[HPFGU-Catalogue] Re: Catching up..

[Barry Arrowsmith]

>
> Dot (now):
> Did you recommend Connie Willis before? I was trying to remember why
> I read them, and have absolutely no idea. Possibly that most evil of
> evil Amazonian inventions (customers who bought this also bought...)
> is to blame. But if it was you, thanks, I enjoyed them.
>

Erm ... don't think I did.  IIRC the penguini was looking for some  
modern hard SF -  which CW ain't; she's more into gentler speculative  
stuff.

No matter what folk like Attwood say, over the past 20-30 years SF  
has mutated into a legion of sub-classes, some very subtle indeed.  
Dismissive references to talking squid and rocket-ships merely  
highlights her personal (and oh, so limiting) snobbery. Mind you,  
she's got a hell of a cheek, 'cos  she's a repeat offender. Oryx and  
Crake (very mundane, out-dated and unoriginal by SF standards) was  
preceded by The Handmaiden's Tale - a theme well within the ambit of  
the SF dystopian society sub-set.

It's becoming more difficult to draw hard-and-fast dividing lines on  
what is/isn't a particular genre. Exotic backgrounds sometimes seem  
to be invented just to excuse an exploration of ideas or attitudes -  
like Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness - attitudes towards  
sexuality as experienced by a visitor to a society where all the  
inhabitants are of the same sex, or Maria Doria Russell's The  
Sparrow; some find that one very disturbing and thought-provoking  
indeed. A quality rarely found in so-called 'mainstream' literature  
these days.

> Dot:
> Yes, I picked up The Bernini Bust in an airport after I'd read
> Fingerpost, and was rather disappointed. Won't bother with any
> others, I don't think.
>

Yes.
Sub-Lovejoy. Without the handy tips on antiques. And without the laughs.


>
> Dot:
> Sounds interesting, I think I'll try that too. I must also
> recommend 'The Sterkarm Handshake' by Susan Price. Time-
> travel/historical with elements of fantasy, set in the 16th Century
> Scottish borders. The main character, Andrea, (from the 21st
> century) is a bit wet, but the 16th Century natives more than make
> up for her lack of bloodthirstiness.  Tons of blood and guts, and
> horses, and sheep-thieving and fleas and lice and murder and
> revenge ... and it's very cleverly written. Sequel's not really
> worth bothering with unless you like more of the same, as it doesn't
> really go anywhere new.
>

OK. It'll go on the list for the next time I order a load of books.  
(Getting more frequent; I'm averaging 12 - 15 new books a month from  
Amazon [non-fiction - generally about half the order - is too damned  
expensive anywhere else] plus whatever I happen to come across in  
charity shops, plus regular raids on an SF specialty bookshop in  
Brum, plus weekly library visits. I've run out of bookcase space long  
since; now I'm running out of floor-space as well. I blame it on the  
TV companies for pushing out an incessant load of tripe.)