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[books 2010] catching up yet again
Nov. 24th, 2010 05:29 pm71. Surface Detail by Iain M Banks
The latest Culture novel. It's huge. I spent two whole weeks reading nothing but this book - it frequently takes me longer than that to read books. Big, non-fiction books where I have two works of fiction on the side. So, in terms of effort almost as much as Consider Phlebas and The Algebraist. Sadly it's not as good as either, but it's far from his worst - certainly better than Matter.
As is usual with these things, it's a multi-stranded story, some of which are more interesting than others. The least interesting bits are the Culture parts - the non-Culture societies and characters are much more interesting. The best strand was the wee elephant-like creatures with two trunks. A pair of them break into their civilization's Hell to prove that it really exists as part of a galaxy-wide movement to abolish hells, which are all virtual worlds. Only one of them makes it back out. What happens to the other one is truly heartbreaking.
I actually quite enjoyed the first 2/3 or 3/4, but the last 100 pages or so really dragged.
72. The House with a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs
This is one of the ones that's all Joe Hill and Neil Gaiman's fault. It's a children's spooky-house gothic novel. A 10-year-old orphan goes to live with his uncle, who dabbles in magic & owns a house that used to be inhabited by evil sorcerers.
I *still* can't for the life of me work out whether I read it as a kid. Two of the scenes - where the uncle makes a lunar eclipse, and the car chase scene where they lose the witches by passing over running water - are incredibly familiar. However, it's the sort of thing my 10-year-old self would have loved, so I can't work out how, if I read it at all, I didn't keep re-reading it to the point where I'd remember every little bit.
Anyway, it's all kinds of awesome! Give it to the 10-year-old in your life but read it yourself, first.
73. Mortal Remains by Kathy Reichs
I've been really ill since Saturday. Too ill to sit up and watch TV. Thankfully this arrived for me at the library, then. I was awake for all of 4 hours on Monday, and I read the whole thing then. Not as bad as some of the recent stuff, not as good as the early efforts.
74. The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom
Yes, Simon, you did warn me.
This was Tuesday's too-sick-to-get-up reading. Excellent premise but thoroughly lamely executed haunted-house horror novel. Just because I read the whole thing in one day doesn't mean it's good, although it is the kind of bad that you just can't put down.
Thankfully, today I felt well enough to watch crap TV, because the last schlocky thriller that I had lying around isn't as mindless as the cover would suggest and requires occasional application of brain cells.
The latest Culture novel. It's huge. I spent two whole weeks reading nothing but this book - it frequently takes me longer than that to read books. Big, non-fiction books where I have two works of fiction on the side. So, in terms of effort almost as much as Consider Phlebas and The Algebraist. Sadly it's not as good as either, but it's far from his worst - certainly better than Matter.
As is usual with these things, it's a multi-stranded story, some of which are more interesting than others. The least interesting bits are the Culture parts - the non-Culture societies and characters are much more interesting. The best strand was the wee elephant-like creatures with two trunks. A pair of them break into their civilization's Hell to prove that it really exists as part of a galaxy-wide movement to abolish hells, which are all virtual worlds. Only one of them makes it back out. What happens to the other one is truly heartbreaking.
I actually quite enjoyed the first 2/3 or 3/4, but the last 100 pages or so really dragged.
72. The House with a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs
This is one of the ones that's all Joe Hill and Neil Gaiman's fault. It's a children's spooky-house gothic novel. A 10-year-old orphan goes to live with his uncle, who dabbles in magic & owns a house that used to be inhabited by evil sorcerers.
I *still* can't for the life of me work out whether I read it as a kid. Two of the scenes - where the uncle makes a lunar eclipse, and the car chase scene where they lose the witches by passing over running water - are incredibly familiar. However, it's the sort of thing my 10-year-old self would have loved, so I can't work out how, if I read it at all, I didn't keep re-reading it to the point where I'd remember every little bit.
Anyway, it's all kinds of awesome! Give it to the 10-year-old in your life but read it yourself, first.
73. Mortal Remains by Kathy Reichs
I've been really ill since Saturday. Too ill to sit up and watch TV. Thankfully this arrived for me at the library, then. I was awake for all of 4 hours on Monday, and I read the whole thing then. Not as bad as some of the recent stuff, not as good as the early efforts.
74. The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom
Yes, Simon, you did warn me.
This was Tuesday's too-sick-to-get-up reading. Excellent premise but thoroughly lamely executed haunted-house horror novel. Just because I read the whole thing in one day doesn't mean it's good, although it is the kind of bad that you just can't put down.
Thankfully, today I felt well enough to watch crap TV, because the last schlocky thriller that I had lying around isn't as mindless as the cover would suggest and requires occasional application of brain cells.
