Wishful Wednesday, 29 September

The meme is hosted by Brooke Bluestocking Guide.

Sometimes I feel rather stupid when it comes to scence so this week I wish I could get "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson.

Cover of A Short History of Nearly Everything

From Publishers Weekly:

"As the title suggests, bestselling author Bryson (In a Sunburned Country) sets out to put his irrepressible stamp on all things under the sun. As he states at the outset, this is a book about life, the universe and everything, from the Big Bang to the ascendancy of Homo sapiens. "This is a book about how it happened," the author writes. "In particular how we went from there being nothing at all to there being something, and then how a little of that something turned into us, and also what happened in between and since." What follows is a brick of a volume summarizing moments both great and curious in the history of science, covering already well-trod territory in the fields of cosmology, astronomy, paleontology, geology, chemistry, physics and so on. Bryson relies on some of the best material in the history of science to have come out in recent years. This is great for Bryson fans, who can encounter this material in its barest essence with the bonus of having it served up in Bryson's distinctive voice. But readers in the field will already have studied this information more in-depth in the originals and may find themselves questioning the point of a breakneck tour of the sciences that contributes nothing novel. Nevertheless, to read Bryson is to travel with a memoirist gifted with wry observation and keen insight that shed new light on things we mistake for commonplace. To accompany the author as he travels with the likes of Charles Darwin on the Beagle, Albert Einstein or Isaac Newton is a trip worth taking for most readers."

Review: Guardian Angel by Sara Paretsky

Review: Guardian Angel by Sara Paretsky

Cover of Guardian Angel

Synopsis

In the 7th installment of the Chicago's PI V. I. Warshawski’s novels, Vic becomes involved more with her Racine street neighborhood. The area undergoes gentrification of a kind and some unpleasant yuppies have moved in. New neighbours not only renovate their houses and trim their lawns, they are also complaining about the old residents and positively harassing an elderly lady, a Mrs. Frizell, who owns more dogs than she could take care of. When she falls in her bathroom and is taken to the hospital in a very bad state the friendly Mr. and Mrs. Pichea obtain the guardianship over her in record time and put down all her dogs immediately afterwards. Why were they in such a hurry? What do they want to find in her dilapidated, filthy house? As Vic’s and Mr Contreras’s dog, Peppy, got pregnant by one of Mrs. Frizell’s dogs, Vic decides she is responsible for Mrs. Frizell's fate and tries to get a closer look at these suspicious activities.

In the meantime an old friend and colleague of Mr. Contreras, Mitch Kruger, is in trouble and then missing. Before the disappearance he often boasted about becoming rich any time soon. When his body turns up in the morgue Mr. Contreras is devastated. Allegedly his friend was found on the bank of a sanitation canal flowing through his old workplace, Diamond Head. The police are sure it was simply a result of an ill-fated accident – Mr. Kruger liked drinking a bit too much. They fail to persuade Mr. Contreras, though, who wants Vic to investigate - he doesn’t believe his old buddy was stupid enough to stroll drunken along the well-known, dangerous waterfront, fall into water and drown. What was he doing on the premises anyway? Getting any info in this case will prove to be extremely difficult as people in high places are involved and they don’t want anything to leak out - an action indicating that there's plenty of illicit money involved.

What I liked:

Like any Warshawski story, this one is a page-turner. I had a lot of fun stepping back to the times before omnipresent cell-phones, when computers had a blinking cursor or a menu - no Windows - and the main lead can still use her Olivetti (if you don’t recognize the brand name it was a typewriter, very popular and rather sturdy) The disgust at corporate shenanigans and rip-offs can resonate today and, I suppose, any time. I also enjoyed finding out more about Vic’s ex-husband and how they had split up. Peppy the golden retriever had puppies btw!

What I didn’t like:

I admit - the plot was a bit different and less schematic here; still, Vic, as usual, supports an underdog’s case, endangers her life for a pittance and whines a lot because life is not exactly fair and she can’t buy a pair of new running shoes. At least in this installment she didn’t forget about her paying clients and we could even glimpse her elegantly dressed in the company of upscale people for a change. More such fragments and I would like the novel better.

Well, perhaps it is true that most detective stories, if boiled down to the bone, are very schematic tales of crimes and each and every one of them is alike. Good writers, though, know how to stretch a simple story into a few hundred pages without losing readers' patience. Agatha Christie is, in my humble opinion, the master of the art. Most of her stories are simple crimes committed by ordinary people. However, the way she unfolds the plots and develops the characters differs and it is so captivating that I turn page after page with great anticipation of the final conclusion and I eagerly read one book after another, although of course I know well what roughly it will be about. I am sorry but I can’t tell the same about Ms. Paretsky’s books.

The final verdict:

The book wasn’t bad but also nothing outstanding – still too formulaic to keep me truly riveted although I did enjoy some parts of it very much.

Silent Sunday

From my brain to this blog part 2

The post is following the creative exercise,  started and hosted by Brooke Bluestocking Guide. The first part you can find clicking here. Feel free to comment and join in, writing a short story which begins like this:


That’s what happens when you follow your heart...

At that time I studied at a uni and so my income was erratic to say the least of it. I survived mainly on allowances from my parents and a performance grant. Let me explain it a bit - in order to qualify for a performance grant you had to get high scores in all your exams and you was reassessed after every semester. The higher you scored the more money you got – it was thought to be a kind of incentive to study hard and be diligent. My parents encouraged me to try to score as high as possible; after all the money I could get were almost equal to an average salary of a young person working full time. It did make sense; I went to university to study not to work so if I could additionally get paid for it, there it was, a win-win situation, the best that can be.

Only it wasn’t the best for me any longer. I wanted badly my luxury shoes which came with a luxury price tag and I didn’t even qualify for a loan. Who could guarantee whether or not I will be awarded the grant in the next semester? Perhaps a psychic. The shop manager didn’t believe in psychic powers, though; he pondered over my problem for a while and decided that I wasn’t trustworthy and solvent enough. He could only promise that my pair of shoes would be waiting for me two months at the back of the shop: either I manage to earn/steal/beg/wheedle/whatever the necessary sum of money or not. The choice was mine. It was kind of him but not too kind. Apparently I weren’t able to charm him sufficiently well. I must admit charming middle-aged men in shops had never been my strong suit. I wasn’t attractive, I wasn’t pretty, I wasn’t cheeky or funny or dashing. As you see I did need those shoes.

 

I returned to my hall of residence with a bad financial headache. I had some money put aside but not nearly enough to cover one third of the grand total. I could go and ask my parents but it was a loathsome option. I didn’t want them to know about my strange desire which, let’s be honest, bordered with a folly and was hardly sensible. Like most parents, my mom and dad would instantly draw some far-fetched conclusions like: somebody evil (no doubt a boyfriend or even worse, a foreign boyfriend) is touching her for money or she is pregnant and wants to abort or she’s found a foreign boyfriend (the second one) and wants to go with him clandestinely to some barbarian Arabic country (and yes, she will be forced to convert and marry him and she will be abused, beaten and kept imprisoned forever and she will never be allowed to contact us again…you know the drift). The longer I thought about it the less I liked the implications. No parents involved, full stop.

What about friends? I did know one rich student who owed me some favours and would be able to lend me the sum I wanted but still she would also grill me what I needed it for. I didn’t want to tell her about my shoes. She might have played me a dirty trick, buying them and preening herself on wearing them. Oh well, trying didn’t hurt and I didn’t need to be totally honest with her either. It was enough to think up a good cover story.

Finally of course I could look for a part-time job or any odd jobs available around but I was adamant about one thing - my marks and grades at the Uni couldn't suffer as a result. Losing my grant would be very painful indeed so I wasn't prepared to take too great risks.

Review: “Hard Time” by Sara Paretsky

Review: “Hard Time” by Sara Paretsky.

Cover of Hard Time (V.I. Warshawski Novels)

Synopsis:

V.I. Warshawski, the female private investigator created by Sara Paretsky, is back, every bit as tough-talking, and justice-seeking as ever. In the book published after a four-year hiatus, Vic is also noticeably older, a tad more jaded and once again unavoidably broke.

Multimedia conglomerate, Global Entertainment, has purchased the Chicago Herald-Star, and nobody knows who will stay employed and how long. Reporter Murray Ryerson, V.I.Warshawski's longtime friend, manages to reinvent himself as the host of a television show on Global's network, featuring Lacey Dowell, the local Chicago girl of Hispanic origin ho has risen to Hollywood stardom. However, driving home from a party thrown for the occasion V.I. almost runs over a badly battered woman lying in the street in a Lacey Dowell t-shirt. Vic brakes hard and tries to help her, ruining her car in the process. The medics take the unconscious woman, called Nicola Aguinaldo, to a nearby hospital but she dies during the night.

The Good Samaritan act will drop V.I. squarely in the middle of a boiling intrigue. Next day some policemen visit her and try to blame her for the accident in a very persistent manner. Acting in self-defense, Warshawski has to dig hard into Nicola's past. She discovers that the victim was a prison escapee from a private prison facility run by B.B. Balladine, the owner of Carnifice, the world's largest providers of private security and prison services. Why did she wear a hugely popular t-shirt then? The case becomes even more interesting because Nicola, although an illegal alien, had been formerly employed as a nanny to Balladine's children, and was in prison for stealing a necklace from his wife. Why did she make such a desperate move? Soon enough V.I. finds out that there is a connection between Balladine and Lacey Dowell's employer, Global Studios mogul Ted Trent. In this case V.I. will be ahead of the game if only she gets out alive. It is a big “if”. After all the entertainment industry is a formidable enemy – even the closest friends might balk at supporting her in such a crusade.

What I liked:

I admit the book is a good read in the best Paretsky/V.I. tradition: the plot is fast and absorbing, including some unexpected twists and turns. The author apparently hasn’t lost her touch - the lead characters come across as very real especially because, contrary to many other mystery series, they age and must face that challenge. I also appreciate the fact that Paretsky doesn’t forget background characters from other parts. The prison scenes, although quite disturbing, are vivid and well drawn in my opinion.

What I didn’t like:

Although Paretsky has allowed V.I. to age, she definitely hasn't allowed her to mature. V.I still acts as if she had nothing to lose and then, facing the consequences, she becomes rather whinny. A little bit responsibility and listening to advice of Lotty, her mother substitute and a long-time friend, would do her some good. After all, like in the previous novels, nobody wanted her to do that job and nobody asked her to stay involved.

I hate to say it but I noticed that most of the Vic series books revolve around an ossified formula. The heroine remains relatively poor as she can’t keep enough of well-paying clients, yet she perseveres and in the end, like in some cheesy B class movies, everything turns out just fine – all of a sudden she ends up with a fat check from a grateful rich person, who is only peripherally involved in the story. Strange thing is the money vanish quickly in the next book, as if only a poor investigator would make a good investigator, leaving  V.I. penniless again. Maybe it’s time for a change?

Finally, too many of the characters in this book seemed to be two-dimensional: either all good or all bad. They are also easy to distinguish. A tip: baddies can’t pronounce V.I.’s Polish surname. A bit spurious, taking into account the fact that Chicago is one of the biggest centers of Polish immigration in the USA.

The final verdict:

I still liked the story but, unless the formula changes, I might think twice before reading the next installment.

Wishful Wednesday, 22 September

The meme is hosted by Brooke Bluestocking Guide.

This week I owe my wish Tracy and Deepali who both got me interested in "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman. 

Cover via Amazon

The description of the product from the Amazon site:

Pratchett (of Discworld fame) and Gaiman (of Sandman fame) may seem an unlikely combination, but the topic (Armageddon) of this fast-paced novel is old hat to both. Pratchett's wackiness collaborates with Gaiman's morbid humor; the result is a humanist delight to be savored and reread again and again. You see, there was a bit of a mixup when the Antichrist was born, due in part to the machinations of Crowley, who did not so much fall as saunter downwards, and in part to the mysterious ways as manifested in the form of a part-time rare book dealer, an angel named Aziraphale. Like top agents everywhere, they've long had more in common with each other than the sides they represent, or the conflict they are nominally engaged in. The only person who knows how it will all end is Agnes Nutter, a witch whose prophecies all come true, if one can only manage to decipher them. The minor characters along the way (Famine makes an appearance as diet crazes, no-calorie food and anorexia epidemics) are as much fun as the story as a whole, which adds up to one of those rare books which is enormous fun to read the first time, and the second time, and the third time...

Teaser Tuesday, 21 September

The Tuesday meme hosted by MizB at shouldbereading.wordpress.com

This week feel free to explore the futuristic Atlanta full of supernatural and paranormal beings. The horrors are awaiting you in "Magic Bites" by Ilona Andrews - here is one fragment to tease you mercilessly ;):

"What kind of woman greets the Beast Lord with 'here kitty,kitty'?" he asked.
"One of a kind." I murmured the obvious reply. Eventually I had to look him in the eye.