xenith | 100 Books

July was a slow month, although educational.

It started off with one of the usual suspects, although it took me 6 days to read it (grumble).

Clarissa Oakes, Patrick O'Brian

I keep getting non-fiction books out of the library, and then taking them back before I've read them, so I thought I should, you know, read some of them. That didn't stop me leaving the reading until the night before they were due back.

Madness: A Brief History, Roy Porter

Good introductory reading.

Translation: you try reading this in one night and see if actually remember any of it. A short book that looks at what madness was and how, in general terms, it was dealt with, from the earliest days.

Brothers in Arms, Lois McMaster Bujold

Mirror Dance, Lois McMaster Bujold

I read the last three books in the this series before coming back and reading this one, and the one before. While the stories stand on their own, interactions between characters in the later books are obviously influenced by earlier events (even if it's just a case of: if they're in a later book they surivive earlier events). This unfortunately removes some of the plot tension & reduce interpersonal conflict, which might be what made this book seem so long. Or that might be because it is on the long side. (430 pages in TB, getting close to twice the length of the previous one.) Whyever, it dragged in a middle.

On the other hand, there aren't that many books that can continue successfully after the main character is killed off in the first 100 pages. That's worth an extra half a star.

Opium: A Portrait Of The Heavenly Demon, Barbara Hodgson

Another non-fiction book that had to go back to the library the next day so I read it in a night. It looks to mostly a pretty picture book at first, but there is a lot information in it, on the history and public perceptions of opium. As you might expect, mostly focused on the 19th century. Now I know more about the social aspects of opium than any one really needs to :)

The main reason I put off reading non-fiction is it's generally not moreish, meaning after I put it down, I don't keep thinking "Maybe I can pick it up and read a couple more pages". Moreishness is required to read a book quickly.

Ned Kelly: a Short Life, Ian Jones

A short life maybe, but not a short book. It's only 340 pages but there's a lot of words squeezed in there. A lot of detail, oh yes, we can't complain about a lack of detail. It's like the author is trying to document every little detail of anything vaguely related and pulling in as many outside events as possible (from Eureka to kid's schooling). And names, many names and often too similar (like Uncle James Kelly, Uncle Jimmie Quinn, Jim Kelly -brother and James Quinn -- grandfather) and place names. There are pages in the back that list everyone one and who are they are, but there needs to be charts on detachable pages that can be stuck on the wall for quick reference.

All this makes the first 100 pages slow going. Very readable, but slow,

But then events start moving and it's more like reading a novel than a non-fiction. Easily the more 'moreish' NF book I've read. I'm reminded of my sister when she didn't want to see the movie Titanic because she knew how it ended (spoiler: the ship sinks). So we know how this story ends too, but that doesn't take anything away from the drama of the unfolding events.

The last bit, with the trial and aftermath, also drags on a bit as every little snipped of information is included. A disadvantage of it being non-fiction. An advantage to it being non-fiction is all the odd happenings that you couldn't get with in fiction because they strain credibility.

Over all though, a good read and much more interesting than I expected.

Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K. Jerome

I read this because

halspacejock and

buffysquirrel said I had to. And because the next book I wanted to read references it in places. Which is:

To Say Nothing of the Dog: How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last, Connie Willis