Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu

The In-Laws were in town this weekend. Suzy and I were just discussing how lucky we are to have them involved in our, and our boys, lives. Suzy's dad is great about playing and having loads of fun with the boys, as well is amazing with all of the stuff that he builds for our house. He is currently working on bunk beds for the boys. Very cool. Suzy's mom is great, but in totally different ways. She loves to read with the boys, snuggle with them, give them comfort when their grandpa is too rough, or gets them calmed down after all of the crazy things grandpa does. Tutu is also always ready with something interesting to talk about or think about. I have had great discussions with her about an amazing variety of things. The other way that she has made herself near and dear to my heart is that she is a librarian by trade. That means that she is always ready with a book, a new author, or an opinion on something that I would like to read. Since they were down this weekend she let me read Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu, which she had brought down for me.

While not a classic read by any stretch of the imagination, it was just what I was in the mood for. Sometimes SciFi books can be a bit preachy. I am not too interested in preachy SciFi, but I have to put up with it if I want to fly around the galaxy. When I have had enough of SciFi authors telling me how the world or humanity could be better I like to escape into a mindless mystery. Mysteries are good for me because they go quick, they generally hold your attention, and almost never do they preach to you.

Mr Monk, if you haven't seen the TV show, is an extremely obsessive compulsive detective who consults for the San Francisco Police Department. The reason he consults is that his OCD makes him incapable of functioning in society without the help of an assistant. The book is told from the perspective of that assistant, and deals with a time that the Police department is on 'strike', and hires Mr. Monk to help pick up the slack. Mr. Monk and his fellow misfit detectives have to find a way to solve the raging murders in the city (don't go to San Francisco, lots of killing going on there!), by embracing their various disorders (OCD, paranoia, impulse control, senility). I have watched the TV show a few times, and thought it had some funny moments, but have never watched regularly. The book was about the same, pretty funny at times, and easy to follow, but I don't think that I will rush out to by the rest in the series. Maybe it is on the order of a book that you would pick up in the airport, assuming that you don't have to entertain kids that is. Oh, to remember the time when my only concern on a plane ride is what book to read. It seems like that was a long time ago.

Three stars for Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu.

1633

There are numerous ways that Suzy and I try to maintain a harmonious marriage. Some work better than others. I know that Suzy needs to have a specific type of cheese in order to make nachos. Not shredded. Not a block. Only the cheese that comes in a soup can will do. We spent a LONG time wandering around our grocery store early on in our marriage, me wondering what was going on, and Suzy looking for the cheese. After much anger, borderline tears, and some stomping later, we stumbled upon the cheese, and she was happy.

One of my quirks is that I am not allowed to read books by Harry Turtledove. I like the idea behind most of his books (historical novels, but something happens to change history, the genre is called alternative history), but not the execution. They always end up frustrating me.

So one day while in Mysterious Galaxy I stumbled upon 1812, a book about the War of 1812, with some alterations to history. The idea was there, the execution was there, and it ended up being a pretty good book. Boy, was I excited. Nothing like finding a new option for picking up books. Especially an option with plenty of choices out there for you to catch up on. So 1812 lead me to try 1632, which plops a region of modern day West Virginia into 1632 Germany, smack in the middle of the 30 Years war. Again, interesting idea, good execution.

I went to the well again while in Mysterious Galaxy by picking up 1633. We pick up the story again of how these hillbillies from West Virginia deal with the life and times of war torn Europe. The premise of the book is obviously ridiculous, some kind of time warp grabbing a big ring of West Virginia and flinging it back in time. But, as long as you can suspend your disbelief of that premise the rest of the series covers what would happen next. Local coal miner Mike Stearns leads the formation of new country in central Europe called the United States. Using what weapons and technology that came with them the intrepid hillbillies defend themselves, protect the innocent peasants and introduce the ideals of modern day democracy to monarch dominated Europe. A good read for me, I gave it 3 and a half stars and am looking forward reading the next in the series, strangely named, 1634.