Arbie's Unoriginally Titled Book Blog
It's a blog! Mainly of book reviews.
Currently reading
Reading progress update: I've read 164 out of 1102 pages.
It's nice to be alert enough to read some poetry for once!
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Reading progress update: I've read 205 out of 320 pages.
The author of this book is currently at Everest base camp in Nepal, preparing for an ascent.
2
Reading progress update: I've read 308 out of 600 pages.
Multiple viewpoint characters are often annoying but in this case it seems beneficial to get the different voices and different perspectives - helps prevent things getting stodgy. KSR's voice is still obvious throughout, though.
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Reading progress update: I've read 204 out of 320 pages.
Sometimes the transition from science explanation to travelogue is abrupt and jarring.
4
Reading progress update: I've read 122 out of 600 pages.
Common KSR themes already evident: ecology; climate change; anti-captilism; mysterious goings-on.
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Reading progress update: I've read 100 out of 600 pages.
A bit too much research exposition about the history of New York; if it doesn't advance the story, don't put it in.
4
Reading progress update: I've read 97 out of 203 pages.
Oh noes! Our protagonist has been diagnosed with "having a soul"!
Reading progress update: I've read 40 out of 203 pages.
Will Self's Introduction is a complete waste of paper, unless knowing how stupid Will Self is has some value to you. The story itself starts chillingly and then veers into the truely bizarre as well as scary. Influence on Orwell's 1984 obvious already.
Reading progress update: I've read 171 out of 320 pages.
Scotland and the variability of solar activity.
3
Reading progress update: I've read 151 out of 320 pages.
Potted history of Yellowknife, named after the blades made by the local Dene people from copper: I didn't know any Americans were routinely using metal prior to the arrival of European colonists. The famous ice roads are the ONLY roads connecting to the rest of the world - it's float plane or boat only for 9 months of the year. The prospect of a permanent road is divisive...
3
Reading progress update: I've read 65 out of 160 pages.
Waldere: only fragments remain in Anglo-Saxon but the story is known from sources in other languages.
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Reading progress update: I've read 128 out of 320 pages.
Scientific explanations vary from garbled messes to quite clear, seemingly depending on where the author got her info: solar physics (unknown source) hopeless; aurorae (Eric Donovan) good; magnetosphere/substorms (Steve Milan) good. Steve Milan is a very helpful bloke, btw; he gave a very useful critique of my application for my current job (as did his equally helpful wife, Gabrielle Provan).
4
Reading progress update: I've read 394 out of 638 pages.
Japanese schoolboys from the turn of the 20th Century are not much different from British schoolboys from 100 years later...
...also baseball arrived in Japan much earlier than I would have guessed!
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Reading progress update: I've read 100 out of 320 pages.
Ah! Eric Donovan - Professor at Calgary University of not phoning you at the agreed time for a job interview, thereby ruining your Easter holiday, and making pathetic excuses about it afterwards. You will note I don't work for him...
Reading progress update: I've read 75 out of 160 pages.
Much about school experiences and immigrant experience.
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Reading progress update: I've read 368 out of 638 pages.
An update from Flagon:
Roar! There's a place mentioned called The Cave of the Sleeping Dragon. Sounds like my kind of place! And there's no Dragon living there - just a Cat with No Name! So I could move in and take a nap! I wonder if there's any Treasure to sleep on?
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