Tag Archives: Books

I meant to post this while I was on vacation, but the internet at our house was not cooperative! Oh well...so much for getting the review out before the publication date. :-)

The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code by Sam Kean

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There's nothing I like better than a book that takes some heavy-duty science and distills it down into language that anyone can understand. I've heard one too many people say that they "don't like" science because it's "too hard"; if more people took the time to read books like this, I daresay we'd have more armchair scientists out there!

In The Violinist's Thumb, Sam Kean explores the fascinating world of DNA. He alternates sections lucidly explaining the science of genetics with anecdotes and case studies that bring that science to life. Among these anecdotes is the story of Niccolo Paganini, the violinist of the title -- widely considered the greatest violinist ever, he was rumored to have sold his soul to the devil. Modern interpretation, though, suggests that he suffered from a genetic condition that rendered his hands ridiculously flexible -- obviously something that would be handy (pun not intended) for a violinist. (Similarly, composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff had huge hands -- probably the result of Marfan syndrome -- which allowed him to play things that no one else could physically manage.)

But it's not just about classical musicians. Kean takes us on a whirlwind tour of eccentric scientists, dead presidents, fruit flies, Neanderthals, cancer, crazy cat ladies (who knew that THAT might have a genetic cause?) and more.

This is a fascinating book, and one that is much more accessible than its subject might suggest. Kean makes science come alive, and that's a great thing! I'm already looking forward to his next book.

Advance copy received from Little, Brown. Thank you!

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The Last Policeman: A Novel by Ben H. Winters
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have to admit that, based entirely on the other fiction I've read from Quirk Books (notably their Quirk Classics series: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, and the like), when I first heard about this book I fully expected it to be yet another zombie apocalypse novel, and as such was, if I may be honest, feeling sort of meh about reading it. But when I read a synopsis and realized that that was not at all what it was about, I decided to give it a whirl -- and I'm glad I did!

In this brilliantly imagined novel, the world is on the cusp of disaster: in a mere six months, an asteroid will smash into the earth, and life as we know it will come to an end. Or maybe, life as we know it has come to an end already. Suicide has become endemic. The economy is collapsing. The telecommunications grid is slowly falling apart. Supplies run short. People are abandoning their jobs and their lives, determined to make the most of their last six months. But in the midst of all this chaos is Concord Police Department detective Hank Palace, a new investigator assigned to what looks like a run-of-the-mill suicide. Yet something about the scene looks unusual to him and, convinced that the suicide was staged, he sets out to investigate the case and find a murderer. To most everyone, this seems pointless at best: with the world ending, why bother solving a crime? But to Palace, who has waited his whole life to be a detective, there's nothing more important.

The book is a little bit of everything: It's dystopian fiction. It's a police procedural and a murder mystery. It's a conspiracy thriller: what does the government know that they aren't telling us?  None of these are genres that I read with any frequency, but the whole thing worked for me and I couldn't put it down. In terms of its literary merits, the book is written in a standard thriller-style: it's about the story, not about the language, though Winters allows himself a couple of poetic flights. The true genius of the book isn't in the plot in and of itself, but in the detail that Winters scatters throughout the book: What would the world look like in the face of unavoidable catastrophe? What keeps people going -- or convinces them to take matters into the own hands?

The Last Policeman is supposed to be the first in a trilogy. I hope that Mr. Winters isn't in touch with his inner George R. R. Martin -- please don't keep us waiting too long!

Advance reading copy received for review from Quirk Books at Book Expo America.  Expected publication date 7/10/2012.

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The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’ve always had a strange fascination with books that deal with large-scale catastrophes. I think it all started with an illustrated spread about the life cycle of the solar system in a Time-Life book I had as a child -- it discussed how, eventually, the earth will basically burn to a crisp and the sun will go supernova, and I remember spending a lot of time wondering and worrying about how, exactly, that would manifest itself here on earth once the process started. I found it deeply unsettling -- still do, in fact -- and yet it was something I just couldn’t stop thinking about.

Karen Thompson Walker’s debut novel The Age of Miracles fits right in with that strange preoccupation. In it, the earth’s rotation suddenly, mysteriously slows. Days gradually grow longer and longer. Gravity changes. Tides grow more extreme. Animals and crops start dying out. Eventually, the earth’s magnetic field is affected.

We see these events through the eyes of preteen Julia, who lives with her parents in an everyday sort of neighborhood in southern California. Her family, along with everyone else, has difficulties adjusting to the realities of life in a world where days grow unpredictably longer. They try to carry on as usual, but that grows increasingly difficult.

There has been some discussion as to whether or not this book should be classified as a YA novel; I am in the “no” camp. I can imagine that the book would appeal to a certain segment of the YA population, and there is nothing in it that would be (to my mind) inappropriate for a young reader, but I disagree with the notion that any book with a non-adult narrator be considered YA.

The use of the preteen narrator allows Walker to avoid discussing, at any length, exactly what caused “the slowing.” Julia mostly learns about what is happening in the world from her parents and other people, not directly, and so everything is sort of watered down. I don’t read very much speculative fiction (is that what we would call this?) so I’m not sure how much other authors tend to get into the [fictional] science behind their plots, but The Age of Miracles doesn’t have as much as I would have liked -- there is some science having to do with things like the effects of long days (and nights) on plants and on the theory that the earth’s magnetic field has something to do with the planet’s rotation, but I would have liked to have known a reason why the slowing happened. I do notice that in the cataloging-in-publication data at the front of the book one of the subject headings is “Earthquakes -- Fiction”. There is only, to my recollection, one passing mention of an earthquake in the book; the subject heading makes me wonder whether an earthquake played a more prominent role at some point in the writing/editing process.

Ultimately, though, the book isn’t a speculative or science fiction book so much as it is a coming-of-age story wrapped up in some unusual circumstances. It drives home the point that, no matter what else is going on in the world, the trials of adolescence march on. Friendships fizzle and die; crushes develop; we worry about our changing bodies; our parents end up being more complex (and more human) than we realized. Life goes on.

Until it doesn’t. I spent the first part of the book thinking “there is no way that people are going to survive this,” but then I had a “duh” moment -- the book is narrated by an older (presumably adult; at the end of the book it seems she is now in her early 20s) Julia, and there are multiples uses of phrases like “in those days,” “back then,” etc. So clearly, the slowing has not (at least, not yet) caused humanity to die out. Still, though, it is impossible to imagine that there would not have been, at the very least, massive famines.  These issues are mentioned, but never discussed in any great detail. It feels like the long-term consequences are sort of glossed over.

I enjoyed this book very much and couldn’t put it down; had Walker done more with the science and the “big picture,” it would have been absolutely incredible. Regardless, though, it’s an enjoyable, thought-provoking read, and one I will definitely recommend.

Review copy obtained from the publisher at Book Expo America. Publication date June 26, 2012. 

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This week I headed down to New York City for one of the highlights of my year -- Book Expo America.  It's such a great event for us word nerds: all of the big (and little) publishing houses show off their upcoming wares.  Authors do signings and wander the crowds...and get the sort of rockstar treatment that is usually reserved for, well, rockstars.  And in many ways, it's just delightfully random -- where else could you, in the span of two days, rub elbows with people as diverse as David Pogue, Ina Garten, Meghan McCain, Molly Ringwald, Neil Young, and Dan Rather?  (And those are just some celebrity names.  The famous authors (as distinguished from "already famous people who have written books") elicit just as much excitement from the crowd.  I saw a group of middle-aged women do a full-on fangirl squee over James Patterson when he happened to walk past them downstairs near the bag check area -- and you should see people reacting to meeting Lemony Snicket!)   It's so much fun, and there's always such a positive energy in the crowd -- there's something so awesome about being around likeminded people, and how can it be bad to be around people who love books?

I always love BEA, but this year I feel like everyone outdid themselves.  My coworker and I agreed that it seemed like there were far more giveaways (both of galleys/finished books and of swag) than there have been in past years.  Last year it seemed like several of the big publishers (HarperCollins comes to mind) were really trying to push e-galleys, but this year paper was back in a big way.  The number of books I have stacked in my living room right now is really sort of obscene....and I was being SELECTIVE in what I picked up.

And after I took this picture, I found a few more stragglers that didn't make it into the stacks.  I think there are about 80 books, all told.  Like I said, sort of obscene.  As always, some are destined for the library's permanent collection; some are destined for my (and Ian's, and Jim's) permanent collection; some are galleys that I will circulate around friends and family and coworkers.

There are a lot of books here that I'm really excited to read.  Going into the conference, I was hoping to snag galleys of Where'd You Go, Bernadette and The Age of Miracles -- two books I've heard a lot of buzz about and have already pre-ordered for the library -- and was able to get both (signed, even!).  The Yellow Birds was one that everyone was talking about (and is one of Entertainment Weekly's 10 Most Anticipated Books of 2012); I missed the author event but got a copy of the galley.  I loved Gretchen Rubin's book The Happiness Project, and am looking forward to reading the sequel.  Ian has a copy of the forthcoming Skippyjon Jones book, Cirque de Ole.  The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets has a totally appealing title; as does Things I Want To Punch In The Face.  I already loved Alice Bliss, so it was a genuine pleasure to get to meet and converse with Laura Harrington.  And I've already (!) finished one book, The Good Girls Revolt, an utterly absorbing story about the women who sued Newsweek for sex discrimination back in the early days of Title VII. (Review to come closer to the book's publication date.)

I have so much to read now, I barely know where to begin!  I'd better go crack a few spines...