Reading "Books" Again

Could it be possible that I read better, more, and deeper when I have an old school real book in my hands? I used to read like a fiend when I was younger -- somewhere between forty and fifty books a year. In recent years, it's been between twenty and thirty.

I found several things had been happening in recent years (even after retirement): I was only reading at night; I was reading mostly electronic versions (Kobo); my power of concentration was greatly diminished; and I was reading mostly fiction. Could be age, less brain power...? Nah...

So in the last few months I've been reading good old-fashioned library books -- it's amazing what a two or three week deadline with the threat of a ten or twenty or  thirty cent fine will do to your reading quota :)

Not only have I been reading more, what I've been reading is sticking better. And just to prove it...
I thought it'd be fun to do a brief review of the last few books I've read, so here it goes:

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith

Let's just start by saying that J. K. Rowling (above is her pseudonym) is obviously an incredible writer with flawless plotting, fastidious and excellent research. But, like one reviewer pointed out, each of her successive Cormoran Strike books gets a wee bit longer. Lethal White is by far her longest and, I hate to say, least attention-holding. In fact, like so many series, I find each one to be slightly less interesting. Still, I can't wait to see what she does next and I'll read it regardless.

The Reckoning by John Grisham

Don't believe the hype. "Best Grisham novel in years." It actually started great -- clever and intriguing premise as always -- but then fizzled out. Spoiler alert. The surprise ending wasn't much of a surprise. I've gotta say, though, at his best -- usually his Ford County stories -- Grisham rivals classic Americana. The problem is that although there are these glimpses of beautiful, poignant drama -- and really well written -- he never quite sustains the effect over a complete novel.

The Invisible Man by Ralph Emerson

Kind of like Moby Dick (but not at all). You know when you read a classic -- you found it on a top 100 novels of
all-time list -- and you figure: it must be great, right? And then you read it and you don't really get it? Like Moby
Dick and On the Road, there are some pretty powerful reading moments, but, for the most part, I feel like a) I'm too
dumb to get it, b) this genre isn't really doing much for me and/or c) there's some context I'm missing that, if I got
it, this book would be a much better experience.

Column of Fire by Ken Follett

Same old same old. He recycles characters and plot ideas, but like any really good formula, there are enough
tweaks that you never tire of it. A solid volume of the Pillars series. I look forward to the prequel.

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman. I put most of my fiction reading into three categories: first, pulp, brainless,
but well crafted fiction; second, serious and literary (likely to someday be a classic, if not already); and third,
serious, popular (somewhat literary)... classic? Only time will tell.
I'd put Backman in the latter category. But then again, Dickens' contemporaries would've likely put him in this
category as well.
I'll say two things about this book: it's not as good as the first book in the series, Beartown, but demonstrates, once
again, how thoroughly and beautifully Backman gets friendship, marriage and parenthood. To that end, I look
forward to reading his foray into non-fiction: Things my Son Needs to Know about the World.

The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxtor

This book had a really clever premise. I hadn't previously read either of these writers. And I'm wary of
collaborations (in my experience, they're usually worse than either writer does on his/her own -- unless they're
a team/aka usual collaborators like Reeves-Stevens.
Anyhow, like I said, having read neither of these authors, it's hard to say if it's better or worse than what either of them do individually. What I will say about this book is that it was a clever, intricate plot but the characters were wanting.
Basically, the premise is that there are "sideways" alternative earths that one can get to with a device that powered by a potato :) The further you get from Earth One, the stranger everything gets.
I had a constant question as I read: sequel(s)? Where do they go from here? Unfortunately, the critics
say the series gets worse and worse with each of the successive book. 

Artemis by Andy Weir

Not nearly as good as The Martian.

Lee Child and Joseph Finder --

I'd but both these writers in category #1 above. I liked Joseph Finder better before he started with a recurring
character (Nick Heller). I did read a fun short story, "Good and Valuable Consideration" featuring both Nick Heller
and Child's recurring character, Jack Reacher.

Monster and Villain (Parts 6 & 7 of Michael Grant's Gone series). Unlike so many other YA dystopian series which
start with a decent volume one and then peter out, Grant's offerings are consistently good.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North (pseudonym for Catherine Webb). Webb wrote her first
novel when she was fourteen years old! She's currently thirty-three years old. The whole time I was reading Fifteen
Lives I was struck with how mature she was for someone so young and how really top-rate the writing is.

The novel is a twist on the time travel genre. In North's novel, certain people are born, live, die and then
come back to repeat, always starting at the same year of birth; and always retaining their memories from their
previous lives... unless... I'll leave it at that lest I give a spoiler.
The plot is fuelled by a schism within the Cronus Club regarding how much to interfere with history.

The Circle by David Egger is a dystopian allegory. Imagine -- a la Black Mirror -- the worst of Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Istagram: a
world in which nearly everything/everyone is connected and public. As social commentary, it's quite thoughtful;
if, like me, you have an affinity for story and character, you might find this a bit cliché.
After reading the novel, I made the mistake of reading one too many movie reviews. I should've stuck with the
first several I read which said the film was really bad. The last review I read said the critics were overly harsh.
They weren't. The movie was terrible.

And finally, the best for last: Women Talking by Miriam Toews.
I've only read one other of Toews' novels: A Complicated Kindness. Both novels are incredibly compelling, pain-
fully funny and soulful. A very few select writers have gripped me both intellectually and emotionally like
Miriam Toews has.
"Based" on a true story of Bolivian Old Order Mennonite women who, from 2005-2009, were drugged un-
conscious using an animal anaesthetic and raped by several men from their own community. I put based in
quotation marks, because in the introduction to her novella, Toews describes her work as "a reaction through
fiction to these true-life events."
I'm fairly confident that Women Talking will be come a must-read as Canadian feminist text. If I had any sway in
the world, I'd push for this to be compulsory reading for anyone who is in anyway shape or form affiliated with
faith, particularly Christianity -- even more particularly, any brand of organized religion that is rooted in
patriarchy.