wijfr

What I Just Finished Reading

My pandemic reading list

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I stopped WIJFR posts five years ago (switched to Goodreads), but during the COVID-19 pandemic I found myself tending towards related topics. Such as:

Obviously missing is Stephen King’s “The Stand” which I’ve been meaning to re-read to since finishing the Dark Tower series back in 2018. That might be next.

Odd observation: all of these books start with “The”.

WIJFR: American Gods

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Shadow is a man with a past. But now he wants nothing more than to live a quiet life with his wife and stay out of trouble. Until he learns that she’s been killed in a terrible accident. Flying home for the funeral, as a violent storm rocks the plane, a strange man in the seat next to him introduces himself. The man calls himself Mr. Wednesday, and he knows more about Shadow than is possible. He warns Shadow that a far bigger storm is coming. And from that moment on, nothing will ever be the same…

I just finished “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman, a story about Shadow, an ex-con recently released from prison and a brewing battle between the “old gods” that came to America with immigrants (like Odin, Loki, or other mythology we’re familiar with) and the new “gods of credit card and freeway, of Internet and telephone, of radio and hospital and television, gods of plastic and of beeper and of neon.”

It’s also a road trip novel, with all sorts of Americana in it, like The House on the Rock and Ruby Falls. I love road trips and quirky roadside attractions so I really enjoyed those parts of the book. We’ll be going on a west coast road trip this summer, so keep an eye out for those posts! 😉  America … “They said it was a good place for men, but a bad place for gods.”

 

Note: this will be last my last regular WIJFR post. I just don’t always have the time or the inclination to write up and review every book after I finish it. This started out as a way to just keep track of what books I’ve read and when, but now (7 years and 84 posts later!) I use GoodReads so duplicating that effort here seems like a waste. If I do have something to say about a book in the future, though, and feel inspired to do so, I’m sure I’ll write something up.

WIJFR: Heinlein time travel (and “Predestination”)

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The other week I saw “Predestination,” a recommendation from Steve Gibson on episode #492 of his Security Now! podcast. The movie is a pretty good brain-twisting time travel romp starring Ethan Hawke and was based on a short story witten by Robert A. Heinlein in 1958. I’ve read Heinlein in the past (i.e., “Stranger in a Strange Land“), although the last time was before I started my WIJFR posts on this blog.

I started with “By His Bootstraps,” an earlier (1941) time travel story by Heinlein and then read “All You Zombies” (which is significantly shorter and the basis of the movie). Both are packed with time loops, paradoxes, and multiple occurences of the same character, but lack the humor and pop culture of, say, the “Back to the Future” series. I recommend them both and have added some more Heinlein to my “to read” list.

WIJFR: Rogue Code

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Cyber security expert Jeff Aiken knows that no computer system is completely secure. When he’s called to investigate a possible breach at the New York Stock Exchange, he discovers not only that their system has been infiltrated but that someone on the inside knows. Yet for some reason, they have allowed the hackers to steal millions of dollars from accounts without trying to stop the theft. When Jeff uncovers the crime, the NYSE suddenly turns on him. Accused of grand larceny, he must find and expose the criminals behind the theft, not just to prove his innocence but to stop a multibillion-dollar heist that could upend the U.S. economy. Unwilling to heed Jeff’s warnings, the NYSE plans to continue with a major IPO using a new, untested system, one that might be susceptible both to hackers and to ruthless high-frequency traders willing to take any risk to turn a profit.

I just finished “reading” (on Audible) “Rogue Code” (Book 3 in the Jeff Aiken series) by Mark Russinovich.

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WIJFR: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

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The Committee, an international cabal of industrialists and media barons, is on the verge of privatizing all information. Dear Diary, an idealistic online Underground, stands in the way of that takeover, using radical politics, classic spycraft, and technology that makes Big Data look like dial-up. Into this secret battle stumbles an unlikely trio: Leila Majnoun, a disillusioned non-profit worker; Leo Crane, an unhinged trustafarian; and Mark Deveraux, a phony self-betterment guru who works for the Committee. Leo and Mark were best friends in college, but early adulthood has set them on diverging paths. Growing increasingly disdainful of Mark’s platitudes, Leo publishes a withering takedown of his ideas online. But the Committee is reading – and erasing – Leo’s words. On the other side of the world, Leila’s discoveries about the Committee’s far-reaching ambitions threaten to ruin those who are closest to her.

I just finished reading “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” by David Shafer, which I heard about from Leo Laporte on an episode of TWiT (or Security Now, I forget which) last year.

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WIJFR: Lucifer’s Hammer

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The gigantic comet had slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization. But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival–a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known….

I just finished reading “Lucifer’s Hammer” by Larry Niven, a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel that tells the story of a stray comet that collides with the Earth and the resulting aftermath.

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WIJFR: The Martian

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Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.

Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

I just finished reading “The Martian” by Andy Weir, and it is great!

Told mostly in the first person in the form of daily logs, “The Martian” is a story of survival on the red planet. Six days into a 31 day mission on the surface, a dust storm forces the crew of the Ares 3 to abort and evacuate, unknowingly leaving a single crew-member behind, thinking him dead. Botanist and engineer Mark Watney is stranded, alone, on Mars … no one knows he’s still alive, he has no way of contacting Earth, and the next manned mission won’t arrive for four years. He has food, water, shelter … 6 persons’ worth for 31 sols. How will he last over 1,400 sols until Ares 4 arrives?

Take some Mars SF novels (like “Red Mars“), mix in a healthy dose of Mark’s irreverent personality and snarky sense of humor, throw in a little MacGyver, “Survivor,” “Cast Away,” and “Apollo 13,” some chemistry and astrophysics and you’ve got a pretty good idea of what a fun read “The Martian” is. Considering his dire situation, Mark always seems to be in good spirits and some of his one-liners made me laugh out loud.

As I was reading it I was constantly thinking “this would be a great movie.” Well, of course there’s going to be … next year. Ridley Scott and Matt Damon. Hope it’s as good as the book.

WIJFR: Masters of Doom

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Doom, the video game in which you navigate a dungeon in the first person and messily lay waste to everything that crosses your path, represented a milestone in many areas. It was a technical landmark, in that its graphics engine delivered brilliant performance on ordinary PC hardware. It was a social phenomenon, with individuals and companies hooking up networks specifically for Doom tournaments and staying up for days to blast away on them (well before the Internet went big-time). 

I just finished reading “Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture” by David Kushner and am itching to hook up some old PCs and do some deathmatching. Who’s with me?

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WIJFR: Trojan Horse

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It’s two years after the Zero Day attacks, and cyber-security analyst Jeff Aiken is reaping the rewards for crippling Al-Qaida’s assault on the computer infrastructure of the Western world. But the West is under its greatest threat yet. A revolutionary, invisible trojan that alters data without leaving a trace – more sophisticated than any virus seen before – has been identified, roiling international politics. As the trojan penetrates Western intelligence, and the terrifying truth about its creator is revealed, Jeff finds himself in a desperate race to reverse it as the fate of both East and West hangs in the balance.

I just finished reading “Trojan Horse,” the sequel to “Zero Day” by Mark Russinovich.

Russinovich’s second techno-thriller reunites security analyst Jeff Aiken and now-girlfriend/business partner Daryl Haugen as they attempt to track down the latest threat to global security: a trojan horse, of unknown origin, that is subtly altering documents at the United Nations. The trojan is only accidentally discovered when it crashes the word processor of a UN employee authoring a critical document regarding Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

The first part of the book, as Jeff and Daryl pick apart the trojan’s code and attempt to trace it back to its authors, is full of the low-level technical details you’d expect from Russinovich after reading “Zero Day.” The second half is an international chase across Europe, the Middle East, and even China, as the depth of the conspiracy is revealed.

The inclusion of  recent technological threats, real-world events, and a healthy dose of the Stuxnet trojan make “Trojan Horse” a gripping, if not slightly scary, read.

WIJFR: Siege Perilous

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Ocyrhoe, a young, cunning fugitive from Rome, safeguards a chalice of subtle but great power. Finding herself in France, she allies with the persecuted, pacifist Cathar sect in their legendary mountaintop stronghold, Montségur. There she resists agents of the Roman Church and its Inquisition, fights off escalating, bloody besiegement by troops of the King of France, and shields the mysterious cup from the designs of many.

Percival, the heroic Shield-Brethren knight from The Mongoliad, consumed by his mystical visions of the Holy Grail, is also drawn to Montségur—where the chalice holds the key to his destiny.

Arrayed against Percival and Ocyrhoe are enemies both old and new who are determined to reveal the secrets of the Shield-Brethren with the hope of destroying the order once and for all.

Wrapping up The Mongoliad Cycle, I finally finished reading “Siege Perilous” by E. D. deBirmingham. 

Book Five picks up the Rome/Pope/Grail storyline from Books Two and Three, introducing Ferenc and Ocyrhoe to the Shield-Bretheren knights Raphael and Percival and Shield Maiden Vera. Also making a re-appearance is Dietrich, of the Livonian order of knights whom we last saw at the Circus of Swords outside of Hünern in Book Three. There aren’t any more Mongols (i.e., Gansukh and Lian) in this final installment, as that story was wrapped up at the end of Book Four.

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