Passage by Connie Willis

Posted by melydia on May 15, 2012 2 comments

Passage by Connie Willis: Dr. Joanna Lander is studying near-death experiences, or NDEs. Dr. Richard Wright has discovered a way to chemically replicate what the brain goes through chemically during an NDE. Richard asks Joanna to confirm that what his volunteers are experiencing are indeed NDEs, but when funding and volunteers become scarce, Joanna goes under herself. I found this book extremely difficult to take, but in a good way: it’s extremely suspenseful and the characters are likeable and sometimes infuriatingly realistic. At first I wondered if this lengthy novel could have been shortened, but the various stories and details shared become important eventually, and add even more to the realism. Though at times emotionally harrowing, this was one seriously excellent story. A little dark in places – it is largely about death, after all – but it never loses all hope. And now I need to go pick up everything else Willis has ever written.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

ATC Sunday

Posted by melydia on May 13, 2012 No comment

America: The Book by Jon Stewart

Posted by melydia on May 11, 2012 No comment

America (The Book) by Jon Stewart and the writers of the Daily Show: A satirical take on your standard US history textbook. It’s a bit dated, having been published eight years when we were in the thick of the Bush administration, but there are still plenty of funny bits. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the founding of America. Some of the modern references fell a little flat, but I’m not really big on political humor in the first place. If you are, then you will almost undoubtedly get a kick out of this.

The Book of Unholy Mischief by Elle Newmark

Posted by melydia on May 8, 2012 No comment

The Book of Unholy Mischief by Elle Newmark: The 15th century is drawing to a close, and Luciano finds his life as a thief on the streets of Venice abruptly ended by the chef to the Doge, who takes him in as his apprentice. Meantime, the city is all astir about a mysterious book, said to contain untold secrets, spells, and other dangerous information. As he struggles to determine just how much his master knows about this book, Luciano sneaks food to his streetrat friends, witnesses the political machinations of assorted factions, and attempts to court a nun. It’s actually a fairly decent piece of historical fiction, but I have a soft spot for both Venice and that particular time period, so I may be biased.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

ATC Sunday

Posted by melydia on May 6, 2012 1 comment

The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman

Posted by melydia on May 4, 2012 No comment

The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman (unabridged audiobook read by Anton Lesser; 6.5 hours on 6 discs): Sally Lockhart, recently orphaned, finds herself suddenly embroiled in a complicated plot wherein multiple people want to either kill her or save her. There are guns, and opium, and diaries, and shipwrecks, and over all it’s a pretty good whodunit. A little confusing at times, sure, but full of delightfully memorable characters.

A note on the audio: Lesser is simply marvelous. Seriously: he’s so good that I may go out of my way to listen to other books he reads, even if they aren’t normally my sort of thing. He’s just that excellent.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

Posted by melydia on May 1, 2012 No comment

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (unabridged audiobook read by Doug Ordunio; 16 hrs 21 min on 13 discs): This book aims to answer the question of why Eurasia became such a world power and dominated other nations. The historical (and racist) answer was that there was some inherent difference in the people of those lands, but this book goes into explicit detail on why this is clearly not the case. Rather, it boils down to a large number of factors dealing with crop and livestock domestication, climate, and geographic accessibility. There’s a lot of truly englightening information gathered here, but the text is quite dense, and quite difficult to digest quickly. It’s not a casual beach read, but certainly well worth picking up.

A note on the audio: This is a difficult book to earread, as the narrator is very monotone and yet also puts emphasis on unexpected words. Having to decipher the words through the jarring inflection made it much harder to digest the already dense information. If you want to read this one, stick with the paper version.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

ATC Sunday

Posted by melydia on April 29, 2012 1 comment

Walpurgis III by Mike Resnick

Posted by melydia on April 27, 2012 No comment

Walpurgis III by Mike Resnick: A lot of Resnick books are about a super criminal being hunted by a super bounty hunter/assassin in the far future, and this book is no exception. Luckily, this is the sort of story he tells very well. The trouble here is that the criminal (Conrad Bland) fancies himself Satan incarnate, intent on killing everything and everyone in his path. Which would be fine – his quotes at the beginning of each chapter are often scandalously amusing – but he’s decided to base himself on the planet Walpurgis, a haven for a large number of Satanic religions. This is where things get a little silly. Told from the alternating viewpoints of the assassin (Jericho) as he attempts to find Bland, and the chief of police (John Sable) as he tracks down Jericho for killing random civilians in his jurisdiction. There’s a little bit of “who’s more evil, the man who kills compulsively or the one who does it emotionlessly as a means to an end,” but this is overshadowed by the focus on the fairly ridiculous religious practices of the assorted sects of Satan-worshippers. I guess if you’re easily shocked and titillated, this might be a delightfully scandalous read, but I could have skipped this one and been none the worse for wear.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Ankle Anniversary

Posted by melydia on April 24, 2012 1 comment

One year ago today, I was walking out of my hotel in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, when I stepped wrong off the curb and completely screwed up my ankle, tearing multiple tendons and ligaments. I spent the next five months in braces of various sorts, had surgery, and learned that much of the problem was due to a low-hanging calf muscle which was crowding out the tendons and was summarily removed. By the end of it my right calf was pretty much completely atrophied (oh so floppy!) and walking on uneven ground was a chore. Shortly after being liberated from my final brace, I joined a new gym and got a new personal trainer to help me get back into shape without re-injuring myself (a bit of a tall order, knowing me).

It’s been a long process. First there was the painful rebuilding of my calf muscle and extensive work on my balance (which was never that stellar in the first place). A few months later I was finally able to run again in short bursts. Now I’m more or less back to my former ability, with the intention of continuing to move forward and improve.

My ankle still swells up from time to time, and I still get occasional pain (especially if the weather misbehaves), but all in all I’m pretty much healed. I can walk barefoot on uneven ground without any problem. I suspect much of my long recovery time was due to under-treatment at the very beginning (the ER declared it a “sprain,” gave me crutches, and sent me on my merry way), but since the surgery to repair the tendon also revealed the cause of a lifelong condition, I have no regrets.

But you can bet I’m extra careful when stepping off curbs now.

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