A Saturday Reading Update and Women Authors

It's a bit cooler today, hasn't quite reached 30℃. I had a good run this morning,  the weather was great then. At the moment as Jo is preparing dinner, we're enjoying The Big Country on TCM. We've seen it a few times but it's always great. Nothing like a great Western.

I finished my 4th book of August this morning. I'll provide my review of it plus the synopsis of the next book I'll be starting. Then I'll continue with my ongoing look at Women authors whose books I've been enjoying.

Just Finished

1. Walking on Glass by Iain Banks (1985).

"I've been enjoying Iain M. Banks Culture series of Sci-Fi novels since I discovered them a few years back. Banks also wrote fiction, with a number of works. I'd previously read The Wasp Factory, his first novel, and enjoyed. Walking On Glass was his 2nd published novel. What to say about it?

Well, let's start with a brief synopsis. The story follows three main characters. First you have Graham Park, an art student. He is in love with Sara ffitch, although he doesn't know her feelings. The story follows him as he walks to her apartment and remembers how they met and their encounters. Secondly, you have Steven Grant. Steven believes he's being attacked with microwaves by The Tormentors.  He's just been sacked / quit his job working on a road crew in London and we follow him as well as he goes to unemployment, his apartment, plots his revenge, and see his encounters with various people. Thirdly we meet Quiss. This is a strange interlude. While the first two people seem to be living in London and are relatively normal, Quiss's story seems to move into the fantasy realm. He is prisoner in a castle with another person, Ajayi, who fought on different sides in the Therapeutic Wars. (Yup, that's what they were called) Both committed some 'crime' and are now at this castle (it seems to be on Earth?) and must play strange games that take forever to complete and then must answer a question to be released. Quiss wanders the castle during breaks in the games. He finds a room with holes in the ceiling and when you stick your head in, you are inside another person's soul/ body?

So that's the basics. There is more of course.

What to think of the story? Well, it's definitely unique. I didn't feel attached to any of the particular characters, except maybe Ajayi. She is lovely, intelligent, inquisitive but has to deal with the grump, irascible Quiss. Graham is wishy - washy. Can't state his feelings. (Maybe I relate more than I know). Steven is angry at everything, afraid he's being attacked, poisoned by microwaves. Quiss is a grumpy man. Oh I liked the cigar - smoking red crow that harasses Quiss and Ajayi. He's neat.

How are these main 3 characters and their stories related? Is there a connection? There are links, some more obvious than others. There is a possible very tenuous link between the two prisoners and Steven much later in the story. It'll be interesting to see if you see it and if you agree. Do these links between characters affect the others lives. I don't think so but I may be wrong.

Is each person's life / issues resolved? Personally I think you're left hanging for the most part, except maybe in Steven's case, but I don't know if that is unsatisfying. Everything is left a bit tenuous, nebulous but I don't feel necessarily that the main 3 end up totally dissatisfied, even if their stories don't have happy endings.

At the least, it's an interesting different story and worth checking out. Banks unfortunately died in 2013 at the age of 59. The world will miss his creative writing and story-telling. I'm glad I still have more of his books to discover. (3.5 stars)"

Currently Reading

1. Visitor by C.J. Cherryh (2016).

"The human and atevi inhabitants of Alpha Station, orbiting the world of the atevi, have picked up a signal from an alien kyo ship telling them that the ship is inbound toward Alpha. Five thousand of the inhabitants of Alpha are human refugees from the now derelict Reunion Station. They have seen this scenario before, when a single kyo ship swooped into the Reunion system and, without a word, melted a major section of Reunion Station with a single pass. These refugees, who were rescued through the combined efforts of an allied group of humans and atevi and brought to safety at Alpha, are now desperate with fear.

Bren Cameron brilliant human emissary of Tabini-aiji, the powerful atevi political leader on the mainland below, and also the appointee of the human president of the island nation of Mospheira is the obvious choice of representative to be sent up to deal with both the panicked refugees and the incoming alien ship. 

As a member of the space-faring delegation who rescued the refugees, Bren has talked to kyo before and even won their trust by saving one of their kind from a Reunioner prison. Because of his remarkable diplomatic and linguistic abilities, Bren managed to communicate with that grateful kyo individual on a limited basis, and he has evidence that that same kyo is on the ship heading to defenseless Alpha Station. 

But no one can predict what an alien race might do, or what their motivations could be.
And Bren Cameron, the only human ever to be accepted into atevi society, is now the one individual with a hope of successfully interacting with the crew of the incoming ship. But Bren knows it will take putting himself in the hands of the kyo. 

Can Bren count on the gratitude of one individual alien to save his life and the lives of thousands on Alpha Station?"

Women Authors I've Enjoyed - Janet Evanovich

Janet Evanovich

Mystery writer Janet Evanovich was born in New Jersey in 1943 and her biggest series, featuring bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is set in her home state. I discovered the series in my explorations of ABC Books when I first got to Comox. I think I was attracted by the colorful book covers. Sue Grafton had her unique book title sequencing; the alphabet books. Janet Evanovich had a similar approach, starting at One for the Money and moving up the numbers. It does allow her to go much higher than 26 letters. They have all been entertaining books. Stephanie Plum is a somewhat hapless bond enforcement agent but she seems to get the job done. There are always weird and fun characters in the books.

Since I started her books, I've enjoyed 12 in the series and I have another 4 books on my shelves to enjoy. I'll look at the 4 to give you an idea of the series.

1. Eleven on Top (2005).

"Stephanie Plum is thinking her career as a fugitive apprehension agent has run its course. She's been shot at, spat at, cussed at, fire-bombed, mooned, and attacked by dogs. Stephanie thinks it's time for a change. So she quits. She wants something safe and normal. But the kind of trouble she had at the bail bonds office can't compare to the kind of trouble she finds herself facing now...

Stephanie is stalked y a maniac returned from the grave for the sole purpose of putting her into a burial plot of her own. He's killed before, and he'll kill again if given the chance. Caught between staying far away from the bounty hunter business and staying alive, Stephanie reexamines her life and the possibility that being a bounty hunter is the solution rather than the problem. After disturbingly brief careers at the button factory, Kan Klean Dry Cleaners, and Cluck-in-a-Bucket, Stephanie takes an office position in security, working for Ranger, the sexiest, baddest bounty hunter and businessman on two continents. Tempers and temperatures rise as competition ratchets up between the two men in her life -- her on-again, off-again boyfriend, tough Trenton cop Joe Morelli, and her boss, Ranger. Can Stephanie Plum take the heat? Can you?"

2.  High Five (1999).

"Out of bail skippers and rent money, Stephanie Plum throws caution to the wind and follows in the entrepreneurial boot-steps of Super Bounty Hunter, Ranger, engaging in morally correct and marginally legal enterprises. So, a scumball blows himself to smithereens on her first day of policing a crack house and the sheik she was chauffeuring stole the limo. But hey, nobody's perfect! Anyway, Stephanie has other things on her mind. Her mother wants her to find Uncle Fred who's missing after arguing with his garbage company; homicidal rapist Benito Ramirez is back, quoting scripture and stalking Stephanie; vice cop Joe Morelli has a box of condoms with Stephanie's name on it; and Stephanie's afraid Ranger has his finger on her trigger" 

c. Lean Mean Thirteen (2007).

"New secrets, old flames, and hidden agendas are about to send bounty hunter Stephanie Plum on her most outrageous adventure yet!

MISTAKE #1
Dickie Orr. Stephanie was married to him for about fifteen minutes before she caught him cheating on her with her arch-nemesis Joyce Barnhardt. Another fifteen minutes after that Stephanie filed for divorce, hoping to never see either one of them again.

MISTAKE #2
Doing favors for super bounty hunter Carlos Manoso (a.k.a. Ranger). Ranger needs her to meet with Dickie and find out if he's doing something shady. Turns out, he is. Turns out, he's also back to doing Joyce Barnhardt. And it turns out Ranger's favors always come with a price...

MISTAKE #3
Going completely nutso while doing the favor for Ranger, and trying to apply bodily injury to Dickie in front of the entire office. 

Now Dickie has disappeared and Stephanie is the natural suspect in his disappearance. Is Dickie dead? Can he be found? And can she stay one step ahead in this new, dangerous game? Joe Morelli, the hottest cop in Trenton, NJ is also keeping Stephanie on her toes--and he may know more than lets on about her...It's a cat-and-mouse game for Stephanie Plum, where the ultimate prize might be her life.

4. Turbo Twenty - Three (2016).

"Larry Virgil skipped out on his latest court date after he was arrested for hijacking an eighteen-wheeler full of premium bourbon. Fortunately for bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, Larry is just stupid enough to attempt almost the exact same crime again. Only this time he flees the scene, leaving behind a freezer truck loaded with Bogart ice cream and a dead body--frozen solid and covered in chocolate and chopped pecans.

As fate would have it, Stephanie's mentor and occasional employer, Ranger, needs her to go undercover at the Bogart factory to find out who's putting their employees on ice and sabotaging the business. It's going to be hard for Stephanie to keep her hands off all that ice cream, and even harder for her to keep her hands off Ranger. It's also going to be hard to explain to Trenton's hottest cop, Joe Morelli, why she is spending late nights with Ranger, late nights with Lula and Randy Briggs--who are naked and afraid--and late nights keeping tabs on Grandma Mazur and her new fella. Stephanie Plum has a lot on her plate, but for a girl who claims to have "virtually no marketable skills," these are the kinds of sweet assignments she does best."

The complete listing of Evanovich's works can be found at this link.