Fiction Reading, June 2017
Jul. 1st, 2017 11:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI'm going to try copying a couple of my friends and listing my media consumption each month. Numbers are for the year, not for the month (the first book listed below is my 18th fiction book for the year).
18-Hamilton, Lyn. The Celtic Riddle (an archaeological mystery, #4) (2000) - This is set in a small town in the Irish seaside. It's one of those stories where everyone in the will has a clue and they have to work together to find the treasure, but they all hate each other. The other book I've read like this had clues I couldn't follow and was very disappointing.
I did enjoy the first sentence, though. "One of the very few advantages of being dead, I've discovered, is that you can say whatever you like." She was talking about the videotape of the deceased's parting words that was played before the reading of his will.
I was often irritated by the self-centered actions of our protagonist throughout the book. But as with the other novel by this person that I've read, I liked the ending. We see what's going through the mind of and into the ears of someone in a coma, and it's very entertainingly done.
19-Gilman, Dorothy. Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station (1983) (borrowed from Indigo Rose) - Mrs. Pollifax is recruited to find the exact location of a man in China so that he can be taken out of the country.
I really like the writing. Pollifax: "It's difficult to believe you've brought me here to discuss the weather. Really difficult, considering that you sent a private plane for me, which I must say was dashing of you." Bishop: "We do try to be dashing when we can." It's silly and unbelievable, but fun and with surprising plot twists. I've read the first Mrs. Pollifax and now want to read the others in order.
One interesting thing I learned about 1983 China: Even though China was trying to be a classless society, there were first-class train cars, referred to as soft seats (as opposed to hard seats). The floors were also kept well-mopped throughout the trip. And many restaurants had second-floor seating for tourists.
On currency: "She enjoyed their trip to the bank to exchange travelers' checks for tourist scrip: she watched in fascination as four clerks hovered over her money, carefully checking the amount on an abacus. But tourist money, Mr. Li told them, could not be spent on the streets, at the bazaars, or free markets, only in the government-run shops." She was told she could get real money by exchanging the script at Friendship Stores.
20-Gilman, Dorothy. The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax (1970) (Set mostly in Turkey) - Mrs. Pollifax acts as a courier, bringing money and papers to someone in trouble. For some reason, the ridiculous coincidences and good luck do not bother me in these stories. In this one, the amazing good luck is almost matched by amazing powers of the bad guys, so I guess that's fair.
We got to visit Istanbul, which has a new section (Byoglu) and an old section (Stamboul). And we visited a suburb, Uskudar, known for a huge cemetery. And the area around Göreme: "The rocks fairly jump out of the earth like weird stalactites. At Göreme they're called fairy tale chimneys--the early Christians hid in those rock chimneys centuries ago, hollowing them out inside and carving air holes and windows. They left behind fantastic Byzantine frescoes on their interior walls. The whole valley is full of surprises."
21-Gilman, Dorothy. The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax (1971) (set mostly in Bulgaria) (one of Robin's favorites) - Mrs. Pollifax is to deliver some passports, but due to economic considerations, she is transporting something else, too, unbeknownst to her. The theme is about how the best life is not about ease or luxury; it is about accomplishing important things.
On Balkantourist: "[I]t's the only travel agency in Bulgaria, and it's run by the government. It is the government. They'll arrange your itinerary, they'll arrange everything, as well as watch over you with fast benevolence."
On history: Mrs. Pollifax "was impressed and surprised to learn that it had been free of Turkey's oppressive rule for only some eighty years. It was the Russians who had helped liberate Bulgaria from Turkey, and it was the Russians who had libertated them later from the Nazis. It suggested a much more congenial relationship than she'd expected, and a difference from other satellite countries that intrigued her."
22-Gilman, Dorothy. Thale's Folly (1999) - (I like Gilman's writing so much, I also decided to try non-Mrs.-Pollifax books.) Man who's dead inside, now working for his dad, has to check out some family property on a weekend day. This property is located in a small town that's actually cool. The other characters are great and it's an obvious happy-ending book. Gilman loves her coincidences and fate (unlike me), but it's still okay. A quick fun read, but not a super favorite.
23-Kittredge, Mary. Dead and Gone (a Charlotte Kent mystery) (1991) (recommended by Robin) - At first I thought this writer is very uninspiring. "When I sat back at the table, I had a deck of salami slices, a chunk of toasted French bread heavily smeared with Brie, a quartered tomato, and a handful of Oreo coolies. Amidst her chic decorating scheme the simple food looked all wrong, so I decorated my own interior with it." "I was able to contemplate the diversity of the architecture looming all around me, in styles ranging from Early Greek Revival to Inadvisable Glass Monolithic." There are gems like this on every other page. I could never write this well!
But I don't love the characters. Or the plot.
But she is good at explaining how the world really works: "Innocent didn't count. What counted was an ambitious district attorney's ability to build a case, close the case, and get a lot of favorable newspaper ink in connection with the case." And "writers do not make money by writing their current books. They make money by writing outlines and chapters for future books, and by signing contracts promising to deliver these future books," as do their agents. But "there are special jails, I hear, for writers who stop turning in their manuscripts. They're called regular jobs."
24-Brittenham, Skip, Brian Haberlin, and Brian Holguin. (Brian Haberlin, Geirrod VanDyke, Kunrong Yap and Chan Hyuk Lee, illustrators) Shifter (2013+) (Wil Wheaton) (interactive voiced sci-fi graphic novel, borrowed from Robin) - Government inspector learns too much and his life is changed forever. Learn about politics, the environment, the industrial military complex, and prehistoric animals. (This is really hard to summarize without spoilers!) I read/viewed this on my iPad, and it works better with the sound on. You can also get this as a printed book, and if you download the app, you can see things from it in 3-D.
18-Hamilton, Lyn. The Celtic Riddle (an archaeological mystery, #4) (2000) - This is set in a small town in the Irish seaside. It's one of those stories where everyone in the will has a clue and they have to work together to find the treasure, but they all hate each other. The other book I've read like this had clues I couldn't follow and was very disappointing.
I did enjoy the first sentence, though. "One of the very few advantages of being dead, I've discovered, is that you can say whatever you like." She was talking about the videotape of the deceased's parting words that was played before the reading of his will.
I was often irritated by the self-centered actions of our protagonist throughout the book. But as with the other novel by this person that I've read, I liked the ending. We see what's going through the mind of and into the ears of someone in a coma, and it's very entertainingly done.
19-Gilman, Dorothy. Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station (1983) (borrowed from Indigo Rose) - Mrs. Pollifax is recruited to find the exact location of a man in China so that he can be taken out of the country.
I really like the writing. Pollifax: "It's difficult to believe you've brought me here to discuss the weather. Really difficult, considering that you sent a private plane for me, which I must say was dashing of you." Bishop: "We do try to be dashing when we can." It's silly and unbelievable, but fun and with surprising plot twists. I've read the first Mrs. Pollifax and now want to read the others in order.
One interesting thing I learned about 1983 China: Even though China was trying to be a classless society, there were first-class train cars, referred to as soft seats (as opposed to hard seats). The floors were also kept well-mopped throughout the trip. And many restaurants had second-floor seating for tourists.
On currency: "She enjoyed their trip to the bank to exchange travelers' checks for tourist scrip: she watched in fascination as four clerks hovered over her money, carefully checking the amount on an abacus. But tourist money, Mr. Li told them, could not be spent on the streets, at the bazaars, or free markets, only in the government-run shops." She was told she could get real money by exchanging the script at Friendship Stores.
20-Gilman, Dorothy. The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax (1970) (Set mostly in Turkey) - Mrs. Pollifax acts as a courier, bringing money and papers to someone in trouble. For some reason, the ridiculous coincidences and good luck do not bother me in these stories. In this one, the amazing good luck is almost matched by amazing powers of the bad guys, so I guess that's fair.
We got to visit Istanbul, which has a new section (Byoglu) and an old section (Stamboul). And we visited a suburb, Uskudar, known for a huge cemetery. And the area around Göreme: "The rocks fairly jump out of the earth like weird stalactites. At Göreme they're called fairy tale chimneys--the early Christians hid in those rock chimneys centuries ago, hollowing them out inside and carving air holes and windows. They left behind fantastic Byzantine frescoes on their interior walls. The whole valley is full of surprises."
21-Gilman, Dorothy. The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax (1971) (set mostly in Bulgaria) (one of Robin's favorites) - Mrs. Pollifax is to deliver some passports, but due to economic considerations, she is transporting something else, too, unbeknownst to her. The theme is about how the best life is not about ease or luxury; it is about accomplishing important things.
On Balkantourist: "[I]t's the only travel agency in Bulgaria, and it's run by the government. It is the government. They'll arrange your itinerary, they'll arrange everything, as well as watch over you with fast benevolence."
On history: Mrs. Pollifax "was impressed and surprised to learn that it had been free of Turkey's oppressive rule for only some eighty years. It was the Russians who had helped liberate Bulgaria from Turkey, and it was the Russians who had libertated them later from the Nazis. It suggested a much more congenial relationship than she'd expected, and a difference from other satellite countries that intrigued her."
22-Gilman, Dorothy. Thale's Folly (1999) - (I like Gilman's writing so much, I also decided to try non-Mrs.-Pollifax books.) Man who's dead inside, now working for his dad, has to check out some family property on a weekend day. This property is located in a small town that's actually cool. The other characters are great and it's an obvious happy-ending book. Gilman loves her coincidences and fate (unlike me), but it's still okay. A quick fun read, but not a super favorite.
23-Kittredge, Mary. Dead and Gone (a Charlotte Kent mystery) (1991) (recommended by Robin) - At first I thought this writer is very uninspiring. "When I sat back at the table, I had a deck of salami slices, a chunk of toasted French bread heavily smeared with Brie, a quartered tomato, and a handful of Oreo coolies. Amidst her chic decorating scheme the simple food looked all wrong, so I decorated my own interior with it." "I was able to contemplate the diversity of the architecture looming all around me, in styles ranging from Early Greek Revival to Inadvisable Glass Monolithic." There are gems like this on every other page. I could never write this well!
But I don't love the characters. Or the plot.
But she is good at explaining how the world really works: "Innocent didn't count. What counted was an ambitious district attorney's ability to build a case, close the case, and get a lot of favorable newspaper ink in connection with the case." And "writers do not make money by writing their current books. They make money by writing outlines and chapters for future books, and by signing contracts promising to deliver these future books," as do their agents. But "there are special jails, I hear, for writers who stop turning in their manuscripts. They're called regular jobs."
24-Brittenham, Skip, Brian Haberlin, and Brian Holguin. (Brian Haberlin, Geirrod VanDyke, Kunrong Yap and Chan Hyuk Lee, illustrators) Shifter (2013+) (Wil Wheaton) (interactive voiced sci-fi graphic novel, borrowed from Robin) - Government inspector learns too much and his life is changed forever. Learn about politics, the environment, the industrial military complex, and prehistoric animals. (This is really hard to summarize without spoilers!) I read/viewed this on my iPad, and it works better with the sound on. You can also get this as a printed book, and if you download the app, you can see things from it in 3-D.