Sometimes I Read Compulsively & Possession (A. S. Byatt)

Since I finished thirteen books in July, I'm going to post each seperately, in the order read, combining the related or shorter notes. Four and a half pages of the grab-bag is a little much to wade through. I think from now on I'm going to write and post book commentary as I finish books, and perhaps do a post of links back at the end of the month to ease future searches. We'll see.

Today, however, I'm going to spam everyone with something like ten book posts in an hour. I wish I could find the compassion to be apologetic.

Possession (A. S. Byatt):A fairly unhappy postgrad finds two drafts of a letter and stumbles onto the trail of an unknown affair between two Victorian poets. The surreptitous treasure hunt involves a second academic, and the narrative sets up a repetition of history.

"Think of this - that the writer wrote alone, and the reader read alone, and they were alone with each other."

( A classic, for better and worse. Spoilers ahoy. )

The Game & The Beekeeper's Apprentice (Laurie R. King)

In case it wasn't evident, I'm posting in order read. I'm messy like that.

The Game (Laurie R. King): Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes in India, searching Kimball O'Hara, a missing English operative. As always, Laurie King's knack for vivid characterization and use of the historical setting makes me want to run into the history and lit fiction library stacks.

The fictional detectives' search for a vanished Rudyard Kipling character makes me think of Jasper Fforde. There's a similar delight in literature, history and blurring the edges of both at work in LRK and Fforde's writing.

The Beekeeper's Apprentice (Laurie R. King): I was fifteen when I first met Sherlock Holmes, fifteen years old with my nose in a book as I walked the Sussex Downs, and nearly stepped on him. In my defense I must say it was an engrossing book, and it was very rare to come across another person in that particular part of the world in that war year of 1915. And I was fourteen when this fell into my hands (by way of, all people, my father), and I keep rereading it despite my wavering opinion on the Mary Sue-ishness of the main character. The premise may be a bit fangirl, but the execution is attentive to details, is propelled by a nicely twisty narrative and includes several vivid, interesting characters (all electrified by Sherlock Holmes' presence) and generally holds up really well to rereading. This is comfort reading of the best sort.

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Richard Feynman): Autobiographical collection of stories about Feynman. It gives the impression (like a plaster cast or paper-mache mask)of a man who passionately wants to know why. It also reads like a plaster cast, light, fast and a little superficial: an impressive number of anecdotes set together by quick sketches of the background information necessary for each story. However, the variety of the collected stories, spread across time, geography and interests, puts some of the depth back into the collection. It's a light, fast read I kept bouncing out of because it was so casually strung together. Good bedtime reading.

Endless Nights (Neil Gaiman)

The Sandman: Endless Nights (Neil Gaiman et al): ( Gaiman being himself, with very pretty art. )

Unifying themes: Endless, gorgeous artwork. Reader comprehension: minimal. Viewer art drooling: very high.

Setha Lavode (Steven Brust)

Sethra Lavode (Steven Brust): The final volume of the "Viscount of Andrilankha" sort-of trilogy. People die. People live. The novel pretty much filled expectations without overflowing them. The cover art is astonishingly bad.

The Afterword is astonishingly incomprehensible, and if someone could shed some light on it I'd appreciate it.

( Instead of commentary, quotes, because Brust's dialogue is a delight. Massive spoilers are inevitable. )

A Monstrous Regiment of Women (Laurie R. King)

A Monstrous Regiment of Women (Laurie R. King): As with many good things in life, it's really hard to stop with just one LRK novel. Or two. Mary Russell gains her majority. It’s a story about love. Love of friends, partners, God, not necessarily in that order. And I didn't really notice until I spent some time poking around LRK's website, which, given that this was my second reread, probably goes to show that coherent theme adds important texture and cohesiveness to story.

Shooting Digital: Pro Tips for Taking Great Pictures With Your Digital Camera (Mikkel Aaland)

Shooting Digital: Pro Tips for Taking Great Pictures With Your Digital Camera (Mikkel Aaland): Nifty book that covers what it promises to. Twelve chapters of suggestions on how to improve your photography skills and post-shooting tweaking, with examples of what professional photographers or very serious amateurs do with their cameras. It's very useful, but a slightly tough read for me, since it uses the technical vocabulary - f-stops, aperture, white balance, depth of field - that I have very little experience with and can mostly merely approximate with my splendid little camera. It makes me eye the expensive professional and "prosumer" models frequently referenced with dreams of avarice. The two driving themes of the book seem to be "with forethought and practice, you can take great pictures with any camera" and "more equipment and more software never hurt, if you know how to use them." Both are true; one of them is much more useful for people who aren't planning on sinking lots of money into their photography in the near future. I'm tempted to say this book was pitched for people a little more familiar with photography and cameras than I am, but it was still really useful. Though I suspect I'm not going to understand what f-stops and aperture do until I get a camera that lets me experiment with them.

Parable of the Sower & Parable of the Talents (Octavia Butler)

Parable of the Sower (Octavia Butler): Reread. The journals of Lauren Oya Olamina from 2024 to 2027, a time when America is slowly crumbling into embattled, isolated enclaves as global warming and political corruption take their toll. Octavia Butler's novels tend to be as disturbing as history and as strange as anything SF has dreamed. I'm never sure if I like her novels, but I keep reading them, once or twice a year.

Parable of the Talents (Octavia Butler): Reread; sequel to Parable of the Sower. Extracts from Olamina's journals during a vicious Christian Right presidency, framed and connected through commentary written by her estranged daughter fifty years later. President Jarrett and his followers are like a slightly scarier version of contemporary politics, so if you're already on the "OMG Bush is Teh Evil" bandwagon you may want to put off reading this until November.

Borderland (Ed. Terri Windling et al)

Borderland (Ed. Terri Windling et al): ( I think I read this when I was 15, and promptly forgot most of it. )

Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes)

Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes): ( But I know now there's one thing you've all overlooked: intelligence and education that hasn't been tempered with human affection isn't worth a damn. )