Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

 

    Hench is probably my favorite novel that i read in 2021 and easily the most unique. It takes place in a world where both superheroes and super villains exist. The protagonist, Anna, begins the story working as a temp for a mid level super villain. After being badly injured during a raid by super heroes she begins to calculate just how much  collateral damage that the men and women in tights are doing.

    This is a subject that often gets glossed over in comic books and movies. It usually only comes up if the casualty is attached in some way to the hero, a la Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider Man 2. Otherwise, every time a hero throws a  car and misses the villain, someone loses a car and someone else suffers property damage, if not worse. The only time I recall it being mentioned is in the Daredevil show when someone brings up that organized crime is going to make a fortune skimming off the effort to rebuild New York City after the events of The Avengers.

    Anna's research attracts the attention of a top tier super villain and she goes to work for him, both to exact revenge on the one that harmed her as well as show the hypocrisy of the unquestionable belief in the goodness of superheroes. 

    This is a great book that I highly recommend. If possible, pick up the edition with the bonus short story Meat, set in the same universe but among the hired muscle that works for super villains. 

    As always you can find me on twitter @jeffsbookcase or feel free to leave a comment below.

32 Yolks by Eris Ripert with Veronica Chambers

 

    32 Yolks is the story of Chef Eric Ripert's boyhood and rise through the early ranks of chefdom in France. I didn't know much about Ripert prior to reading this book, having only seen him on an episode or two of Anthony Bourdain's travel shows. It was clear from Bourdain's respect for him that he was a great chef so I was in intrigued when I came across this book.

    He details a childhood where he found solace through food after his parent's divorce, both at his mother's table as well as those of his extended family. This led to culinary school and soon after a job working under the watchful eye and sharp tongue of master chef Joel Robuchon.

    Ripert pulls no punches about what is was like to work for Robuchon, detailing both the amazing learning opportunity of doing things never before done in the culinary word as well as the gut-wrenching anxiety of trying to keep up with Robuchon's often impossible demands. After a break for military service, he returned to Robuchon's employ and the book ends with him setting out for America to continue his career.

    This book gives a great view of the respect with which food is held in France as well as an insider's look at the world of young chefs of the time. It would make an excellent double-feature read with Kitchen Confidential to compare and contrast the stories of chef's coming up in both France and America.

    As always, please fee freee to comment belwo or reach out to me at jeffsemonis at yahoo.com.

Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge by Mike Resnick

 

    People often joke about what aliens would think if they sifted through the stuff humans left behind. Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge by Mike Resnick answers that question. I found this book by chance while looking for more of Resnick's work after enjoying his excellent book Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future. Olduvai Gorge caught my eye because it won both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novella.

    A multi-faceted team of aliens has been sent to Earth long after humanity's extinction to learn more about what led humans to conquer the stars. The most notable member of the team has the ability to sense the history of an item and this novella  tells the story of seven such artifacts of Earth's past and future. It's a great, quick read that takes a look at how other cultures may see us when we're long gone.

If you like this book, I highly encourage you to check out Santiago as it's a wonderful read in an imaginative setting.

    I'd love to hear your thoughts about this novella in the comments below, via email at jeffsemonis@yahoo.com, or on twitter @jeffsbookcase. 

    

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

                                                                

I've only read a few of Agatha Christie's novels so I sometimes forget why she is the Queen of the mystery novel. I can't really say much about this book other than there is a group of people on an island and they die one by one and they know full well that one of them is the killer. And it's brilliant.

Murder on the Orient Express is also brilliant. I'm going to keep this short because you really need to experience these on your own. If you are a mystery fan then these two novels are almost required reading. The plotting is intricate and you won't see the end coming.

As always, drop me a line at jeffsemonis@yahoo.com or on twitter @jeffsbookcase.

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

                                                                      

This is a very interesting book about how habits affect individuals, organizations, and societal groups. There is a lot of information about how people form habits, how they are studied, and how they can be changed. This may seem like a dry topic but the author uses many case studies that show how habits relate to our everyday world.

The second section focuses mostly on habits in the business world. There is a fascinating section on how Target uses data that they collect on shopper's habits. It's both genius and profoundly creepy. The third part focuses on habits in the larger society. The section on how habits influenced  the Mongomery bus boycott shows how habits play their part in history.

Overall it's a great read and it really gets you thinking about your own habits. Changes in habits can create profits for businesses but can also cause individuals great suffering.

For more information you can find an NPR interview with the author here or check out his website.

As always feel free to drop me a line at jeffsemonis at yahoo.com or find me on twitter @jeffsbookcase.

The Dead Witness by Michael Sims

                                                                    

The Dead Witness is a collection of Victorian detective stories that could serve as a textbook on the origin of the genre. Sherlock Holmes is there, as is Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue, a story that I had long heard of but had never actually read. Sims also unearthed a detective story that predates Poe's and it is very interesting.

As the author mentioned in an NPR interview, he has also included many stories by and starring women that had been pushed to the side in earlier collections. I particularly enjoyed An Intangible Clue featuring Violet Strange.

There are many stories featuring detectives whose names are seldom heard today, such as November Joe, Uncle Abner, and James McGovan. McGovan was a pseudonym but the story, The Mysterious Human Leg was my favorite of the collection.

Dickens' On Duty with Inspector Field is a fascinating non-fiction piece that is included, along with  a reprint of part of one of the Jack the Ripper murder inquests.

If you have an interest in detective fiction then you owe it to yourself to read this book. The stories were well chosen and represent a great cross section of the genre. It has inspired me to seek out more stories about many of the detectives that were featured.

As always you can reach me at jeffsemonis at yahoo.com or on twitter @jeffsbookcase.

Books I Read as a Kid - The Mad Scientists Club

I think I had two books of short stories about The Mad Scientists Club. They were a group of friends who liked science and got into all sorts of adventures. I don't remember a lot of the stories but I did have an affinity for one that involved them acquiring a submarine. I do remember liking the books a great deal when I was in grade school though.

I learned while researching this post that there are two additional books in the series. The problem with writing about books that you read as a child is that you end up wanting to read them again. I may have to order the complete collection.

If you have young readers, give this a look. I think it would appeal to those that liked the Bruno and Boots Series that I profiled recently.

There is a great website at http://www.madscientistsclub.com/ that profiles the books and their author, Bertrand R. Brinley.

As always you can reach me at jeffsemonis at yahoo.com or on twitter @jeffsbookcase.