Tokyo Express: A Novel

Tokyo Express: A Novel by Seicho Matsumoto, translated by Jesse Kirkwood

An official and a woman appeared dead in an apparent love suicide. There were witnesses that saw them boarding a train and they later showed up dead.  It seemed fairly straightforward. However, the man was involved in a scandal. Could there be something else involved? The detective looked at the clues and everything seemed to stack up. However, things seemed to be just a little too good. There was also little evidence of the man and the woman in a relationship before they were seen at the train station. The detective was persistent and continue to investigate. The coincidences were just too much. Eventually he discovered that it was an elaborately set up murder organized in part by a dying woman who was obsessed with train scheduled. (They did happen to get the couple seen from a platform away in a rare time when there would be no train in between.) The perpetrator (a high ranking official and his wife) almost got away with it. Once they saw they would be caught they took their lives. It was a well done whodunit. 

The Languages of Pao

The Languages of Pao by Jack Vance

This is the 2004 "Vance Integral Edition" of the book. It had reviewed various versions to produce an "authoritative" version of the book that as reviewed by Vance. It was not easy to find, and ended up coming from on library loan from New Hampshire. 

Pao is a peaceful planet with billions of inhabitants. The language stresses a strong sense of community and togetherness. People are content having their basic needs fulfilled. However, this also leaves them susceptible to outside interference. The leader is killed and a pretender takes over. He is required to pay regular tribute to a warrior planet. The man with a real claim to the throne is taken under the wing of another leader. This leader trains him in the language and culture of the planet. It is part of a long scheme to get power. As part of this scheme a number of other people are sent off Pao to study linguistics in order to become future leaders. Different regions of Pao are also set up for certain groups (such as a warrior class) with their own languages. The true inheritor of the throne returns and is able to assume power. He helps the planet to grow and kick out their oppressors. However, he discovers that the planet is losing its identity. The grops have their own languages and thought processes. He hatches a plan to unify the country under a common language to maintain the identity. 

The book has some interesting takes on languages and their influence on culture. The neighboring planet has a "selfish" society that has great power over others. The planet is almost entirely men. They import women as concubines. The healthy sons remain while the daughters return with their mothers after the concubine period is over. This allows the group to rapidly reproduce, but does make them highly dependent on having a continual stream of foreigners. Could a society like this really function for a length of time? However, even more concerning is the unity of the original Pao language. Could a simple agricultural planet really maintain a single language across 15 billion people? Would the society stay similar across this planet?

The Affluent Society

The Affluent Society by john Kenneth Galbraith

After World War II, America became rich. It was setting records producing and accumulating wealth. What should the US do? He advocates for a more attention to the government and personal sectors. Build up people. This aligns much more with modern liberal thought than classical liberalism.

Tales of the Greek Heroes

Tales of the Greek Heroes by Roger Lancelyn Green

This book tells the story of the greek heroes as one continuous narrative. It seems like a good idea. I just more trouble getting into it than with other mythology books.

The Boxcar Children Collection Volume 2: Mystery Ranch, Mike's Mystery, Blue Bay Mystery

The Boxcar Children Collection Volume 2: Mystery Ranch, Mike's Mystery, Blue Bay Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Mystery Ranch - their grandpa has not got along with his sister. The children go to visit her. She takes a liking to the children and decides to leave the ranch to them. There was a friendly guy they saw on the train. He was a uranium prospector who discovered there was Uranium on the land. They set up a mine, while keeping land for the aunt. They also defeat the attempts of others to swindle the ranch from the aunt for cheep.

Mike's Mystery - The kids return a year later to find the ranch is now a big uranium mining operation. One of the swindlers returns to try to damage the ranch and take revenge on Mike who "talks to much". They are able to catch him and get Mike's mom set up in a pie making business.

Blue Bay Mystery - Grandpa takes the kids on a trip on a ship to the south seas. They do their schoolwork on the ship there. they are then dropped off on the island with Grandpa and an experienced man to spend time living and learning there. They discover another boy is on the island. He had been shipwrecked many months ago. He had lived for some time with a sailor who recently disappeared while swimming. (He may have fallen to sharks.) They take the boy back when the are picked up and are able to reunite him with his family.

Throughout the stories, the children are often able to quickly job whether a character is good or evil by looking at them. Is this a skill that has been lost as people attempt not to be prejudiced? It is an interesting line to be drawn. The kids also have a huge amount of optimism and everything seems to turn out well in the end.

Flicka, Ricka, Dicka Go to Market

Flicka, Ricka, Dicka Go to Market by Maj Lindman

The triplets have moved out to the country. They want bicycles to get around. Their dad encourages them to grow some vegetables for the market. They go through the work of doing that and get some vegetables. Their neighbor offers to let them borrow the horse and cart to bring vegetables to the market and gives them some of his flowers to sell there. (He did look a bit creepy when he first appeared - however this is Sweden, not the US!) The first time, they don't tie up the horse, and he goes home on their own. They do a better job the next time. After the season, they have earned enough money to buy their bicycles.

Pinky Pye

Pinky Pye by Eleanor Estes

The family is off to Fire Island to do bird research. They get a new addition to the family - a small kitten they name pinky. They have some adventures. The four year old is working to stop sucking his thumb. One kid starts a taxi service on the car-free island. Dad injures himself and must be in a wheelchair. Pinky likes to type on the typewriter and get into trouble.

One of kids collects grasshoppers but keeps finding them missing in the morning. Another ornithologist had his pet owl blown away during a storm. They are all worried that it was dead. Then the cats discover the owl hiding away in the attic. A girl witnesses this and they later do a big show about revealing the owl. It is just in time, because they cats are attacking the owl. Later the owl goes to the zoo, but comes back because he did not like it there. Dad works on his scientific writing - which ends up being mostly about the cat.

Danny and the Dinosaur

Danny and the Dinosaur (An I Can Read Book) by Syd Hoff

A boy goes to the museum to see a dinosaur. He wishes he could play with the dinosaur. The dinosaur wishes he could play. They become friends and go about doing things together. There is a happy naivety  in their interactions. It is almost normal that a boy hangs around with a dinosaur. They do plenty of things to help other people as they are having fun. Then the dinosaur returns home to the museum.

The Complete Adventures of Curious George

The Complete Adventures of Curious George: 70th Anniversary Edition by H. A. Rey and Margret Rey

Curious George (1941)

Curious George Takes a Job (1947)

Curious George Rides a Bike (1952)

Curious George Gets a Medal (1957)

Curious George Flies a Kite (1958)

Curious George Learns the Alphabet (1963)

Curious George Goes to the Hospital (1966)

This collection has all the original Curious George books. They are of a higher quality than the newer stories by other authors. They also have various elements that would not be considered appropriate today. In the first book, George is found by the Man with the Yellow Hat in Africa. He smokes a pipe and then eagerly goes to the zoo. In all the books, George gets in trouble in various ways due to his curiosity. However, he always manages to get out of the trouble - often by using some of the same skills that got him in trouble in the first place.

These stories are quite old. Some look data. In Curious George Gets a Medal, George is the first animal to bail out of a rocket in space. This was before the space program had really taken off. In others, they just show a time of the past. In Curious George Rides a Bike, George gets a bike that he rides around. He later takes over a friends paper route, breaks his bike, and then joins an animal circus. He gets banished from the circus, then rescues a bear and gets to join. Everyone in the town knows each other and forgives him for not delivering their papers.

While he sometimes seems to be in a bucolic small town, other times he is in the middle of a big city. However, everyone still seems to know each other.

The collection includes CDs that include the audiobook versions of the stories. These include background music for almost the entire time.

The "Learns the Alphabet" was my least favorite. It seemed to be too slow and the pictures formed with letters was forced. For my favorite, I'd pick the first, though the early ones were all good.

Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

People live their life in Africa. Things are different than what we are used to. There are rituals for taking people out to die and multiple wives are the norm. People have heard of "white people", but think of them as sick, abnormal people. Then the white men and the missionaries appear and things change. It is an interesting glimpse into the "contact-era" African culture. It is not idealized or daemonized, but just "culture".

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

A writer lives in a New York Brownstown. In the same building lives a socialite from Texas. They become friends, but also have fights. The girl spends a lot of time with older men, with that being her only source of income. She hopes to marry a rich man one day. There is one Brazilian that seems a good prospect. However, it all falls apart when she gets arrested as part of a drug ring. (She had regularly been visiting a mobster in prison.) Later, we learn she abandons her cat and tries to move to Brazil on her own. The story is told from the point of few of the unnamed man as he flashes back in the future after seeing a picture which seems to show her. This is a short novella that is well more known for the Audrey Hepburn movie.

Who?

 Who? by Algis Budrys

Lucas Martino is a key scientist for The Allied National Government. An explosion happens when his doing his work and the Soviet International Block helps restore his health before restoring him. Many parts of his body are artificial. The allies are unsure if he is the "real person" or a spy. He seems to check all the boxes, but the allies are not sure. Eventually, they decide to dismiss him from his work leaving him to live a different life. It turns out that though the Soviets thought to replace him as a spy, they didn't. However, they did succeed in setting back the scientific work while still letting the many live.

Reflections on the Psalms

This is C.S. Lewis's acknowledged "lawman's" take on the Psalms. As in his other religious works, he apologizes for lacking the "learning" of religious scholars, before proceeding to show his deep study and learning in the field.

Much of the work discusses the differences between the Jewish worldview as expressed in the psalms and the modern Christian worldview in the new testament. The psalms present many of the great contrasts, with "loving" poems that seem the embodiment of Christian compassion, but that end with a death wish for enemies. Many bits of insight to the culture of the bible times are given to help put these in context.

This is not one of his best religious writings, but it is a quality work.