The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Audible was pushing this novel at me for ages. I don’t remember why I eventually picked it up; it might have been on a two-for-one deal. Whatever the reason, it was there in my collection of audiobooks when I needed something to listen to — and I loved it almost from the first line.

This was Miller’s debut novel, originally published in 2011. It was hugely popular and I imagine many of you are familiar with it. It is a re-imagining of the story of Patroclus, the lover of the Greek hero Achilles, and his unbreakable relationship with that difficult hero of ancient myth. It is told in Patroclus’s voice, in first person, and the narrator is excellent, and fully captures the tone of the story.

Miller’s writing is stellar throughout. I tend to bounce off novels where the descriptive element feels overdone, as if the clever descriptions are the point of the story. Miller does not do that. Her descriptive power is amazing, always enhancing the story and not weighing it down.

I suspect we all already know how this story ends. I was curious throughout to see how Miller would handle it — and she found what felt like a culturally appropriate way to do so.

I do wish there had been a little more insight on why Achilles, as portrayed in this story, was so powerfully drawn to Patroclus. Despite this, I found The Song of Achilles to be an excellent novel and I highly recommend it, especially if you’re into Greek myth.

NEEDLE (Inverted Frontier #3) has been out for almost a year. Throughout that time, many people have asked me if there would be an audiobook. My answers ranged from “maybe” to “I don’t think so” to “no.”

Well, now the answer is YES!

It’s been a long strange process, but it’s definitely happening. The posted release date for the audiobook is August 22, and according to Tantor’s website, the narrator is Nicole Poole, the same as for the first two in the series. People have told me she did a great job, so I’m thrilled to know she’s continuing the series.

All I know about the release is what I’ve read on Tantor’s website. Click here to check it out for yourself.

This post first appeared in my September 9th newsletter. If you haven’t yet signed up for my newsletter, you really, really should. It’s fun, it’s once every four weeks (with an occasional special issue), and it’s the best way to stay in touch. Sign up here.

The Wizard and the Prophet: Two remarkable scientists and their dueling visions to shape tomorrow’s world, by Charles C. Mann, read by Bronson Pinchot.

I usually listen to audiobooks while doing chores. This is one of those audiobooks that inspires me to do more chores, just so I can listen to it.

The Wizard and the Prophet starts off by asking: Can our Earth support a population of ten billion people—a number we are predicted to reach before too many more years—and if so, how?

The book is structured around the competing philosophies of two twentieth-century scientists. Norman Borlaugh, who launched the “green revolution” represents the technological or “hard” path. William Vogt, whose philosophies still energize much of the conservation movement, represents the “soft” path. There are many subtleties, but the hard path generally involves large, expensive, earth-changing (or gene-changing) engineering, while the soft path involves adapting ourselves and our lifestyles to live gently with the natural world.

Charles C. Mann—author of 1491—is a fantastic writer. I especially enjoy the way he looks at each of his subjects in a historical context. He does not hide their faults, and he looks at both the positive and the negative aspects of their contributions to the world.

Mann also looks in detail at what he sees as the four key challenges of our future: food, water, energy, and climate change.

The book was first published at the start of 2018. Mann lays out the unknowns of climate change at that time, including the question of when we will begin to see direct and undeniable effects. Of course here in 2021, we are seeing those effects, and it’s up to us, as a society, to respond responsibly, to ensure a livable world for future generations.

I’m pleased to announce that Edges (Inverted Frontier #1) is now an AUDIOBOOK!

Far better late than never, right?

Edges is read by Nicole Poole. The publisher is Tantor Media.

Find it at Audiobooks.com…

Or click here to find it at Audible.

Silver is scheduled to release on June 16.

River of Darkness: Francisco Orellana’s Legendary Voyage of Death and Discovery Down the Amazon by Buddy Levy

I think I picked up this audiobook as part of a 2-for-1 credit sale at Audible. Audible has these sales every now and then, and even though I’ve accumulated a lot of credits and don’t really need the extra books, I find the sales irresistible. And they’ve led me to some fantastic listens I wouldn’t have discovered on my own — like this one.

River of Darkness is exactly what the subtitle says: it’s a detailed history of conquistador Francisco Orellana’s voyage from the headwaters of the Amazon river, to the sea, and from there to a Spanish colony. As I’ve mentioned before, I love adventure stories and tales of exploration. This one was made more poignant by having read Charles C. Mann’s 1491 and knowing that those civilizations described in the notes kept by Friar Gaspar de Carvajal would soon be gone. The pandemic we’re experiencing now, for all its ravages and the speed of its transmission, is nothing compared to the apocalypse that struck the new world in those days of early contact. But in the time of Orellana’s voyage, the civilizations of the Amazon were still strong and intact.

The story that Buddy Levy tells in River of Darkness goes well beyond a description of the river journey. It also follows the misadventures and eventual rebellion of Gonzalo Pizarro, the original captain of the mission, and it dips into both Spanish and colonial politics.

Though I found the opening chapter or two to be a bit slow, once the introductory material was past, the story was riveting.

By chance, just before I started listening to River of Darkness I read the opening chapters of a novel called What the Wind Brings, by Matthew Hughes. It’s set in the same era, in South America, and I look forward to returning to it as soon as time permits. I suspect it will make an interesting pairing with River of Darkness.

In my last newsletter, I recommended LX Beckett’s novel Gamechanger, with the caveat that the publisher had chosen to price the ebook at $14.99.

Well, right now, the ebook edition of Gamechanger is on sale for just $2.99. Here’s an affiliate link to Amazon that will earn me a few pennies of you click it and then buy. The ebook is probably also on sale at Kobo, Apple, Barnes & Noble, etc., if those are your preferred vendors.

About the book:
Gamechanger is a complex romp of a novel that includes some of the most impressive near-ish future world-building I’ve seen. The story takes place in the “bounceback” era, a period of future history that follows the “setback” (basically the present day, as climate change leads to catastrophic environmental collapse), and the “clawback” era, when a new global system begins to stave off immediate extinction. The bounceback generation is dealing with things, and the world is much improved for their efforts. But then things happen…

I listened to Gamechanger as an audiobook, but while the narrator does an excellent job, there is just so much terminology and (I suspect) quirky typography, that I wish I’d read it instead.

I have no idea how long the sale will last. If you’re interested, you should check it out now.

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Next issue goes out next week.

Becoming Superman: My Journey From Poverty to Hollywood by J. Michael Straczynski

When I was growing up, my parents let me read anything I wanted to — except comic books. I don’t recall any arguments over this restriction. I was taught that comics were for people who couldn’t read very well, and I was a very, very good reader, so what need did I have for a comic book? As a result, I was never into comics. Looking back, I find that ironic and even a little distressing, given the popularity of comics among fans of prose science fiction.

Anyway, that’s my excuse for why, when I picked up J. Michael Straczynski’s autobiography, Becoming Superman, I wasn’t familiar with his work in comics, and I somehow had never watched Babylon Five, and did anyone really expect me to remember who wrote the screenplay for Thor? Still, his name was familiar, and an intriguing comment on Twitter led me to check out the audio version of the book, which was published just last summer.

I found it riveting.

Becoming Superman feels like two books in one. The first part details Straczynski’s childhood. Actually, it goes beyond childhood, looking at the history of his family before he was born, as a means to set the stage for the story of the incredible physical and emotional abuse he endured growing up, at the hands of a father he described as “the most evil man I ever met.” Comics, and particularly Superman, were his comfort and salvation. Determined to be the opposite of everything his father stood for, Superman became his personal hero — an outsider who fought evil and always remained determined to do the right thing.

The second part of the book focuses primarily on the tumultuous development of Straczynski’s writing career, beginning in high school, and continuing through the present day. He’s an extremely prolific writer (*ahem* unlike some of us), and he’s also been driven to succeed in diverse writing fields, hardship be damned.

Honestly, the book is potentially dangerous for young writers. Most of us will say that the trope of the starving writer is bullshit. You don’t need to suffer for your art. But Straczynski has gone through a lot — he’s literally been a starving writer. He’s also had to burn bridges, starting over more than once. If you want an inside look at writing in Hollywood, do not miss this book.

Despite the hardships, Straczynski has achieved admirable success in every field he’s tried, from comics, to animation, to live-action television, and feature films. But all throughout his story he returns again and again to the lesson of humility, and to doing your best work, doing the right thing — and that makes this story wonderful.

Highly recommended.

In 2019, I made some lifestyle changes.

For decades, I was in the habit of drinking two-and-a-half or three cups of coffee a day — not much by the standards of truly epic coffee drinkers, but if I missed the morning brew, a headache was inevitable.

At night, essentially every night, there was a glass or two of red wine. More was not unusual. It was a years-long pattern: coffee in the morning to get my brain going, wine at night to quiet the brain. But the ritual began to feel like more and more of a burden on my body and brain, and — not for the first time — I started thinking I really ought to clean up my act. So I started cutting back.

At almost the same time, my son-in-law recommended a book called Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams.

Ignore the new-age feel of the subtitle. The book is written by Ph.D. Matthew Walker, it’s based on many studies, and it has nothing to do with dream interpretation. Instead, the book looks at the negative effects that alcohol and caffeine have on both the quality of sleep and on memory retention, and it also presents evidence on the need, and the benefits, of getting 7-1/2 to 8 hours of sleep every night.

Like many (or is it most?) women I often have trouble sleeping. Going to sleep is generally no problem, but waking up at two in the morning and not being able to sleep again for hours — that’s a killer. So I decided to go all in on the program. I continued cutting back on coffee until I was down to a half cup in the morning. (If I miss that, I don’t even get headaches anymore!) And for the most part I stopped drinking alcohol, although I’m not an absolutist. I’ll still have a glass of wine on occasion. I also make an effort to get 7+ hours of sleep each night. (Confession: I almost never manage a full eight hours.)

I was emotionally ready to make the changes, so other than some days spent feeling sleepy, it wasn’t hard.

I’ve kept the new lifestyle for many months now, and I like the result. I feel better, especially in the morning. I sleep better too, although this took a long time to achieve. I still wake up in the wee hours, but can fall back asleep more often than in the past.

If you’re interested, here’s a link to Why We Sleep at Amazon†. I listened to the audiobook, but the paperback edition is only $11, so I bought that too.

May your nights be peaceful and your mornings bright!

Update 12/31/2019: I received an email today from Alexy Guzey, who has written a detailed essay disputing several claims made in Matthew Walker’s book. It’s a very interesting read, with links to online discussions. You can check it out here. Sleep well!

It’s been months since I’ve done an audiobook recommendation post. That doesn’t mean I haven’t enjoyed some great listens; it just means I’ve fallen way behind in posting. So this is a round-up post, listing some favorites since last fall.

The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore — Audible often has two-for-one sales featuring a limited selection of titles. I take advantage of these, and often find terrific books that I wouldn’t otherwise have known to look for. I think that’s how I discovered this one. It’s an excellent fictionalized story of science, invention, and patents. Edison vs Westinghouse, through the eyes of attorney Paul Cravath.

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond — (nonfiction) This one was an eye-opener. The author follows the lives of several individuals over a period of months — both tenants and landlords — using their experiences to examine the forces shaping the structure of home-rental markets in impoverished neighborhoods. It’s an amazing glimpse into the precarious lives of the very poor. This is another title I would not have considered but for the Audible promotion.

A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution by Jennifer A. Doudna and Samuel H. Sternberg — A history of the gene-editing method known as CRISPR, from those who invented it.

Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson — Another brilliant look into the future by the incomparable KSR. Red Moon assumes the ascendance of the Chinese in lunar colonization, and explores potential near-future existences on both the Earth and the Moon.

The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life by David Quammen — I loved this book. I majored in biology in college, with a particular interest in evolution, so this book hit home for me. It looks into evolutionary theory, tracing the development of a new theory on the mechanism of evolution, called horizontal gene transfer, in which the movement of genes occurs across species lines. This one partners nicely with Ed Yong’s “I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life” , reviewed last summer. I wish I could find the time to listen to both of them again.

LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media by P. W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking — War has taken new forms and America is not winning. This is a fascinating and eye-opening look at the skilled use of social media as propaganda. If you write near-future #sci-fi or present-day thrillers, read this book.

Planetside by Michael Mammay

Most of my audiobook listening time happens when I’m doing chores — yardwork, cooking, cleaning — dull stuff that I can do on autopilot while I’m focused on the story. So the ultimate compliment I can pay to an audiobook is that it inspired me to do all the chores I could think of! Michael Mammay’s debut novel, Planetside, did that for me.

On its surface, Planetside is science fiction — it’s a military novel set in and around an alien planet in a story world where interstellar travel is common — but change just a few elements and it might be set in Afghanistan. It’s structured as a mystery. A colonel, close to retirement, is sent to a remote planet to investigate the disappearance of a young officer. There are elements of at least a couple of classic novels that I won’t name since I don’t want to provide any potential spoilers — let me just say that I found the storytelling engrossing. I finished the audiobook in about two days — and completed a lot of yard work! 🙂

Highly recommended.