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Eight, including one nonfiction. I have got to change my non/fiction ratios up.
I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith): I should know better than to read novels in gigantic chunks; resolution of any novel makes very little sense at 3 AM. Epistolary novel that almost worked for me, except I empathize with the father's lazy genius too much, so it's a little painful.
Old Man's War (John Scalzi): I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife's grave. Then I joined the army. Starship Troopers, except for the wife thing. Which actually is sort of late Heinlein, if you have a twisted brain. However, it doesn't follow through for me, because Johnny Rico is supposed to be an everyman, and John Perry is a little more special. ( Spoilers, quotes, rambling. ) Points off OMW for not being deep, worldbuilding, and Special Protagonist Effect; points to OMG for engaging characterization of non-POV characters and snappy dialogue. Conclusion? Scalzi stays on the "to read" list.
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster (Jon Krakauer): Journalist's experiences during the 1996 climbing season, supplemented by interviews with climbers who survived the circumstances that killed eight people in less than 24 hours. The mountain would ultimately claim 15 lives that season, the greatest number of fatalities in one year.
The Everest fatality list lists deaths up to and including 2002. There's been a death on the slopes every year since 1978. So when I say, "people die every year on that mountain", people do, in fact, die every year on that mountain because they put themselves in harm's way. Enthusiasts with limited experience throw thousands of dollars at the opportunity to experience significantly subzero wind chills, hypoxia, and did I mention possibly death?
However, this makes for great drama. Guides and their clients are pushing the envelope so far there's not much margin for error when something doesn't go to plan. I am fascinated, if convinced I am never, ever doing it without a winning lottery ticket and five-year training program. Good nonfiction.
I should disclose that I read Into the Wild, Krakauer's book about Christopher McCandless, the summer before my senior year of high school. I loathed it, because I had no sympathy for No Map McCandless in my cautious soul, and Krakauer inexplicably (to me) did. My loathing of Into the Wild is a reflection of my fundamental difference in worldview from McCandless and should not be taken as a reflection on Krakauer's writing, which is extremely readable. Oh hey, there is an Into the Wild movie less than a month from release. I had no idea!
Faking It (Jennifer Cruise):
( However, it doesn't say the things I really want to hear. That's not a winning conclusion in a fluffy book. )
Fire Logic (Laurie J. Marks): The Shafthali resistance, as seen through the eyes of Zanja na'Tarwein. There, have a useless blurb.
The usual strategy for epic war fantasy novels is to focus on the battles and political maneuvering. Marks focuses on the resistance, on avoiding and seeking out small local skirmishes, and on the toll armed hostilities take on the people and the land: farms destroyed, lives sacrificed to duty, etc. Marks gets points for LGB content and a fantasy system which does not actively irritate me. She also gets points for quietly telling a story featuring women interacting with women, which is a weird thing to say, but consider the last five SF novels you read and ask yourself how many of them featured a scene with three people doing a job, all of whom happen to be of the XX persuasion. According to her biography, Marks is in a writing group with Rosemary Kirstein, Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman, and Didi Stewart. People who know me know that I think Kirstein's Steerswoman series is doing awesome stuff, and that I may break the bank for a hardcover copy of the next one, if published in that format, to get it faster. So I am very excited that I have other authors who seem to be in a conversation I want to eavesdrop on.
The Machine's Child (Kage Baker): From the diary of Labenius, an Immortal: Book 7. Still not 2355!
( Spoilers. Though after that last sentence, do you care? )
V for Vendetta (David Lloyd, Alan Moore): Graphic novel of 1982 - 1988 comic series. I saw the movie first, rushed through the comic in the two days after I realized I had a due date coming up, and in some ways like the movie more. Yes, gasp, horror, shock, get it out of your system so I can explain. Ready?
( Two paragraphs of rambling. )
The Sons of Heaven (Kage Baker): ( IT IS FINALLY 2355. )
I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith): I should know better than to read novels in gigantic chunks; resolution of any novel makes very little sense at 3 AM. Epistolary novel that almost worked for me, except I empathize with the father's lazy genius too much, so it's a little painful.
Old Man's War (John Scalzi): I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife's grave. Then I joined the army. Starship Troopers, except for the wife thing. Which actually is sort of late Heinlein, if you have a twisted brain. However, it doesn't follow through for me, because Johnny Rico is supposed to be an everyman, and John Perry is a little more special. ( Spoilers, quotes, rambling. ) Points off OMW for not being deep, worldbuilding, and Special Protagonist Effect; points to OMG for engaging characterization of non-POV characters and snappy dialogue. Conclusion? Scalzi stays on the "to read" list.
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster (Jon Krakauer): Journalist's experiences during the 1996 climbing season, supplemented by interviews with climbers who survived the circumstances that killed eight people in less than 24 hours. The mountain would ultimately claim 15 lives that season, the greatest number of fatalities in one year.
The Everest fatality list lists deaths up to and including 2002. There's been a death on the slopes every year since 1978. So when I say, "people die every year on that mountain", people do, in fact, die every year on that mountain because they put themselves in harm's way. Enthusiasts with limited experience throw thousands of dollars at the opportunity to experience significantly subzero wind chills, hypoxia, and did I mention possibly death?
However, this makes for great drama. Guides and their clients are pushing the envelope so far there's not much margin for error when something doesn't go to plan. I am fascinated, if convinced I am never, ever doing it without a winning lottery ticket and five-year training program. Good nonfiction.
I should disclose that I read Into the Wild, Krakauer's book about Christopher McCandless, the summer before my senior year of high school. I loathed it, because I had no sympathy for No Map McCandless in my cautious soul, and Krakauer inexplicably (to me) did. My loathing of Into the Wild is a reflection of my fundamental difference in worldview from McCandless and should not be taken as a reflection on Krakauer's writing, which is extremely readable. Oh hey, there is an Into the Wild movie less than a month from release. I had no idea!
Faking It (Jennifer Cruise):
Then the light caught Tilda's crazy blue eyes again, and she looked stubborn and difficult and exasperating and infinitely more interesting than Eve, if he could keep from maiming her. And he already knew she could kiss.And so it was that on page 76 I said, "thank God, one romance novel is finally talking to me."
( However, it doesn't say the things I really want to hear. That's not a winning conclusion in a fluffy book. )
Fire Logic (Laurie J. Marks): The Shafthali resistance, as seen through the eyes of Zanja na'Tarwein. There, have a useless blurb.
The usual strategy for epic war fantasy novels is to focus on the battles and political maneuvering. Marks focuses on the resistance, on avoiding and seeking out small local skirmishes, and on the toll armed hostilities take on the people and the land: farms destroyed, lives sacrificed to duty, etc. Marks gets points for LGB content and a fantasy system which does not actively irritate me. She also gets points for quietly telling a story featuring women interacting with women, which is a weird thing to say, but consider the last five SF novels you read and ask yourself how many of them featured a scene with three people doing a job, all of whom happen to be of the XX persuasion. According to her biography, Marks is in a writing group with Rosemary Kirstein, Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman, and Didi Stewart. People who know me know that I think Kirstein's Steerswoman series is doing awesome stuff, and that I may break the bank for a hardcover copy of the next one, if published in that format, to get it faster. So I am very excited that I have other authors who seem to be in a conversation I want to eavesdrop on.
The Machine's Child (Kage Baker): From the diary of Labenius, an Immortal: Book 7. Still not 2355!
( Spoilers. Though after that last sentence, do you care? )
V for Vendetta (David Lloyd, Alan Moore): Graphic novel of 1982 - 1988 comic series. I saw the movie first, rushed through the comic in the two days after I realized I had a due date coming up, and in some ways like the movie more. Yes, gasp, horror, shock, get it out of your system so I can explain. Ready?
( Two paragraphs of rambling. )
The Sons of Heaven (Kage Baker): ( IT IS FINALLY 2355. )