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This is the first month of the second 52 Book Challenge. As I discussed last month, year two is going to have some major changes. If it wasn't at least ordered by the December 31st, 2011 it won't be one of this year's selections. This is fine. I was laid off and don't have the money to buy books anyway. This month (February), I'm giving you a preview of the types of things that will show up as a result of this change. If I wanted to perpetuate a myth, I'd say I planned this. I didn't. I thought I could finish a boxed set of Star Trek: The Next Generation DVDs in two weeks. I couldn't and I didn't want to read a Star Trek: The Next Generation novel at the same time I was watching the series for 90-135 minutes a day. So instead I give you a variety snack pack sized portions of portent. The second major change is: The Book of the Month. For the hypothetical universe where I could only read of these books in a month which would it have be? You familiar with the new rules? Okay then... here we go.
One of the major things you can expect in 52 Book Challenge for 2012 is Star Trek. Lots and lots of Star Trek. More Star Trek than you can shake a bucket of tribbles at . . .
- Star Trek: Invasion Book One - First Strike by Diane Carey:
Here the Enterprise is involved with a clean up mission on Cappella IV where they are a battling Klingons. Then the Galaxy's calmest Klingon (a general no less) shows up and says a ship full of demons is on its way to destroy everyone. The Enterprise is invited into Klingon space. Everything goes according to Murphy's Laws of first contact. Anything that can go wrong- from murder, kidnapping, theft and destruction of sacred artifacts does go wrong . It is the type of mission where the best diplomat is a fully activated phaser bank. I'm sure Montgomery Scott would agree with me. As Star Trek books go, it is a little slow. Carey is purposeful and deliberate with the rate at which she unfolds the story. The reasons are obviously two fold: one- it effectively makes the story a character study examining the mind of James T. Kirk. It becomes about how he solves the problems while sticking to his principles. 2) This is a four book epic. It had to reveal just enough to keep the readers primed and ready for the next book yet wrap up just enough that fans who only like the original series don't have to slog through the rest of the books to get to the conclusion of the story. Carey does this quite nicely. While this is mostly a Kirk book- which is usually a strike against a Star Trek book in my opinion- this was a better than average Star Trek novel. Overall, an enjoyable start to the year.
However, Star Trek isn't all that is in my boxes and boxes and boxes of books. (Try saying that three times fast.) Sure I have enough of them in there that if I had really felt like it, I could have taken the easy way out and done a 52 Book Challenge of nothing but Star Trek books. Really! I could but I didn't. That's the quick way to turn a love into a poison. There will also be humor books. You know things that are both informative and funny. Dour and depressing with just the proper amount of pep. For an example of this, here is our next selection:
- Take the Cannoli - Tales of the New World by Sarah Vowell:
Sarah Vowell's essays are often morbid pieces of life that look at the true nature of modern America. A lot of them are hilarious. They are funny because they reveal the twisted contradictions of America as a country and humanity as a whole. Whether looking at how to treat insomnia, to the clichés found in celebrity video obituaries to the inanity of rock and roll fantasy camp, she seems to find at least a few humorous moments in everything. Her essay "What I see When I Looked at The Face on the $20 Bill" is an almost but not quite precursor to Assassination Vacation. I think I empathized with two essays more than most. The first being her essay on her attempts to learn to drive in her twenties. I felt almost the exact same way, but my parents made me stick at it for two years. However I eventually convinced them that if they didn't like the way I drove, they should stay off the sidewalk. It took two long years and about as many rearview mirrors. The other being about her secret addiction to The Godfather. I went through a similar problem with "The Princess Bride" in college. In the course of one winter I think I watched it about five times.
Collector Times is, first and foremost, a comic book magazine. There are plenty of other geekdoms that get the spotlight but that is its intended purpose. However I still have to pay homage to the main subject matter every once in awhile or the Goddess of Webspace will hit me in the head with her ball peen hammer Mjolnir. So there will be some novels by people who also write comic books. I can think of no one who fits that bill more than this guy . . .
- Psi-Man Book Four - The Chaos Kid by Peter David:
Amongst Peter David's earliest professional works were The Psi-Man books. To quickly summarize the premise: they are action comedies set in a dystopian future starring a former gym teacher with super powers and his sidekicks a telepathic dog and a talking car. The book, and the series in general, have all the sci-fi elements you would expect from a comic book. They are light and breezy but very fun. There is plenty of humor and most of it still holds up. In fact- it is surprising how much of his grim future he got right. He predicts the blue tooth, the iPod in your car and the GPS. As for the book itself- I saw some of the twists and turns before they happened but there were plenty I missed. Even the ones I saw coming had enough laughs and other amusing things along the way that I didn't feel cheated. Furthermore, the few things I did predict almost immediately veered off in directions I didn't really expect them to go. By the end- I pretty much knew how things had to end. However I was not disappointed and had a great time.
There will be a few classics this year as well. To signify this, I found an author who I enjoy more than any other. The winner of our very first book of the month is Mr. Samuel L. Clemens.
- A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain (Book of the Month):
Travel books are supposed to give you a good idea of what you are going to see before you go someplace. Or to help you decide if you really want to go somewhere at all. Once a book is a few years old, it is out of date. So why read a travelogue from 1880? Well, most of the things Clemens goes to see are still there. Some of them have changed dramatically but are still extant. However the key reason to read it is that along with the informative bits of history, local color and recipes are human moments. As long as human stupidity remains a constant in the universe, Twain will remain funny. Many of his travel tales may seem ridiculous, improbable or down right impossible. These are the moments when it is at its best. I have seen edited versions of this book- in fact own one- but I have not read them. There are a lot of passages that seem extraneous at first. However, long bits that are not funny in and of themselves become hysterical when you realize that something that happened 50 pages ago suddenly becomes a punch line. A lot of the humor of Twain's travels aren't in the trip themselves. It is in the tangents and meanderings.
So what exactly changes about The 52 Book Challenge? Not much. If you liked reading it last year, chances are you'll like it again this year. If you hated reading it last year chances are you'll hate this one too. Anyway, that's all the time we have for this month . . . actually it is not. It is just all the time I had to read in January. The February column also appears this very issue. Be back here this month for the first Star Trek month of the 2012. I will attempt the impossible without a net - a book for each live action Star Trek television series during the shortest month of the year. Can I succeed? Find out . . .
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