Book reviews, shortform

Here's what I've read since last I checked in - didn't take good notes on any of them. Tried to write some longform reviews, but they're just not happening . So you get brevity instead - which is the soul of wit, n'est-ce pas? [1]

Strong Poison and Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers. While I think there are some intervening novels, I read these back-to-back, cutting out the usually-dragging middle. Peter Wimsey is the detective of this whole mystery series, though these two form a little story-within-a-story. And hilariously, although the cover of GN touts Wimsey as being "at his deductive best!", he doesn't show up until about three-quarters of the way though the book. I'm not terribly into mystery novels (though I do love a good mystery on Netflix for crocheting to), but these were funny and linguistically interesting. I don't find the plots of mysteries terribly engaging: somebody dunnit and we're going to find out who. That's all that happens, more or less. But if it's an amusing ride to get there, then I'm all for it. GN drags some at the beginning, but is overall enjoyable.

Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett. Nanny and Granny take on Cinderella. I ended up watching Branagh's Cinderella in the midst of reading, and it was interesting to have a very straight version (movie) against a very deconstructed version (Pratchett. Always Pratchett.) As a sidenote, I had to convince someone that they had indeed heard of the Great A'Tuin, despite them only having read Guards! Guards!, because it shows up in nearly every book. It wasn't at the beginning, alas, but flip to the end, and lo and behold, there the Great A'Tuin was, serenely gliding through space with its accompanying elephants.

The Autistic Brain by Temple Grandin. Mostly interesting (despite her enthusiasm for brain scans, I wasn't super into that part). Brings up good points about focusing on skills rather than deficits, pairing one person's strengths with another's weaknesses, the large role played by sensory overstimulation in autism, and a proposal (with evidence) to think about 3 kinds of autistic/neurotypical brains: picture, word, and pattern.

***

Genres
1 non-fiction, 3 fiction, 1 pratchett.

Here's what I'm about to read: Emergence: Labeled Autistic by Temple Grandin

xo,
Devo

[1] Pretencious French alert