24 « June « 2009 « Medieval Bookworm

Library Loot & What’s on My Desk Wednesday

First I’m going to start off with Library Loot. This is hosted by Eva and Marg! I got four books out this week, two yesterday and two today. Three were holds and one was a little more spontaneous. I also just realized that now my due dates have fallen into the range of the two weeks I’ll be home, so I really have to start reading those library books!

From the top:

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ve been feeling a lack of huge fantasy epics in my life lately. I don’t remember where I heard about this one. I’m sure it was on a blog, but I can’t remember which one. If I mentioned it in your comments, let me know, because you probably deserve credit for it.
Bonk by Mary Roach. This promises to be hilarious non-fiction about the science of sex, everyone’s favorite topic. Again, heard about this everywhere and I’ve been eager to try one of Mary Roach’s books.
The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett. I’ve seen favorable reviews of this in most places and I know the spoiler that may have made me dislike the book otherwise, so I’m still looking forward to it. Note again what I said about fantasy. Once my challenge to read 30 books in June is over, I’m going to be all about the chunksters.
Eyes of the Storm by Jeff Smith. This is Bone vol. 3! I’m loving the Bone series. I haven’t been writing reviews of them because I can’t decide how to do it. I might buy the whole thing when I go home, reread, and write a review of that. We’ll see.

Next up, I was tagged by the lovely Becky at One Literature Nut for the What’s On My Desk? Wednesday meme, which is hosted by Sassy Brit. The rules:

1. Grab a camera and take a photo of your desk! Or anywhere you stack your books/TBR pile. And no tidying!
2. Add this photo to your blog.
3. Tag at least 5 people!
4. Come back here and leave a link back to your photo in the comments section.

Becky specifically mentioned my grad work so I’ve taken quite a few pictures to get the full effect. First, we have the desk.

I must confess, I cleaned a little, but it needed to be done and it’s still messy. Anyway, we have my computer, propped up because it overheats in my oven of a room. See that pipe on the bottom under all the wires? It’s hot all year round and even though it’s summer and a lovely 70 degrees, my room is basically never comfortable because that pipe radiates heat constantly. Behind my computer are my public library books. Under my phone I have two books that I really should finish one day. On the far right in the back are just a few of my massive pile of research books, and directly in front of them are my review books and the Sims 3, which I’m also intending to review soon. I also have bookmarks to complete the literary aspects of my desk. Otherwise, I have a little rabbit that I crocheted for my mom, lip gloss, hair ties, a glass of water, my glasses, and various crochet and sewing bits that are mostly hidden on the left there.

Then, because you haven’t seen enough yet, we have my tall pile of academic books, with a couple of articles tucked in.

Why do I have so many books on Richard III? Well, quite a few of them touch on Anthony Woodville, and I take what I can get. He’s not all that popular a subject unfortunately.

Okay, now my actual TBR piles, the arrangement that I’m meant to be reading and my messy shelves with the waiting books on them:

The books on the bottom half cut off shelf are those that I’ve read.

I’m going to be rebellious and not pass on the tag. I never know who has a camera or is willing to take pictures of what they have at random. If you want to take pictures of your TBR pile and share them with us (you know you do), consider yourself tagged by me.

Apologies for all the posts around here lately. I’m already scheduling my reviews into the distant future, but after this month I plan to read fewer but bigger books and will then spend less time filling up your RSS readers!

Review: The Ghost Brigades, John Scalzi

Charles Boutin’s defection to the other side is a serious blow to the Colonial Defense Forces. As a top military scientist, he had access to many of their secrets. As a genius, he’s capable of equipping the enemy with more sophisticated technology than humans, even the genetically modified humans in the forces, can handle. Luckily (or unluckily depending on your perspective) Boutin managed to preserve his consciousness on a computer, something that had never before been accomplished. And so Jared Dirac is created from Charles Boutin’s DNA, a clone which they hope will provide them with answers. When Jared wakes up, he is a newborn like every other newborn Ghost Brigades soldier, but as his experiences in war add up, he finds Boutin’s emotions, memories, and personality emerging, making him both dangerous and essential in the war effort.

Does anyone remember how I said I didn’t like science fiction? John Scalzi has blown holes in that theory. I read this in three hours on a train and the time simply flew by. I often comment on characters in my reviews because I think great, well-developed characters are more or less essential to my enjoyment of a book. I don’t like exclusively plot-driven works. Thus, this book, in which discoveries that relate to the plot are made only when the main character changes enough to trigger his memories, worked perfectly for me. Jared was fantastic. I loved reading about his development from essentially nothing, into this relatively submissive guy called Jared, and then into someone much closer to Charles Boutin. There is plenty of plot here, but there are also great characters and great human emotions that, to me, made this book. There is also a tie-in character from Old Man’s War which very quickly enabled me to build on that book with this one.

There is something else I like about this series that others may not. Scalzi is a little bit merciless with the killing of characters. I may be weird but I love this. I like the unpredictability of it, especially in fantasy or, apparently, science fiction. It makes the world real for me. I can grieve over characters I’ve become attached to but the unpredictability often makes the book that much more exciting for me and elicits more reaction from me. There are no guarantees here. I read enough fiction where endings are assured and I like those in their place, but sometimes I just want something I’m not expecting. Scalzi delivers just that.

Even more amazing for me and science fiction, I like the world he’s created. It’s strong and well-developed. I know which aliens are which and what they’re good at. I understand the technological advancements that have been made. For the most part, we’re acquainted with all these details in Old Man’s War, but with the focus on the Special Forces/Ghost Brigades in this novel, we become more familiar with the oddities of the new developments in body technology. This isn’t at all overwhelming, though. I was astonished by this personally, but I was actually interested in how the science was going. I want to know where it’s going next!

I love this series. I can’t wait to read The Last Colony and Zoe’s Tale. If you are in general cool with the concept of alternate worlds, I highly recommend this series.

The Ghost Brigades is available from Amazon and Amazon UK.

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Library Loot & What’s on My Desk Wednesday

Review: The Ghost Brigades, John Scalzi

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