Time for some book talk! Here’s a few reads I’m currently working my way through:
New Reads
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. The first book in the series. This one was recommended to me by a friend as sci-fi worth reading. I’m about halfway through, and I think I agree. It’s a little slow to get started, but now I’m definitely hooked. It reminds me a little bit of Jack McDevitt’s Academy series, in that there are some mysterious ancient alien ruins hinting at disaster, but the society Reynolds envisions (complete with humans of varying degrees of cyborg/AI-ness) is very different. I’m eager to finish this and see what the rest of the series has in store.
The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson. This month’s book club nonfiction pick, all about the history and morphing of the English language. I suggested it, as I’ve read Bill Bryson before and enjoy the humorous tone he brings to things which could otherwise be really dry. This had been on my to-read list for awhile. It is an older book of his, comparatively, (1990) and I’m beginning to suspect he hadn’t fully developed his voice yet when writing this. It’s still interesting, but it hasn’t quite made me chuckle like his other books I’ve read. We’ll see what the other book clubbers think at the end of the month.
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson. Aging, widowed Major Pettigrew begins a new romance with the widowed Pakistani shopkeeper Jasmina Ali, and their small British town and families throw a hissy fit. This is actually a lovely book, and I like the characters of Pettigrew and Jasmina. But I’m having a hard time pushing through; it has the pace of life in the English countryside – slow. And I really just want to skip to the end and avoid all the unpleasantness I know is coming in the middle. I want it to be like Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (which has nothing to do with this book other than the main character name) and be full of romance with a happy ending.
Re-Reads
The Giver by Lois Lowry, and Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I read both of these years, years, years ago, and loved them, but the recent movie and TV show respectively have made me want to re-read them and compare. There will probably be some forthcoming Book vs. Movie/Show posts coming once I finish.
What are you reading lately? Any recommendations?
