I’M READING AS FAST AS I CAN: AUGUST 2010 EDITION

[defrog]

Who wants book reports? Cos I got some right here.

JUST FINISHED

The Badge by Jack Webb
Webb's virtual love letter to the LAPD that provided material for his Dragnet program. The book is a detailed breakdown of the LAPD by department and what it’s really like to be a cop in LA. Webb’s blatant admiration for the LAPD and police in general is a strength and a weakness, with his impeccable attention to detail offset by his tendency to gloss over issues like racism and civil rights (though to his credit he doesn’t ignore them). Even when allowing slack for the attitudes and laws of the 1950s when this was written, his take on drugs, gays and Commies are as uptight as it gets. On the upside, Webb always knew how to tell a story well, and there are tons of anecdotes from the crime files to keep it interesting. So it may be free PR for the LAPD, but it’s well-written PR.

JUST STARTED

The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
I confess, del Toro’s name is the hook for me, as I’m not familiar with Chuck Hogan and my experience with co-authored books is mixed. But the pitch of a Crichton-style take on vampirism was was too tempting to pass up. So we’ll see how it goes. I understand there’s a trilogy in the works, so I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

RECENT TITLES

Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross
Stross’ Heinlein/Asimov tribute novel set in a distant future where humanity is extinct and the robots they’ve built to help them explore space carry on and form a feudal society of aristocrats and slaves. The main plot involves a sexbot recruited by a mysterious agency to stop a plan to bring humans back, and frankly Stross REALLY overdoes it with the everyone-is-not-what-they-seem gimmicks, made more complicated by the idea of robots swapping bodies and identities via “soul chips”. And as usual, it’s jam-packed with insanely detailed technology. But the basic premise is great, and Stross has a great time popping all sorts of sacred genre bubbles regarding the realities of space travel and robots patterned after humans. Fun, but cluttered.

Foundation by Isaac Asimov
I like Asimov’s robot stories, but the Foundation series always looked too epic for my taste. But puffdoggydaddy  and bedsitter23  assured me repeatedly that it’s worth reading, so I took a chance with it – and I was surprised by how much I liked it. With the basic premise of psychohistorian Hari Seldon mathematically calculating the fall of the Empire and showing how the ensuing dark ages can be minimized, it’s basically a collection of short stories chronicling how Seldon’s predictions play out. Great if you like political intrigue, and all the more impressive that Asimov came up with this when he was 21 years old. I’m not sure if I want to commit to the entire series just yet, but I’ll definitely be following up with the next volume.

Have A Nice Doomsday: Why Millions Of Americans Are Looking Forward To The End Of The World by Nicholas Guyett
A fascinating report on Apocalyptic Christians in the US like John Hagee, Tim Lahaye and others who are convinced the Rapture is nigh and can’t wait for Armageddon to get started – yet are deeply involved in American politics trying to influence foreign policies that seem counterintuitive to the Biblical prophecies they hope are coming true. Crucially, Guyett does a great job of keeping things even-handed, exploring the reasons behind these beliefs without writing them off as lunatics or playing “gotcha”.

Paranoia: the Twenty-First Century Fear by Daniel Freeman and Jason Freeman
Semi-academic look at the growing amount of paranoia in modern society, what’s driving it and suggestions for dealing with it. The upshot is that overall we are more paranoid as a society, but the good news is that it’s not always the product of psychosis (usually the minimum requirement for a truly paranoid state), which means it’s more easily treatable – at least on paper.

The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The first short-story collection, with some of Holmes’ more famous cases, like the Red-headed League and the Speckled Band. As always, some are better than others, but it’s all good fun.

Double Whammy by Carl Hiassen
One of Hiassen’s earlier novels that delves into the comically (and allegedly) crooked bass fishing industry. It kicks off with private eye R.J. Decker being hired by a disgruntled pro bass fisher to prove that another big-name pro is cheating to win tournaments. Hilarity and complications ensue. It’s typical Hiassen – accessible satirical black-humor crime written with genuine anger at the impact of big-money corruption on Florida’s natural beauty. Not recommended if you like dogs – they don’t fare very well in this one.

The Essential Groucho, edited by Stefan Kanfer
An anthology of material by, about and for Groucho Marx, including classic routines from the Marx Brothers films, letters and articles written by Groucho, and one-liners from You Bet Your Life. The letters and articles are the main highlight for me, since the routines and the YBYL outtakes are a lot funnier to watch on video than they are to read. And since I mainly got this because I needed a third book for a Buy 2 Get 1 Free special in the Classics section, I can’t say I recommend it unless you don’t have the budget to buy other books collecting his correspondence and his writing. Still, it’s worth it for the article on how the problem with being a professional comedian is that everyone expects you to be funny when yr not working.

Make me laugh,

This is dF