Recent reading and listening
Jul. 25th, 2013 03:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzula Style In Fiction: A Linguistic Introduction to English Fictional Prose, by Geoffrey N. Leech and Michael H. Short
I picked this up at the university library, and it was interesting! I feel like there's a lot of useful stuff here that I could learn from, but OTOH there is also part of me that isn't sure I want to pick apart why writing works or does not work. I mean, sometimes you just want to enjoy it? But yes, all that application of linguistics to writing style did appeal to my geeky side.
The Vor Game, by Lois McMaster Bujold
I liked this okay? Although I was more into the first part, leading up to Miles disobeying an unethical order, than the space opera in the second part. Still not quite emotionally invested in the characters.
Judge, by Karen Traviss (#6 and last in the Wess'har series)
Still don't really know why I'm not quite connecting to these books, even while sticking with them to the end. I mean, I like that they take environmental issues seriously, but sometimes the characters do things that seem like they come out of left field and that I don't understand, and something about the ethics is rubbing me the wrong way. Still, there are lots of interesting ideas, and ultimately I did want to know how it would finish up. Which I guess it did fairly satisfyingly?
Merchanter's Luck, by C J Cherryh (part of the Alliance-Union 'verse)
Yes! \o/ I liked this a lot; will be reading more Cherryh. To be fair, I've listened to most of the Foreigner books and enjoyed them a lot, so I already knew I liked her books. The writing is vivid, and I felt immediately immersed in the characters and their world. Good female characters, too. I can't help but compare this to Bujold, since this is also space opera, kind of, and I was more gripped by this book than by The Vor Game. It felt like there was more at stake here, whereas The Vor Game felt more like, well, a game, even though the characters' lives are probably threatened more often in that book.
A Shadow in Summer, by Daniel Abraham (#1 in the Long Price Quartet)
I enjoyed this! It's a fantasy novel with no simple right or wrong, but rather a complex social web of people with different motivations. It's got interesting world-building, good plotting, and passes the Bechdel test. The writing kept me feeling slightly distant, but that might also be because the POV:s are equally divided between a fair amount of characters, who have different and sometimes opposing goals. There's a bit of an elegiac mood to it? Which fits with the title, now that I think about it. Will be reading the next book.
The Power of Three, by Diana Wynne Jones
Another childhood favorite, and it held up for me now as well! I enjoyed the world-building and the sibling interactions a lot. And the bees! I loved the bees.
Fannishly, I can recommend Masked Ball, by![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
Waid, which is ACD-canon Sherlock Holmes (30,000 words). It's a Holmes/Watson fic, but almost more importantly, it's a beautifully written casefic. I don't want to spoil you for it, or I'd say more.
I've also listened to the first episode of this Welcome to Night Vale podcast everyone is talking about. I liked it, and will listen to more!
I picked this up at the university library, and it was interesting! I feel like there's a lot of useful stuff here that I could learn from, but OTOH there is also part of me that isn't sure I want to pick apart why writing works or does not work. I mean, sometimes you just want to enjoy it? But yes, all that application of linguistics to writing style did appeal to my geeky side.
The Vor Game, by Lois McMaster Bujold
I liked this okay? Although I was more into the first part, leading up to Miles disobeying an unethical order, than the space opera in the second part. Still not quite emotionally invested in the characters.
Judge, by Karen Traviss (#6 and last in the Wess'har series)
Still don't really know why I'm not quite connecting to these books, even while sticking with them to the end. I mean, I like that they take environmental issues seriously, but sometimes the characters do things that seem like they come out of left field and that I don't understand, and something about the ethics is rubbing me the wrong way. Still, there are lots of interesting ideas, and ultimately I did want to know how it would finish up. Which I guess it did fairly satisfyingly?
Merchanter's Luck, by C J Cherryh (part of the Alliance-Union 'verse)
Yes! \o/ I liked this a lot; will be reading more Cherryh. To be fair, I've listened to most of the Foreigner books and enjoyed them a lot, so I already knew I liked her books. The writing is vivid, and I felt immediately immersed in the characters and their world. Good female characters, too. I can't help but compare this to Bujold, since this is also space opera, kind of, and I was more gripped by this book than by The Vor Game. It felt like there was more at stake here, whereas The Vor Game felt more like, well, a game, even though the characters' lives are probably threatened more often in that book.
A Shadow in Summer, by Daniel Abraham (#1 in the Long Price Quartet)
I enjoyed this! It's a fantasy novel with no simple right or wrong, but rather a complex social web of people with different motivations. It's got interesting world-building, good plotting, and passes the Bechdel test. The writing kept me feeling slightly distant, but that might also be because the POV:s are equally divided between a fair amount of characters, who have different and sometimes opposing goals. There's a bit of an elegiac mood to it? Which fits with the title, now that I think about it. Will be reading the next book.
The Power of Three, by Diana Wynne Jones
Another childhood favorite, and it held up for me now as well! I enjoyed the world-building and the sibling interactions a lot. And the bees! I loved the bees.
Fannishly, I can recommend Masked Ball, by
I've also listened to the first episode of this Welcome to Night Vale podcast everyone is talking about. I liked it, and will listen to more!
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