Tag: reading

Book Review: Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay (5 stars)

Under Heaven
by Guy Gavriel Kay

5 out of 5 stars

Read in December 2010

Shen Tai mourns his father for over two years by burying the bones of the dead in a vast battlefield on the western edge of the Kitan empire. A backbreaking labor of grace daily and the company of the restless shades of soldiers nightly. He gains the respect of friend and foe and the attention of women in high places with influence, intrigue and power. The unfathomable gift of two hundred and fifty horses from a rival empire courtesy of a Kitan princes sent as tribute sets Shen’s life adrift on the high tide of potentially lethal imperial politics. He receives unlooked for and unlikely assistance from several women as he travels from the far western reaches to the very center of the Kitan empire in Xinan: a well trained assassin, Wei Song, sent by a former courtesan of the northwestern district previously known as Spring Rain and a former dancer now the favored courtesan of the emperor himself.

Even though we only ever see one of the famous Sardian horses for much of the novel, Shen repeatedly attempts to exchange them for knowledge of his sister and her rescue from the Bogu barbarians of the north, since his own older brother, now adviser to the prime minister, allowed her to be elevated to an imperial princes and sent as a tribute bride to the Bogu leader. But not even the most powerful players on this corrupted game board can assist Shen with his quest.

Kay delivers sweeping epic vistas of the open grass steppe and the heart-stopping gut-wrenching frenzy of court intrigue and rebellion. No other prose flows so seamlessly as Kays, completely engulfing me in the world he unfolds before me.

My only quibble with this novel, and which almost made me drop my rather to four or four and a half stars, was with the ending. Shifting to third person and a more remote historical sagacious point of view distanced me from the characters just as the story culminated and resolved. I still enjoyed the novel immensely, though, and highly recommend it.

Book Review: The Mote in God’s Eye

The Mote in God's EyeThe Mote in God’s Eye by Larry Niven

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I should read more space opera, especially when written by Niven and Pournelle. The human Empire (Russian in origin, which seemed odd considering in 1974 when first published, the USSR was Communist not Imperialist) has first contact with aliens from a system referred to as “The Mote.” Communication is key, but as expected, truth is the first casualty in diplomacy and war. By the time I reached the end, having had bits of both sides of the story, I kept wishing and hoping … ‘if only’ the aliens had divulged the truth behind their species’ biological problem, I believe, even a militaristic human society would feel compassion for them and strive to solve what the alien’s considered unsolvable or impossible or ‘Crazy Eddy.’

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Welcome to the Beyond Reality SF&F discussion group on GoodReads. In Beyond Reality, each of our me… 

Books we’re currently reading

Grand ConspiracyGrand Conspiracy
by Janny Wurts
Start date: December 2, 2010

Under HeavenUnder Heaven
by Guy Gavriel Kay
Start date: December 1, 2010

The Mote in God's EyeThe Mote in God’s Eye
by Larry Niven
Start date: December 1, 2010



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Book Review: Haze by Modesitt (4 Stars)

Haze by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Read in November 2010

I admit this is the first Modesitt science fiction novel. I’m no stranger to his work in the fantasy field, having read all the Recluce and Spellsinger novels and two of his Imager novels.

This novel includes two story lines that alternate and converge. Both stories use Roget’s point of view, but during separate time lines in his life. This gives us a glimpse of current events and some of Roget’s back story which also serves to world build (or re-build) Earth in our future. Earth is a mess, ecologically speaking, and ruled by the Federation, a Sinese-based empire. Roget experiences discrimination in his career advancement because he is a descendant of the remnants of the United States (oriental supremacy and occidental minority). The current time-line follows Roget as he explores the planet of Haze (Federation designation due to the orbital shields) or Dubiety (as referred to by the inhabitants).

Modesitt explores two philosophies of government and society. The Federation is an extrapolation of all that’s wrong with empires, as history continually shows. Haze/Dubiety is an example of an extreme instance of choice and consequences. Citizens have freedom of choice so long as they never harm another person and take complete responsibility for their actions and their consequences. Modesitt gives several good examples of testing the boundaries of this scenario.

Comparable to some of the best of Heinlein’s social engineering science fiction. Yet the characters take back stage to the themes, but not so much that you get bogged down in data dumps or didactic digressions. I felt the most sympathy for a dachshund named Hildegarde in a painting Roget kept an image of to talk to and ease the loneliness of his existence.

Most of the science in the Federation appears to be hard science, although I don’t remember how the Federation battle cruisers traveled to Haze (whether it was FTL or hyperspace or hard science believable travel). The Dubiens had some technology that seemed fantastic and Modesitt didn’t go into explanations so I can’t confirm or deny the science behind their “Trans-Temporal Entropic Reversal” system.

I got a chuckle when Roget’s guide took him to dinner at the Lucasan club. See my status updates for more on that scene.

Roget’s leap of faith, although predictable, was no less poignant. And the epilogue, while a bit corny, did bring a smile to my face.

Fifth Saturday Wrapup

Funny how things snowball once you get rolling.  I had no idea when I woke up this morning at 5:45 a.m. that I would accomplish so much today.  I had hopes of a quiet day at home, cleaning off the DVR and actually started on this endeavor before getting sidetracked.

I watched the Smithsonian Channel’s Aerial America Vermont episode, wishing I could visit, especially during autumn.  That state has more than it’s fair share of spectacular scenery and vibrant foliage.   By the time I was nearing the end of that episode, Terry had woken up and mumbled something about an omelet.

I got up to brew some cranberry tea and remembered I had recently purchased a cranberry scones mix from the Queen’s Pantry.  So, I quickly whipped up the scones mix and preheated the oven.  While they were baking, I decided to continue stacking firewood my dad had helped deliver earlier in the week.

Once the scones finished, I sat down for a proper British breakfast and surveyed the new Sherlock Holmes airing from BBC via PBS and Masterpiece Mystery.   Fun and updated for our times, with only a slightly annoying soundtrack.  I’m looking forward to the other two episodes (tomorrow night and a week from tomorrow).  It’s a pity the BBC could only afford three episodes for this new series … it looks promising.

I packaged up a couple of books to send to BookMoochers, one in California and the other in South Carolina.   While waiting in line at the post office, I ran into an old friend, which made the long wait pass quickly while catching up with kids news, etc.

I spent way too much at the grocery store today, but did save ninety cents on gasoline and filled up both Pontiacs with premium for only $1.899 per gallon.  I got back home with the groceries (second trip) and finished stacking the firewood.  Then we made a trip to O’Reilly’s because they have a sale on gallons of Mobil One synthetic motor oil.  We bought enough to change the oil in both cars.

Once back home, we determined we needed to recycle all the oil we’d accumulated and stored in the garage when the kids lived here and we had four vehicles to maintain.  We transferred the used oil to a couple of containers without making too much of a mess on the garage floor.  Then we packed up the dogs, planning to stop at the dog park on the way back from O’Reilly’s.

With all the walking, stacking, grocery toting (including the forty pound bag of dog food) and oil purchasing (four gallons) and recycling (five or six gallons), I’m already started to stiffen up and feel the aches and soreness setting in.  I’ll definitely be soaking in the hot tub before retiring tonight.

Terry and I enjoyed home-made pizza for dinner and will relax to the hilarious Halloween hijinks of Right Between the Ears live from Liberty Hall in Lawrence via KANU in just a few minutes.

Not bad for the fifth and final Saturday of October 2010.

Quiet Sunday Afternoon

I churned out the last three loaves of bread before the middle of the afternoon yesterday.  I also burned The Tenth Inning to two DVDs so my dad could watch it (he missed part of both of them when they aired on PBS a couple of weeks ago).  I read almost half my new book Cryoburn by Bujold.

And I tried Westside Family Church’s Online Church for the first time.  Terry wasn’t up to travelling to the Legends to attend the Speedway campus service.  The Online Church is a live feed from the WFC campus in Lenxa.  The message was good (Click Here for my notes) but the music was not as good as the Speedway campus’ praise band.

And I took the dogs to the relatively new dog park in Leavenworth at the north end of the VA grounds just off Limit Street (east from US 73).  When I arrived, just before three o’clock, there were no other large dogs.  But within ten minutes, and apparently because the Chiefs game was ending or not worth watching, there were ten to twenty dogs in the park.  Apollo and Roxy behaved themselves very well.  Roxy wore herself out in the first five or ten minutes and eventually just laid down near me to catch her breath.  Apollo chased a barky smaller dog (some kind of mottled Shepherd I think) around the park for awhile and then made all sorts of new friends.

My dad met me at the park, as I wanted to give him his fresh baked loaf of White Sandwich Bread and the DVDs I’d burned Sunday.  He took a few photos (I had my hands and eyes full keeping a watch on the dogs … people tend to get nervous about Rottweilers).   He also loaned me a couple of BluRay DVDs he recently purchased (both versions of Robin Hood from 1991 and 2010).  I didn’t think I’d have time or inclination to watch it anytime soon, but when Terry woke up, we started watching it.  Very different version or variation on the origins of Robin Hood.

I didn’t even touch the telescope Sunday, except to move it when I was vacuuming the great room.  All in all, a very rewarding and relaxing weekend at home.

Sourdough Saturday Ends With Jumping Jupiter and Magnificent Moon

I woke up five minutes before my five o’clock alarm this morning.  Not unusual, except for it being a Saturday.  But I needed to hit the ground running if I was going to get all the bread baked today.

First thing, I pulled the sourdough crock out of the refrigerator to get it warmed up to room temperature.  Second, I quickly mixed up my favorite Honey Wheat bread recipe.   While waiting for the bread machine to mix, knead and rise that recipe (elapsed time ninety minutes), I started recording to DVD from the DVR the Belgian Grand Prix (since I’m five GPs behind and only three left for the 2010 season) .  I managed to read a few chapters of Cryoburn concurrently.

I shaped the Honey Wheat dough into a loaf and set it to rise for anther forty-five minutes. I took a short break to visit with friends for brunch at Santa Fe Depot.  Probably a good choice since the new IHOP in Lansing was overflowing at ten o’clock.  After a great visit, I rushed to the Leavenworth Post Office to mail off eight mooched books to various states in the lower forty-eight.   I also stopped at the Book Exchange in an attempt to trade some hardcover science fiction novels, but she declined my offerings stating they were currently overstocked with hardcovers.

I returned home, completed my BookMooch and BookCrossing data updates and posted three of the hardcovers to my BookMooch inventory, one of which has already been mooched.

Now the sourdough starter was ready, all bubbly and soury.  I modified my Rustic Sourdough bread recipe to work in a bread machine on the dough cycle.  My modifications included the following:

1 cup “fed” sourdough starter
1 cup lukewarm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast

This reduces the original recipe to a single loaf variation and rather than shaping a traditional round or oval loaf, I used a regular bread pan and scored it like you would a split top loaf.

After I got the Rustic Sourdough into the bread machine, I immediately started the Rosemary Sourdough recipe in the Kitchenaid stand mixer.  This recipe should not be over mixed nor kneaded, so it’s a very sticky mess when you scrape it into a glass bowl (generously coated with cooking spray) and covered with clear plastic wrap.  Let rise for ninety minutes or more until doubled in size.

The Sourdoughs kept me busy all afternoon.  I was able to start another, final loaf before three o’clock, which was one of my family’s favorites: Honey Wheat Black Bread.  I shaped it into a braid and waited for it to rise.

With the last loaf still cooling on the rack, I rushed down to Bonner Springs to slip into the KC Ren Fest just before it closed.  I have a collection of mugs, steins and goblets going back to 1988.  The person at the Will Call window was kind enough to let me into the festival for a few minutes to buy a mug and a goblet.  Pickings were slim (this being the last weekend of the festival), but I found a goblet and a stein I liked and quickly returned home.

I was surprised to see my dad’s car parked in the driveway as I thought I had told him to call me if he was going to stop by to partake in some star gazing this evening.  Apparently, he arrived at the house just minutes after I left for Bonner Springs.

We waited for the sun to set and started setting up the the telescope in the great room in a polar mount orientation.  We moved the equipment out front to the driveway, since Jupiter is not visible from my backyard until around ten o’clock.  We determined the sidereal tracking in polar mount worked well and kept Jupiter and it’s three visible moons centered for an hour or so.  Feeling confident, we attached the Pentax K100D to attempt a better photo shoot of Jupiter, but quickly realized the weight of the camera was too much for the motors of the telescope.  We removed the camera and went back to viewing Jupiter with various eye pieces and barlowes of varying magnifications.

Just before dad was leaving and as we were contemplating putting the equipment back in the great room, the moon (more than half full now) peaked out from behind the pin oak in my side yard (which also shields the driveway from the annoying streetlight planted next to the stop sign in my side yard at the corner of Bambi Court and Fawn Valley.  We reoriented the telescope to the moon and began viewing it with various eye pieces.  We also tried the moon filter, which helped tone down the incredible brightness funneled through the telescope into our eyes.

After a few minutes of moon gazing, we packed up the equipment and returned it to the great room.  We said our good nights and I’m grateful to be off my feet finally.  My knees have had enough today.

Sunday will be easier since I only need to make one more loaf (possibly two) and then figure out how to transport six loaves to work via the vanpool without smushing any of them.

Friday Night at the Empty Nest

I stopped by Dillons on the way home for some fresh rosemary and pizza fixings.  I found the latter, but not the former, so had to buy rosemay in a spice jar.  Sigh.  I still made it home by 5:30 or so.

Terry started working on a pizza and I started working on bread production.  I set the sourdough starter out to warm up to room temperature.  Then I reviewed my White Sandwich Bread recipe, setting out a stick of butter to also warm up to room temperature.   I got all the ingredients into the bread machine (dough cycle) before six o’clock.  Since it takes about three hours from start to finish, I could be done by nine o’clock.

The pizza turned out wonderful and we decided to watch a couple of new episodes of Mythbusters – ‘Hair of the Dog’ and featuring the Stormchasers and surviving tornado-like winds in a vehicle or, if you’re Jamie Hyneman, an aerodynamic tent he engineered, constructed and tested in winds up to 180 mph.  I should check the Patent Office to see if he filed an application on that idea.

During the second episode of Mythbusters, I setup the telescope with the camera attached because the early evening was perfect for viewing the moon – clear and no wind.  I took several photos of the moon using various settings on the camera but I’m not sure the results were noticably different.  Click here to see for yourself.

I removed the camera from the telescpe and tried nearly all the eyepiece lenses in my case, down to a 4 mm one focused on the terminus on the moon.  Outstanding clarity and magnification.  On Jupiter, I got down to a 9 mm, but without putting the telescope in sidereal tracking mode, the image of Jupiter only stayed ‘on screen’ for a couple of seconds.

I completely forgot about my rising bread loaf so I got behind schedule by about 30-45 minutes; even so, the bread came out of the over looking and smelling wonderful.  I brought the telescope back in for the night and headed up to bed.

I woke back up at eleven o’clock because I’d forgotten to start a process at work that I wanted to run over the weekend.  I got that going and then cracked open a newly released book I pre-ordered from Barnes & Noble in late September:  Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold (a long awaited installment in the Vorkosigan Saga).  I got to page seven before I fell asleep.   It’s very good, but I was very tired.