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Books for the Beach by Boys (Summer Reading Part 2)

07.13.2013 by Susan Getgood //

My previous recommendations all fit into the fantasy mystery category and were written by women. This post moves onto the mysteries I’ve read recently, and can be summed up as Book for the Beach written by Boys (men!)

The Cloud by Matt Richtel. Richtel draws on his experience as a NY Times technology reporter in his novels, combining the ethical dilemmas presented by computer technology with good old fashioned suspense and intrigue. The Cloud is his latest novel. I’d read reviews on Amazon that suggested reading the previous tales featuring his protagonist  Nat Idle, but I can tell you that this is not necessary to enjoy the novel. Twisty turny with all sorts of surprises, it’s fun to follow along with Nat as he figures things out.  Highly recommended for your beach reading. Fun fact: years ago, when I worked at Cyber Patrol, Matt interviewed me about something, probably the Communications Decency Act or online privacy, two issues with which I was very involved at the time. Funny that — I remember him but not the specific story.

Inferno by Robert Langdon. Perfect airplane reading. Because it really doesn’t bother you when the flight attendant announces that it is time to turn off electronic devices. Yeah. The book doesn’t suck. I just found that I didn’t really care all that much. About the characters or the mystery. The ending is quite rushed, as though Brown suddenly realizes that he has boxed his characters into an impossible corner and needs a hefty dose of deus ex machina to extract them. But you probably won’t want the few hours back. Definitely beach reading.

Bad Monkey by Carl Hiassen Classic Hiassen. Protagonists Andrew Yancy and Neville are two of Hiassen’s most likeable characters. They are why you just can’t stop reading Bad Monkey. Hiassen is always funny, but sometimes I just haven’t liked the “hero” all that much. Not in Bad Monkey. The mystery that purports to be the plot isn’t that hard to figure out, but it doesn’t matter in the slightest. Following the threads of how Neville and Andrew’s stories come together is what makes the book. I can’t say much more without giving away the real spoilers in the novel, so just go buy it.

Bonus Carl Hiassen read– If you have never read Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World, it’s a perfect quick read. I admire the Disney franchise, and definitely love me some Steamboat Willy, but the repackaged reality of the Disney Parks is more than a little creepy. Think about how many trees were cut down for Animal Kingdom’s plastic centerpiece “Tree of Life.” Hiassen captures the contradictions of “the happiest place on earth” perfectly.

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Categories // Books, Mystery

My Spring of Steampunk (Summer Reading Part One)

06.24.2013 by Susan Getgood //

Looking for some summer reading? I’ve got some suggestions for you.

I’ve been digging into three fantasy series, two of which are definitely steampunk and the third perhaps better classed as historical fantasy. All have strong female protagonists and at their core, mystery — both as the plotline and about the characters. Let’s start with the steampunk.

The Immortal Empire series by Kate Locke: This series is set in “modern” England with a highly revisionist history that allows Locke to wantonly mix elements of Victorian English culture with modern technology. So far I have read parts 1 and 2, God Save The Queen and The Queen is Dead. Part 3, Long Live The Queen, is due this fall. The entire series shares an underlying mystery, but each installment does resolve some elements, while (of course) introducing new ones. There’s a romance between the two principal characters plus goblins, vampires and werewolves, oh my. Some of whom are the good guys, and some not so much.

After I started the Locke series, Amazon kindly recommended The Iron Wyrm Affair by Lilith Saintcrow. The timeframe is Victorian, but a very different Victorian England than what we learned in our history books. Magic is very real, and computers are human. Literally. The protagonists Banner and Clare are brought together by circumstance to solve a mystery for the Queen of England. I enjoyed the book enough to purchase its sequel, The Red Plague Affair, but the storylines are unnecessarily convoluted in places, requiring a bit more “divine providence” than perhaps I would like. Although I suppose that is what magic is, so your mileage may vary.

The real discovery of the season is the All Souls trilogy by Deborah Harkness, also recommended by Amazon based on my previous purchases. The first novel A Discovery of Witches establishes our protagonists Diana Bishop, a reluctant witch and historian of science, and Matthew Clairmont, vampire scientist, with their story continuing in Shadow of Night. The first book moves very quickly to introduce the mystery as well as most of a large cast of characters while the pace of second is much much slower, and at times it seems to wander. I am hopeful that the author has a plan and some of the threads that seemed pointless in Shadow will actually bear fruit in the third book, which as yet does not have a title or release date.

My advice: Start with Harkness, then Locke, then Saintcrow.

 

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Categories // Books, Fantasy, Mystery, Steampunk

50: James Bond, Shades of Grey and Me!

08.11.2012 by Susan Getgood //

I turned 50 last month. I didn’t write about my birthday, largely because it just wasn’t a big deal. I’ve always believed that getting older is just fine, considering the alternative.

The most I planned to talk about my 50th year here was in the context of two watershed things I expect to happen in 2012: I will get a motorcycle endorsement on my license and my divorce will be final (crossing fingers.)

But then last week the number 50 started popping up all over the place in my life and I came up with the SEO-bait post title above, so I just had to share with you. Consider it a final attempt to write a title that the search engines, dying though they may be, will not be able to resist. If you come here from that route, I hope you find some things you like.

James Bond, the film version, is 50 just like me

The first film was Dr. No in the fall of 1962. As a child in the 70s I remember discovering (and falling in love with) Bond, by then in his Roger Moore incarnation. My 6th grade best friend Becky and I managed to catch up with all of the films, I think in one single summer. A feat that was much harder before we had video and DVD players. We actually had to convince our parents to take us to Bond retrospectives or let us stay up to watch the rare TV showings.

I never had a difficulty reconciling my love of Bond with my feminism. Aren’t we all allowed some contradictions in our lives?

For your viewing pleasure: “Bond, James Bond” – Sean Connery 1962, Dr. No

And the trailer for the upcoming Skyfall starring Daniel Craig, the closest Bond to Connery’s iconic definition of the character , although I have loved all of the Bonds, even the less popular ones.

Entertainment Weekly also had a great retrospective article and preview of Skyfall.

Good news — you don’t actually need to read 50 Shades of Grey. 

Thanks to Facebook last week, I now know about parody sites that can give you all the info you need to speak intelligently about the book, should the need arise. I suspect the parodies are far more intelligent and well written than the trilogy, if the interwebs are to be believed. I’m thinking yes.

This is very good news. I had ZERO intention of reading any of the 50 Shades books; I couldn’t get through more than a few pages of the first Twilight novel, and 5o Shades origins as a Twilight fan fic was not a glowing recommendation. I’ve got no problem with fan fiction; some of it is pretty good “fill in the time” reading. But when it is poorly written, it is beyond painful, and I can’t see paying money for it.

But oh, the parodies are delicious:

  • GoodReads has reviewed all three; start with the first one here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/340987215 (h/t Eden Kennedy on Facebook)
  • A thirty something male book store clerk is reviewing the first book, chapter by chapter at Mommy Porn and Me (h/t Jen Monroe and Skye Kilaen on Facebook)
  • And from good friend Ellen Gerstein, a recommendation for parody 50 Shames of Earl Grey

So now I don’t have to worry about descending into pop culture irrelevancy in my “middle years.”  <wink> Thanks guys!

Categories // Books, TV/Film Tags // 50 Shades of Grey, James Bond

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