Book update
6 June 2007 22:19![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kmusserTime to catch up on book reviews:
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell - an unexpected treat, a series of short stories, each in a different era and referencing the story before - the somewhat bizarre structure of the book made it interesting, as with most collections the individual stories varied in quality, but most were good.
Redeeming the Lost by Elizabeth Kerner - the third book of the series mentioned previously, a suitably good ending with much dragon vs demon goodness, though I still think the 2nd book is the best of the 3.
Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon - A neat book in which the protagonist is an old lady that decides to stay behind to die, alone on a planet when its colony is abandoned. Somewhat predictably she isn't really alone as she makes first contact with the aliens.
Windhaven by George R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle - This is secretly an Anne McCaffrey book, enjoyable if somewhat fluffy, if you like other McCaffrey you'll probably like this one too.
Sea Dragon Heir, The Crown of Silence, The Way of Light by Storm Constantine - another unexpected treat, these were excellent. An dark fantasy series with heavily Pagan overtones, gothy atmosphere, and plenty of political intrigue.
A Pirate Looks at Fifty by Jimmy Buffett - hey, non-fiction! I found this enjoyable, and I'm not even a big Jimmy Buffett fan. It's part autobiography and part travelogue as Jimmy flies about the Caribbean and South America in his seaplane.
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain via audiobook - another autobiographical book as Bourdain talks about his experience with the restaurant business - you'll never look at a restaurant the same way again. One of the things I like about both Bourdain and Buffett is that they both embrace the live life to its fullest ideal which I endorse. Bring on the hedonism :-)
Sundiver and The Uplift War by David Brin - I had already read Startide Rising which is book 2 of the Uplift series some time and really enjoyed it (dolphins in spaaaace!). Now I'm finally getting to the rest of them. This first book, Sundiver, is probably skippable, not really related to the others except for the shared universe, it's basically a murder mystery with lots of aliens. The Uplift War however is excellent. Events are concurrent with those of Startide Rising, but in a different part of the galaxy. Lots of action and an alien whose highest art form is the practical joke. Overall the book is both a paean to the value of diversity in all forms and the value of humor in times of crisis.
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell - an unexpected treat, a series of short stories, each in a different era and referencing the story before - the somewhat bizarre structure of the book made it interesting, as with most collections the individual stories varied in quality, but most were good.
Redeeming the Lost by Elizabeth Kerner - the third book of the series mentioned previously, a suitably good ending with much dragon vs demon goodness, though I still think the 2nd book is the best of the 3.
Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon - A neat book in which the protagonist is an old lady that decides to stay behind to die, alone on a planet when its colony is abandoned. Somewhat predictably she isn't really alone as she makes first contact with the aliens.
Windhaven by George R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle - This is secretly an Anne McCaffrey book, enjoyable if somewhat fluffy, if you like other McCaffrey you'll probably like this one too.
Sea Dragon Heir, The Crown of Silence, The Way of Light by Storm Constantine - another unexpected treat, these were excellent. An dark fantasy series with heavily Pagan overtones, gothy atmosphere, and plenty of political intrigue.
A Pirate Looks at Fifty by Jimmy Buffett - hey, non-fiction! I found this enjoyable, and I'm not even a big Jimmy Buffett fan. It's part autobiography and part travelogue as Jimmy flies about the Caribbean and South America in his seaplane.
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain via audiobook - another autobiographical book as Bourdain talks about his experience with the restaurant business - you'll never look at a restaurant the same way again. One of the things I like about both Bourdain and Buffett is that they both embrace the live life to its fullest ideal which I endorse. Bring on the hedonism :-)
Sundiver and The Uplift War by David Brin - I had already read Startide Rising which is book 2 of the Uplift series some time and really enjoyed it (dolphins in spaaaace!). Now I'm finally getting to the rest of them. This first book, Sundiver, is probably skippable, not really related to the others except for the shared universe, it's basically a murder mystery with lots of aliens. The Uplift War however is excellent. Events are concurrent with those of Startide Rising, but in a different part of the galaxy. Lots of action and an alien whose highest art form is the practical joke. Overall the book is both a paean to the value of diversity in all forms and the value of humor in times of crisis.