reading (catching up)
Feb. 10th, 2013 06:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eorWow, I've read a lot lately. But don't be fooled by the count, most of them are easy books.
I read Terry Pratchett's "Truckers" and "Diggers", the first two books of the Bromeliad trilogy. At some point I really have to buy "Wings" to see how everything turns out. The books are the youngest Pratchett books I've read, pitched to younger readers than the Johnny Maxwell series. "Truckers" was the stronger book, in terms of fun, inventiveness, and pace. The pace of "Diggers" felt notably uneven to me.
"Dodger" is a Pratchett young adult novel. I enjoyed it's setting in the Victorian sewers, literally and figuratively. I also enjoyed the completely shameless name dropping that Pratchett did with this one. Even though it doesn't all fit together quite as perfectly as it could, I really don't care. It's fun. It's a long leisurely walk through the seedier parts ofAnkh-Morpork London.
It was rather amazing how radical Heinlein's first novel "For Us the Living" turned out. It didn't get published in 1939 when he wrote it and it's easy to see why. It's a thinly disguised Utopian essay with radical ideas. He touches many of the social themes that would come out in his later life: disdain for religion, sexual freedom, rolling roads, flying cars, and incredibly rich, talented, independent women who just fall for the main character. Don't read this book if you're looking for characterization or the feeling of a realistic social fabric. The characters are a transparent film stretched over the structure of the lecture. It was interesting to see how many things he managed to get right and wrong in his future predictions. The future is tough, even if you get something right like a rocket to the moon, it's a lot harder to guess the when. We still don't have flying cars though.
Portia de Rossi's "Unbearable Lightness" was disturbing in places. You'd expect that from an autobiography covering eating disorders and recovery. I first saw de Rossi in "Sirens", her first movie and I thought she was the most attractive person in the cast (not Elle McPherson or Hugh Grant). de Rossi herself, didn't share my opinion. It was disturbing to see how the influence of Hollywood combined with other factors to such devastating effect. Reading the book is a lot like watching a horror movie where you're shouting "Don't open the door!" or "Don't go down into the basement" at the screen. The reader can see the pieces falling into place. de Rossi did get out easy though, she made it out alive.
I just finished Boris Akunin's "The Winter Queen". I read it in a day. It's a detective story set in pre-revolution Russia, written by a Georgian and translated into English. I'm not sure how much to blame on the translation and how much to blame on the author. The plot is certainly the author's doing. As I've said before, I'm not good at mysteries, I miss subtle clues and can rarely piece things together. I felt like Poirot reading this one.
4. Asimov's March 2013
5. Terry Pratchett "Truckers"
6. Terry Pratchett "Diggers"
7. Terry Pratchett "Dodger"
8. Robert A. Heinlein "For Us the Living"
9. Portia de Rossi "Unbearable Lightness"
10. Boris Akunin "The Winter Queen"
I read Terry Pratchett's "Truckers" and "Diggers", the first two books of the Bromeliad trilogy. At some point I really have to buy "Wings" to see how everything turns out. The books are the youngest Pratchett books I've read, pitched to younger readers than the Johnny Maxwell series. "Truckers" was the stronger book, in terms of fun, inventiveness, and pace. The pace of "Diggers" felt notably uneven to me.
"Dodger" is a Pratchett young adult novel. I enjoyed it's setting in the Victorian sewers, literally and figuratively. I also enjoyed the completely shameless name dropping that Pratchett did with this one. Even though it doesn't all fit together quite as perfectly as it could, I really don't care. It's fun. It's a long leisurely walk through the seedier parts of
It was rather amazing how radical Heinlein's first novel "For Us the Living" turned out. It didn't get published in 1939 when he wrote it and it's easy to see why. It's a thinly disguised Utopian essay with radical ideas. He touches many of the social themes that would come out in his later life: disdain for religion, sexual freedom, rolling roads, flying cars, and incredibly rich, talented, independent women who just fall for the main character. Don't read this book if you're looking for characterization or the feeling of a realistic social fabric. The characters are a transparent film stretched over the structure of the lecture. It was interesting to see how many things he managed to get right and wrong in his future predictions. The future is tough, even if you get something right like a rocket to the moon, it's a lot harder to guess the when. We still don't have flying cars though.
Portia de Rossi's "Unbearable Lightness" was disturbing in places. You'd expect that from an autobiography covering eating disorders and recovery. I first saw de Rossi in "Sirens", her first movie and I thought she was the most attractive person in the cast (not Elle McPherson or Hugh Grant). de Rossi herself, didn't share my opinion. It was disturbing to see how the influence of Hollywood combined with other factors to such devastating effect. Reading the book is a lot like watching a horror movie where you're shouting "Don't open the door!" or "Don't go down into the basement" at the screen. The reader can see the pieces falling into place. de Rossi did get out easy though, she made it out alive.
I just finished Boris Akunin's "The Winter Queen". I read it in a day. It's a detective story set in pre-revolution Russia, written by a Georgian and translated into English. I'm not sure how much to blame on the translation and how much to blame on the author. The plot is certainly the author's doing. As I've said before, I'm not good at mysteries, I miss subtle clues and can rarely piece things together. I felt like Poirot reading this one.
4. Asimov's March 2013
5. Terry Pratchett "Truckers"
6. Terry Pratchett "Diggers"
7. Terry Pratchett "Dodger"
8. Robert A. Heinlein "For Us the Living"
9. Portia de Rossi "Unbearable Lightness"
10. Boris Akunin "The Winter Queen"
