Trin's updates

Trin added 'The Man Who Folded Himself'

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:08:33 -0700

Trin gave to: The Man Who Folded Himself (Paperback) by David Gerrold
bookshelves: queerlit, sci-fi

Trin voted on a review

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:47:14 -0700

Trin read and liked sage's review of Red Seas Under Red Skies:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

"Wow, that took ages to read, but was ultimately worth it.

yay: I love the 'verse (hell, I requested fic in this 'verse for Yuletide) and all of its characters. It's fantastic to see a sexually egalitarian society. Male heroes, female heroes, ...more Wow, that took ages to read, but was ultimately worth it.

yay: I love the 'verse (hell, I requested fic in this 'verse for Yuletide) and all of its characters. It's fantastic to see a sexually egalitarian society. Male heroes, female heroes, male villains, female villains; gay, bi, straight, celibate; and sex roles as much a non-issue as they possibly can be. Likewise with people of all colors and sizes. Long-overdue and nicely done.

As a very tiny woman, I'm also delighted to see a very tiny woman kicking ass and being respected for it. No jokes about how cute she is. No demeaning comments about her being hot and feisty. She is what she is *at face value*, without any of that annoying (male) commentary pointing out an author's supposed concessions to feminism.

Fantastically played death-scene, too. No, I'm not happy that Ezri died, obviously, but I knew in this 'verse someone had to and it was most likely to be her. Thing is, I'm content with it and even proud of her. (Why yes, I do self-identify. :P)

The byzantine plots are cool, but then I enjoy Hammett-/Chandler-style convoluted backstabbing. *g*

boo: This book took me more than a month to read and it's only 558 pages long. Like TLOLL, it's *too* dense. And in the case of RSURS, the ending (post-battle against the Sovereign) feels wildly uneven...as if Lynch were three weeks from his manuscript deadline and had to tie up two primary plots and ten subplots in forty pages. Which, hello, is hard. To me, it reads like there ought to be another ninety pages instead of forty. It makes me wonder what he cut out to get under word-count, or else what other scenes he had outlined but failed to get written.

yay: But for all that, the book is a wild ride, a crazy emotional roller coaster, vividly cinematic, and just damned exciting. Trouble is having to stop and process between chapters, otherwise you lose track of who scammed whom and are lost when it comes to matter later.

sum: This book is better-written than Lynch's last, which is awesome, since this is his second novel. I'm looking forward to the third and to the rest of the series. It'll be awesome to see what his style is like ten years from now. :)...less "

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new comment from Trin

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:43:11 -0700

New comment on Brownbetty's review of City of Pearl (Wess'Har, Book 1)
by Karen Traviss

They don't catalogue the majority of paperbacks at my library—the huge Los Angeles Public Library—either. It's very annoying.

Trin added 'The Long Walk'

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:31:59 -0700

Trin gave to: The Long Walk (Mass Market Paperback) by Stephen King
bookshelves: fiction

Trin added 'Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic'

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:54:19 -0700

Trin gave to: Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (Hardcover) by Alison Bechdel
bookshelves: biography, booksaboutbooks, graphicnovel, queerlit

Trin added 'Life Class'

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 13:43:52 -0700

Trin gave to: Life Class (Hardcover) by Pat Barker
bookshelves: historicalfiction

Trin added 'Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly'

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:59:05 -0700

Trin gave to: Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (updated edition) by Anthony Bourdain
bookshelves: biography, food

Trin added 'Men at Arms'

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:52:09 -0700

Trin gave to: Men at Arms (Mass Market Paperback) by Terry Pratchett
bookshelves: fantasy
Even better than Guards! Guards, I loved so much about this. Loved Vimes, loved Carrot, loved Cuddy and Detritus, loved Angua, loved Vetinari (especially his surprise and horror at getting shot, and the scene at the end with Carrot). I guess my review, if it can be called that, is basically <3 .

Trin added 'A Fountain Filled With Blood'

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:24:51 -0700

Trin gave to: A Fountain Filled With Blood (A Rev. Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery) by Julia Spencer-Fleming
bookshelves: mystery
Sequel to In the Bleak Midwinter. I loved the first three-fourths of this, though I think it kind of fell apart at the end. Among the good: meeting Russ’ wonderfully eccentric mom, Clare helping Russ confront his internalized homophobia (and his willingness to do so, which shows, despite his discomfort, what a good man he is), Clare interrupting her investigations to get drunk and flirty with a cute Brit—a sequence that, since it’s her, ends with her jumping out a second story window. It’s nice, in a sophomore effort, to feel like you’re really getting comfortable with the characters, and this book also has a mystery that honestly did keep me anxiously on the edge of my seat.

However, I felt everything that led up to getting Clare in the pilot’s seat of that helicopter seemed rather contrived. I understand why Spencer-Fleming wanted to go there, but I don’t think she quite made it work. And following on the helicopter sequence’s heels, the unraveling of the conspiracy at the end felt unsuspenseful and almost airless.

In general, I just don’t think my enjoyment of this book could match my delight at the discovery of the first, but I’m still looking forward to the next one and seeing Russ and Clare’s relationship progress.

Trin added 'When You Are Engulfed in Flames'

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:55:03 -0700

Trin gave to: When You Are Engulfed in Flames (Hardcover) by David Sedaris
bookshelves: biography, essays, humor, queerlit
Another immensely enjoyable Sedaris collection. Most of the laugh out loud moments for me revolved around jokes about shit, pee, the flatulence of elderly women, ass boils, and camels, but that’s just because I’m sophisticated like that.

Although actually: actually, one of the amazing things about Sedaris is that he attains emotional depth in essays nominally about ass boils—“Old Faithful,” one of my favorites in this collection and the only one I had read previously, is somehow one of the sweetest love stories I’ve lately encountered. And the final, sprawling essay about quitting smoking and living in Japan, is wonderfully complex and detailed. I already want to read it again. Too bad the public library discourages stealing.