I really like the Dark Tower series, although they get really odd in books six and seven.
There are actually two versions of The Gunslinger! Both good, but the original is a bit more spare, laconic in places, I might almost say straightforward in its mysterious tone? The western aspect of it is very clear. King went back and revised it years later so that the language meshed more with books 4-7.
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, Book 1) Martha Wells, 2017 Premise: All Murderbot wants is to be left alone to watch tv. Unfortunately, if it doesn't want its free will to be discovered, it still has a job to do, and someone's trying to kill the people it's supposed to protect. This was an absolute delight. Going in, I thought was that this was a novella from the point of view of a killbot. What I found was a snarky sci-fi adventure with a protagonist whose general misanthropy is not entirely genuine, but this never falters into pathos. The humans call it Security Unit, or SecUnit, but a murderbot is what it calls itself. The reason why is a mix of black humor and cynicism. Murderbot is not only hiding its sense of humor but also its free will from both the humans it's assigned to and the shadowy Company that owns it and financed the scientific mission they're on. A SecUnit has consciousness, but it isn't supposed to be able to choose for ...
This is Follow Friday, hosted by Parajunkee's View Today's Question is: Do You Judge a Book by its Cover? Yes, much of the time. I mean, a poorly done cover isn't a guarantee I won't read the book, but if I'm in a store or the library, it means I probably won't pick it up. Online or on the Kindle Store, I more use cover art as a quick judge of genre if I'm not sorting by genre. For example, when I'm clicking through cheap or free books, I won't click on any romance or lit-fic looking covers. For ebooks I'm more likely to buy/read based on the description than the cover, but I'll still judge the cover. If it looks like complete crap, that could be an indication of the quality of the writing, so it has to be a consideration.
Persuasion and Once Persuaded, Twice Shy Jane Austen, 1817 and Melodie Edwards, 2024 Premise: Anne Elliot was once in love. But someone convinced her that her beau wasn't right for her, and she broke it off. Eight years later, she hasn't found anyone who lives up to her first love, and now he's back in town and she's going to have to see him again. I've seen several lists claim that Persuasion is the best of Jane Austen's novels. It's been so long since I've read any others that I can't speak to that either way. Being in the habit of more modern writing, it took a bit of adjustment when I started this book, but I liked it fine. It was an interesting portrait of a family with more pretensions to nobility than cash to support said pretensions. Anne's foolish father and sister insist on their own importance in a very obnoxious way, while pragmatic Anne is sad about renting out their family home, but ready to get on with what's necessary. It...
I'm thinking of reading The Gun Slinger! Love the covers :)
ReplyDeleteI really like the Dark Tower series, although they get really odd in books six and seven.
ReplyDeleteThere are actually two versions of The Gunslinger! Both good, but the original is a bit more spare, laconic in places, I might almost say straightforward in its mysterious tone? The western aspect of it is very clear. King went back and revised it years later so that the language meshed more with books 4-7.
I'm thinking of re-reading them, myself.