I have been really rolling through books since the beginning of the year. And I have smoothly also not written about any of them. I mentioned before that I would do a review a day. Guess I over estimated my abilities. But on that note, there are reviews coming. I have the following books to review:

Books

• Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon
• Elric: The Making of a Sorcerer by Michael Moorcock
• The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
• Shelf Monkey by Corey Redekop
• Pinball Theory of the Apocalypse by Jonathan Selwood
• Strange Skies by Matt Marinovich
• A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

Of course, there are also 4 Audiobooks as well that I have listened too on the way to and from work. Geez. I am way behind.

Books and Beer
The last one mentioned - A Spot of Bother- my Brother-in-law Scott and I are reading at the same time to get together and discuss over beer. The beer will be brought to reflect something in the book. Should be interesting.

Beer
And on the beer note, Brian and I bottled the Honey Oatmeal Stout on Sunday morning. A repetitive but simple task that seemed to go without problem. Brian seems to think so too. Here I am in all my production line glory:

More Beer

Brian also judged and faired rather well this past weekend at the War of the Worts XIII with his Tripel placing 2nd and his Imperial Stout - known as Vader - placed 3rd. NICE!

Michael Chabon’s Yiddish Policemen’s Union continues to break them rules. His alternate-history detective novel The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is the first novel ever to get nominated for an Edgar award (for mysteries) as well as a Nebula (for science fiction.)

I have finished the “Magnum Opus” of Mr King and I am glad I spent the time in midworld.

This is the final installment of the 7 book series by Stephen King. The book itself is quite the quest and following the style of the last book, this one is as much about Roland as it is about Stephen King himself.

There are spoilers..lots of them

I liked the book. No series is going to answer every question or 100% satisfy you. And I am glad for that too. If you know every piece of the story ahead of time, and mysteries do not remain - really why bother. I think this book , and series, can be looked at in 2 way. And my pal Jason was the one who really let me in on this thought first; the story is about Roland and then there is everything else.

If looking at the story of Roland - it is redeeming, exciting and the level of sacrifice and difficulty was mesmerising and overwhelming at times, as it was for Stephen King. He has well documented - in nearly every volume as a matter of fact - the difficulty of writing Roland’s story. The character of Roland and the scribe of Stephen King, who appears as a character, have their fates intertwined in a way that is both destiny driven and even physically tied together. I found this tie both interesting and slightly disappointing. The reason for the disappointment was basic: Stephen King almost always has a character that is a writer in his works, and this became no different. I thought this was ok, but just seemed to short change the Dark tower series because it seemed to come closer to his other works. It is not like his others, per se - more later on that. The fate of the characters even brings about the end of other major characters.

The other half of this 2 part look is looking at “everybody else” and the ends of some of these characters, some of which we have spent 7 volumes with, is disappointing and at time comes across of having loose ends and no means to truly solve them. The one that really bothered me was the end of Walter, or Flagg (as some may know). It was a bail out. I wanted and waited for the final fight - the confrontation - heck! I wanted a stand-off in the “OK Corral” - theme music even! And we get none of that. That was a let down. The other was the Susannah story line. Her “dream” and multiverse (thank you Michael Moorcock) views were interesting but at the end, when she exits it makes most of her commitment to the quest be secondary. It seems odd that she sacrifices so much and goes so far only to leave. Of course, I thought the exit tool was logical but the way it was created was at first interesting but I wanted more depth to the character that created the exit and helped Roland defeat the Crimson King.

I also found the death of Jake interesting. I am not sure it was great but it is for sure symbolic. The first thing about it is his death in saving Stephen King, which brings us back to the character of Jake as a whole. He is the most complex and interesting character besides Roland in my opinion. His relationship with Roland, his multiple deaths, and his fact that he saved Roland in the first book, and thus Stephen King.

I found the world, or multiverse, that he created very interesting. It basically suggests that many of his works are tied into this world, even more with that last three books of the series.

Another thing that has come out of the Dark Tower series, is that Stephen King has shown the tie in to his other works, and there are lots. I have gone and “read” ‘Salem’s Lot since then and the story of Father Callahan . from Wolves of The Calla, is much more compelling now. And some of the tie-ins are minimal and others more. It is brought up directly in this work, with Insomnia being presented directly to Roland. I think the tie in is cool, I think the level of meta-fiction it the work at times bogs down the quest. As I said - 2 views, the Roland view and “everything else”.

One big thing that came out of this is my admittance that I am a Stephen King fan. It is over, I have taken the blue pill and it is all downhill from there. As a result I have bookmooched many works of his. And will be diving in to the pool.

Word has it the Coen Brothers have signed on to write/direct the file version of Chabon’s alternative history/mystery The Yiddish Policeman’s Union. Coolness.

Machine can tell the difference between good and bad coffee. Does this violate the 3 laws?

I have mentioned before my involvement in Bookmooch, a book trading site. Yesterday I received a hardback copy of Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. That is cool. It is in great shape - even better. But the real kicker - it is signed by William Gibson. Here are the photos as exhibits A and B

Reviews? Remember you promised…

I sure did. I also had work get the better of me yesterday and I am writing a longer review so that is also slowing my down. Soon.

You gotta know when to hold ‘em, Know when to fold ‘em
I have decided to change books. Thunderstruck was going along fine but about 30 pages in I realized I was not in the mood for a turn of the century, murder style book. It was just not the reading road I wanted to be on. So I am switching. I started Shelf Monkey last night, lent to me by Scott. So far, it is closer to what I want to read right now. Snarkey and cynical and of course, I am having fun memories of working at Borders.

Wordpress updated - security patch
The wordpress people have released a minor upgrade that fixes a security issue. Please grab the latest. Or you can just grab the patched file and over write that. (Note to all that I help with sites: you have been updated )

Back in the fall I finished this book, and it took 2 copies to do so!

Summary:

When Margaret Lea opened the door to the past, what she confronted was her destiny. All children mythologize their birth… So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter’s collection of stories, which are as famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale as they are for the delight and enchantment of the twelve that do exist.The enigmatic Winter has spent six decades creating various outlandish life histories for herself — all of them inventions that have brought her fame and fortune, but kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, at last she wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. She summons biographer Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth, hidden by those who loved her most, remains an ever-present pain. Struck by a curious parallel between Miss Winter’s story and her own, Margaret takes on the commission.As Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good, Margaret is mesmerized.

The work is the first book by Diane Setterfield and is told in a variety of first person views. Our main character, Margaret, is our main voice but we constantly get Vera’s story recounted in her voice. There is one other excursion into another character, but I will leave it at that to keep plot points as much out as I can.

The writing style is fluid and classic and you can tell the books Ms Setterfield is truly in love with: The Jane Erye, the Pride and Prejudice; The Bronte’s and Austen’s of literature. The book unfolds as a story that shift gears because of the narrative voice changes and the mystery of the story along with the tension of if and what will be finished. The character of Vera is very fleshed out and more and more is uncovered, like a mystery novel in that way. The plotting, once you get into the story and its legs are under it, is well done and solid, never ripping ahead and never caught in its own self-righteousness.

For the most part, her writing is good and you can tell a lot of time was placed crafting this book. I am presuming from the way the book is crafted (and promoted) that the editing and effort from the publisher was pretty serious. The book’s website is very extensive and is beyond your typical “First Author” project. Of course, unless you are deemed “the next big thing”.

I have two complaints, one is there are times where you “catch her writing” , you can feel the constructs and thesaurus and theory getting applied. It makes certain passages seem awkward. It is more prevalent in the early parts of the book. I think she is more comfortable with the Vera parts. The other is the “ending”. I will leave it at that but there is a certain level of “plot convenience playhouse” happening.

It is a very enjoyable read and I can see the appeal and why the success. Because of its classic leaning, there is an entire group of people that would be a “target audience” for it.

Doing my civic duty
As you read this, I am upholding my duty as a member of the community and a tax paying citizen; I am at Jury Duty. This will be my first time actually being there, though I have been called 2 times prior. The first time I was a college student and in Delaware, that gets you out of jury duty. The second time I had just moved to PA and declared residency in PA and Delaware sent a summons. Not being a resident of the state any more got me out. I will recount, I am sure, with great fondness my day of being a part of a jury of peers. Or not if I get home for my anti-religion, anti-gun, anti-anyone-who-is-not-Irish, pro-firearms stance. Or if they will buy that.

In the mean time, you can read Jason’s very humorous recounting of a day of jury duty.

UPDATE: Guess what - no jury duty. There is a hot line and there was not enough jury trials today so I did not have to attend. I am back in the pool, but not the normal long return time, most likely in the next year. I am “recalled” if that happens.

Reviews…reviews…reviews

I have a bunch of reviews to post and will have one out every day starting on Tuesday Feb 5. I believe it will be 2 weeks straight, 10 business days because you know the internet takes weekends and major holidays off (Presidents’ day is around the corner!)

On that note, I am reading a non-fiction book right now called Thunderstruck (insert AC/DC song here). Looking forward to breaking out of the mold of stuff I have been reading as of late.

Super Bowl
Don’t know, don’t care, didn’t watch it.

In the land of “we have lots of money and can buy anything we damn well want”, MS made an unsolicated bid for Yahoo! today of nearly $45,000,0000,000 - wow! Now will this get ok’d? All I know is it is a big move and shows the obvious power of Google and MS need to get market share anyway it can - aka just like they always have - MONEY!

CNNMoney story about it with all the details

Personally, I do not like it. I think MS is a shitty company with a crappy attitude toward service, customers, competition and down right everything else. I think Yahoo is a darling of the “what could have been” and is still one of the most visited sites. I believe the Yahoo Mail page is the number 1 or 2 visited page on the internet! UGH.

So what should we call the new company? MS Yahoo!? MicroHoo? YaSoft?