Venetia (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
venetia_sassy) wrote2014-01-23 11:59 pm
venetia_sassy) wrote2014-01-23 11:59 pm
Entry tags:
Wednesday Reading Meme
What I've just finished reading
Fiction
Fool's War by Sarah Zettel
I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. Cool female characters including a Muslim ship owner/engineer whose marriage is primarily long-distance. The plot, involving sentient AIs, does get very interesting - but it took so long to get there! I don't know if this is a hard SF thing but the endless descriptions and nit-picking details about How Everything Works - the space station, the ship, the next station, the information streams, the settlement - took so long and bogged the story down. I wound up flicking ahead to see if got interesting. I spoiled myself thoroughly but yep, it got interesting. I just had to wade through all the excess detail to find the story.
Reread of ridiculously charming The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer as palate cleanser after Burke and Hare. One of my Top 10 Heyers.
Non-fiction
Burke & Hare by Owen Dudley Edwards
This took me days to slog through and I could rant about it for awhile but suffice to say the author is exceedingly verbose and thinks very highly of his own opinions. Biased is putting it mildly (but he accuses other historians of it and dismisses their conclusions on this basis!) I still feel like I know very little about Burke and Hare as they seemed to get lost in the author's side issues.
Affluenza: When Too Much is Never Enough by Clive Hamilton
Not the book by Oliver James but a book from 2005 with an Australian focus. Nothing really new to me but it confirmed how much we've shifted from the 'Aussie battler' to the 'Aussie whinger' - helped along by politicians playing up the former ideal. It would be interesting to see an update post-GFC. Try reminding Australians we are a wealthy country that weathered the GFC in remarkably good shape thanks to Labor. Hah.
Cold Cases: On The Trail Of Justice by Charlotte Greig
Lightweight coverage of cold cases solved by a variety of techniques, with cases reopened for different reasons. Sloppy editing.
What I'm reading now
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
Gangsters Encyclopedia by Michael Newton
What I'm reading next
Fiction by a known author and a lighter non-fiction, I expect.
Fiction
Fool's War by Sarah Zettel
I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. Cool female characters including a Muslim ship owner/engineer whose marriage is primarily long-distance. The plot, involving sentient AIs, does get very interesting - but it took so long to get there! I don't know if this is a hard SF thing but the endless descriptions and nit-picking details about How Everything Works - the space station, the ship, the next station, the information streams, the settlement - took so long and bogged the story down. I wound up flicking ahead to see if got interesting. I spoiled myself thoroughly but yep, it got interesting. I just had to wade through all the excess detail to find the story.
Reread of ridiculously charming The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer as palate cleanser after Burke and Hare. One of my Top 10 Heyers.
Non-fiction
Burke & Hare by Owen Dudley Edwards
This took me days to slog through and I could rant about it for awhile but suffice to say the author is exceedingly verbose and thinks very highly of his own opinions. Biased is putting it mildly (but he accuses other historians of it and dismisses their conclusions on this basis!) I still feel like I know very little about Burke and Hare as they seemed to get lost in the author's side issues.
Affluenza: When Too Much is Never Enough by Clive Hamilton
Not the book by Oliver James but a book from 2005 with an Australian focus. Nothing really new to me but it confirmed how much we've shifted from the 'Aussie battler' to the 'Aussie whinger' - helped along by politicians playing up the former ideal. It would be interesting to see an update post-GFC. Try reminding Australians we are a wealthy country that weathered the GFC in remarkably good shape thanks to Labor. Hah.
Cold Cases: On The Trail Of Justice by Charlotte Greig
Lightweight coverage of cold cases solved by a variety of techniques, with cases reopened for different reasons. Sloppy editing.
What I'm reading now
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
Gangsters Encyclopedia by Michael Newton
What I'm reading next
Fiction by a known author and a lighter non-fiction, I expect.