Books: yet another update
Jul. 30th, 2013 05:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
highlyeccentricRead lately:
Pratchett and Gaiman, Good Omens: It had been far too long since last I read this. On the bright side, that meant many of the jokes came to me as good as new, and I sniggered my way through the whole thing. :)
Marcus Zusak, The Book Theif: Hmm. I really, really liked this book. I loved the narratorial voice; I liked most of the key characters. I thought the characterisation was strong and the choice to tell the tale primarily through children's viewpoints presented an interesting perspective on Nazi Germany. I do agree with some of the negative reviews on here that the metaphor in Max's book, re: power and words, is forced and doesn't really add any value to the novel at large. I also thought the conclusion of the whole novel was a little rushed, and I wanted to know more about Liesel, about Rudy's father, and about the mayor's wife.
I gave it five stars on first reading but have since revised...
L.M. Montgomery, The Blythes are Quoted (ed. Benjamin Lefebvre): This was interesting. Really interesting. It's far from Montgomery's best work, but some of the short stories are outstanding. Some are terrible (the one about the chap who kidnaps the woman he thinks is his brother's girlfriend stands out as particularly dreadful and lacking in insight); some are mediocre but interesting for reasons either of gossip (they feature Anne's family through other eyes) or some stylistic feature. There was a story about a wedding, told entirely through internal monologues of the guests, each gossiping and ruminating and hinting and some scandal associated with the bride and groom - the narration spirals closer and closer to it, so that by the time the 'true story' unfolds between Susan and someone in the know, the reader is dying to know.
I was particularly struck by the comparatively adult themes here - as well as the disenchanted view of the war which complements but also contrasts that in Rilla of Ingleside, we find several stories about children born out of wedlock. There's one story devoted to a supposedly boring old maid who has in fact spent her life watching over her illegitimate child from afar. There are several stories about orphans or children in custody of relatives, as is par for the course with Montgomery, but not all are idyllic: one, 'an afternoon with Mr Jenkins', features a child whose aunts have gone to Carmody to deal with mysterious legal matters. A stranger arrives, presents himself as a friend, and takes the child out. Montomery manages to make the audience aware that this man is the child's father, recently released from jail, while keeping the child in the dark. I found the suspense on that one skillful, and unusually dark for Montgomery.
Benjamin Lefebrve's critical commentary was unobtrusive but enlightening. Ten points to him.
And I've been working on this series for over a year now, and I finally finished...
Robin Hobb, The Rain Wild Chronicles: Uuuugh I loved this series. I had a case of book-homesickness for several days after finishing this one. Don't WANT any other books, want these ones!
I continue to adore Hobb's worldbuilding and character-handling skills. In this series I was particularly impressed at her take on systems of class, prejudice and exclusion; her frank and even-handed treatment of both homosexuality and homophobia; and the development of dragon psychology and patterns of life. Every time you want to hate the dragons for their callous disregard of humans and human priorities, someone reminds you that this is exactly how humans treat the world around them.
I was, however, disappointed with the conclusion(s). Firstly, with the conclusion of the Great Love Triangle, and the cliched sex-during-dragon mating. How is that a conclusion? Everything I know of the woman in question says she'd start to double-question herself about sex under dragon influence, anyway. Secondly, I wasn't satisfied with the Silver situation. Having built up in this last book the idea of Silver and dragons' need for it... ok, they found it! Yay? What happens when it starts running dry again, exactly? Hrrrm.
Pratchett and Gaiman, Good Omens: It had been far too long since last I read this. On the bright side, that meant many of the jokes came to me as good as new, and I sniggered my way through the whole thing. :)
Marcus Zusak, The Book Theif: Hmm. I really, really liked this book. I loved the narratorial voice; I liked most of the key characters. I thought the characterisation was strong and the choice to tell the tale primarily through children's viewpoints presented an interesting perspective on Nazi Germany. I do agree with some of the negative reviews on here that the metaphor in Max's book, re: power and words, is forced and doesn't really add any value to the novel at large. I also thought the conclusion of the whole novel was a little rushed, and I wanted to know more about Liesel, about Rudy's father, and about the mayor's wife.
I gave it five stars on first reading but have since revised...
L.M. Montgomery, The Blythes are Quoted (ed. Benjamin Lefebvre): This was interesting. Really interesting. It's far from Montgomery's best work, but some of the short stories are outstanding. Some are terrible (the one about the chap who kidnaps the woman he thinks is his brother's girlfriend stands out as particularly dreadful and lacking in insight); some are mediocre but interesting for reasons either of gossip (they feature Anne's family through other eyes) or some stylistic feature. There was a story about a wedding, told entirely through internal monologues of the guests, each gossiping and ruminating and hinting and some scandal associated with the bride and groom - the narration spirals closer and closer to it, so that by the time the 'true story' unfolds between Susan and someone in the know, the reader is dying to know.
I was particularly struck by the comparatively adult themes here - as well as the disenchanted view of the war which complements but also contrasts that in Rilla of Ingleside, we find several stories about children born out of wedlock. There's one story devoted to a supposedly boring old maid who has in fact spent her life watching over her illegitimate child from afar. There are several stories about orphans or children in custody of relatives, as is par for the course with Montgomery, but not all are idyllic: one, 'an afternoon with Mr Jenkins', features a child whose aunts have gone to Carmody to deal with mysterious legal matters. A stranger arrives, presents himself as a friend, and takes the child out. Montomery manages to make the audience aware that this man is the child's father, recently released from jail, while keeping the child in the dark. I found the suspense on that one skillful, and unusually dark for Montgomery.
Benjamin Lefebrve's critical commentary was unobtrusive but enlightening. Ten points to him.
And I've been working on this series for over a year now, and I finally finished...
Robin Hobb, The Rain Wild Chronicles: Uuuugh I loved this series. I had a case of book-homesickness for several days after finishing this one. Don't WANT any other books, want these ones!
I continue to adore Hobb's worldbuilding and character-handling skills. In this series I was particularly impressed at her take on systems of class, prejudice and exclusion; her frank and even-handed treatment of both homosexuality and homophobia; and the development of dragon psychology and patterns of life. Every time you want to hate the dragons for their callous disregard of humans and human priorities, someone reminds you that this is exactly how humans treat the world around them.
I was, however, disappointed with the conclusion(s). Firstly, with the conclusion of the Great Love Triangle, and the cliched sex-during-dragon mating. How is that a conclusion? Everything I know of the woman in question says she'd start to double-question herself about sex under dragon influence, anyway. Secondly, I wasn't satisfied with the Silver situation. Having built up in this last book the idea of Silver and dragons' need for it... ok, they found it! Yay? What happens when it starts running dry again, exactly? Hrrrm.