Holiday Reviews
Dec. 5th, 2009 12:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearFlorida was very cool (in more ways than one) for those who've asked.
And I have many books to review, plus a couple of films from the plane - I'm not feeling particularly eloquent today, so they may be rather shorter and less edifying than usual.
Books:
The Street Philosopher by Matthew Plampin
This is a decent entry in the historical thriller category, telling the tale of a journalist attached to the army in the Crimean War, and what happens to him afterwards when the past catches up to him in Manchester. Parts of it were a bit graphic for my taste, but the characters were well drawn, and the story was intriguing enough to keep me reading to the end. It was one of those fragmented ones, where two storylines are played out simultaneously in order for the mysteries of the plot to be revealed gradually, but it was well done and so not annoying.
100+ Tactics for Office Politics by Casey Hawley
This was given to my for my birthday as something that might help in my next job, and I did indeed get some useful advice out of it. It mostly confirmed that I'm not cut out for office politics, and that people can be very scary, but I made a few notes that I think will be helpful to bear in mind when I start working again.
Memories of the Future Volum One by Wil Wheaton
I was really looking forward to this, having heard some snippets released by the author in audio form the week before. It takes the first half of the first season of Star Trek: TNG and goes through each episode with a humorous review and some behind the scenes memories. It's well written and entertaining. However, it was also a little disappointing, in that it's very short (especially considering the quite high price) and the "snippets" Wil released turned out to be nearly the whole book! It was good, but not as good as I'd hoped, purely because there wasn't that much of it. I'll still be buying Volume Two when it comes out, though I won't be listening to the podcasts first.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
To begin with, this was very clever and highly entertaining - due to the fact that the style and writing ability is amusingly tailored to the protagonist's intelligence level, and so is pretty badly written. However, after the novelty wore off, the fact that it's badly written began to be really annoying, so I think it would have benefitted from being considerably shorter!
Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
This was the first in an extensive series about a family of archaeologists in the late 1800s, who get mixed up in murder mysteries on their digs. It was very silly, but just the right kind of thing for reading on holiday and I enjoyed it immensely.
Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi
The last in the Old Man's War series, this told the story of The Last Colony from a different point of view. A bold idea, considering readers of the series would already know what happens, and anyone new to the series would be very confused as various aspects are not made very clear (because Zoe wasn't there). I don't know if I would have found it tedious if I'd read it directly after The Last Colony, but I'd left enough of a gap that the details of the plot were a bit fuzzy, and the writing was excellent.
A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
This was a very odd book, even more so than Kafka On The Shore, I think. I enjoyed the writing, but did not understand the story at all. Kafka On The Shore made some kind of sense to me (though I could just be fooling myself that I understood it) - this one was just downright weird. Still good, though!
The Curse of the Pharoahs by Elizabeth Peters
The second in the silly Egyptian murder mystery series, and a very good book to read on the plane home. It was indeed very silly, but good fun, though I'm not sure I'll be pursuing the other 16 books in the series.
Films:
Julie & Julia
I found this incredibly dull. Practically nothing happend, and most of the characters (Stanley Tucci as Julia's husband excepted, of course) were really annoying.
(500) Days Of Summer
This, on the other hand, was extremely well done and very enjoyable. I thought the presentation of the central relationship was very realistic, and all the actors involved did a really good job.
And I have many books to review, plus a couple of films from the plane - I'm not feeling particularly eloquent today, so they may be rather shorter and less edifying than usual.
Books:
The Street Philosopher by Matthew Plampin
This is a decent entry in the historical thriller category, telling the tale of a journalist attached to the army in the Crimean War, and what happens to him afterwards when the past catches up to him in Manchester. Parts of it were a bit graphic for my taste, but the characters were well drawn, and the story was intriguing enough to keep me reading to the end. It was one of those fragmented ones, where two storylines are played out simultaneously in order for the mysteries of the plot to be revealed gradually, but it was well done and so not annoying.
100+ Tactics for Office Politics by Casey Hawley
This was given to my for my birthday as something that might help in my next job, and I did indeed get some useful advice out of it. It mostly confirmed that I'm not cut out for office politics, and that people can be very scary, but I made a few notes that I think will be helpful to bear in mind when I start working again.
Memories of the Future Volum One by Wil Wheaton
I was really looking forward to this, having heard some snippets released by the author in audio form the week before. It takes the first half of the first season of Star Trek: TNG and goes through each episode with a humorous review and some behind the scenes memories. It's well written and entertaining. However, it was also a little disappointing, in that it's very short (especially considering the quite high price) and the "snippets" Wil released turned out to be nearly the whole book! It was good, but not as good as I'd hoped, purely because there wasn't that much of it. I'll still be buying Volume Two when it comes out, though I won't be listening to the podcasts first.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
To begin with, this was very clever and highly entertaining - due to the fact that the style and writing ability is amusingly tailored to the protagonist's intelligence level, and so is pretty badly written. However, after the novelty wore off, the fact that it's badly written began to be really annoying, so I think it would have benefitted from being considerably shorter!
Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
This was the first in an extensive series about a family of archaeologists in the late 1800s, who get mixed up in murder mysteries on their digs. It was very silly, but just the right kind of thing for reading on holiday and I enjoyed it immensely.
Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi
The last in the Old Man's War series, this told the story of The Last Colony from a different point of view. A bold idea, considering readers of the series would already know what happens, and anyone new to the series would be very confused as various aspects are not made very clear (because Zoe wasn't there). I don't know if I would have found it tedious if I'd read it directly after The Last Colony, but I'd left enough of a gap that the details of the plot were a bit fuzzy, and the writing was excellent.
A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
This was a very odd book, even more so than Kafka On The Shore, I think. I enjoyed the writing, but did not understand the story at all. Kafka On The Shore made some kind of sense to me (though I could just be fooling myself that I understood it) - this one was just downright weird. Still good, though!
The Curse of the Pharoahs by Elizabeth Peters
The second in the silly Egyptian murder mystery series, and a very good book to read on the plane home. It was indeed very silly, but good fun, though I'm not sure I'll be pursuing the other 16 books in the series.
Films:
Julie & Julia
I found this incredibly dull. Practically nothing happend, and most of the characters (Stanley Tucci as Julia's husband excepted, of course) were really annoying.
(500) Days Of Summer
This, on the other hand, was extremely well done and very enjoyable. I thought the presentation of the central relationship was very realistic, and all the actors involved did a really good job.
