Reader Rambles
I really try to focus on reading only one, or perhaps two, books at a time, but at the moment I seem to be in the middle of a ridiculous number! Figured I'd share a bit about what I'm into, my thoughts on them, and why I just can't seem to focus.
The Golden Key by Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, and Kate Elliot. I picked this up at a used bookstore when I was in Victoria back in October. I've liked all of Rawn's stuff that I've read, and from the back cover copy it looked like it was set in an imagined universe closely modeled after Renaissance Europe, which is one of my favourite things. Now I want to go out and find things by the other authors, as if I don't have a long enough to-read list already. Despite being around 1000 pages in mass market paperback form, it doesn't drag. New characters are often introduced and characterized richly, and the political intrigue combines perfectly with the nuances of human interaction and character relationships. One of the major themes is the influence of visual art on society. I took it with me to Costa Rica since it was already a beat-up used copy, and despite spending lots of afternoons reading in a hammock (how blissful) I'm still only halfway through.
Given my back and shoulder problems, I hate carrying a heavy purse. I like big books, but tend to have a high proportion of my reading time when I'm on the go. I've been toting around The Songweavers by Kathleen McDonnell. When I finished my internship at Second Story, my boss told me to take any dozen books from the storeroom that I wanted. Joy! The company doesn't publish much fantasy, but there was a trilogy aimed at young teens, of which this is the third book. Despite my age, I enjoy reading fantasy aimed at a younger audience, because I would like to be involved in publishing the genre someday and may even try my hand at writing it. Its small phyiscal size makes it ideal for reading on the subway, but then I have the problem that I'm a little embarassed to read children's books in public. "The Notherland Trilogy" centres around a teenager named Peggy and her surprise to find herself in the imaginary world she dreamed up as a child to help her get through her parents' divorce. Like all of Second Story's titles, it's rather "issuey", and is a little clumsy or cliche at times due to what I assume is its editors' unfamiliarity with the genre, but it has some good points.
I have a giant paperback tome at my apartment consisting of all 10 books of Roger Zelazny's "Chronicles of Amber" series. It is unfortunately so big that it's awkward to read, even on the couch, but it was too good a deal to pass up for ten bucks at a used store years ago. I'm only somewhere in the third book after months of on and off reading, but they're classics in the genre. The first person writing style takes some getting used to, but the author does some really interesting things with myth and genre conventions.
My friend Brant lent me Raymond Feist's "Serpentwar Saga" a while back, and I'm on book 3, Rage of a Demon King. It is rare that I find an author's gender so obvious in the writing style, and I'm certainly no fan of "girlie" books, but man, Fiest is such a GUY. All of the women are really flat characters, and one male character who is supposed to be liked by the reader is a weak-willed cheating bastard. There is almost no focus on the characters less obvious emotions. Also, some of the cliches are driving me crazy, but then I remind myself that it's fairly old and the stereotypes probably weren't so entrenched at that point. All that said, even though I keep putting it down it's not a bad series, and I have to finish it as some point just to know what happens.
Another friend lent me Dune recently, suitably shocked that any admitted geek has not read this classic. Thus, I dove into it as soon as possible, and am really enjoying it, but since I'm still near the beginning before the bulk of the action, I keep getting distracted by everything else I have on the go. It also isn't purse-sized. I wonder how many of the sequels I'll feel compelled to read when I finish it, and whether the ones written by Frank Herbert's son are any good.
I'm taking Ryeron's course on The Business of Book Publishing. Though I picked the online format, my instructor happens to be my boss, so I don't lose the advantage of having a real life person to ask questions. For the course I'm reading Financial Management for Non-Financial Managers. There was a reason I haven't taken math since i was 16, and it's not because I'm not good at it. It's just no fun. I really hope I'm never in a job where I have to draw up a budget or write financial reports. On the bright side, the writer injects some humour, and the example company throughout the book is "Rosie Rouse's Spouse Houses", which makes and distributes glorified garden sheds for partners sent to the proverbial doghouse.
In the style of a true geek and English grad, books are more interesting than my life at the moment. When that gets exciting, perhaps I'll blog about real stuff.
The Golden Key by Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, and Kate Elliot. I picked this up at a used bookstore when I was in Victoria back in October. I've liked all of Rawn's stuff that I've read, and from the back cover copy it looked like it was set in an imagined universe closely modeled after Renaissance Europe, which is one of my favourite things. Now I want to go out and find things by the other authors, as if I don't have a long enough to-read list already. Despite being around 1000 pages in mass market paperback form, it doesn't drag. New characters are often introduced and characterized richly, and the political intrigue combines perfectly with the nuances of human interaction and character relationships. One of the major themes is the influence of visual art on society. I took it with me to Costa Rica since it was already a beat-up used copy, and despite spending lots of afternoons reading in a hammock (how blissful) I'm still only halfway through.
Given my back and shoulder problems, I hate carrying a heavy purse. I like big books, but tend to have a high proportion of my reading time when I'm on the go. I've been toting around The Songweavers by Kathleen McDonnell. When I finished my internship at Second Story, my boss told me to take any dozen books from the storeroom that I wanted. Joy! The company doesn't publish much fantasy, but there was a trilogy aimed at young teens, of which this is the third book. Despite my age, I enjoy reading fantasy aimed at a younger audience, because I would like to be involved in publishing the genre someday and may even try my hand at writing it. Its small phyiscal size makes it ideal for reading on the subway, but then I have the problem that I'm a little embarassed to read children's books in public. "The Notherland Trilogy" centres around a teenager named Peggy and her surprise to find herself in the imaginary world she dreamed up as a child to help her get through her parents' divorce. Like all of Second Story's titles, it's rather "issuey", and is a little clumsy or cliche at times due to what I assume is its editors' unfamiliarity with the genre, but it has some good points.
I have a giant paperback tome at my apartment consisting of all 10 books of Roger Zelazny's "Chronicles of Amber" series. It is unfortunately so big that it's awkward to read, even on the couch, but it was too good a deal to pass up for ten bucks at a used store years ago. I'm only somewhere in the third book after months of on and off reading, but they're classics in the genre. The first person writing style takes some getting used to, but the author does some really interesting things with myth and genre conventions.
My friend Brant lent me Raymond Feist's "Serpentwar Saga" a while back, and I'm on book 3, Rage of a Demon King. It is rare that I find an author's gender so obvious in the writing style, and I'm certainly no fan of "girlie" books, but man, Fiest is such a GUY. All of the women are really flat characters, and one male character who is supposed to be liked by the reader is a weak-willed cheating bastard. There is almost no focus on the characters less obvious emotions. Also, some of the cliches are driving me crazy, but then I remind myself that it's fairly old and the stereotypes probably weren't so entrenched at that point. All that said, even though I keep putting it down it's not a bad series, and I have to finish it as some point just to know what happens.
Another friend lent me Dune recently, suitably shocked that any admitted geek has not read this classic. Thus, I dove into it as soon as possible, and am really enjoying it, but since I'm still near the beginning before the bulk of the action, I keep getting distracted by everything else I have on the go. It also isn't purse-sized. I wonder how many of the sequels I'll feel compelled to read when I finish it, and whether the ones written by Frank Herbert's son are any good.
I'm taking Ryeron's course on The Business of Book Publishing. Though I picked the online format, my instructor happens to be my boss, so I don't lose the advantage of having a real life person to ask questions. For the course I'm reading Financial Management for Non-Financial Managers. There was a reason I haven't taken math since i was 16, and it's not because I'm not good at it. It's just no fun. I really hope I'm never in a job where I have to draw up a budget or write financial reports. On the bright side, the writer injects some humour, and the example company throughout the book is "Rosie Rouse's Spouse Houses", which makes and distributes glorified garden sheds for partners sent to the proverbial doghouse.
In the style of a true geek and English grad, books are more interesting than my life at the moment. When that gets exciting, perhaps I'll blog about real stuff.