Connie Willis

She's a new-to-me author but she's been winning awards for decades (more Nebula awards than any other) for her science fiction. Her's is the kind of sci-fi I can't get enough of - witty, human, comic and relatable and I don't consider myself much of a sci-fi reader. I've read 3 of her books in the last 4 months and am eagerly awaiting the return of a too-soon-lent-out 4th title. Since I've greatly appreciated each of them, I thought I would gather the reviews in one total homage to Ms Willis.

I started my foray into Ms Willis' work with Bellwether which can barely be considered science fiction as its more about scientists researching scientific ideas and topics than about anything imagined. It is also the slimmest book I've found of hers so considering her other hefty tomes, it's a great intro for falling in love with her dry humor and love of the ludicrous. One of my male friends was upset to be surprised to discover a love story in the midst and one of my female friends was upset that she 'figured it out' from the start but I thought the love story was obvious and just a vehicle for the real story of the book which was about order and discovery amidst chaos. Don't be fooled by the main character, the love story or the research in the story: the real heart of the book is the annoying, impossible, sullen and opposite-of-helpful interdepartmental-aide Flip. In my mind everything revolves around her, particularly the finale.

I started To Say Nothing of the Dog almost immediately after finishing Bellwether. This book was the reason I discovered Willis in the first place: Book Lust had mentioned and recommended it though I mixed it up with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime when haunting Borders one day. The book has a special quirky following likely due to her many allusions to classic literary sources, the smart science and 'serious' Englishmen tossed into completely ludicrous situations. Our futuristic hero tries valiantly to undo potential damage to the space-time continuum originating in Victorian-age Britain and meets many a beautiful, silly, austere, scatter-brained, rogueish character. To Say Nothing... reads to me like a sci-fi Midsummer Night's Dream due to its situational comedy. I found it light, silly, fun and witty.

To Say Nothing of the Dog set me up for another comedy of errors when I started Doomsday Book (Willis' Nebula and Edgar awards winner) and it was nothing of the sort. Dry humor was abundant and the world is the same as the Dog irritatingly obtuse characters abounded but this is really a tragedy of errors if anything. While I found the irksomeness of some silly or stupid characters in the Dog amusing, they were too plentiful and the stakes too high in Doomsday. They didn't bother me so much while I was still expecting everything to work out well and conclude with the smart happy ending, which is what the Dog taught me to expect. Instead the tale turned to a serious look at how humanity deals with the seeming absence of God in terrible climes, here the Dark Ages of Europe during the plague. I was oblivious to the outside world as I stayed with the last 150 pages to find out what was going to happen and they are what finally won me over with their deep sadness and despair and my identification with the main character struggling to understand her purpose amidst such a state of affairs.
 
All in all, I'm a converted fan of Ms. Willis and I look forward to reading more - particularly her 2-part series during WWII of which the sequel was just released.

UK Tales

I've been reading a number of terribly British books (by which I mean terribly dry and terribly witty) without getting tired of them.  Good Omens started it off, then I discovered a love for Connie Willis (To Say Nothing of the Dog, Bellwether, Doomsday Book), read Little Bee,  and then I happened upon Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and felt I had found this year's Water for Elephants.  It was deep deep love and delight from the start.   I'll save Connie Willis for another day but I'd like to discuss Little Bee and Major Pettigrew now because they are uncommonly good despite either dreary or common subject matter.

Little Bee's marketing material makes a secret of the plot to tantalize the reader into diving in with faith that it will be worth their while.   I think it's rather manipulative really, I get a sense of security in reading these before selecting a tome, even when the descriptions turn out to be written by someone who's heard about the book 3rd hand and misrepresents it entirely.  In this case, it makes one think that there is some kind of mystery to the story and really that is quite beside the point.  However, I realize that I may not have read the tale had I known the plot in advance. In fact, the hostess of our bookclub provided most of the plot points to the un-read and turned quite a few off from the book.  It is not a light, puff piece.   This is a drama full of terrible, tragic moments.  It is nearly an expose on many topics: Britain's retention centers, the west's cover-up and deportation of inconvenient refugees from marketed 'safe' countries due to our reliance on their resources, the complicity of 1st world citizens  (not excusing the reader) and others.... AND YET, this is a beautiful tale, and Little Bee is a character one would miss having never met this particular Nigerian refugee.  She is wry, she is tough, and she brings an inexplicable bright hope to the tale and the reader that makes this story palatable if not devourable.  For me, it is like reading Khaled Hosseini: you are learning true and terrible things about events in another part of the world and yet you feel inspired and hopeful in light of your new burden.   I would recommend anyone read this book, I would even recommend it for the beach (just not Nigerian beaches!).

Major Pettigrew on the other hand brings one to more relateable, comfortable ground - a sleepy British country town with familiar nosy neighbors, impolite family members and day-to-day routines.   I found the author Helen Simonson to be the Jane Austen for the semi-modern age.  This is a social comedy handled with the subtlety and wit of Jane Austin along with her moments of passion and excitement thrown in to boot.   The ever chivalrous Major Pettigrew is living out the routine of his retirement when love sneaks up on him in the form of his long-time village-mate, the local Pakistani shopkeeper Mrs. Ali.  The ensueing meddlement of family, nosy neighbors, club members, and his own reticence turns it into a tale of star-crossed lovers as lovely (or perhaps more so) as any modern youthful romance.  It starts a teensy slow but I found myself frantically turning the last 100 pages to find what was going to happen to my beloved characters.  And now I'm recommending the tale to everyone I come across.

March Reads, Borrows, and Bought

The opposite of the month's weather, March was a month of quality over quantity (it rained A LOT).  Though the number of new reads was low, the quality was pretty amazing and I enjoyed the diversity (YA, fantasy, sci-fi, mystery & serious literature).  I definitely have more to say on the books I read this month and the beginning of April but I'll save those for a separate blog.