What are you reading? (November 2013)
11-27-13, 01:21 PM
#51
DVD Talk Legend
Re: What are you reading? (November 2013)
Not at all really. It's referenced in the book but a good synopsis is given throughout so you can figure out what happened.
Although I do hear it's one of his best books.
11-29-13, 04:09 PM
#57
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
I'll put in a plug for:
Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie
It is a first novel by a published short story author. I found it complex, difficult, intriguing and, ultimately, magnificent.
The story is told in the first person by an AI and alternates between two timelines about twenty years apart. The AI is from a culture that has no gender distinctions and "she" uses feminine references except when speaking in other languages and she is puzzled by the very concept of gender. I found myself trying to figure out the gender of the various characters via clues but by the middle I gave up and just ignored it, which I think may have been the author's intention. The plot is sort of a revenge political thriller. Not the usual sort of space opera (many of which I very much like).
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On audio I have finally reached:
A Civil Campaign: A Comedy of Biology and Manners, by Lois McMaster Bujold. It is about the tenth in Bujold's popular Miles Vorkosigan series. I have them all on audio via audible.com and have been rationing them because I don't want them to end.
I found this book, a direct follow-on to Komarr, one of the funniest books I've read in years. But, then, I am a big Jane Austen fan so this sort of witty romance is very much “my thing” (and P&P is my favorite and most-read book). Miles’ bumbling attempt to court the recently widowed Ekaterin Vorsoisson as if on one of his military campaigns, with predictable results, was a hoot. I liked it so much that after finishing the eighteen hours I started it over and listened to the whole thing again (it helps that the narrator, Grover Gardner, was outstanding).
Bujold herself suggests Komarr (found in the omnibus book Miles in Love) as an alternative entry point to her series. [The usual beginning is Shards of Honor, part of the omnibus volume Cordelia’s Honor; it is the story of how Miles’ parents meet.]
Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie
It is a first novel by a published short story author. I found it complex, difficult, intriguing and, ultimately, magnificent.
The story is told in the first person by an AI and alternates between two timelines about twenty years apart. The AI is from a culture that has no gender distinctions and "she" uses feminine references except when speaking in other languages and she is puzzled by the very concept of gender. I found myself trying to figure out the gender of the various characters via clues but by the middle I gave up and just ignored it, which I think may have been the author's intention. The plot is sort of a revenge political thriller. Not the usual sort of space opera (many of which I very much like).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On audio I have finally reached:
A Civil Campaign: A Comedy of Biology and Manners, by Lois McMaster Bujold. It is about the tenth in Bujold's popular Miles Vorkosigan series. I have them all on audio via audible.com and have been rationing them because I don't want them to end.
I found this book, a direct follow-on to Komarr, one of the funniest books I've read in years. But, then, I am a big Jane Austen fan so this sort of witty romance is very much “my thing” (and P&P is my favorite and most-read book). Miles’ bumbling attempt to court the recently widowed Ekaterin Vorsoisson as if on one of his military campaigns, with predictable results, was a hoot. I liked it so much that after finishing the eighteen hours I started it over and listened to the whole thing again (it helps that the narrator, Grover Gardner, was outstanding).
Bujold herself suggests Komarr (found in the omnibus book Miles in Love) as an alternative entry point to her series. [The usual beginning is Shards of Honor, part of the omnibus volume Cordelia’s Honor; it is the story of how Miles’ parents meet.]
