Tag Archives: book reviews

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

Posted by melydia on March 7, 2014 None comments

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (unabridged audiobook read by Peter Ganim; 9 hrs on 8 discs): An unidentified celestial object, dubbed Rama by astronomers, is thought to be a comet as it approaches the solar system. When it is discovered that the object is cylindrical and very clearly artificial, a crew is dispatched to check it out. Like much hard SF, this book is more about ideas than story or characters. Some of the “future morality” – polygamy, shared spouses – felt kind of thrown in, whether for shock value or just “hey look how different society is now” I don’t know. It didn’t add anything to the story, but it didn’t really detract either. It just seemed extraneous. Still, the focus of the novel remained on Rama, as it should. I had a very difficult time wrapping my head around the geography of Rama, but I found much of the science – the gravity, the strange weather systems, the critters – quite compelling. If you like hard SF, well, you’ve probably already read this one. I’m not sure why it took me so long to get to it, but I’m glad I did. It’s certainly quite the thought experiment.

A note on the audio: Despite his often engaging character voices, Ganim’s regular narration was pretty dull.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Conspiracy Kid by E.P. Rose

Posted by melydia on March 4, 2014 None comments

The Conspiracy Kid by E.P. Rose: This is not a book that is easily summed up in a sentence or two. There’s a billionaire and a couple of Yankophile British kids who open a diner and some mental patients and a golfer and a poet and an artist or two and Hurricane Katrina and you get the idea. Despite the vast number of characters, the story is reasonably easy to follow as long as you keep a “just go with it” mindset and avoid feeling too incredulous. Parts are quite clever and parts are thoroughly bizarre, but all in all it’s kind of a fun change of pace. Most of the time these sorts of books just sort of end without a whole lot happening, but I was pleased to see a neatly tied-together ending that felt neither forced nor unsatisfying. If you’re looking for litfic that’s just a little different, give this a try.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Secret Rooms by Catherine Bailey

Posted by melydia on February 28, 2014 None comments

The Secret Rooms by Catherine Bailey: When the Duke of Rutland died in his study in 1940, his son ordered the rooms sealed. Bailey, one of the first historians allowed in, had intended to use the Duke’s meticulous record keeping to aid in a book about the experiences of the locals during World War I. What she found was three specific periods of time carefully excised from the record. This book is about her search for what happened during those times, and why he took such pains to hide it. For the most part, all is revealed. I found it much more interesting than I’d expected. There aren’t any grisly murders or anything truly sensational hidden in those lost months, but the aristocratic intrigue was fun to detangle. Fans of Downton Abbey would probably enjoy this, as it takes place during the same time period (the 1910s).

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Obstacles by Chris Reardon

Posted by melydia on February 25, 2014 1 comments

Obstacles by Chris Reardon: Alcott is a doctor providing live-in care for a terminally ill boy to whom he forms a deep attachment. When he is given the opportunity to save the boy’s life in exchange for his own, he accepts and is then whisked to a fantasy realm where he and others in his same situation must pass a certain number of challenges to earn the right to perform the life exchange. The plot is more or less what you’d expect, though I was pleasantly surprised by a couple of the twists.

Alcott is quite the chatty narrator. He shares his every thought and emotion, often multiple times. The whole thing reads like a teenager with a thesaurus who found inspiration while on vacation in Florida. Everyone acts like a teenager, their reactions strangely amplified. People aren’t pleased; they’re ecstatic. Irritation becomes fury. Nervous becomes terrified. Everything is the most superlative it’s ever been, and everyone’s always yelling, yelping, or wailing.

In short, I think this book was published too soon: it needed to go through another few rounds of edits first.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles by Katherine Pancol

Posted by melydia on February 21, 2014 None comments

The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles by Katherine Pancol: When Josephine’s husband leaves her to go start a crocodile farm in Kenya with his mistress, she finds herself scrabbling to make ends meet. Her beautiful sister Iris lies about writing a book, and rather than admitting her fib, she convinces Josephine to write a 12th century romance under Iris’s name. (Josephine is a historian who specializes in that time period.) In the meantime, there’s some drama between Josephine’s stepfather and his mistress, and Josephine’s best friend and her lover, and in the end I noticed that absolutely no one finds love within their own marriage. Despite my prudishness, though, I did enjoy this bit of light fiction. It’s a good beach read, and I felt like I even learned a little something about 12th century France.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Posted by melydia on February 18, 2014 None comments

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (unabridged audiobook read by the author; 6 hrs on 5 discs): The more I like a book, the less I have to say about it, so expect this to be short. It’s the story of a man finding his childhood was different from how he remembered it, but more than that, it’s a story of old gods and hidden spirits and all those kinds of things that Gaiman really excels at. He makes the ordinary world magical.

A note on the audio: Gaiman remains a fabulous reader. I wish he could read me bedtime stories every night. And I don’t mean that in a creepy euphemistic way, either: I just really enjoy listening to him tell stories.

The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson

Posted by melydia on February 14, 2014 None comments

The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson (unabridged audiobook read by Alan Sklar; 8.5 hrs on 7 discs): In 1854, London suffered a terrible cholera epidemic in the area around Broad Street. This is the story of its investigation, primarily by anesthetist Dr. John Snow and local curate Rev. Henry Whitehead. This took place before the germ theory of disease had really caught on, with many believing in the miasma theory – that is, that disease was caused by bad air. Snow’s assertion that cholera is a waterborne pathogen was met with heavy resistance. In addition, Snow’s map of cholera deaths was groundbreaking in the fields of information design and epidemiology. There were definitely parts of this book you don’t want to read while eating – cholera is a nasty disease and sewers aren’t exactly the most appetizing of subjects – but all in all it’s a fascinating discussion of the event and subsequent study. Books like this are my favorite mode of learning.

A note on the audio: At first I was a little concerned about an American narrator reading a book about an event that happened in England, but Sklar was great.

Dragon Wing by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Posted by melydia on February 11, 2014 None comments

Dragon Wing by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (unabridged audiobook): It took me an incredibly long time to get through this book. It starts with some bits about Hugh the Hand, an assassin saved from execution with an assignment to kill the young prince. Then there’s some stuff about revolutionary dwarves, who find a guy and his dog, recently escaped from the Labyrinth. And somehow elves are involved, and an evil wizard, and possibly some people more powerful than the evil wizard. The stories eventually intertwine, but I had difficulty figuring out what happened to whom. Reading the wikipedia summary confirmed that I hadn’t actually missed anything plotwise, but I think the main problem was that there were a lot of races and I had trouble keeping track of their individual politics and histories. The fact that several of them call each other by differing names (Dwarves vs. Gegs, for example) didn’t help either. The only reason I pushed my way through to the end is because I was told that this first book is by far the worst in the series, and once you’ve gotten past it (and the requisite backstory), the rest of the series is excellent. Let’s hope so.

A note on the audio: I listened to this on MP3, gotten from a friend, who dubbed it off audio cassettes, which were copies themselves, so I have no idea who the narrator is. Which is a shame, because he’s actually pretty good.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Undead by Kirsty McKay

Posted by melydia on February 7, 2014 None comments

Undead by Kirsty McKay (unabridged audiobook read by Amy Shindler; 7.25 hrs on 6 discs): New girl Bobby is on a ski trip with her high school class to Scotland. Shortly after they stop at a cafe in the middle of nowhere, her classmates all turn into zombies. From there they all run for their lives, and it’s actually quite clever and funny. Bobby has typical teenage girl concerns without being obnoxious, the zombies are gross and scary without being gory, and the scenery changes more frequently than your average horror movie. The humor had me laughing out loud in places, and there were a couple moments of actual suspense. In short, I really enjoyed it, and now I want to read the sequel.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau

Posted by melydia on February 4, 2014 None comments

The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau (unabridged audiobook read by Wendy Dillon; 8 hrs on 7 discs): We begin not too long after City of Ember ended, with the Emberites having emerged from their underground home for the first time in many generations, and descending upon the first settlement they encounter: the village of Sparks. This tiny village cannot support these hundreds of refugees who have nothing to trade and no skills to take care of themselves, and tensions between the two groups steadily build. To be perfectly honest, I spent a good part of this book being angry at everybody. I know it’s supposed to be an allegory, but not a single person in Sparks showed any interest whatsoever in learning about Ember or its inhabitants. These people have been cut off from the rest of civilization for so long that they have never seen an animal and don’t even know what the moon is. I’d never stop asking them questions and answering theirs. Luckily, everything does eventually get resolved and I finished the story feeling more or less satisfied. I don’t think I’ll be continuing the series, however. From what I understand, the latter two books focus more on some mysterious prophecy (which is kind of annoying since part of the attraction of these books, for me, is their plausibility) and hardly feature Lina and Doon at all. This one ends in a good place, though, so I am happy to continue the story only in my imagination.

A note on the audio: Dillon was excellent once again. The sound effects in the background were much less intrusive this time around, and in fact added some ambiance to the fire scene.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

© 2010-2024 kate weber All Rights Reserved -- Copyright notice by Blog Copyright