Pretty not overwhelmed so far (I really have issues with the whole "underwhelmed" thing). I remember really enjoying the first book in the series - "The Parasol Protectorate" - not loving it, but enjoying it. It was funny, and entertaining, with some funny parts and something of a mystery...I think. Actually, now that I am trying to remember what I liked about it, I can't come up with anything that specific. I think I thought the main character was interesting, but looking back, she is maybe kinda totally pedictable and feels very familiar (even including the whole "no soul" thing). And it's not like vampires and werewolves are exactly thin on the ground in popular literature these days...and it's very barely steamy, or punky, for that matter. Seriously - do people just like using the word "dirigible" and figure if they put it in a book that makes it steam punk? Not that it isn't a super fantastic word. If I ever write a book I will definitely try to fit it in. Not that I think that's ever going to happen, since I am writing about other people's books right now - and ones that aren't that great maybe - instead of working on my essay revision, which actually kinda matters. Hmm. And I am not sure I even know exactly what steam punk is, but it seems like it should be a little cooler, or at least a little less predictable. But I DID really like Gail Carriger's story at the time...when I was on pain medication. Hmm. Well, we'll see. I shouldn't go back to reading it, really, until I finish the revision (but I DID finish my taxes Friday - gah, seriously, I owe the feds $666?! Number of the devil indeed - and last night was a total bust, so I needed something to do), but I'll keep an open mind.
Glad I did the same for Vanora Bennett's Portrait of an Unknown Woman; I ended up enjoying it quite a bit - and I now totally want to go learn more about Hans Holbein, so score on that account! I was just about to write that it took me a while to get into Portrait, but that's not really accurate. I never really "got into" it: I read the whole book (and it's a fairly fat book) a few pages at a time. But I came back to it each time mildly eager to read more. It was quietly compelling, if that makes sense. And Bennett ended up moving past what I thought was supposed to be the big surprise (and wasn't) in another direction, which I liked. Nothing big, nothing exciting, just small changes and events that are very significant in the lives of the people they happen to, mirroring the monumental events that surround them. According to a note at the end of the book the story was initally inspired by the Holbein interpretations on the website of some guy named Jack Leslau (http://www.holbeinartworks.org/) which I definitely want to check out now, after reading Bennett's explanation of all the hidden meanings in a few of Holbein's works & how they were inspired by his dealings with the More family. The inside cover of Portrait has a copy of a Holbein of the More family which I kept flipping to as I read the book, and I never even check maps in books (which is bad, since I bet I would get a lot more out of some stories if I actually understood what was going on in the way the author wants me to). Would have been nice if I had known that the portrait the author is describing for most of the book is not the one that's printed - I was getting wicked confused. I also want to try a biography of Thomas More again - Bennett has a bibliography in the back I might mine...including one by Peter Ackroyd, and I have enjoyed his novels, so I would give a nonfiction of his a shot. Shoot. Unless the Ackroyd is a novel?? Because she has Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time
listed under "On Richard III and the Plantagenets" - great mystery story, but most definitely a novel.As is Stephanie Barron's The White Garden - a wicked fun novel. And another one that makes me want to
go learn more, so double win. Barron (can't think of her real name) is just a lovely writer: everything rings true, even when she jumps back and forth in time, and she has a very relaxed & confident voice which I find appealing. There are also these discrete passages of pretty, smooth prose that just make you go "aah" and relax a little more into your seat/bed/whatever; sentences that just seem so right - where they are, how they're put together - strong but delicate at the same time. Pretty isn't a good word, but I'm thinking I use lovely too much ;) All her books are mysteries, and they're strong enough, but the impact of her books lies in her writing, and her characters, not in the who-dunnit parts.
No comments:
Post a Comment