Recent reading
Nov. 13th, 2014 12:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaRailsea by China Miéville
Who gets the idea "Hey, how about a Moby Dick AU where the whale is a GIANT MOLE and the ships are trains!" and then doesn't dismiss it as a random crackfic idea, but actually goes ahead and writes it? The worldbuilding in this book is pretty ridiculous, when you think about it. That said, it's oddly compelling--I think it's in the details and the language. Random sample: As long as humanity has rolled on the railsea, the rigours & vigours & bloody triggers of the underground have been legendary. Yes, the ampersands are all through the book. I guess you'll know on the first few pages if this is for you or not, but I enjoyed it! Miéville is sometimes too grim and squalid for me, but this wasn't--"swashbuckling" would describe it, rather. Also it reminded me of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (without the Christian symbolism). Towards the end I wondered how he'd pull it together, but he did so very satisfyingly! I am delighted and charmed.
Thomas Piketty's Kapitalet i det 21:a århundradet by Jesper Roine
A summary of Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century in Swedish, with a view to Swedish conditions. Does what it says on the tin.
Who gets the idea "Hey, how about a Moby Dick AU where the whale is a GIANT MOLE and the ships are trains!" and then doesn't dismiss it as a random crackfic idea, but actually goes ahead and writes it? The worldbuilding in this book is pretty ridiculous, when you think about it. That said, it's oddly compelling--I think it's in the details and the language. Random sample: As long as humanity has rolled on the railsea, the rigours & vigours & bloody triggers of the underground have been legendary. Yes, the ampersands are all through the book. I guess you'll know on the first few pages if this is for you or not, but I enjoyed it! Miéville is sometimes too grim and squalid for me, but this wasn't--"swashbuckling" would describe it, rather. Also it reminded me of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (without the Christian symbolism). Towards the end I wondered how he'd pull it together, but he did so very satisfyingly! I am delighted and charmed.
Thomas Piketty's Kapitalet i det 21:a århundradet by Jesper Roine
A summary of Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century in Swedish, with a view to Swedish conditions. Does what it says on the tin.
