The Fault In Our Stars
John Green's latest book is about two teenagers, Hazel and Augustus, who meet in a cancer support group. Spoilers in this case would be inappropriate, so I'll not go into any more detail.
The book is moving, amusing and frequently insightful. The characters are complex, memorable, and you like them enough to become invested in their struggles. Green has a way with a nicely turned phrase, but he still has the occasional attempt at profundity fall flat. Understandably it's not as laugh out loud funny as the last book of his I read (An Abundance of Katherines) but there's enough humour to leaven the subject matter and indeed a few nice in-jokes for those who follow the Green brothers on youtube.
Ultimately it feels like he gets at the truth of what it's like to have cancer and happen to be a teenager, which is no mean feat.
I would definitely recommend this book. I suspect it's going to stay with me for a long time.
For those that care, the signature in my copy is in blue sharpie.
Making Money
The second Moist von Lipwig book is a very entertaining romp. Not as powerful or as moving as the very top echelon of Pratchett's work can be, but very much worth a read.
Previously reviewed in 2007 and 2009. This re-read was prompted by a showing of the Sky production of Going Postal over xmas. It's probably the best of all the Discworld adaptations so far, with the performance by Claire Foy as Adora Belle Dearheart a particular standout.
The Magician King
The sequel to The Magicians.
If The Magicians was Grossman's deconstruction of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, then this is his Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Of course that doesn't really do either book justice, and is a real disservice to the quality of what Grossman does here.
He writes an excellent fantasy novel that is somehow simultaneously a love letter to the genre and a critical response to it.
The highlight of this book is Julia's back story, told in alternate chapters with the main plot.
I'd recommend this without hesitation to anyone who read The Magicians. Everyone else should go read that first book and then move on to this one.
I personally can't wait til the third book.
Albums of the Year 2011
- Low C'mon
- Abigail Washburn City of Refuge
- King Creosote & Jon Hopkins Diamond Mine
- Eleanor Friedberger Last Summer
- The War on Drugs Slave Ambient
- St. Vincent Strange Mercy
- Kurt Vile Smoke Ring For my Halo
- The Decemberists The King is Dead
- Gillian Welch The Harrow and Harvest
- Le Butcherettes Sin Sin Sin
- The Cowboy Junkies Demons
- Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat Everything's Getting Older
- The Mountain Goats All Eternals Deck
- Elbow Build a Rocket Boys!
- Bill Callahan Apocalypse
- PJ Harvey Let England Shake
- Driftless Pony Club Buckminster
- Josh T Pearson Last of the Country Gentlemen
- EMA Past Life Martyred Saints
- The Antlers Burst Apart
- R.E.M.. Collapse Into Now
C'mon is the Duluth band's best since "Things We Lost In The Fire", the album I listened to most in 2012 and a thoroughly deserving record the year. I feel like I should note that the Low album was at number two until I realised that the only reason I had the Abigail Washburn record on top (as good as it is) was due to her relative obscurity.
One other point - the list was going to be a top 20 until I decided that as a loyal R.E.M. fan for twenty years their final release really should be on here somewhere, even if there is only one track on Collapse Into Now that I really like.
You can find 18 of the these on this Spotify playlist unfortunately the Gillian Welch, Mountain Goats and Bill Callahan records aren't available.
Books read in 2011
Complete chronological list of books I read in 2011, with links to the original reviews
- The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons, rated A
- A Princess of Roumania by Paul Park, rated A-
- Passage by Connie Willis, rated B+
- Among Others by Jo Walton, rated A+
- It's Lovely To Be Here by James Yorkston, rated B
- The Emigrants by W.G. Sebald, rated A
- The Hell Of It All by Charlie Brooker, rated A-
- Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg, rated A-
- The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, rated B+
- Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones, rated A
- Codex by Lev Grossman, rated B
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling, rated B+
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling, rated B-
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling, rated A-
- How To Leave Twitter by Grace Dent, rated B
- Bloodshot by Cherie Priest, rated B
- Coffee At Luke's edited by Jennifer Crusie, rated C-
- Snuff by Terry Pratchett, rated B+
- Agent To The Stars by John Scalzi, rated A-
- Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi, rated B
Fuzzy Nation
Scalzi's latest is typical of his work. Fast paced, with well conceived aliens and just a touch of Heinlein's ultra-competent everyman.
Based on H. Beam Piper's 1962 book Little Fuzzy, this is an attempt to re-imagine the story in a contemporary context.
The plot concerns a mining surveyor called Jack Holloway who identifies an incredibly rich seam of a rare gemstones and the existence of a group of creatures he calls the 'little fuzzies' in the same week.
The gems will make the corporation in charge of the planet gigantically wealthy but the existence of the fuzzies could lead to the shutdown of all mining activity under ecological law - if they can be proved to be sentient.
I enjoyed reading the book, but I couldn't say that it struck me as being Scalzi's best. Maybe that's because Holloway is not terribly likeable character and the ending seems rather inevitable.
I'd recommend it to anyone who likes Scalzi's stuff and I suspect it'd make a good introduction to science fiction for younger readers.
I'd also like to point out that Piper's original book Little Fuzzy is available for download at Project Gutenberg for free as it's in the public domain. It too is a pretty good read.
Agent ToThe Stars
Scalzi's first novel (written first, published later) is a fun romp set in Hollywood. Drawing on his experiences as a film critic and insider knowledge of the film business to tell the story of a showbiz agent who becomes the representative for visiting aliens.
It's funny in the same sort of way as The Android's Dream and at the same time has brilliant, genuinely SFnal, aliens. While being utterly different it kind of reminds me of Pratchett in that it uses humour as a foundation in order to philosophically explore real issues with a light touch.
Totally recommended if you're looking for a fun, pacy bit of science fiction.
See here for my original review
Snuff
The latest Discworld novel finds us once again in the company of Pratchett's greatest character - Sam Vimes.
Snuff finds Vimes rather reluctantly on holiday with his wife and son at her country estate. Of course, being the true copper that he is, Sam finds himself in the middle of a mystery.
What makes Pratchett great, of course, is his ability to capture the complexities and messiness of being human and part of the greater animal that is society.
His clear eyed humanism is a treasure we should cherish.
Snuff starts slowly and doesn't spark into life until Vimes relaxes into his inquiry and feels like he's on familiar ground. The main body of the story is typical Pratchett, beautifully told and utterly involving. However the ending is weirdly muddled, with uneven pacing and too many things left off screen and just related to the reader.
As I always say when reviewing Sir Terry - if you haven't read his stuff please do; they are more than worth your time.
This isn't recommended as a place to start, though. Read a few more of the Vimes books, starting with the first perhaps (Guards! Guards!), and you'll be ready to come back and enjoy this one.
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