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Book Thoughts
Jun. 20th, 2010 06:28 pmI've been reading a lot of books lately and just picked up another one thanks to Milliways. So I wanted to try and get down some of my thoughts about all of them.
I finished The Red Pyramid and Riordan has done it again, this is a wonderful book. What I found so interesting was that by working with Egyptian Mythology, he had to change the story structure from the Percy Jackson series. The Greek and Roman myths can be taken on their own and reinterpreted in a lot of ways, because that was being done throughout Classical literature. Yet Egyptian mythology takes every version of a myth has true in one setting or another and also there seem to fewer stories that are all connected and cyclical. So the story ended up longer and more one full story in one book as opposed to an adventure in a larger arc for the Percy Jackson books. Also he dealt a lot more with siblings and issues of outside perceptions of interracial siblings that I found fascinating. I'd love to hear the thoughts of people who've also read it to see what jumped out at you.
This week, I just started the first of the Bartimaeus books on the recommendation of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dynastessa and I really enjoy it. I love different systems of magic and alternate histories. Though I think my favorite part of it so far is all the differing points of view, it creates a chance to really think about why characters act the way that they do.
I'm also in the midst of The Folklore of Discworld, which I love. My mother's an anthropologist and I adore these companion volumes that show the connections. Already things that I've read are working their way into how I play Moist, because I love getting to play on the Disc. I think one reason that I keep ending up with pups from other worlds and times is that I really find it so interesting to think about how they'll approach things. What are their prejudices and comfort levels? Then how can I use Milliways to poke at them.
Before I started my shift, I went searching in the juvenile section of the library to pick up a book called Fly By Night by Frances Harding that has a new Milliways' character, Hopewood Petrellis in it. I started reading it as I walked from Shapiro to Hatcher and I'm already hooked. Its full of clever wordplay and likable characters. The first book it made me think of was the Lemony Snicket ones, but I like it better. Those books always struck me as rather too proud of themselves and not as good as I expected.
My comfort books of late have been my Ngaio Marsh collection, because I found the box that they were hiding in. I'm not sure exactly why but I love reading mysteries before I go to sleep. Even if I've read it many times before, I enjoy the settings and characters that she creates. One of my favorite things with Marsh is how the murder sometimes doesn't happen until almost halfway through the book so you're really invested in the characters. She also will write about New Zealand, which just makes me incredible happy and I start missing it a bit.
After work, I'm going to upload pictures from my new camera and there will be a quite heavy photo post tonight. Life is good, I had a great call with my parents, New Zealand drew with Italy and I get to talk to one of my best friends tonight.
I finished The Red Pyramid and Riordan has done it again, this is a wonderful book. What I found so interesting was that by working with Egyptian Mythology, he had to change the story structure from the Percy Jackson series. The Greek and Roman myths can be taken on their own and reinterpreted in a lot of ways, because that was being done throughout Classical literature. Yet Egyptian mythology takes every version of a myth has true in one setting or another and also there seem to fewer stories that are all connected and cyclical. So the story ended up longer and more one full story in one book as opposed to an adventure in a larger arc for the Percy Jackson books. Also he dealt a lot more with siblings and issues of outside perceptions of interracial siblings that I found fascinating. I'd love to hear the thoughts of people who've also read it to see what jumped out at you.
This week, I just started the first of the Bartimaeus books on the recommendation of
dynastessa and I really enjoy it. I love different systems of magic and alternate histories. Though I think my favorite part of it so far is all the differing points of view, it creates a chance to really think about why characters act the way that they do.I'm also in the midst of The Folklore of Discworld, which I love. My mother's an anthropologist and I adore these companion volumes that show the connections. Already things that I've read are working their way into how I play Moist, because I love getting to play on the Disc. I think one reason that I keep ending up with pups from other worlds and times is that I really find it so interesting to think about how they'll approach things. What are their prejudices and comfort levels? Then how can I use Milliways to poke at them.
Before I started my shift, I went searching in the juvenile section of the library to pick up a book called Fly By Night by Frances Harding that has a new Milliways' character, Hopewood Petrellis in it. I started reading it as I walked from Shapiro to Hatcher and I'm already hooked. Its full of clever wordplay and likable characters. The first book it made me think of was the Lemony Snicket ones, but I like it better. Those books always struck me as rather too proud of themselves and not as good as I expected.
My comfort books of late have been my Ngaio Marsh collection, because I found the box that they were hiding in. I'm not sure exactly why but I love reading mysteries before I go to sleep. Even if I've read it many times before, I enjoy the settings and characters that she creates. One of my favorite things with Marsh is how the murder sometimes doesn't happen until almost halfway through the book so you're really invested in the characters. She also will write about New Zealand, which just makes me incredible happy and I start missing it a bit.
After work, I'm going to upload pictures from my new camera and there will be a quite heavy photo post tonight. Life is good, I had a great call with my parents, New Zealand drew with Italy and I get to talk to one of my best friends tonight.
