"Let's Do It: The Birth of Pop" by Bob Stanley (2022)

 

A rare and beautiful thing, this voluminous book was captivating from the first to the last page - even though I was busy with it for a month, not once I wanted to skip the page; it kept me engaged to the very end and than I went back once more to re-read about Jake Thackray. I have read in the past books focused on specific genres, however this is the very first time that I have encountered book that covers almost the whole century of recorded popular music - in all its disguises, be it vaudeville, blackface, blues, crooners, swing, rock, Broadway, you name it. It sounds very ambitious and it is - it is also brimming with interesting perception, conclusions, sardonic wit and opinions. "Let's Do It" works as a kind of prequel to author's "Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop" but while it starts with the very dawn of recorded popular music, it goes much further than the rise of rock - it covers popular music all the way to the early 1970s and explains what were the seismic changes at that point.

   

Stanley is not only a brilliant writer but also a musician - it is because he is musician, that he has this unique perspective of what is the heartbeat of popular music (as accepted by masses, as opposite to critically acclaimed but unloved cult names) and as a listener, he really unearths rare gems that only nerds like me appreciate: he claims that one of Streisand's best recordings was rare 1966 single "Our Corner of the Night"  which is totally fascinating as its anomaly from her better known work (and never released or either album or compilations). He is also very funny, as for example in this particular paragraph: "No singer was more indicative of America's new-found effervescence than the insatiable Sophie Tucker, who emerged in 1912, aged twenty-six, as ˜The Last of the Red Hot Mamas, though no one had previously been aware that red-hot mamas were endangered."

What struck me as the most interesting conclusion after reading such a massive survey of almost a century of popular music is how transitory everything is - recorded music is simply a recorded document of particular moment in time. And just like every moment, it has its value and than it goes away, mostly to be forgotten. No matter how big or popular certain songs or artists are in their time, eventually the new listeners will find new favourites and their own idols: a perfect example is Bing Crosby who was once a massive pop superstar and is almost completely forgotten now. Name every artist you find important and immortal - this book will show you that its all about perspective and as the time passes, new generations will not give a damn about your immortals. A case in point: musician and poet Rod McKuen : "He may be almost forgotten now, but until Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, McKuen’s album The Sea was the Warner Brothers group’s best-selling LP of all time. That catalogue included every album by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis on Reprise, not to mention those by Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. McKuen was huge, and now his music is forgotten."  It seems to me this eventually happens to everybody, to metamorphose from current hit to oldies and than slowly to grandparents music. Re-evaluation and clever marketing (like in case of obscure blues artist Robert Johnson who became celebrated posthumously) might bring some names back into the spotlight, but generally speaking everybody has a moment in the sun and than it goes away, we are drops in the ocean, to be forgotten along with our pop stars. 

"The Greedy Queen: Eating with Victoria" by Annie Gray (2017)

 

I was familiar with Annie Gray thanks to her work with "English Heritage" youtube channel and her wonderful enthusiasm about historical cooking recipes, but I was not aware that she was also book author, until I stumbled upon Podcast "Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society" where one whole episode was all about this particular book - this was not possible to resist so here I am.

The book is great fun, as it follows various stages of Victoria's life trough the food that was prepared and served for her. It is full of wonderful details and you can tell that Gray gets giddy with excitement as she explains that even at that time it was not uncommon that guests would steal the plates and cutlery (from Buckingham Palace, imagine that!) as a souvenirs. Tons of behind-the-scene informations and thankfully, Gray decided not to bother with history - there are enough biographies about Queen Victoria - her focus is exclusively a insider look into Queen's household, chefs, staff, cooking recipes, etc. Somewhere halfway trough, I suddenly got exhausted from all this cornucopia of research, but it says more about my lack of attention than about brilliant work of Annie Gray. 

"Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth" by Avi Loeb (2021)

 

Just in case if it was not clear already, I have a passion and curiosity about extraterrestrial life - basically my youtube history show totally random selection of videos about UFO, Tina Turner and historical cooking recipes. And if I am chilling after midnight on youtube, you can bet it will be one of these subjects. During one of such evenings, I have seen (and heard) Harvard professor Avi Loeb who struck me as an interesting man and his book stayed somewhere in the corner of my mind until eventually I decided to dive into it completely. 

As expected, the book "Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth" was absolutely up my alley and I enjoyed it very much - Loeb is an intelligent, humble man who is still excited about the science and loves discussions and possibilities - although he is academic, he tries his best not to be dry and to explain everything easily. I must admit that I skipped some things because I was so engrossed in his theories that just couldn't wait to get to the interesting parts. (Perhaps I should go back and re-read it again with more patience). Loeb is tickled with unexplained presence of something we called Oumuamua that came out of our Solar System and continued tumbling into interstellar space - so far nobody really has explanation, except that science tend to call it probably some weird asteroid - Loeb theorises that it might have been artificial object designed by some other civilisation and builds the book about the ideas of possibilities of extraterrestrial life, other life forms and such. He even mentions panspermia, the possibility that our species arrived from Mars (or some other place) and what struck me as very interesting was his idea that the path of Oumuamua was not random but possibly programmed to avoid any research of its origin:

"The hypothesis that intelligent extraterrestrials designed ‘Oumuamua to be at LSR raises the obvious question: Why would they bother? I can imagine any number of reasons. Perhaps they wanted to set up the interstellar equivalent of a stop sign. Or maybe it was more like a lighthouse—or, more simply, a signpost or navigation marker. A vast network of such buoys could act as a communication grid. Or it could be used as a trip wire, an alert system triggered when one of them was knocked out of LSR. In that spirit, perhaps its creators wanted to disguise its—and their—spatial origins. Putting an object at LSR effectively camouflages who put it there. Why? Because math and a little knowledge of an object’s trajectory is sufficient to trace that object’s origins back to a launchpad; doing that is one of the primary purposes of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Consider as well that any intelligence with a grasp of math and a good map of the universe could trace back to Earth any of the interstellar ships we’ve launched from our planet’s surface."

"Aesop's Fables" as told by Joseph Jacobs (1894)

 

Dear reader, I have not forgotten to go back to my classics. Some time ago I had an idea that it would be good to read some classics from time to time, but eventually got distracted - however, since I am doing well with my reading, I was in the mood for some Aesop's Fables and this must have been long overdue re-visit to something I read decades ago. In fact, I could imagine reading these stories in their various incarnations in my fairy tale collections and probably at the very start of the primary school. Just like "One Thousand and One Nights", these stories seemingly have no origins and are known and beloved all over the planet - even their form (just a short story as told in a few sentences) suggest something told before sleep and without exception, each story has a moral lesson - which turned out to be quite immortal, strangely enough, no matter how many centuries have passed they are surprisingly fresh.

I do clearly remember some of these stories - particularly about the Fox and the Stork sharing a dinner - this was included in one of my childhood fairy tale collections - and it was a delight to re-visit them again. It worked simultaneously as a moral lessons, fairy tales and a beautiful literature. Perhaps the origins of this collection might be interesting to research, but I think its not really important - in my mind there is no doubt that the original Aesop served as a frame where the other stories were added trough the centuries - what really matters is how well these stories work even today and how delightful they are. 

"Soul Survivor: The Autobiography" by P.P. Arnold (2022)

 

 

Back to reading and its a sort of reading renaissance for me, as at certain point I had a serious slump in reading and now this current year I am on fire. For me its all about the right choice, as I my "to read" pile is definitely bigger and more ambitious than realistic, so I simply have to select something that will not be a task but a pleasure. So far this year I swallowed a complete "Silo" trilogy by Hugh Howey and really enjoyed some random choices, like Nigerian writer Nuzo Onoh, horror works by Robert McCammon and Stephen King, even glanced at historical fiction (Jennifer Saint) but curiously, I stayed away from my real, true love - music biographies. Knowing that this is something I easily gravitate towards, I kind of control this impulse, otherwise my reading list would be just celebrity memoirs. (I did sneaked in a book about Phil Spector and one by Nick Tosches on my reading list this year, but they were short and not demanding) At this point, it looks as I am deserving a threat for myself so I took autobiography of P.P. Arnold and, unsurprisingly, swallowed the whole darn thing in just a few days. 

As a lifelong fan of Tina Turner I am aware of the majority of people who were in her orbit, so I knew about P.P. Arnold - she was one of The Ikettes who was convinced (by Mick Jagger, no less) to stay in UK and try a solo career, instead of going back home. For one glowing moment, Arnold was in the spotlight, with two hits to her name: "The First Cut Is the Deepest" (written by young and upcoming Cat Stevens) and "Angel of the Morning" - but the hits, along the music career, eventually fizzled away and she spent decades floating between UK and US, trying to put her career back on track. 

Even if Arnold herself was just a footnote in 1960s pop, "Soul Survivor: The Autobiography" bursts with fascinating anecdotes and insights of music business of swinging London - simply by being an Ikette, she was instantly fascinating to most of UK audiences who idolised black American artists. She was there with Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Brian Jones, Cat Stevens, Rod Stewart, David Bowie, George Harrison, The Bee Gees, Lulu and the list goes on forever. There are many interesting stories and observations, but sadly, the book eventually changes tone and becomes quite somber and cautionary, even as Arnold keeps a brave face and philosophically accepts her lot. What strikes me the most fascinating here is the understanding that the talent itself is not enough - it is assumed - but for a success, one needs much more, like right contacts, management, connections and the whole decision how to present yourself not just to audiences but to a musicians as well. It makes one appreciate even more, the later renaissance of Tina Turner who could easily have been just another forgotten casualty, but managed to break away and bulldoze her way to the top again.

"On the way back, we stopped at a quaint little pub off the motorway and sat in the garden for high tea: smoked salmon sandwiches, scones with preserves and clotted cream and of course tea. Marianne was in one of her ‘Lady of the Manor versus the Ghetto Mistress’ moods and began bitchily comparing my Watts roots with hers as daughter of a baroness. I was in no mood to put up with this and simply ignored her. I didn’t want to get into an argument in front of the children. I was hungry and refused to let her spoil the afternoon. Back at Cheyne Walk, I was surprised when Mick rushed Marianne into the house to a waiting doctor, who gave her an injection. This may have explained her behaviour. She needed her drugs and was having withdrawals."

"In 1968, Maurice Gibb had fallen in love with the singer Lulu and she and the family desperately wanted Barry to produce her with Maurice, but she was not Barry’s cup of tea and he had no intention of doing so. She very much wished to be Britain’s female soul favourite. I was this American outsider and she sometimes showed up at our sessions and put out very negative energy, showing me no love at all. By contrast, Dusty Springfield, who was Britain’s actual female soul favourite, was always warm and friendly with me." 

"You Like It Darker" by Stephen King (2024)

 

Because the previous book I read (and posted here) was not-exactly-successful attempt to check what were the best novels of 2024 (as voted by Goodreads readers), I was wary and careful of following their lead anymore - I mean, if they think "Indian Burial Ground" was one of the best horror novels of the year, perhaps the mainstream taste is not where i fit? But than I noticed one very important detail: that book was only a contender, what actually won the title of the best horror book of 2024 was the collection of short stories by Stephen King, titled "You Like It Darker". And since I know King and enjoyed his work, I decided to check it out. He has a long & successful career, a distinctive writing style and never ceased to grab me from the very first page - so far I have read "Carrie", "Salem's Lot" (my favourite), "The Shining" (my introduction to his style), "The Stand", "The Talisman", "It", "Insomnia", "Black House", "Cell", "Doctor Sleep", "Mr. Mercedes" and a short story collection "Different Seasons" (that inspired "Shawshank Redemption" movie). Not everything he does is horror and often he likes to spread his wings into other genres, as this latest short story collection shows: "You Like It Darker" has perhaps just one or two really horror stories, the rest is intriguing combination of dreamy and creepy atmospheric stories that could almost be called "twilight zone" - perfectly fine by me, as I enjoy this kind of stuff.

The best surprise about Stephen King's latest short story collection is exactly his enthusiasm to explore twilight-zone type of stories and move away from the horror genre, that made his name. Like many readers, I usually associate him with horror but King has moved on long time ago and is prolific and successful far beyond expected. As the collection progressed, I actually enjoyed it more and more, until the very last story (previously abandoned "The Answer Man") totally won me over and not only I read it several times, I think it might be my all-time favourite Stephen King piece ever - it has all his recognisable strong spots but adds a beautiful, philosophical tone to it, that brings the narrative to completely different level. I enjoyed this a lot! 

Antwerpen

 

Not long ago, I was watching excellent documentary about the history of The Netherlands and how The famous Dutch Golden Age was actually set in motion by exodus of wealthy citizen of Antwerpen, who were fleeing from Spanish invasion. What was the destruction of Antwerpen, eventually became the start of prosperity for Amsterdam. So at the back of my mind, I had this curiosity to check the city where it all began and was excited to see it all with my own eyes. It was also a plan to do something every month, to go and visit a place where I have never been before - this time it was Antwerpen, Belgium.

The train ride from Amsterdam was easy peasy, just a little bit over an hour. And to my biggest delight, upon the arrival I was admiring a truly spectacular central station which must be the most beautiful train station I have ever seen, anywhere - it is majestic, huge and sweeping above the city, with a new parts surprisingly well fitting with the original 19th century part. The one in Amsterdam is pretty but this one in Antwerpen is something else. And just like in Amsterdam, once you walk out of it, you are right in the city centre where shops are packed with jewellery - perhaps a bit strange, considering the areas around train stations are always considered a bit unsafe - window displays bursting with diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, etc. I used to work with those so I could tell different types of gemstones - I could also tell that enormous displays are overcrowded and from my own experience I know that less is more, just a few intriguing pieces would attract more attention than stocking window display with too much bling, but its not my problem and from what I have seen, nobody was really visiting these shops, the overcrowded displays killing any desire to look at them.

The city centre was very interesting: I could clearly see that this architecture eventually inspired what we have in Amsterdam now, shapes of the old houses looking familiar but somehow different at the same time. And the historical heart of the city definitely has its own charm, with friendly local people - I have also noted the large number of immigrants. I have read about the neighbourhood called Zurenborg and took a walk there, from what I have seen it is a very pretty and quiet area full of Art Deco houses. Also because it was Saturday, I have encountered a huge number of orthodox Jews going to a synagogue in their special clothes - apparently they live in a area beyond the central station and this is exactly where I was walking. The whole families were dressed accordingly, with their special hats, locks and the whole shebang, I found it very interesting and had to control myself from staring - you don't see this every day. It was here that I have seen a very intriguing detail on almost every house, next to a stairs there is some kind of hole framed with decorative metal - for the life of me I could not tell what is this and was wondering could this have been something to give water to horses perhaps, but it was too small for horses. Eventually some nice lady explained to me this was originally made to scrub the mud from the shoes before you enter the house - so before the streets were paved, they were apparently very muddy and this is how you would manoeuvre around the mud. 

It was a short, weekend stay so I did not bother with must-do lists, I simply decided to enjoy and have fun with two museums nearby: one was called "Illusions Antwerpen" and it was about interesting visual effects (simple but delightful) while another was "Chocolate Nation" and it was all about the famous Belgian chocolate - surprisingly enjoyable and informative, apparently there is a huge amount of work involved in its production, since the beans grow on the other side of the world and than must be shipped here, where the real work on chocolate begins. Not only you read about chocolate, but the corridors are discreetly sprayed with the smell of chocolate so at the exit (where is a museum shop) visitors are totally hypnotised into buying chocolate - I got myself a chocolate soap and chocolate candle. My one regret was that the weather was not on our side, it was way too cold (suddenly) to enjoy being outside and we were so relieved and delighted to return home to our central heating. There is so much more to see in Antwerp, next time I will like to explore more about Rubens and art in general. 

 

"Indian Burial Ground" by Nick Medina (2024)

 

Most of the time I read for entertainment and escapism. Sometimes, I go for non-fiction or literary classics but mainly its the desire to transport myself far away from the reality and enjoy the imaginary worlds. Out of curiosity (and desire to move away from my usual safe zone) I have checked the 2024 Goodreads Choice Awards, thinking that it might be a good idea to see what is actually new and recent. This particular novel was one of the nominated for reader's favourite horror. The winner was actually Stephen King but since I am already familiar with him, I thought why not read someone for the first time. 

I understand writing a novel is not an easy thing to do and author must be inspired in the first place. And Nick Medina has quite a few titles behind him already. But I don't remember when was the last time I suffered so much trough reading the book, I was reading it while literary gnawing my teeth. What appealed to Goodreads readers definitely did not appeal to me and although it might have been interesting to experience how it is to live in Native American reservation (called "rez" here) - well, according to Medina its all depression, sweat, alcoholism and suicide. There might be something about it, since apparently there is huge number of suicides and alcoholism amongst Native Americans - still, it makes a depressing reading experience as every single character here suffocates in a poorly isolated trailer home, drinks and mopes around aimlessly. Basically, everybody here wants to be somewhere else.

The story is happening simultaneously in present time and in 1986. Not that I actually understood this - it was pointed to me by other Goodreads readers - so we are following two different stories, connected by the same characters. In the present time, Noemi can't accept the suicide of her boyfriend and tries to find out is this true, while her long gone uncle Louie returns to the reservation for the first time since she was a child. Than we find out about young Louie and what happened back in 1986 that made him leave in the first place. The novel is extremely slow-burning (take it as you want, I would describe it as "not exactly gripping"), the switch between different timelines is not clear and all this atmospheric, creepy and eery plot (peppered with Native American mythology) eventually just fizzles out at the end, since we are led to believe supernatural powers are behind everything, but it turned out there is nothing supernatural at all. It's just a bunch of poor, depressed alcoholics doing things to each other out of the spite and boredom. I finished this book simply because I have already invested too much effort in it, but will not return to the same author again. 

TV: "Foundation" (2021)

 

In previous post, I have mentioned how I dislike TV series that go on forever. This is the main reason why i am reluctant to commit to something massive. However, after enjoying "Silo" on Apple TV, the curiosity inspired me to check out SF series "Foundation" based on the novels by Isaac Asimov. I have never read the books, because there are simply too many of them and it felt like a rabbit hole - the only title I have ever read by him was 1990 "Nemesis" which was not bad, so I had some idea that I might liked it. Liked? Binged for two seasons breathlessly and loved every minute of it, though must admit dear reader, sometimes the plot was so complex and convoluted that I had to watch recaps on youtube to understand what have I just seen.

This Apple TV version of "Foundation" is hugely ambitious, majestic and cinematic - like "Silo", it has only slight connection with the novels that inspired it (probably just a few names and not much else) but everybody comments that TV series are work on its own and rolls on nicely without taking much notice to the books. First of all, I must compliment the way it looks - its simply fantastic and full of details about different worlds, planets, architecture, clothes, etc. Sometimes it looks so huge that it would be easy to imagine watching this in the cinema. And the story itself is deep, serious and complicated - this is not for somebody with short attention span, you must focus on several different storylines that happens simultaneously (or even in various centuries) while one of the main story includes a complex mathematic theory - no wonder I had to re-watch recaps. 

The story is naturally, set in the future where galaxy is ruled by trio of genetic clones: brother Day, Emperor Cleon and brother Dusk - somehow they are all the same person, cloned from the original Emperor Cleon who set the plan to extend his rule beyond the grave. So they sit on the three thrones and rule the galaxy, continuously changing places - when Dusk retires, Cleon will move to his place, etc. They are always supported by ageless Lady Demerzel who is kind of omnipotent governess to all of them (and later we learn, the last of humanoid robots, programmed to serve the empire, no matter what costs). There is also a famous mathematician and professor Hari Seldon whose mathematic theory predicts that in the future will fall and wants to start a new foundation to preserve the knowledge of humanity. So the whole plot is happening on the several different places: we are following the complications around Emperor, the building of foundation on a lonely and faraway planet Terminus and adventures of Seldon's helpers Gaal Dornick and her daughter Salvor Hardin - its all terribly complicated and difficult to explain but I plowed trough two seasons with the greatest pleasure and only at the very last episode i felt something like a twitch of saturation - like my brain is telling me that 20 one hour episodes was enough and now I need some rest. Even though the second season had ended with some deaths of important main characters, at this point we are familiar with the idea that nobody is really dead and there is always some way to bring them back to life, so I would not worry too much about it + Emperor and his brothers are cloned anyway, so even if they die, there is always another clone stored away nicely in some jars in the basements, and ready to be uncorked & set in motion. I am actually so hugely impressed with this series that i even started considering checking out the original novels. 

TV: "The Decameron" and "Zero Day"

I am very reluctant to approach TV series, because knowing there are 365 episodes and 7 seasons always feel like a task and most of the time these series visibly loose the steam after a while. However, from time to time I accept an exception, specially if its something like mini-series with limited amount of episodes, at least than I know it will not go forever and I can deal with 7-8 episodes.

The medieval romp "The Decameron" was surprisingly delightful, though it has almost nothing to do with 14th century novel that inspired it - the original by Giovanni Boccaccio was something like a medieval "One Thousand and One Nights" set in plague-ravaged Italy, but instead of stories told by Scheherazade, Boccaccio uses a group of young aristocrats entertaining each other with the stories while isolating from plague in a luxurious countryside villa. In this TV version, there IS a villa whose owner invited some wealthy guests to hide from the plague, but what his guests don't know is that the owner of the house had already died from plague and his servants are just keeping appearances and pretending that he is somewhere on a trip to Venice. The show focuses on the wealthy guests and their interconnections with each other - once they found out the owner is dead, they manipulate and fight each other in order to get their hands on a villa. 

There are many excellent and entertaining characters:

Pampinea (Zosia Mamet) spoiled and arrogant wealthy lady who came to marry the owner of the villa. Once she discovers he is actually dead, she pretends they have quickly been married and in fact she claims to be pregnant in order to inherit the villa.

Misia (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) her loony servant who always fights to protect her mistress and dares anybody to disobey her orders

Tindaro (Douggie McMeekin) another obnoxious nobleman who is totally narcissist and self-absorbed, mostly tolerated because of his wealth and always demanding attention with his hypochondria .

Dioneo (Amar Chadha-Patel) his personal doctor who in reality is nothing but a charlatan and manipulating Tindaro in the background.

Panfilo (Karan Gill) young aristocrat who arrives with his wife, social-climbing and secretly twisting everything in order to get his hands on a villa

Neifile (Lou Gala) his extremely religious wife who has vowed to chastity and later eyeing every man around, as she regrets her promises. 

Filomena (Jessica Plummer) selfish young aristocrat who leaves her sick father alone at home, so she can visit the villa and catch a wealthy husband

Licisca (Tanya Reynolds) her servant who - in a comical twist - exchanges place with Filomena and now pretends to be wealthy lady and real Filomena her servant

Stratilia (Leila Farzad) the villa's cook and mother of a boy who is son of villa's owner, therefore the real owner of the villa

Sirisco (Tony Hale) the main servant of the villa, who buried his master and is pretending that everything is still in order

"Zero Day" had only six episodes and cast to day for: Robert De Niro (in his first ever TV series), Angela Bassett and Lizzy Caplan lead the star-studded show about the retired US president who is investigating a cyberattack. It's all extremely convoluted and complicated, with nods to a very current political atmosphere and squabbling inside the government itself. While people on social media are busy arguing amongst themselves about pronouns and such, real trouble is brewing in the background where heavy hitters are intriguing and planning a coup. It's all very interesting and gripping up to a certain point - there is a very fascinating idea about someone using cyber-weapon from a distance on president's brain - perhaps some wavelength? - which potentially makes him distracted and vulnerable. Unfortunately the show goes on and on without ever resolving this potential weapon and settles on suggesting it was simply stress that De Niro suffered and therefore it was all (literary) just in his head. So after 6 one-hour episodes it all ends up pretty bland and pointless, almost a waste of all this spectacular talent.

"Silo 3: Dust" by Hugh Howey (2013)

 

Without thinking twice, I continued immediately with the third part of "Silo" as it represents culmination of the story + both "Wool" and "Shift" finally merge into one, with characters from both novels now finally merging together. We follow what is going on in Silo 1 (where Donald faces senator Thurman), Silo 18 (where people react with panic as they don't understand what is Juliette trying to do) and Silo 17 (where Solo and a handful of survivors are hiding). I thought it was excellent and the end is basically the only logic, realistic possibility so it felt like a satisfactory trilogy.

Since only the first book ("Wool") was made into TV series (so far) I could tell there are differences between the novel and the TV version, no doubt the same will happen later but to be honest I did not miss the TV version at all - producers and actors are doing excellent job but I also enjoy creating the whole world inside of my head and "Dust" was gripping enough to read it breathlessly - there was interesting antagonist (but not much space given) in a shape of religious cult leader who might be better used in TV series later eventually. Also the character of Juliette - previously so heroic and brave - now started to irritate me a bit as she really comes across and perpetually angry and argumentative without patience to actually explain what is her plan - the main reason why people turn against her is because she is just bulldozing around, without enlightening people why is she doing all this digging, etc. And when citizens of Silo 18 finally break into the remains of Silo 17, they just grab everything they see and it is obvious this is not a good thing - but Juliette is too busy with her anger to do anything about it. Luckily Solo shows more strength and force that we even expected. The end is brilliant and now I can take a deep breath and wait for TV version. 

"Silo 2: Shift" by Hugh Howey (2013)

 

A month ago, I was so intrigued with TV series "Silo" that I decided to read the trilogy upon the series were based. To my biggest surprise, script was not literary following the novel but in fact embellished on it - the final result might be even better, as far as TV series goes, since it added many new characters and kind of twisted it a bit around, making it much more interesting. It kept the same basic story as in the book, but added much, much more. However, reading the book after the series also meant that I knew the end. 

It might sound like a sacrilege but I enjoyed "Shift" even more than the first part "Wool" for the simple reason that TV series at this point is still not being made and everything was new to me: I resisted temptation to read anything about it online and just hungrily dived into the story. "Shift" goes deep into the background of how Silo(s) actually came to be built in the first place and its even darker and more claustrophobic than the first part. Just like the first part, it follows several different timelines:

- 2049: we follow young politician Donald who is employed to built the huge underground silo, allegedly for nuclear waste. He bows to influential senator Thurman who obviously don't tell him everything and there is also Thurman's daughter Anna who continuously throws herself at Donald, even though their relationship is long over and Donald now has a wife, Helen

- 2110: deep frozen Troy is awaken for his shift in Silo 1, where everybody is deep frozen and awaken for work at scheduled intervals. He is deeply depressed as he knows that the world above was purposely destroyed and the only surviving population is the one inside 50 Silo's. Eventually we learn that Troy is actually Donald and everybody he ever knew is dead, including his wife. 

- we also follow young man Mission who is "porter" (messenger) in Silo 18 and we see the revolution from his point of view. We learn that Silo 18 was spared from destruction but all its inhabitants have erased memory. Much later, we learn about new sheriff from 18 who refused to clean the camera outside and she ventured into next door Silo 17

- we also follow young boy Jimmy who survives uprising in Silo 17 by hiding in a secret place where his father let him hide - he is instructed not to open door to anybody and spends years totally alone, until at the very end of the novel the sheriff from Silo 18 arrives

I was totally into it and enjoyed it a lot - again, because there was no TV series to confuse me, everything was fresh and new to me. I don't doubt that once when its finished, TV series will be exciting and again totally different - until than I intend to read the whole trilogy.