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rivkaFaro's Daughter, by Georgette Heyer.
I feel as though every time one of these appears on my books-read list my reputation loses an IQ point - but I can't very well falsify my data, can I? At any rate: this one was just absurd. and completely unbelievable. Not recommended.
The Documents in the Case, by Dorothy Sayers "with Robert Eustace."
The back cover copy misled me into thinking that Lord Peter Wimsey was going to appear at some point. He doesn't. Instead, it's a mostly-epistolary mystery (the gaps are bridged by several long "statements") larded with philosophical ramblings on Art, Science, Culture, and Life. I wasn't that taken with it.
All Together Dead, by Charlaine Harris.
Another of the Southern Vampire series. These books are pretty mediocre, and yet something keeps me reading them. They're like potato chips. She's made an interesting choice to work the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina into the series (the books take place in rural northern Louisiana); this book has a lot of details about how Katrina has affected the balance of power among vampires.
Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine's Greatest Lifesver, by Arthur Allen.
This was a fascinating book, and anyone who saw me in person while I was reading it was burdened down with my enthusiastic anecdotes. It begins in colonial America with variolation - the practice of introducing material from an active smallpox lesion into scratches on the arm of someone who has not yet had smallpox, in order to produce a (hopefully) milder and less lethal form of the disease. (Interestingly enough, some of the people who introduced the practice in the colonies learned about it from their slaves - it was a known and accepted practice in Africa and the Middle East before it spread to the West.) I had no idea that vaccination preceded germ theory (not to mention immunology) by so long, or that so much of the early development of vaccines was purely empirical - people tried stuff to see what might work, almost at random, without much in the way of guiding science.
Allen follows both the science and the politics of vaccination from the colonial period to the modern (and completely unfounded) claims that vaccines cause autism. He gives a great sense of perspective about the impact of infectious diseases - especially for readers, like me, who grew up after those diseases were largely conquered. He clearly believes that vaccines have great value, but he doesn't shrink away from the often-slipshod history of vaccine testing and manufacture (largely unregulated until much later in history than you'd think) and some of the appalling examples of vaccine-related injury and death.
I am resisting the urge to tell about ten pages' worth of fascinating stories and facts I picked up along the way. Really I am. This is me, resisting.
Allen does provide a primarily American story and perspective, with brief excursions to other countries largely by way of contrast. I would have loved to see more detail about vaccination campaigns in developing countries, for example. But overall, this is a fantastic book - great information, and written in an engaging style. I recommend it.
Envious Casca, by Georgette Heyer.
Not a Regency, but a classic English country house murder mystery with all the standards of the genre (unlikeable victim, puzzle crime, oddly assorted suspects, each with a motive, etc.). Mildly interesting.
Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Freshly Updated, by Judith Martin.
"Freshly updated," in this case, seems to mean that about half the 1979 original has been completely rewritten. I love Miss Manners (the books more so than the newspaper column), so this was a fun, entertaining, and undemanding read. Looking at the Amazon reviews, I do wonder about people who see the words "excruciatingly correct" in the title and aren't guided by that to take her tone with a grain of salt.
Total for August: 6
Total for the year: 56.
I feel as though every time one of these appears on my books-read list my reputation loses an IQ point - but I can't very well falsify my data, can I? At any rate: this one was just absurd. and completely unbelievable. Not recommended.
The Documents in the Case, by Dorothy Sayers "with Robert Eustace."
The back cover copy misled me into thinking that Lord Peter Wimsey was going to appear at some point. He doesn't. Instead, it's a mostly-epistolary mystery (the gaps are bridged by several long "statements") larded with philosophical ramblings on Art, Science, Culture, and Life. I wasn't that taken with it.
All Together Dead, by Charlaine Harris.
Another of the Southern Vampire series. These books are pretty mediocre, and yet something keeps me reading them. They're like potato chips. She's made an interesting choice to work the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina into the series (the books take place in rural northern Louisiana); this book has a lot of details about how Katrina has affected the balance of power among vampires.
Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine's Greatest Lifesver, by Arthur Allen.
This was a fascinating book, and anyone who saw me in person while I was reading it was burdened down with my enthusiastic anecdotes. It begins in colonial America with variolation - the practice of introducing material from an active smallpox lesion into scratches on the arm of someone who has not yet had smallpox, in order to produce a (hopefully) milder and less lethal form of the disease. (Interestingly enough, some of the people who introduced the practice in the colonies learned about it from their slaves - it was a known and accepted practice in Africa and the Middle East before it spread to the West.) I had no idea that vaccination preceded germ theory (not to mention immunology) by so long, or that so much of the early development of vaccines was purely empirical - people tried stuff to see what might work, almost at random, without much in the way of guiding science.
Allen follows both the science and the politics of vaccination from the colonial period to the modern (and completely unfounded) claims that vaccines cause autism. He gives a great sense of perspective about the impact of infectious diseases - especially for readers, like me, who grew up after those diseases were largely conquered. He clearly believes that vaccines have great value, but he doesn't shrink away from the often-slipshod history of vaccine testing and manufacture (largely unregulated until much later in history than you'd think) and some of the appalling examples of vaccine-related injury and death.
I am resisting the urge to tell about ten pages' worth of fascinating stories and facts I picked up along the way. Really I am. This is me, resisting.
Allen does provide a primarily American story and perspective, with brief excursions to other countries largely by way of contrast. I would have loved to see more detail about vaccination campaigns in developing countries, for example. But overall, this is a fantastic book - great information, and written in an engaging style. I recommend it.
Envious Casca, by Georgette Heyer.
Not a Regency, but a classic English country house murder mystery with all the standards of the genre (unlikeable victim, puzzle crime, oddly assorted suspects, each with a motive, etc.). Mildly interesting.
Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Freshly Updated, by Judith Martin.
"Freshly updated," in this case, seems to mean that about half the 1979 original has been completely rewritten. I love Miss Manners (the books more so than the newspaper column), so this was a fun, entertaining, and undemanding read. Looking at the Amazon reviews, I do wonder about people who see the words "excruciatingly correct" in the title and aren't guided by that to take her tone with a grain of salt.
Total for August: 6
Total for the year: 56.
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Date: 2007-09-02 05:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-02 07:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-03 10:49 pm (UTC)