David Fromkin's
A Peace to End All Peace was dense but readable. It showed me how little I really know about World War I. The basic premise though was that a large portion of the current trouble in the Middle East is actually caused by Britain's actions during and at the end of WWI.
posted by kristin at 12:46 PM
I finished Jose Saramago's
Blindness over the weekend. I think the thing that surprised me the most was getting to the end and realizing that I hadn't noticed that none of the characters had names, just descriptions. That comment probably makes the novel seem like some sort of weird modernist thing without a plot or purpose but that's not the case. I don't want to give away the plot, but the Blindness of the title is literal, and it's contagious.
I started John Nichol's
The Sterile Cuckoo. I have a feeling it's going to need to go on my netflix queue now out of curiousity.
posted by kristin at 12:43 PM
I finally finished
Lanark a few days ago. I've put off writing about it though, partially due to being busy, partially due to a lack of knowing what to say. I'm really not sure what my reaction is. I liked it enough to finish it, but not enough to speed through. I'm not constantly thinking of it after, yet somehow I think I should have liked it that much. I think it'll deserve a re-reading in a few years (especially some year that I haven't set myself a particular list of books to read!).
I'm halfway through Jose Saramago's
Blindness now and am definitely liking it.
posted by kristin at 2:32 PM
Just found an amazon listmania list by Jeff VanderMeer:
Listmania! Entertaining but Different: Strange Fiction. I've read some of them, but think I'll need to check out some of the others.
posted by kristin at 5:07 PM
I've been lazy the last week. Not much reading, and even less posting about it.
While I was in Denver I only got through 2 books. I think I was too busy catching up on sleep.
Henry Petroski's
The Evolution of Useful Things was informative and interesting. Who would have ever imaged I'd read an entire chapter about the evolution of the paper clip though?
Lewis Shiner's
Glimpses was ok, though probably not his best. If I had more of a love for 60's rock, I'd probably have appreciated it more. (Had he been able to recreate jazz masterpieces on the other hand....)
We went to the Tattered Cover, of course, while I was there. I ended up buying 3 books.
Illium by Dan Simmons (a $5.98 sale hardcover changed my mind on waiting for paperback),
Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco, and
Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds.
I'm working on
Lanark by Alasdair Gray. It was mentioned enough times on
bookslut that I decided to read it. I'm liking it, but also finding it slow going. I also am afraid it's going to be one of those books that demands to be reread and makes more sense the second time through.
posted by kristin at 1:46 PM 
