a report on the reading ~

[lookingland]

still chipping away, ever so slowly, at Quicksilver. i'm less than 200 pages in and continue to feel that it is heavy-handed, but entertaining.

meanwhile, i thought i ought to log a few books i read this month as research for NaNo. nothing terribly exciting here, but every book counts toward the 50bookchallenge!

no. 38 ~ The Patapsco: Baltimore's River of History by paul j. travers ~ didn't like the way this book was organized. it had some interesting and useful information, but required churning through a lot of stewage to get to it. someone remarked in some other review (i think on amazon) that this is like a bunch of essays thrown together, and i agree.

no. 39 ~ The American Tintype by floyd rinhart, marion rinhart, and robert w. wagner ~ the most interesting thing about this book is that it opens with the line: "There is no tin in a tintype". beyond that it strikes me as almost a vanity press volume (put out by ohio state university press), with a substantial sampling of images, but nothing particularly spectacular. it has detailed chapters on the photographic processes, but the history is rather dry here and the lackluster images are poorly described. i had been curious about this book because it sells on amazon for a whalloping $78! but there's really nothing here to justify the price tag. it's neither comprehensive, nor visually stunning enough to make any sort of impression. boo.

i picked up Flashman and the Angel of the Lord by george macdonald fraser. i want to read this and geraldine brooks' pulitzer prize-winning March in between the long haul of stephenson's cycle.

Comments

[cathellisen.livejournal.com]

You've read the other Flashmans first right?

[msmcguire.livejournal.com]

Random and unrelated to the post: I've just added you to my friends page because it seems like we'd get along pretty well.

If this is an unwanted liberty, do let me know, but if not, feel free to add me back (the majority of my entries are friends-only)! :)

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

noooo ~ i was told i dinna have to!

: o p

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

hello and welcome ~ !

we do have lots of common interest ~ including many on your list that i didn't place on mine.

i look forward to getting to know you!

: D

[cathellisen.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'd at least read the first Flashman book, just to get a feel for the horrible git. ;) Actually, Angel is one of the few I haven't read, so maybe it works well as a stand-alone, I don't know.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

well i've read Tom Brown's Schooldays if that's any consolation.

: D