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Dor

Dor Does Books

Oh, hai! I read books, then I write down what I think of them. 

 

 

This score is tremendously unfair - Wiffle Lever to Full by Bob Fischer (DNF)

Wiffle Lever To Full!: Daleks, Death Stars And Dreamy Eyed Nostalgia At The Strangest Sci Fi Conventions - Bob Fischer

Sometimes, books fall foul of my lifestyle and this is one of those. It's not that it's a bad book, it's more that it wasn't quite good enough in the face of everything else I've got to read and the time available to read them.

 

It wants to be one of these amusing Gonzo books, the topic in this instance being "going to conventions for 70s SciFi shows and a couple of others". It should have been right up my street - I have much love for all but 2 of the topics featured in this book, but that's probably because I've never seen Blake's 7 or Robin of Sherwood. However, conventions, it turns out, are incredibly dull places and Fischer brings neither schtick nor enough personality to the party to make up for that. I understand he has a blog (which I've never looked at - I'm criticising him, I don't want to be reminded he's human) so if you follow that you may very well find your mileage varies on this matter.

 

Part of the problem is in the shortness of the chapters. With 11 conventions to cover they don't really have the space to show any personality - I read the first 3 chapters covering Doctor Who, Star Wars, and Blake's 7, plus the Discworld one - and I couldn't connect with them, either as a fellow fan or simply a reader. The Discworld convention sounded spectacular, and it is that which shows up this books weaknesses more than anything else. There was material there and it was underused. 

 

In total I read about 100 pages. I could easily have the whole thing, but, as I say, I have other things to read. Pertinent but not a fair criticism is that it felt a little dated.

 

I have a rule about books which I don't finish but I'm breaking it on this one: 2 stars for being merely "ok", although I can't recommend it even to fans of the shows.