the Scott Stein

The full title, Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe, might be a bit misleading. Much of the book is focused on the history of astronomy. The latter part of the book does explain the Big Bang and defends it against detractors, so it isn't that the title is that far off. I was just expecting a sustained, book-length treatment of the Big Bang, which this isn't. Still, I suppose that the background provided by the rest of the book is needed to understand the Big Bang section. Even though I found a good deal of it to be ideas and facts I'd encountered before, I really enjoyed Singh's book. Maybe that's partly because I'd liked the astronomy course I'd taken in college and this book felt like a refresher. Also, Singh's style is engaging and the many stories about individual astronomers are fascinating. If you're looking for an astronomy refresher or are encountering the topic for the first time, and if you want to have a better understanding of the Big Bang theory, I recommend Simon Singh's book as a pleasurable and informative read.

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Max Brod was Franz Kafka's lifelong friend and literary executor. Kafka only published a few of his works before he died, and had instructed Brod to destroy his remaining unpublished work. Brod famously disobeyed his friend, and eventually even Kafka's personal letters and diaries could be had in bookstores. Kafka went on to become one of the twentieth century's most influential authors. If you have read anything by Kafka, likely it was "The Metamorphosis" or "A Hunger Artist," his most frequently anthologized stories. "Letter to His Father" is also in some textbooks. Of his novels, The Trial is the one you might be familiar with.

Franz Kafka is Brod's biography of the famous author. Himself a successful writer, Brod's narrative includes analysis of Kafka's family life, religion, and writing. The biography gave me a sense of Kafka the person that is different from the one I had from the author's works. I'm not sure whether it's more or less accurate. Brod was such a central figure in Kafka's life, I would recommend his book to those who already have more than a casual interest in the author. The biography has value in that context, but I doubt it would be of much interest to readers in and of itself. Brod's style and references to and quotations from his own works (which I don't guess most people are interested in, despite one of the characters being based on Kafka) made for sometimes slow-going, though I definitely learned things I didn't know about Franz Kafka, and gained some insight into his work.

Max Brod's Franz Kafka will survive for as long as there is interest in Kafka. Although I am years past my K obsession that led me to write my master's thesis on him, I do recommend that readers check out the works by the author mentioned above, as starting points. When I get around to it, I will be writing Book Notes about Kafka's books.

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Code of the Woosters is the first novel I ever read by P.G. Wodehouse, and (obviously) my first "Jeeves" novel. If you haven't heard of P.G. Wodehouse, you probably have heard of the name Jeeves, which is now synonymous with butlers. Wodehouse is widely hailed as the funniest fiction writer maybe ever. While I had high hopes, a part of me was in a challenging mood. We'd see how funny this writer really was--I was like an ornery audience member staring down a stand-up comic: go ahead, just try to make me laugh. I was a couple of pages in when I adjusted to the tone and vocabulary. A few pages more and I was smiling. Soon enough I was laughing out loud, smiling more, looking forward to the next chance to read. The narrator of the Jeeves books, Bertram "Bertie" Wooster, has the most engaging, amusing voice. That's what makes these books work so well. It is true that the books are about absolutely nothing. No meaning, no point, no relevance. They are pure entertainment. Really, really good entertainment. And we are lucky to have them.

Support this site by using the below link to buy Code of the Woosters. Better yet, buy my new novel Mean Martin Manning and my first novel Lost.

This is a short, clear, reasonably objective, and not boring explanation of the Battle of Britain. Overy argues that the misperception on both sides of the other side's strength was a (or the) deciding factor. Though I didn't think it was a dry read, the book lacks the drama and thorough detail that made Dresden so memorable. Still, for a reader without much knowledge of the Battle of Britain, this dispels some myths and gives a good overview.

Support this site by using the below link to buy The Battle of Britain. Better yet, buy my new novel Mean Martin Manning and my first novel Lost.

Thanks to the Grumpy Old Bookman for linking to and blogging about me (the entry is still on his home page for now under "Something else for the weekend"). His readers looking for my book notes (brief reviews/comments on books I've read) can find them on the main page (among the other stuff) or can use the link on the left sidebar. I plan to post two notes each week, on Wednesday and Friday, and will be covering fiction and nonfiction. Comments are always welcome.

9/15/2006 Update: I said above that I planned to post book notes twice a week. I will still be posting book notes, but am not going to stick to a particular schedule or frequency. I'll write them and post them as the mood strikes.

Published by Coffee House Press, a nonprofit devoted to literary books, I worried that the novel Firmin might be too intellectual for its own good, maybe because first-time novelist Sam Savage has his Ph.D. in philosophy from Yale, but probably because of Firmin's premise: A rat living in a bookstore learns to read. As it says on the jacket flap: "Firmin is a story for everyone who has been transformed--for better or for worse--by an early diet of great literature." I bought Firmin anyway.

The good news is that it was not a painful reading experience--there is much cleverness, the references to other books are entertaining (to readers familiar with them), and the language is often pleasant; even the at-times overwrought prose fits the first-person narration by this hyper-intellectual rat. At only 148 pages and with short chapters, it was a quick read, a nice diversion. It could have been far worse, and Savage deserves some praise for his skill in pulling off his challenging concept to the extent he did. But I can't call Firmin a memorable work or a true success.

When I finished it I was thinking of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (and not because they both feature a rat). They both deal with someone gaining exceptional intelligence and with loneliness, though there are many differences, of course. The most important difference is, as I read and at the end of Keyes's famous novel, I was sad; as I read and at the end of Savage's novel, I was not. Keyes makes readers care about his character's plight. Savage does not. The emotional connection just isn't there. Why it isn't there is something for fiction writers to study. What did Keyes do that Savage did not to make his story matter to us? At the end of Keyes's novel, as a fiction writer should, I asked myself, How did he do that? At the end of Savage's, I didn't.

Support this site by using the below link to buy Firmin. Better yet, buy my new novel Mean Martin Manning and my first novel Lost.