The Windup Girl

 This book won the Nebula 2010 award.

In the second year of COVID, it has been a good read to see how things can be in a few years if we are not awake enough.

The book tells the story of a corporation manager in Thailand, a "yellow card" who is a chinese refugee, a White Shirt(environment ministry police), ex tai-boxing champion who is the White Shirt's captain and a windup girl who is a new people(genetically improved human) used as sexual attraction in Bangkok.

The world by then has collapsed ecologically and plagues and virus have brought the world wars, famines and the domination of the Calory companies who control the plague resistant plants who feed the world, except in Thailand that closed it's borders and developed an internal program to feed their people successfully.

As always, political corruption leads to problems and the book is well written and you can see different points of view to understand the situation.

The Wheel of Time: The shadow rising

 Fourth book of The Wheel of Time, more action, adventures, new skills and the main characters gaining knowledge about themselves.

Rand, Moraine, Egwene and Mat go to the Three Fold Land, the aiel's homeland to check the prophecy and know if Rand is He Who comes with the dawn.

Nyeaeve and Elayne go to Tanchico trying to find the Black Ajah.

Perryn, Faile and Loial return to Two Rivers to try to save people there from the White Cloacks.

Min arrives to the White Tower and sees one of her visions which will finish with a turmoil there.

It's been a good read in the beach this first holidays' week, I haven't bring the next book here, so I'll have to wait till october to start the fifth...

After a week with no bike riding... I tried this morning the Romanyà road, but I'm not fit enough, I know in the afternoons I have more power, but it was cloudy so I tried today, I'll try again this week.

To say nothing of the dog

Second book of the historian time travelers, I liked Doomsday Book so I read the second.

A time travel to the victorian age, looking for the Bishop bird stump... and the rescue of a cat, which are stinguished by the time the time travelers in this story lived.

Well, the bird stump is found and love is in the air.

I'll read the next two books. 

A fall of moondust by Arthur C. Clark

 In time of millionaires paying to be 3 minutes in space, I was reading a novel where millionaires payed to visit the moon and sail it in a ship...

The ship is eaten by a dust sea when an moonquake takes place, so what happens in the ship and the recovery tasks are the main subject of the book.

It's a good novel and it ends... well, it ends when the travellers are rescued.

The Wheel of time: The Dragon reborn

 Addicting, all the book with new things to know and action, I couldn't stop reading... 

Rand scapes from Moraine, Moraine, Perrin, Lan and Loial try to arrive to Tear ahead of him.

The way to Tar Valon with Nyaeve, Egwene, Eleyne and Mat, once in Tar Valon, they know the Black Ajah has attacked and fled, Mat is healed from his illness and Nyaeve, Egwene and Elayne have to investigate the Black Ajah, which leds them to... Tear, they send Mat, who finds Thom to travel with him, to give a letter to Morgase, and when he delivers the letter, he finds out someone is going to Tear to kill her three friends, so there he goes.

On the way to Tear, Perrin finds Feine(Zarina) and the three girls find some Aiel who are looking for The One Who'll arrive in the Dawn.

So... at the end all of them arrive to Tear and the climax happens, Rand finds Callandor the sword only the Dragon can touch, and one of the Forsaken is waiting for him.

I have the next book in my kindle, but I've started another book, so I won't eat all The Wheel of Time in a year... :-)

Blue Mars

 The end of the trilogy, as the previous books, science, politics and humanity.

Longevity treatments seemed to be the end of death, except by accident, but the quick decline hits the first hundred and science has to come to the rescue, will it succeed. We won't know....

In this book, Mars scientists invent a new propulsion system that allows travelling so fast that moving in the solar system becomes so quick that all the system is quickly settled, and makes the intergalaxy travels posible.

In Earth overpopulation is still a problem and they see Mars as the solution, but Mars ecosystem is weak and Mars settlers will defend their planet. Politics have to work hard to solve the different interests of both planets.

Was this book an inspiration to The Expanse? It remembers me some things in both.

Una historia de policías

 Per alguna raó, l'autor va anunciar a twitter que havia rebut pressions de la policia pel que havia escrit i que posava el llibre a amazon a 1 euro, així què, per solidaritat o curiositat el vaig comprar.

La veritat és que la història se sembla tant a la realitat del que imaginem que és la policia, que no tinc ni idea si l'autor és policia, ex-policia, vigilant de seguretat o fruiter, tampoc no em preocupa ni ho penso mirar.

El resum... ostres, no puc posar el que penso... doncs res, que al final resulta que el protagonista és un pringat, que només pensa amb l'entrecuix i que acaba fent el pasarell en mans d'un company de la poli i una noieta que està boníssima i que es folla a mig poble, clar estereotip pollacèntric on els bons són els pobres bons homes que van a la perdició per culpa de dones que no estimen els homes i que els utilitzen com a màquines de follar.

Així que em quedo amb Millenium, que com a mínim castiga els fills de puta que abusen de la seva superioritat física per sotmetre les dones.

La rueda del tiempo de Robert Jordan - El despertar de los héroes

 Segon llibre dels molts que vindran, com vaig dir, volia començar amb una col·lecció de llibres que estigués acabada, per no trobar-me esperant el següent llibre anys com a Joc de Trons o El nom del vent.

Aquest segon llibre també m'ha agradat, els personatges ha seguit evolucionant, l'enemic també sembla haver evolucionat i per molt que al primer llibre, sobretot, però també al segon l'obscur insisteix en què sempre es repeteix la història, sembla que aquest cop hi haurà novetats.

Curiós també a un capítol del llibre els personatges viuen diferents versions de les seves vides, com a moltes històries de ciència ficció quan parlen dels multiversos, però en aquest cas els personatges ho recorden...

I bé, desitjant començar el tercer, però entre mig, intentaré llegir un o dos llibres, si pot ser de diferent temàtica.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union

 After some time I've read another Nebula winner which of course has surprised me for good.

Fiction in a world where the II World War finished different but not like the Man in the High Castle.

Chess, jews, indians, Alaska, the Mesiah... All in one book, is is a police novel? Perhaps, but well, I don't use to read police novels... since The girl with the dragon tatoo...

A jew policeman in Alaska, where the jews arrived after WW2 who is sad about his life as his wife left him some years ago, a murder in his hotel, the return of his ex-wife as his chief, his indian friend... well, I won't make the argument here, only to remember a little when I come back to this post someday.

La Rueda del tiempo de Robert Jordan: El ojo del mundo

 Si Brandon Sanderson ha escrito los últimos libros de la saga, será por algo... por lo tanto le he dado una oportunidad.

La historia de unos chicos de pueblo que se ven envueltos en una persecución por parte de semihombres, trollocs, juglares, amigos malignos, amigos benignos... en fin fantasía en estado puro.

Rand, Mat y Perrin, el maligno los ha marcado en su diana para obtener el poder que han heredado de alguna manera que no llegamos a saber al final del libro, la cuestión es que ellos vivían felices en su pueblo, pese a que el invierno de ese año parecía no acabar nunca y que cada vez las cosechas serían más escasas. Concretamente la historia comienza antes de la fiesta de Invierno que es como no un día especial para la gente del pueblo en que por un día olvidan la dura vida del campo para bailar y disfrutar con el resto de la gente del pueblo.

Pero la noche anterior a la fiesta, se presentan en la casa de Rand y en el pueblo un grupo de Trollocs y un Fado, que por poco los matan a todos, suerte que había aparecido en el pueblo una mujer muy elegante, que resulta que es una Aes Sedai con su Guardían, que salvan al pueblo de los Trollocs, Rand por su parte al ser sorprendido en casa, es salvado por su padre, que resulta que en su juventud parece que había sido un maestro espadachín, el padre queda herido, pero Rand lo consigue llevar al pueblo, donde la Aes Sedai, llamada Moreine lo salva con sus poderes, pero dice a los tres chicos que deben irse, para que los trollocs no vuelvan, y así empieza una apasionante aventura...

DiscWorld: Mort

 I can say this book has not been addictive so I took more than I expected reading it, the fact that it is the story of a boy who becomes Death's apprentice... perhaps makes it not so interesting as a magician book.

Generació Tap

 Era inevitable que com a lector de lapaginadefinitiva no em llegís aquest llibre.

Com a membre de la generació X, aquest llibre em representa i em documenta, amb coses que per haver-les viscut, les recordo i d'altres que per precisament ser la primera generació que vam tenir accés a internet mentre encara estudiàvem, no havia pogut saber perquè llavors encara la informació estava controlada pels que llavors i ara criticaven internet.

En qualsevol cas, un llibre imprescindible, ben documentat, i que com altres com el "Memorias de un ingeniero" fan veure que la nostra generació pot explicar coses que ni la generació anterior, per defecte, o la posterior, per excés, no han entés o no poden ni imaginar que fa 20 anys passaven.

Com que el tema m'agrada, aprofitaré les recomanacions que hi ha al final del llibre, per llegir més del tema.

Legion by Brandon Sanderson

 I saw my brother with this book so I thought... why not reading it?

So I started and as it is a little book, I red it quickly.

This book has an adventure but it seems an entertaining way to present the characters for a new series of books.

A man who sees imaginary people that allow him to know things he shouldn't know, he profits from the situation and lives in a big mansion. All kind of people approach him to know the source of his knowledge. In this book, he receives photos made in the past, past before the photograph machines existed, once he is interested, a woman who represents the enterprise where it was developed, visits him and tells him that the inventor of the machine has disappeared with the only working prototype with him.

So they have to discover where he has gone and then follow him to that place and find him...

Discworld: Equal rites

 No Rinzewind in this book, I liked it very much, perhaps more than the first two.

In fact I red it in Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

The story of a girl who is the eighth "son" of an eighth son which when she is born a wizard passes her his powers thinking she would be a he, but with this, the first female wizard can be a possibility which, of course, is neither accepted by women or men, so when her powers start to show, a witch takes care of her education and tries to make her a good witch, but her powers are far more powerful than an usual witch, so the witch decides to take her to the Wizards' University so she can control her full power.

The wizard masters laugh at her, but finally the magic prevails and forces them to accept her.

Will the next book continue this story? Who knows, I'll sure read it.

Fafhrd y el Ratonero Gris 4

Novembre extrany, amb el tancament de gimnasos cantat veient com la gent es prenia com un joc la perillositat del virus, en fi, als polítics inútils es van inventar el confinament municipal de cap de setmana, sembla que les imatges de gent omplint les muntanyes per fer senderisme no els agradaven tant com els han agradat les imatges de Barcelona plena de gent comprant aquest pont del 7 i 8 de desembre...

Però com que els confinaments municipals de cap de setmana deixaven fer esport també pels municipis limítrofs, a mí em va anar bé per aprofitar per sortir amb la bici de carretera amb les carreteres buides, bé, gairebé buides, però un plaer passar per rotondes que normalment fan molta por, sense haver de passar por.

I resulta que tenia un llibre a mig llegir d'aquest estiu, és la poca lectura - és un dir, perquè les hores que he llegit com sempre de blogs al kindle, són hores de lectura reals i moltes - que vaig dedicar al novembre.

El llibre en la línia amb els anterior, aventures fantasioses per passar l'estona que era del que es tractava, en aquest cas la pujada a una muntanya amb uns enemics invisibles i l'encarrec de protegir a dos prínceps a sota terra són les dues aventures, podria ser que l'aventura dels 2 germans, el noi que no podia sortir de casa i veia el món a través dels ulls de la germana era d'aquest llibre o de l'anterior, el recordo d'estar a la platja llegint-lo, així que podria ser d'aquest llibre.

Arcanum unbounded

 Couldn't wait to read this book with different stories in the Cosmere universe of Brandon Sanderson.

I hardly remembered the first three books of the Mistborn trilogy when I red the next three books, it didn't matter much as they where more adventure in the same world than a conclusion, because the first three where well finished. But in this book I've finished now, it seems that under the ground, or what is called the cognitive world... Keller is alive? WTF... Will I have to read again the first Mistborn trilogy to catch what is going to come someday?

Well, it doesn't matter... I've enjoyed other new worlds of powers and good characters in this book, so worth the money.

Bad Blood

 A wonderful real life story of a Start-Up where you can see how 2 mad people can cheat everybody for a long time, making them give you huge amounts of money without showing them nothing else than a show of good intentions...

Well, after I've written this I remember homeopathy, astrology, and well, perhaps it's easier than that, but well, no... homeopathy and astrology steal little amounts from many people while the fund raiser in this story stole millions of dollars to rich and (supposedly) intelligent investors...

It's a very good book and everyone should read it, it's sad how some people can play with the health of the people but it's clear that this families with good contacts can and do what they want, no matter who suffer with their ambition games.

Shards of honor by Lois MCMaster Bujold

 A little science fiction between so much fantasy in my beach reading this summer, I forgot to write the post when I finished it so I do it now before I write the post of the last book I've read.

I knew it was in the Falling Free world so I expected something about having 4 hands and no foots, but no, it's a love history in the middle of a war of worlds. I know it is part of a saga about Vorkosigan, so I hope to read the next books of the saga to know if it's a saga(I discovered that a saga implies different generations of a family, so Dune is a saga but not The Lord of Rings)...

Per cert, avui ha estat un dia divertit esportivament parlant, he pogut sortir en bici de carretera al migdia, i després he pogut veure un parell de partits de Roland Garros, gaudir del descobriment que per no tenir ben configurat el Chromecast només vaig gaudir un set contra Wawrinka i que avui ha estat a un pèl de guanyar, perquè desquiciar l'ha desquiciat ben desquiciat a Thiem, al final amb 1,73m d'alçada l'Hugo Gaston no ha pogut guanyar, però ha donat tota una lliçó de tennis a un cannoner com en Dominic Thiem. És d'aquests jugadors que dius, potser ningú no se'n recordarà d'ell d'aquí a uns anys, però jo l'he pogut veure i gaudir d'un parell de grans partits.

A més a més, he vist uns bonics darrers 20km de l'etapa del Giro i els darrers 13km de la Lieja-Baston-Lieja amb final inesperat, quan Allaphillipe estava a punt d'acabar amb la maledicció del maillot arc-iris (copyright ciclismo2005), i ha aixecat els braços abans de passar la meta i Roglic li ha pispat la cartera com manen les instruccions del bon ciclista. Igualment amb el moviment poc net que ha fet que a Hirschi se li sortís el peu del pedal, i que ha fet que penalitzessin al nou campió del món, el resultat hagués estat el mateix, en quant al guanyador, però el que hem rigut...

I com no, les curses de Superbikes, amb el superman Jonathan Rea, que per un cop no ha acabat al podi, però ha donat espectacle i deixa la celebració del Mundial per la darrera cursa. Com a MotoGP li doni per ploure a Le Mans... no recordo si Quartararo va bé en aigua...

Oathbringer

 What a wonderful August holidays, beach and a good book, Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar and company always fighting with their own internal battles while the world outside is getting mad so they have to fight also the real world battles.

  While I wait for the next book, I've bought the Arcanum Unbounded, so I'll have some more cosmere stories to read between the books I've already started.

This week seems autumn is calling at the door, but I hope warm weather will return in time to not let the beach water become cold enough to make me not want to swim with few people on the beach like yesterday.

Covid is still giving me the chance to work remotely all the week, who misses the train? Not me.

Fafhfr y el Ratonero Gris 3

 Esta vez a través de una cueva que debe tener un agujero de gusano (guiño, guiño, stargate, Los 100), los dos personajes aparecen en la Europa medieval para vivir un periplo que les hace conocer la historia de una chica misteriosa que en la parte final del libro les va explicando su historia mientras viajan, con lo cual cual Don Quijote de la Mancha, vemos como dentro de la historia de los dos protagonistas, el autor nos cuenta otra historia en la que ellos solo están involucrados en su desenlace.