Guns & Magic

 

Getting Things Done by David Allen.

 

Here is a 3-point summary of The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach:

 

Yeah. It’s that revolutionary.

 

To be fair, I did learn something. Or rather, a chapter of the book gave me some introductory information about the IRA’s available (and useful for) self-employed types like myself.

 

-David

 

The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach.

 

I enjoyed A Short History of World War I by James L. Stokesbury. WWI in a nutshell, but with enough detail to really drive home the horrible human costs of the war. The book was loaned to me by a friend, along with another couple of books about WWI. I’ll get to those in-between less “heavy” reading.

 

-David

 

A Short History of World War I by James L. Stokesbury.

 

I gave up on The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood. There’s a backstory in there that’s in dire need of summarizing.  Or something. It might be a good book. I’ll never know. And would have a hard time caring less.

 

-David

 

The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood. So far, this novel is the very definition of “languid”. And I’m not exactly sold on the present tense thing.

 

The other day, I made it a couple of chapters into The Red Horseman by Stephen Coonts before deciding that I had far, far better things to do with my time. After forcing myself through The Experiment last week, I’m not in the mood to punish myself further.

 

When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? by George Carlin was … a lot like reading a transcript of one of George Carlin’s HBO specials. I enjoyed it, for the most part. In much the same that I enjoy–for the most part–his HBO specials.

 

-David

 

When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? by George Carlin.

 

For a brief stretch earlier in the week I was reading Changing Planes by Ursula K. Le Guin. This collection of short stories has a single gimmick that–while amusing–isn’t enough to carry much more than a single story, much less a collection of them.

 

The Experiment by John Darnton was disappointing. I finished the book mostly from curiosity about the plot. Specifically, I was curious how he would wrap it up. Not intrigued, nor in suspense. Just curious. I suppose, however, that I shouldn’t have expected more of the ending than I got from the rest of the book. I will say that the identity of the Evil Doctor Genius came as something of a surprise at the end. But that was the sum total of narrative surprises.

 

-David

 

I think I’m willing to allow one big coincidence per book. Usually as a way to get the story started. After that, though, additional coincidences just make me want to find the author and smack him/her upside the head with his/her hardcover novel.

 

For example, in the book I’m currently reading: A reporter discovers he has a twin brother he never knew about. I can work with that. It seems a good basis for a story, if a bit overused. But once you layer on that the reporter has recently written an article sidebar about identical twins (complete with long, “talking head” info dump sequences about twins), and has started dating the “twins researcher” who was his primary source for the article… And then it turns out the missing twin, who has escaped from some bizarre medical research facility somewhere, was lovers with another missing twin–that of the researcher–which missing was also held in the same facility, and murdered…

 

How many coincidences are we supposed to swallow to make this story workable?

 

This isn’t clever. It doesn’t bring the story “full circle”. This doesn’t make any statements about “fate” or “destiny”, or highlight the bizarre similarities that occur in the lives of identical twins.

 

It’s goofy. Maybe even stupid.

 

So, please, limit coincidences in your writing. I’ll try, as well, of course.

 

And I might try to finish this novel.

 

-David