Books you've read in 2008 - Page 2

DaveF · 02-10-2008, 02:20 PM

I finished Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed last week. This is a superb book for anyone interested in engineering, aerospace, or american history. For me, it was amazing, and simultaneously disheartening, learning how far advanced the SR-71 Blackbird was, but also how anomolous it was. That such a plane is not a normal progression in our nation's aerospace progression, but was a unique invention, perhaps never to be repeated. And now decommissioned, tooling scrapped, never to be made again.

Now, onto Built to Last.

**HTF Ads**

DavidJ · 02-17-2008, 02:23 PM

Well, I can finally contribute to this thread. I just finished The Shetland Bus by David Howarth. It tells the story of a unique allied resistance effort during World War II to help occupied Norway using fishing boats and Norwegian refugees. It does not have as strong a narrative as We Die Alone, but was interesting to me to see how Jan Baalsrud's story fits into the larger scheme of things. His story is the subject of a chapter in The Shetland Bus and the subject of We Die Alone. I am glad that I read the latter book first. Baalsrud's story deserves the detailed treatment it receives in that book. If you have never heard his story, I highly recommend reading it. It is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and the amazing things that the human body can endure. I would also recommend The Shetland Bus, but it is not as universally appealing.

Adam Lenhardt · 02-17-2008, 10:15 PM

Read:
Rabbit, Run by John Updike. This one wasn't my choice, and was like pulling teeth for the first 100 pages or so. John Updike's style of writing, with its focus on mundane minutia, has always frustrated me and this was no different. Rabbit Angstrom isn't a likeable character, nor are most of the characters that surround him at the beginning. I liked the prostitute he shacks up with, the priest he plays golf with, and the old lady he gardens for. But it still doesn't overcome a narrative composed seemingly singularly of the incorrect decision.

"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" by Edward Albee. My first introduction to this play was the Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor movie in middle school or early high school so I've always thought of the thing as a rather traumatizing affair, especially since Burton's and Taylor's performances are so searing. But reading the play, with the words flat on the page for me to interpret and with Albee's little parenthetical notations to establish frame of mind, an entirely different vision of events developed, one of a couple having the time of their lives. I first settled on this theory when George opens the front door to their guests as Martha exclaims, "FUCK YOU!" at the top of her voice. George isn't embarrassed or angry, he's pleased to have so perfectly set their guests ill-at-ease right from the get-go. Scenes like the one in which George bemoans the fact that none of his colleagues got their heads shot off in the war before veering off into an analysis of Honey's shortcomings to Nick that were excruciatingly awkward on screen are positively hilarious on the page. And yet, while George and Martha's volatile relationship is enlivened by their games, it is also insulated by them. For Martha, the prospect of facing George alone, his promise to make her regret bringing up their son fufilled, is absolutely terrifying. I found the complexity of their dynamic absolutely engrossing. What a terrific high-wire act that play is.

Adam Lenhardt · 03-15-2008, 10:51 PM

Read:
"Death Takes a Holiday: A Comedy in Three Acts" by Walter Ferris, adapted from "La Morte in Vacanza" by Alberto Casella. You'd think really morbid jokes about death would get tiresome after a page or two, but as it turns out they really, really don't. The play runs slow before Death comes a-knocking, but the rest of the play is a sprint with ever increasing tension. It was adapted into a bloated, overserious film called Meet Joe Black in 1998 — which I also rather liked — but this original English version is still the best.

"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" by Tennessee Williams. Until reading this and seeing the movie version of Suddenly Last Summer, I thought I couldn't stand the playwright in question. But the love triangle sketched out here between Brick, his wife and his dead best friend is impeccably worked out and rings painfully, heartbreakingly true. Even more involving for me, as a straight twentysomething male, was the tortured relationship between Brick and his father as they struggle so valiantly to get at the truth. Neither character is a neat Southern stereotype and both are more noble for that.

Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Revelation by Karen Traviss. Traviss is not among my favorite Expanded Universe authors. I always she her plot twists coming, and she tends to embue things with greater weight and importance than seems justified. The first half of this book was just as I expect from her and, even worse, rather boring. It was a slog to get through. But the second half was a really pleasant surprise. She threw a couple plot twists in there that I didn't see coming, and a few of her emotional dénouements were genuinely affecting. There is a certain tendency in Star Wars fiction for the characters to be used by the authors are props for philosophical debates, bolstered with artificial humanity by familar quips and patterns of speech. At the end of this book, the characters were allowed to just be human beings — something I never noticed missing until it was provided here.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman. Almost certainly the creepiest children's book I have ever read. I was incredibly intrigued by this clip from Henry Selick's claymation (shot in 3D using two digital SLR still cameras) adaptation. Really enjoyable but unsettling little tale with a really likable protagonist. It reminded me strongly of C.S. Lewis's Narnia series, in particular The Magician's Nephew; ie. a big house full of interesting characters that is really a portal to another world. The most troubling part of the story was the conclusion, especially after having seen a certain 2002 horror film. Part of what makes the other mother so terrifying is how little is revealed about her. The imagery is also disturbing, because it is only slightly skewed from reality. And yet Gaiman's sense of humor is gentle and clever and fun. Once the workload backs off and I have time to read Big People books for pleasure again, I'll probably try out one of his works for adults.

DaveF · 03-16-2008, 01:09 PM

I finished a few more books.

Old Man's War, by John Scalzi: I enjoyed The Android's Dream a lot, so I bought this for reading on my Cruise a few weeks ago. To my taste, this was more fun, but arguably Android is a better plotted novel. Anyhow, this is set on Earth, some unkown time in the future. Earth's colonists in space recruit for their army from Earth's geriatrics: if you enlist you are called to service at age 75. The pensioners go into service with the belief -- almost rumors, with no real details -- that they will be rejuenvated to be made fit soldiers. And to say anymore would give away fun plot points of the book.

The Ghost Brigades, by John Scalzi: Old Man's War was so fun, I bought sequel shortly after returning from the cruise. Had an airport bookstore carried it (rather than endless Star Wars books and fantasy books I read 20 years ago) I'd have bought it for the flight. A solid followup, taking place a few years after Old Man's War, following an individual in the Special Forces, introduced in the previous book.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling: I've read the whole series already, but my wife hasn't. So we're reading them togethe, out loud. This is slow going, but worth it as it's a fun thing for us.

Astro City Vol. 2: Confession, by Kurt Busiek: I was introduced to Astro City in grad school. I finally got the 2nd and 3rd trade books last year and am now reading them. I'm not a comics collector, but I love Astro City.

Adam - I read Gaiman's Sandman series -- my friend with Astro City also had Sandman -- and really liked them. I've been curious about Coraline so I'll put that on my wishlist. I read American Gods a year or two ago. It's a rich, complex, literate book. Thematically, I like the concepts in it, even though I don't find it as great as the critics seem to. And it too has echoes of Lewis' works in it, as well as the movie Unbreakable. The notion that our mythologies, our religions, the "funny dreams" as Lewis put it, carry a truth to them beyond simple campfire stories.

Carlo Medina · 03-16-2008, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling: I've read the whole series already, but my wife hasn't. So we're reading them togethe, out loud. This is slow going, but worth it as it's a fun thing for us

Okay, so I gotta ask: Do you read it in a British accent? Do you and her switch off for male and female characters? Do you try to copy the movie actors' voices?

DaveF · 03-17-2008, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carlo Medina

Okay, so I gotta ask: Do you read it in a British accent? Do you and her switch off for male and female characters? Do you try to copy the movie actors' voices?

No

We just read them out loud to each other. She might read a couple of chapters in a row, over a few nights or weeks. And then she'll realize that I'm shirking my reading duty and I'll read a chapter or three. And so on. This all started when we were dating long distance, and to have something to share, we read childrens' books to each other on the phone. After marriage, we continued the routine. Late last year, I finally talked her into the Harry Potter series. But through the myriad books, we've never really used "voices" for our reading.

Zen Butler · 03-17-2008, 07:52 PM

so far..

Water for Elephants- Sara Gruen
American Shaolin- Matthew Polly

DavidJ · 03-24-2008, 10:57 PM

The A.B.C. Murders
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Appointment with Death

by Agatha Christie

DaveF · 03-25-2008, 04:31 PM

The Hubble Wars: Astrophysics Meets Astropolitics in the Two-Billion-Dollar Struggle over the Hubble Space Telescope

Superb book telling the story of Hubble's launch and first year in orbit. It describes the well-known optical flaw (the blurriness) but also many other problems that, frankly, are much less well know but just as troublesome.

While being written so close to the events brings a great immediacy, it suffers in accuracy. I saw weaknesses, errors even, in some technical descriptions. Worst, based on more recent information I've heard, the explanation of the figuring error in the mirror is not wholly correct.

Despite some problems with the details, this is a great book for all interested in aerospace or astronomy.

Andy Sheets · 03-27-2008, 02:04 PM

I just started Ice Station, by Matthew Reilly, and so far it's the funniest book I've read in ages. It's not a comedy, it's a summer action movie on paper, but there's this one "setpiece" involving the heroes and villains falling into a pool filled with wild killer whales who then take the opportunity to have a feeding frenzy on the humans, which makes me laugh because I get the impression no one told Reilly that killer whales aren't really killers and they're not whales, either (or maybe he does know and just said "Screw it, I want my killer whales to be KILLERS"). It goes on for like 45 pages and I think the highlight is when one of them chomps down on a butch female marine's leg and she turns around and starts kicking Evil Shamu on the snout with her good leg while calling him a motherf@#ker. A few pages later, a cute Spielbergian girl and her pet wonder seal get in on the action. I can't really do justice to it but it's a fun read so far

Walter Kittel · 03-27-2008, 02:37 PM

Just finished Excession, the fourth 'Culture' novel by Iain M. Banks. I've been reading the books in order and in some ways this is my least favorite as the ethical considerations of some of the earlier novels aren't as strongly featured in this work. Given the subject matter and many of the protagonists the work feels a little bit 'abstract' but eventually payed off with a very satisfactory conclusion.

Still a lot of fun for the interaction between the Minds and the ship names are invariably enjoyable bits of information within the larger work.

(The section of the novel dealing with the drone from the Elench ship Peace Makes Plenty was particularly compelling.)

- Walter.