2020 50 Book Challenge

[FlyingMonkey]

13. Agency

Safe to say William Gibson's best is behind him. What a snorefest.

I thought it was definitely a step-down, but in some ways, despite what all the critics seem to think, it is perhaps his most conventionally science fictional novel.

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

I thought it was definitely a step-down, but in some ways, despite what all the critics seem to think, it is perhaps his most conventionally science fictional novel.

Agree with you. I’m two thirds through the book and enjoying it. Love the idea of the Jackpot, (appeals to the Nihilistic Anarchist in me) which after the drought fires and excessive rain now the COVID 19 appears prescient. As a work of narrative it has signature elements of his previous trilogy Patten Recognition.

But in terms of science fiction it is a more traditional tale. A multiverse, time travel, post apocalyptic environment and now environmental degredation and repair which is a rising genre. Potential nuclear war interesting location for it to start, elements of Steam Punk or is it Diesel Punk ( just read about this sub genre). What’s not to like?

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

13. AGENCY by William Gibson

I enjoyed it, commented earlier about my views on it.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

I finished all the Maria Kallio novels so far, a couple of days ago, so that's:

15. Fatal Headwind (Maria Kallio Book 6)
16. Before I Go (Maria Kallio Book 7)
17. Below the Surface (Maria Kallio Book 8)
18. The Nightingale Murder (Maria Kallio Book 9)
19. Derailed (Maria Kallio Book 10)
20. Where Have All the Young Girls Gone (Maria Kallio Book 11)
All by Leena Lehtolainen

Over the course of these novels, Maria Kallio grows as a character, and the themes also get more socially conscious and more politically pointed. In many ways, while Lehtolainen is still not a Scandi-noir author, she's clearly been influenced by the international success of the darker and more serious tone of fiction from other Scandanavian countries. However, she is also not a simple moralizer and she doesn't offer obvious ideologically-driven answers. The latest novel in particular, which deals with a number of cases involving young immigrant girls tries doesn't offer us a serial killer or even one kind of crime, rather each girl represents a different way in which immigration has changed Finnish society and impacted both Finns and immigrants alike. It isn't quite as satisfying as the author would like, but it's a valiant attempt at using crime fiction as constructive political dialogue, while also maintaining enough tension and mystery to make it readable within the conventions of the genre.

Kallio herself has changed too - we no longer get the mentions of her reading old British detection fiction - it's like she's finally become a real character who isn't just made of aspects of the author's interests. Kallio's progress through these novels is quite fascinating, although not always convincing. In Book 6, she's about to come back to the Espoo Violent Crime Unit from maternity leave and gets involved in a murky mystery involving the apparently accidental death of an environmentalist, who happens to be an ex-boyfriend (overlaps between cases and personal life continue to be a feature of these books, to the point where Finland starts to seem like a village rather than a country...). By the next book, she's the Commander of the VCU, and has to deal with the murder of a local councillor. In Book 8, it's the media and rally car racing in the spotlight with the murder of a sports journalist, but the reveal is something of a letdown and doesn't seem like anyone would really care enough about the great secret to actually kill anyone over it. Book 9 is where things start to get darker with Kallio having to deal with the sex trade, which ends up being so traumatic that she quits her job. So in Book 10, she's a researcher for the Minstry that controls the police but is forced back into policing but in a special role that brings her into conflict with her successor as Commander of the VCU and some of her former colleagues. This book is probably one of the worst of the series because everything seems a bit contrived. The most telling parts are really in the relationships we have with her family - her partner and, eventually, two children and two cats. I don't actually know of another good crime series that puts a woman raising a family at the heart of things and so carefully balances the domestic against the often traumatic realities of life as a specialist in violent crime.

Anyway, I've really had enough Finnish crime fiction for quite a while now!

 

[Fueco]

16. The Pity Of it All: A History Of Jews In Germany, 1743-1933

Sure, I picked a topic gloomier that today’s headlines, but so much of this history seems to parallel so much of American politics these days.

 

[Journeyman]

In Book 6, she's about to come back to the Espoo Violent Crime Unit from maternity leave and gets involved in a murky mystery involving the apparently accidental death of an environmentalist

Coincidentally, I have a friend who is an academic who lives and works in Espoo. From what I hear from him, it doesn't sound as though there would be much work at all for anyone in the Espoo Violent Crime Unit!

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Coincidentally, I have a friend who is an academic who lives and works in Espoo. From what I hear from him, it doesn't sound as though there would be much work at all for anyone in the Espoo Violent Crime Unit!

Yeah, that's the funny thing about most crime fiction, and especially Scandanavian crime fiction or stories set in other relatively idyllic locations - it's really accepting the idea of widespread violent crime that is the first barrier to reading it. Someone did a criminological analysis of Murder, She Wrote, which showed that the murder rate in Cabot Cove was 86 times higher than the actual most dangerous place for murder in the world (which was Recife in Brazil at the time).

 

[samtalkstyle]

8: Volker Kutscher - Babylon Berlin

This is perhaps the first series I've come across where I have - so far - enjoyed the book and TV adaptation equally as much, despite the differences in the stories.

 

[Fueco]

17. No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference, by Greta Thunberg

This is a collection of her speeches and even some Facebook posts. I finished it barely 2.5 hours after buying it. It’s a short book, but her words are powerful even if it gets a bit repetitive.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

21. Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould
For something completely different, I reread this fantastic account of the Burgess Shale fossil finds and their implications by a man who loss is still keenly felt in science and science communication. Research has moved on and some of the specific findings have been questioned but this remains a brilliant account of why evolution isn't just the kind of 'selfish gene' model that Dawkins and the more reductionist scientifict thinkers propose. And in debates and correspondance Gould used to wipe the floor not just with Dawkins but also the likes of Pinker. We could do with him now as superficial economistic eco-psych nonsense spreads ever further in the popular imagination...

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

14.Apocryphal Stories by Karel Capek.

Capek was responsible for the introduction of the word Robot into language with his play Rossums Universal Robots in 1920.

This collection of short stories and vignettes plays heavily with the Bible, political observation and history. Even the popular culture cops a serving .The stories delight in upending the assumed narrative to produce a humorous ironical collection. Very entertaining.

 

[California Dreamer]

Spoiler: Previously read

1. Damascus, by Christos Tsiolkas
2. Dr Knox, by Peter Spiegelman
3. The Hills Reply, by Tarjei Vesaas
4. Cold Fear, by Mads Peter Nordo
5. The Drover's Wife, by Leah Purcell
6. The Silent Death, by Volker Kutscher
7. Darkness for Light, by Emma Viskic
8. The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides
9. Recursion, by Blake Crouch
10. When All is Said and Done, by Neale Daniher
11. How the Dead Speak, by Val McDermid
12. Goldstein, by Volker Kutscher
13. Saving Missy, by Beth Morrey
14. Hi Five, by Joe Ide

15. Onwards Towards Our Noble Deaths, by Shigeru Mizuki
Shigeru Mizuki is one of the great manga authors, but is rarely translated into English. This is one of his classic stories, based on his personal wartime experience.

A platoon of Japanese soldiers is assigned to defend a beachhead near Rabaul, in what is now Papua New Guinea. They are subjected to a terrifying air assault followed by a landing of marines supported by tanks. Hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned, their rations dwindle to nothing and their pitifully low weaponry is useless against the Americans.

Against all advice, the platoon commander decides that the entire platoon must perform a death-or-glory suicide charge to pay homage to the honour of their ancestors. Since the order is to suicide, anybody who survives and gets back to base is considered a traitorous insubordinate and subjected to the most severe discipline.

The hardship and brutality that the soldiers experience at the hands of their own officers is reminiscent of the wanton waste of life that heedless British commanders wreaked during the trench warfare campaigns of World War 1. It is a reminder that extreme suffering and gross disregard for human life is seen on all sides of a war.

 

[California Dreamer]

Spoiler: Previously read

1. Damascus, by Christos Tsiolkas
2. Dr Knox, by Peter Spiegelman
3. The Hills Reply, by Tarjei Vesaas
4. Cold Fear, by Mads Peter Nordo
5. The Drover's Wife, by Leah Purcell
6. The Silent Death, by Volker Kutscher
7. Darkness for Light, by Emma Viskic
8. The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides
9. Recursion, by Blake Crouch
10. When All is Said and Done, by Neale Daniher
11. How the Dead Speak, by Val McDermid
12. Goldstein, by Volker Kutscher
13. Saving Missy, by Beth Morrey
14. Hi Five, by Joe Ide
15. Onwards Towards Our Noble Deaths, by Shigeru Mizuki

16. The Real Peaky Blinders, by Carl Chinn
This is a brief history of the criminal gangs of Birmingham from the 1890s to the 1920s. These gangsters were the inspiration for the TV series Peaky Blinders. Carl Chinn is a historian descended from one of the peaky blinders, and is perfectly placed to tell the real story.

Chinn wastes no time disposing of the idea of the peaky blinders shown in the TV series. They were only around in the pre-World War 1 era and were only called that because they wore flat caps, not because they blinded people with razors. They were not an organised gang, but an alliance of a few petty criminals in different neighbourhoods of Birmingham.

The apogee of the Birmingham gang wars came after WW1, when soldiers returned home with few prospects, no money and a much better idea of how to organise and discipline themselves. Led by Billy Kimber, they infested racecourses, stealing from patrons, and running protection scams against bookies. Their influence extended to other parts of the country, including London, where they met a serious threat from rivals for their trade.

There are a few familiar names in this book for viewers of the series, such as Kimber and Alfie Solomon, but their real stories are quite different. In that sense, the title of this book is not right, as the people Chinn writes about had nothing much to do with the peaky blinders.

I found this an absorbing read, but I was disappointed that there were no accompanying photos, which I always enjoy seeing in a social history. There are photos of these people out there, and this book could have been much improved by including some of them.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

14.Apocryphal Stories by Karel Capek.

Capek was responsible for the introduction of the word Robot into language with his play Rossums Universal Robots in 1920.

This collection of short stories and vignettes plays heavily with the Bible, political observation and history. Even the popular culture cops a serving .The stories delight in upending the assumed narrative to produce a humorous ironical collection. Very entertaining.

I love Capek. War with the Newts is also excellent.

 

[Journeyman]

15. Onwards Towards Our Noble Deaths, by Shigeru Mizuki
Shigeru Mizuki is one of the great manga authors, but is rarely translated into English. This is one of his classic stories, based on his personal wartime experience.

CD, if you thought that this was good (I won't say "enjoyed it", as it sounds rather harrowing) then you may also want to look at "Nobi", or "Fires on the Plane" by Ooka Shohei. It's about the Philippines, rather than New Guinea, campaign but also talks about the pointless deaths and suffering by troops on both sides, plus the level of barbarity that people can descend to in wartime.