2007 books
A couple of years ago my reading was turning into a self-proscribed, pre-arranged list, a habit I felt I had to shake off. So instead, for one month, I read nothing but books by people called Jack. (Chalker, Finney, Haldeman, Kerouac, London, Vance, Williamson, Womack...) It was refreshing. These days I keep my proscribed reading down to a minimum (but always welcome recommendations), so similarly, just for the hell of it, this month I will mostly be reading: books with garish yellow covers. Starting with this one:
25) China Miéville, Looking for Jake, 2005
I'm glad I finally got round to picking this up as it's been near the top of my reading pile for too long. This collection of short stories and a novella is a rather diverse mixed bag while at the same time being unashamedly London-centric, though it is often only this locale that would identify many of these stories as being Miéville's in a literary 'taste test' (OK, there's some typically Miéville vernacular too, and thankfully one set in New Crobuzon). 'Reports of Certain Event in London' is Lovecraftian in intent if not in content, others like 'Go Between' and 'Different Skies' are fairly unremarkable but well-constructed fantasy fare, and there is one co-written effort that simply doesn't convince at all ('The Ball Room'). Thankfully the lefty politicking is mostly kept in check (something that took all the fun out of Iron Council for me), but when a story does have a strong political essence such as in 'An End to Hunger' and '’Tis the Season', he is often sharply funny. A re-read of 'The Tain' was worth it too, the only piece here that really stretches Miéville's considerable talents.
words of the day
conjuration (n.): the act of summoning a spirit by witchcraft.
kwashiorkor (n.): a type of childhood malnutrition, believed to be caused by insufficient protein intake.
tain (n.): the foil of reflective tin encased in a mirror.
25) China Miéville, Looking for Jake, 2005
I'm glad I finally got round to picking this up as it's been near the top of my reading pile for too long. This collection of short stories and a novella is a rather diverse mixed bag while at the same time being unashamedly London-centric, though it is often only this locale that would identify many of these stories as being Miéville's in a literary 'taste test' (OK, there's some typically Miéville vernacular too, and thankfully one set in New Crobuzon). 'Reports of Certain Event in London' is Lovecraftian in intent if not in content, others like 'Go Between' and 'Different Skies' are fairly unremarkable but well-constructed fantasy fare, and there is one co-written effort that simply doesn't convince at all ('The Ball Room'). Thankfully the lefty politicking is mostly kept in check (something that took all the fun out of Iron Council for me), but when a story does have a strong political essence such as in 'An End to Hunger' and '’Tis the Season', he is often sharply funny. A re-read of 'The Tain' was worth it too, the only piece here that really stretches Miéville's considerable talents.
words of the day
conjuration (n.): the act of summoning a spirit by witchcraft.
kwashiorkor (n.): a type of childhood malnutrition, believed to be caused by insufficient protein intake.
tain (n.): the foil of reflective tin encased in a mirror.