Recent reading
Apr. 11th, 2009 03:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calzephyrI got Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire from the free pile at work and it's positively unenchanting. Maguire is famous for Wicked, which is all about the Wicked Witch of the West's point of view. Confessions is Cinderella from the point of view of one of the stepsisters. I managed to get halfway through it - this book just isn't working for me. It's terribly pedantic, although I like the idea well enough.
Another book I'm finding slow going is The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. I haven't read any of her books before, but again, I'm at the halfway mark and not feeling any of the characters, places or story. I'll probably trudge along and finish this one, but I don't feel terribly motivated to do so!
Lastly I had a third strike with Portal by Rob Swigart. It was previously an interactive novel published in the 1980s. My husband enjoyed this book immensely, but after the third chapter, the techno speak in it was a little overwhelming and boring for me. Portal had a lot of problems that science fiction is criticized for, such as flat characterization. It is certainly an interesting premise - an astronaut asleep for many years returns to an abandoned earth. He manages to activate a computer network and slowly learns about what happened through a program called Homer. I suppose it is an interesting book from what it leaves out, but it also leaves out a huge emotional connection as well. The main character is a young teenager, Peter Devore, who manages to open a portal and takes everyone with him. Different fonts are used for different databases, and I found they really interrupted the story Homer tells. It probably works better as a game.
Another book I'm finding slow going is The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. I haven't read any of her books before, but again, I'm at the halfway mark and not feeling any of the characters, places or story. I'll probably trudge along and finish this one, but I don't feel terribly motivated to do so!
Lastly I had a third strike with Portal by Rob Swigart. It was previously an interactive novel published in the 1980s. My husband enjoyed this book immensely, but after the third chapter, the techno speak in it was a little overwhelming and boring for me. Portal had a lot of problems that science fiction is criticized for, such as flat characterization. It is certainly an interesting premise - an astronaut asleep for many years returns to an abandoned earth. He manages to activate a computer network and slowly learns about what happened through a program called Homer. I suppose it is an interesting book from what it leaves out, but it also leaves out a huge emotional connection as well. The main character is a young teenager, Peter Devore, who manages to open a portal and takes everyone with him. Different fonts are used for different databases, and I found they really interrupted the story Homer tells. It probably works better as a game.
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Date: 2009-04-11 11:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-12 01:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-12 01:50 am (UTC)Oh, and I hated Wicked. So won't be trying Confessions.
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Date: 2009-04-12 03:19 am (UTC)I finished reading Darkness tonight and I was surprised by how much the book changed after chapter 15, when Estrevan rescues Genry. This book has so many interesting themes about friendship and power, but I felt the writing was just too pedantic. I'll definitely try something else by her though!
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Date: 2009-04-12 02:49 pm (UTC)