by Upton Sinclair
Wow. That was...moving. Thank you. ]]>
Kent
read and liked
Stephany's
review of The Flivver King: A Story of Ford-America:
"As the daughter of a now unemployed, skilled tool and die machinist, I found this a sad but completely unsurprising read, the sadder for how unsurprising it is in 2009. This book was published in 1937 and, despite the subsequent growth of unions (wh...more "
"As the daughter of a now unemployed, skilled tool and die machinist, I found this a sad but completely unsurprising read, the sadder for how unsurprising it is in 2009. This book was published in 1937 and, despite the subsequent growth of unions (wh...more "
So this has been on the "you really oughta read this sometime" list for a long time. Got it on iPhone (Kindle) and read it -- and pretty much had a "can't put it down" experience. Fantastic history wrapped up in a story with really great characters. Totally makes me want to go back to England and see THIS cathedral. ]]>
Wow. I bought this almost out of a sense of obligation, but I had more hope since I'd seen the author on The Daily Show. I'm glad I did -- it's not a drawn-out exposition of the Iraq War, it's a series of vignettes by a great reporter who's spent huge amounts of time in Iraq. It will give you a feel for Iraq that you'll never get by reading books about neocons in Washington. ]]>
Whoo. Creepy.
Bought this on a trip and then lost the book, bought it again and read it on Kindle for the iPhone. Dexter is a character I'd rather not know personally, but Lindsay makes us believe in him. I plan to read other books in this series, but maybe not back-to-back. ]]>
Just see my review of Red Thunder...I liked this one as much, read them back-to-back, enjoyed both. If you like Heinlein's teen work, or Cory Doctorow, you'll like this. ]]>
John Varley's written some of the most entertaining SF of the last couple of decades. This novel and its first sequel Red Lightning are aimed pretty squarely at younger readers (the heroes in both are in their late teens/early 20s). They fit into the Heinlein mode: pick one new technology and put it in the hands of a super smart young adult, add a dash of not-quite-innocent sexuality, and mix well.
Lots of fun, well-considered, interesting characters, and he includes a nice dash of Florida and Louisiana cajun culture for interest. I'd recommend them to teens and those of us who still remember being teens. ]]>
A satisfying conclusion to the series. Really interesting characters -- I have a strong revulsion to torture and yet one of the lead -- and most sympathetic -- characters is the local torturer / inquisitor. This series had a lot of scope and scale and kept me FAR more interested than I usually am in a sword-and-sorcery novel. Probably because there's not much sorcery, and the human interactions aren't particularly affected by what magic exists. ]]>
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As others have said, this is totally an homage to Heinlein's "Friday", dragged into modern SF. It's entertaining, but like Heinlein, slightly annoying; it's a bit hard to actually like the character or the style if you're not a teenager. Still, though, if you ever loved Heinlein, even if you don't any more, it's worth the read.
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