Another wonderful Connie Willis book - this one is barely speculative fiction at all. Well, only a little bit.
Joanne is a psychiatrist researching Near Death Experiences (NDEs) who teams up with Richard, a scientist who can chemically induce NDEs in volunteers. Due to a series of failures with volunteers, Joanne herself experiences an induced NDE, and her discoveries stemming from this experience form the remainder of the story.
Passage is an astonishing story about life, death and the intricate machinery of our bodies. While it's not, of itself, a depressing story, I felt rather depressed after reading it all in one go. Reading about death for 8 hours straight will do that to you. Regardless, it's a brilliant novel, and highly recommended - 5 out of 5.
31 December, 2005
To Say Nothing of the Dog (Connie Willis)
Connie Willis is a brilliant writer that I reluctantly classify as science or speculative fiction (reluctantly because that seems discourage some readers). I previously read and loved Doomsday Book, and I enjoyed To Say Nothing of the Dog almost as much.
To Say Nothing of the Dog employs the same time-travel technology that is used in Doomsday Book, and is set in around the same time. It's a lighter story, set mostly in Victorian England, about the dreaded Lady Schrapnell who has sent Ned to retrieve the Bishop's bird stump from Coventry Cathedral.
It is a somewhat confusing story - there's romance, adventure, temporal incongruities and a beautifully realised Victorian society, all muddled up together. It's very lighthearted and lots of fun however, although I became somewhat confused towards the end when they're slowly figuring out the incongruity. It's a 4 out of 5, due to its lack of a strong linear storyline.
To Say Nothing of the Dog employs the same time-travel technology that is used in Doomsday Book, and is set in around the same time. It's a lighter story, set mostly in Victorian England, about the dreaded Lady Schrapnell who has sent Ned to retrieve the Bishop's bird stump from Coventry Cathedral.
It is a somewhat confusing story - there's romance, adventure, temporal incongruities and a beautifully realised Victorian society, all muddled up together. It's very lighthearted and lots of fun however, although I became somewhat confused towards the end when they're slowly figuring out the incongruity. It's a 4 out of 5, due to its lack of a strong linear storyline.
The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
I get the impression that this book is something of a feminist classic - it's a retelling of the Biblical story of Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob, sister of Joseph. Well, when I say a retelling, I don't think there's that much about Dinah in the Bible in the first place - as far as I know, it focusses on Jacob's sons rather than his daughter.
I loved the rich culture that Diamant imagines in this book - the red tent where the women gather once a month, letting their menstrual blood seep into the earth, sharing stories, laughter and tears. I found that I became less involved in the story in the last quarter, where Dinah grows older in Egypt - it somehow felt less powerful than the earlier parts of the story, although I liked it when she encountered Joseph.
Diamant's language has an attractive rhythm to it which fits the story perfectly, although towards the end, I found it somewhat stilted (although this was probably because my interest in the novel was waning). Despite that, I enjoyed this very much - a 4/5 book.
I loved the rich culture that Diamant imagines in this book - the red tent where the women gather once a month, letting their menstrual blood seep into the earth, sharing stories, laughter and tears. I found that I became less involved in the story in the last quarter, where Dinah grows older in Egypt - it somehow felt less powerful than the earlier parts of the story, although I liked it when she encountered Joseph.
Diamant's language has an attractive rhythm to it which fits the story perfectly, although towards the end, I found it somewhat stilted (although this was probably because my interest in the novel was waning). Despite that, I enjoyed this very much - a 4/5 book.
Odin's Voice (Susan Price)
This is an interesting YA book, set in an unexplained future where the Free are served by the Bonded - essentially slaves - and a variety of ancient gods are worshipped at temples. Odin's Voice is the story of a young Bonder who seems to speak with the voice of Odin, and a Free girl who is Bonded, and is befriended by the voice of Odin.
I was actually attracted to this book because of the title - I enjoy Norse mythology - and it was a good YA fiction, although both main characters are rather unsympathetic at times. The end of this book makes it very clear that a sequel is in the offing. I'd definitely pick it up at the library, but it's not something I'd want to purchase.
I was actually attracted to this book because of the title - I enjoy Norse mythology - and it was a good YA fiction, although both main characters are rather unsympathetic at times. The end of this book makes it very clear that a sequel is in the offing. I'd definitely pick it up at the library, but it's not something I'd want to purchase.
Dragonfly in Amber; Voyager; and Drums of Autumn (Diana Gabaldon)
These books are immensely trashy, filled with a slightly sickening attitidue towards love and romance, and a distastefully homophobic world view. Yet I'm kind of addicted to the time-travel premise, despite doubts that Gabaldon's picture of the world 200 years ago is in any way accurate.
In these books, the eternally passion-struck Claire and Jamie travel to France and then to America. In the third, their daughter Brianna and her fiance travel through time to find her parents, and there are rapes, pregnancies, and lots of sickening declarations of love. (This is why romance as a genre is really not for me.)
As this series progresses, the author seems to be becoming more and more fond of the idea that men exist to take care of and to protect women, and even if women think they're independent, secretly they love it when a man comes striding in to protect their honour. Gag. I don't think I'm going to read any more of these - they leave a bad taste in my mouth.
In these books, the eternally passion-struck Claire and Jamie travel to France and then to America. In the third, their daughter Brianna and her fiance travel through time to find her parents, and there are rapes, pregnancies, and lots of sickening declarations of love. (This is why romance as a genre is really not for me.)
As this series progresses, the author seems to be becoming more and more fond of the idea that men exist to take care of and to protect women, and even if women think they're independent, secretly they love it when a man comes striding in to protect their honour. Gag. I don't think I'm going to read any more of these - they leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Sweat Your Prayers (Gabrielle Roth)
This is a non-fiction book about ecstatic dance - movement as method of spiritual awakening and personal enlightenment.
Roth uses five rhythms as a metaphor for the stages of life (and many other things) - flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness. You can get a good sense of what she means by these rhythms through the book, and she recommends her own CDs as accompaniments to dancing the rhythms.
I really enjoyed this - I plan to get my own copy, and I'd like to get a CD or DVD to accompany it.
Roth uses five rhythms as a metaphor for the stages of life (and many other things) - flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness. You can get a good sense of what she means by these rhythms through the book, and she recommends her own CDs as accompaniments to dancing the rhythms.
I really enjoyed this - I plan to get my own copy, and I'd like to get a CD or DVD to accompany it.
13 December, 2005
Past Mortem (Ben Elton)
This is the most gruesome book of Ben Elton's that I've ever read (which I shouldn't really have been surprised about, I suppose, after reading the "policeman searches for serial killer" blurb.) Most of Ben Elton's books seem to have a central "issue" - environmentalism in Stark and This Other Eden, fame and celebrity in Dead Famous and Popcorn, and drugs in High Society. In Past Mortem, the issue of the moment is bullying, by both children and adults.
Elton's dialogue is pretty terrible in this book - stiff and clumsy, which makes it hard to connect with the characters. I was semi-involved - I did want to find out who the killer was, and whether Newsom would finally tell his sergeant Natasha about his passionate and secret love for her - but I polished it off with a certain amount of relief that I wouldn't have to go plunging back into the clunky writing. Elton's done much better - in fact, Stark probably remains my favourite of his books, although I liked High Society a lot as well.
Elton's dialogue is pretty terrible in this book - stiff and clumsy, which makes it hard to connect with the characters. I was semi-involved - I did want to find out who the killer was, and whether Newsom would finally tell his sergeant Natasha about his passionate and secret love for her - but I polished it off with a certain amount of relief that I wouldn't have to go plunging back into the clunky writing. Elton's done much better - in fact, Stark probably remains my favourite of his books, although I liked High Society a lot as well.
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