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Reading Post #15
Mar. 11th, 2006 01:39 pmWhy yes, I *am* delaying finishing my reading for British Empire. I only have 2 of the 5 left to go, but they're on tech stuff, and that bores me. I'll review the textbooks I'm keeping when the class is over. (BTW, American Military University has this really cool program where if you're doing undergrad work, you DON'T pay for the books. And you don't have to return them.)
WARNING: Two of the reviews have cuts for spoilers.
The Book on Bush by Alterman and Green was one of those ones I picked up on the Bargain rack at Barnes and Noble. When stuff is only five bucks, I'm willing to take a chance. After all, you pay more than that for a damn paperback these days if you're buying it new. It was a decently researched book, but there were no surprises. One, it's part of the pre-2004 election crop, so it's dated. Two, it's basically a catalog of the Bush Presidency missteps, or what the authors view as missteps. In other words, if you're already in this camp, you're not really reading anything new ; if you're not, I doubt it's going to make you suddenly switch sides. And it may or may not get purged in the next pre-move cull. But, like I said, five bucks on the bargain rack.
The Cat Who Wasn't There by Lillian Jackson Braun. I stopped reading the TCW... books years ago, and am sort of trying to take them back up again. This wasn't bad.
The Wagering Widow by Diane Gaston is a "gritty" Regency. This deals more with gambling than the previous book did. It's a pretty good read, especially if you liked the first one.
For my classes, I ended up picking up a copy of Kate Turabian's Manual for Writers as this seems to be what the history teachers want.
Born to Rule by Julia P. Gelardi was an EXCELLENT book on five of Queen Victoria's granddaughters, all of whom became queens themselves (Marie of Romania, Sophie of Greece, Eugenia Victoria (Ena) of Spain, Maud of Norway, and Tsarina Alexandra of Russia). I particularly liked this one because instead of telling the stories segregated by each woman, she tells the stories together, showing you how they impacted on each other. I would defintely recommend this one to anyone who is interested in history, particularly British/Victorian/Edwardian history.
Missing in Action by Peter David is the newest entry in his New Frontier series. I still like NF, even though there have been some sweeping changes, and I would really love to know what happened in that three year gap in GREATER DETAIL (hint, hint to PAD). This is cut for spoilers lurk within: ( Read more... )
Micah by Laurell K. Hamilton - well, before I move onto the spoilered portion, my overall impression was "They charged 7.99 for this? I ordered mine through Amazon, so it cost less, but still... And could they make the print a little larger? I'm sorry, this should NOT have been sold as a novel, but as a novella. And it should have cost less. On to the spoilers: ( Read more... )
After the above and my readings for class, I retreated into Regency Land once again with two older Allison Lane books, The Unscrupulous Uncle and A Bird in the Hand. Both were quite good, and along the lines of what I expect from her. One of her main themes seems to be the damage that vanity and greed can do to people's characters and relationships. I liked the Uncle one slightly better, but they were both quite good.
Until next time...
DV
WARNING: Two of the reviews have cuts for spoilers.
The Book on Bush by Alterman and Green was one of those ones I picked up on the Bargain rack at Barnes and Noble. When stuff is only five bucks, I'm willing to take a chance. After all, you pay more than that for a damn paperback these days if you're buying it new. It was a decently researched book, but there were no surprises. One, it's part of the pre-2004 election crop, so it's dated. Two, it's basically a catalog of the Bush Presidency missteps, or what the authors view as missteps. In other words, if you're already in this camp, you're not really reading anything new ; if you're not, I doubt it's going to make you suddenly switch sides. And it may or may not get purged in the next pre-move cull. But, like I said, five bucks on the bargain rack.
The Cat Who Wasn't There by Lillian Jackson Braun. I stopped reading the TCW... books years ago, and am sort of trying to take them back up again. This wasn't bad.
The Wagering Widow by Diane Gaston is a "gritty" Regency. This deals more with gambling than the previous book did. It's a pretty good read, especially if you liked the first one.
For my classes, I ended up picking up a copy of Kate Turabian's Manual for Writers as this seems to be what the history teachers want.
Born to Rule by Julia P. Gelardi was an EXCELLENT book on five of Queen Victoria's granddaughters, all of whom became queens themselves (Marie of Romania, Sophie of Greece, Eugenia Victoria (Ena) of Spain, Maud of Norway, and Tsarina Alexandra of Russia). I particularly liked this one because instead of telling the stories segregated by each woman, she tells the stories together, showing you how they impacted on each other. I would defintely recommend this one to anyone who is interested in history, particularly British/Victorian/Edwardian history.
Missing in Action by Peter David is the newest entry in his New Frontier series. I still like NF, even though there have been some sweeping changes, and I would really love to know what happened in that three year gap in GREATER DETAIL (hint, hint to PAD). This is cut for spoilers lurk within: ( Read more... )
Micah by Laurell K. Hamilton - well, before I move onto the spoilered portion, my overall impression was "They charged 7.99 for this? I ordered mine through Amazon, so it cost less, but still... And could they make the print a little larger? I'm sorry, this should NOT have been sold as a novel, but as a novella. And it should have cost less. On to the spoilers: ( Read more... )
After the above and my readings for class, I retreated into Regency Land once again with two older Allison Lane books, The Unscrupulous Uncle and A Bird in the Hand. Both were quite good, and along the lines of what I expect from her. One of her main themes seems to be the damage that vanity and greed can do to people's characters and relationships. I liked the Uncle one slightly better, but they were both quite good.
Until next time...
DV
