The Art of Fielding

Doesn't this lower cover strike you as a little YA? I can see why the American publishers went with the upper design instead. Although, that is one of the most boring covers I think I have ever seen. It says little about the book except for the little harpoon to represent the school emblem within the pages, and even then I had to notice it after I started reading. It means nothing to the cover browser. But I guess this hasn't hurt sales though since the book is doing well and is rather lauded.

I picked THE ART OF FIELDING up on the recommendation of my great local independent bookseller, Inkwood Books. Usually their fiction suggestions leave me cold, being more of a science fiction/mystery reader, but baseball always interests me and I gave it a spin.

Mostly what I could think of during this book was that it reminded me of Donna Tartt's THE SECRET HISTORY, but with baseball. Conflicted college people trying to avoid/cope with the coming transition to the real world. It was written well-enough and kept me hooked. There was some obvious foreshadowing, but nothing too distracting. And it ended in the best way possible. So I can't complain too much.

Probably the best thing about it was that baseball was secondary to the characters. And we were spared any lengthy homilies about the purity of the game or the beauty of the play, etc.

A good first inning, but we'll see how the author's innings play out.

Cruicible of Gold

Naomi Novik's Temeraire series ambles along with her latest book. The series is getting to be a bit of a travelogue - China, Asia, Africa, Australia and now South America. Novik is taking the reader on a global dragon hunt. We've seen mention of North American dragons, but I assume they will be the focus of a future book.

In this most recent novel, Temeraire and Lawrence are returned to service and tasked with stopping Napoleon's mission to Brazil. This would seal an alliance with Portugal and allow England a beachfront from which to attack Europe. Of course, things do not go to plan and our heroes wind up in Incan Peru (where Pizarro tried to conquer, but was unsuccessful thanks to dragons).

This has to be my favorite of the most recent books. The story was a little more focused and the characters given room to work. The last book wandered a little too much and previous entries seemed a little choppy.

Like many series, I expect the story of Temeraire will go on for many volumes, but perhaps not as many as Discworld. I am enjoying the leisurely development of the Napoleonic Wars, but am impatient for more haste to the conclusion.

Arctic Rising

I've started a number of Tobias Buckell books (SLY MONGOOSE, RAGAMUFFIN) but for whatever reasons did not finish them. Nothing against him or his writing, it probably had more to do with timing and library lending limits.

With this in mind, I put ARCTIC RISING on my hold list at the local library and didn't have anything in the queue when it arrived.

The story is fairly simple - in the near future, arctic waters are navigable and exploitable, but who should control it and should it be allowable? Mr. Buckell has written an entertaining near-future thriller. The story moves quickly and is well thought out. He also added some Heinleinian elements with societies running small micro-countries and how one must travel through them.

All in all, this was a fun book and a worthwhile read.