Books - 2007
Jul. 16th, 2007 02:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daveonBelieve it or not, I have actually got a lot done so far today.
19 - Brasyl - Ian McDonald: I'll be honest and say that I didn't enjoy this as much as I wanted to, or as much as River of Gods (a book on which Ian was, IMHO, robbed of the Hugo) - that said, it was an excellent read so it might not be entirely the book's fault. I didn't have the time to sit down and finish in one sitting, so I ended up reading it peacemeal and frankly, there is too much crammed in here for that. It's a fantastic tale of Jesuits, Multiple Universes and Reality TV. A huge amount of stuff is crammed into a fairly standard sized novel, and perhaps what it needed was to be 80,000 words longer.
20 - The Salaryman's Wife - Sujata Massey: PIcked up by accident in a second book store this was more interesting for its view of Japan through the eyes of a Japanese-American woman, than for the relatively pedestrian whodunit. She's strongest in the sections of the narrative which look at the contradictions of life for ex-pats in Tokyo than she is with the actual items which move the dectective story. Unlike the Marcus Didius Falco books, I don't see myself buying into the series as I wasn't left with a huge amount of interest in the protagonist.
21 - The Last Colony - John Scalzi: Set in the same universe as Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades, Scalzi returns to the protagonist of the first book and his new family. Persuaded to lead the founding of a new colony, for the first time to be established by members of the existing human colony world's and not from "old Earth". John Perry finds himself caught in the middle of a political game between the Colonial Defense Force and basically the rest of the galaxy. Whereas previous Scalzi novel's have attracted serious praise from the right-wing sides of the blogsphere, this one probably won't as he looks at the military and military planning in more detail, and this moves away from being purely mil-SF. It's a good read. Better than The Ghost Brigades. However, I'd like to see what else he's got in him.
22 - My Life in Print - Emmett Watson: A compilation of anecdotes and columns from the career of Seattite Emmett Watson. Some amazing stuff in here from his early sports columns, through chance meetings with Hemmingway, to his views on Seattle and national US politics. Fascinating stuff. Interesting to see that the conflicts inherent in modern Seattle life (Eastside/Westside/Old Seattle/New Seattle) have been around for decades. I've still to finish his autobiography.
19 - Brasyl - Ian McDonald: I'll be honest and say that I didn't enjoy this as much as I wanted to, or as much as River of Gods (a book on which Ian was, IMHO, robbed of the Hugo) - that said, it was an excellent read so it might not be entirely the book's fault. I didn't have the time to sit down and finish in one sitting, so I ended up reading it peacemeal and frankly, there is too much crammed in here for that. It's a fantastic tale of Jesuits, Multiple Universes and Reality TV. A huge amount of stuff is crammed into a fairly standard sized novel, and perhaps what it needed was to be 80,000 words longer.
20 - The Salaryman's Wife - Sujata Massey: PIcked up by accident in a second book store this was more interesting for its view of Japan through the eyes of a Japanese-American woman, than for the relatively pedestrian whodunit. She's strongest in the sections of the narrative which look at the contradictions of life for ex-pats in Tokyo than she is with the actual items which move the dectective story. Unlike the Marcus Didius Falco books, I don't see myself buying into the series as I wasn't left with a huge amount of interest in the protagonist.
21 - The Last Colony - John Scalzi: Set in the same universe as Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades, Scalzi returns to the protagonist of the first book and his new family. Persuaded to lead the founding of a new colony, for the first time to be established by members of the existing human colony world's and not from "old Earth". John Perry finds himself caught in the middle of a political game between the Colonial Defense Force and basically the rest of the galaxy. Whereas previous Scalzi novel's have attracted serious praise from the right-wing sides of the blogsphere, this one probably won't as he looks at the military and military planning in more detail, and this moves away from being purely mil-SF. It's a good read. Better than The Ghost Brigades. However, I'd like to see what else he's got in him.
22 - My Life in Print - Emmett Watson: A compilation of anecdotes and columns from the career of Seattite Emmett Watson. Some amazing stuff in here from his early sports columns, through chance meetings with Hemmingway, to his views on Seattle and national US politics. Fascinating stuff. Interesting to see that the conflicts inherent in modern Seattle life (Eastside/Westside/Old Seattle/New Seattle) have been around for decades. I've still to finish his autobiography.
