![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
larryhammerReading Wednesday, and I done read somethings:
The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks, the last Culture novel. A good skiffy read, but not quite as strong as (say) Look to Windward or Use of Weapons. If you like the Culture stories that focus on Minds rather than Special Circumstances, you've probably already read this, but if you haven't, you'll probably like it. While I appreciate that the moral issues raised are marked as ambiguous, the ambiguities are not treated with much subtlety.
The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer, a reread of one I remembered as entertaining -- but nothing else about it. It's actually one of her more complicated and well-constructed plots, complete with a cross-dressing heroine with a vivid imagination -- enetertaining withall. However, comma, I am not at all sold on that the hero really is feeling as pressured to marry as the plot requires, especially given his self-possession otherwise demonstrated. So, well-constructed aside from that plot-hole in the premise.
Currently in progress:
Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer, another reread of one I couldn't remember. Strong-willed and -tempered heroine versus the hard-willed and -mannered hero she once jilted. So far, it's looking also not her best and the power dynamics are making me a little queasy (in the hands of Trollope, this would be a dreadful novel), though at least Heyer's cribbing from Pride and Prejudice is done subtly enough to not offend.
DNF: Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo -- never engaged me.
Subject quote from "Glasgow," Alexander Smith.
The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks, the last Culture novel. A good skiffy read, but not quite as strong as (say) Look to Windward or Use of Weapons. If you like the Culture stories that focus on Minds rather than Special Circumstances, you've probably already read this, but if you haven't, you'll probably like it. While I appreciate that the moral issues raised are marked as ambiguous, the ambiguities are not treated with much subtlety.
The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer, a reread of one I remembered as entertaining -- but nothing else about it. It's actually one of her more complicated and well-constructed plots, complete with a cross-dressing heroine with a vivid imagination -- enetertaining withall. However, comma, I am not at all sold on that the hero really is feeling as pressured to marry as the plot requires, especially given his self-possession otherwise demonstrated. So, well-constructed aside from that plot-hole in the premise.
Currently in progress:
Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer, another reread of one I couldn't remember. Strong-willed and -tempered heroine versus the hard-willed and -mannered hero she once jilted. So far, it's looking also not her best and the power dynamics are making me a little queasy (in the hands of Trollope, this would be a dreadful novel), though at least Heyer's cribbing from Pride and Prejudice is done subtly enough to not offend.
DNF: Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo -- never engaged me.
Subject quote from "Glasgow," Alexander Smith.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 1 July 2015 03:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 1 July 2015 07:42 pm (UTC)The Hydrogen Sonata is indeed a good title, and the work on music it's named after is used well in the story. I'd probably hate the music itself, though, if I ever heard it.
---L.
no subject
Date: 1 July 2015 08:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 July 2015 03:03 pm (UTC)---L.