(no subject)

Been a while (January? Eep.) since I took stock of what I'd been reading. Part of that, I admit, is that for several months I was distracted by crochet hooks and yarn and spent less time with my nose in a book.

• Living History, Hillary Rodham Clinton. I admit it, I didn't finish this. I just couldn't get past the utter boredom factor in the first part of the book and put it down. Maybe it gets better later on, but I just couldn't get far enough to find out. And like I said earlier, I like Hillary, so that's not the problem.
  
• Fantastic Voyage, Ray Kurzweil. Um. I'm even reasonably sympathetic to Ray's life extension goals, but I still think that he's way out in the outfield. He's not quite across the "complete crackpot" line yet, but I think he can probably see it from where he's standing. None of this should be interpreted as my not enjoying the book, by the way, although I was hoping for less on the nanobots we're all going to be crawling with in twenty years.
  
• The Master of All Desires, Judith Merkle Riley. Historical fantasy, as it were; you've got Nostradamus, Catherine de Medici, Henri II, and Diane de Poitiers. Catherine is trying to get hold of the Master of All Desires, aka Menander the Undying (who sold his soul in exchange for eternal life, and is now reduced to a talking head in a box), so that she can wish back her husband's affections from his mistress. Menander is currently in the possession of Sibille, who wants to be rid of him but since she won't make a wish, she's stuck with him. (He will grant you whatever you wish, but it's wise to be very careful of what you wish for. Until you make a wish, you can't get rid of him.) It's up to a cranky Nostradamus to try to sort everything out. There are some wonderfully amusing bits in this book, and I actually rather liked the character of Menander (I like snarky, you might've noticed). Fine entertainment.
  
• The Summer Queen, Joan Vinge. I read The Snow Queen long ago, and was pleased to run across this in one on my last trip to McKay's. God, did it take me forever to finish it though. (At almost 700 pages focusing heavily on characters and relationships, I think I can be forgiven for that though.) If you're going to read this, you really do need to start with The Snow Queen first as many (most?) of the major characters are introduced in that book and the web of relationships established there carries over into this book
  
• The Alienist, Caleb Carr. More historical fiction, this time set in New York City in 1896 and focusing on the attempts by our little band of detectives, reporters, and psychiatrists (the "alienist" of the title) to find and stop a serial killer who's murdering and mutilating young male prostitutes. I enjoyed this one a lot and I have the next book, "The Angel of Darkness", already queued up.
  
• Death in Holy Orders, P.D. James. Yeah, I've been on a bit of a murder mystery kick, what of it? No, it probably doesn't mean anything, never fear. This was a good way to spend a couple of evenings curled up on the couch; several deaths, a whole lot of suspects, and the poet-detective. My biggest complaint was that when the motive was revealed, it didn't seem all that compelling; there was a moment or two of "That's it??" I don't think that's spoiling anything for those who haven't read it.
  
• Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, Pablo Neruda.
  Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero tal vez la quiero.
  Es tan corto el amor, y es tan largo el olvido.