2006-12-28
Burning Tower
Author: Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
As usual, reading a good Niven/Pournelle novel reminds me just what good writing is all about. Burning Tower is the sequel to The Burning City which I read a year or two again. The characters have changed to the descendants of the originals, although not much time has passed. Whandall Feathersnake's story and the story of Tep's Town are over. While we start in Tep's Town and Lordshills, this story hits the road and doesn't come back. It's sufficiently separate from the first entry in this fictional world that I think a person could read this book first and The Burning City second without losing too much enjoyment. Surprisingly, the sequel stands up to the original.
The only problem I had with the story was the false ending about 3/4 of the way through. I don't mind the device sometimes, but I didn't feel like the conflict of the last 100 pages was set up far enough in advance. I understand the basic idea -- the story begins with Sandry realizing he needs to get married soon and so it shouldn't end until he does -- but that didn't stop the pages following the Battle at Sunfall from feeling like an exceptionally long epilogue before the need to escape Aztlan was presented.
This fault doesn't override the deep characters, the sturdiness of most of the plot, or the well-paced storytelling. If that's nothing less than we expect from these frequent collaborators then it only proves why the masters stand out from the crowd. Like almost anything with their two names on it, Burning Tower is highly recommended fantasy.
Here at the end of 2006 I'm a little disappointed that I've logged only 48 books, less than one per week. The end of the year has been particularly slow. Still, this list has served its purpose. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue it or not. If it comes to be February 2007 and this is still the latest update, rest assured that I've read a book since then and simply haven't put it up here.
As usual, reading a good Niven/Pournelle novel reminds me just what good writing is all about. Burning Tower is the sequel to The Burning City which I read a year or two again. The characters have changed to the descendants of the originals, although not much time has passed. Whandall Feathersnake's story and the story of Tep's Town are over. While we start in Tep's Town and Lordshills, this story hits the road and doesn't come back. It's sufficiently separate from the first entry in this fictional world that I think a person could read this book first and The Burning City second without losing too much enjoyment. Surprisingly, the sequel stands up to the original.
The only problem I had with the story was the false ending about 3/4 of the way through. I don't mind the device sometimes, but I didn't feel like the conflict of the last 100 pages was set up far enough in advance. I understand the basic idea -- the story begins with Sandry realizing he needs to get married soon and so it shouldn't end until he does -- but that didn't stop the pages following the Battle at Sunfall from feeling like an exceptionally long epilogue before the need to escape Aztlan was presented.
This fault doesn't override the deep characters, the sturdiness of most of the plot, or the well-paced storytelling. If that's nothing less than we expect from these frequent collaborators then it only proves why the masters stand out from the crowd. Like almost anything with their two names on it, Burning Tower is highly recommended fantasy.
Here at the end of 2006 I'm a little disappointed that I've logged only 48 books, less than one per week. The end of the year has been particularly slow. Still, this list has served its purpose. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue it or not. If it comes to be February 2007 and this is still the latest update, rest assured that I've read a book since then and simply haven't put it up here.
2006-12-16
The Tournament
Author: John Clarke
The Tournament: A Novel of the 20th Century sounded just goofy enough that I put it on my wish list last year for fun, and someone thought it sounded goofy enough that it was my sort of thing so I got it. The premise is that around 500 famous people from the last century gather in Paris for a tennis tournament. They're all championship-caliber tennis players, people who lived decades apart can gather together, and the television ratings break all records as the entire world is full of rabid tennis fans. No feeble explanation for this wastes our time.
This a social studies test in the form of a novel. I got the feeling that any passage I wasn't laughing at just meant I didn't recognize the historical figure being sent up. If there's any real plot or significance to who's winning in the tournament I didn't see it. It's just a non-stop series of jokes poking fun at famous personality flaws, and as such, it's well done. A recommended quick read for someone who will recognize enough of the characters to get something out of it all.
The Tournament: A Novel of the 20th Century sounded just goofy enough that I put it on my wish list last year for fun, and someone thought it sounded goofy enough that it was my sort of thing so I got it. The premise is that around 500 famous people from the last century gather in Paris for a tennis tournament. They're all championship-caliber tennis players, people who lived decades apart can gather together, and the television ratings break all records as the entire world is full of rabid tennis fans. No feeble explanation for this wastes our time.
This a social studies test in the form of a novel. I got the feeling that any passage I wasn't laughing at just meant I didn't recognize the historical figure being sent up. If there's any real plot or significance to who's winning in the tournament I didn't see it. It's just a non-stop series of jokes poking fun at famous personality flaws, and as such, it's well done. A recommended quick read for someone who will recognize enough of the characters to get something out of it all.
2006-12-04
Paul Simon
Author: Laura Jackson
Paul Simon: The Definitive Biography of the Legendary Singer/Songwriter starts out with a kind of fawning admiration that warns the reader this won't be a completely unbiased biography. The author is clearly on her subject's side when discussing things like the Simon & Garfunkel relationship or the making of Graceland. Still, there is a lot of information that was new to me as a casual fan.
After an introduction the book proceeds in chronological order through Simon's life. It takes a little over half of the pages to reach the professional breakup with Art Garfunkel, then events from 1970 and the eponymous solo debut album through the book's publication in 2002 require only ninety pages. The cutoff point is around Simon's inclusion on The Wild Thornberries soundtrack -- the fact is noted in the discography but not part of the text.
Reading this book you won't learn exactly why Simon and Garfunkel broke up, then continuously teased at a comeback that never could happen. You will, however, get enough clues that it appears Jackson has her impression of why even though she doesn't want to say it quite so neatly. As I said, this is a sympathetic biography, so you'll get a favorable impression of that event and others. What pop star really warrants a scholarly biography? This book is meant to be fun reading for existing fans, and succeeds completely.
Paul Simon: The Definitive Biography of the Legendary Singer/Songwriter starts out with a kind of fawning admiration that warns the reader this won't be a completely unbiased biography. The author is clearly on her subject's side when discussing things like the Simon & Garfunkel relationship or the making of Graceland. Still, there is a lot of information that was new to me as a casual fan.
After an introduction the book proceeds in chronological order through Simon's life. It takes a little over half of the pages to reach the professional breakup with Art Garfunkel, then events from 1970 and the eponymous solo debut album through the book's publication in 2002 require only ninety pages. The cutoff point is around Simon's inclusion on The Wild Thornberries soundtrack -- the fact is noted in the discography but not part of the text.
Reading this book you won't learn exactly why Simon and Garfunkel broke up, then continuously teased at a comeback that never could happen. You will, however, get enough clues that it appears Jackson has her impression of why even though she doesn't want to say it quite so neatly. As I said, this is a sympathetic biography, so you'll get a favorable impression of that event and others. What pop star really warrants a scholarly biography? This book is meant to be fun reading for existing fans, and succeeds completely.
2006-11-26
Recessional
Author: James A. Michener
Recessional is the story of ... well, there's a problem. "Story" implies a plot, and there isn't much of one. What I can say is, Recessional is a look at the events of an unspecified year in a particular retirement community in Tampa, Florida. What I can't say is that the events are connected. A dozen characters each have their own stories inside this so-called novel, and for the most part they are not connected. Each scene is individually well-written, the characters are reasonably good, and there's an obvious main character whose own life defines why the story begins on 31 December one year and ends right around 31 December the next year. But without a driving plot, this is only a novel in that a lot of words were written to describe that year.
Just look at how long it took me to read this. Each scene gave me no reason to read the next one, helping lead to a four-week gap in posts to this site. (A mitigating factor: I read half of a Tom Clancy novel before spilling iced tea on it and happily tossing it in the trash on 5 November. So it was actually just three weeks on this one.) On the plus side the author can clearly make beautiful images with the English language. I wonder if he's ever used this skill to tell a story. Recessional is not recommended unless you need to break a reading addiction.
Recessional is the story of ... well, there's a problem. "Story" implies a plot, and there isn't much of one. What I can say is, Recessional is a look at the events of an unspecified year in a particular retirement community in Tampa, Florida. What I can't say is that the events are connected. A dozen characters each have their own stories inside this so-called novel, and for the most part they are not connected. Each scene is individually well-written, the characters are reasonably good, and there's an obvious main character whose own life defines why the story begins on 31 December one year and ends right around 31 December the next year. But without a driving plot, this is only a novel in that a lot of words were written to describe that year.
Just look at how long it took me to read this. Each scene gave me no reason to read the next one, helping lead to a four-week gap in posts to this site. (A mitigating factor: I read half of a Tom Clancy novel before spilling iced tea on it and happily tossing it in the trash on 5 November. So it was actually just three weeks on this one.) On the plus side the author can clearly make beautiful images with the English language. I wonder if he's ever used this skill to tell a story. Recessional is not recommended unless you need to break a reading addiction.
2006-10-28
Sink Reflections
Author: Marla Cilley
Marla Cilley is The FlyLady, founder of www.flylady.net. This book is a collection of the house-cleaning and organization tips she shares on her site and mailing list. And that's about it -- take out what you can read freely on the web site and I'm not sure what's left in the book. If you just can't stand reading the material online, I guess the book is an OK investment. Otherwise, skip the papery edition.
Personally, I find the site somewhat, but not completely, useful. The material specific to housekeeping is useful. The organization (control journal) tips are better rejected in favor of David Allen's methods. These ears are deaf to the spiritual pep talk. The assumption that the reader is a Christian housewife is much too pervasive. Even though the author says she's going to explain how the methods apply to anyone she never does.
www.flylady.net is recommended. This book is not.
Marla Cilley is The FlyLady, founder of www.flylady.net. This book is a collection of the house-cleaning and organization tips she shares on her site and mailing list. And that's about it -- take out what you can read freely on the web site and I'm not sure what's left in the book. If you just can't stand reading the material online, I guess the book is an OK investment. Otherwise, skip the papery edition.
Personally, I find the site somewhat, but not completely, useful. The material specific to housekeeping is useful. The organization (control journal) tips are better rejected in favor of David Allen's methods. These ears are deaf to the spiritual pep talk. The assumption that the reader is a Christian housewife is much too pervasive. Even though the author says she's going to explain how the methods apply to anyone she never does.
www.flylady.net is recommended. This book is not.
2006-10-25
Temple of the Winds
Author: Terry Goodkind
Sword of Truth-4 struck me better than the last couple. Blood of the Fold was too much a continuation of Stone of Tears to be a great book: #3 felt like a dragged out sequel to a #2 that never ended properly. Temple of the Winds is its own story, and it's a good one. In fact, it's not overstating it to call it a great one. While nothing can quite recapture the magic of introducing the new universe the way Wizard's First Rule and to some extent Tears did, the plot of this story is as exciting as the first.
How gripping is the beginning? The first 160 or so pages are basically a single scene covering a few hours in the Confessor's Palace. The little director in me wanted to film that much in just three shots of 20+ minutes each. Section and chapter breaks show the passage of no more time than it took the characters to walk down a hall. Actually, sometimes conversations continue right through a chapter break, which makes this pedantic little reviewer kind of annoyed -- those breaks were used just to emphasize the last thing said. Try an exclamation point: they work when not overused. Still, the reader can't say he had to remember the first scene's events on faith, hoping their meaning would become clear. By page 160, a story is well underway.
On the other hand, the main plot doesn't get started until after page 300. If you read the back cover blurb and wondered when a certain thing would come up, you would have had to wait that long. I didn't and found the pacing just fine. Up until that point the story is largely with Richard or Kahlan, and most of the story follows them. There are three other pairs of people to follow around, and they definitely get less time. One of those pairs, in fact, seems to be featured only because they had to get from where they were at the end of the last book to where they were wanted at the end of this one. Worse yet, the only reason they had to arrive there at all was to foreshadow the next book! Considering one of them is a favorite of mine, I pray that book 5 lets him be around the main story just a little bit. (Book #10 has been published at this time, so I'm a little late.)
Aside from that ultimately pointless side story, it's pretty clear how the rest of the book fits together and there's nothing frustrating about it. Questions begging to be answered -- will Richard learn to use his gift? Will Richard and Kahlan ever be married? Does Goodkind have more violent, sexually deviant ideas in his head? -- were not ignored, while still leaving the world an exciting and perilous place. I highly recommend working through the Sword of Truth series as far as Temple of the Winds. (I can't recommend jumping into this world anywhere other than at the beginning, not to mention the fact that the first book is one of the genre's best ever.) At this rate the series could have some serious life left in it.
Sword of Truth-4 struck me better than the last couple. Blood of the Fold was too much a continuation of Stone of Tears to be a great book: #3 felt like a dragged out sequel to a #2 that never ended properly. Temple of the Winds is its own story, and it's a good one. In fact, it's not overstating it to call it a great one. While nothing can quite recapture the magic of introducing the new universe the way Wizard's First Rule and to some extent Tears did, the plot of this story is as exciting as the first.
How gripping is the beginning? The first 160 or so pages are basically a single scene covering a few hours in the Confessor's Palace. The little director in me wanted to film that much in just three shots of 20+ minutes each. Section and chapter breaks show the passage of no more time than it took the characters to walk down a hall. Actually, sometimes conversations continue right through a chapter break, which makes this pedantic little reviewer kind of annoyed -- those breaks were used just to emphasize the last thing said. Try an exclamation point: they work when not overused. Still, the reader can't say he had to remember the first scene's events on faith, hoping their meaning would become clear. By page 160, a story is well underway.
On the other hand, the main plot doesn't get started until after page 300. If you read the back cover blurb and wondered when a certain thing would come up, you would have had to wait that long. I didn't and found the pacing just fine. Up until that point the story is largely with Richard or Kahlan, and most of the story follows them. There are three other pairs of people to follow around, and they definitely get less time. One of those pairs, in fact, seems to be featured only because they had to get from where they were at the end of the last book to where they were wanted at the end of this one. Worse yet, the only reason they had to arrive there at all was to foreshadow the next book! Considering one of them is a favorite of mine, I pray that book 5 lets him be around the main story just a little bit. (Book #10 has been published at this time, so I'm a little late.)
Aside from that ultimately pointless side story, it's pretty clear how the rest of the book fits together and there's nothing frustrating about it. Questions begging to be answered -- will Richard learn to use his gift? Will Richard and Kahlan ever be married? Does Goodkind have more violent, sexually deviant ideas in his head? -- were not ignored, while still leaving the world an exciting and perilous place. I highly recommend working through the Sword of Truth series as far as Temple of the Winds. (I can't recommend jumping into this world anywhere other than at the beginning, not to mention the fact that the first book is one of the genre's best ever.) At this rate the series could have some serious life left in it.
2006-10-13
The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to Popular Standards
Author: Max Morath
The contents of this book are neatly summarized in six bullet points on the front cover:
A concise history of the art form: the American Popular Standards are songs written between 1920 and 1960 that became pervasive in the music industry, being recorded by many major players, each adding their own special something to the presentation of the piece, and which outlived the context of their creation to become timeless.
The major composers, lyricists, and performers: paragraph-size biographies of hundreds of individuals are included, with the biggest names getting up to three pages each.
Classic songs: without including lyrics and sheet music, this section a discussion of the musical elements of 100 standards in the language of musicians. This section mostly reminded me that if you don't know music, you don't know music. (See the Wikipedia Music Theory category if you have no other background.)
An A-to-Z glossary of terms: this short glossary was needed to make this printed book complete, but really, try Wikipedia if you actually need to look up a term.
Valuble resources for the Curious Listener: books and websites
75 Essential Popular Standards CDs: if you want to go beyond listening to the radio and taking what they give you, here is a list of actual CDs you can easily purchase to hear what you've read about.
The topic interests me, and for the discount price I paid I'm happy with the book, but of course the topic needs audio to be treated properly. A good audio version of this book with examples to illustrate the material might run to 20 CDs with licensing costs pushing the price over $100. I bet it's been done well on radio -- presenting 20, one-hour sessions, with licensing costs being much cheaper -- but I couldn't tell you when, or when you'd be able to hear it for yourself, so something that the consumer can actually go buy would be preferable. If you're ready to spend some money on CDs though, or if you have some of this type of music and just want to learn more, this book should satisfy your curiosity.
The contents of this book are neatly summarized in six bullet points on the front cover:
A concise history of the art form: the American Popular Standards are songs written between 1920 and 1960 that became pervasive in the music industry, being recorded by many major players, each adding their own special something to the presentation of the piece, and which outlived the context of their creation to become timeless.
The major composers, lyricists, and performers: paragraph-size biographies of hundreds of individuals are included, with the biggest names getting up to three pages each.
Classic songs: without including lyrics and sheet music, this section a discussion of the musical elements of 100 standards in the language of musicians. This section mostly reminded me that if you don't know music, you don't know music. (See the Wikipedia Music Theory category if you have no other background.)
An A-to-Z glossary of terms: this short glossary was needed to make this printed book complete, but really, try Wikipedia if you actually need to look up a term.
Valuble resources for the Curious Listener: books and websites
75 Essential Popular Standards CDs: if you want to go beyond listening to the radio and taking what they give you, here is a list of actual CDs you can easily purchase to hear what you've read about.
The topic interests me, and for the discount price I paid I'm happy with the book, but of course the topic needs audio to be treated properly. A good audio version of this book with examples to illustrate the material might run to 20 CDs with licensing costs pushing the price over $100. I bet it's been done well on radio -- presenting 20, one-hour sessions, with licensing costs being much cheaper -- but I couldn't tell you when, or when you'd be able to hear it for yourself, so something that the consumer can actually go buy would be preferable. If you're ready to spend some money on CDs though, or if you have some of this type of music and just want to learn more, this book should satisfy your curiosity.
Saving Dinner Basics
Author: Leanne Ely
This shouldn't really count as a whole book. There are about 50 pages of text that are not recipes. In it, the author tries to describe the basics of cooking, how to set up a kitchen if you've never done it before, etc. Each chapter has explanation and recipes mixed together.
I didn't find the book very satisfying. For a "Basics" book it seemed to move too fast. Good sections include one on which tools to have and which are worthless, and one on pantry setup and organization. If you're desperate to learn those things, the book may be worth the purchase price for those pages alone. The sections on actual cooking seem to have an underlying assumption that the reader grew up with a mother making delicious food every night and wants to duplicate that arrangement for her family. The reader is of course a woman with at least two children, because women cook for their families, and families have multiple children, right? Aside from that possibly unintentional slight, the requirement that the reader has seen some of the tools and techniques before seems to invade many of the explanations.
Maybe this isn't such a great topic for a book, or at least for an unillustrated book. Pictures or video are required to learn cooking. Video is helpfully supplied by a half dozen cooking channels on today's digital cable and satellite TV systems, but little to none of it is aimed at a beginner. Good photography would be a must for a true "basic" cooking instruction book. Such a book should also not attempt to be a recipe book, except for including enough recipes to illustrate the points of instruction. You don't need 150 recipes to fill 50 pages of instruction into a full book -- try 150 pages of color photos.
Maybe the book I describe has been published. If I learn cooking before I find it, maybe I'll write it. Either way, roll the dice and buy a different basic cooking book. Saving Dinner Basics is not recommended.
This shouldn't really count as a whole book. There are about 50 pages of text that are not recipes. In it, the author tries to describe the basics of cooking, how to set up a kitchen if you've never done it before, etc. Each chapter has explanation and recipes mixed together.
I didn't find the book very satisfying. For a "Basics" book it seemed to move too fast. Good sections include one on which tools to have and which are worthless, and one on pantry setup and organization. If you're desperate to learn those things, the book may be worth the purchase price for those pages alone. The sections on actual cooking seem to have an underlying assumption that the reader grew up with a mother making delicious food every night and wants to duplicate that arrangement for her family. The reader is of course a woman with at least two children, because women cook for their families, and families have multiple children, right? Aside from that possibly unintentional slight, the requirement that the reader has seen some of the tools and techniques before seems to invade many of the explanations.
Maybe this isn't such a great topic for a book, or at least for an unillustrated book. Pictures or video are required to learn cooking. Video is helpfully supplied by a half dozen cooking channels on today's digital cable and satellite TV systems, but little to none of it is aimed at a beginner. Good photography would be a must for a true "basic" cooking instruction book. Such a book should also not attempt to be a recipe book, except for including enough recipes to illustrate the points of instruction. You don't need 150 recipes to fill 50 pages of instruction into a full book -- try 150 pages of color photos.
Maybe the book I describe has been published. If I learn cooking before I find it, maybe I'll write it. Either way, roll the dice and buy a different basic cooking book. Saving Dinner Basics is not recommended.
2006-10-06
The Joy of Work
Author: Scott Adams
The way Dilbert books operate, Adams should be able to turn one out every month or so. He gets to illustrate all his points with old comics and reader email. There's not that much original text involved. Furthermore, most annoyingly, he switches from humor to seriousness about 2/3 of the way through. He's done this before, and I wish his publisher would put all the humor together in one book of a decent size and make separate, serious books whenever the author wants to write enough to warrant one. As it is, the reader gets to fly through about 180 pages of light, funny stuff, then spends the last 80 pages waiting for the next good joke.
Get this one from the library or speed read a bit of it in the bookstore. Not one to keep.
The way Dilbert books operate, Adams should be able to turn one out every month or so. He gets to illustrate all his points with old comics and reader email. There's not that much original text involved. Furthermore, most annoyingly, he switches from humor to seriousness about 2/3 of the way through. He's done this before, and I wish his publisher would put all the humor together in one book of a decent size and make separate, serious books whenever the author wants to write enough to warrant one. As it is, the reader gets to fly through about 180 pages of light, funny stuff, then spends the last 80 pages waiting for the next good joke.
Get this one from the library or speed read a bit of it in the bookstore. Not one to keep.
2006-10-05
The Shadow of Saganami
Author: David Weber
This is another long, long story from Weber that took me several weeks to read. There is a lot happening. This is possibly the most politically complicated Honorverse story to date, which is saying something, but it's a good thing in that we can't take that many more 100-pg. naval battles. The stars do have a couple incidents, of course, but the gusher of explanations and descriptions is capped, with that sort of thing having been done already.
After this and Crown of Slaves, it looks like Honorverse novels not featuring Honor are going to be common now, as Weber needs to keep telling his larger story without having his overloaded Admiral/Steadholder/Duchess everywhere at once. If you're following the series, consider this book required reading between War of Honor and At All Costs.
This is another long, long story from Weber that took me several weeks to read. There is a lot happening. This is possibly the most politically complicated Honorverse story to date, which is saying something, but it's a good thing in that we can't take that many more 100-pg. naval battles. The stars do have a couple incidents, of course, but the gusher of explanations and descriptions is capped, with that sort of thing having been done already.
After this and Crown of Slaves, it looks like Honorverse novels not featuring Honor are going to be common now, as Weber needs to keep telling his larger story without having his overloaded Admiral/Steadholder/Duchess everywhere at once. If you're following the series, consider this book required reading between War of Honor and At All Costs.
