Book Post: Wilson, Van Pelt, Hayes, Aaronivitch, Brust and Backman.
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson, 448pp [Hugo book]
A Hugo Award winner and I can see why as the concept is pretty interesting. Tyler and his wealthier twin neighbors Jason and Diane are teenagers when stars disappear from the sky. The Earth is basically wrapped in a bubble by some unknown aliens and the time outside the Earth is passing at out of proportion time, which means at some point quite soon the sun will get too old and get too big. So they all have to grow up with the knowledge that they might just have a few decades. Jason is basically a genius who is working on various solutions, including trying to terraform Mars and put a civilization there to try to figure out a way out, Diane becomes involved in a religious cult and responds that way, and Tyler, who is telling the story, becomes a doctor who works for Jason and witnesses a lot. He is also in love with Diane, who marries someone else. None of the main characters are very stable or well adjusted, which is not helped by the circumstances.
Eventually there is an explanation of a sort and a positive solution to the crisis and a new world but it takes awhile. And there are still questions. But I can see why this was a Hugo worthy book. The style of the book is good - it is not confusing, the world building is very easily to get and the writing is pretty smooth.
But I was kind of neutral on it reading it - I was liking it enough. There was one part, toward the end, that I thought worked really well - at one point the membrane protecting the earth drops and there is a lot of suspense on what will happen when the sun will appear over the horizon since it is now a much bigger sun. A lot of people just expect to die and everyone's different reactions were interesting. But the suspense was really excellent and I really loved this section.
I think to me, it was not a book that I loved because I didn't care very much about the characters. Diane, especially, had a weird characterization, and it often felt because she was a woman. Like her brother is super genius, super rational, so she had to be all emotional. Even Tyler, the main character, didn't always work for me. There are parts where he should read as older and he wasn't. So overall, good sci-fi premise, well written but I didn't get attached to the characters at all.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, 355pp
Marianna recommended this book to me as she was impressed that one of the main characters was an octopus. And that was in fact unusual and I enjoyed the perspective of an old grumpy octopus. There are many perspectives in the book, from Tova, a 70 year old who lost her only son when he was 18 and had to live with that grief for a long time, who cleans the Aquarium and befriends the octopus, and Cameron, a 30 year old without a plan in life who is trying to find his long lost father and ends up working in the Aquarium after Tova has an accident and needs to recoup. It is a story of friendships and living with grief and finding how to move on.
There is a sort of mystery going on in the middle, but the problem is that I could figure out the main twist of the novel before the book explicitly tells you about it and long before the characters realize it themselves. And that is always annoying to me since you just want the characters already to realize it and you can grow impatient with them. So while it was a nice book, and a nice easy read, it was not the best book ever to me or anything. It was entertaining and a good book but not five stars. Tova was a standout character - I really enjoyed her practicality and her way of interacting with everyone.
Insomniac City: New York, Oliver and Me by Bill Hayes, 290pp
I was looking up something about Olivier Sacks and I discovered that his partner of the last five years of his life has written a biographical book recounting his move to New York after a sudden loss of his previous lover and his relationship with Sacks, which unexpectedly turned romantic. Sacks was in his 70s for this his first real relationship and love while Hayes was in his early 50s, I believe. This biography is also about New York and various encounters Hayes had with people in the New York. It is the love letter to both the city and to Oliver Sacks.
At first, reading about their growing relationship felt too voyeuristic, way to private to see. But it was nice to see what Sacks was like when he was just with his loved one and to see him from a perspective of another person who knew him well. And this book recounts when Oliver Sacks got his terminal diagnosis and how he chose to die, as well as his last days and moments, with love, intimacy but not intruding ones.
His New York is different from my New York, since he lived in Manhattan and often encountered people others might not talk to, but it was still New York and his views of it, and what he observed from trees to birds to street corners.
I finished reading this book on Sacks' birthday, and that seemed weirdly appropriate. I read two of the Sacks' autobiographies but this book really adds to it, especially in seeing him in his last year of life.
The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch, 292pp [Rivers of London 6].
Book 6 in the Rivers of London series. A teenaged girl dies, seemingly from drugs, in a building she shouldn't have access too and Tyburn's daughter Olivia was involved so Tyburn calls Peter to take care of it. The resulting investigation and the various threats and dangers, finally let us learn more about the Faceless Man and shed more light on that.
My favorite part of the books was Sahra Guleed, who I really like as a character. There are all kinds of new characters also from Helena Linden-Limmer and her daughter Caroline, who also practice magic but the one that was passed down from women, Reynald the Fox is here, a shady character, Americans are involved too - they were actually a bit funny at times. Leslie is back and I still can't figure out what makes her loyal to the Faceless Man other than restoring her face and why the Faceless Man wants her as a follower to the point that he promises her not to kill Peter.
It was slightly weird that we don't even witness Nightingale fighting the Faceless Man in the final climax battle - that bit in the building was just confusing and weird, I though. But the previous confrontation with Peter worked well. Overall, the series is growing on me but I still don't enjoy the actual magic of it. And at the end, we get an idea of Faceless Man's motivations and they are very silly - he is just a nationalist and basically racist. Just seems weird. Good book overall though and I'm looking forward to more.
Teckla by Steven Brust, 153pp [Taltos series 3]
I'm reading the books in the publication order so this was the third published and takes place after the two I read. The first book was happy marriage book, the second one was just met and got married book, and this one is marital trouble, actually real relationship book. There was a lot more emotional stuff in this book than in the last two. I think I'm also getting used to the world, that my brain doesn't have to worry about the worldbuilding, so I ended up liking this book the most so far.
An Eastern turns up dead, after Vlad refuses this contract, and he turns out to be a person in a freedom organization with Easterners and Teckla, an underclass, an organization to which Cawti also belonged. She just never told Vlad about it and that's the main crux of the story. Vlad just wants her safe, even though he knows he capable in taking care of herself. But there is a problem between the idealistic freedom fighters and another Jhereg crime lord and Vlad inserts himself and had to figure out how to not to die and have Cawti live. What I found interesting in this book is that no one is 100% right on anything. Kelly, the freedom fighter had his opnions which Vlad disagrees with since he is more individualist, but it is clear that neither has a moral high ground or anything. Just different ways of approaching the world. I'm glad that a ghost (that was weird) stopped Vlad from just killing the freedom fighters and forced him to find another solution. I also liked this book because several characters made Vlad to really evaluate his choice of career and why he does it and his moral stance. Emotionally this book just felt more real to me. This book was good enough that I want to buy the next volume (the one I had was of the first three books) to continue the series.
Things My Son Needs to Know about the World by Fredrik Backman, 102pp [translated from Swedish].
This is a pretty short book and pretty funny. I like Backman's humor in general in his book and he is even funnier in these autobiographical essays. He is exactly a year younger than me (he and Thomas Hardy are among the writers with my birthday) so a lot of his perspective is very familiar and he does have pretty good advice and often silly things do lead to a good advice. I really liked his section on friendship and his description of his friends and how they are there for him - so starting a band is not really about that, but about the friendships. And this book is also a love letter to his wife and how he met her and what he loves about her. He was also shot once in a robbery situation, when he and his wife were fairly new at dating and his future wife's reaction to the whole thing really cemented why she was the one for him. He also talks about food a lot. And his worry about his kid and trying to make sure to do his best as a parent. It was a nice book and it was nice to get to know the author as a person as little.