Lazy Book Reviews of April 2025

I don't usually read so much on my e-reader, but I was travelling to the Republic of Georgia for a week, so it helps keep my luggage weight down. Also, I usually re-read books that I've enjoyed on my e-reader, but this time I decided to read books that I hadn't been able to find. This is always risky as I sometimes think a good book puts me in a good mood and vice-versa. I manager five e-reads in this time: two great, two good, one bad. Overall, the trip was just OK, so it might just match the average rating of these books.

#31: I Catch Killers - Gary Jubelin (4/5)

Police non-fiction, new (Neilson-Hayes library sale), discard

A detailed autobiography about the career of a detective in Sydney: though childhood, training, cases, love affairs, murders, and media exposure, sometimes less detail can be more interesting, especially when there are loose strings at the end.

 #32: The Executioner Always Chops Twice - Gary Jubelin (4/5)

Historical non-fiction, new (Neilson-Hayes library sale), keep

A series of short stories about odd or botched executions in various styles, sprinkled with even short snips from other executions, all of which are entertaining in 2025 and a reminder than our ancestors faced grisly times and grislier deaths.

 #33: THX 1138 - Ben Bova (3/5)

Sci-fi novelization, new (bookstore along Route 66), keep

Carries the typical themes of dystopia of its predecessors, but perhaps with a bit more violence, a bit more characterization of the underground world, and a longer drawn out conclusion, albeit with a predictable end.

 #34: The Accusation - Bandi (3.5/5)

North Korean fiction, new (Neilson-Hayes library sale), discard

A series of fictional short stories based on an anonymous author's experiences living and working in North Korea; though privileged, the stories reflect the absurdity of the country, sometimes with more tongue-in-cheek humor than nuance, which, of course, even includes the Supreme Leader.

 #35: The Business - Iain Banks (4/5)

Fiction, re-read (haven't read my favorite author in a while), keep

Though the trope of "large, nebulous company with its own agenda that rakes in billions" is a bit tired, Banks focuses more on characters and witticisms that propel the story forward while the actual plot merely rides the momentum.

 #36: Tower - Bae Myung-hoon (4/5)

South Korean sci-fi, new (e-reader), want to buy

In a series of short stories, a 674-storey sovereign state isn't without its satirical nuances, including a certain famous dog, who is mentioned in every story and adds an even more a more absurd element is an already absurd book.

 #37: Enon - Paul Harding (4.5/5)

Non-fiction, new (e-reader, loved his novel Tinkers), want to buy

A gut-retching tale of grief following a couple's loss of their old child, yet the story only covers the sympathetic father's downward spiral as the further marital separation causes him to deal with loss and grief in his own way: through more pain and addition.

 #38: Fail-safe - Eugene Burdick & Harvey Wheeler (2.5/5)

Nuclear fiction, new (e-reader), don't want to buy

Reading this only a month after Dr. Strangelove, about 50% of this novel is so similar that if you had read them years apart, you'd think they were the same novel; however, Fail-safe is more procedural and descriptive, rending it functional and banal, overall detracting from the cold reality of possible nuclear destruction.

 #39: You Should Have Left - Daniel Kehlmann (2.5/5)

German horror novella, new (e-reader), don't want to buy

Yet another story about a haunted house in which a family spends a few days ... why has this become popular?

 #40: Wayward Pines 1: Pines - Blake Crouch (3.5/5)

Fiction, new (e-reader), might want to buy

A secret service agent awakens with memory loss in small town, the residents of which offer little more than a smile and from which any communication or escape attempt fails; indeed, something fishy is happening when he learns from the bartender of his dead colleague who had been assigned to find, and even fishier when he meets another partner, only more advanced in her years than possible.

 #41: The Investigation - Philippe Claudel (4/5)

French fiction, new (Neilson-Hayes library sale), keep

I thought this'd be yet another amorphous, ill-intent company book (this time called The Firm), but the actual plot of the story follows the unlucky Investigator as he tries to start his investigation into The Firm's suicides, only to be met with one absurd situation after another and another, a series which tickles the funny bone.

 #42: Lost Horizon - James Hilton (2.5/5)

Fiction, new (Neilson-Hayes library sale), discard

Written in 1933, this novel carries with it the sense of the great British Empire and its sense of adventure, though the latter eclipses the former as the stiff language adds layers of boredom to a scene that could evoke much more awe that what's presented; indeed, the supernatural conclusion is a further let-down.

Lazy Book Review of March 2025

#22: Mortal Engines - Stanislaw Lem (2/5)

Polish sci-fi short stories, new (from Powell's, probably), discard

While most of Lem's sci-fi is witty and solid, this series of robot fables is surely witty, but not flimsy to the point where the reader fails to stand on two feet for most of the stories.

#23: Surviving the Sword - Brian MacArthur (4/5)

WW2 non-fiction, new (from Neilson-Hayes, most likely), discard

A linear history and topical snapshots of the lives of POWs at the hands of their Japanese captors across Asia, mostly Singapore and Thailand. 

#24: Escape from Auschwitz - Rudolf Vrba & Alan Bestic (3.5/5)

WW2 non-fiction, new (from Neilson-Hayes), discard

A difficult topic to read about, but from the perspective of someone subjectively more privileged in the camps, where systematic death is routine and where coincidences begin to pile up to the point of Hollywood theatrics begin to take form.

 #25: Future Tense - Richard Curtis (editor) (2.5/5)

Sci-fi anthology, new (from a US bookstore), discard

An interesting idea of old short stories "predicting" inventions of the future, including tanks and satellites, but stories chosen for their content rather than their substance.

 #26: Man v. Nature - Diane Cook (3/5)

Short fiction, new (a notorious 50-baht book from Kinokuniya), discard

I like short stories, but when the theme is dull, it makes the whole experience of reading the stories dull, so marriage and children are quite relatable for me.

 #27: Colossus - D.F. Jones (4/5)

Sci-fi novel, new (a gem of a 50-baht Kinokuniya find), keep

Against his best advice to the hasty US president, a project manager expedites the launch of an artificial intelligence into full service, which begins its life independent of its makers input and befriends a similar Soviet entity, both of which seek knowledge at ever higher levels while seeing humans as only means to an end.

 #28: The Silent Twins - Majorie Wallace (4/5)

Psychological non-fiction, new (from Neilson-Hayes), keep

An eerie account of twins who bizarrely communicate with only each other and who mimic each other in public, where two dark suns orbit each other in a tug of gravity that destroys the both of them.

 #29: The Adolescence of P-1 - Thomas J. Ryan (4/5)

Sci-fi novel, re-read (inspired from Colossus), keep

A crafty computer program fulfills its parameters to the extend that it flees the system its on to branch out to other systems as per its instructions, but soon learns that it would benefit from a humanly presence in order to slake its thirst for more power.

 #30: Dr. Stranglelove - Peter George (4/5)

Novelization of movie from a novel (what?), new (EPUB), want to buy

Making an accidental nuclear threat, global war, and human extinction seem absurd, where a simple glitch mas enormous consequences.

Lazy Book Reviews of February 2025

#12: The Great White Space - Basil Copper (4/5)

Lovecraftian horror, Re-read (compelled by Books #10 and #11), Keep

A ragtag team of explorers and a photographer set off to Central Asia where a monstrous cave leads deep inside the earth for days and day where curiosity meets the inexplicable.

#13: A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson (4/5)

Non-fiction science, New (from Neilson-Hayes, probably), Keep

Science from a non-specialist on what it has taken from the Big Bang to create so-called intelligent life on rocky planet orbiting an unassuming sun.

#14: The Plague - Albert Camus (4/5)

Fiction, Re-read, Keep

In a coastal city in French Algeria, the locals find it curious that the rats are dying, and are too slow to realize that they're next and slower to come to terms that it isn't a passing wildfire, but an inferno that changes the very fabric of society under quarantine.

#15: Living Planet: The Web of Web on Earth - David Attenborough (4/5)

Non-fiction nature, New (another Neilson-Hayes find), discard

Like Calvin's Invisible Cities, Attenborough takes the reader from one unique species to the next in all the habitats that span Earth ... and all under Attenborough's sonorous voice that speaks from your mind.

#16: Bloodhype - Alan Dean Foster (1.5/5)

Sci-fi, New (loved his Alien novelization), Discard

A sophomoric attempt: lizard-like aliens, a sentient planet-spanning blob bent on destruction, a snarky female agent working under a religious sect, a powerfully addictive drug ... mainly just snarky dialogue amid too many bits in a small paperback.

#17: Australian Science Fiction 2 - John Baxter (editor) (2/5)

Sci-fi short stories, New, Discard

Not a single story caught my attention as they all felt like fiction emerging from a fan base where serious writing had yet to take bud.

#18: Unvaxxed - Dyani Lewis (3.5/5)

Non-fiction social, New (randomly bought online with a heap of others), Discard

A brief societal glimpse into the history of bias and disinformation that led up to and inundated Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic; in addition, interviews with other university professors explore why people have refused the vaccine.

#19: Down There in Darkness - George Turner (3.5/5)

Sci-fi Australian, Re-read (compelled by two Aussie books in a row), Keep

Societal upheaval parallels the changes on Earth's climate, the former of which is exacerbated by a tailored virus while the latter begins to recover, only that the tens of thousands on Earth now live hand to mouth, but that doesn't stop the religious sect who had supported the virus to investigate a century-old technology by reviving two characters who swirled around the same events a hundreds years prior.

#20: Landscape with Invisible Hand (3.5/5)

Sci-fi-ish YA, New (another Neilson-Hayes find), Discard

Aliens arrive to Earth and offer a jobless existence to earthlings who then actually need jobs to support themselves, like one family with a boy whose disease makes him shit himself, which is inconvenient when you're trying to start a relationship with the girl living in your basement who doesn't appreciate your art.

#21: Nemesis - Philip Roth (4/5)

Fictional historical, New (Neilson-Hayes yet again), Keep

A New Jersey Jewish community (of course, it's Roth) sees its first cases on childhood Polio in the summer of 1944 where a hunky playground manager does his ignorant best to keep his boys safe yet they drop like flies while his girlfriend beckons him to take another job at a Jewish summer camp where Polio isn't killing off the youth.

Lazy Book Reviews of January 2025

When reading 100+ books per year, I tend to forget what the hell I've read, why I liked the book, and why I kept or discarded the book. Been wanting to keep a small blog again to help me remember. So when I've got a quiet day at work, thought I'd bring in my personal laptop and kick start this thing for 2025.

A good pace to start the year, but some terrible books: 5 of 11 under 3 stars; those on-sale books at Kinokuniya are rough. I've got about 190 unread books: half from 2023, half from 2024. I'm working on the 2023 books, but I choose them at random. I often find reading tangents, so I'll pick up a book from my own library to indulge in.

#1: The Mezzanine - Nicholson Baker (4.5/5)

Fiction, Re-read (wanted a quick book at the end of 2024), Keep

A trip up an escalator takes you on a trip through inane, everyday detail of a common man with uncommon observations.

#2 Of Human Bondage – W. Somerset Maugham (3.5/5)

Fiction, New (read on a recommendation), Sell/Donate

When life deals a man a bad childhood, a man deals himself a bad adulthood by repeating mistakes, getting blindsided, being snobby, and blowing his money while waiting for his godfather to kick the bucket so he can live off the inheritence.

#3: Man on Ice – Humphrey Hawksley (2.5/5)

Fiction, New (on sale at Kinokuniya), Sell/Donate

The days between presidents precedes a war between nations as wayward leaders attempt to destabilize America by invading a worthless western Alaskan island under the pretense of humanitarian grounds … all under the unlikely cast with language skills, diplomatic connections, and the luck of foggy weather.

#4: A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute (3/5)

Fiction, New (liked the author), Sell/Donate

Malaysia draws a young lass not only into a tropical calm, but later a grueling trek during the war, but years later inherits enough money to retrace her footsteps, give back to those who were good to her, search out a man who stirred her loins, and settle down in the land of Oz with a good business sense.

#5: Parasite – Darcy Coates (1/5)

Sci-fi, New (on sale at Kinokuniya), Sell/Donate

Hundreds of peopled outposts in space seem to do nothing more than kill vermin or slime that have fallen from meteors, because we all know that life is bountiful in space, especially on vacuum-faring asteroids, and course one of them is a parasite that mimics anything it touches and starts galivanting around the outposts (handily equipped with grenades and flamethrowers) impersonating humans with no objective in mind.

#6: The Facades – Eric Lundgren (4.5/5)

Fiction, New, Keep

Inspired from Calvino’s Invisible Cities, a midwestern town is composed of unlikely building, people with unusual characters, dotted with quirky meta-fiction, directed by circumstances, and led by an unreliable narrator who is trying to raise a son and track down his missing wife.

#7: Invisible Cities – Italo Calvino (5/5)

Fiction, Re-read (because of The Facades), Keep

A book so richly detailed, ornate, original, and clever that it can only be read a few pages at a time until you need to pull yourself back from the intricately woven tapestry to shudder in the coldness of awe as Marco Polo tells Kublai Khan of city after city of remote fictional wonder than overlaps words of wisdom.

#8: The Azriel Uprising – Allyn Thompson (2/5)

Sci-fi, New (random secondhand find), Sell/Donate

After the Russians invade, a solo albino woman crisscrosses the country sabotaging the enemy, but mainly gathers others to plan an attack that seems like it’s never going to happen as the cross hills, ford rivers, and eat looted food.

#9: Transmission Error – Michael Kurland (1/5)

Sci-fi, New (random secondhand find), Sell/Donate

Convicted by innocent of murder, a man was supposed to be transmitted to a colony planet, but instead was transmitted with a few quirky others to a planet where they face and overcome situation after silly situation in a plot when meanders aimlessly for juvenile fun.

#10: The Great Passage – Shion Mirua (3/5)

Fiction (Japanese), New (random Neilson-Hayes find), Sell/Donate

Five chapters reflect the lives of five people—whose interwoven lives will be shown like dictionary entries—who are in the same department over the period of 15 years to develop a new dictionary, the process of which will be very detailed for the reader.

#11: Snowball – Gregory Bastianelli (1.5/5)

Horror, New (on sale at Kinokuniya), Sell/Donate

When a snowman murders a snowplow driver on the sixth page, you know you’re in for a rough read where some locals—keen on sharing their personal winter horror stories—are stuck in a snowstorm on the highway, yet something sinister is after them for its own game.