Books, Books, Books

Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

buxom_bey and I finally finished reading this trilogy, and I found it very engrossing, if more-than-a-bit depressing. Quite recommended.

The Sorceress and the Cygnet by Patricia A. McKillip

I like much of McKillip's work, but I got about a third of the way into this novel, and found it meandering and unengaging. (It's a coming-of-age novel about a teen of mysterious ancestry breaking free from his nomadic heritage.) Didn't finish.

Emma by Jane Austen

I've read and enjoyed half the Austen canon, but apparently I wasn't in the right headspace for this one, because my frustration with Emma, Shipper-On-Deck, kept me from finishing it. I'll try again sometime.

Timeless by Gail Carriger

Fifth and last in the Parasol Protectorate series, I decidedly enjoyed this steampunk-with-werewolves-and-vampires novel, in which our heroine and household visit Egypt amongst mysteries both arcane and domestic. And I adore Prudence. Recommended.

The Hot Gate by John Ringo

Oh, John Ringo. Most of this novel is an assault on and deconstruction of South American upper-class culture, and, frankly, it's kinda offensive (and maybe a skoosh racist). I mean, he has a point, that if you're too noble to do grubby maintenance work on your spacecraft, you're gonna die, but it's not a point that requires a whole novel (since it's a fantastic aesop, and thus doesn't improve things in the real world), nor does it take a whole novel to tell it, wasting space that might be better served with more cool SF battles. I think this is going in my giveaway bin.

Vader's Little Princess by Jeffrey Brown

A fun book of cartoons featuring Vader trying to raise his little princess. I would have liked to see more emphasis on young Leia over teen Leia. Also, some of the jokes are going to be impenetrable to anyone who hasn't memorized the movies (e.g., jokes that depend entirely on a quote being used in a new context). Still, I was entertained.

Bioshock: Rapture by John Shirley

The "secret origin" novel for the underwater Objectivist utopia of Rapture, as seen in the first two BioShock games. It's serviceable, but I think it missed an opportunity. Andrew Ryan is portrayed as a loon from the opening pages, and his Objectivism as misguided and wrong. Now, I'm certainly no Objectivist, but I see the merit in some of its positions, and I believe it's possible to write a sympathetic protagonist who is an Objectivist. (Heck, I think Ayn Rand managed it in a couple cases.) Now, granted, to set up the games, you need to have Rand eventually go nuts, and have the Objectivist principles of Rature lead to death and destruction, but there was no need to start out that way. If I'd written this book, Rand would have been sympathetic and noble in the opening chapters, and only after he starts living in Rapture would his flaws have become evident. To use an obvious pun, the Rapture of the Deep would have driven him crazy. It's already clear that the stress of living in Rapture exacerbated the flaws in Objectivism itself. (E.g., if you have vending machines for guns, when someone goes nuts it promptly leads to lots of people getting shot.) Anyway, not boring, but somewhat flawed.

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

I finally got around to reading this American classic. I'm not sure I have anything new to say about it, especially since I tend to be a bit deaf to symbolism. But I know a lot more about whales, now!