Book Round-Up

ReVISIONS Edited by Julie E. Czerneda & Isaac Szpindel
I love alternative histories and I love short stories so this collection was simply ideal for me. It was so much fun starting a story and trying to guess what the change was before it became obvious. And the changes ran the gamut from modern (like the internet) to ancient (like the domestication of the dog). It was very satisfying. I was inspired to come up with my own alt. What if Polk had never been President, there had been no Mexican war, there had been no annexation of California, the movie industry had never moved from the East to Hollywood? I considered signing up for NaNoWriMo for 0.68 seconds, which, of course, is an eternity for an android. But I realized that I barely have time to read, much less write.

Mercy Jody Picoult
I had no idea what this book was about; I hadn’t even read the dust jacket. It was fascinating finding out what I was in for. "Hey, these guys are seriously Scottish!" It was such a thought-provoking read. I was compelled to review my own relationship constantly throughout the course of the action. The idea of such varieties of love was really amazing. I kept picturing Elia from Top Chef as Mia for some reason.

The Wizard, the Witch, & Two Girls from Jersey Lisa Papademetriou
My aunt picked this out for me and said, "It’s every fantasy book ever written." She wasn’t kidding! But it was lovingly satirical, not just derivative, so it was a fun game of spot-the-reference. She even named several books outright! I was proud of myself that I’ve read all but two of those.

The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad
I love Conrad and am regularly amazed by his command of the English language. He’s so vivid and intuitive. His character internal-workings are revelatory. I remembered almost nothing about this book, other than the fact that I loved it. It’s definitely different than his other books—the setting, there’s no story-within-a-story book-ending, there are more characters. This tale could be allegorical to our modern times if it wasn’t written a century ago.