Catching Fire: Audio

All I have to say about Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins is WOW!! I know a lot of people think the series is best on book 1, ok on book 2, and ho-hum on book 3 but I was blown away by this book (no pun intended). Maybe it's because the first was really only about the Games, with the political situation taking a back seat. I loved the story in the first book. There was lots of action which makes it very exciting almost the whole book. But the second book is exciting for a completely different reason. Yes, there's still plenty of action but mainly in the second half of the book. It's just not as important as the political intrigue that comes to the foreground in this book. And I love politics!

Katniss is trying to return her life to normal but her behavior in the Hunger Games has led to uprisings in some of the other districts. Before she and Peeta go on their victory tour, she is given a warning directly from the President: Calm the districts or face the consequences. And those consequences are nasty. Without meaning to, Katniss actually makes the situation worse...


The turn this book takes half way through caught me completely off guard. I figured something odd would happen with the Hunger Games, but what does happen...I wasn't expecting that. Well done Collins. I'm not an easy one to mislead. I love when I can't figure things out. I get bored if I guess it too soon.

Can I also say, what is up with the vampire President? Seriously! Maybe it says in the last book (which I will start tonight and leave off The Lady Elizabeth til I finish this series) but his breath smells of blood and he's been President for 50 years with very little change in his appearance? Totally a vampire. hehehe I know that's not the direction this series is taking but why was this made such a big deal of and then not explained? I really hope it's explained later. I hate loose ends like that. Collins seems to be turning out to be a fairly good writer, so I feel confident she will tidy up that bit. A little confident. :)

State of Fear: Audio

Contrived is not usually a word I use with Michael Crichton but State of Fear is exactly that. Crichton obviously had an agenda when he wrote this book and I feel his plot suffers because of it.

Several of his other works obviously started with the idea that "something is bad and we shouldn't do it, here's why" but they never felt as if they had an agenda. They were just the stories of what could happen if the science went wrong. Next, and  Jurrassic Park are good examples. State of Fear feels contrived and arrogant.

The story is told mainly from the point of view of lawyer, Peter Evans. Peter works for millionaire philanthropist, George Morton, who donates large sums to environmentalist causes, mainly in the organization National Environmental Resource Fund (NERF). As the story progresses we learn there are eco-terrorists plotting the biggest story ever. They want to make headlines and at the same time make it look as if it was caused by global warming. The hero of the book is international law enforcement agent, John Kenner, who is out to stop these terrorists.

The problem I have with the book is not that Crichton has a different point of view from mine on climate change (he doesn't believe that it is caused by people) but that he makes any character in his book with a different point of view seem like a moron. The only smart people in the book are the ones who know the "truth." That is, Michael Crichton's idea of what that truth is. He makes it seem as if every environmentalist is a stupid Hollwood, brainless idiot who doesn't know how to actually protect the environment. There are those in the world and I wish they would stop being the talking heads for the environmental movement, because they are morons. However, all environmentalists are not like that. 

The next problem I have with the book is that Peter is a whiny, irritating person who asks the dumbest questions. I want my main character to have a bit of one brain cell, please. Listening to this person makes me want to throw the discs out the window because I hate him.

Another problem I have with this book is related to that. Peter for some reason is always along when John Kenner is after the bad guy. Why? He knows nothing of what is going on and doesn't know how to stop these people. He has no information and no skill. In fact, when he goes on the first "mission" he is almost killed. Then, instead of staying home and healing from that, Kenner takes him along on the next "mission," where he is almost killed. But then he gets to on the next one too! It's just plain irritating. No government official is going to leave to fate of millions in the hands of this idiot time after time.

The last problem I have with this book is none of the main characters are ever killed, no matter what Crichton has to do to make them live through the most improbable situation. Give your readers some credit Crichton and let a character or two die. Maybe he'll read that from wherever he is now! hehehe

Crichton ends the book with George vowing to start a new kind of environmental organization, one that will "study the real problem and fix it" instead of relying on outmoded ideas of what the problem might be. I think that's a wonderful idea but it doesn't fit with the rest of the book at all. He spent all this time telling us that there is no problem we can fix, because we didn't cause it. The appendixes are filled with Crichton's notes on his studies leading up to writing this book. He admits he doesn't know the cause but then tries to convince the reader we are not at fault. You can't have it both ways, Michael. You can't know and not know.

A Tale of Two Cities: Audio

For such a classic, I was surprised to learn how little I actually knew about Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. I've read Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and David Copperfield, yet for some reason never really even knew what this was about. I did know that at some point in the book, some man makes a great sacrifice because of a woman and states, "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." However, I didn't know why or how that came about.

I can't really say anymore about this book than has been said numerous times in the past. I do know more about the French Revolution than I did before. I never realized that the blood thirsty revolutionaries didn't stop with the nobles. They continued to hang people for just the word of anyone that the person MIGHT be against the revolution. The "laws" that were in enacted during this time which would cause a person to go to the guillotine were ridiculous. At one point in the book a man calls to another, "How many today?" And the other man answers "38! It will be 39 tomorrow!" They are discussing how many will have their heads cut off. It is not a matter of actual guilt, it is a matter of putting heads under the knife, no matter their guilt or innocence. It makes me look at Napoleon in a better light. Jeez, someone had to stop it!

Although it got a very slow start, this book was wonderful and had me crying in my car while I drove home from work. Maybe not such a good thing! It also got me interested in history again. History of all kinds, not just the French Revolution. Wow, my knowledge in that area is horrid!

Leeway Cottage: Audio

Unfortunately this is another book that started out with a lot of promise but left me feeling kind of flat. Leeway Cotttage by Beth Gutcheon is the story of Sydney Brant and Laurus Moss. They are a young couple very much in love just before the start of WWII. Laurus is a Jewish Danish painter who meets the rich Dundee girl Sydney while studying in America. Shortly after their marriage, he goes to help the Danish Resistance, leaving his newly pregnant wife alone for four years. After his return, neither he nor Sydney are the same. Can they find their way back to each other? Or will they remain forever apart?

This could have been a wonderful book. It had all the makings of a wonderful book. But it didn't happen. Sydney is a spirited, mostly happy person who wants to make the world a better place. Her mother was hard on her but Sydney seems to have not let it affect her too much as she still wants to find  and give happiness. But when Laurus comes home after the war, she is a different person. So much more than can be accounted for just by her husband being gone while she works and takes care of their child. I kept expecting the big reveal to tell me what exactly happened to Sydney while Laurus was away but it never happened. There is never any explanation for why she changed so much into the biggest *B* that ever lived. Her story is almost completely lost during this time. We get to know what Laurus was up to, what his parents we doing to stay alive, we even know by the end of the book the horrible things that happen to his sister in a concentration camp but the main character in this book is Sydney and there is NEVER an explanation for the big change that comes over her. There is also a constant hint throughout the book that Sydney's mother may not really be her mother. However, this is never directly addressed, making the reader feel cheated. Even if we never know the true answer, it should at least be dealt with if the author is going to hint at it several times throughout.

I thought the book was written very well, all the plot lines woven in carefully without a seam to make you feel as if it was integral to book and not added just for the fun of it. But leaving out two such a vital pieces of information leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth for this book. I can't even recommend it.

Saving Fish from Drowning: Audio

I am writing once more about the books I've been reading! I have been pretty bad about keeping up with my blog lately. However, I have been reading and I've listened to many audio books on my way to and from work. One of those I picked up was Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan. It's read by the author.

First I have to say, I'm not sure I like that. Every time I've listened to a book read by the author, I've been less than impressed. You would think the author knows how to interpret their characters better than anyone, but if that were true then they wouldn't be authors, they'd be actors. Often the author's reading is much more flat and told in one voice even when from different points of view. I've found this of authors who are good at writing from different character's view points and from those that aren't. Often actors will give each character a slightly different voice. They sometimes change it with inflection, sometimes with accent, and sometimes with pitch. When an author reads his own work, this is lost because they are often not good at that. Tan is no exception.

I also realized very quickly while listening to this book that I had read this before. It was years ago and long ago enough for me to forget most of the plot but close enough that it all sounded like deja vu as I listened.

It's a very well written book, told about 12 Americans who take a trip to the Himalayan foothills of China and cross the border into Burma. This is supposed to be a historic trip, as no foreigner as made the crossing where they will since Burma became Myanmar. Each and every step of the trip is planned well before their crossing but from the beginning things go wrong. First, their tour leader is mysteriously killed just days before they are to leave. The group decides they should go anyway and enlist the help of another tour leader, one who is not a take charge kind of person, leaving the group rudder-less in dangerous lands.

I enjoyed this book very much and thought Tan's writing, if not reading, was beautifully done. There is just the right mix of non-likeable, annoying characters to go with the ones who think they can make it alright to make this an often hilarious tale even when they are in the most danger. 

The Constant Princess: Audio

The Constant Princess is not the first audio book by Philipa Gregory that I have listened to, but it is the first I have been disappointed in. Not because it wasn't a wonderful story (It is). Not because it wasn't well written (It is). And certainly not because Katherine of Aragon led an uninteresting life (No one could say that). But simply because of all the liberties Gregory takes with the historical part of her historical fiction. I know that she often twists parts of the history to make a more interesting plot but seriously why in the world would you have to twist anything in Katherine's story?

I didn't know much about this Queen. Often when people tell stories about the Tudor Court, it is starting with Henry's obsession with Anne Boleyn and his break from Roman Papacy. But this more than 20 years after Katherine and Henry were first wed and the fact that she was first married to his brother, who was supposed to be King, is fascinating enough without adding all the silly twists that I guess romance readers like to see. After I finished the book, I decided to look a little closer at Katherine's real history and see what I was missing, because I just felt this wasn't a complete picture. What I was looking for at first was what happened to her after Henry put her aside for Anne. No one really talks of this and neither did Gregory. I was surprised to learn that she lived in poverty for the last few years of her life, with few servants. She refused to be called Princess instead of Queen, holding to the belief that she was Henry's rightful wife until she died. It may be a good thing she only lived a few more years and didn't see the craziness that came after Anne. My point is, Gregory completely passes on telling this story. She ends her book with Katherine believing she will triumph in her opposition to Henry. It just made me sad knowing this wasn't true. It could have made an even better book to leave out the inaccuracies and then end the book with the proud Queen-now-Dowager Princess. I loved the fiery-ness of this Katherine, though. It is something that is rarely told but knowing her parents are Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, it's not only believable but plausible. Is it accurate? I don't know if that is something anyone could really know.

I would like to continue reading historical fiction. I enjoy the stories, even if the view points and thoughts of the characters have to be made up. That I don't mind. I got into the genre because I have always been fascinated by the story of Jane Grey and was thrilled when I read Alison Weir's Innocent Traitor. Now I'm a little turned off. Does anyone know who the good writers are? The ones who tell a good story without taking too many liberties with the history?

The Golden City by John Twleve Hawks

The Golden City is the third and final installment in John Twelve Hawks' trilogy The Fourth Realm. If you've missed my previous discussions on these books, you can see them here and here.

Before I get into the actual review of this book, I have to say I waited a very long time for it. I know, there are people who waited something like 15 years for Stephen King to finish The Dark Tower series, so I guess I should count myself lucky. AND, I started this series long after I started Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series and I'm STILL waiting for that ending so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. At least Hawks didn't die before finishing! But I feel like I've waited even longer for this last book because it seemed so important in a way that other fiction doesn't. These books opened my eyes to the craziness around us. Yes, this is fiction but the technology he talks about is real. These terrible things that the Vast Machine uses to control people in this series are things that are actually being used today. I won't go all crazy talking about that again. My first post on this series pretty much says all I wanted to say on that.

I also started this book later than I wanted. I wanted to re-read the other two books before this one came out in order to remind myself of any parts of the plot I had forgotten. I had loaned a friend The Traveler and didn't get it back until the day before The Golden City was released. Then, I had to deal with fleas in the house. Oh, what a joy. That took a lot of time to wash everything and the dogs and I am still not sure they're completely gone. YUCK! Then, I got the flu and didn't feel like reading. So, all this waiting and anticipating can build an excitement for a book that can either make it all the more wonderful or a big let down. This was not a let down.

I think Hawks has grown as a writer since the first book. His style is the same but there is more flow between passages. I have no idea if this really was his first book as is claimed but if he was already an accomplished writer like some have speculated, I don't think this growth would have been obvious. If you're confused by that statement, then you're not aware that no one really knows who John Twelve Hawks is. His name is a pen name and he never makes appearances. All interviews and online commentary are through a third party and he claims to live off the grid. I wasn't aware of this when I first picked up The Traveler. I simply saw an interesting book at the store and decided to read it. I was so blown away by the ideas presented in it that I began looking for more information. There are whole sites dedicated to discussing who he might be. In the older posts Dan Brown seems to be the major contender but I read a lot of Dan Brown's books and unless he's REALLY good at changing his style, I don't think that's it. Plus, he also just released a book. Not likely. Some other interesting candidates were J.K. Rowling, Michael Cunnigham, and Stephen Hawking. I'm intrigued by the Rowling suggestion. What better way to fend off the naysayers if you want to put out something completely different than what you're known for. However, I don't buy it either. I think my favorite is the Stephen Hawking suggestion. I'm not sure where this idea came from but it's a wonderful one, even if it's not true. I don't really care though. If Hawks wants to be mysterious and never show himself, I say so be it as long as he gives me another wonderful novel.

The Fourth Realm series is centered around Maya and Gabriel. Maya is a wayward Harlequin. She was born into the life and taught by her father from a very young age to fight, be independent, and avoid being a part of mainstream society in order to best protect the Travelers. The Travelers are people who are able to leave their bodies and travel to one of 5 other dimensions (or realms). Gabriel is just learning in the first book that he is a Traveler. Along with his brother Michael, he has inherited this gift from his father. The Traveler mainly introduced these characters and showed us the power of the Vast Machine. Gabriel and Michael early on chose different sides in the conflict. The conflict appears to be almost over by our time. The people in power behind the governments are a group called the Brethren. They have over time amassed a great deal of power and lead the world quietly without ever being detected by the majority of the population. Travelers come into every generation and learn from their travels to other realms. They see the world in a different way and are able to lead people toward true freedom. I imagine if travelers were real then the ones from the last century would be people like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, and John Lennon. Obviously this makes this a threat to the vision the Brethren have for the world and they have been hunted throughout time. Until now. Now Michael has joined their team.

I think one of the most interesting aspects of these books is the 6 different realms, which Hawks borrowed from The Tibetan Book of the Dead. The First Realm is a type of Hell, or Hades, or whatever you want to call it. It is a place where violence is constant and a way of life. The Second Realm is the place of the Hungry Ghosts, where the people can never be satisfied. The Third Realm is the forest of animals. No humans live here and it is speculated that this mirrors the biblical Eden. The Fourth Realm is where we live. The Fifth Realm is a place of the half-gods where the dominant trait is jealousy. And the Sixth is the realm of the gods where the dominant trait is pride.

During The Traveler we are given a chance to experience the Second Realm. The First is prevalent throughout The Dark River and The Golden City. In The Golden City Michael meets the half-gods and is shown by them how to manipulate the governments of the world to take over. By this time he is truly one of the bad guys. It seemed to me that the Sixth Realm was a version of what our world would be if we don't wake up and demand our rights not be taken away "for our own good." Both he and Gabriel briefly visit the Third Realm and I wish they had spent more time exploring. Maybe it would have dragged the book a little but I feel this was the most beautiful Realm. It sounds like a place I would like to visit. Gabriel also gets a surprise when he finally makes it to the Golden City in the Sixth Realm.

I think Hawks did a good job of wrapping up the story in this book while still leaving us wanting more. On his site he answers questions from his fans. In response to one about this book, he said he can't answer questions that would have spoilers. But he also put in this tidbit that I'd like to leave you with. I think it sums it all up nicely:

In general, I can say that those characters that are alive at the end of the trilogy are going to continue those lives.
At the end of The Golden City, the implication should be that what happens is up to all of us (myself included). Are you going to defend your own freedom? How will you stand against the Vast Machine?

The Friday 56: The Dark River

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Ok, Last week's was The Traveler and this week's comes from The Dark River. Seriously not done on purpose (or maybe it was...), it's just the closest to me because I finished it last night and finally started on The Golden City. YAYYYYY! The whole reason I re-read these other two is because it's been so long and I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything while reading the new one. I'm a little disappointed in this week's 56 though. It does sum up the book fairly well but it's simply a boring passage, describing events that have already taken place.

The Tabula mercenaries came searching for us, but they only explored the main level.

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke and other stuff

This is another classic of Sci-fi that I have not, until now, gotten around to reading. I did try to watch the movie about a year ago. I say try because I was simply bored. I fell asleep and never finished watching it. Jeff too. Too much cinematic beauty and not enough dialogue for me I guess.

I recently got an MP3 player (yes, my first, I am behind the times) and it came with a free audio book from Audible.com. That's when I chose The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint. I enjoyed being able to take my audio book with me where ever I wanted. I've listened to audio books in the past because I drive so much for work. It keeps me awake and from getting bored. But when I had it on my MP3 player I could take it ANYWHERE! I could listen to a story while I packed my house, while I unpacked the new house, while I walked the dogs, while I exercised, and of course, while I drove. It was wonderful! I'm so silly. I know this is something that most people take for granted every day because everyone in the world besides me already has I-Pods and their like. You'll notice I didn't say I had an I-Pod. Too expensive for me. Here's the irony. The very day AFTER I bought mine, the I-Pods went on sale to same price that I paid for mine because some newer, fancier I-Pod was about to be released. That's life for ya I guess.

Ok, less rambling...more to the point. Or maybe not. The whole reason I write these is because I want to share and make it more interesting than the professional reviews....so on with the rambling!

Seriously, about 2001. I went back to Audible to see if they had any audio books for cheaper than I would find them in the store and I found a bunch of free stuff for members and then while I'm looking this thing pops up that says something about getting certain books for $1!! I downloaded a short story by Neil Gaiman and 2001.

Chivalry can be found in the collection of short stories called Smoke and Mirrors. It is a hilarious story of what happens when an old woman finds the Holy Grail in her local antique store.

So, back to 2001 (I know, you're thinking, about time!). Before the book begins you get to listen to Arthur C. Clarke tell about the making of this book and the movie. It's fairly interesting. I was not aware that the idea was something that Clarke and Stanley Kubrick came up with together. In fact, Kubrick came to Clarke with the idea of having him write the book for his movie before the movie was made (before there was a screenplay). The book was to act partly as a reference for the screenplay so there wouldn't have to be as much written in the screenplay. The movie was to be released first but the book was written first. It's a very odd way to do things. I had always assumed that the movie was just based on the book. It's always interesting to learn that there's more to the story than you thought. He also talked about the fact that he never meant to write a sequel but it was a "public demanded it" sort of situation. Then, he ended up writing 2 more after that. Then he says, "A trilogy should never have more than 4 books." I loved that. He concluded with how sad he was that Kubrick died shortly before the celebration of the book and movie in the actual year 2001.

I was impressed with the writing of 2001. When I mentioned it to my mom (also a Sci-Fi buff) she was surprised that I had never read it or any of Clarke's other stuff. She started talking about what an amazing writer he is, about how Asimov gets all the credit but Clarke's book are much better. I find that interesting since she was always buying me the Robot Series'. Where were all these great Clarke books? JK mom!

The story was much better than I expected and took a turn I certainly was not expecting. I thought HAL would be a much bigger threat and I suppose he was a fairly huge threat but I guess I expected more from him. I didn't expect him to be taken out so soon after the threat was realized. I thought he would be the hinge of the rest of the book. I was very surprised at the turn (don't want to spoil it so I am repeating myself) just after that. WOW is all I can say.

The narrator, Dick Hill, did an amazing job as well. He got the intonation of the HAL from the movie down so well I actually looked it up to see if it was the same guy. Nope. The original HAL is Douglas Rain but the similarity is remarkable.

I will definitely reading more by Arthur C. Clarke and if you haven't read this, I suggest you do it soon!

Royal Blood by Rona Sharon

I am probably the last person to review this book. I feel like I've been reading it forever. I'm not sure why it took me so long to get through it. The writing was wonderful. Sharon's style is vivid and funny and made me want to keep turning the page while I was reading. However, until I got to the supernatural stuff I just had a hard time reading. For some reason I got it in my head that this book was historical fiction. I hadn't read any of the reviews that everyone else did because I didn't want to be tainted while I was reading the book. Something about the style and blurb in the book made me think historical fiction. Maybe the author and publisher wanted to mislead people, not sure. Maybe they wanted the other stuff to be a surprise. I'm going to ruin the surprise so if you don't want to know stop reading at the end of this paragraph! I have to say this book is WONDERFUL! If you like supernatural fantasy with a little erotica, you're in luck. This is the book for you!

If the author and publishers wanted people to be surprised by vampire storyline, it worked. However, I think they're lucky that I LOVE vampire fiction. I've read a lot of vampire fiction, the good and the bad. I was thrilled when I realized the turn the story was taking. I also like historical fiction but I haven't been in a historical fiction kind of mood lately. I promised to review this book before I stopped taking books and so felt I had to do it to keep my promise. Someone else who might, like me, be expecting straight historical fiction but does not care for vampire fiction would probably be turned off by the book. I'm not sure it's a good marketing strategy. There are many, many, many good historical fiction writers. Sharon's book could easily get lost. However, there are many authors of vampire fiction but only a few GOOD ones. Those of us that love a good vampire novel are always on the look out for a good one. Of course, I'm not in the book marketing industry so, what do I know?

The one thing that bugs me about vampire fiction is that some authors feel the need to use an excessive amount of sex. And the long descriptions of what the couple is doing to each other, page after page, is just a little on the pornographic side. I like sex as much as the next person, in case you're interested. I'm not a prude and would rather read/watch about sex than violence (one of my soap boxes - our society bans the wrong stuff. Violence is more damaging to people than sex) but I don't like to read porn. I want a good story. Making people want to stop reading and find their partner is not necessarily a good story. There wasn't a lot of it throughout the book but once it got started, it was in every chapter near the end. I'm just glad the storyline was so riveting otherwise I might have just put it away the way I did with the last few Anita Blake novels. Hamilton's books don't even count as anything other than erotica anymore. I understand the connection between vampire lore and sex. It's always been there. But there are ways to do it (and some authors are good at this) without making your readers feel like they're reading porn. On the other hand, I think some people seek out this kind of writing. So, maybe, that's who she's writing it for.

Again, I will say that this story itself was riveting. Once I got to the vampire story, I just couldn't put it down. I highly recommend this book.

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

Shevek, a brilliant physicist, decided to take action. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have isolated his planet of anarchists from the rest of the civilized universe. To do this dangerous task will mean giving up his family and possibly his life. Shevek must make the unprecedented journey to the Utopian mother planet, Annares to challenge the complex structures of life and living, and ignite the fires of change.

Normally I don't start my reviews by posting the back of the book like this (instead I like to talk a little first) but I did it here to make a point. This is not at all what happens in the book. Sometimes I wonder if these blurbs are written by people who did not actually read the book. I was very confused for a long time by this statement because Shevek is FROM Annares and he is going TO another planet. This blurb also makes it look as if the hatred is from the outside. In a sense it is but the isolation on Annares is self imposed. They refuse any contact with other societies. Anyway, kind of irritating. It so rarely happens that the blurb is just WRONG but it seems to have happened in both this and The Ruins, which I reviewed the other day. Maybe I shouldn't put so much stock in the blurb of the book, but I do. It's what gets me interested in a book and I feel lost, it helps me get grounded in it again.

Shevek is a temporal physicist. He is seeking to prove a connection between "Sequency Theory" and "Simultaneity Theory." In layman's terms, he wants to prove that time is not sequential, that past, present, and future are all occurring at once and yet he believes there is still validity in the sequence that we experience. He has grown up in a pure socialist society. There is no government, no money-based economy, and people work in the jobs they want instead of have to. However, for a society like this to function, people must also do things for the good of the fellow man. Therefore, they have instituted the "ten-day work job." Apparently (I say that because it is never explained but implied) they use a ten day week. Once week, if possible, people leave their long-term jobs to work in other jobs that need doing - janitors, cooks, farming - whatever is not being covered. They also see this as a kind of break. They don't HAVE to do this, most people opt to do it so they can just break up the monotony of their lives. (There is an interesting moment when he meets a man from a country very similar to how the USSR was. He recognizes without ever having to go that this is not an actual "communist" society as they pretend since there a strict power structure that rules over everything). Unfortunately in this kind of society the will of your neighbors becomes a kind of law. If you don't do for "the good of social organism" you must be working solely for yourself, being an "egoist" as they call it. After many years, this has begun to form a type of government. Shevek is feeling strangled by it.

At the same time he has been offered a position to teach and share his physics with the people of the home world - Urras. This where the people of Annares came from. They were given the moon of Urras as a kind of bargaining chip. They were revolutionaries, socialists, working class people that weren't going to take it anymore. The governments of Urras offered to give them the Moon and let them build their own society according their non-rules. They never imagined it would actual become a success.

Now Shevek is learning all about the "profiteers" (what they call the people of Urras) and their system of only doing something for reward or profit, instead of for the good of society. There are two moments in his story that show the stark differences in the two worlds.

On Annares:

Letters went unsealed, not by law, of course, but by convention. Personal communication at long distance is costly in materials and labor, and since the private and public economy was the same, there was considerable feeling against unnecessary writing or calling. It was a trivial habit; it smacked of privatism, of egoizing. This was probably why the letter went unsealed: you had no right to ask people to carry a message that they couldn't read.
pg. 251

On Urras:

He went down to the basement door and tried it; it was locked. All doors were locked. Property was private.
pg. 303

The book is not told linearly. Obviously this is done on purpose to show how our lives are also not linear; to show that although the past is gone and the future is yet to come, we constantly live our lives with the past and future as a part of our present. There are moments in the beginning of the book when this makes a bit for a disjunct story. Just as you're getting into the story in one time, you're forced into the other and the momentum seems lost. Starting about the middle though, the two stories of Shevek's life come together in a way. He has faced this trouble before and gotten through it then. There is hope for the now. It also helps us see that his "Utopian" society is as perfect as Shevek believed. His moments of realization, both in his past on Annares and his present on Urras happen at virtually the same moment for the reader. It is very powerful.

This is the first book I've read by Le Guin and I was struck by her similarity to Ayn Rand. The writing style is that same stark harshness that can be off putting but keeps you coming back for more. Also, there are the contrasts between socialism and capitalism but obviously told from very different points of view. I am always in a weird state of mind after finishing an Ayn Rand book. I want to be out in the world trying to change the bad and influence the good. I want to tell the world about what's good and how the world should be. This book made me feel this way also.

There are a couple quotes from the book that I'd like to share. The first two come at the moment when Shevek begins to learn his home, as broken as he may have felt it was, is better than where he is now.

At the mills in Southwest Shevek had seen men hurt much worse than this in accidents and had learned that people may endure and survive incredibly much in way of gross injury and pain. But there they had been looked after.

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"You are contemptible," Shevek said in Pravic to his companion. "You cannot keep doors open. You will never be free."

And this when he is becoming disenchanted with his own society.

...the social conscience completely dominates the individual conscience, instead of striking a balance with it. We don't cooperate - we obey. We fear being outcast, being called lazy, dysfunctional, egoizing. We fear our neighbor's opinion more than we respect out own freedom of choice.

A summary of Shevek:

Loyalty, which asserts the continuity of past and future, binding time into a whole, is the root of human strength; there is no good to be done without it.

In closing of the my review, I want to say that this book is exactly why I've stopped taking ARCs. I could talk all day about this book because I LOVED it. I'm writing for the joy of writing, not because I'm expected to. This book was published in 1974. Every review and literary paper that could be written on it, has been. I found an entire site devoted to dissecting this story. So what. I don't have to review something new for my review to be fresh and new.

Audio: The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry

I have made a habit of not listening to books that I know I would love if I read if they're not unabridged. At first I tried to make sure I was not listening to abridgements at all but that narrows the list of books I can listen to considerably so I opened up my "policy" to abridged audio books if they are ones I wouldn't normally read. Maybe this has played into my not liking a few of them. Maybe they would have better if it wasn't abridged. I don't know. Maybe it simply left out the stuff I REALLY would have hated! Whichever it is, Steve Berry's book The Romanov Prophecy was interesting in the concept but fell flat in the actual telling. From the box:

Atlanta Lawyer Miles Lord, fluent in Russian and well versed in the country's history, is thrilled to be in Moscow on the eve of such a momentous event. After the fall of Communism and a succession of weak governments, the Russian people have voted to bring back the monarchy. The new tsar will be chosen among the distant relatives of Nicholas II, and Miles' job is to perform a background check on the tsarist candidate favored by a powerful group of Western businessmen.

Suddenly Miles is racing across continents, shadowed by nefarious henchmen. At first his only question is why people are pursuing him. But after a strange conversation with a mysterious Russian who steers him toward the writings of Rasputin, Miles becomes desperate to know more. His only guide is a cryptic message from Rasputin implying that the bloody night of so long ago is not the last chapter in the Romanov's story.

This summary sounded wonderful. I am not the only one who is still fascinated by the Romanovs it seems. However, after I started this book I had a few questions that were never quite resolved. Why exactly is an American so involved in the return of the Tsar to the Russian throne? Simply because he is well versed in their history and language? That's just not a good enough reason. The reason given other than that is because his boss is deeply involved, but that only makes me wonder why that particular American is involved with what they call the Tsarist Commission. It's never answered. Another problem is at one point Miles and a Russian woman who is on the quest with him flee to San Fransisco on the trail of the Romanovs. I won't say why, but the reason given just didn't hold water with me. Seriously, San Fransisco in 1918 just doesn't seem like it would be the banking mecca for anyone, but I might be wrong here. The part about this that really bothers me is that supposedly there are many people after them. These are not just the typical "bad guys" but people in power. Miles is later told that they are able to get the FBI involved and he has been charged with murder. Ok, great! So how did he get out of Russia with his own name on the plane ticket? How did he enter the US through customs and no one stopped him or the Russian woman? How did she just happen to fly through into the US without any questions? Does she even have a passport? THEN they get on another plane from San Fransisco to Atlanta after running from the Russian embassy and having the FBI on their tail. WHAT???!! Who let these supposed criminals on the plane? What happened to heightened security? I won't give anymore away but I will say that for a lawyer, Miles Lord is not very smart in the common sense area. It's amazing he doesn't die in the first chapter.

But I actually kind of enjoyed the story. Except for the parts that were a little frustrating, it was fairly interesting. I just think maybe I should go back to reading what I know I like, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and thrillers. Right now I'm reading one I got an ARC of from LibraryThing and it's another that I think "maybe I should just stick to genres I know I like." I'll tell you about it in a few days.

We the Living

I finished reading We the Living, the first novel by Ayn Rand, a few days ago but have not written about yet simply because I didn't know what to say. First off I will say that read The Fountainhead about ten years ago and loved it. It changed me. It is the book that made me interested in fiction with a purpose. I have been a fan of Fantasy and Sci-fi all my life and had been putting aside practically everything else. Directly after reading this I read 1984. It is odd that in school they make us read Animal Farm instead. I understand all the symbolism and blah, blah, blah of the book, but 1984 makes a much bigger impact. It is what made me begin to sit up and take notice of the world around me. I began watching the news and trying to figure out our political system, because no one in school ever made it make sense, even with all their history and civics classes.

So, I was obsessed with the characters from The Fountainhead for a long time after reading it. Years. I'm not joking. I still think about this book and the main character's view on life and the world around him quite often. Maybe it's because I've never been good at kissing ass and trying to be friendly to the "right" people. In junior and high school that meant I'd never be popular. In college it meant my professors (especially my music history and band director) did not look at me as their favorites. There's a surprising amount of ass-kissing that goes on in music departments. I was just trying to get my degree and move on. I kind of related to Howard Roark.

So, looking back it is very surprising that I never read Ayn Rand's first novel. (On a side note, I also recently found out her name is NOT pronounced like Ann but like I-an). Maybe I was afraid it would not make as big an impact. Maybe I wasn't ready for more mind opening ideas. Maybe I needed to digest what I had just read first. I don't know, but I never read any other novels by her. I read about her philosophy and other things but no other novels. Until now. I was inspired recently by quotes from a person I went to college with in another discussion on The God Delusion to take it up. Or at least one of her other novels.

Rand states about We the Living: "It is as near an autobiography as I will ever write. The plot is invented, the background is not...The specific events of Kira's life were not mine; her convictions, her values, were and are."

Kira is 18 years old, living in the early years of Soviet Russia when the book begins. She truly does not care about the political climate of her country. She doesn't care about much of anything that is not directly related to her getting what she wants: a degree as an architect. She states that she wants to build bridges of aluminum, and believes she will one day. Nothing is more important to her than that, until she meets Leo. Leo is mysterious and idealistic. He opens her up to the possibility of something else being important in the world. Her love for Leo leads her to do things she would never otherwise do. The love of another man for her brings complications beyond her imagining. Andrei is a communist who believes whole-heartedly in the ideals that began the revolution. He was involved in bringing the revolution about. Leo's father was executed for being a counter-revolutionary. Kira is caught not between two men but between to extreme ideals. She wants to fight against the communists but their treatment of the people have taken a toll on Leo and he changes. Not for the better. She doesn't know how to fight in the face of this. Andrei's staunch support of the original revolutionaries sets him in opposition to the corrupt individuals who have wormed their way to the top of political system. He also changes because of Kira. For the better.

I will not give away anymore of the plot except to say this story does not have a happy ending. I want to leave you with a quote from Kira, another character that I believe will live with me for a long time. This quote is not about the unhappy ending. That is something else.

The doctor said he was going to die. And I loved him. He didn't need much. Only rest, and fresh air, and food. He had no right to that, had he? Your state said so. We tried to beg. We begged humbly. Do you know what they said? There was a doctor in a hospital and he said he had hundreds on his waiting list...You see, you must understand this thoroughly. No one does. No one sees it, but I do, I can't help it, I see it, you must see it, too. You understand? Hundreds. Thousands. Millions.... And they had a chance to go on living. But not Leo... That is why you had sentenced him to death, and others like him, an execution without a firing squad. There was a big commissar and I went to see him. He told me that a hundred thousand workers had died in the civil war and why couldn't one aristocrat die - in the face of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics?

An updated "1984"?

So I recently read two books that kind of scared me. They were very good, but it made me want to move into the mountains somewhere and never come back. They are Traveler and Dark River. Dark River is the sequel and what the author doesn't get into about the big brother type things that are happening RIGHT NOW in Traveler he goes into in this book in so much more detail. After the first book I was a little freaked and wanted to move to a hippie commune and change my name to Snowflake but after the second book I think that might not be enough.

So what scared me? How about the fact that this technology that he talks about in the book to track people like they're hunting animals already exists. And if this technology is known, what do they have that is still in the testing stages? Did any of you see that short piece (that no tv news media reported on by the way) about these little strange flying devices in DC that look like dragonflies but are possibly cameras? Seriously???!!!! Where could they go with that if no one knows they're cameras? And if surveillance cameras don't scare you, you have no idea what they can do. Go check this out: http://www.notbored.org/nannycams.html

and more generally: http://www.notbored.org/scp-faq.html

The cameras are the just the smallest entity of what is going on though. So until the day that I become Snowflake WaterSuite, I will be much more careful about how I present my information to the world.

Back to the books though. I was very impressed with the not only the storyline but also John Twelve Hawks writing style. I've read so many fantasy/sci-fi stories that when I come across someone who writes different it's like drinking fresh water for the first time. Unless you've read a thousand fantasy or science fiction novels, you may not be aware that about 9 out of 10 of them are the same story with different character names. It makes trying to find something to read a little frustrating if you go into the book store thinking, "I wonder what new in THAT section..."

(I later added this and feel that it is very relevant to current issues)

I forgot to mention that these books also made me feel that my political and social awareness are useless. Everything has been manipulated to such a degree that the single person almost CAN'T make a difference anymore on the large scale. Voting in national elections is practically pointless because we have a system that doesn't allow for independents to make a dent. By the time the two major parties pick their candidates, we have two people who are very similar in their views because the parties want someone who is going to appeal to the masses not the individual.

What's worse is that all media (even the independent outfits) are about fear. Either fear of what will happen to you or fear that you're not good enough in someway. It's not a good story unless you can scare the piss out of someone. And it won't sell your product unless people fear they're not good enough. Stop living in fear people. Turn off the television and the radio for awhile. Just a couple hours a day can make a HUGE difference.

Now, I'm not saying don't be politically and social aware, what I'm saying is do it at the local level. Vote on local elections because these are the major players of tomorrow. All your congress people and presidents started at the local level.

Instead of protesting national issues, protest local issues. Like city dress codes. If you think I'm kidding about cities passing dress codes, pay more attention to the local news. Dallas is trying it and I'm sure they weren't the first to come up with the idea.

Get involved in local environmental issues. Buy one of those sections of highway and go out and clean it up. Stop running your air conditioner 24/7. Houses cause more polution than cars! And for goddess' sake, RECYCLE PEOPLE! It's so very easy now in most places. They don't even ask you to sort it out anymore and they pick it up for you. All you have to do it clean it and put it in ONE separate trash can. And if your city doesn't do this, start a campaign for them to do it. Until then, RECYCLE ANYWAY. Even if we're not killing planet, isn't it good to be nice to it anyway? We live here. Why do you want to live in a dirty, nasty, poluted planet? Because it's easier? If everyone did things simply because it was easier, we'd never have gotten electricity. Grow up. And there are so many others environmental issues you can campaign for locally. It'll make a bigger difference than nationally or globally. Go against local business that aren't green. Start a boycott. That'll get someone's attention.

Dead Zone

Can't say that I'm much of a fan of the show but this was a very good book. I've been making my way through a lot of Stephen King lately since my last roommate was a big fan and I had only read a few of his books before moving in with her. Now for someone who didn't read this book when it came out almost 30 years ago, it was a little scary but not in the normal Stephen King way. The book itself didn't scare me so much as how similar the bad politician is to my favorite politician of today. The things that Johnny sees for this guy are so earily acurrate for someone else that he could have been shaking hands with that someone else. Now of course I can't mention that someone else's name because then I'll have the Secret Service after me saying I'm advocating assassination. NEVER. I don't believe in killing for any reason (which is why I hate this someone else so much). This book simply makes me wonder who SK had in mind when he wrote that book. Is it purely coincidence that the time line for the future of the bad politician in the book is only about 5 years off? Was there someone in 1979 that SK saw as so scary and on his way to leading the country even though no one else would have believed it? Can something like that be coincidence and if there was no one in his mind at the time, could it be that the idea came to him from a source outside himself? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm