book list, October 2009
Nov. 10th, 2009 07:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingI kept forgetting to post this, and then I was ill. But better late than never, right? In that spirit, it's time for the continuing adventures of Liz and her reading list! These are the books I read in October 2009. (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.)
New: 3
---How to Raise the Perfect Dog: Through Puppyhood and Beyond, Cesar Millan and Melissa Jo Peltier (nonfiction: I think the main reason I read Cesar Millan's dog books is because I don't have a dog of my own right now. Also, he gives good basic advice; my parents' dog behaves better with me than with my parents, mostly because I am not willing to take shit from her, whereas my mother, when I asked her which of them was in charge of their relationship, said, "Oh, Dottie is," and laughed. *sour face* Anyway, this book is not an exhaustive how-to manual, but it is a good basic introduction to some of the fine points of raising puppies, and to ways to short-circuit some common problems.)
---Backup, Jim Butcher (fantasy: hey, if they publish it as a hardcover standalone, I will count it as a book, no matter how short. *grin* Anyway, this is a Dresden Files tie-in, dealing with Harry's half-brother Thomas Raith, and some of his own supernatural problems. Harry cameos, but never gets clued in to the real story of what happens around him. Fast, fun, and with a nasty edge -- as befits a vampire story.)
---Candide, Zadig, and Selected Stories, Voltaire, trans. Donald M. Frame (ficton: I really want to count this as two or even three separate books -- hey, it's two short novels and an assortment of short stories whose collective page count is greater than either of the novels -- but as my copy is physically a single volume... *sigh* Anyway, I read these for general cultural literacy. My conclusion is that Voltaire is... well, he's a very didactic writer. He is interested in ideas, in cutting humor. He is not much interested in characters, setting, or plot, except insofar as he needs a tissue of story to convey his ideas. He gets very touchy about people he thinks are stupid, or who have insulted him, but he can be equally insulting to them. Also, he slides back and forth between present and past tense -- Frame's introduction makes me fairly certain the tense shifting is Voltaire's own, not a translation error -- which is annoying. These works are best read in small bites, I think; otherwise the humor gets wearing and I begin to think I would kill for a rounded character or a half page to rest. But I enjoyed reading the novels and the stories, which was a pleasant surprise, as I expected only to enjoy having read them.)
Old: 1
---The Heart and Stomach of a King: Elizabeth I and the Politics of Sex and Power, Carole Levin (nonfiction: what the title says, and well written to boot.)
October Total: 4 books (plus several magazines, a few newspapers, and a ridiculous amount of fanfiction)
Year to Date: 66 books (39 new, 27 old)
---------------
On a vaguely related note, I survived two days of work while still ill and recovering from being more ill. Wednesday I have off, thank goodness, and I plan to sleep a lot.
Now I am off to drink more juice. (I think I have single-handedly been keeping the US cranberry juice industry afloat these past few days... And no, Europeans, that does not mean I have a UTI. In America, we drink cranberry juice because it tastes good, not just because it's medicinal. *grin*)
New: 3
---How to Raise the Perfect Dog: Through Puppyhood and Beyond, Cesar Millan and Melissa Jo Peltier (nonfiction: I think the main reason I read Cesar Millan's dog books is because I don't have a dog of my own right now. Also, he gives good basic advice; my parents' dog behaves better with me than with my parents, mostly because I am not willing to take shit from her, whereas my mother, when I asked her which of them was in charge of their relationship, said, "Oh, Dottie is," and laughed. *sour face* Anyway, this book is not an exhaustive how-to manual, but it is a good basic introduction to some of the fine points of raising puppies, and to ways to short-circuit some common problems.)
---Backup, Jim Butcher (fantasy: hey, if they publish it as a hardcover standalone, I will count it as a book, no matter how short. *grin* Anyway, this is a Dresden Files tie-in, dealing with Harry's half-brother Thomas Raith, and some of his own supernatural problems. Harry cameos, but never gets clued in to the real story of what happens around him. Fast, fun, and with a nasty edge -- as befits a vampire story.)
---Candide, Zadig, and Selected Stories, Voltaire, trans. Donald M. Frame (ficton: I really want to count this as two or even three separate books -- hey, it's two short novels and an assortment of short stories whose collective page count is greater than either of the novels -- but as my copy is physically a single volume... *sigh* Anyway, I read these for general cultural literacy. My conclusion is that Voltaire is... well, he's a very didactic writer. He is interested in ideas, in cutting humor. He is not much interested in characters, setting, or plot, except insofar as he needs a tissue of story to convey his ideas. He gets very touchy about people he thinks are stupid, or who have insulted him, but he can be equally insulting to them. Also, he slides back and forth between present and past tense -- Frame's introduction makes me fairly certain the tense shifting is Voltaire's own, not a translation error -- which is annoying. These works are best read in small bites, I think; otherwise the humor gets wearing and I begin to think I would kill for a rounded character or a half page to rest. But I enjoyed reading the novels and the stories, which was a pleasant surprise, as I expected only to enjoy having read them.)
Old: 1
---The Heart and Stomach of a King: Elizabeth I and the Politics of Sex and Power, Carole Levin (nonfiction: what the title says, and well written to boot.)
October Total: 4 books (plus several magazines, a few newspapers, and a ridiculous amount of fanfiction)
Year to Date: 66 books (39 new, 27 old)
---------------
On a vaguely related note, I survived two days of work while still ill and recovering from being more ill. Wednesday I have off, thank goodness, and I plan to sleep a lot.
Now I am off to drink more juice. (I think I have single-handedly been keeping the US cranberry juice industry afloat these past few days... And no, Europeans, that does not mean I have a UTI. In America, we drink cranberry juice because it tastes good, not just because it's medicinal. *grin*)
