Tag: books
-
Books 2019
A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay This was a re-read for me, as it just became available on Kindle. It in fact wrapped up my complete re-read of Kay’s fiction, which I mostly handled in 2018. Grant by Ron Chernow After reading the award-winning (and musical-inspiring) Hamilton by Chernow, I was moved to pick this…
-
What is a library?
I am far from the first to ask this question in an increasingly-electronic age, and I am sure that my answer will be far from unique. But my wife and I have batted the question around a couple of times and I wanted to get my thoughts down. The proximate cause of our discussion was…
-
What I’m Reading: 2008 July
This is the first in a regular series of posts meant more for myself than anyone else. I just want to keep a record of what I’m reading. So far in July: Public Enemies: The True Story of America’s Greatest Crime Wave by Bryan Burrough (552 p) Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meaning…
-
Review: His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass The Subtle Knife The Amber Spyglass a triology by Philip Pullman InstaRating: 4 out of 5 This trilogy has apparently sparked quite the bitter controversy, especially online. It’s a tale of High Fantasy, quite consciously in the vein of Tolkein or C.S. Lewis, but it takes a tack quite…
-
Review: The Book of Lost Things
The Book of Lost Things a novel by John Connolly InstaRating: 5 (out of 5) This is simply a good book. I would not have thought anything would rank up next to a new book by Guy Gavriel Kay (Ysabel, which I’ll review some other time), but this one easily meets that standard. One of…
-
Review: Echelon
Echelon a novel by Josh Conviser InstaRating: 2 out of 5 This book\’s title caught my interest because I keep up with surveillance tech and its social implications, and ECHELON — the alleged US NSA electronic sifting program — is the monster of all surveillance programs. Although I knew this was a spy thriller, I…
-
Review: World War Z
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks InstaRating: 5 out of 5 After the debacle that was The Stonehenge Gate, I was looking for something good to read, to wash the taste of failed prose from my mouth. Happily I picked up this piece of psuedo-history. Written by the…
-
Review: The Stonehenge Gate
The Stonehenge Gate a novel by Jack Williamson InstaRating: 1 out of 5 … maybe less During those moments when I delude myself that I’m a writer, I pursue an odd oscillation in my reading. I like to read great works of fiction, to have something towards which to aspire. But I like to leaven…
-
Review: Oryx and Crake
Oryx and Crake (a novel) by Margaret Atwood InstaRating: 4 out of 5 In brief: Snowman is the last (traditional) human alive in a world curiously empty. He bears the secret of what happened to civilization and slowly reveals it to himself as he watches over the successor species: humans carefully designed to thrive in…