What I've been reading: Books No. 21-22

Book No. 21 was "The Book of Genesis" illustrated by R. Crumb. I've had this on my "to read" list for a while and really enjoyed it. I have read the Bible cover-to-cover three times and have probably read Genesis more times than that, including having covered it in a Bible survey course in college. However, my last full read was some time ago, so some details that escaped me when I was younger were interesting to note this time around. Crumb is not a believer but did the book as a straight illustration job, not meaning to make fun of anybody's faith. It's obvious he did a fair bit of scholarly research and provides commentary for most, though not all, chapters in the book. He points out all the evidence in Genesis that it is centered on a time when patriarchal religions are taking over and smothering the traditions of previous matriarchal societies. R. Crumb is obsessed with boobs and butts, so there is a bit of that going on with female characters (and you'll encounter a number of schlongs as well), but some of his full-page or half-page layouts (God creating the earth and the story of Noah and The Ark, especially) are just breathtaking. I always think of R. Crumb as being a very campy cartoonist, but he's a sensitive artist when he chooses to be. I enjoyed this and recommend it.

Book No. 22 was "The Terranauts" by T.C. Boyle, as an audiobook. The novel is a novel inspired by the Biosphere 2 experiment of the early 90s. The author changes a lot of the details but keeps the gist of the experiment and the personalities involved. It's told from the viewpoint of three different people involved in the project, and I liked that the audiobook has a different narrator for each of the three - it makes it easier to follow who is speaking. The experiment in the novel is meant to prove that a viable ecosphere could be built on Mars, but the human element is just as big a part of the findings. It's well known that, in small closed groups, it's common for factions or gangs to develop, and this happens in the novel as well. Dawn is the vain pin-up girl of the experiment, Ramsey is the terranaut who can't manage to keep it in his pants, and Linda is the bitter and envious frenemy of Dawn. I agree with other reviews that it bogs down a little in the beginning with exposition, but once it gets underway, I really got absorbed and wanted to know what would happen next. I really enjoyed this. I've already read "The Inner Circle" and "The Road to Wellville" and "The Women" by the same author, and expect I'll read more by Boyle, who is an excellent story-teller.


( The other books I've read so far this year: )