“Arctic
Rising” by Tobias S. Buckell. When I saw Ed had gotten it
out of the library, I asked if I could read it too. It was on my list because
Twitter often sends links to commentary TSB has written, and also I have part
of a near-future SF set in the Arctic, so I was curious what he did with it. If
I was a copy editor, I’d have a very hard time with this book because his
writing is stylistically so different from mine. I use past perfect way more
than he does, and tend to comma things together rather than using sentence
fragments. Nevertheless, it was an entertaining thriller with a strong female
lead and I had no trouble getting through it.
“War
Reporting for Cowards” by Chris Ayres. Ed bought this at a book
fair and loved it, and forced it on me. The humor was a little too British for
my taste (like it was trying too hard, and I’m not sure Wodehouse is a good
role model for everyone) but the story itself, of how a guy finds himself an
embed in Iraq was pretty entertaining.
“Abandon”
by Meg Cabot. The main character was really annoying, and the author was a
little too coy in revealing the backstory.