The temperature has cooled down the past couple of days and we even had some rain, not lots but we needed it. It's been somewhat confusing regarding Jo's chemo. This past weeks was cancelled but when her doctor came back from vacation, he said it shouldn't have been so we were off to the clinic yesterday. It knocked her out a bit but she slept most of the evening and overnight, but she's much better today. 😊
So the month is winding down... ALREADY! Time for a quick update on what I've been reading, etc. You know the skit if you read this Blog at all. All 12 of you..
Just Finished (2 books completed since my last update)
1.
A Fragment of Fear by
John Bingham (Mys / 1965). I've enjoyed a few of Bingham's books, this one didn't do it for me.
"A Fragment of Fear is the 4th mystery / thriller that I've read by English author, John Bingham and it was the one I enjoyed the least, unfortunately. I like his writing style very much but I can't say I liked the main character very much and the ending was a bit wishy washy for me... Oh well. I will continue to read his stories but this one didn't work.
So, mystery writer James Compton is vacationing in Naples. He had been in a car accident which injured his legs so he has taken the opportunity to go there to just vacation and also to strengthen his legs. He's due to marry Juliet and she is in the US for work, so this is his opportunity to relax a bit. While there, he makes acquaintance of an elderly British woman, Mrs. Dawson. As the story begins, she's just been murdered in the ruins of Pompeii. Compton gets interested in the case and thinks it might make a nice mystery story.
Compton finds many odd things happening in Naples, the hotel manager is acting strangely, the police haven't solved the case. Compton finds her room door open so goes in and does a bit of a search. He also goes to the graveyard and finds only one decrepit wreath, from some group called the Stepping Stones.
From the little bit of information he finds in her room, he discovers that she normally lives near Brighton in a hotel with other elderly people. Questioning them about Mrs. Dawson, she finds them somewhat disingenuous and cranky. On his way back to London on the train, he shares a room with a dumpy woman who he finally has a conversation with. As they leave, she gives him an envelope, which basically warns him off from further investigation. Now the story gets quite odd.
The letter has been typed on Compton's typewriter in his apartment. He decides to bring the letter to the police, only to find a police officer already on his door step. Oddly, the woman on the train has filed a complaint with the police. The cop says they don't really believe her, but Compton is quite obstreperous and finally forces the letter on the cop.
He discovers the next day, while reading the paper, that the woman has been murdered. Feeling he has to report his contact with her to the police, he goes to the police department but is basically not believed. Other odd things continue to happen and I won't get into all of them because it does make the story interesting.
Compton is kind of like John Hannay in the 39 Steps, a man against an unseen threat and kind of isolated from any kind of help. Except Compton isn't all that nice. He's provided many opportunities by this 'threat' to stop investigating the murder of Mrs. Dawson, even to threatening Compton's fiancé, but due to his intransigence, he lets matters unfold, whether or not Juliet is hurt.
The story does finally unravel but it's not quite as satisfying as I would have liked. I liked the idea of the story, the mysterious threats, the isolation that Compton feels, but it wasn't quite good enough for me, I'm afraid. (2.5 stars)"
2.
The Minority Report and Other Classic Stories by
Philip K. Dick (Sci Fi / 1987) I really enjoyed this. Dick is one of the unique writers of our time.
"I've been reading and enjoying the Sci Fi of Philip K. Dick since my university days. My favorite has always been The Man in the High Castle, probably my first attempt at a Dick work, if I remember correctly. I think it was one of the books we read for my Sci Fi novel course in my university days. I've read it 3 or 4 times and have also enjoyed the TV series, although I've never seen the end. But over the years, I've read another 11 books and also an interview with him. Some I enjoyed more than others; Dr. Bloodmoney was excellent, as were Do Androids Dream, A Maze of Death, etc. I could obviously go on. 😎😁
My latest attempt was for a short story challenge I'm doing this year, The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick 4: The Minority Report by Philip K. Dick|which was published 1987, although my particular copy is entitled, The Minority Report and Other Classic Stories by....
OK, now that we have that all settled, I enjoyed the collection very much. It consists of 18 stories and at the end are notes on each story. There is also an introduction by James Tiptree. The title story, The Minority Report, was made into a movie starring Tom Cruise and the movie was better. But I think that's because you can flesh out a movie much more. The story was still interesting.
Let's see... some favorites. Waterspider was maybe my favorite as it was actually quite funny. It's a time travel story where people from the future believe Sci Fi writers are precogs and they especially want Poul Anderson to come to the future to help explain the problem they are having with space travel. He's picked up at a Sci Fi convention so we meet various other Sci Fi authors, including Philip K. Dick. The plan backfires and that old adage 'don't change the past' or it will impact the future... Well, it does in a funny kind of way.
Another time travel story, Orpheus With Clay Feet involves a man, Jesse Slade, who's bored with his life in the future (ok, his present) so he goes to a 'travel' agency where they send you into the past to motivate his favorite Sci Fi author, James Dowland, to switch from writing TV westerns to creating his magnum Sci Fi opus. Of course this also back fires and the travel agency has other plans for Jesse (neat idea). As a nice twist, Orpheus With Clay Feet was written by Dick under the pseudonym of, you guessed it, James Dowland. hee hee.
The last story Oh, to be a Blobel is supposed to be anti war story, how war makes you more like the people you are fighting. An interesting quote from Dick in his notes on this subject, "Hitler had once said that the true victory of the Nazis would be to force its enemies, the US in particular, to become like the Third Reich - i.e. a totalitarian society - in order to win. Hitler, then, expected to win in losing. As I watched the American military - industrial complex grow after WWII I kept remembering Hitler's analysis, and I kept thinking how right the son of a bitch was." (prophetic much??) Another aspect of this story reminded me of The Gift of the Magi by O Henry, in a sort of convoluted way.
I could go on but I'll stop there. Suffice it to say, the collection of short stories did not disappoint. Every story was entertaining. Dick shows the ability to shift from novels to short stories very easily. What else can I say but he's one neat dude. I still have seven more books of his sitting on my book shelves to enjoy. Yay! (4.0 stars)"
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| Borrowed from Simon & Shuster |
Editor's Note - A call from my local book store just came in saying some books I ordered have arrived. Happy Saturday!! I'll update when I get back.... Editor's Note X 2 - I'm back. 4 books in.. and, no, Jo didn't swear at me, no matter what I told Kelly at the book store, that store being Books 4 Brains.
Currently Reading (started since last update)
1.
The Dead Side of the Mike by
Simon Brett (Charles Paris #6 / 1981). I've been enjoying the Charles Paris books, actor / writer and part time detective.
"Murder at the BBC? It's almost unimaginable.
When Andrea Gower, the beautiful studio manager is murdered, the producer's only concern is the dead air emanating from the transmitter.
But Charles Paris, the now famous actor/detective has come to Broadcasting House to give a talk, and ends up as a mystery voice on a showbiz quiz show.
Paris has to wallow through layers of BBC scandal, and uncovers a complicated fraud - with clues concealed in seemingly innocent announcements.
These clues lead to a trap that is nearly the end of Mr. Paris in 'The Dead Side of the Mike'."
3. Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi (Short Stories / 2008). I've previously read and enjoyed The Wind-up Girl by Bacigalupi. I'm hoping these are as enjoyable.
"Paolo Bacigalupi's debut collection demonstrates the power and reach of the science fiction short story. Social criticism, political parable, and environmental advocacy lie at the center of Paolo's work. Each of the stories herein is at once a warning, and a celebration of the tragic comedy of the human experience.
The eleven stories in Pump Six represent the best Paolo's work, including the Hugo nominee "Yellow Card Man," the nebula and Hugo nominated story "The People of Sand and Slag," and the Sturgeon Award-winning story "The Calorie Man.""
Newest Arrivals
(A few books to add here)
1.
The Genocides by
Thomas M. Disch (Dystopia / 1965)
"In this harrowing novel, the world's cities have been reduced to cinder and ash and alien plants have overtaken the earth. The plants, able to grow the size of maples in only a month and eventually reach six hundred feet, have commandeered the world's soil and are sucking even the Great Lakes dry. In northern Minnesota, Anderson, an aging farmer armed with a Bible in one hand and a gun in the other, desperately leads the reduced citizenry of a small town in a daily struggle for meager existence. Throw into this fray Jeremiah Orville, a marauding outsider bent on a bizarre and private revenge, and the fight to live becomes a daunting task."
2. The Road Through the Wall by Shirley Jackson (Hor / 1948) Jackson's first novel."The compelling novel that began Shirley Jackson's legendary career
Pepper Street is a really nice, safe California neighborhood. The houses are tidy and the lawns are neatly mowed. Of course, the country club is close by, and lots of pleasant folks live there. The only problem is they knocked down the wall at the end of the street to make way for a road to a new housing development. Now, that’s not good—it’s just not good at all. Satirically exploring what happens when a smug suburban neighborhood is breached by awful, unavoidable truths, The Road Through the Wall is the tale that launched Shirley Jackson’s heralded career."
3. The Listener by Robert McCammon (Hor / 2018). One of two books I got by McCammon, one from a Little Free Library that I walked past on my morning walk. I've previously enjoyed Boy's Life.
"1934. Businesses went under by the hundreds, debt and foreclosures boomed, and breadlines grew in many American cities.
In the midst of this misery, some folks explored unscrupulous ways to make money. Angel-faced John Partlow and carnival huckster Ginger LaFrance are among the worst of this lot. Joining together they leave their small time confidence scams behind to attempt an elaborate kidnapping-for-ransom scheme in New Orleans.
In a different part of town, Curtis Mayhew, a young black man who works as a redcap for the Union Railroad Station, has a reputation for mending quarrels and misunderstandings among his friends. What those friends don't know is that Curtis has a special talent for listening... and he can sometimes hear things that aren't spoken aloud.
One day, Curtis Mayhew's special talent allows him to overhear a child's cry for help (THIS MAN IN THE CAR HE'S GOT A GUN), which draws him into the dangerous world of Partlow and LaFrance."
4. Ties that Bind; The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery in Freedom by Tiya Miles (Indigenous / 2005). One of the books discussed in a previous read, The Bad Indians Book Club.
"This beautifully written book tells the haunting saga of a quintessentially American family. It is the story of Shoe Boots, a famed Cherokee warrior and successful farmer, and Doll, an African slave he acquired in the late 1790s. Over the next thirty years, Shoe Boots and Doll lived together as master and slave and also as lifelong partners who, with their children and grandchildren, experienced key events in American history—including slavery, the Creek War, the founding of the Cherokee Nation and subsequent removal of Native Americans along the Trail of Tears, and the Civil War. This is the gripping story of their lives, in slavery and in freedom.
Meticulously crafted from historical and literary sources, Ties That Bind vividly portrays the members of the Shoe Boots family. Doll emerges as an especially poignant character, whose life is mostly known through the records of things done to her—her purchase, her marriage, the loss of her children—but also through her moving petition to the federal government for the pension owed to her as Shoe Boots's widow. A sensitive rendition of the hard realities of black slavery within Native American nations, the book provides the fullest picture we have of the myriad complexities, ironies, and tensions among African Americans, Native Americans, and whites in the first half of the nineteenth century."
5. Kill Creek by Scott Thomas (Hor / 2017). A new author for me, suggested in 101 Horror Books You Should Read before You're Murdered.
"At the end of a dark prairie road, nearly forgotten in the Kansas countryside, is the Finch House. For years it has remained empty, overgrown, abandoned. Soon the door will be opened for the first time in decades. But something is waiting, lurking in the shadows, anxious to meet its new guests…
When best-selling horror author Sam McGarver is invited to spend Halloween night in one of the country’s most infamous haunted houses, he reluctantly agrees. At least he won’t be alone; joining him are three other masters of the macabre, writers who have helped shape modern horror. But what begins as a simple publicity stunt will become a fight for survival. The entity they have awakened will follow them, torment them, threatening to make them a part of the bloody legacy of Kill Creek."
6. The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig (Hor / 2021). Wanderers by Wendig was one of my favorites of last year.
"Long ago, Nathan lived in a house in the country with his abusive father—and has never told his family what happened there.
Long ago, Maddie was a little girl making dolls in her bedroom when she saw something she shouldn’t have—and is trying to remember that lost trauma by making haunting sculptures.
Long ago, something sinister, something hungry, walked in the tunnels and the mountains and the coal mines of their hometown in rural Pennsylvania.
Now, Nate and Maddie Graves are married, and they have moved back to their hometown with their son, Oliver.
And now what happened long ago is happening again . . . and it is happening to Oliver. He meets a strange boy who becomes his best friend, a boy with secrets of his own and a taste for dark magic.
This dark magic puts them at the heart of a battle of good versus evil and a fight for the soul of the family—and perhaps for all of the world. But the Graves family has a secret weapon in this battle: their love for one another."
The 1st two books in the Misewa Saga series, an indigenous young adult series.
7a. The Barren Grounds by David A. Robertson (#1 / 2020). I've enjoyed Robertson's Reckoner graphic novel series and Sugar Falls.
"Narnia meets traditional Indigenous stories of the sky and constellations in an epic middle-grade fantasy series from award-winning author David Robertson.
Morgan and Eli, two Indigenous children forced away from their families and communities, are brought together in a foster home in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They each feel disconnected, from their culture and each other, and struggle to fit in at school and at their new home -- until they find a secret place, walled off in an unfinished attic bedroom. A portal opens to another reality, Ask, bringing them onto frozen, barren grounds, where they meet Ochek (Fisher). The only hunter supporting his starving community, Misewa, Ochek welcomes the human children, teaching them traditional ways to survive. But as the need for food becomes desperate, they embark on a dangerous mission. Accompanied by Arik, a sassy Squirrel they catch stealing from the trapline, they try to save Misewa before the icy grip of winter freezes everything -- including them."
7b. The Great Bear by David A. Robertson (#2 / 2021).
"Eli and Morgan journey once more to Misewa, travelling back in time.
Back at home after their first adventure in the Barren Grounds, Eli and Morgan each struggle with personal issues: Eli is being bullied at school, and tries to hide it from Morgan, while Morgan has to make an important decision about her birth mother. They turn to the place where they know they can learn the most, and make the journey to Misewa to visit their animal friends. This time they travel back in time and meet a young fisher that might just be their lost friend. But they discover that the village is once again in peril, and they must dig deep within themselves to find the strength to protect their beloved friends. Can they carry this strength back home to face their own challenges?"
8. Baal by Robert McCammon (Hor / 1978). This is the book I found in the Little Free Library.
"A woman is ravished...
and to her a child is born...
unleashing an unimaginable evil upon the world!
And they call him BAAL in the orphanage, where he leads the children on a rampage of violence...in California, where he appears as the head of a deadly Manson-like cult...in Kuwait, where crazed millions heed his call to murder and orgy.
They call him BAAL in the Arctic's hellish wasteland, where he is tracked by the only three men with a will to stop him: Zark, the shaman; Virga, the aging professor of theology; and Michael, the powerful, mysterious stranger."
9. The Luck of the Vails by E.F. Benson (Mys / 1901). I recently finished his first mystery, The Blotting Book.
"When the Luck of the Vails is lost,
Fear not fire nor rain nor frost;
When the Luck is found again,
Fear both fire and frost and rain.
The Luck of the Vails is an exquisite gold cup, encrusted with precious jewels. On the eve of his twenty-first birthday, Harry Vail, twelfth baronet, discovers the chalice hidden in soft leather folds up in the attic. Little can he imagine, as he unwraps this unexpected gift, the birthday curse he is about to bring down upon his head.
Set amid the rolling Wiltshire dales and the clattering, gaslit streets of London, The Luck of the Vails gradually reveals a long, bitter history of corruption and violence amongst the old aristocracy. It is a vintage crime story."
And now the 4 books that arrived today... phew...
10. Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq (Indigenous / 2018). A new author for me.
"From the internationally acclaimed Inuit throat singer who has dazzled and enthralled the world with music it had never heard before, a fierce, tender, heartbreaking story unlike anything you've ever read.
Fact can be as strange as fiction. It can also be as dark, as violent, as rapturous. In the end, there may be no difference between them.
A girl grows up in Nunavut in the 1970s. She knows joy, and friendship, and parents' love. She knows boredom, and listlessness, and bullying. She knows the tedium of the everyday world, and the raw, amoral power of the ice and sky, the seductive energy of the animal world. She knows the ravages of alcohol, and violence at the hands of those she should be able to trust. She sees the spirits that surround her, and the immense power that dwarfs all of us.
When she becomes pregnant, she must navigate all this.
Veering back and forth between the grittiest features of a small arctic town, the electrifying proximity of the world of animals, and ravishing world of myth, Tanya Tagaq explores a world where the distinctions between good and evil, animal and human, victim and transgressor, real and imagined lose their meaning, but the guiding power of love remains.
Haunting, brooding, exhilarating, and tender all at once, Tagaq moves effortlessly between fiction and memoir, myth and reality, poetry and prose, and conjures a world and a heroine readers will never forget."
11. Blood over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang (Fantasy / 2023). Yup, a new author.
"Magic has made the city of Tiran an industrial utopia, but magic has a cost—and the collectors have come calling.
An orphan since the age of four, Sciona has always had more to prove than her fellow students. For twenty years, she has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fueled by a mad desire to achieve the impossible: to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry. When she finally claws her way up the ranks to become a high mage, however, she finds that her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues will stop at nothing to let her know she is unwelcome, beginning with giving her a janitor instead of a qualified lab assistant.
What neither Sciona nor her peers realize is that her taciturn assistant was once more than a janitor; before he mopped floors for the mages, Thomil was a nomadic hunter from beyond Tiran’s magical barrier. Ten years have passed since he survived the perilous crossing that killed his family. But working for a high mage, he sees the opportunity to finally understand the forces that decimated his tribe, drove him from his homeland, and keep the Tiranish in power.
Through their fractious relationship, mage and outsider uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever—if it doesn’t get them killed first. Sciona has defined her life by the pursuit of truth, but how much is one truth worth with the fate of civilization in the balance?"
12. The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee (Sci Fi / 2026). I believe it was recommended on the CBC book page. I did not know the Lee was Canadian.
"A battle-worn corporate samurai undertakes one last mission on a merciless planet where death is always a mere breath away, in this standalone dystopian epic from the author of the modern fantasy classic Jade City.
LIVE BY THE CODE. DIE BY THE KNIFE.
Isako is a legendary swordswoman, but every legend must come to an end. When her long-time client unexpectedly retires, she plans to follow—to walk out into the frozen wasteland of their planet with her head held high and her family enriched by her death. But when she’s offered a final mission, she can’t refuse, especially when she realizes who lies at the center of it all: Martim, her last—and worst—apprentice, who’s somehow made his way to the top. As she’s thrust into a world of corporate espionage and shadowy secrets, what she uncovers could forever change humanity’s existence among the stars."
and finally...
13. Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark (Hor / Hist Fiction / 2020). I've seen around but never bought. It was recommended in 101 Horror Novels....
"In America, demons wear white hoods.
In 1915, The Birth of a Nation casts a spell across America, swelling the Klan's ranks and drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of white folk. All across the nation they ride, spreading fear and violence among the vulnerable. They plan to bring hell to Earth. But even Ku Kluxes can die.
Standing in their way are Maryse Boudreaux and her fellow resistance fighters, a foulmouthed sharpshooter, and a Harlem Hellfighter. Armed with blade, bullet, and bomb, they hunt their hunters and send the Klan's demons straight to hell. But something awful's brewing in Macon, and the war on hell is about to heat up.
Can Maryse stop the Klan before it ends the world?"
There you go folks. Some reading ideas to fill your summer reading list. Enjoy July.
