Cahokia Jazz

 

Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford 464 pages

 

I love this novel so much that I am going to claim that it will be one of the must-reads of 2024!

 

What Amazon says:  Francis Spufford’s Cahokia Jazz inhabits a different version of America, now through the lens of a subtly altered 1920s—a fully imagined world full of fog, cigarette smoke, dubious motives, danger, dark deeds. And in the main character of Joe Barrow, we have a hero of truly epic proportions, a troubled soul to fall in love with as you are swept along by a propulsive and brilliantly twisty plot.

On a snowy night at the end of winter, Barrow and his partner find a body on the roof of a skyscraper. Down below, streetcar bells ring, factory whistles blow, Americans drink in speakeasies and dance to the tempo of modern times. But this is Cahokia, the ancient indigenous city beside the Mississippi living on as a teeming industrial metropolis, filled with people of every race and creed. Among them, peace holds. Just about. But that corpse on the roof will spark a week of drama in which this altered world will spill its secrets and be brought, against a soundtrack of jazz clarinets and wailing streetcars, either to destruction or rebirth.

 

What I thought of it: This novel has it all! I was captivated by the opening scene that sets a harrowing stage of what is to come to the heartbreaking last scene. Part alternate history, part noir thriller, part mythology legends, with science, jazz, crime, mob scenes and the KKK all thrown in to make a highly readable novel.

 

Cahokia Jazz is a complicated, complex, easy to follow and fabulous novel. Therefore, it receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Calculating Stars

 The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal  431 pages

Summary from Goodreads: On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington D.C. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space, and requires a much larger share of humanity to take part in the process.

Elma York’s experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition’s attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn’t take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can’t go into space, too.

Elma’s drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.

And here's what I thought: I picked up this book for a book group read and really enjoyed it. The premise is interesting and believable, and I liked that the story focused on a woman who is really good at math. Which may sound odd --- but really, it's kind of nice to have a focus on intelligence, rather than what she looks like. Or how bad-ass she is.  Because she is bad-ass --- but it's because she's really smart.

Kowal includes plenty of realistic details, so you could imagine this story really happening.  This is alternate history, but it's so well done that it could be a nonfiction memoir. Definitely looking forward to reading more in this series!

His Majesty's Dragon

His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire #1) by Naomi Novik     353 pages (listened to audiobook)

What if you wrote a book that was alternate history, where the Napoleonic Wars happened with aerial combat?  And that aerial combat was dragons?  You'd have a totally awesome series!!

The first time I read this book was with a book group. I admit, I didn't expect to like it much --- I mean, it sounded weird.  However, I completely enjoyed the first book, and read all the way through the series.  So this month, instead of re-reading the first book in the series, I tried the audiobook. 

I think the audiobook makes this book even better.  The man reading the book does a fantastic job --- voices for each character, and in a way that makes complete sense. You buy that of course there are dragons used in the aerial corps in the Napoleonic War. You completely buy that of course, dragons are intelligent and talk. Novik writes in such a way that you get pulled into the story and everything makes sense.  Read by Simon Vance, this book is immensely enjoyable.

 I've already grabbed the second book in the series as an audiobook to listen to ----- and unfortunately, will have to see out the rest, as our library doesn't have any other audiobooks of this series.

Here is summary, courtesy of Goodreads: 
Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors ride mighty fighting dragons, bred for size or speed. When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes the precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Captain Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future – and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle. For as France’s own dragon-borne forces rally to breach British soil in Bonaparte’s boldest gambit, Laurence and Temeraire must soar into their own baptism of fire

The Goddess of Fortune

The Goddess of Fortune by Andrew Blencowe    362 pages

I won this book in a Shelf Awareness (an e-newsletter) a couple of years ago.  Judging a book by its cover, this looks like a great read. Although I knew it alternate history, the time period was World War II, so how could it be a disappointment?

Over the past couple of years, I’ve tried five or six times to read this novel, but alas, I could never get past page 40.

The dust jacket says that the story is about, “What if by the passing of just two events, Japan and Germany had won World War II?”  However I have no idea what Blencowe was talking about in those 40 pages. There is a well-described sex scene, which from flipping through and scanning several pages, seems to be pre-dominate plot.

The Goddess of Fortune isn’t my cup of tea. It gets 1 out of 5 stars (for a great cover) in Julie’s world.

League of Dragons

League of Dragons by Naomi Novik.  380 pages.

This is the ninth (and final) book in the Temeraire series, which is an alternate history series combining the Napoleonic Wars with dragons.  Yes, that may sound odd -- it did to me when I picked up the first book in the series to read with a book group.  However, I found myself enjoying the book, and then went on to read the rest in the series. Novik has a strong background in history, and combined with her skilled storytelling, the books totally make sense.  What I mean is, it's easy to imagine this kind of setting, where the forces have dragons to aid in fighting.

In this last novel in the series, we're at the end of Napoleon's campaign in Russia.  Napoleon has been denied a victory, but at the price of many lives (both human and dragon).  Laurence and Temeraire pursue the fleeing French army, only to determine that not only has Napoleon made it back to Paris unscathed, but that the French have stolen Temerarie and Iskierka's egg.

So, reading my summary, I can see where it wouldn't make a lot of sense.  This is definitely a series where you need to begin with the first book, because not only are things explained, but this is a series which has a definite timeline. You finish one book and the next one begins pretty close in time to where the previous book left off.   So, if this kind of a story sounds interesting, I would suggest beginning with the first book, His Majesty's Dragon.  

Life After Life

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson    560 pages

Kate Atkinson’s novel is tricky. In this novel, with death not an ending but a beginning, it’s hard to know what is reality. The story opens in November 1930. The main protagonist, Ursula, kills Adolph Hitler for an unknown reason. Then the novel reverts to a cold, snowy, January night in 1910. Sylvie Todd is giving birth; the doctor does not arrive before the baby makes its appearance. However, the baby girl dies, strangled by the umbilical cord. In the next chapter, taking place on the same night and almost under the same circumstances, the results are very different. The doctor is able to make it through the snow and the baby, named Ursula, does not die.

Reincarnations, like Ursula’s birth, that are the crux of Atkinson’s novel and these types of episodes appear over and over although not in a linear structure. The novel moves over the course of the early 20^th century. Most of the story takes places between 1910 and 1947, with one chapter stretching to 1967.

At times the plot was difficult to understand. Just about the time I got into a linear stretch, the time moved again. I felt as if I was reading basically a linear plot that continually moved forward, yet had room for the “what if’s?” of  life.

There was one chapter where Ursula is best friends with Eva Braun, is married and has a child. That seemed to come from nowhere and was, for me, quite confusing.

By the time I was turned the last page, I had gotten to know these characters very, very well, perhaps more so than if Life After Life was a traditional love. It was starting to get a little old about two-thirds through the 560 pages, which I why I’m giving Life After Life 4 out of 5 stars. However, I do think this is a book that can be read over and over and over. As a person moves through his or her life, like Ursula, a new reading, I think, will create even newer worlds.

The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage

The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer by Sydney Padua, 315 pages

The Thrilling Adventures... is an entertaining mish-mash of comics, history, alternate-history, computers, math, Alice in Wonderland, steam-punk, Victorian England and postmodern self-referential meta-footnotes.  I had to use three bookmarks to keep my place in the main text, endnotes and appendices (and I still got a bit confused on occasion).   But overall, it's an outstanding introduction to Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace's (almost) creation of the first computer and computer programs, though most of the book is set in a pocket universe and imagines a history that never actually came to be.

Padua grapples a bit with the question of who was Ada Lovelace?  Supergenius mathematical prodigy and co-inventor of the computer, or an empty symbol for politically correct feminists?  While this question is never definitively answered (the primary sources regarding Ada are sadly slim when compared to her male contemporaries), Padua does make a strong argument for a Lady Lovelace who tends toward the former description instead of the latter.  I have to admit to getting lost in some of the math and engineering discussions periodically, but Padua's humor and wonderful drawings helped pull me along through these technical sections.  I also loved the frequent guest appearances by Lovelace and Babbage's Victorian buddies including Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday, Charles Dickens and Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll).

Recommended for those who enjoy Kate Beaton's comics, those interested in steam powered computers, lovers of enormous rambling footnotes and Ada Lovelace groupies.

Bombs Away

Bombs Away by Harry Turtledove
432 Pages
 
"China decides it cannot risk the possibility of America's total victory in the Korean War, and, just five years after Japan's surrender to the U.S., the People's Republic of China joins the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea in the war to preserve and spread communism throughout the Korean peninsula. In response, a frightened U.S. annihilates Manchuria with its most effective weapon to date: the atomic bomb.This leads to retaliation by the Russians and the slide into World War III."

Turtledove is known for his alternate history book and this one explores the premise of Truman allowing MacArthur to utilize the atomic bomb in the Korean conflict.  The weakness of the book is that there is little character development so you don't get very invested in their fates.  The escalation of hostilities between the US and Russia wears on the reader and the horror of the war is numbing. 

Ink and Bone

Ink and Bone (The Great Library #1)
by Rachel Caine
352 Pages

Rachel Caine rewrites history, creating a dangerous world where the Great Library of Alexandria has survived the test of time.…
 
Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly—but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden.
 
Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family, who are involved in the thriving black market. Jess has been sent to be his family’s spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library’s service.
 
When he inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe that knowledge is more valuable than any human life—and soon both heretics and books will burn.…

Black market book buyers, alchemy, alternate history, boarding school, rivalries, murder, government secrets... whew. Of course I picked it up because the premise was an alternate history where the Great Library of Alexandria survived. But the Library Controls. All. Information. Nobody is really even allowed to own books or a written word. Citizens receive tablets, and the library sends them a book, but when the citizen is done with the book their tablet is erased. No owning anything. Even newspapers don't stay around, so there's no written history. Our protagonist is sent to Alexandria in a scholarly competition among 30 kids to see who can get the 8 open spots in the library. So there are rivalries as in any competition, a very hard to please teacher, a rather uncaring government entity, and a dangerous assignment that proves which the Great Library of Alexandria values most: lives or words. 

I had high expectations of this book and it almost lived up to them. The beginning was rather slow, and didn't get interesting until we got to school. And didn't get exciting until their first real assignment. And to be honest, I thought some of the minor characters were more interesting than our protagonist. Despite this I still stayed up too late one night desperately reading, and wishing for the sequel as soon as I closed the book. 

The mechanical

The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis
471 Pages


"In an early 20th century where history took a decidedly different turn, the world is divided in two: the realm of the Dutch and their mechanical servitors in the empire ruled by the Brassworks Throne and the battered and pathetic remnants of France living in exile in the New World. Jax is a Clakker, a mechanical man built to obey the will of the humans who used alchemy to set him in motion. When a quirk of chance frees him from the geas ("alchemical binding") that usually controls all Clakkers absolutely, he will do anything to retain his free will. Meanwhile, in New France, Berenice is the spymaster charged with finding a way to defeat the Dutch, but she overreaches when she tries to capture a Clakker."

An interesting start to what might be a new series.  Tregillis not only creates a fascinating alternate world but explores free will and self-awareness.

Last American Vampire

Last American Vampire by Seth Grahame-Smith
398 Pages


A continuation of "Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter" this book is actually better than you would think.  We follow vampire Henry Sturges' unlife following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln to present day.  Along the way we also learn about his past and more about the vampire community he is a part of.

I will say like all books that span a vast number of years you get tired of the constant bombardment of the main character with every crucial moment in history.  He was involved in the JFK assassination, he was at the Russian Revolution, he knew every important historical figure that every lived.  Other than that it was an okay book.

Last Orders

Last Orders by Harry Turtledove, 401 pages

Last Orders is the sixth and final book of The War that Came Early series. Even though this is hailed as the last book in the series or the conclusion it leaves a lot of story lines and two of the four wars hanging. The only thing that really concludes in the European war.

While I have stated how much I have enjoyed this series before, I found that this book seemed to drag along more than the rest. Yes the war is wrapping up, and yes there spurts of action because of it, but there is also pages and pages of political discussions and conversations that add nothing to the plot or book.

Burning Paradise

Burning Paradise by Robert Charles Wilson, 317 pages

In an alternative world there has been no war since 1918 due to the interference of an alien entity who envelopes the earth.  This entity has been manipulating information to use humans for its own purpose.  Only a few have figured this out and now find themselves in danger and at the crossroads of a decision that will affect everyone on earth.

Written in Red

Written in Red by Anne Bishop, 433 p

In an alternate universe, the world is shared between humans and the Others.  North America is still the domain of the others and humans are barely tolerated.  Meg Corbyn shows up at the Others courtyard and is offered the job of liaison between the Others and the human world.  However, Meg is more than she seems and both communities find out quickly that it may be impossible to avoid catastrophe unless they learn to work together.

Maggot Moon

Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner, 279 pages

Standish Treadwell lives in a nightmarish totalitarian state during an alternate-past 1956.  His parents, virtually all of his neighbors in Zone 7, and now his best friend, Hector, have disappeared.  The Motherland is embroiled in a race to the moon that is shrouded in secrecy.  Despite having a learning disability (dyslexia) that places him far behind his classmates, Standish is a collector of words - a dangerous position in a state where the Motherland punishes any perceived difference or defect.  Like the rest of his world, school is a terrifying and brutal place for Standish.

Sally Gardner’s sparse language and short chapters won’t scare off reluctant teen readers from this complex and deeply affecting story.  Maggot Moon was the recipient of the 2013 Carnegie Medal (a British award recognizing outstanding children’s literature – similar to the Newbery Medal).