In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #6)

#1014
Title: In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #6)
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: Pantheon
Year: 2004/2005
233 pages

Not quite twee, but cloying, with tedious dialogue. The first incident is never resolved, and is never really investigated, even observationally. [What size and brand were the pants? Worn or new? Clean or dirty? That's a lot of information to ignore, and "Oh, they weren't Charlie's" is a limp resolution.  The author does address my earlier criticism that character-related issues disappear, but still only references a character's depression, for example, without this mattering at all to the story.

I'm still enjoying the descriptions of Botswana and Lisette Lecat's narration, but the series is growing stale.

Star Trek Into Darkness (Star Trek: Movie Novelizations #2)

#1013
Title: Star Trek Into Darkness (Star Trek: Movie Novelizations #2)
Author: Alan Dean Foster
Publisher: Pocket Books/Star Trek
Year: 2013
312 pages

A worse novelization than for the first Star Trek rebooted film universe, with little psychological subtlety and clunky exposition. Whereas the first enhanced my understanding of its movie, this merely restated it, with none of the urgency the movie was able to create through visual means.

And the Mountains Echoed

#1012
Title: And the Mountains Echoed
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Publisher: Riverhead
Year: 2013
Country: Afghanistan
404 page

I enjoyed this, though less than Hosseini's previous novels. I appreciated the particular stories set into a sprawling historical and interpersonal context, and in particular the pathos of relationships that can never be repaired or resolved.

The audiobook was challenging, with three readers (why?) with heavy accents. I could understand them with a certain amount of backtracking, but it was more work than normal. I read the book only because a relative wanted to listen to it with me, but she was unable to manage the accents and quickly gave up. I can't speak for the other readers, but Hosseini seems to have heightened his accent to read this, which was unnecessary and decreased the audiobook's accessibility.

The Doll's House (The Sandman #2)

#1011
Title: The Doll's House (The Sandman #2)
Author:  Neil Gaiman
Illustrators: Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Chris Bachalo, Michael Zulli, Steve Parkhouse
Publisher: Vertigo
Year: 1990/2010
232 pages

Cheap thrills with patterns in the universe: I ordered this book and Jim Henson's Tale of Sand from SFBC. On receiving the box and flipping open The Doll's House, I see that the first section is titled "Tale in the Sand." What pleasing synchrony.

***
In addition to the graphics and color work in this edition, I really enjoy how much the Sandman series (at least, thus far) focuses on ethics, balance, and rectifying errors. Though it often dips into Lovecraftian horror/fantasy, it is about putting the world right rather than tearing it apart. It is sometimes a new construction rather than a reconstruction, but ultimately reflects motion toward harmony rather than destruction.

This episode weaves together stories that at first seem distant and unrelated, and I do love the trope that the Sandman's incarceration caused the sleepy sickness (encephalitis lethargica) and his freedom (rather than Oliver Saks and a bucket of L-dopa) brought about its remission.

Joseph Anton: A Memoir

#1010
Title: Joseph Anton: A Memoir
Author: Salman Rushdie
Publisher: Random House
Year: 2012
636 pages

An enjoyable long memoir by Rushdie. I didn't mind his use of the third person for himself; it made me think about the question of memoir as literary fiction (and indeed, Rushdie the narrator discusses the creation of the personae "Rushdie," "Joseph Anton," and "Joe" by others). Is he a pompous blowhard? I don't know. I've enjoyed his novels and articles even when I haven't agreed with his point. Did he deserve the response to The Satanic Verses? Not in a society that claims to uphold free speech, I thought when I read it and even more so after the attack on the World Trade Center. Can he keep his pants zipped? No, he cannot, which would dispose me to be wary of him if we ever had the opportunity for emotional intimacy.

The audiobook reader, who was otherwise fine, did the worst American accents I've ever heard, and terrible women's voices that made the audiobook dialogue between Rushdie and his wives almost unbearable.

UFO in Her Eyes

#1009
Title: UFO in Her Eyes
Author: Xiaolu Guo
Translator:
Publisher: Vintage
Year: 2009/2010
Country: People's Republic of China
208 pages

I do have some trouble with Chinese writers on tyranny, since their conclusions seem obvious to me. I have to keep reminding myself that the context in which they're published is much more dangerous than that in which the translation appears.

Here, a peasant may or may not have seen a UFO, which she dutifully reports. From there we observe the attitudes of villagers and outside officials toward each other, and the exploitation of the event. Abuse of power is a strong theme.

Rip-Off!

#1008
Title: Rip-Off!
Authors: John Scalzi, Jack Campbell, Robert Charles Wilson, Mike Resnick, Elizabeth Bear, Allen Steele, Daryl Gregory, Lavie Tidhar, Mary Robinette Kowal, James Patrick Kelly
Editor: Gardner R. Dozois
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Year: 2012
~360 pages

"Fireborn" by Robert Charles Wilson
"The Evening Line" by Mike Resnick
"No Decent Patrimony" by Elizabeth Bear
"The Big Whale" by Allen M. Steele
"Begone" by Daryl Gregory
"The Red Menace" by Lavie Tidhar
"Muse of Fire" by John Scalzi
"Writer's Block" by Nancy Kress
"Highland Reel" by Jack Campbell
"Karin Coxswain or Death as She Is Truly Lived" by Paul Di Filippo
"The Lady Astronaut of Mars" by Mary Robinette Kowal
"Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air" by Tad Williams
"Declaration" by James Patrick Kelly

An amusing but not memorable collection, and given the number of homages, I'm not certain these are "rip-offs." In fact, starting with a text/texte from an admired author is an honored poetic device.

Many of the stories are not science fiction or fantasy, and many are strangely similar to others in the collection. Several, such as Williams's, were funny, but there are no great pieces here. Scalzi's was familiar, though well-written--it's The God Engines writ small.