hfglen's reading: an intermittent thread

I've no intention of noting everything I read here -- that would be b-o-r-i-n-g beyond belief to most Dragoneers. But occasionally I do want to comment on a book that's specially good or, er, the other kind.

Somebody mentioned And Another Thing by Eoin Colfer on another thread. I read it in the Kruger Park in July. Factors against enjoying it or indeed anything else included the angle of our site to the horizontal and the noise from the staff village and the other campers. However, let me recommend this with 8 or 9 points out of 10. I finished it with a satisfied glow and the thought that Good Heavens! Colfer writes a Douglas Adams book better than Adams did himself! (With the possible exception of the first two.) But it's well worth reading IMHO.

Am I getting old and picky? Way back when I'd devour almost any fiction by Isaac Asimov in a single sitting and want more. I'm now almost finished Nemesis, and it's been a struggle. In truth, if it had fallen due (it's a library book) I'd have returned it halfway without regrets. The science is , er, odd and the people even odder.

I haven't read Nemesis, but anymore I have to be in the right mood to read Asimov. I used to eat them up too.

I first read the Foundation books only 6 years ago, and they mostly left me cold. The Robot books, on the other hand, are still great.

Finished New Green World by Josephine Herbst as my lunchtime read at work. Someone gave me this yonks ago; I doubt I'd buy it myself -- especially having now read it. John Bartram and his son William were certainly important botanical explorers in 18th-century North America, and made significant contributions to the world's store of knowledge. But what? From this book you'd be hard-pressed to find out. When facts are needed the author veers off into purple prose which may be attractive and atmospheric, but is maddeningly uninformative. I don't think editing would help -- the book scarcely covers 250 small pages -- so much as a radical rewrite, or better a different book. There are few illustrations, as was normal when this one was published, and the lack of a decent map is maddeneing. Two stars is a generous score.

Also finished Mercycle -- not such a struggle. Interesting concept, fluently written. But no puns! As the one review on the Works page says, neither his best nor his worst. Would I re-read it? Maybe. Which is more than I can say for Ms Herbst above.

A Piers Anthony book without puns?! I might have to check that out. Piers Anthony's stuff is actually decent when he takes it seriously.

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan -- not quite un-put-downable as some of the best fantasy is (i.e. i didn't feel called to sit up all night to finish it in one sitting). But, more sensibly, a book to be savoured one chapter at a time. And it makes me wonder: even though I'm not in the U.S.A. (half a world away), what do our supermarkets sell as "food"? Too many of Pollan's food-like substances are familiar -- to the point where I can't help wondering about some of he things sold at the local farmers' market -- where most of the stallholders aren't farmers.

Some things don't bear thinking about. I have always been grateful for the advice someone gave me years ago about sticking to shopping for food on the outside edges of the supermarket (fresh produce, meat, etc.) for the healthiest food stuffs. It's not a bad way to work.

#9 - That was my first ever Michael Pollan book! He's one of my personal gods now. (As most of you already know and are most likely tired of hearing.)

#10 - My mother always told me the same thing!!! I do have to make trips down the isles for things like rice, beans, coffee and dried fruit, but it's a great rule of thumb.

(Me, too, clam!)

*Apologizing for hijacking hfglen's thread*

Jill, please carry on! The hijacked version is far more interesting than the original!

And if you want to know why the man-made part of the world looks the way it does, or the way it will in some years' / decades' time, there's The Gecko's Foot: how scientists are taking a leaf from nature's book by Peter Forbes. Actually that first sentence is somewhat hyperbolic. But the book is a very good read, on how technology is starting to borrow ideas from nature, such as Velcro, self-cleaning windows and many more. Technical in places, but don't let that put you off.

*thumbs up*

LT needs a "like" button of some ilk...

#14: Oooh, that one's going on my wishlist! Thanks for the recommendation!

But but... I thought velcro was brought to us by the Vulcans?!?!?!
Ah well.

Sounds like an interesting read - one more for the wishlist!

I Wish I'd been There edited by Byron Hollinshead. Twenty essays exploring the moments the historians would most like to have been present to watch; from Alexander the Great to Monty accepting the surrender of German forces at Lüneburg Heath. Sounds like one or two of the GD threads, and like the GD, it's fascinating!

I'm debating the purchase of a Kindle edition of I Wish I'd Been There. Essays are great for reading during my daily commute.

Methinks Dayna would love The Mountains of Saint Francis by Walter Alvarez, he of asteroid-that-killed-the-Dinosaurs fame. This one explains how Italy comes to be above sea level, why the place is where it is and what sits underneath. I see the one review on LT comments that the book is technical in parts. Sure it is, but any less so and it'd stop making sense. Oh, and IMHO Alvarez has and uses (the latter is important) the all-too-rare gift of being able to write a readable paragraph. And another. And another. And enough to make one read too much in one sitting. Beautiful, just like Italy. Highly recommended.

Oh my does that book look good!

Have just finished Stephen Fry in America and must return it to the library today, so this is posted in haste. Was particularly taken with a paragraph in the introduction:
"The overwhelming majority of Americans I met on my journey were kind, courteous, honourable and hospitable beyond expectation. Such striking levels of warmth, politeness and consideration were encountered not just ... but in the ordinary Americans I met in the filling-stations, restaurants, hotels and shops, too."

That certainly sounds like the folk I met in DC in 1998, and like the USAnians in the Green Dragon. He must be talking about the right place.

That said, this book is full of interesting bits the usual guide doesn't reach, and makes a good case for spending several lifetimes (one is clearly not enough) exploring this vast and amazing place.

Oooh, I have that one waiting for me on my bookshelf - I'm a little bit enamoured of Stephen Fry and can't wait to get to it!

I wrote that one down. Sounds good!

On my TBR pile too. Must move it up. Thanks for a nice comment.

Another thumbs up for The Gecko's Foot. I got that one this year was surprised at how much fun it was. I don't know if I'm turning into a geek or if I'm just enjoying science more.

Last weekend I had Have his Carcase out of the library, and that turned the weekend into an unplanned DNBR day. So yesterday I returned it and took out Strong Poison. The day was saved from being a total DNBR day (not sure that a day needs saving from such a feat) mainly by the fact that this one's considerably shorter than the other. Now let me see ... Kloof's got Thrones, Dominions and I think Hillcrest has Gaudy Night. Next weekend, hmmm?

I'll readily agree with MrsLee (on a different thread) that Dorothy Sayers is a 5-* writer!

And I'm not cluttering the Dragon with a new thread yet! This one's still plenty good enough!

Yes, it is! Thanks for the report on your DNBR day, however unplanned it was. I also appreciate the praise for Dorothy Sayers.

Sayers is definitely a treasure. All this talk about her books has me wanting to visit with Wimsey again soon.

#27 - So glad to see another who appreciates her!

May I suggest, if at all possible, read her own works first, then decide whether or not to read Thrones & Dominions. That one was finished from her notes of an unpublished work by Joan Patton Walsh, and in my opinion does not have the same voice. Laurie King did a better job in her little snippet of an homage to Lord Peter in one of her Mary Russell novels. For which she got in big trouble from the Sayers estate. :)

#31 Thanks -- like many of her books Thrones, Dominions would be a re-read for me. My library should show quite a few sayerses, including some fairly onscure ones -- ever heard of a slim volume called Even the Parrot ? Which as far as I know appeared briefly in the early 1940s and quietly vanished thereafter.

I've never heard of that one. Which Laurie King book is Lord Peter in?

#32 - Ahhh, a veteran! No, I've not heard of that one. I am wanting to buy a lot of her more obscure works, especially her religious philosophy works, but am finding the cost prohibitive. One of these days. :)

#33 - A Letter of Mary also in a few other places, as "the second son of the Duke."

I just read this on the Dorothy Sayers - Fanlore site. "Sayers herself once wrote a short piece for a BBC radio broadcast in which a very young Peter Wimsey traveled to Baker Street in order to consult Sherlock Holmes about a lost kitten."

I can readily imagine that!

Some unremarkable books, as seen on my profile. I suspect I'm not alone in being less than overwhelmed by David Eddings's Malloreon series -- read books 1,2 and 5, omitting 3 and 4, one on the advice of LT reviews, the other because the library doesn't have it. Didn't miss those volumes one bit -- even so, book 2 dragged badly. Methinks the series could have done with drastic pruning.

Better news, and I think Dayna would love it, is A brief history of history (touchstone not working, though there are 10 copies in LT) by Colin Wells. A, well, brief, survey of what the idea of history meant to the writers of it from Herodotus to the 20th century. Fascinating, well written, and indeed more gripping to me than the other.

I can't imagine reading the first and last books of a series. It makes me twitchy. Also, that my beloved Malloreon got panned. *sobs*

The history book sounds good *jots down a note*

What Morphy said. *twitch*
I 'loved' the Belgariad series, but I still enjoyed the Mallorean with all my favorite characters back again. I haven't reread them in ages but I keep planning too.

Sorry, ladies! Just think how dull it would be if we all liked the same things!

Yup! What would there be to talk about if we all agreed on everything?

Recently discovered Tom Holt in the library, in the shape of Blonde Bombshell. Interesting twist on a situation we (almost) all take for granted, with huge potential for slapstick comedy. Suitably inspired by this, I've just finished The Better Mousetrap. Possibly too many incredible coincidences (more than one per chapter may be considered to be overdoing it). But a delightful read nonetheless. One tiny bit of sparkle I can't resist sharing: I love the idea of a bank called Credit Mayonnaise.

Just finished Babylon: Mesopotamia and the birth of civilization, which I think Dayna might like. Readable and thought-provoking. Sure there are patches where you need to put your mind into 4-wheel-drive, but they're neither long nor many.

Over lunchh times at work I'm reading From the Table of my Memory by Urmila Jithoo -- touchstone doesn't work for this one. The author's father had a shop in a very lively part of Durban, and when she grew up she moved to New York for 22 years. The book is stories from her, well, memory, and relevant recipes. I suspect that if MrsLee coud find a copy she'd love it. What does it say about a book of memoirs when my only criticism is that she seems a bit heavy-handed with the chillies?

Whooa! The touchstone on that memoir is whacko, unless that was one evil woman. Heavy on the chilies and stealer of souls? That might be too much for even me!

The touchstone is WAY off -- about as far as possible from what it should be.

#35 - That History touchstone is off, too. I'll do some LT sleuthing.

It's this one: http://www.librarything.com/work/7505608

Looks good. Did anyone read his other book, Sailing from Byzantium: How a Lost Empire Shaped the World?

#35 - if you want to read the edited version then you can just read one book Belgarath, and if you want to read the same thing again, there's also polgara these have all the "highlights" of the original series condensed into a far less weary length.

Hugh, I'm so sorry I didn't see your book recommendation (A Brief History of History) until just now. (clammy had to point it out to me!)

#45 Thank you, Clam.

When I've finished reading it, I'll put the Urmila Jithoo on my 'read but unowned' list (it's a library book), with a pointer from here for MrsLee. It may nevertheless be difficult to find in USA, as it's put out by an obscure South African publisher.

Haven't read Sailing from Byzantium, but would love to! Many thanks for the heads-up.

I read Sailing from Byzantium two years ago or something like that. It was good but perhaps a bit cursory. It was particularly interesting to read with a mental eye on Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors :-)

Am about to put Earth, Air, Fire and Custard on my 'read but unowned' list. I think I agree with the reviews on LT. It's a long 400 pages, and more wearisome than it needs to be. To me it resembles the Pratchett character Agnes Nitt (a fat girl with a pleasant thin one trying to get out): this is a fat book with a good thin one hiding inside. If the first 200 pages had been cut by somewhat more than half they could have been rendered coherent, and that would allow the last 100 pages to be cut back by a long and no-longer-needed explanation. As it is, the explanation is almost the best part. Which is a pity, because his other books show that the author can do better than this. (Hands up those who perceive that it's marking season in the local Academia!)

How the Great Pyramid was built by Craig B. Smith. No flying saucers. No extra-terrestrials. Just 43000 good men and true and a project manager who knew what to do and in what sequence to do it. A short but engrossing read; I think @DaynaRT would like this one.

Stop tempting me!

}:-) (I got it out the library, so it didn't cost. Surely you can do the same trick?)

Oooh, the library does have it!

Have just finished R.T. Kaelin's Progeny, months after everybody else in the pub (I think). Without wishing to commit a SPOILER, what can I say other than that it earns every word of praise it's had and if you are the least person left on earth who hasn't read it, give yourself a treat and go and rectify your omission immediately. My biggest problem is that it ends on a massive cliffhanger, leaving me among the thousands biting their nails and wondering what happens next!

okay, okay, I'll move it up in the TBR mountain.