Boneyard Reviews Part 7

Time for a pause and reevaluation. I’ve been on this quest for about six months, and as I’ve stated, it’s been illuminating to me that in writing fiction, you make the rules as far as grammar goes. Another thing I’ve noticed is that there are so many best-selling, or international best-selling, writers—who knew? At first, this swayed me to pick up their book. Now it's a red flag. There are also so many award-winning authors—so many. Who knew there were so many awards? Definitely a red flag before I tote their book home. 

Now, as an author, it is pounded into my head: you need reviews, and not just ten, but a hundred. There are so many reviews out there, books with 3, 4 hundred, sometimes more. I’ve learned in the sea of reviews, most have been purchased—like Yelp. I never trust a Yelp review, which means I’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t trust book reviews. In fact, I have found the more reviews, the more likely the book will be bad—of course, this is not a hundred percent, but it is a pretty good gauge. After reading some of these books, I have wondered if the reviewer even read the book. 

I have approached this venture as I do with music, looking for that fresh new voice. So far, it's been mostly disappointing. So I’ve returned to the classics: Steinbeck, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Twain.

 I have also fallen into a trap with my eReader; it's so easy to order from the library, but I have a good number of physical books on my shelves. I’m still trying to work back to the book Timeline, but because a book from the library has a due date, I give those books priority.  I started The Great Gatsby, which I’m finding intriguing—I've never been able to get into the movie. Maybe this will cure my disappointment, but I’m feeling my interest in the venture waning.  

Here's the current scorecard.

Boneyard 12, No Recommendation 7, Recommend 5, Highly Recommend 4  

Quantum Radio by A.G. Riddle

This author popped up on my radar months ago; the book I was looking for was Lost in Time. I was starting to get an itch to read Brian Greene, the quantum physicist. Brian has had a big influence on me since I read his book back in the 90s and early 2000s about time travel and parallel worlds. So I searched for quantum physics books, and AG Riddle showed up; I read a bit and downloaded it. When I started reading it, I realized it was a work of fiction. I looked at my wish list of books, and there was his name. So, feeling it was synchronicity, I dived in. 

Like most of the books I’ve read, it started well enough, but unlike some, I can’t say I was in love with it. It seemed to stagnate a bit, but nothing terrible. The action started, and it picked up quite a bit. A group of four time-traveled into the future. They showed up in the middle of a battle, and a plane was shot down, with the pilot parachuting out of his plane.

So to be clear, they time-traveled into a battle; they were in danger in a world they didn't know, with bullets and bombs coming from all directions. They had been running from the world they came from; they were tired and hungry. So what's the priority? To save this pilot who bailed out of his plane. The group is made up of two men and two women. One of the women is a doctor, so saving lives is what she calls on the others to do. I thought the first thing they should do was find food. Well, of course, the pilot is hanging on by a thread, clinging to life, in need of real medical care, but they did their best with a first-aid kit. The men venture out to try to figure out what world they're in, and the women stay with the dying pilot.

Then the history lesson begins. The men stumble upon a museum and recount how history was altered to change the future they find themselves in. It was a complete history and recounting, mostly of WW 2, with the focus on the types of bombs developed to change the course of history. This went on and on and on for pages; it was like a textbook in many ways. (I almost gave up there, but I pushed on.) Finally, the men make it back to the women and powwow about how they should proceed, but the doctor insists they take the pilot with them. Shouldn’t self-preservation take priority? I was in the Marines, and we would always make sure no man was left behind. But they were part of our gang. I just couldn't reconcile the need to rescue the pilot and drag him along, putting all of their lives in danger. I’m not sure what page I was on, but it was more than 50% into the book. To the boneyard. Even though I tossed this one to the boneyard, I will hunt down his other book to read: Lost in Time.  

Boneyard 13, No Recommendation 7, Recommend 5, Highly Recommend 4  

I've Stopped Reading

I've been burned out by the marketing machine. Best-selling Author or International Best-selling Author with scores of reviews—literally with more reviews than I can count. When I see these things, I consider it a red flag for a bad book. I've been talking to others who read, and they tell me they have no problem tossing a book aside if it's not working for them. I heard this a lot: their time is too valuable to be wasting it on something that's not enjoyable or engaging—I agree. 

Reading classics is good, but I'm finding my appetite lacking, reading too many in a row. I was reading The Great Gatsby and did a Gemini inquiry on when something was actually going to happen. I was at page 98, and Gemini informed me I was right at the spot where things were going to turn around. It explained that up to this point it was all set up for the 2nd half of the book. I picked it up through the library, and it was time to return it, so I didn't finish. I will go back and finish it in the future. I just needed a break. Reading started being a chore, work, and then life happens. I was having trouble finding the time. So this experiment lasted about 7 months. 

I did learn a lot about writing—things you can do, not do, and I incorporated what I thought were the good things into my own writing. I guess that's why they say, If you write, you need to read. 

With a better understanding of the marketing in the modern era, I may try again. Only time will tell. 

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Okay, back in the saddle again. I took a 3-week break. On a train ride to Denver, I had about 30 hours to do whatever I wanted. I went loaded with books, paperback and on my e-tablet. This book grabbed my attention. 

I've done a few things in my life, but never surfing. This book can make you fall in love with surfing, well, at least falling in love with the idea of surfing. Surfing serves as the backdrop for this story, which is broken into 2 parts. The first part, and the best part, flips back and forth between the present and the past, showing how this family formed and the issues that arise along the way. The second part is an hour-by-hour account of a party—how the rich and famous party.

This book is about beauty, the setting, the ocean, the people, and the clothes. It's also about love; the quest for love and being worthy of love, which boils down to being beautiful, with an interesting emphasis on being dressed well. It's also about being faithful, which the men in the story have a very hard time doing. It doesn't seem to be an affliction the women in the story are cursed with—just these awful men. 

It's also about fire and the burning of Malibu, which has happened so often over the decades. The author spends a good amount of time on this phenomenon of how often this occurs. Interestingly, the story starts in the 50s through the 80s, and there's not one fire until the end. 

The writing is loose—lots of extra, unnecessary words—it’s just a style, her style. The focus on the story is excellent, but the party that goes on hour by hour is not very interesting. I found myself skipping a lot in part 2 of the story. The ending works well, even with some of it crossing over into the absurd. All in all, a good tale. The parts that kept me engaged were good. Which is how I would describe this book: ”It's good.” I therefore recommend this work. 

Boneyard 13, No Recommendation 7, Recommend 6, Highly Recommend 4