The Air Loom gang: the strange and true story of James Tilly Matthews and his visionary madness, Jay
I was expecting a more basic story of the delusions of Mr Matthews, the first documented case of an influencing machine playing a part in someone’s delusions, a sort of marker of the influence of the shift from religion to science in the mind. Instead (not that it’s bad, just not what I expected) it is a story of how international politics and the politics of the treatment of the insane shifted dramatically around the time of this particular case. Very well done, though not totally my cup of tea. Three stars.
Taken, Bloor (Y)
Overall, a bit annoying, but good premise. In the near future, Charity (13) lives in a super-high security neighborhood in Florida, complete with glock toting butlers. Outside, grinding poverty after the Credit Crunch. The biggest threat is kidnapping to get at the rich’s cache of hard currency. Charity is taken, but knows from her kidnappee training that she has 24 hours until she’s rescued, mutilated, or dead. Strange technique of introducing relatively advanced vocab and concepts and then explaining them. Hm. One star.
Rethinking thin: the new science of weight loss and the myths and realities of dieting, Kolata
I enjoy Kolata’s science writing: accessible and well-structured. She reveals a stubborn blindness on the part of the general public and obesity professionals to study results that don’t mesh with their desired outcomes on a background of regular people struggling with weight and the history of the weight loss industry. Four stars.
Teen, Inc., Petrucha (Y)
Good premise, good execution. Light touch to a present day corporate dystopia (with some winks to his predecessors in literature). Teen is being raised by a corporation (he lives in a former VP’s office) after his parents die due to corporate negligence when he is a baby. Hilarity and digs at corporate culture ensue. Four stars.
The compound, Bodeen (Y)
Sort of sorry that I had read what it was about before I started it, that aboutness doesn’t kick in until past 60 or so pages. Just know that it’s edge of your seat creepy once it gets going. Wooo! Four stars.
No regrets: the best, worst, and most #$%* ing ridiculous tattoos ever
The tattoos are wonderfully hard to believe, and almost all new and proudly displayed. The funny comments beneath each photo, however, are not so funny. A book that would have been better as an online slideshow. Two stars.
The trouble with Tom: the strange afterlife and times of Thomas Paine, Collins
The story of both the path taken by Tom Paine’s remains after his death (surprisingly mobile) and the influence of his ideas on subsequent generations of progressives and progressive movements in the US and UK. Meshed interestingly with the ideas and people in the Air Loom Gang. I hadn’t known about the early progressive tending history of phrenology, or the many early writers on women’s rights. Well written, entertaining, and informative. Four stars.
Far out: 101 strange tales from science’s outer edge, Pilkington
Each tale was only 2-3 paragraphs, without enough juicy details, so I gave up.
Cartographia: Mapping Civilizations, Virga
I dipped in to the text only from time to time while enjoying the fantastic assortment of maps from the Library of Congress. Neat. Three stars.
Spanking Shakespeare, Wizner
Originally picked it up as a teen book, finished it as an adult book. Funny, but maybe not an award winner, as the book itself implies at the end. Three stars.
The entertainer and the dybbuk, Fleischman (Y)
Sid Fleischman is a great writer. This could have been a terrible book, but it ended up being pitch-perfect and never became treacly or reliant on old tropes. Premise: American making a living in Europe as a (bad) ventriloquist is possessed by the dybbuk of a kid killed in the Holocaust. And it’s done well. Wow. (I realized later that the review sounds like “it could have sucked, but it didn’t” but it isn’t just that. I really enjoyed it.) Four stars.
Diamonds in the Shadow, Cooney (Y)
High Low (but not super low) thriller with blood diamonds. Two stars.
My swordhand is singing, Sedgwick (Y)
Atmospheric eastern European style vampire story. Three stars.
Gym Candy, Deuker (Y)
Didn’t finish. Good for what it is (story about striving and football and parental expectation and resorting to steroids), but in the end (or 2/3 through) I can’t really sell it. Someone else could, I’m sure.
Encyclopedia horrifica: the terrifying truth! about vampires, ghosts, monsters, and more, Gee (Y)
An excellent Fortean (though it doesn’t call itself that) primer for the young and curious, with emphasis on the spooky and grisly. Four stars.
The Arrival, Tan (Y)
I can see why this got all kinds of awards and recognition. A wordless book, a man travels to a new land, some sort of mixture of 1930s New York and beautiful surrealness. I love how the strangeness makes it foreign to anyone. Four stars.