#94 - Bradbury, Bruno, a Bird, a Bomb, and a Fat Lady - Fiction Roundup

Round-up of Fiction read:

The Toynbee Convector by Ray Bradbury - Collection of stories from a grandmaster of fantasy. A good read if you are a fan of his work. Given my non-TV watching lifestyle now, I've been thinking more and more about his story The Pedestrian (which is not in Toynbee). I'm including this incredibly interesting video of his so that I can find it later.



The Question of Bruno by Aleksander Hemon. A very good collection of stories from a Bosnian-American writer. Doesn't count as foreign language, but the semi-linked stories in the collection do have a non-American viewpoint. "The Coin", about living in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War in the 90s is a very powerful story and my favorite of the collection.

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. The newly created revival movie theater here in St. Louis was showing the 1941 film noir classic. And so I decided to read the book. Movie and book track pretty closely, so if you love the movie - and really how can you not? - book is good. I can't decide if I like Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe better but since they are essentially the same person and both have been portrayed by Bogart, maybe it doesn't matter.

Since my jobless flu made me miss going to Austin for Lawrence of Arabia I'm going to see if I can get the revival house to play it - but they are booked for a few months, so fingers crossed. By revival house, it is simply Crestwood Mall theater playing old movies on Tuesdays but beggars can't be choosers.

One Second After by William Forstchen. A policy paper disguised as a page-turner. About the aftermath of a devastating attack on America via an electromagnetic pulse. The novel centered on the survival struggle of the small town of Black Mountain, North Carolina. The novel greatly details the problems of a post-electronics age. As the novel makes clear - we go from 2009 to 1809 except that people in 1809 had an idea how to survive in 1809. Points out the current lack of preparedness - of individuals, communities, and the government. Makes me think about my own readiness - for any disaster - man-made or otherwise. Sarah Connor bag here I come.

Definitely a good read. 1 of 4 books in my lifetime that I had to read cover to cover in one sitting. Two of the many sobering thoughts in the book: Just-in-time inventory in supermarkets works great when the trucks are running. Also, what happens 30 days after an event when our Prozac Nation can't get its meds?

Franny & Zooey by J.D. Salinger. Other than saying that this was well-written and Salinger can really turn a phrase, my only other comment will be how odd life is. I read this book right before the big dust-up where Salinger sued about the unauthorized sequel to Catcher in The Rye. And Stephen Colbert did a whole bit on it and having read this I got the jokes I would have otherwise missed. Of course this is probably just confirmation bias, but it is my bias so naturally it is accurate.

So, at 200 days, way behind on fiction. Must do something about that to catch up. Maybe I'll start reading children's books.