The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O, Stephenson and Galland

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O:  A novel by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland.  I have no idea what this novel is about.  Neal Stephenson...done.

Started: 9/18/2019

Completed: 12/31/2019

Recommendation: Not Recommended

Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

The premise of magic being real and then destroyed is pretty awesome.  There are some fun plays with ideas on how time travel has effected the current time.  The structure of the book (particularly as an audio book) using emails and other text messages to talk back and forth is mind numbingly boring to hear.  The tool of using different chapters as collections of different people's recollections is also useful, but it feels like a crutch towards the end of the book.  I did not enjoy this one.

Stiletto, Daniel O'Malley

Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley is a sequel to The Rook.

Started:  12/13/2019
Completed: 12/31/2019
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

insouciance -- casual lack of concern; indifference

Review:

This is a pretty interesting book.  It carries forward from the previous book, but in a new way with very little of the original character.  The basic story carries along the same theme, but attacks it from a different angle.  I have to say that I enjoyed it.

I really loved this simile:  "The car moved forward in fits and starts like an opera singer who had been hit by a hockey stick in the middle of an aria, but insisted that the show must go on."  The idea that an opera singer could be hit by a hockey stick (of all things) just came out of left field.  In addition, the idea of a diva insisting that things go forward despite being in a clearly dilapidated state also caught me as clever.  The image I had was a large viking woman (which kept flipping back in my mind to Bugs Bunny wearing a horned helm) struggling to hold it together while hitting her high C, coughing (understandably), then wheezing back to the correct note.

1491, Charles Mann

1491:  New revolutions of the Americas before Columbus by Charles C. Mann is a book I picked up at the Greenbelt Labor Day Festival.

Started: 12/27/2019

Completed: 12/30/2019

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By: Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

hugger-mugger -- of a confused or disorderly nature

Review:

Charles Mann is so thorough.  It is shocking to see all of the research that he has brought together and then communicated it clearly.  It is surprising to me, as well, to learn how heavily populated the Americas were.  I've also wondered about the tales of prairie schooners passing through forest.  It seemed impossible to me that the forest floor could ever be so clear.  I was told that it was the rich wild life that had just eaten everything.  That seemed a bit ludicrous to me at the time, but now I know otherwise.

Night Boat to Tangier, Kevin Barry

Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry showed up on several of the best books of 2019.  The book was long listed for the Booker Prize.

Started: 12/26/2019

Completed: 12/27/2019

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By: several best books of 2019

Words for which I sought help:

cirrhotic -- characterized by cirrhosis; in this case I think it is  a synonym for alcoholic.

Review:

Some of the mental pictures drawn in the book were quite clever and very meaningful, like: "They had an excellent view sitting upon the stack of their years."

Somehow, the book wraps you in its cold, foggy touch and throws in front of you the odd collection of characters who move across decades and between relationships in odd ways.  Nothing seems real and, yet, all of it seems ground in the grungy, ugly, sordid lubricant of reality.

I never would have thought that a book which is essentially about a pair of truly unsympathetic drug runners would be even mildly enticing.  This is a benefit of checking out books on a top something list.  There is usually a reason the book has made this kind of list and I have found that the reason often shows up in the book.  In this book, it is just a good yarn.  About horrible people.  Who all like each other in horrible ways.

Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood is a book I found on a list of the best fiction.  I'm a bit leery of Atwood because the Handsmaid's stuff is so uneven.  The title seems like something from Neil Gaiman.  Who knows.

Started: 12/24/2019

Completed: 12/26/2019

Recommendation: Not Recommended

Recommended By: A list

Review:

WARNING:  This book discusses child pornography from the child's perspective as a flash back.  This could be a trigger issue for some people.  Just unpleasant for the rest of us.

I hate being dumped into a dystopian future with no reference points.  Margaret Atwood does that fairly consistently.  I should know better.

The book is well written.  The plot is pretty basic, but there is plenty of nuance.  The way the plot developed was frustrating for me.  There is a lot of flashback and parallel story lines.  The book is interesting, but it felt to me that there was no character development--at best some sort of character revealing.

The premise does not carry the wait of the disorientation that is Atwood's hallmark.

Empire of the Summer Moon, S. C. Gwynne

Empire of the Summer Moon:  Quanah Parker and the rise and fall of the Comanches the most powerful Indian tribe in American history by S. C. Gwynne.  This book was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Started: 12/21/2019

Completed: 12/24/2019

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By:  Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

priapic -- relating to male sexuality and sexual activity

Review:

Easily half the book is about the state of the Comanches before Quanah.  This is all very interesting, but kind of caught me off-guard.  I think it was necessary to establish the nature of the Comanche way of life and also to provide some perspective on how his mother (a white woman) came to the tribe and her perspective on Comanches in general.  The book is really interesting if you can get by how terribly bloody things were.  It seems to me that Quanah could have had a book that focused more purely on him, but I have a feeling that the author wanted to have more than just that.

Proof of Conspiracy, Seth Abramson

Poof of Conspiracy:  How Trump's international collusion is threatening American democracy by Seth Abramson is the sequel to Proof of Collusion.

Started: 12/10/2019

Completed: 12/21/2019

Recommendation: Highly recommended

Recommended By: Nobody

Words and phrases for which I sought help:

sub rosa lobbying -- Literally "under the rose" this is lobbying that is done in secret.

Review:

So this is a huge take down on Trump and his clan.  It is amazing in its detail, focus, and rigorous sources.  Must read for anyone who wants to know what our President has been doing and how bad it is for the USA.

The Blade Itself, Joe Abercrombie

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie was on a list of recommended books in the Washington Post that my mother-in-law had cut out and recommended to me.  I think that this was in the year the book was published, 2006.  It took a long time to buy a copy as it did not show up in used book stores and I eventually took it out of the library.

Started: 12/6/2019

Completed: 12/10/2019

Recommendation: Mild recommendation

Recommended By:  The Washington Post

Review:

Some of the descriptions were really good: "...silence but for the wind fumbling across the dark stones...."  Others, however, such as long battle scenes were just kind of gross.  Maybe they were needed, it will take the subsequent books to know for sure.  This is, however, a book that was written in need of a sequel.  We shall see.  For now, however, I can offer a mild recommendation.

Exhalation, Ted Chiang

Exhalation by Ted Chiang is a collection of science fiction short stories.  This book shows up on numerous lists of good science fiction books to read.

Started: 12/2/2019

Completed: 12/6/2019

Recommendation: Highly recommended

Recommended By: A list of some sort

Review:

I am not big on collections of short stories, but this is a pretty cool collection.

"Skill at debate is not the same as maturity."  This is an excellent and fundamental insight.  I find it hard to distinguish them myself.  The story in which this insight appeared did a good job of explaining what was happening.

These are great stories that address lots of cool issues.  The time was well spent and I really enjoyed these carefully crafted stories.

A Warning, Anonymous

A Warning by Anonymous is a book I could not miss.

Started: 11/30/2019

Completed: 12/2/2019

Recommendation: Mildly Recommended

Recommended By: Cousin Charles

Review:

"He is out of his mind."  'nuff said.

Then he said this, "Given enough time and space, Donald J. Trump, will seek to abuse any power he is given."  Wow.

The Education of Brett Kavanaugh, Pogrebin and Kelly

The Education of Brett Kavanah:  An investigation by Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly is a book for which I was interviewed.

Started: 11/27/2019

Completed: 11/28/2019

Recommendation:  Recommended

Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This well researched book follows the education of Justice Kavanaugh.

Leadership, Doris Kearns Goodwin

Leadership:  In turbulent times by Doris Kearns Goodwin is a book that was reviewed in the Washington Post.  The review came up at a Thoughtful Discussion Group when the topic was on the nature of leadership.  I enjoyed Team of Rivals so I have a sense that I will enjoy this book as well.

Started: 11/21/2019

Completed: 11/29/2019

Recommendation: Mild recommendation

Recommended By: Ann

Review:

Goodwin is a good writer who can synthesize information from multiple sources.  Unfortunately, large sections of this book a cribbed from her previous books with a little editing.  The material remains good, it is just redundant.  The final section looks at how each of the leaders addressed fundamental problems with their leadership skills.  That is the part of the book that is truly new.

Universal Darwinism, John Campbell

Universal Darwinism:  The path of knowledge by John Campbell is a book about how multiple phase states might affect philosophy.

Started:  8/10/2019

Completed: 11/27/2019

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By:  I saw John Campbell referenced in an on-line blurb talking about multiple phase states and that made me curious--Philosopher discussing physics?

Review:

The link between Bayesian probability and physics results in philosophy.  I think that this is a seminal work.  It is worth taking time to read it carefully.