The Talented Mr. Ripley
Patricia Highsmith
290 pgs

At the urging of Mr. Greenleaf, Tom Ripley travels to Italy to attempt to convince his son Dickie to come back home. Once there Tom is determined to make a new life for himself in Europe and goes about doing so in an extraordinary manner. He kills Dickie and assumes his identity.

Patricia Highsmith’s novel is a mystery, not for the reader but for Dickie’s family and friends. For the reader it is an interesting look into the mind of a murderer who must manage the difficulties of being two individuals. It’s a character study, and Tom is unlike any character I have ever read about. He has a strange ability to create a fiction for himself which alters his entire personality.  He is not happy unless he’s playing out some invented drama.

The novel’s key weakness is its sometimes dry focus on detail. While it is fascinating to see how Tom Ripley plays out his deception, there are sections in the novel where nothing much happens. However, The Talented Mr. Ripley was certainly a worthy read, simply for Mr. Ripley alone.

Rating: 7.5

I probably should have mentioned in the book giveaway post that the winner will be chosen randomly.  Just so you know!

A few days after requesting Sly Mongoose from Curled Up, I received an unexpected copy from the author Tobias Buckell, which I greatly appreciate.  Previously he had been kind enough to send me his first two books.  He’s a great guy!  So now I’ve got two copies, of the galley, not the retail version mind you. Since I’ve got an extra copy I thought I’d give one away, I’ll be keeping the copy from the author for myself since it is signed.

Before you get all excited about getting your hands on a free book I had better first tell you why you ought to be excited and give you the terms and conditions. Sly Mongoose is the third science fiction novel to be set in the universe introduced in Crystal Rain (which I reviewed and gave a perfect rating of 5.0 (or 10.0 on my new scale)) and followed by Ragamuffin. The books are all loosely related but it isn’t necessary to have read all of them. The first two books have been excellent and I expect this one will be as well. It will be released August 19th. I plan on reviewing Sly Mongoose in July for both my blog and Curled Up.

Now for the conditions… Because this is a new book I would like whoever receives this giveaway to agree to read the novel and post a review on their blog by the end of August. I understand that requires a bit of a commitment but I think it’s fair.

After all this, if you would like to be considered for the giveaway, send me an email (a comment to this post is not sufficient) with your name, and blog URL (obviously this contest requires you have a blog). I will follow up with the winner to obtain their snail mail address. The deadline is 10:00 pm Pacific Daylight Time on Thursday, May 22nd. The winner will be announced the following day. Thanks and good luck!

Immediately after hearing about The World Without Us for the first time, I knew I had to read it. What a fascinating idea, to ponder what the Earth would be like if we all just suddenly disappeared. It is clear from the detail that Alan Weisman did his homework before writing this book. He discusses several environments across the globe and how they might change if there were no longer humans. He addresses the ocean, the arctic, the results of nuclear power plant failures, and the consequences of abandoned petroleum processing facilities among many other topics. It is all quite depressing to see the negative results that have come from our species. Weisman even discusses some organizations that seek for our removal, such as VHEMT which pleads for us to voluntarily quit breeding.

My strongest complaint about this most fascinating book is Weisman’s insistence on dwelling on the negative. Maybe that’s because there is no positive side, but I sincerely hope that is not the case.

Rating: 8.0

Other Reviews:

• The New York Times
• Salon
• Let me know by email or comment if you have a review of this book you’d like mentioned here!

Hmm, I’ve been having a little debate with myself.  Return to blogging or stay away…?  I occasionally visit my admin page and see that somehow I’m still getting hits everyday.  In fact I’m getting as many hits as I did when I was actively writing.  I’m not sure how that works out.

One of the things that’s got me rethinking my silence is the Weekly Geeks project which I believe is being headed by Dewey.  I like the idea of linking to other reviews in my reviews.  If I do come back I would like to implement this and I think that my reviews would be much simpler.  I find it entirely too much like work to write a moderately lengthy review which may be why I burned out.

Anyway, I suppose this post could be seen as a test.

The good old research randomizer form has given me the winner of The Lost Men book giveaway. Thanks to all those who entered, I had great participation. I promise we’ll do this again relatively soon as I already have another book picked out for the next contest. Without further ado, the winner is…

Michele D.

I have already emailed Michele so I’ll get that book out soon. Thanks again!

I have now written the first draft of my review for The Lost Men and discovered that my rating really should have been a 4.5.  So now those participating in the giveaway can look forward to (possibly) winning an even better book than originally indicated!  I’ve had a good turn out on the giveaway so far, which is unfortunate for those participating because for each person that enters the chances of winning become worse.  Sorry about that…

That’s right, time for the first A Variety of Words book giveaway. I am giving away a copy of The Lost Men in hardcover. If you haven’t read my previous post about this book it is the true story of a group of men who traveled to Antarctica in 1914 to lay depots of supplies for Ernest Shackleton’s trek across the entire continent. Lets just say that things didn’t go all that well with the expedition. I will be reviewing this book for Curled Up and have given it a 8.0 or 4 stars.

Here’s what you do, email me at the address you see to the right there. Use the title of the book, The Lost Men, as the subject and include your name. I will randomly draw a name and then email that person for their address. The deadline is Friday, January 25 at 9:00 p.m. PST. I will be mailing the book media rate to save a bit on costs. But hey, you’re getting the book for free so that’s okay right? Good luck!

I have just posted notes from the last chapter of Under the Black Flag on A Variety of Notes.  Next I will be posting my notes from The Fabric of the Cosmos.  Hopefully they will make sense, they did to me at the time, but I am afraid that they may be difficult to decipher outside of the context of the book.  Might take a bit more work on my part.

I have also finished reading both Half of a Yellow Sun and The Lost Men.  I’m still unsure of how I feel about Half of a Yellow Sun.  I don’t understand why the author chose to relate events in the order she did.  You’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve read it.  I felt it was ultimately unnecessary to it the way she chose.  In fact, ultimately it ended up bothering me.

Next up will be The Ministry of Special Cases (from Curled Up, no idea what to expect) and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.

I’ve recently finished two very good books, The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene and Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson. I’ll give a short review for each as I seem to be falling behind in the review department as of late and that will makes things a bit easier.

If you don’t know, The Fabric of the Cosmos is a book physics by a well known theoretical physicist. In it Brian Greene explains in fairly understandable language they physics and particles that make up the universe. He covers everything from Einstein’s general relativity to superstring theory. Although many of the concepts are quite difficult with complex mathematical underpinnings, Greene does a good job of explaining concepts in fun and digestible terms. That doesn’t mean the book is a breeze however, unless you are already familiar with many of the theories contained in the book. It required more concentration on my part than most books I read. This just made it more rewarding when I came away from a reading session knowing I had a decent grasp on the text. If you have an interest in the laws that are believed to explain the universe and are not afraid to tackle a somewhat difficult book, I highly recommend The Fabric of the Cosmos. The Elegant Universe, Greene’s previous book, is supposedly more complex and goes into more detail. Those looking for additional insight might want to look there.

Rating: 9.0

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Gardens of the Moon is the first in a 10 book fantasy series. It is a time of war, the Malazan Empire is struggling to capture the last few remaining free cities. But there are other forces in play, some with more power than the Empire understands. There are conspiracies within the army, the ruling class and the enemy. Assassins rule the rooftops at night and mages wage battles. This all may sound like typical corny fantasy but believe me it isn’t. This is a very good beginning to what I hope will be a fantastic series. The beginning is a bit overwhelming as the author does not take the time to explain unfamiliar terms and events, but once you get past that and dig into the story it is a fun ride. There are also several characters to keep track of but this also becomes easier as you get into the meat of the story. Highly recommended to those who enjoy fantasy and aren’t afraid of a long series.

Rating: 8.5

*******

You likely noticed that I changed my rating scale if you read the above reviews. I am now rating books on a 10 point scale. This gives me a little more flexibility. I will try to have a revised guide to my ratings up in the next couple of days but if you’d like you can just cut the scores in half and have yourself the old five point scale.

In 1914, Ernest Shackleton set out on an expedition to Antarctica.  His goal was to cross the entire continent, a journey of 2000 miles.  In order to accomplish this, he sent a second team to the other side of the continent to lay stores in depots along the second half of the trans-continental journey.  This group was known as the Ross Sea Party and their story is told in The Lost Men by Kelly Tyler-Lewis.

I have read over half of this book so far, and the word that best describes what I have so far read is “miserable”.  What an absolutely torturous adventure this must have been for the Ross Sea Party.  Because of rushed and poor planning by Shackleton and a lack of funding the effort was compromised from the start.  These men had to pull thousands of pounds worth of supplies across hundreds of miles in sub-zero temperatures suffering frostbite and snow-blindness.  I can’t even imagine the suffering they must have experienced.  It is hard at times for me to walk a half-mile to the train in temperatures just below freezing.  I hope I never know the kind of suffering they experienced all in the name of adventure.

Have you ever gotten part way through a book and realized it wasn’t anything like you were expecting? And then have you realized that you had no idea what you were expecting? I’ve had both of these occur to me several times, most recently with a book I am reading right now, Half of a Yellow Sun. However, after about 200 pages I think it may be turning into more of the book I think I thought it was. He, too much thinking… It started off as quite a peaceful story but it now seems to be taking a turn for the bleak as I have come to the war.  This looks as if it is going to be one of those books that fills me with sorrow and helplessness.

Over the last week my blog has been getting a large number of visits from searches for Keira Knightley.  They’re taking a look at my post about how skeleton thin she is.  I’m not sure why this sudden interest in her.  Has something been going on with Keira lately that I’m not aware of?  Either that or it’s a bunch of spammers looking to prey on sites with Keira Knightley info.  Either way I don’t know what is going on.  I’ve thought about deleting the post so as not to mislead those poor Googlers looking for a nice article on their favorite actress.  But I’ll probably just leave it up.  Unfortunately, it is certainly distorting my stats.

I just realized that this post is probably just going to make things worse, whoops…

Anyone familiar with fantasy novels knows that they are often part of a series. Often times a trilogy, but sometimes a series of 7, 10 or even 12. And usually the books become progressively longer so that by the end you have a novel that is 1000 pages or more. Recently I have had a problem with series books, it seems that I’ll read one but not feel like reading the next. I suppose that means the book wasn’t good enough to retain my interest. But at the same time I have really become interested in the fantasy genre again. So obviously I have a conflict here. However, it appears that I may have found a remedy.

I recently began reading Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson which happens to be the first in a 10 book series. And although I am only about 200 pages in, I think this is going to be a series I stick with. The new trend with fantasy, meaning in the last 7 or 8 years, appears to be a move toward more complex story lines with a large cast of characters, dark atmosphere and much violence. The Malazan Book of the Fallen, of which Gardens of the Moon is the first book, is no exception. (Another very popular series, which has done much to popularize this trend, is A Song of Fire and Ice by George R. R. Martin; projected to be a 7 book series.) But because of its complexity, and the authors seeming unwillingness to explain much in the beginning, Gardens of the Moon is a challenging read at the start. There are unfamiliar terms galore, a twisted political landscape and a huge military campaign. But if you can get past the overwhelming newness of everything and stick with the story it will sweep you away. I’m already looking forward to continuing on with this series, and I’m not even half way through the first book. A big change from many of the series I’ve started recently…

After a few weeks of neglecting my non-fiction notes site A Variety of Notes, I have returned to updating it. I have just posted notes from the 8th chapter of Under the Black Flag. Once I finish up with the current book I will be moving on to The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene.