A few book reviews.

The Historian
This book was not so bad. Nate suggested that I read it during winter break, and he's had a pretty good record with his recommendations. He is the one who turned me on to Frank McCourt and James Ellroy, and that was all excellent stuff. So, I followed his advice and picked up The Historian. I won't give anything away by saying that this book is mostly about Dracula. Sure, it might have a bit here and there about love, or child-parent relationships, or coming of age, and all that junk. But it's really about Dracula, because if it didn't have Dracula in it as the central premise, it would be an awful, stupid, pointless book. This is something that Dan Brown could've written if he were getting paid by the word. This was a fun winter break read, but there is no reason why this book has to be 700 pages. I felt like the author was trying to meet the page requirements for her MFA dissertation. The first few descriptions - of a town in Eastern Europe, that rock, and that other rock, and the way the sun reflects off that third rock over there - they were ok. The following 500 descriptions of the same were just unnecessary. The ending was predictable, but the ride was Ok.

Snow Crash
This one was recommended by local cyberpunk authority, Intern Zach. Let me tell you, it could've been a lot worse. In particular, it could've been Cryptonomicon. What a heaping pile of literary junk that was. Snow Crash was somewhat better. It had about 2 funny paragraphs. The rest was a bit trite. I mean, you can't expect much from an author who names the main character Hiro Protagonist. That's only clever if you are in the fourth grade. But this is the sort of thing that one must read in order to be accepted in certain social circles. I mean, you'll just feel like a total outcast at the next LAN Party if you can't throw in a few cents when someone brings up Snow Crash. But I'll take William Gibson for my money any day.

The Sandman, (Vol. 1-10)
This is the story of Dream of the Endless. Every volume is beautiful, the story is sweet, the fantasy is lovely. Everyone should read this. Look for it in the "blessed escapism" section of your public library.

Marvels
I didn't get it. The illustrations by Alex Ross were gorgeous, but the story was just one huge inside joke. If you are intimately familiar with the Marvel Universe, you will like this book very much. I just didn't get most of it. I had to keep looking things up. From my perspective, it felt like this was one huge circle jerk for Kurt Busiek and Marvel fanboys.

Kingdom Come
More beautiful artwork by Alex Ross, and a nice story by Mark Waid. Here is the nutshell: Superman is a dick; Batman saves the day. Flip through it for the pictures, but really, that's all there is. I just saved you forty five minutes of your life.

American Prometheus
This was an excellent biography of Robert Oppenheimer, and I enjoyed it very much. It is an engrossing read that left me very satisfied. The story is quite sad, but is written in a clear and flowing style, replete with personal narrative and valuable historical data. The book takes you from Oppenheimer's early days, through the Manhattan Project, and continues with his life in the aftermath. It is a moving story about one man's amazing life, but is also a valuable historical and social lesson about the dangerous results of government interjection into science.

Disgrace
Coetzee has become one of my favorite authors. His writing is perfect. There is never an extraneous word. There is an ideal simplicity of the narrative, and profound heart-piercing drama. Coetzee understand the enromous complexity of human nature, but beyond that, he is able to describe it in lyrical terms that are personal to the reader. This is the story of David Lurie, a 52 year old professor in Cape Town. His affair with a student leads to his social and professional disgrace, which, in turn, results in his journey to the Eastern Cape where his daughter makes a living as a farmer. However, this story is so much more than an exploration into emotions, motivations, and consequences (although, if it were just that, it would still be a stupendous work). The novel also examines themes on history, brutality, loyalty, and grief. Everyone should read this book.

Probabilistic Methods for Algorithmic Discrete Mathematics
This book was not great. I didn't understand a lot of the stuff in it, and it's a very slow read. Not much flow, or narrative. It took me about an hour to get through the first 5 pages. And frankly, the character development was a bit lacking. I wouldn't recommend this one, unless you need it for your thesis work. Really. If you are looking for nice train reading, skip this and go with the Batman comics.