Skip to main content

What I read -- April 2010

"Pirate Latitudes" by Michael Crichton. It wasn't "The Pyrates" by any means. I think I tend to read more challenging books than this. It connectss interestingly (to me anyway) to the discussion Justine Larbalestier started about "crap" books. I don't think "Twilight" is any worse than "The Davinci Code" or this. I don't think it's a YA problem. It's that easy-to-digest books might sell better than harder ones sometimes. The flap said that this completed manuscript was found in Crichton's files after he died. I think it had been in there a long time, and needed a good copy-edit. Though the section about navigation into an island surrounded by a reef, directly into the sun, was really interesting and cool.

"Starfish" by Peter Watts. The boy says it should be called "Sea Star", because starfish aren't fish. And then he calls "Bill 157" because fish swim in schools, and therefore bill 157 applies. Bill 157 is an Ontario (I think) law that says that students can complain when other students offend them (or more accurately, I think, teachers can complain when students ought to be offended). I read it because I came across the author's blog due to his recent "situation" and I guess personal debacles are good marketing after all. The book was good. I read it in two days. I didn't find it overly depressing, and the characters were interesting. I liked the multiple POVs, especially where the psychologist has his breakdown. Funny.

"The Genius in all of us" by David Shenk. Ties in nicely with the "if you want it, you'll find time to write" theme that I got from Ad Astra. Also, deliberate practice: need to get me some of that. It's full of the 10,000 hours meme.

"Bitten" by Kelley Armstrong. Saw her on two panels at Ad Astra. This book totally sucked me in. By the time I was in chapter 2, I was totally interested in the main character and how she was going to handle the complex situation she found herself in. Also, the prologue has the main character running as a werewolf through the ravines of Toronto, and those same ravines are a big part of my life and my novel Apocryphal, so that made me happy.

The boy took it with him on a school trip. I wonder if I'm going to get questions from the staff advisors when he gets back...

Popular posts from this blog

Best TW feedback ever

Over at the dayjob, SMEs are feverishly trying to get documents back to me all marked up, in preparation for the release that's supposed to happen the week I'm back from VP. Today's best comment: Unfortunately not true. SMEs, they're so cute.

What I read: August 2023

"The Absolute Book" by Elizabeth Knox. I got it for Christmas. It was delightful, even if maybe some stuff wasn't explained completely. Or maybe that's part of why it was delightful.  "Crucial conversations" By Joseph Grenny and three other old white men. Another office book club selection. The word "candor" comes up a lot. I really resented this book.  LHC #220: "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt. There was a girl at my previous company who wanted to have an office book club, and she had this book on her desk for months and months. I can totally understand this. I found portions crazy stressful to read. Like, I would be skipping ahead to see how much more in the section, could I get through it, pacing around, etc. I wanted to know how it ended, sure, but I was having weird stress dreams and stuff. If it wasn't a library book I might not have finished it at all. It was such a relief when Boris showed up again and something happened. I di

What I read: March, 2010

"The Man from St. Petersburg" Ken Follett. Oh. My. God. I read it because we had two copies lying around. Ick. This book made me feel dirty. I made some negative comment about this book to my sister, who repled "I've read every book he's ever written." I think she's mad at me now. This book was all tell, no show. There was no tension. The sex was funny. It reminded me of my dad's novel. It seemed well-researched, from what I can tell. When my friend said that of my karate-zombie novel, I took it as damning with faint praise, so there you go. There was no female character with whom I could identify. Or male character, for that matter. I don't need a woman to be a role model. I really strongly disliked this book. "Wanderlust" Rebecca Solnit. I'd come across her name in a discussion of the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, and came across this when I was looking for her other book on the TPL website. As walking is an integral part o