The sequels to The Three-Body Problem are two of my favourite books that I’ve read in the last 10 years. I found them more interesting than the first; I don’t know whether this is because the second book used a different translator or because the author developed their writing style but I found both of the following books easier to read.
If I were to re-read the trilogy I might consider skimming the first or reading a synopsis, but I would absolutely read the second and third books again.
From memory, as long as you remember the basic plot of the first book you there is no need to rush into reading the others because the connection between the second and third books is much closer than either is to the first. So if you wanted to take a break and come back to the series later I don’t think you’d have any problems picking it up again… in my opinion it is worth it!
I read the first book last year and found it to be very slow and only the last 50 pages to be really enticing but then it already ended. The foreplay went on for a long time it seemed.
Curious about book 2 and 3 and they are on my list
I finished up The Code of the Woosters as a break from non-fiction. This was a marked improvement on Right Ho, Jeeves and Uncle Fred in the Springtime.
There’s a better ebb and flow to the plot, characters have more complicated ways of trumping each other, Bertie isn’t just flapping around making everyone’s lives worse, Jeeves and Bertie have a dynamic throughout rather than there being a snit at the beginning to leave Bertie to twist, and most importantly the conclusion builds over the last three chapters rather than a sudden ending in the last chapter.
The introduction of Roderick Spode helps by putting a character in that elicits much less sympathy. Of interest is this is the only appearance of Spode in a Wodehouse book while the BUF could be considered a contemporaneous going concern. Spode is a failure as a satire on the BUF in any substantive fashion because there’s little substantive to Wodehouse, I think it’s non-controversial to state that he’s writing diversions and not polemics. However it struck me how conveniently Spode allowed a middle of the action collaboration between Bertie and Jeeves to keep the energy moving. I can see how without a Spode character the formula from prior stories could have required more Bertie bumbling into his own mess rather than giving him some good moments to bluster with effect rather than ineffectively.
The other debut in this book of Jeeve’s membership in the Junior Ganymede Club is a delightful invention with as much imaginative force for me as Doyle’s Diogenes club. I enjoy imagining a world in which there are a couple of Junior Ganymede story collections alongside the Drones story collections.
The language continues to be a joy to read and there’s a reliable vocal laugh at least every other chapter.
This book contains one of my all time favorite lines, “Jeeves, you really are a specific dream-rabbit.”
Oddly I did spot one place where I think a language joke on compound plural nouns should have been. The text goes “Snootered to bursting point by Pop Bassetts and Madeline Bassetts and Styffie Byngs…” and I was surprised it didn’t go with “…Pops Basset and Madelines Basset and Styffies Byng…”. But that’s part of the joy to me of Wodehouse. I find myself reading quickly but very carefully and I spend more time considering my own constructions in speech as a result.
Continuing through the Christmas pile I finished Alec Nevala-Lee’s Inventor of the Future a 2022 biography of Buckminster Fuller.
Fuller has been a figure of curious interest to me since I went to EPCOT as a kid and since the headlines about Buckyballs and related jokes in KoDT about Buckyball roller blades for time travel.
I enjoyed this one. The text is clear and it’s not too dry a read. Names come fast at times because of all the figures Fuller met. I’ve got some more digging to do in the notes to figure out who some of these figures from the 1950s were. I was pleased from the reviews I found on this one that it isn’t hagiography and manages a broad view of Fuller when he lived and what he looks like from 2022.
As a biography of an architect/futurist who depended on connections for capital and publicity who was alive from 1895 to 1983 I feel confident recommending this book to anyone interested in 20th century history to take a tour through what a lucky New Englander wandered through during the period bumped into. There’s cautionary info here for how charisma affects ideas and that trying to keep control of all aspects of a project from fear of losing credit may just cripple the project.
Brits can appreciate that Fuller did not manage to seduce Clare Booth Luce but Roald Dahl did.
How minds change is good as well. I’ve read both before but I’m referencing them for some coursework. Thinking in Systems is also quite approachable, but everything else is a bit niche!
I was a big fan of The Kaiju Preservation Society, but I am pretty biased. I love Scalzi’s work.
I finished reading Cambridge by Caryl Phillips. It was… “very literary.”
I thought it was stupid and the characters are all awful, but apparently that’s the point? Who knew.
Oh! And The Education of Augie Merasty by Augustus Merasty. It was… a hard read for a Canadian, but important? But also weirdly frustrating. Like, Augie comes across as one of those people that thinks anyone can write a book. And he very obviously can’t. But he did?
During our trip we listened to Old Man‘s War and Ghost Brigades (we‘re both big Scalzi fans, sadly these aren‘t read by Wil Wheaton like his later books)
I have previously read the series, so despite my general plot forgetfulness this felt familiar. Written in 2007 I am surprised that the Brainpal tech felt like it aged somewhat badly (what with ChatGPT in the news now) but at least now I know what to call my digital assistants (asshole). Overall, we really enjoyed these two.
The first ones takes like 3/4s of the book to establish the main plot… lots of world building and character building before that (my partner complained, I don‘t mind the world is quite compelling without any plot).
As I currently do not have an audible subscription and have not figured out where to buy earbooks alternatively (this all Sanderson‘s fault for making me think about it), we are probably not going to listen to the other books from the series anytime soon. But I might reread them
Next up for listening: the much older Forever War (I read this around the same time as Old Man’s War originally… I stumbled about this and Old Man‘s War together back then for some reason—Hugos?—and I already have the audio).
Ok, so I finally finished The Way of Kings. It’s a long book but I loved the world building, characters, the build up towards the climax of the book and the resolution of those events is excellent.
loved it so much I just ordered part 1 of the next book in the series.
