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newnumber6Finished: The Yiddish Policeman's Union, by Michael Chabon
Short version, I thought it was quite well written, with beautiful flowing language, but on the whole it's just not my kind of thing. Minor spoilers behind the cut.
The novel is something of an alternate history, in which, after WWII, the Jews were given land in Alaska to settle on... but only for 50 years. As the land is about to revert back to US control, the Jews of Sitka, Alaska are left in doubt about their future. But the main character, a cop, has a murder to investigate in his last weeks on the job.
Now, as you all know, I mostly read SF. I need a little something weird in my fiction or I just can't get interested. This qualifies, barely, under both the Alternate History clause, and the fact that the murder victim was reputed to have something mystical about him and may have actually had miraculous gifts of a sort. But, on the whole, it reads like a very mainstream novel, albeit one in a world that does not exist.
It is well-written. Chabon definitely has a gift for making the language smooth and having a character which feels appropriate for the setting, a talent I really envy. His characters come across clearly and realistically, and the story more or less works on a plot level. It just never really engaged me personally beyond finding elements here or there charming. It's probably one of the most pleasant reads for a book I'm not really engaged in, though. I never felt it was dragging or that I had to slog through it to get to something I was more interested in reading. It doesn't give me a burning desire to read more of his work, though. There are many movies I watch on TV that are sort of like how I feel about this: I can watch it, find it interesting, entertaining, well done, well acted, but at the same time know that if I had to turn the channel or go do something else and there was a half an hour left, I could get up and leave it and never really regret it. I might wiki it just to find out how it ended, but I don't feel a need to watch it. Whereas there are other shows/movies where if I start watching it, I have to see it through, even if it means downloading it, and sometimes, even if it's something I've already seen. This is like the novel equivalent of the first case, except that, since it won the Hugo and Nebula award, I had to finish it in order to fulfill my quest of having read every Hugo or Nebula winning novel (and I am once again in the position of having completed the Hugo list, at least for another two months or so when they announce this year's winner).
Started and Finished: The Player of Games, by Iain M. Banks (reread)
Started: Weapons of Choice, by John Birmingham
It's a reread, of course, so no real detailed comments. It's enjoyable, but I think it loses a bit on the reread, and feels a little more like it could be a long short story rather than a full novel.
Finished: Broken Angels by Richard K. Morgan (reread)
Started: Woken Furies, by Richard K. Morgan (reread)
So continuing my rereading of the Kovacs saga. It's interesting, I find the character strangely compelling, even though he's normally the sort I find boring. The first book is still the best, but there's enough in the other ones to be entertained, even on a reread.
I also of course watched Doctor Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog on DVD. And, finally, all the extra features, including Commentary! The Musical. The short verdict: I was impressed by the things I wasn't expected to be, and less than impressed by the things I expected to love. Slight 'spoilery' comments behind the cut.
Okay, let's talk about Commentary. That was... disappointing. Oh, a few of the songs were nice, but there were two things that really bugged me.
1) The musical didn't seem to, at all, relate to what was happening on screen, except at a point or two. I didn't expect it to be constantly doing so, but I would have liked something where they're referring to what was going on... for example having the Groupie's solo happening during her song on the show, instead of much earlier. As it is, you might as well watch it with the video off.
However, I could have lived with that, if not for the other problem...
2) The space between the songs. I mean, look at the Doctor Horrible music itself. When they're not singing, they're talking more or less like normal people. Sure, TV people. Whedon-speaking TV people. But there's a certain cadence and rhythm to it that feels natural at least most of the time. But on the commentary, when they're not singing, they're all talking in this fast-paced, high-pitched 'jokey' voice, like they're reading a script that they all know is supposed to be funny. It all feels very High School Musical (That is, the production level of an actual High School Musical. I've never seen the movie High School Musical so I don't know if they do that or not). Amateurish, and not interesting. They don't feel like normal people at all. Moreover, it was ANNOYING. None of the lines that might have been funny if they talked like normal people were funny. All in all rather disappointing, I'm afraid.
On the other hand, though, there were the Evil League of Evil auditions. I thought they'd be generally lame and not very interesting, but they were quite well done. Well-performed, well-sung, well conceived. Makes me glad I didn't bother trying because anything I could have done would have been painfully amateurish. Sure, there were a few that fell flat for me (Broadway Dork, the Table-Leg people). Actually, in the days after I watched it all? I had more bits of the ELE audition songs running through my head than I did the songs of Commentary (the actual Doc Horrible songs were still there more often than both of course). I think the only Commentary! song that kept popping up was "Ninja Ropes", and that's because I was also playing the game.
I still have my "Wrap-up of the second half of all the year's TV" review to do, but I'm almost finished Leela's time in my old school Doctor Who watching (doing an ep of Invasion of Time right now), so I'll wait till I've done that and throw that in there.
Short version, I thought it was quite well written, with beautiful flowing language, but on the whole it's just not my kind of thing. Minor spoilers behind the cut.
The novel is something of an alternate history, in which, after WWII, the Jews were given land in Alaska to settle on... but only for 50 years. As the land is about to revert back to US control, the Jews of Sitka, Alaska are left in doubt about their future. But the main character, a cop, has a murder to investigate in his last weeks on the job.
Now, as you all know, I mostly read SF. I need a little something weird in my fiction or I just can't get interested. This qualifies, barely, under both the Alternate History clause, and the fact that the murder victim was reputed to have something mystical about him and may have actually had miraculous gifts of a sort. But, on the whole, it reads like a very mainstream novel, albeit one in a world that does not exist.
It is well-written. Chabon definitely has a gift for making the language smooth and having a character which feels appropriate for the setting, a talent I really envy. His characters come across clearly and realistically, and the story more or less works on a plot level. It just never really engaged me personally beyond finding elements here or there charming. It's probably one of the most pleasant reads for a book I'm not really engaged in, though. I never felt it was dragging or that I had to slog through it to get to something I was more interested in reading. It doesn't give me a burning desire to read more of his work, though. There are many movies I watch on TV that are sort of like how I feel about this: I can watch it, find it interesting, entertaining, well done, well acted, but at the same time know that if I had to turn the channel or go do something else and there was a half an hour left, I could get up and leave it and never really regret it. I might wiki it just to find out how it ended, but I don't feel a need to watch it. Whereas there are other shows/movies where if I start watching it, I have to see it through, even if it means downloading it, and sometimes, even if it's something I've already seen. This is like the novel equivalent of the first case, except that, since it won the Hugo and Nebula award, I had to finish it in order to fulfill my quest of having read every Hugo or Nebula winning novel (and I am once again in the position of having completed the Hugo list, at least for another two months or so when they announce this year's winner).
Started and Finished: The Player of Games, by Iain M. Banks (reread)
Started: Weapons of Choice, by John Birmingham
It's a reread, of course, so no real detailed comments. It's enjoyable, but I think it loses a bit on the reread, and feels a little more like it could be a long short story rather than a full novel.
Finished: Broken Angels by Richard K. Morgan (reread)
Started: Woken Furies, by Richard K. Morgan (reread)
So continuing my rereading of the Kovacs saga. It's interesting, I find the character strangely compelling, even though he's normally the sort I find boring. The first book is still the best, but there's enough in the other ones to be entertained, even on a reread.
I also of course watched Doctor Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog on DVD. And, finally, all the extra features, including Commentary! The Musical. The short verdict: I was impressed by the things I wasn't expected to be, and less than impressed by the things I expected to love. Slight 'spoilery' comments behind the cut.
Okay, let's talk about Commentary. That was... disappointing. Oh, a few of the songs were nice, but there were two things that really bugged me.
1) The musical didn't seem to, at all, relate to what was happening on screen, except at a point or two. I didn't expect it to be constantly doing so, but I would have liked something where they're referring to what was going on... for example having the Groupie's solo happening during her song on the show, instead of much earlier. As it is, you might as well watch it with the video off.
However, I could have lived with that, if not for the other problem...
2) The space between the songs. I mean, look at the Doctor Horrible music itself. When they're not singing, they're talking more or less like normal people. Sure, TV people. Whedon-speaking TV people. But there's a certain cadence and rhythm to it that feels natural at least most of the time. But on the commentary, when they're not singing, they're all talking in this fast-paced, high-pitched 'jokey' voice, like they're reading a script that they all know is supposed to be funny. It all feels very High School Musical (That is, the production level of an actual High School Musical. I've never seen the movie High School Musical so I don't know if they do that or not). Amateurish, and not interesting. They don't feel like normal people at all. Moreover, it was ANNOYING. None of the lines that might have been funny if they talked like normal people were funny. All in all rather disappointing, I'm afraid.
On the other hand, though, there were the Evil League of Evil auditions. I thought they'd be generally lame and not very interesting, but they were quite well done. Well-performed, well-sung, well conceived. Makes me glad I didn't bother trying because anything I could have done would have been painfully amateurish. Sure, there were a few that fell flat for me (Broadway Dork, the Table-Leg people). Actually, in the days after I watched it all? I had more bits of the ELE audition songs running through my head than I did the songs of Commentary (the actual Doc Horrible songs were still there more often than both of course). I think the only Commentary! song that kept popping up was "Ninja Ropes", and that's because I was also playing the game.
I still have my "Wrap-up of the second half of all the year's TV" review to do, but I'm almost finished Leela's time in my old school Doctor Who watching (doing an ep of Invasion of Time right now), so I'll wait till I've done that and throw that in there.
