Category Archives: Books

Ship of Magic, by Robin Hobb

Posted on by

This is the first volume of Hobb’s Liveship Traders trilogy, which is set in the same world as the FitzChivalry Farseer books. Between the Six Duchies and Jamaillia, far to the south, lies the Rain Wilds and on their edge the Cursed Shore–a stretch of coast long avoided by ships. To land there is to court madness; and the water from the Rain Wild River sometimes runs with acid that will burn through a ship’s hull.

Some time in the past, a band of desperate emigrants from Jamaillia came to the Rain Wild River, and endeavoured to settle there despite all of the difficulties. Today their descendants live in Bingtown on Trader Bay, near the mouth of the river; it said that anything that is can be purchased in Bingtown. There are many mysteries in Bingtown, but the greatest involves wizardwood, and the liveships that are constructed from it. Such ships are always more nimble than normal ships, and after generations of service such a ship actually comes to life and can assist with its own sailing. Each liveship belongs to one of Bingtown’s Old Trader families; a liveship will only serve willingly if a member of “their” family is on board.

The action centers on the liveship Vivacia, newly come to awareness on the death of her third Captain, Ephron Vestrit. By rights her third captain should have been one Althea Vestrit, Ephron’s daughter; but Althea’s family judged her not ready and passed Vivacia to Althea’s sister, to be captained by Althea’s sister’s husband Kyle Haven. Kyle is an experienced captain; but he’s no Bingtowner and has no appreciation for the odd creature that is a Bingtown liveship. Much trouble will ensue from his foolishness. Trouble for him, trouble for Althea, and trouble for his despised son, Wintrow, a priest-in-training, who is forced to join Kyle on his voyage since Kyle is not of the blood of the Vestrits and Vivacia requires such a one.

Outwards of the Cursed Shore lie the Pirate Isles, where those who are unwelcome in any of Jamaillia, Bingtown, or Chalced scratch out an existence preying on merchant shipping. One such, Kennit Raven, is working to unite the Pirate Isles under his own rule. Kennit is a shallow man, a foolish man, but an extremely lucky man–he will do anything to see his ambitions realized, he will ride the moment like a surfer no matter where it carries him. One of the pleasures of the book is the increasing discrepancy between how Kennit really is, and how he is perceived due to his actions.

In short, this is a complex book with a cast of thousands, lots of complex relationships, and pots of action. I had to read it slowly; as always, Hobb is extremely hard on her characters, and small doses go down better. It’s ultimately rewarding, though, and I’m curious to see how it all plays out.

Golden Fool, by Robin Hobb

Posted on by

This, the sequel to Fool’s Errand, is possibly my favorite Hobb to date…possibly because Hobb’s hero, FitzChivalry Farseer, finally seems to be gaining some wisdom. The book advances the plot tolerably well for the middle book of a series, and leaves me quite curious to know how the story turns out.

One word of caution: there are some spoilers in this book for Hobb’s Liveship Traders trilogy, of which I’d only read the first volume when I read Golden Fool; The Liveship Traders books are still in print, and you probably should read them all before this one.

Understanding Digital Photography, by Bryan Peterson

Posted on by

The reviews at Amazon didn’t lie; this is a fabulous book. Whereas most books I’ve seen on digital photography are mostly about using Photoshop, Peterson’s book is mostly about how to take good pictures. There’s a slim section on using Photoshop at the back, 40 pages out of 160 total: the basic clean-up steps Peterson does with most photos, and a few advanced techniques for composing multiple photos into a single image.

Other than that, the book is all about taking pictures with digital cameras–that is, on the photographic aspects of taking pictures with digital cameras. Peterson assumes the reader is both reasonably serious about photography and capable of reading an owner’s manual. He doesn’t tell you how to set the aperture using your particular camera’s controls; instead he tells you why and to what, depending on what you’re looking to accomplish. On the way he covers issues of exposure, composition, depth-of-field and the like; how to stop motion and how to emphasize it; how to shoot vast landscapes and intimate portraits; when the light is best and how to make the best use of it; what to do when conditions are just wrong; shooting at night and during the day; and on and on. He has a boundless and infectious enthusiasm for his subject, and the book is filled with gorgeous pictures, tips, tricks, and suggestions.

Peterson generally assumes the reader will be using a Digital SLR with multiple interchangeable lenses and an external flash, and consequently some of the things he discusses don’t apply in my case. I won’t be switching between a wide-angle and telephoto lens, for example. Most of what he has to say applies in either case, though, and where there are important differences–e.g., the effect of specific apertures on depth-of-field–he’s careful to explain how it works in both cases.

In short, this is a fun book to read, and useful as well; and Peterson’s enthusiasm is infectious as to be a real inspiration. It’s not all pie-in-the-sky, either; I’m already taking better pictures than I was. Highly recommended.

Photographic Composition, by Tom Grill & Mark Scanlon

Posted on by

As has no doubt been abundantly clear over the last week, I’ve got a new camera, and I’ve aspirations to learn how to use it properly. One of my friends at work is seriously into photography–which is to say, he’s utterly nuts–and he’s going to be helping me along. In the meantime, of course, any new hobby is a good excuse to go shopping for books. Unfortunately, finding good books on photographic techniques proved difficult.

The Photography section at the first store I went to (a Borders) consisted mostly of large expensive “art” books and coffee table books containing beautiful pictures from various cities and countries. While a careful study of many of these would undoubtedly benefit a serious student of photography, I’m hardly at that level. This particular store also had a “Digital Photography” section, grouped with the computer books. It consisted almost entirely of books which show you how to use Photoshop to overcome your non-existent photography skills. I saw nothing with an emphasis on how to take a good picture.

I went from there to a large independent bookstore. It has a large section on the arts, including architecture and photography, and I had high hopes. The situation was indeed somewhat better: the books were at least organized by type. There was a large section of books collecting photos by one or another photographer; a second of monographs by photographers; and a third consisting mostly of fashion photography with two whole shelves of books on photographic techniques. I didn’t see anything I liked, though.

A couple of days later I went to a third bookstore, another Borders. They had a relatively small photography section, but–wonder of wonders–they had many books on photographic technique. There were a few that were specifically aimed at digital photography; most of those were, again, more about Photoshop than about taking good pictures. But I did find one book that appeared to be exactly what I was looking for: Photographic Composition, subtitled “Guidelines for Total Image Control through Effective Design”. Published by Amphoto, it covers all aspects of photographic composition, with lots and lots of example photographs.

I’ve since read the book cover-to-cover, and anticipate reading through it once or twice more, a little bit at a time–it’s a difficult book, but the subject is sufficiently complex that it will take time and repetition to fully digest it. I’m glad I bought it, and expect to learn quite a bit from it.

The book is not perfect, however. The authors take their subject (and, I suspect, their photographs) a little too seriously. Every Photograph Must Make A Statement, and every aspect of the photo’s composition must contribute to that Statement. They give some examples towards the end of the book; taken after one of the authors returned from serving with the Peace Corps in Brazil during the 1960’s, they are all about his alienation with America as he found it on his return.

Gag me.

On top of that, the authors appear to prefer pictures with a lot of soft focus and without a lot of clear, crisp detail; which I suppose is natural if photography is about making statements rather than taking compelling pictures of interesting subjects. In their defense, of course, they were trying to choose images that illustrated their points without a lot of distracting elements. Possibly, the simplicity of the images stems from their pedagogical style rather than their preferences. Nevertheless, the whole book is weighed down by their serious, portentous attitude. There might be some fun in photography, but you’d never know it from this book.

All that said, Grill and Scanlon manage to explain a variety of basic concepts in reasonable detail, well enough that there are a number of obvious mistakes I hope I won’t be making again.

If anyone has a better book to recommend, of course, I’d love to hear about it.

Fool’s Errand, by Robin Hobb

Posted on by

FitzChivalry Farseer has spent the fifteen years since Assassin’s Quest rusticating in a small cottage far from the Queen’s court under the name of “Tom Badgerlock”. Almost everyone who knew him thinks him dead, and after the tumultuous and agonizing events of the Farseer trilogy one imagines that he and his wolf companion needed the rest.

Much has changed in the fifteen years since the end of the Red Ship war. Chade Fallstar, FitzChivalry’s old teacher, is now Queen Kettricken’s chief advisor. Prince Dutiful, the heir to the throne, is in his teens and will soon be betrothed to a lady of the Outislands. And FitzChivalry’s unique talents will soon be required by his Queen.

There are two major kinds of magic in Hobb’s world: the Wit and the Skill. The Skill allows the one Skilled to communicate telepathically with others who are Skilled, to see things that are far off, and to mentally influence the lesser or un-Skilled. In recent years, training in the Skill has been the purview of the royal family; it is consequently highly regarded. The Wit, by comparison, is the subject of many a gruesome legend. Those afflicted with the Wit, it is said, may talk to beasts and command them to do their bidding–and in time they become beasts in human form. It is the Wit that creates the bond between Fitz and his companion wolf. There are many with the Wit in the Six Duchies, but few speak of it openly; the Witted have often been persecuted, most recently during the reign of the usurper King Regal. Feelings against the Witted run high.

So it has often been–but there are two new developments. First, a secret society known only as the Piebalds is agitating, so they claim, for full acceptance of the Witted in society; and one of their tactics is to publically denounce those Witted who will not help them. And second, Prince Dutiful has been gifted with both the Wit and the Skill. Things are going to become very interesting….

Hobbs is frequently a little too mean to her characters, in my view, but she has restrained herself somewhat in this case; as a result, I enjoyed reading the book more than some of its predecessors. On the other hand, the major conflicts are less interesting. You win some, you lose some. Anyway, I enjoyed it enough to go looking for the sequel, Golden Fool, which I’m reading now.

Fancy Nancy, written by Jane O’Connor, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser

Posted on by

Fancy Nancy is a picture book I picked up for my four-and-a-half-year-old daughter the other day. It’s illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser. The cover illustration shows a little girl with poofed-up hair wearing a tiara and a hair ribbon, high-heeled shoes with lacy socks, a lacy dress with a long train (really, a bedsheet tucked into a ribbon), and cat’s-eye sunglasses. She’s carrying an umbrella and a large feather. Let me be perfectly clear–this is not a too-little girl dressed up to be sexy for a beauty contest; this is a little girl who has dressed up to be “fancy” by her own lights, using the materials at hand.

I took one look, and said, “Good grief, that’s Anne!”

It turns out that Nancy has a problem. She loves to be fancy: to dress in fancy clothes, with fancy accessories, to do fancy things, and to use fancy words. Her family, alas (a mother, a father, and a sister) are not fancy; in fact, they tend to the plain. It’s a distressing situation, and so she arranges to give her family lessons in being fancy, culminating in the entire family going out to dinner dressed as fancy as they can (by Nancy’s lights), calling each other “Darling” and extending their pinkies while eating their pizza. All eyes are upon them from the moment they enter the pizza parlor, and Nancy is sure that everything thinks they must be movie stars.

Allow me to describe the father’s fancy attire. He’s wearing one of his own pin-stripe suits, some kind of scarf tied around his neck sort like a cravat, and a top hat, and he’s carrying a cane. Well, really, the top hot is a prop from Nancy’s magic kit, meaning that it’s far too small, and the cane is the magician’s wand. He wears them with a certain flair and panache, and with oceans of good humor. (Good humor which I intend to lack, utterly lack, if push ever comes to shove. I am Not Fancy, and I intend to stay that way.)

Anne loves the book, not at all to my surprise. Jane captured her feelings about it, thus:

Well, you see, I really like it because it is lovely and so beautiful. It is my favorite book in the world. I have a chair like her and I do fancy just like her. I do it all the time. She makes her
family so beautiful.

The chair Anne mentions is one of those bent-wire chairs with a heart-shaped back and little round black seat, the kind that’s supposed to go with a vanity table. It used to be my mother-in-law’s, but somehow Anne inherited during Mom’s recent move. And indeed, Fancy Nancy has one just like it, except that Nancy’s is pink and Anne’s is brass. That only makes Nancy’s chair better, of course.

Having gotten Anne’s opinion, Jane went on to get David’s; he’s my eldest at going-on-nine. Here’s what he had to say:

It wasn’t really a good book for boys because mostly it is all about a girl. It is not very interesting but TOO fancy. She did not have any brothers so they wouldn’t have to dress up. I do not like to dress up. I would recommend this book for girls ONLY.

Do you detect a certain lack of enthusiasm? I have to admit, I’d agree with him completely, except that I now have a fancy daughter. Anne sometimes leaves Jane and I at a loss–Jane’s no more fancy than I am–but I’m really very sorry that my own mother didn’t live long enough to know Anne. I think they’d have understood each other.