David Sebek's Blog, page 2
July 18, 2015
You Are Not So Smart - Book Review
You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself by David McRaneyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Have you ever had a lucky shirt? A lucky seat where you watched all of your team's games? Ever believed something strange because you were unsure if the speaker was honest?
The old saying is true: "We do not see the world as it is, we see the world as we are." So who are we? Well we are mostly the same, trapped in our own heads, modifying our memories and actions to support our ideology.
David McRaney presents a straightforward, easy to read and understand little book about how our mind tries to make order out of the chaotic randomness of our existence on this rock.
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A Monster Calls - Book Review
A Monster Calls by Patrick NessMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Amazing story that is well told and a must read for anyone who has lost someone close. The metaphorical ending will leave you with literal tears.
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Big Little Lies - Book Review
Big Little Lies by Liane MoriartyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Big Little Lies begins with a death, and even though we know that is the end, the entire narrative captures the reader in a web of ethics and morality.
The story revolved around spousal abuse, helicopter parents, bullying, infidelity, parenting, murder and friendship. Moriarty layers all of these themes in a well told tale about the parents supporting the Kindergarten class at Pirriwee Public School.
A great read whose events lead to a wonderfully twisted conclusion.
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Dark Places - Book Review
Dark Places by Gillian FlynnMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Gillian Flynn's second novel, Dark Places, previews Flynn's talent for creating twisted, broken characters. Each possesses a secret, a piece to solving the grisly murders of the Day family in rural Kansas the day after New Years. Using present day narration, with point of view flashbacks, Flynn slowly reveals the truth of the crime one hour at a time.
Libby, the lone survivor, drifting through life, living off the trust fund set up for her from charitable donations. Middle-aged, her account is empty, no one wants to donate to a middle-aged woman, decades removed from the events that made her a media darling. Encouraged by true crime enthusiasts and their $500 checks, she begins a journey to fill in the gaps in her memory.
Ben, convicted for the satanic murders and Libby's older brother, relives the day in memory. Each tragic moment building to the homicide.
Patty, Ben and Libby's mother, broke and overwhelmed with four children she cannot feed, an ex-husband she cannot get rid of and a looming foreclosure, relives the day of the murders and the decent into her own depression.
This novel can best be reviewed in two parts. The first 200 pages set up the characters, the crime, the questions people still have about Ben's guilt. This part drags at times, and often I would put down the novel and ask "Who cares?" or "What's the point?"
But, the last 140 pages put all of the characters into direct contact, forcing them to confront each other, to find the "truth." I ripped through the last third of the book, often times having to set it down for a moment to catch my breath.
I would say the payoff is worth the initial struggle and your perseverance pays off with the novels ending.
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July 17, 2015
Missing You - Book Review
Missing You by Harlan CobenMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
You've read this novel before. Cliche ridden cop tropes and ridiculous dialogue riddle this story that tries to tie together a cops love life with her investigation of a terrifying serial killer who disguises his murders as mere "confidence schemes."
NYPD Kat Donovan lives in the shadows of her father's murder and the break up with her fiance a scant 18 years ago. A friend sets her up with a profile on an online dating service to help Kat get back in the game. Of course, scrolling through the profiles, Kat finds her former fiance but his name is changed.
Caught in the turmoil of her old love life Kat still wants to find the truth about her father's murder at the hands of a hit-man. As she digs deeper into the loose ends of her fathers death she is visited by an eighteen year old college student whose mother is missing. The last time she was seen was with a man she had just met on the same dating site Kat recently started visiting.
Needless to say these events attempt to merge together to form a page turning mystery that keeps you guessing until the end. Unfortunately Coben tries to delve into the world of cross-dressing yoga instructors and psychopathic murderers. The characters are hollow, cliche and predictable. Coben does create one memorable scene at the beginning of the novel when a man wakes up buried in a box. Anyone with claustrophobia issues will cringe reading this chapter, creeeeepy. Unfortunately Coben leaves that feeling of confinement and forces us to endure pages of explanation to how the serial killer scam works, it reads like a instruction manual for a wireless printer.
It will be a while before I put a Coben novel back into my too read stack. Too many other good books out there!
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Mr. Mercedes - Book Review
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen KingMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
I have a bias towards Stephen King and a bias against the "who-dunnit" genre. King has been scaring and entertaining me for almost three decades, and while some of his work is uneven, his latest novels have been very good. So I cracked the spine on Mr. Mercedes with high expectations, all of the lights turned on and the doors locked. Within a hundred pages I realized I had been duped into reading a mystery. The first part, according to King's Facebook page, of a trilogy.
It was much the same feeling I had while reading JK Rowlings "Cuckoo's Calling."
I read King and Rowling for their ability to create different realities and place their characters into difficult situations. If I want a mystery I can watch 20/20 or Dateline or the news. Murders and crime happen everyday. That is reality. Many people read to escape reality and in the case of Mr. Mercedes all we have is a fat retired detective, his lawn boy sidekick, and a bad guy who spent way too much time breast feeding as a toddler. Very little drama.
If you like the mystery drama this may be a "goodread" for you. But don't worry about things that go bump in the night, or the cat door mysteriously opening and closing, Mr. King seems to have kept all that to himself this time and the reader is not better for it.
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Pulse (Pulse #1) - Book Review
Pulse by Patrick CarmanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Patrick Carman creates a barren, empty dystopian world where citizens are forced to move into States so the planet has a chance to reverse the effects of Global Warming. Living in the barren, desolated leftovers of society are the last hold outs, those people who refuse the lure of the States. Faith Daniels and her friends go to school in a ghost town, addicted to their Tablets, going to school so that a "teacher" can monitor them while they watch their lessons.
Trouble arises in the wonder twins of Wade and Clara, genetic athletic freaks. Over the course of time, Faith discovers she has a Pulse and with the help of Dylan, Hawk and the Drifters she will uncover a plot to destroy the States and end the balance between humans and the planet.
This is a good read that features a great cast, especially the villainous Wade and Clara. I am looking forward to reading the sequel. This has the potential to be a great series.
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Steelheart - Book Review
Steelheart by Brandon SandersonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a very interesting spin on the classic superhero tale. Sanderson creates a world where Epic's, mortals who developed special powers, have taken control of the world. Like mafia crime bosses, Epic's battle each other with their godlike powers in order to gain control of large urban areas. Stealheart controls Newcago and David and the Reckoners are searching for a way to bring down the corrupted deities of the twenty first century. Anyone who enjoys the superhero genre will enjoy this new spin on the idea that sometimes there are no superhero's out there coming to save us. We must save ourselves.
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A Game of Thrones - Book Review
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. MartinMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
If it wasn't for HBO I probably would not have read the first novel in George R.R. Martin's magnus opus. There are two things I hardly ever do: watch a new mini-series on TV and read novels from a series (the notable exception being Stephen King's Dark Tower Series). But, since the internet almost break downs with the showing of each new episode of the series, I had to crack the spine on the novel and drop the titles into my Netflix queue.
A Game of Thrones is a combination of your favorite mafia story, combined with Lord of the Rings with a heaping helping of political intrigue. I have to admit, for most of this novel I was consulting online sites to keep track of the characters, the settings and the storyline. With help from the online superfans I was able to follow the Lannisters, Starks and the rest of the clans of the fictional land of Westeros.
The story never lacks for action and I never found myself setting the book aside because I was bored. There is plenty of murder, war, sex and soap opera type drama to make the reader yell "Oh, hell no!" with each twist of the dagger and clash of the swords.
I am looking forward to reading the next novel in the series and plugging in the blu rays to catch up on the series.
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The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August - Book Review
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire NorthMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Time travel or multiple life stories seems to be a genre that I find myself gravitating to lately. First it was Life After Life by Kate Atkinson and then the movie About Time with Rachel McAdams and Domhnall Gleeson. If I could choose a super power it would be the ability to pause time and still move around in the magic space where all other temporal rules have been placed on pause. I was first introduced to the idea in the 1985 Twilight Zone episode "A Little Peace and Quiet." That story had a darker tone and heart breaking dilemna for the protagonist to deal with, I would hope, if I had the power, that I would not be faced with Penny's choice.
Claire North breathes life in the character of Harry August, a child conceived in rape and despair. His first life ends, like all our lives will, only to find himself born again, in the same circumstances but fully aware of his previous life. Young Harry part 2 loses his mind, a small child trapped in the duality of two lives, and throws himself from a window. The third version of Harry, aware of lives one and two, takes a little more pragmatic approach to his existence and thus begins a story that brings in the best of sci-fi, espionage, political intrigue and deception.
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