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Books read, early December
Dec. 16th, 2009 03:44 pmSudden bad cough. Bah humbug, cough.
Anyway. I had felt like I wasn't getting much reading time in, and like I was quitting most of the books I was reading in disgust halfway through. And lo and behold, I was right! Because this fortnight's book post is much shorter than usual. Much. (So far this month I have quit two authors completely and one series from an author I have otherwise liked. Ugh.)
William Dalrymple, White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth Century India. This one was the book that decided me that I am in no mood to read things that are informative but not particularly well-written, because both do apply here. Also, Dalrymple seemed to be much more convinced that he was overturning a view of the British in India than I was, because I never had the (frankly stupid) view that the British had influenced the Indians without themselves being influenced. So having him refute that was not as valuable as perhaps it might have been.
Kjell Eriksson, The Princess of Burundi. And this is the one that decided us on no more Swedish mystery novels for me for the rest of the year. Because it was good, but oh, so gloomy.
Reginald Hill, Dialogues of the Dead and The Wood Beyond. The latter is probably my favorite so far, with its WWI references, but the former's word games are also good, and I'm interested in how it breaks standard mystery novel procedure even for within a series. I'm fond of both, though, and eager to get more in the series.
And that's it. Which for me is really not much.
Anyway. I had felt like I wasn't getting much reading time in, and like I was quitting most of the books I was reading in disgust halfway through. And lo and behold, I was right! Because this fortnight's book post is much shorter than usual. Much. (So far this month I have quit two authors completely and one series from an author I have otherwise liked. Ugh.)
William Dalrymple, White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth Century India. This one was the book that decided me that I am in no mood to read things that are informative but not particularly well-written, because both do apply here. Also, Dalrymple seemed to be much more convinced that he was overturning a view of the British in India than I was, because I never had the (frankly stupid) view that the British had influenced the Indians without themselves being influenced. So having him refute that was not as valuable as perhaps it might have been.
Kjell Eriksson, The Princess of Burundi. And this is the one that decided us on no more Swedish mystery novels for me for the rest of the year. Because it was good, but oh, so gloomy.
Reginald Hill, Dialogues of the Dead and The Wood Beyond. The latter is probably my favorite so far, with its WWI references, but the former's word games are also good, and I'm interested in how it breaks standard mystery novel procedure even for within a series. I'm fond of both, though, and eager to get more in the series.
And that's it. Which for me is really not much.
