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Wow, it's been awhile, hasn't it?
What I Just Finished Reading
The Infidel Stain – M.J. Carter
What a disappointment. This book reads like someone's bad fanfic sequel to The Strangler Vine. Carter reduces her formerly intriguing protagonists to buffoonish caricatures, which makes her cribbing from Doyle all the more obvious and irritating. The narrative reads as if someone had a gun to her head and was threatening to pull the trigger if she dared include anything but exposition.
And boy, is it tedious (Just try to distinguish passages from the novel from the book's bona fide historical afterward. I dare you.) Even the dialogue is presented as post facto exposition, when it would have been more exciting and less verbose had it been written as dialogue. I get the feeling that a) Carter and/or her publishers wanted to get a sequel out as quickly as possible, good writing be damned, and b) Carter included so much exposition (vice narration or dialogue) to hit contractual word counts. At any rate, give this half-baked volume a miss.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Strangler Vine – M.J. Carter
Now, this is some good writing. A disaffected ensign in the East India Company is ordered to accompany a disgraced loose cannon and former officer on a search to locate a missing poet, who may have been murdered by Thugs. Carter's descriptions are lush and the protagonists fascinating. And she plays her cards close to her chest, so when she parcels out hints and clues as to who these people might be, readers are left hungering for more.
There is some unnecessary exposition here (although far less than in the sequel), and some fairly improbably scenarios, but here's the thing: I'm willing to go all-in on these bits because the rest of the writing is so good.
Sang Alkemis – Paul Coelho
I was hoping the experience of reading this one in Indonesian would make it somewhat more tolerable. It hasn't.
Indonesian: A Comprehensive Grammar – James Sneddon, K. Alexander Adelaar, Dwi Djenar
I adore grammar books, and for Indonesian, this is probably the best. The explanations are concise and clearly written, and there's a lot of good vocabulary for intermediate to advanced readers.
What I'm Reading Next
Most Blessed of Patriarchs - Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter S. Onuf
Jefferson fascinates me: you'd think he largely got it if you only knew him from his writings, but in his conduct he was a hideous human being as often as not. I'm interested to see whether this book's premise – that Jefferson organized his life around “mastery” of the self, intellect, actions, etc. - can convince me.
Miramont's Ghost – Elizabeth Hall
This was a freebie and looks to be as bad as most Kindle novels, but I need something mindless for my commute.
これで以上です。
What I Just Finished Reading
The Infidel Stain – M.J. Carter
What a disappointment. This book reads like someone's bad fanfic sequel to The Strangler Vine. Carter reduces her formerly intriguing protagonists to buffoonish caricatures, which makes her cribbing from Doyle all the more obvious and irritating. The narrative reads as if someone had a gun to her head and was threatening to pull the trigger if she dared include anything but exposition.
And boy, is it tedious (Just try to distinguish passages from the novel from the book's bona fide historical afterward. I dare you.) Even the dialogue is presented as post facto exposition, when it would have been more exciting and less verbose had it been written as dialogue. I get the feeling that a) Carter and/or her publishers wanted to get a sequel out as quickly as possible, good writing be damned, and b) Carter included so much exposition (vice narration or dialogue) to hit contractual word counts. At any rate, give this half-baked volume a miss.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Strangler Vine – M.J. Carter
Now, this is some good writing. A disaffected ensign in the East India Company is ordered to accompany a disgraced loose cannon and former officer on a search to locate a missing poet, who may have been murdered by Thugs. Carter's descriptions are lush and the protagonists fascinating. And she plays her cards close to her chest, so when she parcels out hints and clues as to who these people might be, readers are left hungering for more.
There is some unnecessary exposition here (although far less than in the sequel), and some fairly improbably scenarios, but here's the thing: I'm willing to go all-in on these bits because the rest of the writing is so good.
Sang Alkemis – Paul Coelho
I was hoping the experience of reading this one in Indonesian would make it somewhat more tolerable. It hasn't.
Indonesian: A Comprehensive Grammar – James Sneddon, K. Alexander Adelaar, Dwi Djenar
I adore grammar books, and for Indonesian, this is probably the best. The explanations are concise and clearly written, and there's a lot of good vocabulary for intermediate to advanced readers.
What I'm Reading Next
Most Blessed of Patriarchs - Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter S. Onuf
Jefferson fascinates me: you'd think he largely got it if you only knew him from his writings, but in his conduct he was a hideous human being as often as not. I'm interested to see whether this book's premise – that Jefferson organized his life around “mastery” of the self, intellect, actions, etc. - can convince me.
Miramont's Ghost – Elizabeth Hall
This was a freebie and looks to be as bad as most Kindle novels, but I need something mindless for my commute.
これで以上です。