Book Review Monday
Book reviews, books 28-32.
Brief version: George Orwell: Animal Farm - 4 stars. Andrei Codrescu: The Blood Countess - 0 stars. Kim Stanley Robinson: The Years of Rice and Salt - 2 stars. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: Hotel Transylvania - 5 stars. Lois Lowry: The Giver - 5 stars.
Book 28:
George Orwell: Animal Farm, 139 pages. I never had to read it in school, so when I spotted it at the bookseller's booth at the flea market, I figured why not? It had an extensive background note in the beginning that clued me to why Orwell had such strong sentiments, which helped associate the novel to the time era it was written for. However, the satire fits far too many current situations. It is a very easy, good read, without the overblown language common to most "classics". I passed it on to kidlet for his book collection. I'll have to find a copy of 1984 now, since I know I like Orwell's prose style. 4 stars out of 5. Finish Date: 31 May 05, read concurrently with books 29 & 30.
Book 29:
Andrei Codrescu: The Blood Countess, 453 pages. Since the book was supposed to be about Elizabeth Bathory, I nabbed it as well at the flea market. Unfortunately, it was a waste even of that cheap price. Whereas the story had a lot of potential, it seemed far more that Codrescu was revelling in the gorey, sadistic scenes with Elizabeth (and later with Drake) than actually telling her story. Everything revolved around some sort of sexual perversion, and I highly doubt something as complex as Bathory's wish for youth was solely sexual. If I could give it negative stars, I would. This makes Letters to Penthouse look like pristinely innocent literary masterpieces. I had originally meant to release it as a Bookcrossing.com book, but I wouldn't be bothered to register it. Into the junk pile it goes. 0 stars out of 5. Finish Date: 2 Jun 05, read concurrently with books 28 & 30.
Book 30:
Kim Stanley Robinson: The Years of Rice and Salt, 672 pages. I'd seen this heavily recommended by others with similar reading tastes, so I had high expectations for it. The premise - what if the Black Plague killed 99% of Europe's population - was intriguing. For the first two or three sections, the reincarnation system of recycling the main characters even worked for me. But after a while, I started to feel like I was reading a textbook. "This happened in this era. This happened in the next era." Half the time, I didn't see the characters long enough to form any interest in their fates or accomplishments. I don't normally read books concurrently, but this one was so underwhelming that while I wanted to finish it, I couldn't stick to it for days at a time. It certainly could have been about 200 pages shorter than it was. I'm hoping it is just this novel, but I fear it's Robinson's style and will be moving his Mars trilogy much further down my reading list than earlier planned. 2 stars out of 5. Finish Date: 3 Jun 05, read concurrently with books 28 & 29.
Book 31:
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: Hotel Transylvania, 274 pages. The Saint-Germaine books were on multiple vampire book lists, and my friend mailed me hers because I hadn't found a copy of this particular book. It was a very easy read, with intriguing characters (even if Madeleine feels a bit like one-dimensional eye candy to me, but I'm a bit jaded towards this sort of female character in vampire literature at the moment). I liked Yarbro's variations on "traditional" vampire mythos, which showed she'd done some serious research even without reading the author's note. The information is played slowly and skillfully into the novel with no trace of "infodump". Historically detailed without being overwhelmingly textbookish, it is a definate "must read" for any vampire fan, especially one burned out on the likes of Rice, LKH, or Harris. 5 stars out of 5. Finish Date: 5 Jun 05.
Book 32:
Lois Lowry: The Giver, 180 pages. Young Adult novel, pre-reading for my son. The slow, careful world-building in this novel kept my attention so thoroughly that I nearly read it in one sitting. Jonas is a good focal point for the story and complex enough that he appealed even to me, as an adult, while still seeming like an actual child character. Too often child characters just seem like shrunken adults. By the time the worm was shown within the apple of Jonas' utopia, I had begun to wonder but wasn't entirely sure what it was. A definate "must own" book, for kidlet's collection if not my own. 5 stars out of 5. Finish Date: 6 Jun 05.
Next up: either Nick Sagan's Edenborn or Walter Jon Williams' The Rift.
Brief version: George Orwell: Animal Farm - 4 stars. Andrei Codrescu: The Blood Countess - 0 stars. Kim Stanley Robinson: The Years of Rice and Salt - 2 stars. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: Hotel Transylvania - 5 stars. Lois Lowry: The Giver - 5 stars.
Book 28:
George Orwell: Animal Farm, 139 pages. I never had to read it in school, so when I spotted it at the bookseller's booth at the flea market, I figured why not? It had an extensive background note in the beginning that clued me to why Orwell had such strong sentiments, which helped associate the novel to the time era it was written for. However, the satire fits far too many current situations. It is a very easy, good read, without the overblown language common to most "classics". I passed it on to kidlet for his book collection. I'll have to find a copy of 1984 now, since I know I like Orwell's prose style. 4 stars out of 5. Finish Date: 31 May 05, read concurrently with books 29 & 30.
Book 29:
Andrei Codrescu: The Blood Countess, 453 pages. Since the book was supposed to be about Elizabeth Bathory, I nabbed it as well at the flea market. Unfortunately, it was a waste even of that cheap price. Whereas the story had a lot of potential, it seemed far more that Codrescu was revelling in the gorey, sadistic scenes with Elizabeth (and later with Drake) than actually telling her story. Everything revolved around some sort of sexual perversion, and I highly doubt something as complex as Bathory's wish for youth was solely sexual. If I could give it negative stars, I would. This makes Letters to Penthouse look like pristinely innocent literary masterpieces. I had originally meant to release it as a Bookcrossing.com book, but I wouldn't be bothered to register it. Into the junk pile it goes. 0 stars out of 5. Finish Date: 2 Jun 05, read concurrently with books 28 & 30.
Book 30:
Kim Stanley Robinson: The Years of Rice and Salt, 672 pages. I'd seen this heavily recommended by others with similar reading tastes, so I had high expectations for it. The premise - what if the Black Plague killed 99% of Europe's population - was intriguing. For the first two or three sections, the reincarnation system of recycling the main characters even worked for me. But after a while, I started to feel like I was reading a textbook. "This happened in this era. This happened in the next era." Half the time, I didn't see the characters long enough to form any interest in their fates or accomplishments. I don't normally read books concurrently, but this one was so underwhelming that while I wanted to finish it, I couldn't stick to it for days at a time. It certainly could have been about 200 pages shorter than it was. I'm hoping it is just this novel, but I fear it's Robinson's style and will be moving his Mars trilogy much further down my reading list than earlier planned. 2 stars out of 5. Finish Date: 3 Jun 05, read concurrently with books 28 & 29.
Book 31:
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: Hotel Transylvania, 274 pages. The Saint-Germaine books were on multiple vampire book lists, and my friend mailed me hers because I hadn't found a copy of this particular book. It was a very easy read, with intriguing characters (even if Madeleine feels a bit like one-dimensional eye candy to me, but I'm a bit jaded towards this sort of female character in vampire literature at the moment). I liked Yarbro's variations on "traditional" vampire mythos, which showed she'd done some serious research even without reading the author's note. The information is played slowly and skillfully into the novel with no trace of "infodump". Historically detailed without being overwhelmingly textbookish, it is a definate "must read" for any vampire fan, especially one burned out on the likes of Rice, LKH, or Harris. 5 stars out of 5. Finish Date: 5 Jun 05.
Book 32:
Lois Lowry: The Giver, 180 pages. Young Adult novel, pre-reading for my son. The slow, careful world-building in this novel kept my attention so thoroughly that I nearly read it in one sitting. Jonas is a good focal point for the story and complex enough that he appealed even to me, as an adult, while still seeming like an actual child character. Too often child characters just seem like shrunken adults. By the time the worm was shown within the apple of Jonas' utopia, I had begun to wonder but wasn't entirely sure what it was. A definate "must own" book, for kidlet's collection if not my own. 5 stars out of 5. Finish Date: 6 Jun 05.
Next up: either Nick Sagan's Edenborn or Walter Jon Williams' The Rift.