Book, So Confusing

Hey, it’s been six months. Let’s catch up.

I have a tweet thread where I keep track of books and games and TV shows: you can check that out here. You can assume any unmarked blockquotes are old tweets, because I couldn’t think of anything new to say.

Ring of Five IV, edited by Eric Flint

At this point I don’t even remember what was in this story collection. Fortunately, I tweeted something:

I read the previous volume in 2023. It was decent, but I took a break from the series afterward. This was a much stronger collection of stories. It even has the first Virgina DeMarce story that I think was pretty decent.

Oh yeah! That story was about a French nobleman in Burgundy who was trying to get his family out of Paris, even though his wife had no interest in leaving. That story and another one had the first positive (or at least neutral) queer characters in the series.¹

1637: The Transylvanian Decision, by Eric Flint and Robert E. Waters

This was bad. It took me ages to slog through this book. At one point I googled, and found this anecdote from Mr Waters:

The idea for the novel came about while Eric and were discussing our collaboration in 2019. […] I suggested that we write a novel based upon the very first story I wrote in the series, a short piece titled “The Game Of War,” wherein a young Swiss nobleman learns military tactics from playing up-time tabletop wargames in Grantville. He then applies that knowledge on the battlefield. Eric read the story and wrote back (and I paraphrase), “No, this won’t work. The focus is too narrow to develop into a full novel. However, it does make me realize that we have never had a novel in the series that focuses chiefly on the military side of things. We’ve had armies on the march and battles in previous volumes, but we have never focused on the military exclusively. Let’s do that.”

I’ve put up with the military writing in previous volumes, but it’s not my jam. I had a hard time connecting with the characters. This wasn’t for me.

R.I.P., Eric Flint.

Ring of Fire II, edited by Eric Flint

Reread. I enjoyed it more than the first time around.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

This was for the book club. We read the first book and stopped there. That’s not how you’re supposed to read this series.

Arthur Dent, our hapless, everyman hero, is forced out of his comfortable life and into the universe. His wacky alien companions include his friend, Ford Prefect (who misinterpreted the dominant lifeform on Earth); Trillian, a former love interest; and Zaphod Beeblebrox, the president of the galaxy and Trillian’s current boyfriend, on the run after stealing this space ship. Hijinx ensue!

… In the subsequent books. This one feels more like a TV pilot than anything else. The voice and the writing are great, but it’s not a standalone book. I should probably pick up the second volume from the library and keep going.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye, by John Scalzi

My tweets:

One day the moon turns into cheese, and no-one can explain how, or why. NASA’s not even certain about the what, calling it “organic matter”. What happens next?

Nearly every chapter introduces a new set of characters trying to deal with a universe that’s a lot less stable than expected, from politicians to brothers with competing cheese stores in Wisconsin to a small town preacher

Due to reasons, it gets increasingly apocalyptic halfway through, which is when it transitions from fun reading to the good stuff. I think it whiffs the ending. But on the whole, it was good.

PS: The US government is competent in a way that sadly dates the book.

Men at Arms, by Terry Pratchett

Reread.

This was one of my book club nominations. I picked it because it was written when Pterry was on a roll, but it’s also a solid entry point to the series. It’s a classic.

(The writing on policing and diversity and politics are sadly timely.)

Ring of Fire III, edited by Eric Flint

Reread.

Honestly, I think I started reading this one because I wanted something easy to read on my e-reader. I enjoyed it more than the first time I read it. I’ve also forgotten nearly every story already.

Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

This was the next book club pick. We’re going to talk about it soon, hopefully.

Excellent book. I loved the writing. For a book with such bleak subject matter — it’s an account of the firebombing of Dresden at the end of World War II — it’s a fast and entertaining read. It’s fiction, and there’s time travelling and aliens, but Vonnegut tells the war part as straightforwardly as he can, and he does stuff like this:

The Americans arrived in Dresden at five in the afternoon. The boxcar doors were opened, and the doorways framed the loveliest city that most of the Americans had ever seen. […] It looked like a Sunday School picture of Heaven to Billy Pilgrim.

Somebody behind him in the boxcar said, “Oz.” That was I. That was me. The only other city I’d ever seen was Indianapolis, Indiana.

It’s a banger.