The Book Count 2023

[Greg]

Fun fact: Joseph O'Connor is the brother of singer Sinead O'Connor.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Fun fact: Joseph O'Connor is the brother of singer Sinead O'Connor.

Ah. So wild optimism runs in the family.

[Greg]

Round up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca

I'll say it. This book was a bit on the dull side. The book was full of details and behind the scenes anecdotes but all I could summon for enthusiasm was an okay. Hermetz does a good job tying the making of the movie to the events of World War 2 which surrounded the picture. There were fights with the government about what could be said. There were problems getting materials including film stock. Hermetz did deep dives on all the major players and their backgrounds. He touched on Jack Warner running the studio and fights with producer Hal Wallis.

But none of it really raised my excitement level. If you don't know any stories about Casablanca and want to learn more this would be the book. It just wasn't for me.

[Greg]

Murder in an Irish Village by Carlene O'Connor

I've taken this exploration of all things Irish too far. Case in point: Murder in an Irish Village. There's a murder in Natalie's Bistro and it's up Siobhan and her five siblings to figure who did it. Siobhan is the lead and she does most of the sleuthing while trying to keep her family together and the Bistro running. Siobhan has all sorts of backstory including dead parents, an alcoholic brother and a failed dream to go to Dublin to college. She's in love with the local Garda investigating the case, Macdara.

The book is all very twee and cutesy with a strong romance novel vibe. I guess that is why they call it a cozy mystery. The mystery takes place in Kilbane in County Cork. Kilbane happens to be the name of the street I lived on in Ireland. Siobhan makes brown bread and gives a shoutout to Oxtail Soup, two of my favorite Irish foods. I should have liked this book more. But, no.

[Greg]

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

It's The Thin Man in Space. Yes, that Thin Man. Nick and Nora Charles Thin Man. Right down to the dog and the obsession with drinking. Except we are on a passenger cruise from the Earth to Mars with Tesla Crane and her husband, Shal and Tesla Crane's service dog, Gimlet. There is a strong Death on the Nile feel, too. Tesla does most of the investigating after the Security Chief arrests Shal as the main suspect in the murder. If you know the films or books, you know the banter and the drinking. Plenty of screwball comedy moments, too.

The book is a strong advocate for LGBTQ representation. You can only use the correct pronouns for someone if they are given to you. People introduce themselves followed by their pronouns in every situation. My intellectual side liked how Kowal did show how proper representation could be used in society without anyone caring too much about it. My Neanderthal side sighed many times and felt it was just a big gimmick.

I did wish several times they would hurry up and solve the mystery already. The book has the feel of the start of a series. Can't let all that world building and back story go to waste.

[Greg]

No Strangers Here by Carlene O'Connor

This would be a different series of mystery novels set in Ireland, although this time the action takes place on the Dingle Peninsula. Dimpna Wilde must head back to Dingle when she learns her father has been accused of murdering the local rich horse racing magnate. Dimpna has a tragic backstory with the place and hasn't returned to Dingle in 27 years. There are all sorts of problems including the fact her father is suffering from dementia and can't remember what he has done.

This book was much better than O'Connor's other Irish set mystery. Probably has to do with the fact that Murder in an Irish Village was her first book and this is one of her latest. Lots of time to learn her craft. That being said, the book still isn't very good and I found the way the book deeply unsatisfying. There are still the romance aspects swirling around the book as Dimpna has eyes for Cormac, the detective investigating the case.

Chances are high this will be the last O'Connor book I read.

[Greg]

Dark Intelligence by Neil Asher

One of the bonuses of hanging out with the Yeti is of course the free books. Sadly, he can't give you this book anymore since he has given it to me.

What great world building. Although, judging from the Wikipedia page there are a lot of books in the Polity universe and I feel I've read some of them. 

Thorvald Spear is reanimated and tasked with hunting down a rogue AI named Penny Royal, who killed Spear in a previous incarnation. Spear can't tell because he can't trust his memories. By the end of the book, nothing much has changed for Spear. He still doesn't know what to do about Penny Royal. Other characters do have changes but it all seems a circle where we haven't moved much from the beginning. I guess the answers are in the other two books in the series.

I did enjoy it. I will read more. Great space battles and action but a lot of threads left hanging.

[Greg]

The Making of Another Major Motion Picture by Tom Hanks

You have to hate Tom Hanks from pure jealousy. Good in so many areas and supposedly a very nice guy. And now he writes books.

I don't think this will be a book for everyone but it was right in my wheelhouse. Mr. Hanks has wrote a fictionalized book about how movies get made. And from what I know it was pretty accurate. He starts with the genesis of the source material all the way to the movie premiering in New York City. The movie being made is akin to another installment in the MCU but different sorts of super heroes. Since this is Tom Hanks, there are plenty of references to typewriters and WW2. There is a lot of advice about what Tom thinks you need to do be an actor or just to get a job in the industry. This might sound dry as dirt but it's Hank's characters that make the story flow. They all have imaginative back stories. It sounds like a great crew to work for.

My only slight complaint is that it's highly romanticized. The people are the best ever with the exception of one character who is the worst ever. In the book were discussions that I have heard about projects. Hanks talk about the various departments and the various pressures they all face.

For me, it was a really fun book. Makes me want to make movies.

[Greg]

War Factory by Neal Asher

More great world building. The characters are very interesting. But not a lot seems to be happening although big things are hinted at. One of the starship captains just seems to be following the action while begging the AI for answers which are not given. The main spy seems to be in a similar boat. He is just there as a witness while questioning his purpose. Maybe I need to know more about the Polity in order to get more out of these books. I don't know if I will get to book 3.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Book III wraps things up tightly. I got it from that Commie-Pinko-Socialist "Library" place.

[Greg]

Bastards. (Mine is on order from those same unwashed heretics)

[Greg]

Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow

Martin Hench is a forensic Accountant. He comes and finds the vulnerabilities in your systems. He's an attacker. A red team member. An old friend wants him to find some data keys that could show vulnerabilities in supposedly secure systems. Billions of dollars are at stake.

The book takes places mostly in San Francisco. It is fun for me to see places in print I've been. I don't know why that is. The mystery at the heart of the book is okay but not much to it. A lot of the book is given over to explain how great cryptocurrency is for money laundering. I'll admit these deep dives into financial technology lost me on several occasions. But then we would get back to running around the Bay Area and figuring stuff out.

I did enjoy this. It was a quick, easy read. But I'm not going to remember it in a month's time.

[Greg]

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

Towles previous book, A Gentleman in Moscow, spanned fifty years. The Lincoln Highway takes place over the course of ten days and could be longer than Gentleman in Moscow. But the book captivated me. I was very happy to spend the weekend on the couch with Dutchess, Emmet, Billy, Wooly and friends. The book starts with Emmet coming home from the reform school, released early because his father has passed away and someone needs to look after Emmet's brother Billy. The boys plan to leave Nebraska and head west where Emmet wants to use his carpentry skills to build homes.  The boys will take Emmet's Studebaker and drive America's first coast to coast road, The Lincoln Highway.

Things do not go as plan as forces beyond their control keep interfering with plan. Towles sets up plenty of expectations and then goes in completely different directions. The book is a great character study of all these different individuals and as they navigate through 1950s USA.

I enjoyed the book immensely and it will stick with me for a while.

[Greg]

The Immortal Irishman by Timothy Egan

Throughout Waterford on our most recent trip, we saw many monuments and plaques to Thomas Francis Meagher (pronounced Mar) including a larger than life statue of him astride his horse. Meagher was a prince of Waterford due to his father's wealth, but he joined up with the Young Irelanders in order to gain more freedom for his fellow Catholics. A botched rebellion later, he was on his way to a penal colony in Tasmania saved at the last minute from execution. He escaped after several years and made his way to the United States where he was feted as a hero. It didn't hurt that Meagher was a fabulous orator able to sway crowds. When Civil War broke, he helped lead the Irish Brigade, New York's 69th. Because of the Irish Brigade's bravery they were often given the most difficult jobs and paid the price in lives for their courage. Disillusioned by one too many meat grinder battles, Meagher resigned his command.

Meagher's next adventure was in the Montana Territory where he was twice made acting Governor because the actual governor's didn't want to stay there and left the job to Meagher. Unfortunately, there was a secret government in the territory and they were not too fond of Meagher usurping their power. Bad things occurred.

It's an exciting tale, told more like a novel than a documentary which had me asking questions about how the author would know certain things or how to describe certain events. In the end Meagher lived an exciting life and this book covers it very thoroughly. 

Fun fact: One of the gifts John F. Kennedy gave to Ireland when he visited there in 1963 was the battle flag of The Irish Brigade.

[Greg]

The Infinity Engine by Neal Asher

There was more action going on but I still don't feel like they stuck the landing. How did Spear punish Penny Royal? By sentencing Penny Royal to do what it wanted in the first place? I feel like I'm missing something. I liked all the characters. I liked the world they live in and the technology. I just don't know what was going on.

That being said, I'm reading Gridlinked to see if maybe I can get a better understanding in a simpler story.