5 posts tagged “books”
Unlike For the Love of Anne and some other nonfiction parent-child stories about autism, this is not the saga of a struggle to overcome the problems of autism.
This book intersperses descriptions of the harsh yet beautiful Norwegian scenery with episodes from the life of father and son. Most of the scenes take place over a few months, although a few flashbacks recount earlier stories, such as when the author and his family first moved from Oslo.
If you are familiar with autism, it will seem that Gabriel is high-functioning. He is able to go to school and seems to communicate a lot verbally. During his treasure-hunting expeditions with his father, playing pirate, it is easy to forget he is autistic. Until the next scene in which he might start screaming inconsolably.
His parents (at least his father - the mother is barely mentioned) is tender, sensitive, and loving. This book could almost be about any tender father-son relationship.
This short book is a quick enjoyable read. I recommend it to anyone interested in autism, to people interested in the non-tourist areas of Norway, and to fathers and sons.
You can find out more about the book, and read an excerpt on her web site.
I expected to love Blood and Iron. I loved Elizabeth Bear's science fiction trillogy (Hammered, Scardown, Worldwired) so much that I gave it as a gift to several people. And I love urban fantasy.
Unfortunately, I didn't love Blood and Iron. The story was
interesting, and the characters intriguing. But somehow they just
didn't grip me. Only in a few places (mostly in the final 25%) did I
care so much that I couldn't stop reading.
Blood and Iron is about the ongoing war between fairy and humankind, and about key emotionally damaged people involved in this war. Part urban fantasy, part twisted Arthurian legend, it twists everything fairy into it's own story.
I think the problem was that I didn't care much about the main character (Elaine Andraste) until far into the book. For much of the book, I didn't see her as having a goal or a specific problem to overcome.
But it is quite cool what Elizabeth Bear does with
fairy tales, especially with the Arthurian legend. I might check out
the next book in this series, Whiskey and Water, because the implied main character of that book already intrigues me. And I'll definitely pick up her next science fiction - Carnival.
It's about books, so I figured that I might as well post here..... although it's a little harder, as Vox doesn't allow copy/paste of HTML code.
I am participating in a blogging experiment hosted at dearauthor.com. To enter the contest, put up this blurb, image, and trackback and you are entered to win the following prize package.
- $200 Amazon gift certificate
- Signed copy of Slave to Sensation
- New Zealand goodies chosen by Singh
- ARC of Christine Feehan's October 31 release: Conspiracy Game
You can read about the experiment here and you can download the code that you need to participate here.
SLAVE TO SENSATION
Nalini Singh
Berkley / September 2006
Welcome to a future where emotion is a crime and powers
of the mind clash brutally against those of the heart.
Sascha Duncan is one of the Psy, a psychic race that has
cut off its emotions in an effort to prevent murderous
insanity. Those who feel are punished by having their
brains wiped clean, their personalities and memories
destroyed.
Lucas Hunter is a Changeling, a shapeshifter who craves
sensation, lives for touch. When their separate worlds
collide in the serial murders of Changeling women, Lucas
and Sascha must remain bound to their identities�or sacrifice everything for a taste
of darkest temptation.
Excerpt
This book is about someone with the weirdest family ever. Seriously - his father is a mountain, his mother is a washing machine, one of his brothers is an island, and another is a set of 3 nesting dolls.
When I started this book, I couldn't get into it and thought I might not finish it. I couldn't relate to the story of Allen's family, and I wasn't overly enthusiastic about his plans to create free internet access throughout Toronto.
But I stuck with the book, as it wasn't bad and eventually I started liking it. It really clicked for me when it got into his attempts to be normal and fit in with normal society. At that point I could put up with the super-weird family, because I felt they existed to make his background weirder than anyone real ever.
