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Another year’s reading accomplished, and my reading pace is definitely slowing down.
For reference, in 2013 I read 70 books, which is five books over my GR Challenge of 65. In 2016, I read 62 books – two books over my goal of 60. In 2017 and 2018 I reset the goal to 42 books, and each year managed to read 43.
This year, I managed to read exactly 42 books.
It’s probably no coincidence that my work schedule changed drastically in 2017, meaning less time to read. And this year my schedule changed again, so it was even more difficult to work in decent reading time. Another difference in 2019 was that more of the books in my pile weren’t quick reads – they required more effort, which also slowed me down.
And the books in my to-read pile aren’t necessarily any easier, which is why I think next year I’m going to lower the bar further. I haven’t decided how far yet – but I do know that reading is a lot less fun when you have a deadline and feel compelled to move to the next one. So I want to be able to set something that will be a respectable target but won’t put me under grave pressure.
Anyway, you can view the glorious results of this year’s challenge here if you’re so inclined.
Meanwhile, here’s what I read in the last month to wrap up the year.
We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I recently read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ first book, Between the World and Me, and was so impressed that I was keen to read his follow-up, which collects eight major essays he wrote for The Atlantic during President Barack Obama’s two terms (one for each year), as well as an additional epilogue about Trump's 2016 victory. It also features new notes on the context in which each essay was written, both personally and the broader political landscape. In that sense, the book is as much about Coates’ own development from struggling blogger to one of the most prominent intellectual forces writing about racism in America.
Only two essays are specifically about Obama and his presidency – one is about Michelle Obama, and the others cover topics from Bill Cosby's black conservatism and the legacy of Malcolm X to revisionist history of the Civil War, mass incarceration and reparations. But put together in one volume, and with Coates knitting it together, the essays illustrate the broad and complex scope of American racism and the implications of Obama’s presidency within that context. Moreover, they add up to an overaching thesis: (1) America can never address its racism problem until it is honest with itself about its racist history and racist present, and (2) Trump’s 2016 victory is not only a direct reaction to Obama’s presidency, it also indicates that America has no interest in point (1).
Obviously, this is one of those books where your political views about racism – and your open-mindedness about them – will influence your take on this. I won’t get into mine, but I’ll say it’s one of the best modern books about American racism I’ve read, and I found it jolly convincing (mostly) and educational. Equally interesting is Coates’ own journey through these eight years – he notes that researching these pieces was an education in itself and shaped his own views as he went along. My only real critique is that Coates tends to undermine his earlier essays with retroactive self-criticism in the intros. Still, points for honesty. Highly recommended, if only to challenge yourself.
Odds On by John Lange
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Michael Crichton’s career as a novelist actually began as a side gig while studying medicine at Harvard. The novels – published under the pseudonym John Lange – were the kind of pulp thrillers that were in high demand in the mid-60s. This is the first one, in which three men team up to rob a luxury hotel in Spain. The edge: the leader, Jencks, has used a mainframe computer to calculate the chances of success, taking into account all variables – except for the three hot women they encounter at the resort. You see where this is going. Or … do you?
Inevitably it’s hard to read this without comparing it to Crichton’s more famous work, but it’s interesting that even in his early phase, Crichton was employing technology (and the limitations thereof) as a plot device. Also, Crichton already had a knack for easy prose that keeps the pages turning, and planting red herrings in the form of subplots with other hotel guests, even though it gets a little clunky from time to time. That said, it does take until the third act for things to really get moving.
Also, it hasn't aged well in terms of sex scenes and women characters, who are depicted either as ugly shrews or busty babes desperately in need of a real man to satisfy them. Crichton may have been writing to spec for the genre at the time, but there’s so much boob description that when the novel was optioned to Hollywood, it’s a wonder Russ Meyer didn’t show interest in it. On the other hand, the women here are generally smarter than the genre called for, so I guess there’s that. Anyway, it’s not terrible for a first novel, but I’m not sure I need to explore his John Lange years further.
An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
I’ve known about Gene Wolfe for ages, mainly via his contributions to a number of SF/F anthologies I read back in the 90s. However, I’ve never gotten around to reading his novels, and when he passed away in April, so many writers whose opinions I respect talked about how great he was, so I decided it was time to give him a try. This particular book was the only one available on my most recent book hunt, and the description sounded great – pulp noir with a Lovecraftian twist – so I went for it.
Turns out the description barely scratched the surface. The story is set in the future and mashes together a whole bunch of genre tropes – magic, werewolves, aliens, giant intelligent bats, flying cars with warp-drive, sea monsters, etc, much of which Wolfe seems to throw in as he goes along. Somewhere in here there’s also a story – interplanetary man of mystery Dr Gideon Chase is tasked by the US President to find alleged spy Bill Reis. Chase recruits aspiring stage actress Cassie Casey with a simple proposition – he’ll use magic to make her a superstar if she agrees to help find Reis. She does, and falls in love with both Chase and Reis.
And. Well. Frankly, it’s a mess. Wolfe throws a lot of different things into the mix but it doesn’t cohere well in terms of worldbuilding or plot. The problem is that most of the story relies on dialogue to explain what’s going on – and most of this involves Cassie Casey, who tends to get sidetracked so easily when talking to people that it makes it hard to follow what’s going on or why. Seriously, most of her conversations tend to ramble to the point where it’s like she has no idea why she’s even in this story. Which is unhelpful since her conversations comprise the majority of the book. Wolfe may have had a reason for this – and I’m told his books are typically deeper than they look on first pass – but I’m damned if I know what it is.
To his credit, it wasn’t so bad that I gave up on it – I kept hoping everything would gel by the end. It didn’t. But that could well be my problem. Anyway, even great authors turn out a not-so-great book once in a while, so I do intend to give Wolfe at least one more try.
View all my reviews
Beat my guest,
This is dF
For reference, in 2013 I read 70 books, which is five books over my GR Challenge of 65. In 2016, I read 62 books – two books over my goal of 60. In 2017 and 2018 I reset the goal to 42 books, and each year managed to read 43.
This year, I managed to read exactly 42 books.
It’s probably no coincidence that my work schedule changed drastically in 2017, meaning less time to read. And this year my schedule changed again, so it was even more difficult to work in decent reading time. Another difference in 2019 was that more of the books in my pile weren’t quick reads – they required more effort, which also slowed me down.
And the books in my to-read pile aren’t necessarily any easier, which is why I think next year I’m going to lower the bar further. I haven’t decided how far yet – but I do know that reading is a lot less fun when you have a deadline and feel compelled to move to the next one. So I want to be able to set something that will be a respectable target but won’t put me under grave pressure.
Anyway, you can view the glorious results of this year’s challenge here if you’re so inclined.
Meanwhile, here’s what I read in the last month to wrap up the year.
We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi CoatesMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I recently read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ first book, Between the World and Me, and was so impressed that I was keen to read his follow-up, which collects eight major essays he wrote for The Atlantic during President Barack Obama’s two terms (one for each year), as well as an additional epilogue about Trump's 2016 victory. It also features new notes on the context in which each essay was written, both personally and the broader political landscape. In that sense, the book is as much about Coates’ own development from struggling blogger to one of the most prominent intellectual forces writing about racism in America.
Only two essays are specifically about Obama and his presidency – one is about Michelle Obama, and the others cover topics from Bill Cosby's black conservatism and the legacy of Malcolm X to revisionist history of the Civil War, mass incarceration and reparations. But put together in one volume, and with Coates knitting it together, the essays illustrate the broad and complex scope of American racism and the implications of Obama’s presidency within that context. Moreover, they add up to an overaching thesis: (1) America can never address its racism problem until it is honest with itself about its racist history and racist present, and (2) Trump’s 2016 victory is not only a direct reaction to Obama’s presidency, it also indicates that America has no interest in point (1).
Obviously, this is one of those books where your political views about racism – and your open-mindedness about them – will influence your take on this. I won’t get into mine, but I’ll say it’s one of the best modern books about American racism I’ve read, and I found it jolly convincing (mostly) and educational. Equally interesting is Coates’ own journey through these eight years – he notes that researching these pieces was an education in itself and shaped his own views as he went along. My only real critique is that Coates tends to undermine his earlier essays with retroactive self-criticism in the intros. Still, points for honesty. Highly recommended, if only to challenge yourself.
Odds On by John LangeMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Michael Crichton’s career as a novelist actually began as a side gig while studying medicine at Harvard. The novels – published under the pseudonym John Lange – were the kind of pulp thrillers that were in high demand in the mid-60s. This is the first one, in which three men team up to rob a luxury hotel in Spain. The edge: the leader, Jencks, has used a mainframe computer to calculate the chances of success, taking into account all variables – except for the three hot women they encounter at the resort. You see where this is going. Or … do you?
Inevitably it’s hard to read this without comparing it to Crichton’s more famous work, but it’s interesting that even in his early phase, Crichton was employing technology (and the limitations thereof) as a plot device. Also, Crichton already had a knack for easy prose that keeps the pages turning, and planting red herrings in the form of subplots with other hotel guests, even though it gets a little clunky from time to time. That said, it does take until the third act for things to really get moving.
Also, it hasn't aged well in terms of sex scenes and women characters, who are depicted either as ugly shrews or busty babes desperately in need of a real man to satisfy them. Crichton may have been writing to spec for the genre at the time, but there’s so much boob description that when the novel was optioned to Hollywood, it’s a wonder Russ Meyer didn’t show interest in it. On the other hand, the women here are generally smarter than the genre called for, so I guess there’s that. Anyway, it’s not terrible for a first novel, but I’m not sure I need to explore his John Lange years further.
An Evil Guest by Gene WolfeMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
I’ve known about Gene Wolfe for ages, mainly via his contributions to a number of SF/F anthologies I read back in the 90s. However, I’ve never gotten around to reading his novels, and when he passed away in April, so many writers whose opinions I respect talked about how great he was, so I decided it was time to give him a try. This particular book was the only one available on my most recent book hunt, and the description sounded great – pulp noir with a Lovecraftian twist – so I went for it.
Turns out the description barely scratched the surface. The story is set in the future and mashes together a whole bunch of genre tropes – magic, werewolves, aliens, giant intelligent bats, flying cars with warp-drive, sea monsters, etc, much of which Wolfe seems to throw in as he goes along. Somewhere in here there’s also a story – interplanetary man of mystery Dr Gideon Chase is tasked by the US President to find alleged spy Bill Reis. Chase recruits aspiring stage actress Cassie Casey with a simple proposition – he’ll use magic to make her a superstar if she agrees to help find Reis. She does, and falls in love with both Chase and Reis.
And. Well. Frankly, it’s a mess. Wolfe throws a lot of different things into the mix but it doesn’t cohere well in terms of worldbuilding or plot. The problem is that most of the story relies on dialogue to explain what’s going on – and most of this involves Cassie Casey, who tends to get sidetracked so easily when talking to people that it makes it hard to follow what’s going on or why. Seriously, most of her conversations tend to ramble to the point where it’s like she has no idea why she’s even in this story. Which is unhelpful since her conversations comprise the majority of the book. Wolfe may have had a reason for this – and I’m told his books are typically deeper than they look on first pass – but I’m damned if I know what it is.
To his credit, it wasn’t so bad that I gave up on it – I kept hoping everything would gel by the end. It didn’t. But that could well be my problem. Anyway, even great authors turn out a not-so-great book once in a while, so I do intend to give Wolfe at least one more try.
View all my reviews
Beat my guest,
This is dF
