Michael Van Cise

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a great read that I am recommending to all my friends. As you can tell from the title, the storyline is fantastical and hyperbolic, but the characters and events are strangely believable. Brooks' characters and the response of the human race to the zombie plague feels very true-to-life. I loved the politics and the exploration into the deficiencies of our response to biologic threats and the general precarious nature of our existence on this planet. World War Z is great. I highly recommend it.

I feel like the book is like a mix of Hersey's Hiroshima and Heinlein's Starship Troopers both of which I enjoyed. World War Z contains some great social commentary. Because the book is told from so many perspectives, it feels really balanced. Brooks' style keeps the reader engaged and does a good job of footnoting and explaining things (such as "military" acronyms and historical or biographic references) that aren't immediately clear to the reader.

The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like Thud, The Fifth Elephant is a discworld novel that centers around commander Sam Vimes and the watch (the Ankh Morpork police force). In The Fifth Elephant, Sam Vimes is sent on a diplomatic mission upon which he must ensure that the new "low king" of the dwarves is crowned and save the foreign city from usurpation by an "old-school" werewolf.

Although the book is entertaining and humorous, I did not enjoy it as much as I did Thud. As I mentioned in that review, perhaps it's the reading (I listed to an audio recording) that made Thud so enjoyable. I would recommend Pratchett to someone looking for some light reading. He does provide some insight into human behavior and the dialogue and writing often contains puns and other humor. I don't count myself a Pratchett-fanatic (though I think there are some die-hard fans out there), but I've enjoyed what I've read of his.

Thud! by Terry Pratchett


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I listened to Thud! on audio CD on my trip from Atlanta to LA. While I enjoyed the book, I think my enjoyment was heightened by the performance given by the man performing the book. The reader used different voices for the characters and did an excellent job.
This is the third Pratchett book I've read. I read Hogfather, then Pratchett's collaboration with Niel Gaiman in Good Omens.
If you enjoy Terry Pratchett, you'll like Thud!. The story involves trolls, dwarves, a human police force called "the watch", and also includes a cameo from death. The story is set out as a mystery, but includes Pratchett's typical humor. To the book's credit, it also includes some thought provoking content on race relations (albeit between trolls and dwarves). Although it will take you more time than reading it, I suggest listening to this audio version of the book as it is a real treat to hear the performance.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Collins is wonderful with metaphor. The "mockingjay" that adorns the cover of the book is great. Take this passage:
"A mockingjay is a creature the Capitol never intended to exist. They hadn't counted on the highly controlled jabberjay having the brains to adapt to the wild, to pass on its genetic code, to thrive in a new form. They hadn't anticipated its will to live."
Of course, the similarity between the jabberjay/mockingjay and the people in the districts is not hard to spot. Katniss herself, while oppressed by the capitol and forced to sign up for tesserae to sustain her family after her father dies in a mine explosion, is creative and defiant and hunts illegally in the woods - training that equips her perfectly for the Hunger Games she wins in Collins' previous book.
Overall, I'm impressed with Collins writing. As stated in my review of The Hunger Games, the writing is not juvenile. Although her primary characters are teenagers, they think in a more mature way. Their thoughts and experiences are believable, however, given the hardship they have faced. For example, Katniss has been forced to sustain her family after her father died and her mother fell into a catatonic depression. Further, Katniss has been forced to kill other children to spare her own life in the hunger games. Lastly, as is fleshed out in Catching Fire, Katniss must consider how to preserve her family and friends in light of the Capitol's anger at her rebellion in the hunger games (threatening suicide if she and her fellow tribute from District 12, Peeta, aren't allowed to win the hunger games and live)

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The first book I read by Christopher Moore was Practical Demonkeeping. (an interesting aside: the demon "Catch" appears in both books) I found the humor in "PD" to be strained and too deliberate. Although Moore's style in Lamb is probably not too different, I found the book to be hilarious. Moore uses situational comedy, plays on words, historical anachronisms, and other methods of humor throughout. I probably laughed out loud more times in the course of reading this book than any book I've ever read.
After reading Lamb, I understand why Moore has such a following. I highly recommend this book.

Club Dead by Charlaine Harris


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the third in the "Sookie Stackhouse" novel series by Charlaine Harris. Out of the three, I probably enjoyed Club Dead the most. Harris does not expend a lot of page space on character development, yet her characters are entirely believable and easy to relate to. The storyline is entertaining and suspenseful. Harris deals with vampires and supernatural beings creatively and is good about reminding the reader about these creatures and their limitations and abilities. Science fiction fans and non-sci fi fans alike will enjoy this book.

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I just started reading the third novel in the “Sookie Stackhouse” series by Charlaine Harris. I decided to read these books after hearing others in the science-fiction book club I attend rave about the TrueBlood series on HBO. My wife and I had also heard a friend at a party discussing how much she enjoyed the series.
Although some might categorize the series with romance novels or pulp-fiction, I think there is more to the stories and the writing than mere mystery and sex. The novels, no doubt, contain love-interests, sex, and eroticism, but they also explore personal and societal issues such as abuse, greed, murder, and racism.
One of the reasons I enjoy science fiction, and I think why some authors choose the genre, is because the genre allows the author to explore issues that might be controversial or taboo in a non-intrusive, less in-your-face, way. Because Sookie Stackhouse, the narrator of the series, is a telepath, she can read other characters’ minds and relay what they are thinking. This supernatural power allows the author to expose the unspoken thoughts and demented minds of characters who are criminals and murderers.
By having characters who are vampires, shapeshifters, and maenads, she can consider racism in a less overt manner than if her characters were members of a real minority or oppressed group.
The Sookie Stackhouse novels (thus far) are entertaining and enjoyable. Because they contain fairly explicit sex, I would not recommend them to a young person. These books are definitely not in the same category as the Harry Potter series.
In comparison to another vampire novel I recently read, Kim Harrison’s “Dead Witch Walking”, I much prefer the Sookie Stackhouse novels. I haven’t yet seen the HBO series, but I want to find out more about how the season is broken out and whether the TV series parallels the book or if it is original scripts based on the characters and stories in the book. I definitely want to read the books before getting any spoilers from the TV series.

Other Reviews

• Read my review of Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers here.
• Read my review of Malcolm Gladwell's Blink here.
• Read some of my thoughts on the implications of Blink which came to me while reading Moore's Watchmen here.
• Read some of my thoughts on Alan Moore's Watchmen here.
• Read my review of Harvey Pekar's The Quitter here.

I am a huge fan of Steve Martin. His standup routines are excellent. His films are funny. I also enjoyed his autobiography, Born Standing Up. I was not impressed, however, with Martin's novella, Shopgirl. I found it to be lacking in substance, not very funny or entertaining, and unmemorable. The Pleasure of My Company has caused me to re-think Martin's ability to write fiction. The Pleasure of My Company is entertaining, funny, and heartwarming. The ending may be a bit sappy and too much of a "TV ending" wrapped up far too quickly and neatly, but the narrator makes the book well worth reading.

Daniel Cambridge, the novel's main character and narrator is a jobless, mensa-level-IQ neurotic who can not bear to cross the street over a curb, must maintain an exact level of light wattage on in his apartment at all time, and has ambitions to be with the women in his environment, but seems to prefer the thought of being with those women more than the reality of being with them.
Martin presents Daniel Cambridge in a very comical way. Cambridge is crazy, but admits it to himself. He has an awareness of the silliness of his neuroses, but is unable to overcome them despite his knowledge of their lack of foundation. During the course of the novel, inspired first by the dimwitted boyfriend of a neighbor and later by the young son of his therapist-in-training (a woman studying to obtain her psychology degree) he eventually overcomes his inability to cross the street over a curb and loses some of his other strange habits.

The novel does come to a very neat finish with an ending one would not expect upon meeting Cambridge in the beginning, but it's not totally outlandish. Perhaps the story is weak, but there are some extremely funny scenes in the novel and I think Martin's writing is brilliant in those scenes. He sets things up perfectly and delivers the punchline subtly, but impossible to miss.
Other Reviews

• Read my review of Malcolm Gladwell's Blink here.
• Read some of my thoughts on the implications of Blink which came to me while reading Moore's Watchmen here.
• Read some of my thoughts on Alan Moore's Watchmen here.
• Read my review of Harvey Pekar's The Quitter here.
• Read my review of Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers here.
• Read my review of Michael Crichton's Airframe here.

Airframe by Michael Crichton



rating: 4 of 5 stars
Critics spin Michael Crichton as a writer whose work lacks any real substance. He is seen as a pulp fiction writer whose works won't have any longevity. In my opinion, Crichton's works probably shouldn't be included in school curricula, but are more than just pure entertainment. Airframe contains some criticism and analysis of the U.S. legal system, free speech, and particularly, television media and television journalism. Perhaps Crichton only takes a skin-deep look into television journalism, but he does it in such a compelling, edge-of-your seat story that he will reach many more people than a non-fiction author analyzing how much U.S. households watch television (at the expense of listening to the radio, reading newspapers, and reading books) and get their "news" from sensationalist shows like the fictional "Newsline" show in Airframe.
Although I do not know anything about planes, it seems that Crichton did his research in learning about planes and airplane manufacturers. At the very least, he makes the story very believable.

The "twist" at the end of the book is quite unexpected. At least I did not see it coming. I'm not sure Crichton gives you enough information to predict the true cause of the incident on the Norton plane, but it's a very plausible cause. The book tells a compelling story and reads very quickly. I finished Airframe in two days. It's also a believable story that does provide some insight into modern culture, the U.S. legal system (particularly tort claims against manufacturers and the pressure on companies to consider (i) media coverage, (ii) public perception (which is greatly affected by media coverage), (iii) claims by mass-tort litigators, (iv) governmant agencies such as the FAA, and (v) the politics of globalization and new sources of power such as the European Union and the rise of the power of Asian countries such as Korea and China. Even though the copyright is from 1996, Crichton's story still holds some modern relevance and seems to be right-on in light of what is happening in 2009. When you read it, you'll realize Crichton had some insight into things to come.

Other Reviews

• Read my review of Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers here.
• Read my review of Malcolm Gladwell's Blink here.
• Read some of my thoughts on the implications of Blink which came to me while reading Moore's Watchmen here.
• Read some of my thoughts on Alan Moore's Watchmen here.
• Read my review of Harvey Pekar's The Quitter here.