Reading, Listening, Watching
May. 31st, 2017 08:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purplecatReading: Moved on from James Tiptree (though I liked the later stories in the collection more than I liked a lot of the ones in the middle) to a very battered copy of The Steerswoman which I'm enjoying a whole lot more despite the fact that generic fantasy settings (or at least generic with a twist, on the assumption that the picture on the cover is a spoiler for a twist) are not really my thing.
Listening: Slowly listening my way through A History of the World in 100 Objects. It isn't quite what I was expecting (though I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting). I think, as it has moved into recorded history, I was expecting a more linked narrative to emerge, rather than it to maintain it's focus on brief snapshots of time. I'm also not terribly enamoured on the random commentary by contemporary people with, on occasion, only tangential relevance to the object or the history. Overall though, it's a Radio 4 program that definitely benefits from being listened to in order some time after the fact (which, I have discovered, many don't - or at least don't really work from me in that context).
Watching: Almost exclusively watching new and old Doctor Who at the moment. B. and G. are watching Attack on Titan but I find it a little blood-thirsty for my taste so have generally been absenting myself.
Listening: Slowly listening my way through A History of the World in 100 Objects. It isn't quite what I was expecting (though I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting). I think, as it has moved into recorded history, I was expecting a more linked narrative to emerge, rather than it to maintain it's focus on brief snapshots of time. I'm also not terribly enamoured on the random commentary by contemporary people with, on occasion, only tangential relevance to the object or the history. Overall though, it's a Radio 4 program that definitely benefits from being listened to in order some time after the fact (which, I have discovered, many don't - or at least don't really work from me in that context).
Watching: Almost exclusively watching new and old Doctor Who at the moment. B. and G. are watching Attack on Titan but I find it a little blood-thirsty for my taste so have generally been absenting myself.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-05-31 01:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-05-31 08:40 pm (UTC)I'm assuming the thing that looks like a computer monitor on the left is actually a computer monitor and, in fact, the wizards are actually scientists/engineers/recoverers of lost technology.
Hmm... I'm only about halfway through the first book, but beyond the fact we don't have lots of different races (and I guess no chosen one), I've got wizards, dragons, vaguely late medieval levels of technology, a barbarian, lots of inns, lots of travelling about albeit without a handy map at the front of the book, a war between powerful magical forces (though I suspect that is going to turn out to be not what it seems at first), there isn't a dark lord, as such, though Abremio is shaping up to be one (though, again, I suspect this is going to turn out to be other than it seems). The Steerswomen themselves, at this point, are the only thing that makes it stand out setting-wise from the (admittedly only a handful) other fantasy books I've read, though I suspect the technology angle, as it is explored, will make it all more distinctive.
But, as I say, I'm enjoying it a lot so, you know...
(no subject)
Date: 2017-05-31 08:48 pm (UTC)I had for some reason actually extracted the map from my ebook copy, so I've uploaded it here if you want to look and/or grab: http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/isiscolo/845847/93422/93422_800.jpg
(no subject)
Date: 2017-06-04 02:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-06-01 08:03 pm (UTC)