Haven

I got this book as a free sample from the iBookstore. It is a dystopian novel set in the near future. It has all the stock features of a dystopia: class-based oppression, political in-fighting, a rag tag band of fighters trying to over through the regime, some vague sense that a super disease has destroyed the global world order, and alien technology.
It is OK if you are looking for a distracting summer read. The plot moves along at a good pace. The writing is clear. The characters are serviceable. There are no jarring holes in the story. The level of gore is on the high side, but still safely PG. It unfolds in a pleasantly predictable manner.
The problems with the book are manifold, but none of them raise to level of being egregious. There seems to be too many characters with a lot of backstory that never really serve to move the story forward. The author does not seem to have a good grasp on showing characters maturing or having complex, yet subtle, relationships. The ending is also problematic for such a long book.
All of the problems point to the fact that Haven was conceived as a much longer work. The author, while ambitious, didn't proved skilled enough to whittle out a solid standalone story as his first outing. I know there has to be a follow up book, but I don't feel like wading through another 500-600 pages of OK writing to reach the end.

It's All About the Bike

I picked up this book based on a recommendation from a friend and a review from a trusted magazine. If you are remotely interested in bicycles, it is a must read. It packs the history of cycling and a good amount of technical information into a shortish and fun to read package.
Penn uses his quest to get a custom built bicycle as the backdrop for unravelling the story of the bicycle and its special place in the world. For the history buff it is an interesting lens through which to see the changes that have taken place over the last 150 years. As Penn points out, the bicycle was a leading edge of many of the changes in the early 20th century. It made the populace more mobile, it helped liberate women, it provided a healthy past time, and was a huge employer.
For the bicycle buff the book is an even vaster treasure trove. It has some technical details. It tells the stories behind some of the biggest innovations in bicycling. It validates the special place a bicycle holds in your heart.
For the rest of the world, it is just full of great stories and good writing. Hopefully, it is also full of inspiration to hop on a bicycle!

Naked Heat

I make no secret of my love for Castle. The mystery's are not puzzling and the plot is predictable, but the writing is fun and the the interplay between Castle and Beckett is sweet.
One of the other fun things about the show is that ABC actually has books written by Rick Castle that match the books he writes on the show. The second one, Naked Heat, came out late last year and I put a hold on it at the library almost immediately. My turn to read it just came round.
Like the show, the book is not going to win any awards or be mistaken for high culture. It is a quick read with a few laughs. It also sticks to the form of a modern police procedural novel.
The thing I like most about the novels is that they make me appreciate the TV show more. The dialog in the novels is snappy, but it doesn't have the same buddy quality that the actors bring to it. The characters in the book are flat compared to their TV counterparts despite the fact that the novel gives us glimpses of their interior thoughts. The action in the book lacks the funny tension of the TV show.
The cast is what makes Castle magic.

Overdrive for iOS

Overdrive finally came out with a solution for getting library books onto iOS devices. It took them long enough, but apparently not long enough.
At first the app was iPhone only (crazy for an e-book app) and it took a month for them to update it to a universal app. I didn't even bother with it until it was universal. The iPhone screen is great, but it is not my first choice for leisurely reading.
On the iPad it is a passable experience. The text is clear, pages turn using the standard tap on the side motion, and the interface is nice and sparse. Along the bottom you can see how far you are into the current chapter, but this display auto-hides and I found it tricky to bring back up consistently. There along the top there are buttons for getting to the TOC, adjusting text size, adjusting brightness, bookmarking, and getting to the main menu.
I found the text layout flat, but that could have been the e-book. I also found the lack of a dictionary troubling. I guess I've become spoiled by being able to look up words without leaving the book.
Getting books into the app is where it really falls down. To check books out of the library, you must leave the app and go to the library's web site. The app sort of helps you locate the right library, but the mechanics of it are poor. Basically you need to scroll through long lists. The Boston Public Library's site was OK on the iPad, but not great. Searching was terrible.
All in all the app is OK. It is not the one of the more polished e-book apps out there, but it will get library books onto your iPad.

Mr. Peanut

Rare is the book I don't bother finishing. I usually push through even a terrible book hoping that there will be some nugget of goodness or some bit of value in it. Most times there is something.
"Mr. Peanut", however, was a book I could not suffer through. It is one of those fashionable post-modern novels wrapped up in a novel wrapped in a character's head wrapped up in a mystery novels. Novels like this are either clever or terrible. This one is terrible. The prose is dead on the page, the characters are unlikable and unbelievable, and the plot cannot make up it's mind about being a murder mystery or a tale of domestic misery. The misery could have fed the mystery and made it interesting, but in this case the misery is omnipresent and overshadows the mystery.
I'm glad I got this one out of the library and didn't pony up the cash for it.

Resolutions

I recently read an article by one of those magazine shrinks that said that the important part about new years resolutions isn't keeping them; it's making them that matters. The process of making resolutions forces you to imagine how you would like your life to be different and imagine actions you can take to make the dream real. The more specific the resolutions the better.
Since it is that time of year, I'm going to take the article to heart and make three specific resolutions; one for work, one for family, and one for me.
For work I resolve to work as part of a team that accepts nothing short of excellent. Far to often we settle for doing the minimum because of resource constraints or we accept crappy user interfaces because the developers know best. This year I resolve that I will strive to do what is needed to provide the maximum benefit for the end user. I will not simply accept good enough. I will not sit idly by when a developer creates a bad UI or tries to slip a buggy feature into a release because it is good enough or there isn't enough time to fix it.
At home I resolve to do more around the house. I have a bad habit of putting off washing the dinner dishes until H just does them. I also tend to let laundry sit without being folded. In the warmer months I'm not great at keeping up with the yard work. This year I will be better about getting this stuff done.
For myself I resolve to take better care of myself. This includes flossing every night, doing something active at least three times a week, and eating better. I'll think twice before stopping at the McDonalds for a super size Big Mac meal. I'll actually order non-fat lattes. I'll eat more veggies. I'll actually start using the gym at work.
I want to be around for Kenzie for as long as possible. I also want to be a good role model for her. I want her to grow up seeing her dad living a healthy lifestyle, treating his partner with love and respect, and striving to be the best the he can be.
I know I'll fall short of these resolutions, but I will try to get closer to living my life according to them.

Long form journalism

For the last couple of months I've been doing most of my reading using the one of the best tech combos of 2010: Instapaper and the iPad. Instapaper is a Web service that allows you to save Web pages (stripped of all the crappy advertising and "design") to read later. Instapaper also has an iOS app that lets you save Instapaper articles off line and read them. The iPad's screen and the apps simple layout make reading a breeze.
What this combo does for me is make it possible for me to read longer articles than I normally would. You know how it goes, during the day you scroll through your Twitter and RSS feeds and see some interesting articles that you want to read, but you've only got ten or fifteen minutes between meetings or a half hour for lunch. So you bookmark the page and hope to get back to it later-on your work computer.
Now I send the page to Instapaper and can read it a my leisure on the iPad. It means that I actually read most of those articles.
It has helped me rediscover they joy of reading well crafted pieces of journalism. The best manage to inform and entertain. The tell a story while educating you or presenting a compelling argument.
I read an article about a serial killer in Moscow who managed to hunt for years because his victims were poor. I read a sad story about a high school athlete who died due to multiple head injuries. I read a great article about the effects of solitary confinement.
Even of you don't use Instapaper, I recommend reading more long form journalism. Read stuff you normally wouldn't. Read things that seem interesting or odd. The nice thing is that even long articles are only a few pages long. They only take 30 minutes, maybe an hour, to read. It is well worth it.

The Joy of Instapaper

Instapaper is a "read it later" web service. The idea is that in our daily Web surfing, RSS skimming, and Twiter trolling we come across interesting articles that are too long to read in the 5 minute window we have allotted for our hourly Web break from work. Using Instapaper you can save the article to read when you have the time and focus to read the article.
What separates Instapaper from a bookmarking service is that it is built around the idea that you will return to read interesting articles on a mobile device and not a full blown computer.
The saved articles are run through a robust "mobilizer" filter that strips out most of the adverts and other clutter that festoons typical Web sites. This makes it easier to read on a mobile device and makes it easier to focus on reading the actual content of the article.
Instapaper has mobile applications for iOS that allows you to sync your saved articles for reading offline. The applications run on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. They have a number of helpful features including the ability to switch to a white on black theme for bed time reading and syncing your place in an article across your devices.
Instapaper also works with e-readers. You can download articles in e-pub format to sync with many e-readers. Kindle users can get their saved articles sent to their Kindles.
Getting articles into Instapaper is easy and getting easier. On a desktop Web browser you can install a bookmarklet that saves a Wen page to Instapaper. A number of mobile apps and desktop applications use the Instapaper API to build Instapaper directly into their interfaces. For example the iOS Twitter app has a menu item to save articles to Instapaper.
One of the features a really like is the "Editors Pick" section. The editor's picks run the gamut. They are long form articles from all corners of the Web. Not all of them interest me, but having access to them helps expand my reading circle.
Instapaper is a mostly free service. You can get an account for free and use all of the features on the Web site. For free you also get a very functional iOS application. For a few dollars, you can get the Pro version of the Instapaper app that adds folder control, better control of syncing, and a few other features. The developer is also thinking about adding a subscription to the mix, but that idea has not been terribly fleshed out. He has, however, promised that most of the features will always be free.
For me paying the five bucks for the Pro app was a no brainer. I use the service all the time and could spare a latte to keep the developer in business. Try the service for free, and you will quickly agree.

The Fall

The Fall is the second book in the Strain trilogy. The plot follows directly on the heels of the first book. As with the first book, the writing is superb. The plot is tight and the characters are well drawn. I do have a few minor quips: there is too many instances of "something seemed off, but there was no time to process it." the grand arc of the narrative hews too closely to well worn archetypes. the authors occasionally resort to lazy plot devices.
Mostly, these quips result from my having high expectations of e authors. Del Toro is a master storyteller. For the most part, the story lives up to my high expectations. I'd be more happy if the story took some liberties with the narrative. The new take on vampire mythology is inventive and modern, and I was hoping for the same in the story arc.
I'm still eagerly awaiting the final installment of the trilogy. These books are excellent and I love a good vampire tale.

The Count of Monte Christo

Reading the Count of Monte Christo was an epic undertaking. My recollection of reading it in high school was that it was a pretty quick read. Either we read an abridged version, or I took way more drugs than I thought in high school. It is a long book, but it is mostly worth it.
I won't lie and say that it is gripping throughout or that Dumas' editor shouldn't have made him cut the length in half. It drags in places and the length allows the plot to get overly convoluted. For instance, the section of the book that takes place in Rome could have been cut by a third at least. The whole subplot about Villefort's wife could also have been cut as well as Calderous.
Of course, these are critiques based on modern sensibilities. When Dumas was writing, his book was in line with what the audience wanted. It was a soap opera for the time. The lush descriptions, the excess of characters, the purple prose were not meant for us over hurried, TVfied, post Hemingway readers.
Fortunately, the book is loaded with archetypes. There is the greedy banker, the ambitious public servant, the noble warrior who must be tested, the noble vengeance, the rebirth, and the hero journey. It moves from happiness to darkness and back to happiness just like a good movie.
Along the way the audience learns a lesson about the follies of greed, ambition, and revenge. Of course, revenge, when justified, is justice and the agent is an instrument of good.
Did I find the book good? Yes. Is it a masterpiece? No. It was entertainment for the masses of its day, and is still a serviceable distraction for today's masses.