Holiday Reading

It's been an excellent season of holiday reading 2006-07 - plenty of variety within the admittedly narrow reading parameters in which I operate!

Destiny's Children - Stephen Baxter

I recently discovered this phenomenal Sci-Fi author via his book Evolution. Baxter writes within a strong evolutionary context which is consistently fascinating - for example across his works you'll find him asserting that human beings developed big brains because they needed the evolutionary advantage that social skills gave them in cooperative activity - physically they couldn't compete - so his real point is that humanity didn't survive because they had big brains - but rather that they developed big brains in order to survive. Not particularly new, until you find in later books he postulates some human societies (for example in closed Ark ships) where big brains become a liability and so evolution demands regression.

Anyway, I read the 3rd and 4th books in the Destiny's Children series. The 3rd book, Transcendent, was an interesting study on the human quest for redemption - following 2 parallel story lines - the first describing the tortured family life of a man who will in time save the world; the second telling the story of a young girl who participates in a future humanity's quest to redeem humanity's past by "witnessing" the pain of every human who has ever lived. Fascinating pretext - of course, she is watching the life of the man in storyline #1. Excellent series. 9/10.

Pride of Carthage - D A Durham

I enjoyed this compelling historical novel on the life of Hannibal Barca of Carthage (a city state in North Africa now part of Tunisia) - an inspired Carthaginian general who came within an inch of bringing Rome to its knees. The characterisation in this book is really first rate. Not only Hannibal but his family, others within his retinue and the Romans who opposed him. Reminded me how much I enjoy good quality historical fiction. 9/10.

Murder in La Mut - Raymond Feist and Joel Rosenberg

I quite like these Riftwar spinoffs, albeit that I am not a big fan of the collaborative writing ventures these celebrated authors use to spin out ta series! A fun book with a well constructed plot and likeable characters (always the key in these fantasy books). 7/10.

The Roses of Roazon - Cherith Baldry

There were aspects of the fantasy novel that I really enjoyed: the riches to rags to riches story of a relatively minor character, Bertrand; the messianic allusions surrounding the pacifist Duke Joscelin; the underlying spiritual themes - a spirituality of love and grace supplanting a harsh judgmentalism. In the end, it just went a bit far for me - especially, the homosexual love story! 6/10.

The Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett

Supposedly this book is (a) A Disc World novel and (b) A Children's book. I can't agree with either proposition! For a start it doesn't read like a Disc World novel - Death doesn't even make a cameo appearance! Secondly, I would have thought it too advanced for a child! I did like it a lot - its a really subversive fairy tale about a young girl who becomes a witch with the aid of the "wee free men" who are super hilarious elves who speak in broad Scots accents and live for fighting, stealing and drinking (especially Sheep's linament). Quote of the book (which kinda illustrates the subversive nature of the work):

Miss Tick [Mystic...] sniffed. "You could say this advice is priceless," she said. "Are you listening?" "Yes," said Tiffany. "Good. Now...if you trust in yourself..." "Yes?" "...and believe in your dreams..." "Yes?" "...and follow your star..." Miss Tick went on. "Yes?" "...you'll still get beaten by people who spent their their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy. Good-bye."

Priceless indeed. Supposedly, its going to be made into a movie. It will be a lot of fun if it is. 8/10.

JPod - Douglas Coupland

I do like satire in small doses - and this is a great example. An hilarious read about a group of software engineers whose surnames all begin with J (a weird HR policy has made it so...). So much borax poked at so many institutions of modern (and particularly digital) society. The book is highly cynical, even for Coupland. In fact, its so cynical that he appears in the book! He doesn't save himself from self-criticism by characters that you've come to like despite the fact that they are miserable, unproductive losers. There are some really funny plotlines in this book - the militant lesbian who has an affair with the main character's mother and then converts midway through the book to the compliant, plastic surgery coveting, girlfriend of a Chinese smuggler/gangster/interior designer; the plot to sabotage a Playstation game with a homicidal Ronald MacDonald character; the asinine competitions the JPod have in the office when they get bored of real work (which is often) eg. writing EBay ads selling themselves (you get to read the ads...). 9/10.

So that's it - my holiday reading. A rewarding mix of my main reading fare - Sci Fi/Fantasy leavened with some well written satire and historic fiction. All available from the library!