danieldwilliam (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
danieldwilliam) wrote2021-03-23 09:30 am
danieldwilliam) wrote2021-03-23 09:30 am
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On Book Memes We Have Book Memes
I believe the idea is that you pick a number in the comments and I write about the book that fits the description.
1. A book that haunts you
2. A book that was an interesting failure
3. A book where you really wanted to be reading the "shadow" version of the book (as in, there are traces of a different book in the work and you would have much preferred to read that one)
4. A book with a worldbuilding detail that has stuck with you
5. A book where you loved the premise but the execution left you cold
6. A book where you were dubious about the premise but loved the work
7. The most imaginative book you've seen lately
8. A book that feels like it was written just for you
9. A book that reminds you of someone
10. A book that belongs to a specific time in your mind, caught in amber
11. A book that came to you at exactly the right time
12. A book that came to you at the wrong time
13. A book with a premise you'd never seen before quite like that
14. A book balanced on a knife edge
15. A snuffed candle of a book
16. The one you'd take with you while you were being ferried on dark underground rivers
17. The one that taught you something about yourself
18. A book that went after its premise like an explosion
19. A book that started a pilgrimage
20. A frigid ice bath of a book
21. A book written into your psyche
22. A warm blanket of a book
23. A book that made you bleed
24. A book that asked a question you've never had an answer to
25. A book that answered a question you never asked
26. A book you recommend but cannot love
27. A book you love but cannot recommend
28. A book you adore that people are surprised by
29. A book that led you home
30. A book you detest that people are surprised by
1. A book that haunts you
2. A book that was an interesting failure
3. A book where you really wanted to be reading the "shadow" version of the book (as in, there are traces of a different book in the work and you would have much preferred to read that one)
4. A book with a worldbuilding detail that has stuck with you
5. A book where you loved the premise but the execution left you cold
6. A book where you were dubious about the premise but loved the work
7. The most imaginative book you've seen lately
8. A book that feels like it was written just for you
9. A book that reminds you of someone
10. A book that belongs to a specific time in your mind, caught in amber
11. A book that came to you at exactly the right time
12. A book that came to you at the wrong time
13. A book with a premise you'd never seen before quite like that
14. A book balanced on a knife edge
15. A snuffed candle of a book
16. The one you'd take with you while you were being ferried on dark underground rivers
17. The one that taught you something about yourself
18. A book that went after its premise like an explosion
19. A book that started a pilgrimage
20. A frigid ice bath of a book
21. A book written into your psyche
22. A warm blanket of a book
23. A book that made you bleed
24. A book that asked a question you've never had an answer to
25. A book that answered a question you never asked
26. A book you recommend but cannot love
27. A book you love but cannot recommend
28. A book you adore that people are surprised by
29. A book that led you home
30. A book you detest that people are surprised by
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Not just a book but a whole trilogy of books. The Revenger Trilogy by Alistair Reynolds (Revenger, Shadow Captain and Bone Silence). It's like a Robert Louis Stevenson novel in space, pirates, kidnapping, some sort of elegant bank fraud involving the lost souls of alien races. A crew of space grave robbers are forced to turn pirate after being attacked by pirates in a far-future solar system where the entire mass of the orbiting bodies has been converted in to millions upon millions of small discrete habitats
But the thing that drives me mad is the way the characters speak. All the pirates have the same irksome cant. That and the utter lack of technological curiosity.
I'm stalled about 10% of the way through the third book.
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The Quarry by Iain Banks - posthumously published, I bought it the day it came out and haven't read it.
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32. A book you don't know about
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There are books I've picked up and then spent an age working up the courage to read.
Timothy Snyder's 'Bloodlands' is one such although I did eventually go there.
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This was a pretty straightforward chronological military history of the English Civil War. This battle happened, then this battle happened sort of thing. I was hoping it would explain how and why the Parliamentarians won. What innovations of tactics did they use? Was their strategy fundamentally better? Did they have more money or guns or soldiers? And it nearly did but it didn't expand very much on the hints that it gave.