The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus #1)

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Title: The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus #1)
Author: Rick Riordan

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Year: 2010
557 pages

This volume begins a second demigod arc that follows on the Percy Jackson set. Being a person of a certain age who spent a great deal of time reading ancient mythology and religion as a child, I figured out the book's big reveal early on, but I enjoyed watching Riordan's dodges and half-statements until he was ready to tell all. The action here sets the terms for this set of books. It's a playful re-engagement and I look forward to the second volume, due out this fall.

Blackout (All Clear #1)

#643

Title: Blackout (All Clear #1)
Author: Connie Willis

Publisher: Spectra

Year: 2010
512 pages

Audiobook

A long set-up, part one of this duology, ably read by Katherine Kellgren. Both books in the set have a feeling of anxious, driven inaction that reminds me of the long camping/hiding sequence in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Other sections, particularly as the historians are thwarted in their increasingly desperate attempts to get to their drops, strongly evoke the final Titanic sequence in Willis's Passage. I'm ambivalent about whether it's too long. I think it could have been accomplished in one book--there's a lot of minute description of characters' inconsequential activities--but I also see some utility in slowing the reading experience by expanding the details. Certainly by the end of this first book I was firmly in the grip of my anxiety and helplessness.


Think of this as volume one of a 2-volume book. Imagine yourself standing at the pier, eagerly awaiting the trans-Atlantic ship that will bring Mrs. Willis's next installment to you. Fortunately for you, you can just buy a copy of All Clear without waiting.

The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It

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Title: The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It
Author: Paul Collier
Publisher: Oxford University Press USA
Year: 2008
224 pages

It's hard for me to critique this adequately because I'm not an economist. It does impress me that the author identifies which of his own referenced articles or studies have been peer reviewed and which haven't. This is my most marked-up book of the last few years, but mostly in a good and dialogical way. I agree with some of the author's assertions, think some of his arguments are made at the wrong level (e.g., statements about NGOs that may be true of larger organizations but aren't true of smaller ones), and note that perhaps not all forms of licit development are equally good for a country. I liked the ways in which he looked at the bottom billion problem from perspectives such as corruption, revolution, and landlock. It gave me a lot to think about as I consider how to be useful in the world.

Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain

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Title: Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain
Author: Maryanne Wolf
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Year: 2007/2008
320 pages

Audiobook

An enjoyable essay that combines reasonably technical information about brain function in reading and its acquisition with literary references and examples. It flows well and gives a good overview. I found it entertaining to read it as an audiobook, and to identify the researcher or writer whose work she was describing before she named it. I knew all that Goodglass and Geschwind would resurface some day long after my college course on aphasia. 

How to Be Pope: What to Do and Where to Go Once You're in the Vatican

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Title: How to Be Pope: What to Do and Where to Go Once You're in the Vatican
Author: Piers Marchant
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Year: 2005
128 pages

Actually a reference book of sorts, not humor. No acknowledgment that popes thus far have been overwhelmingly white (it's noted that there were three African popes but no more mention is made) and all male, which may seem obvious to those familiar with Catholicism but which raises questions for those with different beliefs. The material is a compendium of factual snippets. It gives the very basics without much detail or flavor. I have no clear sense of why it was written in the second person.

The Purple Violet of Oshaantu

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Title: The Purple Violet of Oshaantu
Author: Neshani Andreas
Publisher: Heinemann
Year: 2001
Country: Namibia

185 pages

The first book by a Namibia native and former Peace Corps employee. Perhaps best read for its images of village life and descriptions of the tensions associated with women's traditional roles. I enjoyed reading it and gained a better appreciation for the ways that African (and other) communities can reach negative decisions about a member who does not quite conform to expectations.

The Warlock (Nicholas Flamel #5)

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Title: The Warlock (Nicholas Flamel #5)
Author: Michael Scott
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Year: 2011
391 pages

Various factions pursue their ends in another breakneck installment. The twins remain unreconciled and the feared or hoped-for destruction begins. More of the history of Danu Talis is revealed, and the conclusion makes a very enjoyable revelation. Scott has a lot of threads to pull back together and I'm anticipating how he'll manage it.