Teaser Tuesday (4 January)

Posted on January 4, 2011 by smellincoffee

Welcome to the first Teaser Tuesday of 2011, hosted by Should Be Reading.

“This is a country that loses a prime minister and that is so vast and so empty that a band of amateur enthusiasts could conceivably set off the world’s first non-governmental atomic bomb on its mainland and almost four years would pass before anyone noticed. Clearly, this is a place worth getting to know.”  

 —————————————

The taipan is the one to watch out for. It is the most poisonous snake on earth, with a lunge so swift and a venom so potent that your last mortal utterance is likely to be: ‘I say, is that a sn—.’

Both from In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson’s travelogue of Australia.

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Rough Beasts of Empire

Posted on January 3, 2011 by smellincoffee

Rough Beasts of Empire
© 2010 David R. George III
304 pages
On the cover: Leonard Nimoy as Spock; Avery Brooks as Captain Sisko

Ever since the mass assassination of the Romulan senate in Nemesis, the Romulan Empire has existed in a state of disunity. Praetor Tal’Aura seized control of the government shortly after the events of Nemesis, but the Romulan fleet regards her as suspect — and for good reason, for she carried out the assassination. In an apparent attempt to prevent the Empire from falling completely into the hands of a traitor,  Commander Donatra of the Valdore established her own rival state to arrest Tal’Aura’s ambitions. Controlling most of the Empire’s agricultural worlds and allied to the Federation, Donatra needed only sit and wait for Tal’Aura’s power base to erode — but the woman who conspired with Shinzon to destroy her entire government in the pursuit of power is not one to wait for her own death. Instead, Tal’Aura partially arranged the Typhon Pact, a six-member alliance of nations composed of some of the Federation’s oldest enemies.  In Rough Beasts of Empire, two Federation citizens — Ambassador Spock and Captain Bejanmin Sisko — attempt to work out their fates in this dangerous new political environment.

Previous novels in the Typhon Pact series have focused on one story, but David R. George follows the lives of two men. On Romulus, Spock continues to lead the Reunification movement despite a narrow escape from an assassin, preaching peace and working toward the day when Vulcans and Romulans can look on one another as kindred spirits. Though Spock is the viewpoint character here,  he’s used by George to observe the power struggle between Donatra and Tal’Aura: his story is more one of Romulan politics than his own philosophical labors. Meanwhile, Captain Sisko — who rejoined Starfleet during the last great Borg War —  commands the USS Robinson, a Galaxy-class starship patrolling the Romulan borders, tormented by what he had to leave behind on Bajor and haunted by memories of the Tzenkethi war.  As difficult as it was for me to see Sisko put through an emotional meatgrinder here, it’s rather refreshing.  In the early Relaunch books, Sisko was more a Legend than man: he vanished inside the Bajoran wormhole at the end of Deep Space Nine,  though no one on the station in the months that followed could escape his memory. His reappearance at a pivotal moment only boosted the legendary aura, and  shortly thereafter he read like a saint, above the cares of the world. George brings him back down to Earth again — where he’s back to being human, back to struggling with issues and making hard, wrenching decisions.  Thus Rough Beasts offers heaps of political and character drama, though I think Sisko’s thread has the stronger ending.

Aside from this, Rough Beasts also reintroduces some characters who have not been seen recently —  Kira Nerys, and the master villain of TNG’s ‘Unification’  episode.  George also elaborates on the Tzenkethi, whose appearances was the source of great speculation when Pocket and CBS announced the Typhon Pact series.  They’re interesting sorts, though I wouldn’t care to see them again. Like Tal’Aura, I wished them defeat and disappearance every time they showed up in the book.

I’ve read George before, in Provenance of Shadows, and this was even more a page-turner. I probably would have finished it in one sitting had I not resisted reading it. I try not to read more than one Trek book per reading week (starting on Wednesdays) , but as you can see I failed. It’s all George’s fault — the book was too interesting to stop reading for too long, and the pages flew by so quickly that I was done before I knew it.  Of the three Typhon Pact books I read, I’ve enjoyed this the most — owing, in part, to my being a Sisko fan .

The next Typhon Pact read, Paths of Disharmony, is scheduled to be released anywhere from mid-January to early February. It is a TNG novel that is expected to focus on the Tholians (“The Tholian Web“, “In a Mirror Darkly“) and Andor.

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The Burning Land

Posted on January 2, 2011 by smellincoffee

The Burning Land
© 2009 Bernard Cornwell
336 pages

“I see all history as being — and this is very simplistic — a contest between puritans and cavaliers, and I’m instinctively on the side of the cavaliers. As far as Uhtred is concerned, the Danes are a helluva lot more fun.” – Bernard Cornwell, interview.                           
Uhtred of Bebbanburg has just achieved his greatest triumph, the masterful routing of a vast Danish army intent on making Mercia and Wessex their own. He is King Alfred’s Lord of War:  his greatest servant, albeit the least orthodox. Despite their mutual gains together, the peace in Uhtred’s life is soon shattered when his beloved wife dies in childbirth and a vicious bishop denounces her as a whore. This attracts Uhtred’s attention, the bishop loses the use of his neck in short order,  and soon our hero is faced with a choice: humiliation or exile.
Turning his back on his oath to Alfred and leaving his children in the care of a friend, Uhtred sails from Wessex  accompanied by his most loyal comrades-in-arms, intent on returning to his adopted Danish family where he will at last be free — free of Alfred’s ambitions, free of Alfred’s mewling priests, free of Alfred’s laws and constant disapproval. At Dunholm, with his Danish brothers at his side, Uhtred can finally plan his recapture of Bebbanburg, his family’s ancestral land. Fate, though, has other plans:  the Danes have not lost their ambitions to destroy Wessex, and when Uhtred receives a desperate plea from a woman whom he’s loved and protected all her life, he’s forced to make another difficult decision. Either choice will brand him a traitor and send him headlong into destruction, but “fate is inexorable”. 
The Burning Land is the fifth and latest book in Bernard Cornwell’s unflaggingly strong Saxon series. Most of the book is populated by familiar characters, the only notable introduction being that of Skade, the ethereally beautiful and cruel warrior-priestess who I wasn’t sure Uhtred would kill or marry. Emotional turmoil abounds, as does military action:  momentous battles bookend The Burning Land, and they’re two of the more interesting (site-wise) I’ve yet read. Though the books in this series are increasingly introduced by an aged Uhtred looking back at the past (and scowling at how remiss the monks have been in recording his role in these battles),  I’m never certain as to where Cornwell (or the fates) are going to send the outcast Lord of Bebbanburg next. As is usual, the book’s pace is furious: I deliberately had to stop reading last night to prevent my rapture from interfering in New Years’ Eve plans.
It is with sorrow that I note the lack of a sixth book at present: I will be looking forward to Uhtred’s continuing adventures. At least the recess is starting on a strong note — I’d say this is the third best in the series, behind The Lords of the North and The Last Kingdom. That’s no small prize, considering the stellar quality of this series as a whole. 
                                         

                                                                                                     

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Over the Hills

Posted on December 31, 2010 by smellincoffee

Over the Hills: A Midlife Escape Across America by Bicycle
© 1996 David Lamb
254 pages

Despite a life of front-line journalism in Vietnam and Rwanda, LA Times journalist David Lamb feels as though his lifestyle has become positively sedentary as he approaches middle age. In an attempt to prove to himself that he’s capable of great deeds, he decides to travel across the country — on a touring bike. After cursory preparation, Lamb hits the road with his saddlebags and makes his way across the hills and valleys of the Eastern coast, through the southwestern deserts, and over the Rockies straight to Santa Monica’s pier. Since pedestrians and cyclists are barred from the interstates,  Lamb keeps to the backroads, including the venerable Route 66, stopping to chat up local townsfolk on deserted city streets and pedaling for his life to escape from packs of aggressive dogs in farm country.

The trip itself is absent of drama, aside from the dog chases: there are no accidents, no close calls, no miserable slogs through blinding storms. Lamb manages to avoid rain the entire time, the only inclement weather being the ‘headwinds’ of the plains which slow him down considerably.  His travel log consists of descriptions of the passing landscape, particularly the small towns he beds in, his dealings with the people he meets, and ruminations about life on the road. He adds to this a history of the bicycle, and its role in shaping the United States’ social and transportation history.

I enjoy stories about people who hit the open road and go where it takes them, exploring and venturing into the unknown, and Over the Hills was no exception. While Lamb doesn’t use his isolation on the road to delve into philosophy and the meaning of life (as did Peter Jenkins in A Walk Across America), I enjoyed his encounters with small-town America all the same, though aside from the ‘ordinary kindnesses’ the strangers offered there was little good news to be had. Most towns, Lamb wrote, had picked up and moved to interstate exit ramps,  leaving the old communities to rot in abandonment.  More cheery than this was the fascinating history of the bicycle in American culture, which Lamb concludes by detailing how modern cities are attempting to encourage bicycle activity.  Parts of the book are dated ($15-and $20 motel rooms?!), but  it’s a fun ride read.

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Seize the Fire

Posted on December 30, 2010 by smellincoffee

Star Trek Typhon Pact: Seize the Fire

© 2010 Michael A. Martin
499 pages
In the wake of the last great Borg War, most of Starfleet is tasked with helping to pick up the pieces. Only a few ships, the USS Titan among them, are allowed to continue Starfleet’s mandate of exploration.  Despite being lucky in this regard, Captain William Riker doesn’t want to go on his merry way into the unexplored expanses of the galaxy and with no thought to his comrades back home — thus, he opts to investigate the possibility of a powerful terraforming technology not unlike that of the Genesis Device. When he confirms his suspicions, though, he finds the technology in the hands of the Gorn Hegemony. The Gorn have their own reasons for wanting the device, as one of their most precious breeding worlds has been ruined by excess solar activity.  While their possessing this device — which, like Genesis, could be used to destroy civilizations “in favor of its new matrix” — is problematic enough, the leading Gorn general seems intent on using it on a planet already inhabited. Though the Prime Directive forbids Riker from interfering, he must find a way to do so and perhaps gain access to the “eco-sculptor” at the same time. 
Star Trek’s reptilian species fascinate me: the Gorn were first mentioned in “Arena”, which contains one of the most outstandingly campy fights in televised history,  and spotted once in Enterprise, but have since not garnered much attention. Michael A. Martin does for them what David Mack did for the Breen, turning standard villains into large, complex political entities.  Just as Mack did, he tells part of the story from the viewpoint of Gorn characters, some of them sympathetic. This nation- and world-building was the strongest portion of the novel for me, though I also appreciated Martin’s use of Gnalish crewmembers board the Titan: Michael Jan Friedman introduced them in Reunion, and his Stargazer novel Progenitor spotlighted them.  The plot’s possible resolutions seemed obvious from the start, though the road there took some unexpected twists and turns. I enjoyed the novel, and even read most of it in one sitting. Some characterization seemed strange, particularly in the case of Riker’s XO (Christine Vale), but I’ve not read enough Titan novels to say for sure.  The novel’s greatest weakness was Martin/Riker’s interpretation of the Prime Directive. The directive forbids Starfleet personnel from interfering in the natural evolution of a pre-warp society:  they can’t be so much as contacted without first displaying the ability to use warp drive.  This “natural evolution” clause has been extended to prohibiting Starfleet personnel from stopping asteroid collisions with planets, and in Voyager Tom Paris was demoted and tossed into the brig for interfering in a similar case. As outrageous as that is, in Seize the Fire the planet in question is being targeted by an outside power, a warp power, and Riker’s belief that he can’t interfere makes him look like a legalistic chump. 
I’d say Seize the Fire is fairly enjoyable: not outstanding, but not mediocre, either. 
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This Week at the Library (29 December)

Posted on December 29, 2010 by smellincoffee

Aside from the books I’ve already done full comments on, I also finished The Great American Wolf and The Golden Door.  My observations about them were shortish, so I decided to include them here instead of making seperate, strangely short posts.  The Great American Wolf by Bruce Hampton was placed in my library’s Science and Nature section, though it’s really more a history of human interaction with wolves in North America. I had no idea wolves were viewed in such a negative light: I’ve always been fond of them, seeing the grey wolf in particular as intelligent, sociable, and beautiful.  Though native Americans regarded the wolf as a magnificent creatures, Europeans have apparantly shared a long hostility toward them and the colonists who settled in North American acted on it. They regarded the wolves as pests and purposely sought to drive them to extinction — though this changed in the 20th century, as conservationists and environmentalists pushed to save them.

I also read Isaac Asimov’s The Golden Door, a history of the United States from Reconstruction following the Civil War through to the conclusion of the Great War. This period of history happens to be one of my favorites, and Asimov titled his book by drawing from Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus”, engraved upon the Statue of Liberty in New York which welcomed so many immigrants.

“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

I rather like the poem.  Asimov’s history is breezily readable, suitable for younger readers as well as older ones who want an introduction to the period, a refresher, or some mild entertainment: I picked up some trivia while reading it. Asimov’s istypically fair and more idealistic than cynical.

Next week’s potentials:

  • Seize the Fire, Michael A. Martin. I actually read this yesterday, but I meant for it to be “this” week’s Trek reading. Because my library visit and TWATL post have occcured on Wednesday for so long, I tend to think of it as starting a new ‘week’. 
  • Over the Hills: A Midlife Escape Across America by Bicycle, David Lamb.  This is the third or fourth book I’ve read this year in which someone decided to journey across the continent, but the idea of throwing oneself into nature, of seeing where the road goes and having an adventure along the way, appeals to me.
  • In a Sunburned Country,  in which Bill Bryson explores Australia.
  • The Evolution of God, by Robert Wright — because God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World and Why Their Differences Matter was checked out. 
  • The Burning Land, Bernard Cornwell. The most recent book in the Saxon Chronicles series, which means next week I’ll have no Uhtred to enjoy. Whatever will I do?
  • I also have a book on the weather, because on Christmas morning while watching the rain fall I realized that though I understand the water cycle, I have no idea what high- and low-pressure systems mean and why they bring the kind of weather they do. 
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Teaser Tuesday (28 December)

Posted on December 28, 2010 by smellincoffee

Time for the Tuesday teasin’, and if I’m not too much mistaken this is the last TT of the year. 

So love, I thought, had turned Erik against his brother. Love would make him slash a blade through every oath he had ever sworn. Love has power over power itself. 

(Sword Song, Bernard Cornwell. P. 271.)

He’d been playing Barbarian George’s Big Crusade on the PlayStation at his friend Sam’s house, and they’d gotten into the infidel territory and killed thousands of the ‘Rackies, but the game just didn’t seem to have any way to exit. It wasn’t designed so you could ever get out of it, and before he knew it, it was dark outside, and he’d forgotten, and Christmas was just going to be ruined.

(The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror, Christopher Moore. P. 34.)

“I am Olaf Eagleclaw,” he told me proudly, “And I will meet you in the corpse-hall.”

“Uhtred of Bebbanburg,” I said, and I was stil on the deck as he lifted his ax high.

And Olaf Eagleclaw screamed.

(Sword Swong, Bernard Cornwell)
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Top Ten Top Reads

Posted on December 28, 2010 by smellincoffee

Every January I reflect on the past year’s reading and draw attention to a few special books so I hesitated at participating in this week’s list at first.  I wouldn’t want to make my annual review sound repetitive, but I don’t think it has anything to worry about.

Top Ten Top Reads

This book immediately came to mind as soon as I read the weekly topic. If I did a ‘Book of the Year’, this would be it. Mann reexamines the civilizations of the Americas, asserting that they manipulated the environment to suit their needs just as heavily as European nations
I have read three fictional biographies and two or three conventional biographies of Jesus, and this is the best of either category. Despite being written to amuse, Moore’s Jesus is more believable and sympathetic than any I’ve yet read.
Essays, news articles, and poems condemning the United States’ role in Cuba and the Phillipines,  quite useful to a student of the period or American expansionism in general. 
I have found philosophy a stalwart ally in living a quiet, happy life, and Irvine’s work makes one of the better philosophical worldviews both understandable and relevant to the modern mind. 
5. Red Emma Speaks, Emma Goldman
Red Emma Speaks collects essays and other opinion pieces by anarchist and social activist Emma Goldman, who regarded as inhuman most of which society holds dear —  states, capitalism, organized religion, and marriage. She was a great defender of human rights. (Speaking of which, this book was in my backpack when a police officer searched both myself and my car back in January. He was a small town cop, though, so I don’t think he knew who she was.)
6. African Exodus: the Origins of Modern Humanity, Christopher Stringer and Robin McKie
Essentially a history of human evolution; I especially enjoyed the chapters on human and Neanderthal interaction.
7. The Lady Elizabeth, Alison Weir
The first of many reads by Alison Weir this summer, being the story of Queen Elizabeth’s childhood. 
8. The Iron Heel, Jack London
One of the first dystopias, and one predicts in part the rise of fascism. This is the story of Ernest Everhard, Marxist revolutionary who takes on the corporate police state. It was written in 1907 — a decade before the Russian revolution. 
9. Lost Souls, David Mack
The stunning conclusion to the incomparable Destiny trilogy, which sets the stage for an entirely new generation of Trek literature.
I was very impressed by this book when reading it. I had no idea how influential coal has been. 
Honorable Mentions:
1. The Year of Living Biblically, A.J. Jacobs
2. Captain Horatio Hornblower, C.S. Forester
3. Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell
4. Revenge of the Sith, Matthew Stover
5. La Belle France, Alistair Horne
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Sword Song

Posted on December 27, 2010 by smellincoffee

Sword Song: The Battle for London
© 2008 Bernard Cornwell
314 pages

When King Alfred assumed the throne of Wessex, his fragile nation stood alone against the rest of England, subdued and ruled by the Danes.  Through  Alfred’s able administration and his reliance on stout warriors like Uthred of Bebbanburg, Wessex has broken the back of most of the Scandinavian usurpers. Those who’ve not fallen by Uhtred’s sword have been turned into Alfred’s allies (if not completely reliable), and the pious king’s influence is expanding. Still, invaders keep coming — like Sigifred and Erik, two legendary Norse brothers who have invaded southern England fresh from profitable journeys among the Franks. They have seized Lundene (known better as London) and intend to conquer both Mercia and Wessex. Though Alfred’s forces are large enough to resist them successfully, he cannot allow the brothers to continue using Lundene to control the Thames river, Alfred’s greatest source of supplies and trade. Thus, Uhtred and a few other chosen men are tasked with leading an army to Lundene and  restoring it to Saxon hands.

Uhtred is the most able of Alfred’s servants, but not his most-honored: unlike most Saxons, he has not abandoned the old gods for the Hebrews’, nor has his life made him a meek subordinate. Though Uhtred complies with Alfred’s wishes, he does so to fulfill a personal sense of honor — not because he likes or even respects the sickly would-be saint. He would rather burn in the Christian hell until the end of time than spend a moment with Alfred’s crowd of pious legalists.  Thus, even though he follows Alfred’s orders, he does so in his own way — keeping his own counsel, often striking out on his own without Alfred’s sanction or even notice.   Though the outcome of the book’s titular battle was a foregone conclusion, the execution is interesting and the aftermath unpredictable — giving Uhtred an opportunity to choose to defy Alfred’s plans in order to effect his own. Most of the book’s characters are old familiars, but the two Norse brothers were welcome arrivals; the younger, Erik, is a sympathetic a character as any.

In sum, Sword Song is yet another enjoyable volume in this series. I always enjoy stories of people who shun obedience and docility in favor of following their convictions, especially when they involve abusive priests and nobles stammering apologies as they back away from a gleaming sword held by the angry Lord of Bebbanburg.

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The Confession

Posted on December 26, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Confession
© 2010 John Grisham
418 pages

In 1998, the small Texas city of Sloan was horrified when a high school belle vanished without a trace. She’d been abducted, abused, murdered, and buried by a serial rapist named Travis Boyette.  Outraged and horrified, the town eagerly pursues its first suspect and sends him to Death Row — but Boyette was not accused, condemned, or even suspected. He walks free while an innocent boy, another high school star, is sentenced to death on the basis of a transparently extracted confession and the word of a jealous goon.  Nicole’s body was never found, nor was there any physical evidence to tie young Donte to the crime.  Almost ten years later,  as Donte’s execution date draws near, Boyette stumbles into the office of a Lutheran minister with a troubled conscience. He’s dying, troubled by his conscience, and knows all too well that in less than a week, a broken young boy will be killed for someone else’s crimes.

Keith Schroeder never anticipated being the confessor of a serial rapist, but he’s gripped by the Cause: if he can convince the legal system that they may have the wrong man, Donte will live and possibly even be exonerated. While Donte’s lawyer Robbie Flak files every last-minute appeal he can, Schroeder and Boyette race against the clock, violate Boyette’s parole for another crime, and rush to the backwoods of Missouri where Boyette claims to have buried the body. The odds are long that they will concede: the prosecuting attorneys, judge, and governors are all hard men proud to see Donte on his way to Death Row: to them,  his death will be a triumph, a sign to all that Texas’ lawmen are doing their job to protect good white people from the black menace.

Black menace –? Oh, yes. Donte is black. His jurors were all white, and his sloppy conviction and impending execution have Slone teetering on the precipe of a race riot. There’s no lack of dramatic tension in The Confession once the race to Missouri against a ticking clock starts in earnest.  I for one received the book on Christmas morning and began reading it later that evening after a day of family festivities. I continued reading well into the night, , but I could not put it down.  The book was racing towards its conclusion, or so I thought, and I was carried towards dawn by the fast pace. Every time I thought the tension was nearing a breaking point, Grisham threw another spanner in the works. He hasn’t had this spellbinding effect on me in years.  The conclusion is a mixed bag, not unusual for Grisham:  while he rarely writes stories of the ‘bad guys’ winning, he’s not particularly keen on writing stories of the ‘good guys’ winning, either –at best, the victories are Pyrrhic.  Like most of Grisham’s novels, this is not idle entertainment; he uses his characters’ plight to address a point. The Appeal criticized judicial politics, for instance, a tack also taken up here along with revisiting The Chamber’s theme of the effectiveness and morality of the death penalty.  More directly, The Confession attacks the prosecution’s eagerness to convict and kill:  human lives should not be weighed in the balance by politicians eager to perform for emotional audiences.

The Confession is an emotionally turbulent thriller of human conscience set against malevolent institutions that recommends itself far more than other releases in recent years like The Associate.

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