The Fault in Our Stars

#796
Title: The Fault in Our Stars
Author: John Green
Publisher: Dutton
Year: 2012
313 pages

Audiobook.

I think of John Green's teens as the children who, later in history, will be snapped up by Orson Scott Card's Battle School. They're linguistically and cognitively precocious in a way that I enjoy and find (usually) convincing. Here, the subjects are cancer and loss, conveyed empathically but without excessive sentimentality. In a refreshing departure from many contemporary female protagonists (*cough* Bella, *cough* Katniss), Hazel, while ambivalent about her romantic interest, actually thinks about and attempts to untangle the reasons for her emotions. 

The Android's Dream

#795
Title: The Android's Dream
Author: John Scalzi
Publisher: Tom Doherty
Year: 2007
396 pages

Audiobook.

When I was about two chapters in, I was a little worried that, like Pratchett, Scalzi isn't someone I find funny. Fortunately, the book grew on me as I stuck with it. The story is somewhat picaresque, similar to a little too much candy, geared to typical boy-humor (much farting, for example). Characters sound and for the most part behave the same as each other. Douglas Adams plus farts plus an amusing conclusion, even if parts are predictable.

Outcast But Not Forsaken: True Stories from a Paraguayan Leper Colony

#794
Title: Outcast But Not Forsaken: True Stories from a Paraguayan Leper Colony
Author: Maureen Burn [Ethnographer]
Publisher: Plough Publishing House
Year: 1986
Country: Paraguay
168 pages

An ethnography of a Bavarian-born Paraguayan woman with leprosy, collected and expanded upon by a Hutterite sister. Illustrated throughout with line drawings by the narrator, Doña María, as well as others. Interesting both for its descriptions of life in the leper colony and the very present animosity of the Roman Catholic majority for the "Evangelicals," Protestants, and Salvation Army adherents in their midst. Doña María describes being chastised for reading the Bible (as far as I can tell, the implication is that she dares to do so without requiring an intercessor to interpret it for her.)

Oddly, in none of the illustrations, whether by Doña María or others, does anyone appear to have leprosy, though hands and feet are often roughly sketched. On p. 46 there's an illustration where a woman has 6 toes, but I imagine this is accidental rather than deliberate.

I have the paperback edition. If I can, I'll scan that cover.

Read with Nalalelua and Bowman, No Footprints in the Sand: A Memoir of Kalaupapa to compare to the experience of a Hawaiian leper colony. 

Shadows in Flight (Shadow #5; Ender's Saga #12)

#793
Title: Shadows in Flight (Shadow #5; Ender's Saga #12)
Author: Orson Scott Card
Publisher: Tor
Year: 2012
237 pages

Audiobook.

Review hidden. Highlight to see spoilers. The most recent installment in Card's Shadow series, this reads more like an extended short story than a novella or short novel, despite its length. There aren't really enough plot points to warrant the length, so I infer that Card's purpose was not only to move Bean and his three genetically-modified children away from Earth, forward in time through near-light speed travel, and into an encounter with the Formics, but to take some time for character development. The set-up here is a bit like Ender Wiggins's family in that a bossy male child dominates a placating female and a somewhat preoccupied male sibling. Unlike in the original Ender's constellation, this younger brother (also named Ender) puts his domineering brother in his place. Unfortunately, the exchanges between Bean and these children are reminiscent of Lazarus Long's with his also-preternaturally intelligent, wise-cracking daughters (actually, clones), including discussions of intra-group reproduction and sage theory/advice from the old coot (though Bean is in his mid-20s, he's clearly become an old coot in the Heinlein tradition) as they speed in their ship through time and space. Unlike the creepy Long twins ("It’s time for you to impregnate us"; "Both of us"), child Carlotta is fairly disgusted by the notion of reproducing, even at an extracted ovum level, with her family members.

Though almost incidentally the problem of Anton's Key is solved here, the big twist introduced in this installment is that at least some of the Formic subspecies do have independent thought, which contradicts what the Hive Queen told Ender in the first series. This raises a troubling ethical challenge that I presume Card will address as he wraps up this series. Meanwhile, Bean has enjoined his children to modify their intestinal biota so they can eat food on the planet they appear about to colonize with the Formics. This may mark the beginning of human/Formic co-civilization and genetics.

There are two aspects of this volume I found poignant. The first is Bean the giant lying down to die on the grass in the Formic colony ship, an image which resonates across time and space to Ender's game and the giant he discovers later in the first series. The second is that, through Bean's eyes, Ender becomes more clearly the object of sympathy, and his embodiment of the Wandering Jew archetype is more pronounced.

Half of a Yellow Sun

#793
Title: Half of a Yellow Sun
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Publisher: Knopf
Year: 2006
433 pages

Audiobook.

I enjoyed this novel of Biafra, which was both sweeping and very personal. The audiobook reader did a very nice job with voice characterizations. I found the action somewhat melodramatic, and felt the ending was rushed. 

Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Three Adventures

#792
Title: Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Three Adventures
Author: Garth Nix
Publisher: Nix Entertainment Pty Ltd
Year: 2011
96 pages

Ebook.

A cute little e-collection from Garth Nix, with a novella (the best of the set) and two short stories. Its strength is in the world-building and Nix's deft character development, particularly for Mister Fitz. However, this definitely has the feel of a work in progress; at the moment it's picaresque and the action, while entertaining and enjoyable, doesn't seem to advance the plot or maturation (though it's hinted that Mister Fitz becomes a darker character, and Sir Hereward more ambivalent about him and their mission over time). While not a young adult piece, I really fail to see why it needs a warning that it's intended for adults. Yes, there are some gooey deaths and references to sexual behavior, but it's pretty tame compared to something like Bella and Edward's pillow-snapping sex in Breaking Dawn.

Birds of the Fiji Bush

#791
Title: Birds of the Fiji Bush
Author: Fergus Clunie
Illustrator:Pauline Morse
Publisher: Fiji Museum
Year: 1984/2007
147 pages

A very attractive little guide to Fijian birds, with much helpful information about habits, breeding, and other behaviors. Beautiful, large, plentiful illustrations.

Unfortunately, the text is extremely garbled at times. My guess is that this edition was scanned from a previous one and not then proofread. A few examples:

bright yell edging
the short tail hidden by Ion) hairy feathering
and at bizarre when moulting
Foral between ground and canopy

These are all from one description, and aren't the only errors in it. This is one of the more intelligible descriptions; though not all are compromised, some are so rife with errors that a mental running start is necessary to understand them. It makes me want to volunteer to read proofs for the next edition.