book list, April 2019
Apr. 30th, 2019 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingIt's time for the continuing adventures of Liz and her reading list! These are the books I read in April 2019. Click on the cuts for summaries and reactions. I reserve the right to spoil all hell out of any book if spoilery bits are what I feel like talking about.
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic -- and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World, by Steven Johnson
-----The story of the 1854 cholera outbreak in London, and how Dr. John Snow and Rev. Henry Whitehead's work led to a new understanding of its epidemiology: namely, it's caused by drinking contaminated water rather than by miasma, or "bad air". But that's only half of Johnson's theme, since he's also interested in urbanization in general, and how Snow and Whitehead were both a product of that trend (they would have been unlikely to interact in a similar way in a non-urban context) and a force that helped make continued intense urbanization sustainable by contributing to the change from cities as engines of death to cities as engines of health. Very interesting, definitely worth a read.
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, by Mary Beard
-----A history of Rome and the Roman Empire, from the city's origins through roughly 200 CE. Beard's writing is clear and engaging, and she pulls together a number of threads to create a more or less coherent narrative, while always remaining clear about what we have no way of knowing or reconstructing. Her take on the imperial period is also a useful counterweight to the usual parade of emperors and their personal virtues and flaws, since her focus is on the system of governance and daily life, and that remained pretty stable regardless of which man was on top and how badly he behaved.
Knife Children, by Lois McMaster Bujold
-----A novella in the Sharing Knife world, set not quite fifteen years after the tetralogy. Mostly family drama and some culture-clash/culture-melding stuff, focused around Barr, who was a supporting character in the previous storyline. I enjoyed this, and it's nice to have a fantasy world that's relatively low-key and hopeful despite the explicitly post-apocalyptic setting.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, by N. K. Jemisin
-----As with Martha Wells, Jemisin is an author whose books I've been vaguely meaning to read for a long time, but never got around to until now. Well, actually, I would have read this several months ago, but when I put a library hold request on this ebook, I was something like 10th or 12th in line, so it took a while. *wry* It was worth the wait, though. This is an engrossing debut novel, and I really like the way Jemisin balances ancient godly stuff with human level politics, war, and familial dysfunction. I have now acquired books two and three of the Inheritance Trilogy, and have started in on The Broken Kingdoms, which I will report on at the end of May. :)
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And now onward to May!
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic -- and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World, by Steven Johnson
-----The story of the 1854 cholera outbreak in London, and how Dr. John Snow and Rev. Henry Whitehead's work led to a new understanding of its epidemiology: namely, it's caused by drinking contaminated water rather than by miasma, or "bad air". But that's only half of Johnson's theme, since he's also interested in urbanization in general, and how Snow and Whitehead were both a product of that trend (they would have been unlikely to interact in a similar way in a non-urban context) and a force that helped make continued intense urbanization sustainable by contributing to the change from cities as engines of death to cities as engines of health. Very interesting, definitely worth a read.
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, by Mary Beard
-----A history of Rome and the Roman Empire, from the city's origins through roughly 200 CE. Beard's writing is clear and engaging, and she pulls together a number of threads to create a more or less coherent narrative, while always remaining clear about what we have no way of knowing or reconstructing. Her take on the imperial period is also a useful counterweight to the usual parade of emperors and their personal virtues and flaws, since her focus is on the system of governance and daily life, and that remained pretty stable regardless of which man was on top and how badly he behaved.
Knife Children, by Lois McMaster Bujold
-----A novella in the Sharing Knife world, set not quite fifteen years after the tetralogy. Mostly family drama and some culture-clash/culture-melding stuff, focused around Barr, who was a supporting character in the previous storyline. I enjoyed this, and it's nice to have a fantasy world that's relatively low-key and hopeful despite the explicitly post-apocalyptic setting.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, by N. K. Jemisin
-----As with Martha Wells, Jemisin is an author whose books I've been vaguely meaning to read for a long time, but never got around to until now. Well, actually, I would have read this several months ago, but when I put a library hold request on this ebook, I was something like 10th or 12th in line, so it took a while. *wry* It was worth the wait, though. This is an engrossing debut novel, and I really like the way Jemisin balances ancient godly stuff with human level politics, war, and familial dysfunction. I have now acquired books two and three of the Inheritance Trilogy, and have started in on The Broken Kingdoms, which I will report on at the end of May. :)
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And now onward to May!
