All Consuming : cwcoxjr

A story about "Winter's Heart (The Wheel of Time, Book 9)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cwcoxjr) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:46:59 GMT

Winter's Heart (The Wheel of Time, Book 9)

by Robert Jordan

bought and read this even though Jordan’s characters, especially the women, don’t change and grow in response to their experiences. They’re still as prejudiced and flat as they were when they were young lads and lasses in a backwoods village.

A story about "American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cwcoxjr) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:46:59 GMT

American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold

by HARRY TURTLEDOVE

another excellent installment in the Alternate History of These United States. This particular episode, covering 1920 or so to 1932, is rather a propos: it includes a raging stock market which crashes, and incipient fascism. Trends in this world don’t diverge too much from our own; only the details differ. So we see the rise of fascism in the Confederate States instead of Germany. Given circumstances similar to those in the Weimar Republic, the CSA follows the same path.

A story about "The Past Through Tomorrow"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cwcoxjr) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:46:59 GMT

The Past Through Tomorrow

by Robert A. Heinlein

now available from the Science Fiction Book Club

A story about "Ruled Britannia"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cwcoxjr) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:46:56 GMT

Ruled Britannia

by Harry Turtledove

I like it. Made me want to read some Shakespeare again. Most things I read make me want to read other things. I suppose that’s normal.

A story about "The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cwcoxjr) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:46:56 GMT

The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip

by GEORGE SAUNDERS

funny stuff. read this in one sitting since it’s so short. It’s billed as a children’s book for adults, or an adult’s book for children, and there are some things that some people might find objectionable, so read it first if you plan to read it to your child.

A story about "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cwcoxjr) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:46:55 GMT

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

by Jared M. Diamond

Makes more sense than assuming that a whole population consists only of idiots.

A story about "Watchmen"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cwcoxjr) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:46:55 GMT

Watchmen

by Alan Moore

Finally bought this after reading the individual titles a long time ago, back in the hazy summers of my youth. Once I finish re-reading it, I might have an opinion on it, other than EXCELLENT.

A story about "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cwcoxjr) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:46:55 GMT

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation

by JOSEPH J. ELLIS

excellent, though I would have edited out some use of the “southern accent” turn of phrase.

Picked up cheap in Beach Haven, NJ

A story about "American Empire: The Victorious Opposition"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cwcoxjr) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:46:55 GMT

American Empire: The Victorious Opposition

by Harry Turtledove

Mr. Turtledove’s alternate history of the world, from a North American perspective, continues to be interesting. However, and this observation applies to the last book as well, the stylistic decision to jump between viewpoints while time progresses begins to drag down the story. I’m interested in all of the characters, but the shifting viewpoints disturb the flow. Or maybe it was that some of the deaths were too predictable.
(And we don’t need to know, yet again, that Sam Carsten will sunburn easily. By this point we know who, and how fair, he is.)

A story about "Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cwcoxjr) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:46:54 GMT

Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape

by James Howard Kunstler

A readable explication of how our built environment got built the way it did ~~- the automobile, and government subsidies in the form of tax incentives, highway funding, and cheap mortgages -~~ and the consequences for the American soul.

A story about "The Da Vinci Code"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cwcoxjr) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:46:54 GMT

The Da Vinci Code

by Dan Brown

Those Big Secrets, assiduously protected through the centuries, turn out to be such little things, really.

A story about "Building Suburbia : Green Fields and Urban Growth, 1820-2000"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cwcoxjr) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:46:54 GMT

Building Suburbia : Green Fields and Urban Growth, 1820-2000

by DOLORES HAYDEN

very good

A story about "The Years of Rice and Salt"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cwcoxjr) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:46:54 GMT

The Years of Rice and Salt

by Kim Stanley Robinson

good stuff

A story about "When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cwcoxjr) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:46:53 GMT

When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome

by Richard E. Rubenstein

the more things change….

A story about "By Way of Deception"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cwcoxjr) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:46:53 GMT

By Way of Deception

by Victor Ostrovsky

gift for Christmas 2004

A story about "1901"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cwcoxjr) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:46:53 GMT

1901

by Robert Conroy

Received as a gift for Christmas 2004.

This alternate history takes an unused premise, a German invasion of the United States after the Spanish-American War, and puts it to good effect. The author states that just such an invasion was among many of the German High Command’s contingency plans.

While I wouldn’t call this a great novel, it was entertaining. I especially liked the verisimilitude of the naval and ground strategies and tactics employed by both parties, and the hints of backroom politics surrounding the Kaiser.