read | The Tsar of Love and Techno

The Tsar of Love and Techno is a short story collection written by Anthony Marra. The stories take place in Russia, ranging from 1937 to 2013, so you see the evolution of the country. Kind of. This is one of those works that serves as a reminder that people aren't all that different from one another, despite varying circumstances. So if you're looking for a Russian historical novel, this isn't it. I was excited to read something set in Russia since I haven't done so often, with the pseudo-exception of Leigh Bardugo's Grisha trilogy. But I never felt truly immersed in the setting, maybe because each story is during a different time period. I think it's important to approach this book while keeping in mind that it's a series of stories. The stories are pretty closely linked, involving overlapping characters and generations, so it was easy for me to forget that it wasn't a novel. I've read books with more disjointed perspectives, so calling this a short story collection almost feels like a matter of opinion.

I did enjoy my reading experience and I really liked how the author revealed different aspects of the characters through the different stories. The book is kind of set up with a mix tape theme, and the stories support that perfectly. They feed into each other and are complementary without being too similar. It's strange to say that this is the literary equivalent of a well-formed mix tape, but I think that's pretty much the best way to describe it. And you can't go wrong with this cover. It's gorgeous. I'm tempted to shelve it facing out so I can fully appreciate it a while longer.

3 out of 5 stars

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

read | The Dinner by Herman Koch

I recently read Summer House with Swimming Pool by Herman Koch, and while it wasn’t a favorite it did make me curious about his other novels. The Dinner, perhaps his most well-known book, was the next one I chose. It’s the story of – surprise – a dinner, with the culmination of events that are told partly through flashback and partly over the course of the meal.

It’s interesting to have read novels by the same author written years apart (this was first published in 2009). Of the two, I prefer The Dinner but I can see how Koch’s plot structuring improved by Summer House with Swimming Pool. Koch writes in Dutch so I’ve only read translations, but the growth is, conveniently, in areas that are unlikely to suffer by changing language.

I found the structure of this novel very interesting. The plot follows the pattern of the meal, where the main course coincides with the rising action and the novel is “polished off” with an aperitif at the end. Paul is continually annoyed by the restaurant staff, who interrupt the flow of conversation to continually over-explain the dabs of food that have been brought out. This annoyance carries over to the reader, as the story is cut off while the courses are described.

I was expecting more of a shock factor from this book, and while it definitely takes some unexpected turns, they’re still believable. I never had a moment that made me put the book down and say “Whoa.” And it works. The characters evolve so gradually that the next step is never a leap. As more of the plot is revealed, qualities I didn’t consciously process become suddenly relevant. I think the most unsettling thing about this book is how easy it is to accept. Its foot-in-the-door approach is disturbingly effective. The blurb on the front says that Gillian Flynn found The Dinner “unputdownable” and I have to agree. I read the book in two sittings, and I would have done so in one if I’d had the time.

4 out of 5 stars

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

cook | Mark Bittman's Kitchen Matrix

Mark Bittman’s Kitchen Matrix by, you guessed it, Mark Bittman is all about playing with your food. It gives you base recipes for a variety of dishes and then lists several variations on the theme. Most of the dishes only take up a two-page spread, which is nice if something is seafood (none for me, thanks) based. It’s great not to have to page through tons of irrelevant information to find what I need. That being said, this book is by no means sparse. It just makes very good use of its space, often including nine recipes on one page.

One thing that I, a novice cooker, really appreciate is that when a recipe is for, say, poached chicken, it doesn’t tell you to poach chicken – it lays out the steps. Thank goodness, because otherwise I’d need a cookbook to learn how to cook recipes from this book.

Approach with caution: This book’s minimalist layout (stunning, by the way – this one can double as a coffee table book for sure) and approachable tone makes it seem like it draws from the basics. While this may be true technique-wise, it is not so for the ingredients! I keep an admittedly slim stock of foods on hand, but most of these recipes use for items I haven’t even purchased in the last year. They have, however, made it to this week’s grocery list. There are a bunch of recipes I’m excited to try (I’m looking at you, savory shortbread! Oh cornstarch…).

My mix-ins

This book arrived just as I was ready for dinner, so I decided to try out a recipe right off the bat. Pretty much the only thing I was fully equipped for was the “tiny pancake” recipe – an egg, some flour, and whatever mix-ins you desire. Blend it all together and fry in lots of olive oil – no complaints from my taste buds! I used mushrooms, spinach, and mozzarella this time out, but I have a hunch that if I made these cinnamon-sugar style they’d taste a lot like churros. Mmmmm!

Ta-da!

4 out of 5 stars

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I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

read | The Gap of Time

The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson is a present day retelling of The Winter’s Tale, one of Shakespeare’s lesser-discussed works, but it doesn’t feel modern. The writing is beautiful and I look forward to reading more of Winterson’s work, and based on this story I’m sure her other novels won’t disappoint. I had fun reading this book until the end, when all the loose ends got tangled up in each other. I feel like it wrapped up too quickly. Just about the time I was settling into a few scenes of character development, the book jumped to the finale.

The beginning of the book gives a plot summary of The Winter’s Tale, I guess so you can see how Winterson adapts the elements of the story. At first I found this strange but it’s actually necessary because the story is pretty ridiculous without knowing where it comes from, even considering that several events have been toned down. I still think The Gap of Time adheres too strictly to the original to feel modern. It puts the story in a current setting but doesn’t effectively update the plot. That being said, it’s supposed to be melodramatic. It’s not like these were mundane occurrences in Shakespeare’s time. The Gap of Time includes some very meta references – one character’s resume includes starring in a Jeanette Winterson play, and Shakespeare is mentioned a couple of times, which threw me out of the story. The book is about the size of a play at a brief 273 5x8 pages, and it feels more like a pet project than a magnum opus. It seems like Winterson slightly twisted the original subject matter as a fun experiment, and I don’t love how it came together. However implausible, this story is an enjoyable read if you keep its context in mind.

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I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

read | Armada

This novel shows that Ernest Cline has found his writing formula and he's sticking to it. I wasn't going to compare Armada to Ready Player One since it's not a sequel, but here I go anyway. Much like his first novel, Armada is chock full of eighties pop culture references. And while this is new and fun and relevant in RP1, here it just feels like the only thing Cline knows how to do. The plot of RP1 revolved around retro trivia. In Armada, the references serve to build a strangely obsessive link between Zack Lightman (props on the solid sci-fi hero name) and his long-deceased father. Zack’s knowledge base is more accessible than the protagonist’s in RP1, though the Trek/Wars/Trek/Wars mentions feel repetitive fairly quickly. The Last Starfighter is included in these references, a smart move because omitting the film would, in light of the other references, seem to deny its similarities to Armada's plot.

Speaking of which... Armada is about a boy who gets really good at a video game. Turns out it's not just for entertainment! It's exactly the same interface as the hidden armies of drones that a secret branch of international military has stashed all over the world! And thus the action begins as Zack is recruited to fend off the invading alien species. This book throws you into intense action pretty quickly, but it still feels slow. I'm trying to think about the plot events, and there aren't a ton. Action? A smattering. Character development? A good amount, though once the characters are established you rarely see them again. I wish this book had been longer, not necessarily because it was so good but because it could have been. More missions, more of those characters we only got a glimpse at! When the story wraps up, I'm not sure what to expect in the future because I don't think Zack's story is done, but there's not a direct sequel setup. All that being said, if you love RP1's style and cast, this is definitely in the same vein. It draws from many elements of classic sci-fi and it checks the boxes I expected it to. I have some problems with its big picture, but page to page it kept me engaged.

3 stars out of 5
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I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

read | The Martian

The Martian by Andy Weir is one of those stories you don’t come across very often. While we have been getting countless dystopian novels about futuristic alternative worlds, this novel is completely believable despite the fact that we’ve never sent anyone to Mars. Mark Watney is a member of a six-person crew that has been sent to explore Mars, though unexpected events cut their trip (and their crew) short. I don’t think it’s giving too much away to say that though the crew has, as far as they know, lost a member, Watney does survive. This book is the story of his fight to get back home.

The book is filled with scientific terminology and calculations and procedures, but it doesn’t feel overwhelming. The writing is very aware that the average person knows nothing about space physics and technology, and the author could very well have made all the science up but I’m in no position to refute it. The colloquial way the information is presented leaves the story informative yet understandable.

Just when I was getting a little sick of the continuous engineering in this book, it opened up a couple more perspectives. While it would have created a sense of isolation similar to Watney’s as he’s trapped on Mars, I’m glad we weren’t subjected to that. Weir does a good job of creating a large cast of likable characters even though most of them have only a few pages to convey their personalities. The sense of humor in this book is undeniably sarcastic, so if that’s not your thing—never mind. It’s everyone’s thing.

The Martian is a fantastic read – it was one of those books I missed while I had to do other things – and while I don’t have much else in its specific genre to compare, I think it’s safe to say it holds its own.

4 stars out of 5

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I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

read | A Walk in the Woods

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson recently re-entered my awareness when I saw the movie trailer this summer. I’d been meaning to read some of his work for a while, and this seemed like the perfect time to start. I’d also just watched the movie Wild, which piqued my interest in the world of hiking. This book tells of Bryson’s attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail. The book breaks up stories of hiking (and hikers) with information about the science and history of the trail. While this is certainly relevant, due to the book’s length of 274 pages I feel like these passages are included to fill out the page count. Fortunately, these sections usually wrapped up as I was preparing to skim. Another drawback to these digressions is that you don’t feel fully immersed in the trail for any duration that would emphasize just how long the trail really is. The hikers walk for miles and miles and miles, but when you leave the story every thirty pages or so, it throws you out.

The edition I read has a movie tie-in cover that isn’t the most offensive I’ve seen. It’s not embarrassingly prominent glamour shots where the faces have been airbrushed to anonymity. The people on the cover do kind of ruin it. Cover them up with a Post-It or something and you’re left with a suitably majestic view of the Appalachian Trail, though I suppose this doesn’t do much to promote the film.

When A Walk in the Woods is actually about the walk in the woods, I didn’t want to put it down. There are some slow bits that break it up, but overall I found this book a highly enjoyable account of a world most people never enter.

3.5 stars out of 5

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.