REMEMBER BACK WHEN I DID BOOK POSTS?
Here is a belated November book post, while I can still remember what these books were. :|;
Sleight of Hand, Peter S. Beagle
PETER. S. FREAKING BEAGLE.
...Ahem.
So this is a collection of short stories, right, and in trying to list which ones stood out to me, I ended up pretty much regenerating a list of all of them. I am increasingly convinced that Beagle can do no wrong, and I don't know if I can make a sensible statement about the collection as a whole. It contains beautiful things, charming things, one deeply creepy thing, beautiful and/or charming things that are also sad as fuck, and one of the stories is about Schmendrick and Schmendrick is the best, the end.
Making Money, Terry Pratchett
Not really a top-tier Discworld book, in my opinion. It's solid, and funny, and I still quite like Moist and Spike and all, but it doesn't have the level of frenetic wackiness I enjoyed so much in Going Postal. The satirical elements and economy talk were pretty cool, but a lot of the antagonistic and background characters seemed... more cartoony than I expect from Pratchett. I don't know that they were weirder than the usual, but they seemed less substantial beneath the weirdness? Plus, I couldn't take the putative main antagonist seriously since every time we saw him he was just being utterly bonkers and not displaying any of the cunning that was supposed to offset his... bonkers-ness.
I also have no doubt that my enjoyment was dampened somewhat by my coworker blatantly and deliberately spoiling the ending for me. ("OH, YOU'RE READING MAKING MONEY? I LOVE THAT BOOK. LET ME TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENS AT THE END" I don't understand that woman, I really don't.)
The Cabinet of Curiosities, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
More Pendergast! Pendergast being a weirdo from a family of huge weirdos! ACCEPTABLE. Actually, I just found the entire premise of this book really cool. Cabinets of curiosities strike me as fascinating things, and I think my interest in murders that happen in the 19th century is pretty well documented by now, yes? The final act is intense, there are quirky extras and badass nerds, Smithback is a doofus, this book was entertaining. The end.
The Neon Court, Kate Griffin
THIS SERIES JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER. Penny is awesome, Matthew is still an intriguing guy what with all that death and angels business, and I really liked the part where spoiler spoiler spoiler. The magic system continues to be really awesome, and any quibbles I had with the prose style in the first two volumes are greatly diminished - things are evening out a bit, and it is a good bit more readable, without sacrificing the atmosphere! Excellent stuff.
The Great God Pan and The Hill of Dreams, Arthur Machen
Meh. Gorgeous prose, occasional glimpses of an awesomely dry sense of humor, and yet overall meh.
The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet, Neil deGrasse Tyson
Look, I like Neil deGrasse Tyson as a scientist. From the interviews I've seen, I think he is pretty cool as a dude, too. This book, though... it was pretty fluffy. It's at its best when Tyson is talking actual science, but then there's a lot of him just quoting people's reactions to things and coming across kind of... simultaneously defensive and condescending about the decision re: Pluto. Also, Explaining All The Jokes. The various parts of the book didn't seem to me to hang together all that well, and it clearly had not been proofread as extensively as most. I just kind of suspect there was not enough material for a whole book here, and a bunch of previously-published writing on the subject was slapped together without any particular rhyme or reason.
I did like the bits where Bill Nye was complaining about how much astronomers suck at Latin, though. I don't think I can regret reading something wherein Bill Nye schools people on etymology.
Sleight of Hand, Peter S. Beagle
PETER. S. FREAKING BEAGLE.
...Ahem.
So this is a collection of short stories, right, and in trying to list which ones stood out to me, I ended up pretty much regenerating a list of all of them. I am increasingly convinced that Beagle can do no wrong, and I don't know if I can make a sensible statement about the collection as a whole. It contains beautiful things, charming things, one deeply creepy thing, beautiful and/or charming things that are also sad as fuck, and one of the stories is about Schmendrick and Schmendrick is the best, the end.
Making Money, Terry Pratchett
Not really a top-tier Discworld book, in my opinion. It's solid, and funny, and I still quite like Moist and Spike and all, but it doesn't have the level of frenetic wackiness I enjoyed so much in Going Postal. The satirical elements and economy talk were pretty cool, but a lot of the antagonistic and background characters seemed... more cartoony than I expect from Pratchett. I don't know that they were weirder than the usual, but they seemed less substantial beneath the weirdness? Plus, I couldn't take the putative main antagonist seriously since every time we saw him he was just being utterly bonkers and not displaying any of the cunning that was supposed to offset his... bonkers-ness.
I also have no doubt that my enjoyment was dampened somewhat by my coworker blatantly and deliberately spoiling the ending for me. ("OH, YOU'RE READING MAKING MONEY? I LOVE THAT BOOK. LET ME TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENS AT THE END" I don't understand that woman, I really don't.)
The Cabinet of Curiosities, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
More Pendergast! Pendergast being a weirdo from a family of huge weirdos! ACCEPTABLE. Actually, I just found the entire premise of this book really cool. Cabinets of curiosities strike me as fascinating things, and I think my interest in murders that happen in the 19th century is pretty well documented by now, yes? The final act is intense, there are quirky extras and badass nerds, Smithback is a doofus, this book was entertaining. The end.
The Neon Court, Kate Griffin
THIS SERIES JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER. Penny is awesome, Matthew is still an intriguing guy what with all that death and angels business, and I really liked the part where spoiler spoiler spoiler. The magic system continues to be really awesome, and any quibbles I had with the prose style in the first two volumes are greatly diminished - things are evening out a bit, and it is a good bit more readable, without sacrificing the atmosphere! Excellent stuff.
The Great God Pan and The Hill of Dreams, Arthur Machen
Meh. Gorgeous prose, occasional glimpses of an awesomely dry sense of humor, and yet overall meh.
The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet, Neil deGrasse Tyson
Look, I like Neil deGrasse Tyson as a scientist. From the interviews I've seen, I think he is pretty cool as a dude, too. This book, though... it was pretty fluffy. It's at its best when Tyson is talking actual science, but then there's a lot of him just quoting people's reactions to things and coming across kind of... simultaneously defensive and condescending about the decision re: Pluto. Also, Explaining All The Jokes. The various parts of the book didn't seem to me to hang together all that well, and it clearly had not been proofread as extensively as most. I just kind of suspect there was not enough material for a whole book here, and a bunch of previously-published writing on the subject was slapped together without any particular rhyme or reason.
I did like the bits where Bill Nye was complaining about how much astronomers suck at Latin, though. I don't think I can regret reading something wherein Bill Nye schools people on etymology.