flow is on the verge of collapse, an event which will mean the end of viable interplanetary travel and a slow death for the soon to be isolated settlements.  Planning for this catastrophe proves difficult, however, as most of the government is content to ignore the issue and at least one influential trade guild is scheming of ways to profit from the situation and use the resulting upheaval as a chance to usurp power.

This book was a lot of fun and went by very, very quickly.  A real pleasure to read, it featured plenty of the sarcasm, wit, and joyful cynicism I have come to expect from Scalzi’s novels.  The three main characters were great and each had their own particular charm to go along with their personal foibles.  Cardenia’s nonchalance and resigned acceptance of her new position brought a cool head to some otherwise extreme situations.  Marce was a relatable everyperson whose dedication to (peer-reviewed) science made him both easy to root for and a needed voice of reason.  In contrast, Kiva Lagos, the final main character, was an entertaining force of nature who could make a (space) pirate blush with her expansive vocabulary and unapologetic lifestyle.  Being someone who is predisposed to the general outlooks of these characters, I found it just plain felt good when Scalzi’s heroes would come out ahead.  On the other side of that, it was also a lot of fun disliking the scheming Nohamapetan clan.  The author’s less desirable characters so often align with the people I dislike in real life that it is equally rewarding to see them struggle.

As for the story itself, for all the absurd situations and convoluted schemes, it featured a pointed, yet amusing, satiric look at various social and political issues.  It is hard to miss the deterioration of the Flow as a symbol for climate change, and Scalzi has little patience or fondness for deniers and advocates of bunk science.  He comes at them in this story not so much from a place of anger, but of incredulity.  How the fuck (that word comes up a lot, see Lagos, Kiva) can people choose to be so willfully ignorant?  He answers that question in part through Cardenia, who learns that knowledge of the impending collapse is, in fact, old news, vehemently brushed aside and dutifully ignored for generations because it’s extraordinarily bad for business and also, well, kind of downer.  Not particularly surprising these days, the author’s unabashed support of views like this, in combination with other novel concepts such as supporting gay relationships, religious cynicism, and competent women in positions of power has made him something of a lightning rod for a vocal, thin-skinned minority of reactionary trolls within the sci-fi/fantasy community.  To his credit he takes this in stride, content to consider such folk being against him a sign of doing something right.

I am definitely on board with this series whenever the next book comes out.  The story was left very much wide open as to what will happen next, so I am curious to see where things go from here.  This also left me the mood for more from Scalzi, so don’t be surprised if another one of his books pops up here in the near future.

Book Review: The Hero of Ages, by Brandon Sanderson (Book Three of the Mistborn Series)

21 Friday Apr 2017

Posted by mrericness in Book Reviews, Fantasy

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Book Review, Books, Brandon Sanderson, Cosmere, Fantasy, Mistborn

Here we are with the final entry in the original Mistborn trilogy.  It has been an excellent journey so far and I couldn’t wait to find out how the story ended.  As usual there are no spoilers for this particular book, but since this is the end of the series I highly recommend skipping this until you have read the first two books.

Another year has passed and all is not well on Scadrial.  Ruin, the malevolent force released at the end of the previous book, has been growing in power and is on the verge of fulfilling its desire to destroy the world.  Koloss led by Steel Inquisitors are marauding through the countryside, ashfall and earthquakes are occurring with alarming frequency, and the mists have begun appearing earlier and earlier and have begun to seemingly strike down people at random.  The only hope for our heroes appear to lay within the Lord Ruler’s hidden storage caches they discovered to exist at the end of the last book.  Desperate for the vital supplies and cryptic clues about fighting Ruin, Elend and Vin are struggling to secure the final two caches which lay in unfriendly hands.  With time running out Elend splits what remains of his forces between the two sites.  While Breeze, Sazed, and Spook travel to the city of Urteau to parlay with an erratic Skaa populist that has risen to power, Elend and Vin lead their army towards the heavily fortified city of Fadrex to secure the final store by any means necessary.

I liked this book a lot and definitely felt it provided a worthy end to the story.  Full of surprises and suspense, it also gave satisfying answers about the origins of the mists and what caused the drastic changes to the world.  I won’t give away the ending, but what I do want to say about it is: Wow, I did not see that coming!  For the book as a whole, the author did a great job in setting a tense, urgent mood, and I particularly liked the mysteries surrounding the storage caches.  I was often reminded of my favorite parts of Heretics of Dune, in particular the chapter in which Odrade uncovers the ruins of Sietch Tabr and the God Emperor’s message.

I also enjoyed that the story again explored a larger portion of this world.  It gave the book an even more epic scope than the others while allowing characters like Spook, TenSoon, and Sazed more page time as well.  There were again a few slow spots, this time on account of an unnecessary amount of time spent rehashing established information every few chapters or so.  My eagerness to read on gave me the momentum to speed through these parts, but what really bothered me was that this took away time I could have been getting more new story.  Don’t get me wrong, I thought this book was great.  I just wanted to get as much of it as possible in the pages provided!

Luckily for me there is indeed plenty of more story out there.  There are a couple of novellas associated with this trilogy and a follow-up series set a few hundred years after these events.  Further, as if all that wasn’t enough, I found out all of those works are part of an even larger collection of the author’s works known as the Cosmere, a shared universe in which some of his various other series take place (and eventually overlap).  Pretty safe to say my reading list is now well stocked for the immediate future.

Book Review: Cibola Burn, James S.A. Corey (Book Four in the Expanse Series)

27 Monday Mar 2017

Posted by mrericness in Book Reviews, Sci-Fi

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Book Review, Books, James S.A. Corey, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, The Expanse

With Abbadon’s Gate having successfully renewed my interest in this series, I eagerly went into book four, Cibola Burn.  As with my past reviews, while there are no spoilers that follow for this particular novel, I cannot make the same promise for content from the previous books.

Cibola Burn skips ahead two years in the timeline and takes place on the first human settlement within the newly accessible alien worlds.  Barely one year into the fledgling colony’s existence old conflicts from back home threaten its stability.  The colonists, all survivors of the disaster on Ganymede, have unwelcome visitors when scientists from an Earth-based corporation arrive with permits to study the world.  Fearing the eventual loss of their home and its lithium deposits, more extreme elements of the settlers attack and critically damage an incoming shuttle, causing a political crisis back in the centers of humanity.  Realizing few good outcomes exist, the UN and OPA nominate none other James Holden to mediate between the two sides and defuse tensions.  Holden, however, has more than diplomacy to worry about.  The protomolecule consciousness, still in the guise of Detective Miller, is very interested in the alien ruins on the outskirts of the colony and is imploring Holden to help it uncover the answers about its creators.  Those answers, however, might not necessarily benefit the world’s human population.

Overall I liked this book.  It did an excellent job advancing the protomolecule/Miller storyline in some really interesting ways.  The few chapters from what was presumably Miller’s perspective were fascinating and eerie.   On the human side, the growing political intrigues make for very compelling reading as they are getting more complex and far-reaching as the books go on.  There was a pretty major development at the end of this novel, and the teaser chapters featuring two of my favorite characters from previous books, Bobbie Draper and Chrisjen Avasarala, hint that they will have significant roles to play in upcoming events much to my delight.  Although I have had somewhat mixed feelings about the characters in this series as a whole, the possibility of more Avasarala is alone enough to keep me going, at least as long as the overarching story remains strong.

That said, when I consider how much I like the overall story, it is disappointing that similar character issues have hurt my opinion of three out of the four books I’ve read so far.  This time around I was troubled by two major flaws.  The first of these was pretty much the majority of POV character Elvi Okoye’s storyline.  As a scientist visiting the first alien world humans have landed on, there was a lot of potential for her character.  Unfortunately that was largely wasted on a ridiculous storyline involving a crush on Holden and a personal “problem” that took up way too much of the book and frankly felt out-of-place and a bit insulting to both character and reader.  The other flaw was that upon first arriving at the planet, Holden’s reactions to events on the ground were mind-bogglingly inept.  I don’t want to get too much into the details, but I felt he inexplicably gave one side way too much leeway and as a result enabled events to more rapidly escalate out of control.  As a reader, I was able to clearly see merits of both sides in the dispute, as well as recognize the terrible people in both groups.  With Holden’s outlook being so central to the story, I feel like this insight was mostly lost and prevented the novel from making a more effective point – if that was even the intention.

I do plan to continue on with the series. At this point I guess I’m committed to see it through.  I am almost reached a different sort of problem.  I am four books into the nine that have been planed and only the next two are currently out.  Book number seven is slated for release this year and then I am waiting for 2018 and 2019 for the last two, which almost sound like SciFi dates themselves.  As someone who’s not accustomed to reading a series before it’s done this is rather troubling to me!

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