(Drivebycuriosity) - 2021 was another remarkable year. The Covid-19 Pandemic slowed our lives and my wife & me traveled less and visited fewer rock concerts, museums and art galleries than we liked. But there was a lot of time to read, at least one advantage.
Fortunately I enjoyed some interesting books - covering history, exotic & alternate futures, mysteries, culture & more - which I want to share with you - spoiler free. (Actually I selected 24 books, but I needed a catchier headline).
The best book I read in 2021 was a science fiction novel: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir ( amazon). The author, who became famous for his novel "The Martian", brings science back into science fiction. The novel follows a scientist with a broad knowledge and a can-do attitude. In the begin he has no idea what´s going on and he has to learn step by step what´s this all about (which makes the plot very interesting). The protagonist deals with a sheer unending row of problems & setbacks, but he responds with curiosity, stubbornness and an unbreakable will to survive, using his analytical skills and broad scientific knowledge. The plot is built around tons of sciences (evolution, micro-biology, genetics, chemistry, quantum physics, cosmology etc.), and the author knotted them together into original & astounding but plausible ideas. Weir has the talent to describe even the most complex phenomena in very easy words. Reading "Project Hail Mary" is good for refreshing school knowledge and to learn a lot more. In spite of all sciences & engineering the plot stays exciting and kept me on the edge till the last page. "Hail Mary" is fun to read because surprise follows after surprise and the tale is flavored with a lot humor and includes even a quite untypical bromance. Weir created a classic!
The second best novel - The Tip Of The Hangman by Allison Epstein - goes in the opposite direction: The England of Elizabeth I ( amazon). The author turned history into a spy thriller . The plot focuses on Christopher Marlow, today known as poet, playwright and colleague of Shakespeare. When Marlow was just a petty student in Cambridge he got coaxed to work as a spy for the Queen against Mary and the Catholic conspirators. But Epstein`s Marlow did not turn into a Renaissance James Bond, quite the opposite, he was a pawn in a fierce political game. "The Tip" is a fable about a flawed person sucked into a vicious vortex - a dark and sinister story and a tragedy. It seems that Epstein was inspired by John le Carre, but also by Marlowe`s own plays and even by Oscar Wilde.
The Doomsday Book by Connie Wilson is partly historical fiction mixed with scifi (amazon ). The University of
Oxford sends a young woman, a scientist, back into the 14th
century to a place close to Oxford to explore this time. Unfortunately some things don´t work
out as expected. There
are 2 parallel running story lines: Events in Oxford (in a near future,
when people can travel in time) and the experiences of the time
traveler in the 14th century. The medieval part - the
real Doomsday Book - is well researched. The blot gets very dark &
emotional and turns into a bleak horror story. I got sucked into the
14th century events, but I was just browsing through the almost
unreadable Oxford chapters. The book would have needed a good editor.
Roman Blood by Steven Saylor travels even further into the past: Ancient Rome (amazon ). The novel, set around the year 80 B.C, is based on a real case which is taught in history classes: Sextus Roscius, a Roman citzen, was accused of the murder of his father. Marcus Tullius Cicero, then a young aspiring lawyer, was defending him. The plot is told in first person by Gordianus the Finder, a (fictional) private investigator, who is commissioned by Cicero to investigate the backgrounds of this case and to deliver material for the defense. I felt like being in the ancient place and observing Gordianus` highly dangerous activities.
A Death In Summer by Benjamin Black happens
a bit closer to our time. The novel - set mostly in Dublin in the 1950s
- is part of a series around Quirke, a pathologist who works in a
morgue ( amazon). Yes, not the usual detective or private eye is the main character and investigator. Quirke is a twisted and very curious man who develops interest in cases which are not really his business. When he believes that something is
not right he starts a personal investigation, whatever it may cost him. This book, the number four in the series, is again a pleasure to read. "A Death", a mixture of a romance noir and murders mystery, is maybe the best of the Quirke novels so far. Quirke deals with characters who are opaque, weird, vicious & self-destructive. I indulged into Black`s elaborate style and his descriptions of persons, environments & situations: "She was wearing a gown of diphanous
white stuff, high-waisted in whast he believed was called the Empire
style, and her hair was piled high and bound with a scarlet ribbon;
bathed in the gold light from the garden she might have been a portrait
by Jacques-Louis David".
A Loyal Character Dancer by Qiu Xiaolong gives a glimpse on China´s culture and recent history - and
entertains as well (amazon ). The exiled Chinese author, who lives in the US,
portraits his home country more critical as a writer living in China
could do. The book is part of a series set in Shanghai - and other Chinese places - in
the 1990s and follows fictional Chief Inspector Chen Cao. Chen has a
complicated and delicate task. He needs to cooperate with US Marshal
Catherine Rohn, who has been send to China. Both have to find a Chinese
woman who is needed in the US for an immigration case (this is a
spoiler free blog). The Chinese-American team has
not only to deal with politics, organized crime, corruption and
international politics. They also have to intersect their different
ideological backgrounds. Qiu Xiaolong blends the plot with impressions of politics, society & economy and spices
it with some action, romantics and a little bit erotics. I learned a
lot about the peculiar mix between state owned and private businesses, I
also enjoyed the description of some localities and regional Chinese
cuisines.
Submission by Michel Houellebecq gives a glance on contemporary France, even though the novel is set in a near future ( amazon). The country, which is proud on her culture, is getting more and more under the influence of the Muslims, who immigrated from Northern Africa, and their offspring. Michel Houellebecq focuses on the islamization of France. The book seems to contain 2 different novels. The first novel describes rising tensions and violence, but then follows a novel where everyone seems to be relaxed and happy. Maybe the second part is meant as a farce. I found the first part much more interesting and believable than the second. There are many interesting musings about French literature and the growing influence of the Muslims on French society and family live. "Muslim women were devoted and submissive ... they aimed to please".
Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg (amazon). I read the book once in German translation and I enjoyed last year the original on my Kindle. "Dying.." has aged well. The novel is set in New York City in the 1970s when it was published. The protagonist had been capable to read the minds of others but now he is losing this capability because he is aging. "Dying" isn`t traditional scifi. The only scifi element is the mind reading, which is not based on science. But the novel mixes fiction with science, especially psychology, and blends it with some speculative ideas. The book takes also a glance on New York`s intellectual scene in the 1970s. Selig is suffering from the decline of his capability, but he recalls the glorious days when he had his full fledged power. Then he dove into the minds of men and women, but also of animals like fish and bees. I enjoyed Silverberg´s dry humor and the analytical style, spiced with philosophical insights, musings about Italian food and some graphic sex.
Philosophical Investigation by Phillip Kerr is based on a theory by the Italian physicist Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909 ) who believed that crime could be prevented because a "born criminal" could be identified by physical defects ( amazon).The book was published in the year 1992 but set in the year 2013; so the novel is slightly futurist, but it is not the usual science fiction. The European Union had developed a program, where potentially murderers were identified by brain scan. Their data were collected with code-names in a database, the "Lombroso System". One of these "Lombrosos", code name Wittgenstein, hacked into the system, deleted his own data and started to murder the others, whom he calls brothers. The novel is set in a run-down London and in Cambridge where inspector Isadora (Jake) Jakowicz tries to catch "Wittgenstein",
using scientific methods and female intuition. Inserted in the plot are parts (written in first person) where "Wittgenstein" tales the events from his perspective and elaborates his philosophy. The text is filled with a lot philosophical musings by Wittgenstein and his colleagues, but also by Sigmund Freud and others.
I also read some crime mysteries set in a contemporary word. Palm Beach Finland By Antti Tuomainen ( amazon). The plot is set on a remote beach resort somewhere on Finland`s coast. Some morons start accidentally an evil chain reaction which attracts an undercover cop and a ruthless killer. "Palm Beach" reads like absurd theater turned into a Hitchcock movie spiced with a dark humor and some slapstick. It is a comedy blended with thriller elements and some hilarious gore. The characters are driven by a lot overconfidence in themselves (perfectly described be the German term "Selbstüberschätzung") with fatal consequences. Tuomainen describes masterly how human weaknesses, especially in the evaluation of other persons, lead to a lot of harm. The plot is flavored with some unlikely romantics and a very special elaborately described sex scene.
And I enjoyed another weird Tuomainen novel: The Man Who Died ( amazon.) The story evolves in a small Finnish town on some almost hot July days. The macabre plot - told in first person - is much more complex than the title and the beginning suggest. The tale is a who-dunnit mystery about relationships and betrayal and death. But the novel also dives deep into economics. The poisoned is the CEO of a small company which harvests mushrooms in Finland´s forests and exports them to Japan. The protagonist - and the readers - gets confronted with the perils of competition and the fragility of monopolies (the book should be duty lecture for any antitrust student and the American antitrust authority Federal Trade Commission). The novel also dives into the subtleties of the labor market and other aspects of business. Besides that the reader immerses into the peculiarity of the mushroom business and woke my appetite for mushrooms. This all is told in a straight forward and funny way, mixed with a lot surprises & twists and spiced with some hilarious action scenes.
I also enjoyed 2 biographies:
Sir Francis Drake by John Sugden ( amazon). The author narrates Drake`s rise as a pirate, who made a career by raiding the Spanish colonies in the Caribbean. Some chapters read like adventure stories by Robert Louis Stephenson. But Sudgen also chronicles the political influence Drake gained at Queen Elizabeth`s court thanks to his raids. The queen could really need the pirate`s help against the Spanish. King Philip II of Spain, a fundamentalist Roman Catholic, was obsessed with the idea of destroying heretic Elizabeth, overtake her kingdom and make the island a strictly Catholic Spanish province. Drake´s raid´s on Cartagena (today Colombia), Panama and many other Spanish owned places were just needle stings but they altogether started to weaken the Spanish empire. Bigot King Phillip needed the over sea money as mortgage for the huge loans he took from banks in Genua (Italy) to finance his military operations and to conquer England. But Drake was more than just a pirate. Sugden narrates the seafarer`s nautical skills which let him find a way around infamous & dangerous Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean, which Drake used - of course - for raiding the Spanish treasures on the Pacific coast, especially in Panama City. Drake´s experiences, talents & rising political power gave him an important role in England´s defense against the Armada, which the obsessed Spanish king had send to eliminate Elizabeth´s realm. Sudgen elaborates the complex patterns of skirmishes and weather situations which eventually stopped the Spanish attack and killed most her soldiers & sailors.
The Twelve Lives Of Alfred Hitchcock by Edward White shows how and why "Hitch" performed his magic ( amazon). The book is not in chronological order. In each of the 12 chapters the author focuses on one special aspect of Hitchcock`s live and personality. We learn about Hitch`s anxieties, his voyeurism, his economic talents, his relations with women (would Hitch survive today´s me-too climate?), how he staged his obesity in public, how his talents got shaped by early German cinema and how Hitch developed after his move to America and much more. The author condensed a vast amount of material into a very readable book. His portrait is analytical, but also entertaining. If it is possible to explain a genius, Edgar White came close to it. And "Twelve Lives" woke my appetite to re-watch Hitch`s masterpieces again.
A Light In The Dark - A History Of Movie Directors by David Thomson portraits some of the movie directors who influenced cinema in the recent 100 years ( amazon). The early chapters are chronological and portrait some directors who defined cinema in the first half of the 20th century - like Sternberg, Hawks, Hitchcock, Godard & Wells. Later the author changes the structure and he touches topics like the role of women in the cinema business. The relatively small format - just around 300 pages - doesn`t allow a comprehensive view but Thomson, who is in his late seventies, distills a lot of the experience he had accumulated as a lifelong movie gourmet & critic.
When I dine in an Italian restaurant I am often overwhelmed by the wine list. Italian Wine For Dummies is a help (amazon.
). Over about 300 pages the authors describe the huge variety of
Italian wines. They start in the north of the peninsula and work their
way south - region by region. They not only tell the name of the almost
countless wine specialities and where they grow, they also name
producers and recommend restaurants & hotels.
This one is one of the most idiosyncratic books I read in a while: The Wet And The Dry by Lawrence Osborne ( amazon). The book is written in first person and looks like an autobiography. I don`t know if Mr. Osborne really is a drinker or if he describes just a fictional person - a Jekyll & Hyde thing. Anyway, the book is highly entertaining and very informative, an amazing blend of travel reports, history lectures & alcohol journalism.The author describes his (alleged?) affection for alcohol; he seems to be an aficionado for whisky, gin, vodka and other alcoholic drinks and he likes to visit pubs & bars. This is not really unusual, but he explores a lot Islamic places to find bars, wineries & beer breweries; including places where Western live style is hated and gets punished by bombs. Maybe he likes the contradiction, the risks and the adventure or he wants just to surprise and to entertain: "A Muslim alcoholic give me hope that human race can be saved" I learned about places I might never visit like the religious city of Surakarta (Indonesia), where the Bali Bombers came from, about beer brewers in Egypt (where the drink was invented), vintners & whisky distillers in Lebanon and bars in Abu Dhabi & Islamabad. I learned about the cult around Dionyso, the Greek god of wine, different kinds of vodka, new year`s celebration in Muscat, Muslim terrorism in Southern Thailand and much more.
I read more science fiction:
Shards Of Earth By Adrian Tchaikovsky describes a future universe where humans have colonized many worlds but still struggle with many conflicts and a mysterious alien enemy (amazon ). Tchaikovsky has many grand and unique ideas which are the reason why I read science fiction. There is a mysterious and hyper-powerful alien enemy, called "the architects". I will not tell what this enemy does (this is a spoiler free blog), but his bizarre actions are unique & fascinating. Tchaikovsky`s protagonists don´t travel to other worlds - or galaxies - through wormholes or portals as usual in modern scifi, instead they use an alternative way which leads to surreal scenes soaked with psychedelic horror. Another reason to read science fiction. There are also a lot alien and strange worlds & species, another feature of top-notch science fiction. These elements lift Tchaikovsky into the class of Heinlein, Asimov & Clarke.
New Eden By Kishore Tipirneni is based on quantum physics and the claim that information can travel much faster than light ( amazon.). Scientists use entangled subatomic particles to communicate over huge distances, which leads to surprising and spectacular results. The plot follows a triangle of 3 young persons: A female science reporter, a physicist who specializes in particle physics and an expert in information theory & computer whizz. "New Eden" is hard science fiction, based on information theory and other sciences, like particle physics, evolution and genetics, but also touches topics like social media & politics. Parts of the novel are philosophical and very speculative and the novel develops into an utopian fairy tale.
The Harvest by Olga Werby ( amazon). Dr. Varsaad Volhard, a scientist with expertise in evolution, is part of a crew who travels to the Saturn moon Mimas, where astronomer had discovered an alien artifact . "The harvest" is a very ambitious work. It`s hard science fiction in the tradition of Heinlein & Asimov, based on logic and scientific thinking. The book shows Werby`s scientific background & expertise and integrates a a lot sciences, including evolution, molecular biology, genetics, quantum physics,astrophysics, into a convincing and entertaining plot. I learned a lot and reading "Harvest" influenced my thinking about how a possible encounter with aliens could happen and what intentions they might have.
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