Reading Bingo

This delightful reading bingo image was circulating the social media sites and I found it particularly inspiring. What a fun way to mix up your reading habit and get through all those books in your TBR list!

 

Of course other books will be reviewed here, but this seemed like a fun way to read those books currently sitting on TDBA shelves. The only rule was that each book had to be one I've never read. This is my personal list, so it is very science fiction, science, and nonfiction heavy, as those are some of my favorite genres. However, I encourage you to dig through your personal library and actual libraries near you to fill out your reading bingo.

 

So, without further ado, here is the list!

500+ pages - We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen
Under 30 author - Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh
One word title - Nightfall by Isaac Asimov
1st by fav author - Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov
Book a friend loves - Enchantment by Orson Scott Card
Forgotten classic - War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Non-human characters - Beyond Human: Robots and Cyborgs by Benford and Malatre
Short stories - American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell
Heard @ online - Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
That scares me - Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Became a movie - The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Funny - Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
Bestselling - A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
10+ years old - 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
Published this year - Leaving the Sea: Stories by Ben Marcus
Female author - My Beautiful Genome: Exposing Our Genetic Future, One Quirk at a Time by Lone Frank
Different continent - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Based on a true story - Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
2nd in series - The Dark Monk: A Hangman's Daughter Tale by Oliver Potzsch
Number in title - Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Mystery - Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Nonfiction - Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Bottom of pile - Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton
Blue cover - Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller
Free Space - Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Seaand of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools,Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them by Donovan Hohn

The Case of the Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Neil Gaiman

I sat in my office, nursing a glass of hooch and idly cleaning my automatic. Outside the rain fell steadily, like it seems to do most of the time in our fair city, whatever the tourist board says. Hell, I didn't care. I'm not on the tourist board. I'm a private dick, and one of the best, although you wouldn't have known it; the office was crumbling, the rent was unpaid and the hooch was my last.

Things are tough all over.

To cap it all the only client I'd had all week never showed up on the street corner where I'd waited for him. He said it was going to be a big job, but now I'd never know: he kept a prior appointment in the morgue.

So when the dame walked into my office I was sure my luck had changed for the better.

"What are you selling, lady?"

She gave me a look that would have induced heavy breathing in a pumpkin, and which shot my heartbeat up to three figures. She had long blonde hair and a figure that would have made Thomas Aquinas forget his vows. I forgot all mine about never taking cases from dames.

"What would you say to some of the green stuff?" she asked, in a husky voice, getting straight to the point.

"Continue, sister." I didn't want her to know how bad I needed the dough, so I held my hand in front of my mouth; it doesn't help if a client sees you salivate.

She opened her purse and flipped out a photograph. Glossy eight by ten. "Do you recognise that man?"

In my business you know who people are. "Yeah."

"He's dead."

"I know that too, sweetheart. It's old news. It was an accident."

Her gaze went so icy you could have chipped it into cubes and cooled a cocktail with it. "My brother's death was no accident."  

Room by Emma Donoghue

Book: Room

Author: Emma Donoghue
 

Why I Read It: I loved one of her other books, Slammerkin, and I was enamored with the idea of writing about the experience of abuse and captivity from the view of a child.

First Line: "Today I'm five."

First Impression: Wow. This is so realistic. And depressing.

Last Impression: Wow. This is so realistic. And depressing. And DAMN can she write!

 

Ratings 

Overall – 5 Heart Racing I was surprised by how true to life the situation felt; how they play Scream, how he has to hide every night in case Old Nick visits, how detailed the minutia of each day is because it is all they have.

Characters – 3 Ma and Jack, our main characters, create their own little world in room. Jack narrates, so Ma is only viewed in the mothering role. Her other female experiences are on the periphery, making the abusive situation easier to tolerate, but also leaving her flat and underdeveloped. Old Nick is a disembodied voice but functions in the role of the abuser. Jack is the driving force of the book and much of his personality is shown through his insights.

Story – 5 The story carries itself much further through the action than I anticipated.

Narration – 4 The narration suffers from inconsistency part way through the book, and Jack's voice feels less organic and a bit forced. But the idea of narrating the abusive situation through his naive view is brilliant.

Read Again? Absolutely. It was inspiring to ingest such a well-written, refreshing and engaging story. I was on the edge of my seat.

Tell Others to Read? Yes. But I will warn them. It is a lot and hard to handle. You have to be prepared to read about a woman who has been raped and abused on a very regular basis. You have to be prepared to accept this as her existence and read on anyway. You have to be prepared to watch suffering and hope and despair interact in a very believable way.

Excerpt: "Monday is a laundry day, we get into Bath with socks, underwears, my gray pants that Ketchup squirted on, the sheets and dish towels, and we squish all the dirt out. Ma hots Thermostat way up for the drying, she pulls Clothes Horse out from beside Door and stands him open and I tell him to be strong. I would love to ride him like when I was a baby but I'm so huge now I might break his back. It would be cool to sometimes go smaller again and sometimes bigger like Alice. When we've twisted the water out of everything and hanged them up, Ma and me have to rip off our T-shirts and take turns pushing ourselves into Refrigerator to cool down.

     Lunch is bean salad, my second worst favorite. After nap we do Scream every day but not Saturdays or Sundays. We clear our throats and climb up on Table to be nearer Skylight, holding hands not to fall. We say 'On your mark, get set, go,' then we open wide our teeth and shout and holler howl yowl shriek screech scream the loudest possible. Today I'm the loudest ever because my lungs are stretching from being five.

     Then we shush with fingers on lips. I ask Ma once what we're listening for and she said just in case, you never know."

 

 

Excerpt content property of Little, Brown and Company

The After Effects of World War Z

If you like George Romero’s movies, the mythology of the zombie and are addicted to watching The Walking Dead, then you cannot miss this book. And even if you aren’t really a big horror or zombie fan, you should still pick this up.

 

World War Z is a journalistic-style retelling of the plague years and the ensuing zombie war. For zombie fanatics, like myself, this book presents a unique version of the zombie apocalypse. The world Brooks created is realistic; it retains vestiges of the world we know, with enough realism in the new details to seamlessly tie the two together. This is how the world could be after a zombie apocalypse. Each character tells their own story within the framework of the disaster and there are enough gaps in the overall tale to make it realistic. Not all parts of the story are intact, because not everyone survived and those viewpoints simply cannot be represented.

 

The book is constructed from individual characters and their personal accounts of World War Z. The stories of the characters take the reader from the International Space Station to the depths of the ocean (the undead don’t drown apparently); from the first interaction when patient zero is discovered in China, to a veteran reflecting on his battle memories. Through the varying viewpoints, the history of World War Z is fleshed out. It was a pleasure to read such a refreshing take on zombies. A work must be quite good to stand out from the ever-increasing body of zombie media and this stands out.

Even if you don’t love zombies or horror, I would still recommend this book. The narration is strong and unique, the characters are dynamic and engaging, and the pacing draws you in, creating an addictive pull towards the pages. And after reading it, you’ll have your own 10 cents to put in during the next inevitable zombie discussion.

The book is broken down into sections - Warning, Blame, Great Panic, Turning the Tide, Homefront USA, Around the World and Above, Total War, and Goodbyes. The last section, entitled Goodbyes, is a wrap-up of some of the characters, sometimes only two lines. It leans toward the sentimental, but is not as powerful as it could have been. It is difficult to keep track of the each individual character introduced in the previous seven sections.

But this is my only hesitation in what is otherwise resounding praise. I had to go back and find the character's original story and reread it, then follow it up with the "goodbye." And if the only negative thing I have is that you must reread this book, well, that's not so bad.

9 Unique Uses For a Dead Human Person

So, I've got a full on writer crush on Mary Roach. Fantastic. Fantastically amazingly fantastic. I found Stiff on my local Savers' shelf and scooped it up immediately. Not only had I been dying to read it for-e-ver, but it was a steal at $2. I am a bit dark in my tastes, so not all the information was new. But most of it was and all of it was written delightfully well. Now, for your reading pleasure, 9 unique uses for a dead human person. But please, please please please, pick up the work that inspired this list. It will be well worth your time. Promise.

 

1. Composting. I actually really like this idea. Instead of putting out noxious fumes to burn up flesh and bones to then pollute the air with ashes, why not give back to the earth? Try this instead: freeze dry your body, crush it up, mulch it and then nurture a memorial tree. I'm down. And I bet the tree will be grateful to.

2. Crash Test Dummies. I already was familiar with this idea, but reading about it made me more accepting of the practice. The floppy mannequinesque dolls that come to mind are only used once researchers know what levels of pressure to look for. And the only way to know how much pressure it takes to crack a human skull is to, well, crack a human skull. And when you think that 8,500 lives are saved a year by a few cadavers crashing into walls, it makes a lot more sense.

3. Penal Implants. You donate your skin with grand ideas of helping children burn victims. Which may happen. What also might happen- your skin is processed and used to cosmetically fill cougar's crows feet or make Mr. Tom's Little Tom a bit less little. But hey, I bet Little Tom is immensely grateful.

4. Forensic Decomposition. By far one of the grossest, and coolest, things to happen to a corpse. The University of Tennessee Medical Center runs a field research facility that studies the decomposition of human bodies under different, possible criminal, situations. Corpses are encased in concrete, left in shallow graves, left in car trunks, set adrift in ponds and stacked in garbage bags, to name a few. Chemical breakdown times are established by these disintegrating bodies which helps determine time of death. Police departments everywhere are grateful.

5. Sex. Yes, we've all heard of necrophilia, or more specifically, sexual actions with the deceased. But only 22 states have laws against it. So you'd better hope to die in Arizona or Nevada, because otherwise it's not a problem to have a good time before the embalming fluid sets in. I am quite sure this doesn't take place at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.

6. Human Mummy Confection. The basic idea is to steep a human cadaver in honey, let sit for a hundred years until it all congeals, then use medicinally. The story goes that aging Arabic men would eat only honey until it killed them. Then their bodies would be bathed and laid to rest in honey for the requisite century. The resulting substance would usually be applied topically, but at times it would be ingested for the patient to receive the full benefits. Honey has since been proven to have antibacterial properties, but I have yet to hear anything about the health benefits of cannibalism.

7. Face-lift Testers. Donated bodies that have been utilized for organs or other purposes can find their heads literally ending up on the chopping block. Sliced off at the chin, heads are placed in roasting pans and a few lucky plastic surgeons can tweak the techniques that keep housewives looking plastic.

8. Airplane Crash Detectives. When planes crash, usually the wreckage tells the story. When planes crash in the ocean, and sink, the plane may be irretrievable and aviation pathologists must study the "human wreckage." For example, if most of the passengers died from broken ribs, punctured lungs or ruptured aortas, it's a good indication that they had all been alive before they hit the water. If there were body parts strewn about or shrapnel in the bodies, it's likely there was an explosion. So, even if you didn't survive the crash, you could still have a short career as a detective.

9. Art Displays. German anatomist von Hagen developed an highly controversial art exhibit composed of plastinated human bodies. At the time Stiff was written, the exhibit, Koperwelten, was only touring Europe. Now most major cities have hosted an exhibit of Koperwelten, better known as BodyWorlds. I have seen it myself and have to say it's quite an experience. For the most part they look like models, but then you get close enough to see eyelashes and you remember this used to be a member of someone's family. Educational and impactful. I recommend checking it out.

Whew! Quite the list! For those of you who were intrigued, I strongly suggest picking up Stiff. You will love it. For all the rest of you, I still suggest it. It's just a killer awesome book.

Another Reason Science Is Awesome

I have just picked up The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean, and so far, it is pretty good. It's much more of a chronological history of the periodic table, rather than the short story style exposition of 'true tales' I was expecting, and not as chock-full of delightful tidbits as I thought, but still all right. Reading it today, I realized that most of what Kean is discussing would probably be more impactful visually than as just words on a page. Turns out I was right. There are many interesting facts contained in the book that would make a good visual, but I figure, let's go with the namesake and see what a disappearing spoon actually looks like -

And that is a spoon melting ladies and gentleman! Turns out this is possible because of the element gallium. Gallium is solid at a moderate room temperature, but melts at 84 degrees Farenheit. As Kean says: "it's one of the few liquid metals you can touch without boiling your finger to the bone." Pretty cool, huh?

I think I want to watch superfluid helium defy gravity by flowing uphill and over walls next.....

The Professor and The Madman by Simon Winchester

Book: The Professor and the Madman

Author: Simon Winchester

 

Why I Read It: I was researching the origin of words for a class and I came across this story of how the Oxford English Dictionary was created.

First Line: In Victorian London, even in a place as louche and notoriously crime-ridden as Lambeth Marsh, the sound of gunshots was a rare event indeed.

 

First Impression: Murder, insanity and the making of the OED? I am definitely on board!

Last Impression: Wow. This was amazing. Much more story than history, which I was not expecting, but loved it from start to finish. Also, the dictionary entries at the beginning of each chapter were fun.

Ratings

Overall – 4 Heart Skipped A Beat

Characters – 4 The characterization of these two men is touching; figures from the past are usually brought alive from the pages of history with broad strokes, here they are detailed in their thoughts and actions, and tinted in a deferential light.

Story – 3 The story is equal parts history lesson and character study of the two men behind the first edition of the OED. The story is interesting, but it is not what drives the reader on.

Narration – 4 While most might find the subject a bit dull, Winchester clearly does not and his curiousity to discover the past is tangible on the pages. His description of dictionary history is tainted with wonder, and the reader can't help but share the awe at such a feat. His word choice, perhaps more noticable in a book about words, is careful and decisive. Each and every word used feels purposeful.

Read Again? I most certainly will read this book again. It was a fun piece of history that I have already had the craving to revisit.

Tell Others to Read? Depends upon the person. This book walks that line between creative nonfiction and historical fiction, so if the reader likes books in either of those genres, then yes.

Excerpt: And sometime in the early 1880s one copy, at least, left inside a book or slipped between the pages of a learned journal, found its way to one of two large cells on the top floor of Block 2 of the Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally Insane in Crowthorne, Berkshire. It was read, voraciously, by William Minor, a man for whom books, with which one of his two cells was lined from floor to ceiling, had become a second life.
     Doctor Minor had been an inmate at Broadmoor for the previous eight years. He was deluded, true; but he was a sensitive and intelligent man, a graduate of Yale, and well read and curious. He was, understandably, preternaturally anxious to have something useful to do, something that might occupy the weeks and months and decades that stretched without limit -- "Until Her Majesty's Pleasure Be Known" -- before him.
     This invitation from a Dr. James Murray of Mill Hill, Middlesex, N.W., it seemed, promised an opportunity for intellectual stimulus -- and perhaps even a measure of personal redemption -- that was far better than any he could otherwise imagine. He would write, immediately.

World War Z by Max Brooks

Book: World War Z

Author: Max Brooks

Why I Read It: Because I am a hard core zombie fan. And it looked awesome.

First Line: It goes by many names: "The Crisis," "The Dark Years," "The Walking Plague," as well as newer and more "hip" titles such as "World War Z" or "Z War One."

First Impression: Wow. This is really well written. And a brilliant idea.

Last Impression: Huh. Didn't really think about the impact of zombies on the planet. Or if they could survive drowning or freezing. A little more political than I was anticipating, but great angle to cover in an apocalyptic scenario.

Ratings

Overall – 5 Heart Racing

Characters – 5 Each and every character was unique and entralling; from regional accents to realistic slang, their voices jumped off the page.

Story – 5 The zombie apocalypse has been told many times, in many ways, ranging from horrorific to comedic, but this approach was brand new. Brooks is skilled in crafting a fluid narrative from the piece meal approach of first person accounts

Narration – 5 The journalistic structure of this "oral history" is well-crafted. The reader is drawn further in through each of the eight sections and the question and answer framework

Read Again? Absolutely. Willingly. Excitedly. And certainly around Halloween.

Tell Others to Read? Yes. Just about everyone. You don't have to be a zombie or horror fan to love this book. Also, you should stay ahead of the curve and read it before the movie comes out.

Excerpt: Two hundred million zombies. Who can even visualize that type of number, let alone combat it? At least this time around we knew what we were combating, but when you added up all the experience, all the data we'd compiled on their origin, their physiology, their strengths, their weaknesses, their motives, and their mentality, it still presented us with a very gloomy prospect for victory.
     The book of war, the one we've been writing since one ape slapped another, was completely useless in this situation. We had to write a new one from scratch.

Books That Take Me Places

Summer is drawing to a close, well, the summer of swimming pools, fireworks, barbeques and reunions. The blistering heat is still here. But the mood of summer is fading. Already it’s back-to-school-halloween-autumn in all the stores and all the travel plans are over. So every year, I fight back by embarking on a few last minute adventures from my library. I’ve compiled my favorite list of books that take me places. Now all you’ve got to decide is:

Where do you want to go?

Everywhere:

Read Travels by Michael Crichton. He ventures across the globe and into his psyche; literally everywhere. The narration mixes exotic explorations with personal discovery that makes for a seamless adventure read.

The most travelesque moment: the scuba diving section.

Travel Back in Time:

Read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. The circus-prohibition era just oozes off the page. The unique story and memorable characters are only part of the delight as she delicately recreates this age of wonder.

The most travelesque moment: the whole damn thing.

Travel To The Future:

Read Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov. Asimov walks the line between accessible and realistic; diehard sci-fi fans will love it and others will not be overwhelmed by scientific jargon. He creates a world that’s futuristic enough to be new, but same enough to be familiar.

The most travelesque moment: the main character’s life within the City.

Travel to a whole new crazy place:

Read Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde. Fforde creates a chromatic society that is unexpected in a fun way. Spoons are a rare and cherished commodity, Greens don’t like Reds and no one likes Yellows and there is only one rabbit. Richly written and beautifully unique.

The most travelesque moment: the trek to a nearby uninhabited, dangerous town.

Travel to the afterlife:

Read The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. The journey from the living to the beyond is crafted with care and precision. Beautiful prose illuminates as unconscious expectations are realized; it's as if we always knew heaven would be like this.

The most travelesque moment: arriving in heaven.

 

 

 

So, whatever your inclination, we've got a destination.

A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian by Marina Lewcka

Book: A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian

Author: Marina Lewycka

Why I Read It: I was in a hostel in London and the common room "library" only had three books in English and this one looked the most intriguing.

First Line: "Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamorous blonde Ukranian divorcee."

 

First Impression: Wow. This is really good. I'm surprised someone left this here.

Last Impression: Nowhere near the journey I was expecting (and I didn't really learn anything about tractors) butit was engrossing and satisfying.

 

Ratings

Overall – 4 Heart Skipped A Beat

Characters – 4  Each charager was dynamic and virbrant; the female narrator gives just enough space for her aging father determined to tell his history of tractors, the conniving and surgically accented Ukranian divorcee and her well-meaning but overbearing sister to fill up the pages.

Story – 2  Honestly the story became a bit dull and the characters were the reason to keep reading, not the action.

Narration – 4 The pacing was rhythmic and lulling, the word chocie was powerfully decisive and it was surprising how quickly all the intricacies of this Ukranian family felt familiar.

Read Again? Yes. It was unique and fun and a perfect road tripping read. But I might just feel that way because it was acquired in travels and read on the road.

Tell Others to Read? Depends on the person. If I see them in the bookstore with a stack in their arms 10 books tall, or flipping through a book about travel, then absolutely. Or if they are a "reader" and are looking for something different than their usual fare. If they're looking for something to read after finishing 50 Shades of Grey, probably not.

Excerpt: Tart. Bitch. Cheap slut. This woman who as taken the place of my mother. I stretch my hand out and bare my teeth in a smile.

   "Hallo, Valentina. How nice to meet you at last."

   Her hand in mine is cold, limp, no grip. The long fingernails are varnished in peach-pink pearlised nail-polish to match the lips. I see myself through her eyes - small, skinny, dark, no bust. Not a real woman. She smiles at Mike, a slow, wicked smile.

   "You like vodka?"

   "I've made a pot of tea," I say.

   My father's eyes are fixed on her as she moves about the room.

Introducing Monday Minis

To continue bringing you delighful readers something new and exciting to consume, The Dying Book Affair proudly presents Monday Minis! What better is there to start the week off right than to keep our desire to read still bubbling? Enter the #MondayMinis!

The more in-depth and comprehensive book reviews will still remain unrated, but the #MondayMinis are meant to be a quick glimpse and ratings are ideal for that purpose. Here is the rating system for our #MondayMinis.

Each mini review will include ratings for:

• How much I liked it
• Characters
• Story
• Narration
• Overall

Ratings

• 5 - Heart Racing. This was a great book! I am absolutely dying to read this book again. I will recommend it to everyone I know and random people I meet.
• 4 - Heart Skipped a Beat. This book has something special. I will definitely read this book again. I will cheerfully recommend it.
• 3 - Resting Heart Rate. This book was a good read overall but not particularly memorable. I won't read this book again unless a good reason pops up. I will only recommend this book if I think that particular individual might enjoy it.
• 2 - Faint Pulse. This book tried, but didn't quite make it. I will not read this book again. I will not recommend it.
• 1 - Flatlined. This book was terrible. I will never ever read this book again. I will not recommend it.

Now, not every book fits in this neat system. Every once in a while there is a book that invoke an extreme reaction. For those books we have....

Extreme ratings!

• 6 - Heart Exploded with Joy. This book was fucking amazing. I am stunned with wonder. I wanted to read this book again immediately. I couldn't pick up another book for a while because this one had left such a strong impression. I will rave about this book to anyone who will stand still long enough.
• 0 - Cold Dead Corpse. This book was a collossal waste of my time. I was powered only by stubbornness. I only finished this book because I refuse to leave any book unfinished but I did not enjoy it at all. I will actively tell people to avoid this book.

In addition to ratings, each review will have:

• The title
• The author's name
• Why I read it
• First Line
• First Impression
• Last Impression
• If I will read it again
• If I will tell others to read it
• An excerpt

Now there is something delightful to look forward to every Monday morning! Enter your email to get The Dying Book Affair to your inbox or subscribe to get  Monday Minis delivered to you personally.