12.19.2009
The Age of Wonder
by Richard Holmes, 483 pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: A
A beautifully written composite piece looking at the lives and careers of Joseph Banks, William Hershel and Humphrey Davy, their connections to their contemporaries in the arts and scientists, and using them to discourse on the Romantic view of science and scientists.
Labels: genre: biographical, genre: historical, genre: non-fiction, genre: science, media: book
Mean Streets
by Butcher, Green, Richardson & Sniegoski, 342 pgs, paperback
Overall Grade: B-
Series: The Dresden Files
Anthology of novellas of various fantasy/magical detectives by their authors. Disappointingly, Butcher's 'Dresden File' installment is the shortest of the four.
Labels: genre: fantasy, genre: fiction, genre: mystery, media: book, series: Dresden Files
Samuel Adams: A Life
by Ira Stoll, 265 pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: C+
Very informative life of one of the lesser known Founding Fathers of the US.
Labels: genre: biographical, genre: historical, genre: non-fiction, media: book
The Right Stuff
by Tom Wolfe, 352 pgs, paperback
Overall Grade: A
Story of the Mercury astronauts, test pilots, and the beginning of NASA. Very human-interest oriented.
Labels: genre: biographical, genre: historical, genre: non-fiction, media: book
Matchless: A Christmas Story
by Gregory Maguire, 112 pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: B
A retelling of 'The Little Matchstick Girl'. Liberally illustrated.
Labels: genre: fiction, media: book
12.07.2009
The Kingdom Beyond the Waves
by Stephen Hunt, hardcover, 556 pgs
Book 2 in the Jackelian series
Overall Grade: A+
Whereas the ending of Hunt's first book set in his Steampunk world fizzled at the end, 'Kingdom Beyond the Waves' runs full speed right to the last page. No dissatisfaction here! Professor Amelia Harsh and Commodore Jared Black, of brief acquaintance in 'The Court of the Air', make their return, along with a lot of other fine characters. We have Cornelius Fortune, who moonlights across the border as a demoniacal troublemaking rogue rescuing political prisoners from his former country of Quartershift. We have Abraham Quest, a rags-to-riches Jackelian entrepreneur millionaire, who funds an expedition deep into the jungles of Liongeli in search of the ruins of the fabled Camlantis. And the way to do that is to take submarine, Black's submarine it turns out, upriver, to hopefully avoid the slavers, the crazy disavowed steammen, the horrifying vendetta-driven dinosaur-like carnivores, and the sentient zombifying plantlife. No one said it was going to be easy!
Labels: genre: fantasy, genre: fiction, genre: steampunk, media: book, series: Jackelian
Unseen Academicals
by Terry Pratchett, hardcover, 400 pgs
Overall Grade: A-
Series: Discworld
Discworld. Unseen University. Pies. Football. Dwarf fashion. Romeo & Juliet. Goblins. Collegiate rivalries. Vetinari. And the Megapode. Ho, the Megapode!
Labels: genre: fantasy, genre: fiction, media: book, series: Discworld
