I read, therefore I am.
Jun. 11th, 2007 11:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityofoneWeek 23: 4—10 June
129. Human Nature, Paul Cornell — The Doctor Who novel that was recently adapted as 'Human Nature/Family of Blood.' It's available free online here, which is very convenient. I was unfamiliar with both the Doctor (Seven) and the Companion (Bernice Summerfield) the novel is about, and to be honest I'm really mostly invested in Ten (although now also in Martha. Martha is amazingly awesome. *beams*) so this was really mostly intriguing in terms of what had/had not been changed between book and screen. The only other thing that really struck me was that the Doctor stated unequivocally that he's not capable of "small" love—"big" love for humanity, yes, but not romantic love. That's certainly something to ponder (especially since I don't think it's true).
Anyway, I suspect this is only interesting if you are really into Doctor Who right now. Which I am.
130. The Meaning of It All, Richard P. Feynman — A trio of lectures Feynman gave in 1963 on the theme of "A Scientist Looks at Society." He discusses politics, religion, and the role of science. Feynman's thoughts aren't always perfectly organized, but much of what he says—especially about how people aren't trained to think scientifically, and how that's a detriment to a society that's pretty much conditioned to perceive itself as incapable of understanding science and logical thought—is still remarkably relevant today. This seemed to me almost like a book of psalms for irreligious people; I found it very calming.
131. The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Laurie R. King — Sherlock Holmes pastiche/continuation/fanfic in which Holmes, retired to beekeeping in Sussex, is so impressed by the intelligence of 15-year-old feminist Mary 'Sue' Russell that he decides to take her on as his apprentice-detective. Wacky adventures ensue.
Okay. There were some good things about this book. King's prose is enjoyable enough, and her dialogue is suitably witty. The narrative is rather too episodic for my taste, but there are some nice atmospheric touches. And I like the idea of Holmes being surprised, being slowly won over by someone. However. HOWEVER.
There were two things I just couldn't get past. The first is that Russell really is so very much the epitome of Mary Sue-dom; she's smart and pretty and everyone likes her and oh! Is that a tragic past providing an extra source of sympathetic angst? Next it'll be revealed that she has violet eyes and Hogwarts wants her to come join Sparklypoo. But you know? I could have been generous and gotten past all that for the pleasure of seeing Holmes thrown for a loop.
What I couldn't get past, though, was how shittily King/Russell treats Watson. The "bumbling idiot" angle is played up A LOT, but even worse, King makes it seem like Holmes doesn't really care about Watson at all. And I'm talking platonically; everyone can be straight in this story for all I care. But gone is the Holmes who "should be lost without my Boswell"; King actually has Holmes forget to warn Watson that he's in danger from a bomber who's targeting Holmes' friends—though he rushed to Mary's side—and nearly costs the condescendingly-called "Uncle John" his life. Why is this kind of character assassination necessary? It's possible to make new friends and find new lovers without shitting all over the old ones, and to insist otherwise seems so amateurish, the worst kind of rookie fic writer mistake.
I'm actually kind of curious to see where this series goes; King, to her credit, takes it suitably slow, and I want to be convinced by the possibility of Holmes falling for someone. Who can resist incredibly brilliant but emotionally fucked up people in love? Not I. But any further reading of this series is going to be at least somewhat masochistic for me.
*goes to read "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" (which has a great Watson-saves-Holmes'-life scene) to make herself feel better*
132. Glasshouse, Charles Stross — In the future, a group of people volunteer for a scientific experiment in which they agree to immerse themselves in a community mimicking long-gone 20th Century life. The protagonist, Robin, signs up to escape people who are trying to kill her. I mean, him. Technically Robin is a dude. But he spends most of the book trapped in a female body, and as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wychwood pointed out, he mostly just reads as a woman—as an awesome, interesting heroine. It's kind of sad that one of the few ways we get male SF/F writers writing interesting women is when they think they're writing men, but it works to our advantage in this case, I suppose.
This was generally a quite fun "fight the power" yarn (the experimenters are up to no good, surprise surprise). I enjoyed the hints of backstory—the history of the Censorship Wars and the genesis of the very creepy (and wonderfully named) virus Curious Yellow. There were also some neat tricks worked with Robin's first person POV. The book's ending, however, was rather too rushed and pat; saying "And then we fought a big battle and kicked some ass" is really not the same as showing a big battle being fought and some ass being kicked. In general, this was interesting and enjoyable sci-fi, but it really didn't transcend the genre.
133. Nice Work, David Lodge — Third in Lodge's loosely-connected trilogy, following Changing Places and Small World. I loved this. It's a study of opposing characters—opposing forces, almost—wherein factory manager Vic Wilcox and academic Robyn Penrose are brought together and forced to intermingle by bizarre political maneuverings (a governmentally-mandated "Industry Year" to breed understanding among different sectors of Lodge's fictionalized Birmingham; I think I just took more time to explain that than Lodge does). The culture clash is incredibly amusing, poking fun at both sides, and I love the way Lodge slowly draws out the growing understanding between the two parties. (akukorax STOP READING THIS NOW.) Unfortunately, Lodge is rather more cynical than I; I of course wanted those crazy kids to make it work. But despite the absence of my longed-for, if unrealistic, happy ending, this book was a total pleasure; it even made me newly glad that I had read North and South. Quite a feat.
(You can look again,akukorax *g*)
134. The Beautiful Miscellaneous, Dominic Smith — This book has a really promising set-up: despite the teachings and urgings of his genius physicist father, 17-year-old Nathan has remained disappointingly average; then he survives a near-fatal car crash and in the process gets his brain rewired. The first hundred or so pages, the build-up to the accident you already know is going to occur, are like a pleasantly held breath, full of anticipation; unfortunately, once the accident happens, and Nathan—now gifted with synesthesia (one of my favorite rare-in-life-but-awesome-in-literature neurological phenomena!) and an accompanying enhanced memory—reenters the world, the book turns into a much more straightforward father-son narrative. It still contains a lot of beautiful imagery, but it's basically a coming-of-age story (it seriously almost-concludes with the protagonist losing his virginity), and it's not different enough to set it apart from the 85 billion other coming-of-age stories I've read.
135. Home Truths, David Lodge — Another fantastic, funny Lodge book, this one about two old friends' attempt to take revenge on a journalist who wrote a nasty piece about the more famous of the two. This is based on Lodge's own play, and possibly the only criticism I could level at it is that it on occasion seems too play-y, with scene breaks and patches of prose that read like stage directions. Still, it's incredibly enjoyable; I'm loving Lodge a lot of late.
136. The Jane Austen Book Club, Karen Joy Fowler — What a wonderful surprise. This was great, so much more than the light, fluffy lit it would seem to be. Fowler's story follows six protagonists as they read Austen's six novels, with each character linked to a specific novel; it's very cleverly, subtly done. There are some fantastic narrative tricks—none of which seems showoff-y: parts of the novel are written in the second person, the collective "we" of the book group; the book concludes with the characters' hilarious "discussion questions" to you, the novel's readers. There's also some interesting stuff about gender; I especially liked Grigg, the club's sole male, whom Fowler reveals to be "a born heroine." This book made me incredibly happy. Though the real question is, of course, whether it would pass thesiriaeve True Austenite test. *peers at her*
Total Books: 136
By the way? Good Reads is turning out to be a TON of fun. *pimps*
129. Human Nature, Paul Cornell — The Doctor Who novel that was recently adapted as 'Human Nature/Family of Blood.' It's available free online here, which is very convenient. I was unfamiliar with both the Doctor (Seven) and the Companion (Bernice Summerfield) the novel is about, and to be honest I'm really mostly invested in Ten (although now also in Martha. Martha is amazingly awesome. *beams*) so this was really mostly intriguing in terms of what had/had not been changed between book and screen. The only other thing that really struck me was that the Doctor stated unequivocally that he's not capable of "small" love—"big" love for humanity, yes, but not romantic love. That's certainly something to ponder (especially since I don't think it's true).
Anyway, I suspect this is only interesting if you are really into Doctor Who right now. Which I am.
130. The Meaning of It All, Richard P. Feynman — A trio of lectures Feynman gave in 1963 on the theme of "A Scientist Looks at Society." He discusses politics, religion, and the role of science. Feynman's thoughts aren't always perfectly organized, but much of what he says—especially about how people aren't trained to think scientifically, and how that's a detriment to a society that's pretty much conditioned to perceive itself as incapable of understanding science and logical thought—is still remarkably relevant today. This seemed to me almost like a book of psalms for irreligious people; I found it very calming.
131. The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Laurie R. King — Sherlock Holmes pastiche/continuation/fanfic in which Holmes, retired to beekeeping in Sussex, is so impressed by the intelligence of 15-year-old feminist Mary 'Sue' Russell that he decides to take her on as his apprentice-detective. Wacky adventures ensue.
Okay. There were some good things about this book. King's prose is enjoyable enough, and her dialogue is suitably witty. The narrative is rather too episodic for my taste, but there are some nice atmospheric touches. And I like the idea of Holmes being surprised, being slowly won over by someone. However. HOWEVER.
There were two things I just couldn't get past. The first is that Russell really is so very much the epitome of Mary Sue-dom; she's smart and pretty and everyone likes her and oh! Is that a tragic past providing an extra source of sympathetic angst? Next it'll be revealed that she has violet eyes and Hogwarts wants her to come join Sparklypoo. But you know? I could have been generous and gotten past all that for the pleasure of seeing Holmes thrown for a loop.
What I couldn't get past, though, was how shittily King/Russell treats Watson. The "bumbling idiot" angle is played up A LOT, but even worse, King makes it seem like Holmes doesn't really care about Watson at all. And I'm talking platonically; everyone can be straight in this story for all I care. But gone is the Holmes who "should be lost without my Boswell"; King actually has Holmes forget to warn Watson that he's in danger from a bomber who's targeting Holmes' friends—though he rushed to Mary's side—and nearly costs the condescendingly-called "Uncle John" his life. Why is this kind of character assassination necessary? It's possible to make new friends and find new lovers without shitting all over the old ones, and to insist otherwise seems so amateurish, the worst kind of rookie fic writer mistake.
I'm actually kind of curious to see where this series goes; King, to her credit, takes it suitably slow, and I want to be convinced by the possibility of Holmes falling for someone. Who can resist incredibly brilliant but emotionally fucked up people in love? Not I. But any further reading of this series is going to be at least somewhat masochistic for me.
*goes to read "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" (which has a great Watson-saves-Holmes'-life scene) to make herself feel better*
132. Glasshouse, Charles Stross — In the future, a group of people volunteer for a scientific experiment in which they agree to immerse themselves in a community mimicking long-gone 20th Century life. The protagonist, Robin, signs up to escape people who are trying to kill her. I mean, him. Technically Robin is a dude. But he spends most of the book trapped in a female body, and as
wychwood pointed out, he mostly just reads as a woman—as an awesome, interesting heroine. It's kind of sad that one of the few ways we get male SF/F writers writing interesting women is when they think they're writing men, but it works to our advantage in this case, I suppose.This was generally a quite fun "fight the power" yarn (the experimenters are up to no good, surprise surprise). I enjoyed the hints of backstory—the history of the Censorship Wars and the genesis of the very creepy (and wonderfully named) virus Curious Yellow. There were also some neat tricks worked with Robin's first person POV. The book's ending, however, was rather too rushed and pat; saying "And then we fought a big battle and kicked some ass" is really not the same as showing a big battle being fought and some ass being kicked. In general, this was interesting and enjoyable sci-fi, but it really didn't transcend the genre.
133. Nice Work, David Lodge — Third in Lodge's loosely-connected trilogy, following Changing Places and Small World. I loved this. It's a study of opposing characters—opposing forces, almost—wherein factory manager Vic Wilcox and academic Robyn Penrose are brought together and forced to intermingle by bizarre political maneuverings (a governmentally-mandated "Industry Year" to breed understanding among different sectors of Lodge's fictionalized Birmingham; I think I just took more time to explain that than Lodge does). The culture clash is incredibly amusing, poking fun at both sides, and I love the way Lodge slowly draws out the growing understanding between the two parties. (
akukorax STOP READING THIS NOW.) Unfortunately, Lodge is rather more cynical than I; I of course wanted those crazy kids to make it work. But despite the absence of my longed-for, if unrealistic, happy ending, this book was a total pleasure; it even made me newly glad that I had read North and South. Quite a feat.(You can look again,
akukorax *g*)134. The Beautiful Miscellaneous, Dominic Smith — This book has a really promising set-up: despite the teachings and urgings of his genius physicist father, 17-year-old Nathan has remained disappointingly average; then he survives a near-fatal car crash and in the process gets his brain rewired. The first hundred or so pages, the build-up to the accident you already know is going to occur, are like a pleasantly held breath, full of anticipation; unfortunately, once the accident happens, and Nathan—now gifted with synesthesia (one of my favorite rare-in-life-but-awesome-in-literature neurological phenomena!) and an accompanying enhanced memory—reenters the world, the book turns into a much more straightforward father-son narrative. It still contains a lot of beautiful imagery, but it's basically a coming-of-age story (it seriously almost-concludes with the protagonist losing his virginity), and it's not different enough to set it apart from the 85 billion other coming-of-age stories I've read.
135. Home Truths, David Lodge — Another fantastic, funny Lodge book, this one about two old friends' attempt to take revenge on a journalist who wrote a nasty piece about the more famous of the two. This is based on Lodge's own play, and possibly the only criticism I could level at it is that it on occasion seems too play-y, with scene breaks and patches of prose that read like stage directions. Still, it's incredibly enjoyable; I'm loving Lodge a lot of late.
136. The Jane Austen Book Club, Karen Joy Fowler — What a wonderful surprise. This was great, so much more than the light, fluffy lit it would seem to be. Fowler's story follows six protagonists as they read Austen's six novels, with each character linked to a specific novel; it's very cleverly, subtly done. There are some fantastic narrative tricks—none of which seems showoff-y: parts of the novel are written in the second person, the collective "we" of the book group; the book concludes with the characters' hilarious "discussion questions" to you, the novel's readers. There's also some interesting stuff about gender; I especially liked Grigg, the club's sole male, whom Fowler reveals to be "a born heroine." This book made me incredibly happy. Though the real question is, of course, whether it would pass the
siriaeve True Austenite test. *peers at her*Total Books: 136
By the way? Good Reads is turning out to be a TON of fun. *pimps*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-11 06:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-11 06:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-11 06:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-11 06:48 pm (UTC)The Beekeeper's Apprentice makes me sad.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-11 07:23 pm (UTC)The Beekeeper's Apprentice makes me sad.
It makes me headdesky, that's for damn sure. *sigh*
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-11 07:45 pm (UTC)Need to dig out that complete Holmes I have. I love Holmes and Watson! They're like my slash-optional OTP.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-11 07:24 pm (UTC)How is your Big Bang fic coming along?
Oh god. I am SO DOOMED. *cries*
I hope you are doing better!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-11 07:56 pm (UTC)(I have never read the book, as the title and the pastel chick-lit cover always scared me.)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-11 08:31 pm (UTC)I really do think you might like the book? It is much less chick-lit-y than the cover would imply. But then, I am afraid to make an all-out recommendation. *cowers before you*
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-11 08:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-11 09:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-11 08:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-11 08:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-11 09:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-11 09:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-16 09:50 pm (UTC)