Heartless by Gail Carriger
An Alexia Tarabotti novel, The Parasol Protectorate: Book the Fourth The first book in this series introduced us to our heroine, Alexia Tarabotti, and in some ways the very first line...
The lost art of reading by David L. Ulin
It is strange, I’ve often come across media stories on the “decline” of reading as a result of modern technology. Social networks, texting, these sort of things are bringing about the...
Captain America : The First Avenger dir. by Joe Johnston
Too short, too unfit, too ill for military service, all Steve Rogers wants is to join up and serve his country in fighting the Nazis. He has been picked on all his life, but refuses to back down, once you start running, he believes, you’ll never stop. When Dr. Abraham Erskine discovers this desire he begins to pull strings and gets Rogers into the army, into a special, experiemental unit, to be precise. Soon Rogers is no longer too small, or too unfit, he is in fact a super-soldier. Although what can one man do? Well, propaganda. He is sent off touring the states in an effort to try and persuade the public to buy war bonds. And then, on to Europe to entertain the troops. But they aren’t interested in his performance, they want to see the girls. Rogers, however, is very interested in the news that this is the 107th, the very same unit his best friend joined, but of Bucky there is no sign. Rogers decides that he has had enough of Captain America the stage hero and decides to go in and rescue the missing soldiers.
But you don’t really need that back story do you? I mean, we’ve all heard of Captain America, the superhero who fought the Nazis, right?
The moral animal by Robert Wright
What does the theory of evolution have to do with morals? Can it explain why we feel guilt or love? Or why men cheat?
Evolutionary psychology is an attempt to use evolution to explain why people are the way they are. The theory posits that the many many cultures have many items in common, these commanalities cannot be explained by conicidence alone, there must be some reason that humankind has developed these cultural norms. Wright, and other evolutionary psychologists would argue that as human beings evolved certain psychological traits were more conducive to an increase in descendents and therefore became the norm.
Flashback by Dan Simmons
It is the year 2036 and the world is in ruins. The United States of America, in particular, is one of those once-great countries that have fallen off the rails. Their...
The borrower by Rebecca Makkai
I’ll admit I picked this book up because I liked the tagline, She borrowed a child. He stole her. Lucy Hull who is a children’s librarian runs away with Ian Drake when she finds him hiding out in the library one morning. She’s always enjoyed him when he visited the library, even if she did worry over his mother and the insistance that Ian only be allowed borrow books with the “breath of God” in them. And definitely not those ones with magic and satanism in them!
And then Lucy finds a note making her believe that Ian is being sent to anti-gay classes. She isn’t really kidnapping him, she is rescuing him.
The chimps of Fauna Sanctuary by Andrew Westoll
A true story of resilience and recovery
In Fauna Sanctuary Gloria Grow rescues animals. There are dogs, horses, swans, a donkey, and of course the chimpanzees. Most were retired from research facilities where they were the subjects of medical research into Hepatitis, HIV, and the like. There are a few who were circus chimps. Some of them started life as pets, cute little chimps to dress up and play with, until they grew too big and strong and dangerous. Anyone who heard of Travis and his attack on Charla Nash knows that a chimp is not to be taken lightly. And yet people continue to try and keep them as domestic pets.
In this book Westoll spent a year working in the Fauna Sanctuary. He gets to know not only the people who work there but also the chimpanzees themselves, and their horrific lives spent as test subjects, being knocked out, biopsied, infected, and isolated.
Dune by Frank Herbert
The actual review
After three question and answer sessions I’m not sure how many of you want to read more about Dune, but I want to gether my thoughts after all the back and forth between peoples. Well done to Carl for coming up with this, and all the questioners for their questions which prompted all those answers.
Dune is one of those books that most people have heard of, or they have heard of the film, it is one of the classics of science fiction. I had the impression that this was a great and sprawling book, full of overly complicated ideas and strange notions. It isn’t. Well, maybe it does have some strange notions, but many of them are cool. And it certainly isn’t overly complicated, in fact it is quite a straight-forward action/adventure story. Mixed with just a hint of coming-of-age, all stirred together in a heap of sci-fi-ness.
Dune (round iii) by Frank Herbert
The final questions for the Dune group read are:
- What is your reaction to finally learning the identity of Princess Irulan? Do you think that her convention added to the story?
- Were you satisfied with the ending? For those reading for the first time, was it what you expected?
- On both Arrakis and Salusa Secundus, ecology plays a major role in shaping both characters and the story itself. Was this convincing? Do you think that Paul would have gone through with his threat to destroy the spice, knowing what it would mean for Arrakis?
- Both Leto and Paul made their decisions on marriage for political reasons. Do you agree with their choices?
- What was your favorite part in this section of the book?
- One of the things I noticed in the discussions last week was Herbert’s use of the word “jihad.” What do you think of Herbert’s message about religion and politics?
Deadline by Mira Grant
Newsflesh book 2
It is alwasy difficult to blurb about the second book in a series. Giving the details of the start of this book will reveal the end of Feed, and that would be just plain mean, so I’m not going to do that. Instead I’ll just say you should read book one and then go pick this one up, and then wait, with me, because book three isn’t out yet :(
Dune (round 2) by Frank Herbert
- Was Liet’s identity a surprise? who do you think he really works for?
- What do you think of the Fremen culture? is this a culture you think you’d enjoy spending some time with?
- What do you think of Count Fenring’s unusual verbal mannerisms?
- This is a far future empire with very little in the way of computerization. Information is often passed down orally, and schools (such as the Mentats and the Bene Gesserit) have formed to train young people in memorization and information processing. What are you thoughts on a scifi story that is very “low-tech”? Does that sound like a feasable future? a ridiculous one?
- If you found the beginning of the book tough to get into, do you find that you’re having an easier time with the middle portion, now that all the “set-up” is complete?
- The center portion of the book is still pretty dialog heavy, but what I’ve noticed is the subtlety of the dialog. Things left unsaid are often more important than things that are said. What do you think of that as a stylistic choice? does it make the dialog more interesting? less interesting?
- Dune was written in the 60’s. Does it feel dated to you? How does it compare, writing style-wise, to more contemporary science fiction you’ve read?
- If you’ve never read this book before, where do you think the storyline is headed?
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