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Red Planet Blues

Book Notes Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 22:13 on 22 September 2016

"Oh! My favourite author!

*pause*

I'm an atheist because of him."

Okay, seriously, can you pay an author a stronger compliment than "I changed my religion because of you."? I think not. I had read Robert J. Sawyer's Calculating God a number of years ago, and I have to wonder if that was the book that caused my friend to think critically about the world around him (and the nuttiness that religions inspire), but I hadn't been recalling that book when I picked up this one.

In reality, I picked this one up because it seemed to be a gumshoe detective novel with a science-fiction twist, which I happen *cough* Dresden *couch* to have a fondness for.

I enjoyed this book about Alex Lomax, a private eye working on Mars, searching for a missing person and eventually investigating a murder. The book has a number of small mysteries in the larger arc of the book, which I found a little off when I started reading the book (and came to the end of the first solved mystery), but they all tied together really well, and I enjoyed the book.

The Speed of Dark

Book Notes kitt decided around 12:38 on 17 September 2016 to publish this:

Years ago, I read the The Deed of Paksenarrion, a compendium of Elizabeth Moon's three books Sheepfarmer's Daughter, Divided Allegiance, and Oath of Gold. I enjoyed the books, and so picked up The Speed of Dark when it was released. I hadn't, however, actually read it until now.

I know, I know, shock, not a book from Mom's list. And not normally a book I would read. I picked it up because I enjoyed the Paksenarrion books, which were fantasy novels. This one was more social commentary with a smidge of science fiction. The beginning of the book has a number of my discomfort triggers, so I was pretty sure this was going to become one of my permanently in-progress books, or maybe the first one since Mote in God's Eye 15 years ago that I decided not to finish.

I finished it by reading it really really really fast.

The book follows Lou Arrendale, a fictionalized, high-functioning, autistic process analyst, who can see patterns that most people can't. A new boss a couple levels up from him at work starts and decides that he hates autistics and that, despite the numbers of tax breaks and sunk costs and incredible productivity, he is going to shut down autistic department. He threatens his employees with layoffs if they don't take an experimental treatment that cures adult autism (the in-utero cure already happened 27 years before).

While the Rosie Project was an amusing take on how autistic actions can be interpreted, this book is a serious look at how a non-autistic person believes autistic people view the world. I'm not sure either is accurate.

The book has a happy ending, so there's that. It's a fine book. Not recommending it, though.

Paper Towns

Book Notes Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 22:38 on 12 September 2016

Mom's List! Mom's List!

Okay, yes, this book was on Mom's list. In reality, I needed a break from the books I've been reading. I wanted something light, and this book qualified. Having read Looking for Alaska and Will Grayson, Will Grayson, I knew what style to expect from John Green, and this book did not disappoint in my expectations.

Said expectations included high school or college aged kids, some sort of social awkwardness needed to be overcome, a main character who is a geek or geek-like outcast from the popular kids' social group, some internal growth, a revelation, a spurt of maturity, and a happy ending. Well, if not a happy ending, Green provides at least a satisfying closure. Essentially, everything wraps up cleanly.

And HEY, yes, this book fulfilled all these expectations!

We have Quentin, geek kid. We have Margo Roth Spiegelman, Quentin's love interest. We have the internal conflict of Margo. We have the external conflict of her disappearance. We have the journey to enlightenment, the revelation, and the happy-ish ending.

Which is to say, it was precisely what I needed: a light book to read in an evening for entertainment.

For the record, I refuse to ever read Green's The Fault in Our Stars. Not going to read it. Nope. No.

Hour Game

Book Notes Instead of being asleep at 18:16 on 4 September 2016, kitt created this:

Continuing in the King and Maxwell series, the two of them have started their own detective agency, and things are going along pretty well, then BOOOOOM, shit a series of murders start happening in their home town.

Seriously, if I lived in a small town where the murder rate escalated from none in decades to over a dozen in two years, I would move over to the next town lickety-split. Or take an extended vacation in a different country, say, Mexico where the murder rate per 1000 is significantly lower.

Anyway, King and Maxwell. They have an agency of some sort, following up on various investigations. They are hired by a local lawyer to investigate a break-in at a prominent (read: f---ing rich) family's house. The break-in frames a local construction worker / handyman in such thoroughness that one assumes it has to be a frame job. During the investigation, a series of murders start in the town, with King and Maxwell drawn into the drama.

This book, unlike the last book, has all the characters introduced, including the bad guy. As such, the clues are sufficient (and really, IN ONE'S FACE) that the reader (read: me) can figure out the mystery.

I enjoyed this book, but won't be continuing reading the series. The reviews for the remaining three books in the series are bad enough that I'd rather have the two books as "enjoyed" than other few after that spoils the first two.

Seven Little Australians

Book Notes Instead of being asleep at 12:38 on 4 September 2016, kitt created this:

I suspect the story of buying this book is more entertaining than my review of the book will be, but that could be because I lived through both.

I bought this book in Sydney when Mom and I went last October. After I had my talk and my workshop at Web Directions, Mom and I spent a couple days exploring Sydney. We went many museums, with one of them having a cute shop. I picked up two children's books in the shop simply because the binding of the books were so good. This was one of them. I love the bindings of this book. It is a beautiful, well constructed, delightful-to-hold book.

So, I was standing in line for this book when a senior couple came into the museum. I had already been standing in line for what I considered a long bit, waiting for the clerk to deal with a register failure and a difficult customer. I was patient, I waited without comment. The senior couple, however, were entitled American asshats, and decided they didn't need to wait. It was THEIR RIGHT to cut in front of the 8 people in line, and USE THEIR MUSEUM COUPON to enter the museum.

So, I flicked them off.

The old asshat guy saw me, and said, "You're evil."

Seriously, you're an entitled asshole, with no consideration for the other people who are patiently standing in line, and you consider a well-deserved bird as evil? Dude, you have serious world-view problems.

I responded, "I'm happy to give you some, too." and gave him the bird again.

Yeah.

Mom was not happy with my reaction.

Split Second

Book Notes kitt decided around 11:13 on 30 August 2016 to publish this:

I really thought I had already written this review. A little bit of a surprise to realize I hadn't, to be honest. I will likely find my original review later.

Because my stack of books these days consist of books from Mom and books I haven't finished, that this book came from my Mom stack of books should come as little surprise.

It tells the tale of Sean King, a former Secret Service agent who fell from grace when the presidential candidate he was protecting was killed, and Michelle Maxwell, a current Secret Service agent who is falling from grace when the presidential candidate she was protecting is kidnapped. Oddly enough, the two incidents, while similar, are not directly linked except by the fall from grace.

King is resistant to becoming involved in Maxwell's predicament, as he is dealing with a number of murders in his small town where he has rebuilt his life. He is a suspect in a couple of the deaths, as he knew the victims, so not really up for dealing with Maxwell's issues. She's an ex-Olympian, incredibly messy, smart, experienced agent who really needs to figure things out.

Because of the way the story unfolds, the ending wasn't one I could predict, one of those all the players aren't on the pages sort of thing. I enjoyed the book nonetheless. Enough to try the next book in the series.

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