Book reviews
Aug. 24th, 2011 06:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
What I've been reading:
Kim Newman's "Anno Dracula": What would have happened if Dracula hadn't been killed at the end of Bram Stoker's novel? Newman plays in the London of 1888 with every prominent vampire and Victorian you can think of, so if you're familiar with the genre and time period it's an adventurous running in-joke - but if not there's lengthy notes at the end that describe his influences. I heard about this novel years ago but wasn't able to get a copy until it was reissued this year. I hope the sequels come out as well!
Jeff Sharlet's "C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy": this is a continuation of his research into the Christian Right elite that he started in 2008's The Family. Using interviews with members and the Family's own documentation, he demonstrates that these aren't the outrageous Bachmanns and Perrys, but wealthy, well positioned (usually) men who are content to work slowly to achieve their goals of rolling back social progress: in their world LGTBQs would go back into the closet, the poor would be content with their lot, women would shut up and act nice, while they paternalistically run everything. What's most chilling is how firmly they believe that they are God's instruments, confusing their own egos with divine will. Not a happy read but very much recommended.
Leslie Kean's "UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record": I know, I know: most UFO books are by nutty believers or stern debunkers, but this is one of the most sane, sober treatments of the subject I've ever read. Shoving the assumption that UFOs = aliens aside, the contributors to Kean's book recite their experiences and suggest that unknown things in the sky need to be taken seriously as flight hazards and defense threats. Excerpts here.
Jon Armstrong's "Yarn": I'm not done with it but I'm including it anyway because it's a compulsive read - I almost dread getting to the end because it means I won't get to read Armstrong's clever use of fashion/textile language to describe SeattleHama, a future capital of sex and fashion, with violent sales-warriors and specialty yarn-stealing (and hallucinogenic drugs that make you see everything as fabric. I want some of this drug). A tailor is on a mission to get an illegal fabric to ease the suffering of a former lover, and his story is told in flashbacks along the way. It's described as "fashionpunk", and you can read the first chapter online.
Kim Newman's "Anno Dracula": What would have happened if Dracula hadn't been killed at the end of Bram Stoker's novel? Newman plays in the London of 1888 with every prominent vampire and Victorian you can think of, so if you're familiar with the genre and time period it's an adventurous running in-joke - but if not there's lengthy notes at the end that describe his influences. I heard about this novel years ago but wasn't able to get a copy until it was reissued this year. I hope the sequels come out as well!
Jeff Sharlet's "C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy": this is a continuation of his research into the Christian Right elite that he started in 2008's The Family. Using interviews with members and the Family's own documentation, he demonstrates that these aren't the outrageous Bachmanns and Perrys, but wealthy, well positioned (usually) men who are content to work slowly to achieve their goals of rolling back social progress: in their world LGTBQs would go back into the closet, the poor would be content with their lot, women would shut up and act nice, while they paternalistically run everything. What's most chilling is how firmly they believe that they are God's instruments, confusing their own egos with divine will. Not a happy read but very much recommended.
Leslie Kean's "UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record": I know, I know: most UFO books are by nutty believers or stern debunkers, but this is one of the most sane, sober treatments of the subject I've ever read. Shoving the assumption that UFOs = aliens aside, the contributors to Kean's book recite their experiences and suggest that unknown things in the sky need to be taken seriously as flight hazards and defense threats. Excerpts here.
Jon Armstrong's "Yarn": I'm not done with it but I'm including it anyway because it's a compulsive read - I almost dread getting to the end because it means I won't get to read Armstrong's clever use of fashion/textile language to describe SeattleHama, a future capital of sex and fashion, with violent sales-warriors and specialty yarn-stealing (and hallucinogenic drugs that make you see everything as fabric. I want some of this drug). A tailor is on a mission to get an illegal fabric to ease the suffering of a former lover, and his story is told in flashbacks along the way. It's described as "fashionpunk", and you can read the first chapter online.