The Giveaway - reading

Finished "The Giveaway" by Tod Goldberg. This is a Burn Notice novel, based on the TV series of the same name. I really enjoyed the series, so when I saw this book at a thrift store I had to pick it up. Really, it reads like an episode plays out, though with a little more swearing, right from the opening line that starts with, "When you're a spy...." Plus, it's a pretty quick read. It stays true to the characters from the show, though seemed to want to include them all for the sake of including them all, as far as I could tell. All in all, though, a fun read. I may have to pick up some more of these. One would be great for a plane ride, for example.

The Three-Body Problem - reading

Finished "The Three-Body Problem" by Cixin Liu. Every once in a while I run into a book that grinds my reading progress to a halt. This was such a book for me. I started it in November and finished it today. In between there were long stretches where I simply found other things to do. Granted one of those things was a NaNoWriMo-level of effort on writing code in November and another over the holidays. But ultimately I found the story dissatisfying, despite it having some interesting events and a focus on science. Just not my cup of tea. 

A Master of Djinn - reading

Finished "A Master of Djinn" by P. Djèlí Clark. This one came up in discussion with the book club at work. I wasn't able to attend the meeting where they discussed it, though. It's about 1912 Cairo in a world where magic is real and djinn have returned to Egypt. Fatma el-Sha’arawi works for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, and is investigating a murder. 

For my take, it was mostly good, with interesting characters in a well fleshed-out world. Not all the writing was as interesting, and in a few places I was a bit disappointed by the story progression. But I would put this in the "liked it" category. What is that, 3 1/2 stars? If I had to pick 3 or 4, I would go with 3.

Foley in words?

I was watching this YouTube video:

My immediate thought was a parallel about how a writer needs to engage the senses in the description of a scene. This is a fantastic depiction of the difference between what you see and what you hear, and how one enhances the other. Give it a watch. 😊

The Magicians - reading

Finished "The Magicians" by Lev Grossman. This took far longer than it should have for me to read, largely because I had a lot of trouble getting into it. It felt like nothing happened -- at all -- for the first hundred+ pages, and when something did happen, it felt random, like the author was writing during NaNoWriMo and needed to shake things up a bit. After that, nothing really happened for a long time again. Much of the writing was telling instead of showing, leaving me generally unsatisfied with what I'm told did happen. And the main character was mostly useless as a way to get me, the reader, into the story. This is book one of a trilogy, but I do not hold any hope for the other two.

Jersey Girl - reading

Finished "Jersey Girl, Poetry by Norma Paul" by my mom, with cover art by Lee Bourdot. The book is grouped into topics, with several poems in each topic. Topics run from youth through ageism; cover marriage, 2020, and COVID. Oh, and coffee - lots of coffee. The poems themselves are diverse, from the whimsical The Whistler, to the more introspective Autumn (my favorite). I proudly admit my bias and say, "Get this book."

The Terror of Vestfold - reading

Finished "The Terror of Vestfold" by John E. Stump. This was listed as the favorite book of a coworker, so I decided to pick it up. What I found was a pretty smart story that was not at all what I expected based on the description on the cover. The author wrote about Norway in the year 873 AD, with some fantasy (I hope?) elements. 

It did take me a while to get through it thanks in part to travel and losing the book in the bottom of my backpack for a couple days. I would also say the book could really use an editor, or a new editor if it had one to start with. I found only a half dozen obvious typos, but where the book could really use a new set of eyes is in "showing, not telling" throughout. If I used star ratings, I'd give this one 3/5.