It Is Amazing We're Even Alive

I've started reading Ghost Wars by Steve Coll. I'll put up a longer review when I'm done. For now I'm just 100 pages into the book. I read the following passage on the El this morning.

(CIA Director William) Casey mumbled. In business his secretaries refused to take dictation because they couldn't understand what he was saying. He had taken a blow to the throat while boxing as a boy and he had a thick palate ... Even President Reagan couldn't understand him. During an early briefing Casey delivered to the national security cabinet, Reagan slipped Vice President Bush a note: "Did you understand a word he said?" Reagan later told William F. Buckley, "My problem with Bill was that I didn't understand him at meetings. Now, you can ask a person to repeat himself once. You can ask him twice. But you can't ask him a third time. You start to sound rude. So I'd just nod my head, but I didn't know what he was actually saying." Such was the dialogue for six years between the president and his intelligence chief in a nuclear-armed nation running secret wars on four continents.

(My emphasis)

Dear FSM it is amazing we ever lived to see 1988.

What May Obtain

I just completed A Beautiful Piece by Joesph G Peterson. The book is set in Chicago during the 1995 heat wave. A heat wave where about 750 people died of heat exposure. The book is narrated in the first person by the character Robert.

Unlike Treasure Island, this is an adult book. Not in an X-rated sense but it explores themes that one must have lived a while to understand. The main theme is unrealized dreams. Robert finds himself living alone and lonely. He is possibly unemployed and wishing his life had turned out different. Throughout he theorizes why his life is what it is what he could or should do about it.

Besides Robert the book have very few characters. There is Lucy, the woman Robert is having an affair with. Lucy is a lifeline out of the rut of his life. The Vet is Robert's best friend and drinking partner. The Vet is his anchor. Epstein is another friend of Robert's who he fishes with and is a different kind of anchor. Robert idolizes Epstein referring to him as "My Mystic." Although the main theme of the book is loneliness and unrealized dreams, of wishing for a better life. Through the Vet and Epstein the book also shows unconditional friendship. Even if that friendship isn't always recognized and appreciated.

The final character of consequence is Matthew Gliss, Lucy's fiance.

It is short book at just 205 pages but it has no chapters. The style of the writing is very much an exploration of how memories come into a person's mind. Memories are circular and fold back onto one another over and over again. And like memories they do not come in chronological order and the same memory occurs repeatedly.

The book has no chapters but is fast paced. Because of the style of writing the lack of chapters isn't a detriment. It can easily be picked up in the middle of a page.

I guess this book would not be for everyone. I found myself very able to identify with Robert, however. Not that I'm in the same boat he is but at times I've had many of the same feelings. I very much loved this book and would recommend it.

Treasure Island

I finished Treasure Island over the weekend. It is amazing how much I'm reading since the lightning storm wiped out my TV a week and a half ago. For those concerned, the new TV arrives Thursday. You may commence being jealous.

Before I get to Treasure Island let me make a follow up to my Dance With Dragons post. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the book. Martin's writing is as good as it has been in any of the previous Ice and Fire books. The story line moves along at a good pace. There are answers to past questions and new questions arise. All in all I loved the book. I'm just pissed about the last 3 chapters in a 1000 page book. And most of that feeling is that I want to read the next book now, not in 5 years. Of course, it is the 5th book in a series and not one you can pick up blindly. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the entire series.

Now, about Treasure Island. (Spoilers, people. Spoilers)

I enjoyed it but it certainly shows itself as a dated (first published in 1883) children's book. It is the coming of age story of Jim Hawkins a boy (young man?) of indeterminate age. The basic story is that Jim Hawkins comes into possession of a treasure map. Along with some village elders he sets off on a journey across the Atlantic on a chartered ship to recover the treasure. The ship’s crew was previously the crew of the pirate whose treasure they seek and they mutiny once they arrive.

There's little in the way of surprises. Almost everything is predictable although that may come from having read it sometime in my childhood. We had a picture book version. Reading the Wikipedia article I see that there are 4 conflicts that the book is thought to address: Truthfulness and Loyalty, Temperance and Drunkenness, Religion and Irreligion, and Thrift and Profligacy.

The one that stuck out to me was the Truthfulness and Loyalty. Young Hawkins on multiple occasions disobeys orders and strikes out on his own. In each case it turns out beneficial to him and the crew that remains loyal to the Captain and the mission. He also learns in the book to keep his word. When he has a chance to escape the pirates after giving his word he wouldn't he chooses to remain a captive. Jim's story line is a long streak of good luck that is a bit unbelievable. I believe accepting this string of luck is a key to enjoying the book.

Jim is contrasted by Long John Silver, the one-legged pirate with a parrot on his shoulder. I believe he is the progenitor of the pirate stereotype. Silver fakes his original allegiance to the mission while stocking the crew with fellow mutineers. Over the course of the book he changes his allegiance multiple times before eventually making off with a sack of loot at the end of the story.

Whereas the story of truthfulness is straight forward the story of loyalty and the consequences is an ambiguous one. Silver despite his shiftiness seems to have profited. The consequences of his actions are left unsaid however.

As I said, it was an enjoyable story but certainly is written for a younger audience.

Next on line is Beautiful Piece by Joseph G. Peterson. It is a Chicago based story. I started it yesterday and a few dozen pages in I think I know what it is going on. I'll be curious to see if I'm correct.

A Dance With Dragons: A Rant

There are no direct spoilers about A Dance With Dragons here. I hint at some things in general terms. There are some spoilers here for previous books so beware.

Finished.

"Fuck you, Martin!"

I mean, dammit man, I've defended you and supported your vision of your story forever.

When people put down the book after the RW in Storm of Swords I said, "No, stay with it. It's part of the story arch. Yes bad things happen but that's the way of life." I said, "You are feeling the emotional tug of the book. I was heart broken too. The author is doing his job superbly!"

When people said Feast For Crows jumped the shark I stepped up to the plate. "This book wasn't part of the original plan. The story's expanded. Yes, it doesn't flow as well as it should but it'll get better when he gets back on track. Stay with it. Stay with it."

When others say your books never go any where. That nothing is ever resolved. I tell them to be patient. "The series has a long story arch. You have to let the author take you on the journey through his vision."

When one person told me that there wasn't a single character in the book he could empathize with I told him to check into the morgue.

Then you give me this book. Fuck you.

Sure, as some have complained, you haven't completed the total story arch. You've always finished the small story though. The characters finished a small part of their journey and began the next.

In A Game Of Thrones

1. Robb captured the Kingslayer and was named King of The North. Now we move on to war.
2. Dany lost Khal Drogo and her Khalasar but her dragons were born and she move.

In A Storm of Swords

1. Jon defended the wall and was named Lord Commander. Then he had to learn to rule
2. Tyrion was allowed to escape and slayed his father. Then he was off to the east.

In A Feast For Crows

1. Jamie takes Riverrun and decided to allow Cersei to fend for herself

Even in Dance With Dragons you complete the Dany arch and she is starting a new path. We're not sure what that path is but she's on it. Arya you didn't complete but we see the forward movement.

But you ended the damn book - a BOOK - with cliffhangers! We have one battle starting, another army buried in snow, and an attempted murder in progress.

This is not a daytime soap opera. Not even a weekly TV drama where we'll learn a resolution with in the week. This is a book! And you take 5 years between books. Which I've also accepted.

I'm pissed that you failed to complete the small stories in this book. And this murder-in-fucking-progress? I'm not mad at the who. I'm not. S/he might deserve it. It feels forced. You are writing books in the middle of a story arch you had not originally planned to write. The story grew in the telling. I get that. However, you're known for killing off major characters. This murder feels like you dropped it in there to just keep up the rep.

Winter Is Coming!

The newest trailer for HBO's series A Game Of Thrones, based on books by George R.R. Martin, is available.  And at the same time Martin has announced the release date for the next book in the series.  The cynical side of me thinks he's been holding off on this release since he knew HBO was picking up the series..

Mark Your Calendars: April 17

Oh, yes!

Open Letter

Dead George,

I was very saddened to learn of your recent health problems.  E-coli is a nasty, nasty bug that has sickened far too many people.

I gladdens me that you are recovering at home and feel well enough that you will be able to travel soon.  It take heart and hope that you are, by your own words, in good health.

But I swear to FSM, Fat Man, if you die before you finish the Song Of Ice And Fire series I will come to New Mexico and personally kick your ass.

Get Well Soon.

Sincerely,
LPCARDSFAN

And so it ends. And so it begins!

"I can think of a lot of worse things in baseball than marijuana or peyote, if used in moderation.  Things such as walks, designated hitters, and Astro Turf" - Bill "Spaceman" Lee

The MLB regular season comes to a disappointing end for me and the fans of 21 other teams. My Cards started the season with at least 5 straight series wins. Our two aces, Carpenter and Wainwright, were off to great starts and rookie Jaime Garcia was surprisingly excellent. Pujols was doing what Pujols does. People were concerned about Matt Holiday not putting up power numbers but his average was there and rookie 3B David Freese was hitting the ball at a prodigious pace.

Then the summer went on. And I got nervous. In early August we swept the upstart Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati. We went on to lose the next 5 series. The stat of the day at this post explains it all. We had too many position players that hit like shit.

So my Birds are out of the playoffs and I have a little sad.

I'm over it. Let the playoffs begin!


PS:  Cincinnati TV viewers need to get a life.


The Bill Lee quote above I found in the book Big Hair and Plastic Grass.

Random, Rare Book Review

I've been on a bit of reading kick. Three straight books with out any significant (months long) break between them.

Most recently I finished Thirteen by Richard K. Morgan. It is a noir detective story in a SciFi setting on Earth a couple hundred years in the future. The story isn't terribly original by SciFi standards. A genetically modified super soldier, Variant Thirteen, is sent back to Earth from Mars and starts killing people and no one knows why. Another Thirteen is sprung from jail by authorities to help track down the killer.

Pretty standard fare for the genre but I like the future world that Morgan creates. It is a plausible future where gene modifications and computer technology have greatly expanded beyond today's frontiers. His space travel is not the story of Warp or Hyper Drives. Instead people are put into a frozen, suspended animation for the months long trip between Earth and Mars. Communication between the two planets takes 13+ minutes to travel between the planets, depending on how close they are to each other. In other words, he doesn't suspend the laws of physics as understood by Einstein and others.

In addition he creates the anti-hero protagonist that I like in books. Carl Marsalis, the Thirteen hired to hunt down the killer, isn't really a nice guy. At one point in the book he gets mad and goes out to find a fight and kills a man. This is the kind of protagonist Morgan creates. In his previous series of books, starting with Altered Carbon, the protagonist is Takeshi Kovacs. Another genetically modified warrior who has his own violent streak.

In Altered Carbon people are able to switch their minds/memories/personalities to different bodies. The Thirteen universe eliminates this ability. In Thirteen Morgan deals with different issues where men can die and the limits of the person. He explores the (f)utility of violence more than in the previous series. Still, his attempts at deeper meanings get lost in his fast pace, action packed style of writing. You can completely miss those meanings and still have a good read.

I like both universes from a SciFi stand point but Thirteen also deals with current politics. My biggest complaint about the book - something that has made me want to put it down many times - is Morgan's preaching about U.S. politics. In Thirteen the U.S. has broken up in to multiple countries with the majority of the land being the "Confederate Republic." Those outside the CR refer to it as "Jesusland." The Jesuslanders and their politics are portrayed as the caricature of far right wing, bible thumping Republicans of today.

Technically I should be part of the audience that this applies to. However, Morgan wields the theme as a sledgehammer. It's just too much. At one point in the book there is mention of a professor at the University Of Texas that was forced out after refusing to sign the "Creationist Pledge." That episode, and really Jesusland over all, serves very little purpose in the story. I really could have done with out that.

It's a good book if you like SciFi, but I would strongly recommend Altered Carbon first.