cyphomandra (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cyphomandra) wrote2007-03-28 10:35 pm
cyphomandra) wrote2007-03-28 10:35 pm
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And yet more catching up
My books-read-and-not-recorded stack is approaching ridiculous lengths. Leaving out books I want to discuss at more length, here are some catch-ups.
Blood Price. I’ve also just read all three Smoke books (and liked them - more to follow, largely because I want to go on about how much the second one reminded me - in a good way - of a video game), and picked this up after them. It does feel earlier (with the sort of characters – Henry the Eighth’s bastard son! and he’s a vampire – that seem like a less good idea in hindsight) and more obvious, but there are some nice touches. I particularly like the prominent use of public transport (yes, I am saying that in a book about vampires and demons. I've read lots of vampire and demon books, and public transport is far rarer).
The Death of Dalziel. It is nice to see Pascoe out from Dalziel’s shadow – and taking on more of his characteristics. I liked the set-up for this one with regards to the major crime plot – nice twist on the expected terrorists – but I could do without the “trapped between life and death” internal monologues; at least in Dialogues of the Dead there’s some ambiguity about their actual existence. And, speaking of which – Franny still seems to be trapped in limbo, unless Pascoe’s comment about buying a book for a sick friend (in Good Morning, Midnight? I’ve taken it back to the library) was wishful thinking.
Nonfiction about how for most of recorded history, medicine has done very little good and a lot of active harm (blistering treatments for bullet wounds, spread of childbed fever in hospitals, rampant bleeding and purging, etc). The author reviews for the TLS. Apparently this has inspired vitriolic (anti)reviews in various journals attacking everything he said, which I must track down.
I’ve lent it to a friend, so I can’t include specifics, but I liked it and thought it largely well justified. It’s a convincing – and depressing – demonstration of how, given any chance, almost everyone will prefer their own opinions to any semblance of a scientific method or statistics. In the broader context, I particularly liked the examination of the use of dissection/vivisection in the development of medicine, and the ambivalence expressed by many practitioners about it, particularly with regard to animal research. I think people are entitled to disapprove of animal research as long as they a) don’t consider death-threats, bombs and grave-robbing viable methods of protests and b) give up everything that’s dependent on it. As with the modern butchery industry, modern medicine possesses a large and often unhelpful disconnect between the use of animals and their ultimate consumer.
Re-read. Very good. Chen is just the sort of character I love, and the whole “he’s a Hong Kong (okay, Singapore Three) homicide detective who liaises with Hell, he’s a demon from the Vice Squad, together (with a badger teapot and a bunch of other great characters like Inari) they fight crime!” works really well for me. The Demon and the City is sitting on my desk expectantly
And some even shorter summaries...
Die Trying, Lee Child. Solid thriller, good characters, smart plot.
Killing Floor, Lee Child. See above. I worked out the gimmick to this one just when Jack Reacher did (a few pages ahead of the explanation) and liked it a lot. I do like thrillers where neither the good guys nor the bad guys are dumb.
Tripwire, Lee Child. Not quite as good as the first two, but I think he’s also setting stuff up for later books. The gimmick here was, unfortunately, much more obvious to the reader than the characters, which (for me, anyway), creates the wrong sort of suspense, where I feel that the characters are just being dim. A little unfairly in this case, as they know a lot less than the reader for much of the book.
Lady Friday, Garth Nix. Latest one in the series. I must re-read the earlier ones before the end, as it’s been a long time since Monday. Good and inventive, as always; slightly less complex than some of the earlier ones. Looking forward to the weekend…
Blood Price. I’ve also just read all three Smoke books (and liked them - more to follow, largely because I want to go on about how much the second one reminded me - in a good way - of a video game), and picked this up after them. It does feel earlier (with the sort of characters – Henry the Eighth’s bastard son! and he’s a vampire – that seem like a less good idea in hindsight) and more obvious, but there are some nice touches. I particularly like the prominent use of public transport (yes, I am saying that in a book about vampires and demons. I've read lots of vampire and demon books, and public transport is far rarer).
The Death of Dalziel. It is nice to see Pascoe out from Dalziel’s shadow – and taking on more of his characteristics. I liked the set-up for this one with regards to the major crime plot – nice twist on the expected terrorists – but I could do without the “trapped between life and death” internal monologues; at least in Dialogues of the Dead there’s some ambiguity about their actual existence. And, speaking of which – Franny still seems to be trapped in limbo, unless Pascoe’s comment about buying a book for a sick friend (in Good Morning, Midnight? I’ve taken it back to the library) was wishful thinking.
Nonfiction about how for most of recorded history, medicine has done very little good and a lot of active harm (blistering treatments for bullet wounds, spread of childbed fever in hospitals, rampant bleeding and purging, etc). The author reviews for the TLS. Apparently this has inspired vitriolic (anti)reviews in various journals attacking everything he said, which I must track down.
I’ve lent it to a friend, so I can’t include specifics, but I liked it and thought it largely well justified. It’s a convincing – and depressing – demonstration of how, given any chance, almost everyone will prefer their own opinions to any semblance of a scientific method or statistics. In the broader context, I particularly liked the examination of the use of dissection/vivisection in the development of medicine, and the ambivalence expressed by many practitioners about it, particularly with regard to animal research. I think people are entitled to disapprove of animal research as long as they a) don’t consider death-threats, bombs and grave-robbing viable methods of protests and b) give up everything that’s dependent on it. As with the modern butchery industry, modern medicine possesses a large and often unhelpful disconnect between the use of animals and their ultimate consumer.
Re-read. Very good. Chen is just the sort of character I love, and the whole “he’s a Hong Kong (okay, Singapore Three) homicide detective who liaises with Hell, he’s a demon from the Vice Squad, together (with a badger teapot and a bunch of other great characters like Inari) they fight crime!” works really well for me. The Demon and the City is sitting on my desk expectantly
And some even shorter summaries...
Die Trying, Lee Child. Solid thriller, good characters, smart plot.
Killing Floor, Lee Child. See above. I worked out the gimmick to this one just when Jack Reacher did (a few pages ahead of the explanation) and liked it a lot. I do like thrillers where neither the good guys nor the bad guys are dumb.
Tripwire, Lee Child. Not quite as good as the first two, but I think he’s also setting stuff up for later books. The gimmick here was, unfortunately, much more obvious to the reader than the characters, which (for me, anyway), creates the wrong sort of suspense, where I feel that the characters are just being dim. A little unfairly in this case, as they know a lot less than the reader for much of the book.
Lady Friday, Garth Nix. Latest one in the series. I must re-read the earlier ones before the end, as it’s been a long time since Monday. Good and inventive, as always; slightly less complex than some of the earlier ones. Looking forward to the weekend…
no subject
Heh.
What's the name of the nonfiction book on the history of medicine? That sounds really interesting.
no subject
no subject
:: wishlists ::
You realize that once I am paid real money, I will be in danger of buying everything on my Amazon wishlist? There will be no room left for me to live, with all the books.
And yeah, Bad Medicine looks great - classic example of handwaving the issues with the data analysis in some studies to support one's POV.