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| Team Homan |
So this will be quick today as I've only completed one book since my last Blog. I'll provide my review of it, plus what books I've started and any new books I've received since I last updated this,
Just Completed
"I had read the Tripod trilogy, a YA / Sci Fi series a couple of years ago when I discovered the three books in a used book store I frequent. After I had completed the trilogy I decided to check out other books by British author John Christopher and discovered that he had written a prequel to the series in 1988, entitled When the Tripods Came, a prequel to the trilogy.
In the first 3 books, the premise is that the Tripods have taken over the Earth many years ago and mankind has reverted to a more primitive time, no tv, no radio, no cars, etc. Each year any children reaching the age of 13 lose their free will when they receive the helmet that will link them forever with the Tripods. Of course there is an underground movement to grab these children and turn them into rebels instead. This guerrilla movement is the crux of the 1st three books, the battle to return the Earth to mankind.
In the prequel, we find out how the Tripods take over Earth and it's fascinating. 3 Tripods land on Earth, one in England, one in the US and one in Russia. They are ultimately destroyed. The books focus is on the one that lands in England and is seen by two young boys out on an orienteering adventure, Laurie and Andy.
After this first encounter, life goes on as normal but gradually things begin to change. Firstly there is a television program, called the Trippy Show to which people begin to get quite addicted, including Andy's step-sister, Angela. She must watch it and throws a terrible tantrum once when she misses an episode. Laurie's dad finally agrees to have the local doctor look at her. Oddly he tries hypnotism on Angela to remove this addiction to the show and it works. (Oh, Angela's mom Ilse, who of course is also Laurie's stepmom, has had to go to Switzerland to look after her sick father).
But this addiction to the Trippy show grows and becomes quite threatening. When more Tripods land, masses of people head to their locations as a sort of cult. This includes Laurie's friend, Andy's mom. Andy moves in with Laurie and his family. The situation continues to worsen. Laurie's uncle and cousin show up one day and try to put a 'cap' on Laurie (this will link him to the Tripods). They have enough caps for the whole family. But Laurie's great aunt, Martha, intercedes and saves Laurie. The family now decides they need to leave England because it has now become to dangerous. And thus begins a journey to Switzerland for the whole gang.
For a very short story, 150ish pages long, there is a lot packed into it. It's a fascinating Sci Fi novel and a great adventure. I like how it explains the beginnings of the Tripod invasion and also provides an inkling to the future underground revolution. Scary and tense and with excellent characters. It's a series that both adults and kids could enjoy equally. (4.0 stars)"
Currently Reading
"Tommy and Tuppence Beresford have just become the proud owners of an old house in an English village. Along with the property, they have inherited some worthless bric-a-brac, including a collection of antique books. While rustling through a copy of The Black Arrow, Tuppence comes upon a series of apparently random underlinings.
However, when she writes down the letters, they spell out a very disturbing message: "Mary Jordan did not die naturally." And sixty years after their first murder, Mary Jordan's enemies are still ready to kill. . . ."
The freedom to read is under attack. There are, today, more efforts to ban books from libraries than ever before. The supposed "dangers" posed by books including The Handmaid's Tale, Gender Queer, Huckleberry Finn, and the works of Dr. Seuss—leading children down a path of sexual deviance, or harming them with racist language or non-inclusive narratives—fuel the puritanical zeal of De Santis Republicans and progressive educators alike. On Book Banning argues that today's culture warriors proceed from a misunderstanding of literature as instrumental to the pursuit of their ideological agendas. In treating libraries as sites of contagion and exposure, censors are warping our children's relationship with literature and teaching them that the solution to opposing viewpoints is cancellation or outright expurgation.
On Book Banning provides a lively, accessible survey of literary censorship through the ages—from the destruction of libraries in ancient Rome, to the Catholic Church's attempts to tamp down religious dissent and scientific innovation, to state-sponsored efforts to suppress LGBTQ literature in the 1980s and beyond. Throughout, Ira Wells demonstrates how today's book bans stem from the ineradicable human impulse toward social control. In a whistle-stop tour of landmark legal cases, literary controversies, and philosophical arguments, we discover that the freedom to read and publish is the aberration in human history, and that censorship and restriction have been the rule. At a moment in which our democratic institutions are buckling under the stress of polarization, On Book Banning is both rallying cry and guide to resistance for those who reject the conflation of art and propaganda, for whom books remain sacred vessels of our shared humanity, and who will always insist upon reading for ourselves."
Included are entries that refer to her own writing, and those that are relevant to the raw material of her work, and, finally, comments on the books she was reading. The first entry included here is dated 1918 and the last, three weeks before her death in 1941. Between these points of time unfolds the private world—the anguish, the triumph, the creative vision—of one of the great writers of the twentieth century."
Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar habits and routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him when he comes home. His days of adventure are over: adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s business now.
Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. As a private security officer, she doesn’t stay still long enough for habits or routines. She’s currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Which was meant to be an easy job...
Then a dead body, a bag of money, and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending an SOS to the only person she trusts. A breakneck race around the world begins, but can Amy and Steve stay one step ahead of a lethal enemy?"
Fans of pulp noir and hard-boiled detective crime fiction will love this seminal collection of classic comics.
From the minds of award-winning author Max Allan Collins and artist Terry Beatty, comes the sixth collection of classic Ms. Tree stories, collected together for the first time!
Join Michael Tree, the 6ft, 9mm carrying private detective on her thrilling adventures. No case is too small, no violence too extreme, just as long as it gets the job done.
Fans of hard-boiled detective and crime fiction will get a thrill from these “Fallen Tree!”; “Like Father”; “Murder Cruise”; “New Years Evil”; “Coming of Rage”; and more!"
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