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hawkwing_lbBooks 2014: 169-185
169-176. Laurie R. King, O Jerusalem, Justice Hall, The Game, Locked Rooms, The Language of Bees, The God of the Hive, Pirate King and Garment of Shadows. Allison & Busby, various dates.
More excellent mysteries from King, in her Russell and Holmes series. Not quite as good as the first three, but plenty satisfying and playful.
177. Tanya Huff, The Future Falls. DAW, 2014. Copy courtesy of publisher.
Read for review for Tor.com. Fun book, but PARADOX IS CHEATING. Ahem.
178. Bennett Madison, September Girls. HarperCollins, 2013.
Read for column. Disappointing.
179. Garth Nix, Clariel. HarperCollins, 2014. Copy via Tor.com.
Read for review for Tor.com. Also disappointing.
180. Pierre Pevel, The Knight. Gollancz, 2014. Translated from the French by Tom Clegg. Copy courtesy of publisher.
Read for review for Tor.com. Disappointing.
181-182. Lia Silver, Laura's Wolf and Prisoner. Ebooks. 2014.
Interesting books working with romance-novel furniture but doing intriguing things with PTSD too. Fun, well-characterised, mostly well-written. Recommended.
nonfiction
183. Mary Beard, Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up. University of California Press, Berkeley CA, 2014.
Very interesting overview of laughter in the Roman (and Greco-Roman) world. Readable. Not especially ground-breaking. Good synthesis. Even if Beard is inexplicably not fond of Aelius Aristides, and does not investigate laughter/joking, particularly in fables, as a site of resistance to dominating powers/hierarchies.
184. Robert Darnton, Censors at Work: How States Shaped Literature. WW Norton & Co., London & New York, 2014.
Interesting overview of state oversight and control of literature in 18th century France, turn-of-the-20th-century British India, and communist East Germany. I kept wanting more social context, which I always do with histories in this vein and is not a commentary on Darnton. Very readable, makes interesting connections, illuminates ways of thinking about literature, censorship, and self-censorship. Recommended.
185. Helen Bynum, Spitting Blood: The History of Tuberculosis. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012.
Fascinating and well-written history of a disease from the earliest period to the modern day. I stayed up late to finish it. Recommended.
169-176. Laurie R. King, O Jerusalem, Justice Hall, The Game, Locked Rooms, The Language of Bees, The God of the Hive, Pirate King and Garment of Shadows. Allison & Busby, various dates.
More excellent mysteries from King, in her Russell and Holmes series. Not quite as good as the first three, but plenty satisfying and playful.
177. Tanya Huff, The Future Falls. DAW, 2014. Copy courtesy of publisher.
Read for review for Tor.com. Fun book, but PARADOX IS CHEATING. Ahem.
178. Bennett Madison, September Girls. HarperCollins, 2013.
Read for column. Disappointing.
179. Garth Nix, Clariel. HarperCollins, 2014. Copy via Tor.com.
Read for review for Tor.com. Also disappointing.
180. Pierre Pevel, The Knight. Gollancz, 2014. Translated from the French by Tom Clegg. Copy courtesy of publisher.
Read for review for Tor.com. Disappointing.
181-182. Lia Silver, Laura's Wolf and Prisoner. Ebooks. 2014.
Interesting books working with romance-novel furniture but doing intriguing things with PTSD too. Fun, well-characterised, mostly well-written. Recommended.
nonfiction
183. Mary Beard, Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up. University of California Press, Berkeley CA, 2014.
Very interesting overview of laughter in the Roman (and Greco-Roman) world. Readable. Not especially ground-breaking. Good synthesis. Even if Beard is inexplicably not fond of Aelius Aristides, and does not investigate laughter/joking, particularly in fables, as a site of resistance to dominating powers/hierarchies.
184. Robert Darnton, Censors at Work: How States Shaped Literature. WW Norton & Co., London & New York, 2014.
Interesting overview of state oversight and control of literature in 18th century France, turn-of-the-20th-century British India, and communist East Germany. I kept wanting more social context, which I always do with histories in this vein and is not a commentary on Darnton. Very readable, makes interesting connections, illuminates ways of thinking about literature, censorship, and self-censorship. Recommended.
185. Helen Bynum, Spitting Blood: The History of Tuberculosis. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012.
Fascinating and well-written history of a disease from the earliest period to the modern day. I stayed up late to finish it. Recommended.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-09 04:14 am (UTC)What does she have against him?
no subject
Date: 2014-10-09 04:21 am (UTC)I am very fond of Aristides. He's fairly unique among what's been handed down to us.