Books Read: January 2006
January 31st, 2006Declare, by Tim Powers
Air, by Geoff Ryman
Hidden Camera, by Zoran Zivkovic
Blood of Victory, by Alan Furst
Captain Alatriste, by Arturo Perez-Reverte
Not a stellar month for me. More books abandoned than finished. It started out promising, though: Declare was big, deep, moving, frustrating, rewarding, and exhausting, as many good books are. It left me in the mood for spy novels of a certain kind, but I couldn’t really put a finger on it, so I couldn’t find what I was looking for. An exception, however, was Furst’s Blood of Victory, which I couldn’t put down for some reason.
Air was interesting, a sort of precautionary fable about the singularity, without being like so much science fiction these days that practically shouts, “I am about the singularity!”
Hidden Camera was a lot weaker than Zivkovic’s other fiction. It was a disappointment. Captain Alatriste was barely palatable, full of digressions and thin characters, and really weak on plot. Not half as satisfying as the author’s puzzle thrillers like The Club Dumas.
January 31st, 2006 at 3:42 pm
The Club Dumas is one of those books I’ve been interested in - good to know it’s worthwhile.
Wow, you only read one more book than I did. When does that ever happen?
February 7th, 2006 at 4:32 am
Thanks for the heads-up on the Alatriste book. I nearly bought a hardcover!
Also, cheers. Long time since I’ve droped by. Take care!
February 7th, 2006 at 9:51 am
Great to see you, JP. I still read your blog, though I’m a huge slacker when it comes to leaving comments (except, apparently, here!).
February 8th, 2006 at 2:10 am
Oh, that’s fine. Slackers are good people.