Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington
Another Consummate biography from Teachout. Duke is a well thought through nuanced warts and all Bio. Ellington is without doubt a musical genius and wounded soul who was unnecessarily cruel to the many women in his life and let no one, not even family ever become too close. He routinely stole ideas from his band members as well as frequent collaborator Billy Strayhorn. Most times he made whatever material he pilfered infinitely better. As a human being I lost a good deal of respect for him. Even so, his genius is irrefutable. Another marvelous job from a magnificent biographer of Arts figures.
Parasite (Parasitology Volume One)
Another fun futuristic vaguely sciency thriller from Grant Following her (mostly) very good Newsflesh triogy. The big reveal of this volume which occurs at the end of the book, I had figured out a 100 pages in. It seems only Grant's stubborness to confirm my strong suspicions prevented an earlier reveal. There were plenty of suprises and a good plot, although in the service of "realistic" dialog, there was a lot of repititious banter. As for the science of it, I know little to nothing about parasitology or epidemiology so I have to go on pure feel here and nothing sounds too far removed from the stretchy realm of "plausablility". I leave it others with stonger scientific backgrounds to determine if too many liberties have been taken in the name of a pretty good story.
Antarctica: An Intimate Portrait of the World's Most Mysterious Continent
An excellent overview of a mysterious and yet crucial continent. Told very well through the experiences research and recollections of the oddballs who stay there for long periods of time, even those trully hearty souls who "winter" over there and the members of the 300 club. If anyone truly discounts global warming they should read closely the last chapter and see what warming temperatures accelerated by human consumption is doing to rewrite the Antarctan conitnent.
Salvage and Demolition
A delightful novella from Tim Powers showing him at the top of his game.The story revolves around a rare book dealer named Richard Blanzac who opens a box of consignment items and things get weird and strange as only Tim Powers can do from there. Enter time travel an ancient Sumerian Diety a forgotten beat era poet and an apocalyptic cult searching for the secret of nonexistence.If you are familiar with Powers' work the above stew of weirdness is no suprise at all. I'm not sure that starting with this for new readers is best. I think reading something like Hide Me Among The graves, Anubis Gates or Three days to Never are better works to grasp his style of writing. For those who have read his works, this is a well written jewel and a joy to behold.
The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop
A sociological/cultural/musicological etc highly scholarly study of the Bebop movement and its impact on and the effects of the african american diaspora in the guise of a study/biography of one of the great early pioneers of bebop Bud Powell.I wish Mr. Ramsey had been more honest when titling this book. It is a very good thought provoking insightful study of how Bebop emerged wholesale from the earlier forms of Jazz and how bebop was more than just a sub-genre of jazz, but a social and cultural change of thinking and creation. What it is not (for at least 2/3rds of its brief length) is a book about Bud Powell.
Powell is barely mentioned in some chapters and only in a cursory manner at best, while chapters seque into beatiful learned discourses on the nature of genre, gender and genius in music and in the african american diaspora. The last chapter is a study of selected pieces of Powell's throughout his career and is a truly fascinating read. I wish more of this study had been directly about Powell and his struggles with mental illness and his horrible mistreatment by the white dominated mental health system in New York and how despite and/or because of this he was still able to create jazz masterpieces that have stood the test of time.
Perhaps if the book had been titled after one of Powell's songs rather than a famous album title which elicits expectations of Powell being front and center in the narrative and not an afterthought,a more effective title would be something like : Comin' Up : Jazz History, the challenge of Bebop seen through the life and work of Bud Powell. Then Powell would be placed in a more correct order of importance in the work.
Dark City (Repairman Jack)
Yet another example of the greatness of the Repaiman Jack Franchise and its author. Good clean lightning-paced violent dirty fun. I am Sad that Dark City is the penultimate RJ novel, but perhaps we as readers should just celebrate the fact that since the mid 90's we've had 20 plus Repairman Jack books and allow F.Paul Wilson to move on to his next literary venture. On the other hand, we could always push for RJ Graphic novel(s)!
Seven for a Secret
A marvelous follow up to the Gods of Gotham. Lyndsay Faye manages to capture 1840's Manhattan perfectly. The Wilde Brothers, Julius Carpenter and others are all fully drawn wonderful characters each with secrets to reveal. The main plot concerns the horrible practice of rounding up free blacks in the north and selling them to slavecatchers from the south. This practice has great repercussions for all involved and none are left unscarred by the end of it.A fantastic delighfully dark historically rich mystery novel. Not to be missed.
Terry Nation's Blake's Seven: Scorpio Attack
A quick and simple novelzation of three episodes from the fourth and final season of Blake's Seven.I happened to find it buried deep in the deck storage at the Central library and had to reread it as my original paperback copy was leant and never to be seen again.
Will not work as an introduction to the series to new fans, but it is definatley a quick fun read and will bring back fond memories for long time fans.
Becoming Mr. October
A delightfully fun quick read, meant as a rejoinder to the Bronx is Burning miniseries on ESPN a few years back. Good for people who were yankee fans back in those days or those who have studied the Bronx Zoo of the late 70's. Reggie's take on Billy Martin's self destructive tendencies is intriguing to say the least. I would recommend to those who haven't read about the yankees of that era to read other books and then Mr. Jackson's take as I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Gardens of the Moon (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Vol. 1)
A very very good High Fantasy novel with an innovative magic system. It was a bit hard to connect with some of the characters and story early on. At the midpoint the book really took off.
Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter
An intimate look into the mind of a true genius. Wayne Shorter known to some as "sphinx" for his seeming "unknowability" is richly brought to life in this book. Shorter is a genius who thinks more profoundly and more deeply than most humans and composes music at an astounding rate. A magnificent book about an abundantly productive and amazing mind.
Dark Magic
A good mix of "supernatural" magic, "stage" magic and somewhat a detective story. Real life Stage magician Swain does a nice job mixing in details of his other vocation. His supernatural magic system (what there is of one) is believable enough. He uses short taut compact sentences which move things along at a good pace. Sure there are plot holes, but nowhere near enough to wreck the enjoyment of this quick light bit of fun and frolic.The Rainborowes: One Family's Quest to Build a New England
An excellent family history set during a turbulent time in both England's and the Colonies' history.Tinniswood does a magnificent job of tying the family to the events around them and shows how truly connected both "Englands" were. Most histories seem to tow the line towards either geographical area being separate from each others political influence. The Rainborrowes removes such nonsense and shows how inextricably linked they were. A lovely overview of one family's influence on both "Englands" and how much of history is written or re-written by the victors.The New York Four
Dear Mr. Wood,if you are going to have a main character who "grew up" Brooklyn as opposed to moved here from somewhere else, there is no way in hell that she would say "New York City's not so intimidating",when going to Manhattan for the first time to go to College @ NYU!.
Anyone who was born here would say either Manhattan or the "City" but not NYC. Anyone living in the four outer boroughs would never give Manhattan the name for all of the city.Rant over.
that being said I found the whole thing fairly believable and well written. the dropping of cultural "hotspots" for no more reason than street cred was a tad annoying.
Codex Born: (Magic Ex Libris: Book Two)
Another fun filled installment in Magic ex libris series. I love the concept of a libriomancer- someone who can bring forth objects from a book. The pacing is well done here as well as the slow methodical dishing out of the backstory. Hines gives you just enough to question what you already know and yet doesn't decide to "jump the shark" and blow up his entire backstory just for juicy plot points, which too many authors in paranormal fiction/romance do with comlete abandon.A quick moving joyful read.
