Cynara's #1: Excelsior!

The Reader of Novels (1853) - Antoine Wiertz

Hi, all.

I'm a 30ish Canadian reader - almost a teacher, a wife, a cat owner, a fan of punk, industrial, and opera, a knitter and crafter, a comic book nerd, a history nerd, a Dungeons & Dragons nerd - lo, a nerd of many varieties and stripes. I can read a little Middle Egyptian and bellydance. Welcome to my thread. I read all sorts of things but (by volume) more genre fiction than anything. Man cannot live by Kafka alone.

2012 Reading List, Thread #1
#1: Conspiracy in Death - J. D. Robb
#2-7: Kitty goes to Washington, Kitty takes a Holiday, Kitty and the Silver Bullet, Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand, Kitty Raises Hell, and Kitty's House of Horrors by Carrie Vaughn
#8: Holy Terror by Frank Miller
#9: The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to Be a Better Husband by David Finch
#10: The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook
#11: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
#12: Midnight Riot (aka Rivers of London) by Ben Aaronovitch
#13: Millennium: the End of the World and the Forging of Christendom by Tom Holland
#14: Pride and Prescience by Carrie Bebris
#15: The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkein
#16: And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life by Charles J. Shields
#17: A Study in Sherlock ed. by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger
#18: Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison
#19: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, illustrated by Keith Thompson
#20: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
#21: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen & Seth Graeme-Smith
#22: A Darkling Plain by Philip Reeve
#23: Henrietta's War by Joyce Dennys
#24: Moon over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
#25: Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey
The Bloody Red Baron by Kim Newman
#26: In Tearing Haste by Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor
#27: Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey
#28: The Osiris Ritual by George Mann
#29: The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud
#30: Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente
#31: The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
#32: Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas
#33: Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara
#34: Mine Till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas
#35: Cast in Courtlight by Michelle Sagara
#36: The Book of Drugs by Mike Doughty
#37: Through the Children's Gate by Adam Gopnik
#38: I've Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad by Karolyn Smardz Frost
#39: Cast in Secret by Michelle Sagara
#40: Kosher Chinese by Michael Levy
#41: Cast in Fury by Michelle Sagara
#42: Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie by Lauren Redniss
#43: Cast in Silence by Michelle Sagara
#44: B.P.R.D: Being Human by Mike Mignola & others
#45: Cast in Chaos by Michelle Sagara
#46: The Magician's Book:A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller
#47: Cast in Moonlight by Michelle Sagara
#48: Cast in Ruin by Michelle Sagara
#49: Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud
#50: Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas
#51: Inside the Victorian Home by Judith Flanders
#52: Blackveil by Kristen Britain
#53: Running the Books by Avi Steinberg
#54: Cairo by Willow Wilson
#55: New York to Dallas by J. D. Robb
#56: A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain
#57: Letters to Sherlock Holmes, various authors
#58: On the Edge by Ilona Andrews
#59: The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien
#60: Loyalty in Death by J. D. Robb
#61: The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King
#62: Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi
Yours Ever: People and their Letters Thomas Mallon
#63: The Victorians: Britain Through the Paintings of the Age by Jeremy Paxman
#64: Witness in Death by J. D. Robb
#65: Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman
#66: Letters to Kurt by Eric Erlandson
#67: Judgment in Death by J. D. Robb
#68: Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews
#69: Mozart and the Whale
#70: Betrayal in Death by J. D. Robb
#71, 72, & 73: Interlude in Death and Seduction in Death and Reunion in Death by J. D. Robb
#74: Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
Devices and Desires by K. J. Parker
#75: Secrets of a Summer Night, Lisa Kleypas
#76 -78 Magic Burns, Magic Strikes, and Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews

Currently reading:
The Falcon at the Portal by Elizabeth Peters
The Art of Eating by M.F.K. Fisher
Consuming passions: leisure and pleasure in Victorian Britain

Cool beans! Glad to see you back!

Thanks, Stasia! It's always lovely when you drop by.

So, read any good books lately? :)

I have you starred, (the word "excelsior" got my attention!) and I look forward to hearing what you say about The Two Towers. I'm a big fan of the movies and of the book The Hobbit, but I have never gotten around to reading The Lord of the Rings. They are on my to-read list for this year, though.

Good luck with your reading, Cynara!

Happy New Year, Cynara! I don't know about the other three, but I love, love, love and adore Tolkien.

Hi, Eris & Lizzie! Thanks for coming by!

The Two Towers is an out-loud read for my husband and I (actually, we're alternating it with The Ringworld Engineers, which I should probably add to my currently-reading list). I've read it a bushel of times, though not in the past couple of years, and he's only read it once. He's very familiar with the movies, and I'm more familiar with the books, though it's surprising how much I've forgotten. We're almost done with the main party and about to turn to Sam & Frodo going to Mordor. I admit, I'm not looking forward to that with unalloyed pleasure.

>4 alcottacre:

Any good books? I'm enjoying my 'in Death' reread, and I thought very highly of Robin Hobb's Tawney Man trilogy! I hope you're finding lots of good reads to start the year with. I need to enter a few more Christmas books & get them on my to-read list so I don't ignominiously forget them.

Conspiracy in Death is one of my favorite in the series, so I hope you continue to enjoy it!

Welcome to the new year!

Thanks, Roni! Happy new year to you, too.

>8 alcottacre:
I'm a bit mopey, so Eve's angst is bothering me a little, but I agree that it's a very strong book in the series. I'm only about 1/5 of the way in, so perhaps I'll enjoy it more soon. http://www.librarything.com/topic/130047#

Checking in and dropping off a star. :)

Danke!

Welcome back!

Oh, a read-aloud of Tolkien! I did that years ago with my then boyfriend... it is wonderful to share the experience that way, isn't it!
I am due a re-read of LoTR, I haven't read it in over 5 years, though I did listen to it as an audiobook while I was recovering from flu a couple of years back, drifting in and out of sleep as the familiar story unfolded.

#10: One of the best things about the book for me is Eve's vulnerability as she is stripped of 'everything' she has. I hope you end up enjoying the book more than you are now :)

#7 Nice to know someone else reads aloud to their husband :-) Got you starred again, Cynara.

...and he almost always takes his turn, too, but I'm the one who started it & the one who loves it more.

#1



Conspiracy in Death by J. D. Robb

I entirely agree with Stasia that this is a particularly good entry in the series. So much about it is exactly right: the plotting, the characterization, the bits of humour.

It isn't much of a whodunit - Robb only sometimes drops one of those in, but I don't mind. I'm terrible at figuring out mysteries anyway, and I read them for the same reason I read everything else: a good story. For me, Eve's unfolding relationships with Peabody, Mira, McNabb, Feeney, Summerset (particularly him: I adore his scenes), and okay, Roarke, are the story.

Don't get me wrong, I like Roarke well enough, though he isn't the perfect fantasy man for me as for so many other readers (I have my own weird hero fixations, so I'm not threatening anyone else's glass houses here). I do adore the supporting cast and Eve herself. I'm a very mild-mannered person, so Eve stomping up and down-town, punching people on the jaw and hauling them in for questioning is a wonderful fantasy for me. I love reading about people who say or do blissfully inappropriate things (also see: Spider Jerusalem, Sherlock Holmes, Gregory House, etc. etc.).

Where was I? No, it's not a whodunit, though the crimes are poignant, the motive interesting, and the unfolding of the evidence always intriguing.

Sometimes the newer books make me miss the high drama of the first ones, though Robb has usually been good at plotting out peaks and valleys in the series. After all, you can't have everything at fever pitch all the time - Eve's friends being pitched in jail, career trouble, serious differences with Roarke - however, a few of the recent ones have been too placid, professionally and personally.

Now I should get back to that Kitty book. Where the hell did it go?

Nice review, Cynara! I've never read Roberts or her Robb books, but if I see this at the library I might pick it up. That cover is beautiful for one thing, as I love spiderwebs, and I love characters like Sherlock Holmes who act incredibly.

Thanks, Eris! I've tried Roberts' romance writing under her own name, and couldn't really get into it - not because it's romance, I just didn't care much about her characters. I love the In Death series, however - this is my first reread of the 30+ book series, and I'm sure I'll read them again some day.

#18: Glad to see that you enjoyed it after all! My favorite of her newer books is Treachery in Death. Have you read it yet?

I had to go look at my 2011 threads before I was sure, but yes! That's my favourite of the new ones, too!

Good! I am glad you liked it too.

Hum. Kitty Goes to Washington sure is slow to get started. A friend has lent me six of these things, so I hope this one picks up. Kitty goes to Washington, Kitty chats with vampires, Kitty chats with werewolves, Kitty attends a senate hearing then chats about it some more... yawn.

I think I would be yawning a lot too - of course, it could just be because I do not sleep a whole lot ;)

It's all the posting in 75ers threads, Stasia. :-)

It can't leave much time for sleeping and eating and things of that nature.

dropping by to leave a star :)

Hey, thanks!

#28: Just enough :)

I'm not that far in the In Death books, but I certainly do enjoy them!

#2 - 7



Kitty goes to Washington, Kitty takes a Holiday, Kitty and the Silver Bullet, Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand, Kitty Raises Hell, and Kitty's House of Horrors by Carrie Vaughn

I'm going to review these as a lump, so there may be a few little spoilers here and there.

Cons:
It's slight. Very slight.
Really-don't-care about the 'romance'.

Neutrals:
Light on the worldbuilding; very close to 'reality', really, and the mythological and zoological details are kept to a minimum. Not a bad thing necessarily.
The writing
Our heroine; fairly smart and competent, but not someone I'm in love with or even particularly interested in. A bit bland.

Pros:
As the series continues, we're building up a moderately interesting supporting cast.
Her handling of the series' theme of the pack: friends and family, and our need to have a place in the world. As I said earlier, the romance is practically non-existant; Vaughn's much more interesting and affecting when dealing with familiarity, warmth, and loyalty.
The occasional thematic flourish; I liked how she used the magic show and animal show as metaphors for order and chaos in Las Vegas.

One wouldn't want to overdo it on this series, but I'll probably look up the rest eventually.

#8



Holy Terror by Frank Miller

Sigh. I forgot I had to review this one until I added my more recent books to the top of this thread.

In short: ewwww.

I've enjoyed Miller's work before. The Dark Knight Returns is one of the seminal graphic novels of the '80s, and a book I sincerely admire and enjoy; Sin City is a bit dark for me, but it's visually striking and you have to admire the relentless grimness of his vision. I'm not sure I can include 300, because the main reason I like it so much is the art by Lynn Varley. Then we come to Holy Terror, which combines the worst of Miller's tics and adds some new and very distasteful aspects. Feast your eyes on that cover, with its faceless, monsterous villain trailing bloody molars.

The quality of the writing is okay - never wordy, and sometimes managing to imply more than it says. However, there's really no attempt to make his two protagonists anything more than bruisers (one of them a thinly adapted Batman, since DC gave this book the well-justified boot), and the "falling in love" subplot is perfunctory to the point of parody.

Now I have to talk about the content. Do I have to talk about the content? Bad Muslim terrorists are blowing everyone up because they hate 'our' freedom. There's a big evil weapon. Much is made of the scale of the attacks and the number of victims killed, and the protagonists' response is to locate and torture a terrorist until they get the location of the evil weapon.

The art is grungy and confused - whirlwinds of black and white scratches, with Miller's signature gigantic shoes clumping through every frame. It's not attractive in the least; every person looks like a dreadful Groszian caricature, which undermines some of the empathy with victims of terrorist attack I think he's trying to create. We're given a bit of Miller's customary gratuitous female tied up with ropes firmly securing her breasts (in case she tries to kung-fu the villains with them I suppose). Frank, I don't think terrorists have necessarily studied Japanese bondage techniques; maybe you're trying to make a point about their leering hypocrisy, but it looks to me like you wanted an excuse to draw this.

In short, it's a two-dimensional screed against Muslim fundamentalism (not that there's any attempt to imply that peaceful or moderate Muslims even exist), at a time when we need, need, three dimensions when we approach this issue. I don't like the caricatures. I don't like the violence justifying violence. I don't like the transposition of violence to American soil, when most of it is going on overseas, in other people's homes. Frank, I think I'm done with you.

I'll leave you with comic writer Grant Morrison's thoughts:
"Batman vs. Al Qaeda! It might as well be Bin Laden vs. King Kong! Or how about the sinister Al Qaeda mastermind up against a hungry Hannibal Lecter! For all the good it's likely to do. Cheering on a fictional character as he beats up fictionalized terrorists seems like a decadent indulgence when real terrorists are killing real people in the real world. I'd be so much more impressed if Frank Miller gave up all this graphic novel nonsense, joined the Army and, with a howl of undying hate, rushed headlong onto the front lines with the young soldiers who are actually risking life and limb 'vs.' Al Qaeda"

#9


The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to Be a Better Husband by David Finch

Often funny. On one hand, I'm astonished that Finch's wife put up with five years of his unedited personality, and I wonder what parts are the Aspie and what parts are just him. On the other, I like the way he breaks down abstract concepts like 'empathy' and discusses how he's changed the way he relates to his family.

I seem to have misplaced Millennium: the End of the World and the Forging of Christendom at work. I had to endure a trip home on the bus without a book. Without a book, I say. The agony was unspeakable. How do people do it?

I usually carry not one, but two backup books when I travel. Now that I have the iPad, it's easier to do, but I still worry I'll run out of juice when I'm stuck in an airport or somewhere. :)

I did once buy a new copy of Jane Eyre in an airport bookstore because I'd gone off whatever I was reading....

Well, hello there, how have I not been to your thread yet this year?! Did I know that you bellydanced? Who do you dance with?!? TELL ME I AM ACHING IN SUSPENSE!!! :) ...and if you've told be before, I apologize, as I must have a terrible memory...

Your description above makes you sound like my alter-ego. I'm sure I followed your thread in a previous year, but I feel as though I'm meeting you for the first time again... haha.

Hi, Faith! I just looked at your profile pictures for the first time - what a lovely bedleh!

I took lessons from Hannan Sultan for several years, before she moved out of the city. I really loved her classes and her beautiful dancing; she danced at my wedding. I stopped when she left, but I've recently gone back to the studio that still has her name, and I took a class from Nada el Masriyah.

I certainly recognize your name from all over, and I thought I had you on my 'interesting libraries' list, but apparently not.

What do you think of Allan's intro to Middle Egyptian? I've never been able to get past the transliteration differences from James Hoch, whose text they use at U of T.

#10



The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook

I read this during a rather stressful weekend, and that it managed to hold my attention at all is a testament to the excellence of the characterization and worldbuilding! It's the best steampunk book and the best romance - and certainly the best steampunk/romance - I've read in recent memory. There were a couple of plot twists that I found a bit mechanical (oh noes! The hero and heroine are getting along too well. How will we make the heroine think he's cast her aside?), but on the whole both protagonists were interesting, likeable, and not too stupid to live. I'm certainly going to read more Brook. I see she has a few other series, which look interesting!

>41 Cynara:

I really liked The Iron Duke, too! The follow up published last Fall, Heart of Steel, wasn't as good, but I still enjoyed it. There's also a short story set in the Iron Seas universe, "Here There Be Monsters", which is found in the anthology Burning Up I thought was quite good.

Okay, The Iron Duke has gone on my wishlist!

The first couple of pages are dense with implied background, but soldier through! It clears up soon.

#11



The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

I'm not sure what I think of this one. It came very highly recommended, and the praise was merited: it's well-written, the characters and world are interesting, and it held my attention until the last page. At the same time, I couldn't fall in love with it.

The protagonist is an Ace. He's ridiculously knowledgeable, he's an academic genius, he's a musician of superlative skill, and by the time of the framing story, he's a great warrior. He's a great actor. He knows woodland survival. People are awed by him, and drawn to his skill and mystique (unless they're irredeemable bad guys, in which case they fixate on him as a nemesis). Women are enchanted by him - though, aww shucks, he's just an awkward kid when it comes to the ladies. He's a good judge of horseflesh, a speaker of obscure bumpkin dialects, and an excellent barkeep, and I'm not even enumerating his magical and scientific skills, which are legion. The story does provide rationales for all of these skills, but I eventually found it all too much.

It doesn't help that he knows it, and uses it as an excuse to get portentious. He's all "I am Kvothe" and I suppose we're supposed to break into little tiny fangirl and fanboy pieces. I decline.

Rothfuss isn't much on female characters. We have a lovely, caring, elegant mother and a love interest who is just inches from Manic Pixie Dream-Girl territory. She does eventually get some fleshing out - she has her own problems, and doesn't just exist to be delightful - but it's precious little.

The book is quite long and spends far too many pages discussing the ins and outs of life at the University, but the writing is good enough to sustain it, so Rothfuss gets a pass from me on that one.

I am intrigued enough to read the next one, though perhaps not immediately.

#12



Midnight Riot aka Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Terrible titles (both of them) but a solid and promising opening to a series. Can you picture a combination of Jim Butcher's urban noir fantasy and paramedic Tom Reynolds' book on public service on the dirty streets of London? That's what this felt like to me.

Anyway, Aaronovitch has created something that stands on its own two feet, and I'm very curious to see where the rest of the series goes.

#13



Millennium: the End of the World and the Forging of Christendom by Tom Holland

Although I stalled during Persian Fire (though that wasn't entirely my fault, as the book went missing from my office and I had to pay the library for it) I was happy to pick up a new book by the author of Rubicon. The research got the stamp of approval from my dark-ages-expert friend, and I embarked happily upon a voyage into millennial Europe.

While each individual part is excellent - the writing is lively, the scholarship fairly prudent, and the ideas invigorating - I couldn't make head or tail of what was happening half the time. We jumped from kingdom to kingdom until I couldn't keep the cast straight, much less what any of them wanted. Pity - I'd like to try this one again some time, and maybe keep a set of family trees at hand.

#14



Pride and Prescience by Carrie Bebris

I'm not too snooty to enjoy a good Pride and Prejudice sequel. The gods were cruel and gave us so few Jane Austen novels that we can hardly be blamed for trying to make up the deficiency. Of course, they all go off the rails temporarily or permanently: lustfully and swashbucklingly, like Linda Berdoll's, or Gothickally like Pamela Aidan's. However, the best ones keep certain things intact, and you can leave feeling - not like you've read a Jane Austen novel - but like you've spent some time with the characters, at least. I'm quite fond of Berdoll, actually, and Aidan I've read two or three times.

Bebris' book starts out like that, and there's some good 'business' at Netherfield around the double wedding. Bebris keeps everything in balance here - some romance, some wit, some Mrs. Bennett, and it's great. Things eventually take a serious turn, and then a sinister one, and the reader is kept guessing who is at fault. There's some cheerfully anachronistic peering at footprints, and Darcy seems remarkably unfazed by Elizabeth's unladylike sleuthing. Some 20th century clangers of vocabulary and conduct are generally easy to overlook.

Ahem. SPOILERS. Sorry for shouting like that.
I don't, however, feel that the turn to the supernatural was well-advised. I felt a bit annoyed that I had been trying to figure out a scientifically plausible reason for the state of affairs the characters were enduring, and all of a sudden I'm contending with herbs and pentacles and magic rings. I mean, really. Also, the final twist of Mary-Sue-ism "I believe you have a gift .... A very powerful one. Should you ever choose to cultivate it, let me know." was a trifle much for me. I mean she's Elizabeth. Surely she doesn't need to be magically gifted as well?

Read the spoilers section on your last review because I have no intention of reading the book (I'm not snooty exactly about follow-ups/sequels but I find they irritate me more than entertain so it's not worth the effort). Have to agree with your comment about Elizabeth. She's awesome sauce as is. :) And that steampunk/romance may just end up on the TBR list. I'll think on it some more.

Hrm. Whether I'm irritated or not would probably depend on the book. I've steered clear of some Austen sequels that have lengthy excoriating reviews that show the author doesn't know the difference between 1812 and 1912. I remember one book had a character describing their emotions as "a crush" on someone. The Regency lady would have described a crowded room as a "crush", but only a late-Victorian lady would have thought of a man that way.

Precisely. I think for me, I just keep hoping that the sequels (or whatever you want to call them) will capture Austen's style and tone and they never manage it. But I do love some spins on the plots like Bridget Jones's Diary. However, if you're into Austen, you should check out Bitch in a Bonnet.

I love Bitch in a Bonnet (except for his constant refrain of "see Jane Austen didn't write romances I don't like romances only girls like romances see see"). His posts are relentlessly hilarious, and I can't wait for him to get started on Emma.

#15



The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien

My marital read-aloud of the trilogy has been very enjoyable - with the possible exception of the second half of this book. Me, I get bogged down in the endless misery of the trek with Gollum. My husband gets riled over Tolkein's "Botanical Guide to Mordor" approach, where he enumerates the trees, bushes, flowers, and herbs visible to the hobbits every chance he gets. I don't mind that much, but I admit it's easier to take in a silent reading where you don't even realize you're skipping to the end of the paragraph.

My spirits were buoyed by the chapters with Faramir, who is simply wise and gentle and firm and wonderful and should be put in charge of everything, forever, the end. I also enjoyed the 'right' accounts of Treebeard and Theoden. Jackson's movies had many virtues, but they tended to whip up the conflict by making supporting characters grouchier or outright threatening, which annoyed me a bit.

I am greatly looking forward to the next volume, particularly because my husband has forgotten the books entirely and will be greatly surprised by the many diversions from the movie.

>52 Cynara: I know, the harping can get a bit much. I also thought he was a bit harsh in his evaluation of Fanny when he read Mansfield Park. Sure she's not the best character ever, but he really HATES her and I started feeling defensive on her behalf.

I read LOTR back in my teens but the details are pretty fuzzy for me. I haven't watched the films in a while either though, so those are equally fuzzy. So I think both would have surprises for me. :) Glad you and your husband are enjoying them.

Yeah, he really despises Fanny. I get that, though I think he was too hard on her, but I never fell for Catherine the way he did. I did find his theory about Fanny interesting - that Austen was consciously trying to write a heroine very different from herself.

I read The Lord of the Rings way too long ago, probably when I was too young to understand it. When I watched the movies, I only noticed ONE very small difference, but I was certain there were more. :)

This reminds me though, I got suckered into an accidental blind date with a guy last year when the extended LOTR movies were in theaters. I was annoyed enough as it was that I'd been ditched with this guy unceremoniously after my friend had apparently made such a big deal about how single I was in order to get this guy off HER back. Ugh! Anyway, point is, he sat there enthralled and raving about how awesome the movie (The Two Towers) was and how he was getting goosebumps. Towards the end of the (4-hour) movie, he leaned over and asked me a question--one that made it clear he had no idea what was going on. I asked him if he'd seen the movies before. He hadn't even seen Fellowship! But he did such a wonderful job of sounding thrilled by the 4-hour Two Towers movie. haha. Poor guy must have been soooo bored! I could hardly sit through 4 hours of movie even though I KNEW what was going on and LIKED the movie.

Ah, the good old days of dating!

Oh my. Yeah, I can't imagine what it would be like starting with book or movie two.

*coughs* I did. I watched The Two Towers first (the regular edition) and then I watched The Return of the King, the extended version. My biggest problem was getting Gandalf and Saruman mixed up - I thought they were the same person! Still, the movies left a big impression on me, and I loved them even when I had the vaguest idea of what was going on.

Ha! Good for you. I don't know if I would have been able to connect with it, if I hadn't known what was going on.

I'm enjoying the read-aloud a great deal! I'm not looking forward to finishing it.

#16



And So it Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life by Charles J. Shields

Kurt Vonnegut: author, father, husband, friend, and one of my household gods. He was crap at all of these but one.

I don't blame him for the last. It wouldn't be fair to actually expect him to live up to his presence on the page: wise, avuncular, passionate about injustice, and master of a kind of amused stoicism that I have found terribly consoling over the years.

Generally, Vonnegut appears to have been a disaster as a person. He had his reasons: he felt overshadowed by his brother and ignored by his parents. His mother was mentally ill, which demonstrated itself in emotional abuse directed at his father, and ultimately in her suicide on Mother's Day. The horror he experienced at Dresden must have damaged him, too.

However, Vonnegut's own plea to his readers - "you've got to be kind" - is an ironic commentary on his private life, where his behaviour was often anything but.

Still, my own disappointment doesn't overshadow the excellence of this biography, though I found Shields' treatment of Vonnegut's later novels a hair reductive and dismissive. This isn't the only Vonnegut bio I'll ever read, but it was a compelling read and affected me deeply.

I've been thinking of declaring February "sequel month." I have started a bunch of series over the last couple of years which have been lingering on my to-read list. I know that series often improve dramatically, so I'm loathe to abandon a series after the first book if it shows any promise at all - but only a moderate degree of promise isn't enough to send me running for the library to find book two. Hence, a whole bunch of uncontinued series.

And, - because what is February, if not the sequel of the new year - , this might be a good month to tackle them. I'll prepare a list, maybe. I've already made some holds at my library.

Sweet heavens I have a bunch of series on my library list. I suppose it's because I read so much genre fiction. I have many, many series to begin on that list (twenty-three!) but I also have a solid number that fit my challenge above.

The Golem’s Eye
Dragonfly in Amber
Kushiel’s Chosen
The Osiris Ritual
The Wise Man’s Fear
The Bloody Red Baron
Moon Over Soho

There we go. Only the last entry is one I'm feeling excited about - for the rest, I'm various degrees of wary. I also have a new series & the fourth volume of one already on hold at the library, but I'll try to make these a priority and figure out if I'm continuing with the damned series.

Hope your personal challenge goes well. The only one I've read was Dragonfly in Amber, which I didn't enjoy as much as Outlander but I'm not exactly sure why.

Hmm. That's not entirely promising, but that's why I'm doing this. I want to read them or get the series off my library list.

Part of it is that they're so blamed long. Dragonfly, Kushiel's, and Wise Man's are all tomes, and some of the others aren't short. Normally I don't fret over book size, but... well, let's hope for some good surprises. I either admired or enjoyed something about the previous book in all these series, or I wouldn't be continuing them at all (I'm looking at you, Court of the Air).

Out of those, I've read Dragonfly in Amber and The Wise Man's Fear. The former I can remember not being quite as good.

The latter, however, is fabulous, apart from one section that I know has got a lot of complaints from reviewers online, and the criticism imho is well justified. He needed SERIOUS editing, or just to take the whole bit out. I skim read that bit!! Hopefully you'll know which it is when you get there.

However, the rest of the book kept me as captivated as the first one did.

Oh, the first one was very readable - I just wanted to kick Rothfuss for going so over-the-top with Kvothe. I'm glad to hear the sequel is (except for the dreaded "section"?) at least as good at the first one!

Well, I haven't taken the Outlander series off my TBR list entirely, although I'm kind of tempted to just read a synopsis of it somewhere (if I could fine one) and not have to go through all of those many pages. I'm not opposed to long books (my current read weighs in at a hefty 860) but I need to feel all those pages are worth it and the jury's still out on that point. :)

I *know*. It's just so huge, and I found the first book underedited. I mean, "yes, let's sit around for ten pages while the heroine delivers a foal which fails to drive plot or character development in any meaningful way."

Ah-HAH! I found your thread again! I lost it, but here it is.

To take it waaaay back into comments from two weeks ago, I love Hannan! I've taken some workshops with her, and with Nada as well. She's a fantastic instructor as well, very giving. If you ever venture into Oakville to take any workshops at BellyUp, let me know and I'll see if I can pop in and say hi. Joharah's a fantastic instructor as well, and she hosts many really superb workshop weekends with big names from all over.

As for the Middle Egyptian book... honestly, I can't say much about it. I haven't given it enough attention to speak with authority on it. I started trying to get through it after graduation, but got sidetracked along the way (I think it happened when someone gave me a set of "Learn Aramaic!" CDs) and haven't come back to it since. And it seems like every time I decide to get back to my languages, I end up back in my Liddell & Scott, snuggling volumes of Herodotus or Euripides... heh...

I really should get back at it... I think I made it further through Collier's little volume than I ever did through Allen's. I should also grab a copy of the Hoch text, maybe it'll inspire me to give it a go again...

Also, I'm with Jenny (msg #65) on Wise Man's Fear... it's very readable and enjoyable, but there are some sections... one in particular... *eye roll* ...you'll know when you read it, I'm sure.

Thanks for the invite to BellyUp! I don't find myself in Oakville much, but I'll definitely let you know if I'm there. Hey, let me know if you're coming down to Toronto; we could meet for coffee and talk about our 157 shared books.

It's not easy to stick with the Middle Egyptian after graduation (did you take hieroglyphs in school?). I used to know of a group of people who got together every week and worked their way through something like the Tale of Sinuhe a few lines at a time, to keep current.

I don't know if Hoch is the best text (he's just the one I learned with) but he's just fine.

Another vote of partial confidence on Wise Man's Fear, eh? Well, I've decided to go through them alphabetically, so that means that the Outlander book is up first. Wish me luck, and wish me fewer evil gay villains and wife-beating chapters.

#17



A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon ed. by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger

Somewhere around the age of twelve I discovered Sherlock Holmes. Whether I fell in love with him or just desperately wanted to be him, I don't know, but the fascination has never faded.

Although I am generally terribly wary of Holmes tribute fiction (fearing to see, perhaps, too clear a reflection of my own grasping fangirlness) I was introduced to King's Mary Russell series. After a short period of extreme dubiousness, I flirted with, was enraptured by, courted, proposed to, and promptly married the first book. Subsequent books have been variable, but her name was enough to get me very interested in this collection of Holmes-inspired short stories.

Of course, they're up and down. There are some standouts, like As to "An Exact Knowledge of London" by Tony Broadbent, which (though a trifle slow in spots) shows imagination and a great affection for the Holmes canon and its many screen interpretations. Neil Gaiman's contribution was also grand. I love the way some of these stories addressed our need for Holmes to live on.

Some have something of a genuine Doylian air like The Startling Events in the Electrified City by Thomas Perry which, despite its steampunk name and American setting, is a straightforward (and excellent) Holmes story. The Eyak Interpreter is an marvellous updating of a canon story which resituates it in an Aboriginal community of Alaska, and does so with some flair. I was groaning when I saw the format (a boy's blog posts), but I shouldn't have worried.

Others aren't as good - some are merely dull (The Adventure of the Purloined Paget, a manor-house mystery set among Holmesian collectors), but just one is actively terrible: Cotterill's maundering comic The Mysterious Case of the Unwritten Short Story which demonstrates active boredom with Holmes, Doyle, and mysteries. The art doesn't redeem it.

I enjoyed the King/Klinger collaboration which ends the volume, but I had read it before, when it was released as an e-book along with King's Beekeeping for Beginners in the fall of 2011.

I haven't read many such collections, but I can happily recommend this one to fans of Holmes; just feel free to skip down a bit if a story isn't working for you.

#18



Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

I got this book through SantaThing (thank you!) and I'm glad to have a new urban fantasy series to chase down. The start was a bit rocky, but Harrison's worldbuilding shows some promise, her supporting characters are varied and interesting, and she's starting to create some interesting relationships between Rachel and Jenks, Kim, etc. I hope we get some more background on Kim soon, because she's difficult to get a handle on.

Really, my only issue with this book is that sometimes the possible ramifications of Rachel's actions aren't entirely clear. It's a real art, filling in just enough context so your audience has an idea of the stakes, while not burying them in background info. That and some sketchy editing that left at least one sentence entirely without a subject meant O didn't always know how important some actions were.

Case in point (with mild spoilers!): it isn't made clear why pixies need gardens. Yes, they like them, yes, pixies are territorial - but when Rachel is told that her 'sublet' of the garden to Jenks will ensure the survival of his younger kids, we have no idea why. Is it a food supply issue? Wouldn't owning such a valuable piece of real estate just increase the risk of fairy attack? I must have stared at that page for a minute trying to figure out what would have killed Jenks' kids. We never find out, and we never see Jenks' immediate reaction to the news that the garden is his. It's not a huge deal, but fellow-urban-fantasy authors Jim Butcher and Karen Marie Moning have managed to avoid that kind of "huh?" moment. If you're wondering about something, it's because they want you to be wondering.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to finding out what happens next and seeing where the characters' relationships go!

>70 Cynara:: Unfortunately, we didn't have all those fun Ancient Middle Eastern / Egyptian languages at our school (just Hebrew) so I was only able to learn Latin and Greek. We envied U of T in some ways, but in others, not so much. But, a number of us did our best with the other languages on the side! ...as much as that's humanly possible... LOL.

>71 Cynara:: This one sounds right up my alley! I've heard that many of the pastiches are quite enjoyable, but you have to know which ones to go for. I don't, as of yet, but I've heard good things about King's work. I'll keep an eye out for this little anthology for sure.

Check out the Study in Sherlock, then! I hope you like it.

Now: guilty as charged...
Sh*t Book Reviewers Say

Ouch. That hurt. I am guilty of a few of those, particularly the ones about characters. Fortunately, I have not given in to the temptation of blurbs!

Yeah. Groan. I don't think I've ever called prose "lapidary", but I might have. I might even have said "luminous". I'd rather not go back and check right now.

Thoroughly entertaining. Love the touch of having a season of Dawson's Creek in the background during the one about TV. :)

I've been sick, and the ramped-up reading has put me behind in reviewing. Let's see if I can catch up today!

#19



Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, illustrated by Keith Thompson

This is a very capable YA steampunk novel which is set around an alternate WWI. The setting felt fleshed out - not just "waiting for the zepplin" checkbox steampunk - and I can recommend it. It isn't "profound" YA, but interesting and well-developed all the same. Thompson's illustrations are evocative and exciting.

#20: FEBRUARY SEQUEL FEATURE NUMBER ONE!



Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

Second verse, same as the first - except it's all a bit less contentious and intense this time through. The things that bothered me about the first book are either gone (wife-beating, anyone?) or modulated a bit (paedo-villain, though I'm still not comfortable with it), and while not exactly terse, the wordiness didn't bother me as much. On the other hand, I didn't feel quite as ruthlessly engaged by this plot as by the rather preposterous but gripping one in book one, and I think I only cried once. I'll likely read the third one - I'm settling into the series a bit, and I want to find out how Gabaldon gets her protagonist out of this one.

By the way - odd title. I came across two references to the idea of an insect in amber in the text. The first seemed to suggest that it symbolised one's core sense of self 'within' one's personality - the other used it as an image of helplessness. Maybe Gabaldon should have stuck to one or the other?

FEBRUARY SEQUEL FEATURE VERDICT: yeah, yeah, okay, you got me, I'll read another one.

I'm glad you liked Leviathan! It's one of my favorite YA books, and I appreciated how un-Bella like the main female was. Are you going to be reading the second book in the series, Behemoth?

Most likely! I particularly liked the clanker/Darwinist divide; it lets Westerfield have the best of both worlds, I think, and I like getting out of England in a steampunk setting. I'm not racing on to the next one (I have a full plate for my February sequel challenge), but I think I'll go add it to my library list.

Oh, I have so much affection for the Leviathan trilogy, so I'm really glad you liked the first book. I'm unsure about the Outlander series, as I've read the first two and I'm not sure I want to invest the time that these chunksters require. Maybe I'll wait until you read the third one and then decide if I want to continue. :)

#21



Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen & Seth Graeme-Smith

A book that could have been really hilarious and grand if it had been just a little bit better: if Graeme-Smith could have passed up some of the broader humour (Elizabeth and Darcy trading double-entendres about... ahem, social events involving dancing.... as if they're ACDC on "Dirty Deeds Done Cheap"?) and matched Austen's style more closely, it would have been tremendous and wonderful. As it is, it's fun, funny, and readable.

#22



A Darkling Plain by Philip Reeve

Reeve does a great job of pulling together the disparate threads of this four-part series in the final volume. As Reeve's fans will suspect, though, that's not to say that anything's wrapped up in a little bow. I found this one more enjoyable than Infernal Devices, I think, and though it certainly has its share of darkness, love triumphs - even if all of our beloved characters don't. Reeve reaches for profundity and catharsis in his conclusion and, I think, manages it.

Here I am, scrambling to catch up! It's amazing how quickly I'm reading these things. I suppose they're not exactly Stendhal.

#23


Henrietta's War by Joyce Dennys

This collection of Denny's lightly fictionalised columns about the home front in rural Devon during WWII will be enjoyable to fans of social history and light humour alike. I was struck by how many women seized on the war to take leadership roles outside their homes that they wouldn't be allowed in peacetime - some of it due to patriotism, of course, but it was also a once-in-a-lifetime chance. There are many jokes at their expense here, but I couldn't help but think how many of them went back to lives of quiet desperation in peacetime.

#24



Moon over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch: FEBRUARY SEQUEL FEATURE NUMBER TWO

Cons:

I still don't have a textured sense of the protagonist's personality. It's early days yet, but he's still a bit generic.
I was massively unconvinced by the 'romantic' plot. Like Susan in the first few books of the Dresden files, I couldn't bring myself to care much about whatsername.

Pros:
Still funny, still a great sense of place, and I like the way Aaronovitch is building up his world's history and the supporting characters. I also love the modernity and multiculturalism of his London (I hope we see more of PC "Muslim ninja") - though I feel a bit odd that I'm seeing it all through a white guy's depiction of a mixed-race character. And why does my Canadian edition show the hero in silhouette on the cover? I can buy a book with a black man on the cover, you know.

FEBRUARY SEQUEL FEATURE VERDICT: What? There's only one more book out? Get writing, Aaronovitch!

#25



Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey: FEBRUARY SEQUEL FEATURE NUMBER THREE

Mostly very enjoyable, though a notch less intense than number one. There were fewer weepy and sexy bits (that's just different, not better or worse), and I thought that several chapters probably could have been cut altogether - but I truly enjoyed it, and it made me want to reread the first one. Yes, Phédre is a little *too* special, but hey, like I say up at the top of the thread, man cannot live by Kafka alone. Carey's rich cultural and mythic portraits and the relationships between the characters make it worthwhile.

FEBRUARY SEQUEL FEATURE VERDICT: Okay, Carey, you've got me for the next book, but I'm not making any promises for the other two trilogies.

I likely won't get The Golem’s Eye, The Osiris Ritual, and The Wise Man’s Fear in time to finish within February, but I have them on order. I have The Bloody Red Baron right here, and though its execrable cover gives me pause, I suppose I'll start the thing.

#DNF



The Bloody Red Baron by Kim Newman: FEBRUARY SEQUEL FEATURE NUMBER FOUR

No. I've read the first few chapters, and I'm not doing this. It's not bad, exactly - it just reminds me that the first book was clever but unrewarding, and this is the same thing all over again. Newman gets so interested in alternate history that his characters are two-dimensional, and the exposition goes on for pages. Forget it.

FEBRUARY SEQUEL FEATURE VERDICT: Nuh-unh.

Bummer about the bad book. Hopefully you're next read is much, much better.

There's something magnificently freeing about cutting a book loose. I admit that the cover biased me before I picked it up, but I just wasn't reading it the way Newman wanted.

I'm not sure what's next - I see that the letter collection In Tearing Haste is at the library branch near my after-work errand, so maybe that'll be up first. Anything to keep me from Wolf Hall.

>23 Cynara: I kind of figured Graeme-Smith didn't really understand that P&P had humor to begin with. I think his book would have been a lot funnier if he had worked with Austen's humor instead of simply making fun of the book.

Yeah, I think that's a fair criticism.

...and now I've misplaced the blamed book in my apartment somewhere. I hope I don't have to buy the thing from the library and pay the restocking fee.

#26



In Tearing Haste: Letters Between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor

I picked this up because I'm a fan of Fermor's writing, particularly A Time of Gifts and A Time to Keep Silence which was based on the letters he wrote to "Debo".

I liked getting a picture of his life over the years, and it seems almost unbelievable to me that anyone lived that way - parties and country house stays and mountain climbing and writing and drinking and (possibly) womanizing and historicising and casually swimming the Hellespont at the age of seventy. I wonder, when reading Fermor, if it was his times or his personality that shaped how he lived the most - I mean, do people still live like this today, or was it just the postwar blush that made people feel they could do everything? Bon vivant, history buff, author, partier, traveller, and friend to the world.

Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire is a bit less interesting to me - hunter, fervent gardiner and agriculturalist, she likes a party with the best of them, and can often be found around Royals, but she's happiest with her gun, her seed catalogue, or a herd of goat fanciers. I don't know much about the Mitford sisters, so I'm probably missing much of interest.

Because both writers were still living at the time of publication (and Debo is still ticking along at Chatsworth at the age of 91, Fermor having died last year) anything too violently personal has been edited out, but a great deal of interest remains.

I am burning through Kushiel's Chosen. Yeah, okay, it's a great series. :-)

In Tearing Haste is a book I'm planning to read somewhere down the line. I'm hoping to get through The Sisters: the Saga of the Mitford Family before I read it. The Mitford sisters were a fascinating lot. I've read a fair bit about Jessica and heard her speak back in the 1980s. I've also read Nancy's The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate. There's so much published about these women, it's almost a cottage industry of its own....

I've been hearing things about the Mitfords around LT; I'm guessing that as people of that generation die of old age, more diaries and letters can be published. Debo's still going strong, though, and I'm sure she's sitting on anything uncomplimentary (as is her right, I suppose).

I'm doggedly continuing with my FEBRUARY SEQUEL FEATURE; I have two sequels on the go right now, and neither is lighting up my life. We'll see if they make it past the 20% point. Has anyone read The Golem's Eye? If I find Nathaniel boring, is there any point in continuing?

I've read The Golem's Eye. It was a while ago, though. If I remember correctly, Nathaniel is a little annoying in The Golem's Eye but a new character, Kitty, is introduced who is a lot more interesting and interacts with Bartimaeus as well. I believe the narrative bops between Nathaniel, Bartimaeus, and Kitty. If you have time, you should probably try reading it. Kitty perks up the narrative quite a bit.

I've had a few Kitty chapters, and am finding her kinda grim. She's certainly more relatable than Nathaniel, but I'd rather have more Bartimaeus. I'll keep going for now, and thanks for the response!

#27



Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey

Yay! This was a great ending to the series. I think Carey balanced her travelogue and descriptive tendencies well with a (fairly) cohesive plot and high stakes. Despite the dark subject matter, it was always compelling and rewarding reading.

Having peeked at reviews of the two following trilogies, I think I might choose to end my reading here. I would really like to own and reread the first volume in this trilogy, though - now that I have some idea of who all the characters are.

#28



The Osiris Ritual by George Mann: FEBRUARY SEQUEL FEATURE NUMBER FIVE

(MARCH SEQUEL FEATURE DOESN'T ALLITERATE; LEAVE ME ALONE)

Some spoilers follow.

Frankly, I was hoping for an improvement on the first volume, not this. Unfortunately, we don't get much development of Newbury's personality, the writing is still a bit awkward (I keep remembering I'm reading), and Hobbes doesn't do much except march in to the villain's lair unaccompanied, accuse him, get captured, be threatened in a stock villain scene, and then get rescued. Blah.

I'm also losing patience with the romantic angle. Newbury won't confess his feelings because (shatnertag) What! Can he Offer her! Besides! The uncertainty of being an Agent's! Wife! (/shatnertag) So, you know, he'd better continue his slide into opiate addiction. Yawn.

I would also have liked more development of all the occult stuff in the first volume. Does magic even work here? If so, what can Newbury do? Nothing very useful it seems; at this point I'm ready to chalk it up to his laudanum delusions.

FEBRUARY SEQUEL FEATURE VERDICT: I so want this series to succeed that I'm going to give it one more chance. Hey, there's only one more book out, so if it's anything less than solid, I'll just fail to put it on my mental series watch list.

#29



The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud: FEBRUARY SEQUEL FEATURE NUMBER SIX

Well, not that different from volume one; Nathaniel as a stuck-up young government functionary is, I'm sorry to say, even more annoying than Nathaniel as a hunted child, and Bartimeus is still a ton of fun. We have the dubious addition of Kitty's point of view; a grim young woman who suffers at a magician's hands and joins the resistance. I found her storyline unhappy and predictable, a bad combination. I will admit that golems are cool.

FEBRUARY SEQUEL FEATURE VERDICT: I hear the ending of vol. 3 is cool. Okay, Bartimeus, I love you enough to sit through more Nathaniel. I tell you, it's a close thing, because I almost put this one down.

RE: Carey books
I liked the second series. I think I even started with them not knowing about the earlier books. I think the first book in the second series is my favorite, but it has been so long I can't really remember anymore.
I did read the first book in the last series. It is not quite as good a the other two, but I still enjoyed it well enough. I will eventually read the last two.

>104 Cynara: You know, I don't remember Kitty being so grim, but I only vaguely remember the second book, and my impressions of the third book probably color my interpretation of her. I think she matures in the third book. I DO remember finding Nathaniel annoying though. The nice thing about the prequel The Ring of Solomon is that the annoying characters are generally the ones you're NOT supposed to like. :)

Well, Kitty's life is pretty rough. She doesn't have any friends after Jacob, her parents aren't up to much, and she doesn't seem to particularly enjoy being in the resistance. She also doesn't have much of a sense of humour, and while that's understandable under the circumstances, it doesn't make her point of view any more entertaining.

Additionally, I felt her storyline was a bit predictable; I had my doubts about certain parties from their first appearances, and I could see where it was all going to end up.

I am curious about The Ring of Solomon!

>105 jmaloney17: - thanks for the vote in favour of the next trilogy! I'll keep it in mind.

#30



Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente

This book is rich, delightful, and harrowing. The juxtaposition of rich fairy-tale imagery with the grinding miseries of 20th century Russia is compelling reading. It delights in fairy-tale rhythms: three sisters, three tasks, three friends, and so on. At times I found it disjointed, and not all the characters are developed in conventional ways, but I was deeply touched by it.

I am looking forward to tutoring Rosalita in Shakespeare's sonnets; if this sounds rad to you, our thread is here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/134269

#31



The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss: FINAL FEBRUARY SEQUEL FEATURE: NO. 7

Things that annoy me about this book:

1. Kvothe's continued arrogance.

2. The way you just *know* as soon as a secret martial art is introduced, that he'll end up learning it. Gary Sue. Also, he is now the awesomest in bed. "There's a look in a man's eyes when he knows how to satisfy a woman." HA. HA, I say to you. Pul-eeze.

3. The university and Deanna bits should have been condensed and tightened up.

4. The way Bast (and to a lesser extent, the book) acts as if running an inn and making pies are the most humiliating, debasing things *ever*. Hey, it's good honest work and no-one's chaining him there. All this sadly smiling head-shaking stuff Kvothe is doing just makes me want to rain on his pity party.

5. Well, not a whole lot happens with the plot.

6. I wish he could stop offending everyone within arm's reach.

7. Most of all, I hate that it's so well-written that despite all its faults, I am dying for the next (as-yet) unpublished book.

At least we met a few people who are just better than him at certain things. I have no idea how to rate this book. I'm getting angry at Kvothe just writing this, but the book is totally compelling, beautiful, and often funny.

FEBRUARY SEQUEL FEATURE VERDICT: Must read on. Can't help it! Where is the next bloody book.

ALSO: I am having the best time ever over at the Shakespeare's sonnets tutored read page.

#32



Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas

Oh, what fun! I put this on my library list because it was an award-winner, and I was hunting around for a book to leaven my current stack of gardening/history/epic fantasy books. It did not disappoint.

On page one, I almost lost hope. A stern, dark figure steps out of a gaming hell... and I think "oh lord, here's another one. His name will be Lord Steelthigh, he'll be the last of the noble Steelthigh name, a notorious love 'em and leave 'em rake. He'll save our heroine (who is obviously the lone female figure he's looking at), he'll probably kidnap her for some reason, then they'll have a Big Stupid Misunderstanding followed by a reconciliation. The end. How many of those have I read?"

Reading on, our hero gets jumped by ruffians, our heroine shoots one of them in the throat, and he reveals a thick cockney accent! I cannot tell you how much this excited me. Good-bye, Lord Steelthigh! Apparently (like Roarke) Craven is Up From the Gutter and now Richer Than God but unlike Roarke is haunted by the memory of all the dreadful things he did to claw his way to the top. He doesn't game in gambling hells! He owns one! Yes, our hero is in trade. How delicious.

Our heroine is a Literary Thrill-Seeker, a young country miss/authoress who prowls the slums of London for "research" for her seamy novels: sensible (except for the slum-prowling) but not a bluestocking, innocent but not an idiot, I like Sara, and she never let me down. Neither did Derek Craven, who, despite failing to revert to his gutter cockney nearly as often as I'd like (why establish that he slips into it when furious, etc., and then fail to carry that out?), doesn't kidnap, punch, condescend to, or otherwise mistreat Sara, while still managing to be a big Sexy Beast.

Kleypas didn't let me down either; no Big Stupid Misunderstanding, no too-stupid-to-live moments, just a fun plot, great characters, and a great romance.

Cover note: totally generic, and I don't think the title has anything to do with anything.

#33



Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara

This is a recommendation from a friend. It's good enough to go on with for now, but not amazing. The only thing that annoyed me was Sagara's tightfistedness with information; I felt like I didn't have a clear physical description of the fantasy races in the book, she keeps the Big Secret of her heroine's and hero's past secret way too long (my irritation was outstripping the suspense), and at times I felt like I didn't know what was going on because no-one had bothered to explain why they were dashing off to x location.

On the other hand, I like most of the supporting characters (particularly the other Hawks) very much, and I love having dragons as characters. The romantic angle I think she's going for didn't stir much interest in me, but we'll see what happens as the series progresses. The world is original, so it deserves a good chance.

#34



Mine Till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas

Charming, if not as excellent as Dreaming of You. I liked the heroine and her family! The hero wasn't quite as Byronical, and I didn't find him as interesting, but he's sensible and kind and a little roguish.

Big Dress Cover.

Oh I know, The Wise Man's Fear is SO angry-making, because of all the faults you mentioned and despite them, the book is so darn compelling that you can't help salivate for the next one!!! Arrrgh. I think the book was well summarized in this Penny Arcade comic: When Larry Met Mary. Lol.

I'd heard something about Cast in Shadow a while back and was interested enough to try and get it from my library (it wasn't available) but not enough to buy it.

Since you so kindly reminded me of it, I've requested it from my new library and I'll finally have the chance to read it. Thanks for the review!

>115 dk_phoenix:
Aaaaahaha! I read that when it was posted, and had no idea what they were talking about. Thank you so much for referring me back to that!

>116 Dejah_Thoris:
It's definitely worth a try! I have high standards about my genre fic (that's a nice way of saying I bitch endlessly), but I'm definitely interested in the series after two books.

She actually does give you most of the descriptive info you need on the species, but if you blink, you'll miss it. Expect human unless explicitly told otherwise. The not-quite-knowing-what-the-stakes-are is a continuing issue.

#35



Cast in Courtlight by Michelle Sagara

The story is developing well, though I'm still getting frustrated by being the last person to know why our heroine is rushing off to see someone or do something. Good character development!

#36



The Book of Drugs by Mike Doughty

I’m going to have difficulty reviewing Mike Doughty’s memoir The Book of Drugs from a properly judicial viewpoint.

I was a big fan of his old band, Soul Coughing. They were my favourite band until they broke up. In the following years, Doughty went singer-songwriter, and I gradually lost interest. Then, there’s the fact that Doughty pissed off a lot of his old fans off in various ways (for one, there was a rumor that he’d referred to his faithful message board fans as trolls under the bridge of his life).

That said, I’ve kept in the loop, and nothing here was a big surprise. He gives a short, harrowing account of his childhood and teen years, and proceeds to New York, where he formed a band. He admits that “I’m full bore, bat shit crazy with regards to Soul Coughing.” That part of the story is fascinating to a fan, and some of the stories are genuinely funny.

Then, just when I was beginning to wonder if it should have been called “The Book of Complaining About my Old Band”, we get to the addict story, the Book of Drugs promised by the title. The last third is largely about his post-addiction travels. While it’s moderately interesting, it is episodic and reads like a series of blog posts. They all kept me entertained or absorbed while he was telling them, but I'm not sure they added up to a great deal. I find his discussion of his recovery from drug and alcohol abuse more interesting; redemption stories always have some sort of shape.

When I say “reads like a series of blog posts” I suppose I means “sounds like”, because I listened to this on audiobook. I think Doughty’s reading gave emotional context for how to understand some of the scenes, but I found his performance a bit stylized; he bites off sentences as if he’s back doing poetry performance.

#37



Through the Children's Gate: a Home in New York by Adam Gopnik

I read and enjoyed Gopnik's charming Paris to the Moon several years ago, and this is more of the same; child-rearing, a great city, and philosophizing on both of the above. At times, the philosophizing gets a bit precious, but I'm willing to put up with it for the general quality of the reading and my inherited love for New York.

#38



I've Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad by Karolyn Smardz Frost

This is a fascinating account of two enslaved people's journey from Kentucky to Toronto - before there was much of an Underground Railroad. Frost emphasizes the resistance, bravery, and ingenuity of slaves and freedmen who risked everything - literally - to escape, and to help others escape. It's amazing that Frost was able to uncover as much detail as she did, but naturally some of the story and the emotions of her subjects have to be inferred.

I learned a great deal about the issue of slavery in the US and Canada, and some of the chapters dealing with the escape were absolutely riveting.

I've Got a Home in Glory Land looks great - I've added it to my TBR list. Thanks!

Of course, now I've "Do Lord" (or whatever the actual title is) running through my head. Apparently the best known version was by Johnny Cash, but I learned it a summer camp, back in the days before everyone got very careful about religious contents in camp songs.

The author spoke to a university class I was in once; she's the archaeologist who excavated the Blackburns' home in Toronto. She was fascinated by their story, and spent years tracking down every shred of information she could. Her passion for the subject comes across in the book.

#39



Cast in Secret by Michelle Sagara

Sagara has improved the opacity of the plot, and I felt like (most of the time) I knew who was doing what to whom and what the stakes were. Now all I can complain about is how every single character scolds our heroine 24/7.

A good read, and getting better. I'm enjoying the character development, though I'm annoyed that Tiamaris has remained fairly two-dimensional.

Would you recommend the "Cast in" series? I've seen it in a few places and was wondering if I should put it on my TBR One Day list. I like most fantasy unless it's too lyrical.

Hi! I'm adding I've got a home in glory land to my list. I'd never heard of it before. Sounds fascinating!

>125 Morphidae: Hi, Morph! Sagara is definitely not lyrical. For all it's set in a medieval-esque empire, the feeling is closer to urban fantasy than Tolkein. Yeah, I can recommend it! I might recommend the Green Rider series or Sabriel first (I can't recall if you've read either). Sabriel is higher fantasy, but I recall the characters being fairly matter-of-fact.

>126 tymfos: Book bullet! Yes, it was fascinating. I'm a Torontonian, too, so it's very interesting for me to see how it fits in with the history I've learned about my hometown. However, more of the book is focussed on the Blackburns' American life and escape.

>127 Cynara: The only Sabriel I've read is by Garth Nix not Sagara and I enjoyed it. I just finished the Riddlemaster series by McKillip and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Clarke and I'm all frou-frou'ed out. I need something straightforward.

Green Rider and Cast in etc. are both straightforward. :-)

#40



Kosher Chinese by Michael Levy

A funny and casual account of two years spent in the interior of China as a Peace Corp english teacher. While Levy's Jewishness is intermittantly a theme, his real interest is the changing cultural landscape of China, and how people live far from the powerhouses of the major cities. Recommended.

>130 Cynara: Oh good. Maybe I'll bump that up, too. Stasia gifted me a copy.

It might be just what you're looking for, after Strange/Norrell! I'm getting a bit fantasy-overloaded with Sagara right now, and unfortunately, most of my current library loans are also fantasy. I'll have to figure out what to read for a break.

Your book I've Got a Home in Glory Land is making me sing the old song - "Do, Lord, Oh, Do, Lord, Oh, Do Remember Me . . . "

Yes! That's the song I was referring to in post 122 - I'm glad I'm not the only one!

Yes - I'm not sure how many times I sang that song in church camps over the years. I wonder if they still sing it?

I don't know, but it's a great song. I actually remember quite a few vacation Bible School songs....

#41: Cast in Fury by Michelle Sagara
#43: Cast in Silence by Michelle Sagara
#45: Cast in Chaos by Michelle Sagara
#47: Cast in Moonlight by Michelle Sagara



I will cover these in a lump, as I'm getting behind, and I have more general remarks than specific ones.

By this point, Sagara has worked out the kinks in her storytelling, and if everything isn't always quite as lucid as I'd like, she's crafting satisfying, suspenseful stories. She did over-rely on the mystical/psychological quest/test plot element for a few books, but I did read these all in a rush, so the sense of sameness may have been more my fault than hers, and she did abandon it right around when I was noticing it.

Kaylin has distinguished herself from all the other buttkicking-with-a-softer-side urban fantasy heroines, and Sagara has some decidedly nonstandard relationships in here. The perennially understated Severn is becoming fascinating, if only because he hardly gets a paragraph of dialogue in each book. I like the setting more and more.

#42:


Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie by Lauren Redniss

This is a fascinating, beautiful book. It's not really a graphic novel, as I've sometimes heard it called - more of a picture book for adults. I learned a great deal about the Curies and I liked the semi-poetic excursions into the more recent history of radioactivity.

#44


B.P.R.D: Being Human by Mike Mignola & others

I approach BPRD and Hellboy comics with a little tentativeness these days - you never really know what you're going to find. Both my husband and I were pleased to find this a strong collection, with good backstories relating to the main BPRD cast, and a few Hellboy cameos. Mignola is credited or co-credited on the stories, so maybe that helped?

I still think it's a shame that Mignola moved on from this series so "quickly" (no, five trade paperbacks weren't enough for me), though of course I understand that no-one wants to do the same thing forever. I adored his art, particularly in the first couple of arcs.

#46:


The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller

The first few pages, describing how the author's discovery of Narnia, had me crying "sister!" to the book. I, too, wanted to go to Narnia, and I, too, was that kid in the corner of the playground reading The Dark is Rising and not really paying attention to anything else. I would also discover Jane Eyre in a couple of years and fiercely identify with her, well, forever.

Miller's extended essay is fascinating. She mulls over the roots of the stories in Lewis' life and interests, considers their religious influence (or lack therof) on herself and some of her friends, and confers with other author-citizens of Narnia (Neil Gaiman and Susanna Clarke of Strange/Norrell fame both appear).

We part company a bit when it comes to Tolkein; when I read the Lord of the Rings at around age eleven, I Was Changed, and felt I'd outgrown Narnia a little, though I've still returned to it over the years. Miller doesn't quite get the point of Tolkein. I understand why (it may be some flaw in myself that I don't give a toss for psychological realism and am still thrilled by his pseudo-heroic prose), but I don't entirely agree.

I agree with other reviewers that the last third of the book sometimes lags a little bit, but given that most of the information was new to me, I generally enjoyed it very much, and it ended in time.

However, Miller is unfailingly polite, and even our difference on such an essential question doesn't prevent me from wholeheartedly enjoying and recommending this book. It's the book discussion you wish you could have with your friends.

Hope you're doing well, Cynara! I enjoyed your comments about The Magician's Book. I've been thinking of reading it, but was afraid her approach might be a little, um, angry or disillusioned? I don't mind politely disagreeing with an author, however. I'll have to move it up on the TBR pile.

I might have to try the Sagara series after all. I've wondered about it for awhile, but I'm hesitant to try another series of this variety! I've had a few recent disappointments, but it sounds like this might be worth trying out.

>141 bell7:
I have been down with a sinus infection, but thanks to the wonders of modern antibiotics I'm feeling much better.
I wouldn't call Miller's approach angry or disillusioned at all; she certainly experienced those feelings once upon a time, but this book is about reengaging with Narnia, and trying to rediscover her original joy in the series.

>142 dk_phoenix:
It grew on me. I am veeeery critical of my genre fiction (I read so much of it, and I'm so happy when it's done well), so it took me a few books to get on board, but I'm really enjoying them.

#47 & 48



Cast in Moonlight and Cast in Ruin by Michelle Sagara

Sagara has firmly hit her stride with this series, and both of these are enjoyable tales. I like that with "Ruin" she's mostly taking a book to work through the implications of the crazy events of the last few books. "Moonlight" is the story of Kaylin's start with the Hawks. It raises a couple of questions (if they knew she had all this magical ability, why didn't someone scoop her up to train her?), but they didn't undermine my enjoyment of a solid novella.

#49



Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud

In many ways, this book delivers gloriously on the promise of the first two books. I often found them frustrating, but stuck with them because I felt that if Nathaniel ever got over himself, they could be wonderful.

I was very happy with this volume, from the first page and almost to the last. I do have a serious problem with the way Stroud handled the ending, which might keep me from suggesting this series - why thrash through two sporadically brilliant but occasionally annoying books to get to a wonderful book with a flawed ending? Aaaaarrrrgh.

Hey Cynara!

Per your recommendation, I've gotCast in Shadow from the library - I just need to find time to read it!

I'm glad you enjoyed Radioactive. Graphic novel isn't a great term for her work, but by definition apparently does include non fiction. I read that Redness herself prefers visual biography.

Happy reading!

#50: Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas



I lovedlovedloved Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas, so I have continued to seek out her books. In short, quite good, but not as good as the former book. The portrait of spousal abuse that opens the book was, so far as I could tell, spot-on, and her characters are good and largely believable characters. Good stuff, but I don't feel any need to own it or press it into peoples' hands.

#51



Inside the Victorian Home by Judith Flanders

I was put on to this book by a discussion in one of the history groups, where people suggested the best five books to approach a historical period. I added all the Victorian ones to my library list, because they all sounded fascinating.

Despite Flanders' total lack of interest in Victorian sex, this book *is* fascinating. It's organized as a room-by-room tour of a middle-class home. Occasionally this concept gets a bit stretched, as Flanders includes a few pages on something (corsetry; mourning dress) that doesn't seem, strictly speaking, to 'fit' in a room, but it's all so interesting I didn't care.

Did you know that when Victorians complained about the dirt and dust of travelling, they were actually contending with coin-sized flakes of soot flying through the air everywhere? That practically all food was adulterated with non-food substances? That food dyes were frequently actively poisonous? That, really, all but the upper, upper crust of ladies would have washed clothes, cooked food, and dusted knickknacks endlessly? That toilets painted with picturesque views of Buckingham Palace were available?

If you like this kind of thing (and god knows I do), I highly recommend this book. It's an endlessly intriguing view of a woman's and child's world in Victorian England.

I understand your frustration with the end of Ptolemy's Gate, though I guess it didn't bother me as much. You could still try the prequel The Ring of Solomon which doesn't have the annoying character and has a more satisfying ending (as far as I'm concerned). Or if you're tired of them, you should take a break. ;)

I just got frustrated, because I think Stroud is a great author - his Bartimaeus chapters are brilliant, and don't get me started on the footnotes. It just wasn't... quite... working! I may well check out the prequel!

#52:



Blackveil by Kristen Britain

I put off reading the most recent release in the solidly written Green Rider series because a) I heard it ended with a cliffhanger, and b) they come out several years apart, so I wanted to put this one off for a while.

As it is, it might have been better if I'd continued straight into Blackveil while the story was still fresh in my mind. While Britain does a good job of reintroducing the storylines, I wasn't as involved in them as I had been.

I hope the next book isn't too far away. When the series is done, I might reread it from the beginning.

#53:



Running the Books by Avi Steinberg

First impression: this is hilarious.
Second impression: is it appropriate to make a hilarious book about prison? I mean, some of these people have lived lives that are not at all funny. Is it OK for a kid from a privileged background to make jokes at the expense of people who have lived in poverty and been held back by racism? Also, some of these people have done shit that is not one iota funny.
Third impression: ok, he's definitely dealing with most of my concerns, while still keeping it entertaining. Good book.

#54:



Cairo by Willow Wilson

When I picked this up, I wasn't sure what it would be. I read a positive review, and that combined with the format (graphic novel) and subject matter (Cairo) was enough.

I know Cairo, a little. I've probably spent the equivalent of a few weeks there over the last thirteen years. I certainly don't know it as well as Willow Wilson, who's lived there. M. K. Perker, the artist, is Turkish, so he definitely has a better resume for authenticity than I do. But.

While the story is pretty good - it's kinda the Arab/Israeli conflict heavily filtered through Neil Gaiman - and has some halfway interesting characters, they never really rise above being types, and the story doesn't transcend its action movie meets Sandman kind of concept.

Also - while Perker's art is just fine, I'm not sure he's ever been to Cairo. I didn't get a strong sense of place from his streetscapes, his (and Wilson's) Egyptology is just plain wrong, and Egyptians haven't worn fezzes since the '50s. The cars don't look right either.

Mediocre. Sadly, It's also among the better GNs I've read lately.
{I've also posted this as a review.}

Cynara - wow, you're really knocking out the reviews!

The first thumbs up for your review of Cairo is from me.

I was doing lots of reading and not much writing while I was sick in April, so it's time to catch up before I forget the books! Thanks for reading.

The Victorian House looks like just my sort of book. One book bullet bitten!

I hope you enjoy it! I certainly did.

And that's why I enjoyed Running the Books as well!

A tempting review of Inside the Victorian Home, Cynara!

>158 dk_phoenix:
I may well have been put on to the book by your thread; I really enjoyed it! It had a bit of that A. J. Jacobs feel to it, or the kid who did the Unlikely Disciple book - I wonder if Steinberg took the prison librarian job because he wanted to write a book about it.

>159 Linda92007:
:-) Come on, you know you want to! I read it while sick as a dog, and was following my husband around the house, wheezing out paragraphs at him about books for Victorian girls, the four boiling periods laundry needed, and how long I would have to wear mourning dress if his (nonexistant in our case) first wife's mother had died.

#55:



New York to Dallas by J. D. Robb

Some genre fiction is like going to a great, consistent restaurant. When I go to my local Thai place and get the red curry, I know what it's going to be like, and I know it's going to be great. It isn't red curry one time and dishwater the next.

In some series, being on book 33 (thirty-three, for crying out loud) would mean that it had been sustained past the point of invention. Changing the naming convention of the series (did they run out of nouns and gerunds?) might also be a warning sign.

Blissfully, this entry in the "In Death" series is an order of Thai red curry; rich, subtle, fresh, and full of good stuff. I could have drunk it directly from the bowl.

Robb is writing her characters like they're still fun for her, and she's still finding fresh narrative twists. I did miss some of the supporting cast, but I know I'll just enjoy their presence more in the next book. I did find the villain undistinguished. We've been over this terrain quite a few times before, both in the nature of the crimes and Eve's personal reaction, but it was all so tasty I didn't really care.

#56



A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain

I'm accidentally reading Bourdain's books in chronological order, it seems; this is the slightly more nuanced follow-up to his macho Kitchen Confidential. It's hilarious, interesting, opinionated, and makes me want to see the TV series made about the same trips.

#57



Letters to Sherlock Holmes, various authors

Followers of my threads this year and last will know that I am an avid Sherlock Holmes fan. Pity that this book turned out to be rather dull. It turns out that the world has only five or six things to say to Mr. Holmes, but the book continues long after they and their permutations have been exhausted.

I would be interested to read a more modern collection; there have been so many wonderful interpretations recently that there might be some new angles. I wonder if the Abbey building still employs a secretary for Mr. Holmes....

#58



On the Edge by Ilona Andrews

I think this was recommended in my SantaThing thread from last year. It was a hit! It's solid fantasy-romance, with an urban fantasy feel, though the setting isn't all that urban. I'm definitely going to check out the others in this series.

>161 Cynara:

Yep, I still read the J.D. Robb / Eve Dallas books, too. I honestly don't know how I'm still reading a series with that many books or how she keeps us interested, but I generally read them as soon as the come out. Popcorn for the mind.

>164 Cynara:

I'll pretty much read anything Ilona Andrews writes - and then frequently read them again. Have you read their Kate Daniels books?

I have a great deal of respect for Robb/Roberts - lots of people can write a decent genre novel (not that I'm one, or that I'm implying it's easy), but very few people can sustain something so good for so long.

This is my first Andrews novel. I'm glad to hear that there are more good ones out there!

I'm another Robb lover. I'm only on the 9th though. I love the characters. The mysteries vary from average to good.

I've read the entire Andrews Kate Daniels series and loved it. I'll have to try out On the Edge.

I find that the Robb books get better, generally speaking. I could take or leave the first one, but after I'd read more I was hooked.

#59



The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien

What can I say about this book? I read it first when I was twelve. Most recently, I read it aloud with my husband. I've read it many, many times in between (yearly for quite a while), but I hadn't picked it up recently, so it was lovely to return to it with fairly fresh eyes.

I think I appreciated the ending most of all, this time. I was able to see the symmetry of Tolkein's structure - how we walk deeper and deeper into the wide world of Middle Earth, almost like a great ocean, meeting peoples and races. The story becomes higher and more heroic, reaching its highest rhetorical point in the battle of the Pellenor and the destruction of the ring. Then, it gently shelves up, becoming more homely, sunlit, and closer to the surface as we leave the lands of the Big People and say goodbye to the nobility we've met along the way, until we're left back where we started, in the Shire.

*sniffs* Eloquent, Cynara - you've captured the spirit of the series, I think. Sigh - I love LOTR. Even though I've only watched the movies. I seriously have to read them!

Thank you, Eris! I might try to mix my metaphors less next time.

Ah, you totally do have to read them. It's slow in parts (and I say this as someone who loves the slow parts and will defend them on various bases I won't bore you with), but it's worth it in the end.

#60



Loyalty in Death by J. D. Robb

I found this one a little less gripping than the first time I read it (possibly because I started reading it under extremely adverse conditions), but I can forgive it anything for the advancement of Peabody's storyline.

>172 Cynara: Them being caught in clinches was pretty amusing.

Ha, yes it was. I love Feeney. And Eve's total denial.

It's been a long time since I've read LOTR. I found it very difficult reading when I was a teenager (it was a little too British and a little to heavy for me), but I know I'd love it now. I keep telling myself to find the time to do it!

It takes a certain turn of mind, I think. I first read the series when I was twelve, years long before Peter Jackson started to film. I sat on our front porch in steaming August weather, steadily reading through the books. Then I turned to the front page and read them over again.

That sounds a bit snobby, actually - what I meant to say was that, to do that as a twelve-year-old, there has to be something in your emotional makeup that needs the book, and a childhood reading Victorian stuff doesn't hurt.

I felt the same way with The Complete Sherlock Holmes - that was exactly the book that my twelvish self needed. I tried to read The Hobbit when I was that age, and I was bored with it, but now that I'm older, I absolutely ate that book up.

Speaking of LOTR, I really, really, really need to finish The Fellowship of the Ring, because that book has been languishing at the bottom of my Currently Reading list for too long!

Yes, Mr. Holmes is one of those right-moment discoveries too.

Don't tell me - you're stuck somewhere between the Barrowdowns and Bree. Or is it between Bree and Rivendell?

Erm... *blushes* Actually I left off right before Frodo and Co. leave for the quest. It's not that I was bored or anything, it's just I am so easily distracted! Especially since I go to the library every week and I have my schoolwork. I do want to finish it, though, I do!

Hey, I'm mostly a hedonistic reader - I read what I want, when I want. If you never want to finish LoTR, it's okay with me.

#61:



The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

I've reviewed this so often, I won't add much. I read this with my husband, and it's a great book for reading aloud. All hail Russell!

#62



Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi

This is an exceptionally beautifully designed book. I'm inserting the cover image at a larger size than usual, just so you can see a bit of the detail on the cover. The design inside is just as beautiful, with chapter-heading splash illustration pages in smoky indigo and ravishing text ornaments. This is how you do it.

For the story itself, I think I'd have to give three and a half stars. I liked the mythological underpinning, I loved our no-nonsense and competent heroine, and the writing is lovely, if a bit stilted in parts (possibly from the translation). Perhaps it was the shorter, simpler YA format, but I never felt like the characters were fully rounded out, and I never got to see our heroine do as much as I'd like. I suppose that's silly, because she does quite a bit, but I was hoping for something more interesting and revealing of her personality. I could have spent more time in her POV and less in the young prince's. I found her soi-disant love interest a bit boring and awkward. I think she should stay friends with that one.

I'm not sure I'll continue with the series, despite the great premise.

(Gleeful chortles). My latest book purchase has arrived; six books that will let me continue my reread of the In Death series. Great comfort reading! I'm so glad they're here.

Yay! I'm glad you have happy books to read. :D

Thanks, dahling. Readers like you give English teachers like me hope.

Yours Ever: People and their Letters by Thomas Mallon is a lovely book, a charming book, a fascinating book - but it wasn't the book I thought I was getting. I was expecting an anthology of letters, and was totally thrown off by the format. I may borrow this again some time and read it properly (instead of skimming it as I did), and his previous book on diaries.

#63



The Victorians: Britain Through the Paintings of the Age by Jeremy Paxman

This book is part of my Victorian series. It wasn't as big a hit as Inside the Victorian Home, which surprised me. It's a book that's at least half pictures, and explains some of those (to me) enigmatic story paintings I find so intriguing. However, it was combined with too much information I knew from other places (industrial, pollution, miserable lot of the poor, chimney sweeps, snore... snore...). I finished it, but it did feel like a bit of a slog at times. I also wish I hadn't had to do so much flipping the page to compare the painting to the text written about it.

#64


Witness in Death by J. D. Robb

The theatrical background provides an interesting change of pace for the series - not grungy criminals or sanitized high-rises, but dressing rooms, ambitious ingenues, and people who will fight to give you a twenty-minute witness statement starring themselves.

Robb also cunningly seeds some worldbuilding that will come to fruition in a later book.

#65


Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman

Perhaps not as coruscatingly funny as the first time I read it, but still damn funny, and just as humane. I love this book, though I think Pratchett should have toned it down a notch at the end.

#66


Letters to Kurt by Eric Erlandson

(Review written for Early Reviewers)

When I signed up for an ARC of Letters to Kurt, I was ready for it to be one of several things, or maybe a mixture of all three:

1) A meditation on friendship, celebrity, and death, told in the format of letters to the dead (an ancient form),
2) A greasy celebrity tell-all, or
3) A hagiography.

Perhaps the publisher description, "a poetic elegy for Kurt Cobain," and later, "prose poems," should have tipped me off that this was a book of nearly incomprehensible beat poetry. Maybe it's my fault. I never liked Kerouac.

I did get through the whole thing, though I admit I skimmed whenever the sentences degenerated into trying-for-clever alliterative wordplay. There were some interesting bits about Kurt and California, and some good images (I liked Erlandson's hate/love relationship with his cats), but on the whole, I would recommend this only for people able and willing to figure out all the insider's asides and lyrics references.

#67



Judgment in Death by J. D. Robb

This is a good entry in the series - interesting and a bit novel, if not the most satisfying (to my mind). I think this is mostly because, even though Eve forgives Roarke some things, I don't think I entirely forgive him by the end of the book.

>190 Cynara: So what would you have toned down? The Tibetan monks?

Well, one or two descriptions of the Tibetans do creep me out, but I was thinking about the isn't-boyhood-awesome stuff; they lay it on very thick in the last few pages, with the apple pie, etc., and it just goes too far for me.

#68:

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Good stuff, if not terribly distinguishable from some of the other urban fantasy stuff I've been reading lately. Still, I have a good feeling about this series and plan to pursue it.
Amusing note: there's a brief attempt to create some suspense re. the animal form of the top were-guy. He must be a cat. What kind of cat? Probably a big cat. I kept wanting to yell "look at the cover!"

#69:

Mozart and the Whale by Jerry Newport, Mary Newport, Johnny Dodd

This was the first book about Asperger's that made me feel a bit uncomfortable, a bit over-shared-with. I'm not sure why that is. I know about Temple Grandin's feelings about hugs, in detail. I know about Daniel Tammet's relationship. I know how John Elder Robison wears his underwear, for crying out loud. Still, reading the details of Jerry's and Mary's difficult lives made me unhappy, and not entirely sure every little detail should have gone in here. Mary's mental health issues and Jerry's filthy hoarders-style apartment might not have bothered me in another book, but they did here. I am very glad they've found a way to live together and be happy.
It appears finally to have been made into a movie, which looks significantly cuter than this book.

Just catching up on a your thread and want to suggest you look at Jonathan Stroud's Heroes of the Valley, I loved the main character in this one. I loved Philip Reeve's Hungry Cities quartet and Stroud's Bartimaeus books but still haven't read the prequels.
Also I felt similarly frustrated with Moribito Bk 1 but found that the second book which concentrates on Moribito herself much more satisfying.
I'm meant to be rereading Harry Potter this year (currently 3 books in but stalling), and reading your reviews for LoR makes me nostalgic for that world too.

Hi, Kerry! Thanks for dropping by. I'll definitely look at Heroes of the Valley, because I'm sure Stroud could write a book I loved. That's good to know about the next Moribito book, too.

And then I read a bunch of In Death books!
#70 through 73

Betrayal in Death, Interlude in Death, Seduction in Death and Reunion in Death by J. D. Robb



I'm going to generalize terribly and say that this stretch of the series is strong - if my least favourite In Death books are ones and my favourites are fives, these are all fours or strong three point fives. I love the Peabody/McNabb plot. Great reads!

#74



Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell

Mwah. George, who knew?

I read 1984 in a fit of self-conscious literariness in my early teens (or earlier? I was a weird kid), and I recall doing Animal Farm in grade six. Neither did anything to dispel my image of Orwell as an eat-your-wheaties kind of author, whose considerable imagination and craft ended up stagnating in chapters which, although they put across his ideological point brilliantly, were alternately stultifying and agonizing. They're works of tremendous imagination and indignation, or at least 1984 is, but I don't feel any desire to reread it right now.

I first heard of this book through Nick O'Teen's underground comic "Down and Out in Subway and Tacotime," which detailed the hilarity, humiliation, and brutal grossness of fast food work.

Down and Out in Paris and London is as nimble and varied as 1984 is brutal and grinding. It is about poverty: specifically, poverty in two great European cities in the late 1920s. Orwell did not publish it as autobiography, and reserved the license to abridge, combine, tell others' experiences as his own, etc., but did maintain that he had fabricated nothing, and he indicated to friends that many of the chapters were directly drawn from his own life.

It is not about student poverty, which involves booze and cafes. It is about going hungry and living in bug-infested rooms and having no privacy. You might be thinking that this makes for grim reading, and at times that's true - but Orwell's fascination with seeing the underside of society is infectious, and there is also humanity and empathy to be found in the book. Highly recommended.

#DNF

Devices and Desires by K. J. Parker

My search for the ideal Steampunk novel goes on. This came highly recommended, and I can see many of its virtues - solid setting, intriguing and imaginative use of steampunk elements in a feudal society - but it started too slowly for me, and I couldn't quite get into any of the characters, so when it came due at the library I decided I could return it. Pity! Maybe some other time.

And on that ignominious note, I think I'll start a new thread shortly....