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3 books for 2008
Jan. 14th, 2008 02:33 pmThree books I know I've read this year already:
1. Dragon's Blood, by Tim McCaffrey
This addition to the Pern series by the grandson of the original author is... interesting, in that it provides the dependable sort of potato-chip reading I'm used to. It also has a lot of Deus Ex Machina in the form of technology. As time goes on, either Anne was trying to retrofit technology into the world she designed, or someone else was, so one shouldn't be surprised to find biotechnology and genetics cropping up in her grandson's work in the same area.
The read was fast-paced and had some of the excitement that I remember from reading the earliest Pern books for the first time, though it took me a while to catch some time sleight of hand -- if you are not the kind who reads the chapter headings, you may be confused at first too.
I would say that Tim McCaffrey's previous collaborations with Anne (Dragon's Kin, and even the less sturdy Dragon's Fire) had more attention to personality and less to technology-- there's a lot of SF going on here. The characters here are still appealling, and this is a much better take on the subject that the wooden "Moreta's Ride" which I did not care for.
2. Douglas Biow, The Culture of Cleanliness in Renaissance Italy.
This is an excellent book which I had merely skimmed before for my research. Unsure where I had found the facts I wanted to use, I had to re-read it and found it still more fascinating. Biow's research does not blend completely well in this book, but rather separates into three separate streams, you'll pardon the expression: the idea of cleanliness in Renaissance Italian literature; Italian Renaissance depictions of laundry, washerwomen and soap; and the figure of the latrine-cleaner and latrine in Italian Ren society and literature.
Though there are details here for the practical re-enactor (washerwomen, latrines, soap) the primary focus is a philosophical one. Still quite readable.
3. Charles De Lint, The Dreaming Place
I love Charles De Lint, though I find I had better not read his work unless, to paraphrase someone-or-other, I am prepared to have my mind be a carpet taken up by a strong parlormaid, hung out, beaten vigorously, and finally re-laid and tacked down with a firm hand.
Though it was just as lyrical and suspenseful as I expected, The Dreaming Place was easier on my poor brain than many others, perhaps because of its slim size, but the combination of Native American myth/life and modern urban fantasy was definitely something else. Pieces of his ending were also a surprise, since I have grown to have certain expectations about De Lint.
1. Dragon's Blood, by Tim McCaffrey
This addition to the Pern series by the grandson of the original author is... interesting, in that it provides the dependable sort of potato-chip reading I'm used to. It also has a lot of Deus Ex Machina in the form of technology. As time goes on, either Anne was trying to retrofit technology into the world she designed, or someone else was, so one shouldn't be surprised to find biotechnology and genetics cropping up in her grandson's work in the same area.
The read was fast-paced and had some of the excitement that I remember from reading the earliest Pern books for the first time, though it took me a while to catch some time sleight of hand -- if you are not the kind who reads the chapter headings, you may be confused at first too.
I would say that Tim McCaffrey's previous collaborations with Anne (Dragon's Kin, and even the less sturdy Dragon's Fire) had more attention to personality and less to technology-- there's a lot of SF going on here. The characters here are still appealling, and this is a much better take on the subject that the wooden "Moreta's Ride" which I did not care for.
2. Douglas Biow, The Culture of Cleanliness in Renaissance Italy.
This is an excellent book which I had merely skimmed before for my research. Unsure where I had found the facts I wanted to use, I had to re-read it and found it still more fascinating. Biow's research does not blend completely well in this book, but rather separates into three separate streams, you'll pardon the expression: the idea of cleanliness in Renaissance Italian literature; Italian Renaissance depictions of laundry, washerwomen and soap; and the figure of the latrine-cleaner and latrine in Italian Ren society and literature.
Though there are details here for the practical re-enactor (washerwomen, latrines, soap) the primary focus is a philosophical one. Still quite readable.
3. Charles De Lint, The Dreaming Place
I love Charles De Lint, though I find I had better not read his work unless, to paraphrase someone-or-other, I am prepared to have my mind be a carpet taken up by a strong parlormaid, hung out, beaten vigorously, and finally re-laid and tacked down with a firm hand.
Though it was just as lyrical and suspenseful as I expected, The Dreaming Place was easier on my poor brain than many others, perhaps because of its slim size, but the combination of Native American myth/life and modern urban fantasy was definitely something else. Pieces of his ending were also a surprise, since I have grown to have certain expectations about De Lint.
