Books of the Month for September October 2008

[negaduck9]

As usual, I'm a bit behind in posting this. I know how disappointed you all, who wait so eagerly to see what I've been reading, are.

September 2008

• Shardik by Richard Adams
  A giant bear gets caught up in politics. This is a sad story by Richard "Watership Down" Adams, and the ending leaves me unsatisfied.
  
• Seize the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
  This book was given away as a freebie at Dragon*Con. My first thought is that it reads as a Buffy Mary Sue fanfic, but I don't know enough about Buffy to be sure. I can say that this is a terrible book. The author plops you into the story without ever giving you a clue what is going on, what daimons and darkstalkers and whatever are supposed to be, then serves up way too many one-sentence paragraphs and cliche absolutes and Mary sue characters and lame almost-sex scenes and lame sex scenes... by the end of the book I still didn't know what was going on, and I didn't care.
  
• Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
  After the previous two I needed something to cleanse my palate. Three of Pratchett's witches go abroad and act like tourists. Fun reading, like all of Pratchett's books.
  
• Want Some Get Some by Pam Ward
  My boss loaned me this book, which was written by his niece. It's not the kind of book I'd normally read, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's about lower-class folk in one community conniving and plotting, then the hell that breaks loose as a result. It's grim in places, and even though I was rooting for some of the characters I didn't think I'd ever want to meet people like them. I'd recommend it.
  
• World of Ptavvs by Larry Niven
  This is one of the first two science-fiction novels I bought. I got it at a used book store, and when I first read it I was terribly confused and decided that I liked the other one, which was about time travel, much better. Now, the time travel book seems simplistic and illogical, and World of Ptavvs is the better book. In short, a telepathic human encounters an ancient, telepathic alien, and one enslaves the other, and one becomes the other, and then they race through spave to find a telepathy-amplifier helmet. Larry Niven creates the neatest aliens. By the way, my copy is a first-edition paperback, but it's in such scruffy shape it's not worth anything.
  
• Bad TV by Craig Nelson
  I've skimmed through this a few times, but this is the first time I've actually read the whole thing. It's a book all about bad TV shows, from classics like "My Mother The Car" to unknown-and-rightfully-so shows. My complaint with this book is that it's so out of date. Come on, there's been so much more badness in the last 10 years!
  
• Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams
  Tad Williams was, apparently, trying to write a feline fantasy version of Watership Down. I'm sorry to say that I don't think he did a great job. This book is entertaining, but I'm left-brained enough to notice all the telltales that show that Tad doesn't know enough about cats. At least five characters are tortoiseshell toms, and he describes something as "naked as a newborn kitten." If the author makes errors this blatant, do you think he can write the more subtle nuances of feline behavior? Nope. He writes fantasy-cliche felines instead, which ultimately turned me off.

October 2008

• Starswarm by Jerry Pournelle
  In this book, humans colonizing a planet find a new form of intelligence, and the two sides have to find a way to communicate with the help of a boy with a secret wi-fi link in his head. I enjoyed it.
  
• Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett
  This is not one of my favorite Pratchett books, which is to say that it's a great book, but it's not the first one I'd recommend to my friends. Well, unless they're into vampires, in which case it's perfect. I love his take on vampire self-improvement.
  
• Ghost from The Grand Banks by Arthur C. Clarke
  This book is about raising the Titanic, and the Mandelbrot set, and... well, it seems kind of disjointed. One problem I have with a lot of Clarke's books is that they don't seem tightly focused because he gets too interested in the various characters' lives and follows them instead of sticking with the plot. This one is a good example of that. I like it, but I can't help thinking it could have been tightened up so I didn't feel like I was reading three different stories.
  
• Lord of The Flies by William Golding
  A lot of people hate this book. I don't. The writing style is not what I'm used to, but the story is vivid, intense, and scary. I don't know if I'd want to see a movie version, especially one faithful to the book. Brr.
  
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Abridged Edition) by Jules Verne
  A fun book! I got this when I was in middle school through one of those order-paperbacks-dirt-cheap-through-the-school programs. However, recently I realized that this was an abridged version. Nuts! Now I want to get the real book.
  
• Jingo by Terry Pratchett
  Pratchett takes on international politics. As usual, I love the book, especially when he reveals the true nature of Leshp. Leonard of Quirm is so much fun to read about, and I respect The Patrician in the same way I respect Granny Weatherwax, if that makes any sense.
  
• The Birthday of The World by Ursula LeGuin
  This is a collection of short-to-novella-length stories set in LeGuin's Ekumen (sp?) series. They basically show how marriage and sex are handled on various planets, from the four-partner, two-moiety arrangements of O to the kemmerhouses of Karhide. A fun read, especially Coming of Age in Karhide. Wink wink nudge nudge.