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[ru]

A brief look into my mother's mind:

The other day, she got a new sweater. It's a very pretty sweater, with a neat sort of knit gradient from brown to white. She was wearing it yesterday, and commenting on the fact that it was extremely warm and comfy. Warm and comfy, like a comfort food. Like beef stew. Her conclusion, ergo, was that she was wearing beef stew. Yes, she said this. Ah, Mom. <3

Anyway, I have more books to add to my list!


I'm noticing a large number of the books I've been reading lately are secondhand in one form or another--either I picked them up at a used bookstore or got them at a library sale or something similar. I just find that interesting. Ultimately, as long as the pages are legible and not falling out (or missing), I'm good. ^_^

11.) Small Gods by Terry Pratchett: This marks the first time I've actually read anything by Terry Pratchett, and I have to say I wasn't disappointed. There were a few items that I'm certain would have made more sense if I had read more of his books before this one, as they seemed to be obvious references to other Discworld stories, but they were minor enough that I wasn't completely thrown off by them. The characters, particularly Om, were tons of fun, and the religious theme of the story was rather interesting. The book, I thought, managed to balance itself between amusing and thoughtful. I don't know that I'd want to read several of his books one after the other, but it's nice for a change of pace.

12.) The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton: Well, it's about time I read this. I have to admit, I was secretly proud of the fact that I understood a large part of the biological concepts involved, and there were a *ton* of them. It's an extremely science-heavy book, for better or for worse. One thing I found rather interesting were the diagrams and direct transcripts of 'official documents'. I always get a little kick out of it when authors do things like that.
As far as the actual story itself goes, well, I do have to give it credit for the fact that I sat down one afternoon with half of it read, and finished it that same afternoon. The mystery surrounding trying to deal with an entirely foreign microbe kept me interested, though I have to admit the ending was a little unsatisfying. And there were a few items in the book that weren't addressed that seemed like they should have, which was a little disconcerting. The only way I can describe it is when a storyline is started in a movie, and then kinda forgotten.
One thing I have to point out that *really* bugged me though was Crichton's constant use of what I like to call sledgehammer narrative. Just about every single time one of the main characters made a decision, the narrative would go something along the lines of "And he had no idea just how WRONG he was.". Towards the end of the book it was getting very tiresome, and kinda made me want to go "*headsmack* Okay, did they do ANYTHING right?". I guess the reasoning behind it was to create dramatic tension, but it felt too heavyhanded, and honestly made me start to doubt the competence of the team.
Despite its shortcomings, I think I still liked it, if nothing else, then for the biology glee factor. I kinda want to read "Jurassic Park" now. ^_^;

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[peppermintberry.livejournal.com]

Actually, I kinda liked the movies--well, the first and third ones, anyway. Largely because the music's fun and we love cheering on the dinosaurs. ^_^;