(Drivebycuriosity) - As usual at the begin of a year, I write about my favorites from the past year. Unfortunately, 2023 did not have the best book harvest. I struggled to get 20 interesting books together and ended with 18.
But anyway, some publications are worth a recommendation:
My favorite fiction of 2023 was Frédéric Dard`s crime mystery "Bird In A Cage" ( amazon). The plot, set in Paris around Christmas Eve in the 1960s, is told in first person. Dard constructed the plot like an illusionist who leads his audience astray with an meticulous constructed but spectacular trick. Even though the tale is heavily elaborated the plot is still somewhat plausible. "Bird" is a perfect mixture of thrill & romance sprinkled with subtle erotics - so much fun.
"The Rabbit Factor" by Finish author Antti Tuomainen ( amazon) was fun as well. The novel is also told in first person and set in Finland. It´s about a rational thinker, who has worked as a mathematician for an insurance company. The protagonist got fired and inherits a messy adventure park for children, where he has to deal with ruthless criminals. His world is set upside down, and he has to adapt to a totally new life and to deal with irrationality, menace & violence. But the novel is also about learning and to grow with one`s challenges, spiced with economics, management & labor relations.
Piero Chiara`s "The Disappearance Of Signora Guila" is an old fashioned mystery, slowly paced (amazon ). The novella (just about 100 pages) is set in Italy in the 1950s at Lago di Como, a lake shared by Italy & Switzerland. "Disappearance" is a kind of a law drama, or is it a farce? Anyway, Chiara tells about sometimes ridiculous relations between lawyer, clients & police. The use of the law - as told in this novella - appears absurd today, but also amusing. And the ending is very unusual.
Martin Holmen`s "Clinch" reminds me of Raymond Chandler`s & Dashiel Hammet´s hard boiled thrillers, but this tale is much, much, much more violent & brutal ( amazon). The novel is set in Stockholm in the 1930s, the Great Depression, told in first person. The protagonist is an ex boxer, still quick with his fists, a brute but smart with an analytical brain. Holmén`s writing skills remind me of Knausgard, who also has the talent to describe simple observations in an entertaining way. I enjoyed the atmospheric descriptions of wintry Stockholm, the frequent restaurant visits, the food & the booze. The novel touches many aspects including the influence of an horrible childhood, nightlife in 1930s Swedish capital, Stockholm´s queer community and more.
I got mixed impressions from Pulitzer Prize winner "Trust" by Hernan Diaz ( amazon). The novel has 4 parts (books), each written by fictional author. I like part one, called "Bonds", a novel-in-novel about a hyper successful Wall Street investor & speculator and his wife. I was fascinated by the musings about the stock market and a description of the Roaring Twenties and the causes of the stock market meltdown starting late 1929. There are a lot cliches of course and some parts are overdramatic but Diaz`s prose is wonderful and there are passages full of magic.
I found novel 2 - a fictional autobiography of another hyper successful Wall Street guy - rather tedious, there is way too much bragging and there are too many oversimplifications. And I did not care about parts 3 & 4 by a fictional woman, who had worked for the author of novel 2, followed by notes by the fictional wife from novel 2.
I continued reading Qiu Xiaolong`s series of crime mystery series, set in Shanghai, with part 3:"When Red Is Black" ( amazon). 2 detective inspectors are investigating the murder of a woman, who has once been a member of the Red Guards, a case which is very political. The detectives had to deal with the complex & very dense neighborhood systems, where the victim had lived, but also with their political superiors, which made their work even more challenging.
Xiaolong describes the peculiar mixture between socialism & fledgling capitalism, the expanding gab between social climbers and those left behind and the conflict of Mao believers and Western minded. The author covers the housing situation, medical care, struggling small businesses, Shanghai`s unique traditional architecture, Confucius`wisdom and much more. This all is served with a dry humor & some poetry and spiced with frequent descriptions of popular Shanghai meals. The author lives in Canada where he can write freely and ignore Bejing`s censorship.
As usual I read a lot Science Fiction. Almost as long I live I am fascinated by scifi`s "what If..." concept. My favorite of 2023 is:
"Pushing Ice" by Alastair Reynolds, who belongs to my favorite authors ( amazon). The novel is a classic space opera and drama. The staff of a commercial space ship, who are mining ice comets ("pushing ice"), gets a new task and sets course to a Saturn moon, which suddenly behaves strange. This starts a journey which last much longer and goes much farther than expected.
"Pushing" is inspired by Einstein`s insights, evolution, cosmology and other sciences. Reynold described bizarre and intimidating environments, aliens, spaceships & other artifacts. His weird universe could have been created by a cooperation of H.R.Giger (Alien) & Kafka on speed. But even the most outlandish events are plausible thanks to Reynold´s scientific background and his writing skills. Another strength of the novel are the abruptly changing social situations & conflicts. The plot is framed by 2 strong female characters. Both are challenging but somehow I cared for them anyway.
Michael G. Coney`s "Charisma" influenced my thinking as well (amazon ). The novel, told in first person, is a complex mixture of science fiction, drama, romance & crime mystery. Scientists discovered numbers of parallel worlds, which are more or less similar to ours. Their timelines run either ahead or past of our time line. Some people, who are part of secret similar science projects on the different timelines, cross the lines and switch from one world to another.
The narrator, a complex & challenged person, is one of them. There are a lot of surprises and sometimes dramatic & thrilling situations, spiced with romantics & erotics. "Charisma" is a dark philosophical tale. The story is of course highly speculative but based on logic and analytic thinking - almost scientific - which makes is very plausible.
Since today´s scifi is mostly pathetic and obsessed with diversity, equality and other woke dogmas, I read some classics:
"Even The Gods" by Isaac Asimov is still up-to-date (amazon ). The novel is based on particle physics and the Second Law of Thermodynamics and describes in 3 parts the conflict between those who want to continue a revolutionary technology and those who contend it because of the enormous risks. Each part has different characters. Some are very exotic and have peculiar relationships and erotics thanks to the fictional physics of the novel. "Even the Gods" is brilliant, still cutting edge and much, much, much better than 99 percent of contemporary science fiction.
As usual I read some short story collections:
Stanislav Lem`s: "Cyberiad" - first published 1965 - is set in a far future where humans had expired and got replaced by machines, which are more or less intelligent ( amazon). It is a collection of funny fairy tales about cybernetic beings (highly advanced robots, not created by humans but by machine evolution), which are surreal, hilarious & mind boggling. The stories happen in a pseudo-medieval environment which reminds of Brother Grimm`s stories. Lem mixed sciences, like logistic, particle physics, quantum mechanics & cosmology, with absurd ideas and characters into a baroque & bizarre cosmos.
"Stories Inspired By The Fermi Paradox" contains 15 tales ( amazon). I like 4 of them:
"Catching Rays" by David L Clements. The astrophysicist wrote a smart story with very original ideas about an alien contact based on quantum physics.
"Lost to Their Own Devices" by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a thrilling space odyssey mixed with militaristic science fiction, spiced with amazing ideas and a surprising twist.
"In The Beginning" by Gerry Webb is a mystery story set into a lush and rich future."The Worldmaker" by Rachel Armstrong describes dating in a sophisticated bar in an advanced future where people can control their moods by pheromone pills and other technologies - a glance into a new baroque.
The anthology "Infinity`s End" depicts 14 versions of a possible future (amazon ). Kristine Kathryn Rusch`s "Once on the Blue Moon" is my favorite. Murderous pirates overtake a space ship to find and capture a very valuable item. They didn`t calculate with one passenger: a 12 years young girl, who is stubborn, willful and very accomplished. Its a young adults story, but nicely told and lots of fun.
Seanan McGuire`s "Swear Not By The Moon". The heirs of dynasty visit Titan, the largest of Saturn`s moons, which is owned & colonized by their grand-grand mother. Their visit causes trouble.
Alastair Reynolds`"Death`s Door". Three very, very old friends are meeting, experiencing together strange and dramatic events. A very dark & surreal tale, as usual for Reynolds.
Stephen Baxter´s "Last Small Step". A small spaceship with only 2 passengers travels to the edge of our solar system to stop there another traveler from what he wants to do - a mini space opera.
Nick Wolven`s "Cloudsong". A sophisticate diplomat has to negotiate with a group of strange asteroid settlers who have a challenging claim - very exotic.
I also read some interesting Nonfiction:
"Blood Red Snow" by Günter K. Koschorrek really went under my skin ( amazon ). Koschorrek had been sent to the Russian front as a common soldier, a machine gunner, following orders from higher ranks. First he served near Stalingrad, when the city was under siege from the Russian army, later, when the German Wehrmacht (Army) was finally retreating, on different places.
Koschorrek was lucky. Many of his comrades were killed or returned as cripples. But he had to watch daily that his comrades were butchered and killed, always on the brink to be the next victim. He had to suffer the cold of the Russian steppe and often he was undernourished.
He describes many grizzly & horrible situations, his existential angst, the growing confusion at the Russian frontier and the grief about the loss of comrades. Some combat situations read like a thriller. Everybody who is thinking about war against Russia and other unloved nations should read this book.
I read more history of course:
"Foundation: The History Of England From Its Earliest Beginnings To The Tudors" by Peter Ackroyd ( amazon). The book, the first in a series of 6, is lively written and kept my interest in spite of all the countless facts which filled about 500 pages. Ackroyd concludes: "Human history is the sum of total accidents and unintended consequences". "Everything grows out of the soil of contingent circumstance".
"The Normans - Power, Conquest and Culture" by Judith A. Green tells where they come from, how they come in power and how they influenced Europe´s political & economical system ( amazon). The author describes how the former Vikings infiltrated Italy and overtook many Italian cities, Sicily & parts of North Africa. She praises their mastery of sieges and their ability to assemble fleets and to use them both for transport, in sieges, and in battle. But she also reports how they developed the English law system (to the better) and how they shaped architecture, especially in London & Palermo.
And there was some economics:
"Government Failure: A Prime in Public Choice" by Gordon Tullock et.al ( amazon). Public Choice is based on the observation that politicians and bureaucrats behave just like other people and follow their self interest. While corporations strive to maximize their profits, politicians aim to maximize their votes and their power. Likewise bureaucrats seek to expand their influence, reputation & income, for instance by expanding their organizations.
Tullock defines "Public Choice" as "a scientific analysis of government behavior and, in particular, the behavior of individuals with respect to government". He criticizes that government ´cures`"are begun too soon, they do to much, and they are continued too long. Once a government cure is introduced, it stays for decades" doing more harm than good, for instance slowing economic growth.
Tullock`s insights explain today`s antitrust activities in the US & Europe:
- Competitors of successful firms want to harm their rivals or appropriate parts of their businesses;
- Firms disadvantaged by technological change seek to mitigate market outcomes unfavorable to them;
- government administrators want to foster their careers
I also refreshed old knowledge:
"Infinite Powers - How Calculus Reveals The Secrets Of The Universe" by Stephen H. Strogatz (amazon ). The title is overdone, but certainly Calculus is underrated, because it helps to understand so many things, it shaped the thinking of scientists, engineers and other supported technological progress and the growth of the global wealth. the book inspired my thinking about many aspects.
Calculus works with "differential equations. Such equations describe the difference between something right now and the same thing an instant later or between something right here and the same thing infinitesimally close by".
"An ordinary differential equation describes how something (the position of a planet, the concentration of a virus) changes infinitesimally as the result of an infinitesimal change in something else (such as an infinitesimal increment of time)".
"Helgoland - Making Sense Of The Quantum Revolution" by Carlo Rovelli (amazon ). The author defines Quantum Theory as "the theory of how things influence each other" and as "a theory that is at the center of the obscurity of science". Rovelli adds "taking Quantum seriously, reflecting on its implications, is an almost psychedelic experience".
The book´s title refers to an island north of the German coast, where Werner Heisenberg spend some time and developed his basic ideas which belong to the fundamentals of today´s physics. Rovelli dives into the history of Quantum theory and sketches the contributions of Einstein, Mach, Heisenberg, Dirac, Schrödinger, Bohr and many more.
The text is mainly philosophical and strongly influenced by ancient texts written by the Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna (wikipedia ). According to Nāgārjuna (in the interpretation by Rovelli) "nothing exists in itself, everything exists only through dependence on something else, in relation to something else". In one word: "emptiness".
P.S. There were 2 books that I really disliked:
The first was Donald Ray Pollock`s "The Devil All The Time" (amazon). The author, who belongs to the stars of contemporary American literature (!), created a freak show. Most of the characters are extremely poor, borderline dump and often exceptionally sadist & violent. Their interaction is beyond bad taste. Pollock`s language is exceptionally crude and often hyper gross. Apparently all the misfortune & cruelty is meant to be entertaining - and as the rave reviews show this strategy works with a certain kind of people. It seems that Pollock made fun of everything, being poor, being stupid, being violent, being sadist, being obnoxious, being queer. This might be entertaining for a while but its wearing out soon, getting tedious.
"Lapvona" by Ottessa Moshfegh is even worse (amazon ). The author is another star of the contemporary US literature scene. In my already long life I have never read something which was so obnoxious and despicable as "Lapvona". None of the 1,000 plus books I have read was so gross and abominable. The novel is a freak show and reads like something the Brothers Grimm hallucinated after indulging in some really bad mushrooms, but I doubt that these professors would have dove so deep in the mud. Many events and descriptions are beyond bad taste.
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