3 books

[ellarien]

A Scholar of Magics, Caroline Stevermer

This is a (rather loose) sequel to A College of Magics, sharing only one major character, and centering on the male magical institution of Glasscastle, which bears a certain passing resemblance to Oxbridge. It isn't profound, and the bits of the plot that involve serious threats to the status quo aren't the important bits, and the romance element may annoy some people by existing at all and others by not going far enough, but I liked the characters, loved the setting, and enjoyed the whole thing as a charming diversion and a relief from weeks of grim-and-gritty fantasy.

The Fabric of the Cosmos Brian Greene

A string theorist explains modern physics and cosmology in layman's terms. As a physicist by training, but one who has rather fallen out of touch with the more fundamental aspects of the subject, I found this an interesting introduction to the current state of play. At times I found the totally non-mathematical approach to describing abstruse mathematical concepts a little frustrating; I wanted to yell 'never mind torturing that poor frog, I already know what a potential barrier is!'. Physicists and astronomers often talk among themselves about 'cartoon models', but rarely populate them with cartoon characters. On the other hand, I felt that I ended up with a better grasp of the cosmological concept of inflation from reading that chapter, frog and all, than I ever did from hearing research-level seminars in the days when I was rubbing shoulders with working cosmologists. I also came away with the impression that the field has moved so fast lately that it may be rather premature to attempt to nail it down for the general public, when the whole understanding could change again tomorrow.

Dead Water, Barbara Hambly

This is the latest entry in the Benjamin January series, and of course I saved it for the trip to New Orleans. As it happens, most of this one is set on a riverboat rather than in the city, in an adventure involving bank-robbery, river pirates, and the Underground Railroad. Having recently read the same author's The Emancipator's Wife, I couldn't help noticing that the research for that seems to have spilled over into Dead Water. Somehow, though the themes were always there, January seems even more acutely aware, in this novel, of the pervasive racism of the time and the injustice of slavery, and less resigned to the 'custom of the country'. I think the fate of this series is currently in the balance; if the scales tip against it, the end of this book would not be a completely unsatisfying place to stop. This is not to say, mind, that I wouldn't happily read more if they were forthcoming.


Next in the queue -- mostly because it was almost the only unread mmpb in the collection, barring a couple of volumes of the History of Middle Earth, which I don't consider ideal travel reading -- is Erikson's House of Chains