Books finished in September 2011
Sep. 29th, 2011 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vivdunstanI've finished 7 books this month.
Firstly Making Renaissance Art, the first course book in my OU course AA315. This book focused on how art works were made, including the techniques used. It was fascinating, but a bit erratic. I should have finished it months ago, but had to skip a lot of weeks, and am only finishing the reading now the course has finished.
Then there was The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I've wanted to read this book for years, and was reminded of this after seeing Neil Gaiman in conversation with Audrey at the Edinburgh Book Festival in August. The book has some interesting parallels with the story of Doctor Who's River Song. I found it a hard read at the start, but soon got into it. Incidentally I had to read a large print edition, because it's not available as an ebook, and I can't read normal print any more. Luckily my local public library service had a large print edition in stock which I could have sent over to Monifieth.
As part of my birthday money I bought a few picture books I loved as a very young child. One was Burglar Bill. It took me minutes to read it, but it was highly amusing, and I can easily see why I liked it aged 3 or 4.
I'm still working through the recent releases of new Doctor Who books. The latest to be read was Borrowed Time by Naomi Alderman. I enjoyed this, it used a tight setting well, and had a good underlying sci fi idea. I've been very impressed by the recent batch of Doctor Who books, and still have one to read.
Another birthday present, this time bought for me, was Terry Pratchett's The Unadulterated Cat. I found this to be utterly hilarious. I suspect it works best for people who are or have been cat owners. The illustrations were amusing too, but it was the text that carried the core of the book. Highly recommended.
I've had a print copy of Doctor Who: The Pandorica Opens: Exploring the worlds of the Eleventh Doctor by Frank Collins for ages, but struggled to read it. So finding the book newly available in Kindle format I bought that instantly, and was soon reading. Unfortunately I found the book to be somewhat frustrating. The author's analysis was acute and interesting in many places. But too often he would cite other people's writings, which felt shoe-horned in to the text, interrupting his own narrative, and providing a distraction rather than a useful contribution. More of his analysis and less pointless other citations would have given a better balance.
Finally, last night I finished Hell's Belles by Paul Magrs, the fourth in his Brenda and Effie series of gothic comedy novels set in Whitby. This book was based around the idea of a horror film being remade in the Yorkshire town, including its original starlet, who seems to have been based upon actress Ingrid Pitt. I loved this book, and found it one of the highlights of the series.
Firstly Making Renaissance Art, the first course book in my OU course AA315. This book focused on how art works were made, including the techniques used. It was fascinating, but a bit erratic. I should have finished it months ago, but had to skip a lot of weeks, and am only finishing the reading now the course has finished.
Then there was The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I've wanted to read this book for years, and was reminded of this after seeing Neil Gaiman in conversation with Audrey at the Edinburgh Book Festival in August. The book has some interesting parallels with the story of Doctor Who's River Song. I found it a hard read at the start, but soon got into it. Incidentally I had to read a large print edition, because it's not available as an ebook, and I can't read normal print any more. Luckily my local public library service had a large print edition in stock which I could have sent over to Monifieth.
As part of my birthday money I bought a few picture books I loved as a very young child. One was Burglar Bill. It took me minutes to read it, but it was highly amusing, and I can easily see why I liked it aged 3 or 4.
I'm still working through the recent releases of new Doctor Who books. The latest to be read was Borrowed Time by Naomi Alderman. I enjoyed this, it used a tight setting well, and had a good underlying sci fi idea. I've been very impressed by the recent batch of Doctor Who books, and still have one to read.
Another birthday present, this time bought for me, was Terry Pratchett's The Unadulterated Cat. I found this to be utterly hilarious. I suspect it works best for people who are or have been cat owners. The illustrations were amusing too, but it was the text that carried the core of the book. Highly recommended.
I've had a print copy of Doctor Who: The Pandorica Opens: Exploring the worlds of the Eleventh Doctor by Frank Collins for ages, but struggled to read it. So finding the book newly available in Kindle format I bought that instantly, and was soon reading. Unfortunately I found the book to be somewhat frustrating. The author's analysis was acute and interesting in many places. But too often he would cite other people's writings, which felt shoe-horned in to the text, interrupting his own narrative, and providing a distraction rather than a useful contribution. More of his analysis and less pointless other citations would have given a better balance.
Finally, last night I finished Hell's Belles by Paul Magrs, the fourth in his Brenda and Effie series of gothic comedy novels set in Whitby. This book was based around the idea of a horror film being remade in the Yorkshire town, including its original starlet, who seems to have been based upon actress Ingrid Pitt. I loved this book, and found it one of the highlights of the series.