'The Woman in White' by Wilkie Collins

 The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins (4.0)

I guess a few very hot days allows one to lay around and read a 500+ page book quite quickly – or I was reading the first ‘sensational’ novel written in the 1800’s and it was very compelling. Mr. Collins, a friend of Charles Dickens, also wrote of the rich and poor but put them in a scandalous plot which is complicated, full of devious characters, and fraught with fear.  ‘The Woman in White’ is considered one of the first ‘page-turners’. This book is to be enjoyed with no spoilers, so I will just say expect to be worried for the safety of several women at the hands of what may or may not be conniving scoundrels. My main complaint is that while the author manages to highlight the precarious existence woman of the time had (no voice except for one’s father, husband or guardian), and wrote one of the strongest woman characters of the time, he often put ridiculous words in her mind that only a man of that time would write: ‘oh well, I’m just a silly woman’. It’s not to be mistaken for Dickensian excellence, but it does make for a nail-biting experience. It’s rare for me to put a book down due to concern for where it might be going!

'To The Lighthouse' by Virginia Woolf

 To The Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf (4.0)

I found this book very sad. Having recently read about Ms. Woolf via her association with Keynes and the Bloomsbury group, I wanted to experience her unique writing and discover what all the fuss was about. Her writing reminded me of Jane Austen’s (a slice of life concerning ‘gentry’ where nothing really happens) with a lot more focus on the inner thoughts of her characters. To that end, the Ramsay family and their summer guests could have been from the Midwest of the US – never really saying what they mean and usually very polite. This slim book is really three sections. The first has the family and guests at their summer home on an island off the coast of Scotland. The activity is really just the interaction of the people with the thought of visiting the neighboring lighthouse driving their feelings. The middle section is a twisting allegory of time passing, though not linear, introducing major changes to the family. And the last bookends the first with at long last a trip to the lighthouse. Since this book is known to be autobiographical and we know Ms. Woolf suffered from depression or bi-polar disorder, it’s not surprising that the inner thoughts of the characters are often conflicted and quite negative. I was saddened the extent the family would go to indirectly hurt one another – it all felt quite dishonest. I admire the writing, and the book moved me, but I can’t say I enjoyed reading it.

'Red Rising' by Pierce Brown

 Red Rising, Pierce Brown (3.0)

I struggle with the review of this book. It was one of the few books on the ‘100 Best Science Fiction’ list on Goodreads that I had not read. While I did enjoy reading it, I’m hard-pressed to explain why. This book presented a constant dichotomy. I like books that surprise me – it did that, but also had some incredibly predictable parts. I like Sci-Fi books with new concepts- it had them but was also very derivative of ‘Hunger Games’ among others. I like characters that are complex, some were but many were soooo one dimensional. The story is based on a future where people are divided into colors based on their station in life (golds are at the top, reds are the menial laborers at the bottom). The protagonist, Darrow, is a red whose society is terraforming the planet, Mars, from the inside (really didn’t like the science of this) in order for the ‘top’ colors to escape earth and live. Not surprising, everything is not as it appears, and Darrow starts to figure this out. I won’t say more, as the surprises are the best part of the book. If you liked ‘Hunger Games’, you will likely enjoy this book. I should warn that it is often considered a Young Adult book, but there is a lot of violence and gore on top of very disturbing mental situations, not appropriate for most young adults.

'Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland' by Patrick Radden Keefe

 Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, Patrick Radden Keefe (3.5)

I think my biggest surprise in reading this book, was how intimate ‘The Troubles’ felt. By that, I mean that the long conflict in Northern Ireland during much of my childhood always seemed bigger and more deadly with many thousands of players over all of Northern Ireland. In reading this book, one realizes it was mostly in Belfast, with many of the main players active for many years, with 3,500 people dying over ~30 years. Of course, one can only imagine the daily stress of those living in Belfast at the time, though Mr. Keefe does an admirable job of allowing the reader to do just that. He meticulously interviewed those still living (and/or their families) and his research included reviewing the taped interviews of some key players who had died. Side note: a book should be written about the ethical issues concerning Boston College’s involvement and actions! My only disappointment is that the author spends most of the book on the paramilitary group, i.e. IRA, and has less focus on understanding the loyalist groups and British Army and government.

'To Say Nothing of the Dog' by Connie Willis

To Say Nothing of the Dog (Oxford Time Travel #2), Connie Willis (3.0)

This is the second time travel book by Ms. Willis. Set a few years beyond the time of ‘Doomsday Book’, time travel has been highjacked by a rich sponsor in order to rebuild a cathedral with all the details confirmed by many historians going back multiple times to before it was bombed in WWII. When the hero of the book makes too many trips, he has a time travel sickness and it sent back farther (to the late 1800’s) to rest in those bucolic times. This book is a much lighter and funnier companion to the plague themed ‘Doomsday Book’. I liked the juxtaposition of modern-day people in Victorian Oxford, but it was a bit too loose with the time travel concept – people were popping in and out in a very non-serious manner.

'Doomsday Book' by Connie Willis

Doomsday Book, Connie Willis (4.0)

I first read this book many years ago and was surprised how little I had remembered. While it won both the Hugo and Nebula award, I would not classify it as Sci-Fi. It’s a combination of the history of 14^th century Oxford, England and time travel from ~2040AD. In that future, the time travel is used by historians to verify their understanding of past events, so the majority of the book is set in the Middle Ages. The book was published in 1992 and Ms. Willis was amazingly prescient. As the historians of future Oxford send a student to the Middle Ages, a flu pandemic arises in the area and they are all quarantined. What a time to read this book! While the student has been inoculated for the diseases of the 1300’s, she brings the flu through the net with her. It becomes obvious that she also has missed the time (i.e. slippage occurred) and she is really smack dab in the days of the plague. The book has some humor to deflect the horrific details of a life in plague, but what was really scary reading this in 2020 was how unphased many people were to the seemingly common-place occurrence of a new flu pandemic.

'The Crystal Shard: Forgotten Realms, Icewind Dale' by R. A. Salvatore

The Crystal Shard, R. A. Salvatore (2.5)

Always looking for a worthwhile fantasy book to be the heir of LOTR, I read this very short and reasonably well-regarded Forgotten Realms: Icewind Dale trilogy. Sadly, early into the first book, I realized it was patterned after a Dungeons and Dragons game and very derivative of those who have gone before (dwarf, elf, human, Halfling on a quest – sound familiar?). Very few original ideas here, but with lots and lots of battles with orcs and goblins. I found the bad guys were one-dimensional and the heroes a bit too heroic. I did like the idea of a troubled dark elf and who doesn’t love a magical panther that lives on another plane of existence? But, that is not enough for me to recommend this series except to someone wanting a novel to replace an AD&D game.