If you’re in the Washington, DC, metro area this coming Saturday, there are plenty of things to do. Fall for the Book in Fairfax is winding down and the Maryland Renaissance Festival is in full swing. The Baltimore Book Festival is this weekend, conflicting as it does every year with the National Book Festival in DC. My local BookCrossing group will be cavorting around the National Mall, handing out books. Heck, even my home town is having its annual festival on Saturday.
But I’m not going to any of it. My husband and I will be at the Small Press Expo, geeking out on indie comics. And I can’t wait.
We might also stop by Horrorfind Weekend on Sunday, but that’s still up in the air. Either way it’ll be fun times.
by Stephenie Meyer (unabridged audiobook read by Ilyana Kadushin): Edward wants to get married, but Bella, who is perfectly willing to spend eternity as a vampire with him, is balking at the idea. To complicate things, Jacob’s stepped up to the plate, offering himself as a saner alternative to the living dead. (Which says something, considering he’s a werewolf.) Not that either choice is all that appealing for most of the book: both men act like pretentious assholes and treat Bella like a child incapable of making her own decisions. And for two people who are supposed to be perfect for each other, Edward and Bella sure do spend a lot of time arguing. Yet, they can’t handle spending even a few hours apart. I don’t find obsessive co-dependence to be all that romantic, but then I’m an old married lady – what do I know about love? ;)
by Orson Scott Card: This is more or less the same time frame covered in Ender’s Game, only from Bean’s point of view. It begins with his life as a street urchin in Rotterdam and continues all the way through the end of the Bugger War. There is some overlap between the two books, but since it’s from another point of view it doesn’t feel repetitive. Bean’s train of thought is fascinating and I enjoyed the new characters that were introduced like Achilles and Sister Carlotta. I think of all the other children at Battle School, Bean was the best choice to get his own story, but Ender is still my favorite character. And despite Card’s hope for this book to work on its own, I don’t think I’d enjoy Ender’s Game as much if I’d read Ender’s Shadow first. A lot is lost if you already know the ending. Ender’s Shadow seems almost predicated on audience understanding. That said, it’s still a worthy addition to the series, and I look forward to reading the other books and learning what Bean’s adult life has in store for him.
by Walter Moers: In the tradition of Jansson’s Moomintrolls and Juster’s Phantom Tollbooth, here we have a story told by Optimus Yarnspinner, a dinosaurish creature whose entire life revolves around books. As our tale opens, Yarnspinner’s authorial godfather, Dancelot Wordwright, is on his deathbed. He gives Yarnspinner a short story that is so good that it caused him to stop writing. Yarnspinner then journeys to Bookholm, a city entirely devoted to writing and bookselling, to track down this amazing writer. This book is a real treat for bibliophiles. The illustrations are darling and the literary references are fun to spot. Not a book I probably would have picked up on my own; I’m glad I gave it a try.
: I have several overlapping collections of Poe, so I decided, once I’d finished reading them all, to put them all together in a single post here. I think by and large that I like Poe, but he seems to alternate between marvelous horror at his best and boring nonsense at his worst.
by Mike Resnick: Harry Redwine has been sent to cook the books of the Velvet Comet, and orbiting pleasure palace singled out for sabotage by an unnamed, power-hungry bureaucrat in the upper echelons of parent company Vainmill. Despite the science fiction backdrop, this is more of a thriller, full of complex power struggles and intrigue. I wasn’t all that satisfied with the ending, but it’s only the first in a series so I can’t really complain too much. Not Resnick’s best work, but still a decent read.
by Stephenie Meyer (unabridged audiobook read by Ilyana Kadushin): Shortly after Bella’s 18th birthday, her vampire boyfriend Edward abruptly dumps her and leaves with his vampire family for parts unknown. She is, in a word, devastated. However, she finds the pain eased somewhat when she does something stupid or reckless, because she hears Edward’s voice in her head, telling her to stay safe. She becomes addicted to these delusions, and pulls more and more idiotic stunts to get her fix. Meanwhile, childhood friend and would-be paramour Jacob Black is more than willing to step in, and the two become close.
by Amir D. Aczel: Earlier this year I read a book by the same title by Simon Singh, and unfortunately it is the superior read. Both are about the steps leading to Andrew Wile’s 1993 solution to Fermat’s Last Theorem, from ancient Greece on. At less than 140 pages, this tiny volume does not do the story justice. I have a decent math background, but I found myself getting lost in places, and the intrigue simply didn’t grab me like it did in Singh’s book. If you’re in a hurry and just want a bare bones account of the history behind Fermat’s Last Theorem, this will do, but if you want the whole story, go straight to Simon Singh.
by Michael Resnick: This is one of Mike Resnick’s earliest books, evidently before he started going by Mike professionally, and it shows. Though full of memorable characters, from the elusive mutant Gareth Cole to the savage barbarian Red Will Donahoe to the wickedly logical Baron Andrew Craston, the story is still a little rough around the edges. The ending feels rushed and I had trouble wrapping my head around Cole’s true motivations. Our story takes place in post-apocalyptic New England, during a war being waged between the mutants and the “Normans” (Normals). Donahoe, though born to misfits, is physically normal, and struggles with his conflicting hatreds for the Normans and for Cole himself. It’s a rather dizzying story, but not all together a bad one. Just a little unpolished.
by Mike Resnick: This is the third in a series of four, though it stands on its own fairly well. It’s another tale of Thaddeus Flint’s galactic traveling carnival, this time about Jupiter Monk, the animal trainer. When his Earthling animals eventually die, Monk has no act and must find alien beasts to replace them. When he comes across a tour guide who looks as foreign as any animal, they come up with an interesting idea for a con. However, things eventually get out of hand. It’s a fun book, almost as light-hearted as the prior two in the series. Good beach read.