Books
I have been reading like a mad fiend for the last couple of days.
I finished Kate Mosse's Labyrinth Monday evening before I kicked back into cleaning mode. It's another "grail" novel, but not at all in the vein of The Da Vinci Code. This one flashes back and forth between the 12th/13th century and the 21st century, and is the story of a quest to keep hidden three books that, combined, can lead someone to the grail. It was entertaining enough that it kept my attention, but it's definitely not the most well-written thing I've read lately. I'd gotten through half the novel before I really figured out what the plot was -- i.e. what was going on, what the two opposing sides were trying to accomplish, etc. It's really disorienting to read that much of a novel and still not feel like you have a handle on what's going on. And even after I finally sorted out all the threads, there were still spots that left me confused (wondering how certain people knew certain information, that kind of thing). So...an entertaining read, but has its problems. Wait for the paperback, or borrow it from your library. Recommended with Reservations.
Yesterday, I didn't bring a book to work with me, planning to read some library science papers I have sitting around my office needing to be read instead. But come lunch time, I wasn't in the mood for that, so I ended up taking advantage of the fact that I work in a library and checked out our copy of Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife. This book is GOOD (so far, anyway). It's basically a love story about a couple, the man of which is "chrono-challenged" -- i.e. he slips forward or backward in time seemingly at random, and he has no control over it. This, of course, challenges their relationship. It's mind-boggling to contemplate the ways they shape each other -- in reality, they are 8 years apart in age (she 8 years the younger). However, they first meet when she is six and he is 40-something, having slipped backward in time. In his present, they're married...so he ends up shaping her into the woman he later marries. When they finally meet in "real time," his present self hasn't travelled back in time to meet her yet, so he has none of those memories. So then she essentially shapes him into the man she met when she was 6. I've been devouring this one -- I'm halfway through it already, and the copy I'm reading has 518 pages. Needless to say, no cleaning got done last night. (Conditionally) Highly Recommended.
I finished Kate Mosse's Labyrinth Monday evening before I kicked back into cleaning mode. It's another "grail" novel, but not at all in the vein of The Da Vinci Code. This one flashes back and forth between the 12th/13th century and the 21st century, and is the story of a quest to keep hidden three books that, combined, can lead someone to the grail. It was entertaining enough that it kept my attention, but it's definitely not the most well-written thing I've read lately. I'd gotten through half the novel before I really figured out what the plot was -- i.e. what was going on, what the two opposing sides were trying to accomplish, etc. It's really disorienting to read that much of a novel and still not feel like you have a handle on what's going on. And even after I finally sorted out all the threads, there were still spots that left me confused (wondering how certain people knew certain information, that kind of thing). So...an entertaining read, but has its problems. Wait for the paperback, or borrow it from your library. Recommended with Reservations.
Yesterday, I didn't bring a book to work with me, planning to read some library science papers I have sitting around my office needing to be read instead. But come lunch time, I wasn't in the mood for that, so I ended up taking advantage of the fact that I work in a library and checked out our copy of Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife. This book is GOOD (so far, anyway). It's basically a love story about a couple, the man of which is "chrono-challenged" -- i.e. he slips forward or backward in time seemingly at random, and he has no control over it. This, of course, challenges their relationship. It's mind-boggling to contemplate the ways they shape each other -- in reality, they are 8 years apart in age (she 8 years the younger). However, they first meet when she is six and he is 40-something, having slipped backward in time. In his present, they're married...so he ends up shaping her into the woman he later marries. When they finally meet in "real time," his present self hasn't travelled back in time to meet her yet, so he has none of those memories. So then she essentially shapes him into the man she met when she was 6. I've been devouring this one -- I'm halfway through it already, and the copy I'm reading has 518 pages. Needless to say, no cleaning got done last night. (Conditionally) Highly Recommended.