This Week in Reading

BOOKS:
X, by Sue Grafton, pages 147 – 306.

The Juvenilization of American Christianity, by Thomas E. Bergler, pages 80 – 125.

COMICS:
Action Comics 704
Adventures of Superman 517
Fairest 21 – 26
Hawkeye 6 – 11                        
Sherlock Bones, vol. 3
Strange Adventures 1

Expanding Holmes: Review of Sherlock Bones, vol. 3

Sherlock Bones, volume 3, story by Yuma Ando and Art by Yuki Sato. Graphic novel.

As I said when I reviewed volumes 1 and 2 of this manga, this series requires a “leap of faith” to accepts the series’ wild premise. Japanese schoolboy Takeru adopted a puppy who turned out to be the reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes, who informs the boy that he is in fact Watson. And the pair help Takeru’s father and sister, both police officers, solve crimes.   

The core of this volume is the 4-part A Golfer’s Glory. Takeru joins his family to play golf for the first time, and meet up with a pair of professional golfers who happen to be playing at the same time. The dog witnesses one of the pros kill his rival, and he and Takeru work out how to prove it. The case turns on details revealed in photographs taken during the round.

Photography also plays a key role in the final story, which is a cliffhanger, concluding in the next volume.  A candidate for student body president has photo-shopped his opponent into a compromising positiong, abut Sherdog believes he can prove the guilty party!

The volume also contains a one-off “Sherdog at home” story, and a 3-parter about a suspicious suicide. That one turns on a series of math equations that the killer, an after-school tutor, had taught Takeru (and Sherdog) in their past tutoring sessions. Oh, the irony.

This volume seemed more plot-heavy than the prior two. There was less of Sherdog as pt-upon English gentleman, or Takeru’s crush on his longtime friend Miki. And Takeru’s sister Airin only appears in one story, reducing the amount of “Irene Adler” daydreaming for the dog. I hope that these do not represent the series’ moving away from its base in the lore of Sherlock Holmes.

All of these stories involve school or family drama in one way or another, in addition to the Holmesian mysteries. So there is the potential for melodrama, and if a reader is not in the mood for that, or for the manga-style art, this might not be the read for them. But if the wacky premise doesn’t stop you, the content can be quite enjoyable.

Source: public library

This Week in Reading

BOOKS:
X, by Sue Grafton, pages 1 – 147.

The Juvenilization of American Christianity, by Thomas E. Bergler, pages 32 – 80.

COMICS:
 Gotham by Midnight 10
Hawkeye 1 – 5
Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes 245 & 246
Superman 254
Trekker omnibus, pages 167 – 208.(*)

(*) Covering the seventh and eighth stories, which are covered by Ruth and Darrin Sutherland on episodes 7 & 9 of their excellent podcast, Trekker Talk. 

Review of Sinbad the Sailor

Book 41: The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor, from The Arabian Nights, translated by Richard F. Burton. Unabridged audio.

This is one of the most famous sections of The Arabian Nights (or Book of The Thousand and One Nights), and is often collected as a separate work, as it is here. This is despite the fact that the Voyages are considered a late addition to the larger work, not appearing until manuscripts that date from 300 years after the earliest version.

Sinbad has wasted his father’s fortune, and goes to sea to find his own. But he finds an island that is in fact a giant prehistoric whale. Then, there are the giant snakes that can swallow elephants, and gigantic eggs. For as good a sailor Sinbad is supposed to be, he is extremely prone to shipwrecks. But he does manage to find a valley of diamonds. And marry more than his fair share of beautiful princesses. I can understand why his voyages have been dramatized so many times. There is a lot of drama and adventure in these tales.

The Burton translation from 1885 is considered the standard, and is a beautiful mix of flowing storytelling and lovely language. I don’t know how easy it would be to read, but it was very pleasant to listen to. I can see why Scheherazade wanted him to continue telling his tales.

Source: The Classic TalesPodcast, episodes 400 – 403.The podcast produces high-quality audio versions of public domain works.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following:

Grab your current read.

Open to a random page.

Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

From Pages 8 & 9 of The Juvenilization of American Christianity, by Thomas E. Bergler.

"Adolescent Christianity is any way of understanding, experiencing, or practicing the Christian faith that conforms to the patterns of adolescence in American culture ... no matter how the experience of adolescence changes, churches will eventually conform to that new set of adolescent traits."

This Week in Reading

BOOKS:
Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis, COMPLETED. Reviewed here.

The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor, from The Arabian Nights, translated by Richard F. Burton, COMPLETED.

The Juvenilization of American Christianity, by Thomas E. Bergler, pages 1 – 32.

COMICS:
Edge 1 – 3
Meanwhile 1 & 2
Nightmask 1
Trekker omnibus, pages 119 – 166
Young Avengers Presents 6

Review of The Doomsday Book

Book #40. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis. Unabridged Audio.

Connie Willis is a very well-regarded novelist, and rightly so. This book, her third published novel, received numerous award nominations, winning both the Hugo and Nebula. The book’s “high concept” can be summed in a single three-word phrase: Time-traveling Oxford historians.

In the year 2054, Kivrin Engle travels back to the 14^th century to complete her studies, but things get more complicated when she arrives a few decades later than she had planned. In the middle of the Black Plague. And she brings the flu with her from her time period, and the outbreak in her own time seriously impairs her team’s ability to retrieve her. She assumes she is never returning home. They assume she is dead, either from the flu, or from the Plague.

Jumping back and forth between the 14^th and 21^st centuries, Willis is able to tell two compelling narratives. This becomes quite a suspenseful read, as well as an interesting take on the rescue novel. Kivrin’s textbooks and training have not prepared her for life in the Dark Ages as well as her Oxford tutors had promised. It takes her longer than expected to adapt to the language, for example.

Willis does a good job of injecting humor into the book where needed, as well as developing a large cast of characters. Many of the people Kivrin meets in the past are well developed, and her friendship with many of those people, in the midst of their fear and grief, adds an emotional underpinning to the story. This is a compelling, engrossing, and entertaining novel.

Narrator Jenny Stirlin does her standard excellent job. Because of her past work on the Mary Russell series of Sherlock Holmes novels, it took me a while to get used to her with this set of characters, but that is my fault, not hers.

Source: public library.

Note: Connie Willis has been interviewed numerous times on Mur Lafferty’s excellent podcast, “I Should be Writing.”