I finally finished Jerome K Jerome’s (I’d kill to be called that) often referenced tale of a Victorian lark up the Thames. Plenty of parts are laugh-out-loud funny, at least by my low standards, and the period nature of the book (seen from current times) merely adds to the humour. There’s factual references to things [...]
Tagged ebook, eucalyptus… is not a good recommendation of Stephen Fry’s many talents. I was unsure if he’s simply in unfamiliar territory writing semi-serious semi-science-fiction, but I have been assured his other written works are actually quite good – I picked the most mediocre by bad luck, it seems. It’s a book that aims pretty high, taking [...]
Dithering in a (well-stocked) foreign-language bookshop in Moscow, I felt compelled to pick up something (for the trains) at least vaguely related to either Russia or China. Apparently 1421 is not that great, and I really didn’t want to lug around War & Peace, so settled on 1812, a factual review of Napoleon’s march on [...]
Tagged russiaThis is the second book I’ve read by Jeremy Paxman, and something I’ve considered picking up in the past. It’s a description of English psyche and self-image as a nation, how it developed over the centuries, and how it continues to develop (some might say errode) in present times. There’s plenty of historical research, and [...]
Finished my first Larry Niven novel, having opted for the obvious choice, Ringworld. It’s still a great work, not dated in any significant way, with lots of really well developed scientific ideas, and a very strong ‘Culture-ish’ feel to it. The weakest aspect for me was the characterisation – by the end of the book [...]
Tagged culture, nivenJust finished my second Stross novel, which is actually the first he had published. It’s a slightly immature piece of writing, and very much in the Neal Stephenson vein – the basic plot is a little neat, but full of clever ideas and technical insight. Being more intimately familiar with some of the technical terminology [...]
Tagged strossOn the advice of various people, I took a long day trip to Alexandria, by train. The ‘turbo’ train was sadly booked out, but first class on an ‘express’ train is spacious and ridiculously cheap. Only problem was the train didn’t quite make it to the Alexandria station – we came to a halt just [...]
Tagged alexandria, architecture, egypt, museum, railway, trainsIs the first Charles Stross I’ve read (yes, I know, what took so long) and it’s good. Well thought out, mostly believable, and with good writing to backup the story. A little less cerebral than the best Culture novels, but that’s certainly a matter of taste. Stross wins huge points for the best ZeroWing reference [...]
Tagged strossThe film, not the book. The film is stunning, disturbing, and moving, marred in a few places by crowd scenes that lacked believability. In general I was much happier with the whole film once I realised (near the end) that it’s a fairy tale, not a work of serious fiction – would be curious to [...]
Read ‘Stardust’ while away in Holland, it’s a goood story, but overall I really preferred the film – of course if I’d been exposed to the film/book in the opposite order, my opinion might be reversed. The two plotlines diverge markedly towards the end, and while many of the choices made in the film script [...]
Tagged neilgaiman