Yet More Books - Part 2

The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card
The Gate Thief by Orson Scott Card

Books 1 and 2 in a trilogy (it had better be just a trilogy) by Orson Scott Card. (Amazingly, I haven't read all of his books yet.) The idea behind this one is that all the polytheistic gods (Zeus, Thor, all those Egyptian ones, other cultures I never learned about in school, etc.) were wizards of sorts that had magical powers. Historically, these powers were supercharged when they could travel through magical portals to another planet. But when Loki shut all the gates, their powers started to fade over time and the 'gods' were gradually forgotten. But now, of course, a kid has been born with the ability to create a new gate. (A teenage boy, of course, because Card.) So, adventures ensue, magic happens and all that. Book three is on hold at the library.

Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson

The true story of a team of group of deep sea divers find a previously unknown wreck 200 something feet deep and 30 miles off the New Jersey shore. Diving to those depths is on the extreme edge of what is physically possible, which makes it very dangerous, but they are determined to identify the wreck. Minor spoiler here: it's a WWII submarine, and no one has any idea which one it is, or how it got there - there's no record of a submarine ever being sunk anywhere near there. The identification takes years as they make repeated dives on the wreck and pour through historical archives searching for the lost boat.

The Rent Collector by Camron Wright

Every once in a while a book mysteriously shows up at my house - amazon packaging, no note. By now we know that it's probably from my dad. They show up out of the blue, and we don't really know why (or even for whom) the book was sent. The book is a fictional word (though based on very real people) about a family that lives at the largest dump in Cambodia. The scavenge garbage to eke out a meager existence. Sang Ly, her husband and baby try to survive month by month and save enough money to pay the rent to, yes, the grump rent collector. One day, Sang discovers that the rent collector has an amazing skills: she can read! This book is an excellent story about the wonderful power that stories can have in our lives. My dad made a good call in sending this book along.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl who played with Fire
The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson

These books sold a lot of copies a handful of years ago and the first has been made into a movie (twice). Set in Sweden (and translated from Swedish) they are mystery/action novels that center on an investigative reporter and an anti-social young woman named Lisbeth (who is the girl). I stayed up until 12:30 last night trying to finish the third book, didn't quite succeed, but ended up coming into work 20 minutes late today because I finished it in the morning. They're very good, but perhaps not for the faint of heart. The original title in Swedish translates as "Men Who Hate Women" and the book ends up describing murder and rape, as well as a fair bit of consensual sex. The good news is that in the end the good guys win, and the bad guys all get what they deserve. (And don't complain about spoilers, because that's pretty much how all books like this end.) (Oh, also, be warned that book 2 and 3 are more like book 2a and 2b; don't think that you'll get to the end of book 2 and feel like you've had any resolution at all.)