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Many months ago, I did a column where I read nothing but books that people recommended to me. This month is obligatory because I promised I'd do another one before I finished the countdown. I'm actually a lot further ahead that I thought I would be by this time of the year. Of course, I thought I would have given up on it by April or May, so that goes to show you what I think about my own ability to finish a pointless task I give myself.
Anyway certain readers, who I suspect to be illiterate, asked me to read one of the works of Laurel K. Hamilton. I said, "No. I draw the line at vampire smut."
What's that you say? She wrote a Star Trek book . . .
. . . and I own a copy . . .
. . . and I've never actually read it.
. . . and it allows me to do that thing where I overlap two months themes without looking like an idiot. Damnit!
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - Nightshade k by Laurel K. Hamilton:
There are reasons that Hamilton never wrote another Star Trek book after this. I don't think it had anything to do with the first Anita Blake book coming out a year or two later. It had more to do with just how incompetently put together the book is. The main plot attempts to be a murder mystery but it lacks something. Mainly- any sort of mystery. It was so obviously not the main rival faction. (Too simple.) The smaller rival faction, a group of genetic engineers who had read Rachel Carson about 800 times had no motive. In fact they were stereotypical new age hippies in space. It would also be unlikely, if not impossible due to licensing restrictions, to have the murderer be Picard. Which meant- well, the leader who ordered the investigation. It focuses far too much on the politics and message of the story. The alien world it takes place on commits one of the deadly sins of Star Trek books- it crosses the line from social message into preachiness. The second story is clearly thrown together to keep the main plot from coming to a quick resolution. Worsened by the fact that Hamilton can't keep her time table straight. The alien ship Data, La Forge and Crusher beam on to is supposed to explode in four hours. They spend an hour and a half just figuring out what is wrong and the three attempts to fix it that each take up an hour's time. Which means they should all be dead. But screw logic, a licensing contract is a licensing contract. There! I reviewed it and I was a nice as I could possibly be about it.
Our next reader (who wishes not to be identified) asks: Have you seen The Boys from Brazil?
Well . . . this is not a movie review column. I'm not crazy enough to take the 365 movie challenge. However the movie was based on a book so, I'll meet you half way.
- Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin:
This book is an odd genre blending: political spy thriller, science fiction and post World War II Jewish Culture novel. Imagine if Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton and Michael Chabon had sat down to lunch and decided to write a book together. In their own way- each one of these writers were probably influenced by Levin's work- even Crichton and Clancy who were contemporaries. The mystery is suspenseful and well thought out. I'm not giving away anything because it would ruin the story. I only vaguely knew the plot going in but I was slowly able to figure it out before the characters did. However what elevates this story beyond the typical thriller was the aftermath and the ethical quandaries it raises. What is it that makes us who we are: nature or nuture? How much of who we are is there before we are who we are?
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley:
Friends had been recommending this book to me for about 16 years now. I think I would have absolutely loved it if I had read it when I was fifteen. Instead I found it funny, satirically melodramatic book and with burst of insightfulness. Some of that comes from having read so many dystopian future books and short stories over the years- ranging from Orwell's 1984. Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and Vonnegut's Harrison Burgeon. There are many things in that were quite prophetic when you consider the book was written in 1932. It predicted bombs capable of taking out entire cities, the rise of fascism and the invention of virtual reality. There is one problem I have with the premise and that is the assumption that human beings need psychoactive substances and government sponsored propaganda in order to not want to learn things. In this, Huxley is being somewhat naive. Human beings are completely capable of being lazy and ill informed without any sort of outside help. Human beings are some of the lazy people I've ever met. If anything, for a society of drug addicts who are almost constantly high, they are treated as being far too intelligent. There's not a single "Dave's not here, man" moment in the entire book. Still, I felt the book was entertaining It's a book I really, really wanted to love but ended up merely liking.
- The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee by Sarah Silverman:
This book is a mix of four types of pieces; Stories of Silverman's life before becoming a comedian, the portion of her career before becoming famous, show business stories and her personal life now. Three out of four of the types of stories are really funny. Luckily, she keeps the self indulging show business stories which are obligatory with these types of book to a minimum. I'm also a bit disappointed she didn't do an almost over the top satire of the type of stories these types of books usually contain. Then again, after the Joe Franklin incident featured in The Aristocrats, I can see why she didn't. The book has something laugh worthy on at least 2/3rds of the pages. Enough that if you've got some sort of dried mucus stuck in your sinus, this might be a quicker and less painful remedy than sticking a straw up your nose and trying to suck it out.
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