![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
A Slew of Book Reviews
Today has been unexpectedly productive. It's almost as though time has stretched out, allowing me to get more stuff done! Or maybe I just didn't waste my day in front of the computer, is all. XD I spoke to my parents on Skype, scrubbed the toilet (including the floor around it!), went out for lunch with Kimberly, studied Chinese and Japanese for a couple of hours, did laundry, washed the window sill in my room (this required going at it with a toothbrush, and sloshing water all over the place, to get two years' worth of dust and dirt out from between the runners), got groceries, cooked pasta, posted on Travelpod, and did some general tidying up. To add another item to the list, here are some book reviews. Six books so far in 2011, not bad! Did I even read six books in 2010? I can't say that I did. Major fail, self. -__-;;;
A spoiler warning is rather unnecessary, as I don't go into much detail, but you never know. Have you read any of these? Please discuss!
Canada from west to east:
Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw (Will Ferguson)
Yes, non-Canadians, there's a place called Moose Jaw. Want an even funnier name? I was born in Moose Factory. For real.
Anyway, this is a travelogue that swings between really funny anecdotes (the author's impromptu road trip with his brother, through southern Ontario, had me laughing, as did many of his memories of his youth in northern Alberta) and philosophical musings about Canada. Ferguson explains, at the beginning, that instead of starting in the east and work his way west, following the waves of immigration that built up the Canada of today, he ended up starting in the west and working his way east, peeling back the various layers of history as he went along. And there's a lot of history in this book, history of the land and of the various peoples that have lived and still live there, scattered across the country.
Of all the places he writes of in the book, the only one I've been to is St. John, Newfoundland. Still, I've been to enough places in Canada that the rest seemed so familiar that I could almost swear I've been there -- or at least places just like them. And I read with great interest the bits about Quebec; as someone with a dual cultural background, I'm always curious about what English Canadians have to say about French Canadians (and vice versa, of course).
Not as laugh-out-loud funny as How to Be a Canadian, but a good read nonetheless: 7.5/10
Spies and volcanoes:
The Vesuvius Club (Mark Gatiss)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tayles sent me this book, and what a fun read it was! Light, witty and amusing, it takes place in the the steampunkish early 1900s and follows Lucifer Box as he unravels the mystery behind the disappearances of a number of specialists in the field of volcanoes. The action moves from England to Italy, and there is intrigue (of both the sinister and amorous kind) aplenty. Not a book to change one's life, but definitely an enjoyable romp which provides a set-up for further adventures, which I'd like to read. (There are two more as of now, I believe?)
I'll give it 7/10, with +1 for the sheer fun of it, so 8/10.
The fifth installment in the Nightrunner series:
The White Road (Lynn Flewelling)
[If you want to read my thoughts about the first four books, you can find them here and here.]
The last book (Shadows Return) was obviously set up for a sequel exploring the mystery of Sebrahn, as well as that of Alec's origins. This book does just that, and we get more adventure, more ass-kicking by Seregil and Alec, as well as plenty of development in their relationship, though not that much advancement in the plot re: the war between Skala and Plenimar. But the story only spans a short period of time, so I expect the next book to look into that more closely, especially since our heroes are back in Rhiminee, now.
So, who else was unsurprised by Ilar showing up? And who would be willing to bet he won't show up again? Yeah. Will he never die? I understand why Seregil and Alec didn't kill him, though they had plenty of reason to, not to mention opportunity, but still.
My main complaint would be that as an odd-numbered entry in the series, the title should have been more evocative. Sure, it is very relevant to the plot, but nowhere near as cool as Luck in the Shadows or Traitor's Moon. The sixth book, as yet unpublished, is to be Casket of Souls, though, which more than makes up for this latest so-so title.
Note to self: get my hands on the Tamir Triad.
For my favourite pair of gay spies, 8/10.
A Russian classic redone as a comic book:
Le joueur (texte de Stéphane Miquel et dessins de Loïc Godart)
N.B. I write this in total ignorance of the original work, as I've never read anything by Dostoevsky, though I'd like to change that.
My brother picked this up for me in Belgium, the European comic book capital. He likes the Russian novelists, I like comic books; he figured that a comic book adaptation of Dostoevsky's The Gambler would be right up my alley. Good choice, B2! This was a pretty quick read, in spite of looking like it has a lot of text. Well, it's a comic book, so obviously there's much less text than there is in a novel -- even a short one like The Gambler is supposed to be. It took me little over an hour to read.
Though the adaptation does a good job of distilling the essence of the story, I kept thinking, "The novel must go into much more depth." That's not a bad thing, as it made me want to read the book, and I must say that I didn't feel the comic book was incomplete, or lacking in any way. Rather, it gets at the essential points of the story (a young tutor becomes addicted to gambling, caught up as he is in the fate of the family he works for, and his love for a woman who seems content to spurn him and use him as fits her mood) and lets the colours carry the mood. The drawings themselves took me a little while to get used to, but I think the style works well for the tone of the story, and the colours, as I mentioned, serve the narrative well.
One thing that seems to have been a major hobby of 19th century European aristocrats was keeping up appearances while waiting for a rich relative to die and leave them enough of an inheritance to repay their debts. It's a little hard to relate to those characters, but then again, the main character is an outsider, so we're supposed to relate to him. I also liked how the usual "national characteristics" trope came up (as in The Moonstone, though in a much less annoying way), again painting Russians as fatalistic and prone to noble despair.
A short, depressing, thoughtful read: 8/10
Creepy and short:
Smoke and Mirrors (Neil Gaiman)
If you don't enjoy Neil Gaiman's style, you probably won't think much of these short stories. If you do like his style, there are some really good ones in here. Either way, they're short, so you won't have wasted much time if you decide they're not to your taste. My favourites were "The Wedding Present" (creepy), "Troll Bridge" (terribly sad), "Looking for the Girl" (it makes so much sense) and "Snow, Glass, Apples" (a chilling upending of the story of Snow White). The twist ending of "We Can Get Them for You Wholesale" was also quite good.
These stories were written over a period of twenty years or so, for various publications, so apart from the fact that they're by the same author, there's no thread connecting them. Some are related to each other, some aren't. It doesn't really matter, since they're all interesting, intelligent, and thoughtfully creepy in the way Gaiman's writing is. I quite liked that he wrote a little explanation/introduction for each story.
Overall, 8.5/10, because I have a feeling I'll be reading some of these stories at least once more.
Further adventures of the Gentlemen Bastards:
Red Seas Under Red Skies (Scott Lynch)
I started the first book, The Lies of Locke Lamora, in 2009, put it aside for a long while (not for lack of interest, but because that's what I tend to do with books), finished it last year, and never wrote about it. Oh, well! While I quite enjoyed it, I must say that I this book much more engrossing, i.e. it had me staying up well past my bedtime to find out what was going to happen to our thieves-turned-pirates next.
One thing I liked was the exploration of the relationship between Locke and Jean, and especially that we learned a lot more about Jean. The first book was mainly about Locke, and though Jean played an important role, I didn't feel like I really got to know him much. He was just there, and a handy guy to have around in a fight, mostly. Now, he's fully fleshed out (though much thinner, haha) in my mind, and I like him quite a bit. And yeah, I cried for his loss.
While I know nothing about the fandom for the series, I assume there's slash of the Locke/Jean variety to be found, but I just can't see it. They're devoted to each other, sure, and their friendship is as deep as a friendship can be, but just as I can't take the idea of Frodo/Sam slash seriously, never at any moment did I feel that Jean and Locke could love each other romantically. Or even have sex together, for that matter. And this has nothing to do with the fact that they're each in love with a woman, either. *shrug*
Anyway, this book was a hell of a lot of fun, but it left me wanting both the next book, and a side story (or a whole book!) about lesbian pirates. 8D 8.5/10, I say!
All right, that's enough. I've got some hooking* to do.
* That's crochet-wielding, for you non-crafty types. XD
A spoiler warning is rather unnecessary, as I don't go into much detail, but you never know. Have you read any of these? Please discuss!
Canada from west to east:
Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw (Will Ferguson)
Yes, non-Canadians, there's a place called Moose Jaw. Want an even funnier name? I was born in Moose Factory. For real.
Anyway, this is a travelogue that swings between really funny anecdotes (the author's impromptu road trip with his brother, through southern Ontario, had me laughing, as did many of his memories of his youth in northern Alberta) and philosophical musings about Canada. Ferguson explains, at the beginning, that instead of starting in the east and work his way west, following the waves of immigration that built up the Canada of today, he ended up starting in the west and working his way east, peeling back the various layers of history as he went along. And there's a lot of history in this book, history of the land and of the various peoples that have lived and still live there, scattered across the country.
Of all the places he writes of in the book, the only one I've been to is St. John, Newfoundland. Still, I've been to enough places in Canada that the rest seemed so familiar that I could almost swear I've been there -- or at least places just like them. And I read with great interest the bits about Quebec; as someone with a dual cultural background, I'm always curious about what English Canadians have to say about French Canadians (and vice versa, of course).
Not as laugh-out-loud funny as How to Be a Canadian, but a good read nonetheless: 7.5/10
Spies and volcanoes:
The Vesuvius Club (Mark Gatiss)
tayles sent me this book, and what a fun read it was! Light, witty and amusing, it takes place in the the steampunkish early 1900s and follows Lucifer Box as he unravels the mystery behind the disappearances of a number of specialists in the field of volcanoes. The action moves from England to Italy, and there is intrigue (of both the sinister and amorous kind) aplenty. Not a book to change one's life, but definitely an enjoyable romp which provides a set-up for further adventures, which I'd like to read. (There are two more as of now, I believe?)I'll give it 7/10, with +1 for the sheer fun of it, so 8/10.
The fifth installment in the Nightrunner series:
The White Road (Lynn Flewelling)
[If you want to read my thoughts about the first four books, you can find them here and here.]
The last book (Shadows Return) was obviously set up for a sequel exploring the mystery of Sebrahn, as well as that of Alec's origins. This book does just that, and we get more adventure, more ass-kicking by Seregil and Alec, as well as plenty of development in their relationship, though not that much advancement in the plot re: the war between Skala and Plenimar. But the story only spans a short period of time, so I expect the next book to look into that more closely, especially since our heroes are back in Rhiminee, now.
So, who else was unsurprised by Ilar showing up? And who would be willing to bet he won't show up again? Yeah. Will he never die? I understand why Seregil and Alec didn't kill him, though they had plenty of reason to, not to mention opportunity, but still.
My main complaint would be that as an odd-numbered entry in the series, the title should have been more evocative. Sure, it is very relevant to the plot, but nowhere near as cool as Luck in the Shadows or Traitor's Moon. The sixth book, as yet unpublished, is to be Casket of Souls, though, which more than makes up for this latest so-so title.
Note to self: get my hands on the Tamir Triad.
For my favourite pair of gay spies, 8/10.
A Russian classic redone as a comic book:
Le joueur (texte de Stéphane Miquel et dessins de Loïc Godart)
N.B. I write this in total ignorance of the original work, as I've never read anything by Dostoevsky, though I'd like to change that.
My brother picked this up for me in Belgium, the European comic book capital. He likes the Russian novelists, I like comic books; he figured that a comic book adaptation of Dostoevsky's The Gambler would be right up my alley. Good choice, B2! This was a pretty quick read, in spite of looking like it has a lot of text. Well, it's a comic book, so obviously there's much less text than there is in a novel -- even a short one like The Gambler is supposed to be. It took me little over an hour to read.
Though the adaptation does a good job of distilling the essence of the story, I kept thinking, "The novel must go into much more depth." That's not a bad thing, as it made me want to read the book, and I must say that I didn't feel the comic book was incomplete, or lacking in any way. Rather, it gets at the essential points of the story (a young tutor becomes addicted to gambling, caught up as he is in the fate of the family he works for, and his love for a woman who seems content to spurn him and use him as fits her mood) and lets the colours carry the mood. The drawings themselves took me a little while to get used to, but I think the style works well for the tone of the story, and the colours, as I mentioned, serve the narrative well.
One thing that seems to have been a major hobby of 19th century European aristocrats was keeping up appearances while waiting for a rich relative to die and leave them enough of an inheritance to repay their debts. It's a little hard to relate to those characters, but then again, the main character is an outsider, so we're supposed to relate to him. I also liked how the usual "national characteristics" trope came up (as in The Moonstone, though in a much less annoying way), again painting Russians as fatalistic and prone to noble despair.
A short, depressing, thoughtful read: 8/10
Creepy and short:
Smoke and Mirrors (Neil Gaiman)
If you don't enjoy Neil Gaiman's style, you probably won't think much of these short stories. If you do like his style, there are some really good ones in here. Either way, they're short, so you won't have wasted much time if you decide they're not to your taste. My favourites were "The Wedding Present" (creepy), "Troll Bridge" (terribly sad), "Looking for the Girl" (it makes so much sense) and "Snow, Glass, Apples" (a chilling upending of the story of Snow White). The twist ending of "We Can Get Them for You Wholesale" was also quite good.
These stories were written over a period of twenty years or so, for various publications, so apart from the fact that they're by the same author, there's no thread connecting them. Some are related to each other, some aren't. It doesn't really matter, since they're all interesting, intelligent, and thoughtfully creepy in the way Gaiman's writing is. I quite liked that he wrote a little explanation/introduction for each story.
Overall, 8.5/10, because I have a feeling I'll be reading some of these stories at least once more.
Further adventures of the Gentlemen Bastards:
Red Seas Under Red Skies (Scott Lynch)
I started the first book, The Lies of Locke Lamora, in 2009, put it aside for a long while (not for lack of interest, but because that's what I tend to do with books), finished it last year, and never wrote about it. Oh, well! While I quite enjoyed it, I must say that I this book much more engrossing, i.e. it had me staying up well past my bedtime to find out what was going to happen to our thieves-turned-pirates next.
One thing I liked was the exploration of the relationship between Locke and Jean, and especially that we learned a lot more about Jean. The first book was mainly about Locke, and though Jean played an important role, I didn't feel like I really got to know him much. He was just there, and a handy guy to have around in a fight, mostly. Now, he's fully fleshed out (though much thinner, haha) in my mind, and I like him quite a bit. And yeah, I cried for his loss.
While I know nothing about the fandom for the series, I assume there's slash of the Locke/Jean variety to be found, but I just can't see it. They're devoted to each other, sure, and their friendship is as deep as a friendship can be, but just as I can't take the idea of Frodo/Sam slash seriously, never at any moment did I feel that Jean and Locke could love each other romantically. Or even have sex together, for that matter. And this has nothing to do with the fact that they're each in love with a woman, either. *shrug*
Anyway, this book was a hell of a lot of fun, but it left me wanting both the next book, and a side story (or a whole book!) about lesbian pirates. 8D 8.5/10, I say!
All right, that's enough. I've got some hooking* to do.
* That's crochet-wielding, for you non-crafty types. XD