NOW READING

Just finished reading Small Sacrifices by Ann Rule. It tells of the life, crime, trial and aftermath of Elizabeth Diane Downs. The book was particularly interesting to me for several reasons. The first is that Diane Downs was born in Phoenix, Arizona and lived in Chandler most of her life and that is just about 120 miles from me. The second is that she was a postal worker which after David Berkawitz (Son of Sam) and others, the term "going postal" was coined. What is it about delivering mail makes you go crazy? Or attracts crazy people... Turns out nothing.

This is a true tragic story. Molested by her father for what she reports to be a year, she was literally scarred for life, her husband, Steven Downs, was no better. This only exacerbated her already pronounced personality disorders and after moving to Oregon she shot her three children killing one. The others suffered life long injuries. To this day she blames the crime on a "bushy haired stranger." A common cop out also used by Susan Smith, the woman who in 1995 left her kids in the car and let it sink into John Deere Lake. Both of them, oddly enough, did it due to a new man in their lives who wasn't interested in an "instant family."

She was found guilty of murder, aggravated assault and attempted murder. She was sentenced to life plus fifty years back in 1984. Her first parole hearing was in 2008, then 2010 and her next one is in 2020.

As a nice segway, here is an interview of Becky Babcock, born Amy Elizabeth Downs while her mother was in prison, done by 20/20. http://abcnews.go.com/2020/becky-babcock-mother-murderer/story?id=10635586


Next I'm reading Homo Videns, a book about how media has changed human interaction.
 
Since my last post here I have read:

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds
Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds

Absolution Gap completes my read of the Revelation Space-trilogy. Reynold's space opera-trilogy is full of brilliant and well-executed ideas, none perhaps as haunting as the lighthugger Nostalgia for Infinity and its captain, John Armstrong Brannigan. A recommended read for fans of hard SF. Revelation Space is a bit weak due to having no really likeable character, but the two other make up for that and made me see the first novel in a different light.

Currently reading The Prefect. By, brace yourselves... Alastair Reynolds. Also taking place in the Revelation Space-universe, though otherwise stand-alone. If it is one thing Reynolds always gets right, then it is the pacing. Unbelieveably well-paced novels. This particular one, besides from being hard science fiction, is more of crime/detective novel taking place in space. 2/3 through and this thing just refuses to let go.
 
Maturin said:
Since my last post here I have read:

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
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Great book.

I just read The Good Lord Bird by James McBride and The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. The former just won the National Book Award (highest literary honor in the U.S., given annually) and is a historical novel about the abolitionist John Brown and his gang of misfits, culminating on the botched but nonetheless influential raid on Harper's Ferry. Hilariously funny at times and always entertaining, though its (mercifully few) philosophical and high-falutin' literary passages are a bit obvious and ham-handed. The Big Sleep is classic noir fiction from the 1930s, reasonably entertaining, and relatively short. I liked it fine, but not all that memorable.
 
Cornfed Hick said:
Great book.
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I agree!

Finished The Prefect around 4 this morning...

Thinking I should read Century Rain next. I have 3 published novels by Reynolds left to read, The Prefect was number 8. Really impressed by myself actually, I don't tend to be the most structured individual but this last few months I have seemingly managed to do something. 21 read novels this autumn/winter, besides doing well with my studies and playing guitar for hours every day.
 
I couldn't sleep during the night so I finished reading Bernard Cornwell's latest book The Pagan Lord. It's the seventh of a series of books set in Anglo-Saxon England at the time of the Danish occupation. The first book, The Last Kingdom, starts on the day of the Danish attack on York in 866 AD. Every book is written in first person with only one point-of-view character, a Saxon warrior called Uhtred who serves the King of Wessex and is also determined to reclaim his father's castle in Northumbria that was stolen by his uncle. Each books is fairly formulaic with a slow start before the plot gathers pace and builds up to a large pitched battle at the end, with enough intentional historical inaccuracies to make Perun cry. The first three books in the series are probably the best but The Pagan Lord was a bit quicker than the previous three, albeit equally predictable. There is one book left in the series in which it seems that the Danes will be forced out of England and the country will be united under one monarch.
 
I liked The Warlord Chronicles (a mixture of historical fiction and Arthurian mythology) by Cornwell a lot, although I wasn't that happy with the end. Absolutely not predictable. Great storytelling. I liked how he showed the difficulties between the old Druidic/pagan religion and Christianity.
 
CriedWhenBrucieLeft said:
So you definitely didn't go out last night then?
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No, I watched Only an Excuse? then went to bed. At about 3am I was still awake so finished the book off. I didn't get up until midday today.<_<

Forostar said:
I liked The Warlord Chronicles (a mixture of historical fiction and Arthurian mythology) by Cornwell a lot, although I wasn't that happy with the end.
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I love that series. The Winter King was my introduction to Bernard Cornwell. It's been a while sense I read Excalibur so I had to check on Wikipedia for what happened and I remember it being quite a sad ending and I suspect that The Warrior Chronicles will have a similar ending.
 
Finished Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds.

A novel with many flaws - quite easily the least polished of the 9 I have now read by Reynolds, but in many ways brilliant despite the flaws. The plot and motivations are a bit lacking, especially in the bigger picture which remains sketchy and underdeveloped throughout. Instead, it is the fate of the characters and the situation they find themselves in that stand for the brilliance. Perhaps I like it more than I should, but this mid 1900's detective story meets (sort of) time travelling meets dystopian science fiction is one that I, in the end, can't wait to recommend.

Now reading Un Lun Dun by China Miéville. And I'm glad to be reading Miéville again. Just love his prose.
 
Last night I finished reading Raising Steam, the latest Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett with Moist von Lipwig as the main character. The most recent novels in this series have been mainly about modernizing Discworld society by bringing in aspects of our society that we couldn't imagine life without such as banks (Making Money), football (Unseen Academicals) and trains (Raising Steam) as well as promoting multiculturalism by integrating other species such as goblins into Discworld society. Raising Steam certainly follows the recent trend by introducing trains but it doesn't focus as much on equality, at least not until the very end where sexism in Dwarfish society is discussed. Overall the book was enjoyable, witty and amusing but I'm not really sure what the point of the story was. Was Pratchett primarily telling the story of the introduction of trains to Discoworld? Or did he mean to focus on the battle between the traditionalists and modernists in Dwarfish society? I feel that in Raising Steam Pratchett has focused too much on involving his main character, Moist von Lipwig, in everything that happened rather than telling the story which, for me, derailed the overall aim of the story. Terry Pratchett has a fantastic bibliography but due to Alzheimers his time is running out. I wouldn't mind if he decided to wrap-up Discworld with one final send off involving some of the classic Discworld characters that he doesn't use any more, like Death and Rincewind. It's not that Raising Steam is a fundamentally bad book but it ends somewhat abruptly without any proper climax. The recent Discworld novels have been fun but they haven't had the grandeur of the earlier books in the series.
 
Terry Pratchett is my favourite author and finding out about his disease was terrible. But I don't think it has much to do with his later works. It seems to me that he got tired of the same old characters, which was sad because his fans certainly aren't. I haven't read Raising Steam yet, but I have read Going Postal (that was really good!) and Making Money, as well as the novels from the Tiffany Aching series and they all fall a bit short of the great Discworld stories about the guards, the witches, the wizards and Death. But I understand that authors can get tired of writing about the same people. Or dwarves. Or trolls or whatever.
 
Un Lun Dun by China Miéville.

I don't think YA Fantasy gets much better than this. Brilliant novel which challenges the usual prophecy-reliant quests, a kind of anti-Harry Potter if you like. Certainly a very thought out book, and imaginative and playful to the extremes. Miéville made me care more for a pet milk-carton than I can recall I've done for any character in a while.

Now I am not sure what to read. I've read all of Miévilles novels.
 
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Ok, so I am practically done with Homo Videns: The tele-directed society by Giovanni Sartori, a Poli-sci professor at the University of Florence in Italy and Columbus University in New York. I say practically done, because I'm currently reading the appendix and only 20 pages away. I'd be done, but a coworker coerced me into looking up iluminati videos online... funniest shit ever and not in a good way.

At any rate. Really interesting book and very short. The basic thesis is that television is destroying the homo sapiens and turning it into homo videns. Sartori states that today's generation having been raised on television is a permanent adult-child. He says that man is a symbolic animal, first through language then through writing. These actions of interpreting symbols either auditory or symbolic exercises the brain and is an activity in creating abstraction which is essential in critical thinking. When we read the words "tree," "whale," "car," we visualize them in our mind, we interpret them. Satori explains that when we are spoon-fed these images through television our brain becomes lazy at it doesn't need to interpret anything. To interpret a language we must learn it, a picture of a cat is cat regardless of what language you speak.

He goes on to say that children raised on television (the number of average hours in front of a television has increased from 1950-1990 from 3 to 7) do not fully develop intellectually and thus are stunted and are eternal children, because even as adults they do not read newspapers to become conscious citizens of the events around them, they rely on the television and the television is incredibly inept in reporting news and very limited in what they can report. Television used to (think Walter Cronkite) used to read news reports from the day rarely showing any images, just an anchorman, a stack of papers and a summation of the important news of the day. Now television focuses on what they can show you, if they can't show it it isn't news (think CNN). As an example he cites Somalia which back in the early 90's became a huge cause for the international community for being in shambles and all the aide and attention that it got, but as soon as the cameras left... so did the attention and the aide. He goes on to point out that Zaire, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and other African nations also in a state of "crises" got no attention, because television cameras are unable to go in there and report. Television essentially creates an out of sight out of mind situation of world affairs.

Not only does this make the public more ignorant, but when it comes to politics it gets worse. It relies ON the public for "expert" opinions instead of asking experts. They go out on the street to find out what the "average" person thinks of x or y and as it turns out the "average" person doesn't know squat and is the LAST person you should take into consideration when forming an opinion. In short, we should READ. Really good book. I read it in Spanish, but I'm sure it can be found in English and Italian.

I really liked the book and it made me think about how I was raised and how my girlfriend and I are raising her kids. I have little control as to what they do at their own house or their father's house, but at mine I have recently instituted (and not because of this book, but it help re-enforce the idea) a no TV rule and I've been buying a bunch of board games, soccer balls, baseball gloves, etc. My mother HATED television when I was growing up and limited how much we watched, we had a schedule and she ALWAYS pushed us to reading. When I was 8 or 9 I LOVED Garfield comics. My mom considered this "low culture literature," but she allowed it as at least I was reading something. This worked as I moved from comic books, to novels to now-a-days I mostly read books of this nature, with the occasional novel. I try and do the same thing, encouraging and providing reading material they like as long as they get to read in hopes it builds the habit.

I mentioned in another thread that I recently became a U.S citizen and it scares me how little I know about politics of both the U.S and Mexico to make any real informed decision. I have taken it upon myself to read more newspapers, news magazines (as they can go more in depth) and IF I watch TV news I have found myself drawn to MSNBC's Primetime schedule of Chris Matthews, Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell. Rachel Maddow specifically has few "images" to show you, outside of a montage of the newspaper article she is quoting, thus reminiscent of the news reports of yore. Fox is horrible, CNN is no better except for Anderson Cooper.

In closing, as Satori explained, the reading person is a THINKING person, even if it is novels, as the person is constructing worlds, creating abstractions as he points out no one can show you a picture or image of "Freedom," "Democracy," "Hunger." We live in abstractions and it is imperative we can comprehend them.
 
While that strayed from a book review into a bit of a rant, :p I have to say I'm 100 per cent on board.
Read. Think. Ask Questions. Find your own answers.
 
Strayed? I thought the line between the two was clearly demarcated :p The book simply struck a cord with me and did what books are meant to do, REALLY got me thinking LOL. I'm now reading Bobby Orr's momoir: Orr, My Story and in the early chapters he states similar feelings regarding kids playing outdoors back in the day vs. video games. Considering the amount of hockey players Canada puts out, I don't think video games have caused that much of a dent in the talent pool. So far I'm really enjoying it, book review/rant to follow ;)
 
Onhell said:
Strayed? I thought the line between the two was clearly demarcated :p The book simply struck a cord with me and did what books are meant to do, REALLY got me thinking LOL. I'm now reading Bobby Orr's momoir: Orr, My Story and in the early chapters he states similar feelings regarding kids playing outdoors back in the day vs. video games. Considering the amount of hockey players Canada puts out, I don't think video games have caused that much of a dent in the talent pool. So far I'm really enjoying it, book review/rant to follow ;)
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I got the same book for Christmas, Have yet to crack the cover, so we will have to compare notes.
 
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King.

Halfway through. The 36 year long wait (?) for a follow up to The Shining is finally over. Never once thought he has tried to squeeze more money out of an old classic, if Stephen King chooses to revisit Danny Torrance he has a good reason for it. I have come to enjoy the slow buildup of King's later novels and this one is no exception. I have yet to read The Shining however. Probably after this.
 
So I finally finished Orr: My Story, Bobby Orr's memoir. I have to say the guy is humble to the point where it is almost annoying, lol. Very rare in all-star athletes. I really enjoyed the book not only as a hockey and Boston Bruins fan, but the lessons Orr imparts in its pages. He admits he was always hesitant to write a book as the only thing he loathes more than talking in front of crowds, is talking about himself, but now that he is a grandfather he feels he does have some advice and wisdom to pass down. Without a doubt the best defenseman in the history of the sport and arguably the best player gives all the credit to his parents, his coaches, teammates and fans. He says that he never liked the photograph of "the goal" because by encapsulating that moment in time it ignores everything that happened before and after. He reminds us he hadn't done anything that entire series, it was his teammates that got the team to that point and into overtime. After scoring the not just the game winning, but the Cup winning goal he got mobbed by his teammates and the arena exploded into sheer jubilation. He states that it is unfair to ignore the work that it took to get to that moment and what winning the cup meant to everyone involved, specially the fans and the city of Boston.

It was also a pleasure to read, because he talks about things that I have related to my students and new hires at work such as: hard work, consistency, if you want to be successful it is good to surround yourself with successful people, but more importantly with quality people. Throughout the book it becomes obvious that Orr continuously praises loyalty, character, humility, hard work and other qualities in his friends and business associates and it is not until you reach the end that it makes sense.

He dedicates a single chapter to his agent, Alan Eagleson. Alan Eagleson was at one point the darling of Canada having been the mastermind behind the Summit Series, Canada Cup and the NHLPA, earning him, among other honors the Order of Canada and a place in the Hall of Fame. However, Orr found out the hard way that the guy was a real douche. Not only did he lie to him about the fact that while the Bruins were going to pay him less when renewing his contract, they were offering him a stake in the team to make him a Bruin for life. Instead he told him the Black Hawks deal was better. After he retired, he was broke having given Eagleson full control of his money which Eagleson mismanaged. Eagleson ended up being tried in both the U.S and Canada on counts of fraud and embezzlement, he was stripped of his Order of Canada and resigned from the Hall of Fame before he was kicked out.

He currently works as an agent and states that while it may seem like a natural choice in hindsight, when he retired at 31, the last thing on his mind was to represent other players. Orr not only has his agency, but other business ventures and charities. I'm glad things turned out well for him as a lot of athletes, specially from that era, end up as taxi drivers to make ends meet. Really good book and highly recommended even if you've never heard of him.
 
Finished Doctor Sleep a week ago. I liked some parts of it very much, and thought others were weak. The villains didn't do much for me, and I never felt the protagonists were in much of a danger. I also didn't care much for Abra, the little girl with the shining. That's really saying I did not care for the main storyline, but I must say I found the parts concerning Dan Torrance great - Dan working at a hospice and helping terminally ill patients cross over when it's time, earning him the nickname "Doctor Sleep" while struggling against alcoholism. Overall much weaker than the absolutely excellent 11/22/63 though.

Now reading Veniss Underground by Jeff VanderMeer, a science-fiction/horror-novel. I have not read anything by VanderMeer previously, but I picked this one up because of him being sorted into the new-weird movement (which reminds that I really need to finish The Etched City by K.J. Bishop). Lush prose and supposed myth-retelling in this one.
 
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