Catch Micro Reviews and Put Them In Your Pocket
Yes, more micro reviews. Originally, I meant to have an election-related blog for this weekend, but I didn’t finish it in time. Whatever, you wouldn’t want me to attempt think-y blog entries if I didn’t feed my brain with all this stuff.
Across the Universe by Beth Revis (YA science fiction novel, 2011) – I enjoyed the intertwining stories of Amy, a teenager who’s been prematurely woken up out of cryogenic freeze on a generation star ship, and Elder, the heir-apparent of the society aboard ship, and how they must work together to find out who’s been murdering frozen passengers and why. I liked how well the author has built a cohesive, futuristic world, and I especially loved how she doesn’t shy away from the tough stuff. Getting frozen is painful; sometimes people who live on a spaceship never reach their destination; and deus ex machina seldom step in to make everything happily ever after no matter how much it hurts.
The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver (mystery novel, 2008) – Quadriplegic genius Lincoln Rhyme and his speed-demon partner Amelia Sachs have a doozy on their hands: a clever killer who plants forensic evidence to get innocent scapegoats convicted for his serial murders and rapes. The plot walks that tightrope line where it’s deathly serious and completely goofball at the same time. All the same, an enjoyable read full of twists and turns, as long as you, unlike Rhyme and Sachs, don’t sweat the small stuff.
The Reversal by Michael Connelly (mystery novel, 2010) – The author’s two series characters, lawyer Mickey Haller and detective Harry Bosch, join forces to bring a girl’s killer to justice when his original conviction is overturned by new DNA evidence. Even though I haven’t read any of the books in either series, this was a tight legal thriller with a satisfying (though ambiguous) ending. In fact, I might go pick up some of those other books on the strength of this one.
The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter (MG novel, 2010) – This story of three oddball siblings on an adventure after the mysterious disappearance of their mother reminded me of the Bastables series, because those are the only other children’s books I can think of where the first-person narrator tells what’s going on in the third person. Like the Bastables books, it soon becomes obvious which of the siblings is the “author” of the snarky story, and although on paper this style looks attention-seeking and over-quirky, in practice, it’s gripping and invisible. I noticed that other reviewers thought this would be a fantasy when they picked it up, and so did I — the fact that it isn’t but the story is just as satisfying says a lot about the high quality of the writing.
Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness From the Modern Myth of Self by Marilynne Robinson (collection of lectures, 2010) – Although the author and I have different views on the truth of religion, I think the best non-fiction I’ve read this year was this short book suggesting that it’s a reductive, parascientific mistake to exclude the experience of what it is to be conscious from our understanding of the mind, an insult to both science and philosophy. The argument is tight, knowledgeable, and logical (and present — lately, it seems like so much popular non-fiction starts off pretending it will argue why action X should be taken and instead just shows how action X would work instead of arguing anything); the writing is crisp, flowing, and clear; and although the author makes her own position clear, she never forgets that she’s arguing for an overall stance as opposed to her own personal beliefs. That said, I can’t recommend this book to everyone, because, despite being marketed as popular non-fiction, it does assume some background in history and philosophy; however, I do recommend it to anyone who knows enough to know that “science vs. religion” is an artificial construct, and philosophers (i.e. friends with expertise on these matters, which I lack), I’d be curious to know what you think of these essays.
The Mind’s Eye by Oliver Sacks (non-fiction book, 2010) – Having read this after Marilynne Robinson’s book (above), I was pleasantly surprised to note that Dr. Sacks, a practicing neurologist and psychologist, is one of the few science authors I’ve read who can talk about neurology without losing the importance of what it is to experience the world through consciousness. His case studies are humanizing, not reductive, particularly the last one in which his subject is himself. Lots of fascinating anecdotes and discussions are presented in this book.
The World Ends With You by Square Enix & Jupiter (Nintendo DS game, 2008) – If you own a DS and haven’t played this action-RPG, you are missing out big-time. Yeah, there’s a steep learning curve to the crazy, dual-screen, multitasking battle system, but the game is really forgiving if/when you die, and more importantly, THE BATTLES ARE SO MUCH FUN. You play as Neku, a teenage boy who wakes up in the middle of the busiest intersection in modern-day Shibuya with no memory of how he got there and with a timer ticking down on his hand that forces him to complete challenges known as the Reaper’s Game, coincidentally telling an amazing story along the way.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare as produced by Soulpepper Theatre (play, 2011) – Major thanks to my second cousins, who invited me to this show! This production of Shakespeare’s classic fantasy had a gorgeous sound design, comprising everything from handheld porcelain bells to cool thunder tubes to creepy wet-finger-on-the-rims-of-wine-glasses. Sometimes I felt like the performers were fighting too much against the text, doing their best to disrupt the rhythm and pacing inherent in the words. But I was pleasantly surprised to see unique takes on Demetrius and Lysander, two characters who often get portrayed quite blandly, and the play-within-a-play at the end was a real comic treat.