STAND BY FOR MARS! -- Carey Rockwell

A TOM CORBETT Space Cadett Adventure: STAND BY FOR MARS!
Grosset & Dunlap -- hc
New York -- ©1952 -- 216pp
Willy Ley technical advisor
illustrated -- no illustration credits given (or found on the internet)



Three young men join the Solar Guard Corps and could become the best unit in the fleet if they can learn to get along. Tom Corbet, from Earth, is the unit leader; Astro, from Venus, is the mechanic; and Roger Manning, from Earth, is the navigator with a chip on his shoulder.

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Another boys' adventure book from the 1950's which I read out loud to my sons at bed time. they both enjoyed it, but not quite as much as the Tom Swift book that I read previously.

Although a little harder to read that the Tom Swift series, this contained a nice "meesage" of the need for cooperation and working together. The curmudgeonly Roger Manning never really seemed to come clean with what his grudge against the Corps really was about.

Still, a pretty decent sci-fi book from 50+ years ago.

THE LITTLEST HITLER: stories -- Ryan Boudinot

Counterpoint -- hc
New York -- ©2006 -- 215pp
ISBN-10: 1-58243-357-7

Short stories.

"The Littlest Hitler"
"On Sex and Relationships"
"Bee Beard"
"Blood Relatives I)My Mother Was a Monster II)Profession"
"Drugs and Toys"
"Contaminant"
"Civilization"
"Written By Machines"
"The Flautist"
"The Sales Team"
"Absolut Boudinot"
"So Little Time"
"Newholly"
Acknowledgements

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It takes more than quirky characters and unusual circumstances to create short stories. Sadly this book doesn't offer anything more than such.

A massive waste of time.

TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING LAB -- Victor Appleton II

Grosset & Dunlap -- hc
New York -- ©1954 -- 208pp

illustrated by Graham Kaye

Tom Swift, Jr., son of the original Tom Swift, in his first book adventure. With a newly deisgned "Flying Lab," Tom and crew go to South America to look for a rare, secret deposit of uranium, before a band of rebels finds it. Kidnapping and aeronautic maneuvering punctuate the plot in this book.

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I've read this book out loud twice now, once to each of my sons. They love the story, even though some of the "science" is beyond their ken. I imagine that a young, boy genius inventor is always a favorite of young boys.

The only really disappointing part of this book, for me, was the hint of extra-terrestrial communication. It is highly suggested that a group of scientists from Mars are trying to contact the Swifts, and that we are to keep reading the series to find out when that contact is made.

As much as I like science fiction, I was hoping that this series would stay "inventive" rather than sci-fi.

THE SHIRLEY TEMPLE EDITION OF CAPTAIN JANUARY & THE LITTLE COLONEL -- Laura E. Richards & Annie Fellows Johnston

Random house -- hc

New York -- 181pp

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 59-10879

The Shirley Temple Edition

Captain January by Laura E. Richards

The Little Colonel by Annie Fellows Johnston

With illustrations from the motion picture featuring Shirley Temple

The original stories that the Shirely Temple movies were based on, combined in one volume.

Captain January tells the story of a young girl, parented by a lighthouse keeper after the ship she was on as an infant, went down in a storm. The girl's relatives discover her but decide that the keeper loves her so much and she looks on him as a father, and decide to leave her be.

The Little Colonel tells of a young girl raised by a crotchety old soldier. The old soldier comes to change his ways with the help of the girl and a servant.

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These books certainly have the feel of older storytelling for children. The style was a bit dry, and the portrayal of the black servants was horrifyingly stereotypical. Not something that would be allowed to see print today.

I don't recall ever having seen The Little Colonel, so I can't compare the book and the movie, but I've often enjoyed watching Captain January. The movie added some much needed plot, but the basic premise is basically sound.

Hardly a book to recommend, and even if I did, I'm not sure where anyone would be able to find it.

MAMMOTH -- John Varley

Ace Books -- hc
New York -- 2005 -- 364pp
ISBN: 0-441-01281-7

The world's richest man uncovers a mammoth inside ice, and next to the mammoth, a man ... with a modern briefcase! The man hires a staff to "fix" what he assumes is a time machine in the briefcase.

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I hadn't realized how much I have missed reading Varley until getting into this.

The title, and the premise as described on the jacket, didn't do anything for me, but as I have always enjoyed a John Varley book I decided to read this as well, and am glad I did!

Varley has a way of engaging the reader, bringing us into his story, rather than keeping us as observers.

This is not Varley's best ... there are a number of "problems" I had with it, and it was moderately easy to predict the outcome, but a mediocre Varley is still better than most.

Part of the problem was the dual focus that was distracting rather than intriquing. The idea of creating new mammoths from the DNA of a found mammoth implanted in modern elephants would be enough for a book, but then that's been done with Jurasic Park. The modern creation of the time machine would also be enough for a book, but has also been done in abundance. The idea of the protesters didn't really go anywhere even though there was a slight tie to them later.

Still, despite the faults, this was a fun science fiction read.

THE DA VINCI CODE -- Dan Brown

Doubleday -- hc
New York -- 2003 -- 454pp
ISBN: 0-385-50420-9

Conspiracy. The Catholic Church. Leonardo DaVinci. Throw them together for a best-selling book.

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It's easy to see why this book became a best-seller. The writing is crisp, the plot intricate but accessible, it relies heavily on page-turning chapter endings and rather stock characters and a couple of "red herrings" to keep the reader in surprise.

It was a rather quick read, but some of the very basic premise got off to a rather shaky start, in my opinion, but without it, there would have been no book.

One of the basic problems with a book like this is that you can really make anything in to a code to explain some kind of mystery. I could take my birthdate and use it to prove how the numbers mean whatever I want them to. And so this book does it with numbers and paintings, etc.

I predicted what was going to happen, and who the "bad" guys really were, even though some of the misleads were pretty convincing. Still, there were moments that were fun and I did get caught up in the page-turning action at times.

This is far from being a great book, but few best-sellers are.

DARK MATTER -- Philip Kerr

DARK MATTER: THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON: a novel -- Philip Kerr
Crown Publishers -- hc
New York -- ©2002 -- 345pp
ISBN: 0-609-60981-5

As told by Isaac Newtown's assistant, Christopher Ellis, Newton and Ellis investigate some unusual death's which may have a bearing on the Royal Mint.

*****

Although it took me a while to get into this novel, I rather enjoyed it, for the most part.

I never really had any sense that this was Isaac Newton, other than the fact that other characters would refer to him as such, and occassionally make reference to one of his scientific theories. He was, however, an interesting "detective" for a crime novel. He seemed to be quite masterful at observation and with a pretty good sense of human character (despite being pretty terrible at social discourse), and often tries to instruct his assistant in being a better observer. Mr. Ellis, is his strength and protector.

As with any good mystery, there are "red herrings" and extra bits of knowledge that aren't necessary for solving the crime. What I enjoyed most about the book, though, was the historical aspect of the workings of the British mint and Newton's role there. What I would have liked to seen a bit more of would be a sense of this being Issac Newton rather than a wiley detective. What I didn't care for was the relationship between Ellis and Newton's niece (Miss Barton) which had no real bearing on any other aspect of the book (other than to add a couple of steamy sex sequences).

I enjoyed the read, but not necessarily enough to seek out other books by Kerr (but I wouldn't discount one if I saw one that piqued my interest).

DAMNATION ALLEY -- Roger Zelazny

Gregg Press -- hc
Boston -- ©1969;1979 -- 157pp
ISBN: 0-8398-2505-6

In a post-holocaust world where the United States is divided into different nations, and the sky is filled with solid materials that rain down unexpectedly, a convicted criminal is enlisted to drive across the country from the nation of California to Boston to deliver an antiserum to fight the plague.

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Zelazny knows how to tell a story and keep the reader interested.

It's been at least two decades since I first read this book, so decided that I really ought to read it again. I enjoyed the read, but upon reflection, decided that it really isn't much of a book. It's an adventure story, and we're pretty certain from the beginning that the "hero" will make it to the end, and so it becomes a story in which we read to see what is around each corner. It's rather fun to put the pieces together (Zelazny, more than any other writer that I can think of, starts a story in the middle and let's the reader make discoveries along the way) and to find new challeneges along with the main character. Still, nothing really "happens." A man drives across a devasted country.

Fun to read this Zelazny work again, but wouldn't recommend it as a first foray into reading Zelazny.

THE BEST AMERICAN NONREQUIRED READING 2005 -- Dave Eggers, editor

Houghton Mifflin Company -- tpb
Boston -- ©2005 -- 325pp
ISBN-10: 0-618-57048-9
Introduction: Beck

Another book in "The Best American Series." This is a collection of material that doesn't smoothly fit into any of their other categories.

Foreward by Dave Eggers
Introduction by Beck
"Passing Periods" -- Joe Sayers
"The Mediocrity Principle" -- Anders Nilsen
"Florida" -- Daniel Alarcon
"The Death of Mustango Salvaje" -- Jessica Anthony
"Tiger Mending" -- Aimee Bender
"Free Burgers for Life" -- Ryan Boudinot
"Five Forgotten Instincts" -- Dan Chaon
"Lundon" -- Amber Dermont
"A Lynching in Stereoscope" -- Stephanie Dickinson
"Heavy Metal Mercenary" -- Tish Durkin
"My Little Brother Ruined My Life" -- Stephen Elliott
"Tearaway Burkas and Tinplate Menorahs" -- Al Franken
"The Lost Boys" -- Jeff Gordinier
"Roadkill" -- Kate Krautkramer
"Hell-Heaven" -- Jhumpa Lahiri
"At the Cafe Lovely" -- Rattawut Lapcharoensap
"Catalogue Sales" -- Molly McNett
"Bohemians" -- George Saunders
"Manifesto" -- George Saunders
"The Joke" -- J. David Stevens
"The Myth of the Frequent Flier" -- Jonathan Tel
"Girls I Know" -- Douglas Trevor
"They Came Out Like Ants!" -- William T. Vollmann
"Diary of a Journal Reader" -- Lauren Weedman
Contributors' Notes
Notable Nonrequired Reading of 2004

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I'm not likely to return to the series any time soon. Absolutely NONE of the stories stand out favorably as I look back at the titles. I do recall laughing aloud at the Al Franken piece, but I'm hard-pressed to recall any of the details (ah...yes...a USO tour, I believe).

"Free Burgers for Life" reminded me of something I might have written 20+ years ago ("The Girl in the Lime-Green Bikini Bathing Suit"), and look back upon wondering what the hell I was thinking to ever think it was worth publishing. But because I could "relate" it is one of the only pieces that I can recall fairly clearly.

Of course I recall those that I just finished reading, but I don't understand the purpose of "They Came Out Like Ants!" and I thought "Diary of a Journal Reader" was just plain horrible in every possible way.

Don't bother with this collection.

THE GHOST WRITER -- Philip Roth

A Fawcett Crest Book -- pb
New York -- ©1979 -- 222pp
ISBN: 0-449-20009-4

A young writer, excited by the prospect but wary of making the wrong impression, is granted the opportunity to meet his "idol," a famous author, where the young man's imagination take over, creating wild, yet slightly plausible possibilities.

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I wasn't sure where this book was going to go when I started it, and now that I'm done, I'm quite certain that I don't know where it's been.

Who is the "ghost writer"? Is it the young man, Nathan Zuckerman, who's own work is still so new that it hasn't it's own body? Is it the old author, E.I. Lonoff, who isn't the embodiment of the writer that Zuckerman was expecting; who freely admits that all he does is "turn sentences around." Is it the girl, who Nathan imagines to be Anne Frank, living her life under an assumed name, and only Lonoff knows her true identity? Is it Hope, Lonoff's wife, who creates the only drama in Lonoff's life by leaving and accusing Lonoff of having an affair with the young girl? Is it all of them? Is it none of them?

This is the sort of book that one needs to read in school to be able to discuss in order to pick out what's going on. To be read, solo; digested only by the reader, leaves the book remarkably empty, and yet I feel there's so much more there to it.

Not recommended at this time, but to be shelved and read again.

THE DANTE CLUB -- Matthew Pearl

Random House Trade Paperbacks -- tpb
New York -- ©2004 --380pp
ISBN: 0-8129-7104-3

In Boston, 1865, America's first Dante Alighieri scholars (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, and J.T. Fields) work to translate The Divine Comedy, while a murderer terrorizes Boston by methods that only the Dante Club can decipher.

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I had picked this book up a number of times in the bookstores, seriously considering buying it, but each time I would put it back, uncertain as to why it both attracted me and yet I couldn't come to actually purchase it.

When I saw it on the "new books" shelf at my library I was eager to give it its chance.

It seems that my first instincts of maybe/maybe not were right on.

This was an interesting book, and a cleverly plotted mystery, and the historical aspects were fun to explore.

On the other hand, it was dry and slow-moving, and the historical figures of Longfellow, Holmes, Lowell and Fields were about as bland as any character could possibly be.

I'm glad I read it, but I cannot recommend this.

DANIEL MACIVOR 2 PLAYS: NEVER SWIM ALONE & THIS IS A PLAY -- Daniel MacIvor

Playwrights Canada Press -- tpb
Toronto -- ©1993 -- 101pp
ISBN: 0-88754-524-6

Two one act plays.

Never Swim Alone (2M, 1F)
This Is A Play (1M, 2F)

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These two plays were both of an "experimental" nature. Somewhat of a cross between Tom Stoppard and Jean-Claude van Itallie, perhaps. I enjoyed both of them, though Never Swim Alone was a little more confusing and with less clear purpose.




This Is A Play was actually quite funny and I would seriously consider doing it if I had the right performers. The main point of it is that three actors are performing a play and while we do hear some of their dialog, we mostly hear their thoughts. What makes it quite funny is that they don't think much of each other or the play itself.



Worth a read if you're interested in theatre.

THE BEST SHORT PLAYS 1982 -- Ramon Delgado, editor

Chilton Book Company -- hc
Radnor, PA -- ©1982 -- 257pp
ISBN: 0-8019-7144-6

Part of the best short plays series. Included in this volume:

Introduction

Thymus Vulgaris -- Lanford Wilson (2F, 1M)

Ball Boys -- David Edgar (3M)

Chocolate Cake -- Mary Gallagher (2F)

The Dance and the Railroad -- David Henry Hwang (2M)

Vivien -- Percy Granger (2M, 1F)

Napoleon's Dinner -- Samuel Shem (3M)

Reflections In A Window -- Beverly Byers Pevitts (9F, 1M)

Today A Little Extra -- Michael Kassin (2M, 1F)

Minnesota Moon -- John Olive (2M)

In Fireworks Lie Secret Codes -- John Guare (3M, 2F -- possibly adaptable)

Twirler -- Jane Martin (1F)

Cumulative Index 1968-82

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I will admit that I read these plays now, differently as to when I read them while in school. Now I look at them as possible plays for the local high school students to perform for competition. In that respect, most of these failed to pique my interest.

Minnesota Moon is still a pretty good play (I saw it while in college), but for me, a play with two men and no women won't go very far. I'm lucky to get one male of decent ability, but usually get five or six females who are worthy actors.

Of most interest to me was In Fireworks Lie Secret Codes, which seemed to be adaptable as to which characters were women and which men. However, the story was a bit bland. It might bear further reading.

Today A Little Extra was probably the most touching play, but it's Jewish characters and low-rent neighborhood-setting is all going to be lost on my midwestern, Scandanavian-descendant high school kids.

This series is always worth looking at for anyone interested in the theatre.

A DELICATE BALANCE -- Edward Albee

Atheneum -- hc
New York -- ©1966 -- 190pp
Library of Congress catalog card number: 66-28773
Three Act Play.
Pulitzer Prize Winner.

A study of suburban couples facing the crisis of their daily lives.

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This play seems rather typical of the period for which it was written. A bit boring by today's standards and I think that even a remounting would have to be seen as a period piece rather than a current look at human behavior.

I wouldn't mind seeing a brilliant, current production, by I can see where I might easily be bored by a less than stellar performance. A good director will keep the humor out front and the drama, biting at the edges.

PROOF - David Auburn

Faber and Faber -- tpb
New York -- ©2001 -- 83pp
ISBN: 0-571-19997-6
Two Act Play.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize

After the death of her mathematical genius father, Catherine, who gave up her own study of mathematics to tend to him, claims that she is the author of a mathematical proof found in the attic among his unpublished, mostly incoherent notebooks by Hal, one of his former students. But what "proof" does Catherine have that she, and not her father, is the author? Her older sister, home to attend the funeral, doubts her claim and, in fact, doubts Catherine's own sanity. Hal, who has professional ambitions of his own, isn't exactly disinterested and may not be trustworthy; his sleeping with Catherine has also complicated the issue. The elusiveness of genius in general and the difficulty of a mathematical proof in particular here become metaphors for the uncertainties of love, trust, and personal integrity. [from Amazon.com]

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I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised, but I enjoyed this play more than I thought I would. I expected it to be a bit dry, but it was actually quite lively and the relationships were well-defined (though I did feel that there was a certain leap to affection that was a bit rushed).

A minimal cast and a well-crafted tale brought this story to life. I would like to have seen it done. I will admit to wondering, even upon finishing, whether or not the young woman actually wrote the proof or not. Why don't we trust that it was her? Is it because she's a woman? Young? Why?

I enjoyed reading this from the viewpoint of a script reader. Does it have all the ingredients for a play to move from the slush pile to being a contender for a prize? Definitely. I most certainly would have moved this on. (And no, I don't say that just because it did win the Pulitzer.)

A play worth reading/seeing.