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What I read--Nov 2010

I'm surprised I managed to read this much, considering November was NaNoWriMo, so all my spare time was filled up with Pampelmouse. Nevertheless, here's what I read:

“I am Legend” by Richard Matheson. Should have been subtitled “and other stories,” as this was a short novel and several short stories of varying quality. The boy read it before me, and he was extremely confused when he got to the short stories, and abandoned it. It was about vampires. I had somehow gotten the idea it was about zombies. Anyway, the science was good, but its age showed. There was an incredible amount of alcohol consumption, and the female characters were treated badly, both by the main character and the author.

“Brains: A Zombie Memoir” by Robyn Becker. Very funny, very entertaining. I laughed on every page. The boy read this one first, too, and I wonder if he got the jokes. There were a lot of cultural references. He said he enjoyed it, though. Not only was it good zombie research, but also, written as it was from the POV of a zombie, it was interesting to see how the author solved the problem of their lack of an ability to communicate. The parrots I’m writing about now in Pampelmouse have a similar problem, because they know stock phrases and can’t mix and match.

“Bridge of Birds” by Barry Hughart. This one has been on my list for years, and finally I got around to it. The voice was good, charming, funny. I can see why it’s beloved. Master Li seems like a recurring type in Chinese literature. The ending was as awesome as it said it was. It totally reminded me of “Pyrates” by George MacDonald Frasier.

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