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books i've read lately
Jan. 27th, 2007 03:15 pm-Ben Hur. Kid made us watch this over Christmas so then of course I had to read the book! It was okay. I love how all the Jews in the story, including Mary, have blond hair and blue eyes. I do have to say that the motivations of characters were a little better expressed in the book than in the movie, but I'll cut them some slack for having to keep it to 4 hours or so :)
-The King Must Die, Mary Renault. This book is awesome cool. When we had late Christmas with D's family, the house we rented in CO had this book, which I picked up because i thought I'd heard of it before. It's the story of Theseus, told in a way that tries to make sense of the myth. That is, there is very little in the way of supernatural events, and mythic elements are explained in a more-or-less naturalistic way -- although obviously the main characters believe that events are caused by the gods, etc. For example, the Minotaur is not a supernatural bull-man from a god/woman mating, but rather refers to a bull mask worn in a ritualistic setting. At the same time, the mindset is weird and cool -- very much concerned with fate and the responsibility of kings (in particular, their responsibility to sacrifice themselves for their people). Really, really enjoyed this.
Just got the sequel from the library. I'm not sure if she really meant to write a sequel at the time she wrote the first book... well, we'll see how good it is. I suspect it won't be nearly as good, though.
-Honor Harrington (David Weber) - So while I was feeling really tired, I needed some mindless candy to read, and this is it. The first time I started these, a couple of years ago, I could not deal with them at all, because they were touted as something a Vorkosigan-lover would like. Well, they're not in the Slightest like Bujold, unless you mean "set in space," which is I guess what they did mean. Two-dimensional paper-flat characters, and the main character (who is beautiful-in-an-unconventional-way and smart and talented and etc.) has a sentient animal sidekick, which cracks me up every time I think about it -- but the plots are kind of fun, and the two-dimensionality means that you never have to worry about whom to root for.
Oops, gotta go to lunch. Stay tuned for theological-ish books (Confessions of St Augustine, What St Paul Said About Women, and What St Paul Really Said, all of which I recommend highly!)
-The King Must Die, Mary Renault. This book is awesome cool. When we had late Christmas with D's family, the house we rented in CO had this book, which I picked up because i thought I'd heard of it before. It's the story of Theseus, told in a way that tries to make sense of the myth. That is, there is very little in the way of supernatural events, and mythic elements are explained in a more-or-less naturalistic way -- although obviously the main characters believe that events are caused by the gods, etc. For example, the Minotaur is not a supernatural bull-man from a god/woman mating, but rather refers to a bull mask worn in a ritualistic setting. At the same time, the mindset is weird and cool -- very much concerned with fate and the responsibility of kings (in particular, their responsibility to sacrifice themselves for their people). Really, really enjoyed this.
Just got the sequel from the library. I'm not sure if she really meant to write a sequel at the time she wrote the first book... well, we'll see how good it is. I suspect it won't be nearly as good, though.
-Honor Harrington (David Weber) - So while I was feeling really tired, I needed some mindless candy to read, and this is it. The first time I started these, a couple of years ago, I could not deal with them at all, because they were touted as something a Vorkosigan-lover would like. Well, they're not in the Slightest like Bujold, unless you mean "set in space," which is I guess what they did mean. Two-dimensional paper-flat characters, and the main character (who is beautiful-in-an-unconventional-way and smart and talented and etc.) has a sentient animal sidekick, which cracks me up every time I think about it -- but the plots are kind of fun, and the two-dimensionality means that you never have to worry about whom to root for.
Oops, gotta go to lunch. Stay tuned for theological-ish books (Confessions of St Augustine, What St Paul Said About Women, and What St Paul Really Said, all of which I recommend highly!)
