Tag Archives: books

March 5, 2013 · 10:24 am

50 Books a Year Update

Goal- read 50 books a year. This year, I’m off to a decent start, but to make 50 I’m going to have to mix in a couple kiddie books. Maybe my friend the Roster will let me read a few to him.

Started the year burning through three William Kent Kruger books; Iron Lake, Boundary Waters and Copper River. These are decent murder mysteries set in Northern Minnesota, and in the case of Copper River, up on the Upper Peninsula. Enjoyable reads they’re well written with good characters and strong interesting plots. I especially like the main protagonist in the series, Cork O’Conner.  Cork is part Anishinaabe, and his connection to the local band is a big part of all of the books I’ve read so far and makes the Minnesota connection even beter.

They’re a nice way to pass the time, but they’re not challenging if you know what I mean. I like to mix in something that stretches my mind every coupl’a three books or so. Otherwise I’d just watch CSI.

Somewhere in there I mixed in Saul Bellow’s Henderson The Rain King. Technically it’s literature since Saul won a Nobel or something. I came across this one listening too, and fooling around with (on the guitar) the Counting Crows song “the Rain King”. It’s a great song but the lyrics are weird so I did a little digging to learn more about the source of the song. Turns out the song is based on the book.

This turned out to be a book that I wanted to like a lot more than I actually liked it. The story is about a middle aged millionaire who, unsatisfied with his life heads to Africa in an attempt to answer a question yearning in his soul “I want I want I want”. Problem is he has everything and doesn’t know quite what it is he wants. In Africa he seeks wisdom and at the same time attempts to help the some of the folks he comes across, and basically screws up everything he touches. The book ends with his inheriting the throne of a tribe, a job he wants no part off and he has to beg off and head back home wiser and happier.

This is a book that I wish I’d written; the wit and irony are certainly right up my alley. I’m a middle-aged guy who has no idea what he wants, I only knows that I’m never satisfied with what I have. Except when I’m at the lake, there for some reason I fell pretty content about all things except the dread I start to feel about leaving. And since that happens every time I’m there, that being that I leave and come back home to my usual avocation, I’m going to chock it up as a mid-life crisis thing and call it a day.

Which doesn’t help explain why I like/don’t like Henderson The Rain King, but the thought came to me and I was typing at the time so the two of you who read this have a little more insight in my insanity.

The plot in the book moves kinda slow to be honest, that’s the “don’t like” part. It is however peppered with philosophical insights and great quotes. I love me a great quote. One of my favorites:

I often looked into books to see whether I could find some helpful words, and one day I read, “The forgiveness of sins is perpetual and righteousness first is not required.” This impressed me so deeply that I went around saying it to myself. But then I forgot which book it was.”

Kinda the story of my life. I forget more great ideas and thoughts than I’ve ever had and at the end of the day I forget them all and have to start from scratch.

But for some reason I can remember the names of a pair of twins I played with and last saw in 1969. Weird.

My voice is not “I want” it’s “I don’t know what I want”. Hmm.

From the trash novel department, The Temple Mount Code by Charles Brokaw. Not that Charles Brokaw, at least I don’t think it was that Charles Brokaw. Not so good. One of those international thrillers that has bad guys chasing good guys across the globe. There’s so many daring escapes in this one that it’s ridiculous. I think it’s a supposed to be a kind of modern Indiana Jones deal, but even Indy doesn’t have this many escapes in a day. When the Iranian bad guys and the hero/Cassa Nova/Archaeologist burrow under the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and no one notices.. then I’m kinda done. The ending is awful, anti-climatic and lose ends.. blah.

From here I moved on to Margery Kemps autobiography. Thankfully edited and re-written by Louise Collins. The Kemp memoirs are the very first autobiography written in English. It dates to the late 1300’s early 1400’s. Mrs. Kemp could best be described as “bat-shit” crazy. She had a habit of breaking into tears and convulsions whenever she entered a church. At the time the general opinion was that she was either completely nuts, which seemed to the more popular opinion, or that she was some sort of aesthetic, the view held by some of the clergy.

Margery was remarkable in that after having 14 children with her long suffering husband she departed on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land where the wrote about her visits to Jerusalem and the various Christian shrines there. Pretty amazing when you think about, not like you could board an El Al flight out of London and touch down in the Holy Land 4 hours later. This trip took a couple years and involved crossing the channel, making her way across Europe to Venice. Booking a Pilgrim Package, literally an all inclusive trip from Venice to Joppa, overland to Jerusalem and back, meals, guides and lodging all included. I had no idea they had such things. After the trip she goes to Rome and then back home.

One thing that comes out loud and clear, the woman was a pain in the ass. She gets kicked out of every group she hooks up with, in those days traveling with a group was mandatory to avoid the dangers of 14th century brigands and robbers. And it seems that just as soon as the crowd she’s with kicks her out, they feel guilty and bring her back. With the stipulation that she not preach, wail, cry, or talk. Marjory interprets this as God looking after her and blessing the groups she’s with.

There’s actually a hilarious part where she separates from her group in Joppa, only to be reunited with them in Venice a year later, and they all decide to kill themselves instead of traveling with her one more day. Not really but pretty close. Even the hired guide she employs to take her from Venice to Rome abandons here half way, deciding that money isn’t worth the trouble of hanging out with this broad.

Bottom line I love me some history, especially the first person accounts. This was a good one. You do however want someone to interpret English from that era. This was before there were standards about grammar and spelling so trying to figure out what they’re saying is difficult. My only beef with this version was the editor, Louise Collins… she made a lot of mistakes about the time and places. Her history wasn’t quite right and that always bugs the shit out of me. Good news is there are lot of other sources for this work including one called “Diary of a Crazy Woman”. Might be a better one for me. Some of you might like “Story of a Woman of God” if you want to go that route.

OK Anyone still with me here?

The Worm

I can’t even being to tell you how offended I was by Dennis Rodman’s trip to North Korea. His comments about his new little buddy and great leadership.. Dennis should move to North Korea and to live for a few years at Yodak Concentration camp. Which is where Kang Chol-Hwan the author of Aquariums of Pyongyang spent 10 years of his youth. He is from a family of Koreans living in Japan. His family was enticed to move to the Socialist Paradise in North Korea in late 1970’s by the local North Korean benevolent society. His father became a fairly high level bureaucrat in the party and the family lived relatively well in Pyongyang for a few years before things went horribly bad.

His grandfather was accused of disloyalty to the regime and, as happens in the Socialist Paradise, the entire extended family including 9 year old Chol were sent to a concentration camp. 10 years of near starvation, watching beatings and public executions and summary punishments Chol was released and deemed “rehabilitated”. Realizing that he was going to be arrested again he was able to escape to China across the Yalu river and make his way to Seoul South Korea where he became a journalist.

This is a really gripping book about life in North Korea that reads like a realty show based on George Orwell’s 1984. Loyalty to the Party and the Kim’s is ingrained in every aspect of life. Kang writes that as bad as Yodak was, it was by no means the worst camp in North Korea. There were others where no one left alive. This is the family that Dennis Rodman has decided to embrace. This is his “Friend for life”. These are the people that Dennis calls “great leaders”. 3 Million starved to death in the last 10 years. People eating rats and cockroaches. Summary executions of 10’s of thousands.

I’m sorry, fuck you Dennis Rodman, you deserve to live with your new friends and see what life is really like in Hermit Kingdom. I think digging coal with you hands in a forced labor camp eathing 500 grams of corn a day would do you well.

Soo, I’ve read a bunch of stuff lately because I’m avoiding my next one. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I’ve been avoiding this one because I’m intimidated by the length of it. It’s a tome and a half. Might need to augment reading time to get through in 2013. BUT, from everything I’ve read it’s right up my alley. If found it because I submitted my blog to a “Who do you write like” site and Wallace was the guy that came up. Snarky and smart I’m supposed to write a lot like he does. We’ll see.

6 Comments

Filed under Life

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

November 27, 2012 · 10:01 pm

I write a lot. And it shows.

Man this blogging thing can be a challenge. Write write write.. I did a little work to see just how much I’ve been able put out there on the internets, part of the 2000 posts celebration deal.

So just how much have I written over the years. And before I lay out the statistics let me point out a few facts-

 

  1. All content is original, I haven’t copied anything, stolen anything, blah blah blah, it’s from my head to your screen.
  2. I’ve been at this for a long time, almost 10 years now. Writing about 5X a week, more sometimes, less sometimes.
  3. I don’t pretend to be a good writer, especially if the definition of good has anything to do with spelling. I think faster than I type, and then, subconsciously, I skip words to catch up. At least that’s what I think I’m doing, I suppose I’d need a psychologist to tell me why I do it. Then again I could apply Occam’s Razor and deduce that I’m lame. We do have to keep all options on the table. BTW, if you send me little nasty grams to tell me that my writing sucks and implore me to proof read and try to do better because I’m hard to read as is, my suggestion to you stop reading the blog. Better for everyone.

 

WIth that out of the way, I’m estimating that I’ve written about 8M words, given the average length of my posts, that converts to about 8,000 pages or 28 300 page books. That’s a lot of writing.

No wonder I occasionally run out of things to say.

Or why friends who read this space, don’t have anything to ask us when they see us. Its all been said. The funny thing is I never seem to have writers block for more than a day or so. My mind seems to be constantly working, I find myself constantly in “content acquisition” mode, hunting for things to talk about, ruminating over issues in my head, or seeing absurd humor in every day occurrences. Or, one of my favorite topics, exposing the hypocrisy or self righteousness of others. There’s nothing more satisfying to me than hearing about some anti-gay politician getting busted with a male prostitute in their car, or a gentle environmentalist song writer an poet who runs a dog fighting kennel as a hobby.

 

So enough self indulgence. Cutting to the chase, I write alot, once in awhile it’s good, often it isn’t, but this is a blog, not a book. Read the blog, buy the book. When it ever goes for sale.

 

Hah.

6 Comments

Filed under Life

Tagged as , , , ,

September 1, 2012 · 2:04 pm

I’m going to miss Barnes & Noble

I was rooting for Barnes & Noble, I’m a fan, I  really am. . I’ve spent a ton of time over the years hanging out in their bookstores. Nuth’n better than crawling around stacks of books looking for treasures to enlighten and entertain. I get the joke that the book business in serious trouble. Amazon has all by destroyed the chains, e-publishing is taking it’s toll and the 20-30 some things can’t read more than 144 characters at at time without getting distracted.

I thought they were on to something when they came out with the Nook, competition for the Kindle. I was enough of a fan that I bought three of the things, the original white nook (that’s the one that that got ripped off, resurfaced and then re-ripped off by some artist in St.Paul who found it, pulled the douchebag trick when I asked to get it back and who I know wait for Kharma to make her life more miserable.) I bought a color Nook when it came out and finally the Nook tablet for Mrs S.

I actually like the Nook, or did I should say. We have 3 iPads in the family as well so I know the difference, but for reading and light applications, the Nook was fine, and given that it was less than 1/2 the price of the cheapest iPad, I thought it was a good deal.

Except.

Except over time, I started to outgrow the thing. Which frankly, shouldn’t have happened. The Nook runs on a Barnes & Noble proprietary version of Android. The fine folk at B&N, thinking themselves able to pull of an Apple like closed down ecosystem of applications and content force Nook owners like me, who haven’t tried to root my device, through their store, for apps and books. Just like Amazon BTW. This wouldn’t a big problem if they would open their store up to the world of Android applications, but they don’t. They curate. The hand select the applications that they think their users would like and that’s what we can find in their store.

Actually they do more than curate, they censor. The applications in the Nook store are so benign, Rick Santorum and the Chinese Government would approve of them. Wanna play a game where shoot something or go to war against someone? Not in the Nook-u-verse. Wanna sync the device with outlook or post to a blog? Nope. How about Facebook? Noting there either.

Lame lame lame

But I have one and I use it quite a bit for magazines and books. It certainly has some cool features around viewing articles and reading books, better than what I’ve seen elsewhere. If only… If only it were a real Android tablet.

Looking at B&N’s financial performance it’s a complete disaster, the lone bright spot being their electronic business. Without it, they’d be dead. Which leaves me thinking, wouldn’t you want to try to attract more people to that segment, instead of turning them off with limited access to applications and content?

This week I happened to hit the Google home page. There on the bottom, an ad for the Nexus 7, the new Android tablet from Google. My first thought, so long Barnes & Noble, you had a good run. I can’t imagine anyone buying a Nook anymore. Would make no sense given the restricted environment of the Nook. And when your using your new Nexus 7, B&N becomes just one of many book purchasing options, cutting into Barnes and Nobles market share. Unfortunately they have no share left to give.

1 Comment

Filed under Life

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

January 16, 2011 · 2:25 pm

Genghis Kahn Week

It’s Genghis Khan week at Old and in the Way.

Yesterday I happened to catch Mongol, the film by Sergei Bodrov, on Netflix. I experienced two firsts while watching this film, first full length feature I’ve ever seen about Temujin, better know by his Mongolian honorific, Great Leader i.e. Genghis Khan. The other first, my very first movie in Mongolian, with English subtitles thank you. Oddly enough I thought Mongolian sounded a lot like Korean, but I happen to know that Korean (like Finnish and Hungarian) happens to be an isolate language, having no other related languages. Someone else will have to tell me if this is coincidence or not.

For the past couple weeks I’ve been reading Conn Igguldens’s Trilogy about the rise of Mongol Empire and the life of Temujin, the young tribesman who would unite the nomadic tribes of the Mongolian Steppe into the most feared military in world. As I was sitting around Saturday cruising Apple TV, I found Steve Jobs and the Netflix folks recommending that I watch Mongol, Well the idea of movie about Genghis had appeal with all the reading I’ve been doing. Little did I know I had picked an Academy Award nominee for best foreign language film? Probably the first film in Mongolian to be nominated as well.

Conn Iggulden is well known two epic works of historical fiction, one about the rise of Caesar and the Romans, and Genghis Khan series; Genghis: Birth of an Empire, Genghis: Lords of the Bow, Genghis: Bones of the Hills. The books are interesting, but they are historical fiction. Actual historical accounts of Temunjin life are completely absent. This means that Conn has to pull source material from several secondary resources and augment a tremendous amount of his imagination. He does it well and is able to weave a very readable story. His focus in the first book were the trials of the young Temujin and his rise to power eventually uniting the nomadic tribes in Mongolia. Conn spends most of the book in the period before Temujin became Khan, when he and his immediate family were left to die on the Steppe by their clan following the death of Teumunjin’s father, the Khan of his tribe.

The novel presents the young warrior as the product of a brutal environment. Iggulden’s Genghis is a brutal guy who will do anything to ensure the survival of his family and his tribe, including the killing of his half brother after the family is cast out of their tribe. By the end of the book, Genghis has asserted himself as the Great Kahn of the Mongol’s and taken his vengeance on all those who have wronged him. By the end of the first book, Genghis has assembled his horde, created a nation and is standing ready to being their conquest of the known world.

The second novel, Lords of the Bow finds Genghis and the Mongols early in their campaigns of conquest, rolling through the empires of the Western Xia and the Chin, culminating with the siege of Beijing and the conquering of the Chinese empire. Lords of the Bow is also about the transformation of Temunjin from tribal leader to national hero and Chief of Staff. In this novel Conn writes about Genghis’s development as a strategic leader. When they Mongols first explode south out of the steppe and into the heartland of the Chinese, they’re stymied by walled cities. Unable to rely on their usual tactics of encircling enemies with highly mobile mounted troops, the have to learn about sieges, breaking walls and war engines.

Genghis also begins to understand delegation and organization. The Mongol nation is too big now to be ruled by dictate from one Khan. Learning from some of the nations he conquers, he beings to institute laws and rules on tribes, a new concept for nomadic families.

The last novel in the series, Bones in the Hills covers Genghis and the Mongols as they march west conquering the Islamic kingdoms in Persia and central Asia. In the third novel the Kahn is starting to think about succession, how will he divide up the great empire when he dies. His sons are fighting among themselves and the Persians and the Arabs are turning out be tougher to defeat than anticipated. The young former slave from the steppes has certainly come a long way.

The movie was a nice compliment to the books. The cinematography was spectacular; it was filmed in Inner Mongolia and Kazakhstan. The film featured wide sweeping scenery, huge skies and stark landscapes. The characters and scenery were exactly as I had imagined it. Genghis was a brutal guy, the book and movie did not shirk from this fact. The violence here, makes an important point to the plot, these are bloody stories. Temunhin’s character was portrayed more sympathetically in the movie than the books, for example, the story of him killing his older half brother was not mentioned in the movie. Still, there is no getting around the fact that Genghis Kahn, from an early age, had a seriously ruthless side. If you were against him, you could count on your head being separated from your body at some point.

These are decent adventure stories more than anything. The history of the Mongol’s was never written down and therefore is all legend and no real facts are known. The movie it turns out was received with acclaim around the world with the exception of Mongolia. Apparently the descendants of Temujin took issue  with accounts in the movie. Goes to show, history is an interpretation of past events, not a retelling.

If you like adventure stories, historical fiction or are at all interested in learning about one of histories most influential characters, I would recommend the books and the movie. If you’re squeamish about violence and bloodshed, I’d say not so much.

 

Leave a Comment

Filed under Life

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

December 29, 2010 · 3:06 pm

Best of Written Word 2010 Pt 2- forgot one

I’m such an idiot.. I just finished this book this week and forgot to mention it. I’d actually put it in the top 3

The Book Of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy- Bill Simmons

As you know, assuming you’ve read this space before, I love basketball, and I really love the NBA. Have been a hoop head for about 40 years. I’ve been an NBA Season ticket holder on and off (and officially back on this year) for the 20 years or so. I’ve been to more NBA games than any other sport combined times about 5.

I have a long memory of the NBA and believe that I know a thing or two about the league and the game. Bill Simmons, who is one of my favorite sports commentators, and puts out one my favorite podcasts has written one of the most entertaining books on the NBA I’ve ever read. It’s also one of the longest. Simmons does it all, talks about the origins of the league, it’s greatest players, listed nicely of course, it’s greatest teams of all time and some really fun discussions of some of the more humorous events in NBA history.

I especially enjoyed has rather long comparison of Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlin. Enjoyed it because he, like me, not a big fan of the biggest egomaniac and selfish player the NBA has ever known. He also, controversially puts Alan Iverson up as one the top 15 players of all time. Not where I would have placed him, but after reading his arguments… I’m in full agreement.

This is a great read for anyone who has ever watched more than two NBA games, and for the die hard fans, like yours truly, it’s one of the funnest books I had the pleasure of reading all year.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Life

Tagged as , , , ,

· 12:05 pm

Best of 2010- Written Word

That time of year for Sank to start thinking about the best of 2010. Why? Why not. Oh, and as you’ll figure out pretty damned fast, it’s not books that came out in 2010, it’s books I read in 2010, and that matters. In this space anyway.

As many of you know, I’m a serious media hound. I consume a boatload of music, video and books. Well, I think it’s a boatload. When it comes to music it certainly is. When it comes to books, Mrs S kicks my butt, but I’m trying to get better and spend more time reading.

It’s the right thing to do.

I even stopped driving into the office this year so I could ride the bus and, yes, enjoy even more time for reading.

So dear readers, here it is. Sank’s BEST OF 2010. First edition- the written word.

First of all, a good reading list wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t call out my good pal Ken Wedding in Northfield MN. Ken writes Reading Blog and has no end of good recommends for great books. He’s also among the nicest people that I’ve ever met. Ken might be the one person who reads more than my wife. He’s retired too. (oops did I say that) Only down side, Ken doesn’t do a lot of SciFi. He’s like my bride in that way, keep it real.

I also want to call out one of my favorite small businesses in Minneapolis, and frankly, the world- Once Upon A Murder. This is the classic book store experience. They operate out of basement of a 1920’s era apartment at 24th and Lyndale just down from Uptown. The owners over there flat out know their stuff and are always happy to make recommendations. We don’t get over there too often because we can’t seem to leave the store with less than $100.00 in books. We make it twice a year, about the time we (she) needs to discover a new author or book.

So here’s my list for the top books, and some bad ones that I read in 2010. Enjoy and I’d love to hear your comments.

1) World Without End- Ken Follett

Have to start with this, I LOVE historical fiction novels, along with SciFi, my favorite genres. That being said, Ken Follett could be the premier historical fiction novelist I’ve read. This book is one massive tomb, but it’s a serious page turner. Don’t start it unless you’ve got a few days to stick with it. World Without End picks up a hundred years or so after Kens last big medieval book, The Pillars of the Earth, which chronicled the building of a cathedral over the course of several generations. This novel returns to the same town and church and deals with the politics of the church, the nobility and builders about the time the Black Death comes to England. The changes in society brought by the plague are profound as England is restructured by the loss of most of her population.

2) Sea of Poppies- Amitav Ghosh

Since a large percentage of the folks I work with are Indian, and like to understand people culture, and again Historical Fiction being a favorite, when this one won accolades all over the place, I had to pick it up. Sea Of Poppies is a rich story, extremely well written, and frankly a work of art. The story is set in the early 1800’s, the background is India and the opium trade. The book is technically about the Ibis, an opium trading ship that is outfitted to take indentured servants to Mauritius. The Ibis becomes a refuge for cast of characters who are all escaping circumstance on the high seas.

This book was fantastic. Ghosh does a remarkable job creating the atmosphere of India in the time of Raj’s. I really enjoyed reading his accounts of the lives if his characters and the pictures he painted of the Indian countryside. One down note.. he uses a great deal of language from the period, and even though a little glossary is provided, I found myself thumbing back there to look up a lot words while I was reading, which was a bit distracting. Still, a tiny price to pay for such a magnificent story.

3) Gang Leader For A Day- Sudhir Venkatesh

This one came to my via NPR. Venkatesh, was a PhD candidate in sociology at the University Of Chicago, figures out a way to imbed himself into a working street gang in Chicago’s notorious Robert Taylor Projects. (Which btw, are demolished now). This is some fascinating stuff, a view into a world that most lily white middle class fat pasty American’s have no idea exists. The book covers Venkatesh’s experiences with the gang over the course of several years. It covers the complex relationship between the local gang leader, JT, his crew and the community the live and operate in as they deal crack and police their building.

The amazing thing is just how JT manages his operation, from eliminating competition, managing supply chain, controlling risk and working with the tenants in his community to mange their day to day needs. Seriously, the picture Venkatesh paints of JT, violent sure, but at the same time a very astute businessman with a instinctual understanding of markets and leadership.

It’s a very very quick read and, like I said, fascinating.

4) Rendezvous with Rama- Arthur C. Clarke

This one has been on my reading list for about.. oh two decades or so. Finally got around to it this year. This is one fantastic SciFi novel. A huge object enters the solar system, at first it’s mistaken for a giant asteroid, but as it approaches Jupiter’s orbit an unmanned space probe identifies the object as being a space ship of some kind. A massive space ship mind you. This is earths first encounter with extra terrestrial anything and investigation party is quickly put together to survey the object when it approaches Earth. On the ship the scientists discover another world with in a giant cylinder. As the object approaches the sun, it comes to life but, we never learn the purpose or the origin of the object. Eventually the object slingshots it way around the sun out into space and we’re left more questions that answers, except one big answer, we are not alone.

This novel sort of reminds me of the old computer game, Myst, where you walk around an island looking at stuff, but nothing actually happens. Same thing, but Clarke is a fantastic writer in this genre and this novel really held my attention and asked some great questions.

5,6 & 7- The Uplift Series- David Brin

-       Sundiver

-       Startide Rising

-       Uplift War

Three books in one, the first three books in the Uplift Series. Like the last one, these have been on my list for a long time, maybe a decade or so. These are on everyone’s list for great science fiction, and I had great expectations for them, maybe a bit to great. I thought they were excellent, but not earthshattering.

I thought the first book in the series, which ironically was written last, was the best. Followed by Uplift War and then Startide.

The premise of the Uplift Series is awesome. Species across the galaxies are discovered by patron species and are “uplifted” over the course of millennia to sentience via genetic engineering. Eventually the “client” species become space faring races and uplift their own clients. It’s a process that has been going on for billions of years.

The one exception in the universe are the Humans. In the Uplift universe, Humanity is an enigma, they achieve spaceflight, seemingly without assistance of a patron race. The universe is at odds how this occurred, traditionalists assume that there must have been patrons (Von Danikinists) vs. those who believe the humans are wolfings, proof that some species can evolve on their own (Darwinists) Oh, and along the way the Humans have Uplifted Chimpanzees and Dolphins to the point where they’re highly intelligent and have the ability to travel in space and colonize their own worlds.

The status of races is determined by the number of species they’ve uplifted and since humans did it before contact with other aliens, when we’re discovered, we go right to the head of the class, to the chagrin of many older established galactic races.

These are good books, don’t get me wrong, and I plan on reading the second trilogy this year. They say a lot about racism in general, fighting the status quo and go to some length to disparage tradition and fanaticism. If you like sci fi.. probably a must read.. if you don’t like the genre, this isn’t going to be for you. Reading about space ships piloted by dolphins and eminent scientists who are chimpanzees is going turn you off, as it does my wife. Still…

8) Priceless- Robert Wittman

This is a very interesting book about the world of art theft written by a retired FBI agent who was, at one time, the only federal agent responsible for investigating the theft of fine art in the United States. Wittman relays some awesome stories about how ever ran sting operations to recover some of the worlds great masterpieces.

9 and 10) Genghis- Conn Iggulden

Genghis: Birth of an Empire

Genghis: Lords of the Bow

Books one and two of Iggulden’s Genghis trilogy chronicling the rise and reign of histories greatest conqueror. Iggulden is a very well know author in the historical fiction department. Prior to this work he wrote a trilogy about Romans that I’m told was excellent.

These two books are very good, very detailed and fascinating. Remembering that this fiction I found them very entertaining. I don’t know much about Genghis and his history but from what I’ve gathered from these books, it is the ultimate rags to riches story, greased with a lot of bloodshed.

I haven’t read the last book in the series yet, that’ll be the first book I get to in 2011, but these were so good that I had to include them here.

I was only going to do 10, but since five were series, I’m adding one more, because I liked it so much and because this is my blog. There ya go.

10+ Death Benefits- Thomas Perry

This is an awesome leisure time read, this is a good mystery, which in this case has some really awesome twists and turns. This was one of the funniest books I’ve read in a while. Perry does a really good job with the plot development, although towards the end he does kind of “jump the shark” a bit as the plot sort of goes over the top. Still, highly recommended if you’re in the mood for a thriller/mystery novel.   Perry is one author on my short list to try another of his works.

And finally

10+ one more- The Nick Adams Stories- Ernest Hemmingway

Since my little fly fishing trip up on the U.P. I was itching to read these short stories by Papa about Nick Adams and his travels and coming of age in Michigan’s north country. I’m not going to add much to the body of work already written about these stories other than this.,  Typical Hemmingway, strong protagonist who is damaged in some way by his surroundings who spends his life in search of his manhood.

The background of most of these stories are some of Michigan’s great streams and forests of which I have become acquainted with in the last couple years. Sort of neat except this in some cases the location of the places isn’t correct.

But what the hell, it’s Hemmingway. The writing is unmatched, the tapestries of Papa’s words as he creates characters and scenes is classic. That’s why they call this literature people. I loves me some Hemmingway and I love the outdoors so, it was time very well spent for me.

10= the last one- Northfield Johnny D. Briggs

This has to be one of the most unusual pieces of historical fiction I’ve ever read. This one about the fall of Jessie James and the infamous Northfield bank robbery. It is very different each chapter is written in the first person narrative of one of the participants in the actual robbery, both criminals, hero’s. While at times the plot was a little hard to follow, as in who is this and what was their role? It is an excellent account of the events in Northfield and as far as I could tell, very accurate. I liked it a lot and strongly recommend it. (disclaimer, Northfield is one of my favorite places to visit and I’d love to live there someday)

9 Comments

Filed under Life

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

October 16, 2010 · 12:39 pm

Another Sank Book Review- Dexter Is Delicious

Well, I’m SOO pleased to report that my reading burn rate continues. This weeks review, Dexter Is Delicious by Jeff Lindsay. I’ve seen three seasons of Dexter on DVD and for the most part enjoyed the show. The first season was brilliant, but like many shows it got a little worse each season and by the time the brought in the renowned show killer Jimmy Smits I abandoned it. Jimmy’s a buzz kill and crappy actor so, but that doesn’t mean the premise of the show isn’t good.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Dexter, here’s a quick primer. Dexter is a blood splatter analyst with the Miami PD. He’s also a sort of lovable serial killer. The character Dexter is a damaged person who was adopted as a child by a Police detective, Harry. The story of Dexter’s origins explain his twisted personality and his “Dark Passenger”, the force that drives him to kill people. Harry, realizing that his adopted son is monster, and believing that the urge to kill is not curable, teaches Dexter to learn to channel his dark energies, teaching Dexter that some people are OK to kill, namely murderers who buck the legal system and appear to get away with their crimes.

The show is all about Dexters adventures in the crime lab, flirting with being caught, while having lists of potential victims and lots of stuff to add suspense and good plot lines.

The show is based on the Lindsay books, this one, being number five in the series. Enough people have raved about them online, and I was looking for something light to read, so based on a reader review, this was supposed to be the “BEST” Dexter book I downloaded it.

Sorry to say, I was sort of disappointed.

Lindsay’s writing style is a little simplistic for me. It seems to aimed at about a 6th grade reader. This story was OK, in this book Dexter finds himself pursued by cannibals and vampires. And, while I’m a sort of done with the whole vampire thing, this story was decent enough. Dexter is Delicious had a few nice twists and turns in the plot, but by and large it was pretty predictable. In this story, Lindsay has Dexter’s personality changing from the demented person who has no human emotion to a family man in love with his new daughter and foster kids. Dexter’s older brother makes an appearance in this story, last we heard from him he even more evil than Dexter and had been on a killing spree that involved Dexters adopted sister. I wasn’t quite sure how he survived being shot or stabbed in the last story, and Lindsay sort glossed over it here.

This story sort of glossed over a lot of details. Characters appear and disappear, Dexter’s usually suspicious wife who learns that Dexter has a brother and meets him for the first time, just sort of accepts him into the family and trusts him with her kids, just like that. You had to take some liberties in other words.

All in all, I rated this book OK. It’s not exactly a intellectual page exercise, but for some mindless reading it’s ok. It whet my appetite enough that I’m going to go back and read the first Dexter book to see if there a reason for all the buzz. Frankly based on this particular book, I don’t get it.

2 Comments

Filed under Life

Tagged as , , , , , ,

July 12, 2010 · 8:35 pm

Books, a husbands Tool

Books are handy things. I don’t read as much as I’d like too, what with so many great sitcoms in syndication on the tellie and nagging children to nurture.

Still, Sunday afternoon I did find my nose deep into some novel about a bunch of globe trotting superspies staying one step ahead of Interpol while leaving a trail of dead bad guys across Europe.

In addition to providing stimulating intellectual activity, a good book can also serve as a handy shield to deflect the dangers of certain high risk behaviors like untimely conversations with ones spouse.

As I was minding my own business, reading on the porch, I was distracted by an exclamation from the den, where the computer lives. It was Mrs S. “Oh MY GAWD” followed by a couple quick clapping sounds. I’m interested, sort of. Maybe we won something, fat chance, we’re just not that lucky but you never know. Curiosity overtaking me I had to ask, “wazup?” “Ellie is getting MARRIED!”.

Sorry I asked. Every klaxon in my head was going off, leave it Sank, LEAVE IT. And I did. Or I tried.

Ellie or rather Elizabeth, is a woman we’ve know for about 15 years. She used to be married to Greg. We met them when we first moved here. Met them as a couple. They had a stressful thing going, 4 kids being the root cause. The mere mention of her name caused me to involuntarily make a face that looked like I’d just passed a kidney stone, that’s how fondly I hold her. We still run into her from time to time. Mrs S would consider her a friend of ours, I would say friend of Mrs S’s.

They were divorced about 10 years ago. One of those deals where wives wonder what went wrong, husbands wonder what ever went right.

I don’t think Ellie liked men, she has complained at every opportunity I’ve been around her about not being able “find a decent man these days” or “Men just want one thing” or just the short version, “men”, and BTW I would appreciate it if once in a while Mrs S wouldn’t be quite so agreeable when she’s going off, but that’s me. Each time she lets loose about how people with “y” chromosomes are  ]evil, she then goes on about how hard it is find one who will stick around for more than one or two dates.

Distracted by this whirlwind of thoughts I didn’t notice that Mrs S had snuck up on me and was now on the porch, “Isn’t that great about Ellie. The wedding is October 23, blah blah blah”. Every fiber of my being was straining to stay 100% focused on my book. This is a conversation that has no outcome that doesn’t leave me in serious trouble. Best not to engage.

“SANK, are you listening? She’s marrying David, the guy we met at..”Oh that guy. Whew, poor bastard.. I hope the tux comes with a blindfold and a cigarette.”

“what was that?”

Shit.

I looked up over the top of my book to see a very cross looking Mrs S, staring right through me with her patented look that causes my dog to piss on the carpet and newspapers to spontaneously ignite.

“what?” I asked.

“What did you just say?”

“Uh, I said ‘What’”

“No BEFORE THAT?”

Apparently, from every indication I was thinking out loud again.

At this point I have now found myself in a situation, which in my experience, is not all that uncommon in the world of long term nuptials. A man, unprepared for the subtle nuances which accompany female communication, has figuratively “stepped in it” and now must figure out how to extricate himself. Tis tricky.

I’ve been married 24 years and 11 months. I know the danger, but experiences teaches that I have options. I can 1) make my point and suffer what ever consequences happen to come my way. That’s a very bold choice that requires courage and fortitude and comfort in the idea that I’m going to be sleeping alone for a while, which at this point in my life, isn’t all that scary. 2) I can continue to pretend that I have no idea what she’s talking about, feign ignorance and put forth a white lie about how great this news is and how happy I am for the couple. This would not only set a bad example for my kids but chances are good she’s going to see through this and when she does, I’ll still be sleeping alone, and I’ll have no dignity or moral point to comfort me. 3) Follow my father’s example and just completely disengage and ignore all conversation for the next 30 minutes or so, maybe even just getting up and going out for walk. That strategy actually works pretty well, or it did for him. Mom would explode, scream and yell, and like a balloon you blowup and then let go, it would expel all it’s air and settle, harmlessly on the floor, an empty plastic windbag.

Well, in for a dime in for a dollar I guess.

“She’s getting married again? Hmmm. Oh, I have plans on the 23rd of September.”
“October”
Without looking up, “ busy then too”.
“You don’t want to go to the wedding?”
“Nope”

Now here’s the point of no return. Most men, unlike their spouses, aren’t compelled to “push” point, after two plus decades I know the price of engagement can outweigh the joy of being right. I could have said “because I don’t wanna watch a decent guy go down” but I didn’t.

Up came the book, or as we like to say, “Shields ON”.

Mrs S, hands on hips, looking down on my slumped ass in the chair, cocked her head a bit and got that twitch in her eye that says she was doing the same sort of ruminating on the cost of engagement as I had been doing. The critical thing in this situation, I must resist the temptation to make eye contact with her or say one more word.

She shook her head and walked out of the room.. “You probably won’t be invited anyway..” And that, is a win win for all of us.

2 Comments

Filed under Life

Tagged as , ,