Snuff by Terry Pratchett
A Commander Vimes book from the Discworld genre. And really, I think it can be called a genre, since there are like 30 Discworld novels.
The Commander Vimes books really respect being a “copper”. We hear about how being a copper is in your blood, blah blah blah about every third page. The themes of justice are heavy-handed (“Goblins are people, too!”).
But Discworld stuff isn’t hard literature. It’s just silly, easy reading. And a bit addictive.
Don’t start, kids.
A Hat Full of Sky: A Tiffany Aching Adventure by Terry Pratchett
This is the second of the Tiffany Aching series, set in Discworld. Like it’s predecessor, The Wee Free Men, it’s aimed at a younger audience. But it’s still a Discworld novel. Granny Weatherwax makes an appearance, and I like that character from the “grown-up” Discworld books.
I think I say this about every Discworld book, but why re-invent the wheel: This is an amusing piece of mind candy.
The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
The Shop clearly didn’t have the impact on me that Copperfield did, or even Nickleby. Perhaps that’s why I waited 3 or 4 weeks to record it here.
I hate to write “Welp, this was another fine novel by Dickens. Uuuuyup.” But that’s what I’m going to do. I enjoyed the read, but it didn’t resonate like other of his works. The heroine Young Nell is a virtuous and noble character, but in the end, sort of un-interesting. Everyone was just too immediately taken with her, and I didn’t really get why. I guess she was just that cute.
Also, I was a bit uncomfortable with just how detestable the dwarf character was. I couldn’t fathom how such an absolutely un=likable, intolerable character could attain the level of power he had. It was just… too much.
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns) by Mindy Kaling
I like Mindy Kaling on the The Office, and I think they use her character juuuuust enough. I did not know she was a writer… I never read the credits.
In the Funny Women Memoirish Book category, it’s not quite as strong as Fey’s Bossypants, but she’s funny. What’s good is good; the only weakness is there are some sections that really, really feel like filler. (e.g. several photos downloaded from her mobile demonstrating her tendency to use it as a mirror).
There’s some interesting commentary and storytelling about her journey to becoming a writer for The Office. I did not know she co-wrote and toured a two-woman show about Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, where she played Ben Affleck. So I’ve learned that, at the very least.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson
It’s one of those sad things when you come to the end of a good series, and know there likely won’t be any more because the author has passed away.
There’s rumors of a 5th book on the laptop of the writer, held prisoner by the sort-of-wife as part of a custody battle with the rest of the family. A fifth book, because he skipped the fourth for some reason?
Mr. Larsson reputedly planned 10 books total, and it’s a loss he couldn’t make that happen. Lisbeth Salander is one of the most engaging characters I know of, fun like other almost superhuman, eccentric genius characters… Sherlock Holmes, The Doctor, and to some extent, Dr. House.
The three books are commendable in the way they weave a complex but believable plot, while producing some memorable scenes and characters. Larrson’s quirky (perhaps almost aspergerish?) tendency to provide copious detail about the technology in the story (down to the model numbers of cellphones used) was jarring at first, but later just became an unintentional running gag in my head.
This third book ties things up reasonably well for what was supposed to be a third of ten novel, so we’re not left hanging with anything more than “what would Lizbeth Salander get up to next?”
It seems a bit pointless to give a worldwide bestselling book a rave… but there are a lot of bestsellers out there that I’ve found essentially unreadable, especially in the thriller/mystery category (e.g. anything by Clive Cussler). So.. in essence, I’m saying this deserves to be a bestseller.
On a side note, this book is an example of why I shouldn’t have a Kindle. It was a classic example of my almost-worst-case scenario. I felt like reading it, it cost $13 as an eBook, I could have found it used for much less, but it’s So Easy to just buy it and read it right then. And thus I did.
At least it didn’t suck. That would have been the real worst-case.
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens writes very well.
Well… duh.
But, no, really… I know I have rolled my eyes at classic authors because there is this thing that says classic novels are books we should like if we are smart or educated or whatever. And people even buy nice, leather-bound editions of “classic” books to put on their shelves because they look nice. And they do.
But the fact of the matter is he just writes good books. You don’t have to dive into symbolism or theme to really “get” them. Dickens just writes enjoyable stories with amusing characters.
It’s satirical, and probably more than I know because I don’t have insight into the sort of things of Dickens’ era that he might be satirizing. But there was some heavy-handed commentary at times. At one point, for no narrative/character reason I could see, Nicholas lays into a guy who adapts novels to the stage. He lambasts him for leeching off of author’s works, even before they’re finished. Obviously, Dickens had a bone to pick.
Nicholas contains many plot and character elements you see in his other works. For example, Nicholas’ chief antagonist might as well be Ebenezer Scrooge, but nastier and without salvation.
Nicholas was Dickens’ third novel (right after Twist, initially released, as all his novels were, as a serial in a magazine). It came five years before A Christmas Carol, and 11 years before Copperfield.
I mention the serialization because my favorite modern (also English) author is attempting something of the sort in this new age of web media. Neal Stephenson, along with a bunch of cohorts, are publishing a weekly web serial called The Mongoliad. It’s a noble effort, with lots of multimedia to make it more than just a serialized story. The only problem is that, so far, I don’t like it very much. I’m having trouble getting through the first chapter. Also, it’s complicated to transfer to my Kindle.
So. 150 years later, we’re still trying to reproduce that magic that Dickens had. Thankfully, I’ve still got 7 or 8 of his works to wander through before I need Stephenson to get his act together.
Installing Linux on a Dead Badger by Lucy A. Snyder
This is a… pretty amusing collection of short stories. I could not have written a better book, myself.
See how I’m pulling punches here? I don’t mind knocking a book, generally. But this book has an amateur, self-published feel about it.
The About The Author is 2 1/2 pages long, detailing how she came up with the title parody and got her start writing comedy at everything2.com. So, it’s not surprising that it reads like someone wrote some stuff for a website that got a lot of LOLs, and then gathered them up and published them.
Not a *bad* thing, per say. And it is a good parody of a Linux installation guide, in that it was written by someone who has really read a Linux How-To.
Oh! Here’s what it reminds of: The Flying Spaghetti Monster. A guy wrote a letter and posted it on the internet, and it became a worldwide sensation. Then he wrote a book based on the contents of the letter, and it read… like a book based on a letter.
Anyway. Amusing.