Micro Reviews: The Continuing Story

Happy birthday, Deb A.! This is really late, but I am/have been at the cottage with my awesome extended family, so I win anyhow. Ha ha ha!

The Alienist by Caleb Carr (historical mystery novel, 1995) – Thanks for lending this to me, Liz! In nineteenth-century New York City, as a serial murderer stalks child prostitutes, Teddy Roosevelt gives the task of tracking down the killer to the narrator and his friend, an expert in the emergent science of “alienism,” aka psychology. The first half of this book is thrilling and fast-paced; the second is equally so, but (minor spoiler)  minus the slight suspicion that the bad guy might turn out to be one of our heroes all along. The disappointment I felt at this probably reflects my personal obsessions and not any drop in quality in the book itself, so, yeah, if you like historical mysteries and serial killers, pick this one up.

Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food by Jeff Potter (non-fiction book, 2010) – I have been baking since I was a tiny kid, but only after reading this book do I finally understand why you can’t just bake cookies at 400F for 15 minutes instead of 350F for 30 minutes. Set up with careful explanations of all the processes that go on in cooking and baking, descriptions of what exactly common chemical additives do, and plenty of exciting recipes, this book is one of the few library books I’ve read that I might want to buy. And considering both the number of library books I read and the freely available recipes and information on the Internet, that’s saying something.

Everything Is Obvious *: *Once You Know the Answer by Duncan J. Watts (non-fiction book, 2011) – I have a weakness for books that use statistical thinking to show how many of our intuitions about the world are wrong, and this book that argues for sociological study on the grounds that “common sense” is error-prone when it comes to thinking about groups is no exception. Watts argues that sociology cannot be approached in the same way as “hard” sciences like physics, and expectations that all sciences should aim to discover universal, fundamental laws strictly through experiment are unsupported. His writing is clear and easy to follow.

The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions by David Berlinski (non-fiction book, 2008) – I really, really wish this author had better arguments than he does, because I think his stated thesis — that regardless of whether there is or is not a Deity, New Atheist writers like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens are incorrect and disingenuous to suggest that atheism is scientific — is one that needs to get out more and broaden the current all-but-dichotomic “science vs. religion” public discourse. Anyway, review in one sentence: I can’t fully get behind the politics of an author who uses “oriental” as synonym for “sly” in his introduction, and since this book is in essence political, I can’t fully get behind it. He has a few effective arguments, several sloppy and weird ones, and a whole bunch of very mean but very funny ad hominem zingers.

Win Win by Thomas McCarthy (film, 2011) – Thanks, Anita, for getting me to see this movie! A family man and lawyer has a moral lapse in a moment of temptation, and its unpredictable results bring a whole bunch of new people into his life. I really enjoyed Win Win, not in the least because the title plays out: no character gets everything he or she wants, and each makes a sacrifice, but in the end, without downplaying the badness of things people did or the consequences of their actions, everyone comes out better off than they were before. Also, Paul Giamatti and pretty much every other actor and actress in this film is amazing.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (non-fiction book, 2010) – I think maybe the toughest thing to achieve in a book like this, which touches on issues of medical ethics, race, and class, is to find the balance Ms. Skloot has found. This is a very well written biography of the family of Henrietta Lacks, a black woman who died of cancer in the early twentieth century, but whose cells, taken by white doctors without her knowledge or permission, are the ancestors of many important research cell lines critical to many medical discoveries. Skloot doesn’t shy away from showing aspects of all her subjects that readers may find unpleasant, and she doesn’t exactly come down on a side, but she holds it all together by never letting the reader forget that as she tells this story, she brings her own background, flaws, and prejudices to the table.

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins (MG fantasy novel, 2003) – When Gregor and his toddler sister, Boots, tumble through a strange hole in their laundry room, they find themselves the subjects of a prophecy in the Underland, an underground world populated by pale humans, large bats, and giant cockroaches. This book is fast and fun, and Gregor’s courage makes him a likable hero. But the best part of the story is Boots, who comes across as a believable little kid.

The Fire Within by Chris d’Lacey (MG fantasy novel, 2001) – I wasn’t sure quite what to make of this book that screams “dragon! dragon! dragon!” via the cover illustration but is actually about a university student who moves in with a single mother and her daughter, and how he writes a story about dragons while they all try to save a squirrel devastated by recent neighbourhood deforestation activities. Although the characters are engaging, I couldn’t really read it without a cynical step back. It’s well written but still has a slight off-putting twinge of Mary-Sue.

100 Cupboards by N. D. Wilson (MG fantasy novel, 2007) – I loved this book about twelve-year-old Henry and his discovery of dozens of world-portal cupboards on the wall of his attic bedroom. His personality shines through, and his family relationships ring true. That said, I was disappointed to get to the climax and suddenly start hopping around through various other characters’ viewpoints: I signed on for a story about Henry and the journey he has to take, not about all these people who didn’t feature prominently before.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (fantasy novel, 2001) – I know some of you watch True Blood, but you know me: I’m a book-loving gal, so I went for this instead. To me, this novel about a Louisiana waitress who can read minds and who hooks up with a vampire is kinda what I wish Twilight had been. It’s essentially a similar plot — super-special woman falls in love with sexy vampire who then must protect her from other sexy vampires and win her over despite the attentions of some other sexy supernatural fellas — but with way more rounded and intriguing characters, a murder mystery in the background, and, yeah, let’s be honest: way hotter sex scenes.

The Candle Shop Mystery by Eileen Hill (MG mystery novel,  1967) – Teenaged sleuth Robin Kane works on the mystery of a Mexican family who runs a candle shop in California, and why they’ve suddenly withdrawn from the community. Given this book’s age, I was surprised to see it touch on issues of immigrant exploitation at all, though of course what it does bring up is superficial and focussed on the white kids at the centre of the story. Anyway, this is a candy floss story, possibly fun but utterly without substance.

The Secret of the Mansion by Julie Campbell (MG mystery novel, 1948) – I didn’t realize this was the first Trixie Belden mystery until I cracked it open, and it’s a good deal better than the other one I’ve read, possibly for this reason. Here’s the origin story of Trixie meeting her friend Honey Wheeler, a “poor little rich girl” who moves in at a neighbouring property, and how they work to sort things out for Jim, an abused (well, we’d call it that — they don’t) teenaged runaway they find squatting in his grandfather’s nearby abandoned house. Maybe another reason this book feels more fun is because it focusses only on the three main characters, without throwing in Brian-Mart-Dan-Di-etc. for the reader to figure out.

Metroid: Zero Mission by Nintendo (GBA game, 2004) – Caveat lector: I never played the SNES Metroid games or, well, any other Metroid game except this one, so although this is a re-imagining of another game, I can’t compare it to the original. But I really liked this platformer that has Samus Aran tracking down Mother Brain, mainly because I’m a sucker for the Zelda/Castlevania/Metroid thing wherein your character gains new abilities as you progress. Because I suck at games, I found parts of this one difficult enough to be frustrating, especially the stealth section after you defeat the penultimate boss (stealth missions! I hate them! I hate them so hard! If I wanted to be patient, I’d go wait for the subway at rush hour on a Monday afternoon!), but I still enjoyed the overall experience.

Final Fantasy IV (remake) by Square Enix (DS game, 2008) – Again, haven’t played the original game on which this remake was based, but I do love me an old-fashioned JRPG. This game is tough, though, the kind of tough where even grinding until you’re more than bored sometimes doesn’t cut it, and I found my party dying a lot of frustrating deaths before I learned that I had to take every chance I had to save and stock up on healing items. It was fun enough to play once, but there’s no way I’m going back through the New Game+ feature just to get every single Augment or try the Namingway quest, especially not when the last save point is about 45 minutes of game away from the final battle (and about 10 of those minutes are cutscenes).