Posted on

Michael’s Top Books Read in 2020, #’s 2 & 1!

Perhaps it’s a little unfair to N. K. Jemisin to rank her #2 behind Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. After all, It’s my second reading of Parable, and The Obelisk Gate is the second installment of a trilogy, which is always a bit of a handicap by not being the beginning or the end of the story. Still, the first part of Jemisin’s trilogy, The Fifth Season was my top book read n 2019 so, she’s doing pretty good here. And honestly, if anyone is going to best her, it may as well be Octavia Butler, whose books inspired Jemisin to be the amazing writer she has become.

The Obelisk Gate#2 – The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin

The Obelisk Gate is part two of The Shattered Earth Trilogy, and with uncanny imagination and detailed knowledge, author N.K. Jemisin continues to build a world that is complex, wondrous and unforgiving. The story picks up pretty much where the riveting first part (The Fifth Season) ended: Essun has discovered a hidden underground society, the world’s ecosystem is collapsing because of the actions of her one time teacher and lover, Alabaster Tenring. Essun is still desperate to find her daughter, Nassun, who had been spirited away by her former husband after he had murdered their son. What Essun doesn’t realize is that Nsasun has become involved with Schaffa, the Guardian who almost killed Essun (more than once) in the name of protection.

The storyline is complicated, but that’s what makes it so compelling, along with the strong-willed assortment of fascinating characters that populate this world. With the literal destruction of the planet on the line, and immense power being bandied about by individuals, the stakes are high. And what about the mysterious Stone Eaters? Will they help humanity or destroy it?

Jemisin’s imagination seems boundless, and her writing is top notch. Detailed and emotional, yet infused with an urgency that propels the reader ever onward. Here we are a year later, and I have just started the third and final part of the trilogy. Perhaps we’ll see The Fifth Season on 2021’s list of Best Books Read? I suspect so.

Parable of the Sower#1 – The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

Twenty-seven years after it was first published (and I first read it), but only five years away from the start of the narrative, Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower is more prescient and more frightening than ever. In this dystopian future, society as we know it has succumbed to violence, corruption, and the disintegration of community, as the trajectory of the human race advances to its sadly inevitable collapse. Laws are ignored, or enforced by a corrupt and violent police force, and humanity either live in poorly-secured, walled enclaves, tightly-controlled, violent cities where slavery has re-emerged, or riskiest of all, out in the wilderness, where the weak are preyed upon by the desperate.

Lauren is a teenager living in a small, walled community in California. Her father is the local preacher, and her mother teaches the handful of children in the community. Her younger brothers are wild and reckless. Yet Lauren possesses a maturity and wisdom that set her up as different from the start. For one thing, she is a sharer, afflicted with a condition that forces her to feel the pain of others around her if she witnesses them. This can be a disability if she is trying to defend herself from predatory aggressors, but Lauren is prepared. She knows that the time will come when the encroaching dangers will overrun her community and she carefully plans her escape.

Despite the intellectual rejection of religion, even her father’s, Lauren applies her intelligence and her thoughtfulness in the creation of a new religion, one that espouses God as Change, and she calls it Earthseed. When the inevitable happens, and Lauren’s community is overrun, Lauren finds herself fleeing for her life with other refugees – wandering the dangerous, largely abandoned roads to head north, where there is a belief the life might be better. Along the way, Lauren finds other essential decent people among the cast-offs, and all the while, quietly and reasonably shares the philosophy of Earthseed. Can Lauren create a movement that will help set humanity back on a redemptive path? Or will this tiny, emerging movement be crushed by the inevitable crush of chaos.

Now as an adult, with years of life experience, Parable of the Sower resonates with me so much more. Butler’s uncanny way of seeing a possible and plausible outcome of the trajectory of present-day society (even back in the early 90’s) is frightening, as this violent, self-destructive society, where racism, addiction, environmental collapse, corruption and violence have become the norm to the extreme.. There are so few dots to connect to see our own world becoming Lauren’s. Butler’s novel is a classic, and I’m looking forward to rereading the sequel, Parable of the Talents.

Fish Girl I also want to call out three graphic novels, and one play that I read this year that stood out above the rest. After thoroughly enjoying the network television show, I had to go back and read Greg Rucka Matthew Southworth’s Stumptown, Vol. 1: The Case of the Girl Who Took Her Shampoo and was reminded what a great writer Rucka is. Also thoroughly enjoyed the magical fantasy by David Wiesner and Donna Jo Napoli, Fish Girl. Finally, G. Willow Wilson and Christian Ward’s intricate and fascinating world-building tale, The Invisible Kingdom, Vol. 1: Walking the Path is definitely setting me up for wanting more. The play that most impressed me out of the dozen or so I read in 2020 was one of Ken Urban’s early efforts, published in 2014, The Private Lives of Eskimos. It’s a play I hope to direct when the world settles down a bit, a provocative allegory for grief, isolation, and an overabundance of information.

Finally two disappointments (only two? that’s not bad…) from the books I read last year. Neal Stephenson’s self-indulgent Fall, or Dodge in Hell, took a fascinating premise, having not only your brain, but essentially your soul, digitized and transferred into a digital world after death, and then wrote about it from every possible angle he could think of until he had filled nearly 900 pages. If Stephenson was a more elegant writer (say, like Patricia A. McKillip) I might have loved this, but unfortunately, it was a bit of a slog to get through, unlike the similarly lengthy The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. which I quite enjoyed. Perhaps his co-writer Nicole Galland helped out in that case. The other major disappointment for me was a musical biography by Gordon Deppe, Spoonfed: My Life with the Spoons. Some of you 80’s aficionados may recall the Canadian band the Spoons from their indie-hit, “Nova Heart.” I was a big fan of The Spoons, and Gordon Deppe in particular, but a good musician and songwriter does not a good memoir writer make.

And just to recap, here is the list of the best books I read in 2020.

  1. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
  2. The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin
  3. Get Tusked: The Inside Story of Fleetwood Mac’s Most Anticipated Album by Ken Caillat & Hernan Rojas
  4. How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue
  5. Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley
  6. Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell
  7. What Happens at Night by Peter Cameron
  8. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
  9. Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller
  10. Or What You Will by Jo Walton
  11. Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski
  12. Hammered by Elizabeth Bear
Posted on

Michael’s Top Books Read in 2020, #4 & 3

My #4 book of the year, hasn’t technically even been released yet. I got an advanced reader’s copy of it from Random House, and it should be released in early March of 2019. I devoured my #3 book in a few days… just the type of book to feed my fandom, bringing my love of books and geekiness about music together. Technically not as well written as many of the other books around it, but for sheer enjoyment, it earns its slot.

How Beautiful We Were#4 – How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue

Imbolo Mbue follows up her magnificent debut, Behold the Dreamers (#12 on my list of Best Books Read in 2016) with a hard-hitting tale of corporate destruction and governmental greed from the perspective of the community in a small African Village whose way of life faces destruction. When an American corporation begins drilling for oil under the fictional village of Kosawa, the effects are felt for generations to come. Crops shrivel, water becomes tainted, and children begin to die. Over the course of three generations, various attempts are made to stop the destruction of their way of life, from pleading with the corporate interests, to violence, to radical organizing, uncovering layers of opposition.

Mbue follows one family in particular, which centers around Thula, a young woman who gains the incredible educational opportunity to go to college in New York, where she encounters others like herself, willing to take on the man in the hopes for a better future. She gives up everything for her community, while it hangs on by a thread back home, her cohort of age-mates struggling between subterfuge and out and out revolution to repay the violence and injustice suffered through the years.

With a keen eye and heart examining responses from villagers across educational and generational lines, Mbue uses an impartial eye, even while breaking our hearts for this communities suffering. Her writing is powerful and pulls no punches as the reader is taken on a harrowing journey as a tiny village tries to overcome insurmountable odds for a better life.

Get Tusked!#3 – Get Tusked: The Inside Story of Fleetwood Mac’s Most Anticipated Album by Ken Caillat and Hernan Rojas

For a rabid Fleetwood Mac fan who’s been listening to the albums for over 45 years, saw them in concert a handful of times, find their music to be incomparably amazing, and am endlessly fascinated by the individuals who make up this messy, emotional trainwreck of a band, this book is like crack. I haven’t finished a book this quickly in years. Tusk was the band’s 12th album, but it was the follow-up to the mega-monster smash, Rumours. The anticipation around this album was stratospheric, and the 13-month recording session nearly tore the already fragile band apart.

Authors Ken Caillat, producer and engineer who worked on Rumours, Tusk, Live, Mirage, and The Chain box set and Tusk recording engineer Hernan Rojas, give a detailed behind-the-scenes look at the process of creating what at the time was one of the industry’s biggest disappointments, and in hindsight, is lauded by many as a bold, creative step forward by a multi-talented band.

It was the late-70’s, and Fleetwood Mac were mega-stars. Every excess was their for the taking, and the took a lot. Already known for their intense, soap opera-like personal relationships that were devoured by millions through Rumours, and just coming off a year+ long concert tour, the band immediately began the grueling process of creating the follow-up album in a state-of-the-art recording studio with enough food, alcohol, and drugs to keep an army happy. The band’s history with drugs, particularly cocaine, is well-documented, and it just boggles my mind that they were able to operate at all under the influence of so many mind-altering substances. I wish they reach out to Pacific Ridge – a reliable rehab center. Add to that singer/songwriter/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham’s creative evolution, that while perceptive and brilliant, was housed in the mind of a rich and successful, spoiled, damage, emotionally-stunted musical genius. While the rest of the band, and the crew that surrounded them arrived at the studio ready to make another album that met and surpassed the exquisite pop-rock Rumours, Lindsey had other ideas. Latching on to the burgeoning punk/new wave sounds that were starting to herald the coming of the 80’s, Lindsey want something entirely different, and he threatened to walk if he didn’t get it. Caillat and Rojas alternate in telling the tales of this process, which works well because they experienced the same scenarios, but came at them from different perspectives and temperaments.

What makes this book so delightful for me, is the fact the two authors are first and foremost, recording engineers, who go into rich, geeky detail about each song on the album: how it was recorded, the instrumentation, how they were created. I found that endless fascinating, and thrilled the long-buried musician in me. After each song was worked on and discussed in the book, I found I had to go listen to it and note the details and anecdotes that were revealed in the book.

The detailed aspect of the creation and recording of the album lifted it out of what could have been just a sensationalistic celebrity tell-all. Not that it didn’t occasionally slip into that territory, and not to say I didn’t occasionally enjoy that aspect, the film did lag a little when the boys would veer off into their sexual escapades and dalliances. Rojas did spend the latter months of the recording of Tusk in a passionate affair with Stevie Nicks, who, I might add, just ended her affair with drummer Mick Fleetwood months before, and who, two years prior, ended a 7-year relationship with guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. It made for some interesting personal dynamics. I am pleased to say that this book only served to make me love Christine McVie even more.

To sum up, as a massive admirer of Fleetwood Mac and their music, and quite specifically, the Tusk album, this book was nearly everything I’d hoped for. It certainly provided a glimpse into the working and personal lives of world-famous musicians during a very particular time in history that was fun and rewarding.

Posted on

Michael’s Top Books Read in 2020, #’s 6 & 5

A couple of big literary names are featured in this entry. David Mitchell is an English author of nine novels. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Lana Wachowski, of the movie adaptation of his book, Cloud Atlas. The only book by him, that I have read, other than this year, is the dark fantasy/sci fi The Bone Clocks, which was my #2 read for 2014. Jane Smiley is an American novelist who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1991 for her work The Thousand Acres a best seller that was based on William Shakespeare’s King Lear. I don’t know if I would have ever read one of Smiley’s novels if I hadn’t heard her being interviewed on NPR about her latest release and it intrigued me.

Utopia Avenue#6 – Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

With David Mitchell’s exploration of a fictional, psychedelic/folk/rock British band from who gained modest success in the late 60’s, he mines deeply into the music industry, while exploring the state of the world and society at the time, and even brings in some of his speculative, secret society theme into play. He, at once, creates well-drawn, relatable characters, a slice of historical fiction, and an examination of schizophrenia that dips into the metaphysical all the while creating a dense, yet highly-readable novel. All the things you might expect, sex, drugs, industry back-stabbing, family drama, are in evidence, as well as a whole bunch of name-dripping as he charts the origins, success, and demise of Utopia Avenue and they encounter Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin, David Bowie, Francis Bacon, Leonard Cohen, Cass Elliot, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and many more.

For me, it’s his characters that really bring the novel to its glorious heights. There’s lead guitarist, Jasper de Zoet, whose fractured psyche is balanced by his psychedelic guitar genius. Elf Holloway is a folk singer, one-half of a faltering duo who attained minor success, then joins a pack of blokes to add her keyboard virtuosity, and songwriting chops to raise the band to a new level. Dean Moss is the down-on-his luck bass-playing songwriter whose roots are steeped in the blues, is unofficially the bad-boy sex symbol, and is moments away from pawning his bass before his break arrives. And anchoring any good band is Griff, the foul-mouthed, Northern lad who pounds the drums and keeps his feet firmly on the ground. Their untested, Canadian manager, Levon Frankland, is convinced the band he has assembled has what it takes to make the big-time, and intends to help them do so without the typical, double-crossing that rock & roll managers are known for. Beyond that, even the minor players make an impact. Most notably, Mecca, a German photographer who shares a few blissful days with Jasper, remains a presence even after hundreds of pages go by.

I loved Mitchell’s Bone Clocks, and he earned lots of points with me for his work on Kate Bush’s programme book, and spoken dialog on stage as part of her ‘Before The Dawn’ concert in 2014. He’s become a must-read author for me, and this wasn’t doesn’t let me down at all.

Perestroika in Paris#5 – Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley

Perfect book for the times, a magical little tale about Perestroika, a race horse who spends the winter in Paris befriending a dog named Frida, a raven called Raoul, a couple of mallards named Sid & Nancy, a rat named Kurt, and a select assortment of humans. This gentle story explores the city of Paris surrounding the Eiffel Tower, highlighting the bakeries and butcher shops as well as the lovely parks as they explored by Perestroika and Frida.

Smiley has a soothing, gentle way of writing, describing the neighborhood by the smells and sounds heard by the animals, and creating a lovely portrait that humans possibly miss out on. The handful of humans that the animals interact with are all solitary souls, who share a connection with Perestroika. The magic of Paris is enhanced by the magic of an elusive horse wandering the city at night. Her characters are unique and full of personality. Smiley is a well-known author with over twenty books in her canon, including, I was surprised to discover, a series of young adult novels about horses! I’m glad she brought her interest in horses to an adult novel. Truly a delightful read.

Posted on

Michael’s Top Books Read in 2020, #’s 8 & 7

In an effort to read more science fiction, which I hadn’t really done for a while, I asked for recommendations, and got Becky Chambers. Fun, character-driven space opera; a little different from me, but the emphasis on character really drew me in. I’m always up for a book by Peter Cameron. His 2012 novel, Coral Glynn came in at #6 for that year’s list. I really loved the stylized manner in which he wrote this newest dark, surreal novel.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet#8 – The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

The plot of Becky Chambers’ science fiction novel, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is fairly thin, but that’s not really the point. Instead, Chambers creates a thoroughly entertaining story about a ragtag, interspecies crew of The Wayfarer, a space ship that bores tunnels through space to allow for interstellar travel. Our entry into this tight knit merry band is Rosemary, a young woman hired to be the clerk, and keep their paperwork in order. Rosemary has a family secret in her past that she keeps from the crew, but as they welcome into their family, and we learn about each of the diverse characters, she gradually lets her guard down and secrets are revealed. Yet while Rosemary is terrified that her secret will turn her newfound colleagues against her, instead she learns what real family is.

I love the way Chambers explores each member of the crew, sprinkling in just enough tension and danger to keep the book engaging, all the while creating a beautifully moving character study of disparate characters who prove to each other, and the reader, that family isn’t about who you’re related to by blood, but by who you choose to spend your lives with. I could definitely read more books about this fascinating batch of characters, all of whom come from fascinating and imaginative backgrounds. 

What Happens At Night#7 – What Happens at Night by Peter Cameron

Mysterious and inscrutable… much like life. Peter Cameron’s What Happens at Night tells the story of a couple traveling to a far off European city in order to adopt a baby. The woman is dying of cancer, and this will most likely be their last act together… the retrieval of a child for the man to continue on with as a family. They arrive at this tiny, northern European town as a dark, forbidding winter descends and every day that passes seems like part of one long, endless night. Things happen that are unexplainable, aggravating, wondrous, perplexing, hateful… things that neither would do during the light of day, but what happens at night… well that’s another matter.

Cameron writes with stylish grace, creating a mood from the very first page that establishes everything you need to know about setting, time, tone, which is not a whole lot. Yet, the journey taken by the reader, while not as harrowing personally, is the one taken by these two lost people, and our hope is only that when morning comes again, they will no longer be lost. It’s beautiful and unsettling, and unique. Filled with bizarre supporting characters, and a simple story that is complicated by the things that make us human, What Happens at Night is a journey worth taking.

Posted on

Michael’s Top Books Read in 2020 – #’s 10 & 9

As we enter the Top 10 books read for 2020, we’ve got an season writer, and a newcomer for me. Jo Walton has impressed me with her unique takes on science fiction, fantasy, and the creative process in general. In 2015, Walton appeared on my Top Books list at #5 with The Just City; in 2014, she came in at #6 with My Real Children; and in 2012, the first book of hers I read, Among Others came in at #5. So, while this year is a slight dip for her, all the books of hers that I’ve read has ended up in my Top 10 for the respective year!

Sam J Miller was a new author for me, and I read his 2018 novel, Blackfish City totally randomly. The ARC had been on my bookshelf at work for a couple of years, and when I was looking for something to read, the cover art featuring Inuit-style artwork, caught my eye, so I gave it a chance. And now, preparing to write this blog entry, I noticed that Sam has a new book that just came out, so I will be reading that soon as well. Love finding new, intriguing authors, and thanks to Virginia Stanley and the fun-loving crew at HarperCollins for keeping me up-to-date on the publishing world and making me laugh!

Or What You Will#10 – Or What You Will by Jo Walton

Jo Walton is a writer’s writer, and her latest book, Or What You Will is more so than most. Exploring the creative spark, and how a writer creates the worlds and characters that they populate their books with, turns into a whole fantasy meta-novel in Walton’s hands. Along the way, she deconstructs works by Shakespeare, mothers who withhold love, modern-day and pre-renaissance Florence, domestic abuse and more. Most fascinating for me, was her exploration of grief in the context of a world that has abolished death. It’s not the main point of the novel, but a beautiful and fascinating diversion that Walton does so beautifully.

Not all of Walton’s diversions work for me however. A detailed, and overwrought chapter describing an actual restaurant in Florence that serves food that is so sublime it cannot be described (although there is an entire chapter trying to do just that) that seems a pretty unnecessary bit.

Still, that’s a minor quibble when you think about the scope of Walton’s story, and the masterful way she weaves together the art and science of writing, an actual historical fantasy tale, and ruminations on mortality and grief, and Or What You Will proves that however Walton manages to create entire worlds, like a mythological god, it’s worth going on the journey with her.

Blackfish City#9 – Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller

When it comes to dystopian societies, Sam J. Miller sure has created something complex that borrows from pop culture, Inuit myth, capitalism and environmental collapse just to name a few! In fact, the rich threads that Miller weaves into Blackfish City threaten at first to overwhelm the story, making it difficult to breakthrough and stick with it. But perseverance is worthwhile, as the story of a family torn apart by genocide who unite to combat oppression (or maybe just to get revenge?) and at about the halfway mark, things start to really come together and race forward nicely.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of, and a lot of different storyline threads, as I mentioned, but most of them don’t need all that much effort. A thread about an AIDS-like virus that is transmitted sexually, but involves communal memory and mental disjointedness sometimes feels like something from another story. Yet Miller manages to weave that thread smoothly into the larger tapestry.

Clearly the most compelling story for me, the bonding between man and beast as exemplified by the strange woman riding on the back of an orca, takes the longest to get its due, but once it does it does so beautifully. Still, with political corruption, organized crime, post-punk technology, climate change, gender identity and generational memory all added to the mix, there’s probably something for everyone. Hopefully readers will not find that there is too much for everyone.