The Poppy War, R. F. Kuang

 

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang got a simply wonderful review by a blogger who said that it truly haunted him (in a good way?).  There have been other good reviews.  It was a finalist for both the Nebula and the Locus awards.  I think that I first saw it on the Nebula awards website.  This is the debut novel for Kuang and is the first in The Poppy War Series.

Started: 10/25/2020
Completed: 10/29/2020
Recommendation: Not Recommeneded
Recommended By: Generally good reviews

Words for which I sought help:

immure -- enclose or confine (someone) against their will

Review:

This book has a grand scale with decent character development.  It is well written.  I simply did not like it.  I did not enjoy the scenes of genocide and the relish to have it repeated.  I found the characters off-putting with the lead character particularly off-putting.  It is just not the kind of escape fantasy into which I was comfortable escaping.

At the Mountains of Madness, H.P. Lovecraft

 

At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft is a book I have broadly avoided as I associate Lovecraft with horror and am not much interested in horror.

Started: 10/21/2020

Completed: 10/21/2020

Recommendation: Mild Recommendation

Recommended By: Brian D'Amato

Words for Which I Sought Help:

arabesque -- an ornamental design consisting of intertwined flowing lines, originally found in Arabic and Moorish decoration

crinoid -- relating to or denoting echinoderms of the class Crinoidea, which comprises the sea lilies and feather stars

Review:

There is no question that the style of writing is dated.  The quality of writing is quite good, but this sort of sounded like a travel journal.  A first hand account of a new adventure told by someone aware that the telling was going to be read by others.  I'm not terribly fond of the style.

The nature of the horror was not what I was expecting, which was welcome.

Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse

 

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse was recommended  in the New York Times.  This is the first book of the Between Earth and Sky trilogy.

Started: 10/22/2020
Completed: 10/25/2020
Recommendation: Mildly Recommended
Recommended By: New York Times

Review:

 At base, I guess, this is an adventure novel.  There is plenty of action.  There is duress.  There are both minor and major difficulties overcome.  This book might be sufficiently stand alone if the trilogy never comes to fruition.

I like that this book leverages the Mesoamerican mythos.   Despite, however, being in a wholly different environment, it does not feel that way.  The rooms are made of stone, but other than that descriptor, it is not clear how they are different.  One of the major characters has a terrace outside his room, but there is no discussion of the wind and rain whipping into the room or any kind of covering that keeps it out.  It is as though there is a glass door.

The time aboard ship in a large reed canoe does not feel different from being in a small steamboat.   The dimensions are all smaller, that is true, but there is no feeling of the oars pushing the boat forward (the captain listens to the lap of waves against the hull to determine direction--this seems mindbogglingly difficult in a reed canoe with so many people as the hull would be quite thick).  During a storm oars are used as outriggers without any explanation of how the oars are actually attached to the canoe.  It is unclear what the boat moves with without the oars or if it just drifts in response to the storm (equally unclear is why removing heavy trade goods that could serve as ballast would be a good idea).  There are references to a tiller, but that seems impossible on a reed boat...a steering oar seems more likely.  There is no talk of anything to keep the beat for rowers who row for days at a time (some singing might work).  It just feels unlikely.  There is no talk of maintenance of a reed canoe (which is likely required constantly) other than to put resin in places (again, an unlikely way to seal a reed canoe which generally seals because the reeds expand).

The book also features lots of bright mono-colored clothes, but aside from white this is not supported in the Americas.  I imagine it would be hard to keep such multi-colored clothing clean.  Black clothing seemed to be reserved for warriors, so it is odd that one of the characters who wore black was not viewed as a warrior.  Clothing was used to distinguish clans (but, like Scotland, this was based on the combination of colors and the weave).

It is easy to find fault and there are plenty of fantasy novels that are not period accurate and who also feature windows that never let in wind and rain.  Being locked in a room and forgotten for days doesn't seem to involve a privy in those books as well.  I guess a fantasy is about being immersed in something alien and different, which is fine if it is truly alien and different and not an effort to be something that used to be real.

Running Out of Time, Margaret Peterson Haddix

 

Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix is a young adult novel that I decided to pick up quite some time ago and I cannot remember why.  Maybe some touch point to tie in with younger people.

Started: 10/21/2020
Completed: 10/22/2020
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I think that this is a good idea, but it is such a simple plot.  I guess that is what makes it a young adult novel.

Donald Trump v The United States, Michael S. Schmidt

 

Donald Trump v The United States: Inside the struggle to stop a president by Michael S. Schmidt is another Trump book.  Yeah, I know.

Started: 10/16/2020
Completed: 10/21/2020
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

As usual, the people in Trump's world are nauseating.  Schmidt is a journalist and this book is told from his perspective as an exciting story of jumping from source to source.  Lots of journalists write this way.  It is rare that the book is really about the journalist and this mechanism of telling the story throws unnecessary "stuff" into the book.

If you want to know in critical detail how McGann was integral to Trump's adding judges and if you want some mild insight into the Mueller report, this is your book.  If you are pretty sick of Trump and his appalling behaviors, this book is literally nauseating.

I listened to this book over the course of my choice to vote for Biden.  There is that.

The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkein

 

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien is a book I have picked up more than once and thought I might read again.

Started: 10/15/2020

Completed: 10/16/2020

Recommendation:  Highly Recommended

Recommended By:  My Father (originally)

Review:

The version that I listened to this time was a BBC radio dramatization.  It was quite enjoyable, but a different experience then the book itself.

A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik

 

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik is by Naomi Novik so I'm going to read it.  It is the first book of The Scholomance trilogy.

Started: 10/13/2020
Completed: 10/15/2020
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I really like Naomi Novik and this book was no disappointment.  While this is a look, once more, at a wizard school, it is refreshing.  It is a well crafted story that is a story, not a mystery.  It is a look at characters...a look at people.  Of course, they are under terrible circumstances.  It is a story of life and death, but it is an interesting look at how individuals, both popular and unpopular, struggle in their own circumstances.  It is kind of a "Survivor" style of book.  Well worth the time.

It Was All A Lie, Stuart Stevens

 

It Was All A Lie: How the republican party became Donald Trump by Stuart Stevens is another book about Republicans.

Started: 10/12/2020
Completed: 10/13/2020
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By:  My wife

Review:

This is a book written by a conservative for conservatives.  As such, some of the positions assumed made me queasy.  Having said that, however, it is an interesting insight into how Republicans have moved away from a party of principal and become a party of power.  Some of the history of the modern conservative movement was new to me and did not focus on things like the Heritage Foundation and the Koch brothers as so many others have.  It did spend a lot of time on Nixon's "Southern Strategy" and basically made the argument that the party has skewed to the party of white people (a diminishing demographic).  There is little doubt that things like the Lincoln Project (the author is part of that effort) and Principals First will try to bring the Republican party back to fundamental principals and this author is surely making that effort.  I wonder if it will work.  Being able to use "alternative facts" (because facts have a liberal bias as Stephen Colbert says) is heady and frees the Republicans from reality, but it also untethers them from reality.  I would rather have a constructive dialog with someone argues from facts instead of someone yelling how great their candidate is.

The Space Between Worlds, Micaiah Johnson

 

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson is a book about understanding the multiverse.

Started: 10/10/2020
Completed: 10/12/2020
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This is a nice angle on the multiverse.  There is a good explanation for not being in two worlds at once and an interesting approach to moving between worlds.  There is a little romance on the side that is pretty clear and there is lots of abuse to explore.  This is a rich novel with a lot of different ways of experiencing the same story.  The superstition and the science mesh nicely as good alternate explanations.

Twilight of Democracy, Anne Applebaum

 

Twilight of Democracy: The seductive lure of authoritarianism by Anne Applebaum is a book reviewed in The Atlantic.  Of course, it is more about the risk of Trump.

Started: 10/7/2020
Completed: 10/10/2020
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: The Atlantic

Review:

How can he think that?  This question comes to my mind most times I hear Trump speak.  The platitudes, the vicious attacks, the simplistic thinking from him nearly drives me crazy.  "It turns out it was a lot more complicated then I thought" is the phrase that always follows once he drives down some ridiculous path ("just replace Obamacare with something better").  This book addresses that.  There are people who are comfortable with complexity and people who are comfortable with simplicity.  Trump is a simplistic thinker who has managed to change his past to maintain his simplistic thinking.  The reason he turns everything chaotic is because the thinking is so remarkably black and white and he is comfortable changing on a dime from one simple approach to another.  Applebaum argues that this black and white thinking leads to authoritarianism and as the convoluted speech of Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams demonstrate, the founders were comfortable with complexity.  Oh.

Conditional Citizens, Laila Lalami

 

Conditional Citizens by Laila Lalami is a book reviewed in the New York Times.  It seemed like a good book to read about immigrants.

Started: 10/7/2020
Completed: 10/7/2020
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This book is mostly about personal experience (with some good statistics thrown in to suggest that the personal experience in many cases is typical).  The value is high.  The particular examples are useful to identify casual insults, casual disregard, and intended attacks on those who are citizens, but not treated as equals.  I like this book because of the diversity that is built into the author, her family, and her community.  Lalami is insightful, she carefully surrounds her point with analysis from diverse points of view.  The hollow voices on the periphery (and sometimes at the center) demonstrate their ignorance as Lalami does her best to be understanding, to be considerate, and to wonder how someone could think that the bizarre position held is somehow reasonable.  I love this kind of careful analysis.

Benjamin Franklin, Walter Isaacson

 

Benjamin Franklin: An American life by Walter Isaacson caught my eye as I was looking for a different book on Franklin.

Started: 10/4/2020
Completed: 10/6/2020
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I have read an early Franklin biography (I typed it into Project Gutenberg).  I learned things from this biography that the previous simply omitted.  This biography, however, remains an homage to Franklin.  There is nothing wrong with that, but it obscures the individual.  I was interested to learn about his first son and the complications that came with it.  It seems to me that an entire book could reasonably be written on that topic and not explore it fully.  I was disappointed with the author taking Franklin's position with regard to John Adams, whom I deeply respect.  It certainly affected my view of the biography and, no doubt, leaves me an unfair reviewer.

Rage, Bob Woodward

 

Rage by Bob Woodward is the source of outrageous statements of a new and different kind.

Started: 10/2/2020
Completed: 10/4/2020
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: Everyone

Review:

This is good reporting.  It ties together perspective on current events in near real time.  It is unsettling to hear Trump talk about his own actions.  It brings together, in my opinion, what it must be like to talk to Trump about direction.  It seems that things go back and forth...that he generates a sense of how critical his own decision making in in retrospective.  He is uncomfortable with sharing credit.  He seems to have a set of internal talking points (things like his position in the poles, the state of the economy, etc.)  He does say things at points that make sense--things that surprised me.  In general, however, the surprise is that his opinion was so normal.  For the most part, however, his opinions vary over time and seem to be whatever clicks as an internal "best bet." His bottom line is money.  Always money.  Everything comes back to money.

Evil Geniuses, Kurt Andersen

 

Evil Geniuses:  The unmaking of America, a recent history by Kurt Andersen is a look at how robber barons returned to the USA and how to move forward.

Started: 9/26/2020
Completed: 10/2/2020
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

Andersen is brilliant.  His ability to do thorough research and then bring the vast knowledge he acquires to bear on a single topic is truly impressive.  He views the issues through many lenses although his focus is how the USA has become afraid of the new.  The United States used to wrap its arms around newness and wring as much from it as possible.  The conservative (and more the libertarian) movement has quashed the desire to embrace the new and Andersen shows why and how this happened.  There is no doubt that we need to move away from socialism for the rich and brutal capitalism for the rest.  We need a way to share the wealth that all of the United States generates with all of the United States.