February Retrospective

 February ended up with a much more moderate success. I finished 11 books and shifted one back to its home as something I was never going to read. I need to read about 10.5 per month to stay on track while I didn't pull farther ahead, I also didn't fall back which is a decent achievement in the shortest month. That being said, 7 of my 11 books were graphic novels which means I'm not patting myself on the back too much...those are quick reads.

Strangely, I feel like I was reading every bit as much as in January. Indeed I'm actually in the middle of at least three books, one of which is Jane Eyre. I enjoy reading classic literature but it does just take more time than reading a fantasy novel. I'd like to find more time to read those classics while still meeting goals. All that really means is that March is probably going to end up with slightly inflated number of reads. *shrug* oh well

The Deceivers by Alfred Bester

I picked up The Deceivers on a whim. It's a beat up water damaged book that I picked up in a free bin somewhere. I'd never heard of it, but I've read several of Bester's other books and enjoyed them so why not.

This is the last of Bester's books, first published in 1981 only seven years before he died. It was initially pretty much ignored by critics and fans and several sources declared it "not good" after the death of the author. There seemed to be a general muttering about the lack response being due to a desire to spare the author's feelings. That may very well be the case, but I don't think that it's fair. 

There is nothing really wrong with The Deceivers assuming that you are accustomed to the foibles of golden era science fiction. It's a fun story but it's not anything overwhelming.  It is a stylistic throwback to sci-fi stories of the 50s and early 60s. On the negative side of that there's several comments on cultural and racial groups that simply didn't age well. Pretty much every ethnic group apparently left Earth to create their own ethnic/cultural colony on the various planets and satellites around Sol. In discussing these, there is a lot of play on stereotypes which are inherently prejudiced. There's also a sort of casual misogyny (or really more of a toxic masculinity) and sexual commentary that was much more common to the pulp literature of the 50's through 70's. While not awesome, many readers of classic sci fi have slogged through much worse. 

On the positive, it's a fast paced story with vibrant characters and conversational tone. There's a lot of invented jargon which is typical of Bester's other sci fi writing. The main character, Rogue Winter, is a sort of strange half brilliant half idiot character who sort of blusters through life as a kind of investigative reporter and heir apparent of the Maori colony on Ganymede. Most of the other major characters are a kid of rogues gallery of brilliant women who are a great deal more put together than Rogue Winter is.

I will say though, what made this sci-fi was really just an issue of setting. There were many elements that were reminiscent of Stevenson's nautical adventure stories mixed with The Godfather. If you are already a Bester fan, there is no reason to avoid this book but it won't measure up to The Demolished Man.

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

 The whole point of TBR.co, for me at least, is that my recommender points me at things that I wouldn't necessarily pick up on my own. Because I pay for the privilege of these recommendations, I tend to power through them even if the book doesn't immediately draw me in. Generally this works out well for me. Migrations was one of those books that I probably wouldn't have picked up in the first place and if I had, I probably would have set down, otherwise.

Migrations is a piece of near future science fiction when most of the worlds animal populations have died out and the predatory birds are on their last legs. Franny Stone, the main character, hires herself on to one of the last fishing vessels, the Saghani, to track what might be the last migration of the arctic tern.

Franny is a dark obsessive character with too many secrets and she fits in with the idiosyncratic crew of a fishing vessel in a world where the fish populations are all but disappeared. The setting is the future, however more than a science fiction, this is really a book about despair. Death and loss permeates the story in a way that makes death on a worldwide scale feel real. We humans have a tendency to numb out destruction on that scale, and this book, with its tangled plotline, presents that despair in a palpable, inescapable way.

McConaghy's writing style is densely lyrical. While I didn't fall in love with Franny, there was something compelling about her misanthropy that I connected to, and I fully came to love the entire crew of the Saghani (even the ones I wasn't meant to.) Her style is so dense, in fact, that I was a little surprised that all of her earlier novels seem to be YA. It appears that this is McConaghy's first real foray into both the U.S. literary market and adult literary fiction. If so, it's an excellent first showing. She's definitely one to watch.

February List 2021

 Last month was an outrageous month of reading. I read 19 books in January! Even for me, that's insane. There is no way I can keep it up and I'm not sure that I should even try to. At that rate, I'd read 220 or so books by the end of the year and I'm pretty sure I'd end up burning out big time. 

This month I've been combing the shelves and putting together a more balanced group of books. There are 7 graphic novels including four from a series that I've been waiting a literal decade to read (Fable), two that Ryan acquired for himself (FBP), and one that's a spin off for a more traditional novel series I've been working my way through (Blood Work). Those will go quick, no doubt, but I also have deliberately included 9 nonfiction and classic pieces of literature to balance it out. Despite the fact that I read a lot of light YA and fantasy/science fiction, I really like more substantive literature. For instance, this month I be reading Jane Eyre along with my father and I'm really looking forward to it. I've always liked the novel but it's been years since I've given myself the time to read through it.

The rest of the list is a mix of rereads, getting through loaners, and some random pulls from my shelves. It's amazing some of the things I've collected and held on to.

The list:

1. Lysistrata by Aristophanes
2. The Deceivers by Alfred Bester (Finished 2/25/2021)
3. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Co-Read)
5. American Monsters by Linda S. Godfrey (Student loan) -RETURNED unread
6. Blood Work by Kim Harrison (on loan from Carra) (Finished 2/1/2021)
7. A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison (on loan from Carra) (Finished 2/9/2021)
8. The Weekend Homesteader by Anna Hess (A cheat book)
9. Black Griffon by Mercedes Lackey (Finished 2/15/2021)
10. White Griffon by Mercedes Lackey (Finished 2/22/21)
11. Silver Griffon by Mercedes Lackey
12. Bird Box by Josh Malerman
13. Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
14. Federal Bureau of Physics Vol 1 by Simon Oliver (Swiped from Ryan's Shelf) (Finished 2/3/2021)
15. Federal Bureau of Physics Vol 2: Wish You Were Here by Simon Oliver (Swiped from Ryan's Shelf) (Finished 2/3/2021)
16. The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing by Charlie Papazian
17. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
18. Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
19. The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food by Marcus Samuelsson
20. Fables Vol 5: The Mean Seasons by Bill Willingham (Finished 2/5/2021)
21. Fables Vol 6: Homelands by Bill Willingham (Finished 2/6/2021)
22. Fables Vol 7: Arabian Nights (and Days) by Bill Willingham (Finished 2/11/2021)
23. Fables Vol 8: Wolves by Bill Willingham (Finished 2/12/2021)
24. Reader, Come Home by Maryanne Wolf (Professional Development)
25. Sister Light, Sister Dark by Jane Yolen

And an extra

26. Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton (reading it with my fantasy Lit class) (Finished 2/3/2021)