The word “scamped” is not a nautical term. I borrowed it from one of Jack Vance’s books, and he used it to mean “given short shrift to”. Then again Vance was an avid sailor in his younger days, so who knows?
Just started Animal Wise, which I’m reading an uncorrected proof of, because I’m a big playah in the industry*, and they wanted my opinion before they let the masses get the book. It’s a survey look at several species that exhibit intelligence, which has always been an interest of mine.
[sup]*[/sup]I won an advanced copy on goodreads, through dumb luck.
I read The Upper Berth by F. Marion Crawford, which is a good ghost story. I started another story in the same e-book edition but couldn’t get into it.
I bought two John le Carré paperbacks at a jumble sale a while back for $0.20 each, which makes me both happy and sad. They’ve been weighing down my side table ever since, so I started Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and I’m enjoying that even though I’ve seen the movie.
I read Downbelow Station, by C. J. Cherryh, the 1982 winner of the Hugo Award for best novel. (I’m trying to eventually read all of the Hugo nominees of the last few decades.) It has a great sci-fi setting: a space station that’s trying to survive and remain neutral during an interstellar war. The setting is the best part, and while I found the book readable enough, Cherryh’s writing strikes me as oddly vague, and much of the plot seemed pointless. I usually don’t mind a weak plot if I like the setting, but the characterization was also weak. So overall it was a slightly unsatisfying read.
I also read The Shortest Way to Hades, the second book in a hilarious mystery series written by Sarah Caudwell. It’s a comedy of manners where a group of young London barristers in Lincoln’s Inn try to solve murders. It’s a contemporary novel published and set around 1984, but it’s written in a deliciously rich style, like a Regency novel.
And I just finished Tanya Huff’s new fantasy novel, The Silvered. It has werewolves and mages; it’s not steampunk but is set in a world on the verge of an industrial revolution, so there is some magic/science mixing. The plot is strange, and I don’t think it’s one of her best novels, but her stuff is always a good read.
Y’know, I’ve had pretty much the same reaction every time I’ve read Cherryh’s books. I always think I should like 'em, and I know there are those who love her writing, but she never hits my sweet spot.
Finished Napoleon’s Buttons and it, too, kind of missed the mark. If you’re interested in chemistry and history I’d say check it out, but for such an intriguing premise it really could’ve been a lot better. The title was misleading, too - the possibly-poor metallurgy of Napoleon’s soldiers’ buttons was only briefly touched upon in the introduction.
I was on jury duty so I got a lot of reading done (I never actually got picked for a jury, it was a lot of sitting around).
Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down by Dave Zirin, is a collection of essays about how athletes are taking more visible roles in political and social justice activities. As a sports fan, it had lots of neat anecdotes. Overall, I wished it had been more cohesive (the chapters were originally written to be stand alone articles for various publications).
A Shortcut in Time by Charles Dickinson, I wanted to like this time travel novel a lot, because I think the premise was very interesting, but I mostly felt like it didn’t live up to its potential. The characters were very unlikeable, and didn’t seem believable because most of their actions and decisions didn’t hang together like real personalities. It was like a person would do A, B, and C because those things needed to happen to move the plot, but A, B, and C didn’t feel like consistent behavior for one person.
The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. This was very enjoyable, a novel about a young woman in Manhattan in 1938. It was a great “New York City” book, and really captured its era. I was a little lukewarm on the ending, which didn’t feel as dramatic as the build up would lead you to expect.
I’ve read a lot of her stuff and you’re right, she is the Queen of Filler. She isn’t really good at defining more than one or two characters per story which is wird when she often has casts of hundreds…
I started Unholy_Alliance, the second Matthew Bartholomew mystery by Susanna Gregory. I’ve been reading about primate grooming behaviors for two days and my brain needs a snack break! 
I finished the third part of the Wool series. All I can say is wow…this is really good. I went ahead and bought the Shift omnibus (the next three in the silo series) for my Nook yesterday. I’m generally not big on series, but this has me hooked.
I wasn’t in the mood to go straight to another Haggard novel, so instead of reading **She and Allen[/.B] after I finished Who Hates Whom, I reached into my stack of unread books and found The Queen of Zamba, L. Sprague de Camp’s first “Krishna” novel from his Viagens Interplanetarias series. It’s better than I thought it would be, featuring interplanetary travelers under a “non-interference” ban (that pre-dated Star Trek’s), so the hero can’t use any technology past the early-Industrial Revolution stuff on the planet Krishna.
“There are people killing and eating each other down there, and all we can do is watch on this damn big viewer.”
"Yeah, but c’mon, the picture quality’s amazing!"
:rolleyes:
Just read…
The Last World War by Dayton Ward. Read this only if you are compelled to read every bit of “Aliens Invading Earth” piece of fiction ever written. Otherwise, don’t bother.
Redshirts, by John Scalzi, based on reviews upthread. A far. far better book than TLWW: funny, touching, metaphysical, it was well worth my time.
None of Dickinson’s characters are likeable. I’ve read all his books. His characters are all quite prickly, some are passive-aggressive, some are just weenies. They’re either afraid of confrontation or they go looking for it, and they never seem to realize who their friends are.
We’ve had a little bit of e-mail communication and I’ve asked him how much of his own personality shows in his characters. He didn’t seem offended – I was overstepping – but he responded with a joke. It’s just what a character would do. I do like his stuff and will keep reading him.
I’m reading Entanglementby Zygmunt Miloszewski, a Polish crime procedural. Thanks to whoever recommended it. Learning a little bit about how crimes are investigated and prosecuted in Poland, and this one features a psychotherapy procedure called Constellation Therapy. I don’t know if it actually exists but it’s fascinating, and the way it’s described seems like something that could be beneficial.
Please STOP reading such interesting books people! BORING! BORING BOOKS from now on.
Save my wallet and my floor space.
stomps off to add that to her Goodreads want to read list
I finished Because I Said So! by Ken Jennings. It passed the time, and I suppose I learned a few things (poinsettias aren’t poisonous?), but I’m glad to get back to some fiction.
Next up is Flashman and the Tiger. I am low on reading material at the moment, and when that happens I resort to Flashman. They are always good, but I hate to do it because I am nearing the end of the series!
Just picked up Lamb by Christopher Moore (“The Gospel according to Biff, Christ’s childhood pal”) at a book swap. It’s not nearly as funny as I’d been told - might not make it past 50 pages.
Also still reading Justice in Blue and Gray by Stephen C. Neff, about legal issues raised by the Civil War, and Gold from Crete by C.S. Forester, a collection of naval-themed short stories from World War II. Both are good but not great.
I just finished an old biography of Prince Eugene of Savoy, the famous general of Austria (buddies with the Duke of Marlborough in the War of the Spanish Succession).
What an odd life story this guy had. Modern royal scandals are tiresomely dull by comparison.
His mom was kicked out of France for alleged poisioning and Satanism, leaving young Eugene behind; Louis XIV refused his request to join the army, because (a) the teenaged Eugene was so puny and ugly; and (b) he supposedly belonged to a set that went in for transvestitism and associated pleasures. So, naturally, with that family background and unsolderly ‘look’, Louis insisted he become a priest!
Eugene left France in a snit or huff for Austria, where he set out to prove Louis was wrong about him … by smashing his armies.
Which, with a little help from gigolo-turned-general Marlborough, he did. Apparently, the history of warfare discloses few examples of two genius-level generals working so harmoniously together (despite the fact that they were working for different countries whose interests were not, in many ways, alligned; England was to betray Austria quite comprehensively and seek a seperate peace).
Pity, both my son and I thought it was hysterical.
If I recall correctly, Eugene was also fantastically physically daring, easily winning the respect of his troops despite his infamous appearance.