Unsong

Unsong by Scott Alexander (audio version)

Scott Alexander has a cult-like following on his blog (Slate Star Codex and later Astral Codex Ten). He writes a lot and elicits a huge number of comments. This book was originally serialized over the span of a couple years on the blog. It has the feel of a work full of inside jokes. 

The book is an alternative history starting from the 1960s. The mission to the moon broke an important crystal surrounding the earth and started messing up the magic. Things started going wrong in various ways. Angels, demons and other religious figures are real and heavily involved in earth. Words have great power. Saying the right word can have real actions. (In one scene, the President burns up because somebody hacked a teleprompter to get him to say "light myself on fire" word.) Companies have set up ways to find words - and then copyrighted the words. This has caused problems as others are not permitted to use them - even if they would help a lot.

The book goes through many digressions at it explores possible kabbalistic interpretations of people, places and things. San Francisco is similar to Jerusalem, with many areas having words that match Jewish names. In one scene, a character goes through a deep theological analysis of the song "American Pie". He is only stopped by someone taking this discussion in other ways.

The book is very long and has a "blog feel". There is something of a plot with the rise of a fallen angel and the conflict with the world. However, that is of minor importance compared to the string of short episodes. Good angels are busy trying to "debug" the functionality of earth. Hell comes out in the open and partners with countries in earth. Historic episodes take place in this weird world, though often with more obvious manipulation. It would not be hard to read some sections out of order.

The audiobook was prepared as a podcast. The narration is pretty well done, but the volume can be variable.

Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace

Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace by Nikil Saval

White-collar jobs were originally confined to proprietors that may have a clerk helping out. This began to change during the industrial revolution. Giant organizations and economies of scale led to many of these white collar workers becoming employees. Now employee is the norm, rather than entrepreneur. These workers see themselves as being closer to the management than to the blue collar workers. They identify with the middle class and are generally not unionized. This is an interesting exploration of how office work has changed over time.

The Girl With All the Gifts

The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey

A fungus wiped out most of the population and turned those in contact with it into zombies. A few other "off the grid" humans managed to survive, but would fight against other groups. There were also some military groups that survived and are studying it in a lab. They are studying some kids that have been exposed to the fungi, yet still function as normal humans. The lead researcher is portrayed in a negative light throughout the book. This sets up the conclusion where they realize the best course of action is to let the funga do a massage spore release that will wipe out the current state of humanity and lead to a future human/fungi symbiosis. The narrative flows very well and stays interesting, even as it presents a non-standard conclusion to the post-apocalyptic zombie tale.

Gravity's Rainbow

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

I started this after reading a quote from here about burned out light bulbs. It is a long book. After spending a few hours, I was not impressed and getting sick of the vulgarity, so I put it down. That's about it. (From November 18, 2016)

I am not a fan George Guidall narrations. His voice screams out "boring" and there are too many "empty spaces" as he reads. It doesn't help that the book is long and rambling. The Pulitzer Advisory Board was offended by its content, some of which was described as "'unreadable', 'turgid', 'overwritten', and in parts 'obscene'. That feels accurate.

While it is not being vulgar and scattalogical, there is a bit of World War II science fiction going on. There is some super device that some people want. Nazis and various other people come into play. Perhaps that would be an interesting novella, rather than an afterthought in 37 hours of blather.

The Book with No Pictures

The Book with No Pictures by B. J. Novak

This is a "picture book" with no pictures. It starts out with something resembling a story. Then it it becomes a vehicle for the reader to make silly sounds for the child listening. It is meant for an adult ot read out loud to a kid. The kid will get kicks out of the "silliness" that is read.

Lisa the Lollipop Fairy

Lisa the Lollipop Fairy by Daisy Meadows

The girls get a visit from an aunt that works at a candy factory. Alas, all the candy tastes bad. They get a visit from Honey the candy fairy that introduces them to the Sugar and Spice fairies. They partner with Lisa to go get magic charms pack to restore candy. They find a bunch of goblins got lollipops and really enjoy the taste. (But wait, shouldn't the goblins prefer that the lollipops taste gross?) The girls promise the goblins replacement lollipops to bring back to Jack Frost (who is building a candy castle.) With this agreement they get the charm back and now lollipops taste good. In Britain, this was "Lottie the Lollipop Fairy". The fairy books are really stretching the same plot with this one.

Far and Near: On Days Like These

Far and Near: On Days Like These by Neil Peart

Neil Peart rode his motorcycle between venues while touring with Rush. He planned out trips to visit national parks as well as explore various parts of the world. He would seek out the back roads as much as possible. (Sometimes he would even luck out and get people to open gated off logging roads.) GPS may or may not help him. He would always travel with riding buddies and had trucks to carry the bikes in as part of the tour. (He needed to make sure he made it to the concerts.) He had various experiences, both good and bad. Some people recognized him as the drummer for Rush, while many did not. He rarely brought it up on his own. (Though one case where many people bonded together to help, he did go out and offer them tickets.) 

This book primarily has essays regarding his motorcycle tours, though there are a few from other travels and experiences (such as with cars). He uses it to detail his philosophy which sometimes appears directly as some of his songs. The philosophy may not always be externally consistent. (He criticizes the attempts by southern Christians to limit other's rights by limiting abortion, while also criticizing them for not limiting rights by not mandating helmets.) Despite disagreeing with some viewpoints, he takes an open view to the people and situations that occur. He is much more interested in the experience. He loves the streets that nobody goes down unless they live there. He enjoys the small towns and the unique experiences that differ from cookie cutter suburban life. It would be fun to be able to explore areas the way he did. He had both the freedom to go anywhere along with the support to make sure it happened, yet also had time and location constraints that forced moving on. I wonder if somebody has consolidated the locations and roads mentioned for a tour book.

Waiting Is Not Easy!

Waiting Is Not Easy!-An Elephant and Piggie Book by Mo Willems

Piggie has something for Elephant, but Elephant does not want to wait. He goes through many states of distress and gets upset that it starts to get dark. Then they see what they were waiting for - the stars in the night. Sometimes there is no option but to wait.

The Secret Life of Squirrels

The Secret Life of Squirrels by Nancy Rose

A squirrel named Mr. Peanuts does a bunch of human-like things shown in photographs in this picture book. It has a cute basic story. We got it from a little free library, but it was a school library sticker on it. Hmmm...

Zombie Halloween (Goosebumps Most Wanted: Special Edition #1)

Zombie Halloween (Goosebumps Most Wanted: Special Edition #1) by R. L. Stine

It is near halloween and people are afraid of Zombies. The family comes to live in a new house next to the cemetery. Grandpa seems to be especially fearful of zombies. They form a zombie defense club and even save grandpa from zombies. The neighbors move in with coffins and act weird. Are they zombies? At a big zombie party, they discover they are not. They are vampires instead.

The book is not very scary or very good, though I did like the ending. It has the feel of something hacked together quickly following the formula.

The Big Book of Laugh-Out-Loud Jokes for Kids: A 3-in-1 Collection

The Big Book of Laugh-Out-Loud Jokes for Kids: A 3-in-1 Collection by Rob Elliott

This collection includes:

Laugh-Out-Loud Jokes for Kids (2010)

Zoolarious Animal Jokes for Kids (2012)

Knock-Knock Jokes for Kids (2013)

The quality of the jokes is better than the other kid joke books. (But that is a low bar.) There are plenty of puns here, but also a variety of different jokes, inlcuding many that actually work.

You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang, illustrated by Christopher Weyant

You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang, illustrated by Christopher Weyant

A big creature says he is normal and the other creature is small. The small creature says he is normal and the other one is large. Then some super small creatures and a super big creature arrive. They realize they can be big and small. This targets the super young toddler crowd.

Maple

Maple by Lori Nichols

A girl is born at the same time as a maple tree. They grow up together. She tries to play with the tree, but there is a limit to what they can do. Later she has a little sister - and a willow tree sprouts out. It is simple without a whole lot to it.

Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space

Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space by Lynn Sherr

I did not like the voice of the narrator of this audiobook. Not sure what was the issue, but it is hard to get involved with the book. Sally Ride was shy. She became the first female astronaut. She encouraged girls to get involved in science. She was involved in studying the earth, and had some university positions teaching physics. She had a traditional marriage with a male astronaut that lasted a few years, but then lived most of her life in a private lesbian relationship. She "came out" only in her obituary after she died from cancer. The biography felt fairly distant. She didn't leave many personal records, and was fairly tight-lipped in interviews, so much of what we have on her is through others. 

Curious George Goes to a Bookstore

Curious George Goes to a Bookstore by Mary O'Keefe Young, illustrated by Julie M. Bartynski

Curious George goes to the bookstore to see his favorite author. He eats banana bread and builds a dispaly of some of the books. In the end, he gets to help out the author. It is a typical derivative Curious George book.

Numbers Are Everywhere: Sophia the First

Numbers Are Everywhere by Thea Feldmann, illustrated by Character Building Studio and Disney Storybook Art Team

This is a phonics book that counts from one to four. It is only for kids that really like Sophia the First.

The Red Pencil

The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney

A family lives in a part of Darfur, Sudan. They are traditional farmers and Muslims. One of the girl's friends is going to move to the city. There she can attend a school and sell to others. The girl's family want her to maintain a traditional role and don't want to move. The girl has a sibling with some deformities and a sheep. One day some of another group come in and burn their farm. The sheep were burned. Some people die and the family needs to move to a refugee camp. The conditions were not great, but they are alive. They do see a TV and see the school that the girl's friend had attended. They have hope of improving their condition and having peace.

The Crossover

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

Two twin boys love basketball. Their dad was a pro basketball player, but his career was cut short due to injuries. He did not want to see a doctor because his father died when he went to the hospital. One of the twin boys gets a girlfriend. This causes some jealousy at the hands of the other which he took out on the basketball court by hitting him with a bad pass. This caused him to be suspended. After a period of atonement, he started to get in a better position with his family. He was playing a game with his dad.  Alas, dad was having health problems and refused to see a doctor.  Dad collapsed and was finally rushed to the hospital. The boy was able to play a big basketball game, but dad passed away. It is a quick moving basketball book that ends with a teerjerker.

Brown Girl Dreaming

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

The author was born in Ohio, then moved to the south and lived with her grandparents for a while before the family moved up to Brooklyn. There were a few trips back to the south after that. Her grandmother was a devout Jehovah's Witness and made sure the kids studied the bible. Her grandfather was a smoker and her father was largely absent. Subtle racism was still a challenge in the late-1960s south. A black person may be able to enter an establishment, but may not be served. New York was a different experience than she expected. She had a fairly supportive family and was doing fairly well financially, though they did have some challenges of poverty at various time. There were various struggles going on, but from the optimistic view of a child it was the small bits of everyday life that were more important.

Curious George's Train (mini movers shaped board books)

Curious George's Train (mini movers shaped board books) by Alessandra Preziosi, illustrated by Greg Paprocki, Designed by Carol Chu, created by Margret and H.A. Rey

This is a derivative use of Curious George IP. the board book is shaped like a train, and has some spinning wheels and some things that can come out (which are now missing.) The story is a super short story of a train, with no "Curious George" content other than the monkey himself.