Book Log #43 – The Last Kingdom (Saxon Tales Book 1)

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The Last Kingdom (Saxon Tales Book 1) by Bernard Cornwell [Amazon, Kindle, $6,99]

This was recommended by my buddy Curt (who is starting to rival Nick Hornby in level of responsibility for my reading list as of late) as a Since You Liked Game of Thrones sort of thing.

And he was right! It’s not as complex as GoT, but it does have the benefit of being the real world. Set in the late 800s in primordial England, we follow the story of the pagan Danes attacking the English Isles. I know scant little of this period, so everything came as a surprise to me.

The writing is solid and engaging, and it was one of those books that drags you in and doesn’t let you go until you finish. Had I the uninterrupted time, I likely would have absorbed it in a single sitting.

It looks like there are 10 books in this series, so I’ve got a good backlog to dive into at will.

Books read: 43
Week number: 43
Ratio: 1:1

Book Log #42 – Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions

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Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions by James Randi and Isaac Asimov

This is one of the staples of the skeptic community, and I’d had it on my wishlist for quite a while. Originally published in 1980, much of the perpetrators of the flim-flam have faded into obscurity, having long been debunked.

This book describes a lot of the trials people went through trying to win Randi’s (then) $10,000 prize for proof of the paranormal. Mental metal benders, psychics, water diviners… all failed spectacularly.

You don’t hear so much anymore about lots of these things having fallen out of fad, but I did note Randi’s one error in prediction: he estimated that the Scientologists movement would fizzle out after not too long. Boy… he was off.

Randi’s prize is now at $1,000,000, and no one has yet met the challenge of the double-blind experiment.

Books Read: 42
Week Number: 42
Books/Weeks: 1:1

Book Log #41 – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne

Let me tell you, I really enjoyed this. It’s the “Special Rehearsal Edition Script” from the play. I enjoy reading scripts almost more than novels, and this was no exception.

This was Back to the Future meets Harry Potter.

I’m a fan, like all sane people, of the original Harry Potter series, and this extension by another writer did not disappoint. In fact, Draco Malfoy’s son, Scorpious, is now one of my favorite Harry Potter characters.

You know why? Because he’s funny. He gets funny lines. In truth, the humor in this script is better than anything in the original novels.

Don’t get me wrong, I think J.K. Rowling is a heck of a writer. But she doesn’t bring the funny all that often. The exception was Ginny, who had the strongest comedy lines in the later books. Ironically, she doesn’t get any in this play, which disappoints me. In fact, Ginny is underused in this piece. In the author’s defense, he was packing a lot of our favorite characters into this thing.

The one thing that kept bugging me was I have NO IDEA how this could be produced on a stage. From the stage directions of the magic, it almost seems like it was written as a joke, an unproducable play.

Seriously: it would make the Les Miserables bridge jump and Peter Pan flying seem like a walk in the park.

Stacey’s complaint was that Harry Potter and his son are kind of thick headed jerks, but… that’s the plot, so we’ll let it slide. Someone’s got to learn lessons, or why have a book?

Anyway, good read.

Books Read: 41
Week Number: 38
Books/Weeks: 1.08

Book Log #40 – Skellig

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Skellig by David Almond (Amazon, $6.29)

Nick Hornby recommended this one. He’s even got a blurb on the cover… “One of the best novels publishedin the last decade… A beautifully simple and bottomlessly complicated story.”

To date, Nick Hornby has never steered me wrong. I have no memory of not enjoying one of his recs.

Skellig was… okay. It didn’t have a significant impact on me one way or another.

Granted, it’s a young adult novel, but I’ve been reading a number of those recently with great success, so I don’t see that as a major excuse.

Just… okay.

In brief, a boy whose baby sister is in the hospital finds a broken down humanish creature in a shed. There are some heartstrings pulled.

Books Read: 40
Week Number: 38
Books/Week: 1.05

Book Log #39 – The Girl in the Well is Me

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The Girl in the Well is Me by Karen Rivers [Scholastic]

Just finished reading this to Scout. Though the premise is seemingly dark (POV a 12 year old girl who is stuck in a well), it is actually a pretty brilliant novel.

The girl in the well was sort-of tricked into falling in there during a hazing by three Mean Girls at her new school. Gradually, the author lets out her full story in oxygen-deprived, stream of consciousness monologues that work much, much better than you think they would.

It’s a great YA book. Enjoy

Week: 38
Book: 39
Ratio: 1.03:1

Book Log #38 – The Member of the Wedding

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The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers [Little Shop of Stories, $7.56/Kindle $6.51]

“Recommended” by the Language Arts teacher at Dekalb School of the Arts. By which I mean, it is on my son’s reading list for this fall. This is the second book from his list that I’ve picked up, and I must say that we’re 2/2 on good reads there.

Probably I wouldn’t have appreciated it as much in 8th grade. Or 12th. Or when I was 25. Tastes change, now I am boring. Or I used to be. One or t’other.

This book is a fascinating character sketch of a 12 year old girl. Full of complex emotions she’s encountering for the first time, she struggles with finding her place in the small town she grew up in. That description seems cliche, and doesn’t really do justice to the fine writing and vivid portrayal involved here.

Regardless, I liked it quite a bit. I look forward to more of the school system’s recommendations for “my” reading list.

A note that I read the first half in paper form, then we forgot it when we went out of town and Roan needed to get a couple chapters read, so we grabbed it on Kindle, where I finished it. Being a short novel, the price/page on this one is fairly high.

Week: 38
Book: 38
Ratio: 1:1

Book Log #37: Headlong

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Headlong by Michael Frayn (loaner from Curt)

My friend Curt loaned this to me ages ago. I’ve read it in fits and bursts.

Curt had paralleled it to Cryptonomicon, except substitute art criticism for computer nerdiness. That’s probably apt.

There’s a lot of art nerdiness going on here which I was wholly ignorant about. So now I know how non-technical folk feel when reading Cryptonomicon.

Even though I only read it in bits and pieces, I will still say it is a fine book. To own the truth, I read the second book in the Baroque Cycle in fits and spurts over the course of a full year, so that isn’t a good barometer to judge a book by.

Books Read: 37
Weeks: 35
Ratio: 1.06:1

Book Log #36: The Cartoon Introduction to Economics, Volume One

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The Cartoon Introduction to Economics, Volume One: Microeconomics by Grady Klein & Yoram Bauman, Ph.D. [Powell’s Books, $8.95]

Picked this up used on a recent trip to Portland.

A nice, simple intro to Microeconomics. A lot of it most folks know just from existing in our culture, but some stuff it was nice to clarify and lay out in a well-done manner.

Not quite as strong as Larry Gonnick’s “Cartoon Guide” series, but still a worthwhile read.

Read: 36
Weeks: 35
Ratio: 1.03:1

Book Log #35: The One and Only Ivan

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The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate [Little Shop of Stories?]

Katherine Applegate is a ridiculously prolific author.

She does not shy away from the dark and the sad. The first part of this book, while mingled with hope and levity, is mostly really sad. It documents various animals living in a mall zoo.

I understand this is based on the real story of a gorilla named Ivan who resided at the Atlanta Zoo.

In short, it tugs at the heartstrings, but is well-written and engaging. This was a book I read to my daughter in the evenings, and she loved it. Even when it was sad.