ewee (02/26): The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson

(Pictured here with the nice succulents Sy planted last weekend. While finishing this book, I sat here on the deck, nursing a sprained ankle and bruised ego).

This was much better than Darwinia, but still nothing like Spin. Swingbeat's review sums it up quite well.

Essentially, this is an interesting story--time travel is woven into the fabric of the landscape, but in good storytelling form, the real meat of the story has to do with relationships and character development. Good gripping stuff--life's failures, growth, synchronicity (I loved tau turbulence and the idea that nothing is truly coincidental). RCW does his best to make an international and political/economic map of the world.

As Swingbeat mentions, the end of the book is a bit too quick and pat, but the bulk of the story is well-written, and a fast, pleasant read.

Recommended with coffee to while away the hours stuck in traffic on the way to work.

ewee (01/26): Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson

Ho hum...sadly, nothing has come close to RCW's Spin, and this is further from it than most.

Overall, I found it hard to finish this book, fairly stiff pacing and character development. There were glimmers of interesting ideas (overlapping time, large sentient databases in the sky, mortality, and edenic alien invasion), but unlike RCW's usual style, I found this book a bit dull and best for putting myself to sleep on transit.

The photo is just before I chucked it back into the bin to return it to the library. Yay libraries!

Argh!

Thanks for keeping this going, y'all!

No excuses, but I've been busy with a cross country move and... well, basically a brand new life, which I'm thoroughly enjoying. It's about the process, right?

Since Sept 2007, in our group there's been one more marital engagement and one new baby!!! Lindsay Elise Chow was born to proud parents and Reading Challenge alumnae Bridget and Baby Daddy Allen. Congratulations!

ewee 26/26: The Perseids and other stories by RCW

Just under the wire, finished up with some more low-hanging fruit. tip o' the nib to the tissue box, cuz without my cold, I prolly wouldn't have chewed my way through all those books. This one was ok, not great, interesting ideas, but nothing compelling enough to recommend it.

Thanks for a great year of reading!

Yong (10/26): Be Near Me by Andrew O'Hagan

Grey. Grey is the color of the cover, of the story, of the economically depressed and narrow-minded small Scottish town of Dalgarnock in which it's set, of the air, of the mood, of the life of the visiting Catholic priest David Anderton at its center. This is the first book I've bought for myself since...since college, I think, because one of my kids gave me a book store gift card. And just when did paperback books surge in price from six bucks to fourteen??

The first book I ever read for this blog was about a Catholic priest from England. And so it seemed rather appropriate that my last book for this third go of it was also about a Catholic priest from England. But they couldn't be more different. The other was a fable written sixty-six years ago. This one is undeniably a product and a reflection of our modern times, a psychologically tortuous journey into the depths of one man's soul, sifting through layers of self-deception and self-denial in order to clear away the lies, find what's true, and resurface from years of murk to breathe clear air once again. As life is a choice, so is it one we can turn away from. And as solitude--loneliness--is usually a burden that must be borne, sometimes a choice accepted out of duty, so can it at times be a refuge, an escape, from life.

You know how there are books and movies that you love in the moment but quickly lose the taste of even when you try to hold on? And others that you're not quite sure you even liked when you were done with them, but then they stay with you, dance at the fringes of your thoughts for days? This was one of those. And I'm glad I bought it, because its lessons are ones I need to hold on to.

ewee (25/26): catching up...

still nowhere near able to post anything of substance, but thanks to the cold i've been fighting, i've managed to *almost* catchup. one more book this week? new book reports?...stay tooned. in the meantime, here's the listing thus far.

[warning: many books with pictures. and even some without words...also at least a couple of these completely sucked.]


18/26: Axis by Robert Charles Wilson
- good to ok. nothing like Spin, but ok.

19/26: The Dog Who Loved Too Much by Robert Dodson
- completely sappy waste of time. and tho i love sap and dogs, don't bother with this one.

20/26: The Big Squeeze by Steven Greenhouse
- excellent. took me forever to read, because i had to chew on it all (and take notes along the way). might go back and buy this one.

21/26: Bios by RCW
- another ok RCW fix. quick read, good airplane fodder. (and if it hadn't've been a library book, i'd've happily jettisoned it for the luggage space on the way home...)

22/26: Gordon Yamamoto And The King Of The Geeks by Gene Yang
- Gene Yang brought us American Born Chinese. loved that, loved this. quirky, odd, and sweetly deep. well drawn and written.

23/26: The Lost Ones by Steve Niles
- Ugh. you get what you pay for...this was a freebie at Green Apple. some misguided microsoft art thing. anyone want my copy? ugh.

24/26: Robot Dreams by Sarah Varon
- Beautiful, poetic, sweet. Buying more for friends. No words, kinda sappy, but in a really lovely touching way.

25/26: Devadatta (Buddha, Vol. 3) by Osamu Tezuka
- Amazing. Stayed up till 3am to read this. Beautiful line work, amazing amazing amazing. Gonna get all of the volumes as soon as I can...