50 in '11: #16 & #17
Oct. 27th, 2011 12:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sakon76Title: Homemade Living: Canning & Preserving with Ashley English
Author: Ashley English
Length: 135 pages
Yes, I am reviewing a cookbook. I give this fact a pass this time because most of the book is about method and technique, with the underlying scientific principles explained as well. And in that respect it's very good and I would definitely recommend this book to a novice canner; it presents the information in a clear, easy-to-follow way.
As far as recipes go, the book includes a few staples (canned tomatoes spring first to mind) and a few more adventuresome recipes from profiled longtime canners. Most of them I can take or leave (particularly two of the chutney recipes, whose ingredients lists are nearly a page long, and one of which involves fenugreek, which to me is as much an intellectual object as the reasons Napolean lost at Waterloo; has anyone reading this ever actually used it as an ingredient in anything?). I didn't really learn anything new from this book, but the recipe for French pickles intrigues me, so I'll be copying that one out and trying it.
Verdict: Recommended for the beginning canner; worth perusing for seasoned canners.
Title: Transformers: Exiles
Author: Alex Irving
Length: 375 pages
This is a sequel to Exodus, by the same author, which I found rather wooden and stilted and, frankly, written in a masculine style, which means you get told what happens, but the emotional why, as in why do I care, is missing.
Exiles, thankfully, is much better done.
Except it's muddled. I get that there is a whole universe of characters going on here (we land on Velocitron and Junkion both during the novel) and they each have their own motivations, but frankly? It often felt like Irvine forgot what they were. Then there were the moments when characters knew things they had not previously learned during the book but other characters with whom they had had no contact had.
Prowl seems to be Irvine's favorite in this book; he's certainly the character (other than Optimus and Alpha Trion) who gets the best character definition and most time in his PoV. In contrast, I kept wondering why Jazz was there and if Irvine actually actively dislikes a fairly major character in the franchise, because he certainly didn't seem to have any affinity for writing him. I also ended up wanting to shake Vector Prime, which is a pity after the awesome way I got to know him through![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tainry's stories. I do, however, give props for Slipstream being a relatively major player among the Decepticons (femmeSeeker FTW!) and keeping her highly sarcastic TFA personality.
The end of the book doesn't actually say "To Be Continued..." but it might as well, because there's a hell of a lot that doesn't actually get resolved.
So, my verdict is: better than Exiles, but not high on my reread list. Go buy if you're a Transformers fan, particularly if you're interested in more stories in the Prime/War on Cybertron universe that Hasbro's currently playing in.
Author: Ashley English
Length: 135 pages
Yes, I am reviewing a cookbook. I give this fact a pass this time because most of the book is about method and technique, with the underlying scientific principles explained as well. And in that respect it's very good and I would definitely recommend this book to a novice canner; it presents the information in a clear, easy-to-follow way.
As far as recipes go, the book includes a few staples (canned tomatoes spring first to mind) and a few more adventuresome recipes from profiled longtime canners. Most of them I can take or leave (particularly two of the chutney recipes, whose ingredients lists are nearly a page long, and one of which involves fenugreek, which to me is as much an intellectual object as the reasons Napolean lost at Waterloo; has anyone reading this ever actually used it as an ingredient in anything?). I didn't really learn anything new from this book, but the recipe for French pickles intrigues me, so I'll be copying that one out and trying it.
Verdict: Recommended for the beginning canner; worth perusing for seasoned canners.
Title: Transformers: Exiles
Author: Alex Irving
Length: 375 pages
This is a sequel to Exodus, by the same author, which I found rather wooden and stilted and, frankly, written in a masculine style, which means you get told what happens, but the emotional why, as in why do I care, is missing.
Exiles, thankfully, is much better done.
Except it's muddled. I get that there is a whole universe of characters going on here (we land on Velocitron and Junkion both during the novel) and they each have their own motivations, but frankly? It often felt like Irvine forgot what they were. Then there were the moments when characters knew things they had not previously learned during the book but other characters with whom they had had no contact had.
Prowl seems to be Irvine's favorite in this book; he's certainly the character (other than Optimus and Alpha Trion) who gets the best character definition and most time in his PoV. In contrast, I kept wondering why Jazz was there and if Irvine actually actively dislikes a fairly major character in the franchise, because he certainly didn't seem to have any affinity for writing him. I also ended up wanting to shake Vector Prime, which is a pity after the awesome way I got to know him through
tainry's stories. I do, however, give props for Slipstream being a relatively major player among the Decepticons (femmeSeeker FTW!) and keeping her highly sarcastic TFA personality.The end of the book doesn't actually say "To Be Continued..." but it might as well, because there's a hell of a lot that doesn't actually get resolved.
So, my verdict is: better than Exiles, but not high on my reread list. Go buy if you're a Transformers fan, particularly if you're interested in more stories in the Prime/War on Cybertron universe that Hasbro's currently playing in.
