Recently read books

[luzula]

Blueheart by Alison Sinclair

This was great! \o/ It's a story about conflicts around terraforming a planet which is mostly covered by water, and it's got both interesting science and worldbuilding and thoughtfulness about social issues. Lots of interesting characters and political issues, and it easily passes the Bechdel test. It mostly appealed to my brain rather than my heart, which is funny since a review excerpt on the back of the book says it's a more personal/emotional take on terraforming than KSR's Mars trilogy. I think it's because something in the writing was just slightly sideways to the way I talk and think and interact? Which is not a bad thing in itself. Anyway, recommended.

A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle

I didn't enjoy this as much as the other L'Engle I recently read. This is a YA book from the POV of a sixteen-year-old, and I couldn't relate to it as much as the other one. I would probably have liked it a lot more if I'd read it in my teens? Also, I usually like L'Engle's spirituality, but I dunno, the all-benevolent telepathic dolphins were a bit much for me. No doubt they aren't that much different from the cherubim and farae and such in her fantasy books, but the difference for me is that dolphins are actual animals who don't behave like that.

Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell

Read for the book club I recently joined; it's mainly a description of what it was like to be poor in Paris and London in the 1920's. I thought it was interesting? Lots of in-depth description of things I had no idea about, and the writing style is very readable.

Also, I was pondering reading Vonda McIntyre's Starfarers books, but the protagonist is a Canadian called Victoria Fraser MacKenzie. Being a due South fangirl, that name combination might be a little too much for me to take...

Comments

[sineala]

At least it's not Diefenbaker?

[luzula]

Hee. Diefenbaker Kowalski? Ray Frobisher? The possibilities, they are many!

Heh, I remember when I read Cloud Atlas and one character was called Robert Frobisher, and I had such a hard time getting past that.

[cahn]

All-benevolent telepathic dolphins: ha! Yeah, that's a good point. I would probably find them hard to take as an adult too :) (ETA: I mean, if I read it for the first time as an adult. I think now I just relegate them to "oh, yeah, those L'Engle fancy fantasy dolphins.")

[luzula]

Yeah, it does make a difference re-reading a book you've read a book as a kid and having it be layered over with your past reading experience, I think. I mean, I've reread the Kairos books as an adult and enjoyed them, but I've no idea what I'd think of them if I read them for the first time now.

Also, I think I had this idea in my head that this book would not be fantasy, and so I was kind of blindsided by those telepathic dolphins. *g*

[isis]

Blueheart sounds right up my alley, and AHAHAHA at Victoria Fraser MacKenzie!

[luzula]

I think you'd like it! I know you like plotty books, and this is definitely plotty.

And yeah, I get some sort of weird amalgam of Victoria and Fraser and Maggie in my head. But I suppose it's not such a strange coincidence--all those names are associated with Canada.

[abbylee]

I remember being blindsided by them as a teen too, and basically skipping those scenes every time I read it. By which I mean, I liked the book enough to keep it around but bleh telepathic dolphins.

[jesse_the_k]

I'll have you know when I see your book posts I automatically open up my "reserve a library book" window.

Alison Sinclair's books sound great and they're like totally out of print, man. Where did you find them? (I'm hoping your answer is "My new roommates have great taste in books.")

[luzula]

Oh hey, that is quite a compliment. : )

I direct you to Better World Books! That's where I get pretty much all of my second-hand SF/F from, and they seem to have both Legacies and Blueheart in for a very reasonable $6.48 each (I've already obtained Legacies and also Cavalcade from there for future reading). Also, their shipping is free, even international shipping--probably this is because a lot of their books are old library books?

Sadly I haven't seen my new roommates read much, except for one of them who apparently favors Marxist tomes on history. Must find RL people to discuss SF/F books with--surely there must be some in this city? I miss discussing books with my friends up north. : (

[jesse_the_k]

Well, of course Better World. That's my go-to bookstore when the locals don't have it, and I seem to have placed that fact on a raft speeding downriver. I'm buying 'em now.

The thing is I have covered a table 18 high in books I want to keep, and am attempting to move remaining contents of living room bookshelves to the "Friends of the Library." They hold monthly book sales with proceeds to support my local branch, although I'll sift out the 1st editions and low-press-run SF for the relevant libraries first.

IOW, I've hit 58 and I can't stand how many books I have. I made a promise to myself I would only purchase e-books and sequential art. But yet again rare SF is the siren call. The good news is I'll give it away once I read it.

Once I read it.

/maundering

[luzula]

Book accumulation, yeah. I've been pretty good at weeding out and giving away books, at the same time as I buy lots of books, too. Currently I only have a little more than two bookcases full (not counting biological literature for determining species, of which I have two or three shelves).

[desireearmfeldt]

I read some Paul Haggis interview or something in which he said that Fraser was originally going to be named Frobisher, but he had to change it because Americans (e.g. at the TV network) kept asking how to pronounce "Frobisher." So "Fraser" was a last-minute grab for a suitably iconic Canadian name, I guess.

[luzula]

Huh, interesting. How is "Frobisher" hard to pronounce, though? I mean, considering some people can't pronounce "Fraser" either...