Bassability Books: E-Read-a-thon!

For Christmas, I got  tablet.  A pretty fancy one: I got an ASUS Infinity Transformer.  It is a tablet, and docks into a keyboard to become a netbook-like thing.  It is by far, one of the coolest gadgets I have ever had.  But cool gadgets are one of the great things about living in the future.

I've been thinking more about this: all the classic sci-fi I read mention these years as the future.  It is so cool what people thought would be available now, and what our world would be like.  Think about it: 1984 by Orwell thought that England would be under totalitarianistic government; Alas Babylon by Pat Frank thought the world would have had the 3rd world war by now; and who could forget what the movie Back to the Future thought about 2013 (Side note: January 4 2013 was the time that Marty travelled to.  This January was back... to the future!)

ANYWAYS, because of my new tablet thing, I have been reading like a machine.  I like to read every night, and now I don't have to wait to get to the bookstore.  This has been good and bad; good because I have been reading a lot more and learning more.  Bad, because my bank account is taking a hit buying all these e-books.  Good thing I like the classics which are largely free! 

So, this Bassability Books post may be a little long. Because I have a few books to get through.  Luckily, I've been reading a lot of trilogies.  So I will treat those as one.  Got to give you a bit of a break so that you can go out there and read some books!

As always, the rating scale:

*** 3/3 - Couldn't put it down.  I may have taken a day off work to finish it.

** 2/3 -  I read it.  Passed the time, probably won't read it again.

* 1/3 - Finished it.  Still don't know why I bothered

0/3 - Didn't finish it.  Life's too short for bad books.

Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy by E.L. James: Welp, I read it.  I guess as someone who is not shy or hindered by her sexuality, I didn't think that the sex in this book was a big deal.  It should probably be said that as an editor (a past career of course) I edited more than my fair share of erotica fiction.  So this was no big deal.  I would talk to a friend (who recommended this book to me) and she was shocked that I wasn't scandalized by these books.  Above all, it was a romance novel.  And I don't usually read those.  It wasn't the best written book; the metaphors were labored and repetitive; and I totally didn't see the appeal of the protagonists.  The girl was consistently demonstrating her own self-hatred; and the message of trying to save a partner who was border-line abusive is not one that I found entertaining.  So I guess what I'm saying is: I don't see why these books were so popular.  They weren't terrible; but not worth the hype either.  

(**) <--- My grade for this book looks like breasts!  That's funny.  And fitting.  What can I say? I have a child's sense of humor sometimes.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson: This book made me want to move to Sweden.  Imagine: a place where journalist actually discover newsworthy information!  Where they have an interest in their society!  Where they are invested and involved in making the news!  Here in North America, journalists haven't really discovered anything amazing since Watergate.  Step it up, newsies!  Otherwise this book had enough intrigue to keep me attached to these books.  I read the whole trilogy, over 1500 pages in 5 days.  That is saying something. (***) 

Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood: I actually had no idea that atwood had started a new trilogy.  I came across these books while browsing the Kobo site, and I'm glad I did.  They are really good.  The story is one I read a lot, since I am strangely fascinated with the apocalypse; it is about the end of the world, but from the point of view of an ecologically based cult.  I'm always happy to find these things; a new twist on an old trope.  (***)

Amped by Daniel H. Wilson:  This is the second book that Wilson has written that I have read.  It is very clever.  If you know your American history (and current events) you can find a lot of commentary on American society.  That's one of my favorite things about reading sci-fi; its meant to teach us about ourselves and our world.  (***)

I've started some new books (surprise, surprise), so there should be more book talk coming in the future.  One idea I've had is to do a type of book club-- but one that is no obligation, and no pressure.  You can read whatever you want, and there would be some questions to discuss if you wanted to.  I think it sounds like fun.  Does someone else have that?  If you do, can I join?