Right now I’m reading Miss Buncle’s Book, by D. E. Stevenson. The plot is somewhat like Peyton Place–someone who lives in a community writes a roman a clef about its secrets. This book was written in the 1930’s, so the “secrets” are tamer than the ones in Peyton Place.
Interestingly, this copy, which I got through inter-library loan, was a gift to the library in 1938. These days, books given to libraries are generally sold, but maybe they couldn’t be so picky during the Great Depression.
Can’t believe I’m still slogging through this, and am less than 50% of the way done. Interesting read, but one weighty tome.
Started Redemption Falls by Joseph O’Connor.
The first chapter focuses on Eliza, and I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to keep reading. I saw what she saw and felt what she felt, but it was all in her head, without any solid connections. I was re-reading paragraphs, wondering what O’Connor was trying to tell me, and longing for some simple descriptions and maybe even some dialogue.
Then it got better. Way better.
A bunch of stuff on my Kindle, mostly.
I have read some former-Christians-who-deconverted-and-went-atheist books, like Why I Believed and The Bad People Stole my God.
Also some wacky short fiction by John H. Carroll, and some samples from Wonder, Les Miserables, The Life of Pi.
Finished The Silmarillion and Tolkein’s Unfinished Tales, and just started Empire State, the debut novel by Adam Christopher. It’s a Golden Age comic-type pulp noir in novel format, set in an alternate universe New York during Prohibition.
I don’t really know what the plot is yet (I’m only about 50 pages in and was compelled to get it by the cover art more than anything else), but I gather it revolves around a detective named Rad Bradley and a couple of former superhero partners-turned-enemies. The writing’s a bit uneven, especially for the dialogue, where the author tries a bit too hard to be Dashiell Hammett, but it’s interesting, so I’ll keep with it.
I’m currently reading The End of Growth by Jeff Rubin - it’s sort of like global economics with a heavy emphasis on oil for dummies. The section I’m currently reading is basically a crash course on the Middle East and Northern Africa and how their oil industry relates to the politics and wars that went on there.
Well, since one of my Reading Resolutions for 2013 is to write some sort of review for every book I read (the other is to whittle down MountToBeRead - books I own & haven’t yet read - towering at 160ish volumes) - here’s some quick reviews of the last couple of books I’ve gotten thru:
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove - early Christopher Moore - it’s a fun story, with quirky characters and weird occurrences, but I like his later works, when he puts some satirical meat on the bones of his stories.
The Wreck of the River of Stars by Michael Flynn. A recco from Eleanor of Aquataine and I’d read & really enjoyed another work of his - Eifelheim. This novel wasn’t quite as high-rated, IMHO, but has some really good character development and, despite the apparent spoiler of a title, a compelling story. I put it on my “sf-tech” shelf on Goodreads, as technology plays an important role in the story. The setting ends up being as much a character as the actual ones - in that respect (and the “sf-tech” element), it reminds me of Larry Niven’s *Ringworld *or John Varley’s *Titan *series.
Picked up the audio version of Brandon Sanderson’s novellette Legion for free over on Audible - and I hope he does more with this character! Stephen Leeds has an intriguing mental condition that allows him to “split” his mental capacity into multiple characters, each with specialized skills. These personalities converse with him and provide insight into the problems that people bring to him. This episode deals with a missing camera that apparently takes pictures of historical events. The plot itself has an interesting premise, and I loved the conversations between Stephen and his personalities; however, the action felt a bit rushed and kinda fell flat at the end. I’d give it a 4/5 stars for concept, but only 2/5 on execution - so that averages to 3. As I said, I think Leeds has a lot of potential and I’d like to see a collection of his “cases”.
I read about Mrs Queen Takes the Train in the Shelf Awareness newsletter from 11 Dec 2012 - while I’m not a Royal-phile, the concept sounded intriguing: Queen Elizabeth sneaks out of Buckingham Palace to visit the decomissioned royal yacht, docked in Edinburgh. A couple of minor staff members (and a cheese shop employee) discover she’s gone walkabout and set out to find her and bring her back safely.
William Kuhn paints a sympathetic portrayal of a woman who has been the symbol of a country for 60+years and feels hemmed in by those expectations. He also draws some quirky supporting characters whose actions, along with those of Mrs. Queen, provide a lively and entertaining story. There’s definitely a British sense of humour in the novel; but Kuhn doesn’t quite “take the piss”, more of a gentle nose-tweaking here and there.
I loved Lust Lizard! And many of the characters turn up again in other books, particularly in The Stupidest Angel
This sounds great, but I saw that it’s a sequel to something else. Do you think I need to start with the first book?
I didn’t know about the earlier book – Star of the Sea – until I read the author’s note at the end of Redemption. O’Connor says it’s not necessary to read Star first. One (maybe two) of the characters appear in both books – that’s all. He’s also writing a third, which will share characters but have a different tone.
I’m currently reading The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, by Siddhartha Mukherjee. I’m about ¼ of the way through it. It’s a history of the disease of cancer and of how its treatment has evolved through the centuries. So far it’s interesting and a good read.
Cancer’s disease history is a topic that might seem grim. For me, it’s work related - I am in software design and development and we develop software medical devices for treating cancer.
Note: I just found the Jan 2013 thread and posted this same entry there.