Two Books – A Review

I don’t know if I’ve ever written a book review before but I’m currently reading two books that are fascinating me and I want to tell people about them.

First off I’m reading Ada Palmer’s Too Like the Lightning and I’m enjoying the hell out of it. Set in a utopian 2454 it’s deep, complex, mostly believable, and fascinating. It gets deeper and deeper with each chapter. Just when you think you know what’s going on, another layer is revealed.

The posited future is reasonable and the author never fully comes out and tells you (not yet anyway) what lead to the “revolution”, but there are plenty of hints which you can use to make a good guess. There are actually many things which are hinted at but not fully explained, and that’s a writing style I really like. Make me imagine it.

The many, many characters are flawed and believable. The writing style changes based on what is happening. I highly recommend it.

It makes me happy that this book is actually the first of three in a series since that means that there will be more adventures to come.

The second book I’m currently reading couldn’t be further from the first one.

Bill Bryson’s One Summer: America 1927 is a history of all the momentous things that happened in the summer of 1927. I’m about half way through and more and more things are going on.

Lindberg (and many others) flew across the ocean. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig battled for the title of home run king. There was a huge flood in the South. Flag pole sitting became a thing. Calvin Coolidge was busy being a pretty bad president. Prohibition was causing all sorts of mayhem. And much more.

Bill Bryson goes back and shows what led up to each of these events, in his familiar humorous style. I keep having to stop and read sections out loud to Leslie.

It’s a fascinating slice of history.

Also recommended. If you’ve never read any Bill Bryson, this would be a good start. But I don’t think I’ve read anything by him that I haven’t enjoyed.