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Weave Walls; The Snowflake Revolution
Jan. 8th, 2009 09:15 pmWalking Through Walls, by Philip Smith
This book is quite well-made, but it didn't work for me because of the author's interpretation of the subject matter (which was just different enough from what I thought it would be to leave me feeling sad and frustrated in ways I can't manage to explain).
(1/275)
To Weave a Web of Magic, by Patricia McKillip, Lynn Kurland, Sharon Shinn, and Claire Delacroix
Four romantic fantasy novellas. I liked the Kurland best. The McKillip novella was good but it was all pre-Raphaelity and so I kept hearing echoes of other things in a distracting fashion. Shinn and Delacroix were fine, but not really more than fine.
(2/275)
Vive la Revolution, by Mark Steel
Fun and easy to read history of the French Revolution. If, like me, you've got lots of bits and pieces about it stuck in your head without an overarching framework, this book should do the trick. Plus it's funny. Plus it's unabashedly leftist, and the work of a curmudgeon. What more can you ask? (PS If it isn't obvious, I would not make this the only thing you ever read about the French Revolution - it's a teeny bit slapdash and the author doesn't always rise above his biases. But in the proper context, it's awesome.)
(3/275)
The Snowflake Man: A Biography of Wilson A. Bentley, by Duncan C. Blanchard
Charming old-school biography of a very interesting man - you've probably seen his photomicrographs of snow crystals at some point (if you've seen some, they were likely his). Bentley lived a quiet life as a Vermont farmer, and was dedicated to the study of snow and other forms of precipitation. This biography is put out by a small press and it is a little rougher around the edges than some might like - but I enjoyed its digressions and chronological jumps, because they felt right for the story. It felt like one of those family history books, you know? Very New England.
(4/275)
This book is quite well-made, but it didn't work for me because of the author's interpretation of the subject matter (which was just different enough from what I thought it would be to leave me feeling sad and frustrated in ways I can't manage to explain).
(1/275)
To Weave a Web of Magic, by Patricia McKillip, Lynn Kurland, Sharon Shinn, and Claire Delacroix
Four romantic fantasy novellas. I liked the Kurland best. The McKillip novella was good but it was all pre-Raphaelity and so I kept hearing echoes of other things in a distracting fashion. Shinn and Delacroix were fine, but not really more than fine.
(2/275)
Vive la Revolution, by Mark Steel
Fun and easy to read history of the French Revolution. If, like me, you've got lots of bits and pieces about it stuck in your head without an overarching framework, this book should do the trick. Plus it's funny. Plus it's unabashedly leftist, and the work of a curmudgeon. What more can you ask? (PS If it isn't obvious, I would not make this the only thing you ever read about the French Revolution - it's a teeny bit slapdash and the author doesn't always rise above his biases. But in the proper context, it's awesome.)
(3/275)
The Snowflake Man: A Biography of Wilson A. Bentley, by Duncan C. Blanchard
Charming old-school biography of a very interesting man - you've probably seen his photomicrographs of snow crystals at some point (if you've seen some, they were likely his). Bentley lived a quiet life as a Vermont farmer, and was dedicated to the study of snow and other forms of precipitation. This biography is put out by a small press and it is a little rougher around the edges than some might like - but I enjoyed its digressions and chronological jumps, because they felt right for the story. It felt like one of those family history books, you know? Very New England.
(4/275)
