"Loving it so far. A bit wacky, a bit over the top, but it's working for me."
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bookshelves: currently-reading, library
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bookshelves: didn-t-finish, first-reads
I'm going to break my own rule and start a review before I finish the book, because I'm not sure if I will finish it.
Like other reviewers, I WANT to like this book. I really like the author's forward and autobiographical comments. There are snippets of very good writing, and the ideas and story are good (so far).
The issues I have with the book are twofold. The writing isn't polished, and (as the author aludes to in the introduction) the changes from present to past tense are distracting. I *wish* he'd had an editor suggest that, if he wanted to keep them in, he tie them in with the VR theme (one 'reality' in present tense, one in past), but the changes are random and don't seem to signify anything about the story. Not an insurmountable obstacle, but it does make reading the story more of an effort than it has to be.
The other criticism is probably unfair to voice of a first time author, but I mean it constructively. The premise of the book is that humankind destroys the earth because we can't manage to get along together, and our descendants are given a crash course in what went wrong through VR teaching before trying to get it right on another planet. VERY strong idea, but the VR 'scenario' is shown as an action sequence with a very clear slant towards and against certain factions. It's all about 'the boys' waging warfare against the 'bad guys'. I find the cognitive dissonance distracting, but I might push through with the hope that it is resolved later in the story.
I am VERY interested in following Mr. Baily's writings, even if I decide I'm unable to finish this book. He's a writer with a lot of potential. ]]>
"Intro and autobiographical information is interesting, the writing is not technically good, but there's definitely something good in there."
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Lise
read and liked
Leah's
review of Nightmare in Napa: The Wine Country Murders:
"I really like to read true crime books and watch shows like 48 hours mystery and this book was no exception. Unlike Death of a Dream, I did not know anything about this double murder, so it was hard for me to put this book down. I do not think that...more "
"I really like to read true crime books and watch shows like 48 hours mystery and this book was no exception. Unlike Death of a Dream, I did not know anything about this double murder, so it was hard for me to put this book down. I do not think that...more "
The series is shaping to be more fun than I'd expected. Mysterious 'cataclysm' in unknown past, discussions of the nature and origin of government... slowly the 'generic magical/medival' setting takes shape. ]]>
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Lise
added a quote:
"Public opinion, in its raw state, gushes out on the immemorial form of the mobs fears. It is piped to central factories, and there it is flavoured and coloured, and put into cans." — H.L. Mencken
"Public opinion, in its raw state, gushes out on the immemorial form of the mobs fears. It is piped to central factories, and there it is flavoured and coloured, and put into cans." — H.L. Mencken
The book is self published, and the author has taken to selling it door-to-door. It's a deeply personal story, at least semi-autobiographical in nature, of a woman's isolation teaching abroad while her brother is struggling with depression at home. Not my usual read, but a book that has stayed with me over the year. ]]>