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bearshortyEast of Eden by John Steinbeck, 708pp
It is a classic for a reason and it was an interesting and a very long read. Basically Cain and Abel story for several brothers. I liked "Grapes of Wrath" more, even though my Dad prefers this one. My favorite part of the book was Samuel, Lee and Adam discussing the Cain and Abel story in the Bible directly, since Steinbeck is not very subtle here.
My favorite character was probably Lee.
There is really not much to say. It was a good book but no somewhere I want to spend time with again. I do however want to read more Steinbeck since I really enjoy his prose and his style and the writing itself. That part was beautiful to me. The story was just ok.
Ten Steps to Nanette: a memoir situation by Hannah Gadsby, 379pp
I watched "Nanette" and "Douglass" on Netflix and loved both those comedy shows, in particular how she uses art history in her bits and just the structure of those shows. She doesn't shy from calling things out. She is not afraid of social commentary. So when I saw the book at the airport this summer, I knew I had to read it, so I requested it in my library. It was a really interesting memoir in just the style of it since Hannah Gadsby is autistic and had this lovely direct approach to recounting her life. Also a lot of terrible things happened to her but she finds a good balance not to let those things be the focal point of the memoir. She shows her life in terms of LGBTQ+ movement in Tasmania and her childhood and her own coming out. She talks about just adjustment to life, figuring herself and her atypical neurological structures of her brain out, how she got into comedy and how she came to build Nanette as a show. Since Nanette is not a typical comedy show, it directly and unflinchingly addresses trauma. It is really smart and clever and but also groundbreaking. This was a really strong and interesting autobiography and why I like this genre. Highly recommend.
The Law by Jim Butcher, 99pp [Dresden Files novella].
A very short novella set after "Battle Ground" which gives Harry to really deal with all the emotional implications of that book while taking on a fairly normal case. I think this was really lovely just to see him breathe a bit. I found his interactions with Marcone to be really fascinating here since there is a lot more, how should I put it, respect in a way. More like old enemies who are very used to dealing with each other - 'the devil you know'. I also really enjoyed the resolution Harry comes up with to affect the outcome of his case to get Mab to care. This is what I like Dresden Files for, since reading to many battle scenes are a bit boring for me.
The Huntress by Kate Quinn, 531pp
My Dad gave me this historical fiction book as a birthday present. It is a story of a team who finds Nazi war criminals trying to find a woman, Huntress, who killed the brother of one of the team members. One team member is a an English aristocrat and war journalist, another an American good with languages and the last one is Nina, a former Soviet war pilot, who can't go back home and is dealing with all kinds of trauma. The story is in 3rd person but centered on perspectives of three characters, Ian the journalist, Nina the pilot, and Jordan an American teenager whose new stepmother is not who she seems. It is clear to the reader where the Huntress is but the story also builds to what actually happened when the brother was killed through Nina's chapters which go from her Siberian childhood to learning to fly to jointing the female pilots Nightwitches. There was a surprising love story between two female characters - I could see the start and was pleasantly surprised that it was not queerbating. Nina is bisexual and doesn't have any emotional conflicts with that, which was nice to see and it was a really lovely romance as well.
I liked the book, it flowed well, I just had two issues really. One, it is never explained just how it was that Ian just happened to meet Nina at the end of the war, the only person who knew what happened to his brother. Was he deliberately searching, did Nina look for him explicitly? It just seems like a loose end. and Two, the author didn't do a bad job with the Soviet setting, it was believable enough, but she really, really needed a Russian person to proofread her book because just a few mistakes would throw me out of the story. The nickname for Anton is not Antochka, it is Antoshka. The patronymic from Vasiliy would be Vasilyevna, not Vasilova, and also absolutely no one in Soviet Russia would refer to the Germans as Hitlerites, it would be Fascists. Maybe this author put that in so the readers wouldn't be confused why Russians would refer to Germans as Fascists since that applied more for Italy, but it drove me crazy. So a decent book, I did like it enough, but she really needed a native speaker to go through it.
Dragonbreath: Revenge of the Horned Bunnies by Ursula Vernon, 195pp [Dragonbreath 6]
The six Dragonbreath book where Danny, Wendell, Christiana and Danny's little annoying cousin Spenser go to what is basically is a cowboy camp. Spenser finds a mythical creature of rabbits with antlers and the gang has to rescue them from someone who is trying to sell them for profit. The plot felt much more straightforward here, you kind of new who the bad guy was from the start, so there wasn't much suspense in the story. No one was in actual danger. I did find the interactions between bad guy and Danny hilarious since it was not like the bad guy could do that much. I guess I found this a sillier book but still fun and I'm certainly still enjoying reading this with Tanya.
Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein, 155pp [Hugo book]
Won a Hugo for Best Novel in 1956. It's Heinlein, so it reads really well. It is told in the first person from a perspective of an actor, Lawrence Smith, who gets hired to impersonate a kidnapped political leader of the opposition government and having to participate in a Martian ceremony to start. We see him change and grow as the book goes on even if the main character doesn't even realize it. It is not a long book and the plot moves along well. I can see why this book won a Hugo. The only problem for me with this book is the usual Heinlein problem - how he writes female characters. Part of it is a 1956 problem but it is also typically Heinlein. There is only one female character, Penny, who is the assistant/secretary of the politician Lawrence is to impersonate. She actually has a masters and is an elected representative in the General Council but one would hardly know it because of course she is in love with the politician and a love interest in general, she provides drinks for everyone and even faints at one point and often frets a lot. She is also clearly very competent so this kind of love interest characterization grates after a bit, so I have to work to remember when it was written. Otherwise, it is certainly on par with other Heinlein books with his very lively writing style that just carries you along.
It is a classic for a reason and it was an interesting and a very long read. Basically Cain and Abel story for several brothers. I liked "Grapes of Wrath" more, even though my Dad prefers this one. My favorite part of the book was Samuel, Lee and Adam discussing the Cain and Abel story in the Bible directly, since Steinbeck is not very subtle here.
My favorite character was probably Lee.
There is really not much to say. It was a good book but no somewhere I want to spend time with again. I do however want to read more Steinbeck since I really enjoy his prose and his style and the writing itself. That part was beautiful to me. The story was just ok.
Ten Steps to Nanette: a memoir situation by Hannah Gadsby, 379pp
I watched "Nanette" and "Douglass" on Netflix and loved both those comedy shows, in particular how she uses art history in her bits and just the structure of those shows. She doesn't shy from calling things out. She is not afraid of social commentary. So when I saw the book at the airport this summer, I knew I had to read it, so I requested it in my library. It was a really interesting memoir in just the style of it since Hannah Gadsby is autistic and had this lovely direct approach to recounting her life. Also a lot of terrible things happened to her but she finds a good balance not to let those things be the focal point of the memoir. She shows her life in terms of LGBTQ+ movement in Tasmania and her childhood and her own coming out. She talks about just adjustment to life, figuring herself and her atypical neurological structures of her brain out, how she got into comedy and how she came to build Nanette as a show. Since Nanette is not a typical comedy show, it directly and unflinchingly addresses trauma. It is really smart and clever and but also groundbreaking. This was a really strong and interesting autobiography and why I like this genre. Highly recommend.
The Law by Jim Butcher, 99pp [Dresden Files novella].
A very short novella set after "Battle Ground" which gives Harry to really deal with all the emotional implications of that book while taking on a fairly normal case. I think this was really lovely just to see him breathe a bit. I found his interactions with Marcone to be really fascinating here since there is a lot more, how should I put it, respect in a way. More like old enemies who are very used to dealing with each other - 'the devil you know'. I also really enjoyed the resolution Harry comes up with to affect the outcome of his case to get Mab to care. This is what I like Dresden Files for, since reading to many battle scenes are a bit boring for me.
The Huntress by Kate Quinn, 531pp
My Dad gave me this historical fiction book as a birthday present. It is a story of a team who finds Nazi war criminals trying to find a woman, Huntress, who killed the brother of one of the team members. One team member is a an English aristocrat and war journalist, another an American good with languages and the last one is Nina, a former Soviet war pilot, who can't go back home and is dealing with all kinds of trauma. The story is in 3rd person but centered on perspectives of three characters, Ian the journalist, Nina the pilot, and Jordan an American teenager whose new stepmother is not who she seems. It is clear to the reader where the Huntress is but the story also builds to what actually happened when the brother was killed through Nina's chapters which go from her Siberian childhood to learning to fly to jointing the female pilots Nightwitches. There was a surprising love story between two female characters - I could see the start and was pleasantly surprised that it was not queerbating. Nina is bisexual and doesn't have any emotional conflicts with that, which was nice to see and it was a really lovely romance as well.
I liked the book, it flowed well, I just had two issues really. One, it is never explained just how it was that Ian just happened to meet Nina at the end of the war, the only person who knew what happened to his brother. Was he deliberately searching, did Nina look for him explicitly? It just seems like a loose end. and Two, the author didn't do a bad job with the Soviet setting, it was believable enough, but she really, really needed a Russian person to proofread her book because just a few mistakes would throw me out of the story. The nickname for Anton is not Antochka, it is Antoshka. The patronymic from Vasiliy would be Vasilyevna, not Vasilova, and also absolutely no one in Soviet Russia would refer to the Germans as Hitlerites, it would be Fascists. Maybe this author put that in so the readers wouldn't be confused why Russians would refer to Germans as Fascists since that applied more for Italy, but it drove me crazy. So a decent book, I did like it enough, but she really needed a native speaker to go through it.
Dragonbreath: Revenge of the Horned Bunnies by Ursula Vernon, 195pp [Dragonbreath 6]
The six Dragonbreath book where Danny, Wendell, Christiana and Danny's little annoying cousin Spenser go to what is basically is a cowboy camp. Spenser finds a mythical creature of rabbits with antlers and the gang has to rescue them from someone who is trying to sell them for profit. The plot felt much more straightforward here, you kind of new who the bad guy was from the start, so there wasn't much suspense in the story. No one was in actual danger. I did find the interactions between bad guy and Danny hilarious since it was not like the bad guy could do that much. I guess I found this a sillier book but still fun and I'm certainly still enjoying reading this with Tanya.
Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein, 155pp [Hugo book]
Won a Hugo for Best Novel in 1956. It's Heinlein, so it reads really well. It is told in the first person from a perspective of an actor, Lawrence Smith, who gets hired to impersonate a kidnapped political leader of the opposition government and having to participate in a Martian ceremony to start. We see him change and grow as the book goes on even if the main character doesn't even realize it. It is not a long book and the plot moves along well. I can see why this book won a Hugo. The only problem for me with this book is the usual Heinlein problem - how he writes female characters. Part of it is a 1956 problem but it is also typically Heinlein. There is only one female character, Penny, who is the assistant/secretary of the politician Lawrence is to impersonate. She actually has a masters and is an elected representative in the General Council but one would hardly know it because of course she is in love with the politician and a love interest in general, she provides drinks for everyone and even faints at one point and often frets a lot. She is also clearly very competent so this kind of love interest characterization grates after a bit, so I have to work to remember when it was written. Otherwise, it is certainly on par with other Heinlein books with his very lively writing style that just carries you along.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-09-20 04:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-09-24 12:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-09-20 06:35 pm (UTC)When I edited a book in French that had a few sentences in Italian, when I sent it back I told them to get a native speaker to check them (apparently the author was Italian herself though, so they were probably fine).
(no subject)
Date: 2022-09-24 01:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-01 11:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-01 01:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-01 08:39 pm (UTC)I think this was around where I started losing steam with Dragonbreath a bit; I finished out the series, but my favorite books are the earlier ones, although I do like the addition of Christiana a lot.
Interesting to read your thoughts on Double Star. I've actually not read any Heinlein ever, but reading the 'Astounding' biography, which included Heinlein along with Asimov, John Campbell, and L.Ron Hubbard made me interested in checking out some of Heinlein's work, and reading the Jo Walton Hugo book led me to the conclusion that Double Star was probably the one to start with. (Which was a decision I made several years ago and still have not acted on at all.)
Also intrigued by the Butcher novella, since I like Marcone. I still haven't read Battle Ground, despite having both a hard copy and an e-copy, but I think I'm reaching a point of distance from my disappointment with Peace Talks that I might be ready to get on that horse again...
but she really, really needed a Russian person to proofread her book because just a few mistakes would throw me out of the story.
I hate that authors don't take this very basic step. It's not like in the age of the Internet native Russian speakers are hard to find/reach! Or like it's so far-fetched that people reading your books in English would know enough Russian to be bothered by stuff like this. Ugh >:/
(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-07 02:58 pm (UTC)I have liked everything I read from Heinlein (except Stranger in a Strange Land but that was probably because I was 16 and too young for it). His prose flows really well. You do have to ignore the problematic women stuff but that is typical of his generation of writers. Double Star is a short book and might be a good start.
I'm not always a fan of reading battles so Battle Ground was too much at times - too much action! but this novella felt like classic Dresden Files and it was just so nice to spend time in the universe without the stakes being too big.