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By Bryan, March 1, 2010

Man In the High Castle
By Philip K Dick

Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)
By Philip K. Dick

With the success of his recent novel Chronic City Jonathan Lethem seems everywhere these days. A huge influence on Lethem was novelist Philip K. Dick. Lethem edited Library of America’s  Dick reissues which became the best selling titles in the popular imprint .  It is a good time to find out what the fuss is all about and check out where Lethem got a lot of his inspiration. I want to talk about audio versions of two of Philip K. Dick’s most well known novels Man in the High Castle and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. The latter being the basis for the film Blade Runner.

Man in the High Castle is set in a speculative future where the Axis powers have won World War II and the USA has been divvied up by her enemies. Japan occupies the West coast and Germany occupies the East. Set within the occupied Pacific states, the novel presents a cross section of the post war population: a high level Japanese bureaucrat with a taste for American antiques;  an antique dealer who tries hard to please his Japanese rulers; a working class counterfeiter of said antiques; and the counterfeiter’s ex-wife who lives off the grid in the small  rocky mountains towns. Through hints from a metafictional novel within the novel and use the Chinese I Ching oracle all the characters have slow revelations about not only the veracity of the antiques, but reality itself. By the end some characters can’t deny there must be another world where the Allies have won the war. It’s a complex book that will have you thinking until your brain sprouts new wrinkles.

It is also a short book and Dick packs far too much conceptual content inside such a meager page count (or disc count as the case may be). I’ve only listed about half the characters and ignored a number of subplots. None of the characters are really developed fully, and subtle philosophically ideas fly at you like tennis balls shot from a machine. It’s hard to keep up.

If ever there was a book that did not lend itself to audio version said book is Man in the High Castle. The reader Tom Weiner does his best, but really the material he has to work with is raw. Especially awkward is his rendition of Robert Childan, the conflicted antique dealer, who is constantly second guessing the social implications of his every action in the stilted phrasing of someone thinking to himself in a second language. Credit to Weiner to for capturing Childan’s false consciousness though.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a seemingly more straight forward affair. Weary, working class bounty hunter Rick Deckard must “retire” six Nexus One androids. He must do this because his electric sheep has ceased to function. He needs a load of cash to buy a real life animal to cure his wife’s depression and restore their place in the social hierarchy of their run down apartment complex. What we get is a hardboiled detective story that also causes us to question the role of television and religion in our lives, not to mention what we are willing to sacrifice or deny to remain happy, to ensure those we love remain happy.

What makes a good spouse? What makes a good lover? Deckard himself might be an android. God might be an android. If yourself and God and the lead character in the book you’re reading all androids what’s the difference between an android and a human?  What separates us from animals? What separates us from God? What separates us from… each other. This is a profound novel. It contains the best pitch for owning a pet goat I’ve ever heard.

Despite that characterization the plot is straight forward. Deckard goes after his androids one by one. Its a harrowing adventure that makes him question himself in very literal ways. The reader is forced to ask themselves the same questions. Having a single narrator lets us identify with Deckard more and it lets Dick flesh out the character far more than any of the cast of Man in High Castle. There is a moment in most Dick novels when reality falls apart. By making Deckard so real (forgive the pun), when this moment hits it is all the more effective. Similar moments in High Castle fall flat.

The book’s emotional resonance is helped by a tremendous reading by Scott Brick. Brick is kind  of the Matt Damon of American audiobook readers. He nails the haggard, arguably misguided, Deckard perfectly.  Brick’s Deckard is far more fragile than the Marlboro man portrayed by Harrison Ford in Ridley Scott’s film. Also spot on is Brick’s interpretation of the “special” J.R. Isidore, a man so lonely he’ll let himself he used by heartless robots just for a wee bit of friendship, or something like friendship. Brick  has narrated hundreds of novels and when asked what his favorite was he responded Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

It is strange a book as disjointed and uneven as Man in the High Castle won the Hugo Award in 1963. Even then an alternative history novel in which Nazis win WWII was old hat. It was Dick’s epistemological acid hit that blew readers minds. Written four years later, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a far better read. I often wondered if Do Androids Dream was so popular because of its association with Blade Runner. Now I know it is one of Philip K. Dick’s best books. I highly recommend it in print form and CD read by Scott Brick. Man is High Castle is intellectually stimulating enough to check out, but I only recommend the CD version owned by the library to hardcore Dick fans.

- Bryan

[Editor's note: since the release of the film Blade Runner most editions of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? have been published using both titles printer on the cover, as does the version reviewed by Bryan. Searching the library catalog for either Blade Runner or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? will retrieve the audio book.]

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By Amanda, February 20, 2010

American Wife
By Curtis Sitenfeld

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to tackle my ever-increasing to-be-read list.  You know, that mountainous pile of books you check out, but never seem to get to before they have to go back to the library? So far I’ve been making decent progress and one of the books on my lengthy list was Curtis Sittenfeld’s third novel, American Wife.  I’ve wanted to read this one since it came out, way back in September of 2008.

The book is supposedly inspired by the life of former First Lady, Laura Bush.  But if I hadn’t known that fact going in, I probably wouldn’t have picked up on it.  The plot follows the life of Alice Lindgren (aka Mrs. Bush) as she grows up and meets blueblooded party guy Charlie Blackwell. Instead of Texas, we’ve moved north to the great state of Wisconsin – where cheese is cheese.

 It really is true what they say – the third time’s a charm because this is the third novel from Sittenfeld, and it’s my favorite. I couldn’t really get into her first release, Prep, and while I loved the first half of her second novel, The Man of My Dreams, I hated the back half. American Wife was good all the way through. I did have a couple spots in the middle where I started getting nervous – but that should be true for any good novel.  Some of the events were a little shocking, but I’ll leave those as mysterious teasers.  It would be interesting to know how many of the events mentioned really occurred and how many Sittenfeld created.

 I always have moments with this author where I feel like she’s in my head, and I’m sitting there thinking “I just had that same thought.”  I guess that means that I readily identify with her characters.  Sittenfeld graduated from the famed Iowa Writer’s Workshop, and I would classify her work as chick lit with a brain.  It’s not so much Joanie loves Chachi, as Joan magnanimously adores Charles. (If you’d like to hear more about the Iowa Writer’s Workshop or Curtis Sitenfeld, tune into this Popmatic Podcast.)

 Okay, so that’s one less book I have to find time to read in 2010.  Only 1,763, no 64, to go.  That doable, right? Right?

- Amanda

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By Amanda, February 6, 2010

The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder
by Rebecca Wells

I have to start by saying that I hate tear jerkers.  I don’t want to read something that is going to make me sad.  And yet in the middle of this book, I found myself bawling but still thinking “this is a great book.”  I’m sure I’m more shocked by this than you are.  Not to mention, this is one of the best books I’ve read in quite a while.

The story starts out in the 1960’s in La Luna, LA where we meet the Ponder family.  Calla Lily’s mother, or M’Dear as she called her, runs a beauty salon on the side porch of their house, where she dispenses love, wisdom, and healing.  Calla decides at a very young age that she wants to follow in her mother’s footsteps. 

Calla is no stranger to heartache, but somehow she always manages to get through it, with the help of her family, friends, and the always present Moon Lady.  As she grows, she moves to New Orleans to go to beauty school (because who didn’t want to be a hairdresser in the Big Easy in the 70’s?), always planning to return home to her beloved La Luna.

I’m not really sure what I expected when I started this book.  I read The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood when it came out, and while I liked it, I didn’t think it was all that great.  I see reflections of the ya-yas in this one, but the story ends up being so much more complete. Without getting too spoilery on you, I thought the ending was going to take a more predictable path, and I was relieved when it veered away right at the end. 

Wells weaves a lush web full of relatable and lovable characters into an almost mythical setting, complete with fairy godmother in the Moon Lady who watches over Calla from above.  Life’s not always easy, but as Calla’s M’Dear used to say, “You can get through anything as long as you keep breathing.”  Just make sure you bring along some Kleenex.

- Amanda

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By Amanda, January 23, 2010

It’s that time of year again – award show season, and I didn’t want to be left out.  With the popularity of a certain teenage vampire series (which will remain nameless due to the fact that I’m not totally in love with it, unlike the rest of the female universe), the Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy genres have exploded with new reads.  It can be a daunting task to figure out where to start, so I thought I’d offer a little advice on books I’ve found to be eminently more readable than The Book That Will Not Be Named (see also this PNR bibliography).  So here now, the absolutely meaningless, but hopefully still enjoyable, PNRUFies (pronounced pa-NER-fies).

Longest Series – local author, Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunters at 30 books/stories. Honorable mention to Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake books at 22 and Christine Feehan’s Dark series at 20.  For those REALLY long car trips, I’d suggest starting one of these.

Best Sidekick – Bob from Harry Dresden – he’s a talking skull who knows everything about everything.  Seriously, what else do you need and where can I get one?

Most Cliffhangery (This category is so frustrating that I had to invent a word for it) – Fever series from Karen Marie Moning.  You’ll scream. You’ll cry.  You’ll throw your book across the room (unless it’s a library book, then you’ll gently set it on the nearest table, lovingly brushing off any crumbs or lint, before you turn and punch the wall). Be warned – this one’s got at least one more book to go, and it’s not supposed to come out until December ’10.  Oh the humanity!

Wizard with the Biggest Hero Complex – Tie: Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden and John Pritkin from Cassie Palmer by Karen Chance. Harry’s never met a spell he wouldn’t try in the name of saving the world.  Pritkin would have had something quippy to say, but he’s already saved the world four times since we asked him for a quote.

Best Living Arrangements – The church in which Rachel and Ivy reside in Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan series.  A witch and a vampire living in a decommissioned church – you’d think it would be more peaceful.  Honorable Mention to Jean-Claude’s underground lair in Anita Blake and the Black Dagger Brotherhood compound care of the Warden.

Craziest Relatives – Tie: “Grandpa” Eddie from Julie Kenner’s Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom series and Niall, Sookie’s fairy great-grandfather, from Charlaine Harris’s True Blood-inspiring series.  One’s not related, one’s not human, but there’s still so much to love.

The Dr. Evil Award for Excellence in Villainy (I haven’t talked to Dr. Evil about this personally, but I’m sure he’d agree that these bad guys are worthy of being compared to someone who went to evil medical school) – Lilith from LA Banks’s Vampire Huntress series.  I mean, come on, she’s married to the devil – that’s evil. Honorable mention to Lash and the creepy baby-powder scented Lessers from J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood.

And there you have it.  The PNRUFy Class of 2010.  I was really hoping to see some Weather Wardens or Werecats in the lineup, but I guess there’s always next year. Agree or disagree with the winners – but either way, these books are all pretty good reading.  Happy PNRUFy-ing!

- Amanda

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By Amanda, January 16, 2010

Divine Misdemeanors
By Laurell K. Hamilton

Ok, I need a hand count.  How many of you love Laurell K. Hamilton?  Alrighty, now how many of you hate her? Yep, that’s what I thought.  You’re either one or the other.  I happen to fall on the love her side of things.  LKH doesn’t write Great American Novels, but that’s partially why I like both her Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series so much.  They are pure entertainment.

Divine Misdemeanors is the latest Merry release.  **Spoiler Alert** With all the pseudo-climatic events of the previous book, Swallowing Darkness, I was surprised (pleasantly so) to find out that this one was even coming out. I was afraid that the series was ending.  DM’s dedication indicated that LKH had a hard time with the book, and it kind of showed. I’m sure it was difficult to find a new story path after tying up some of the previous threads so neatly.

Merry and the guys exiled themselves back to LA.  The Princess, Rhys, and Galen have gone to work for Merry’s old detective agency.  Doyle, Frost, Kitto, and several others, including former guards of Prince Cel,  set up house in Maeve Reed’s estate while she is in Europe.  In working with the police, Merry learns that someone is killing demi-fey, and she has to figure out how to stop it.

If you are fans of Darkness and Frost, this is not going to be your favorite installment.  The guys are there, but they are all work and no play.  Rhys and Sholto stepped up, though, and **Seriously, if you want to be surprised, stop reading!** it was nice to see Rhys get his own sithen (although, it’s an old apartment building? Gee, thanks Faery. You shouldn’t have…no really…). That should give LKH some material to work with to build some new story lines. Overall, though, DM kind of felt like a filler book. I hope LKH can find her way forward from here, because I really want to see what happens when the babies are born. Keeping my fingers crossed…

- Amanda

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By Pam, December 4, 2009

The Lost Symbol
By Dan Brown

I openly admit loving all of the Dan Brown books. There, I said it. Well, maybe Deception Point was a little weak; being saved after skidding at high speed across an iceberg is soooo much more unlikely than falling from an exploding helicopter and landing unscathed on a roof, right? But I digress. The Lost Symbol has the baddest baddie of all time. He is creepy; he is relentless; he is tattooed over every inch of his body except a little blank circle on the top of his head. The Lost Symbol has, of course, the Masons. They fare very well in this novel, and it’s a lot of fun learning about their symbols and how prominently they (the symbols) figure in the architecture of Washington, D.C. And The Lost Symbol has noetic science (using scientific methods to explore consciousness/soul and its effects on the physical world), adding just the right amount of spooky-dooky to the mix. Formulaic? You bet. (The folks at Slate have created a very amusing Dan Brown sequel plot generator. Check it out.) Page-turner? Yesiree. Worth reading? Absolutely. Go on and read it–you know you want to!
- Pam

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By Jenny, November 26, 2009

Skeletons At The Feast
By Chris Bohjalian

Set in the final chaotic days of WW II, the Emmerich family flees their prosperous farm, hoping to avoid the approaching Soviets. With them is Callum, a Scottish POW who worked on their farm and never went back to prison after the growing season and secretly in love with the Emmerich daughter. They journey through bitter cold and witness death and brutality along the way. They are joined by a young Jewish man who has managed to escape capture for 2 years by disguising himself as a German soldier. Paralleling their journey is that of a group of concentration camp prisoners marched west to an aircraft plant where they are fed only enough to stay alive. At the beginning of the book Frau Emmerich and her family are proud Nazis, enamored of Hitler and comfortable on their elegant estate. As they suffer and see with their own eyes the evil inflicted by the Nazis they realize what fools they have been. While the plot of this book centers around the horror of war, its strength lies in its hope for the future and a message that life goes on and that life is good.

- Phyllis

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By Jenny, November 25, 2009

The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie
By Alan Bradley

Canadian author Bradley brings us the first installment of this mystery series featuring precocious 11-year-old Flavia de Luce, the youngest of the motherless de Luce girls. They live at Buckshaw, the family’s crumbling manor house, along with their widowed father, his shell shocked valet Dogger, and Mrs. Mullet, their cook. Flavia silently observes those around her and stealthily plays tricks on her sisters. When a stranger is found dead in their garden, Flavia sets to work identifying him. She utilizes the Victorian era chemistry lab on the top floor of Buckshaw, the domain of a long dead relative. On her trusty bicycle, Gladys, Flavia wanders far and wide to solve the mystery which also involves a valuable Penny Black stamp belonging to her father. She exasperates local Police Inspector Hewitt but he is patient and wise in dealing with her and they make a great detective team. Set in the bleak period just after WW II, the story also offers a history lesson on the dramatic social changes that resulted from the war. A second story in the series, The Weed That Strings The Hangman’s Bag, is due in March 2010.

- Phyllis

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By Jenny, November 24, 2009

The Heretics Daughter
By Kathleen Kent

Set during the Salem witch trials of the late 17th century, Sarah Carrier is the eldest daughter of Martha Carrier, a victim of those trials. Smart, independent and strong willed like her mother, 10-year-old Sarah is forced to betray her family to save her own life when neighborhood resentment, jealousy and misunderstandings lead to careless accusations of witchcraft. Leading to misery and death, this ugly episode in American history is illuminated by this story of family love and hate, loyalty and truth. The author is a 10th generation descendant of Martha Carrier. The audio edition is read by actress Mare Winningham.

- Phyllis

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By Kyle, October 23, 2009

Anagrams
By Lorrie Moore

Moore explores thirtysomething angst while cleverly playing with language and conventions of plot, narrative, and character. This book will make you both laugh out loud and think deeply about the various paths a life can take.

- Jessica

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By Kyle, October 16, 2009

Little Bee
by Chris Cleave

“And then the men came…” This is the recurrent opening to the story told by every traumatized refugee that Little Bee talks to while waiting in an immigration detention facility outside of London. The charming narrator of this original novel is sixteen-year-old Little Bee, who barely escaped from her Nigerian village with her life, after losing her family and home in a vicious attack. When released from detention after two years, she finds the one person in London she knows of — Sarah, a new widow who once met Little Bee during an ill-fated Nigerian vacation with her husband, two years earlier. The relationship forged by these two women (and one delightful little boy), the way they change each other, and their precariously intertwined fates, form a touching and compelling personal story set against a backdrop of an ocean of refugees moving around the globe in search of safe homes. Check this one out.

- Julie

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By Kyle, September 9, 2009

The Song is You

by Arthur Phillips

In the past, I’ve read quite a few books by musicians, about musicians, or about music in general and none of them have ever quite done what I wanted them to. I can’t really describe what I’m looking for, being a musician myself, but this one has come the closest of any of them. Here’s a brief sample of what I mean:

A piece of music’s conquest of you is not likely to occur the first time you hear it, though it is possible that the aptly named “hook” might barb your ear on it’s first pass. More commonly, the assailant is slightly familiar and has leveraged that familiarity to gain access to the crisscrossed wiring of your interior life. And then there is a possession, a mutual possession, for just as you take the song as part of you and your history, it is claiming dominion for itself, planting fluttering eighth notes in your heart.

So anyway, our main character, Julian, is a music aficionado who always seems to be listening to his iPod. He has 8,146 songs at his disposal – ready for any occasion. One night, he’s out walking in New York and happens upon a new band with an inspiring young Irish singer. The girl is magnetic and Julian is immediately drawn to her and her music. Most of the book tells the story of how their lives intersect – or you know – don’t.

- Amanda

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By Kyle, July 23, 2009

The Best Short Stories of J.G. Ballard
By Ballard, J. G. and Burgess, Anthony

4 of 5 Stars

Though often cited as a prime example of literary science fiction, Ballard’s work reads more like horror. All of these stories are permeated with a feeling of oppression, anxiety, and nausea. Doubtlessly tagged sci-fi because so many of them are set in the future, but it is a near future, perhaps too near. The future of ours fears: environmental devastation, over population, total thought control by corporate governments, etc. If you’re bored already, think twice. Ballard’s scenarios are eerily plausible, their truth resonating beyond the novelty of their clever conceptions. Good reference points are the films 28 Days Later and The Children of Men. Ballard’s exception being there are no heroes in his world, no lights at the end of the tunnel. His vision is clinical, the results precise.

Though all the stories are equal parts terrifying and brain-teasing, the best are ones in which the central characters are given a slightly greater sense of humanity. “Voices of Time,” a personal favorite, concerns itself with a scientist who discovers the key to evolution, which also happens to be death toll for Homo sapiens. When said scientist’s mind begins to disintegrate as the process of evolution accelerates, he achieves a Zen-like inner peace. It is testament to the joy and beauty of letting go.

“Cage of Sand,” long regarded as one of Ballard’s masterpieces, explores the psychoanalytic motives of those left behind on an abandoned Earth. Rarely have the psychological implications of space travel been examined with such realism. The regret and self-deceit of the cast of stay behinds are the stuff of all great literature. The end of the collection consists of four chapters from his groundbreaking experimental novel, The Atrocity Exhibition. These represent Ballard at zenith. By decentralizing the voice of the narrator, Ballard finds a way to formally present ideas as characters without lapsing into snicker worthy sci-fi tropes. Are you paying attention, Philip K. Dick?

So what ideas are these stories about? Well, namely the psychosexual consumption of celebrities’ psyches and bodies by our collective conscious while unearthing the suppressed parallelism of the objective and subjective universe(s). In short, bodies and minds get turned inside out, both figuratively and literally, on a micro- and macroscopic scale. Not for children, not for the faint of heart, not like anything you’ve read before.

- Bryan

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By Jenny,

Peace Like a River
by Leif Enger
Read by Chad Lowe

Wow! This book already seems like an American classic, and it’s only a few years old (2001). Listening to it was like traveling west, possibly back in time, following a dream. But in reality it takes place in current times, with a father, son and daughter traveling into the badlands in a search for the oldest son, who is running from the law. It is told in first person by the younger brother. Enger has woven a tale with threads of humor, poignancy, spiritual mystery, miracles and suspense; also with clever allusions to Zane Grey stories of the Wild West, complete with outlaws and heroes.

- Julie