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listersgirlPamela Dean Tam Lin
I really enjoyed this. It's a story that takes place on a college campus in the 70's, based around the old Scottish ballad Tam Lin, which gives the whole thing an air of surrealism and mysticism that I really liked. Actually, it almost felt like two different books, so much time was spent on the school part, but it was actually the school stuff that sucked me in more, making me want to sit around reading and discussing the classics. In fact, the day after I finished the book I caught myself wanting to study Latin, which has never happened before. I think partially this was because the college experience described in the book was so completely different to my university experience that it, too, felt like a fairy tale.
Laurie R. King The Moor
The more of these books I read, the more I forget that one of the characters is actually Sherlock Holmes. I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. I'm a little 'meh' about this book - I loved the atmosphere and the setting, but the story didn't do much for me.
Mary Doria Russell The Sparrow
It's hard to know what to say about this book because I'm still digesting it, having just finished it at lunch, but I can definitely say that it was very powerful, and pretty devastating. It's nominally the story of a group of people who find a transmission of music that indicates there's life on another planet, and put together an expedition to find out the source of that music. What makes it especially interesting is that four of the members are Jesuit priests, and the book talks a lot about issues of faith - where faith comes from and what it does for you. For me, as someone with no belief system, it was like being offered a window into another person's culture, and that alone was fascinating. Sorry, I'm not very articulate today, but I would definitely recommend this book.
I really enjoyed this. It's a story that takes place on a college campus in the 70's, based around the old Scottish ballad Tam Lin, which gives the whole thing an air of surrealism and mysticism that I really liked. Actually, it almost felt like two different books, so much time was spent on the school part, but it was actually the school stuff that sucked me in more, making me want to sit around reading and discussing the classics. In fact, the day after I finished the book I caught myself wanting to study Latin, which has never happened before. I think partially this was because the college experience described in the book was so completely different to my university experience that it, too, felt like a fairy tale.
Laurie R. King The Moor
The more of these books I read, the more I forget that one of the characters is actually Sherlock Holmes. I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. I'm a little 'meh' about this book - I loved the atmosphere and the setting, but the story didn't do much for me.
Mary Doria Russell The Sparrow
It's hard to know what to say about this book because I'm still digesting it, having just finished it at lunch, but I can definitely say that it was very powerful, and pretty devastating. It's nominally the story of a group of people who find a transmission of music that indicates there's life on another planet, and put together an expedition to find out the source of that music. What makes it especially interesting is that four of the members are Jesuit priests, and the book talks a lot about issues of faith - where faith comes from and what it does for you. For me, as someone with no belief system, it was like being offered a window into another person's culture, and that alone was fascinating. Sorry, I'm not very articulate today, but I would definitely recommend this book.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-07 01:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-07 02:00 pm (UTC)I read Sewer, Gas & Electric recently. Reading it, as a new yorker, post-9/11 was just...odd. The book has weird unintentional resonances now. (The Empire State Building, hit by a plane, being rebuilt.) And I had more trouble keeping the characters straight because they're all human. I kinda missed the sprites, and the talking dogs and cats. And I've never read any AYn Rand so those jokes fell pretty flat.
Set This House is a great book, but it's interesting to me to look at Matt's growth as a writer. His skill at interweaving plots and different character voices is something that shows in his earliest work, and it's put to such different and unexpected use here. It's a much more mature book, and it's not actually fantasy or SF but it has that element of...possibility, playfullness, anything-can-happen.
I would have gotten around to reading it eventually because I'm a fan, but the Triptee and his attendance at Wiscon really seems to have pushed his recognition up a notch and convinced people to read this book who wouldn't have otherwise. I'm happy for him, and for the book.
(For the record, the third book that I've bough three copies of is Alanna.)
Have you read Judas Child? It's a stan-alone mystery by Carol O'Connell, who is known more for her Mallory books. It doesn't have anything in common with STTHIO other being a good book, a great read, and a book you don't want to know too much about before you start.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-08 06:21 am (UTC)I need to read Fool on the Hill again - I think I've only read it the once, and it didn't make nearly the impression on me that Sewer, Gas & Electric did, but I think it is a book that requires multiple readings to catch everything.