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52b/52w:
18. What should I do with my life? by Po Bronson. An impluse buy from Auckland airport. Hundreds of people tell their stories of finding direction, purpose and happiness in their lives. Or not. Some of the stories are uplifting, some are heartbreaking. In sum: people are almost always forced into change; they lose their jobs, a loved one dies etc. They won't change until it becomes a personal thing: dodgy work practices can be overlooked until you get stabbed in the back by them, for example. It an take a long time, and many different attempts, to find what fits. Some people know from day one and go out and do it. Other people go out and do it, and find that their dream is killing them, and they have to change. Others meander, not knowing where they fit in. Fascinating insight into other people's lives, but one story after another becomes overwhelming. Best in small doses.
19. The execution channel by Ken MacLeod. Bought, read and signed at Swancon 08. I read this quickly, often in the very early hours of the morning, so that might have influenced. Set in Scotland, there's what might-have-been a nuclear bomb detonation. a family of spies, peace-activists and army members are suspected of involvement. There are cute, enjoyable moments of spy/subterfuge, and an adorable part where the government has a taskforce of sorts to send out misinformation to bloggers. Part way through there's a page and a half info dump that says the book's world is an AU where Al Gore beat Bush, and preemptively acted on intelligence to bomb Afghanistan before 9/11 which utterly fascinated me, but there wasn't a word of it after. About 2/3 of the way through, I started to lose track of exactly what was going on, or why I should care, but figured it would all made sense in the end. *laughs* The ending is best summed up with a blank look and a lot of blinking. WTF was that? How did it in any way relate to the rest of the story? *continues to blink, months afterwards*
20. Heart of the mirage by Glenda Larke. Also bought and signed at Swancon 08, but read later. It was...competently written, although telling your reader about the Othered culture by having the main character sneer at it is a lazy technique that makes me grind my teeth. Mostly, this book kept hinting at things I really wanted to read about, and then diverted/nutralised them. I really wanted to know what it was like for the MC's slaves to be returning to their homeland decades after they'd been kidnapped, but then the MC sedates the slave. I really wanted to understand more about a culture that celebrates intra-generational incest, especially as it looks like the MC is pregnant and her brother is the baby's father... and then they turn out to be cousins instead, which is fine for the MC. *shrug* I'm not interested in finding the rest of the trilogy. Hell, if I hadn't got this and the above book personally signed, I'd be cashing them in.
21. Lisey's story by Stephen King. Snapped up from Elizabeth's. A more sophisticated version of Gerald's Game and I sort of loved every minute. I liked Lisey, and the relationship she had with her husband. I loved the information that the two shared, their intimate language, the way that it's gently built up so the reader knows exactly what "tell my wife that I ate the wrong fruit" and it's a serious heartwrench. I loved the very skilled way that at one point, King is telling three stories from three different time periods and it meshes together perfectly. He must have had one hell of a storyboard going. And hell, yes, I'm probably just in love with the idea of Boo'ya Moon.
22. Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis: I was a crazy-fan of the BBC TV series as a kid, which told Caspian and the Dawn Treader as one long story. I can't help wondering if I also have the BBC-edited version of the book too, because seriously nothing happens. Plot A: The children get sucked back to Narnia, is kinda cool. I was interested as they figured out they were back there, and then there's this massive plot B info dump, and then plot A spends a chapter getting lost walking to plot B, and then they fight a battle, Aslan is Jesus (makes people pigs! turns water to wine!) and everyone goes home. I'm anticipating the movie though: I want to see if the trees waking up are as beautiful as in my imagination.
23. The voyage of the dawn treader by C. S. Lewis: That's better! Adventure on the high seas! A quest! Dragons! People learning lessons! Peril and sea monsters! *pleased* Although there's that weird slight disconnect as an Australian reading in the 21st Century vs a British author writing in the 1950s. Slang, for example. Apparently, 'brick' was a compliment back then, as if in: "Trumpkin's a brick". I'm still hearing that as 'idiot'. :P
18. What should I do with my life? by Po Bronson. An impluse buy from Auckland airport. Hundreds of people tell their stories of finding direction, purpose and happiness in their lives. Or not. Some of the stories are uplifting, some are heartbreaking. In sum: people are almost always forced into change; they lose their jobs, a loved one dies etc. They won't change until it becomes a personal thing: dodgy work practices can be overlooked until you get stabbed in the back by them, for example. It an take a long time, and many different attempts, to find what fits. Some people know from day one and go out and do it. Other people go out and do it, and find that their dream is killing them, and they have to change. Others meander, not knowing where they fit in. Fascinating insight into other people's lives, but one story after another becomes overwhelming. Best in small doses.
19. The execution channel by Ken MacLeod. Bought, read and signed at Swancon 08. I read this quickly, often in the very early hours of the morning, so that might have influenced. Set in Scotland, there's what might-have-been a nuclear bomb detonation. a family of spies, peace-activists and army members are suspected of involvement. There are cute, enjoyable moments of spy/subterfuge, and an adorable part where the government has a taskforce of sorts to send out misinformation to bloggers. Part way through there's a page and a half info dump that says the book's world is an AU where Al Gore beat Bush, and preemptively acted on intelligence to bomb Afghanistan before 9/11 which utterly fascinated me, but there wasn't a word of it after. About 2/3 of the way through, I started to lose track of exactly what was going on, or why I should care, but figured it would all made sense in the end. *laughs* The ending is best summed up with a blank look and a lot of blinking. WTF was that? How did it in any way relate to the rest of the story? *continues to blink, months afterwards*
20. Heart of the mirage by Glenda Larke. Also bought and signed at Swancon 08, but read later. It was...competently written, although telling your reader about the Othered culture by having the main character sneer at it is a lazy technique that makes me grind my teeth. Mostly, this book kept hinting at things I really wanted to read about, and then diverted/nutralised them. I really wanted to know what it was like for the MC's slaves to be returning to their homeland decades after they'd been kidnapped, but then the MC sedates the slave. I really wanted to understand more about a culture that celebrates intra-generational incest, especially as it looks like the MC is pregnant and her brother is the baby's father... and then they turn out to be cousins instead, which is fine for the MC. *shrug* I'm not interested in finding the rest of the trilogy. Hell, if I hadn't got this and the above book personally signed, I'd be cashing them in.
21. Lisey's story by Stephen King. Snapped up from Elizabeth's. A more sophisticated version of Gerald's Game and I sort of loved every minute. I liked Lisey, and the relationship she had with her husband. I loved the information that the two shared, their intimate language, the way that it's gently built up so the reader knows exactly what "tell my wife that I ate the wrong fruit" and it's a serious heartwrench. I loved the very skilled way that at one point, King is telling three stories from three different time periods and it meshes together perfectly. He must have had one hell of a storyboard going. And hell, yes, I'm probably just in love with the idea of Boo'ya Moon.
22. Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis: I was a crazy-fan of the BBC TV series as a kid, which told Caspian and the Dawn Treader as one long story. I can't help wondering if I also have the BBC-edited version of the book too, because seriously nothing happens. Plot A: The children get sucked back to Narnia, is kinda cool. I was interested as they figured out they were back there, and then there's this massive plot B info dump, and then plot A spends a chapter getting lost walking to plot B, and then they fight a battle, Aslan is Jesus (makes people pigs! turns water to wine!) and everyone goes home. I'm anticipating the movie though: I want to see if the trees waking up are as beautiful as in my imagination.
23. The voyage of the dawn treader by C. S. Lewis: That's better! Adventure on the high seas! A quest! Dragons! People learning lessons! Peril and sea monsters! *pleased* Although there's that weird slight disconnect as an Australian reading in the 21st Century vs a British author writing in the 1950s. Slang, for example. Apparently, 'brick' was a compliment back then, as if in: "Trumpkin's a brick". I'm still hearing that as 'idiot'. :P
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A lot of this was to do with the fact that I have the BBC tie-in book, which has two stories in one, but my recollection sort of went... "They get sucked back into Narnia, and figure out they're back there, then Susan is awesome at archery and... Then Lucy and Edmund are on the Dawn Treader!" :P