Steve Bellinger’s DIY time machine, the Chronocar, is on the clock again. The machine is the brainchild of Dr. Simmie Johnson, the genius son of a slaSteve Bellinger’s DIY time machine, the Chronocar, is on the clock again. The machine is the brainchild of Dr. Simmie Johnson, the genius son of a slave, who published a blueprint of it in the obscure Negro Journal of Science. In The Chronocar, a young black student named Tony Carpenter stumbled upon those plans and realized that by using a computer as the “electronic brain” of the contraption, he could actually build one. The problem is, whenever you ride a Chronocar back in time, all of the present up to that point vanishes, and lots of “temporal energy” is unleashed, making the universe more chaotic and brutal. And in The Chronocar’s sequel, Time Waits For No One, we find that it’s not only Tony who has discovered Dr. Johnson’s article. It’s amazing what you can find on the Internet these days…
Bellinger lets science derive the plot points in this fast-paced adventure novel, though he briefly pauses to observe both the romance and racial inequalities of the past. If you enjoyed The Chronocar, you'll find Time Waits For No One a memorable sequel....more
Mandel's Station Eleven is one of the best novels to appear in recent years, and on the strength of this I took up The Lola Quartet. Unfortunately thiMandel's Station Eleven is one of the best novels to appear in recent years, and on the strength of this I took up The Lola Quartet. Unfortunately this tale of a disgraced journalist searching for his high school sweetheart is quite ordinary, if well-written. Gavin has recently learned that Anna (the girlfriend) has a daughter who looks a lot like him, and so he begins searching for them. This is a missing persons's mystery, surrounding Gavin and three friends who formed a jazz group, the Lola Quartet, back in high school. They all seem overly mature and refined as high school students, but become immature and unable to cope as twenty-somethings, each a basket case in their own separate way. I found it hard to really care much about any of the characters in this story ... but I did enjoy the book for Emily St. John's dark but vivid take on contemporary life....more
Windigo Island is a "find the girl" story, with Krueger's perennial detective, Cork O'Connor, on the trail of a missing fourteen-year-old girl. The giWindigo Island is a "find the girl" story, with Krueger's perennial detective, Cork O'Connor, on the trail of a missing fourteen-year-old girl. The girl is Ojibwe, and the search for her involves Native American communities in Wisconsin, northern Minnesota, and the North Dakota oil fields. What I liked most about this novel is that it didn't take unlikely turns or dramatic leaps - it read like a realistic account of a missing girl, why she went missing, and all the little details and legwork required to find her....more
I had the pleasure of being a co-reader with Tim Nolan at a local cafe, and became interested in his poetry. He writes in the same style as most otherI had the pleasure of being a co-reader with Tim Nolan at a local cafe, and became interested in his poetry. He writes in the same style as most other contemporary poets - small personal epiphanies in free verse - but it is exactly this modest, everyday-guy-on-the-street aspect of his work that makes it so endearing. The poems in The Sound of It, his debut collection, are well crafted, droll, and understated. He writes about his beloved English language (the sound of it):
I love this knock-about tongue, its hard consonants and cracks... ("English")
and about a chance meeting with Gretta Garbo:
rushing across the lobby - she was as fleet as a doe - turning in the dark forest - ("Once in New York")
and about his parents:
How can I explain this sense, become
serious, that we are picking up speed, rolling in upon ourselves, and falling alone down this noisy, inevitable lane? ("Diamond Lake Bowling")
and about (my favorite poem) how he once worked in a hardware store cutting keys:
the flecks of brass - flying and screaming - like brilliant pollen - it was the final smell of cut metal
and the buffing of the edges with the wire brush - so the old door would open - somewhere - ("Cuttings")
"Brilliant pollen" is a good description of Nolan's best poetry. There is nothing daring or unprecedented here, but he gives a lustrous gleam to everything he touches. ...more
This dramatic poem about a man (Forgael) sailing off the edge of the world to meet the gods is romantically metaphorical. I feel Shakespeare is the maThis dramatic poem about a man (Forgael) sailing off the edge of the world to meet the gods is romantically metaphorical. I feel Shakespeare is the main influence of Yeats here, but his own vision of Celtic deities sets it apart. The narrative is too dreamy to ever really gather tension, but it is an interesting drama to read, and probably would work well as a short play....more
Seven years after Anne Elliot turned down Captain Wentworth's proposal, heeding family pressure and the advice of a friend, she is once again thrown iSeven years after Anne Elliot turned down Captain Wentworth's proposal, heeding family pressure and the advice of a friend, she is once again thrown in his company through her circle of acquaintance. As the scene of activity moves from Somerset to Lyme to Bath, the old spark begins to reignite - but will Anne have the courage to follow her own best judgement this time around?
Though written in the same mold as Jane Austen's other novels, Persuasion has a bit a more intricacy and maturity than Pride and Prejudice or Emma; it was, indeed, the last novel Austen completed. But that hardly means it is the best novel. In capturing a more realistic tone and story line, Austen gave up a lot of wild-eyed romance and colorful highjinks. We have no puffed up Mr. Collins here, no Lydia eloping with Wickham, no Emma crossing wits with Mr. Knightly, not even a Willoughby to show remorse over his rakish ways. The gallant naval officers are, to be sure, very fine, Sir Walter is the very picture of aristocratic vanity, and there is some wonderful satire of the Byronic attitude. (Jane Austen meeting Byron - wouldn't that have been a farce!) But on my list of Jane Austen novels, I would rank this somewhere between Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park....more
If anyone ever approached the poetry of Sappho in English, it was Swinburne. An aesthetic, classicist, and a member of the Pre-Raphaelite school in ViIf anyone ever approached the poetry of Sappho in English, it was Swinburne. An aesthetic, classicist, and a member of the Pre-Raphaelite school in Victorian England, his voluptuously beautiful lines have a musical cadence that is luxurious to the point of being decadent; it is the musical equivalent of falling into a bed of the softest fleece holding a glass of expensive French wine. As Wilde pointed out in a review of a later edition of his Poems, Swinburne sounds mellifluous but sometimes says very little. He also has a tendency to repeat himself in subject matter and imagery. But his very best poetry - the choruses from Atalanta in Calydon, "The Garden of Persephone", "Faustine", "Les Noyades", the Dedication from the 1865 edition of his poems, and perhaps a few others - has a richness unequaled anywhere else in English poetry, save perhaps Keats. After reading Swinburne's poetry, you begin to find his singsong fingerprints in many of the early 20th century poets, such as Yeats and Millay. So while it is easy to surfeit on Swinburne, it is worth looking into a volume of his selected poems. I would recommend the Modern Library edition - most of the others you find are missing some of his best work....more
The premise of Way Station is intriguing - Civil War veteran Enoch Wallace runs a small station for interstellar travelers in out of his isolated housThe premise of Way Station is intriguing - Civil War veteran Enoch Wallace runs a small station for interstellar travelers in out of his isolated house in western Wisconsin. It is now 1963 and Wallace is well over 100, yet he still looks young - time, it seems, passes at a different rate within the way station, though we are never told how or why. Now federal agents are starting to get suspicious, precipitating a conflict that holds dark echoes of the Cuban Missile Crisis. However, Simak spends most of his pages in Enoch's thoughts, recounting the past alien visitors to the station and debating his moral responsibility. So Way Station reads less like a well-plotted sci-fi tale than the daydreams of a guy with a vivid imagination and a yen for the stars. Although I liked City, Clifford Simak's collection of interconnected stories, I found Way Station laborious and lethargic. I think he was, like Ray Bradbury, a writer best suited to shorter fiction. ...more
This lively, eccentric novella about the career of minor 18th century German writer Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis) is true to the philosophical erThis lively, eccentric novella about the career of minor 18th century German writer Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis) is true to the philosophical era of its setting. With chapters such as "I Can't Comprehend Her" and "What Is Pain?", The Blue Flower is more a series of vignettes rather than a closely plotted story. The scenes are shifting, the characters are colorful, and Goethe's Germany bleeds in at the edges with its thirst for inquiry and penchant for sentiment that would help launch the Romantic movement. Ostensibly about Novalis' inexplicable love for fourteen-year-old Sophie von Kuhn, Penelope Fitzgerald writes about 1790s Germany as though she had lived there herself, and known von Hardenberg. This tale is a winding path through a small, exquisite garden, at whose center is Novalis' mysterious tale of the Blue Flower....more
In this Philip Marlowe meets Harry Potter whodunit, magic and mystery are both swirling about the streets of Chicago. In his wizard-detective Harry DrIn this Philip Marlowe meets Harry Potter whodunit, magic and mystery are both swirling about the streets of Chicago. In his wizard-detective Harry Dresden, Butcher has created a likeable if hard-boiled scamp. What with investigating a double homicide, romancing a client who has hired him to find her husband, steer clear of his parole officer from the Wizard's Council, and keep the lights on, Dresden has a lot to do here - and with his smart-aleck first person narration, he'll keep you entertained until the last page....more
The Continuum begins with a popular and entertaining trope of time travel fiction: the time travel agency, which shepherds tourists through the past fThe Continuum begins with a popular and entertaining trope of time travel fiction: the time travel agency, which shepherds tourists through the past for a certain fee. The idea was introduced in Ray Bradbury's short story "The Sound of Thunder" in 1952; Nikel's agency is along the same lines, though cozier and a bit more personable - and they don't deal with dinosaurs. Instead Elise, an "enforcer" for her agency, is sent to places like Edwardian England to find and return time tourists gone astray - for example, if one winds up on the Titanic. But Elise's new mission is far different - she must travel into her own future, where another disaster awaits a floating city, the Continuum. While Wendy Nikel has a knack for period description and saucy dialogue, the futuristic, sci-fi end of this tale seemed to run out of steam. Still, The Continuum is a slipstream work of great originality, and I look forward to reading other novels in this series. ...more
Heavily influenced by Shakespeare's Macbeth, The Tides of Spring is a short play set in Scotland in 1066. It follows the young king Malcolm, as he debHeavily influenced by Shakespeare's Macbeth, The Tides of Spring is a short play set in Scotland in 1066. It follows the young king Malcolm, as he debates with his councilors whether to marry for love or political expediency. The short lyrical poems included in the book are much finer than the title drama, which still has some memorable lines:
This life that thrills our youth must be obeyed, And I believe, because it comes to me Inflowing with the holy youth of things, That I am somehow wise in bending to it....more
Meg has a nurturing mother, absent father, and strange but brilliant brother Charlie. She doesn't quite fit in at school, but she and her family seem Meg has a nurturing mother, absent father, and strange but brilliant brother Charlie. She doesn't quite fit in at school, but she and her family seem downright normal compared to three witch-like neighbors, Mrs Who, Mrs Which and Mrs Whatsit. Soon she and her classmate Calvin get caught up in the larger events surrounding the three women, who use something called a tesseract to skip around to various planets in the universe. Though often considered a time travel book (probably because of the title), A Wrinkle in Time actually involves no discernible time travel - the places where Meg and co. travel are so exotic and completely without earthly reference that it doesn't really matter what the "time" is there. Though a decent stylist, L'Engle doesn't really have the imagination to pull this sort of story off, and once our characters leave earth the narrative becomes banal, if not entirely predictable. For example, the "villain" of the book is a creature known as a "Black Thing", and the aliens that live on these distant worlds are as human-like as you would find in a vintage Star Trek episode. When the wrinkles are finally ironed out, A Wrinkle in Time has all the narrow-minded moralizing of a C.S. Lewis novel, but only a modicum of swashbuckling fun of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe....more
This is not the first book of time travel ever written (Tourmalin's Time Cheques and several other curious pieces predate it) but it is the first wherThis is not the first book of time travel ever written (Tourmalin's Time Cheques and several other curious pieces predate it) but it is the first where a time machine figures prominantly. Wells uses the invention to illustrate his ideas of human evolution - social and biological - and how small his Victorian civilization when placed in perspective with the life of the human species and even the solar system. ...more
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