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Reading Post #26
Sep. 30th, 2006 07:32 pmAs promised, the last update before I a) have to go back to work and b) start college classes again. Expect some slow-down on the reading front, although I should have ample time to do the readings/homework after PT/during lunch and still squeeze in reading for me while nursing.
A Meeting at Corvallis was already reviewed in a separate post. Everything you expect and want from an SM Stirling novel and a fitting end to the Dies The Fire trilogy.
M*A*S*H by Richard Hooker was interesting. Obviously, most of the book was not a surprise, having been used in either the 1977 movie or the first season or so of the long-running television show. I would say the book leans more towards the humor of the television show and less towards the movie ("Hot Lips" is certainly better treated in the book than in the movie). Overall, for something picked up on the bargain table at Booksamillion, quite good.
I do make it a point to read stuff that covers viewpoints other than the one I hold, just to see what all is going on in the minds of the other side. I generally go into the book aware that I'm probably going to be quite annoyed by the content, and this one was no surprise. State of Emergency by Patrick Buchanan, while it does raise some valid points (most notably, that part of fixing the illegal immigration problem includes the Mexican government improving conditions in Mexico), they get drowned in the "brown people are comin' to get us" rhetoric that he favors. Buchanan feels that they're endangering America's status as a white, Christian (read: Protestant) nation, and that we should entirely shut down or severely restrict immigration as has been done earlier in our country's history, to turn up the heat on the melting pot and get everything to one smooth consistency. Basically: what I expected. He does have his history down well.
On the Regency front, I read through The Scandalous Schoolmistress by Rita Boucher, Siege of Hearts by June Calvin, and A Scholarly Gentleman by Catherine Blair. Regencies aren't popcorn books like JD Robb/Nora Roberts, they're more like yummy little chocolate covered treats. Sometimes they taste as good as they look, sometimes not. Schoolmistress was good, Siege was quite entertaining, and Gentleman was passable. Still trying to decide whether it's a keeper.
Perdita by Paula Byrne is a bio from the just-pre-Regency period of English history (ie, the Regency's Prince of Wales is still relatively good-looking and not bloated on debauchery and drink, the "Prince Florizel" period. It's well done, with enough historical background to keep people who aren't huge history nuts afloat without boring the history crowd. "Perdita" is Mary Robinson, who at various points in her life is an actress, a mistress of the Prince (and possibly several others), an exile because of debts, and a woman of letters.
Because I Said So is a collection of essays edited by Kate Moses and Camille Peri, who have written for Salon. This was picked up at a used book store, but would have been worth it even if I had paid full price for it. The essays cover a wide range of topics relating to motherhood. There are essays on being a single mom, about divorce, about how children can drive you nuts (insanity is hereditary...you get it from your kids), on dealing with your child's fascination with other cultures, about jobs lost, about the sacrifices all mothers make. One that stands out, especially given recent events, is the essay written by a woman who is married to an Iranian, and their visit to Iran in 2004. There seems to be a bit more of the "stay/work from home" mom in the contributors, just as a warning.
The Welsh Kings by Kari Maund should ONLY be attempted by those who are serious about their history reading. It's geared more towards the textbook style than anything else, and the fact that there were like ten names popular amongst the Welsh nobility makes it a bit trying to keep track of who's who. Viewed in that light, however, it was good and useful - covers the native Welsh nobility until about the twelfth century.
In Defense of the Religious Right by Patrick Hynes was another book that irritated me. It's also the book of this post: http://desert-vixen.livejournal.com/263583.html . It's about how conservative Christians (evangelicals and conservative Catholics, by his lights) are the backbone of the Republican party and should rule everything. Still, worthwhile reading in the sense of trying to find out what's going on in the heads of the other side.
Queen Emma and the Vikings by Harriet O'Brien is about the pre-William the Conqueror, Anglo-Saxon with a side of Scandinavia English monarchy. It's quite readable. Each chapter starts with a sort of narrative, then gets into the facts behind said narrative. If you're interested in the period, or like strong women from history, then I'd recommend it. It can be followed by the not-historically-obsessed.
DV
A Meeting at Corvallis was already reviewed in a separate post. Everything you expect and want from an SM Stirling novel and a fitting end to the Dies The Fire trilogy.
M*A*S*H by Richard Hooker was interesting. Obviously, most of the book was not a surprise, having been used in either the 1977 movie or the first season or so of the long-running television show. I would say the book leans more towards the humor of the television show and less towards the movie ("Hot Lips" is certainly better treated in the book than in the movie). Overall, for something picked up on the bargain table at Booksamillion, quite good.
I do make it a point to read stuff that covers viewpoints other than the one I hold, just to see what all is going on in the minds of the other side. I generally go into the book aware that I'm probably going to be quite annoyed by the content, and this one was no surprise. State of Emergency by Patrick Buchanan, while it does raise some valid points (most notably, that part of fixing the illegal immigration problem includes the Mexican government improving conditions in Mexico), they get drowned in the "brown people are comin' to get us" rhetoric that he favors. Buchanan feels that they're endangering America's status as a white, Christian (read: Protestant) nation, and that we should entirely shut down or severely restrict immigration as has been done earlier in our country's history, to turn up the heat on the melting pot and get everything to one smooth consistency. Basically: what I expected. He does have his history down well.
On the Regency front, I read through The Scandalous Schoolmistress by Rita Boucher, Siege of Hearts by June Calvin, and A Scholarly Gentleman by Catherine Blair. Regencies aren't popcorn books like JD Robb/Nora Roberts, they're more like yummy little chocolate covered treats. Sometimes they taste as good as they look, sometimes not. Schoolmistress was good, Siege was quite entertaining, and Gentleman was passable. Still trying to decide whether it's a keeper.
Perdita by Paula Byrne is a bio from the just-pre-Regency period of English history (ie, the Regency's Prince of Wales is still relatively good-looking and not bloated on debauchery and drink, the "Prince Florizel" period. It's well done, with enough historical background to keep people who aren't huge history nuts afloat without boring the history crowd. "Perdita" is Mary Robinson, who at various points in her life is an actress, a mistress of the Prince (and possibly several others), an exile because of debts, and a woman of letters.
Because I Said So is a collection of essays edited by Kate Moses and Camille Peri, who have written for Salon. This was picked up at a used book store, but would have been worth it even if I had paid full price for it. The essays cover a wide range of topics relating to motherhood. There are essays on being a single mom, about divorce, about how children can drive you nuts (insanity is hereditary...you get it from your kids), on dealing with your child's fascination with other cultures, about jobs lost, about the sacrifices all mothers make. One that stands out, especially given recent events, is the essay written by a woman who is married to an Iranian, and their visit to Iran in 2004. There seems to be a bit more of the "stay/work from home" mom in the contributors, just as a warning.
The Welsh Kings by Kari Maund should ONLY be attempted by those who are serious about their history reading. It's geared more towards the textbook style than anything else, and the fact that there were like ten names popular amongst the Welsh nobility makes it a bit trying to keep track of who's who. Viewed in that light, however, it was good and useful - covers the native Welsh nobility until about the twelfth century.
In Defense of the Religious Right by Patrick Hynes was another book that irritated me. It's also the book of this post: http://desert-vixen.livejournal.com/263583.html . It's about how conservative Christians (evangelicals and conservative Catholics, by his lights) are the backbone of the Republican party and should rule everything. Still, worthwhile reading in the sense of trying to find out what's going on in the heads of the other side.
Queen Emma and the Vikings by Harriet O'Brien is about the pre-William the Conqueror, Anglo-Saxon with a side of Scandinavia English monarchy. It's quite readable. Each chapter starts with a sort of narrative, then gets into the facts behind said narrative. If you're interested in the period, or like strong women from history, then I'd recommend it. It can be followed by the not-historically-obsessed.
DV
