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reading, catching up
Sep. 2nd, 2012 09:21 pmOh, my, it's been so long I'm not sure I remember everything that I've read since I last posted. So I read a bunch of fun stuff because I was tired of reading stuff that wasn't so fun.
Christopher Moore's Sacre Bleu was fascinating and fun. It moves a bit slower than some of his other books, but I liked the pace and tone and felt it was fitting the plot. The end seems a bit too perfect, but it's also very sweet and who wants a painting that looks like a picture, anyway. If I could remember half the history that's packed into this fictional book, I'd know more than my Art History 101 course offered.
Nuts and Bolts of the Past: A History of American Technology, 1776-1860 was interesting, written in a style that was informative but readable. Because of inevitable overlap in people and technologies some bits were repeated, but this was kept to a minimum. For the most part the book felt well organized and cohesive, but at the end it lost its way. Perhaps the Civil War wasn't the best stopping point.
I really enjoyed Terry Pratchett's I Shall Wear Midnight. It's a young reader book that has some very adult parts. Pratchett tends to treat his younger readers as intelligent and knowledgeable. I think that's a good call, although some might feel he goes too far in this book. I like the variety of life lessons that get packed into little places.
I can't honestly remember whether I read The Woman Who Died A Lot before or after I Shall Wear Midnight. Both of them were quick reads and it was all kind of a blur of reading. This Thursday has the distinction of taking place entirely in the real world. As such it's a distinct departure from the last few in the series that have taken place almost exclusively in the Book World. But just because we're not in Book World doesn't mean reality doesn't get a really good bending here and there.
When I started Swallowdale everything else in my world was pulling me in a different mental direction. Stress, obligations, responsibilities, the waning summer all had me in an unhappy and all too immersed in the real world. Of course, one of the reasons we read fiction is to be pulled out of reality and transported. This book tacked back and forth against the wind to try to take me to a place where the natives are generous and summer is waiting. I really liked the characterization in this books, especially of Titty and the Amazons. Each of the characters had their chance to shine in their own way. It is an ideal world, in a book that was written as pure nostalgia, but it's the actions of the characters that make it an ideal world. There might be some lessons the real world could take away from this ideal one.
29. Christopher Moore Sacre Bleu
30. David Freeman Hawke Nuts and Bolts of The Past
31. Terry Pratchett I Shall Wear Midnight
32. Jasper Fforde The Woman Who Died A Lot
33. Arthur Ransome Swallowdale
Christopher Moore's Sacre Bleu was fascinating and fun. It moves a bit slower than some of his other books, but I liked the pace and tone and felt it was fitting the plot. The end seems a bit too perfect, but it's also very sweet and who wants a painting that looks like a picture, anyway. If I could remember half the history that's packed into this fictional book, I'd know more than my Art History 101 course offered.
Nuts and Bolts of the Past: A History of American Technology, 1776-1860 was interesting, written in a style that was informative but readable. Because of inevitable overlap in people and technologies some bits were repeated, but this was kept to a minimum. For the most part the book felt well organized and cohesive, but at the end it lost its way. Perhaps the Civil War wasn't the best stopping point.
I really enjoyed Terry Pratchett's I Shall Wear Midnight. It's a young reader book that has some very adult parts. Pratchett tends to treat his younger readers as intelligent and knowledgeable. I think that's a good call, although some might feel he goes too far in this book. I like the variety of life lessons that get packed into little places.
I can't honestly remember whether I read The Woman Who Died A Lot before or after I Shall Wear Midnight. Both of them were quick reads and it was all kind of a blur of reading. This Thursday has the distinction of taking place entirely in the real world. As such it's a distinct departure from the last few in the series that have taken place almost exclusively in the Book World. But just because we're not in Book World doesn't mean reality doesn't get a really good bending here and there.
When I started Swallowdale everything else in my world was pulling me in a different mental direction. Stress, obligations, responsibilities, the waning summer all had me in an unhappy and all too immersed in the real world. Of course, one of the reasons we read fiction is to be pulled out of reality and transported. This book tacked back and forth against the wind to try to take me to a place where the natives are generous and summer is waiting. I really liked the characterization in this books, especially of Titty and the Amazons. Each of the characters had their chance to shine in their own way. It is an ideal world, in a book that was written as pure nostalgia, but it's the actions of the characters that make it an ideal world. There might be some lessons the real world could take away from this ideal one.
29. Christopher Moore Sacre Bleu
30. David Freeman Hawke Nuts and Bolts of The Past
31. Terry Pratchett I Shall Wear Midnight
32. Jasper Fforde The Woman Who Died A Lot
33. Arthur Ransome Swallowdale
