The Serpent's Shadow (Kane Chronicles, #3)

#814
Title: The Serpent's Shadow (Kane Chronicles, #3)
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher:Hyperion
Year: 2012
401 pages

A reasonable end to a trilogy that also strongly hints at a second series. Riordan wraps up his dangling plot points well, including a predictable but entertaining solution to the "ZOMG i have 2 bfs what to do what to do??" trope so present in contemporary YA fiction. Riordan is clever in his weaving of contemporary disasters into his narrative as evidence of its reality.

The structure of this series has never grown on me. I don't believe the voices of teen siblings swapping a microphone back and forth.

Bored of the Rings

#813
Title: Bored of the Rings
Author: Henry N. Beard
Publisher: Signet Books
Year:1969
160 pages

I've read this countless times before, but this time I read it aloud to my partner. There are a reasonable number of parts that withstand the test of time ("Oh, the leaves are falling, the flowers are wilting, and the rivers are all going Republican"). There are others that do not, and are so far removed from the present that Google cannot recall their referents. However, it still evokes pleasant memories, and, as my partner commented, "So <i>that's</i> why you sometimes say, 'Look! The Winged Victory of Samothrace!'"

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

#812
Title: Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
Author: Daniel H. Pink
Publisher: Riverhead
Year: 2012
242 pages

Audiobook.

Well-written popular management and psychology of motivation text that is generally accurate, which is not true of all of them. Pink argues against overuse of extrinsic motivators (rewards, carrot-and-stick) and for facilitating intrinsic, internal ones. He includes an annotated bibliography and applications to settings other than business as well.

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague

#811
Title: Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague
Author: Geraldine Brooks
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2001
308 pages

Brooks has a beautiful grasp of description that's well-showcased here. I didn't find the last quarter as Hallmark-y as some other reviewers; a tad melodramatic, but ultimately well-rendered. Compare to Willis's Doomsday Book and Eifelheim for somewhat their similar content (plague) and tone.

Bill Bryson's African Diary

#810
Title: Bill Bryson's African Diary
Author: Bill Bryson
Publisher: Broadway
Year: 2002
64 pages

Sadly, this begs the question, "So what?" Michael Dorris, faced with the same offer/task, did a beautiful job in Rooms in the House of Stone: The "Thistle" Series of Essays, which managed to be small, brief, but filled with useful observations and understated but sincere sentiment. Bryson's account comes off more like notes about a little junket. It gives very little sense of Africa, perhaps because it tells rather than shows. As other reviewers have noted, the humor seems insulting at times. Poor Bill has to fly in a small plane. How about the people who don't even get to walk because they're in refugee camps? He could have gotten away with this if there was more to connect the reader to the Africans he interacts with, but there's little of that, and not that much about what CARE does, either. It reminds me of de Botton's A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary, another sponsored gig that is info-light and seems constrained by the necessity of praising one's benefactor.

The City and the City

#809
Title: The City and the City
Author: China Miéville
Publisher: Del Rey
Year: 2009
312 pages

Audiobook.

So I was teaching a big lecture class on human trafficking today and a student made an observation about walking around in one's life and seeing but not seeing other people. I asked, "How many of you have read Miéville's The City and the City? Not a one raised a hand. I am almost recovered from my shock. 170 university students and none had read this? It's enough to make a person wish she still taught literature.

Yes, I see 9/11 in it. Yes, I see Borges. Yes, I think of Robbe-Grillet's Topology of a Phantom City. Yes, I see an okay detective story. But what I most see, and what carries this, is the enormous sparkle of its world-building, and how the world(s) created resonate with our lived experience of not seeing poverty, not seeing crime, not seeing other cultures, not seeing women, the ways we share a sidewalk while pretending we don't interact with each other. Plot aside, I found this novel playful and great sociocultural and linguistic fun. More, please.

The Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning, and Gambling Feel So Good

#808
Title: The Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning, and Gambling Feel So Good
Author: David J. Linden
Publisher: Viking
Year:2011
240 pages

Audiobook.

A nice pop-but-somewhat-technical book on dopamine. I found it easy to follow, but it is neurochemically focused and probably requires some familiarity with brain function.