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Charles Stross returns to his Laundry Files series with The Rhesus Chart. This is a difficult book to describe without giving away too much of the plot. If you’ve read previous entries in the series you’re probably not wasting your time reading my words --- you’ve already got your hands on the book. So, assuming you’re a neophyte, Bob Howard is our hero. He works for a government agency that monitors what might be called extra-reality incursions. Basically people who understand higher mathematics, philosophy, or other logical sciences develop an ability to reach outside of reality and invite the tentacle monsters from beyond in. This is not good so Bob’s agency works to ameliorate everything bad that can go down. In this particular volume Bob stumbles across an external incursion by a parasite that functions by making the affected vampires (or close enough that we might as well call them that). This is only the beginning and the plot really explodes from there.
This never-before-translated masterpiece—by a heroic best-selling writer who saw his life crumble when he wouldn’t join the Nazi Party—is based on a true story.
It presents a richly detailed portrait of life in Berlin under the Nazis and tells the sweeping saga of one working-class couple who decides to take a stand when their only son is killed at the front. With nothing but their grief and each other against the awesome power of the Reich, they launch a simple, clandestine resistance campaign that soon has an enraged Gestapo on their trail, and a world of terrified neighbors and cynical snitches ready to turn them in.
In the end, it’s more than an edge-of-your-seat thriller, more than a moving romance, even more than literature of the highest order—it’s a deeply stirring story of two people standing up for what’s right, and for each other.
Todd Glass has been a stand-up comedian for over 30 years. He was also gay and keeping that fact strictly sub-rosa during the period. In his book The Todd Glass Situation he shares his story. The book is full of interesting tidbits about being a comedian. You get a sense of how collegial that profession seems through Glass’ eyes. The book also explores why someone would keep being gay secret and what the process of giving up that secret later in life is like. All in all an interesting book from a number of viewpoints.
The Great Bath of Mohndo-daro is one of the most striking monuments left by the famous Indus or Harappan civilization. Located within the semi-arid wastelands of Sindh province in Pakistan, it represents a unique feat of planning and hydraulic engineering dating from the 3rd millennium BC.
Fans of Robert J. Sawyer will enjoy Identity Theft. This is a collection of short stories that is sure to entertain and engage. The stories vary in length and cover a wide range of topics. Sawyer has a deft hand with SF and always rewards reading.
In Working Stiff by Judy Melinek & T.J. Mitchell we follow one woman over the course of 2 years as she learns the skills she needs to be a medical examiner. These 2 years are in New York City and span the period of time covered by 9/11 so from that point of view it is a fascinating look at a different aspect of that particular event. It is also interesting because the authors provide non-fictionalized detail about what the job of medical examiner is really like (not as glamorous as TV would have you believe). The writing style leaves a lot to be desired… this is not a book to read because it is well written but rather a book to read for interest.
Mercedes Lackey brings us another tale from the Five Hundred
Kingdoms with Beauty and the Werewolf. In this world there is a non-sentient force
known as The Tradition that strives constantly to bring stories to life, in
other words the plots of fairy tales are continually echoed in real life and
people are forced into playing out roles from these same fairly tales. In this particular tale Bella is the daughter
of a wealthy merchant. One night on her
way back from a visit with Granny (the local wise woman --- i.e. witch) she
encounters, & is bitten by, a wolf.
The wolf turns out to be the cursed local nobleman and Bella is
forthwith sent to live in his home until it can be proven that she won’t turn
into a wolf at the full moon too. Bella,
however, is a feisty and determined girl so she sets out to remedy all the
problems she runs into --- including the curse that Sebastian is suffering.
In Soccernomics Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski use statistics and economics to analyze soccer (particularly the English Premier League) in a variety of ways to answer questions & make predictions. Each chapter takes a question or issue and exhaustively explores it via the medium of statistics. Representative chapters include The Worst Business in the World: Why Soccer Clubs Don’t (and Shouldn’t) Make Money, Need Not Apply: Does English Soccer Discriminate Against Black People?, The Country That Loves Soccer Most, The Curse of Poverty: Why Poor Countries Are Poor at Sports, and Core to Periphery: The Future Map of Global Soccer.