Books briefly
Thu, Jan. 21st, 2010 09:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scarlettinaI find that I want to mention the books I've read recently, but I'm not feeling a huge urge to review them in a very detailed way. That being the case, I'll merely say the following:
Finally finished Lamentation by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kenscholes; I'm slowing down as a reader. Is it age or merely a lack of time? I'm not sure. Anyway, I digress. This is a very good fantasy novel and an excellent start to a series. I found the first chapter a little slow, but things pick up almost immediately in chapter two. In the end, I liked the book a great deal. It's high fantasy with more than a touch of steampunkiness about it. The world building is quite fine with its suggestions of a lost technological past and sets up a mysterious place that I want to learn more about. Scholes has left a lot of tantalizing details about the inhabitants and their distant origins. I like his characters--smart, resourceful people who take decisive action. It's good stuff. Book two--Canticle--is going to have to wait because I have some other reading in the queue first, but I recommend this one, no question, and look forward to the next.
I listened to the audio version of Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton on my recent road trips back and forth and back and forth to Portland. It's abridged, I understand, but it appears that the sense and sensibility of the original are very much intact. The author clearly admires his subject--some reviews call it hagiography and I'm not sure I'd disagree. But I learned far more about Hamilton than I ever knew, including how his influence on the American financial system reaches us through history right to this very day. He was something of a rake and a dandy, but brilliant and ambitious, every inch the sort of man who'd stand shoulder to shoulder with the other founding fathers. His death by duel with Aaron Burr was senseless, if Chernow's telling of it is true, provoked by an insult that could have been averted if Hamilton had been less proud or stiff-necked--what a waste. And Chernow's the first author I've ever seen turn Thomas Jefferson into something of a villain, which I found hard to swallow--see above re: hagiography. Still, for all the bias the text may show, this is an extensive, educational, and engrossing biography. Definitely worth a read.
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Subjects about which I want to write:
*Doctor Who: The End of Time Part II
* Demons, a new supernatural series on BBCA
*The new part-time job
*When they're interviewing you, you're interviewing them
*Book review/report on Ken Scholes' novel Lamentation
*kijjohnson's surprise party
* Upcoming travel
* Missing the ghosts of early American history
* The new season of Big Love
*Book review/report on Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Almost there. More anon...
Finally finished Lamentation by
kenscholes; I'm slowing down as a reader. Is it age or merely a lack of time? I'm not sure. Anyway, I digress. This is a very good fantasy novel and an excellent start to a series. I found the first chapter a little slow, but things pick up almost immediately in chapter two. In the end, I liked the book a great deal. It's high fantasy with more than a touch of steampunkiness about it. The world building is quite fine with its suggestions of a lost technological past and sets up a mysterious place that I want to learn more about. Scholes has left a lot of tantalizing details about the inhabitants and their distant origins. I like his characters--smart, resourceful people who take decisive action. It's good stuff. Book two--Canticle--is going to have to wait because I have some other reading in the queue first, but I recommend this one, no question, and look forward to the next.I listened to the audio version of Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton on my recent road trips back and forth and back and forth to Portland. It's abridged, I understand, but it appears that the sense and sensibility of the original are very much intact. The author clearly admires his subject--some reviews call it hagiography and I'm not sure I'd disagree. But I learned far more about Hamilton than I ever knew, including how his influence on the American financial system reaches us through history right to this very day. He was something of a rake and a dandy, but brilliant and ambitious, every inch the sort of man who'd stand shoulder to shoulder with the other founding fathers. His death by duel with Aaron Burr was senseless, if Chernow's telling of it is true, provoked by an insult that could have been averted if Hamilton had been less proud or stiff-necked--what a waste. And Chernow's the first author I've ever seen turn Thomas Jefferson into something of a villain, which I found hard to swallow--see above re: hagiography. Still, for all the bias the text may show, this is an extensive, educational, and engrossing biography. Definitely worth a read.
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Subjects about which I want to write:
*
* Demons, a new supernatural series on BBCA
*
*
*
*
kijjohnson's surprise party* Upcoming travel
* Missing the ghosts of early American history
* The new season of Big Love
*
Almost there. More anon...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: Fri, Jan. 22nd, 2010 03:09 pm (UTC)I admire the method you're using for posting. I make that list mentally but never seem to get to it all. By posting what you intend to write about you've made a public promise to do so. Well done. Perhaps I'll do that too.
Speaking of swiping? May I use some of your Kij party pics for a post regarding same?
Anon
no subject
Date: Fri, Jan. 22nd, 2010 04:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sat, Jan. 23rd, 2010 04:51 pm (UTC)Anon
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Date: Fri, Jan. 22nd, 2010 04:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Tue, Jan. 26th, 2010 03:53 pm (UTC)