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I haven't been keeping up with my book reviews here, so I'm going to quickly do a bunch to catch up.
Brideshead Revisited: Lovely writing, ruined by the characters. The problem with spelunking in literary canons is that most books (famous or otherwise) were written by, about and for the aristocracy until quite recently. And aristocrats are kind of terrible people, for the most part?
King Rat: Barely felt like a China Mieville book at all. I never would have guessed he had written a magical destiny/lost princling book, though the ending brought it back around in an extremely satisfying way. Not a success, but not bad either.
The Scarlet Pimpernel: Barf, aristocrats saving other aristocrats (and ONLY other aristocrats) from the French Revolution. The least sympathetic victims of The Terror! But other than that it was a ripping yarn, with a surprisingly strong heroine.
So You Want to Talk About Race: Lots of good material, put together in a good way, but it's more of a refresher course than anything new.
To Kill a Mockingbird: Changing schools in my teen years meant I had never actually read this before. It wasn't what I was expecting -- the trial and events around it were much more in the background. Interesting choice. With this done, I'm not sure what significant gaps remain in what I've read. I guess I should do more Shakespeare?
The Perfectionists -- How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World: Several people mentioned this after my American Precision Museum visit last month. It's a good read, but the material it covers is a bit basic. (And it isn't without factual points I would dispute.)
Waverly: Such a weird book, compared to Ivanhoe. The protagonist is so wishy-washy and mercurial that it made it quite hard to worry too much about the idiotic situation he finds himself in. You don't casually join an armed rebellion without there being consequences! I get that part of the story is the bildungsroman aspect of watching him become an adult, but it just didn't work for me.
Brideshead Revisited: Lovely writing, ruined by the characters. The problem with spelunking in literary canons is that most books (famous or otherwise) were written by, about and for the aristocracy until quite recently. And aristocrats are kind of terrible people, for the most part?
King Rat: Barely felt like a China Mieville book at all. I never would have guessed he had written a magical destiny/lost princling book, though the ending brought it back around in an extremely satisfying way. Not a success, but not bad either.
The Scarlet Pimpernel: Barf, aristocrats saving other aristocrats (and ONLY other aristocrats) from the French Revolution. The least sympathetic victims of The Terror! But other than that it was a ripping yarn, with a surprisingly strong heroine.
So You Want to Talk About Race: Lots of good material, put together in a good way, but it's more of a refresher course than anything new.
To Kill a Mockingbird: Changing schools in my teen years meant I had never actually read this before. It wasn't what I was expecting -- the trial and events around it were much more in the background. Interesting choice. With this done, I'm not sure what significant gaps remain in what I've read. I guess I should do more Shakespeare?
The Perfectionists -- How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World: Several people mentioned this after my American Precision Museum visit last month. It's a good read, but the material it covers is a bit basic. (And it isn't without factual points I would dispute.)
Waverly: Such a weird book, compared to Ivanhoe. The protagonist is so wishy-washy and mercurial that it made it quite hard to worry too much about the idiotic situation he finds himself in. You don't casually join an armed rebellion without there being consequences! I get that part of the story is the bildungsroman aspect of watching him become an adult, but it just didn't work for me.