shiny_i (1/26): Camouflage by Joe Haldeman

What?! I should be on my 15^th book already? Um, do half-books count at all? Well, sorry for the delay in submitting my first book review, but I guess I gotta start somewhere....

Joe Haldeman’s Camouflage is a good read if you like your sci fi sprinkled with historical military references, cheesy dialogue and some alien sex scenes. That’s right, alien sex, y’alls (but it’s kinda mild). If you can get past all of those elements, then you might be able to appreciate some interesting concepts. Namely, that in the not-to-distant-future, a mysterious extraterrestrial artifact is found deep in an ocean trench, and 2 archetypal aliens who have been living on earth for eons but don’t know about the other’s existence are drawn towards the artifact. The chapters alternate between their past lives masquerading as marine life and various humans and their present attempts to make their way to the artifact. When their paths finally merge at the end of the book, all hell breaks loose. You can pretty much skip through the narratives of the human protagonists because as usual, the aliens are much more interesting.

Even though Camouflage won the 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novel, I think his other book Forever Peace is better written. That book won the “triple crown” for both the Hugo and Nebula awards for Best Novel along with the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 1998.

swingbeat 6/26: Axis by Robert Charles Wilson

This is the sequel to "Spin". While Spin was a pretty good book, I have to say that this one was annoying. Granted, it is the second book in a trilogy, and second books tend to not know what to do... how much should they reveal? how much should they hold back, etc? Which is kinda like this review - don't wanna say too much for those people who haven't even read the first book :)

Let me just list out some points about this book.
1. Go ahead and read the front flap of this book. It won't reveal anything. In fact, it seems to PROMISE more than the book delivers on. It implies that there's some big time travel thing going on, but NOPE not in this book.
2. The main character, Lise Adams, was just annoying. She is on this obsessive quest to find out how her father disappeared 12 years ago... and it's a point of obsession that I couldn't really empathize with. She pretty much acts like a spoiled brat the whole time.
3. Finally , the author has some moral outrage for various characters and actions in this book - outrage that I couldn't empathize with at all. Personally, I felt they were at worst questionabloe, but there weren't intrisically evil things about it, where every character (sans the propagator) agreed that it was evil. I even felt the author was repetitive about having each character think that this act was evil, simply so he can try to work something at the ending related to this.

Anyway, since I read the first two books in this trilogy, I will likely read the third one once it comes out. Although if the main character is Lise Adams again, I'll be annoyed.

I guess I was spoiled by "Spin" - that was just well-written and makes you think. This one was just a pseudo-adventure story with a little magic here and there (magic vis-a-vis Arthur C. Clarke's "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic").

swingbeat 5/26: The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson

Ah, I found a few more RCW books, after reading "Spin". This one also won an award.

The Chronoliths detail the story of a man and 20+ years of his life, when one day while vacationing in Thailand a big translucent monolith appeared in a field, devastating/freezing areas around it. The thing about it is that there is a date, and then name of a person/entity, "Kuin". This "Chronolith" signified the date that Kuin conquered that region, and it was 20 years ago.

As time went on, more Chronoliths appeared, and it tells the story of how the protagonist and his scientist friends try to discover who Kuin is, and what to do with the Chronoliths.

The book was pretty interesting with a nice buildup to the ending... which I thought was a big letdown. The story is detailed up to just before the date of the first Chronolith, and then swims past the next 20 years. I was expecting more, and while I understand the author's point to what he did with the story, I thought it was a bit hand-wavy... I wasn't a big fan. It wasn't even that big of a surprise ending/revelation (IMHO). But alas, it won some awards so you might like it :).

I haven't given up on RCW... already started on another book...

Kayan (4/26) : Listening Is an Act of Love

This is a book of excerpts from the StoryCorps, an independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening.

Here's the concept:
- StoryCorps sets up StoryBooths across the country.
- You reserve a time slot.
- You bring someone - a friend, your grandma, the janitor you see everyday but to whom you've never said hello.
- You interview that person in a 40-minute session. The conversation is recorded on a free CD to take home. Another copy is made for the Library of Congress.

What I love about the concept is this: It is built on the belief that ordinary people embody extraordinary stories. In fact, the stories themselves do not have to be out of the ordinary to be extraordinary. The (in the case of StoryCorps) American experience is not about the newspaper headlines, or celebrities, or politics, and definitely not reality TV. The American story is instead told and enlightened by the human strength, character, and bond shown everyday, between family, friends, neighbors, sometimes strangers. In fact, in many of these stories, the history takes a backseat while the human experience is highlighted. Instead of the shouts of the civil rights movement, we hear the humble voice of a black woman who fought for her right to vote in the south. Instead of the protests of Vietnam, we hear the sobs of a veteran who is still haunted by the memory of his buddies dying in combat.

Dave Isay, who came up with the idea and picked this over medical school as his life's work, points out that something distinctly magical happens when two people sit across from each other behind a microphone. Participants know their recordings will live for years in the Library of Congress, accessible by strangers for generations to come. And yet, in the quiet privacy and security of the booth, barriers and veils are magically lifted. Emotions and secrets, bottled up for years, all of a sudden come pouring out, in the confidence of a trusted listener.

I love the title of this book, because every person has a need to be listened to, to be understood. And while StoryCorps' initial goal was to record stories and experiences that represent the American story, I think it surprised even Dave Isay himself that StoryCorps ended up encapsulating and honoring the innate human need to be heard.



Listen to some stories.



By the way, this is the perfect book for me. I have short attention span when it comes to reading, and this is just one satisfying supershort story after another.

shiny-eye! (1/26): Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

oops. apparently i posted the wrong book for her...she's still reading this one, but finished a different one...i'll update when she gets me the deets...sorry y'all!

I'm posting this for miz shinyeye cuz i want her to get credit. she read it, she'll send me something, i'll update this listing. but don't kick her off the blog! she's readin! :-) yay! (and she's the one who started the whole "spin" thing...so double credit!)

swingbeat 4/26: Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

OK, I definitely like THIS book. He's now on my "to-read" authors list... At least until George R. R. Martin publishes his next book.

First off, a warning - do not read the inside flaps of the hardcover! I did, and found that I ended up missing out on the mysteries of the book.. There are many new developments introduced throughout the book, and the summary on the flaps cover half the book!

This book has a pretty new premise, and the story telling really draws you in - I read this book in two days and couldn't put it down! I'm not going to reveal what it is. I wouldn't say I'm a hardcore sci-fi reader, but I thought it was atypical... and as you learn more, more new speculative ideas get introduced.

BTW if you liked this book, I recommend reading "Singularity Sky" by Charles Stross. Also has a pretty unique premise.
I also discovered there is a sequel - "Axis". Already on my list.

swingbeat 3/26: Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine

This is book 1 of my two-day "ewee-list" marathon. Shortcomings was actually "only OK" to me. Maybe I just don't get it.. I see the various themes throughout the book... but I guess I don't feel I need to look at a portrait of a non-cool Asian male stereotype, whether true or not. I wouldn't go so far to say it was offensive to me, but I guess I didn't really see the point. But Ewee seemed to like it... I'm curious to see what other people thought.

ewee (11/26): Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

Ok, more catching up. I snagged this book from miz sy (who's finished a book! she just needs to post :-)). And from a casual browse, I was hooked. Enough so I was surprised at my unwillingness to return the book. Oh the rudeness of it...I finished it before she did. (she's working on it now...book two! go, sy, go!)

This was a surprisingly original and interesting sf book. The main premise of the book is refreshingly new (you don't want me to tell you, do you?), the writing was quite good, and the pacing was engaging enough to keep me up past my bedtime. But it was a fast enough read that I handily recovered from the sleep deprivation.

The characters are both typical and atypical. So much of sf is male dominated, and this book is not so different from the norm. The story centers on three main characters, and their very intertwined lives. Unfortunately, the woman has the least developed and simplest characterization. Refreshingly, the novel strays from typical sf ground with its continued reference to both class and race.

Worth a read, if you're into this kinda thing. Best read, cozy in bed (with a small light, so your partner doesn't get irritated that you stole her book), with a quiet snack (again to avoid losing the book), and possibly a nice cuppa tea or cocoa.

ewee (10/26): Invasion of the Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel

(Been a little slow at posting, found this book with the Adriane Tomine graphic novel, and polished it off in February. Slowly, but surely, catchin' up...)

I was thrilled to find a book in the dykes to watch out for series that I'd missed. So I happily devoured this book. That in turn sent me into a bit of an obsessive nostalgia trip, and I found the dtwof comics archive (I'll go back and purchase the books I need to complete my Alison Bechdel collection.)

I've posted about Bechdel before, so I'll save you the rehashing. It was good escapist fun. Better'n cable. Possibly too particular an audience to recommend generally. But if you read comics, and have a fairly wide spectrum, you might like this.

Best read curled up in a comfy chair, with a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips. Beverage may vary.

swingbeat 2/26: The Armageddon Rag by George R. R. Martin

Hey all, I found a copy of the one solo GRRM book that I haven't read yet, The Armageddon Rag. This book was published in 1983 and was one of his first books. In summary, I felt that this was one of his weaker offerings. It was actually kind of disappointing. But it was written 20 years ago for a different generation.

Here's the story in a nutshell (takes place in the early 1980's) - a journalist-turned-author, Sandy Blair, somehow finds himself in the revival of a 1970's band called the Nazgul. The Nazgul's lead singer was shot in the middle of a Woodstock-like music concert while on stage, and ever since then, "the music died". Apparently all the hippies/freedom lovers ended up getting sucked into mainstream America, corporations, etc etc etc.

There's a bigwig, Edan Morse, who wants to bring the Nazgul back together in order to bring back the music because "there is power in the music." Then it gets a little weird without much explanation. Somehow they got a lead singer who could channel the spirit of the original lead singer of the Nazgul, and people start having visions of what could happen when the music comes back, and some implications of evil forces coming to fight the good... but this is all kind of glossed over.

I can't say I'd really recommend this book. Maybe if you were a hippie in the 70's, you'd get some nostalgia from reading this, but for people of our generation, there's just too much of a delta in experiences for us to really get into it. That's my opinion :).

It won't keep me from reading his other books though... I looked through his bibliography and noticed that I've read two other earlier books by him:
Windhaven (reviewed on this site) - 1981
Fevre Dream (reviewed on this site) - 1982

My review of Windhaven wasn't really that good. I basically blamed its quality on his coauthor, but maybe he was just starting out and didn't have the mastery of English prose that he has now. :)

Fevre Dream, written one year afterwards, was very good! I'd recommend that one over this one.