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Currently reading: I just finished a book last night and haven't started a new one yet. I am partway through a pretty bad Sherlock fanfic, but I'm probably not going to finish it because it is, to channel the obnoxious genius himself, BORING.
Recently finished: The book I finished last night was SS-GB, by Len Deighton, a Second World War alternate history in which Germany successfully invades and occupies Britain. The main character, Douglas Archer, is a British police officer who, as the book develops, shifts from a not-terribly-uncomfortable accommodation with German rule and immediate superiors the SS, to working with the resistance. It's got some good points--both the SS and the resistance are believably ruthless, and there are some standout scenes, notably one taking place in a camp in which former senior British officers, who've been stripped of their rank to avoid Geneva Convention restrictions, are imprisoned and forced to work in a factory that makes artificial limbs. But a lot of the novel is weirdly dull. Archer barely registers as a character, despite Deighton's attempts to make him interesting with Tragic Backstory, emotional problems, and an implausible and annoying romance. And Archer's flatness makes it difficult to care about him or anything that happens in the book except in the general way of recognizing that it would be Very Bad if Nazi Germany developed an atomic bomb. As I read the book I kept imagining how John Le Carré might have written it and being disappointed by the reality.
I also finished Broken Homes, the latest in Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series, a while back. I liked some of it, had some strong reservations about other things which I won't mention here because of spoilers, and was relieved that Thomas Nightingale is (a) still awesome, and (b) still readable as gay.
I also re-read several of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, namely the ones that have more Bunter and no Harriet. (I like Harriet in herself. I don't like the Harriet/Peter romance, partly because, yes, it messes up a slash pairing I like, and partly because I don't like the way Sayers starts writing Peter onceshe Harriet falls in love with him. I like the nervous, odd, not-handsome, tentative, partly pretending to be trivial and partly genuinely trivial Peter of the early books much better than paragon!Peter of the later ones.) Along with the early books I also re-read The Nine Tailors, not one of my favorites but more interesting on a second reading. It did make me wonder if ( major plot spoilers )
Finally, I've been reading quite a lot of longish fanfic, in a very undiscriminating way because I've been sick. Nothing I can recommend; in fact, nothing I can even remember very clearly.
What I'm reading next: I've been in the mood for alternate history, so I might re-read Robert Harris's Fatherland. I like it enormously when I first read it years ago, though I do wonder if it'll hold up now that I know more about the history.
I'd love to read some good fanfic if anyone wants to recommend any to me. Novella to novel-length, m/m slash, reasonably happy ending.
Recently finished: The book I finished last night was SS-GB, by Len Deighton, a Second World War alternate history in which Germany successfully invades and occupies Britain. The main character, Douglas Archer, is a British police officer who, as the book develops, shifts from a not-terribly-uncomfortable accommodation with German rule and immediate superiors the SS, to working with the resistance. It's got some good points--both the SS and the resistance are believably ruthless, and there are some standout scenes, notably one taking place in a camp in which former senior British officers, who've been stripped of their rank to avoid Geneva Convention restrictions, are imprisoned and forced to work in a factory that makes artificial limbs. But a lot of the novel is weirdly dull. Archer barely registers as a character, despite Deighton's attempts to make him interesting with Tragic Backstory, emotional problems, and an implausible and annoying romance. And Archer's flatness makes it difficult to care about him or anything that happens in the book except in the general way of recognizing that it would be Very Bad if Nazi Germany developed an atomic bomb. As I read the book I kept imagining how John Le Carré might have written it and being disappointed by the reality.
I also finished Broken Homes, the latest in Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series, a while back. I liked some of it, had some strong reservations about other things which I won't mention here because of spoilers, and was relieved that Thomas Nightingale is (a) still awesome, and (b) still readable as gay.
I also re-read several of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, namely the ones that have more Bunter and no Harriet. (I like Harriet in herself. I don't like the Harriet/Peter romance, partly because, yes, it messes up a slash pairing I like, and partly because I don't like the way Sayers starts writing Peter once
Finally, I've been reading quite a lot of longish fanfic, in a very undiscriminating way because I've been sick. Nothing I can recommend; in fact, nothing I can even remember very clearly.
What I'm reading next: I've been in the mood for alternate history, so I might re-read Robert Harris's Fatherland. I like it enormously when I first read it years ago, though I do wonder if it'll hold up now that I know more about the history.
I'd love to read some good fanfic if anyone wants to recommend any to me. Novella to novel-length, m/m slash, reasonably happy ending.
