Hey, I'm reading again
Nov. 9th, 2008 04:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jtniehofI got everything squared away with the library and started queueing up orders on a regular basis. Plus, lots of optometrist appointments (an hour each way on the T) and being sick the whole last week of October gave me lots of reading time.
Man on Wire: The story of the guy who tight-rope walked between the World Trade Center towers. Thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
diatomacearth for suggesting an outing for this one. The movie intercuts the actual WTC attempt with preparations and his previous wire exploits. It was even more fascinating than I expected; Philippe Petit is such a driven, powerful character. Nearly everybody involved (it was quite an operation) seems to have a sense of accomplishment but also sadness...it certainly turned out best for Petit.
Bell, Book, and Candle: Liz Netflix'd this, and I joined in because hey, Jimmy Stewart. I suppose in retrospect most of the plot "twists" are fairly obvious even if they didn't seem so at the time. Maybe they just weren't telegraphed. Pretty fun little romantic comedy. I wish they hadn't tried so hard on the effects, because of course they look bad now.
Funny Face: I'm a huge Hepburn fan, so I've owned this for a bit but hadn't thrown it in yet. Yes, yes, it's a Fred Astaire song-and-dance number. There's a certain awkwardness to the 30-year age difference between the principles, compounded by the obsolesence of, well, Fred Astaire song-and-dance numbers by 1957. It's balanced by some really good cinematography, including great lighting (barring the last scene and the 50's credo that "night is just day closed down a few F-stops.") And Audrey's a queen from her first appearance, as usual.
Veronica Mars, Season 3: This feels very odd. I found 3 significantly more enjoyable than Season 2, with a lot of fun and some nice witty banter dialogue. The Dean was a great character. At the same time, Veronica really turned into a much less moral, vindictive, whatever-I-can-get-away-with character. Even in S1 there was some tension in the idea of Veronica as a heroine; by
S3 she was just amoral. Total nonending, too, with foreshadowing of nastiness--not very satisfying.
Top Gear Season 7 and 8: Yep, I'm officially addicted, going through all the back episodes. Highlights from S7: referring to the Coupe version of the Boxster as "Cockster"; racing a course in Gran Turismo 4, then going to race the real thing. Season 8: putting a woodburning stove and other "cottage" touches in a car; taking a caravan holiday that ends in burning it down.
The Soul of a New Machine (Tracy Kidder): The story of the group that designed Data General's first 32-bit minicomputer, back in 1979. Fascinating "technology plus personality" story that's been recommended to me for over a decade. Glad I finally read it.
Deep Survival (Laurence Gonzales): The subtitle is "Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why," which is a bit overstated. I found this book interesting, informative, and flawed. Most of the book is split between the author crowing how badass he is and developing his somewhat out-there theory of cognition. He's got a strong anti-intellectual axe to grind, too. For some reason he refers to any non-analytic processes (instinct, etc.) as "emotion" and, more bizarrely, files inductive logic under "emotion" as well. He doesn't provide much backing for his inferences about how the brain works. However, sifting through his observations (and few cited sources) instead of his conclusions provides a lot of fodder for thought.
Climbing Anchors (John Long): The library only had the first edition, so that's what I got. It's enough to convince me I do want the book. Doubt I'll get too much out of it until I can sit with it cliffside and work through some stuff. It does have the same problem as How to Rock Climb, though: the really convoluted bits of prose never seem to have the diagram that would make it all clear.
Centauri Prime Trilogy (Peter David): I've been meaning to read this for awhile; the three Babylon 5 "canon" trilogies have a good reputation and the Psi Corps one read quite well. I wasn't disappointed. This mainly tracks Vir and his character changes, which are dramatic. The transition that starts in the series goes to completion in these books. And everything foreshadowed in the series is brought about most satisfyingly. Peter David's a fine author in his own right, particularly well-known for excellent licensed fiction, and this is no exception. The "voice" of the series is also quite strong here.
Technomage Trilogy (Jeanne Cavelos): The third canon trilogy. A lot of people on rec.arts.sf.babylon5.moderated were raving when this one came out, and it's well deserved. Galen fleshes out really well from "the annoying mysterious one" of B5 and Crusade. Unfortunately, the whole thing's a bit of a downer...fairly dark, even though highly engaging and even enjoyable. I also found the connection with the feel of B5 a bit weaker, although that can be dismissed as this is more of a Crusade tie-in. There's one huge bit of retcon that I really dislike.
Anathem (Neal Stephenson): Thanksdiatomacearth for the loan! I may do a large spoilerific review later, but this will be spoiler-free. On the whole, this is a really strong book, certainly better than the Baroque Cycle. It's a pretty solid piece of world-building, too, especially once the plot gets going. The first 150 pages are fairly weak, as the plot hasn't developed yet and you're wading through a huge amount of invented vocabulary. I can't help but compare to Tolkien, who made a tremendously huge world that was always in the background, but never made it difficult to actually enter the story. Stephenson doesn't do as good a job with the entry. Oh, and he also commits what I consider the cardinal sin of fantasy writing. You'll see.
Final Fantasy X: I'm finally done, after 195 hours of playtime. I defeated all the monsters in the monster arena without summons (exception: I used aeons sacrificially on Nemesis) and got everybody's celestial weapon except Tidus (I did not have the patience for any more chocobo racing.) I never, ever need to do that again, with any Square game. The amount of sidequests and sheer grinding that they put in these days is way too much for any sane person, and they obviously plan on you using GameFAQs, strategy guides, etc. That aside...I thought it was a better game than IX. X started weak but slowly got stronger. The dark and desperate undertones which developed grabbed me a lot more than most FF save-the-world plots, and by the end I could at least tolerate all the characters. Although Tidus is still a whiny jerk. I wish I'd had the option of Japanese voice acting despite the descent job from the American cast.
Man on Wire: The story of the guy who tight-rope walked between the World Trade Center towers. Thanks to
diatomacearth for suggesting an outing for this one. The movie intercuts the actual WTC attempt with preparations and his previous wire exploits. It was even more fascinating than I expected; Philippe Petit is such a driven, powerful character. Nearly everybody involved (it was quite an operation) seems to have a sense of accomplishment but also sadness...it certainly turned out best for Petit.Bell, Book, and Candle: Liz Netflix'd this, and I joined in because hey, Jimmy Stewart. I suppose in retrospect most of the plot "twists" are fairly obvious even if they didn't seem so at the time. Maybe they just weren't telegraphed. Pretty fun little romantic comedy. I wish they hadn't tried so hard on the effects, because of course they look bad now.
Funny Face: I'm a huge Hepburn fan, so I've owned this for a bit but hadn't thrown it in yet. Yes, yes, it's a Fred Astaire song-and-dance number. There's a certain awkwardness to the 30-year age difference between the principles, compounded by the obsolesence of, well, Fred Astaire song-and-dance numbers by 1957. It's balanced by some really good cinematography, including great lighting (barring the last scene and the 50's credo that "night is just day closed down a few F-stops.") And Audrey's a queen from her first appearance, as usual.
Veronica Mars, Season 3: This feels very odd. I found 3 significantly more enjoyable than Season 2, with a lot of fun and some nice witty banter dialogue. The Dean was a great character. At the same time, Veronica really turned into a much less moral, vindictive, whatever-I-can-get-away-with character. Even in S1 there was some tension in the idea of Veronica as a heroine; by
S3 she was just amoral. Total nonending, too, with foreshadowing of nastiness--not very satisfying.
Top Gear Season 7 and 8: Yep, I'm officially addicted, going through all the back episodes. Highlights from S7: referring to the Coupe version of the Boxster as "Cockster"; racing a course in Gran Turismo 4, then going to race the real thing. Season 8: putting a woodburning stove and other "cottage" touches in a car; taking a caravan holiday that ends in burning it down.
The Soul of a New Machine (Tracy Kidder): The story of the group that designed Data General's first 32-bit minicomputer, back in 1979. Fascinating "technology plus personality" story that's been recommended to me for over a decade. Glad I finally read it.
Deep Survival (Laurence Gonzales): The subtitle is "Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why," which is a bit overstated. I found this book interesting, informative, and flawed. Most of the book is split between the author crowing how badass he is and developing his somewhat out-there theory of cognition. He's got a strong anti-intellectual axe to grind, too. For some reason he refers to any non-analytic processes (instinct, etc.) as "emotion" and, more bizarrely, files inductive logic under "emotion" as well. He doesn't provide much backing for his inferences about how the brain works. However, sifting through his observations (and few cited sources) instead of his conclusions provides a lot of fodder for thought.
Climbing Anchors (John Long): The library only had the first edition, so that's what I got. It's enough to convince me I do want the book. Doubt I'll get too much out of it until I can sit with it cliffside and work through some stuff. It does have the same problem as How to Rock Climb, though: the really convoluted bits of prose never seem to have the diagram that would make it all clear.
Centauri Prime Trilogy (Peter David): I've been meaning to read this for awhile; the three Babylon 5 "canon" trilogies have a good reputation and the Psi Corps one read quite well. I wasn't disappointed. This mainly tracks Vir and his character changes, which are dramatic. The transition that starts in the series goes to completion in these books. And everything foreshadowed in the series is brought about most satisfyingly. Peter David's a fine author in his own right, particularly well-known for excellent licensed fiction, and this is no exception. The "voice" of the series is also quite strong here.
Technomage Trilogy (Jeanne Cavelos): The third canon trilogy. A lot of people on rec.arts.sf.babylon5.moderated were raving when this one came out, and it's well deserved. Galen fleshes out really well from "the annoying mysterious one" of B5 and Crusade. Unfortunately, the whole thing's a bit of a downer...fairly dark, even though highly engaging and even enjoyable. I also found the connection with the feel of B5 a bit weaker, although that can be dismissed as this is more of a Crusade tie-in. There's one huge bit of retcon that I really dislike.
Anathem (Neal Stephenson): Thanks
diatomacearth for the loan! I may do a large spoilerific review later, but this will be spoiler-free. On the whole, this is a really strong book, certainly better than the Baroque Cycle. It's a pretty solid piece of world-building, too, especially once the plot gets going. The first 150 pages are fairly weak, as the plot hasn't developed yet and you're wading through a huge amount of invented vocabulary. I can't help but compare to Tolkien, who made a tremendously huge world that was always in the background, but never made it difficult to actually enter the story. Stephenson doesn't do as good a job with the entry. Oh, and he also commits what I consider the cardinal sin of fantasy writing. You'll see.Final Fantasy X: I'm finally done, after 195 hours of playtime. I defeated all the monsters in the monster arena without summons (exception: I used aeons sacrificially on Nemesis) and got everybody's celestial weapon except Tidus (I did not have the patience for any more chocobo racing.) I never, ever need to do that again, with any Square game. The amount of sidequests and sheer grinding that they put in these days is way too much for any sane person, and they obviously plan on you using GameFAQs, strategy guides, etc. That aside...I thought it was a better game than IX. X started weak but slowly got stronger. The dark and desperate undertones which developed grabbed me a lot more than most FF save-the-world plots, and by the end I could at least tolerate all the characters. Although Tidus is still a whiny jerk. I wish I'd had the option of Japanese voice acting despite the descent job from the American cast.