The Anubis Gates, by Tim Powers

Abhorsen, by Garth Nix

Lirael, by Garth Nix

Rollback, by Robert J. Sawyer

It's been quite some time since I last read a book by Sawyer that I could call "great." To be generous, Rollback is just passable. The real premise of the book is a rejuvenation procedure in the style of the fountain of youth, but without the romantic fantastic notions that drove Ponce de Leon's pursuits. Say you're an 80-something; Rejuvenex bring your body back to what it was in your early 20s at the cost of about 10 billion Canadian dollars. Sawyer's strengths have been in discussing the societal implications of advances in science and I expected a lot from this book, but it fell short for several reasons.

First, the larger context of the plot is a tale of first contact with an alien race. A scientist who's at the end of her life, after being the one to decode the first message received by SETI paraphernalia, is offered a rollback so that she can work on decoding a second message. She refuses to be rolled back without her husband of 60 years, so they both get the procedure to be funded by a generous, wealthy benefactor. Good premise, nothing against that. What bothered me more than just a little was the fact that the SETI scenario is used as a backdrop. So, we have two huge issues in science and one of them is put on the back burner after being sold as the motivation factor for the story.

Second, the jacket of the book will tell you that the rollback works only for one of the spouses leaving the other one to face further physical deterioration and perhaps an imminent encounter with death. Again, a great argument, but one which was not well explored. This part of the plot reads like a very cheap romance in spite of some effort to make you empathize with the characters.

Third, Sawyer seems well settled into the habit of throwing little distracting elements in his books that don't really mean much to the story. He is getting to use his science fiction as a soapbox to discuss his points of view on any number of issues in a way that, most often, does not really connect with the main plot or advance it in a coherent way. The random factoids or short paragraphs on something inconsequential are very distracting. I am not sure that there's a whole lot of editorial effort or talent in his most recent books.

The only reason I still read Sawyer is that I continue to hope that he'll write again something as exciting and as intellectually challenging as "Flashfoward."

Brave New Ballot, by Aviel Rubin

This is a fantastic book for anyone with a bit of knowledge of Computer Science and an interest in the impact of e-voting on society. While the more technically inclined will take a lot more from the book than the average homemaker, I think that it's an accessible book that will open people's eyes to what is being done to the democratic process of elections by blind trust in technology and perhaps by special interest. I read a copy borrowed from the library, but I'm buying my own which I'll use again and again in teaching Computer Security. The book is loaded with interesting examples of what not to do when designing a system that runs a mission critical application.

Atonement, by Ian McEwan

I heard my wife rave about this book for over a year before I decided to read it. McEwan's prose is everything that she told me and perhaps more. He tells a very sad story in this book, but in a way that is so deeply emotional that you don't mind being hit by a feeling of sadness as you go along. He is able to demonstrate his characters feelings better than most of the authors that I've been reading recently and makes them feel very, very real. The plot is centered on one moment, one tiny little event that goes on to have a devastating effect on the lives of several people. I really enjoyed it. Although the movie made from the book stands on its own as being decent, McEwan's prose is so precise and well thought out that you will not want to see the movie, if you've read the book first. Although some of the images in the movie matched closely what the book conjured up in my mind, the not quite linear way in which the story is told didn't translate so well to the screen.

Watchmen, by Alan Moore

Sabriel, by Garth Nix

El Palacio de la Medianoche, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

I've been anxiously waiting for more by the author of "The Shadow of the Wind" and until he writes another novel for a more mature audience, I'm going through his novels for young adults. "El Palacio de la Medianoche" is the second I've read of his novels for teenagers, and I've found it just "enjoyable". A comparison with "El Principe de la Niebla" reveals some similarities in that they both have aspects of the gothic novel, but this one didn't seem to me as well-written or as effective as the first two. While "Principe" had a steadily growing atmosphere of suspense, mystery, and fear, this one seemed overly contrived and less involving.

The story revolves around a mysterious, evil character intent on murdering fraternal twins when they reach the age of 16. Elements of the plot are revealed slowly, what could have built up suspense and excitement, but I was sad to discover that this effect didn't work on me. There were some "switchbacks" in the story in the sense that resolution to mysteries are presented only to be discredited as lies later on. Even considering that there was a point to presenting the story as such, I felt that the way this technique was used failed miserably for me. Also, in spite of his efforts to flesh out Calcutta as a setting for the story, I felt it irrelevant to the story. Zafón efforts to make the city an integral part of the story didn't resonate with me because in spite of all the information given, I couldn't establish a believable connection between the plot and the locale.

It is hard to feel involved and to be gripped by your emotions if you don't really develop some kind of relationship with the characters. I cannot quite explain why the twins or the other member of the Chowbar Society never really grew on me, but the fact was that halfway through the novel I discovered that I didn't care enough for them to feel the excitement that they experienced in the story. An artifact that Zafón used well in the two novels I read previously is his play with the supernatural. The reader is made to struggle in figuring out what is real and what is fantastic. There is normally quite a bit of tension until the resolution finally arrives. He uses this artifact a little differently in this novel. I think he wasn't effective because there wasn't a clear, causal chain of facts to establish the foundation upon which he could have constructed a believable fantasy.

While I don't regret reading this, I think it is the only forgettable novel I've read by Zafón so far. I hope that I find "Las Luces de Septiembre" more in line with what I expect of his writing.

Heat, by Bill Buford

Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential left me with the desire to read more about the crazy underworld of the professional, restaurant kitchen. It was only natural that I'd be attracted to a book recounting the experiences of a writer who decides to start learning to cook professionally in his early forties. It's a rocking cool book. Buford talks about apprenticing (and suffering) in Mario Batali's Babbo's kitchen, about the passion for food in Italy, about the strange and fascinating personalities in the restaurant business, and about his obsessive research about various aspects in food and cooking. Of the latter discussions, my favorite one was his quest to discover when people started to use egg in pasta dough (yes, "pasta dough" would be an obscene redundancy in the Italian language, but I'm writing in English, so "lasciami in pace." The book culminates in Bufords apprenticeship with a Tuscan butcher and that segment is at the same time informative, amusing, and disturbing.

If you're a confessed foodie, you will want to read this book.