Hollis

Too much Star Trek for this non-Trekkie

Revisado: 02-05-24

It was okay, but with too many references that only a Trekkie would love. I am not a Trekkie.

Be warned, elder Boomers. There are a lot of sci-fi references that you might not catch. However, if you're not a sci-fi fan, why would you pick this book anyways?

I'm not interested in the further adventures of the Bobs, so my journey ends here. I'm retired now.

Hark! Immortality beckons ...

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Its Name is Murderbot … but that’s a secret 🤫

Revisado: 01-13-24

I'm loving these short stories! The narration is perfect, SecUnit (aka Murderbot) has a terrific sensayuma, and I even got teary-eyed in this one. Highly recommended .

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Bring The Jubilee is my second favorite Ward Moore novel

Revisado: 12-30-23

SOME SPOILERS

Although I love this novel, it's not my favorite Ward Moore novel. That honor goes to Greener Than
You Think (1947). But let me point out some things I love about BTJ.

Like Hodge, I love history. BTJ succeeded in whisking me from one fictional present-day to another, and both of them seem very real, but especially the second one.

The events that take place in both contemporary times and space are meticulously documented by protagonist Hodge. I don't much like Hodge, and I guess that I'm not supposed to. The narrator in GTYT (Greener Than You Think, Moore's masterpiece) is even more difficult to like; in fact, Albert Weener is impossible to like but easy to despise.

The absence of humor in BTJ makes it a harder book to read, or enjoy, than GTYT, a book so packed with sardonic humor that I can only compare it to Joseph Heller's Catch-22. But Weener is no Yossarian. Hodge doesn't have a chance to rise to the level of those two characters.

I am only able to barely care about Hodge, the content of his character, and his effect on the other people in his life. On second reading I still wonder why his friends bother with him at all. It'll take me a few more readings, I suppose, to see Hodge in a better light.

Frankly, I really want to talk about Albert Weener and Greener Than You Think, but I'm waiting for Audible to bring the novel to the airwaves. I've requested it for at least a decade, but I understand that more than wishing is required.

It'd be a brilliant opportunity for voice actors, I can promise you that.

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I confess that I love the internet but I also love my privacy

Revisado: 10-20-23

The Circle is very clever, a well-reasoned potential near future or even an alternate universe's present day. And not too alternate. We've been warned, is what we're being told: Don't be too enamored with social media. But ffs, haven't we heard this before? currently? What harm can it do to us in the long term?

There's quite a lot of sardonic humor in the story. If you appreciate sardonicism, The Circle is your kind of tale. If you don't know what sardonicism is, find another book.

It's very well narrated. Audiblers will enjoy and appreciate someone who can differentiate characters by their individual voices and not just by nationality. You know what I mean — if there are Russian or German or English or Irish characters, e.g., many narrators give the same voice to every person of that particular nationality. I've just been bingeing the Tom Clancy series — the books Mr. Clancy wrote without co-authors or that others wrote after his death — and two of the narrators are in the latter category, with one accent to differentiate characters strictly by nationality. I hate that. Even Mom and Dad used different voices when they read to me at night! The Circle improves upon a parent's efforts about a hundredfold. I rarely need to figure out who's speaking, because each character has their own unique speech pattern and their own unique tone of voice. (Those Clancy thrillers ought to be re-recorded with that in mind.)

As a near-dystopian bedside story, The Circle is an interesting listen. There are a lot of chapters, but they are quite short, so it moves along nicely. It's a Goldilocks read: not too slow, not too fast, but just right.

The Circle reminds me of two other Audible selections: Qualityland and Daemon. I recommend all three.

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A celebration of adjectives!

Revisado: 09-05-23

I enjoyed every exotic adjective that Dean Koontz used in this book. They made me smile. A lot.

The story is somewhat different from the usual DK, but his good characters are still very, very good and his bad ones remain psychotically evil. If anything is different, it's the nature of the beast. Literally.

I must add Phantoms to my list of DK books worth reading, along with Night Chills and, to a lesser degree, Watchers. These stories keep me entertained in between my usual serious nonfiction choices. They are among my favorite relaxing summer vacation stories. Maybe yours, too?

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The typical Dean Koontz outline gets old quickly

Revisado: 09-04-23

Lightning is perhaps the fifth or seventh (or whatever) Dean Koontz book that I've either listened to or physically read. There are a lot of them ... and, at the same time, there's reallonly one. He follows a rigid pattern religiously: the good guys are always really good, the bad guys are invariably psychopathic murderbots, the world's existence is usually at stake, and guess who wins.

I'm tired of reading DK books like Lightning. Except for one, and it isn't Lightning. It's Night Chills, which isn't an audible.com offering. Yet.

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Never have I been happier

Revisado: 08-13-23

To hear the last page of a book! I can't abide Earth Abides. It leaves civilization in the unworthy hands of a small mind that considers itself an intelligent, even superior, human.

Ish thinks, yes. His contemplations, though, are interminable to the point of teeth-gritting annoyance. Many were the times that I'd wished Ish dead. But my great hostility isn't about his pseudo-intellectualism; rather, it's because he allowed humanity to descend into darkness with him. School's out forever when Man's caretaker is such an inferior guide.

I read this book a long time ago and hated it, but since it's so well thought of I decided to give it another chance. I was right the first time.

If Ish were a Grand Canyon guide, I'd advise you to turn around and run for your life. He has a reverse Midas touch: everything that comes within his influence withers on the vine. It's lucky that the Earth is too big for him to ruin, else Earth wouldn't abide.

The narrator is excellent. I suppose that made it a little less painful, more like having only one steel needle thrust into only one eye instead of two thrust into both. Never let it be said that I'm not magnanimous.

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They really were good boys, despite everything.

Revisado: 04-25-23

I’m surprised at how invested I was in this story, and in both of the boys. They were failed by their families, their (non-existent) social workers, witnesses to their treatment (including neighbors, sometime friends, and strangers), and the courts. The narrator is exceptionally good, the story exceptionally sad. Why do some of us slip between the cracks of society? What responsibilities do members of society have for each other? What is Justice? I love a matter-of-fact story that asks these questions. It reminds me of a Socratic dialogue. And despite everything, it doesn’t get any better than that.

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Netflix, wake up!

Revisado: 03-23-23

When I first read this book, the title of the paperback was “Rebirth” — maybe an old American edition. That was in c. 1983. I’ve read it many times since. The only real regret and frustration I feel is how Wyndham treated Sophie, and what happened to her and her family. This is not a spoiler because there’s nothing to spoil.

The story is a What If? the survivors of near nuclear extinction either were religious or turned to religion as a result. It’s very convincing. I appreciate the absence of fantasy. There is no magic, but there is mutation. All this takes in a dystopian Waknuk, a farming community in southwestern Labrador, Canada. The narrator gives a terrific performance, with every character having a singular voice.

John Wyndham was a brilliant writer. His prose in this book is matter-of-fact, but sprinkled with some lovely descriptions and observations. I wish it would be adapted as a miniseries. Frankly, I wonder that it hasn’t been, already.

He wrote two other very famous books, both having been made into films: The Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos. If you understand how the cuckoo raises its young, you’ll understand the title and the premise. However, Hollywood must think us all idiots, so their title for the 1960 film is Village of the Damned. Despite that title, it stars George Sanders and is better than the usual Hollywood fare. So why hasn’t someone adapted The Chrysalids? Beats me.

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Surprisingly Entertaining

Revisado: 10-05-22

I initially bought this book because it was short and cheap, just the thing to pass a morning while waiting for a delivery. It turned out to be more interesting than I’d expected, with a nice but nasty twist near the end.

Other than the four main characters and a couple of minor characters, it’s light enough fare, not too complex, not taxing the brain too much. Nonetheless, the story moves along nicely. The narrator does a great descriptive job of demonstrating a learning curve in the heroine that eventually allows her to understand the nuances between the preferable good and the intolerable bad.

It’s a very good deal. In less than half a day, it did exactly what I wanted: light entertainment, interesting concepts and ideas, fresh characters, and perky narration.

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esto le resultó útil a 13 personas