Five books this week - 8th to 14th October. One audiobook, two library books, one reread, and one new Kindle book.
I've mentioned before that The Last Girlfriend on Earth is one of my favourite short story collections.
I watched the DVD of Slumdog Millionaire shortly after I read the book. I've had the DVD for several years but never actually watched it before. I've always felt a bit bad about it, so when I spotted the book in the library I decided to go for it. I liked the book better than the movie; it was dramatic and over the top in a way that was fun and exciting. The movie toned it down for realism, but that made it somewhat patronising. And I liked the fact that the book heroine was allowed to actuually be a prostitute while the movie heroine was constantly rescued from that fate. The movie pushed the virgin-whore dichotomy; the heroine had to be the first and not the second, else she wouldn't be the heroine. The book let her be both.
Frozen Charlotte is a horror story ostensibly aimed at older teens. What I found mosty horrifying is the fact that frozen Charlotte dolls aren't fictitious. The victorians really did make little naked dolls in image of a character who froze to death. That's weird and macabre.
Mortal Engines is a collection of cyberpunk short stories. Robot fairy tales. I quite enjoyed it.
Finally, The Lost Steersman is part four in Rosemary Kirstein's Steerswoman series. I love Kirstein's fiction; she writes such intelligent and rational characters, and I loved the truly alien civilisation in this one. Speaking of aliens, I have a theory. Spoilers ahead.
To whit, my theory is that the whole series takes place on an alien planet. The routine bioform clearance program is intended to clear out the native life forms to allow human beings to terraform the planet.
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