Gripping Space Opera Tale

Illuminae: The Illuminae Files_01
Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Borzoi Books, 2015
599 pages


WOW! That's how I felt as I finished "Illuminae" in one long burst. This is an amazing book on many levels. In the past I've read some classic sci fi novels: The Foundation Trilogy, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, Dune, re-read the Foundation Trilogy when Asimov increased the count and I had to start over. But nothing recently, as I have been concentrating on reading the Classics (loose definition).

Two weeks ago during the Bout Of Books 22 Readathon, someone tweeted a picture of a gorgeous orange and yellow book cover without mentioning anything about the book. I could read the title, "Illuminae", so I went researching. Despite it being labelled YA Fiction, it sounded interesting, so I ordered it from the library. As a Senior Adult, I am a bit wary of books for young people; our interests could so easily be divergent.

Opening the book was the first pleasant surprise: such a wild looking set of pages! If there is such a thing as a dossier novel, this is it. The library checkout guy called it epistolary, but that doesn't cover the wide range of things included here: transcripts of emails, printouts of reports stamped "TOP SECRET", schematics, musings from the main character's diary, summaries of video tapes, and strange ASCII art.

As I began reading, I was immediately sucked into the story. It's a Space Opera complete with two teenage protagonists, Kady and Ezra, on a far away space colony in 2575, an invasion by the bad guys, desperate rescue attempts, a strange illness, and an Artificial Intelligence computer that has gone insane. Think Hal 9000 from "2001: A Space Odyssey" but with nuclear weapons. The action gets quite tense, and I will warn the faint of heart that there is a lot of blood and dead bodies towards the end.

Sample Page

I was thrilled to notice that lots of the leaders and strong characters are women, including the main teenage  heroine, Kady, who becomes a computer hacker to save the day. The characters seemed realistic to me, doing what I would expect people to do under the extreme circumstances they faced - so long as you accept the basic premise of space travel, worm holes, etc. Not everyone is a hero; many are just scared and ineffective. We only come to know a few characters very well - the two main teenagers and one slightly older guy who is a hacking mentor to Kady. And we get a portrait of an AI computer mind, too, as its musings and internal thoughts are printed out from the salvaged records.

It's a ripping good tale, made especially relevant now with all the news stories about AI in the workplace and self-driving cars. Bonus: there are two more books, each another 600+ pages long! Huzzah! Highly recommended.

Mini Persephone Readathon

I enjoyed the Bout of Books Readathon last week, so when I saw that Jessie from the Dwell in Possibility blog was hosting a mini, weekend one, I said "Why not?"

Jessie's announcement:

The weekend-long Mini Persephone Readathon will run from Friday, June 1st to Sunday, June 3rd, 2018. This will be a laid back readathon; read as much or as little as you’d like. The goal is simply to enjoy reading and discussing all things Persephone Books. You can find additional info about the readathon on my Persephone Readathons Page.

I've picked "Diary of a Provincial Lady" by E. M. Delafield as my reading material for the weekend. I couldn't find the Persephone Books version, but my library has the original 1931 edition. The illustrations by Arthur Watts are supposed to be excellent.

I chose it because it's a comedy, a very British comedy. The Persephone description likens it to "Diary of a Nobody" by the brothers George and Weedon Grossmith (1892). I read that in January and thought it quite funny, so I guess I like British self-deprecating humor.

My backup, in case I don't get along with "Diary of a Provincial Lady" for some odd reason, or if I get done early, is "Fidelity: A Novel" by Susan Glaspell.

Come join the fun and read a good book with us!

Missy's Revenge

The Ladies of Missalonghi
Colleen McCullough
Avon 1988 (originally published 1987)
189 pages


This novella is one of my Bout Of Books #22 Read-A-Thon books. I read, read, read last week and now I need to review, review, review! The story is about Missy, a 33-year-old spinster and poor relation of her tiny Australian town's ruling family, the Hurlingfords. Set just before World War I, the very conservative society severely oppresses the unmarried and widowed females of the clan, and outright cheats them, as well. During the book Missy breaks out of her submissive persona and finds happiness at last as she rebels against the Hurlingford elite.

There is much discussion of "genteel poverty" and about who has the power in the town, officially and unofficially. Missy is a very interesting person. She sees the hypocrisy and games the high society folks play. As the book goes on, she becomes a strong female character and I cheered her awakening.

This was McCulough's fifth novel, the blockbuster "Thorn Birds" was the second and most famous one. Be prepared for a lot of Aussie words - I had to look them up on Google since my dictionary didn't have them.

Cherif's Tale

Santal
Ronald Firbank
Sun & Moon Press, 1994 (originally published 1921)
49 pages


"Santal" is a very slim book, really a short story, easily read in one sitting. I'd call it a fairy tale set in North Africa, with religious overtones, very lyrical and poetic. But it is hard to describe it or even give you the flavor of it without giving away the whole story. I'll copy the text from the back cover, as it sums it up so well:

This novella by the British novelist Ronald Firbank begins in a mosque, and follows the young boy, Cherif, home through a fantasy vision of a North African community, with palm-laden streets and colorful bazaars.

But the young boy is disinterested in the outer beauty of the world, and instead seeks the spiritual adventure, exemplified by the mysterious Prophet living in the desert. From the busy house of women - mother, aunts, and sisters - Cherif escapes to undergo a long and arduous journey to find the Prophet, The All-Knowing One.

The fact that Firbank's unusual tale ends in the boy's failure and resignation towards death only reiterates the theme of this Firbankian work: the sensual and the spiritual are in eternal war, and a truce between the two is at best fleeting.

  

While not well-known today, Ronald Firbank was an influential British novelist in the early 1900s, and many more famous authors have sung his praises and been influenced by his novelistic style. This story is apparently not typical of his novels, which are described as "written in a witty, satiric style."

I am glad I read it, and I am still pondering what I think it means. Not something I can say about too many books. By the way, "santal" is French for "sandalwood."

Bout of Books 22 Wrap Up

My first weeklong Read-A-Thon is finished. My goals were met and then some!

1. I read the 4 books I intended to read:

"Excellent Women", Barbara Pym
"Red Bang", Brandt Monroe
"The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra", Vassem Khan
"The Ladies of Missalonghi", Colleen McCullough

Then for extra credit I read a 5th, although it turned out to be a longish short story, really, but published as a standalone book:

"Santal", Ronald Firbank

And for good measure, I got through 10% of "Red Pottage", Mary Cholmondeley


2. I posted the answers to each day's challenge on my blog. Updates to book reading were posted to Twitter.


3. I also learned a lot about Twitter and attended my first two Twitter Chats! I had tweeted before but not chatted real time. What saved me was finding Twitter's Tweetdeck browser interface. Highly recommended for following a Twitter Chat!


4. I met a whole slew of avid readers, exchanging book titles, encouragements, and general laughter. What fun!


I am now looking forward to the next edition of Bout of Books - August 20th to August 26th!! Got it on my reminder app so I'll be prepared with a TBR pile. Join us!