A Guide to Berlin / Gail Jones

A Guide to Berlin
by Gail Jones

other: literary?!

copyright 2015
partly read in August 2016

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

There's an old joke: "Pretentious !? Moi ?!" This book is a surprisingly enjoyable bit of literary pretention.

Nothing happens. There are no great characters, none even sympathetic. It's a series of deeply meaningless observations on life, people and things. Set in a significantly cold and miserable Berlin winter. (Yes, everything is... deeply significant.)

Pretty early on I guess, this is a rip-off of the Nabokov style. You know, Nabokov, the Russian-turned-American who wrote Lolita. I once tried to read Lolita. Boring.

So I turn to Wikipedia to read up on Nabokov. Oh, okay, he wrote a short story called, A Guide to Berlin. So the title of this book is a clarion call to literary pretenders.

It turns out that Nabakov's life was interesting... and difficult. I rate this book at six, the Wikipedia entry on Nabokov as, perhaps, eight. There's a lot more interest in Wikipedia than in this book.

I suspect that this book is written in the style of Nabokov. From what I have now read, Nabokov was big with words, light on plot. Have you noticed that, with people who speak English as their second language? A tendency to source their words from a dictionary rather than from common usage. It can be misinterpreted as clever. It reads as unnatural.

I can't find the text of Nabokov's story, only a plot summary. It's a series of observations on life, people and things in Berlin. So is this book.

So we have a series of observations -- and interpretations, often ridiculous. With nothing much happening. Apparently -- from the back cover blurb and from the very short chapter one -- there will be a death. I don't read that far.

I'm quite enjoying this book. It's ridiculous, it's pointless, it's -- perhaps -- a postgraduate demonstration of the author's ability to copy the style of a best-forgotten author. Yet it's easy to read. And the observations and interpretations are quite interesting.

It just seems to be going nowhere.

This book is another in the top ten for the Premier's Book Award. If it wins, I won't complain. But for me -- it's back to a book with some plot. And some interest.

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Talk low, talk slow and don't say too much." … John Wayne
   

Officeworks Printing Services

Officeworks Printing Services

rated 3/10: go somewhere else

Need some printing done? Just a few pages? Officeworks provides a simple print service.

Correction: Officeworks does not provide a simple print service.

Officeworks used to provide a simple print service.

Walk in, speak to the helpful people at the print services counter. Get the printing done. Pay. Then there was the new self-service option: Print it yourself, then pay. Simple. Convenient. Easy.

Sure, the printers sometimes failed. There was often a queue at the counter.

Not to worry. These minor irritations are nothing. Nothing, that is, compared to the incredible difficulty of Officeworks current print non-services.

There's a sign at the counter: Hand in a print job over the counter and there will be a 24 wait for the printing to be done.

What?! A guaranteed 24 hour wait?!? Forget it!

Officeworks could increase staff numbers to cope with demand. Rather than that, they have acted to reduce demand.

But wait, there's always the self-service printing... Very convenient... When it works.

Also: Officeworks self-service printing is now set up to benefit Officeworks... at an increased cost to the customer.

First, the controlling software is fiddly. Especially when I have 20 small PDFs to print. Each one has to be printed separately. I have to remember where I'm at in the list of PDFs. There's no option to print all files.

Then there's the payment rip-off...

No more, print-then-pay. You have to buy a "payment card". That is -- you need to give money to Officeworks in the expectation that you will, some day, want to print a few pages. Officeworks holds your cash. Tough luck, customer.

So today I bought a cash card. I gave $10 to Officeworks so that I could print about $9 worth of pages. At best, Officeworks have made a clear profit of $1.

The self-service printer works for a few documents. Then stops printing. Claims to have printed -- but has not.

An Officeworks employee looks at the printer. No, can't see anything wrong, he says. Well, I could see that much. Was I charged for the failed printing? I could count all the pages that I did get, multiply by the cost per page, subtract from $10, start the print process to get a view of how much is still on the pre-pay card... Forget it.

I try another printer. (That's the employee's best... only... suggestion.) I print one page. Next print attempt -- nothing comes out. No message. Just, no print.

What the hell ?!?

I walk out. No, it didn't work, I tell the employee. No, I don't give a stuff. No, I won't be back. Yes, I will get my printing done by a company which understands customer service.

Of course, really, I lose all round: No print, no convenience, I need to find a print service company.

And Officeworks has about $8 of my money. Which I will never get to use.

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Talk low, talk slow and don't say too much." … John Wayne
   

Lensman Series / E.E. "Doc" Smith

Lensman Series
(1 to 6 of not really 7)
by E.E. "Doc" Smith

space opera

read -- yet again -- inJuly 2016

rated 8/10: really quite good

I've read this series so often... yet only reviewed the first book in the series! A terrible oversight... about to be corrected.

The Lensman series of one of my go-to books for when I want to just enjoy an adventure. When I want some unthinking enjoyment. When what I really want is, escapism. The Lensman books satisfy those wants.

This month, I'm trying to read books which have been nominated for a book award. After two books -- two attempts, I couldn't finish either -- I need a break. So I read Triplanetary. And kept on reading...

The Lensman series is like salted peanuts. Or like murders in Midsomer: one is not enough. It's all or nothing.

Except, that is, for "Masters of the Vortex". Supposedly the seventh in the series. More, a book set in the post-Lensman universe. I read it once but don't have a copy to reread. So this review is of Lensman books one to just six. The "real" series.

1. Triplanetary (1948)

Rated 8/10 -- but only as part of the series.

Triplanetary introduces the Lensman universe... Well, no, not quite true. It introduces the major conflict, then documents a series of major events on the way to the "present day" of the Lensman universe. It's a lot of fun, it's a solid logical progression on the way to Civilisation. There's a solid conclusion -- but it's hard to get caught up in the series of loosely related episodes. And it's clear that there's a lot more still to come.

2. First Lensman (1950)

Rated 7/10: well worth reading.

This is more of a single story: one man's efforts to create a universal police force. There is space travel, new planets, aliens -- and, at last, the Lens. There are also some of the funniest lines in the series...

This is not a comic space opera. But Doc Smith does like to poke satiric fun at society, in just a small way. He states, for example, that the elections near the end of this book are -- several hundred years into our own future -- the first ever completely honest elections in the entire history of North America.

3. Galactic Patrol (1937)

Rated 9/10: really, really good.

I guess -- from the copyright dates in the books -- that Patrol was written as a standalone book. Then was successful enough that the entire series was developed. Standalone?! It's hard to imagine... But I think it could be read -- and enjoyed -- all by itself.

Luckily I don't have to read it all by itself -- I have all six books. For which I am grateful. Largely because I enjoy the logical completeness of the entire series :-)

This book is possibly the most operatic of this space opera series... Fast spaceships, huge space battles, lots of good and bad aliens. Although an amazing number of alien planets have populations of "aliens" who are human to nineteen decimal places. Something to do with similar environments and Arisian spores, apparently.

===

09sep21:

Yes... I wanted to read something that I knew I would enjoy.

Sure enough... I enjoyed the first few of the series.

Triplanetary in interesting mainly for its alternate explanation of some history.

Then the pace picks up... and the science takes off even faster.

I've just finished Galactic Patrol. I'm looking forward to finishing... yet again... the Lensman saga :-)

4. Grey Lensman (1951)

Rated 8/10: really quite good.

Lots of fast spaceships, more huge battles, lots of good and bad aliens. Yet the action is also brought back to the personal level. The Grey Lensman does a lot of individual hands-on work to defeat evil. Evil? We are beginning to realise that the "evil" people simply have a different view of correct procedure, a view that is based on the principle of, "might is right".

In Doc Smith's Skylark series we ended up with the universe divided between supporters of "democratic freedom" and drivers of "logical despotism". Both sides finally agree to disagree. In the Lensman universe, the author is fully on the side of democratic freedom.

5. Second Stage Lensmen (1953)

Rated 8/10: really quite good.

Aha! The planet of the naked women! What more can I say :-)

Oh, yes, the Grey Lensman gets the girl. Books 3, 4 and 5 have followed one particular person. Now, at last, he can -- at the end of the book -- retire. Retire to the simpler task of running the galaxy, that is. And retire to the essential task of raising a family -- for the next book, Children of the Lens...

Interesting... In that next book, the printer makes the same mistake that I almost made. The fifth book is named as Second Stage Lensman -- Lensman is singular. The front cover (and other books in the series) name it as Lensmen, plural. Because there are four "L2", second stage Lensmen...

Three of the L2s are non-human. They play vital roles. They are good characters, clearly defined, as likeable in their own ways as the human L2. The non-human L2s -- no longer alien, just non-human -- have their own adventures. But the single human L2 is still the central hero of the book.

Speaking of funny... The hero acts as a writer of space opera. And makes fun of the genre. While packing this book with references to adventurous space wildcats, grizzled old space hounds and the down and out space louse. Doc Smith follows the conventions -- with a smile.

6. Children of the Lens (1954)

Rated 7/10
... but would be 6/10: read to pass the time -- if read by itself.

This is the grand finale of the series. An excellent wrapup made up of a hodge-podge of adventures. There's too much to do and too many characters demanding a share of the main action. The weakest book in terms of plot, logic and cohesion. Yet still a lot of space opera fun and adventure.

The humans are still the central characters. It is the humans -- the children of the Lens -- who must save Civilisation. Yet the aliens are not forgotten.

It's quite clever, really. Each of the non-human L2s is matched with a "child". (They are young adults, after a twenty year hiatus between this and the previous book.) So the non-human L2s do what they do best. And their best techniques are used -- and improved upon -- by their matched (but human) child. A positive sort of "closure" for the three non-human L2s... as humanity becomes the dominant force (for good) across the entire civilised universe.

====

And so, I read the Lensman series, yet again. And enjoy it, yet again. And that is the basis for my rating: my own enjoyment.

I hope that you enjoy the Lensman series! I hope that my rating standards help you decide whether to read other books, or not.

And now I really must try to read some more of those books which are vying for the annual literary book award...

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Talk low, talk slow and don't say too much." … John Wayne
   

In Certain Circles / Elizabeth Harrower

In Certain Circles
by Elizabeth Harrower

"other"

written in 1971
copyright 2014
part read in July 2016

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

This book is "an intense psychological drama about family and love, tyranny and freedom." Must be, it says so on the back cover. By page 52 it's also a jumpy, somewhat dated, melodrama about rich girl being fascinated by sullen intellectual from the other side of the tracks.

It's quite entertaining. Interesting observations of characters, laid on heavy so we don't have to think too deeply. As I read, my main intellectual effort is to re-imagine the past in order to understand what is happening.

Like any old book, the language, actions and environment are of the era. The modern reader is left to guess at some of the meanings.

The war, for example... Which war ?!

The book was published in 2014. It was written by 1971. It seems to be set soon after 1945. Or possibly, soon after 1918... no... there is a telephone in the house.

So yes, this is yet another Australian book where the author is not interested in the present day... Not even in the present day in which the book was written. Though, to be fair, it's possible that 1971 has been reached by the end of the book. I didn't read that far.

In my efforts to be cultural, I have lined up books which are in the top ten for this year's Premier's Book Award. The first was not very good. This one takes a very standard premise:

Rich girl is fascinated by sullen intellectual -- simply because he is not instantly in love with her. How old is that idea ?!

Still, it's light and easy to read. Perhaps something will happen, and there will be suspense or excitement. Just, not so far. So far, it's harmless. And not quite boring.

Here's the indicator of my evaluation: I think I could read to the end without being too put off. But it's a library book. I will be at the library tomorrow. I think I shall return the book, unfinished. Even though it is not yet due back. That's my level of enthusiasm.

Light. Easy to read -- though hard to follow. Reminds me why I prefer to read fantasy and science fiction.

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Agamedes Consulting
====

"Don't take life so seriously. It isn't permanent." … Tibetan philosophy
   

The Golden Age / Joan London

The Golden Age
by Joan London

copyright 2014
part read July 2016

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

The Premier's Book Awards are back. After a one year budget cut, Western Australia will again give a prize for a book. I have no idea of the entry rules but I decided that I would read some of the top ten entries.

The Golden Age is available online. Quick and easy to get a copy. So it is the first to be read. Or, at least, the first that I have started to read.

My first thought is, Is there an Australian author who can write about the present? Or do they all live in the past, and that is all they can understand and write about. Or, perhaps, Australian authors believe that that is all that readers want to read: the golden age of mid last century. I was there. I don't need to read about it.

My next thought is, is there a source of drama other than the Holocaust? What's that rule, where as soon as someone makes a comparison to Nazi Germany the conversation may as well end? Still, I read on...

I read on, and wonder what is happening.

The story wanders and rambles. Jumps backwards and forwards. Is laden with deeply philosophical statements such as, "In moonlight, you become another self. Alone in a mystery." Mysterious claptrap.

The story appears to be about a boy with polio. (Yes, more nostalgia for the good old diseases of the last century.) He appears to be about to fall in love with a girl with polio. I read a chapter about a nurse...

The nurse's chapter -- like the rest of the book -- wanders and rambles. I'm being given some insight into a character who ... well, who has nothing to do with the plot of this book. As far as I can tell. Perhaps it's included because the main characters are too young to be in a sex scene.

I stop reading.

Usually, at the top of my reviews, I categorise the book. I pick a genre. This book? No idea. It's a view of several rather boring characters, their minds and thoughts and histories. None are interesting enough for me to want to learn more about them. What I have read so far is vaguely interesting, mostly depressing.

Here's a thought: the genre is "fantasy". And at the end -- which I have not read -- the various characters will, in the mystic moonlight, all become fairies and drift off to live at the bottom of Norm's garden. Ooooohhh.

Yes, I rate it as readable, to pass the time. It's harmless. It's also meaningless. And, a third of the way through, it's going nowhere. Nowhere of interest to me, anyway.

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Agamedes Consulting
====

"Don't take life so seriously. It isn't permanent." … Tibetan philosophy
   

Galilee / Clive Barker

Galilee
by Clive Barker

fantasy

copyright 1998
partly read in July 2016

rated 5/10: readable, but only if there's nothing else

Seventy pages of introduction. Now I know that the story will involve two families: one immortal with super-powers, the other mortal. I also know that the story will be written as a massive flashback. Heading back to the miserable present.

I think, I'll give it twenty pages. See if there's any character that I like. See if there's anything at all that I like about this book.

Another fifty pages. I've met a poor fisherman who suffers, becomes a mystic, dies. He's not a likeable character. In fact, he's so two-dimensional that he's neither likeable nor dislikeable. Just boring, unbelieveable, apparently irrelevant.

I know that the immortal family are unlikeable. Now I have been told that the mortal family are a bunch of murderous nutters.

Will I read the remaining 670 pages of this boring and turgid nonsense?

Not unless there's absolutely nothing else to read.

Even the telephone directory is starting to seem better.

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Agamedes Consulting
====

"Don't take life so seriously. It isn't permanent." … Tibetan philosophy
   

Enemy in the Dark / Jay Allan

Enemy in the Dark
(Far Stars 2)
by Jay Allan

science fiction

copyright 2015
read in July 2016

rated 7/10: well worth reading

Shows how much my rating is based on what I want at the time of reading: This book rates 7, book one rated 8... yet book two is -- in my opinion -- better than book one.

Ah well. A here-and-now review of book one would also give that book a seven. But -- at the time -- I enjoyed it at an eight level. Either that or my rating has shifted... Anything is possible :-) Anyway...

Book one was reviewed in 2015. With a brief footnote from a couple of weeks ago. Enemy in the Dark is similar in style -- but better.

With Enemy, the Far Stars plot is front and centre. The characters still act well over the top but the action is more in keeping with the threat-of-Empire theme. Rather than just buckling their swashes.

There is one sad bit and a few discoveries. Plus a major reveal. The sad bit is unexpected. The discoveries and reveal are not particularly unexpected.

As with book one, there is no attempt to keep the reader ignorant. So the discoveries -- by the good guys -- are already known by the reader. The suspense, for the reader, is in wondering what action the good guys will take to counter the discoveries... I like this approach. I prefer it to the artificial hiding of information.

As for the major reveal... No great surprise other than getting an actual name.

There are no great surprises in Enemy. It's just a good story which rattles along at a great pace. I like the characters because they care for each other. In fact we're told -- far too many times -- that they care for each other.

===

23mar19: read it again, enjoyed it again :-)

again, i'm surprised by the sad bit. again, it is sad -- but not in a miserable, make em suffer kind of way. more of a tough decision for the hero -- to show the heroic level of his motivations.

oh, i inserted this extra note too high, the next para is from my original review. and just as true -- in my opinion -- as it was after my first reading. hmm, must get book three :-)

Not a great literary marvel. Just a very enjoyable book.

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Agamedes Consulting
====

"Don't take life so seriously. It isn't permanent." … Tibetan philosophy