Yeow.
Makes me think of the style squabbles at my writers group. One of the old hands, a published author, hates 'LY' words. Yet most of us think she's a bit too firm on that.
Author's styles changes over the years, due to a lot of factors. Kinda like how Bob Dylan influenced music; Someone comes along that others like to imitate.
The older the books, the more you see the differences.
Hearing Mark Twain's 'Life on the Mississipi' was an interesting example.

Just finished The Scientists by John Gribbins. It's a history of science told through biographical anecdotes about the luminaries of the field. Very interesting, lots of neat little factoids, and Gribbins is clearly a very patriotic Englishman, as the English scientists get a bulk of the credit for everything, even if someone else did it first and got beat to publication. It winds up skewing the book in a funny way, but I don't think he's fabricating any of the stories. In fact, he seems to go to great pains to correct a lot of apocryphal legends about the scientists, British or not. But the narrative gets very...shall we say, puffed up whenever a British guy does something cool.
I never knew Isaac Newton was such a jerk, though.

That came up when I was reading about him in my cartography class (or was it my Theory and Methods class?) back when I was a geography major. I've never been able to look at him the same way after Dave Barry suggested in his Complete Guide to Guys that Newton wasn't sitting under an apple tree when he came up with the concept of gravity.

Just read the whole series (being YA books it's not a long read), and while there are problems with the latter two books I can say that they don't focus on a teen love triangle, rather on things like folks being decapitated by lizard-people. Whatever that's worth.

But then again I love the talky, plot-free chapters of Moby Dick ("Cetology" #1!), so my tastes may be suspect.

I also liked the second two books, the last one particularly. The love triangle never goes away entirely, but it's not the primary focus.

I dug the last one quite a bit--I hadn't heard any actual spoilers but several people had told me beforehand that they hated how it ended. But I thought the ending was great. Not that I ask for realism in my young adult fantasy novels, mind you, but it was a much more realistic view of a rebel takeover of a totalitarian state than is usual in fiction.

<nods> I appreciated that, and I appreciated how unsparing it was. I'm curious as to how much the last movie will embrace that ending; I can't imagine they'd change it, considering how many fans the series has, but you never know.

Just finished reading the trilogy and just hope that the first movie does make a good deal of money because Lionsgate is not committed to any sequels unless it's deemed profitable. Hate to see it going the way of The Golden Compass.

Judging from early box office, you will get this wish. John Carter, however, may be back to the drawing board.

*Sigh* No films about John Carter taking on skeletal soldiers in gladatorial combat on Jupiter then. Blast!

Reading Brian Michael Bendis' Avengers oral history. While he struggles at times to create unique voices, this is a pretty cracking read. Sort of an inversion of Marvels with the heroes giving a personal view of the events they participated in. Great ideas throughout.

Finished a graphic novel - Houdini: Man From Beyond.

Its Harry Houdini reincarnated in a team up with adventurer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ..... and it must have been published by the maker of the Dyson Ball vaccuum because of it's ability to consistently suck at the same level through all its 120 or so pages.

Do you know whether it's connected in any way with the movie (or maybe serial) of the same name that Houdini starred in during his brief flirtation with acting during the 1920's?

When I searched for reviews of the graphic novel, I encountered the entries for the silent film. Unfortunately, they are related in name only. It is stretching the comparison to its breaking point, but both works do feature someone coming "back from the dead," but that's as close as it comes. The silent had Houdini playing a character frozen in ice for a long period, and the graphic novel featured Houdini himself returning from some kind of bizarre Purgatory after his famous actual death.

My childhood became an ouroboros last night while I was reading the latest Big Nate book by Lincoln Peirce. See, I had the first and, for many years only, compilation of the strip as a kid. I also loved The Great Brain series as a kid. What a joy to see that Peirce referenced The Great Brain series in his set of chapter books drawn from the strip. Both book series are about clever, crafty kids who get themselves into chaotic situations. Also a very strong recommendation for the Big Nate series. They're funny, well written hybrids of chapter book/graphic novel.