booksbooksbooks
Dec. 2nd, 2009 11:15 amMore books. Both of these came from the library (go library!) By my count this is 37 so far this year, which I don't think is very many :( on the other hand 12 of them were Robert Jordan bricks and 1 was Anathem so probably larger books than usual. Maybe I'll read some graphic novels next :-)
Adiamante, L E Modesitt Jr
The author was recommended to me by![[profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rand and this book is apparently his shortest *grin*. I liked it although found it a little preachy in parts.
Daughters of Isis, Joyce Tyldesley
A history of women in Ancient Egypt. Reasonably interesting, if you're interested in that sort of thing.
Adiamante, L E Modesitt Jr
The author was recommended to me by
rand and this book is apparently his shortest *grin*. I liked it although found it a little preachy in parts.Daughters of Isis, Joyce Tyldesley
A history of women in Ancient Egypt. Reasonably interesting, if you're interested in that sort of thing.
Robert Jordan + Brandon Sanderson The Gathering Storm (book 12 of tWoT).
sans spoilers: squeeeeeeeee, wow.
( spoilers, lots of them )
sans spoilers: squeeeeeeeee, wow.
( spoilers, lots of them )
I love books
Oct. 15th, 2009 12:49 pmMore books finished!
One I missed earlier:
Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff's Laldasa: Beloved Slave (which I got as an ebook from www.bookviewcafe.com I dunno if it's available as a printed book). I thought it was good enough to buy after reading the first few chapters for free (rather than wait for them to put up the rest), but it wasn't especially memorable.
Unseen Academicals by PTerry
Still on form I think, I do like just about everything PTerry has written though, so if you haven't so far I can't say that you'll like this one.
Metatropolis, ed. Scalzi
This is an interesting collection of long short stories by different authors set in the same world, it was originally an audio book (but I Don't Do audio books, I have the print edition which amazon appear to have some copies of) (it was nominated for the hugo for dramatic presentation long form, I think that it loosing out to the stupid robot was sad). Anyway; I think the setting is a decent take on cities of the near future and all the authors do interesting things with the setting.
(The US have apparently instituted some rule about bloggers having to reveal where they get stuff from that they promote/review/wevs which I think is weird, on account of, well, millions of blogs and so forth; but anyway, in case you were in any way interested when I review books they are almost all books I paid for at the going rate for said books but sometimes they are books that were loaned to me by friends (this doesn't appear to make me like the books more than I would otherwise). No one sends me free books to review)
One I missed earlier:
Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff's Laldasa: Beloved Slave (which I got as an ebook from www.bookviewcafe.com I dunno if it's available as a printed book). I thought it was good enough to buy after reading the first few chapters for free (rather than wait for them to put up the rest), but it wasn't especially memorable.
Unseen Academicals by PTerry
Still on form I think, I do like just about everything PTerry has written though, so if you haven't so far I can't say that you'll like this one.
Metatropolis, ed. Scalzi
This is an interesting collection of long short stories by different authors set in the same world, it was originally an audio book (but I Don't Do audio books, I have the print edition which amazon appear to have some copies of) (it was nominated for the hugo for dramatic presentation long form, I think that it loosing out to the stupid robot was sad). Anyway; I think the setting is a decent take on cities of the near future and all the authors do interesting things with the setting.
(The US have apparently instituted some rule about bloggers having to reveal where they get stuff from that they promote/review/wevs which I think is weird, on account of, well, millions of blogs and so forth; but anyway, in case you were in any way interested when I review books they are almost all books I paid for at the going rate for said books but sometimes they are books that were loaned to me by friends (this doesn't appear to make me like the books more than I would otherwise). No one sends me free books to review)
books books books
Sep. 29th, 2009 11:16 amSpock's World by Diane Duane.
More Star Trek (dur), I liked it, but then I like a)Star Trek and b)fanfic so published Star Trek fanfic is something I like. And as mentioned previously I think Duane writes well.
the first 3 books of Cherryh's Morgaine series.
Meh. Which is :-( other Cherryh books I have read I really liked. I dunno why I was all 'meh' about these but I was. Didn't catch me in the right mood I guess.
Crystal Nights and other stories by Greg Egan
More Greg Egan Short Stories, and if you liked his previous work I guess you'll like these. I think they require less background knowledge than many of his other stories, but I suspect that a sciency frame of mind helps (although one of them is nothing to do with science at all) he's taken on some more ethical questions rather than merely exploring technical possibilities. I had only read one of these previously (the Quantum Football one, it's on his website).
More Star Trek (dur), I liked it, but then I like a)Star Trek and b)fanfic so published Star Trek fanfic is something I like. And as mentioned previously I think Duane writes well.
the first 3 books of Cherryh's Morgaine series.
Meh. Which is :-( other Cherryh books I have read I really liked. I dunno why I was all 'meh' about these but I was. Didn't catch me in the right mood I guess.
Crystal Nights and other stories by Greg Egan
More Greg Egan Short Stories, and if you liked his previous work I guess you'll like these. I think they require less background knowledge than many of his other stories, but I suspect that a sciency frame of mind helps (although one of them is nothing to do with science at all) he's taken on some more ethical questions rather than merely exploring technical possibilities. I had only read one of these previously (the Quantum Football one, it's on his website).
Moar book review
Jul. 22nd, 2009 05:12 pmGreg Egan: "Dark Integers and Other Stories" (Amazon seem to be rather short of copies, I bought mine directly from http://www.subterraneanpress.com)
Stories:
* "Luminous"
* "Riding the Crocodile"
* "Dark Integers"
* "Glory"
* "Oceanic" (Winner of the Hugo Award)
(yeah, it's pretty short)
Luminous is obviously reprinted here from the collection of the same name; Dark Integers is a direct sequel, but is (IMO) no *more* confusing. But still, yeah, hard SF where the 'S' is pure maths; tends to be confusing, but that's why we love it (or, er, something).
Riding the Crocodile and Glory are both in the same universe as Incandescence; but it's OK, neither is a lecture on GR posing as a novel (I think it's a pretty *good* explanation of GR mind, just not a very good novel...) and both are fairly interesting.
Oceanic is a sideways look at religion, kinda, maybe.
I like all these stories, but then I like basically all Egan's short stories. Unless I'm remembering wrongly they are all available online, so there's no actual need to, er, buy the book. But it's a nice book, and I like reading from paper more than I like reading on a computer screen (sometimes, I mean, I use a computer all day at work). Also I <3 Greg Egan and think he should have monies.
(no you can't have any more details, because SPOILER, I mean, these are short stories... there's not all that much there to start with).
Stories:
* "Luminous"
* "Riding the Crocodile"
* "Dark Integers"
* "Glory"
* "Oceanic" (Winner of the Hugo Award)
(yeah, it's pretty short)
Luminous is obviously reprinted here from the collection of the same name; Dark Integers is a direct sequel, but is (IMO) no *more* confusing. But still, yeah, hard SF where the 'S' is pure maths; tends to be confusing, but that's why we love it (or, er, something).
Riding the Crocodile and Glory are both in the same universe as Incandescence; but it's OK, neither is a lecture on GR posing as a novel (I think it's a pretty *good* explanation of GR mind, just not a very good novel...) and both are fairly interesting.
Oceanic is a sideways look at religion, kinda, maybe.
I like all these stories, but then I like basically all Egan's short stories. Unless I'm remembering wrongly they are all available online, so there's no actual need to, er, buy the book. But it's a nice book, and I like reading from paper more than I like reading on a computer screen (sometimes, I mean, I use a computer all day at work). Also I <3 Greg Egan and think he should have monies.
(no you can't have any more details, because SPOILER, I mean, these are short stories... there's not all that much there to start with).
Once more with Spoilers (Robert Jordan)
Jul. 17th, 2009 08:27 pmSpoiler post. Post you spoiler comments on this one, even if they are
about the other one.
People seeking more informative spoilers try the encyclopedia wot,
leighdb's readthrough and the wot faq (not quite up to date)
Spoilers UP TO and INCLUDING book 11, the Guide and NS. Spoilers for
book 12 will make me VERY UNHAPPY.
( OMG SPOILERS )
about the other one.
People seeking more informative spoilers try the encyclopedia wot,
leighdb's readthrough and the wot faq (not quite up to date)
Spoilers UP TO and INCLUDING book 11, the Guide and NS. Spoilers for
book 12 will make me VERY UNHAPPY.
( OMG SPOILERS )
Robert Jordan - the post with no spoilers
Jul. 17th, 2009 07:45 pmSo I just finished re-reading the whole of the Wheel of Time. This post is to be a review sans-spoilers. There will be a following post containing a great many spoilers for discussion by people who like that sort of thing. PLEASE NO SPOILERS IN COMMENTS HERE (comment on the next one). (Btw, I know I suck at Spoilers; but I think I've got them carefully excised from here and put in the other post).
( cut for length )
( cut for length )
Why is it that anytime I see a post that someone has made of the form "thing X is a bad thing and I wish people-who-do-X would stop doing it" there are almost always responses of the form:
a)"but *I* never do X"
and
b)"but thing Y is bad too!"
as for (a) - great, continue not doing X. Unless the initial post clearly accused *you personally* of doing X then why bother commenting to say that? Do you have anything else to add?
(b) comes in two forms; sometimes it's *true* and sometimes it's *not*. But really, NOT RELEVANT. Sure, if you were having one of those lazy afternoons down the pub and letting the conversation go hither and yon my "OMG I HATE X" might well be responded to you saying "WELL I HATE Y" and then we can all be "YEAH, HATING STUFF". But if one wants to have a Serious Discussion about X and how it affects people, and why it is bad, then Talking About Y rarely helps.
These tactics (among others) are things I think come under the heading of "Derailing" that means that they take the conversation away from what was intended (travelling along it's rails). It takes a fair amount of effort to deal with these types of comments, even if one's moderation policy is "don't like, will delete"; they really do get in the way of serious discussion. It is certainly my experience that even reading with no intention of dealing with (because someone else is doing that) these types of comments really eats up valuable head space that I could be using to engage in interesting discussion (and I'm doing quite well for spare head space really).
If you want to use your corner of the internet to have other discussions about other things then you do that. It's a big internet, there's space for everyone. But increasingly I'm find that there are a lot of topics that simply can't be discussed in a public forum, because others come along and refuse to let the discussion happen; and I find that bad because, whilst of course we could all retreat to closed communities, it makes it much harder for people who are just starting to dip their toes in the water to find things. I have a great deal of respect for people who have been, and continue to be, willing to deal with moderating public discussions of sensitive subjects and kept their sanity.
(Hello Metafandom; OMG I've been metafandom'd!)
a)"but *I* never do X"
and
b)"but thing Y is bad too!"
as for (a) - great, continue not doing X. Unless the initial post clearly accused *you personally* of doing X then why bother commenting to say that? Do you have anything else to add?
(b) comes in two forms; sometimes it's *true* and sometimes it's *not*. But really, NOT RELEVANT. Sure, if you were having one of those lazy afternoons down the pub and letting the conversation go hither and yon my "OMG I HATE X" might well be responded to you saying "WELL I HATE Y" and then we can all be "YEAH, HATING STUFF". But if one wants to have a Serious Discussion about X and how it affects people, and why it is bad, then Talking About Y rarely helps.
These tactics (among others) are things I think come under the heading of "Derailing" that means that they take the conversation away from what was intended (travelling along it's rails). It takes a fair amount of effort to deal with these types of comments, even if one's moderation policy is "don't like, will delete"; they really do get in the way of serious discussion. It is certainly my experience that even reading with no intention of dealing with (because someone else is doing that) these types of comments really eats up valuable head space that I could be using to engage in interesting discussion (and I'm doing quite well for spare head space really).
If you want to use your corner of the internet to have other discussions about other things then you do that. It's a big internet, there's space for everyone. But increasingly I'm find that there are a lot of topics that simply can't be discussed in a public forum, because others come along and refuse to let the discussion happen; and I find that bad because, whilst of course we could all retreat to closed communities, it makes it much harder for people who are just starting to dip their toes in the water to find things. I have a great deal of respect for people who have been, and continue to be, willing to deal with moderating public discussions of sensitive subjects and kept their sanity.
(Hello Metafandom; OMG I've been metafandom'd!)
(no subject)
Jun. 15th, 2009 11:23 amThis weekend I went to my parents' in order to watch my Uncle perform in Oliver! as Fagin (not in the West End, unfortunately, just the local amdram people.). It was very good, yay Uncle!
Someone somewhere last week posted asking about the attitudes in films towards consent and such stuff (I forget who, sorry, I suck like that). Anyway, in this regard Oliver is a BIG PILE OF FAIL. There's the "I shall scream Mr Bumble" song, where whatserface (later Mrs Bumble and I'm sure she has a name but I suck at names) is clearly saying "no" whilst meaning "yes" (and whilst I do think that this is a valid thing to do *with prior, clear, negotiation* I think it's pretty silly otherwise). And of course Nancy is basically your typical Abused Girlfriend, who is somehow still devoted to Bill, of course this turns out to be a Really Bad Thing for her.
Also Fagin is *creepy*.
Someone somewhere last week posted asking about the attitudes in films towards consent and such stuff (I forget who, sorry, I suck like that). Anyway, in this regard Oliver is a BIG PILE OF FAIL. There's the "I shall scream Mr Bumble" song, where whatserface (later Mrs Bumble and I'm sure she has a name but I suck at names) is clearly saying "no" whilst meaning "yes" (and whilst I do think that this is a valid thing to do *with prior, clear, negotiation* I think it's pretty silly otherwise). And of course Nancy is basically your typical Abused Girlfriend, who is somehow still devoted to Bill, of course this turns out to be a Really Bad Thing for her.
Also Fagin is *creepy*.
(no subject)
Jun. 4th, 2009 12:36 pmSo go VOTE! (if you're in the UK, and have a vote). For someone other than the bloody BNP :-)
Personally I'm very pro-EU. Because, generally, I think that *having an EU* is a Good Thing, and it should be stronger, and bigger and stuff like that. That's not to say that I think the EU is 100% wonderful or that the current implementation is the absolute best possible or that I agree with everything that the EU does. But then I don't think that the government in Westminster is 100% wonderful or etc. either, I think that right now it's pretty shit actually, but I'm not going to start campaigning to go back to having the Queen tell us what to do, or stage a coup so we can have an el Presidente Dictator For Life instead of what we've got.
( I <3 the EU )
Personally I'm very pro-EU. Because, generally, I think that *having an EU* is a Good Thing, and it should be stronger, and bigger and stuff like that. That's not to say that I think the EU is 100% wonderful or that the current implementation is the absolute best possible or that I agree with everything that the EU does. But then I don't think that the government in Westminster is 100% wonderful or etc. either, I think that right now it's pretty shit actually, but I'm not going to start campaigning to go back to having the Queen tell us what to do, or stage a coup so we can have an el Presidente Dictator For Life instead of what we've got.
( I <3 the EU )
(no subject)
Jun. 2nd, 2009 01:19 pmI dropped my 'phone, it's gone for repairs and I'll have it back tomorrow. In the unlikely event that you were planning to call me on it between now and tomorrow lunch time, don't.
(no subject)
May. 27th, 2009 02:30 pmInformal poll;
If I were to say to you "let us get afternoon tea?" what would you think I meant by that? Er, I mean to say 'what do you think afternoon tea is, practically speaking' not 'what do you think this means about my relationship with you'. English, the language of unclearness.
If I were to say to you "let us get afternoon tea?" what would you think I meant by that? Er, I mean to say 'what do you think afternoon tea is, practically speaking' not 'what do you think this means about my relationship with you'. English, the language of unclearness.
dress diaries
May. 3rd, 2009 10:52 pmI needed a dress for my cousin's wedding. This one can double as a costume for off-duty Ariel Corps members methinks (from the books by Novik).
(manually cross-posted from LJ)
( beware the pictures )
(manually cross-posted from LJ)
( beware the pictures )
