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Iain Banks: Stonemouth
So, not my usual fare, but surprisingly good - quiet, melancholy love story with small town gangsters in middle of nowhere Scottish town. I mostly picked it up at the library because I'd been meaning to try out IB - more his sf, but whatever - will definitely have to read more by him.
Glen Duncan: Talulla Rising
This was surprisingly good, too - I mean, I wasn't that crazy about the first book in this series, but I do tend to stick with series for longer than I sometimes should, and, well, this one time it got better. I like Tallula and I like the story well enough and the cast around her (even if the villains were kind of dull). Also, what I do like about this series is, that even though you root for Talulla, it doesn't change that she's a villain in her own right, a monster that eats people, and who could at any time during the month stop herself permanently and chooses not too. GD's werewolves appeal to me, because they are monsters - not people who happen to turn into wolves. Not somebody who can conveniently lock themselves up during the full moon or can excuse any behaviour with not being in control. Talulla is a monster, and a magnificent one - and I quite like that.
That said - seriously, what is it with women in werewolf fiction and their names?! Or am I just reading the wrong books...
Mark Millar: Civil War
I wonder how it would be to live in the Marvel-verse. To live in a world where, when it's not threatened by various alien invasions, the towns and cities (or at least the American ones - judging by the comics I've read so far, Denmark must be just as quiet as always :-) ) must be constantly rebuilding from super-people-related rampages, attending funerals for the last bunch of innocent bystanders. A law requiring people with powers to be registered and - if they want to be superheroes or whatever - to receive training and work with the relevant authorities - doesn't really seem that unreasonable. Of course, this is the Marvel-verse - which is basically a dystopia, really - even the nicest people take turns being villains and bad things happen a lot. No wonder some people don't trust the government - you know, the people who occasionally send Sentinels out to tramble the basic civil rights of random mutants or who apparently think sending supervillains and mass-murderers out to capture minors is a brilliant idea.
I wonder how it would be to live in the Marvel-verse. I suspect, if I did, and if I got the chance, I'd emmigrate elsewhere.
Stark J. Suzanne: Female Tars
There wasn't much in this that I hadn't already read elsewhere, though it's interesting. The more I read about the British age of sail navy, the more it squicks me, actually - the "recruitment", the ways of keeping discipline - I marvel that some women chose to go along voluntarily. And I found the tale of Mary Lacy, a woman who joined the Royal Navy in disguise and wound up getting educated as a shipwright, quite interesting.
Total number of books and comics read this month: 29
Currently reading: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest and Il cimitiro de Praga by Umberto Eco.
So, not my usual fare, but surprisingly good - quiet, melancholy love story with small town gangsters in middle of nowhere Scottish town. I mostly picked it up at the library because I'd been meaning to try out IB - more his sf, but whatever - will definitely have to read more by him.
Glen Duncan: Talulla Rising
This was surprisingly good, too - I mean, I wasn't that crazy about the first book in this series, but I do tend to stick with series for longer than I sometimes should, and, well, this one time it got better. I like Tallula and I like the story well enough and the cast around her (even if the villains were kind of dull). Also, what I do like about this series is, that even though you root for Talulla, it doesn't change that she's a villain in her own right, a monster that eats people, and who could at any time during the month stop herself permanently and chooses not too. GD's werewolves appeal to me, because they are monsters - not people who happen to turn into wolves. Not somebody who can conveniently lock themselves up during the full moon or can excuse any behaviour with not being in control. Talulla is a monster, and a magnificent one - and I quite like that.
That said - seriously, what is it with women in werewolf fiction and their names?! Or am I just reading the wrong books...
Mark Millar: Civil War
I wonder how it would be to live in the Marvel-verse. To live in a world where, when it's not threatened by various alien invasions, the towns and cities (or at least the American ones - judging by the comics I've read so far, Denmark must be just as quiet as always :-) ) must be constantly rebuilding from super-people-related rampages, attending funerals for the last bunch of innocent bystanders. A law requiring people with powers to be registered and - if they want to be superheroes or whatever - to receive training and work with the relevant authorities - doesn't really seem that unreasonable. Of course, this is the Marvel-verse - which is basically a dystopia, really - even the nicest people take turns being villains and bad things happen a lot. No wonder some people don't trust the government - you know, the people who occasionally send Sentinels out to tramble the basic civil rights of random mutants or who apparently think sending supervillains and mass-murderers out to capture minors is a brilliant idea.
I wonder how it would be to live in the Marvel-verse. I suspect, if I did, and if I got the chance, I'd emmigrate elsewhere.
Stark J. Suzanne: Female Tars
There wasn't much in this that I hadn't already read elsewhere, though it's interesting. The more I read about the British age of sail navy, the more it squicks me, actually - the "recruitment", the ways of keeping discipline - I marvel that some women chose to go along voluntarily. And I found the tale of Mary Lacy, a woman who joined the Royal Navy in disguise and wound up getting educated as a shipwright, quite interesting.
Total number of books and comics read this month: 29
Currently reading: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest and Il cimitiro de Praga by Umberto Eco.
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History is vast and wonderful and full of oddities, and Eco does love adding as much as possible into a novel, I'll give you that. So far, nothing has thrown me out of the story (aside from an annoying narrator, but them's the breaks), but we'll see - maybe I'll learn something new along the way.
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And yes, the narrator is just awful. The idea and the plot -- fine, but the way it's presented was definitely also a big part of why I gave up.
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