By Slanted Light

As with Pros fic, it's not that I haven't been reading books... it's that I haven't been finishing them! I had three books on the go that I kept being distracted from - and then oddly enough I came back to this one and just wolfed it down, and want the next one in the series now! It's the second Lady Astronaut book, and I can barely remember the first half, but the second half definitely grabbed me again.

The space race is still on - not as a competition between the USSR and US, but as a race to escape to other worlds before the earth's climate finishes the catastrophic warming it began when a metereorite hit the earth in 1952. So it's an alternative history in some ways, but it's very much dealing with the world as it was for people back then as well, which is also interesting. Fated Sky takes us to 1961 - the moon landings are in the past, and the next stop - is Mars. *g*

The temperature gauge on the outside wall of my office shed says its 16C - 16C! My gmail screen, which is supposed to reflect the weather where I am, says it's snowing... *headdesk*

Anyway! I have finally finished this book, and can take it back to the library - and glad I am too that I didn't succumb to its lure and buy it. It's Book One of the Chronicles of St Mary's, and in theory it's right up my alley - a woman is recruited to St Mary's Institute of Historical Research, and finds out that her job is going to involve travelling through time. Doctor Who with extra history, right? Sadly no - with less character development, less thought and care for the world, less... mostly less. It's described in various reviews as a "roller-coaster" and "rollicking good fun" and things like that, which I'm now taking to mean that the author was hoping for movie deal. And that's probably not fair, because it was apparently self-published to start with, and then a publisher picked it up, and it's apparently "an internationally bestselling series".

The main character, Max, reads to me very much as a Mary Sue - even her mistakes and flaws turn out to have brilliant consequences and only serve to show how actually perfect she is. Everyone falls in love with her and wants her (of course she knows exactly how to fight them off). She's wise-cracking and wise and physically fit and beautiful of course, and she has all the depth of toast. I couldn't keep track of half the other characters either, who often seem to have been brought in so that they could do something evil and then be killed, or to create a bit of an emotional connection and then be killed.

Actually I couldn't even work out the setting for ages - it's apparently the UK but the NHS is long gone. There was eventually some other clue that it was set in the future, and the world is somewhat dystopian (apparently the US has cut itself off from the rest of the world entirely - which you'd never guess from all the Americanisms, mind you (okay, future world, yes, language has changed, but...), all of which would be hugely interesting as part of the world building, but we have to work out from two random bits of information instead and are not allowed to be interested in it...

They're historians who time-travel! This should be brilliant! There are various plotlines that have excellent scope, and I gather there's something about history not letting itself be screwed around with, but I can't wade through any more MarySue-ness or shallow reflection to find out, I'm afraid. I'm just not convinced any of them are going to be developed. I'm being mega-negative about this book I know, but I think that's because I was so disappointed! It just doesn't seem to say anything from its excellent premise, it just shoots from one bit of action that shows how brilliant the heroine is to another...

But it fills in my "J". *g*

On the Road by Jack Kerouac was our village bookclub book this month (well, one of the village bookclubs - there's at least four...), and my second-last choice as person-in-charge-of-the-books, which I gave up being this month, for various reasons. Someone had asked for a travel book for the next one, and everyone else wrinkled their noses at the idea, so I thought something like this might be a good compromise - and this was one of the few that had enough copies in the library. It was described at bookclub last night by someone as a "bold choice", and what that meant was that only a couple of us actually bothered reading more than the first chapter or so. *headdesk* Which is one reason I've decided to quit the group - not only are they more interested in the pub dinner and talking about the village/family/dogs than talking about books, but they're not really interested in venturing out of their comfort zones in reading either, which is surely one of the points of a book club...

Anyway - to be fair Kerouac is of course not a particularly easy read, all stream of consciousness and very much of his time and place. Most of the bookclub complained that it was just about them going places and having sex and getting drunk, which is kind of missing the point a bit - and missing the point presumably explains why they stopped reading. It does seem a bit repetitive at times, but then it'll say something that makes you blink, or just breathe with the beauty of an image, and that kept me going until I finished it this morning. It's not a comfortable read, because there's lots of truths about the way people behave in there, and I don't think I'd get on well with any of the "characters" (who were all real people in fact), but it has an exuberance to it too, and that's worth thinking about as well... Basically, I'm glad I read it (or re-read it - I thought I already had, but didn't remember it at all!) and I think the people who turned their noses up at the surface of it were missing out!

Le weekend! And this week I actually finished work last night, and am freeeeeee! I've also been a good girl and made my tax payment, so now I get to do nice things for the rest of the weekend. *g* And the first is catching up with my Lj Book Bingo!

Dark and Shallow Lies is set in a remote small town between the river and the swamp in Louisiana. It's not only somewhat cut off from the rest of the world - you can only get there by boat - but it's gained a reputation as the "Self-Proclaimed Psychic Capital of the World". So it mostly earns its living through tourism, but in fact that magic and superstition is also very much part of who everyone is. Grey is 17 years old, and she lives outside La Cachette with her father for most of the year, but she comes home to where her mother was born and died every summer. This year she's coming home to a town where her best friend - her twin soul flame - vanished into the swamp one night, and of course all she can do to cope with that is try to unravel what happened. I loved the setting, the characters were real, and Grey's voice is very compelling through the story. It's my favourite book of the year so far, and I'm going to keep an eye out for this author's next book - definitely recommended. *g*

I thought I was going to dive into this game with A, because coincidentally that was the book on top of my pile - but then the library told me this one was due back and I couldn't renew it, so I figured I should read it first. So I'm starting at the very centre of the board instead!

I didn't dislike this story, but I must admit I'm not hugely bothered about whether I read the second (third, fourth, whatever) book. It strikes me as somewhat Hunger Games for boys, although there is a token girl in it (sort of in it). It's not badly written as such, but there were some odd inconsistencies and jumps in places, which I presume they figured we'd never notice (or more likely they didn't notice them...) because the story does move along at a relatively cracking pace. But I did notice them, and it annoyed me on behalf of teenage boys (as the books market, I presume) - they deserve a bit of care taken!

So mostly now I'm just thinking "Ah, that's what that book I saw being promoted/the film are all about..." Interesting enough idea so far, and the lead character isn't dislikeable, but it was pretty clear who was going to cop it at the end, and the whole thing played pretty fast and loose with no one ever talking to each other/answering each other's questions as a plot device. So... well, that's all quite critical I suppose, but I did keep reading it.... hmmn, damning it with faint praise, aren't I...!