Nothing startling in the premise, man creates machine, creation bites the hand that created it. The book was not poorly written, but if the first thing that comes to mind when I sit to write the review is “quick read”, that’s definitely not a sign of great literature. Wasn’t bad by any means, but certainly more brain candy than balanced cranial meal.
Category Archives: Bookvision
Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov
Amusing little book, but I’m not quite sure what to make of it. According to other reviews, it is a very accurate picture of contemporary life in the Ukraine. Interesting. I can’t imagine calling the local PD to come around and care for my pets whenever I am out of town…while there is a spot of mystery, there is not much (satisfactory) resolution. Perhaps the second installment will shed more light…all that said, I still thoroughly enjoyed it and will definitely pick up the next in the series at some point.
Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen
Well, it was a quick read, kinda fun, but really people…Jacob Jankowski is Bella Swan in trousers. He’s not a very likable guy at all. He runs from trouble (away to the circus, how fun!) where he has to tell lies to stay. It takes the combined efforts of nearly the entire working staff of the circus to keep him from harm, self-directed or otherwise. He has an affair with married woman, and then has the temerity to dread finding out the subsequent child might not in fact be his. When the going gets tough again, he runs away again (to the circus, at 93, how fun!) where he has to tell lies to stay. The only reason I give this book 3 stars is that I appreciate the tremendous amount of historical research that Gruen obviously conducted before writing it, as well as the fact that it is fairly well-written.
Bone Rattler Eliot Pattison
I am a huge fan of Eliot Pattison; he has written some of my favorite books, and this one joins that list. While his Inspector Shan Tao Yun series is more contemporary, this one is set during the French and Indian War in colonial America. You might not think that one can write modern Tibet and Colonial America with the same degree of detail and character, but Pattison does. This is ostensibly a mystery, but as with the Shan novels, this protagonist, Duncan McCullum, solves not just a murder, but begins the process of unraveling the mystery of his own heart. Highly recommended!
He Stopped Loving Her Today: George Jones, Billy Sherrill, and the Pretty-Much Totally True Story of the Making of the Greatest Country Record of All Time by Jack Isenhour
Not a bad story, and not poorly written, but really more suitable to an extended essay than a full-fledged book (perhaps the author was trying to live up to his title…). Outside of details from the recording sessions, there’s really nothing spectacularly new here. If you are a fan of George Jones or country music (as if that isn’t redundant) you will surely enjoy this story.
*I received my copy free from the publisher.
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