Solar Bones, Mike McCormack

Solar Bones by Mike McCormack is a sweeping Irish story of one man's family history.  Written in the first person as a stream of consciousness, the book explores both life and death against the backdrop of industry in Ireland.  I think that I first read about it in this NYT book review, but I had thought it was somehow linked to Obama (it was not).  Who knows how I came to choose it, but nonetheless, I found it on the first table, in the first box, first book I saw at the Greenbelt Labor Day Festival and that is auspicious (it was in my "to read" list, so I had to make a donation to the Elementary school and read the book).

Started: 9/2/2018

Completed: 9/7/2018

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By:  The New York Times?

Words and phrases for which I sought help:

Angelus bell -- A ringing of the bells that came after Vespers to indicate it was time for 3 consecutive "Hail Mary" prayers.  The ringing often went to 100 times to distinguish the Angelus bell from other bells.

boreen -- a narrow country road.

Catherine Wheel -- also known as "breaking wheel" is a wheel (about the same as a wagon wheel generally with an iron rim) used by an executioner to break the bones of a person and execute them through a blow to the chest or neck (there is more to it, but I think that this is adequate to describe the horrific manner of execution).  St. Catherine was to be executed this way, but she touched the wheel and it broke apart, so she was beheaded instead.

drumlin -- a low oval mound or small hill, typically one of a group, consisting of compacted boulder clay molded by past glacial action.

etiolated -- pale and drawn out due to lack of light

hustings -- an election platform

iron maiden -- a torture device sort of like a sarcophagus with spikes on the inside.  The spikes rarely killed the person directly, but the person generally died of dehydration or "bleeding out."

nacelle -- A streamlined housing or tank for something on the outside of an aircraft or motor vehicle.

rood -- A crucifix, especially one positioned above the rood screen of a church or on a beam over the entrance to the chancel.

sheugh -- a furrow, ditch, or trench

Review:

This book left me out of breath.  The lack of a period pretty much anywhere left me wondering when I could breath.  This book was truly a book that embodies the concept of stream of consciousness.  There were nice, clever, and precise turns of phrase.  The characters were well developed and their actions were both predictable and surprising just like, well, normal people.  It was a fun read, though it was a hard read.  The book just keeps rolling along with the plot developing (to steal from the book) like concrete spilling into a form.  The plot seemed to roll everywhere at once and it is possible to envision that one sort of runs around the edges in a spiral grasping at plot points wondering what was missing at each point and knowing that there will be another shot as the spiral weaves outward.

At the same time, the concrete gradually fills the forms and pops up over your boots as you wait to use your float and smooth out the rough parts.  The inevitable problem, however, is that you really don't know what your are trying to smooth.  It isn't at all clear how the various tendrils of the story come together except by turns of phrase that come back and sort of weave themselves through the concrete like reinforcing wire.  Truly there, fundamental to the pour, but hidden in the totality of the result.

I think that I have strained this metaphor about as far as I can.  It is a good book.  It is very hard to put down.  It wore me out.  Read it.

The Terrible Twos, Ishmael Reed

The Terrible Twos by Ishmael Reed is a book I purchased at a library sale probably close to 20 years ago.  It has languished on my shelves having suffered from disorganized reorganizing and it was not until it popped to the top of my reading list that I realized for how long I had owned this book.  There was a time when I was interested in anything that looked at Santa Claus in a new way.  I have a feeling that I was also trying to understand racism, so the tag line from the New York Review of Books on the back cover likely also caught my eye, "...and few have been so stinging about the absurdity of American racism."

Started:  July 19, 2018

Completed: September 3, 2018

Recommendation: Not Recommended

Recommended by:  Nobody

Review:

Satire.  This book has some comedic elements, but it is mostly satire.  The satire, however, swings around, literally, an orange headed president who is out of his depth and oblivious to the harm he is enabling.  Sound familiar?  At least somewhat familiar?  Because of this, the satire in the book started to feel more like prophecy.  A prophetic and absurd vision that we are actually living about 40 years removed from the writing of the book.

Allegory.  This book has a fair amount of allegorical content, but it is a little difficult for me to pick up.  The racism I saw was blatant.  There was a fair amount of history of the various forms of Santa Claus packed in and surely there is allegory buried there that was below (above?) my field of view.

Racism.  The racism I saw in this book was brutal, forthright and honest.  The best part of the book, in my opinion, however, was the Spruce tree that took issue with being cut down for a Christmas tree and how it sought its revenge.  Built into the whole story of the Spruce is a little less overt racism and a little more clever description of how the underpinnings of racism and brutality can be undercut.

The story line seemed obtuse to me.  I never really got into the book.  I found no character sympathetic and it vaguely reminded me of reading Pilgrim's Progress.  It felt to me that the story line was meaningless, the characters were truly shallow and mono-dimensional caricatures.  I could not glean from the book what others who really enjoyed it did.  Given the reviews, it felt like it was over my head and that makes me sad, but I cannot really recommend it to anyone.

Helliconia Winter, Brian Aldiss

Helliconia Winter by Brian W. Aldiss is the third book of the Helliconia Trilogy.  Helliconia Spring and Helliconia Summer are the other two books in the trilogy.

Started:  4/28/2018

Completed: 7/19/2018

Recommendation: Highly recommended

Recommended By:  Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

tatterdemalion -- ragged and disreputable in appearance

Review:

I really enjoyed this series and it is hard not to expect each successive book to be better than the one before.  Spring was great because it was an introduction to a whole new world accompanied by new concepts and new ways of dealing with those concepts.  Summer was delicious as a classic look at how fantasy and science fiction can coexist tying together a deep and disturbing look at religion.  Winter seemed to veer into the nature of nuclear destruction while exposing the hellish underbelly of power.

In all three books, the world of Helliconia became richer and more believable.  The concept of a cycle to all things was born out (as was necessary given the the seasonal titles of the trilogy).  The twists on "Old Earth" were truly surprising and oddly unsettling.  The events in the monitoring station of Helliconia were unpredictable and it feels like the drawing of those events was so light because they were a necessary backdrop (and occasional transition) for the events in Helliconia.  I found the drift into philosophy lackluster.

Having established the few things I disliked about the book and the series, I wish to make clear that my dislikes melt in the sun of those things I enjoyed.  I would recommend the series as a whole and this book as well.

Drawdown, Hawken (editor)

Drawdown:  The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming edited by Paul Hawken is a book that we came across via the drawdown web site.  It got great reviews.  I wanted to read it.  I also wanted to funnel more money into the organization that Paul Hawken formed to write it.

Started: 5/30/2018

Completed: 6/27/2018

Recommended By: Nobody

Recommendation: Great Reference

Review:

This is a simply staggering collection of well researched ideas along with cost and impact.  This is the basis of a business case.  It is a great reference whenever government decides to care about the world again.

Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorator is a fictional story that is getting international recognition.  I cannot remember how I heard about this book.

Started:  5/2/2018

Completed: 5/27/2018

Recommended By:  Nobody

Recommendation: Recommended

Review:

This is a stirring tale in a seemingly post-apocalyptic future.  It feels like an allegory for current conditions particularly given the #MeToo movement.  It is hard to talk about the book without providing spoilers, so bear with me if it seems that I'm not saying much about the plot.  In a sense, this is a coming of age story.  As usual, however, it has implications for all known civilization.  I really liked listening to this book on CD as the dramatist, Anne Flosnik, has a rich and expressive voice.  I happened to have a copy of the book (as I was planning to read it) and when I skimmed it for the spelling of various names, I would never have pronounced them correctly.  Also, Ms. Flosnik brings a sense of "other" with a rich accent that I simply could not place (perhaps that is the intent).  It could also be that I am simply unfamiliar with many African accents.

I cannot say that this book is Earth shattering or that it gave me a new perspective, but it was displacing.  Perceiving the world from the protagonists point of view makes the familiar artificial and the use of Ju-Ju (a form of magic) further takes the world from the familiar.  It is unclear to me, however, whether it is magic in the traditional sense or whether the practitioner is tapping into something else (perhaps some future technology).  Shape changing suggests it is just plain magic, but I still like to leave the opening for something else.

As a fun read, this was fine.  It have enough oomph to make it worth my time and I am glad to have read it.

The Hundredth Queen, Emily King

The Hundredth Queen by Emily R. King is a free book I picked up for the Kindle.  It was a long time ago and I don't know why I thought it would be good.

Started: 4/20/2018

Completed: 5/5/2018

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By:  Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

khanda -- a double-edged straight sword.  An emblem of Sikhism.

Review:

This is not a well written book, but so few are.  This is, however, a really enjoyable book.  A story of a princess who rescues herself is always fun.  I enjoyed the book and I enjoyed the premise.  I look forward to paying for and reading the sequels.

Antifragile, Nassim Taleb

Antifragile:  Things That Gain From Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a book that I picked up from the library on audio to hear during my commute.  I have one of his other books sitting on my shelf and I heard on NPR that this one should be read first, so, there you go.

Started: 4/3/2018

Completed: 5/2/2018

Recommended By:  Nobody

Recommendation: Recommended

Review:

Antifragile is the opposite of fragile.  Fragile means that something breaks easily and is not useful after it is broken.  Antifragile means that something gets stronger under disruption.  So, if you marked a box "Fragile" you would want it to be handled with care, not jostled, and identify that the object inside could be ruined if this care was not provided.  If you marked a box "AntiFragile" then it should be handled roughly, jostled, and the item within would get better if this care was provided.  It is kind of hard to imagine such a thing, but things that meet this criteria abound around us, particularly in nature.  This is an extensive text that does not lend itself to full analysis in a paragraph.

The basic concept is pretty simple, but the implications are significant.  I am still working to understand the implications, particularly with regard to risk analysis.  In the end, I'm trying to keep track of opportunities with little downside, but huge upside.