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And in non-reading news, managed to see "Hugo" (on small screen) and "The Artist" (on large) on sequential evenings this weekend, which might be too much silent film homage at once, but they were both quite good.
Reading: as mentioned before, John Lawton's A Lily of the Field and Philip Kerr's Field Gray, both of which bring up another phenomenon of series fiction, the looping back and filling in effect that happens when a series starts out covering a wide period of time and then the author wants to keep writing and so dips back in and elaborates on parts of the protagonist's life that were ignored or merely summarized before. It tends to lead to odd structures: the Lawton book spends the first half with newly introduced characters and then turns into yet another Troy of Scotland Yard Solves a Case, war period and post-war respectively; the Kerr starts out in 1954 and has flashback sequences in 1931 through 1946 (IIRC). They work because the grip on the central character is so good, at least for the author and the faithful reader, but would be odd for a first-time reader.
Also, two nonfiction books: Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff, which tells the story of a plane crash on a recreational flight over the territory of an isolated New Guinea society during WWII; and Measure of the Earth by Larrie Ferreiro, the tale of a French-Spanish expedition to "Peru" (currently Ecuador) in the 1730s to make measurements that would determine the shape of the planet. Both of them deal to some extent with the attitudes of whites toward colonial or otherwise-dominated lands, but (aside from the sheer adventure, which is related pretty well in both cases) I would read the first as an example of what happens when military people get bored and need another outlet besides actually fighting (and this applies to the native New Guineans as well - no noble savages these), as well as a case study of sensational journalism (not Zuckoff's, I mean, but that of the contemporary journalists), and the second as a carefully-researched report of stunningly bad personnel and mission management. The most interesting part of Measure is actually the description of how they all got home again - or not, in some cases. It's also fun to have read enough in this period to appreciate stuff like one of the Spanish soldiers going home on a ship that stops to pick up the survivors of Anson's Wager. And Voltaire pokes his nose in a lot.
Then I zoomed through Laura Lippman's novella The Girl in the Green Raincoat, which is "Rear Window" with preeclampsia, and I'm well-started on the newest Charles Todd. I should be reading Gaia's Garden, too. I have been PowerPointing my head off in preparation for Saturday's class.
In other news, I am now the mother of two adults, as Patrick turns 18 today. OMG.
Reading: as mentioned before, John Lawton's A Lily of the Field and Philip Kerr's Field Gray, both of which bring up another phenomenon of series fiction, the looping back and filling in effect that happens when a series starts out covering a wide period of time and then the author wants to keep writing and so dips back in and elaborates on parts of the protagonist's life that were ignored or merely summarized before. It tends to lead to odd structures: the Lawton book spends the first half with newly introduced characters and then turns into yet another Troy of Scotland Yard Solves a Case, war period and post-war respectively; the Kerr starts out in 1954 and has flashback sequences in 1931 through 1946 (IIRC). They work because the grip on the central character is so good, at least for the author and the faithful reader, but would be odd for a first-time reader.
Also, two nonfiction books: Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff, which tells the story of a plane crash on a recreational flight over the territory of an isolated New Guinea society during WWII; and Measure of the Earth by Larrie Ferreiro, the tale of a French-Spanish expedition to "Peru" (currently Ecuador) in the 1730s to make measurements that would determine the shape of the planet. Both of them deal to some extent with the attitudes of whites toward colonial or otherwise-dominated lands, but (aside from the sheer adventure, which is related pretty well in both cases) I would read the first as an example of what happens when military people get bored and need another outlet besides actually fighting (and this applies to the native New Guineans as well - no noble savages these), as well as a case study of sensational journalism (not Zuckoff's, I mean, but that of the contemporary journalists), and the second as a carefully-researched report of stunningly bad personnel and mission management. The most interesting part of Measure is actually the description of how they all got home again - or not, in some cases. It's also fun to have read enough in this period to appreciate stuff like one of the Spanish soldiers going home on a ship that stops to pick up the survivors of Anson's Wager. And Voltaire pokes his nose in a lot.
Then I zoomed through Laura Lippman's novella The Girl in the Green Raincoat, which is "Rear Window" with preeclampsia, and I'm well-started on the newest Charles Todd. I should be reading Gaia's Garden, too. I have been PowerPointing my head off in preparation for Saturday's class.
In other news, I am now the mother of two adults, as Patrick turns 18 today. OMG.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-05 01:25 pm (UTC)From:Gaia's Garden has been floating about among the members of our community into permaculture and sustainability. I may have to read it just so I know what's being talked about.
:)
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Date: 2012-03-05 05:34 pm (UTC)From: