books: threat or menace?
Jun. 21st, 2013 07:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitToday I reached new depths of clumsiness even for me, and managed to injure myself at the library.
Okay, technically I was outside the library, happily walking back to my car with my loot, when my foot slipped on a piece of gravel and I fell hard. You know how normally you realize you're falling and you have a moment to try and catch yourself? Not this time. I was on the ground before I even knew I'd lost my balance. My knee is not pleased with me. My back isn't entirely thrilled either, nor my left elbow nor the palms of my hands, but my knee is distinctly perturbed. I don't think it's anything serious, as I can still walk, but since I'm on my feet all day at work, the next few days may be uncomfortable. *single tear of stoic suffering*
Anyway, since the actual purpose of the library visit was not to twist my knee but to acquire books, I thought I'd do an informal, not-Wednesday reading post.
For the last couple of weeks I've been reading a bunch of the Phryne Fisher mystery novels by Kerry Greenwood, which are short and go down briskly and quickly, like popcorn. The first one I picked up was the most recent one released in the US, Unnatural Habits. I saw it on the new books shelf, thought "Phryne Fisher! I've heard of this! There's a TV show that people I know like." And I found it light and fun, with a reasonable if perhaps unrealistic for the period (the novels are set in the late 1920s) social conscience and a whole bunch of queer characters. It was mostly the queer characters that made me want more, so I started reading them from the beginning and was dismayed to find that the early books are not nearly so queer-friendly. They do still have queer characters, but those characters (especially if they're gay men--lesbians fare better) tend to be psychologically or morally weak in some way and often come to bad ends. And one of the books strikes me as Very Confused about trans* people. But queer representation gets better round about book 8, though it's worth noting that Phryne and all her immediate circle are heterosexual, and I'm beginning to fear that the group of queer friends Phryne has in Unnatural Habits materialized out of nowhere just for that book.
But I do like them enough to keep reading them, even though they make me *headdesk* sometimes. Phryne, while likeable, could justly be described as among the biggest Mary Sues who ever Sued. And my need for consistency and logic means I'm frustrated by Phryne's backstory, which (a) is ridiculous and (b) changes from book to book. And my scanty knowledge of British titles, plus the support of the completely infallible Wikipedia, tells me that as the daughter of an earl or a duke (a detail that varies), Phryne should be "Lady Phryne Fisher," not "The Honourable Miss Fisher." So, yeah, turning off some of your brain is required, but then the books are a lot of fun.
I've also been reading Ben Goldacre's Bad Pharma, which is about the many many sketchy habits of the pharmaceuticals industry, including "clinical trials" specifically designed to make the tested drug look good, data massaging, non-reporting of unfavorable trials, and deceptive marketing, plus the failure of regulatory agencies to crack down on any of it. It's a disturbing, depressing, and important book.
Today I got four more Phryne Fisher books (I can easily read one a day, even on a work day), plus Goldacre's Bad Science, which looks to be just as informative but more fun since its targets (e.g. homeopathy) are more ridiculous.
Okay, technically I was outside the library, happily walking back to my car with my loot, when my foot slipped on a piece of gravel and I fell hard. You know how normally you realize you're falling and you have a moment to try and catch yourself? Not this time. I was on the ground before I even knew I'd lost my balance. My knee is not pleased with me. My back isn't entirely thrilled either, nor my left elbow nor the palms of my hands, but my knee is distinctly perturbed. I don't think it's anything serious, as I can still walk, but since I'm on my feet all day at work, the next few days may be uncomfortable. *single tear of stoic suffering*
Anyway, since the actual purpose of the library visit was not to twist my knee but to acquire books, I thought I'd do an informal, not-Wednesday reading post.
For the last couple of weeks I've been reading a bunch of the Phryne Fisher mystery novels by Kerry Greenwood, which are short and go down briskly and quickly, like popcorn. The first one I picked up was the most recent one released in the US, Unnatural Habits. I saw it on the new books shelf, thought "Phryne Fisher! I've heard of this! There's a TV show that people I know like." And I found it light and fun, with a reasonable if perhaps unrealistic for the period (the novels are set in the late 1920s) social conscience and a whole bunch of queer characters. It was mostly the queer characters that made me want more, so I started reading them from the beginning and was dismayed to find that the early books are not nearly so queer-friendly. They do still have queer characters, but those characters (especially if they're gay men--lesbians fare better) tend to be psychologically or morally weak in some way and often come to bad ends. And one of the books strikes me as Very Confused about trans* people. But queer representation gets better round about book 8, though it's worth noting that Phryne and all her immediate circle are heterosexual, and I'm beginning to fear that the group of queer friends Phryne has in Unnatural Habits materialized out of nowhere just for that book.
But I do like them enough to keep reading them, even though they make me *headdesk* sometimes. Phryne, while likeable, could justly be described as among the biggest Mary Sues who ever Sued. And my need for consistency and logic means I'm frustrated by Phryne's backstory, which (a) is ridiculous and (b) changes from book to book. And my scanty knowledge of British titles, plus the support of the completely infallible Wikipedia, tells me that as the daughter of an earl or a duke (a detail that varies), Phryne should be "Lady Phryne Fisher," not "The Honourable Miss Fisher." So, yeah, turning off some of your brain is required, but then the books are a lot of fun.
I've also been reading Ben Goldacre's Bad Pharma, which is about the many many sketchy habits of the pharmaceuticals industry, including "clinical trials" specifically designed to make the tested drug look good, data massaging, non-reporting of unfavorable trials, and deceptive marketing, plus the failure of regulatory agencies to crack down on any of it. It's a disturbing, depressing, and important book.
Today I got four more Phryne Fisher books (I can easily read one a day, even on a work day), plus Goldacre's Bad Science, which looks to be just as informative but more fun since its targets (e.g. homeopathy) are more ridiculous.
