So with that unpaid announcement out of the way, here is my first update of October.
Just Finished
(I've finished 3 books thus far in October and gave up on one other)
"I've been working on The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson for six months and am now half way through it. But I've decided to give up on the story. I do enjoy fantasy but I'm still struggling to get into this story. I'm sorry about that.
Sanderson has created a different, interesting world but I don't think I've grasped it. And after reading about half of it, I've given up. I'm sorry about that and I'm sure many other people have totally different thoughts about it. I don't even know if I can explain what I've read so far. A war between two groups, little spirits that show up when there is blood spilled, or storms come through, or different emotions come out. Swords and armor made of some sort of shards that appear when needed during battle..
There you go. That's sort of what I've gathered so far. Oh, and visions.... So please feel free to try it. Don't go with my thoughts. But for me, it's a DNF with No Rating (NR)"
"The first book I read by American author Max Brooks was World War Z. It was a neat surprise, a documentary like look at the zombie invasion, told from a variety of perspectives. I also enjoyed The Zombie Survival Guide and, no, I don't keep it in my emergency supplies cabinet.. I don't, nope. I am currently enjoying his take on the Sasquatch massacre of a community (at least I think that's what is going to happen) in Washington after the eruption of Mt. Rainier (Devolution).. Now I've just finished his graphic novel, The Extinction Parade, Volume 1, and it is indeed graphic.
The story is told by a female vampire from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The vampires are hearing and discarding stories of an invasion of the subdead (zombies). From what she says, this has happened many times over Earth's history. The vampires aren't concerned as they feel that the humans (solbreeders) always manage to destroy the zombie incursions. There is an interesting monologue about how the times are changing and making it more difficult for the vampires to hunt the way they did in the past; the rise of a middle class being part of it.
But with this zombie invasion, the humans are on the back foot and the vampires are really enjoying their hunting of the humans. No secrets are necessary because the humans are, of course, somewhat preoccupied. As a side note, it seems that zombies can't see vampires, them being the undead and all that.
Gradually, the vampires realize that if they don't do something to help the humans, there won't be any left for them to live off. And then what???
It's a short action-packed, bloody graphic novel, beautifully drawn and powerfully inked. And an interesting concept and story to boot. Nobody to really empathize with, but a tense, interesting story. (3.5 stars)"
"Do you believe in coincidences? Well, as I was enjoying reading Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy by Arthut La Bern (1966), one of our movie channels decided to show it. So I've got a nice look at both and can compare. Of course, not that that really matters because this is a book review. But hey ho.
Frenzy is the story of Dick Blamey who flew bombers during WWII and is now a divorced, angry man who has just been fired as a bar tender in a local in Covent Garden, London. The owner saw him taking a drink and accused him of stealing product, even though Dick tells him that he had planned to pay it into the till. Dick has also just learned that one of his crewmates from the War, has just committed suicide while in prison. Dick is depressed and relatively penniless.
He goes to visit his ex-wife, Brenda, who runs a marriage agency nearby where she helps couples find each other and then get married. Dick has an argument with Brenda. She sends away her secretary and then she invites Dick to dinner at her club. After they part ways, Dick spends the night in a Salvation Army hostel but discovers that Brenda has left him some money, sliding it into his pocket. He gets himself a hotel room in a fancy local hotel, calls the barmaid, Barbara, where he had worked and asks her to bring him his belongings. (Dick had lived above the bar). He and Barbara have a nice time together. But poor Brenda isn't so lucky. The next day she is attacked, raped and strangled by a client in her office.
And that's where the story takes off. The police look for the murderer, considering Dick a person of interest. Dick, believing they will arrest him, can't cope with the idea of going to prison, gets help from an old friend and heads off to Paris to hide out. The real murderer continues to murder. As you can imagine, Dick is arrested, there is a trial and I'll let you read it (or watch the movie) to see how it all wraps up.
As a murder mystery, it's very well-written. It's short, succinct and gives you a nice insight into the characters and ends up being a tense crime novel. I think that maybe they spent too much time on the trial itself, especially the judge's summation of the case. The movie spent more time on the investigation, which I prefer. There are subtle differences in the story as opposed to the movie, especially the characterization of Hetty, the newly wed wife of Dick's old mate. And as I said, the trial is more of a focus.
Still, an enjoyable murder mystery that moves along at a good pace and keeps you involved. (3.5 stars)"
"My first exposure to Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus was the TV series based on the book. In fact I didn't realize it was a novel until I saw a copy in my local book store. Surprised, I decided to buy it and give it a try. My wife and I had stopped watching the TV show after the bus thingee as it was a bit of a shocking surprise. Now that I've read this wonderful book, I will definitely get back to the TV show.
The story follows Elizabeth Zott, a chemist working at Hastings Research Institute, in California, in the '60s. She had moved to Hastings after quitting her university work in UCLA. An incident there with one of her professors made her quit school and try to get a job.
Even though Zott is smarter and more capable than most of the other chemists working at Hastings, she is treated as no more than a lab assistant by her male counterparts. While there she tries to work on her own pet project, abiogenesis (*Sp), the basic building blocks of life. While trying to find more beakers for her lab, she goes into another chemists office, that being Calvin Evans, a brilliant chemist, previously nominated for the Nobel Prize.
Calvin only went to Hastings because of the weather, so he could continue his rowing. Calvin is quirky, private, holds grudges. The initial meeting with Zott doesn't go well, but they soon discover they have a 'chemical' attraction and begin to work together on Calvin's projects and also develop a physical, personal relationship. Much jealousy from the other male chemists who now feels Zott is playing above her station. As well, the female employees at Hastings, especially the Personnel lady, Miss Frask, also resent Zott because she isn't in their normal mold and they feel she is trying to sleep her way to the top.
Tragedy strikes. Zott is fired. She discovers she is pregnant. How will she support her new child, Madeline and continue her chemistry work? She builds a lab in her kitchen, does piecemeal work for her male counterparts from Hastings, correcting their errors, etc. She meets a producer at the local PBSish station and somehow is offered a job to fill in the open mid-afternoon slot. The show will be called Supper at Six. Little do they know that this show will be life changers for the two of them and also of the thousands of women who will watch the show.
More than a cooking show, it's chemistry in the form of cooking. It's sociology, philosophy, anything and everything. And it affects all the women who watch. Fascinating.
Really, the story is almost too rich to describe. It made me think of the joy I had reading The World According to Garp back in my university days. The story is filled with wonderful characters. Zott is beautiful, intelligent, uncompromising and a boulder running over anyone in her way, trying to survive the misogynist 60's. (Is it any different today???) Her daughter Mad, is precocious, intelligent, drives her Grade 1 teacher crazy with her intelligence and questions. The stray dog that attached himself to Zott, named 6:30, is a bomb sniffing school drop out with a 600+ word vocabulary.
And everyone who comes into contact with Zott is affected in one way or the other. It's a rich, emotional, funny, tragic, complex story. The ending might have been a bit pat, but then again, how do you end such a great novel. I loved it so much. (5.0 stars)"
Currently Reading
(October is horror month but not everything I'm starting will be horror)
"An original collection of short stories. Chinese Puzzle, Una, The Wheel, Jizzle, Heaven Scent, Compassion Circuit, More Spinned Against, A Present From Brunswick, Confidence Trick, Opposite Number, Wild Flower."
"In this honest and stunning novel, James Baldwin has given America a moving story of love in the face of injustice. Told through the eyes of Tish, a nineteen-year-old girl in love with Fonny, a young sculptor who is the father of her child, Baldwin's story mixes the sweet and the sad. Tish and Fonny have pledged to get married, but Fonny is falsely accused of a terrible crime and imprisoned. Their families set out to clear his name, and as they face an uncertain future, the young lovers experience a kaleidoscope of emotions — affection, despair, and hope. In a love story that evokes the blues, where passion and sadness are inevitably intertwined, Baldwin has created two characters so alive and profoundly realized that they are unforgettably ingrained in the American psyche."
"It's midnight and in the midst of an ice storm when Claudia Dance boards the bright yellow bus to Lacelean Street, a destination she has never heard of. She has no coat, no luggage, and no clue as to why she left home. In fact, she has no memory of her past whatsoever, and yet she feels compelled to make the trip. She will come to realize that salvation lies within the red-brick house at the end of Lacelean Street, a salvation granted by the strange power that dwells within. Sanity will be questioned, limits tested, and answers revealed... But at what price?"
New Books
"A dad will do anything to keep his daughters safe. But the phone lines are down. The roads are blocked. And the woman in the cabin is hiding a terrible secret . . .
This camping trip is Chris’s last chance to repair his relationship with his daughters, Kayla and Emma. Nothing’s been the same since they lost their mom. But things go wrong as soon as they get to the mountains.When they make camp, nine-year-old Emma runs off into the woods. By the time they find her, there’s a snowstorm rolling in. And Emma’s leg is badly broken. They need to find shelter, fast.
They think they’re safe when they come across an old farmstead. The woman inside welcomes them in from the howling blizzard and straps up Emma’s leg.
They settle down for the night, but when Chris wakes at dawn and looks over . . . Emma is gone.
And this family’s nightmare is only just beginning."
Kat Colorado knows the dangers of letting a case get too big a piece of your soul. But some cases don't give you a choice, like the death of twenty-two-year-old Courtney Dillard. Kat found her battered body on a dark Sacramento freeway, an apparent hit-and-run victim. Courtney's mother is convinced her death was no accident, and hires Kat to find the truth. As sweet and good-hearted as she was, Courtney had no shortage of enemies, Kat learns. And they make no secret of their belief in blood vengeance.
Kat's also looking for the truth about her relationship with Hank, who's wrestling with his own soul-eating case. A serial killer is stalking the Vegas Strip, and Hank's investigation is taking him over the line. His obsession could cost him both Kat and his career--while Kat's could cost her her life."
'It came from the woods. Most strange things do.'
Five mysterious, spine-tingling stories follow journeys into (and out of?) the eerie abyss.
These chilling tales spring from the macabre imagination of acclaimed and award-winning comic creator Emily Carroll.
Come take a walk in the woods and see what awaits you there..."
THIS WASN’T PAUL’S IDEA.
The last thing he’s interested in is exploring new countries or experiencing anything that might be described as “cultural enrichment.” But like it or not, he’s stuck with his brother, Theo, for two weeks in Taiwan, a place that—while fascinating to Theo—holds no interest to Paul at all.
While on a short trip to a local electronics store, Paul becomes hopelessly lost in Taiwan’s twisting, narrow streets, and he has no choice but to explore this new environment in his quest to find his way back to Theo’s apartment.
In an unfamiliar place with no friends—and no GPS!—there’s no telling what adventures he could happen upon. And who knows? Maybe it turns out he has friends in Taiwan, after all."
Hopping from fantasy, to horror, to literary pieces and more, Smol Tales From Between Worlds announces a major talent that is just getting started.
"Jiang is widely considered to be one of the most exciting young voices in science fiction, fantasy, and horror."
– Dark Matter Magazine
TFBPresents focuses on the fiction of a single author per edition, complete with author notes on each story and a wide-ranging interview, it's a must-have publication for fans of genre fiction."
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