Bangkok Haunts

This time there is an even bigger dose of ghosts in John Burdett's 3rd Sonchai Jitpleecheep installment. One of Sonchai's former lovers has been murdered in a snuff film and someone thoughtfully sent him a copy of the film. His corrupt and greedy boss, Colonel Vikorn, can as usual only think of how to turn a profit and decides to expand his money making ventures into pornography. He instructs Sonchai to release from prison a man that Vikorn framed who is awaiting what could be a death sentence; he just happens to be a film maker and the deal offered is his freedom in exchange for making "classy" porno films. Sonchai's wife is very pregnant with the reincarnation of his former partner, and the ghost of the dead prostitute in the snuff film is regularly visiting Sonchai at night in a most physical way. Elephant games, a particularly gruesome form of murder, is planned for the masterminds behind the film by the ghost of the dead woman. As always, Burdett creates a compelling picture of Bangkok, the folly of farang tourists, the not very underworld of prostitution and corruption, all mixed with Jitplecheep's Buddhist beliefs. I can't say it makes me want to visit the country, but it certainly creates a vivid picture of life there. See earlier review of his other books: Bangkok 8, Bangkok Tattoo, and the non-series book, The Last Six Million Seconds.

Snow Crash

For starters, this is a great title for a book . I just happened upon the author, Neal Stephenson (there are links to interviews with him on his homepage), when someone left a book written by him in a hotel room. That book, Cryptonomicon, just grabbed me and didn't let go until several hundred pages later. I was gratified to learn, through an NPR piece, that it was among Nancy Pearl's favorite books in the sci-fi/fantasy genre (although clearly there are large doses of history wrapped up in there). Snow Crash is clearly set in a future world that doesn't sound all that pleasant; I'm reminded of the bleak picture of our future presented in Blade Runner (the movie based on Dick's novel: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep). Those who can afford it, escape to an elaborate virtual world, the Metaverse--something that wouldn't seem foreign to inhabitants of Second Life--all the more remarkable because this book was written almost 20 years ago. Hiro Protagonist (nice name :-) is a sometimes computer programmer, sometimes pizza delivery person, and sometimes information source for the CIA; he's adept with samurai swords. The US government is holed up in a compound. Megachurches and megacorporations are running the world. Hiro's sidekick is a 15-year old Kourier who delivers packages on her skateboard--don't even think you know about skateboards until you read about her model. They are trying to figure out who or what is behind the attack on one of the world's leading computer programmers, causing him become a gibbering idiot in a hospital after he watched black and white "snow" on a computer in the Metaverse. It's a wild ride in more ways than one and wildly creative, with just one serious flaw. There is a much too elaborated tie in to the ancient Sumerian language and various biblical and other mythology that just drags, sometimes for several pages. Normally, I like this kind of historical fiction reference, but I was lost and got annoyed. So you either need to really be into this particular brand of religious mythology or just skim over it like I did. It's definitely worth reading. There's a lengthy and excellent overview of the story line at the Complete Review.

Mugwump and Bookbags

NOT a book review...
My friend Mary Caughey gave me a wonderful little purse made from the covers of an old children's book and I get compliments on it every time I carry it. It's from a company called Mugwump which recycles books, board games, old maps, etc. to make useful everyday items. Today I ran across another company, Bookbags, that also makes purses and totes using the covers of discarded books. Very fun and very ecological.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

It was my friend Bob Nye's recommendation that finally pushed me into reading this book by Stieg Larsson...not that it took much of a push. I tend to like Scandinavian mysteries (see my post for What Never Happens) and this was really satisfying in some ways and disappointing in others. After the 2nd chapter, I was hooked, couldn't put the book down and went on a book reading binge for about 6 hours til I finished. The characters are compelling and I'm discovering that I need to really care what happens to the characters in order to like a book these days. Through no fault of his own, investigative financial reporter and magazine publisher Mikael Blomkvist has just lost a libel case in court and decides that leaving his magazine's editorial board is the best strategy to get the target of his investigation--corporate mogul Hans-Erik Wennerstrom-- off the warpath. His co-owner, Erika Berger, feels abandoned, and Wennerstrom hasn't given up trying to destroy the magazine by a long shot. Blomkvist is at loose ends, facing a stiff fine and several months jail time, so he's ripe to be plucked by another major Swedish industrialist for a personal project. Henrik Vanger wants Mikael to write his family's history as a cover story and find out who murdered his niece four decades ago. Harriet Vanger disappeared off an isolated island during a company/family conclave and Henrik is sure one of his family members killed her. The Vanger family turns out to have a whole host of unpleasant personalities and dark secrets. The other well developed character in the mix is a computer hacking genius and social misfit named Lisbeth Solander who does investigative work for a security agency through some fairly unorthodox means. She eventually get roped into the investigation of the missing Harriet, also. Which brings up one of my bitches about the book--Solander was badly treated in the end by Larsson and it's unforgivable given the shitty life she's had. Not that she isn't perfectly capable of looking after herself, but ...well you'll see when you read the book. And you must read the book. There are some provocative issues raised about personal responsibility--and the behaviors that test this principle range from the unethical to the horrific. Another pet peeves is that a character is introduced at the beginning of the book, the police investigator of the niece's disappearance, and then himself disappears from the remainder of the story, even when he could logically have been brought back in. There are also some characters whose motivations simply go unexplained and feel incomplete, like Cecelia Vanger. Overall though, I'm hooked and will round up the remaining books published posthumously, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.