TekWar

TekWar
by William Shatner


Blurb:

Not satisfied with the thrills of being one of Greater Los Angeles’ toughest cops, Jake Cardigan turns to Tek, a computerized brain stimulant which transports the user to any reality he can imagine. He’s soon addicted to this fantasy-enabler—and it isn’t long before Cardigan is accused of dealing. When he fails to convince the mechanized jury of his innocence, the state strips his badge and sentences him to fifteen years in suspended animation. Four years later he’s awakened. His sentence has been changed, but no one will tell him why.

Cardigan’s search for answers takes him to Mexico, where a rogue scientist is attempting to rid the world of Tek. But these efforts have roused powerful enemies. Aiding this quest is the right thing to do, but for an ex-con, doing good can be the most dangerous decision of all.

My Reaction:
This is yet another shared read with Donald, chosen because it was featured on the "bad book" book club podcast, 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back.

Wow... Where do I even begin? When I first opened this document on my plasbook-- er, e-reader-- I little imagined the delights in store! Shatner and ghost-writer Ron Goulart have brought to life a stunning vision of the future, populated by finely drawn, truly distinctive characters whose scintillating, fast-paced, cleverly plotted adventures will have you clinging to the edge of your seat.

...Not! (Heh heh, really had you going for a minute there, didn't I?)

No, this novel will bring joy mostly just to those of us who take (perverse?) pleasure in absurdities. The phrase "so bad it's good" comes to mind. If you can enjoy watching a bad movie just to laugh at it, why not apply the same principle to bad books? It works better when you're sharing the joke with someone else, of course, which is why I'd recommend seeking out the relevant episodes of the podcast mentioned above.

What amazing crapcraftsmanship! The plas-this and plas-that! The skyvehicles in their infinite variety! The endless, mind-numbing cycle of travelling to a place, talking to a (typically "plump") person about other characters you've yet to meet-- rinse and repeat ad infinitum! The precisely measured (and usually unbelievably long) periods of time that things take to happen! The fact that nearly every secondary character has a gimmicky catch-phrase! The sheer stupidity of a future where androids feed printed slips of paper from slots in their chests and hands, every second person is a cyborg with one arm replaced by a weapon, and digital books are oh-so-conveniently printed on demand-- in a special shop-- a process which apparently takes hours-- rather than being available to read instantly on an electronic device! The befuddling decision to name a book after a "drug" that only makes a fleeting (and completely unimpressive) appearance in the pages of said book! The wonder and awe that is Beth Kittridge! All this and so. Much. More!

Summation: Best left to fans of humorously bad writing and those who so love Shatner that he can do no wrong. This isn't on the same level as The Eye of Argon (the previous 372 Pages selection), but then, what else is?

Death in Cyprus

Death in Cyprus
by M.M. Kaye


Blurb:

Twenty-year-old Amanda Derrington is on an extended cruise with her uncle when she decides to make a short side trip to the sun-washed island of Cyprus. But even before the ship arrives in port, there is a suspicious death. Once the passengers reach the island, it soon becomes clear that the death was in fact an act of murder. What Amanda had meant to be a pleasant excursion quickly takes a turn for the worse in this classic novel of suspense and romance.

My Reaction:
While not without flaws, this was a perfectly acceptable bit of escapism. It's not destined to be a personal favorite, though.

M.M. Kaye seems to have done the same kind of writing as Mary Stewart, but not quite as well. For instance, in this book there are a few pleasant descriptions, but in general, the exotic locale isn't as finely painted as in Mary Stewart's best work. I don't come away from the book feeling as though I'd visited Cyprus. The main thing I remember is that Kaye falls back again and again on the description of places as "dust-scented". I can't for the life of me understand what she means by that. How does dust smell? (Believe me, this is not a humblebrag to the effect that I never allow dust to accumulate! I've just never noticed it having a particular scent.)

More complaints: The author's approach to romance is very dated, and I'm becoming tired of her odd habit of repeatedly comparing her young, beautiful heroines to other, slightly older characters.  It seems to happen in all of the Death in... novels-- or at least the three I've read so far. In this instance, the descriptions of Monica are distasteful. No-one can believe the possibility that such a "thick", plain, middle-aged frump could attract the attention of any man ever. (She's actually described as "plain and effective and thick and thirty-five-ish"-- the shame of being 35ish! She also had the audacity to have "buck teeth and a forty-two inch waist".) Only the young, thin, and lovely-- or possibly the very-well-preserved not-quite-young 30-something-- should hope for love, apparently. And if a man ever does pay attention to a plain-featured, chubby, 35-ish woman ("a frustrated spinster"), it's only because he has ulterior motives. ("He was probably the only man who had ever looked twice at her, and he reduced her to a pulp.")

I haven't read many reviews yet... Was I the only one who noticed how often "Amanda demanded"? It happened so many times! Hilarious! Maybe it was more noticeable to me, though, because I read it aloud. (...Yes, I read aloud while I walk. I find I just enjoy some books more when I'm reading aloud, and my mind is less likely to wander. Usually there's no-one listening but the dogs. They're a wonderful audience for my "performances".)

Another side-note-- Amanda's hair was almost a character in its own right! First, we hear how beautiful it is-- and so unusual, too. (In the 1950s, most fashionable young women had their hair cut short, of course.) Then the hero starts commenting on it... And finally it ends up saving her life-- twice!  (Well, alright, the second time is debatable, but it's definitely mentioned as a factor in the fact that she isn't quite as damaged as she might have been if she had a bobbed cut.) I went from being annoyed by the hair to finding it, too, hilarious. (Maybe I'm easily amused.)

...But if you can look past those kinds of things, it's vintage escapism. (You kind of have to take the bad with the good, with a lot of these books.)

The Woman of Cabin 10

The Woman in Cabin 10 
by Ruth Ware 


Blurb: 

Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea.

At first, Lo's stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo's desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong.

My Reaction:
Glancing through several reviews, I see that this book inspires some strong negative reactions. I feel a little more lukewarm about it. It wasn't great, no, but I thought it was a reasonably enjoyable suspense/thriller page-turner type of book-- with a few caveats. It sounds like maybe this book was promoted as Something Amazing, and when it couldn't live up to the hype, readers were not pleased. Or maybe I was just in a more generous mood when I read it. In any case, about those caveats...

First, I didn't really like Lo that much. I know, I know! Not all protagonists have to be "likable"-- but honestly, sometimes they should be. In this instance, a less irritating protagonist would've made the book better. Lo was a bit too rude, at times. Her poor treatment of her boyfriend, in particular, was frustrating to read. Then there were all the times she (stupidly) self-medicated with alcohol-- more than a little annoying to read about for the fifth or sixth time. Perhaps most damning of all, Lo is just not that bright, unfortunately. She certainly doesn't have much to offer in the way of investigative journalism or common sense.

Then there were plenty of examples of things that didn't make complete, logical sense to me-- "Why would she do X? What about Y? Surely someone would've noticed Z!" kind of moments. You do have to suspend your disbelief a fair bit.

I was also disappointed that there was so little description of the surroundings-- the sea, the sky, the shoreline. I would have enjoyed a little more Scandinavian local color, but given that most of the action took place on a yacht, I guess that was never likely to happen. (It would've been nice, though.)

Those things aside, it was a fairly generic piece of mystery-driven escapism. It's not the best I've read in the genre-- not the cleverest, not the most edge-of-your-seat, not the fastest-paced-- but if you like these kinds of novels, you might like this one, too. I thought it was interesting enough!

(My nit-pickiest observation while reading this novel was probably that the American boyfriend used some phrases that sounded very British-- definitely not believable from a guy from New York. But maybe that was just me...)

Addicted to Scraps

Addicted to Scraps: 12 Vibrant Quilt Projects
by Bonnie K. Hunter


Blurb:

Forever change the way you look at scraps! Best-selling author, Quiltmaker columnist, and esteemed teacher Bonnie K. Hunter shares 12 large, multicolored scrap quilt patterns in her signature style. Learn how to sew leftover strips into usable fabric that's readily available for projects with Bonnie's easy-to-use Scrap User's System. This complete guide to scrap quilting includes full-size templates, 2 paper-piecing patterns, and a full chapter on quiltmaking basics for scrap addicts.

My Reaction:
Bonnie K. Hunter is known for her scrap-friendly style of quilt design.  If you love quilts that use up anything and everything (including "ugly" fabric, out-of-fashion prints, and small leftover bits and pieces), you owe it to yourself to take a closer look at her patterns.

This book has patterns for a dozen quilts in her colorful, playful, scrappy style.  I recommend visiting this post on Bonnie's blog to preview the patterns in Addicted to Scraps.  There are a lot of small pieces in some of these quilts, and yes, they can be a bit "busy".  But "busy" isn't a four-letter word (ha ha) for some of us.  So-called busy quilts are usually what I'd call happy, energetic, and fun.  If you agree, you'll probably find a lot to love here or in one of the designer's other books. 

If you're interested in organizing your jumbled bags or boxes of scraps into more readily usable cuts of fabric, be sure to check out the information on Bonnie's Scrap User's System.  I've yet to implement it, but one of these days...

String Fling

String Fling: Scrappy, Happy and Loving It!
by Bonnie K. Hunter


Blurb:

Bonnie is back! And this time she's introducing us to a world of string piecing. Strings are strips and scraps usually too small to be useful for other projects, but they are just right for these 13 new quilts. Within these pages you will find a twist on traditional, time-honored designs along with some new ideas straight from Bonnie's scrappy imagination.

My Reaction: 
If you love a scrappy style of quilting, you'll want to look at some of Bonnie K. Hunter's patterns.  She has that "everything including the kitchen sink" style that (in my ever-so-humble opinion) feels truer to the classic "mend and make do" quilt aesthetic than the matchy-matchy, perfectly coordinated style, where every piece of fabric comes from one collection of prints.  That's not to say that a matchy-matchy quilt is inferior or wrong in some way.  It's just a different style.  Personally, I find a busy mix (and sometimes even intentional clash) of prints and colors charming.  If you do, too, give this a look!

The patterns in this particular book (as you might have gathered from the title) all include string piecing.  I won't bore you with definitions and descriptions you could easily look up on your own; suffice it to say that string piecing is easy, fun, and addictive.  I'd say string piecing is an ideal introduction to quilting, since there are so few rules to follow.  If you can sew a (reasonably) straight line, you can string piece.

These patterns take the idea of string quilting and run with it in different directions-- and in varying degrees of difficulty.  There's room to grow new skills in these pages.  Recommended for fans of the scrappy style!

(This book also describes Bonnie K. Hunter's system for cutting and storing scraps so that they're at their optimal usefulness.  I haven't implemented her system in my own relatively young stash, yet, but it's interesting, and I'm keeping it in mind for the future.  If you're drowning in scraps, it does seem like a great way to create useful cuts of fabric that are easier to transform into quilts.)