I didn't realize that my last post here was two weeks ago. I can't say I've been overly busy, just that life moves along sometimes at a faster pace than you realize. So let's get down to business and provide a reading and new book update.
Finished
Since my update on May 9th, I've finished six books. Some were fairly short so it's not all that impressive. 😀
"Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story by David Alexander Robertson is a simple, short story in comic format but it's also a story that needs to be told if Canada is to deal with the residential school nightmare.
This is the story. A teacher wants his students to write about the residential school past and asks his students to interview an elder. He wants these questions answered -
- How did it affect First Nations people and how does it affect them today?
- How does your understanding the system change your view of First Nations people? Should it? Why or why not?
Daniel asks his friend April, a Cree, for help. She takes him to meet her Kokom, her grandmother. Kokom tells the story of her experience with the Residential school system. It's a story she has kept to herself until this time.
The residential school system was devised by the Canadian government and run by the Catholic Church. First Nation children were taken from their families, I guess for some reason, but from what has actually turned up, these children were abused, both physically and sexually in many many cases. It was a horror that has not yet been completed. The Canadian government established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate.
The story told in this short comic is based on the true life story of Elder Betty Ross of the Cross Lake Indian Residential School. It's a terrifying story. How these poor children could have their childhood's stolen from them. Many died in the schools, many suffered trauma that carried into their adult lives. It's a story that needs to be told, to be read, to be understood. Difficult story, sensitively told, beautifully drawn. (4.0 stars)"
"Robodog is the 2nd middle grade / YA book I've read by English author David Walliams. Like Spaceboy, it's an excellent, fun read for youngsters who are getting into reading.
Robodog is set in Bedlam, a town over run by super villains. The Chief of Police, a short woman, has set up a police dog academy to help combat the crime wave. Her wife, the Professor, has invented washing machines. After a disaster at the academy, caused in large part by the Lost Patrol (3 shiftless, lazy dogs) the Chief asks her to invent a super robot dog to help combat crime.
Hence the arrival of Robodog! He can do everything, fly, swim underwater, blow up bombs with his laser eye, etc. Unfortunately. the Professor and Chief's cat, Velma, is jealous and steals a part from Robodogs workings. When he is turned on, he goes berserk.
But this is fixed, and Robo is introduced to the academy where he becomes a subject of jealousy of all the other dogs. He's just too good. Meanwhile, Velma, the cat, is plotting to get her revenge on Robo and Robo is put in with the Lost Patrol.
Let's say it's a mixed up, crazy, wild adventure and Robodog will need the help of all of the other dogs, including the Lost Patrol and also Ratty, a new friend, if he is to recover stolen billions, defeat a gang of master villains and also a nasty group of cats. And he'll also discover something very important.... feelings.
It's a fun romp, lots of neat characters, great illustrations by Adam Sower, just a fun read. Check out David Walliams. He's prolific. (4.0 stars)"
"The Girl Who Electrified Tesla is the 2nd Minky Woodcock mystery in the Hard Case Crime books by Cynthia von Buhler. It's probably my least favorite in this book / graphic novel series published in Titan Comics but it's still a fast paced, entertaining thriller.
Minky Woodcock has basically taken over her father's detective agency as he is being treated for lung cancer. (Interesting tidbit here - one of her doctors is a John Trump, an uncle of the ex-president, who had invented an X-ray to defeat cancer)
Minky is hired by businessman J.P. Morgan to investigate Nikola Tesla, to find his plans for a secret weapon, a beam of some sort. The federal government wants it, the Nazis want it. Minky befriends Tesla and also meets Josephine Baker, a performer who also works for the French Resistance. (Many of these facts are true; the story elaborates and fleshes out this.
Minky rushes from place to place, fighting and escaping Nazis and aggressive Morgan sons. With the help of Baker, they try to find Tesla's documentation. It's action - packed, fun-filled, sometimes sexy and also provides a back story on Minky's father and mother. I don't know if there will be anymore of Minky's adventures, but the two have been interesting to say the least. (3.0 stars)"
"Monstress, Vol. 3: Haven by Marjorie M. Liu is, of course, the 3rd graphic in the Monstress series. It contains issues 13 - 18 of the comic series. Like the other two, it's a confusing but fantastic, entertaining, well-drawn adventure story. We continue to follow the Half-wolf, Maika and her friends, Kippa, the fox and Renn the cat wizard. As well, Maika must learn to work with the spirit / being that inhabits her, Zenn.
The group have now arrived at the island state of Pontus where they seek refuge from those chasing them. The rulers of Pontus have a 'wall' that keeps out Arcanics and humans, but they need Maika's magic to activate it. Zenn and Maika work to do this, while Kippa tries to find relatives in the refugee city, which is filled with foxes who have fled their for safety. Renn is being blackmailed by other cat 'gods'? who want Kippa for something.
So you've got various ongoing story lines, as well, we jump to those chasing the group, and this is where it gets confusing. There is the threat of war between Arcanics and humans. The different Queens of the wizardry worlds battle each other and also try to unite in their efforts to find Maika, her portion of the 'mask'... Pontus is at threat, the refugees are trying to escape... So much going on but it's all exciting and fast-paced. Beautiful, dramatic artwork and wonderfully drawn characters. I love Kippa and also Rinn, but there is a wonderful variety of peoples and beings.
Oh, yes. Each chapter ends with an excerpt from the lectures of Professor Tam Tam, an elderly cat who tries to explain the world of Monstress. It sometimes helps. 😁 Anyway, it's so fascinating and I can't wait to read #4, The Chosen. (It's on order) (4.0 stars)"
"Sometimes it's difficult to describe a book and why you like it. At least that is the case for me. But I have to say that I thought Searoad by Ursula K. Le Guin was excellent. Over the past year, especially, I've been exploring the variety of Le Guin's works; her Sci Fi (the Hainish cycle), fantasy (Earthsea) and various of her fiction efforts; Orsinia, etc. Searoad is a collection of short stories and one novella set in the fictional Oregon town of Klatsand.
Each story focuses on one character, either a resident or a visitor to the town. The novella focuses on 4 woman; Fanny Crane Shaw Ozer, Jane Shaw Herne, Lily Francis Herne & Virginia Herne, the matriarch and her kin; daughter / granddaughter and great granddaughter.
So is there excitement in these stories? Not particularly. Does anything strange or wonderful happen to the people represented? No, not particularly. It's mainly about their thoughts, their feelings and Klatsand is the hub, where we get to meet them. Each story is well - written, often poignant, thoughtful. For some reason, probably Le Guin's ability to write a story, whether a short story or novel, to get to the crux of a situation, to draw you in.
As I look through the book again, some of the stories don't really end.. after all, I guess, they are a minute or a segment of the person's life. But it doesn't really matter. Le Guin's description makes you feel you are there, becoming part of the person's life, walking along Searoad, watching the breakers crash on the beach, watching the elk wander from the forest, looking you in the eye.... checking out the books in the used book store... The more I got into the book, the more I enjoyed. In one of my comments as I updated how many pages I had read, I mentioned a Munro like quality to the stories. I meant that as a compliment. Two great story tellers with the ability to write a great short story. (5.0 stars)"
"The Death Miser is the 1st book in English thriller / mystery writer John Creasey's Department Z series. I've been checking out the many series by Creasey over the past few years; enjoying Superintendent Gideon of Scotland Yard, the Toff, Dr. Palfrey and the Baron, to name a few. Creasey was prolific, writing over 600 novels during his lifetime. Yup... quite a few.
I won't say that The Death Miser was perfect. It reminded me of many book series I enjoyed as a youngster... heck, even as an adult; Doc Savage, Fu Manchu, James Bond. It's kind of a combination of them all... without the super-heroish aspects of Doc Savage and the mystical aspects of Fu Manchu. It also reminded me of those serials you used to get when you were a kid, at the Saturday matinee, the 15 minute short, ongoing adventure that would precede the main feature. Each episode would end with a cliff hanger. Ah, the things I enjoyed as a youngster that kids of today never get to experience. 😎
Anyway, I digress. So, a certain James Quinion, who is mostly referred to throughout this story as the Honorable James, also works for a mysterious organization within the British government, called Department Z. It's run by Gordon Craigie. He's considered a ne'er-do-well by his uncle, Colonel Dann, as a shiftless, wealthy gadabout who smokes, drinks and chases after women with his rich buddies. But in reality he takes on dangerous missions for Department Z, described by Craigie as 'a home for bachelors with a suicidal turn of mind'.
While visiting with his Aunt Gloria and Uncle Dann in the country, he gets a message from Craigie to 'Watch Thomas Loder Cross Farm near Runsey report daily and give names of visitors." With the help of some of his buddies and a stranger from Canada, the Man named Smith, a strange adventure begins. Quinion will be forced to battle an international organization bent on destroying the world, lead by a mysterious individual named the Death Miser. He will also fall for a beautiful, mysterious girl who may or may not be part of the organization and work to save her from the Miser.
It's all very confusing as the group works to stay alive and also battle this group. They are all jolly and energetic and quite invincible, both in spirit and body, even though they do suffer many bumps and bruises. It's a fantastic adventure, not without flaws, a bit out there but all in good fun. Mindless, somewhat, but entertaining. I've ordered #2 just to see how the stories improve, or not. My next effort will be to introduce myself to Creasey's Inspector West series. Woo hoo! (2.5 stars)"
Currently Reading
"Extortion is the name of the game and the method is to murder anyone who might get in the way. The Dreem factory and much else is at stake. Inspector West has to unravel it all at gun point, but not without difficulty and surprise . ."
"A groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can change their gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters. Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction."
New Books
"A demented take on Homer’s classical Greek epic, The Odyssey, brought to you by the twisted genius of Peter Milligan (X-Statix) and Tank Girl co-creator and artist, Jamie Hewlett (Gorillaz).
Booga, Tank Girl’s husband, is being wooed by Hollywood agents but Tank Girl is missing and his resolve is crumbling, fast! Tele, their TV-headed son, sets out on a mercy dash to find his mother... in the process triggering a chain of events that will see Tank Girl, not only, face death itself, the siren call of Goth rock and a cyclopean hotel proprietor, but also a host of other scenes and characters based on The Odyssey... give or take the odd — ahem — “idiosyncratic” Tank Girl twist. With a new introduction from Alan Martin."
After an overhaul of leadership at the FBI's New York field office, A. X. L. Pendergast is abruptly forced to accept an unthinkable condition of continued the famously rogue agent must now work with a partner.
Pendergast and his new colleague, junior agent Coldmoon, are assigned to investigate a rash of killings in Miami Beach, where a bloodthirsty psychopath is cutting out the hearts of his victims and leaving them with cryptic handwritten letters at local gravestones. The graves are unconnected save in one bizarre all belong to women who committed suicide.
But the seeming lack of connection between the old suicides and the new murders is soon the least of Pendergast's worries. Because as he digs deeper, he realizes the brutal new crimes may be just the tip of the a conspiracy of death that reaches back decades."
Twelve-year-old Nick is a soccer-loving boy who absolutely hates books. In this graphic novel version of Booked, the follow-up to the Newbery Medal–winning novel The Crossover, soccer, family, love, and friendship take center stage as Nick tries to figure out how to navigate his parents’ divorce, stand up to a bully, and impress the girl of his dreams. These challenges—which seem even harder than scoring a tie-breaking, game-winning goal—change his life, as well as his best friend’s."
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