It couldn't happen here.

It is a bank holiday today in the UK. I did intend to do some more and indeed I did some in the morning. In the afternoon, I saw the sun shimmering and bright. I decided to finish reading the book: It can't happen here by Sinclair Lewis.  The story is about an American president who turrns himself into a dictator. I read it because it was recommended  as a  good book to understand the bid of Trump to become president of the USA.

I can see many parallels with the appeal of Trump. One big difference is that the plot in the book setting up of an SS like organization called the "minute men", which takes power,   however Trump is too disorganized to set up such an organization. I doubt that if Lewis was writing the novel now, he would worry about the communists at all.  It is written is a very lively style.

For the love of physics

I have a lot of half read books on my kindle. Today I finished reading: For the love of physics by Walter Lewin. Lewin was famous for his physics lectures at MIT, particularly when they were posted online. The most iconic moment in his course was when he let a big pendulum off in front of him.




The book is enjoyable, but also a bit strange. It starts out with popular real world physics, but the second half is about his work on X-ray astronomy. The last chapter is about Modern Art. He is a big collector and he has worked with some artists. I liked the way he used in the end chapter the metaphor "ways of seeing" to unify his interests in art and physics. He is a bit arrogant, but that is normal for a famous physicist.
It is a pity that he was involved in sexual misconduct so his links with MIT were cut.

The big machine

Last week I finished reading "The Big Machine" by Victor LaValle. This was a strange book about a cleaner, who was almost clean of junk, who one day got a job at a mysterious library. After some months he goes into the field, where things get weirder yet.

I can't always remember why I buy books. I look at my list of books on my kindle. The author also wrote "Black Tom", which got me back into reading fiction this year.

Quantum Night

I think I am a bit of sucker for book based on quantum mechanics. So when Amazon offered to sell me "Quantum Night" by Robert J Sawyer.    The book makes many interesting points about the influence of quantum mechanics on consciousness. I am not sure how correct the science was, but he used the words in the correct way.

You can tell the author is Candian, because no American would care so  much about Canada.

Vintage Murder

I have a bad case of flu this week. I could barely concentrate earlier this week. But I did manage to read some stuff in the last couple of days,  as I begin to feel human again. Yesterday I read my first Inspector Allen Mystery. The book was called Vintage Murder. It was a classic old fashioned mystery novel, but with a policeman as the hero.

The story was set in an occult church.

Marauder

For some time, I have been reading Marauder by Garry  Gibson. I really enjoyed it, but my attention span is so short these days. The book had alien technology and spaceships, as well as machine enhanced humans.

The Devil's detective

I have just finished reading the devil's detective by Simon Kurt Unsworth. It was a strange book. Partly a detective story, but set in hell. There were big issues with free will and manipulation.

The ballad of black Tom

I have not read a fiction book for a long time. So it was good to get back into this reading for pleasure. So this weekend I finished reading: The Ballad of black Tom ,by Victor Lavelle. It was great short novella about black magic set in New York. It is always good to start Easter off with some black magic.

I should say that I really liked the prose style. Actually the book is also about racism, but I liked the magic elements better.

Black unicorn

I did recently manage to a read a book. Luckily the book was short:  Black Unicorn  by the recently deceased Tanith Lee.  This was a great book, about a young woman who can mend anything.  She mends the bones of a black unicorn and things go a bit crazy and colourful.

I don't really follow fantasy too much, so I only learned of her existence when she died.

The paper magician

The last couple of days I have been in Birmingham for a short break. While traveling I read "The Paper Magician",  by Charlie Holmberg. This was yet another fantasy novel. A youg woman is apprenticed to an expert in the magical folding of paper. The pacing of the novel seemed weird. She settled in for a couple of days,  before going on a big quest inside a dream sequence. She very quickly falls in love with her boss.

Master of Fiends

While travelling I managed to finish reading the fantasy novel "master of fiends" by Douglass Hill.
I had heard the tainted blade on the radio which is the first story featuring the characters in this book.
It was simply but cleverly written.

Killing Floor (Jack Reacher, Book 1)

I decided to take the train back to Burnley for the Christmas break. This meant I had a lot of time for reading, given the 7 hour train journey from Plymouth to Burnley. I decided to read the first Jack Reacher novel. This was an exciting novel, fairly well written. I am starting to forget the plot,  especially now that I have ordered the third book in the series. 

I like the way that Jack Reacher uses the bus and buys his clothes from the thrift store.

Eric

I was feeling a bit pissed off at the weekend, because of work problems. I decided to read "Eric" by Terry Pratchett. It is part of the long running and very funny Discworld series.. Actually I am also listening to the series on the radio. Young Eric tries to summon a demon and things go rapidly downhill from there. It cheered me up, but I am still deeply pissed off.

Chicago Confidential

Last week I visited Durham for a meeting. This involved a long train and flight on the way out and a long train journey back. I managed to read Chicago Confidential while I was travelling. This was a PI novel loosely set in the 50,60s. So Frank Sinatra pops up as a character.

I enjoyed all the atmosphere.

Endangered Creatures

As part of my rip to Durham I finally managed to finish reading Endangered Creatures by Stephen Dunkley. I can't remember why I downloaded the book from Amazon. I sort of enjoyed it. There is a secret zoo of mythological creatures, who are a little bit funny.

The Balkans

As part of my Bulgarian holiday I purchased a real physical copy of "The Balkans" by Mark Mazower. I had to buy a real book, because you are still not allowed to read a kindle when you land or take off in a plane -- but I believe that rule is slowly changing.

The book was a good short overview of the history of the Balkans. It is no longer clear why these small states started to exist. The book explains there were geographical reasons for the original countries to come into existence. At some stage many of the people of the Balkans just thought of       themselves as Greek. The idea of national states in the area is relatively new and has caused a lot of bloodshed.
  

The Late Monsieur Gallet: Inspector Maigret

So while on holiday I read another detective book: The Late Monsieur Gallet: Inspector Maigret 
At the time I read the book, it seemed so important to finish at once, but now a  week later, it took me a while to remember what happened. Still a great book.

The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books Saved My Life

On holiday I speed read the book: The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books Saved My Life by Andy Miller.  Amazon's robots recommended  this book to me. Andy had a young son, and was feeling in a bit of rut. He no longer had time for reading, apart from the long train commute to London, but he just pissed the time away. His background was in English literature and he was working in publishing, but he clearly felt he was being creative enough and had lost contact with books.

Anyway he got back to reading "classic" books again.  In the past he had even claimed to have read some of the books, he was now reading. Like many people he had a huge collection of books.

It was kind of strange, because he was reading "classic" books and then reading Mr Men books to his son. Like many people he worried that all this book buying was just "shopping." It was interesting that he didn't worry that he could not write any novel, although he had written two earlier books.


I liked the quote from the philosopher .

Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents.

Arthur Schopenhauer

The story of my life.

In praise of Robert Silverberg after reading Musings and Meditations.

On holiday I finished off a collection of essays, called   Musings and Meditations,  by Robert Silverberg. The essays were mostly written for Asimov's science fiction magazine. The essays cover a wide range of subjects. Not all the subjects were strictly speaking science fiction, but many of the non-fiction elements would help a writer designing stories and plots. He did seem to be very well read. I learned a lot about the history and craft of writing science fiction.

Bob really likes the culture of science fiction. He goes to the Science Fiction convention every year and really cares about awards, such as the Hugo. (I should add he doesn't just care about him wining awards, but rather also people who have written important work.)

Mogworld

I read Mogworld  while on holiday. This was a very funny book about a gaming world. I really enjoyed the first part of the book, but I thought the end was too predictably ordinary.