(no subject)
Apparently it's September now, I'm sure I didn't agree to the year moving this quickyl and I'm certainly not ready for traffic jams on my way to work and all my term-time activities starting back up /o\ I mean I quite like autumn generally but this whole autumn term thing I'm not so sure about!
Anyway it does mean it's time for another list of books I've read and despite being out of the Hugos (well with two exceptions) I've actually read loads this month which is good because between LonCon & Nine Worlds I've added a lot more books to my to-read pile!
I read twelve in total including one reread, one graphic novel and even a couple of non-fiction books plus I finished the Elizabeth Jennings poetry I've been reading for a little while now.
♣ read on kindle
♥ graphic novel/comic book
♦ short form
August reviews
Galactic Patrol- E. E. Smith I think I liked this book a lot more before the (one and only) female character was introduced because before that I could mostly ignore the ridiculous sexism. Another retro Hugos novel that's incredibly "of its time" and the lead character (& the one woman) is absolutely a Mary Sue perfect at EVERYTHING, so perfect he's not just made it through the academy that only picks the best of the best but he's TOP of that class and then he's the youngest person ever to get the next promotion (on and on). All that aside it's a pretty good space romp and I enjoyed the use of mind reading and also that it had actually interesting and different aliens. But WOW. So sexist. Though I have to say I've never read another book where the sign that the leading couple (not that they ever actually become a couple in this book) are meant for each other is that they both have perfect skeletons... so weird eugenics hints as well. And with that I'm done with the Hugos (bar a reread of The Sword in the Stone possibly)
>Disney Kingdoms: Seekers of the Weird- Brandon Seifert I think Amy Dallen rec'd this on her Geek & Sundry show a while back, I can't really remember, but I've been thinking about reading more comics and as a nice short & complete thing this seemed like fun PLUS it's based on the Museum of the Weird which was designed for Disney and never built. It's an adventure story and it's beautifully drawn and I loved it and all the ideas behind it. (Comics fans can try giving me recs but looking at most popular things makes me panic about how much of various series already exists :-/)
The Long War- Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter Much like the first book I think my problem with the Long War is that I love the world a lot more than the plot. In fact talk about a misleading title- I kept waiting for this war to start and then it never did which is kind of the point a bit I guess? It did feel like a collection of things happening rather than a plot though BUT each of the things and each of the sets of characters were interesting and I was involved enough that I was almost annoyed when I got to Heathrow (on my way to Nine Worlds) a chapter & a half before the book ended *g*
The Throne of the Crescent Moon- Saladin Ahmed This was one of the books in my Nine World's welcome bag :D It's fairly typical fantasy stuff really with monsters & evil spells and shapeshifters but it's nice to see fantasy that originates in a different culture and I really enjoyed some of the worldbuilding and competing cultures within the city. It's theoretically book one of a series and I think I'd pick up any future books if I saw them.
Shakespeare's London Theatreland- Julian Bowsher I've been reading this on and off for a while. It's published by the Museum of London Archaeology department and it's a really thorough survey of the evidence and information we have on the various theatres, playhouses and bear baiting arenas we know existed in London around Shakespeare's lifetime. There's a lot more than I thought and it was particularly fascinating reading about some of the indoor spaces now the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is open (even though that mirrors a later period). It finishes with some walks around London to some of the sites which I might try out at some point- the Southbank one at the very least.
Ranger Rose- Ethel Talbot This review is rather late, I actually read this in June but somehow missed it off that list (oops) I bought it in Hay-on-Wye and immediately read and LOVED it even if I do rather think poor Rose deserves a better ending (I'm so used to EBD and her happy endings that when Rose got hurt again I assumed it was superficial). Mostly though I just loved reading about Rose and her accidental Brownies and it seemed very apt in this centenary year. It's a lovely book <3
The Once and Future King- T.H. White Well I managed my reread of this before LonCon even if it wasn't before I voted for it in the Retro Hugos. Pleasingly I enjoyed it just as much as I remembered so I feel my vote was justified. I'd forgotten quite how many passages of T.H. White giving us his views on "modern" politics there were, I remembered some but not all by any means, and I'd entirely forgotten how insistent he is on the point that Guenever is a person and if you remember that then everything makes more sense (WHY is a woman being an actual person STILL a thing 75 years later?!)
Barefaced Lies & Boogie-Woogie Boasts- Jools Holland I don't know how much of this Jools really wrote but it definitely had his style. I found the earlier parts the most interesting- his memories of growing up in the East End and then the early days of touring with Squeeze plus every time he talks about jamming with another musician you can feel the enthusiasm. It's also interesting reading his memories of Paula Yates, though very sad at the same time obviously. Mostly it just made me want to listen to some of his albums again.
Asimov's Vampires- Sheila Williams & Gardner R. Dozois (ed) (Asimov's as in the magazine not the author) Dad picked this up somewhere and lent it to me and as it was short and full of authors I like/wanted to try I figured why not. Connie Willis' story was set in the Blitz and I think the best but I also very much liked Tanith Lee's take on what a fairytale monster might be for a vampire, Sharon N Farber's brilliant medical examination of vampires during the Plague and Pat Cadigan's My Brother's Keeper which was genuinely chilling. Lot's of vampires and not a single sparkle amongst them all *g*
The New House-Mistress- Elinor Brent Dyer I've read so few non-CS EBDs that it's always odd to me reading her school stories set elsewhere! This was my happy find in Hay-on-Wye and it's a sweet little story although WOW melodramatic much. We have a girl nearly killing herself climbing trees, the story of two tinies nearly getting eaten by a crocodile and then a fire to finish things off! Mostly I wanted more about Miss Oswald and less about the kids but I did enjoy Barbara Allen's annoyance at her lyrical namesake.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children- Ransom Riggs I've been meaning to read this ever since I saw it shortly after it came out in hardback because I just love the idea- using old photographs of strange occurrences to create a novel around? Count me in! It's good too, I was a little uncertain at first about the way it puts the persecution of the peculiar people alongside WW2 and therefore the Holocaust but actually I think it's done pretty well and I got very caught up in the story and the way it plays on what we believe and don't believe and how we treat people who say or think or do strange things. I think I'll pick up the sequel at some point!
Lucidities- Elizabeth Jennings We read some of Elizabeth Jennings' poems at A-Level and I liked them more than some of the others we read but I've never quite been able to bring myself to go back to her. I picked up this and another of hers in Hay though and I'm glad I did. She's much gentler than I remembered and much more religious actually plus some of her imagery is very vivid. I enjoyed her poem inspired by Rouault's paintings a lot and also several are about, well, writer's block and the gift of being a writer. I've been forcing myself to read a poem a day recently and in the last couple of months I stopped having to force it, I'm just enjoying it.
Anyway it does mean it's time for another list of books I've read and despite being out of the Hugos (well with two exceptions) I've actually read loads this month which is good because between LonCon & Nine Worlds I've added a lot more books to my to-read pile!
I read twelve in total including one reread, one graphic novel and even a couple of non-fiction books plus I finished the Elizabeth Jennings poetry I've been reading for a little while now.
- Galactic Patrol- E. E. Smith♣
- Disney Kingdoms: Seekers of the Weird- Brandon Seifert♥
- The Long War- Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter
- The Throne of the Crescent Moon- Saladin Ahmed
- Shakespeare's London Theatreland- Julian Bowsher
- Ranger Rose- Ethel Talbot
- The Once and Future King- T.H. White
- Barefaced Lies & Boogie-Woogie Boasts- Jools Holland
- Asimov's Vampires- Sheila Williams & Gardner R. Dozois (ed)
- The New House-Mistress- Elinor Brent Dyer
- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children- Ransom Riggs
- Lucidities- Elizabeth Jennings
♣ read on kindle
♥ graphic novel/comic book
♦ short form
August reviews
Galactic Patrol- E. E. Smith I think I liked this book a lot more before the (one and only) female character was introduced because before that I could mostly ignore the ridiculous sexism. Another retro Hugos novel that's incredibly "of its time" and the lead character (& the one woman) is absolutely a Mary Sue perfect at EVERYTHING, so perfect he's not just made it through the academy that only picks the best of the best but he's TOP of that class and then he's the youngest person ever to get the next promotion (on and on). All that aside it's a pretty good space romp and I enjoyed the use of mind reading and also that it had actually interesting and different aliens. But WOW. So sexist. Though I have to say I've never read another book where the sign that the leading couple (not that they ever actually become a couple in this book) are meant for each other is that they both have perfect skeletons... so weird eugenics hints as well. And with that I'm done with the Hugos (bar a reread of The Sword in the Stone possibly)
>Disney Kingdoms: Seekers of the Weird- Brandon Seifert I think Amy Dallen rec'd this on her Geek & Sundry show a while back, I can't really remember, but I've been thinking about reading more comics and as a nice short & complete thing this seemed like fun PLUS it's based on the Museum of the Weird which was designed for Disney and never built. It's an adventure story and it's beautifully drawn and I loved it and all the ideas behind it. (Comics fans can try giving me recs but looking at most popular things makes me panic about how much of various series already exists :-/)
The Long War- Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter Much like the first book I think my problem with the Long War is that I love the world a lot more than the plot. In fact talk about a misleading title- I kept waiting for this war to start and then it never did which is kind of the point a bit I guess? It did feel like a collection of things happening rather than a plot though BUT each of the things and each of the sets of characters were interesting and I was involved enough that I was almost annoyed when I got to Heathrow (on my way to Nine Worlds) a chapter & a half before the book ended *g*
The Throne of the Crescent Moon- Saladin Ahmed This was one of the books in my Nine World's welcome bag :D It's fairly typical fantasy stuff really with monsters & evil spells and shapeshifters but it's nice to see fantasy that originates in a different culture and I really enjoyed some of the worldbuilding and competing cultures within the city. It's theoretically book one of a series and I think I'd pick up any future books if I saw them.
Shakespeare's London Theatreland- Julian Bowsher I've been reading this on and off for a while. It's published by the Museum of London Archaeology department and it's a really thorough survey of the evidence and information we have on the various theatres, playhouses and bear baiting arenas we know existed in London around Shakespeare's lifetime. There's a lot more than I thought and it was particularly fascinating reading about some of the indoor spaces now the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is open (even though that mirrors a later period). It finishes with some walks around London to some of the sites which I might try out at some point- the Southbank one at the very least.
Ranger Rose- Ethel Talbot This review is rather late, I actually read this in June but somehow missed it off that list (oops) I bought it in Hay-on-Wye and immediately read and LOVED it even if I do rather think poor Rose deserves a better ending (I'm so used to EBD and her happy endings that when Rose got hurt again I assumed it was superficial). Mostly though I just loved reading about Rose and her accidental Brownies and it seemed very apt in this centenary year. It's a lovely book <3
The Once and Future King- T.H. White Well I managed my reread of this before LonCon even if it wasn't before I voted for it in the Retro Hugos. Pleasingly I enjoyed it just as much as I remembered so I feel my vote was justified. I'd forgotten quite how many passages of T.H. White giving us his views on "modern" politics there were, I remembered some but not all by any means, and I'd entirely forgotten how insistent he is on the point that Guenever is a person and if you remember that then everything makes more sense (WHY is a woman being an actual person STILL a thing 75 years later?!)
Barefaced Lies & Boogie-Woogie Boasts- Jools Holland I don't know how much of this Jools really wrote but it definitely had his style. I found the earlier parts the most interesting- his memories of growing up in the East End and then the early days of touring with Squeeze plus every time he talks about jamming with another musician you can feel the enthusiasm. It's also interesting reading his memories of Paula Yates, though very sad at the same time obviously. Mostly it just made me want to listen to some of his albums again.
Asimov's Vampires- Sheila Williams & Gardner R. Dozois (ed) (Asimov's as in the magazine not the author) Dad picked this up somewhere and lent it to me and as it was short and full of authors I like/wanted to try I figured why not. Connie Willis' story was set in the Blitz and I think the best but I also very much liked Tanith Lee's take on what a fairytale monster might be for a vampire, Sharon N Farber's brilliant medical examination of vampires during the Plague and Pat Cadigan's My Brother's Keeper which was genuinely chilling. Lot's of vampires and not a single sparkle amongst them all *g*
The New House-Mistress- Elinor Brent Dyer I've read so few non-CS EBDs that it's always odd to me reading her school stories set elsewhere! This was my happy find in Hay-on-Wye and it's a sweet little story although WOW melodramatic much. We have a girl nearly killing herself climbing trees, the story of two tinies nearly getting eaten by a crocodile and then a fire to finish things off! Mostly I wanted more about Miss Oswald and less about the kids but I did enjoy Barbara Allen's annoyance at her lyrical namesake.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children- Ransom Riggs I've been meaning to read this ever since I saw it shortly after it came out in hardback because I just love the idea- using old photographs of strange occurrences to create a novel around? Count me in! It's good too, I was a little uncertain at first about the way it puts the persecution of the peculiar people alongside WW2 and therefore the Holocaust but actually I think it's done pretty well and I got very caught up in the story and the way it plays on what we believe and don't believe and how we treat people who say or think or do strange things. I think I'll pick up the sequel at some point!
Lucidities- Elizabeth Jennings We read some of Elizabeth Jennings' poems at A-Level and I liked them more than some of the others we read but I've never quite been able to bring myself to go back to her. I picked up this and another of hers in Hay though and I'm glad I did. She's much gentler than I remembered and much more religious actually plus some of her imagery is very vivid. I enjoyed her poem inspired by Rouault's paintings a lot and also several are about, well, writer's block and the gift of being a writer. I've been forcing myself to read a poem a day recently and in the last couple of months I stopped having to force it, I'm just enjoying it.