frumiousb

Hm. In a lot of ways, this was a really gripping book. I was actually travelling in Italy when I read it, and that made it especially appealing. The story of the Monster of Florence is reasonably well known, and this book is as much or more about Italian culture/the Italian legal system as it is about the serial killer itself.

The two of them raise a lot of points that resonate with other reading I have done about corruption in the Italian judiciary. So that was really interesting.

I found that I was a little bit less comfortable with the idea that these two well-known authors would actually name a living suspect. The ethics feel murky to me, regardless of the circumstances. I get why they did-- the structure of the book demands it. Still, trial-by-author does not feel wonderfully fair to me.

I rarely read true crime books, so I'm not sure if this is normal or not, but I felt the structure jumped around a bit as a result of the two authors. Particularly towards the end, it got a wee bit exhaustive for the average reader. But I think that's excusable, given the circumstances.

I'd certainly recommend this as an anecdotal example of corruption in the Italian legal system. It's also a reasonably enjoyable read. If it's for you, it may be just the thing.

venice

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Okay-- let me begin with what I liked. Britain retains her ability to work within genre without giving in to cliche. She injects smart characters and politics into a pretty standard fantasy set up. It is a combination that continues to charm (this reader, at least).

This said, The High King's Tomb was a disappointment compared to the first two books in the series. It is a very long book, first. That would matter less if it was action packed, but it meanders-- frankly. It takes hundreds of pages to get to the main elements that separate this piece of time in the Green Rider world into a novel. Several of the plot points-- "harmless" errand, etc., were predictable to the point of eye rolling. I also wasn't fond of the magical horse farm a la Tom Bombadil. None of these sins would have been unforgivable by themselves. But given how long the book took to get to the point, they rubbed me the wrong way.

I also had the vain hope-- disappointed hope-- that this series was going to be a trilogy. But it isn't. This is just book three. So much remains unresolved, including some of the most interesting character aspects. And given Britain's track record, this means another three plus years of waiting before we get to book four. (And yes, I do completely respect the right of a writer to work at their own pace and yadda yadda yadda-- but it *does* take some of the continuity away for the reader when you need to wait 3+ years between each book. Just saying.)

Please *do* note that I wouldn't be nearly this cranky if I didn't like the earlier books so much. Britain is still writing some of the smartest epic fantasy books out there. Many will not be disappointed with The High King's Tomb. Some, like me, probably will be. I'll give Britain a pass and see what happens with book four.

In the Cities of Coin and Spice gives us The Book of the Storm and The Book of the Scald, completing The Orphan's Tales.

Probably nothing Valente could have done would have matched the impact that In The Night Garden made on me. I read it at a personally very difficult time, when for a few brief days her prose lifted me out of my grief and gave me something new to consider. That book was a blessing for me-- execution and timing interacting perfectly.

Even if it cannot (for me) match the first, In the Cities of Coin and Spice would still be something that I would very much recommend. The Orphan's Tales deserve to be read as a whole. The achievement is impressive-- fractured fairy tales, seemingly completely new; nested stories; characters and motivations both dark and strange. I have not been a fan of Valente's other work, to be honest, but these volumes are just wonderful. Fairy tales written for grown-ups that still capture the experience of being a child.

I loved this volume just a little bit less. The gap was largely seated in the Tale of the Scald. It felt just a touch too long-- somehow did not catch me as much as the other three sections. But this is a minor quarrel.

Valente is such a good writer. Her style doesn't always work for me, but in these books, it works perfectly. If you haven't read anything in the series, then begin at the beginning.

One alarming note was that some of the participants imagine that Putin is being misled, that he hasn't been given the true picture. The Tsar is a good Tsar, but the boyars are bad men. An old, old Russian story.
pg. 139

On 7 October 2006, the journalist Anna Politkovskaya was assassinated. She was shot dead in the elevator of her apartment building in an apparent contract killing. It is very important, I think, to bear this ending in mind while you read A Russian Diary.

Politkovskaya is not objective. This is not a personal diary. You will not find charming anecdotes about her personal life interspersed among the political commentary. She often sounds like that friend you had at college who would not stop ranting about her conspiracy theories and the fact that the world is going to heck in a handbasket. Except that she ends up dead for her ideas. A good reminder not to confuse Russia with the West.

Politkovskaya is angry, passionate. She refuses to stop caring. She refuses to be objective, because objectivity comes too close to numbness. This is a partial book (in several senses)-- think of it as an act of witness. She writes her rage at what Russia has become day by day.

She is very smart, and often funny-- albeit in a dark way. I had the feeling I would like her. And I hate how her story ended. It isn't an easy book to read. I still think as many as possible *should* read it. Decide for yourself.

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View from our island out on the lagoon.

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(Thanks to the Dangerous Minds blog.)

I think I have said this before. Several times before, even. Sean Stewart is a *wonderful* writer. His characters have great sensitivity and depth. His humor is subtle, but effective.

I have not always found his plotting skills were as good as the rest of the package. I thought the first few books I read by him were slight and a little bit easy to forget. Then I read Mockingbird, and it was an astonishing novel. Everything good combined to be something great-- I still really recommend it.

Perfect Circle is not, to my mind, quite as good as Mockingbird, but it is awfully close. Ostensibly about ghosts (at least according to the cover), it is more about a man trying to fix his life in the face of unusual talents and the usual handicaps. There was something about the plot that reminded me oddly of Douglas Coupland's novels. I suspect neither author would appreciate the comparison, but there you go.

When I look back on the book, I find the ending has melted away from my memory. I can discover it back again quickly. Still, there is something a little unfinished about the ending which makes it slightly less strong than Mockingbird. At least for me.

Meet William "Dead" Kennedy and find out for yourself.

Sentences and paragraphs. Sentences are not emotional but paragraphs are. I can say that as often as I like and it always remains as it is, something that is.

I said I found this out first in listening to Basket my dog drinking. And anybody listening to any dog's drinking will see what I mean.
pg. 223

This book is an old friend. As a student, I wrote my thesis on Stein, and spent many hours examining these texts for insight into her writing. Lectures in America is among the most lucid of her prose work; perhaps I should say it is among the most easily accessible of her books in general.

I never owned the book, however, which meant I was delighted when I found this Virago Press edition. Prefaced by Wendy Steiner, it was very fine to have a chance to revisit the work. I remembered it very well indeed. Familiarity meant instead of struggling with her unique style, I was able to dive right in to the sections which I had neglected in college. For instance, I spent a lot more time with her section on "Pictures" than I had in the past.

Lectures in America is a body of essays written for her lecture tour of the states following the unexpected success in 1933 of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. The tour attracted large and enthusiastic audiences, and Random House brought this book out, hoping to ride the wave. Alas, the Lectures did not sell well, and slipped into being the property of academics and the odd Stein fan in the wild.

The book consists of the following sections:

• What Is English Literature
  
• Pictures
  
• Plays
  
• The Gradual Making of the Making of Americans
  
• Portraits and Repetition
  
• Poetry and Grammar

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Very fine is my valentine.
Very fine and very mine.
Very mine is my valentine very mine and very fine.
Very fine is my valentine and mine, very fine very mine and mine is my valentine.

I'm home sick again. Have hauled myself out of bed to wake up a bit-- need to go to the doctor so that he can tell me "virus. stay home.". Cold back with fever and sore throat. V. irritated. Looking up paintings.

Happy birthday to another unhappy Scorpio.

I loved The Lies of Locke Lamora. It had a sparkle and an energy that carried me plain past the fact that it is not the kind of fantasy book that I typically enjoy.

Unfortunately, Red Seas Under Red Skies kept the parts I normally do not like and lost much of the crisp fire that had delighted me so much in the first book.

I'm not sure I can fully analyze what doesn't work, but it has something to do with pace and structure. The structure was really odd, somehow. I was deeply bored in the middle section of the book. I also found myself staring in disbelief at aspects of the plot. In The Lies of Locke Lamora, Lynch asked us to give him the benefit of the doubt in a few key unrealistic places. I didn't mind that. But he asked too much of me here. I had many more "what?!" moments than "cool!!" moments in this book.

There are still some good things in the book. It wasn't entirely a waste of time. But, honestly, if the third book is more like Red Seas than like Locke Lamora then I will not be reading forward to the fourth.

p.s. I'm getting tired of pirates. Pirates are the new black, and I'm discovering there are precious few writers who can pull them off.