The Dog Said Bow-Wow

Title: The Dog Said Bow-Wow
Author: Michael Swanwick
Genre: Science Fiction stories
Published: 2007
Rating: 6/10

This book took me a long time to finish. I started reading it in the summer and slowly made my way through about half the stories before I stopped reading for a few months. Recently I picked it up again and finally finished off the rest of the book. I really don't like leaving books unread even if they are going slowly.

Turns out I am just not a huge fan of Swanwick's style of writing. The stories he writes are very clever. They are layered, they often reference mythology or make fun of established fantasy and science fiction tropes. I thought I would enjoy this book a whole lot more than I actually did. The reason I didn't is that I generally failed to connect emotionally with the characters and the story being told. At the end of the story I might think "Ha, that was cleverly played!", but there was no feeling of wonder and satisfaction accomplishing the thought and that failure to really connect with the reading is really the reason for my low rating.

I imagine if Swanwick's writing speaks to you and you like clever twists in your stories, you will enjoy this book a whole lot more than I did. But for myself, I think Swanwick is just not the author for me.

My favorite stories among the bunch was The Skysailor's Tale and A Small Room in Koboldtown. There were also a number of other stories where some parts of them or twists I found really cool, but I didn't like the ending or didn't connect with the story as a whole -- for example in The Bordello in Faerie the main character ends up serving as the "man for hire" in the bordello and becomes addicted to the life, which is a rather neat reversal of roles that one might expect. However, the details of how that addiction is resolved just felt a bit like a let-down at the end of the story.

 I also didn't particularly enjoy the stories about Darger and Surplus though on the face of it both of them are very unique and interesting characters. There are three stories in the book about them: The Dog Said Bow-Wow; The Little Cat Laughed to See Such Sport; Girls and Boys, Come out to Play. The last is probably the best of the bunch -- particularly because they both get played more than they make out themselves.

All-in-all, an interesting collection of stories that I didn't enjoy as much as I hoped to.

Naughty in Nice

Title: Naughty in Nice
Author: Rhys Bowen
Series: Royal Spyness, book 5
Genre: Mystery
Published: 2011
Rating: 7.5/10

Review: To help ease my way back into reading after a long hiatus, I decided to pick up the latest book in the Royal Spyness series. The book continues with adventures of Lady Georgiana Rannoch (Georgie) who is sent to Nice by the queen to retrieve her stolen snuffbox. On the way to Nice, Georgie meets Coco Chanel and once there gets tangled in crime, schemes, and parties.

The book kept my attention really well and while it was following the same formula the rest of the books in the series do, I nevertheless found it a rather enjoyable read. There was a good dose of romance, British-isms, and quirky humor to keep me coming back for more. All-in-all a great way to spend a few hours -- comfort reading all the way.

The Hammer & Hello, I am Back

I haven't posted since September for one simple reason -- I haven't read anything. But I have some new cute excuses for my wanton abandonment of books:

Yes, kittens can apparently be entertaining enough to replace books for a few months. But old friends (like books) always end up coming back and so I did end up finishing one book this month.

Title: The Hammer
Author: K.J. Parker
Genre: Fantasy
Published: 2011
Rating: 8/10

The Hammer is a standalone fantasy novel whose main character is a nobleman's child growing up in exile. What could be more cliche, right? But there's something about the narrative as well as the story itself that sets it aside from countless other fantasy books. For one, the dark tone of the novel immediately makes it clear that the story is not going to be fluffy. There are the continuous incongruencies between the supposed noble state of Gignomai's family and their actual livelihood and behaviour. It's a study of characters who adapt and grow and I ended up enjoying the novel very much. The direction that the novel takes is very different from the typical epic fantasy and I love it when the author can make their point within one tome. There's a grim satisfaction to the ending in this book.

This is the second book I've read by K.J. Parker and I liked it better than The Company. Both share this dark tone and character-oriented plot, but I felt this one was closed out better and had fewer annoying characters. Will definitely be on the lookout for more books by Parker.

I am Half-Sick of Shadows

Title: I am Half-Sick of Shadows
Author: Alan Bradley
Series: Flavia de Luce, book 4
Genre: Mystery Fiction
Published: 2012

Recommendation: If you liked previous books, you will enjoy this one as well, but don't start the series here.
Rating: 7.5/10

Summary: It's Christmas in Buckshaw and Flavia's ancestral home is flooded by the film crew who will be creating a movie there -- with famous actress Phyllis Wyvern starring in the main role. After half the village comes to see Phyllis perform and gets snowed in, a murder occurs and as usual it's up to Flavia to find the murderer.

Reactions: I picked up the next Flavia book because I expected it to be a quick and enjoyable read and I wasn't disappointed. I read most of the book in one sitting (at 35,000 ft altitude) and enjoyed it thoroughly.

The book is a quick mystery read with Flavia's typical flair and many of the favorite characters making an appearance in the book. The biggest issue with the story is probably the frequency with which murders occur around Flavia -- solving 4 murders in one year without leaving a backwaters English town is a bit over the top in my books. Nevertheless, I suspended both my judgement and my impatience with the Harriet's story not advancing as fast as I would like and enjoyed some of the relationship moments between the sisters present in this book as well as Flavia's antics. Overall, I am very glad I picked this up for the flight -- a perfect book for the job.

The Selfish Gene

Title: The Selfish Gene
Author: Richard Dawkins
Genre: Non-fiction
Published: 2006 (1976 original edition)

Recommendation: If you have any inclination for the topic, this is a good introductory book.
Rating: 8/10

Summary: An overview of the theory of evolution from gene-centric point of view. This book expounds on the idea of evolution selecting not the fittest individual organism or group, but rather takes a gene as a unit of selection that's propagated between generations.

Reactions: Biology was one of the subjects I almost completely ignored in high school. The memorization component made it less attractive than chemistry or physics and my background in biology thus pretty limited. Nevertheless, after reading A Short History of Nearly Everything, I thought the genetics was a particularly intriguing topic and so when I came across The Selfish Gene on sale, I didn't hesitate to buy it.

It turned out to be a very interesting book indeed, presenting the theory of evolution in a light that I haven't heard of before. Given this was first published in 1976, I may be pretty late to find out about this, but better late than never, right? In any case the book is well-written and easy to understand without any particular background necessary to understand the arguments.

Dawkins does a good job explaining his theory and the competing theories as well as showing the evidence for his ideas. Often the evidence is based on the studies of a particular species and I thought the case studies made for particularly interesting parts of the book. All in all, The Selfish Gene was a good introduction into the subject and I would certainly recommend it to anyone interested in the details of the theory of evolution.

September Recap

Worst month yet when it comes to reading. I only read one book this month! I have all sorts of excuses for this -- but I'll save them all and just say that I hope I can get a lot more reading done next month. The one book I did finish reading was Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome and it was a pretty short read, but an entertaining one. Even if it wasn't the only book I've read, it might have made this month's favorite. You can also see Chad's thoughts on the same book since we did it as a group read.

Next month looks to be busy as well -- I will have lots of work, followed by vacation (my only hope for reading time), followed by more work. Not to mention there's fall TV line up coming back sometime in September. Looking forward to the fall :)

Three Men in a Boat

Title: Three Men in a Boat
Author: Jerome K. Jerome
Published: 1889
Genre: Classic fiction

Recommendation: For those whose ironic sense of humor is their primary sense.
Rating: 7.5/10

Summary: A humorous tale of three men and a dog travelling by boat on Thames between Kingston and Oxford.

Reactions: I had a goal of reading a classic novel published prior to 1900 this year and Three Men in a Boat ended up being the book chosen for this purpose. It's one of those books that I've heard mentioned by my friends as well as alluded to in To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis which peaked my curiosity. In addition, it's fairly short -- an uncommon trait in the books of the period -- and thus more accessible.

I downloaded a copy for free from Amazon and read it on my Kindle. Unfortunately the typesetting in the book wasn't great -- the sections inside chapters were merged into the opening sentences, but other than that the reading process was quite smooth. I enjoyed the old-fashioned chapter previews and the entertaining narration of the main protagonist. To give you an idea of the book's style, here's an excerpt:

So George determined to postpone study of the banjo until he reached home. But he did not get much opportunity even there. Mrs. P. used to come up and say she was very sorry -- for herself, she liked to hear him -- but the lady upstairs was in a very delicate state, and the doctor was afraid it might injure the child.

There are a number of ironic passages where the main protagonist essentially ridicules himself when speaking of other people and I enjoyed this type of story-telling.

The biggest issue for me with this book was a lack of any sort of plot. The journey begins and amusing stories are told along the way, but nothing particular really happens throughout their trip. After I finished the novel, I found out through Wikipedia that it was originally written as a serious travel guide -- it's just the humorous passages took over the book. This really explains a lot, for the part of the book I didn't really enjoy were what I considered "asides" on the history of England as associated with a particular location they were passing at the moment. That and the lack of a plot made the book a bit dull in certain points -- but it's certainly the funniest travel guide I have read to date.

Overall it's a worthy read for those who aren't looking for action, but rather enjoy exposition and situational comedy in the books. As for me, I feel that I've filled in a void in my classical reading education.