#addictive books

Recursion 

by Blake Crouch

Could Blake Crouch please write more books so I can start a novel and then read until the wee hours of the morning every single night of my life?

For some reason, I keep on thinking, If Blake Crouch told me to jump off a bridge, I just might. Though it’d have nothing to do with peer pressure. I think I’d step off that bridge just because I wouldn’t be surprised if his concept of time, space and reality so far transcends mine that that small time continuum disturbance would save the world in some way. 

Crouch is simply a master sci-fi storyteller. Do you love slightly alternative worlds to ours? Check. Love near-plausible catastrophic worldwide scenarios? Check. Love books that blow your mind with their theories? Check.

Recursion starts with a world that is suffering from False Memory Syndrome, a seemingly isolated disease in which people experience “false memories” of a life they never lived while simultaneously living the life they do. This naturally causes many a psychotic break. Because what if you remembered a world where you had a spouse and child and rewarding job and suddenly find yourself single, childless and bankrupt?  

I almost don’t know how to write about Recursion because there comes a time while reading Crouch’s books where my meager astrophysical understanding of the world collides with reality to create a fissure through which I can peek into a distinct possibility that he is not the storyteller of a fictional tale, but rather a harbinger of a real impending doom.

I read Dark Matter in one sitting. I opened it at bedtime. I turned the last page before I fell asleep.  Recursion I savored over the course of a 24-hour period, though from self-control or fear for our precarious world, I cannot say which.

In some way, Blake Crouch writes the stuff of nightmares: science, power, playing God. The problem is: sometimes it’s hard to tell whether or not we’re awake.

An Excess Male

by Maggie Shen King

Imagine a world where you could only have one child. Where adult men significantly outnumber adult women to the point that a quarter of men are forced into bachelorhood. Where there are penalties for multiple children, homosexuality, large dogs, and defying the government.

Perhaps the scariest part of it all is: you don’t have to imagine at all.

Fact: China’s one-child policy was introduced in 1979 and was only altered in 2016. While some argue the family planning initiative had its desired effect of decreasing population growth, others argue that the population growth would have slowed naturally anyway. The “excess” consequences of the policy however, resulted in the abortion and abandonment of less-desirable girls and an aging population of “excess” men. Not to mention the surplus of second and third children who were not recognized by the state as citizens. Parents discovered to have more than one child were often dismissed from work and heavily fined. Many unregistered children still exist who are unable to obtain an education or even ID. (For more information, check out this news story from Time:http://time.com/4598999/china-one-child-policy-family-planning/)

That is the nonfiction part.

Enter Maggie Shen King’s addictive novel An Excess Male where we meet 40-something bachelor Wei-guo who has just become eligible for matchmaking services. With such a disproportionate number of males, the policy of Family Advancement has been introduced, and each woman may marry three men, and mother three children, one from each. Wei-guo, escorted by his two fathers (the product of such an “advanced” household) meets May-ling, her two peculiar husbands - who are incidentally brothers - and their irascible son, Bei-Bei.  So ensues a very unique courtship under the watchful eye of an ever-imposing government.

Told from four alternating and enjoyably distinctive perspectives, it’s part sci-fi, part love story, part bromance, part thriller. Don’t be fooled by its seeming domestic trappings. There is a Middle Kingdom real life battle club for bachelors, an anti-social brilliant hacker, and a highly secretive underground gay circuit. In fact, two-thirds of the way through, King’s twists so jolted me I reread the page and stayed up until the wee hours to learn Wei-guo’s fate.

That is the fiction part.

The problem is: they aren’t so far apart.

Invisible by James Patterson & David Ellis

Hello.

My name is brennanbookblog.

And it’s been two days since my last James Patterson paperback.

I don’t really think I have a problem. I mean, this is the first time I’ve even read a Patterson paperback. I just know that rampant reading of Patterson runs in my family - my Dad’s side - and I wanted to curtail the unhealthy behavior before it became an issue.

Until last weekend, I hadn’t even considered reading a Patterson. (I was reading a Booker Man Prize Finalist at this time last month for God’s sake.) There was something too best-seller-y about Patterson, something for people who wanted a cheap high. I normally don’t even consider mass market publications as options. But I was stuck in the Philadelphia airport and I finished my Shonda Rhimes book on the incoming flight;  I thought this one wouldn’t hurt. I could stop myself if I wanted.

I have never really had a problem with Patterson before. I have shopped in stores that sell Patterson novels. I have been around them socially. I even have a copy of The Zoo on my shelf which I never opened.

I recognize the symptoms though, so I thought it’d be best to face this thing head on. My hands shake in anticipation of tattered Patterson novels at half price books. I “accidentally” take detours that bring me to the shelves and shelves of Patterson in the bookstore. I scrolled through his iBooks author page until the sixth reload and then realized that I had felt this feeling before.  I knew what I was doing.

I exhibited this behavior with Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series - pre-ordering, marking my calendar for the next release date, for the next fix.  I had been addicted to fierce heroines before. I read books overnight in Michael Grant’s Gone Series, sometimes not leaving the house for days at a time; I purchased the entire series on Amazon in the middle of the night just so I wouldn’t run dry the next day.  And Jasper Fford’s Thursday Next Series - let’s face it: the signs were there.

There are a lot of scenarios that could play out with a serial killer/ cop-considered-crazy/ guarded-heart-gone-awry melting pot.

So, I know it’s gonna be hard. In a quick tally of Patterson titles, I numbered about 150. One hundred fifty. And there are stand-alones, sure, but I know that series are my weakness.

I vow here that I will not alienate my loved ones in favor of a quick read; I will not neglect my work just to cram in a few more chapters. I’m totally in control. I know my limitations. So I’ll be fine if I just read…. one ….more.