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just a quick update
Nov. 2nd, 2015 06:02 pmMen at Arms by Terry Pratchett (44)
Guards, Guards by Terry Pratchett (45)
I'm quite enjoying Terry Pratchett, now that JMR got me started on him. Some of the things that held me back from reading him all these years (the 'just a bit too clever' cleverness, the slight air of smugness) are still there and occasionally irritate, but when I look back at authors I was quite fond of in the past, I see faults as or more egregious. And often those old favourites, on being revisted, don't have the wit and charm that I find in Pratchett. He's like a slightly sharper, slightly more bitter, but also slightly less predictable P.G. Wodehouse.
JMR suggested I read Men at Arms first, and I did, then picked Guards, Guards to follow it with as it seemed to be where the characters I had already met had been introduced. The "message" in M@A was heavy-handed and obvious, but it didn't intrude too much into the story, and the characters were entertaining and interesting enough that they occupied my attention thoroughly. Likewise, what seemed to be the thrust of G**2 was...there...but he didn't seem to feel the need to prose on about it forever, and the story itself was fun to read and the characters (again) entertaining.
In news unrelated to books, I'm growing my beard back, it being the end of the reenacting season (limited as it was for us this year).
In Progress
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
Blood of Victory by Alan Furst
Dunkirk: Retreat to Victory by Julian Thompson
Queen Victoria's Book of Spells Edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
1914: The Days of Hope by Lyn MacDonald
Learn Python the Hard Way by Zed A. Shaw
Think Python: How To Think Like a Computer Scientist by Allen B. Downey
The Somme by Robin Prior and Trevor Williams
What Color Is Your Parachute? 2015: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers by Richard N. Bolles
Crisis on the Danube: Napoleon's Austrian Campaign of 1809 by James R. Arnold
McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales edited by Michael Chabon
The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston
Empire of the Mind: A History of Iran by Michael Axworthy
Boer Commando by Denneys Reitz
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Other New York: The American Revolution Beyond New York City Ed. by Joseph S. Tiedemann and Eugene R. Fingerhut
Guards, Guards by Terry Pratchett (45)
I'm quite enjoying Terry Pratchett, now that JMR got me started on him. Some of the things that held me back from reading him all these years (the 'just a bit too clever' cleverness, the slight air of smugness) are still there and occasionally irritate, but when I look back at authors I was quite fond of in the past, I see faults as or more egregious. And often those old favourites, on being revisted, don't have the wit and charm that I find in Pratchett. He's like a slightly sharper, slightly more bitter, but also slightly less predictable P.G. Wodehouse.
JMR suggested I read Men at Arms first, and I did, then picked Guards, Guards to follow it with as it seemed to be where the characters I had already met had been introduced. The "message" in M@A was heavy-handed and obvious, but it didn't intrude too much into the story, and the characters were entertaining and interesting enough that they occupied my attention thoroughly. Likewise, what seemed to be the thrust of G**2 was...there...but he didn't seem to feel the need to prose on about it forever, and the story itself was fun to read and the characters (again) entertaining.
In news unrelated to books, I'm growing my beard back, it being the end of the reenacting season (limited as it was for us this year).
In Progress
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
Blood of Victory by Alan Furst
Dunkirk: Retreat to Victory by Julian Thompson
Queen Victoria's Book of Spells Edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
1914: The Days of Hope by Lyn MacDonald
Learn Python the Hard Way by Zed A. Shaw
Think Python: How To Think Like a Computer Scientist by Allen B. Downey
The Somme by Robin Prior and Trevor Williams
What Color Is Your Parachute? 2015: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers by Richard N. Bolles
Crisis on the Danube: Napoleon's Austrian Campaign of 1809 by James R. Arnold
McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales edited by Michael Chabon
The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston
Empire of the Mind: A History of Iran by Michael Axworthy
Boer Commando by Denneys Reitz
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Other New York: The American Revolution Beyond New York City Ed. by Joseph S. Tiedemann and Eugene R. Fingerhut
