Sunday Morning At Mickey's
Aug. 14th, 2011 11:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wombat_sochoI'm posting from the McDonald's on Duke Street up the hill from Foxchase because there's no internet at my place and won't be until (probably) Monday or Tuesday after I pay Cavalier what I owe them. Thank goodness McDonald's has the free wifi and isn't overrun with people; came in at 10 to grab breakfast and do the needful for Stacy before heading off to the ass-end of Loudoun County to help RS and Kimbie get their new place closer to habitability.
So, to get caught up on things...
I picked up Will Eisner's Life, in Pictures: Autobiographical Stories
partially because I didn't really know that much about Eisner, who's one of the seminal figures in American comics history, and partially because I found the idea of an autobiography done as graphic novel interesting. And it is, but it's also a string of depressing stories about growing up Jewish in America, and I needed that right now like I need another hole in my head.
Greg Bear's Hull Zero Three
is a another take on the old Robert Heinlein Orphans of the Sky story about a generation starship gone awry, but it suffers in comparison with Elizabeth Bear's (no relation) Dust
, which P had given me a few months ago. Hull Zero Three is shorter, less detailed, and more than a little annoying thereby; its protagonist stumbles through a situation he doesn't understand with a near-complete ignorance of how things work or what he's supposed to be doing, and no notion of whether he can trust the others he encounters along the way. I found it terribly frustrating and can't honestly recommend it.
I am beginning to think that Iain Banks doesn't know how to end a novel without killing his protagonists. I've read Consider Phlebas
before; in fact, it was the first Culture novel I ever read, loaned to me by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
stuckintraffik when I was still living in Minnesota. So I shouldn't have been surprised by the way it ended, but still, it had been long enough since I've read it that that apocalyptic ending was a surprise, and it is rather a downer. I still recommend the book, but you probably shouldn't read it if you're already in a down state of mind.
I already discussed Agatha H And The Airship City here so I won't reeat myself. Good book, well worth reading.
And now I must do the linkagery thing.
So, to get caught up on things...
I picked up Will Eisner's Life, in Pictures: Autobiographical Stories
partially because I didn't really know that much about Eisner, who's one of the seminal figures in American comics history, and partially because I found the idea of an autobiography done as graphic novel interesting. And it is, but it's also a string of depressing stories about growing up Jewish in America, and I needed that right now like I need another hole in my head.Greg Bear's Hull Zero Three
is a another take on the old Robert Heinlein Orphans of the Sky story about a generation starship gone awry, but it suffers in comparison with Elizabeth Bear's (no relation) Dust, which P had given me a few months ago. Hull Zero Three is shorter, less detailed, and more than a little annoying thereby; its protagonist stumbles through a situation he doesn't understand with a near-complete ignorance of how things work or what he's supposed to be doing, and no notion of whether he can trust the others he encounters along the way. I found it terribly frustrating and can't honestly recommend it.I am beginning to think that Iain Banks doesn't know how to end a novel without killing his protagonists. I've read Consider Phlebas
before; in fact, it was the first Culture novel I ever read, loaned to me by stuckintraffik when I was still living in Minnesota. So I shouldn't have been surprised by the way it ended, but still, it had been long enough since I've read it that that apocalyptic ending was a surprise, and it is rather a downer. I still recommend the book, but you probably shouldn't read it if you're already in a down state of mind. I already discussed Agatha H And The Airship City here so I won't reeat myself. Good book, well worth reading.
And now I must do the linkagery thing.
