Books: 2020 Wishlist

This post, like many of my favorite books, has a twist at the end. But let me say at the start: here, in no particular order, are the three books I most fervently wish for as we enter the year 2020.

The Thorn of Emberlain is the fourth book in the series that Scott Lynch started with The Lies of Locke Lamora. The friendship between Locke and Jean, the cons they pull, and the world in which they pull them are all excellently drawn. It’s been 14 years since The Lies, and 7 years since the third and most recent book, so I’m not holding my breath, but I am looking forward.

The Iron Season is the sequel to The Golem and the Jinni, in which Helene Wecker portrayed one of my favorite fictional relationships. Goodreads tells us to expect publication in 2021, and I’d be happy with that, given that The Iron Season has been on my to-read list since 2016.

The third and last book on my list is the fourth and last of The Books of Babel. I’ve posted before about this series by Josiah Bancroft. Since then Josiah has added a third excellent volume about Thomas Semlin and the Tower of Babel. He’s been working the the fourth, but recently posted that it won’t be published until next year.

Josiah’s post about the delay, although unwelcome, is excellent. He takes full responsibility, and understands that “a minority of readers are somewhat cynical about publication delays.”

You may by now have worked out the twist in the tail. None of the books I’m most looking forward to as 2020 starts will be published in 2020. That’s not important in the grand scheme of things, or even in my thoughts about the three wonderful authors.

I’d like to say to each of these authors: live the best life you can; write the best books you can; publish when you’re ready; thank you for your writing.

I’d like to say to you, dear reader: thank you for reading; which books that will actually be published in 2020 would you recommend to me?

Reacher of the End

I’ve just finished with Lee Child‘s Jack Reacher novels. By that, I don’t mean I’ve read all twenty-something of them. I mean that I’ve read the first four, and intend to stop there.

I enjoyed my Reacher reading, especially the first chapters of the first book, Killing Floor. It opens with the first-person narrator, new in Margrave, Georgia, minding his own business in a diner, enjoying his coffee and eggs.

Then the police arrive, armed with shotguns and revolvers. The narrator works out that they are there for him, although he doesn’t know why.

The guy with the revolver stayed at the door… The guy with the shotgun approached close… Textbook moves.

So right away Child presents us with some interesting questions. Who is this person? (Yes, it does turn out to be Reacher.) What’s he doing in Margrave? Why are the police after him? Why do they regard him as dangerous? (It turns out that they are correct in this.) Most intriguing of all, how does he know the “textbook” for an arrest involving shotguns?

Killing Floor is marred by some ludicrous plotting and resolutions (which I can’t describe without spoilers). But, largely on the strength of the opening, I was excited to have “discovered” Child and Reacher.

So on to the second Reacher novel, Die Trying. This time the opening is rather silly: Reacher just happens to be around when an FBI agent is leaving the dry cleaner’s, she is kidnapped at that moment, the kidnappers also take Reacher and handcuff the two of them together.

My favorite aspect of Die Trying is the way that each of the kidnapped pair is concerned to protect the other. Child makes this touching and funny. It’s probably time to mention that Reacher is a huge man, capable of extreme and effective violence.

On, then, to the third novel, Tripwire. I think that this is my favorite of the four Reachers I read. We learn a lot about Reacher’s past. Tripwire ends with some questions about his future.

Those questions are resolved in the fourth novel, Running Blind. I enjoyed that book, but not enough to make me want to read more Reacher.

As a character, Reacher reminds me of Robert Parker’s Spenser. Each is driven to solve mysteries and is guided by a chivalrous code. However, they are very different. Reacher drifts across the USA, and hence so do the novels about him. Spenser is firmly based in Boston, as are most of Parker’s novels.

I prefer Parker and Spenser. That’s no disgrace to Child and Reacher. Starting with the second novel (God Save the Child–don’t bother with the first, it’s very different, and not in a good way, from the “real” Spenser books), Parker wrote a stretch of novels impressive in writing and plotting.

I am glad to have accompanied Reacher on his first four adventures. I think this is where I finish. But if you have a particular recommendation for one or more of the other novels, or any other comments on Reacher, please leave a comment.

Accents: North and South of England

I’m fascinated by accents, by the differences between them, and by means of detecting the differences. Perhaps it’s because I’ve lived in different parts of England (having been born in Scotland), now live in New England, and still have an English accent?

But which English accent? Some Americans think I sound like Michael Caine, who has a very strong London (hence southern) accent, while I think have a more northern English accent.

Erik Singer. a dialect coach and one of my favorite Youtubers, gives an account of differences between northern and southern accents. He first discusses differences between Australian and New Zealand accents, which I sometimes find difficult to detect.

I was surprised by a few things about Erik’s take on English accents. First, his north/south line on a map goes through, not only England, but also Wales: a different place with very different accents. Second, he considers Birmingham to be in the south of England. Perhaps it is according to the accent test he uses, but for many Brits, it’s very much in the “midlands”.

Third, I’d have used a different test. If I wanted to see if someone had a northern or southern English accents, I’d ask them to say the word “grass”. I regard a long “a” as northern, and a short “a” as southern.

Any thoughts? Feel free to leave them in the comments, in whatever accent you prefer.

End of Summer 2019

Yesterday was Labor Day, today the kids went back to school. I used to sing “It’s the most wonderful time of the year” when the schools restarted, but the kids didn’t seem to like that somehow. So I don’t do that any more.

The highlight of the summer was our trip to Asia. I must get some pictures and posts up about that.

I hope you had a great summer, and have a great autumn, or whatever the seasons and names for them are wherever you are.

Minding the Gap in Hong Kong

We were in Hong Kong for just a few days earlier this year. One of those days was July 1, the anniversary of the Handover of Hong Kong. We knew that there would be demonstrations, and stayed away from them.

We did our tourist things. We ate excellent dim sum, bought notably inexpensive goods in markets, and so on. We got around by boat, on foot, by taxi, and on the excellent MTR.

On the MTR, I had to photograph the Mind the Gap signs. They are on the sliding doors, in Chinese on one door and in English on the other. The announcement is made in Cantonese, in English, and in Mandarin.

Since we were there, the gap between Hong Kong and mainland China has become more dangerous. Violence has increased, from both sides, and verbal threats have escalated.

I wish I could see a way to peaceful resolution of matters between Hong Kong and mainland China. The principle of “one country, two systems” seems to mean different things on different sides of the gap. The same principle officially applies to Macao (which we also visited) and China, but may be difficult to implement there as well.

I’d love to hear any ideas as to how this gap can be managed.

2018: It wasn’t all bad…

But it was one of the toughest years of my life. My father passed away just before Christmas. My own health wasn’t too good either.

There’s good news to report, though. Our family now includes a puppy. We named her Mochi. She’ll get her own post soon. In the meantime, here’s a photo of her telling us that her bowl is empty.

Other highlights of the year include some precious time back to England with parents and other family. The kids made good starts at their respective new schools (high and middle).

All in all, I’m not sorry to see the end of 2018. I’m hoping for a better 2019.

Music 2018

Sorry, but I have to start with the death of Scott Hutchison, even though I posted about it at the time. There was no 2018 album that hit me like Midnight Organ Fight, the masterpiece from Scott’s band Frightened Rabbit.

Among the albums I enjoyed were Lucy Dacus’ debut Historian and Mitski’s Be the Cowboy. Here’s a sample from each: Night Shift and Nobody respectively (links to YouTube).

But my two heartiest recommendations are videos of old guys. My favorite musician Richard Thompson was on tour with his electric trio (which at times had three members, but often had more).

I love this video of the set at Shrewsbury–particularly the song selection, with material from the new album, from Fairport Convention 50 years ago, and many points on the timeline in between. The performance is great, as is the sound quality.

The other video is Tower of Power’s Tiny Desk show. ToP started 50 years ago, but are currently fronted by a powerful young singer. Everyone in the band can really play, and play together.

The reasons to be happy about music in 2018 are many and diverse. It’s a long way from Lucy Dacus to Tower of Power, and a very good journey indeed.

Rails to Trails, Coffee at Station

We are now even closer to the East Bay Bike Path, having recently moved. That wasn’t the main reason for the move, but being closer to the path, and to Providence, is an excellent and intended consequence.

We’re also closer to Borealis Coffee, one of the many refreshment stops along the way. I love their coffee and their cafe.

Borealis Coffee is located in the old Riverside train station. As you can see, they have a cool building, with seating outside as well as inside.

I love repurposed buildings. I just checked to see that one of my favorite such buildings is still going. Yes, the Bookmill is still a bookstore in a gristmill, selling “books you don’t need in a place you can’t find”: said place is near Amherst, Massachusetts, where I went to graduate school.

Back to Rhode Island: I’m glad that the route is now a bike path rather than a disused railway line. (I haven’t researched the rail line or its closing, so I’m not sure how good or bad a the closing was.) I’m glad that the old station is now a coffee company rather than a tanning salon with a Coke machine outside it. Here’s a link to a photo of the building in 2013, and to a historical note.

Any favorite repurposed buildings, trails, or similar you’d like to share?

Bass: Electrifying

I bought an acoustic bass guitar, rather than an electric, in part because that meant I wouldn’t need an amp right away.

I bought an amp today. I went back to Guitar Center in order to: try a few amps; make sure that the electric components of my acoustic electric bass (AEB) actually work; buy an amp if it seemed like a good idea after trying a few; try out a few electric basses, since I suspect I’ll get an electric at some point.

I did try a few amps, my bass played just fine through them, and I did buy one of the amps I tried. It was a second hand Acoustic B15 15W Bass Combo Amp. By the way, the link is to Guitar Center. It’s not an affiliate link, so I don’t get anything out of it, but I did spend a while in the bass room of the the North Attleboro store trying stuff out.

A 15W bass amp can prevent an acoustic bass being drowned out by an acoustic guitar or two. It can annoy immediate neighbors, but not the whole neighborhood. It is an example of a “practice amp”: it can be used by an electric bass player for practice, but is not powerful enough for performance anything but the smallest and quietest of venues and ensembles.

I did play a few electric basses through the amp I was about to purchase. They are a lot smaller, and in particular slimmer, than the acoustic I have. Short scale electric basses seem tiny; I didn’t try any of them.

If I’d bought any of the electric basses I tried, it would have been the $200 Yamaha. I wasn’t able to play a similarly-priced Squier bass. I did try a couple of Squiers in the used and dinged categories. I don’t think that a P-bass neck is for me.

After trying the electric and before buying the amp, I plugged in my AEG again. I was nervous about doing so. Would my visit to the electric wonderland show me that I should have got an electric bass and an amp in the first place?

I’m glad to say that I like the sound of my AEB at least as much as that of any of the electrics I tried. It also felt good to play after the slimmer electrics.

My time in Guitar Center was well and enjoyably spent. I know not everyone likes the chain, but I appreciate being able to try out a variety of instruments and equipment. Similarly, not everyone likes acoustic bass guitars. Not everyone likes to buy used gear. I felt more confident buying a used amp than I would buying a used instrument: a solid state amp has very few moving parts to go wrong.

Thanks for reading this far. Even more thanks if you comment.