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Parisian Power Hotel Beaver Queen
Nov. 3rd, 2010 12:45 amThe Hotel Under the Sand, by Kage Baker
Charming and playful and old-fashioned. But to be honest, I was disappointed - only because I'm used to falling in love with Kage Baker books (even the ones that I find flawed) and I never quite clicked with this one.... *wistful sigh*
The Town on Beaver Creek, by Michelle Slatalla
I thought this town-biography of Martin, Kentucky was fascinating, and I liked how the author was able to go into so much detail based on extensive interviewing - it was really like hearing old folks tell stories. But it was sometimes difficult to keep track of the many many people involved....
(159/200)
The Power Makers, by Maury Klein (complimentary copy)
The parts of this that were about HOW stuff worked, steam, electricity, infrastructure, trolleys, what have you - those parts were great. The endless detail about all the business dealings involved bored me, and made the book as a whole rather a slog.
(160/200, -27)
The Parisian Prodigal, by Alan Gordon
I read these books for the narrator's voices. I love me some Theo and some Claudia (and I think Helga has gotten pretty nifty and am kind of hoping she gets her own narrative strand eventually) and I don't really care about the clever plots or the historical accuracy or the cleverness of the overarching premise or anything but voice anymore.... that said, all those things are probably good too. And the books in this series are funny, did I mention? The first one is Thirteenth Night; I would start there.
(161/200)
The Next Queen of Heaven, by Gregory Maguire
I usually steer away from reviewing by comparison, but in this case it's what came to mind: I'm pretty sure only Gregory Maguire could write a Christmas story that reads as though Edward Abbey and Stephen MacAuley had gotten together to write a Mitford novel. Since I love Abbey and MacAuley and I quite like Jan Karon, it worked out really well for me. I guess the rest of you might like it if you like Christopher Lamb? Yeah.
(162/200)
Charming and playful and old-fashioned. But to be honest, I was disappointed - only because I'm used to falling in love with Kage Baker books (even the ones that I find flawed) and I never quite clicked with this one.... *wistful sigh*
The Town on Beaver Creek, by Michelle Slatalla
I thought this town-biography of Martin, Kentucky was fascinating, and I liked how the author was able to go into so much detail based on extensive interviewing - it was really like hearing old folks tell stories. But it was sometimes difficult to keep track of the many many people involved....
(159/200)
The Power Makers, by Maury Klein (complimentary copy)
The parts of this that were about HOW stuff worked, steam, electricity, infrastructure, trolleys, what have you - those parts were great. The endless detail about all the business dealings involved bored me, and made the book as a whole rather a slog.
(160/200, -27)
The Parisian Prodigal, by Alan Gordon
I read these books for the narrator's voices. I love me some Theo and some Claudia (and I think Helga has gotten pretty nifty and am kind of hoping she gets her own narrative strand eventually) and I don't really care about the clever plots or the historical accuracy or the cleverness of the overarching premise or anything but voice anymore.... that said, all those things are probably good too. And the books in this series are funny, did I mention? The first one is Thirteenth Night; I would start there.
(161/200)
The Next Queen of Heaven, by Gregory Maguire
I usually steer away from reviewing by comparison, but in this case it's what came to mind: I'm pretty sure only Gregory Maguire could write a Christmas story that reads as though Edward Abbey and Stephen MacAuley had gotten together to write a Mitford novel. Since I love Abbey and MacAuley and I quite like Jan Karon, it worked out really well for me. I guess the rest of you might like it if you like Christopher Lamb? Yeah.
(162/200)
