On reading a good book
May. 30th, 2012 08:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
technocracygirlI'm mowing my way through 1636: The Kremlin Games, and two thougts keep popping up for me.
First of all, I'm remembering why I love the 163x-verse so much. It's been very hit-or-miss for me lately, what with not enjoying a number of the stories in Ring of Fire III and with despising 1635: The Eastern Front. (I thought it was nothing but a tedious history lesson until about the last fifty pages or so. Then 1636: The Saxon Revolt came out, and i found out that tEF was all set-up for tSR. And I enjoyed tSR very much.) But tKg is nothing but fun for me. Oh, there's a bit of Tom Clancy/David Weber in the discussions about threading and gun manufacturing, but the technical gobbledygook is limited to two paragraphs or less per instance. And the discussions of history and lineage and introducing the modern American reader to the familial/political history of seventeenth century Russia is much more shown, not told, which I very much appreciate. (I'm glaring in your general directions, Virginia deMarce and Eric Flint.)
tKG is an amusing divertissement along the Volga, showing how much information is stuffed into the head of an average American, and introducing new and interesting ways of modernity melding interestingly with history. It's really not covering any thematically new ground here, But it shows off the old themes very nicely. Flint, Gorg Hunt, and Paula Goodlett really are to be commended for their almost airy touch here. This is very classic 163x.
The second thought that I've been having is how much I love authors that I love. I like books, and I like reading. I'm reading a lot more simply these days, and a lot more...safely is the best word. I don't want to read about things that are too dark, and I don't want to read about children in danger. And, unfortunately, I'm not terribly fond of reading a lot of non-fiction on my Sony (footnotes, pictures, and maps can all be very annoying on an ereader), so I've been reading a lot of cozy mysteries and romances. And I enjoy the books I read, don't get me wrong. If I don't like them, I stop reading. But still, every time I pick up an old Lois Bujold or Eric Flint, it's like stepping into a warm bath. The writing style is so lovely, so exactly what I love, that the story just washes over me and I wonder how I could have forgotten how much I love these authors. And to have a new, wonderful book...it's just ten times better.
First of all, I'm remembering why I love the 163x-verse so much. It's been very hit-or-miss for me lately, what with not enjoying a number of the stories in Ring of Fire III and with despising 1635: The Eastern Front. (I thought it was nothing but a tedious history lesson until about the last fifty pages or so. Then 1636: The Saxon Revolt came out, and i found out that tEF was all set-up for tSR. And I enjoyed tSR very much.) But tKg is nothing but fun for me. Oh, there's a bit of Tom Clancy/David Weber in the discussions about threading and gun manufacturing, but the technical gobbledygook is limited to two paragraphs or less per instance. And the discussions of history and lineage and introducing the modern American reader to the familial/political history of seventeenth century Russia is much more shown, not told, which I very much appreciate. (I'm glaring in your general directions, Virginia deMarce and Eric Flint.)
tKG is an amusing divertissement along the Volga, showing how much information is stuffed into the head of an average American, and introducing new and interesting ways of modernity melding interestingly with history. It's really not covering any thematically new ground here, But it shows off the old themes very nicely. Flint, Gorg Hunt, and Paula Goodlett really are to be commended for their almost airy touch here. This is very classic 163x.
The second thought that I've been having is how much I love authors that I love. I like books, and I like reading. I'm reading a lot more simply these days, and a lot more...safely is the best word. I don't want to read about things that are too dark, and I don't want to read about children in danger. And, unfortunately, I'm not terribly fond of reading a lot of non-fiction on my Sony (footnotes, pictures, and maps can all be very annoying on an ereader), so I've been reading a lot of cozy mysteries and romances. And I enjoy the books I read, don't get me wrong. If I don't like them, I stop reading. But still, every time I pick up an old Lois Bujold or Eric Flint, it's like stepping into a warm bath. The writing style is so lovely, so exactly what I love, that the story just washes over me and I wonder how I could have forgotten how much I love these authors. And to have a new, wonderful book...it's just ten times better.
