You do not need to buy What Makes This Book So Great, because you can go back and read Jo Walton's columns on tor.com. But I really enjoyed having everything on my kindle, which is still a much better experience than reading on a laptop or a phone. Unlike a collection of book reviews, these are all books that Jo Walton has read multiple times (at least twice anyway) and appreciated. Jo Walton goes all fan-girl on these blog posts and her enthusiasm is infectious, causing me to read-read other books as a detour while perusing the pages of this book.
Walton notices things I didn't notice when I read those books (such as the connection between the title of each book and the story in the Vlad Taltos novels), making clear that she's a much more careful reader than I am. She's also faster than I am, which means that she can read an entire series in quick succession, allowing her to make connections between books that I couldn't. She's also capable of reading books that I found unreadable (such as Midnight's Children) which means that I don't have to read those books any more --- I can read her re-read review instead. I've been told by some people that they treat my blog that way.
I love the last few pieces in this book where she defends certain series or authors who aren't taken seriously in the mainstream literary criticism. (Why is Samuel Delany worthy of mainstream attention while Lois Bujold isn't?)
The best thing about this book is that it can easily be re-read in search of more books that I should have read but somehow bypassed. Recommended!
No comments:
Post a Comment