This Booklog Needs No Title

The Spellman Files, by Lisa Lutz

2008-09-17T08:42:51-05:00

Fun novel about a highly dysfunctional family of private investigators.

(That said, I hate the choice of typeface for most of the body text; it's too condensed for my taste.)

The Opinion Makers: An Insider Exposes the Truth Behind the Polls, by David W. Moore

2008-09-15T23:57:17-05:00

David W. Moore argues that polls are being misused. He argues that questions are formulated in such a way that the results make for interesting news stories while bearing very little resemblance to what the public actually believes. He argues that even good polls are presented by news organizations in dangerously misleading ways. He argues that polls, as they are practiced today, both misinform the public and elected officials, and actually can create public opinion and misguided policy decisions. Having been a senior editor at Gallup Polls for thirteen years, he has an insider's perspective on how they're run, and where they can go wrong. And by the end of the first chapter, I was sold.

By the end of the second chapter, I wanted him to stop trying to convince me of what he'd already established, and get on with developing his argument further. By the end of the third chapter, I was bored, impatient, and starting to suspect that he really didn't have anything new to add beyond what he'd said at the outset.

Continue reading The Opinion Makers: An Insider Exposes the Truth Behind the Polls, by David W. Moore...

Two Lives: A Memoir, by Vikram Seth

2008-09-05T21:37:23-05:00

Vikram Seth never writes the same book twice. I don't know what's next, but it would not surprise me too terribly much if it were a brilliant 200-page coloring book about a family of flamingos. (It would, of course, have a sonnet in the dedication. It's nice to have at least one constant.)

This one is a memoir of his great-uncle Shanti and great-aunt Henny, and it's an excellent memorial to two people he loved. It's generally interesting, often gripping. With that said, the last section in particular might have profited by a ruthless attack with a large set of pruning shears.

(Four stars out of five.)

Sunshine, by Robin McKinley

2008-09-03T21:32:37-05:00

The plot is good. The characters are wonderful. But the language is what really makes this book stand out. The characters speak a dialect that's entirely understandable and rings true, while also distinctively reflecting a postapocalyptic Earth with vampires and demons and magic and such. It's also a book in which it seems entirely natural for a dessert to be named "Sunshine's Eschatology."

I borrowed this from a friend, but I'll definitely need a copy of my own.

The Changing Land, by Roger Zelazny

2008-08-27T21:11:29-05:00

This book answers the question "If Roger Zelazny had tried his hand at a pulp swords-and-sorcery novel, what would it look like?"

(Reposted from Goodreads, where I gave it two stars out of five.)

The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov

2008-08-22T21:23:39-05:00

Asimov's masterpiece, rebutting charges that he couldn't write about aliens, sex, or women. The first part and last sections, on Earth and the Moon, are good; the middle portion, with the aliens, is brilliant.

The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl, by Tim Pratt

2008-08-21T21:20:24-05:00

Lots of fun, well written. Sadly, the final showdown doesn't quite hold up, and that's the scene the entire book builds toward. But a good read anyway.

(Four stars out of five.)

Gold: The Final Science Fiction Collection, by Isaac Asimov

2008-08-19T21:27:28-05:00

I rather liked the first story ("Cal"), about a robot who wants to be a writer, and the title story has some interesting ideas about a future sensory medium and may give some indication of Asimov's feelings about The Gods Themselves. The rest of the stories are okay, but nothing special.

That's roughly the first third of the book; the rest reprints introductions to other anthologies and editorials from Asimov's Science Fiction magazine (though without any headnotes indicating what came from where; you're left to extrapolate from internal evidence and the copyright dates at the end). On the whole, these aren't worth the bother.

Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow

2008-08-15T21:05:01-05:00

Good social satire and how-to manual, but I had trouble with the reporter-ex-machina ending.

(Reposted from Goodreads, where I gave it four stars out of five.)

The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper

2008-05-10T16:26:32-05:00

A novel of predestination. So, so, so contrived. Hardly a chapter goes by without a deus ex machina. The only character who actually gets to make a decision does so out of our viewing, and even that decision is pretty much portrayed as being inevitable. And let's not get into the us vs. them moral code...

About the only saving grace is the book's strong sense of place, being rooted very firmly in England. And maybe the language, though frankly that's just a bit overdone.

Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King

2005-03-11T14:33:48-05:00

I'm a longtime fan of British mysteries, particularly the traditional British detective type of mystery. The series that begins with this book has turned me into a Sherlock Holmes fan. I know it's a little backwards to become a fan of the original by first becoming a fan of revisionist fiction (or, when we're at home with ourselves, glorified and published fan fiction), but there you have it. That's how I got into it.

More spoilerish type review ahead ...

Continue reading Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King...

Crap I Drew on My Lunch Break: Volume 1: The First 100 Comics, by Jin Wicked

2005-01-07T09:09:13-05:00

As the title suggests, this book, printed via CafePress, contains the first 100 comics from Jin Wicked's online strip Crap I Drew on My Lunch Break. It's largely autobiographical, occasionally political. The strips themselves are viewable online, so I don't see much point in describing them; also included is the written equivalent of the director's commentary from Jin, and some thoughts at the end from some of the people who appear in the comic. On the whole, it's cute.

National Lampoon's Doon, by Ellis Weiner

2003-05-21T19:07:01-05:00

After reading the Barry Trotter parody, I was wondering whether perhaps my standards were too high. Sure, it wasn't Bored of the Rings, but the granddaddy of all fantasy parodies did have the advantage of being first. Possibly I'd even built it up too much.

And then I read this book, a parody of Frank Herbert's Dune, and realized that, no, there really was a difference between a good parody and a lame attempt. Mind you, Doon is no Bored of the Rings either.

It's better.

This is a lighter and faster read than its predecessor, which makes it all the more impressive how well it sends up Herbert's classic. This is a world in which the ecology features giant pretzels and beer... and granting the plausibility of animate pretzels, the whole thing actually makes sense, and does a neat job of playing off the ecology and plot of the original work. Still, every time it starts to seem as if the parody is a bit too pat, Weiner pivots around and unexpectedly challenges the reader's expectations. He also does a lovely job of satirizing Herbert's stylistic excesses, including the portentious interior monologues. For that matter, the Hebrew and Arabic word derivations of the original are here replaced with Yiddish and Variety-speak.

This is sadly out of print, but affordable copies can be found on Bookfinder.Com. If you haven't read Dune, don't bother; otherwise, it has my recommendation.

Dating: A Survival Guide from the Front Lines, by Josey Vogels

2003-05-10T22:00:00-05:00

S'okay.

Fortune's Rocks, by Anita Shreve

2003-04-29T19:49:49-05:00

[I never got around to filling this in.]