read: The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks ★★★★

The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks
★★★★

Tom Hanks knows a thing or two about making movies. After all, he's written several, directed several and acted in a truckload of them. Having enjoyed his collection of short stories, Uncommon Type, I knew I would read his novel set in the world of movie making as soon as it came out. I enjoyed it. A lot.
That being said, his writing style might not be for everyone. And even I found getting through the first bunch of chapters a bit of a grind. It's all backstory. And it jumps around like collection of barely connected short stories. And there are a couple of mini comic books thrown in for good measure.
Then around page 95 we finally land on the core story of getting a movie made and I was thoroughly hooked. Mind you, the chapters still read like a set of short stories - point of view jumps all over the place - and there are diversions and footnotes all over the place. But I found myself swept along by the narrative just the same.
This should be a fun read for anyone who is a fan of the movies.

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read: The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin ★★★

The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin
★★★

This is an ambitious book. The ideas are wildly imaginative and perhaps ground-breaking. It tries to portray itself as hard science-fiction, which perhaps it is. Maybe worth of 4 or 5 stars. But the story, translated from Chinese, has two problems for me that kept me from enjoying much of it and knocking it down a couple of stars. 

First, the human side, the story, comes across as clunky and old-fashioned and full of too much 'telling'. I never connected with any of the characters. They were all two-dimensional. And too many things happened because they were convenient to the story. I kept thinking that this was where something was lost in translation.

Second, some of the science stuff, especially the portrayal of an alien world and its culture, was so way out there that it came across more like fantasy than hard science fiction. The book tried to explain it all in such excruciating detail that even a nerd like me could feel my eyes glazing over.

The contrast between this and a series like The Expanse is palpable. The authors of the Expanse made their world full of real people with real motivations and emotions and then gave them inexplicable science problems to deal with. I have a feeling that whoever is adapting this to television is doing some heavy lifting in the area of story development.

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read: The Last True Templar by Boyd Morrison & Beth Morrison ★★★★★

The Last True Templar by Boyd Morrison
★★★★★

This is a fast-paced treasure hunt and race through medieval Europe. The reader is along for the ride with excommunicated English knight Gerard Fox and his capable companion and love, Willa, after they rescue a noblewoman from bandits in a small village in Tuscany. When they all return to Lady Luciana Corosi's castle, her husband's plot to kill her is revealed and all three are forced to escape. We soon find out that not only is Luciana's life in jeopardy, so is the fate of a vast fortune hidden by the Knights Templar before their demise. Luciana's husband will use it to wield unbeatable economic power, unless Fox, Willa and Luciana find it first.

I was completely charmed by the accurate and detailed portrayal of life in medieval Italy and France. Happily, the authors' storytelling chops ensure that all that detail does not bog down the characters or the plot, which keeps marching along at quick pace. I sometimes take a couple of weeks to get through a novel. But I devoured this in a few days. Recommended.

Disclosure: Thank you to Netgalley and Head of Zeus for providing a free copy of this book in return for my honest review.

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read: They Called Us Enemy by George Takei ★★★★★

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

★★★★★

George Takei is most well-known for his role as Mr. Sulu in Star Trek. This recollection of growing up in the Japanese internment camps of WWII is powerful, disturbing, haunting, chilling and inspirational. This dark hour of United States history must not be forgotten, and George's graphic novel brings it too life through a little boy's eyes.


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read: One Last Kill ★★★★

One Last Kill by Robert Dugoni
★★★★

Of course, Tracy Crosswhite can't catch a break. She's had some time off to clear her head and enjoy some much needed family time. But the minute she's back in the office, her new nemesis, the chief of police, pushes a 25-year-old serial killer cold case to the top of her list, so that the department can get ahead of some bad press. Not only are there no new leads for Tracy to follow, the chief also pairs her up with the lead detective for the original investigation who also happens to be Tracy's old nemesis, Lt. Nolasco. Then, after 25 years, the killer strikes again, turning the cold case into a hot one and adding the pressure of preventing more killing.

After a bit of a slow start, Dugoni turns up the heat and increases the pace and gives the reader another twisty tale, steeped in Seattle settings and populated with believable characters. Where has the killer been for 25 years? Why are they killing again? How are they staying a step ahead of the investigation? Will Tracy and Nolasco be able to resolve their differences and work together. Keep turning the pages to find out!

Disclosure: Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing a free copy of this book in return for my honest review.

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read: The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution (4 stars)

The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fairly well-rounded account of computing innovations from Ada through the present.

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read: The Overstory (4 stars)

The Overstory by Richard Powers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had really hoped for this Pulitzer Prize winning novel to be 5 stars. But it never got there for me. At first it surprised me by not being a novel, but several seemingly unrelated short stories (except each one is about trees). The writing also seemed oddly perfunctory for such an artistic endeavor. I stuck with it and they grew on me.
Then the author started weaving those stories and their characters together into a more engaging epic. Here we go, I thought. Except we didn't go. At least not quickly. Perhaps the author intended the stately pace of his prose to reflect the history-spanning subject of the story: trees. They do not move or think (in the eyes of the story) quickly, relative to human experience. Yet the characters in the novel discover that they do both.
Thus, the book is actually a science fiction story. We have been surrounded by aliens all this time and did not realize it. The trees, and the rest of life on Planet Earth that they are linked to, preceded us and will succeed us. Perhaps they even harbor a bit of sentience, even if we do not understand it. Or they don't. It doesn't matter. It is still life.
For me, all of that would be the foundation of a 5-star story. Especially when it includes eco-warriors and computer geniuses and unrecognized artists. But I have to knock off a half star for the writing being just a bit too artsy and drawn out. And take off another half star for being printed in a font that's just too small for such dense prose (trying to pack 128,000 words into 500 pages). I feel enlightened for reading this book. But it was more of a chore than it probably should have been.

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