![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
I should do this more often, I think. I certainly read enough, though by now I have so many books I mostly am rereading them....
The Mount
This is a weird book. Good, but weird. Basically, humanity's been mostly conquered by a species which, due to their weakness (which itself, as it becomes apparent, is due more to atrophy than to actual lack of ability) uses them as horses. Loved, well-treated horses, for the most part, but that's not the point. We have angst, confusion, friendship, all in one small book. Nifty.
Truesight
This one... not so good. Far enough in the future to be plausible, we have several somewhat scattered communities of people who have chosen blindness, or whose ancestors chose it, with serious religious underpinnings to this choice. They're all a bit cultish, and consider themselves fairly perfect, but... well, we all know that there are none so blind as cannot see, and their smug feelings of superiority allow them to ignore some serious problems within their own society. Anyway, our main character inexplicably gains sight, which functions as a plot device for him to see the problems in his town - neighbors stealing food because they don't get enough to eat (something which is known, but not discussed), all the growers snacking on the job, his mother having an affair... eventually his sight is found out, and right as he's about to undergo an operation to remove it, he realizes that the leader of the community (a sociopath if I ever saw one portrayed) can see. And that's just the last straw, he runs away.
It's really too simply written for what could've been a good book, and the author clearly was influenced a lot by The Giver. Pity, that.
The Last Universe
First, let me just say that William Sleator has a gift for taking strange concepts and making them understandable, and for basing stories on strange ideas without once losing focus of the point of the story, which is to talk about people.
Second, let me say that this is an awesomely cool book. There's nothing I can say about it that's spoiler-free, but... you must read this book. You must read all his books. *nods*
And that's the end of that. I'll be sure to post another one later. Djusk' a.
The Mount
This is a weird book. Good, but weird. Basically, humanity's been mostly conquered by a species which, due to their weakness (which itself, as it becomes apparent, is due more to atrophy than to actual lack of ability) uses them as horses. Loved, well-treated horses, for the most part, but that's not the point. We have angst, confusion, friendship, all in one small book. Nifty.
Truesight
This one... not so good. Far enough in the future to be plausible, we have several somewhat scattered communities of people who have chosen blindness, or whose ancestors chose it, with serious religious underpinnings to this choice. They're all a bit cultish, and consider themselves fairly perfect, but... well, we all know that there are none so blind as cannot see, and their smug feelings of superiority allow them to ignore some serious problems within their own society. Anyway, our main character inexplicably gains sight, which functions as a plot device for him to see the problems in his town - neighbors stealing food because they don't get enough to eat (something which is known, but not discussed), all the growers snacking on the job, his mother having an affair... eventually his sight is found out, and right as he's about to undergo an operation to remove it, he realizes that the leader of the community (a sociopath if I ever saw one portrayed) can see. And that's just the last straw, he runs away.
It's really too simply written for what could've been a good book, and the author clearly was influenced a lot by The Giver. Pity, that.
The Last Universe
First, let me just say that William Sleator has a gift for taking strange concepts and making them understandable, and for basing stories on strange ideas without once losing focus of the point of the story, which is to talk about people.
Second, let me say that this is an awesomely cool book. There's nothing I can say about it that's spoiler-free, but... you must read this book. You must read all his books. *nods*
And that's the end of that. I'll be sure to post another one later. Djusk' a.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-07-14 06:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-14 08:44 pm (UTC)And speaking of Books:
Over at book_icons a recent poster said:
"Blanks are not bases" regarding "The Real Mother Goose" images she uploaded.
I don't quite understand.
What's to stop anyone from customizing the images? Hypothetically: I happen to have a phrase which would perfectly suit the "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater" blank. However, according to the poster I can't. Soooo, rather than user her blank and credit her for it, I'll pop over to the source of the images, download it myself, crop it virtually identically and put my phrase on it. Now, rather than crediting her as the creator of the 'base,' I'll post it under my own name. I'm not planning to do that but it could easily happen.
So, please help me understand. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
your obedient servant,
silken_shadow
no subject
Date: 2005-07-14 06:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-14 08:44 pm (UTC)And speaking of Books:
Over at book_icons a recent poster said:
"Blanks are not bases" regarding "The Real Mother Goose" images she uploaded.
I don't quite understand.
What's to stop anyone from customizing the images? Hypothetically: I happen to have a phrase which would perfectly suit the "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater" blank. However, according to the poster I can't. Soooo, rather than user her blank and credit her for it, I'll pop over to the source of the images, download it myself, crop it virtually identically and put my phrase on it. Now, rather than crediting her as the creator of the 'base,' I'll post it under my own name. I'm not planning to do that but it could easily happen.
So, please help me understand. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
your obedient servant,
silken_shadow