Harry Potter (3) / J.K.Rowling

Harry Potter (3)
by J.K.Rowling

fantasy, young adult

copyright 1999
read -- again -- in July 2013
rated 8/10: really quite good

Another great Harry Potter book ! This is the third, The Prisoner of Azkaban. I read it -- and enjoyed it -- soon after it was first published. And I enjoyed it just as much on this re-reading...

Perhaps I enjoyed this re-reading even more...

This is the book where Ron and Hermione fight. Where Hermione finds a stronger place within the trio. And where Harry gets small hints that his father may not have been... not quite... the perfect hero that Harry has always imagined.

Much of that has come to me -- on this reading -- because I now know where the series is going. Which is, perhaps, why I enjoyed this reading even more than the first.

Another great book. With just a small introduction to the wider -- and nastier -- wizarding world to come.

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The Road to Mars / Eric Idle

The Road to Mars
by Eric Idle

science fiction ? humour ?

copyright 1999
read in July 2013

rated 3/10: so bad it's embarrassing

Eric Idle... Monty Python writer... co-creator of one of the classic TV shows... as he reminds us in this book. Which shows just how desperate he was to keep his readers reading.

"Part biting satire, part loony vaudeville, part comic dissertation..." That's the view of Robin Williams, as quoted on the cover.

Absolute rubbish.

The "comic dissertation" is Idle's attempt to analyse humour. He may make some valid points. Unfortunately his examples are stuck firmly in the late twentieth century -- which is sadly out of place in a "science fiction" novel.

The "dissertation" is done by a key character -- an android -- who has trouble understanding humour. Perhaps this was not such a cliche back in 1999... Irony, in particular, is beyond the grasp of the mechanical intellect.

Ironically, irony is also beyond the grasp of the author. Idle attempts irony. He also attempts satire. What he writes is cruel sarcasm... Made worse by his regular explanation of the point of his attempts.

Had the author ever read any hints as to how to write a novel ? Had he every heard, for example, of "point of view" ? Not only does he switch from one point of view to another -- he does it paragraph by paragraph.. and back again. I gave up trying to work out who was thinking what. It just was not worth the effort.

Then, half way through, as I was getting tired of the analysis and sarcasm and attempted humor -- the book changes.

It becomes a rather boring thriller, starting with a highly telegraphed and brutal death, followed by countless deaths and major destruction.

For a book set in space... in the future... it is also remarkably bad in its science.

An android is stuck out in space. Freezing to absolute zero. (Absolute zero in space ? Really ? ) And then -- the android "oxidises". Okay, oxidise sounds cleverer than "rusts". But in space ?! You know, the *vacuum* of space ?! Didn't the author spot the clue, that "oxidises" comes from the word oxygen -- which is essential for oxidisation...

Then there's the space station which develops a leak. And implodes. Good grief.

Finally, all is revealed. The villains pop out of nowhere. Their links to other characters and plot are barely explained. New ideas are thrown in just to fill some of the more obvious gaps in the story.

The lead villain turns out to be a fool with an unworkable plan which everyone else is too stupid to foil. But the plan accidentally fails and it's only random luck which saves the threatened settlers... What's that ? Never heard of them before ? Correct.

A weak book, badly written.

Don't bother.

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Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living / Carrie Tiffany

Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living
by Carrie Tiffany

fiction

copyright 2005
read in July 2013

rated 7/10: well worth reading

There's a message here: good science is not enough to overcome basic stupidity.

I was worried that the message would be, that science is evil. Really, though, science is simply powerless. Powerless against drought, disease, plague and poor soil.

Why are farmers even on the Mallee country ? Because they are stupid enough to believe that they can force crops to grow from dry sand. And naive enough to believe government promises. And innocent enough to invest their lives with sellers of financial snake oil.

This is a story of people who work hard -- and lose. Yet they do it... not with good grace... but with good will. They offer a weak cup of tea to a neighbour, even as their own lives crash down around them.

There is bitterness but there is understanding. There is hopelessness but there is hope. Hope that the future will be less bleak. Or, at least, acceptance of life as it is.

Perhaps, though, it is simply a case of characters drawn so lightly that we don't really care... We feel for the situation but not so much for the individuals.

Still...

I read the book and thought -- not for the first time -- that we, humans, spend a lot of time destroying the natural environment. And that organised stupidity causes endless individual heartbreak.

Is that the message ? That the rich and powerful -- in their efforts for more riches and more power, or simply by their decisions based on ignorance -- destroy the lives of the weak and poor.

Yet, at the end, the protagonist -- the narrator -- gets on with her life. She plans for the future. A poor future, but one with hope rather than well-earned despair.

Never give up ! That's the message that I choose to take away with me. Never give up. And don't blindly follow either experts or politicians.

And always get a lawyer to read a contract before you sell your future crop to a snake-oil salesman...

A good book with a good message. An easy read but not a comforting read. A sad ending but with hope for the future... for the future of the narrator, at least.

This is not at all my usual sort of book. I'm not sure why I picked it off the shelves. But I am glad that I did.

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The Usurper's Crown / Sarah Zettel

The Usurper's Crown
[ Isavalta (2) ]
by Sarah Zettel

fantasy
copyright 2002
read in July 2013

rated 8: really quite good

An interesting approach to a trilogy: book two is a flashback from book one... And it works. Very well. Though with some strange side-effects...

First -- and this is, I suspect, just me --there's a constant sense of deja vu.

It's a while since I read book one. I've read several books in between. I keep thinking, But wasn't that in book one ?!

No, in sure that I'm reading a different book ! In this flashback... or extended back-story... Zettel uses repetition. That is, people and places from book one are re-visited in book two. They now show why certain things were happening in book one... Same people, same places, different actions. And from the point of view of a different heroine.

All of this makes me wonder, Which book am I really reading ?! But it's all good: I *know* which book I am reading. And I am enjoying book two... even more than I enjoyed book one.

Which leads to the other side-effect...

I prefer to read books with a happy -- or at least satisfying -- ending. From book one I know that certain people will survive... or possibly not. And this gives me a certain sense of peace.

As I read book two I have the comfort of knowing that... not everything will be destroyed. Okay, it's a very limited comfort :-)  But I find it is comfort enough. And it adds to my enjoyment of this book.

On the other hand... I'm going to have to read book one again -- to remind myself what really happened... And to find out why book two really is so very familiar !

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Harry Potter 1 & 2 / J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter...
(1) ... and the Philosopher's Stone
(2) ... and the Chamber of Secrets

by J.K. Rowling

fantasy, young adult

published in 1997, 1998
read -- not for the first time -- in July 2013

rated 9 / 10: really, really good

We were on holiday. Sure, I had brought books to read. But they were in our hotel room and we were drinking tea in the hotel lounge.

There were magazines. And a few books. Including... the first Harry Potter... May as well start reading it, I thought. Won't matter that I won't finish it before we leave, I know what happens...

Well...

What a great book ! All of a sudden I am caught up -- again ! -- in Harry Potter delight ! As soon as we returned home I found my own copy of The Philosopher's Stone and finished my re-reading. Then found Chamber of Secrets and re-read that one. And I may re-read more...

This is an excellent series. Enjoyable, exciting, entertaining. I read the books -- this time -- with a clearer image of the heroes as young children. It adds just a little bit more to my appreciation of the book. And to my anticipation of the characters developing as they grow older.

If you are one of the very few people who do not know the basic concept of the series -- start reading now ! For the rest of the world... What can I say that has not already been said ?

The movies are, I am sure, fun Hollywood movies. The books -- are terrific.

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02oct15: 

And again !

Yes, I have just re-re-read the first Harry Potter book... and enjoyed it. Yet again.

Even better, it was pleasant break from some really... rubbish... books :-( Which I may fail to finish.

The House without a Key / Earl Derr Biggers

The House without a Key
by Earl Derr Biggers
Charlie Chan (1)

mystery

copyright 1925
read in June 2013

rated 7/10: well worth reading

Goodness me ! a Charlie Chan omnibus ! I've seen five minutes of a Charlie Chan movie. And enjoyed the Chinese detective who has helped Maxwell Smart. But I have never read nor watched a complete Chan story...

Until now !

Is it just my era, or is Charlie Chan still an iconic figure in film and literature ? No matter.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book :-)

I didn't know what to expect. The introduction almost put me off, so I skipped most of it. The story -- is a lot of fun.

The characters are straight from Wodehouse via Boston. The action is slow, the humor is light and pleasant. Best of all -- the mystery makes sense.

Sometime in the past I must have read a mystery novel. I'm sure that I've watched more than one mystery on TV. The one thing in common is, that the resolution of the mystery is a riddle wrapped in an enigma. As far as I can tell, the final and definitive clue is only provided as the detective states the solution.

"What no-one knew," says the detective, on the last page but one, "Is that Mr X is the victim's second cousin twice removed, that he was in the conservatory just after midnight -- despite all prior evidence to the contrary -- and that the innocuous flower which no-one has, till now, mentioned, is the only known breeding ground for the deadly black-throated spider ! Which leads to... the inevitable conclusion... that the murder was really suicide !" Oh yeah ?!

Charlie Chan puts forward a whole lot of clues. These lead to a string of suspects. Who are eliminated -- as suspects, that is, -- one by one. The final clue is not obvious. But it is presented early enough for the reader to -- with luck ! -- almost beat the hero to the correct conclusion. Or, at least, to keep up as all is revealed.

Oh, and "hero" ? Charlie Chan is not the hero. The hero is one of the Wodehouse characters... Chan solves the case and gathers conclusive evidence. The hero has a leap of strong intuition, just in time to prevent the villain from escaping. And the hero gets the girl.

Chan is essential to the story. Yet not -- yet ? -- the central character.

My book is three novels in an omnibus. I look forward to seeing how Chan develops in the next two stories.

So far... so good.

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Martian Time-Slip / Philip K. Dick

Martian Time-Slip
by Philip K. Dick
science fiction

copyright 1964
read in May 2013

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

This is the second "great novel" in a massive volume of PKD stories. (PKD stories ?! Well, it doesn't sound quite right to say, Dick stories...)

Stigmata was confusing but fun... I think. Time-Slip is not quite as confusing, not quite as much fun.

Life on Mars has, it seems, improved slightly. Stigmata offered a hopeless life of scrabbling to survive, of using drugs to escape the reality of a harsh, dry, dusty environment. Time-Slip offers a harsh world where all the minor evils of Earth have been transferred to the new planet.

Still, the hero gets on with his life.

It's all a bit... everyday. Helicopters rather than cars. Water via canals rather than by pipe. An indigenous population forced to the lowest rung of society as they gradually die out. And mental illness as the norm. Just minor changes from life as we know it.

The science in most SF is "hard" science. In the days when psychiatry was a new but developing science, Dick used it as the central theme for his story. A "soft"science but good science fiction !

And in those days before science pooh-poohed the idea, Dick allows the mind to control reality.

Okay, it takes a while to get there, but I think that's what happened...

After spending most of the book getting there, we finally discover that the autistic boy is able -- through the power of his mind -- to control reality. And to control time. The discovery was a bit abrupt, perhaps I just missed some of the clues along the way.

The bad guy tries to change time and gains nothing. The hero gets a mystic token which he never uses, he learns some valuable personal lessons and survives, otherwise unscathed. The autistic boy pops up inexplicably so that we know that he, at least, has achieved what he wanted from his mental abilities.

A confusing ending, but happy.

A readable book, but not great.

I enjoyed it, but will probably not read the remaining three "great novels" in this PKD omnibus.

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