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usuallyhats
1. The Ionian Mission by Patrick O'Brian I love this series. I love the calm sweep of the prose, the quiet humour, the characters. (One thing I noticed in this one was how good the minor characters are: some of them are only little thumbnail sketches, but they're nevertheless vivid and real.)
2. Bernice Summerfield: A Life of Surprises I thought this one was slightly disappointing, I'm afraid: most of the stories were decent, but none of them seemed to be as great as I would've liked a Benny story to be (with the exception of Terrance Dicks's 'A Mutual Friend', which made me flail my arms with joy).
3. Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens Not his best work, I don't think - I fair rattled through it, but nothing really stuck in my mind in the way his books usually do.
4. Changes by Jim Butcher This is a book with a very accurate title. I inhaled it in the space of about a day... Stylistically they're not the greatest, but there's something about this series that just hooks me in. Sanya was awesome ("dibs on Legolas", indeed), the plotting was tight, Murphy and Molly were their brilliant selves (the one-woman rave!), and as for the end: (skip spoiler) it made me cry, not so much at Susan but at the aftermath, when they're all shellshocked and looking after each other - Thomas giving Harry his boat! *sobs*. And then the very end - I knew it ended on a cliffhanger, but wow! Is it next book time now?
5. At Large and At Small: Confessions of a Literary Hedonist by Anne Fadiman Very nice, neat little book. I felt she slipped into being a little self-satisfied once or twice, but otherwise, v. engaging essays.
6. Bernice Summerfield: The Big Hunt by Lance Parkin I will admit to being a little disappointed when the book opened with Benny wanting a break from everyone on the Braxiatel Collection (because that's what I want to hear more about!), but other than that, I enjoyed this.
7. Short Trips: Past Tense Overall I'd rate this collection "average": most of the stories were decent but not spectacular, and the three stories I disliked ("All Done With Mirrors", just dreadful; "Bide-A-Wee", which would've been fine if not for the characterisation of the First Doctor; "That Time I Nearly Destroyed the World Whilst Looking For a Dress", irritating) were nicely balanced by the three I really did like ("Graham Dilley Saves the World", a breath of fresh air, plus Perimem! ♥; "Mortlake", really lovely, gets bonus points for the fact that it mattered that Evelyn was the companion; "Fixing a Hole", great Six characterisation and his relationship with Tegan was lovely).
8. Bluestockings: the Remarkable Story of the First Women to Fight for an Education by Jane Robinson Engagingly written and pleasingly anecdotal - I really liked the way it was presented through the experiences and words of the women who'd actually been there.
9. Shakespeare by Bill Bryson Begins by saying "this book contains everything we know for certain about Shakespeare. You will notice it is very short" and proceeds to be a brisk and entertaining survey of what's known about Shakespeare's life (very little) and the age in which he lived (slightly more). I particularly enjoyed the last chapter, which cheerfully and thoroughly debunks various theories about other people who might have written Shakespeare's plays (but almost certainly didn't). Bill Bryson's writing also has a lovely infectious quality: whenever he tells me something, I immediately want to go and tell it to someone else.
10. Bernice Summerfield: A Life Worth Living Although this didn't have any really stand out stories (honourable mention to the chilling "Against Gardens", though), I thought overall it was a very strong, effective anthology, dealing with themes of loss, grief, reconciliation and rebuilding. Just right for the aftermath of the Fifth Axis occupation.
11. Quantum Physics Cannot Hurt You by Marcus Chown Unlike Changes, above, the title of this book is rather misleading, as on several occasions I felt as if my brain was being taken apart and put back together in a different order. Ouch. Though in other places it was dealing with stuff I remembered from AS Physics, which was rather less brain-melting. It was also very clearly written, and I did feel, most of the time at least, that I did have a handle on what was going on.
2. Bernice Summerfield: A Life of Surprises I thought this one was slightly disappointing, I'm afraid: most of the stories were decent, but none of them seemed to be as great as I would've liked a Benny story to be (with the exception of Terrance Dicks's 'A Mutual Friend', which made me flail my arms with joy).
3. Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens Not his best work, I don't think - I fair rattled through it, but nothing really stuck in my mind in the way his books usually do.
4. Changes by Jim Butcher This is a book with a very accurate title. I inhaled it in the space of about a day... Stylistically they're not the greatest, but there's something about this series that just hooks me in. Sanya was awesome ("dibs on Legolas", indeed), the plotting was tight, Murphy and Molly were their brilliant selves (the one-woman rave!), and as for the end: (skip spoiler) it made me cry, not so much at Susan but at the aftermath, when they're all shellshocked and looking after each other - Thomas giving Harry his boat! *sobs*. And then the very end - I knew it ended on a cliffhanger, but wow! Is it next book time now?
5. At Large and At Small: Confessions of a Literary Hedonist by Anne Fadiman Very nice, neat little book. I felt she slipped into being a little self-satisfied once or twice, but otherwise, v. engaging essays.
6. Bernice Summerfield: The Big Hunt by Lance Parkin I will admit to being a little disappointed when the book opened with Benny wanting a break from everyone on the Braxiatel Collection (because that's what I want to hear more about!), but other than that, I enjoyed this.
7. Short Trips: Past Tense Overall I'd rate this collection "average": most of the stories were decent but not spectacular, and the three stories I disliked ("All Done With Mirrors", just dreadful; "Bide-A-Wee", which would've been fine if not for the characterisation of the First Doctor; "That Time I Nearly Destroyed the World Whilst Looking For a Dress", irritating) were nicely balanced by the three I really did like ("Graham Dilley Saves the World", a breath of fresh air, plus Perimem! ♥; "Mortlake", really lovely, gets bonus points for the fact that it mattered that Evelyn was the companion; "Fixing a Hole", great Six characterisation and his relationship with Tegan was lovely).
8. Bluestockings: the Remarkable Story of the First Women to Fight for an Education by Jane Robinson Engagingly written and pleasingly anecdotal - I really liked the way it was presented through the experiences and words of the women who'd actually been there.
9. Shakespeare by Bill Bryson Begins by saying "this book contains everything we know for certain about Shakespeare. You will notice it is very short" and proceeds to be a brisk and entertaining survey of what's known about Shakespeare's life (very little) and the age in which he lived (slightly more). I particularly enjoyed the last chapter, which cheerfully and thoroughly debunks various theories about other people who might have written Shakespeare's plays (but almost certainly didn't). Bill Bryson's writing also has a lovely infectious quality: whenever he tells me something, I immediately want to go and tell it to someone else.
10. Bernice Summerfield: A Life Worth Living Although this didn't have any really stand out stories (honourable mention to the chilling "Against Gardens", though), I thought overall it was a very strong, effective anthology, dealing with themes of loss, grief, reconciliation and rebuilding. Just right for the aftermath of the Fifth Axis occupation.
11. Quantum Physics Cannot Hurt You by Marcus Chown Unlike Changes, above, the title of this book is rather misleading, as on several occasions I felt as if my brain was being taken apart and put back together in a different order. Ouch. Though in other places it was dealing with stuff I remembered from AS Physics, which was rather less brain-melting. It was also very clearly written, and I did feel, most of the time at least, that I did have a handle on what was going on.
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no subject
Date: 1 Jun 2010 09:35 (UTC)Book #11 sounds intriguing - wonder if the library has it?
I ADORED Bryson's Shakespeare - I read that not too long ago and his sense of humour is right up my street.
no subject
Date: 1 Jun 2010 19:23 (UTC)Book #11 sounds intriguing - wonder if the library has it?
It is! And you're very welcome to borrow my copy if they don't. :)
no subject
Date: 1 Jun 2010 19:41 (UTC)Absolutely!!
And thanks - but the library actually has a handful of copies, so I've slapped a reservation on it (as most copies are on loan - but then this IS Oxford!)
no subject
Date: 1 Jun 2010 09:44 (UTC)Surely the Eric Saward piece struck you, as it struck me, as especially awful? Or did your brain simply screen it from your memory?
no subject
Date: 1 Jun 2010 19:28 (UTC)You know, I think it actually might've! I started reading it a while ago, so some of the earlier stories have faded a little, but now you mention it, it was pretty bad. Interesting that we picked completely different stories as the highlights, though!