Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West

#869
Title: Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West
Author: Blaine Harden
Publisher: Viking
Year: 2012
221 pages

I started by listening on BBC 4, but quickly discovered that it was a highly truncated version and switched to the book.

Written in a style that will please readers who like a personal story told journalistically, with sections providing information, collateral reports, and related news stories. If you liked Demick's Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea but wanted a more extended story from one of her participants, you may like Escape from Camp 14. If you want to lose yourself in a memoir, without external intrusions, try The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag. I appreciated the blend, especially because Shin Dong-hyuk is, depending on your perspective, either an unreliable narrator or a person with a great deal of shame and good reasons to mistrust authorities. Compare to many of Elie Wiesel's Holocaust narratives, where disclosures about one's behavior depend on many factors, or any account of a conflict (such as the war in Vietnam) where people did things that shame them and are shocking or disgusting outside that context.

The Last Colony (Old Man's War #3)

#868
Title: The Last Colony (Old Man's War #3) 
Author: John Scalzi
Publisher: Tor
Year: 2007
320 pages

This third (or third.5, depending on how you count The Sagan Diary) installment of the Old Man's War series is in some ways less emotional and more action-packed. John Perry, wife Jane Sagan, adopted daughter Zoe, a dog who has no particular plot function and Zoe's two Obin escorts move to a new colony. Interstellar intrigue erupts for a variety of reasons and with a cascade of consequences. Some make more sense at the tie; some are elucidated later; a few still leave me puzzled; for example, (view spoiler) Ah, well. It moves right along and makes more sense than a lot of brain candy.

Scalzi can over-rely a little on the device of having his characters know something the reader doesn't, a la the sitcom technique of Lucy leaning in to Ethel and saying, mad gleam in her eye, "So what we'll do is... [whisper, whisper, whisper].

I appreciate that Scalzi and his characters wrestle with questions about governments' intentions. John's conversation with General Gau were useful in this regard.

It's a little rushed at the end; another 25 pages would have been welcome.

Zoe's Tale approaches these events from Zoe's perspective. Since the last retelling I read was probably Midnight Sun's plodding recounting of Twilight from a dull and listless perspective, I'm looking forward to having Scalzi save the subgenre.

Fifty Shades Darker (Fifty Shades, #2) (Fifty Shades #2)

#867
Title: Fifty Shades Darker (Fifty Shades, #2)
Author: E. L. James
Publisher: Vintage
Year: 2011/2012
532 pages

Seriously empty writing about ill-drawn characters with boring sex scenes and laughable dialogue. Really, if I wanted to read this for free, I'd just confiscate some high school student's cell phone and read the texts. I cannot believe in a multi-multi-million dollar CEO who plays "No, you hang up first." What is sadly believable is that many readers of this series as well as Twilight think a little love is all it takes to fix your man. Fortunately for Ana, Christian doesn't seem to be an actual sociopath, just a romance novel sociopath. I'm sort of finding the Twilight books more engaging in retrospect. I'd rather be reading for religious allegory than reading for fanfic allegory. "Oh, he's just like Edward" is not even as interesting as "Oh, he's just like Joseph Smith."

If you liked this, by all means, enjoy. I found it flat and vapid.

Jane on Her Own: A Catwings Tale (Catwings #4)

#866
Title: Jane on Her Own: A Catwings Tale (Catwings #4)
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Illustrator: S. D. Schindler
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 1999/2003
48 pages

Thematically, all four of the Catwings books feature the threat of familial relationship rupture as their central concern. Since I have two cats from a litter of four whose prior owners still have the mother and the other two, yet look misty-eyed and bereft when we talk about the cats for too long, I can see why this is a compelling focus.

It should be said that most of the illustrations in this series really capture cat movements naturalistically, even with the addition of wings. 

Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings: A Catwings Tale (Catwings #3)

#865
Title: Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings: A Catwings Tale (Catwings #3)
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Illustrator: S. D. Schindler
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 1994/2003
48 pages

In this third Catwings volume, there's a character for children to identify with. Alexander is the apteryx of the cat world (as is Mrs. Jane Tabby, but a mommy cat is not how children see themselves). Despite his flightlessness, he is able to help Jane fille master her (view spoiler) PTSD and speak again, solely by means of rapport, unconditional positive regard, and the talking cure. This will be very useful in some future Catwings/Rats of NIMH mashup. 

Catwings Return (Catwings #2)

#864
Title: Catwings Return (Catwings #2)
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Illustrator: S. D. Schindler
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 1989/2003
56 pages

Here, some of the Catwings seek their mother in the city, and find a half-sister. The Catwings are the opposite of the Warriors; they are kittypets* who want to be fed sardines. Nonetheless, several crave adventures.

*To be fair, in my house all clan members are called "kittypet" and all twolegs are called "cakesniffer."

Catwings (Catwings #1)

#863
Title: Catwings (Catwings #1)
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Illustrator: S. D. Schindler
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 1988/2003
40 pages
 
It's written by Le Guin and it's got flying cats, like a hallucinatory Jenny Linsky. A re-read of this very sweet children's book.