Planning my 2011 Reading

One of the things I've been thinking lately is that I'm not as well read as I want to be--or even used to be. That's not to say I don't read a lot (anyone who knows me knows better), like the guys over at Unshelved say, I read irresponsibly and encourage that in others. But I think I need a tad more responsibility in my reading.

I read a lot, and I mean a lot of detective/mystery fiction, urban fantasies, etc. Many people would disdainfully refer to it as, "genre fiction" (totally ignoring the nagging detail that everything fits in at least one genre). Don't get me wrong--I don't plan on stopping, maybe just cutting back a little to make some time for more mainstream fiction, "serious" literature and some classics.

Back in college, I read a lot more along those lines -- and not just for class ('tho certainly that was a part of it), but after graduation, I shifted my reading focus and only read fiction as entertainment and escape. Before I knew it, I got lazy, and only occasionally did any heavy lifting. It's time for me to try to fix that.

So in addition to new books by the likes of Michael Connelly, Patricia Briggs, Carrie Vaughn, Jim Butcher, Robert B. Parker, Jim C. Hines, Anton Strout, Seanan McGuire and knocking out back lists of Zoë Sharp, Lee Child, James Lee Burke, Lawrence Block, Patricia Briggs (that looks like a lot of Briggs), and others I haven't stumbled across yet; I need to add some more serious reads. I'm thinking about some Austen, Franzen, Updike, Salinger, maybe even Dickens (if I get desperate)...but I'm looking for some more ideas.

So, friends, readers, countrymen...lend me your reads. The comment section is wide open--fill 'er up.

I Know You're Dead and All, But . . .

Dear Stieg Larsson,

Until you become a much, much better writer than you are, you really need to get to the hook earlier than page 245 of 640. Dude, that's 40% of your book.

Just sayin',

Me

What is Truth? - Quote of the Day

"...Like the whole concept of truth, Mr. Hinton. You know what the most haunting question in the Bible is? When Pilate says to Jesus, 'What is the truth?' You know, is it empirical and objective, or it is all relative and subjective? Is my truth your truth? Or is truth something outside both of us, immutable as the atomic weight of lithium? When you think about it, all science, religion, philosophy, morals, everything, turns on Pilate's question. What is the truth?"

Now, standing on the corner of Church and Henley, waiting for the light to change, Hinton said, slightly out of breath, "All right, then. I'll bite. What is the truth, Mr. Ruzak?"

"Boy," I said. "You got me."

- Richard Yancey
The Highly Effective Detective Plays the Fool

On Open Letter on the Occasion of Reading Invincible #63

What a gut-punch of an issue!

I have a few things to say about/to Robert Kirkman, but none of them are printable. Anyway, my Gram always told me to say nothing if I can't say anything nice. So, in honor of Gram, here's my open letter.

Dear Mr. Kirkman,








































Sincerely,
H. C. Newton

Derelict in Duties

No real post yet today...mayyybe later. There are a handful of reasons:

1. Played a couple of games of Checkers with the Princess in lieu of teaching her how to play chess.
2. I've been really fuzzy-headed and my concept of time today rarely matched reality.
3. 
   This is just one of the most endearing novels I've read in months, and despite not being far into it, just wanted to talk about it.
4. 
   and I've spent far too much time preparing responses to several of these wrong people, only to delete them, walk away with disgust, come back and rewrite a response, delete again, walk away again and then ultimately return to post something. Utter waste of time regardless. Would've been a much better use of time to write something pointless here. Sorry!

Who Needs Sleep?

Am reading Andrew P. Napolitano's book A Nation of Sheep, which is quite the experience so far. The book is about how our national government ignores, circumvents, and attacks the rights and liberties that are the foundation of our nation.

Napolitano's best known for his frequent/regular appearances on pretty much every show on FOXNews, he obviously takes his talking points from the GOP, slavishly promotes the agenda of the Bush (43) Administration, and is some sort of fascist (closeted or otherwise). Right?

Except he's not. In fact, the Bush Administration's agenda is the main target of Napolitano's vitriol. However, I should note that the Adams (2), Lincoln, Roosevelt (32), Trueman and Nixon administrations receive knocks as well.

After a few chapters skimming U.S. History (with quick glances at contemporary events), Napolitano turns his focus on the present with this little end-of-chapter tease:

If you're not convinced that the government is hell-bent on accumulating extreme amounts of power in the name of national security, the forthcoming chapters will finalize the exsanguinations of your skepticism. In other words, get ready for some sleepless nights.

I found that more amusing than I ought--the one phrase I've been muttering to myself (and TLomL) about the book so far is "don't know if I'll be able to sleep again." And he now tells me it's gonna get worse?

Yipe.

In nomine pizza domine!

a quick peak into my geekery:

^*

Thanks to the virtual signing hosted by Dog Eared Books last week, I received my signed copy of the new Dresden Files novel, Turn Coat this weekend. This being the, I think, 6th signed book in my meager library,^** this one is obviously being added to my "do not loan" list--honestly, not sure I'm going to let myself read it.

------

^*The inscription, "In nomine pizza domine!" is the battle cry of Toot-Toot and his dewdrop faerie friends, as they attack the Summer Court in Summer Knight.

^**I fully expect certain readers, like TLomL, will dispute the use of the word "meager." On this, however, she is uncharacteristically wrong.

Batman: Cacophony

Kevin Smith returned to comics with a 3-part Batman mini, which, believe it or not, actually came out within 3 months of the first issue going on sale (am betting DC didn't announce the project 'til they had 3 scripts out of the criminally tardy writer).

Onomatopoeia, created by Smith in his heralded Green Arrow story, comes to Gotham and frees the Joker from Arkham Asylum (creating a little havoc along the way). Naturally, Batman leads the search for the Joker, who's essentially being used by his liberator as bait. Along the way, we get some interesting b-stories (one involving a designer drug made with the Joker's poison), and some great dialogue (Alfred, in particular, was pitch-perfect).

The final confrontation between the Batman and Joker here is one of the better I've read--far better than the conversation in The Killing Joke.

All in all, a good story. Nothing fantastic, but a good solid story. Emblematic of what comics should be--and all too often aren't. Smith didn't stretch a 3-issue tale over 6 issues to make a better trade paperback, he didn't "permanently" alter a character or anything. Character, plot, resolution--thanks for coming, have a nice day.

Smith delivered a story, not an event. Now, unlike Joe Quesada, I'm not against character growth, character development and change--but I am weary of the world-changing, character dying (temporarily), "we're gonna change the face of [insert comic company name here] forever" events. DC currently has 2 such events going on that are naturally opposed to each other--one is posited on the idea that Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are so integral to the make-up of reality that without them the nature of the world is permanently altered. The other has Batman dead and a battle to replace him as Gotham's protector waging. Which is it boys? Pick one!

Just tell good stories, and when you decide to have something epoch-changing happen--let it happen and move on, telling stories that come from that. Leave Barry Allen dead, leave Jason Todd dead (why, why, DC, ruin 2 of the best moments of the 80's?), leave Peter Parker married (and outed, since you made that stupid move), leave Steve Rogers in the ground. I swear, if Sue Dibney lives again I will blow something up (and I really liked Sue).

Ooops, seem to have gotten off on a rant there, time to bring it home...Cacophony's a great example of what comics should be. I just hope someone out there in a corporate office remembers that one day.

The Little Sleep

Paul Tremblay's debut novel, The Little Sleep, not only sports a eye-catching title, but a premise that's just as intriguing.

Obviously, the title's supposed to get the reader thinking of noir classic, The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler--so one expects the lone-wolf, tougher than nails, sardonically witty gumshoe typified by Philip Marlowe. But Tremblay's protagonist, Mark Genevich, has one challenge his predecessors in the genre doesn't have...he's a narcoleptic. So he's falling asleep, hallucinating and losing control of his body and the most inconvenient times (for Genevich, anyway...the occasionally seem a convenient deus ex machina to get Tremblay out of a scene).

Initially, the book didn't do much for me--had a hard time caring for Genevich or his problem, his client, and the early chapters seemed a little too erratic. But I hung in there, and eventually, Genevich explains his disorder enough that you can accept the bouncing-around nature of the first chapters. I'm still not sure how sympathetic Tremblay ever makes him, but you do at least start to want him to figure out what's going on--which is close enough.

I remember when I started working the graveyard shift (I guess 3^rd shift is the term we're supposed to use now), I had a lot of days where I couldn't be sure that I wouldn't fall asleep w/o warning--in a theater, during a slow after-dinner conversation, on the road(!)--and I recognized the embarrassment, anger and confusion Genevich displayed. No matter what precautions he took, the very real danger of waking in a different place or his body not acting like he intended always loomed large. I'm assuming Tremblay has no first-hand knowledge of the disorder, but he sure acts like he does.

Genevich's path to solving this particular case follows many of the typical hardboiled paths, but he cannot travel those paths like his forefathers because of his disorder. Unlike with Monk, Genvich's problem is never fodder for humor--unlike Monk's OCD, which would've been very easy, and probably very entertaining. Tremblay sticks to the high road, however, resulting in a deeper, probably more satisfyingk, read.

The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines

There are really only so many reactions a father can have when, thanks to his young daughter, his home and life are invaded by the Disney Princesses. Through DVDs, toys, costumes, books, clothing these characters can thoroughly infiltrate a family's collective consciousness. A dad can run to such things as home improvement projects, sports, denial, or attempts to turn their daughter into a Tom-boy; but once these girls take the beachhead of your home, they don't give an inch of it back for years.

Jim C. Hines took a different tack--the author of the satirical Jig the Goblin fantasy series started writing. The result "is a cross between the old (pre-Disney) fairy tales and Charlie's Angels."


The book opens with one of Cinderella's (Danielle) stepsisters trying to assassinate the new princess a few months after the whole glass slipper incident. Danielle, some of her animal friends and another princess in disguise put a stop to that, but discover that Danielle's husband has been kidnapped. Thankfully, the Queen is the head of a covert operations team (or the fairy tale equivalent thereof) made up of princesses who rarely qualify as damsels in distress.

The book works pretty well as a light, fun fantasy adventure. When you throw in Hines' reworking of the original fairy tales--well, that's icing on the cake (thick, rich and creamy icing). Happily ever after isn't everything we tend to think it is.

"Are all the tales like this?" Danielle asked. "Did Jack Giantslayer fall into despair and poverty? Was Red Riding Hood murdered by wolves seeking revenge for the death of their kin?"

Talia snorted. "No, Red survived. But that kind of thing changes a woman."

"Changes her how?"

"The Lady of the Red Hood is one of the most feared assassins this side of Akenkar."

Looking forward to the next two installments of this series.

Another Week Started

another weekend full of blogging I neglected to do.

This weekend was also Daddy-Daughter Date Night at the local rec center, which we didn't attend due to a few too many sick people at home. So, now I have to come up with something to do with her in 2 weeks to make up for that. Sadly, I have no idea what we can do...looking through newspapers, websites, etc...can find nothing for a dad and his Princess to do (found a couple of activities for the others, tho).

Still plugging through Torre's book--it's an easy, enjoyable read, and I feel like I could knock it off in one sitting--but I can't get myself to read more than 1/2-1 chapter at a time. Not sure why. Anyway, so far even with the players that have been shown in a critical light, there's a balanced, complimentary tone. No balance so far with the Saints: Cone, Rivera, Jeter, and O'Neil. Heck, so far even Boss Steinbrenner's looking pretty good.

Couldn't have put it better myself

And yet Coca-Cola BlāK is gone. . . Why is it that the truly momentous inventions are ignored by the public, while trifles like cell phones, the Internet, and artificial insulin are treated like miracles of science?

- Shawn Spencer
(from A Mind is a Terrible Thing
to Read by William Rabkin)

Backup by Jim Butcher

Well, that was a fun, 45 minutes (give or take).

Just knocked off Jim Butcher's Backup: A Story of the Dresden Files. Weighing in at about 12K words, it's almost as meaty as the 4-issue mini-series comic book Welcome to the Jungle (recently collected and published in hardcover form).

This is a different way of telling a Harry Dresden story, coming at it from the POV of his brother, Thomas. Not only does this give us a new way of seeing Harry, it gives us a better appreciation for Thomas. (In many ways, it reminded me of Crais' The Watchman from last year.)

Quick read; decent story--resolution came a bit too soon, but given the length, such was unavoidable; probably paid too much for it, given my budget; hope some of the backstory spills over into the regular Dresden File novels. Something any fan should pick up.

Superpowers: A Novel by David J. Schwartz

If one's going to write about superheroes there's really only so much you can do--A. Write a prose equivalent of a comic book or B. Go out of your way to make sure that no once can describe your work as an example of "A." Typically, the "A" books are shoddy, and wouldn't be accepted as a script by a decent comic publisher; and the "B" books are so caught up in not being "A"s that they lose something--they might do well exploring the nature of "heroes" or satirizing/politicizing the genre or whatever, but they don't work as novels.

I've had my fill of the "B"s lately, and think I've finished only one out of the handful I've started in the last couple of years--Tom De Haven's It's Superman, which really did work as a novel. Schwartz' Superpowers: A Novel, stands as an example of how to do an "A" right.

Superpowers is the origin story of a super-hero team from Madison, Wisconsin, of all places. A group of college students one day find themselves with superpowers (super-strenghth/invulnerability; super-speed; invisibility; telepathy; and power of flight), and it doesn't take too long before they decide to don costumes and fight crime as the All-Stars, despite the very clear absence of any super villainy. A solid, "A" start--and if Schwartz kept at it at this level, I'd probably really have enjoyed the read.

He did a great job of focusing on each of the five heroes in turn, never focusing on one for too long, essential to any good team book (unlike the Justice League, which all to0 frequently turns into Superman and some other guys (or Batman and...;or Wonder Woman and...; or...). The early chapters are told with a solid amount of humor--think the early parts of the Spider-Man movie, where Peter's learning about his powers. And like I said, if he'd kept it there, Schwartz would've produced a fun read.

But he didn't, and he made it a better read.

There's a cost to these powers for each character--personal, vocational, mental, physical, familial and/or academic. Each one had a full life before tacking on crime-fighting. And life keeps going on--new changes, challenges, and developments--it's possible that a decent story could've been told about these five and their associates without the powers. So they're having to grow as people, as well as nascent heroes.

Then a few short months after receiving their powers, well--don't want to give it away, but something happens hundreds of miles away from them that their powers can't help. The public as a whole isn't sure what to make of anyone being a super-hero (particularly the police). This is worsened when they make a couple of mistakes that wreak havoc on civilians.

The book is really about how people react to these powers, the costs, and the events surrounding them. The plot doesn't depend on a super villain or three for conflict--conflict and drama come from living--lLaughter, love, anger, pain, ambition, parent-child relationships (of varying degrees of health/disfunction), hatred, fear, revenge...

These are not paragons of virtue, Schwartz depicts them as people. That's what makes the book worth the time. While I was reading it, I kept saying to myself "If Robert Kirkman or Brian Michael Bendis wrote a novel, it would read like this." Come to think of it, for my comic reading friends, that's probably all I had to say in this post (a much more economical way to say everything I just did). If you're not one of my comic-reading friends, and you want to be--read this book, and if you like it, go pick up the trade paperbacks of Ultimate Spider-Man and Invincible.

You can thank me later.

Chasing Darkness by Robert Crais

I was able to steal 10 minutes here and there, and was able to finish Elvis Cole's latest adventure. This is the best Cole in years (The Watchman, technically a Joe Pike novel, doesn't count).

Pike is Pike (Hawk to the 3rd power); Elvis is still the less-funny, more-broody of the later novels; the nameless cat is still the nameless cat, and the regular supporting cast is at least mentioned.

The status remains quo with Elvis' relationships with Carol and Lucy. Elvis won't let go of Lucy, who is trying to distance herself from him (with a degree of success). Carol's still hung up on Elvis, but seems in more control of her emotions. I've liked Starkey in every one of her appearances, this time, perhaps more than others.

Crais was near the top of his game when it came to plotting--I suspected the culprit early on, but it was still well plotted. What appealed to me most about this was that what drew Elvis into the case wasn't something in his personal history, a friend's past, Pike's past, etc. Yes, there was a historical draw--but it was professional, making this a case of Elvis finishing a job, not exploring what made him who he is today, etc.

The ending was also pleasantly small. There was no apocalyptic battle between Elvis, Pike and several gunmen, or whatever. A simple, solid resolution. Yes, something that resonated, something that read well and contained the requisite suspense...just not an 'end of the world' scenario.

Sadly, have to wait another year for the next installment--but am sure it'll be worth it.

"Go to hell, I'm reading."

Sorry for the profanity, blame Mrs. Goodwin for not teaching her little Archie better.

That's both one of my favorite lines from the Nero Wolfe corpus (from Fer-de-Lance) and what I'm so dying to say to the world.

I've got Robert Crais' new book, Chasing Darkness an arm's length from me. Unopened. That's a crime worthy of Elvis Cole's attention in an of itself. I've got one other novel and one nonfiction work that I've gotten far enough into that I want to finish them soon. One other nonfiction work waiting in the wings. And...

But alas, I have kids needing to be schooled (ironically, they spend more time reading than I do...all part of my custom "Do as I Say, Not as I Do" curriculum), kids needing to be played with, chores to be done, a shift to put in (depending how alert I feel, I might get an hour or so of reading in tonight), a wife to talk to, etc. All of which I love to do, don't get me wrong (well, except folding laundry...).

But, oh for one day...where I could just tell everyone and everything, "Go to hell, I'm reading."

Not Gomer Pyle's Catchphrase

I know not all of you read comics, but for the few of you who do regularly/occasionally, let me heartily recommend Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! #1. The splash page rightly credits Mike Kunkel with "pictures, words & heart"--this looks and feels like a labor of love.

From the great animation-style drawings, to the clever plot, to the horribly-detailed and annoying coded-intro pages, to the use of the old "Solomon=Wisom, Hercules=strength.... acronym; this was a fun, clever, well-written book.

It seems to be marketed like a DCKids title, but it's produced better than the rest of that line--and it's technically not one; but it is for "all ages" (something far to rare in comics these days, even from The Big Two). I enjoyed it, and am sure the Offspring will, too.

How Have I Not Read This Before?

Just started Gatto's The Underground History of American Education--have seen it cited, quoted, lauded several times over the years, but have yet to pick it up.

Today, I took my first dip into the prologue. Wow! Am loving this already (am pretty hard-line on this issue already, this could turn me into a frothing at the mouth lunatic)

You aren't complelled to loan your car to anyone who wants it, but you are compelled to surrender your school-age child to strangers who process children for a livlihood, eeven though one in every nine schoolchildren is terrified of physical harm happeneing to them in school...Your great-great-grandmother didn't have to surrender her children. What happened?

If I demanded you give up your television to an anonymous, itinerant repairman who needed work you'd think I was crazy; if I came with a policeman who forced you to pay that repairman even after he broke your set--you would be outraged. Why are you so docile when you give up your child to a government agent called a school teacher?

Mr. Monk in Outer Space

If I had more energy, I'd go through the archives and see how many of Lee Goldberg's Monk novels I've talked about, but I'm pretty sure my take on all of them is pretty much the same: theyyyyy're grrreaaat! The latest, just released in paperback (making it cheap enough for Frodo to give it to me for Father's Day) is no exception.

Essentially, the novel centers on the death of the creator of a Star Trek-like show at a con. Monk has a hard time understading the obsessive nature of the fans and is convinced these adults walking around in costumes are tripping on acid. Hilarity ensues. Goldberg is able to spoof fandom, TV reimaginings, not to mention TV in general. He doesn't do so meanly, there's respect, affection, and understanding. Which is a pleasant change--normally fanboys are painted with the broadest brush in these circumstances and played for only cheap laughs, Goldberg resists this impulse (generally), which results in better jokes.

Outer Space's mystery holds up a little better than it's fore-runners, but as with the show, the mystery is secondary to watching Monk navigate through society--particularly one as strange as SciFi fandom. I laughed out loud a lot at this one--but it was more than just a comedic romp. There were some good, more serious, moments that really get ya in the cockles----as they do in the TV episodes featuring Ambrose (oh, did I forget to mention that Ambrose makes his first appearance in the books? Silly me). They, along with Monk's final appraisal of fandom, really elevate the book.

Another solid outing for Goldberg--his best yet, actually. Can't wait for the next installment.

Quote of the Moment

I guess one of the drawbacks to doing nothing with your life is that you're never quite sure when you've accomplished it.

- Jonathan Tropper
Plan B