|
New Review: Stephen Baxter's The Time Ships
August 18, 2003 (7:36 PM) ( link ) ADDED a review of Stephen Baxter's The Time Ships. Mediocre novel, though I expected much better.
I'm reading a novel that looks like it will be one of the best I've read all year: Alastair Reynolds's Chasm City. So far it reads like Iain M. Banks, but better; like Banks, Reynolds has an eye for the cool detail or the nifty backstory without losing a sure touch with his narrative voice. And the plotting isn't bad either; already there are some mysterious gaps and unusual parallel storylines that beg to be explained. Even better, the novel is something like 600 pages long, and Reynolds has written two other novels along the same lines: Revelation Space and Redemption Ark. Whoever's in charge of the cover and book design should be given an award too: what actually first attracted me to these books was their cool cover paintings; those covers drove me to look up reviews, which drove me to read his books.
New Review: Patrick Suskind's Perfume
August 15, 2003 (7:34 PM) ( link ) ADDED a review of Patrick Suskind's Perfume. A strange little novel, that one was.
I'm currently about halfway through Stephen Baxter's The Time Ships, abandoning my previous idea of skipping it in favor of something different. It's ok: not as exciting as I would have hoped. Baxter seems to be the kind of writer for whom the story is merely a convenient way of explaining some nifty ideas that he has. Certainly the protagonists of The Time Ships don't do very much; or when they do, external events intrude to give Baxter an opportunity to expound on his next nifty idea.
In other words, it really doesn't look like The Time Ships is going to end up being one of my favorite books. C'est la reading based on awards (The Time Ships has won a bunch of them).
At five books already this August, I'm on my way to a record-breaking month! Last year I read books in the double-digits in two months: December and August (corresponding with my two longest vacations). This past December I wimped out at three books; hopefully I'll make up for the shortfall over the next two weeks.
New Reviews: Christopher Priest's The Space Machine and Jeff Noon's Vurt
August 13, 2003 (3:02 AM) ( link ) ADDED reviews of Jeff Noon's Vurt and Christopher Priest's The Space Machine. Ugh, ugh.
I've started reading a new book that is a considerable improvement on the books I've read recently: Patricia Suskind's Perfume, a bizarre novel that is wholly centered on smells. Suskind has done an amazing amount of research for the book; part of the joy of reading it thus far is learning about the unusual trade of perfumers, with all of its little secrets and techniques. And her writing is evocative enough to make you wrinkle your nose in sympathy as she spins her prose. Thanks to the reader of this web page who suggested the book.
With Priest's book and Moorcock's trilogy (recently read), I've now read two straight books in which H.G. Wells was a character, at least one protagonist is from Victorian England, and the female love interest is named Amelia. Things will get stranger since I'm planning to read Stephen Baxter's The Time Ships soon: it is, as far as I can tell, an unofficial sequel to H.G. Wells's The Time Machine. I'm maybe a little over-Wells'ed right now; after Suskind's decidedly non-science-fiction novel, I may instead continue in the non-speculative-fiction realm with Salman Rushdie's borderline fantasy novel Midnight's Children.
New Review: Michael Moorcock's The Dancers at the End of Time
August 7, 2003 (1:06 AM) ( link ) ADDED a review of Michael Moorcock's The Dancers at the End of Time. Surprisingly effective.
I've also updated my statistics page, finally, which includes several books that I read but haven't reviewed (Harry Potter 5, Native Son, the first book of the Deptford Trilogy), and more up-to-date materials.
I've read only 39 books so far this year and written 36 reviews. This is considerably down from my number last year, when, by the end of July, I'd read 58 new books and written 89 reviews. I guess I blame law school for the decrease. I'd have to read a remarkable 19 (!) books in August to catch up to my number from last year; so far I've read two in a week (well, four, since Dancers, reviewed today, counts as three books); if I use the "four" then that leaves 15 more books. Hoo hah. Well, at least I'm going on vacation soon, when I can read to my heart's content.
Starting on Jeff Noon's Vurt. So far it is incomprehensible. It sounds like a drug novel, though I'm getting hints that it's actually much, much weirder. Let's hope it kicks ass.
New Review: Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
August 3, 2003 (1:36 AM) ( link ) ADDED a review of Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. That's right: the famous online novel released here for free is now also reviewed here for free!
Seriously, Doctorow's novel was all right: not great, but worth a lazy afternoon. Read the review for more details.
I went to the public library today. I think I'll start on the first book of Michael Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time trilogy (or whatever it's called). I thought Elric of Melnibone was sort of trashy, but hey, Dancers is supposed to be among Moorcock's best fantasy work, so I'll give it a shot.
Afterward, if I have time in the summer, is Christopher Priest's The Space Machine, and Jeff Noon's Vurt. In reality, though, I probably won't have enough time left to finish all these books--only two and a half weeks more before I head home. Then the real, serious reading begins.
Revised Review: Sean McMullen's Souls, Revised
August 1, 2003 (11:47 PM) ( link ) For the first time ever, I've rewritten a review I didn't like that much: my review of Sean McMullen's Souls in the Great Machine now has a somewhat different introduction and structure, so that it isn't as bad as the novel was.
I'm finishing up Doctorow's novel soon. It's ok, I guess: clever, but not much beyond that. Otherwise, no new news in the world of books.
|