Over the weekend, I finished The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale, a non fiction book about a child's murder in 19th century England.

The murder was investigated by one of the first group of police labelled detectives - the first group to be allowed to move around in plain clothes and assigned to investigating important cases. In particular, it was Jonathan Whicher, the squad's most capable detective, that was sent. The case had scandalized the community and the evidence was ambiguous. Suspicion had fallen on the members of the family, but which one was the real murder?

The book does a good job of setting up the background of the death, and what happened subsequently when Whicher accused one family member but was unsuccessful in proving his case in court. It wasn't until years later that a confession proved who was right, and who was wrong.

The book also does a good job of showing how the detective story was developing in parallel to the actual detectives, and how this case influenced the new genre and mainly specific stories.

Last night we went with some friends to see Hot Club of Cowtown at the Little Fox Theater.

They are a modern western swing trio (fiddle, guitar and bass) and put on a great, great show - one of the best I have seen in a long time. I don't think there was a single song in either set that I didn't love.

All three members of the band were in good form and they did a nice mix of instrumentals and vocal pieces, including a blistering Orange Blossom Special at the end of the show.

Simply amazing, and a must see if they come by again.

I finished The Atrocity Archive by Charles Stross this morning.

As is stated in the book in both the introduction and the postscript, The Atrocity Archive is a cross between Len Deighton and H.P. Lovecraft. It takes a fairly generic idea, a secret gov't organization that deals with the hidden magical nature of the world, but portrays it with the feel of a classic spy novel.

The closest comparison is Tim Power's Declare. Powers attacks it from a more historical point of view, illustrating the history of the cold war with a mystical component, while Stross creates new stories without many references to real events. Both are good books, but in very different ways. Stross has a more light hearted, almost parody, feel while Power plays it very straight and serious.

Yesterday I finished Mathematicians in Love by Rudy Rucker,

This is a typical wild satiric ride from Rucker, starting off in an alternate version of Berkeley where some math PhD's figure out how to predict pretty much anything and ending up traveling through some wacky alternate dimensions created by jellyfish. And those are some of the more normal things that happen.

Overall, it's a fun book but the thinly veiled swipes at the Bush administration just seem weak and out of place.

I just finished The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi, sequel to Old Man's War.

I thought Old Man's War was a good book, although it didn't add much to the classic military SF (Starship Troopers, Forever War) it seemed to emulate.

Ghost Brigades is better in that regard. The first book focused on the future's version of the infantry while this book focuses on the special forces, an elite group of soldiers created just for this purpose. It can also tell a more involved story, since it doesn't have to do as much as the first book to describe the background universe. This convoluted plot involves a human traitor that is working with a few other alien races against the human army.

It also avoids a lot of "sequelitis" problems - there are very few overlapping characters from the first book, so it tells a new story and advances the background story as well, rather than just repeating large pieces of the initial book.

I just finished The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr, a "further adventure" of Sherlock Holmes.

It's a pretty good Holmes story, involving Scottish nationalists, a hoax ghost (or is it real?) and some medieval siege equipment. The beginning and middle, where the atmosphere is developed and it is carried by Holmes and Watson's interactions, are stronger than the end, which is dominated by action sequences and less interesting conclusions.

One minor complaint - why do writers who want to do a new Sherlock Holmes story insist on throwing in references to the other stories, something that does not occur regularly in the Canon? It's a weird form of name dropping that doesn't really serve a purpose - we're already reading a Sherlock Holmes story - we don't need to be reminded of other ones, particularly given the fact that since they are the originals they are probably better than the story we are reading!

For some reason while reading this book I had the uncanny feeling that I had read parts of it before, while parts seemed new. The afterword mentions that it was originally a novella so it's possible I read that in a collection at some point.

I just finished Storyteller by Kate Wilhelm.

Subtitled "Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of the Clarion Writers' Workshop", Storyteller is an odd hybrid, part writing advice book, part memoir, part history. The Clarion Writer's Workshop is a famous writing workshop that focuses mainly on short stories and mostly in the science fiction and fantasy genres. A significant number of Clarion graduates have gone on to be successful published authors, including Bruce Sterling, Kim Stanley Robinson and Cory Doctorow. Wilhelm, along with her husband Damon Knight, was involved from the start of the workshop and helped shape it for many years.

The hybrid nature of the book means that there is probably a very narrow audience that will appreciate it - those who are interested in both the history of the Clarion workshop and those interested in the craft of writing.

As a voracious reader, the subject of writing often comes up, a subject I am ambivalent about. Over the years I have done a small amount of fiction writing but other than a few things I wrote back in high school, I've never been satisfied with the result. On the one hand, the idea of creating something as interesting as many of the books I have read over the years is appealing. On the other hand, I know from both personal experience and discussions with friends who are professional writers that writing is very hard work.

But even if I never do any serious writing myself, one thing I know I enjoy is reading about the craft behind art, whether it's writing or not. As such, this was an enjoyable book for me.

Yesterday I finished re-reading Eon by Greg Bear.

Eon is a classic hard science fiction novel, dealing with a mysterious hollowed out asteroid that arrives in Earth orbit. Inside lie many mysteries and inevitably in a novel from during the Cold War, the Americans and the Russians fight over it. The postulation of a Soviet Union that survived into the future makes things look silly in retrospect, but otherwise it's a fine novel. The characters aren't particularly well drawn and are nearly indistinguishable for the first half of the book, but the flood of interesting ideas makes up for it.

2008 wrap up

Rather than a long year's end list, I decided to just highlight a few things I really enjoyed, and posted about, this year:

Books - I read a ton of books this year, but two stood out: Water For Elephants and Anathem.

Concerts - By far, the standout concert of the year was Town Mountain playing at the Freight and Salvage. Not only was it a great show, but it was a great introduction to a band I'd never even heard of before and now will try to see any time they come to northern California

Movies - Not a lot of standout work this year, but I really enjoyed Slumdog Millionaire. Pretty standard story, but a stunning setting and look made the film a joy to watch

Events - A toss up this year between the Maker Faire and the CBA Father's Day Festival/Music Camp. Two very different events, but both very much about communities of dedicated people creating just for the fun of it.

Yesterday, I finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami.

Like Kafka on the Shore, the other Murakami novel I've read, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a convoluted example of magical realism/urban fantasy. It is a lot more obscure than Kafka on the Shore, with a much less straightforward narrative and less explained in the end. It starts off with a man receiving some mysterious phone calls and then develops into a story of a missing cat, a failing marriage, a sinister brother in law and dreams that may or may not be in some sense real, all tied in with some people who were soldiers in Manchukuo, the Japanese created puppet state on mainland China.

Overall, another excellent novel by Murakami.

The day before Christmas I finished Sun in a Bottle by Charles Seife, a fascinating popular science book about the history of fusion research.

It starts with the quest for the "Super", a fusion based, rather than fission, based, nuclear bomb, and proceeds through the quest for peaceful use of fusion, both in the form of using thermonuclear devices as landscaping tools and in fusion power, including discussions of the cold fusion and bubble fusion debacles.

Seife does a good job of explaining why fusion has always been more difficult to harness than scientists initially predicted, including the best version of all the sides in the cold fusion debate over the years. From his point of view, it is clear that the current mainstream approaches to fusion power, tokomak's like the ITER develolment and laser-driven intertial confinement systems, may never reach even a basic breakeven point where they generate more power than is consumed. And he doesn't see any viable new approaches on the horizon. He doesn't directly address Bussard's polywell fusion approach, but seems to dismiss all fusor like devices which seems to indicate he doesn't think it will be viable but I think the jury is still out on that.

Very nicely written treatment of the subject, even if the conclusions are depressing since viable fusion power would be a huge boon to the world.

We saw the new version of The Day the Earth Stood Still today.

It's a decent film, if you don't think about it very much. The special effects are all pretty and Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly and Kathy Bates are all effective in their roles. But Reeve's last minute change of heart and the pathos of Jennifer Connelly and her step-son bonding over a dead father we never met and who is a distant sub-plot aren't convincing.

Stick with the original in all it's 1950's cold war glory.

Yesterday I finished Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind, the second book in his huge Sword of Truth series.

I had read the first book in the series years ago based on a friend's recommendation but didn't like it very much. I decided to pick up this one after reading more about Goodkind and seeing the TV series Legend of the Seeker, based on the books. Sadly, this book only impressed me slightly more than the first one. The plot and characters are OK, if a little derivative. In particular, comparisons between this series and Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series seem obvious. The main problem I have with this book is it's length. It feels extremely bloated and long-winded. Particularly in the beginning of the book, chapters go on and on while seeming to advance neither the plot nor the character development, re-hashing the same discussions and material over and over.

Yesterday we went to see the latest Danny Boyle movie, Slumdog Millionaire, and really enjoyed it.

The story is very standard - two children grow up in poverty; One is more violent than the other and both protective and abusive; Along the way, they meet a girl that they fight over; They get involved in the criminal underworld with serious consequences. The most similar modern example is City of God, set in Brazil's slums, but there are many more that come to mind.

But the setting, Mumbai's slums, is vibrantly presented, the images are marvelous and the performances are all good.

There is one new twist - the framing story of how the lead characters gets on India's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire", does better than expected and suspected of cheating, adds some dramatic and comedic elements to the story.

Overall, very nicely done and worth seeing.

This morning I finished Anathem by Neal Stephenson.

In Anathem, Stephenson returns to the stand alone novels he used to write before his huge Baroque Cycle and it works very well. Unlike his last few books, Anathem focuses on one character and follows him throughout the novel. I enjoyed it from the start and it got better as it went along.

The beginning of the book will probably be offputing to some readers, in the same way that starting Patick O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin novels is offputing. Stephenson does very little to set up, or give background, on the world he has created. Instead, he dives right in to the story. In addition, the story is very dialogue driven and uses a lot of terms that are specific to the history of this world. I spent the first hundred pages flipping back and forth to the glossary to keep all the different terms, historical personages and events straight. Once this information is mostly absorbed, the story starts to take off.

The story starts in a concent, kind of an intellectual monestary that is isolated from the outside world except for set periods every one, ten, hundred and thousand years. From there, it eventually ranges over the outside world, and above it. Along the way are a lot of intellectual discussions and a little bit of action. The novel is heavy on ideas, and light on action, which will turn off some science fiction fans, but those with a taste for philosophy and exploration of ideas will find a real treat.

Overall, Anathem is one of my favourite novels of the year.

Last night, I finished Viking Warrior by Judson Roberts, the first book of a trilogy of YA historical novels.

Fantasy has gotten quite popular in the YA world, providing an outlet for many fantasy authors as the adult fantasy/science fiction market struggles a little. Roberts seems to be taking advantage of that by positioning his historical novel set in the 9th century to the YA market. There are a lot of standard YA cliches in the book - the lack of, or quick death of the parents, the struggle for revenge, etc, but the book does a good job within that genre box in creating a compelling story and some sympathetic characters, as well as recreating a historical setting. The characters do not feel as period accurate as those in some hard core historical books, like the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brien, but they are a definite improvement over the "90210 goes medieval" feel that occurs in some YA books.

My strongest quibble with this book is with the cover - what's up with the brooding hunk? The actual contents of the book would be great for boys looking for an classic adventure story but the cover seems to be trying to market it to girls looking for a cute guy, something that will probably keep many boys away from it.

Every once in a while, I get a taste to read some pulp fiction. Real pulp died out in the 50s but one of the modern equivalents is the media tie-in novel - novels based on a movie, game or other product.

Because of that taste, I picked up Eisenhorn by Dan Abnett, one of many novels he has written based on the Warhammer 40K tabletop/roleplaying/computer games. I've never played the tabletop or roleplaying versions but I have played the real time strategy computer game Dawn of War.

The universe of Warhammer 40K is a dark one, part Gothic, part steampunk with an endless war between the forces of Order and those of Chaos. The titular character of Eisenhorn is inquisitor on the side of Order, tasked with tracking down and eliminating aliens and heretics. The book is actually a trilogy of novels and a couple of related short stories. The novels would work as stand alones but are tied together enough to make one coherent story, one that is a little more sophisticated than I expected from a pulp book. Eisenhorn develops as a character in some surprising ways along the way, dealing with using evil to fight evil and the effects that has on him and his relationships.

Overall, some pretty good pulp and if the mood strikes me again, I might look for more by the same author.

Yesterday I finished Havana Nocturne by T.J. English.

The books subtitle, "How the mob owned Cuba and then lost if to the revolution", says it all. The book does a nice job of laying out how US based gangsters got involved in Cuba, became very influential by partnering with Fulgencio Batista, the military strongman who dominated Cuban politicals for the first half of the 20th century, and then lost everything when Batista fled the island as Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement took over.

English does a good job of balancing his coverage, keeping his editorial voice under control, and not giving any romantic overtones to two subjects often treated that way - the mafia and Castro.

Crows and Cats

I just finished Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami.

The book tells two stories, the first is of a teenage runaway with some Oedipal issues, the second is of an old man who can’t read but can talk to cats. Ultimately, their stories connect even though they never meet or interact directly. The plot, and the characters, move in unexpected directions for the first half of the book. After the midway point, the stories start to come together, after which the events are easier to predict, if not always easier to understand. In the end, not every thing is explained but the underlying shape of what happened is revealed.

In the literary world, this book would be described as magical realism while in the genre world, it would more likely be called an urban fantasy. In either case, the term describes a setting similar to the modern world but with some degree of fantastical elements. In this novel, the fantastical elements are introduced very slowly but turn out to be integral to the plot.

Previously, I had seen a play based on Murakami's work, after the quake.

I liked both of these works quite a bit. Recommended.

I just finished The Coldest Winter by David Halberstam, his history of America's role in the Korean War.

Sadly, before reading this book my main source of info about the Korean War was having seen the entire run of M*A*S*H. For example, I knew the Chinese were involved but didn't know to what extent - that they were the main force the UN was fighting against in Korea for the bulk of the war.

The Coldest Winter is a little light on the actual details of the war - it seems to assume that most readers will be familiar with the details - and instead goes into a lot of detail in a few areas, like the initial Chinese offensive and the siege of Chipyong-ni. He also provides a lot of background material on the key figures involved, like Truman, McArthur and Ridgeway on the American side and Kim Il Sung and Peng Dehuai on the North Korean/Chinese side and on the larger political situation that provided context for the war.

Based on the quality of this book, I may pick up Halberstam's book on the Vietnam War as well.