Megatheriums for Breakfast

Just a quick note first before I discuss what I’ve been reading: I’m not much into social networking, perhaps being too old to “get it”. I tried Facebook but found it pointless, and I’ve tried Twitter and I can’t see why on earth anyone would want to use it. Clearly I’m in the minority here!

However, I have been having fun recently with a book-oriented social network site called Shelfari, which is owned by Amazon.

It enables you to catalog all your books in a really easy manner, and to join in discussions about them. I rather like it. Mind you, I’ve so far only catalogued about 10% of my collection of around 3,000 books (!) but I’ve found it far easier than with comparable sites like LibraryThing, and the Shelfari site is more fun to use.

Anyway, on to the recent books!

World Without End by Ken Follett

Ebook on my iPad

I have to say that I was disappointed by this. I rather enjoyed the previous book in this series, Pillars of the Earth, but World Without End seems to lack something that the earlier book had going for it.

Several things annoyed me about the book.

One of the things I expressed a concern about after reading Pillars of the Earth was that I felt that the thought-patterns of the 12th Century characters seemed far too modern. I could accept that Follett has translated how people would speak but I couldn’t quite accept that he had accurately depicted how people thought and felt back then.

This concern becomes much stronger in reading World Without End. The characters just seem way too modern in their attitudes. For example, the heavy emphasis on sex in this book. Now I’m sure that mediaeval people enjoyed sex just as much as we do, but I’m not convinced that in those times they would treat and speak of sex quite as casually as we do now. The dismissive attitude of the main characters to the aristocracy, to religion and the church seems also to be a very modern, rather than a credible mediaeval view.

The other problem is with the plot. It’s a long book, but it seems to be filled out with repetitions of the same set of events with minor variations. Merthin and Caris come up with an idea; the prior of the cathedral blocks them; they come up with a way to work around the block. And it happens again, and again. Richard, the stupid bully, carries out some vile act; he comes close to punishment; he escapes punishment. Again and again. Gwenda and her husband suffer at Richard’s hands; they suffer some more; and then some more. It all becomes very predictable; and Richard is just a replay of the character of William Hamleigh in the earlier book.

And there are some just plain silly parts to the plot. The unlikely journey of Caris and Mair to France seems there just so that Follett can eventually place them at the Battle of Crecy for no good reason other than that he wants to talk about the battle. (A much better treatment of this battle is to be found in Bernard Cornwell’s book The Archer’s Tale (Harlequin), by the way).

Another is the supposed breakthrough that Caris makes in dealing with victims of the Black Death. Wearing a facemask and washing your hands makes all the difference, apparently, in preventing you getting infected. Except that it is generally agreed that the Black Death was caused by bubonic plague. Which is spread by infected fleas. A facemask would make no difference whatsoever.

So, although the book isn’t exactly bad, I couldn’t suspend my disbelief, and it was a struggle to finish.

Running from the Law by Lisa Scottoline

Audiobook on my iPhone

Pleasant enough thriller, lifted out of the ruck by the smart, sassy character of the narrator, Rita Morrone, and the sly humour of her interactions with her extended family (her father, uncle, and a bunch of his poker-playing cronies)

A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane

Ebook on my iPad

I bought this because I had enjoyed Shutter Island by the same author so much. This is a thriller set in modern Boston, and the first of a series starring the two main characters, who have a private investigations agency. I enjoyed it a lot, and look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Dark Matter by Philip Kerr

Ebook on my iPad

Ho-hum mystery set in the 17th Century, with Sir Isaac Newton as the Sherlock Holmes of the time. While it’s true that Newton did carry out investigations into coining while he was at the Mint, I didn’t find this novel rang true. What turned me off immediately was the almost obligatory little scene along the lines of “Oh ho, I see that you are a good man with a rapier and a keen shot besides!” “My goodness Holmes Sir Isaac, however did you guess that?”…. you know the kind of thing. And the big slabs of familiar Newton quotes delivered as speech.

The one good thing about the novel is that it has been handsomely treated in its ebook conversion and looks really good, with nice chapter illustrations.

Starcross by Philip Reeve

Hardcover, my collection

More fun in the sequel to Larklight. Steampunk SF for teens.

Well, at the sake of being seen to be the total Apple fanboy (a description that a few years ago I would never have dreamed could be applied to myself), I’m going to talk about my new Apple toy – the new Apple TV. The name is a bit of a misnomer as it isn’t a TV at all, just a media device which connects to your television.

At only AU $129 it wasn’t a major expense, and I figured it would be a modest enhancement to my existing television / hi-fi system.

It has actually exceeded my expectations already, and that got me to thinking about how Apple products compare with products from other companies. I have found through personal experience that a product which looks good on paper often turns out to be a disappointment in practice. That has never happened to me with an Apple product. Rather I usually find myself surprised and delighted that the product does more, or works better, than I had hoped. Perhaps this is one reason why Apple is now (by market capitalization) the second largest company in the world? Or maybe not, there are plenty of huge companies which produce awful products (viz Microsoft).

Anyway, I ordered my Apple TV not long after it was announced, and it arrived a couple of weeks ago.

The first amazing thing is how small this thing is – it literally fits into the palm of your hand. With its tiny size and sleek blackness, it is just unnoticeable in my audio-visual set-up – a visitor would have to have it pointed out to them.

I connected a HDMI cable from the Apple TV to my television, via a switchbox (I only have one HDMI input on my television), and to my hi-fi system via an optical cable. Neither cable is supplied with the Apple TV, by the way. Plugged in the power, turned on the television, and within moments I was being asked to set up a connection to my wireless network, a matter of putting in the network password (you do password your network, don’t you?). Bingo, I was up and running and could rent a movie, or view YouTube or Flikr. A little more set up (turning on Home Sharing in iTunes on my computer and on the Apple TV) and I could play all of the media I have in iTunes on my computer – all the movies, iTunesU lectures, and digital music I own. One more bit of set-up (pointing iTunes to the photo folder I wanted to view) and I could view all of my digital photos or turn them into a slideshow.

The quality of all of this media is just great, either viewed on my (modest) digital television or played through my (equally modest) hi-fi system.

The first night my wife and I picked out a movie we’d missed at the cinema (The Men Who Stare At Goats), paid for it with a couple of clicks, and watched it through. Sure, we could probably have rented a DVD of this same movie for a couple of bucks less, but the hassle of having to go out to the video store, find the movie, drive it back home, then return it has got to add up to a few dollars of inconvenience value. The only disappointing thing is that, so far, there are a number of movies I would like to see which aren’t yet available for rent in the Australian iTunes store, but, as they say, patience is a virtue. And there are still plenty of movies available for rent which I would like to catch up with.

But the best thing about all of this is when I installed the Remote app on my iPad. It turns my iPad into the media centre of the house. With this, I can sit down in my armchair and scroll through all my media on my computer and start playing through the Apple TV. Being able to scroll through all my music albums and pick one to play instantly through my hi-fi is wonderful.

Then there’s the Internet connection. My daughter came round and mentioned a YouTube clip that our son-in-law had posted. Within a matter of moments we were viewing it full screen on our television.

So I have to confess it – I’m an Apple (TV) fanboy!