Tom Stoppard: Plays 4 by Tom Stoppard
Fourth in a five book collection of Tom Stoppard’s works. I’ve read book 5 as well, which contains my favorite Stoppards, Hapgood and Arcadia.
This one is a collection of his adaptations: Dalliance, Undiscovered Country, Rough Crossing, On the Razzle, and The Seagull. They’re all fine plays, some comedies, some dramas.
I don’t really have a lot to say about them.
Time Traveler: A Scientist’s Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality by Dr. Ronald L. Mallett with Bruce Henderson
terracinque got me this a couple years back, charging me with reading it and letting her know if it was any good.
Well, it’s okay.
The book itself is fine, tells a sort of interesting true-life tale of the young black man, Ronald Mallett, who loses his father, and as a result aspires to become a scientist so that he can invent a time machine like he read about in H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine.
In the end, he has come up with a model that would possibly allow time travel. The book ends with him searching for funding to do the experiments that would lead to the device, around 2006-2007. The concept is neat from the narrative possibilities: using lasers, you create a circle of light which according to the math, at sufficient power, creates “closed timelike lines” which would be a key to time travel.
The ramifications provide an interesting basis for a time travel story, and in fact, is pretty much the basis for independent film “Primer”.
– You can’t travel further back in time than when the time machine is first turned on.
– You only enter in and out of the machine… the machine is not TARDIS like, in that if it’s in a lab, you enter and exit there, not, say, in Ancient Egypt.
– The old grandfather paradoxes can still be in play, unless rectified by the infinitely splitting universes theory.
– It also solves the moving galaxy issue, where if you’re in a Delorean time machine and you go back to 1955, wouldn’t you end up at the point in space where the Earth was at that time, many thousands of miles away in space? In this way, the time machine is rooted to the Earth, giving fixed reference point for safe travel, like an infinite slinky.
You can imagine turning on the machine, and instantly hundreds or thousands of people from the future walking out.
With this all in mind, I was of course disappointed that the book ends without any experimental progress.
So, of course I take a trip over to Wikipedia to see where he’s gotten to. As far as I can tell, he hasn’t gotten anywhere, and furthermore, some very severe objections have been raised to his theory. There’s a bunch of math stuff, but the kicker is that “even if Mallett’s choice of spacetime were correct, the energy required to twist spacetime sufficiently would be huge, and that with lasers of the type in use today the ring would have to be much larger in circumference than the observable universe.”1
So. It wouldn’t fit in a Delorean.
____________
1 Wikipedia article on Ronald Mallett
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
I’m a little more self-aware than usual writing this, because this book is about a reclusive singer who contacts someone who posted a review of his work online.
So, Nick, if you’re reading this, thanks. You’re awesome. I’ve loved everything you’ve ever written, except Fever Pitch which I couldn’t get through, because it was like you were writing another language. I especially miss your Believer column.
I liked this one a lot. It hasn’t replaced About a Boy or How to Be Good or High Fidelity, in my rankings but it’s still great.
I have to tell you, I got mixed up. I thought this was one of your entries in the Young Adult category (and honestly, Slam shows me you know how to do that genre really well, at least, from the perspective of someone who isn’t in that demographic), but got confused when it was about middle-aged people. That seemed bold, risky. But then, I guess, I was just mistaken. It’s just a regular book.
A really good regular book, I mean.
Maybe you could figure out how to write that Young Adult book that’s about a bunch of middle aged people. Might be an interesting challenge. Think about it.
Or maybe you could just re-brand this one. It’s got “naked” in the title, so it’ll at least pique their interest.
Tom Stoppard Plays: 5 by Tom Stoppard
A collection including Arcadia, The Real Thing, Night & Day, Indian Ink, and, one of my top 5 favorite plays, Hapgood.
Seriously, why hasn’t anyone done Hapgood around here? Stacey looks at me pitifully when I’ve asked her that repeatedly over the 13 years I’ve known her. She just doesn’t think it would sell, or something. Ha! Tom Stoppard! Spies! Intrigue! Humor! Strong female lead!
I saw a production at Northwestern that was perfect. I guess I’m just asking for trouble wanting to see it again.
Anyway, the other plays in here are good, too.
Books read in 2004: 21
Books read in 2005: 28
Books read in 2006: 40
Books read in 2007: 30
Books read in 2008: 41
Books read in 2009: 22
Books read in 2010: 44
So we have a new record here. One might wonder what the secret of my 2010 success is, but there’s no one secret, but several:
1. Pretend a collection of graphic novels = one book.
2. Read a bunch of Young Adult fiction.
3. Read very short books.
4. Convert putting-kids-to-bed time into read-a-book time.
Aside from The Ancestor’s Tale, there are no Big Honkin’ Books here. To own the truth, Ancestor’s rightly belongs in 2008 & 2009 as well, as I did a lot of the reading during those years.
1. Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
Xmas present; An okay adaptation of Carrie Fisher’s one-woman show.
2. How To Survive A Robot Uprising: Tips On Defending Yourself Against The Coming Rebellion by Daniel H. Wilson
Eh. The title is more entertaining that the actual book.
3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
4. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
5. A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
6. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sherlock Holmes! He’s a good character.
7. Peter and Max: A Fables Novel by Bill Willingham
Okay. A pretty good story, told passably well.
8. Various Sherlock Holmes stories, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
9. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Yay! More Sherlock Holmes!
10. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
Shockingly, I never read it. Worth the wait.
11. The Ancestor’s Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution by Richard Dawkins
Fascinating, took me a long time to get through it due to Information Density therein, as opposed to being a bad book.
12. El Bulbo Clasemedia por Sebastian Carrillo “Bachan”
The first spanish “book” I’ve read cover to cover and understood. Actually, a graphic novel.
13. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Mystery by Alan Bradley
Okay. Probably won’t pick up the rest of the series.
14. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
Okay. A somewhat interesting anti-hero. The author has my eternal disregard because of item #19 below.
The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathon Stroud
15. Book 1 : The Amulet of Samarkand
16. Book 2 : The Golem’s Eye
17. Book 3 : Ptolemy’s Gate
Awesome. Great young adult fantasy novels.
18. One Bloody Thing After Another by Joey Comeau
Okay. Very short, by the writer for a softer world webcomic.
19. And Another Thing… by Eoin Colfer
Horrible. Pathetically bad. An offense to Hitchiker’s Guide readers everywhere.
20. The Lonely Polygamist: A Novel by Brady Udall
Excellent: thoughtful, witty, well-written novel about a modern polygamist.
21. A Fictional History of the United States (with Huge Chunks Missing) by T Cooper and Adam Mansbach
Short story collection, some good, some meh.
22. Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga, and Graphic Novels by Scott McCloud
A very fine piece on comics making.
23. Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer
24. Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer
Reluctantly read because of #19. Okay. Not great.
25. 29: A Novel by Adena Halpern
This book is why I hate small airport bookstores and bestseller lists. I’m embarrassed this is on my list.
26. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, book 1) by Rick Riordan
Fun young adult. Derivative of Harry Potter, but whatchagonnado?
27. You Suck: A Love Story by Christopher Moore
Typical fun Christopher Moore, second vampire novel.
28. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay: A Novel by Michael Chabon
Extremely rich storytelling, funny, interesting. Made me pick up another by this author.
29. Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
A modern Brave New World; fine summer read.
30. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (translated by Reg Keeland)
Every once in a while, the bestseller lists get it right. It’s a shame the author passed away, I would have read all 10 books he was planning.
31. Legitimacy by M. H. Van Keuren
I’ve read this, and you haven’t. Nyah nyah. That’s what comes from having friends who are authors.
32. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson (translated by Reg Keeland)
Ditto #30.
33. The Sea of Monsters: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Book 2 by Rick Riordan
Ditto #26.
34. Slam by Nick Hornby
Love this Young Adult novel by Nick Hornby. Every teenager should read it, as it’s a vivid tale of teen pregnancy from the guy’s point of view.
35. The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 3) By Rick Riordan
36. The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 4) by Rick Riordan
37. The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 5) by Rick Riordan
Ditto #26.
38. The Mysterious Secret of the Valuable Treasure by Jack Pendarvis
Okay humurous collection of short stories. Not quite David Sedaris, but amusing.
39. The Stonekeeper (Amulet series book 1), The Stonekeeper’s Curse (Amulet series book 2), The Cloud Searchers (Amulet series book 3) by Kazu Kibuishi
Graphic novel for the younger crowd. I like the art and the story.
40. Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud
Best of the Bartimaeus books. Strong female main character.
41. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
Fascinating alternate history of an Israel in Alaska.
42. 200 More Neo-Futurist Plays: From Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (30 Plays in 60 Minutes) by the Neo-Futurists
Saw the Neo-Futurists in Chicago, bought the book. They’re funny.
43. Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World’s Greatest Scientist by Thomas Levenson
Enjoyable telling of Newton’s time as master of the mint.
44. Scott Pilgrim: Books 1-6 by Bryan Lee O’Malley
I didn’t write a book log on these, but I loved them. Different enough from the movie to be worth reading.
Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World’s Greatest Scientist by Thomas Levenson
curt_holman loaned me this; He thought I might be interested since it deals with the era that formed some of the setting for my favorite Neal Stephenson series.
And he was right.
It’s nice to have some non-fictional background info to flesh out Stephenson’s book. Though, on it’s own, the “battle” between Newton and one particular counterfeiter is a fairly thin story.
What story there is is well told, with details of where the information comes from. There’s a pretty good description of the history of money at the time, which I find interesting for some reason I can’t fathom.
I think there’s a play in the history of money and economies. I might be the only one who enjoys it, though. Me and Neal Stephenson. Perhaps we’ll go out for a soda afterwards.
200 More Neo-Futurist Plays: From Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (30 Plays in 60 Minutes) by the Neo-Futurists
I picked this up after seeing TMLMTBGB in Chicago. They’re like play hors d’oeurves, and most of them are tasty.
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
The first tip that this was an alternate history fiction was my knowledge of Northern Exposure. I was pretty sure, based on the TV Show, that there was no Jewish territory in Alaska. Because Joel Fleischman would have mentioned it.
I’m pretty embarrassed that that is what tipped me off, but I’m often gullible because I assume there’s a lot of stuff I just don’t know about.
The second tip was when they offhandedly mentioned dropping an atomic bomb on Berlin.
Michael Chabon is a great storyteller. This is ostensibly a mystery novel, but the best mystery novels are those where you don’t care about the mystery, you just enjoy the ride. This is one of those books.
If he ever dove into a topic that lights my fires like cryptography or science or money, Chabon would rank up there with Neal Stephenson.
But hard-boiled Jewish detectives in a mythical Jewish state in Alaska is pretty okay, too.
Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud
I bought this for the Chicago trip we took before Thanksgiving. It’s a prequel of sorts to the Bartimaeus trilogy, taking place during the time of Solomon. Bartimaeus, for the uninitiated, is a sarcastic mid-level djinn, summoned to Earth from the Other Place by magicians.
Like the trilogy, it’s a great read. Even better than the trilogy, I would say, because there’s a lot more Bartimaeus in it, and that character is fun to read.
The other main character is a worthy foil for Bartimaeus, a bad-ass female assassin type with just enough magician training to keep B in check.
The Mysterious Secret of the Valuable Treasure by Jack Pendarvis
Jack Pendarvis is a contributor to McSweeney’s, so I can only assume that’s how he ended up on my Amazon Wishlist.
This is a short story collection, and it’s okay.
It didn’t grab me and make me want to spread the news of a fabulous book, but it was amusing. It’s mostly short stories from the point of view of various dysfunctional narrators. He reminds me a bit of David Sedaris, though the largest piece in the book is reminiscent of John Kennedy O’Toole’s Confedaracy of Dunces, without being quite as good as either.