I got halfway through Publish This Book, by Stephen Markley, but it defeated me. I liked the guy’s writing well enough, but I guess I’m not that interested in book publishing and the rest was just pointless digression. However, he’s a very funny author and I would try another of his books if the topic was right.
Maybe I just wasn’t in a non-fiction mood this weekend, I also picked up a book called 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology but didn’t get far with it.
I’m now reading The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: 60th anniversary anthology, edited by Gordon Van Gelder. Some very familiar names here (King, Bester, Bradbury, Shirley Jackson, etc.) and many things I’ve already read, but if the rest of it is up to that standard it should be great. The only thing I haven’t liked so far was the Zelazny story, This Moment of the Storm.
Just skimmed this, which I got from my local library:
Published in 1988 and a bit dated now, but with interesting coverage of politics and the state supreme courts of Alabama (esp. the state judicial “massive resistance” to integration during the Sixties), New Jersey and my own Ohio. Worth a look for law-talkin’ Dopers.
I’m 522 pages in to Quicksilver, by Neal Stephenson. This book isn’t the trial I thought it would be and I’m really enjoying the adventures of Half-Cocked Jack, King of the Vagabonds!
I recently finished: The Red Wolf Conspiracy, by Robert V.S. Redick. This is epic fantasy set on a giant sailing ship. It’s also the author’s first published book. While I enjoyed parts of the story, there wasn’t anything about it terribly new or interesting. I don’t think I’ll continue. Redick also subscribes to the idea that in a proper fantasy novel, place and people names must be utterly unpronounceable.
Bite Me, by Christopher Moore. This is the final book in Moore’s vampire trilogy and I was happy with the ending. I read this in a weekend. But I’m glad the series is over… I prefer Moore’s stand-alone works.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie. I read this for a book club and I loved it. There were parts of it that really pulled the ol’ heartstrings… unfortunately I was sitting in a chair in the hair salon when they pulled mine. I had a fun time trying to convince my stylist that I wasn’t crying because of the highlights he had just put in, only that my book was a little sad.
I am currently reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and I can hardly put it down. It’s a mystery, which I don’t normally go for, but I am really into this book. And it makes me want to go to Sweden.
Partway through reading Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada, only recently translated into English; a drama about a couple living in wartime Nazi Germany who, inspired by the death of their son in battle, engage in a campaign of dropping post-cards critical of the regime around Berlin (inspired by a true story, and written immediately after the war by a German writer who survived incarceration in a Nazi insane asylum - and who died almost immediately after writing the novel, in fact before it was published).
I was initially kinda meh about it, but as I read more of it I find it increasingly gripping, and moving.
I loved the first section of Quicksilver, but the second part nearly lost me. I didn’t care for Eliza.
I’m reading Georgette Heyer’s An Infamous Army. It’s a romance, but according to Wikipedia it’s also “one of the most historically accurate and vividly narrated descriptions of the Battle of Waterloo.” Heyer claimed that every word attributed to Wellington in the book was actually spoken or written by him in real life. The title comes from a letter he wrote in May of 1815 (a month before Waterloo): “I have got an infamous army; very weak, and ill-equipped, and a very inexperienced Staff.”
In the first half, a bunch of the English aristocracy are rather inexplicably hanging around Brussels, partying their well-dressed asses off, despite their frequently expressed worries over Napoleon. So far I’m not terribly impressed with the war-related writing. The contrast between Wellington’s intensity at work and his flippancy at a ball is interesting, but otherwise Heyer seems to be simply throwing out a lot of names.
Still April here, but where is Khadaji? He’s usually Johnny on the spot.
I’m reading The Desert Spear by Peter Brett. It’s the second in a five-book epic fantasy series. The first was The Warded Man. I really liked the first book and had no complaints until the end, when one of the characters did something so unlikely that it took me right out of the story. A woman who was brutally gang-raped (with severe physical damage) initiates sex with the protagonist a few days after the attack. Nuh uh. She shouldn’t even have been walking.
Anyway, the premise of the book is intriguing enough that I decided to continue in spite of those few pages of stupidity.
And the premise – I don’t know if this is what actually happened (it is a fantasy) or if it’s just their creation mythology – when the world was created, two gods (good and evil, night and day) fought for control. Neither could win and things are at a standstill. Good rules the day, evil rules the night. Creatures called Corelings come up from the earth every night, looking for humans to kill. The good god gave humans knowledge of wards to protect themselves. Some parts of society are content with this, but a warrior culture isn’t – they use the wards but rather than hide behind the wards, every night they lure the Corelings to fight. (Most Corelings are stupid, even though they’re quite powerful.) The warrior society looks down on everyone else and enslaves non-warriors.
Anyway, it’s pretty interesting, the societies Brett has set up. I just hope he doesn’t do stupid stuff with his female characters in this book. Reviewers complain of a Mary Sue, but I haven’t met her yet.
I just finished “Genesis” by Peter Chafe, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Straight up, hardcore science fiction that was just a joy to read - it was well-written and interesting, with enough actual science to satisfy geeks but not enough to turn off lesser geeky folk. I stayed up far too late a couple of nights reading it - that equals two thumbs up for me.
I’m also reading “Limits To Growth: The 30 Year Update” by Donella Meadows, Jorgen Randers and Dennis Meadows.
I have a co-worker in from the UK to give me software requirements and he has been keeping me busy. Also, we hired a tester and *he *is keeping me busy. Further, we are all working out of my tiny little home office and they are making me nuts! I found that I need more social interaction now that I work from home, but now I’m finding there is such a thing as too much social interaction…
