Pete's Log: August Reading
Entry #2387, (Books, Writing, n such)(posted when I was 45 years old.)
- Tracers in the Dark by Andy Greenberg
I read an article in Wired some time ago that was excerpted from this book. I enjoyed the Wired article and I enjoyed the book. It's the story of how transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain can be traced and how that led to the downfall of various dark net markets and other unsavory actors.
It was fast reading and at times I found myself thinking that maybe it should have been shorter, since every character gets so much of their back story told. But upon further reflection, making the book shorter would probably have made it too dry and it wouldn't have been the fast read I found it to be. - Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
I enjoyed this book mostly for how it brought to life Harlem in the 1950s and 60s. It's well written and I liked the main character. It's also the story of three crimes. The first two felt believable to me, but the last just seemed too big and everything ended just a bit too tidy. But overall I liked this book. - These Ghosts Are Family by Maisy Card
I feel bamboozled by this book. I picked it up on a whim while in Crested Butte. I was still enjoying Harlem Shuffle at the time and parts of this book take place in Harlem so it felt like a fun connection. The premise intrigued me: man fakes his own death and assumes his friend's identity. On his death bed he comes clean.
The book feels like a collection of short stories that are loosely connected by being about the same extended family. The stories in themselves are well written and I enjoyed most of them. But the voices and styles the stories are written in are so different from each other that the whole thing becomes incoherent. And the story I was promised on the back of the book feels half explored at best with little closure. And then the final chapter goes off the deep end into supernatural territory. - Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
I've heard good things about Mary Roach for a while, so I finally picked up one of her books. This book is less about Mars, instead it's more generally about the science of keeping people alive in space. The most impressive thing to me about this book is the people and facilities that Mary Roach is able to get access to. I think her sense of humor is not for everyone, but it hit for me. Here's a sample: "Hydromedusa tectifera are, like post-war Nazis, native to Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil."
The book is from 2010, so I'd be curious to see a follow-up on how much has changed since then. - Red Rising by Pierce Brown
A Barnes & Noble employee suggested this book. I was browsing the sci-fi section and his suggestion was unsolicited, but then we struck up a nice conversation on various other books, so I gave it a try. To me, this book was like a bleaker Hunger Games set in an evil Martian (magic-free) Hogwarts. It was a fast read and had some interesting twists, but it's one of those stories where the protagonist just can't seem to do wrong and catches all the breaks.
There are at least five more books in this series. I'll read the next one but we'll see about the rest of them.