January 2015 Book Reading List

A very mixed bag this past month:

1. Shift Omnibus by Hugh Howey
2. Fireblood by Jeff Wheeler
3. Dust by Hugh Howey
4. Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon 
5. The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence
6. Dimension of Miracles by Robert Sheckley

Having been captivated by Wool last year I have been savoring the moment when I would consume the two sequels.  This month I tackled Shift.  This second novel is a prequel to the first and explains how the Silo world came into being and takes us up to when the events of the first book come to a conclusion.  I have to applaud Howey for structuring the books in this way in order to make the first novel allow the bizarre world to unfold in a way that is both surprising and coincident with the story.  The result however is that Shift is not as dynamic and shocking.  Yet there are still some surprises to set up things for the third in the series (Dust), which I also read this month (couldn't wait to see how it ended). I found at times that the pace of this final installment varied -- sometimes too slow.  I was in a rush to get to the end and find out what is really going on a who makes it.  No spoilers here.  The outcome was almost an anticlimax for me.  Satisfying, yes, but not very alarming.  Still I love Howey's writing style and have other books of his in my library.  For now though I am done with the Silo world.

An interesting change has taken place in me over the past two years of doing some serious reading -- my expectations for style and prose has risen.  If I'd read Fireblood a few years ago I might've been satisfied but as it stands, when stacked against the likes of George RR Martin, Murakami, and even Howey -- Wheeler just doesn't stack up.  I expect characters with more depth and imagery that makes me gasp in wonder.  For Fireblood I get an interesting new world and a somewhat satisfying plot (albeit slow to begin with) but the whole thing of a new acolyte embarking on a journey of self discovery that is nastier than they expected -- its been done better.  I'm not curious at all to read more of the series.

I've had Inherent Vice on my shelf for several years now.  I had no idea it was being made into a movie until I saw the trailer recently.  So the book moved up in my "to read" pile pretty quick.  And I'm glad it did.  Everyone who's read Pynchon seems to have read Gravity's Rainbow (which is now on my wish list) but Vice was my entree into Pynchon's canon.  Bottom line: I loved it! Some references to 1970 LA went over my head and others of the period took me back to my childhood (albeit one that was not even in the US).  I loved his wordellishments, his sense of humor and his story tangents.  The plot itself was a little meandering with its almost constant new character introductions chapter by chapter but I didn't care.  It was like imagining The Big Lebowski 35 years ago.

Alex Woods is a quirky, feel-good, coming-of-age story about a kid's life after he is hit by a meteroid.  And that is enough of a spoiler for this one. Extence seems to hit the nail on the head for what it's like to be a nerd in high school and pits Alex up against some very adult situations to which he applies his special brand of nerdiness.  The story is straightforward and perhaps a little predicable but very enjoyable for all that.  I also didn't think of it as a YA novel and I didn't bother to look it up because it really doesn't matter.

Dimension of Miracles is an older sci-fi novel written in the 50s that at times seemed to channel Douglas Adams and his Hitchhiker series.  Perhaps Adams was inspired by Sheckley, whose humor  is less "in your face" and more ironic.  The "hero", Carmody, finds himself stranded in an unknown part of the universe with no idea how to get home.  We follow him through various impossible and absurd situations -- each one poking fun at ourselves.  As with any meaningful travel, Carmody learns more about himself and finds at the end of his travels and changed person.  Miracles is a short work that is nonetheless very clever and layered in a way that will keep you thinking past the end.

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