MADE IN CHINA – Amelia Pang

Posted by Daniel on January 22, 2021
Posted in: NON-FICTION. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

Most of us in the Western world know that out of respect for the United States we shouldn’t but products made in China. But our reasons probably differ slightly. We’ve likely heard that Chinese workers earn a substantially low wage and they work long hours, which is how China can undercut other countries and their exports. And it’s possible … possible … that we’ve heard the term “slave labor” in connection with the Chinese work force.  But what does that even mean?

In 2012, a woman in Oregon opened a cheap Halloween headstone decoration that had been purchased at K-Mart. But inside the packaging was a letter – a plea for help – from a Chinese prisoner forced to make and package the cheap, strange decoration.  The letter is written in both Chinese and broken English.

Feeling the need to do something, the woman reported the note to a local newspaper, and to Human Rights Watch, the United Nations Human Rights Council, and Anti-Slavery International. Getting a response was not quite so easy.

Enter investigative journalist, Amelia Pang. Amelia proves she has the resources and the tenacity to dig deep into the story.

Through a great deal of work, Pang uncovers the name of the prisoner who wrote the note (she identifies him by using a pseudonym) and tells his remarkable story of a very bright man holding tight to his religious belief. Unfortunately, his religious thoughts are contrary to the official Chinese stance and so he’s sent to a prison for ‘reform.’  His prison is a well-known facility for providing labor for a wide variety of products.  There are no protections for prisoners (no masks or goggles or any kind of gear that any other worker in the world might have provided) and the expectations – the required goals – for prisoners is unrealistic. Most prisoners get about three hours of sleep at night because it’s the only way to meet their daily goals.

Pang gives us the in-depth story of this particular prisoner, his refusal to spout the Party religion, his punishment – pushed to near death, his ultimate release, and his harsh, brief life after. But she also gives us the broader story. We hear similar stories from other survivors (not surprisingly, it’s all the same for women prisoners, plus continued gang rape) and even get a peek at the idea of selling body parts.

This is not an easy book to read.  It is horrifying.  it is reminiscent of the stories we heard coming out of Nazi Germany after WWII, except that this is now.  This is going on in our lifetime, and it is being encouraged by us!

Although China hasn’t gone to great lengths to hide these prison ‘reform’ camps acting as slave labor for industry, they have done just enough to make it difficult to track or prove and so, while most large corporations unofficially know that the Chinese labor making their products might be shopped out to these camps, they don’t look too hard and can justify using Chinese labor.

One of the things Pang reminds us is that it is our buying habits …  our need to have the newest thing, our need to have a different thing, our need to have fast and cheap … that has created the need for this kind of labor. We are to blame for this.

It’s easy for us to blame the Chinese.  It’s easy for us to blame corporations that have their products manufactured this way.  But as long as we buy these products, this practice will continue. Will it change anything?  Unfortunately probably not.

While shopping this Christmas there were times I picked up an item, saw the “Made in China” label and thought to myself, “I don’t really need this stocking stuffer” and put it back.  Did it make me feel better?  A little. Did it make a difference?  Probably not.  But if enough people think the same way….

The book is an excellent bit of research and writing.  It will make people uncomfortable and therefore many won’t even read it, but for those who prefer to be informed, this is a must read.

Looking for a good book? Made in China by Amelia Pang it is a tough, thorough look at Chinese slave labor and how we support it with our own shopping habits.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

Made in China: A Prisoner, an SOS Letter, and the Hidden Cost of America’s Cheap Goods

author: Amelia Pang

publisher: Algonquin Books

ISBN: 1616209178

hardcover, 288 pages

A DEATH IN SWEDEN – Kevin Wignall

Posted by Daniel on January 20, 2021
Posted in: MYSTERY. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

Dan Hendricks is a former CIA agent, now an agent-for-hire.  He’ll work for anyone or any country willing to pay his fee. Being a mercenary like this, usually tracking down criminals and working for those who may not trust him, has Dan constantly looking over his shoulder and fearing he’s not long for the world of the living.  Each new case could easily be his last but this one is certainly his most unusual.

Hendricks is tracking down information on Jacques Fillon. Fillon died saving a fellow passenger in a bus crash in northern Sweden. But as Hendricks soon learns – things are not as simple as they might seem on the surface.
Jacques Fillon, it appears, never existed.
Can Dan Hendricks solve the mystery of Jacques Fillon before a troublesome past comes to haunt him?
This book seems to have all the necessary ingredients of a spy thriller, except that it’s not particularly thrilling.
The central problem is with our protagonist, Hendricks.  I can’t really call him our hero because, well, he’s not very heroic.  In fact, Hendricks might be our bad guy and our bad guys might be our good guys. It’ll switch back and forth each time Hendricks encounters someone of interest.  I suspect it’s meant to keep the reader guessing but it comes across as writer indecision.
Aside from Hendricks not being particularly identifiable (hero? not hero?), the book has only one pace to it. Methodical.
This might be great for a mystery novel, but a thriller needs more highs and lows. We need to be on the edge of our seats, anxious to turn a page, at least some of the time, in a thriller and that just doesn’t happen here. Hendricks moves carefully from one situation to the next and the more the danger the more slowly and carefully he moves.
Hendricks doesn’t really come across as a former CIA agent.  Or…it’s painfully obvious why he’s a former CIA agent. I desperately wanted something about the man worthy of rooting for, but I just couldn’t find it.
This book did not work for me.
Looking for a good book? A Death in Sweden by Kevin Wignall is not the thriller it wants to be.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
* * * * * *
A Death in Sweden
author: Kevin Wignall
 
publisher: Thomas & Mercer
 
ISBN: 1503947874
paperback, 276 pages

SHROUDED LOYALTIES – Reese Hogan

Posted by Daniel on January 18, 2021
Posted in: SF/FANTASY. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

Mila Blackwood is a Naval officer with a secret … she, and others of her country, know how to ‘shroud.’ Shrouding is the ability to travel around the planet in a matter of seconds by using alternate realities. This is useful because Mila and her countrymen are currently at war and there are enemies everywhere.

Mila captains a submarine which has been infiltrated by an enemy (‘Dhavnak’) agent. And when she and another sailor are identified as having unique abilities that could alter the outcome of the war, they become specific targets.

When the knowledge of her unique ability comes to light, scientists on her own side require Mila to submit to a battery of tests, some which have her recognizing that her own side doesn’t trust her.  Where should she direct her loyalty? Her younger brother has already switched loyalties. For the moment, the only one she trusts is herself.

This book was incredibly …. eh.

There is a promise of military science fiction, some temporal/alternate reality shifting fantasy, and some solid action/adventure.  But there is no follow-through on any of these promises.  The biggest problem, though, is the lack of distinguishing characters.

Mila is clearly our protagonist and she’s about as bland as a protagonist can be and still carry a story.  There are moments when she shines and we almost like her, but she quickly closes up and we never really get to know her enough to care about her success or failure.

The other characters in the book…?  They could be one person for all we get from them.

The book redeems itself (slightly) in the last portion (not quite a quarter) of the book as author Reese Hogan pulls the story together.  It’s a bit too little and too late to make this a recommended read, but it does pull this up from a 2-star review to a 2.5-star review (which is then rounded up on sites like Goodreads). I will not be looking to read any other books by Hogan, based on this.

Looking for a good book? If you can get to the end of Shrouded Loyalties by Reese Hogan you might find some enjoyment in the book, but a lack of characterization will make the going tough.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

Shrouded Loyalties

author: Reese Hogan

publisher: Angry Robot

ISBN: 0857668293

paperback, 320 pages

THE ECHO WIFE – Sarah Gailey

Posted by Daniel on January 15, 2021
Posted in: SF/FANTASY. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Evelyn Caldwell is an award-winning genetics researcher.  A strong, motivated women, she is surprised when one morning she receives a phone call from a woman named Martine asking for Evelyn’s help.  Evelyn’s husband, Nathan, is bleeding out in Martine’s kitchen.  Martine, Evelyn learns, is Nathan’s mistress.  So why would she call Evelyn for help?

Martine is a clone.  Of Evelyn.  She is a direct result of Evelyn’s genetics research. But she was not created by Evelyn.

Martine is a patient, gentle, obedient version of Evelyn … characteristics Evelyn would never subscribe to … created by Nathan, using Evelyn’s research.  And she wasn’t the first.

Now the Caldwell women will work as one to clean up the mess that was Nathan. But if caught, who will take the fall for Nathan’s murder?

While the book has a strong science fiction component to it, this is more of a revenge thriller than sci-fi novel.

Author Sarah Gailey does a nice job of making the cloning aspects seem realistic and credible without getting to technical.  A few aspects necessary for understanding Martine’s development are comfortably explained.

The story unfolds through Evelyn’s point of view.  This allows the reader to make the discoveries as Evelyn makes them, and it gives us Evelyn’s reactions and emotions, much more intimately, to what she discovers along the way. An emotional response is important in a thriller.

The book has a measured, steady pace to it which is not something I would typically attribute to a thriller.  This isn’t a page-turning “what will happen next” story.  Instead it’s more of a psychological analysis of betrayal and revenge, steadily revealing new aspects.

The writing is solid and it’s easy to fall into Gailey’s prose.  It is a book that is easy to reach for when you sit down to read, because the writing is comfortable and the story interesting enough to hold interest.

But…

Is it a thriller?  Is it suspense?  Is it science fiction? It is all three (due to the elements in the fiction) and it is none. While the story doesn’t exist without each of the elements, combined they present more of a psychological character study of Evelyn than anything else.  And this is just a tad disappointing.  I kept waiting for something exciting, something big.  We sort of get it with a certain discovery later in the book (I don’t want to give too much away here), but it’s not quite the “thrill-ride” that is hyped by the publisher.

Looking for a good book? The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey is a well written suspenseful sci-fi thriller that is easy to read and enjoy but doesn’t quite provide a deeply satisfying read.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

The Echo Wife

author: Sarah Gailey

publisher: Tor Books

ISBN: 125017466X

hardcover, 256 pages

MULTIPLE LISTINGS – Tracy McMillan

Posted by Daniel on January 13, 2021
Posted in: OTHER, Uncategorized. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

Nikki Daniels is a single mother of a teenage boy, Cody. She owns her own business (home appraisal) and she’s got a younger boyfriend (Jake) with whom she’s hoping to start a new business. It’s an ideal life, right?  Except it’s not as ideal as it might appear on the surface. 
 
Nikki wants to be in real estate and not home appraisal or the restaurant business that she’s starting with Jake. Cody is a teenager and has no interest in what Nikki says. Jake is often emotionally distant and Nikki wonders if he’s just using her to to finance his dream. But worst of all, her father, Ronnie, has been released from prison and he’s coming to live with Nikki

Ronnie, a charming con man, has been estranged from his family since his sentencing, but his early release from the correctional facility (due to a  technicality) has him nearly slipping into his past behavior (especially conning women to bed) and he feels the best thing for him is to move in with his daughter and grandson.

Nikki doesn’t Ronnie around, afraid, in part, that he’ll be a bad influence on Cody, but Ronnie uses his con charm to integrate himself deeper and deeper into Nikki and Cody’s lives.  Ronnie recognizes Jake’s con and helps Nikki shake him loose, and Nikki can’t help but see the positive change in Cody now that his grandfather is giving him some attention.

I don’t remember what it was about this book that had me interested in reading it, and I had no idea what to expect as I got into it. I was expecting something dramatic to happen, which was never really there. About half way through I thought, “Okay, we’ve established the characters and the plot, when is the dramatic moment going to happen?”

But this isn’t that kind of book.  This is a gentle story about one woman turning her life around and making new connections with the men in her life.

This is what readers often refer to as ‘chick lit’ – a term I don’t care for, but when I looked it up on Wikipedia I found: 

Chick lit … is genre fiction, which “consists of heroine-centered narratives that focus on the trials and tribulations of their individual protagonists”. The genre often addresses issues of modern womanhood – from romantic relationships to female friendships to matters in the workplace – in humorous and lighthearted ways.

Oh, this definitely fits!

At the point where I was waiting for something more dramatic, I was already quite invested in the book because author Tracy McMillan delivers really well defined characters.  Nikki is the appropriately strong protagonist.  She is strong, though she needs the nudges she gets to shake her up a little bit to remind her not to settle.  She goes through the most significant character arc through the course of the book, opening herself up to what Ronnie brings to her (and Cody’s) life.

Although Ronnie plays a significant role in the book (every other chapter being from his point of view), he is more of a stereotype, not quite so well defined, and he doesn’t grow or change nearly as much as Nikki. His role is simply to provide the impetus for all the changes that Nikki will need to navigate.  Given this role, and the more stereotype-ness of his character, I think Ronnie’s carrying half the book was just too much.

But this was still an enjoyable, feel-good book that’s easy to read.

Looking for a good book? If you like chick lit and need a good quarantine read, consider Multiple Listings by Tracy McMillan

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

Multiple Listings

author: Tracy McMillan

publisher: Gallery Books

ISBN: 147678552X

hardcover, 336 pages

THE DAMNATION GAME – Clive Barker

Posted by Daniel on January 11, 2021
Posted in: Dark Fantasy/Horror. Tagged: . Leave a comment

I’ll repeat this every time I read a horror novel … novel-length horror is difficult sustain.  There are very few names that stand out in this field because so few can doo this well.  Clive Barker is among those few.

Poland at the end of World War II. Our protagonist, unnamed, a thief, is looking for a man named Mamoulian – a gambler who never loses.

Move forward a few dozen years where Marty Strauss, a prisoner in the United kingdom, is offered early, supervised release. The condition? He will go to work for a wealthy recluse, Joseph Whitehead. How hard can it be?  It has to be better than rotting away in prison, right?

When Strauss finally finds himself in Whitehead’s inner sanctuary he learns that Whitehead is trying to get himself out from an oath he doesn’t think he even made in the first place with a certain Mamoulian many years ago. But is this nothing more than part of a (Damnation) game?

This book is a reprint, originally published in 1985, and apparently this was author Clive Barker’s first novel. (I’m familiar with Barker but not what I would consider a huge fan so I’m not familiar with his body of work). One of the nice things about good horror fiction is that it doesn’t really go out of style. As long as humans are reading it, the terror that it is universal to most people will continue to invoke horror.

Barker throws in a little bit of everything – cannibalism, incest, monsters, animal abuse – and the visuals vary from the swanky mansion with all its opulence, to rotting meat with maggots. It definitely has all the hallmarks of a first novel in which the author packs the book with all forms of horror with the hopes that something will stick with each reader.

The prose is delicious and it’s Barker’s writing style that keeps the reader interested, more than the story itself. The basic story is is quite interesting, but it gets a little lost behind all the splatter thrown up.

Barker is the creative behind the Hellraiser films (writer and director of the first film) and we can see some of what will come out in that first film here in this early novel. It is dark and gritty and that touch of the supernatural really keeps the reader on edge.

It is great to have this re-released so that a new generation of horror readers can experience this first novel by a horror master.

Looking for a good book? The Damnation Game is a new edition of Clive Barker’s earliest novel and fans of the horror genre should make sure to put this on their reading list.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

The Damnation Game

author: Clive Barker

publisher: Berkley Books

ISBN: 0593334973

paperback, 496 pages

CHASING DRAGONFLIES – Cindy Crosby

Posted by Daniel on January 8, 2021
Posted in: MEMOIR, NON-FICTION. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

I know next to nothing about dragonflies and damselflies but I’ve been very interested in learning more, and when I saw this book available, I was eager to request a copy. The title, Chasing Dragonflies, really spoke to me, and I love the painted rather than photo cover.

Chasing Dragonflies is an apt title as author Cindy Crosby seeks out new dragonfly and damselfly experiences the way bird watchers will take trips with the hopes of catching sight of a new bird to add to their lists.

But Crosby’s journey is almost too personal. It sometimes appears cathartic – particularly as Crosby reflects on her cancer, aging, and family. She nicely ties these thoughts to the peaceful pursuit of dragonflies (and damselflies). And as a memoir, I really enjoyed this book and Crosby’s quite poetic language.

As a “Natural History” (part of the book’s subtitle)?  This is a little less clear.

There is some solid science and fact woven into this “Personal History” but it filters out a bit behind the personal accounts and poetic language. We never quite leave the feeling that this is personal reflection, even though it comes from someone with some science acumen. 

It’s easy to get hooked on this book. I was drawn in by this passage in Crosby’s Prologue:

 

I’m inspired by how dragonflies are both tough and fragile; fierce and mild. They each fly for only a few short weeks, yet the species is still around after others have disappeared from the earth. They are cannibals who may eat one another, yet you can safely hold one in your hand. As they transform themselves from water creatures to creatures of the air, they are vulnerable to the predation of frogs or birds. A falling leaf may damage their newly unfolded wings beyond repair. Yet when those same wings harden, they are strong enough to carry many of them thousands of miles in migration. 

 

I often see dragonflies when I’m out in the summertime in my Minnesota stomping grounds.  I’ll even see them at times as I sit on my back deck. And always I wish I knew a little more about them. Now I do.  Know a little bit more about them. What Crosby does best, though, is to pique my interest so that I might do some further research.

The artwork by Peggy Macnamara is perfect, capturing the tough but fragile nature of the dragonflies and the reflective science of Cindy Crosby’s writing.

Looking for a good book? Chasing Dragonflies by Cindy Crosby is a memoir of a natural science researcher – tough and resilient (both Crosby and the dragonflies she chases).

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

Chasing Dragonflies: A Natural, Cultural, and Personal History

author: Cindy Crosby

artist: Peggy Macnamara

publisher: Northwestern University Press

ISBN: 0810142309

paperback, 248 pages

SOLOMON THE PEACEMAKER – Hunter Welles

Posted by Daniel on January 6, 2021
Posted in: SF/FANTASY. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Vincent Alan Chell has a lot to say. He talks about his wife, Yael, who committed suicide.  He talks about a cult group that meets in a church basement. And he talks about the robots serving mankind and how the Peacemaker – an artificial intelligence – has been controlling the peace for decades. Vincent Alan Chell talks, and not much else.

The most important thing to know about this book is not what it has to say, but how it says it.  This book is told as a series of interviews – Chell answering questions … without the questions presented to the reader.  Instead, a square black bullet indicates where a question is posed and all we get is Chell’s response.  Clearly we could generally infer what the question might have been, if we wanted to.

“If we wanted to.”  That’s the key.  There is very little here to keep a reader engaged. Given the challenge of the style of writing for this book, we need to be brought in to something really interesting or really exciting right away.  The idea of a character being interviewed or interrogated was interesting for about a chapter, but the novelty of this wore off which left a slow, one-sided narrative.

One of the first rules of writing that every first year college English student learns is “show, don’t tell.”  It is very hard to show when the entire narrative is someone telling someone else their side of a story.

The ideas in this sci-fi book had the potential to be interesting and maybe even a little bit on the order of a Phil Dick novel, but the execution wasn’t even close.

Looking for a good book?  You’re not likely to find it here.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

Solomon the Peacemaker

author: Hunter Welles

publisher: Cowcatcher Press

ISBN: 0989762807

paperback, 232 pages

STARSHIP REPO – Patrick S. Tomlinson

Posted by Daniel on January 4, 2021
Posted in: HUMOR, SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

What happens if you don’t make your payments on the starship you’re flying? It gets repossessed, of course. But what does it take to repossess a starship? Firstname Lastname is about to find out.


Firstname Lastname is a young woman (and yes, that’s really her legal name, due to a clerical error, but she goes by “First”) who is one of the very few humans left in the universe (a botched invasion of Earth left both the invaders and humanity nearly exterminated) and she’s wandering, looking for work wherever she can find it. Often that comes by way of jobs that aren’t exactly legal. She’s hijacking cars and selling them to a fence when she finds herself caught in a trap specifically to catch car hijackers. But this trap isn’t set by law enforcement, but by an individual pulling together a crew of skilled thieves to work as a legal (but just barely) team repossessing starships.

It takes some time for the team to adjust to, and trust, one another, but they find a common bond in wanting to truly be legit, and they respect each others’ talents. First may finally have a home and a family.

This is a fast read that doesn’t take itself too seriously. This is light space opera (think Guardians of the Galaxy without the cute raccoon and tree or Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) with a wafer-thin plot. In fact, the plot feels more like a set-up for future stories because we don’t get much here other than an introduction to the characters as individuals and as a team. We get a sense of what they are capable of but what they are doing never feels as important as how it affects their relationships.

I quite enjoyed author Patrick S. Tomlinson’s ‘Children of a Dead Earth’ series (is this a recurring theme in Tomlinson’s work … a dead earth?) and was really interested in reading this new series. I like Tomlinson’s writing style but we’ll need to see more plot and less forced humor for me to continue with future volumes.

Looking for a good book? Starship Repo by Patrick S. Tomlinson is a quick, light space opera that doesn’t offer much interesting story but does set up some fun characters that will hopefully be challenged in future books.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Starship Repo

author: Patrick S. Tomlinson

series: The Breach

publisher: Tor Books

ISBN: 1250302714

paperback, 336 pages

TO SLEEP IN A SEA OF STARS – Christopher Paolini

Posted by Daniel on January 1, 2021
Posted in: SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment
I suspect that there has been a great deal of anticipation for this book – the newest book by the much-acclaimed author of the Eragon series, Christopher Paolini.

Kira Navárez is on a routine survey mission when she discovers an alien artifact.  This might be an exciting discovery if it didn’t bring with it an invasion – not the first contact humanity was hoping for, but not unexpected, either. Now Kira is an expert on this aggressive race (often referred to as “Jellies” do to their resemblance to jellyfish) and will be meeting them on the front line of space battle.

That’s a pretty brief description for a book that’s nearly 900 pages long but I think it’s pretty appropriate and ultimately that’s the problem with the book.
This is a first contact novel, with the alien race being aggressive.  This is certainly not a new theme in science fiction, so we would be looking for some aspect that is original and exciting.  And I can’t find it.
There is a lot of exposition and repetition here which slows the read down.  While it contrasts nicely with the action scenes, the contrast is almost too severe – feast or famine – and the sluggish portions overwhelm the few active scenes.
Any time you go into an ‘epic’ novel (and a book well over 800 pages is definitely on the epic scale) you should expect to find characters that carry the story.  Paolini’s Eragon is a good example. But here we essentially have two characters – Kira and the Jellies.  Everyone else is so bland and uninteresting as to be just names on the page because someone other than Kira needed to do something or provide some information.
I thought Kira was interesting and a good protagonist. Unfortunately she doesn’t really grow through the course of the novel. There is a change, but I felt it was rather abrupt. And the Jellies, being such a major part of the story, remain an awfully big mystery.
Though I was never a big fan or follower of Paolini, I enjoyed The Inheritance Cycle and was very interested in reading this, especially since it was more sci-fi than fantasy.
This was certainly a much-anticipated book and interestingly, I recently read another highly anticipated sci-fi book by a best-selling author, and it, too, had a first contact with an alien race and also had two main characters – the protagonist and the alien. But that book pulled the reader in with interesting characters and a plot that constantly had the reader on edge. This book gets caught up in telling a story, forgetting that the story is more interesting if the characters brings some kind of stakes to what is happening.
Looking for a good book? To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini is a long, slow first contact sci-fi novel. It is not recommended except to those who will gladly read anything Paolini writes.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
* * * * * *
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
author: Christopher Paolini
publisher: Tor Books
ISBN: 1250762847
hardcover, 878 pages

Looking For the Best Books of 2020 – a year-end review

Posted by Daniel on December 31, 2020
Posted in: OTHER, Uncategorized. Tagged: . Leave a comment

At the end of each year I take a look back on the books that I’ve read and try to determine the best books I’ve read in each category and the best book I read during the year.  This is a best of those I’ve read and reviewed in 2020, not necessarily the best books published in 2020.

I read more books in 2020 than I expected or intended to read. This is a result of the COVID pandemic.  My summer job was cancelled, which left me with a bunch of time and a bunch of books queued in my Kindle.

There were some consistently good mystery writers that were a part of my reading this past year. David Housewright is always reliable for a good hard-boiled detective mystery and I read two of his McKenzie Mysteries this year.

I also read two novels and one collection of short stories by one of my new favorites, Gigi Pandian. I’m always eager to open a new Pandian book.

2020 saw a new arrival on the mystery scene – possibly over-looked by most mystery readers because here books are also science fiction – Amanda Bridgeman. As I look back, I think the two books in Bridgeman’s Salvi Brentt series stand out the most to me.

But only one mystery got a full five stars and so I think it’s appropriate to award it the best of 2020…

BEST MYSTERY 2020 – Atlanta Burns by Chuck Wendig

Chuck Wendig should be a household name because everything I’ve read of his, has stood out as tremendously powerful.

I don’t typically read a lot of Historical Fiction so there aren’t a lot of books in this category to choose from, making it an easy call.

BEST HISTORICAL FICTION 2020 – THE PARISIANS by Marius Gabriel

Last year I struggled to find some worthy children’s books and YA books.  That wasn’t a problem this year. It seemed as though everywhere I looked I found some worthy reading in these categories.  That Best Mystery could just as easily be the Best YA. 2020 saw the return of Bruce Coville – one of my favorite children’s book authors.

“Children’s Book” covers a lot of ground, and if I broke the category down more to include a specific “Middle Grade Reader” I think Coville would be a shoo-in, but for 2020 I think I have to award the Best Children’s Book to another perennial favorite – someone whose art is quickly recognizable.

BEST CHILDREN’S BOOK 2020 – COZY by Jan Brett

There were a lot of good Young Adult books read in 2020 but one of my newer favorite authors – someone I don’t usually think of as a YA author, but it definitely fits for this book. You just can’t go wrong with Seanan McGuire.

BEST YA BOOK 2020 – ACROSS THE GREEN GRASS FIELDS by Seanan McGuire

I like reading Westerns, but those typically fall into a good-but-not-great category for me.  This year I read a couple of ‘new’ authors (for me anyway) in this category, and I enjoyed them. And while I will read a Craig Johnson “Walt Longmire” any time, any where, the latest didn’t really stand out. This year’s best western book goes to one of my ‘new’ authors.

BEST WESTERN 2020 – DARK TERRITORY by Terrence McCauley

Non-Fiction books have typically done pretty well on my blog here – I think they typically get better ratings than any other category. Of the 17 books I logged into this category in 2020, only three or four were rated less than 4 stars.

Normally, any book that gets 5 stars will be higher in line than a book with 4 and a half (or four and three-quarter as in this case), and while John Cleese’s Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide is deserving of 5 stars, Hallie Rubenhold’s The Five sticks with me as a much more memorable book.

BEST NON-FICTION 2020 – THE FIVE: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

I have listed a Best Romance in previous years, but other than The Parisians, which I awarded Best Historical Fiction, I didn’t read anything worthy of awarding in 2020.

I’ve cut back on my Graphic Novel reading over the past few years but I did read a few this past year and I really enjoyed reading the reissue of Asterix, but one graphic novel really blew me away with its simplicity and power.  And it was a biography!

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL – BIX by Scott Chantler

And so we come down to the two categories that I might still consider my favorites … Fantasy and Science Fiction.  I enjoy a lot of different genres, but these are the types of books that first got me reading and continue to thrill me.  These two categories also have a fair amount of crossover and my selection for Fantasy could easily be considered Science Fiction.

In Fantasy books, it would be easy to award Seanan McGuire again for Across the Green Grass Fields.  It’s such a  good book! But my Fantasy award goes to an author whose work defines the field and should be studied in schools.

BEST FANTASY 2020 – FOUNDRYSIDE by Robert Jackson Bennett

And for Science Fiction there are some giants in the field – established and new – I read Jeff Noon, John Scalzi, Christopher Paolini, Amanda Bridgeman, Jim Butcher, Kim Stanley Robinson, to name just a few.  John P. Murphy’s Red Noise came out of nowhere, was terrific, and I look forward to more in that series. But the best book in the category is easy to name.  This book won’t be published until 2021 and it is one you won’t want to miss.  I hope they print enough first editions!

BEST SCIENCE FICTION 2020 – PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir

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There was one other book that I read in 2020 that I still think about.  It’s hard to define a category for it.  Science Fiction? Fantasy? Alternate History?  I’ll call it Speculative Fiction (a term used back in the 1970’s for authors like Harlan Ellison and Thomas Disch) and call a special award this year.  Read this book.

BEST SPECULATIVE FICTION 2020 – CORPORATE GUNSLINGER by Doug Engstrom

And so it comes down to The Best of the Best!  Some years it is difficult to choose the best of the best, but this year was pretty easy, despite some really fantastic reads. This is a highly anticipated book to be published in early 2021 and it is very easily the most exciting, riveting book I read in 2020.

THE BEST OF THE BEST 2020 – PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir

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It was definitely a good year, and I look forward to 2021!

A JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR – Daniel Defoe

Posted by Daniel on December 30, 2020
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Like thousands of other readers, I thought that this seemed an appropriate year (2020) to read Daniel Defoe’s classic, A Journal of the Plague Year.

This is an unusual book as it’s part fiction, part historical reflection.  In today’s parlance we might call this “historical fiction” but many scholars today still can’t agree on how to classify this book.

It is 1665 and we follow one man, “H.F.,” as he explores the devastating bubonic plague, also know as the Black Death, and its effects on families and communities throughout London.

Defoe does a remarkable job at making this personal and bringing the reader right to the door of plague victims and neighbors of victims – those living in fear of catching the plague. We meet a wide arrange of people, giving us a snapshot of all the different fears and reactions during this dark experience.

Defoe wrote the book in 1722, likely based on actual journal accounts, such as that of Samuel Pepys, but his narrative makes this easier to read than true journals.

There is a little bit of humor here (or at least I found a couple of the encounters a little humorous), but overall this is a bleak story – as one would expect.

What really struck me were the counts.  The local parishes post the weekly burials:

The weekly bill, which makes out this decrease of the burials in the west and north side of the city, stands thus—

From the 12th of September to the 19th—

– St Giles, Cripplegate 456

– St Giles-in-the-Fields 140

– Clarkenwell 77

– St Sepulcher 214

– St Leonard, Shoreditch 183

– Stepney parish 71

– Aldgate 623

– Whitechappel 532

– In the ninety-seven parishes within the walls 1493

– In the eight parishes on Southwark side 1636

– ——

– Total 6060

What strikes me, aside from the numbers, is the fact that today I check the daily reports of the number of people infected with the COVID-19 corona virus as well as the number of people who’ve died, daily, from the virus.

Readers will also note other similarities to today’s pandemic reactions.  From those who don’t take it seriously, those who take advantage of the situation, those who are overwhelmed with fear, and those overwhelmed with grief. Essentially … humans haven’t changed much in 300 years.

The narrative style is just a little difficult to read (as many works of literature, 300 years old, are difficult, I find), but the story definitely resonates given our current pandemic.

Looking for a good book? A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe reminds us that humans haven’t changed much over the course of centuries, and that nature, by way of plagues and viruses, is relentless and unforgiving.

* * * * * *

A Journal of the Plague Year

author: Daniel Defoe

publisher: Open Road Media

ASIN: B07B678VJ2

Kindle Edition, 184 pages