A Reading Update and My Favorite Authors

OK, it's Saturday 25 Jul and baseball is back on. I've watched the first two Blue Jay games so far. Nice to watch baseball again. It's been a beautiful day today, fresh, sunny and not too hot. Jo is thrilled because Quality Foods had packages of her favorite sweetie in stock, Rowntree's Jelly Tots. I got myself a new package of Mackintosh Creamy Toffees. Yes this was a sweetie shopping trip. I did get some tomatoes and snow peas, so there was some healthy stuff. At the moment, Jo is frying up hamburger as the first step in making us Sloppy Joe's for supper. Yum!

I finished one book this morning and I've got another book to read and review from Booktasters. I'll update those and also continue with my look at my Favorite Authors.

Just Finished

1. New Orleans Beat by Julie Smith (Skip Langdon #4).

"While I won't say the Skip Langdon mystery series is one of my top ten mysteries, the stories by Julie Smith are always different and entertaining. New Orleans Beat is the 4th book in the series and maybe one of the best so far.

In this latest story, New Orleans police detective, Skip Langdon, is called to the scene of a death (murder?) of a young man, Geoff Kavanagh, who lived at the home of his mother. He is found at the bottom of a ladder, a death initially called an accident. As the story progresses, Skip begins to suspect that Geoff's death was, in fact, a murder.

The story will involve many people, many damaged people, as Skip gets more into the investigation. As well, Skip is dealing with the frustrations of a long-distance relationship and with helping her best friend Dee-Dee raise his 'adopted' children, a teenage girl and younger brother. It makes for a messy, packed story.

I admit that, mainly because I have 4 or 5 stories on the go at one time, I sometimes had a bit of trouble keeping track of who was who, but that is my issue, not yours. There is so much going on that it makes for a fascinating tale. Aspects that particularly interested me. The story was published in '94 and I liked reading about the online group, The Town. It reminded me of the impact of my first online communities. There is also 'witchcraft', a group of woman supporting each other. Is it a factor in the murder(s)?

Part of the story struck a chord with me as well, especially considering what is going on in America today. There is an ongoing theme about the appropriateness of blacks and whites dating. Skip, dealing with her relationship problems, finds herself attracted to a black man. I don't know if Smith is criticizing this issue (meaning she feels it's not an issue) or just commenting on it as a fact of American life at that particular time. As an aside I do recall being on course in Oakland in the '90s and finding it strange when one of my white American classmates said she thought it was disgusting when we saw a black man with a white woman (but if I recall, not if it were the other way). Anyway, not here to debate the issue, but just found it interesting and somewhat unsettling.

So, all in all, a rich, layered story with a somewhat untidy, but interesting, mystery and ending. Ultimately satisfying. (4 stars)"

Currently Reading

1. The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly (Bosch #3).

"Edgar Award-winner Michael Connelly brings back Detective Harry Bosch in a breathtaking breakthrough novel, a supercharged thriller that thrusts us into a blistering courtroom battle and a desperate search for a killer who should already be dead. Harry Bosch is sure that the man he killed was the sadistic serial murderer known as the Dollmaker, and that the killing was justified. Even if the dead man's widow wins her civil suit, it's the city of Los Angeles that will pay. Harry has already been exonerated in an internal investigation. The trial - and Harry's certainty that he shot the right man - are torn apart when a corpse is discovered beneath the concrete floor of a building that burned during the L.A. riots. It's the body of a woman, and all indications are that this is another of the Dollmaker's victims. But the autopsy report is unequivocal: this woman was killed after Harry shot the man he believes was the Dollmaker. Into the L.A. night Harry takes his investigation. By day the trial continues excruciatingly, with the prosecuting attorney focusing on Bosch's violent past and portraying him as a vigilante murderer protected by his badge. By night he re-investigates the infamous Dollmaker case, frantically trying to understand where he went wrong - and what he can do to keep this murderer from carrying out his threats to make Harry his next victim."

New Books

1. You Think You Know Someone by J.B. Holman (2019).

"Who is Dominion 1431?
And why shoot the PM? 60 million suspects. Only one culprit.

Eduard Foxx, secret agent, traitor and the tactician who planned the assassination, meets his match in Julie Connor, a quiet, unexceptional, self-deprecating, reclusive civil servant with a secret.

For their own reasons, they each need to uncover the identity of Dominion 1431, the shadowy figure behind the assassination and unravel a complex plot to change the course of history. But nothing is as it seems and no one can be trusted in the convoluted world of political intrigue.

Foxx and Connor find themselves in a race to stop the destruction of democracy . . . or are they already too late?"

My Favorite Authors - Iain M. Banks

Iain M. Banks

Iain M. Banks was a Scottish author who lived from 1954 - 2013. I first read one of his Sci-Fi books, one of the Culture series. I have to say he re-ignited my interest in Sci-Fi and I've since found a number of new authors because of him. I've read six of his books since I discovered his writing, 4 Culture books, and two standalones. It's unfortunate he passed away so young as he still had lots to offer. Let's take a look at those I've read.

1. The Wasp Factory (1984).

"I did enjoy this story. I really had no idea what to expect from it as my only familiarity with Iain Banks' writings up to this point was with his SciFi Culture stories. There were many little twists and turns and the ending was very much a surprise. At times it had a feel of stories like Lord of the Flies, teen angst, the young man dealing with a solitary life style. Banks pieced the plot nicely, delving into details of Frank's childhood, describing the key incidents of his life, but ultimately leaving the biggest detail for the end. Very good story, maybe somewhat of a let down at the end, but ultimately satisfying. (3 stars)"

2. The Algebraist (2004).

"It is 4034. Humanity has made it to the stars. Fassin Taak, a Slow Seer at the Court of the Nasqueron Dwellers, will be fortunate if he makes it to the end of the year. The Nasqueron Dwellers inhabit a gas giant on the outskirts of the galaxy, in a system awaiting its wormhole connection to the rest of civilization. In the meantime, they are dismissed as decadents living in a state of highly developed barbarism, hoarding data without order, hunting their own young & fighting pointless formal wars. Seconded to a military-religious order he's barely heard of—part of the baroque hierarchy of the Mercatoria, the latest galactic hegemony— Taak has to travel again amongst the Dwellers. He is in search of a secret hidden for half a billion years. But with each day that passes a war draws closer—a war threatening to overwhelm everything & everyone he's ever known." (4 stars)

3. Consider Phlebas (Culture #1).

"Excellent. One of the most unique SciFi writers I've ever read. Iain Banks has created (a) fascinating universe(s) populated with interesting characters, both human and machine. The Culture is a well-crafted, diverse 'organization', with amazing technology and concepts. Consider Phlebas is Banks' first to feature the Culture. I've read others already and have been drawn into his stories. This story is about an adventure, voyage to find a lost Culture Mind and about the Idaran/ Culture war. Horza, a Changer (you have to read it to find out what that means) is a mercenary working for the Idarans who is charged with going to one of the Planets of the Dead to find the Mind and Perosteck Balveda is the Culture agent trying to stop him. The plot is a slow-moving, journey through Banks' universes but don't the slow pace put you off. It's an excellent story and as the story comes to its climax moves along very nicely. His characters are all interesting and his story excellent. Highly recommended. (5 stars)"

4. The State of the Art (Culture #4).

"The first ever collection of Iain Banks' short fiction, this volume includes the acclaimed novella, The State of the Art. This is a striking addition to the growing body of Culture lore, and adds definition and scale to the previous works by using the Earth of 1977 as contrast. The other stories in the collection range from science fiction to horror, dark-coated fantasy to morality tale. All bear the indefinable stamp of Iain Banks' staggering talent." (3 stars)

5. Excession (Culture #5).

"This is the 3rd book in the Culture series I've read and once again, it didn't disappoint. I will say that at times I had no idea what was going on, but even then it didn't seem to matter. Basically the premise is that an unknown entity has been discovered somewhere in the known universe; has done something with the ship that discovered it and set a course of action that might result in a full-scale galactic war. That's the big picture, but also on the smaller scale, and these events might also be influenced by this entity (the named Excession in the title), we have various individuals who are guided/ heading towards each other and this Excession for a variety of purposes.

I've not described it very well, but basically you have the intimate story of the various people; Genar Hofoen, Dajeil, and Ulver Seich who are brought together; stories of past events (Genar Hofoen and Dajeil both becoming pregnant, after Hofoen sublimates from male to female; their falling apart); both complex and simple.

I enjoyed the stories of the ships (basically animate beings in their own right), even their names are interesting and fun (e.g. the Sleeper Service, the Fate Amenable to Change, the Honest Mistake, etc). The universe of the Culture is one of the most unique world's I've ever read about. The stories and characters are all so interesting and just to experience this world of SciFi makes reading that genre interesting and exciting again. I find it difficult to describe in a few words. You just have to try one of the stories to discover for yourself. Excession is the 5th book in the Culture universe/ series. (5 stars)"

6. Matter (Culture #8).

"In a world renowned within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a war. For one brother it means a desperate flight, and a search for the one - maybe two - people who could clear his name. For his brother it means a life lived under constant threat of treachery and murder. And for their sister, it means returning to a place she'd thought abandoned forever.

Only the sister is not what she once was; Djan Seriy Anaplian has become an agent of the Culture's Special Circumstances section, charged with high-level interference in civilizations throughout the greater galaxy.

Concealing her new identity - and her particular set of abilities - might be a dangerous strategy. In the world to which Anaplian returns, nothing is quite as it seems; and determining the appropriate level of interference in someone else’s war is never a simple matter." (5 stars)

You really should explore Banks' work. It will be worth the effort. The complete listing of his works can be found at this link.