12th & 13th books of 2010

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

I briefly mentioned this book a couple of posts ago. My sister-in-law gave me it for Xmas, as she knew how much I loved The Time-Traveller's Wife. That book - TTTW - mygod, I bawled my freakin' eyes out reading it. Full on weeping so I could barely read the words. I honestly can't remember any other book that made me cry like that (admittedly I was ill & sleep-deprived at the time...)

But this book? Nope. I didn't give a crap about any of the characters. Not a thing. Was not engaged in what could happen to them. The big reveals / twists were ho-hum. The author's research showed through in great big bald chunks of info dumps about Highgate Cemetery. I loved the paranormal / speculative inclusion but - sigh - nope. Not a good book, I'm afraid.


The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi

Okay, now we're talking! Wonderful humorous space opera sci fi goodness, in a handy dandy paperback that I chewed through like marshmallow. I love John Scalzi and I've only read 2 of his books so far. Yeah. I'm gonna find me some more.

This is a follow-up book to his first, Old Man's War, which I read at Christmas. Although -- it's not a full-on sequel featuring all the same characters. And okay, yes, I think the first book was the better one and again this seems to come down to me liking the characters in the first book better but this one is still on par.

It's been a while since I've been really excited about a sci fi book / author. I love sci fi, I say it all the time, but truth is I actually don't read much of it. What I want to read is character-driven stories, not idea-driven or science-driven. It's hard to tell where a book lies on that regard when I pick it up off the shelf. I'm not good at finding sci fi books I want to read.

I need to get off my ass and start reading some of the classics, I reckon. I need to educate myself more.