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1jjmcgaffey
Starting very late...I actually got lured over to 75 Books Challenge 2011, Ronincats' thread(s), from a bug report about errors in thread continuation. But I had so much fun reading her threads that I have to do it myself.
75 books is not an effort - I haven't counted how many I've read so far this year yet, but it's probably 25 or more. But the group sounds like a lot of fun, and it would be nice to have a place to put interesting-stuff-that's-happened. I'm also going to copy Roni and (more explicitly) challenge myself to read more books off my shelves (which are actually boxes - all (well, most of) my unread and "I don't know if I want to keep this" books have been shoveled into boxes and will be cataloged and labeled thus so I can _find_ one when I want to). The object is to reduce the number of books in my house!
I'll come back to this thread in a little while with a list of books read this year and possibly reviews, though I may just point to my in-catalog reviews. I did the 101 Books challenge in 2007(8?), and it got me reviewing my books - now I (pretty much) review (and rate) as I read.
75 books is not an effort - I haven't counted how many I've read so far this year yet, but it's probably 25 or more. But the group sounds like a lot of fun, and it would be nice to have a place to put interesting-stuff-that's-happened. I'm also going to copy Roni and (more explicitly) challenge myself to read more books off my shelves (which are actually boxes - all (well, most of) my unread and "I don't know if I want to keep this" books have been shoveled into boxes and will be cataloged and labeled thus so I can _find_ one when I want to). The object is to reduce the number of books in my house!
I'll come back to this thread in a little while with a list of books read this year and possibly reviews, though I may just point to my in-catalog reviews. I did the 101 Books challenge in 2007(8?), and it got me reviewing my books - now I (pretty much) review (and rate) as I read.
3ronincats
Welcome, Jennifer! There is actually a Books Off the Shelf Challenge within the 75ers as well, although I just try to keep track in my monthly summaries. Glad I could lure you in, er, facilitate your..., um, glad you could join us!
4jjmcgaffey
Thanks for the welcome!
So, list of books: I've read either 28 or 25 books so far this year, depending on how I count the omnibuses. But as I reviewed them individually, I think I'll count the separate books.
# is a reread
* is a book off the shelf (first read of a book I already had)
$ is a book for review - ER or similar
1. Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale - review Liked but didn't love - mostly because of Miri's poor self-esteem and the carefully fostered competition setup at the school. It ended well, though. Library book.
2. A Cold Creek Secret$, by RaeAnne Thayne - review. The beginning felt rather rote, but the characters fleshed out by the end. Harlequin We Hear You survey site gift.
3. Complete Little Orphan Annie Vol 2#, by Harold Gray - review. Five stories - five different situations for Annie; none outstanding, but all enjoyable.
4. Complete Little Orphan Annie Vol 3#, by Harold Gray - review. Good stories. This book has Annie marooned on a desert island, which is fun, and Warbucks down-and-out and then blind, then Flophouse Bill and Jake.
5. Complete Little Orphan Annie Vol 4#, by Harold Gray - review. Trixie, then Cosmic City with the Futiles and the iron dog. The first is annoying,the second an old favorite.
6. Complete Little Orphan Annie Vol 5#, by Harold Gray - review. Annoying. Annie being extremely stupid, with "Uncle" Dan the fiddler; then a good story, with Annie's "parents" showing up and Annie dealing with greedy politicians and greedier mobsters. Then Annie and Daddy on the tramp, but the book goes on just a little too long - stops in the middle of events (not a cliffhanger, just - awkward).
7. Mission of Honor, by David Weber - review. The story continues. The last few books, in all three series, have gotten the situation very tangled - now some of the tangles are coming untangled. It doesn't quite end in a cliffhanger, but it does end before we see some major events that have been coming to a climax for quite a while.
8. Biggles Flies West, by W. E. Johns - review. A fun little story, with Biggles being very Biggles. It reads a bit like Missie Lee - pirate wish-fulfillment. And Biggles and his pals are completely divorced from their original roots, as pilots in WWI.
9. Complete Little Orphan Annie Vol 6*, by Harold Gray - review. Two excellent stories, one OK. Eli Eon is a little annoying - both the character and the story as a whole. Too convenient. But I like Annie in Hollywood, it's neat (still very convenient, with Pee Wee showing up!). And the last story, which was new to me, is great - I love Jack Boot and Fred Free. Nicely handled. I somehow didn't get around to reading this when I bought it - probably because I knew the first two stories quite well already.
10. Lythande*, by Marion Zimmer Bradley - review. Eh. Several of the individual stories are OK, but as a whole they're rather repetitive. Lythande is made to regret her choice, teaches the one who made her regret it a lesson, and goes on. Discard.
11. Complete Little Orphan Annie Vol 7, by Harold Gray - review. Broad assortment. Selling flowers with old Ginger - a nasty series of events with mobsters and a couple deaths. Back with Daddy and ten million in jewels, as well as the Asp. Mr. Am is introduced and acts as deus ex machina a couple of times. Annie "adopted" again, again by crooks, and she and her friends completely turn the tables on the bad guys. Then my favorite story so far, Annie taking care of a woman and her baby; with luck, stubbornness, and doughnuts, Annie makes friends with some very tough guys (particularly Jack and Shanghai Peg) which is just what she and the others need to keep safe. The book ends in a cliffhanger, though - I really want to know the end of the story!
12. Joanna#, by Roberta Gellis - review. A historical romance with the emphasis on the history - and covering an era I'm not very familiar with, which makes it more interesting. Good story.
13. Gilliane, by Roberta Gellis - review. Good history (the end of John's reign), very good romance. Two of the three tropes are ones I usually dislike, but somehow Gellis pulled it off this time.
14. Rhiannon*, by Roberta Gellis - review. I've had this a while and not read it, because I didn't have Gilliane. Unfortunately, it's not nearly as good as Gilliane. The annoying tropes didn't work for me, the history was somewhat less interesting (Henry III), and I never really connected with the characters.
15. Sybelle*, by Roberta Gellis - review. Eh. Better than Rhiannon, not nearly as good as the first books in the series. Part of the problem is that Sybelle has too many protectors - the outcome of her romance is never really in doubt. The only obstacles are ones manufactured from within (both of them). Walter is occasionally amusing, as a "normal" male of the time dealing for the first time with a Roselynde woman - on the other hand, he's supposed to have known her for years (mentioned in the previous book), so the way it's a new concept to him, for instance, that a woman can keep up with him in travel rings a trifle false.
16. Fairy Dust and the Quest For the Egg*, by Gail Carson Levine - review. Cute book, but not wonderful. It's an interesting mashup of Disney and the original Peter Pan, in language and situations. A highly contrived quest (actually, it felt like a video game - one of the poorly done ones, where you have to do/say/use just the right thing to get to the next step). The illustrations are gorgeous, though. Discard.
17. Her Master and Commander*, by Karen Hawkins - review. Eh. Nicely written and interesting characters, but a highly implausible setup and characters acting totally illogically. I may read the next to see if it improves any. Discard.
18. Live Bait, by Peter O'Donnell - review. Three stories: Samantha and the Cherub - love it, love Sam. Milord - seriously nasty setup, and the end, while appropriate, is also nasty. Live Bait - harsh kidnapping/revenge story. Willie's put under serious stress in all three stories.
19. Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love$*, by Myron Uhlberg - review. Very interesting story about early Deaf culture in the US and specifically in New York, intermingled with and obscured by a whiny memoir about how put-upon Myron was as a boy having to translate between his parents and the hearing world. Eh. Discard.
20. Winds of Fate#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Approximately my dozenth re-read. Elspeth's story, and Darkwind's; from the realization that Valdemar is no longer completely safe from magic, through a quest climaxed by an attack by an evil mage, to Darkwind agreeing to teach Elspeth magic. Lots of loose ends, but no cliff-hanger.
21. The Maker of Universes*, by Philip Jose Farmer - review. Read this and the next in an omnibus, that I picked up at a library sale recently. Technically a re-read, but I haven't read it in probably 20 years. Fun pulp - not particularly well-written (the adventures run on rails, the twists are way too visibly hidden), but a fascinating universe. I've remembered the World of Tiers for years. Not sure if I'm going to keep it.
22. The Gates of Creation*, by Philip Jose Farmer - review. Not terrible, not as memorable as The Maker of Universes, very pulpy with rather cardboard characters.
23. A Private Cosmos*, by Philip Jose Farmer - review. These three books are in the second volume of the omnibus. They're really one connected story, so I'm glad they're all together. Again, very pulpy, and rather Mary Sue. Kickaha is too good to believe - he pulls way too many rabbits out of hats. Getting less interested. This one I think I will get rid of. Discard.
24. Behind the Walls of Terra*, by Philip Jose Farmer - review. Yawn. Too pulpy - despite ceaseless action, it lost my interest pretty early on. A few amusing bits with Kickaha encountering the 1960s US. Discard.
25. The Lavalite World*, by Philip Jose Farmer - review. I remembered, at least vaguely, the setting here - the Lavalite world itself - but it's not worth keeping. Aside from pulpiness and cardboard characters, Kickaha's backstory (which he has been declaring, firmly, for all four previous books) suddenly changes in here. Snap goes my suspension of disbelief.... Discard.
26. Dead Matter, by M. K. Wren - review. Borrowed from my parents. I usually don't like this sort of mystery - it's a little too hard-boiled for me (it's sort of a cross between hard-boiled and cozy), with too many unpleasant characters. However, this one somehow managed to keep my interest. I don't think I'll want to reread this story, but I'll seek out the others in the series.
27. Muse#, by Lazette Gifford - review. At least my fourth or fifth rereading. It's an odd story - a cross between a romance and a mystery, with a lot of humor mixed in. It sneaks out of my back-brain and insists on being read again... Great setting, situation, mystery, and characters - in all senses of the word. I copyedit for the author, now, but I didn't when I got this book and read it the first time.
28. Winds of Change#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. I haven't put my review up yet - do it later. Again, probably my dozenth rereading. Most of the book is dealing with relationships - romantic, fraternal, paternal, friendship - between various characters. The adventure, with an active enemy, doesn't start up again until about the last quarter. And then he's dealt with, once and for... all?
Currently reading
Winds of Fury, by Mercedes Lackey
Geology of the Sierra Nevada, by Mary Hill
ETA - put in the review link for Winds of Change. Future books in future posts - this one is too long as it is.
So, list of books: I've read either 28 or 25 books so far this year, depending on how I count the omnibuses. But as I reviewed them individually, I think I'll count the separate books.
# is a reread
* is a book off the shelf (first read of a book I already had)
$ is a book for review - ER or similar
1. Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale - review Liked but didn't love - mostly because of Miri's poor self-esteem and the carefully fostered competition setup at the school. It ended well, though. Library book.
2. A Cold Creek Secret$, by RaeAnne Thayne - review. The beginning felt rather rote, but the characters fleshed out by the end. Harlequin We Hear You survey site gift.
3. Complete Little Orphan Annie Vol 2#, by Harold Gray - review. Five stories - five different situations for Annie; none outstanding, but all enjoyable.
4. Complete Little Orphan Annie Vol 3#, by Harold Gray - review. Good stories. This book has Annie marooned on a desert island, which is fun, and Warbucks down-and-out and then blind, then Flophouse Bill and Jake.
5. Complete Little Orphan Annie Vol 4#, by Harold Gray - review. Trixie, then Cosmic City with the Futiles and the iron dog. The first is annoying,the second an old favorite.
6. Complete Little Orphan Annie Vol 5#, by Harold Gray - review. Annoying. Annie being extremely stupid, with "Uncle" Dan the fiddler; then a good story, with Annie's "parents" showing up and Annie dealing with greedy politicians and greedier mobsters. Then Annie and Daddy on the tramp, but the book goes on just a little too long - stops in the middle of events (not a cliffhanger, just - awkward).
7. Mission of Honor, by David Weber - review. The story continues. The last few books, in all three series, have gotten the situation very tangled - now some of the tangles are coming untangled. It doesn't quite end in a cliffhanger, but it does end before we see some major events that have been coming to a climax for quite a while.
8. Biggles Flies West, by W. E. Johns - review. A fun little story, with Biggles being very Biggles. It reads a bit like Missie Lee - pirate wish-fulfillment. And Biggles and his pals are completely divorced from their original roots, as pilots in WWI.
9. Complete Little Orphan Annie Vol 6*, by Harold Gray - review. Two excellent stories, one OK. Eli Eon is a little annoying - both the character and the story as a whole. Too convenient. But I like Annie in Hollywood, it's neat (still very convenient, with Pee Wee showing up!). And the last story, which was new to me, is great - I love Jack Boot and Fred Free. Nicely handled. I somehow didn't get around to reading this when I bought it - probably because I knew the first two stories quite well already.
10. Lythande*, by Marion Zimmer Bradley - review. Eh. Several of the individual stories are OK, but as a whole they're rather repetitive. Lythande is made to regret her choice, teaches the one who made her regret it a lesson, and goes on. Discard.
11. Complete Little Orphan Annie Vol 7, by Harold Gray - review. Broad assortment. Selling flowers with old Ginger - a nasty series of events with mobsters and a couple deaths. Back with Daddy and ten million in jewels, as well as the Asp. Mr. Am is introduced and acts as deus ex machina a couple of times. Annie "adopted" again, again by crooks, and she and her friends completely turn the tables on the bad guys. Then my favorite story so far, Annie taking care of a woman and her baby; with luck, stubbornness, and doughnuts, Annie makes friends with some very tough guys (particularly Jack and Shanghai Peg) which is just what she and the others need to keep safe. The book ends in a cliffhanger, though - I really want to know the end of the story!
12. Joanna#, by Roberta Gellis - review. A historical romance with the emphasis on the history - and covering an era I'm not very familiar with, which makes it more interesting. Good story.
13. Gilliane, by Roberta Gellis - review. Good history (the end of John's reign), very good romance. Two of the three tropes are ones I usually dislike, but somehow Gellis pulled it off this time.
14. Rhiannon*, by Roberta Gellis - review. I've had this a while and not read it, because I didn't have Gilliane. Unfortunately, it's not nearly as good as Gilliane. The annoying tropes didn't work for me, the history was somewhat less interesting (Henry III), and I never really connected with the characters.
15. Sybelle*, by Roberta Gellis - review. Eh. Better than Rhiannon, not nearly as good as the first books in the series. Part of the problem is that Sybelle has too many protectors - the outcome of her romance is never really in doubt. The only obstacles are ones manufactured from within (both of them). Walter is occasionally amusing, as a "normal" male of the time dealing for the first time with a Roselynde woman - on the other hand, he's supposed to have known her for years (mentioned in the previous book), so the way it's a new concept to him, for instance, that a woman can keep up with him in travel rings a trifle false.
16. Fairy Dust and the Quest For the Egg*, by Gail Carson Levine - review. Cute book, but not wonderful. It's an interesting mashup of Disney and the original Peter Pan, in language and situations. A highly contrived quest (actually, it felt like a video game - one of the poorly done ones, where you have to do/say/use just the right thing to get to the next step). The illustrations are gorgeous, though. Discard.
17. Her Master and Commander*, by Karen Hawkins - review. Eh. Nicely written and interesting characters, but a highly implausible setup and characters acting totally illogically. I may read the next to see if it improves any. Discard.
18. Live Bait, by Peter O'Donnell - review. Three stories: Samantha and the Cherub - love it, love Sam. Milord - seriously nasty setup, and the end, while appropriate, is also nasty. Live Bait - harsh kidnapping/revenge story. Willie's put under serious stress in all three stories.
19. Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love$*, by Myron Uhlberg - review. Very interesting story about early Deaf culture in the US and specifically in New York, intermingled with and obscured by a whiny memoir about how put-upon Myron was as a boy having to translate between his parents and the hearing world. Eh. Discard.
20. Winds of Fate#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Approximately my dozenth re-read. Elspeth's story, and Darkwind's; from the realization that Valdemar is no longer completely safe from magic, through a quest climaxed by an attack by an evil mage, to Darkwind agreeing to teach Elspeth magic. Lots of loose ends, but no cliff-hanger.
21. The Maker of Universes*, by Philip Jose Farmer - review. Read this and the next in an omnibus, that I picked up at a library sale recently. Technically a re-read, but I haven't read it in probably 20 years. Fun pulp - not particularly well-written (the adventures run on rails, the twists are way too visibly hidden), but a fascinating universe. I've remembered the World of Tiers for years. Not sure if I'm going to keep it.
22. The Gates of Creation*, by Philip Jose Farmer - review. Not terrible, not as memorable as The Maker of Universes, very pulpy with rather cardboard characters.
23. A Private Cosmos*, by Philip Jose Farmer - review. These three books are in the second volume of the omnibus. They're really one connected story, so I'm glad they're all together. Again, very pulpy, and rather Mary Sue. Kickaha is too good to believe - he pulls way too many rabbits out of hats. Getting less interested. This one I think I will get rid of. Discard.
24. Behind the Walls of Terra*, by Philip Jose Farmer - review. Yawn. Too pulpy - despite ceaseless action, it lost my interest pretty early on. A few amusing bits with Kickaha encountering the 1960s US. Discard.
25. The Lavalite World*, by Philip Jose Farmer - review. I remembered, at least vaguely, the setting here - the Lavalite world itself - but it's not worth keeping. Aside from pulpiness and cardboard characters, Kickaha's backstory (which he has been declaring, firmly, for all four previous books) suddenly changes in here. Snap goes my suspension of disbelief.... Discard.
26. Dead Matter, by M. K. Wren - review. Borrowed from my parents. I usually don't like this sort of mystery - it's a little too hard-boiled for me (it's sort of a cross between hard-boiled and cozy), with too many unpleasant characters. However, this one somehow managed to keep my interest. I don't think I'll want to reread this story, but I'll seek out the others in the series.
27. Muse#, by Lazette Gifford - review. At least my fourth or fifth rereading. It's an odd story - a cross between a romance and a mystery, with a lot of humor mixed in. It sneaks out of my back-brain and insists on being read again... Great setting, situation, mystery, and characters - in all senses of the word. I copyedit for the author, now, but I didn't when I got this book and read it the first time.
28. Winds of Change#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. I haven't put my review up yet - do it later. Again, probably my dozenth rereading. Most of the book is dealing with relationships - romantic, fraternal, paternal, friendship - between various characters. The adventure, with an active enemy, doesn't start up again until about the last quarter. And then he's dealt with, once and for... all?
Currently reading
Winds of Fury, by Mercedes Lackey
Geology of the Sierra Nevada, by Mary Hill
ETA - put in the review link for Winds of Change. Future books in future posts - this one is too long as it is.
5jjmcgaffey
Books Off the Shelf
(I need to check what the rules are supposed to be. But this is how I'm doing it.)
Books that I've had for a while but not read before; decide keep or discard.
Complete Little Orphan Annie Vol 6 - keep
Lythande - discard
Rhiannon - ?discard? not sure yet
Sybelle - ?discard? maybe
Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg - discard
Her Master and Commander - discard
Hands of My Father - discard
World of Tiers Vol I - keep, for now
World of Tiers Vol II - discard
9 books read, 5 discarded. Good start!
(I need to check what the rules are supposed to be. But this is how I'm doing it.)
Books that I've had for a while but not read before; decide keep or discard.
Complete Little Orphan Annie Vol 6 - keep
Lythande - discard
Rhiannon - ?discard? not sure yet
Sybelle - ?discard? maybe
Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg - discard
Her Master and Commander - discard
Hands of My Father - discard
World of Tiers Vol I - keep, for now
World of Tiers Vol II - discard
9 books read, 5 discarded. Good start!
6jjmcgaffey
Wow, that was a lot of work. A lot of failed touchstones, with some...interesting...effects (I fixed them all, forced or links). Let's see if it does it in this message, too.
Harold Gray
Yep. Harold Gray brings up Harold Shane Gray as the first choice; when I click on Others and choose Harold Gray (the right one, I checked), I get Mark W. Skinner. Where the heck did he come from? Post in Bug Collectors.
Joanna
And this title touchstone gets me one book with Joanna in the title (but not Joanna _as_ the title), and the rest of the Others are authors named Joanna! Very very odd.
Harold Gray
Yep. Harold Gray brings up Harold Shane Gray as the first choice; when I click on Others and choose Harold Gray (the right one, I checked), I get Mark W. Skinner. Where the heck did he come from? Post in Bug Collectors.
Joanna
And this title touchstone gets me one book with Joanna in the title (but not Joanna _as_ the title), and the rest of the Others are authors named Joanna! Very very odd.
7FAMeulstee
welcome Jennifer, nice to see an other Rosemary Sutcliff fan in our group :-)
Anita
Anita
8majkia
Oh, since I see two rosemary Sutcliff fans here, can I ask a question? How 'chlidrenly' is Eagle of the Ninth? I picked it up after I saw a movie about the lost legion but didn't realize it was juvenile until I checked out the tags on LT. Now I'm hesitant to read it.
9jjmcgaffey
Um. Juvenile? There's some pretty heavy concepts in there - slavery, friendship, loyalty, duty... I've never thought of Sutcliff's books as juveniles (yes, I know they're marketed that way. Marketers are sometimes very stupid). There's no explicit sex, though there is romance; there's quite a bit of violence of various types. I don't know what you usually read - I read quite a bit of what's marketed as YA - but I'd try it, for sure.
You like Bujold and (Elizabeth) Peters - I think you'll like Sutcliff!
You like Bujold and (Elizabeth) Peters - I think you'll like Sutcliff!
10jjmcgaffey
Books Read
29. Winds of Fury#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Back to adventure, from the relatively quiet story of Winds of Change. A bit scattered, with a lot of new stuff coming in which won't really be dealt with until the next trilogy (Mage Storms). But fun story, good bits, and interesting character development.
Currently Reading
Geology of the Sierra Nevada (continuing - this one's going to take a while)
Storm Warning, by Mercedes Lackey, because I can't stop now! I need the rest of the story.
The Phantom - the Complete Newspaper Dailies, Vol 1, by Lee Falk - library book, I need to read it before it's due.
29. Winds of Fury#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Back to adventure, from the relatively quiet story of Winds of Change. A bit scattered, with a lot of new stuff coming in which won't really be dealt with until the next trilogy (Mage Storms). But fun story, good bits, and interesting character development.
Currently Reading
Geology of the Sierra Nevada (continuing - this one's going to take a while)
Storm Warning, by Mercedes Lackey, because I can't stop now! I need the rest of the story.
The Phantom - the Complete Newspaper Dailies, Vol 1, by Lee Falk - library book, I need to read it before it's due.
11majkia
Thanks Jennifer! I will try it. I do read some YA but some of it is... gah.. I cannot deal with teenage angst stuff or mindless girls.
12jjmcgaffey
Yeah, that's not Sutcliff. Actually, thinking about it - what I read is genre marketed as YA; the angsty stuff is the equivalent of the 'literary' novel, and I skip it. Angst for the sake of angst, in teens or adults, is...well, BORING at the very least. I read Sutcliff, Diana Wynne Jones, Tamora Pierce, Arthur Ransome, etc. - books with story to them, not just unpleasant things happening to unpleasant people. Heh, Mercedes Lackey is another often marketed as YA. Though since the trilogy with an openly gay main character, she's been in SF rather than YA in more stores.
13jjmcgaffey
Books Read
30. Storm Warning#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. It's very much a setup book - establishing new characters and their relationships, and setting up the situation. The storms do begin in this book, but only the first few waves - at least, in Valdemar. The breakwater is set up, and Karal has a lot of questions about himself...
Currently Reading
Storm Rising, by Mercedes Lackey.
Geology of the Sierra Nevada - I'm going to stop listing this one, until I finish it. Probably sometime this year...
The Phantom - the Complete Newspaper Dailies, Vol 1. Gotta read it! It should be easy, but this early Phantom is so different from my favorite it's hard to swallow sometimes.
30. Storm Warning#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. It's very much a setup book - establishing new characters and their relationships, and setting up the situation. The storms do begin in this book, but only the first few waves - at least, in Valdemar. The breakwater is set up, and Karal has a lot of questions about himself...
Currently Reading
Storm Rising, by Mercedes Lackey.
Geology of the Sierra Nevada - I'm going to stop listing this one, until I finish it. Probably sometime this year...
The Phantom - the Complete Newspaper Dailies, Vol 1. Gotta read it! It should be easy, but this early Phantom is so different from my favorite it's hard to swallow sometimes.
14jjmcgaffey
Books Read
31. Storm Rising#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Growth, for a lot of characters, in unexpected (by them) directions. Tremane (my favorite character) starts showing up more.
32. Storm Breaking#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. More development, of Tremane and others. We get to see more of the Empire - but there's not a decent character there. The Storms are dealt with, at a high price...and the new world (at least, as far as magic goes) is established. I guess the nodes did exhaust themselves? It's not really made clear.
Currently Reading
The Phantom. Gonna read it! Get it out of the way.
I want to read a whole bunch of old stories - things keep reminding me of old favorites, or ones I've read but can't remember if I loved them, hated them or was indifferent. But I'm not going to - I need to read ones I _haven't_ read before. And I have plenty...
31. Storm Rising#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Growth, for a lot of characters, in unexpected (by them) directions. Tremane (my favorite character) starts showing up more.
32. Storm Breaking#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. More development, of Tremane and others. We get to see more of the Empire - but there's not a decent character there. The Storms are dealt with, at a high price...and the new world (at least, as far as magic goes) is established. I guess the nodes did exhaust themselves? It's not really made clear.
Currently Reading
The Phantom. Gonna read it! Get it out of the way.
I want to read a whole bunch of old stories - things keep reminding me of old favorites, or ones I've read but can't remember if I loved them, hated them or was indifferent. But I'm not going to - I need to read ones I _haven't_ read before. And I have plenty...
15jjmcgaffey
Books Read
33. Timeshadow Rider*, by Ann Maxwell - review. A fun, dense space opera romance. It's got a lot of complex terminology that had me confused, but the story is excellent even when I didn't fully understand. Definitely one I want to reread. Keeper.
34. Owlflight#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Fun as always - Darian's tale, in Valdemar after the Mage Storms. The trilogy's not a direct sequel to Storms the way Storms is to Winds, but we get to see some familiar people, and get some idea of how things have changed.
35. Ladies' Man*, by Suzanne Brockmann - review. Fun fluff, with excellent characterization. Keeper.
36. The Phantom : The Complete Newspaper Dailies, Vol 1, by Lee Falk - review. Finally got started, and it was a quick read then. Very interesting learning how the Phantom's story developed - he wasn't always an 'immortal', or even a jungle legend.
37. Owlsight#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Next Darian, with Keisha showing up. A middle book, mostly setup for the last one, but still good.
38. Hidden, by Kelley Armstrong- review. Library book - I picked it up and it hooked me. I've been avoiding this series because I had it mixed up with another, which was full of disappointing tropes - if the rest are as good as this short work, I've got a lot of books to read. This one doesn't count as a new book, though, because it doesn't help me clear my shelves...sigh.
39. Owlknight#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Finish the series. Good stuff - the trilogy is not, overall, as wonderful as Talia's or Elspeth's, but I still finished it crying (as usual).
Currently Reading
Growing Great Garlic*, by Ron Engeland. Mooched - looks interesting. I am growing garlic - I hope this book will tell more about how I should be doing it.
I've made a new rule - for every book I reread, I must have read one book off my shelf (actually, out of a box). I still want to do a lot of rereading, but this way I can make myself deal with my backlog as well. I need to read one more out of the boxes next, because I just got Echoes of Betrayal, and I have to reread Kings of the North to make sure I know the situation. The rest of the library books I got aren't rereads, so they're OK. But finish the Owl series, first. The Garlic book and Geology of the Sierra Nevada will count, too, but I don't think I'll finish either of them soon - non-fiction takes longer, because it's usually denser.
ETA - move one book from CR to BR, since I finished it tonight (well, this morning).
33. Timeshadow Rider*, by Ann Maxwell - review. A fun, dense space opera romance. It's got a lot of complex terminology that had me confused, but the story is excellent even when I didn't fully understand. Definitely one I want to reread. Keeper.
34. Owlflight#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Fun as always - Darian's tale, in Valdemar after the Mage Storms. The trilogy's not a direct sequel to Storms the way Storms is to Winds, but we get to see some familiar people, and get some idea of how things have changed.
35. Ladies' Man*, by Suzanne Brockmann - review. Fun fluff, with excellent characterization. Keeper.
36. The Phantom : The Complete Newspaper Dailies, Vol 1, by Lee Falk - review. Finally got started, and it was a quick read then. Very interesting learning how the Phantom's story developed - he wasn't always an 'immortal', or even a jungle legend.
37. Owlsight#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Next Darian, with Keisha showing up. A middle book, mostly setup for the last one, but still good.
38. Hidden, by Kelley Armstrong- review. Library book - I picked it up and it hooked me. I've been avoiding this series because I had it mixed up with another, which was full of disappointing tropes - if the rest are as good as this short work, I've got a lot of books to read. This one doesn't count as a new book, though, because it doesn't help me clear my shelves...sigh.
39. Owlknight#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Finish the series. Good stuff - the trilogy is not, overall, as wonderful as Talia's or Elspeth's, but I still finished it crying (as usual).
Currently Reading
Growing Great Garlic*, by Ron Engeland. Mooched - looks interesting. I am growing garlic - I hope this book will tell more about how I should be doing it.
I've made a new rule - for every book I reread, I must have read one book off my shelf (actually, out of a box). I still want to do a lot of rereading, but this way I can make myself deal with my backlog as well. I need to read one more out of the boxes next, because I just got Echoes of Betrayal, and I have to reread Kings of the North to make sure I know the situation. The rest of the library books I got aren't rereads, so they're OK. But finish the Owl series, first. The Garlic book and Geology of the Sierra Nevada will count, too, but I don't think I'll finish either of them soon - non-fiction takes longer, because it's usually denser.
ETA - move one book from CR to BR, since I finished it tonight (well, this morning).
16Dejah_Thoris
I reread the Paks trilogy recently with an eye to reading Kings of the North and the other two soon. Did you like it as well as the first three?
17jjmcgaffey
Loved it. I've read Oath of Fealty three times already (twice for fun and once when Kings came out), so I don't (think I) need to reread that. It starts literally _right_ after the end of Oath of Gold (actually, it overlaps a little), and goes on with a fascinating story, just as detailed as the first Paks trilogy. It (the single story stretching across multiple books) deals with some loose ends, and produces a lot more to be dealt with - BTW, if you didn't know, this one isn't a trilogy, it will be five books (says Elizabeth Moon). So Echoes is the middle book, not the end.
18Dejah_Thoris
Five books? Good glory! Of course, you're right, I meant I wanted to read Oath of Fealty next. Hmm...maybe I won't be in a tearing hurry to get started with two more still to be published.
I'm a big fan of the Paks trilogy - I have no idea how many times I've read it over the years. It's nice to find another fan of Moon's fantasy!
I'm a big fan of the Paks trilogy - I have no idea how many times I've read it over the years. It's nice to find another fan of Moon's fantasy!
19jjmcgaffey
Yes. My reviews of the first two both end with "the agony of waiting for the next book"...on the other hand, I've gotten to read and re-read them. Six of one.
I follow some authors on their blogs, and on Twitter - Elizabeth Moon is one, and she often writes about her writing process. Sometime last year she explained that the Story Daemon (I think that's her phrase) had given her too much story for three books, and fortunately her publisher agreed. So yeah, five books. Whee!
I follow some authors on their blogs, and on Twitter - Elizabeth Moon is one, and she often writes about her writing process. Sometime last year she explained that the Story Daemon (I think that's her phrase) had given her too much story for three books, and fortunately her publisher agreed. So yeah, five books. Whee!
20ronincats
And the first three books are wonderful. It amazes me that Moon can pick up the story 20 years later without missing a beat and with no loss of quality. I can't wait for the final two.
21jjmcgaffey
Books Read
40. Oath of Fealty# - review. Well, I tried to ignore it, and then I tried to just skim - didn't work, I had to reread it. Still excellent.
41. Kings of the North# - review. This one I knew I'd have to reread to set up for Echoes. It felt smoother - less of the individual vignettes - than it did on the first read - and I loved Dorrin with her squires. Library book.
42. Echoes of Betrayal - review. Um. Yeah. Wow. That's one heck of a cliffhanger...OK, not _quite_, the immediate crisis has been dealt with - but between the short- and long-term effects of that, and the final line, it's really hanging fire. So when is the next one due out? (next year - arrgh!). Library book.
Currently Reading
Enter the Saint*, by Leslie Charteris. Trying to get this done! I like the Saint, I really do, but somehow I'm not in the mood for his twisty humor.
Growing Great Garlic* - haven't gotten any further on this, either.
40. Oath of Fealty# - review. Well, I tried to ignore it, and then I tried to just skim - didn't work, I had to reread it. Still excellent.
41. Kings of the North# - review. This one I knew I'd have to reread to set up for Echoes. It felt smoother - less of the individual vignettes - than it did on the first read - and I loved Dorrin with her squires. Library book.
42. Echoes of Betrayal - review. Um. Yeah. Wow. That's one heck of a cliffhanger...OK, not _quite_, the immediate crisis has been dealt with - but between the short- and long-term effects of that, and the final line, it's really hanging fire. So when is the next one due out? (next year - arrgh!). Library book.
Currently Reading
Enter the Saint*, by Leslie Charteris. Trying to get this done! I like the Saint, I really do, but somehow I'm not in the mood for his twisty humor.
Growing Great Garlic* - haven't gotten any further on this, either.
22jjmcgaffey
20> There are differences - not in the quality, Moon was and is excellent at description, characterization, writing in general. But the world has a slightly different flavor, to me. I mention it in my reviews, too - in the new series, there's a heck of a lot more magic lying around. It's possible that it's because we're seeing things from a higher level - Kieri and Arcolin may have dealt with (did deal with) magic stuff in loot earlier (there was Paks' horse ring, for one) but Paks didn't, directly. But still. In the first book of Legacy, there's the swords, which took a Marshal of Gird to deal with; there's the regalia, that needed a magelord to deal with (though that's been around a while, and the magelords just weren't admitting it); there's Stammel - again, it took high-level magic to deal with what was affecting him, on two separate occasions (in two books)...Paks got a potion, once, and then her ring. And she saw Dorrin's sword, and the spider pendant. Before she became a paladin-candidate, I think that was her total exposure to magic. It just feels different in the new series.
23jjmcgaffey
Books Read
43. Enter the Saint*, by Leslie Charteris - review. Finally finished it. A nice example of the Saint, and interesting as his quirks develop in front of our eyes, but...I'm still not in a Saintly mood, and he struck me as rather too much of a smartass. I want to reread sometime when I'm in a better mood.
Currently Reading
Geology of the Sierra Nevada* - moving along. I read a chapter or so with every meal - gives me a nice chunk to digest.
Growing Great Garlic* - still chugging. I've gotten two recommendations for the book in the past two days, though - I really need to get properly into it.
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart - this got recommended to me quite a bit when it was new, and B&N had a .99 sale on the ebook. Interesting - very mannered language, it reminds me of Roald Dahl. In both language and situation.
A Rising Thunder, by David Weber. Yeah. I was always going to get this book, probably both in ebook and paperback form. However, getting a coupon for a free ebook from Baen (by playing Planet Baen - interesting building game, with real coupons) triggered me to pick up the ebook _now_. I haven't actually started reading what I'd bought - but earlier, when looking at what was available, I read the samples on Baen's site...and was hooked. From those chapters - like the last few, very complicated plots and plans interlinking and interfering with one another; the entrenched Terran bureaucracy being utter IDIOTS, and the beginnings of a path through the mess showing. This has the re-meeting of Zilwicki, Cachat, and Honor from Z and C's point of view.
And I really need to read some stuff out of boxes! Though I'm current, as of now, between rereads and BOMBS. Garlic and Geology will count; the rest are either new, borrowed, or ebooks (so don't help me clear my shelves/boxes).
43. Enter the Saint*, by Leslie Charteris - review. Finally finished it. A nice example of the Saint, and interesting as his quirks develop in front of our eyes, but...I'm still not in a Saintly mood, and he struck me as rather too much of a smartass. I want to reread sometime when I'm in a better mood.
Currently Reading
Geology of the Sierra Nevada* - moving along. I read a chapter or so with every meal - gives me a nice chunk to digest.
Growing Great Garlic* - still chugging. I've gotten two recommendations for the book in the past two days, though - I really need to get properly into it.
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart - this got recommended to me quite a bit when it was new, and B&N had a .99 sale on the ebook. Interesting - very mannered language, it reminds me of Roald Dahl. In both language and situation.
A Rising Thunder, by David Weber. Yeah. I was always going to get this book, probably both in ebook and paperback form. However, getting a coupon for a free ebook from Baen (by playing Planet Baen - interesting building game, with real coupons) triggered me to pick up the ebook _now_. I haven't actually started reading what I'd bought - but earlier, when looking at what was available, I read the samples on Baen's site...and was hooked. From those chapters - like the last few, very complicated plots and plans interlinking and interfering with one another; the entrenched Terran bureaucracy being utter IDIOTS, and the beginnings of a path through the mess showing. This has the re-meeting of Zilwicki, Cachat, and Honor from Z and C's point of view.
And I really need to read some stuff out of boxes! Though I'm current, as of now, between rereads and BOMBS. Garlic and Geology will count; the rest are either new, borrowed, or ebooks (so don't help me clear my shelves/boxes).
24jjmcgaffey
Books Read
44. Justin Morgan Had a Horse, by Marguerite Henry - review. Love this story - an old favorite that holds up after 35 years (or so). I ended with tears in my eyes, as always, even though it ends on an up-note. I accidentally bought another copy, though I had one - so now I can get rid of the hardback on my shelf (unless it's a wonderful edition, need to find it and check) and keep this paperback.
Currently Reading
Too many books! In no particular order:
Geology of the Sierra Nevada - I made it my table book, what I read while I'm eating. I'm getting near the end, that way - reading a chapter or so every meal. Very good, and I learned things I'm surprised I didn't already know.
The Mysterious Benedict Society, as an ebook; I got distracted from it, but I want to get done with it.
A Rising Thunder, as an ebook; this is what distracted me from the previous. Loving it but I want to read it undistracted, so I'm going to finish Benedict Society first.
The Stepsister Scheme, by Jim C. Hines. This leaped off the shelf and accosted me. I'm _not_ reading it - I have four library books to finish first. But after that I'll do some Hines. I have the next book, possibly the next two, in boxes...and while I'd read Stepsister before, I didn't review it at the time, so a reread is a good idea. But not until I finish my library books.
Growing Great Garlic - haven't found it to continue reading. It's right here somewhere, near my reading corner. One project I'm working on is clearing off various tables! I had some books to add, and I had no place to put them down so I could work on one at a time.
It's been an insane couple of weeks. I've had Helium Hand recently - oh, you need a volunteer? my hand goes up... - and there have been projects of various sorts, plus my work (lots of new clients, for some reason), plus the normal chores, plus trying to do some spring cleaning. I got a bit into hoarding the last few months - I was well enough to see and buy/obtain lots of stuff (including lots of books), but not quite well enough to actually, you know, DEAL with them. So my living room is 90% full of stuff, mostly in boxes...though I did manage to clear out a space for a seedling shelf (a set of shelves and a fluorescent light, to help seedlings grow) (this was last month). And and...I basically did no reading this past week - I just picked up Justin Morgan (from my pile of books to add) and glanced at it and couldn't stop. So yay, I read. Also I read Geology of the Sierra Nevada, at meals. But beyond that - I've been running like mad, and it's not slowing down much - I've got two jobs tomorrow and one the next day, then a volunteer thing Thursday and another Friday. A relatively light weekend - only plans for two things Saturday, and Sunday church and a book sale (which is also the volunteer thing Friday - setup). I'll try to squeeze in reading time. It's good I have work (I run my own business, so I only earn when a client needs me), but it gets exhausting.
44. Justin Morgan Had a Horse, by Marguerite Henry - review. Love this story - an old favorite that holds up after 35 years (or so). I ended with tears in my eyes, as always, even though it ends on an up-note. I accidentally bought another copy, though I had one - so now I can get rid of the hardback on my shelf (unless it's a wonderful edition, need to find it and check) and keep this paperback.
Currently Reading
Too many books! In no particular order:
Geology of the Sierra Nevada - I made it my table book, what I read while I'm eating. I'm getting near the end, that way - reading a chapter or so every meal. Very good, and I learned things I'm surprised I didn't already know.
The Mysterious Benedict Society, as an ebook; I got distracted from it, but I want to get done with it.
A Rising Thunder, as an ebook; this is what distracted me from the previous. Loving it but I want to read it undistracted, so I'm going to finish Benedict Society first.
The Stepsister Scheme, by Jim C. Hines. This leaped off the shelf and accosted me. I'm _not_ reading it - I have four library books to finish first. But after that I'll do some Hines. I have the next book, possibly the next two, in boxes...and while I'd read Stepsister before, I didn't review it at the time, so a reread is a good idea. But not until I finish my library books.
Growing Great Garlic - haven't found it to continue reading. It's right here somewhere, near my reading corner. One project I'm working on is clearing off various tables! I had some books to add, and I had no place to put them down so I could work on one at a time.
It's been an insane couple of weeks. I've had Helium Hand recently - oh, you need a volunteer? my hand goes up... - and there have been projects of various sorts, plus my work (lots of new clients, for some reason), plus the normal chores, plus trying to do some spring cleaning. I got a bit into hoarding the last few months - I was well enough to see and buy/obtain lots of stuff (including lots of books), but not quite well enough to actually, you know, DEAL with them. So my living room is 90% full of stuff, mostly in boxes...though I did manage to clear out a space for a seedling shelf (a set of shelves and a fluorescent light, to help seedlings grow) (this was last month). And and...I basically did no reading this past week - I just picked up Justin Morgan (from my pile of books to add) and glanced at it and couldn't stop. So yay, I read. Also I read Geology of the Sierra Nevada, at meals. But beyond that - I've been running like mad, and it's not slowing down much - I've got two jobs tomorrow and one the next day, then a volunteer thing Thursday and another Friday. A relatively light weekend - only plans for two things Saturday, and Sunday church and a book sale (which is also the volunteer thing Friday - setup). I'll try to squeeze in reading time. It's good I have work (I run my own business, so I only earn when a client needs me), but it gets exhausting.
25jjmcgaffey
Books Read
45. Geology of the Sierra Nevada, by Mary Hill - review. Fun, interesting, I learned quite a bit. Well-written, too. A nice mixture of geology and history, people and rocks.
45. The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart - review. Nice kids' book. Not wonderful, but well-written, interesting characters, world, and situation. It didn't quite draw me in, but I enjoyed it and will probably read more of the series.
46. Bookstore Lore, by Tom Lichtenberg - review. Eh. A few amusing questions/situations, among a good many boring or annoying ones; the formatting was sufficiently bad (in the Smashwords ebook I read) that it was quite distracting. Oddly enough, my book says it's compiled by Chris Haight, with Tom Lichtenberg mentioned as one of the contributors - but the metainfo says Lichtenberg, as does the LT consensus. Peculiar.
Currently Reading
Yay, cut my list down quite a bit!
A Rising Thunder by David Weber.
Growing Great Garlic by Ron Engeland.
Bitten, by Kelley Armstrong. Library book. I read Hidden a while back and enjoyed it, so I thought I'd start at the beginning.
(when I'm finished with four library books)
The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines.
Still insane. Two jobs today (4 hours and 2 hours), two tomorrow. Then a bunch of volunteering. Plus chores. Take one day at a time...and get enough sleep!
45. Geology of the Sierra Nevada, by Mary Hill - review. Fun, interesting, I learned quite a bit. Well-written, too. A nice mixture of geology and history, people and rocks.
45. The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart - review. Nice kids' book. Not wonderful, but well-written, interesting characters, world, and situation. It didn't quite draw me in, but I enjoyed it and will probably read more of the series.
46. Bookstore Lore, by Tom Lichtenberg - review. Eh. A few amusing questions/situations, among a good many boring or annoying ones; the formatting was sufficiently bad (in the Smashwords ebook I read) that it was quite distracting. Oddly enough, my book says it's compiled by Chris Haight, with Tom Lichtenberg mentioned as one of the contributors - but the metainfo says Lichtenberg, as does the LT consensus. Peculiar.
Currently Reading
Yay, cut my list down quite a bit!
A Rising Thunder by David Weber.
Growing Great Garlic by Ron Engeland.
Bitten, by Kelley Armstrong. Library book. I read Hidden a while back and enjoyed it, so I thought I'd start at the beginning.
(when I'm finished with four library books)
The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines.
Still insane. Two jobs today (4 hours and 2 hours), two tomorrow. Then a bunch of volunteering. Plus chores. Take one day at a time...and get enough sleep!
26Dejah_Thoris
It sounds as if life is good, but busy!
I think I haven't read one or possibly two books ahead of A Rising Thunder - I need to get caught up there. In the early days of the series, I never missed one. The pull isn't quite as strong now.
My librarian mentioned Jim C. Hines - what do you think of his work?
I think I haven't read one or possibly two books ahead of A Rising Thunder - I need to get caught up there. In the early days of the series, I never missed one. The pull isn't quite as strong now.
My librarian mentioned Jim C. Hines - what do you think of his work?
27jjmcgaffey
Yeah, the last few Honors are extremely twisty, and extremely entwined. Events in one are seen in another, from a different perspective... It's still fascinating, when I can spare the brainpower to keep track of it all. It's gone a long way from the relatively simple adventure of On Basilisk Station or even The Honor of the Queen.
Weird and wonderful - those I've read, which is not many. I haven't even tried his Goblin series, just the Princesses one, and that I've only read The Stepsister Scheme and started (looked at, not sat down to read) The Mermaid's Madness. But I own them to read... Stepsister is about Cinderella after she marries the prince...and he's kidnapped by her evil stepsisters. She gets help from Snow White and Sleeping Beauty - but we are most definitely _not_ talking the Disney versions here. It's been long enough since I read Stepsister that I'm quite uncertain of details of their stories - but they know the Disney (and modern Hans Christian Anderson) versions, and consider them out-and-out lies. Oh, and the three of them have to go into Faerieland (not Fairyland) to get the Prince back.
I enjoy retold fairy tales anyway, particularly those that manage to tell the story while making it make sense for real-type people. Hines doesn't quite do the last...but the stories he does tell are fascinating. I'd definitely try it (them).
I have not been getting _nearly_ enough sleep, so I think I'm going to fall on my nose pretty early tonight. It's another early day tomorrow. So very little reading (I spent the morning carrying boxes and putting out books for the library booksale, and the afternoon (after a nap, because I got 4.5 hours sleep last night) working with a client). But I got in a few more pages of Bitten - nearly done - and a few of A Rising Thunder. And Growing Great Garlic, which is now my table book, since I finished Geology of the Sierra Nevada.
Weird and wonderful - those I've read, which is not many. I haven't even tried his Goblin series, just the Princesses one, and that I've only read The Stepsister Scheme and started (looked at, not sat down to read) The Mermaid's Madness. But I own them to read... Stepsister is about Cinderella after she marries the prince...and he's kidnapped by her evil stepsisters. She gets help from Snow White and Sleeping Beauty - but we are most definitely _not_ talking the Disney versions here. It's been long enough since I read Stepsister that I'm quite uncertain of details of their stories - but they know the Disney (and modern Hans Christian Anderson) versions, and consider them out-and-out lies. Oh, and the three of them have to go into Faerieland (not Fairyland) to get the Prince back.
I enjoy retold fairy tales anyway, particularly those that manage to tell the story while making it make sense for real-type people. Hines doesn't quite do the last...but the stories he does tell are fascinating. I'd definitely try it (them).
I have not been getting _nearly_ enough sleep, so I think I'm going to fall on my nose pretty early tonight. It's another early day tomorrow. So very little reading (I spent the morning carrying boxes and putting out books for the library booksale, and the afternoon (after a nap, because I got 4.5 hours sleep last night) working with a client). But I got in a few more pages of Bitten - nearly done - and a few of A Rising Thunder. And Growing Great Garlic, which is now my table book, since I finished Geology of the Sierra Nevada.
28Dejah_Thoris
Thanks for the information - I hope you slept well!
29jjmcgaffey
Books Read
47. Bitten, by Kelley Armstrong - review. Yeah, very good. Excellent characterization and an interesting universe. Next!
48. Trust in Me, by Beth Cornelison - review. Interesting stuff - pretty standard romance, but nice theme of independence vs isolation, from three viewpoints. It was a free ebook; I heard about it on Twitter. I'm interested in finding others by her (and did, one, at the booksale).
Currently Reading
Growing Great Garlic - chug chug, at the table. It really is aimed at farmers, though I'm learning a few things. Wish it had more pictures, though.
A Rising Thunder - slow to start, but it's heating up.
Stolen - the next Kelley Armstrong.
Did pretty well - only 43 books at the booksale, and two of those are _wonderful_ (the rest are interesting or I wouldn't have gotten them, but nothing special). I got Motel of the Mysteries - if you like archaeology, this is the funniest parody of archaeological style I've _ever_ run across. It's a report of the excavation of a motel room, a couple thousand years after modern (as of 1985) society collapsed (more or less literally) - with the all-too-frequent refrain of "I don't know what this was for, it must be a ritual object" applied to, for instance, the Sacred Point folded into the roll of soft paper hung in the Inner Sanctum...oh, just find it and read it. It's wonderful. The other great one I got was The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter. I love her stories, and I hadn't been aware of this one - and when I brought it up to buy, my mom declared that it was her favorite Stratton-Porter story of all. So I'll be reading that one soon. Still working on the library books - they're due back on the 15th and I've got a lot of work to do this week...well, we'll see. I also got a box of books, mostly SF and thrillers, to fill out my yard sale this weekend (that's what most of the work this week is, sorting out stuff for that). Those are not included in the 43, that's only the ones I've cataloged (and they're all up on LT now, with covers scanned (for those that didn't have them) and everything).
47. Bitten, by Kelley Armstrong - review. Yeah, very good. Excellent characterization and an interesting universe. Next!
48. Trust in Me, by Beth Cornelison - review. Interesting stuff - pretty standard romance, but nice theme of independence vs isolation, from three viewpoints. It was a free ebook; I heard about it on Twitter. I'm interested in finding others by her (and did, one, at the booksale).
Currently Reading
Growing Great Garlic - chug chug, at the table. It really is aimed at farmers, though I'm learning a few things. Wish it had more pictures, though.
A Rising Thunder - slow to start, but it's heating up.
Stolen - the next Kelley Armstrong.
Did pretty well - only 43 books at the booksale, and two of those are _wonderful_ (the rest are interesting or I wouldn't have gotten them, but nothing special). I got Motel of the Mysteries - if you like archaeology, this is the funniest parody of archaeological style I've _ever_ run across. It's a report of the excavation of a motel room, a couple thousand years after modern (as of 1985) society collapsed (more or less literally) - with the all-too-frequent refrain of "I don't know what this was for, it must be a ritual object" applied to, for instance, the Sacred Point folded into the roll of soft paper hung in the Inner Sanctum...oh, just find it and read it. It's wonderful. The other great one I got was The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter. I love her stories, and I hadn't been aware of this one - and when I brought it up to buy, my mom declared that it was her favorite Stratton-Porter story of all. So I'll be reading that one soon. Still working on the library books - they're due back on the 15th and I've got a lot of work to do this week...well, we'll see. I also got a box of books, mostly SF and thrillers, to fill out my yard sale this weekend (that's what most of the work this week is, sorting out stuff for that). Those are not included in the 43, that's only the ones I've cataloged (and they're all up on LT now, with covers scanned (for those that didn't have them) and everything).
30jjmcgaffey
Books Read
49. A Rising Thunder, by David Weber - review. Like the rest of the recent ones - very very convoluted, political, complicated - but also very rich story. I'm glad I read it, and I want the next one please thank you.
50. Fellow Travelers, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller - review (story reviews at Where the Goddess Sends, A Spell for the Lost, Moonphase). Three good stories - I like Priscilla's best, but the two Lute and Moonhawk ones are interesting too. I have this as a chapbook, which is what I read this time; I also have the stories as ebooks and in a mmpb. Think maybe I like the Liaden Universe? I just cataloged the three stories, so that I could rate and review them separately and keep track of where they are (what they're in).
Currently Reading
still Stolen - more than half done, but it's due tomorrow. Finish it tonight. The other two library books aren't getting done, I don't think - have to get them out again (I already renewed them, and only one is allowed).
Growing Great Garlic - chug. More farming info - pests and diseases, recently. Eww - reading about maggots at the table...
Several bugging me to read. Andre Norton's Time Traders has been niggling at me for a while, I want to read The Keeper of the Bees, several ebooks look good (Uptown Local and Other Interventions) - sheesh. And most of those are either new or ebooks, so they don't help me deal with boxes. Read some boxed books first. Some nice quick romances.
49. A Rising Thunder, by David Weber - review. Like the rest of the recent ones - very very convoluted, political, complicated - but also very rich story. I'm glad I read it, and I want the next one please thank you.
50. Fellow Travelers, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller - review (story reviews at Where the Goddess Sends, A Spell for the Lost, Moonphase). Three good stories - I like Priscilla's best, but the two Lute and Moonhawk ones are interesting too. I have this as a chapbook, which is what I read this time; I also have the stories as ebooks and in a mmpb. Think maybe I like the Liaden Universe? I just cataloged the three stories, so that I could rate and review them separately and keep track of where they are (what they're in).
Currently Reading
still Stolen - more than half done, but it's due tomorrow. Finish it tonight. The other two library books aren't getting done, I don't think - have to get them out again (I already renewed them, and only one is allowed).
Growing Great Garlic - chug. More farming info - pests and diseases, recently. Eww - reading about maggots at the table...
Several bugging me to read. Andre Norton's Time Traders has been niggling at me for a while, I want to read The Keeper of the Bees, several ebooks look good (Uptown Local and Other Interventions) - sheesh. And most of those are either new or ebooks, so they don't help me deal with boxes. Read some boxed books first. Some nice quick romances.
31jjmcgaffey
Books Read
51. Stolen, by Kelley Armstrong - review. Another sexy, gory, fascinating story - there's more than werewolves around! I don't usually like this style of writing - too much sex and gore - but here it fits, and the story is worth the (small) bits that annoy me.
52. Growing Great Garlic*, by Ron L. Engeland - review. Not quite aimed at me - too much for farmers and not enough for gardeners. But some good info and interesting history. I'll keep it for now, at least.
Currently Reading
Late Eclipses and One Salt Sea, by Seanan McGuire. These are the library books - I found out I could renew them.
Then some books out of my boxes. Must! Though Stepsister Scheme is sitting here taunting me, and then I could read the other two in the series out of the boxes...no, some romances first, hopefully ones I can then get rid of.
51. Stolen, by Kelley Armstrong - review. Another sexy, gory, fascinating story - there's more than werewolves around! I don't usually like this style of writing - too much sex and gore - but here it fits, and the story is worth the (small) bits that annoy me.
52. Growing Great Garlic*, by Ron L. Engeland - review. Not quite aimed at me - too much for farmers and not enough for gardeners. But some good info and interesting history. I'll keep it for now, at least.
Currently Reading
Late Eclipses and One Salt Sea, by Seanan McGuire. These are the library books - I found out I could renew them.
Then some books out of my boxes. Must! Though Stepsister Scheme is sitting here taunting me, and then I could read the other two in the series out of the boxes...no, some romances first, hopefully ones I can then get rid of.
32jjmcgaffey
Books Read
53. Late Eclipses, by Seanan McGuire - review. Toby vs way too many weird plots and drugs - serious personal (physical, mostly) changes happen. Fantastic.
54. One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire - review. Toby vs a planned war. Again plots and schemes, and stolen children (not wholesale this time, though), and some serious mental/emotional changes, as she's still getting used to her new physicality. Also fantastic. I may need to just get this series so I can reread it now and then. Not now, though.
Currently Reading
Um, not much. Uptown Local and Other Interventions, by Diane Duane, as an ebook; that's about it.
I'm going to be running like a madwoman today, tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday...I might have some time Monday. I don't even have a table book, at the moment, since I finished Growing Great Garlic - the Toby books kept me snared. Oh, and the Maker Faire manual - I'm volunteering, which is _why_ I'll be running like a madwoman. It'll be fun though. Oh, and the weekend after - Memorial Day - is Baycon. For which I am _not_ ready. Also not ready for Maker Faire - I need to make up some kits, and fix my tunic so I can wear it Sunday. Besides the volunteering, I'm exhibiting - demonstrating tablet weaving and fingerloop braiding, with the SCA. Gonna be fun. Keep reminding myself of that....
53. Late Eclipses, by Seanan McGuire - review. Toby vs way too many weird plots and drugs - serious personal (physical, mostly) changes happen. Fantastic.
54. One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire - review. Toby vs a planned war. Again plots and schemes, and stolen children (not wholesale this time, though), and some serious mental/emotional changes, as she's still getting used to her new physicality. Also fantastic. I may need to just get this series so I can reread it now and then. Not now, though.
Currently Reading
Um, not much. Uptown Local and Other Interventions, by Diane Duane, as an ebook; that's about it.
I'm going to be running like a madwoman today, tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday...I might have some time Monday. I don't even have a table book, at the moment, since I finished Growing Great Garlic - the Toby books kept me snared. Oh, and the Maker Faire manual - I'm volunteering, which is _why_ I'll be running like a madwoman. It'll be fun though. Oh, and the weekend after - Memorial Day - is Baycon. For which I am _not_ ready. Also not ready for Maker Faire - I need to make up some kits, and fix my tunic so I can wear it Sunday. Besides the volunteering, I'm exhibiting - demonstrating tablet weaving and fingerloop braiding, with the SCA. Gonna be fun. Keep reminding myself of that....
33jjmcgaffey
Books Read
55. The Time Traders by Andre Norton - review. Not as much fun as I remembered. Still a rich story, but I don't _like_ Ross.
56. Uptown Local and Other Interventions by Diane Duane - review (haven't actually reviewed this one yet). Several good stories, several not so good - not bad, but not all that interesting to me. I have to review the stories individually to make the review worthwhile and I haven't gotten around to it yet.
57. Galactic Derelict by Andre Norton - review. And here I like Travis, but his story is dumb. Way too running on rails - pointless.
I read the two Nortons as ebooks, in the omnibus Time Traders I. There's a summary review on that work, but it's pretty much what I just wrote above.
58. The Defiant Agents by Andre Norton - review. Like Travis, don't like the story. Way too many questions at the end.
59. Key Out of Time by Andre Norton - review. Back to Ross - I figured out _why_ I don't like him. Better story but annoying protagonist.
And those two were in the ebook omnibus Time Traders II. Again, not much of a review there.
60. Shifting Plains by Jean Johnson - review. Interesting romance/culture clash story. Jean does excellent characters, as always. And apparently there's a sequel just out - yay! Same universe, but different time, as the Sons of Destiny series (next books).
61. The Sword by Jean Johnson - review. First book in an 8-book fantasy romance series - fun, and worth a re-read. Saber and Kelly like to fight a little more than I enjoy, but both the romance and the series story arc are good reads.
62. The Wolf by Jean Johnson - review. Second book, about the second son Wolver and his love-since-childhood Alys. We learn a lot more about the threats - or one set of threats - against the family.
63. The Master by Jean Johnson - review. Third, about Dominor and Serina. Silly tropes made (more or less) reasonable (male slave bought for sex, for instance). I like Dominor a lot better by the end of the book than in the previous ones.
64. The Song by Jean Johnson - review. Fourth book, and halfway done with the series (wahhh!). Very sweet romance, with interesting external conflict and considerable advancing of the overall plot.
Currently Reading
I started these mixed in with the above, but I haven't managed to finish them yet...
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking - fun, interesting, deep. This is my table book - a chapter at a time. He loses me occasionally, but I've caught up every time so far. It might even be more comprehensible with equations, for me...not sure.
Silicon Snake Oil by Clifford Stoll - I absolutely love The Cuckoo's Egg, so I grabbed this when I saw it. Not as good - actually, it's very amusing, unfortunately not intentionally. He keeps complaining about the ridiculous things people are claiming networks can do - like watch movies online! Nonsense, he says, networks are too slow for stuff like that. And so on. Some of his comments, such as about privacy, sound like what I'm seeing on Twitter these days; some sound positively antiquated. Written in 1995, I find it interesting just because of what has (and hasn't) changed.
Double Vision by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. I thought I'd read all these stories in chapbooks and the like - this was just a more convenient container. But at least one is new to me, so I'm reading through. Miller and Lee are, as always, excellent.
And now I'm going to start the next Sons book, The Cat. I have to read a little slow, because I don't have the last two in the series yet - I ordered them, and they should be here Thursday (day after tomorrow). And tomorrow will be busy, with not much time for reading...so I'm fine, I can read The Cat and maybe start The Storm (since they run concurrently, it's a good idea not to leave too much of a gap between those two. Not to mention they're fun and I want to read them...).
Well, I haven't written in a while - a full month! Maker Faire, Baycon, running a polling station for the June 5th primary election, then a friend came to town (she's still here, actually, but visiting someone else today) - it's been pretty insane for the last month. I have gotten in some reading, but not updating LT - just did that today, with dates and reviews. So a lot of books read in this post!
55. The Time Traders by Andre Norton - review. Not as much fun as I remembered. Still a rich story, but I don't _like_ Ross.
56. Uptown Local and Other Interventions by Diane Duane - review (haven't actually reviewed this one yet). Several good stories, several not so good - not bad, but not all that interesting to me. I have to review the stories individually to make the review worthwhile and I haven't gotten around to it yet.
57. Galactic Derelict by Andre Norton - review. And here I like Travis, but his story is dumb. Way too running on rails - pointless.
I read the two Nortons as ebooks, in the omnibus Time Traders I. There's a summary review on that work, but it's pretty much what I just wrote above.
58. The Defiant Agents by Andre Norton - review. Like Travis, don't like the story. Way too many questions at the end.
59. Key Out of Time by Andre Norton - review. Back to Ross - I figured out _why_ I don't like him. Better story but annoying protagonist.
And those two were in the ebook omnibus Time Traders II. Again, not much of a review there.
60. Shifting Plains by Jean Johnson - review. Interesting romance/culture clash story. Jean does excellent characters, as always. And apparently there's a sequel just out - yay! Same universe, but different time, as the Sons of Destiny series (next books).
61. The Sword by Jean Johnson - review. First book in an 8-book fantasy romance series - fun, and worth a re-read. Saber and Kelly like to fight a little more than I enjoy, but both the romance and the series story arc are good reads.
62. The Wolf by Jean Johnson - review. Second book, about the second son Wolver and his love-since-childhood Alys. We learn a lot more about the threats - or one set of threats - against the family.
63. The Master by Jean Johnson - review. Third, about Dominor and Serina. Silly tropes made (more or less) reasonable (male slave bought for sex, for instance). I like Dominor a lot better by the end of the book than in the previous ones.
64. The Song by Jean Johnson - review. Fourth book, and halfway done with the series (wahhh!). Very sweet romance, with interesting external conflict and considerable advancing of the overall plot.
Currently Reading
I started these mixed in with the above, but I haven't managed to finish them yet...
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking - fun, interesting, deep. This is my table book - a chapter at a time. He loses me occasionally, but I've caught up every time so far. It might even be more comprehensible with equations, for me...not sure.
Silicon Snake Oil by Clifford Stoll - I absolutely love The Cuckoo's Egg, so I grabbed this when I saw it. Not as good - actually, it's very amusing, unfortunately not intentionally. He keeps complaining about the ridiculous things people are claiming networks can do - like watch movies online! Nonsense, he says, networks are too slow for stuff like that. And so on. Some of his comments, such as about privacy, sound like what I'm seeing on Twitter these days; some sound positively antiquated. Written in 1995, I find it interesting just because of what has (and hasn't) changed.
Double Vision by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. I thought I'd read all these stories in chapbooks and the like - this was just a more convenient container. But at least one is new to me, so I'm reading through. Miller and Lee are, as always, excellent.
And now I'm going to start the next Sons book, The Cat. I have to read a little slow, because I don't have the last two in the series yet - I ordered them, and they should be here Thursday (day after tomorrow). And tomorrow will be busy, with not much time for reading...so I'm fine, I can read The Cat and maybe start The Storm (since they run concurrently, it's a good idea not to leave too much of a gap between those two. Not to mention they're fun and I want to read them...).
Well, I haven't written in a while - a full month! Maker Faire, Baycon, running a polling station for the June 5th primary election, then a friend came to town (she's still here, actually, but visiting someone else today) - it's been pretty insane for the last month. I have gotten in some reading, but not updating LT - just did that today, with dates and reviews. So a lot of books read in this post!
34jjmcgaffey
Uh, yeah. A bit more than a month since I posted last. There's gonna be a _lot_ of books in this post...
Books Read
65. The Cat# by Jean Johnson - review.
66. The Flame# by Jean Johnson - review.
67. The Storm# by Jean Johnson - review.
68. The Mage# by Jean Johnson - review. Not a wonderful climax, but the series overall is great. The answer sort of comes out of nowhere...
69. Complete Little Orphan Annie Volume 8 by Harold Gray - review. Good stories; Annie's getting a lot deeper than her earlier adventures.
70. A Soldier's Duty by Jean Johnson - review. First SF novel by the same author as the fantasy romances. Good! I'm looking for the next one.
71. The Stepsister Scheme* by Jim C. Hines - review. _Finally_ finished this. Very interesting universe, but the characters are a little hard to take.
72. A Brief History of Time* by Stephen Hawking - review. A little hard to take, especially when he gets wild near the end - hypotheses presented as fact, without even an equation to back them up (not that I'd understand the equations, but...) make my eyes glaze over. Glad I read it, though.
73. Magic Gifts by Ilona Andrews - review. Excellent short piece, luring me into Kate Daniels' universe
74. Invasion : Secret World Chronicles by Mercedes Lackey et al. - review. Meh. Great universe, with a collection of uninteresting/annoying/exasperating "heroes". I'll keep reading, but there's no one I care much about here.
75. The Shifter by Jean Johnson - review. This is the sequel to Shifting Plains. I like! Good story, good characters, it made me laugh quite a bit.
76. The Mermaid's Madness* by Jim C. Hines - review. Um. Yeah. I will keep trying (next book in the series), but I doubt I'll ever reread this - again, fascinating ideas but unpleasant, manipulative characters.
77 Absolutely, Positively by Heather Webber - review. Fun! Still no resolution on the main romance, but a great continuation of the story.
78. Ghost Ship by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller - review. Lovely. I do like Theo.
79. The Beak of the Finch* by Jonathan Weiner - review. Fantastic. A fascinating look at a long-term study of Darwin's finches - that shows up evolution happening on a human timescale. I've gotten several other people hooked on the book too (my Dad, for one).
80. Westward Weird by Martin H. Greenberg - review. Several very good stories, several very bad, a few middling.
81. Bond of Blood by Roberta Gellis - review. Good. I do enjoy Roberta Gellis' historical romances - she's really good at it.
82. Knight's Honor by Roberta Gellis - review. Another fun Gellis.
83. The Sword and the Swan by Roberta Gellis - review. Prequel to the Roselynde books
84. Roselynde# by Roberta Gellis - review. Reread, since I'd just read the prequel.
85. Alinor# by Roberta Gellis - review. Same. I do like Alinor (the character).
86. The Adventures of Tintin Vol. 5 by Hergé - review. And now for something completely different...Tintin is fun, as usual (don't try to make it make sense, though).
87. Murder in the Maze* by Sarah J. Mason - review. Yuck. Unpleasant characters and a big dose of homophobia. Need to remember not to read her.
88. Fair Game by Patricia Briggs - review. Love it - Charles and Anna get more integrated into Mercy's side of things. Great story, though I knew who the villain was way ahead of the protagonists.
89. Timeless by Gail Carriger - review. Eh. Amusing setup, annoying characters, way too precious language.
90. The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson - review. Decent fluff story (steampunk Western), _great_ universe (the Mistborne universe has actually developed technology!).
91. A Dog of Flanders* by Ouida - review. Sickly sweet - Little Match Girl style.
92. Into the Looking Glass by John Ringo - review. Great universe, if a little loose in the logic. Wish he hadn't gone so weird in the sequels.
93. Chalice# by Robin McKinley - review. Weird and fascinating, as always.
94. The Long Hunt by Debra Doyle & James MacDonald - review. Interesting, but a little too mystical for me. And a serious anti-climax. That's it? That's the big fight? Sheesh.
95. The Demon-Haunted World* by Carl Sagan - review. Many interesting bits that somehow didn't add up to an interesting (or valuable) book, to me.
96. More Than He Expected$ by Andrea Laurence - review. Nice fluff.
97. Lord of the Storm by Justine Davis - review. Fun! Davis can make even an SF sex slave seem reasonable...her characters are wonderful.
98. Impossible to Resist$ by Janice Maynard - review. OK fluff, with some unlikely characterizations detracting from the story.
99. The Cat Who Went to Heaven* by Elizabeth Coatsworth - review. Cute - not as sickly as A Dog of Flanders. The explanation of the Buddhist canon is interesting.
100. The Dinosaur Heresies* by Robert T. Bakker - review. Interesting but not quite convincing - partly because he's arguing so hard for something that's reasonably well accepted these days (as it was not when the book was published). Now it reads like he's trying too hard.
That seems like a good place to break it. Especially since the next lot have a different drive behind them.
Books Read
65. The Cat# by Jean Johnson - review.
66. The Flame# by Jean Johnson - review.
67. The Storm# by Jean Johnson - review.
68. The Mage# by Jean Johnson - review. Not a wonderful climax, but the series overall is great. The answer sort of comes out of nowhere...
69. Complete Little Orphan Annie Volume 8 by Harold Gray - review. Good stories; Annie's getting a lot deeper than her earlier adventures.
70. A Soldier's Duty by Jean Johnson - review. First SF novel by the same author as the fantasy romances. Good! I'm looking for the next one.
71. The Stepsister Scheme* by Jim C. Hines - review. _Finally_ finished this. Very interesting universe, but the characters are a little hard to take.
72. A Brief History of Time* by Stephen Hawking - review. A little hard to take, especially when he gets wild near the end - hypotheses presented as fact, without even an equation to back them up (not that I'd understand the equations, but...) make my eyes glaze over. Glad I read it, though.
73. Magic Gifts by Ilona Andrews - review. Excellent short piece, luring me into Kate Daniels' universe
74. Invasion : Secret World Chronicles by Mercedes Lackey et al. - review. Meh. Great universe, with a collection of uninteresting/annoying/exasperating "heroes". I'll keep reading, but there's no one I care much about here.
75. The Shifter by Jean Johnson - review. This is the sequel to Shifting Plains. I like! Good story, good characters, it made me laugh quite a bit.
76. The Mermaid's Madness* by Jim C. Hines - review. Um. Yeah. I will keep trying (next book in the series), but I doubt I'll ever reread this - again, fascinating ideas but unpleasant, manipulative characters.
77 Absolutely, Positively by Heather Webber - review. Fun! Still no resolution on the main romance, but a great continuation of the story.
78. Ghost Ship by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller - review. Lovely. I do like Theo.
79. The Beak of the Finch* by Jonathan Weiner - review. Fantastic. A fascinating look at a long-term study of Darwin's finches - that shows up evolution happening on a human timescale. I've gotten several other people hooked on the book too (my Dad, for one).
80. Westward Weird by Martin H. Greenberg - review. Several very good stories, several very bad, a few middling.
81. Bond of Blood by Roberta Gellis - review. Good. I do enjoy Roberta Gellis' historical romances - she's really good at it.
82. Knight's Honor by Roberta Gellis - review. Another fun Gellis.
83. The Sword and the Swan by Roberta Gellis - review. Prequel to the Roselynde books
84. Roselynde# by Roberta Gellis - review. Reread, since I'd just read the prequel.
85. Alinor# by Roberta Gellis - review. Same. I do like Alinor (the character).
86. The Adventures of Tintin Vol. 5 by Hergé - review. And now for something completely different...Tintin is fun, as usual (don't try to make it make sense, though).
87. Murder in the Maze* by Sarah J. Mason - review. Yuck. Unpleasant characters and a big dose of homophobia. Need to remember not to read her.
88. Fair Game by Patricia Briggs - review. Love it - Charles and Anna get more integrated into Mercy's side of things. Great story, though I knew who the villain was way ahead of the protagonists.
89. Timeless by Gail Carriger - review. Eh. Amusing setup, annoying characters, way too precious language.
90. The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson - review. Decent fluff story (steampunk Western), _great_ universe (the Mistborne universe has actually developed technology!).
91. A Dog of Flanders* by Ouida - review. Sickly sweet - Little Match Girl style.
92. Into the Looking Glass by John Ringo - review. Great universe, if a little loose in the logic. Wish he hadn't gone so weird in the sequels.
93. Chalice# by Robin McKinley - review. Weird and fascinating, as always.
94. The Long Hunt by Debra Doyle & James MacDonald - review. Interesting, but a little too mystical for me. And a serious anti-climax. That's it? That's the big fight? Sheesh.
95. The Demon-Haunted World* by Carl Sagan - review. Many interesting bits that somehow didn't add up to an interesting (or valuable) book, to me.
96. More Than He Expected$ by Andrea Laurence - review. Nice fluff.
97. Lord of the Storm by Justine Davis - review. Fun! Davis can make even an SF sex slave seem reasonable...her characters are wonderful.
98. Impossible to Resist$ by Janice Maynard - review. OK fluff, with some unlikely characterizations detracting from the story.
99. The Cat Who Went to Heaven* by Elizabeth Coatsworth - review. Cute - not as sickly as A Dog of Flanders. The explanation of the Buddhist canon is interesting.
100. The Dinosaur Heresies* by Robert T. Bakker - review. Interesting but not quite convincing - partly because he's arguing so hard for something that's reasonably well accepted these days (as it was not when the book was published). Now it reads like he's trying too hard.
That seems like a good place to break it. Especially since the next lot have a different drive behind them.
35jjmcgaffey
Books Read
101. On the Prowl by Patricia Briggs - review. Two good stories, two bad. TIOLI October 2012, challenge #1 - random tag, anthology.
102. King Ottokar's Sceptre by Herge - review. Tintin-normal - if you don't think about it too much, it's fun.
103. Grendel* by John Gardner - review. Yuck. Was this banned to hook people into (defiantly) reading such an ugly book? I wouldn't have, otherwise. TIOLI October 2012, challenge #15 - banned book.
104. Glass, Stones and Crown* by Anne F. Rockwell - review. Now that's good. Interesting history, simple but not simplistic language, fascinating ideas. TIOLI October 2012, challenge #13 - book on architecture.
Currently Reading
The Survival Handbook, by Colin Towell - TIOLI. Interesting, a bit too in-depth for me. There are useful bits here and there, but I doubt I'll ever need to create a compass by stroking a needle through my hair...
Under the Vale, by Mercedes Lackey - TIOLI. The usual mixed bag in a Valdemar anthology.
The Loner, in The Target - by Linda Turner. Ugh, so far - I do want to finish it, but I doubt I'll keep it. Fortunately I have the other book in this omnibus as an individual book, so assuming Target of Opportunity is as good as I think it will be (it is a Justine Davis), I'll dump the omnibus and keep the single.
The Dragon and the Rose, by Roberta Gellis. Um. The first 1/3 to half was excellent - Henry VII (the end of the Wars of the Roses), from his childhood. Then he won and became king and married Elizabeth - and it became a maze of misunderstandings and not daring to speak and make oneself vulnerable...ghahh! I'm slogging through.
So I got lured into the October Take It Or Leave It challenge - it's fun. I'm not doing all of them, and I can't find a couple of the books I intended to read - we'll see if they show up, or if I have to switch books. But it's a nice director to some books I probably wouldn't have read otherwise - and now I can get rid of Grendel, yay. The more out the better - the next library booksale is next week... And it also reminded me to update this thread. What a chunk. Well, I'm well past the 75, but I think I'll just keep counting - see if I get up to 150.
101. On the Prowl by Patricia Briggs - review. Two good stories, two bad. TIOLI October 2012, challenge #1 - random tag, anthology.
102. King Ottokar's Sceptre by Herge - review. Tintin-normal - if you don't think about it too much, it's fun.
103. Grendel* by John Gardner - review. Yuck. Was this banned to hook people into (defiantly) reading such an ugly book? I wouldn't have, otherwise. TIOLI October 2012, challenge #15 - banned book.
104. Glass, Stones and Crown* by Anne F. Rockwell - review. Now that's good. Interesting history, simple but not simplistic language, fascinating ideas. TIOLI October 2012, challenge #13 - book on architecture.
Currently Reading
The Survival Handbook, by Colin Towell - TIOLI. Interesting, a bit too in-depth for me. There are useful bits here and there, but I doubt I'll ever need to create a compass by stroking a needle through my hair...
Under the Vale, by Mercedes Lackey - TIOLI. The usual mixed bag in a Valdemar anthology.
The Loner, in The Target - by Linda Turner. Ugh, so far - I do want to finish it, but I doubt I'll keep it. Fortunately I have the other book in this omnibus as an individual book, so assuming Target of Opportunity is as good as I think it will be (it is a Justine Davis), I'll dump the omnibus and keep the single.
The Dragon and the Rose, by Roberta Gellis. Um. The first 1/3 to half was excellent - Henry VII (the end of the Wars of the Roses), from his childhood. Then he won and became king and married Elizabeth - and it became a maze of misunderstandings and not daring to speak and make oneself vulnerable...ghahh! I'm slogging through.
So I got lured into the October Take It Or Leave It challenge - it's fun. I'm not doing all of them, and I can't find a couple of the books I intended to read - we'll see if they show up, or if I have to switch books. But it's a nice director to some books I probably wouldn't have read otherwise - and now I can get rid of Grendel, yay. The more out the better - the next library booksale is next week... And it also reminded me to update this thread. What a chunk. Well, I'm well past the 75, but I think I'll just keep counting - see if I get up to 150.
37jjmcgaffey
Yeah - it was pretty likely. I read a _lot_ (and I read fast - not quite the same thing). It's still fun to track it.
38jjmcgaffey
Oh, forgot this part -
BOMBS
The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines - discard.
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking - hmm. Discard - if I want to read it again, it's in the library.
The Mermaid's Madness by Jim C. Hines - discard.
The Beak of the Finch, by Jonathan Weiner - keep
Murder in the Maze by Sarah J. Mason - discard.
A Dog of Flanders by Ouida - discard
The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan - discard, I think.
The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth - Hmmm. Cute...but discard, I think.
The Dinosaur Heresies by Robert T. Bakker - discard, I think. Glad I read it, don't need to reread.
Grendel by John Gardner - discard.
Glass, Stones and Crown - keep
Very nice! Of 11 old books read for the first time, discard 9. There are also a few discards among newer books - the two Harlequins are fun, but not worth a reread I don't think.
A lot of library books and ebooks in this lot - I've lost track of relative BOMBS to rereads. Start now, assuming even.
BOMBS
The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines - discard.
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking - hmm. Discard - if I want to read it again, it's in the library.
The Mermaid's Madness by Jim C. Hines - discard.
The Beak of the Finch, by Jonathan Weiner - keep
Murder in the Maze by Sarah J. Mason - discard.
A Dog of Flanders by Ouida - discard
The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan - discard, I think.
The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth - Hmmm. Cute...but discard, I think.
The Dinosaur Heresies by Robert T. Bakker - discard, I think. Glad I read it, don't need to reread.
Grendel by John Gardner - discard.
Glass, Stones and Crown - keep
Very nice! Of 11 old books read for the first time, discard 9. There are also a few discards among newer books - the two Harlequins are fun, but not worth a reread I don't think.
A lot of library books and ebooks in this lot - I've lost track of relative BOMBS to rereads. Start now, assuming even.
39jjmcgaffey
Books Read (I'll keep adding to this one for a while)
105. The Dragon and the Rose, by Roberta Gellis - review. Possibly the worst Gellis historical romance I've read - a little too true to life, to Henry VII and Elizabeth of York's miserable, tangled, plot-filled relationship. The first part, Henry's childhood and young adulthood, are great, but once he becomes king, ick - I was slogging. Ebook, so keeping it.
106. Under the Vale*, edited by Mercedes Lackey - review (not yet). Assortment, as usual - none that really turned me off, but none that struck me as wonderful either. I liked the Selenay and Daren one, but nothing much _happened_. And one story was half a story, which drives me mad - I presume the climax will show up in a later anthology, but it's going to have a lot of annoyance to overcome before I think it's good. Hmmm, it occurred to me why I don't think much of it - most of the stories are insider, fanfic sorts of things - if you know the whole story, they're neat, but without that previous background they're variously incomprehensible or just plain boring. Shipping the Herald and the Bard, for instance - since I've pretty much forgotten the previous stories about them, it was largely pointless. TIOLI October 2012, challenge #6 - book starting with Un.
107. Champ, Gallant Collie by Patricia Lauber - review. Saw it in a used book store, picked it up and read it - 10 minutes, maybe. But a fun, sweet (but not too sweet) story.
Currently Reading
Working on The Survival Handbook (TIOLI) - it's a big, dense book, I'm reading it at the table a few pages at a time. I'll _probably_ finish it this month...
Started The Book of Night with Moon by Diane Duane. It's not, itself, a TIOLI book - but it's the first one in the series and the second one is a TIOLI book (To Visit the Queen was published in the UK as On Her Majesty's Wizardly Service). Also I felt like reading it again, especially as I don't seem to have reviewed it yet. And I think I'll read the third book, too, just to get it done - less interested in early Hollywood than modern New York or London, I guess. Or it's a little too hardboiled, or something. But I have The Big Meow as an ebook, and I would like to finish it (it was being serialized for a while, then stopped, then was released entire at last).
105. The Dragon and the Rose, by Roberta Gellis - review. Possibly the worst Gellis historical romance I've read - a little too true to life, to Henry VII and Elizabeth of York's miserable, tangled, plot-filled relationship. The first part, Henry's childhood and young adulthood, are great, but once he becomes king, ick - I was slogging. Ebook, so keeping it.
106. Under the Vale*, edited by Mercedes Lackey - review (not yet). Assortment, as usual - none that really turned me off, but none that struck me as wonderful either. I liked the Selenay and Daren one, but nothing much _happened_. And one story was half a story, which drives me mad - I presume the climax will show up in a later anthology, but it's going to have a lot of annoyance to overcome before I think it's good. Hmmm, it occurred to me why I don't think much of it - most of the stories are insider, fanfic sorts of things - if you know the whole story, they're neat, but without that previous background they're variously incomprehensible or just plain boring. Shipping the Herald and the Bard, for instance - since I've pretty much forgotten the previous stories about them, it was largely pointless. TIOLI October 2012, challenge #6 - book starting with Un.
107. Champ, Gallant Collie by Patricia Lauber - review. Saw it in a used book store, picked it up and read it - 10 minutes, maybe. But a fun, sweet (but not too sweet) story.
Currently Reading
Working on The Survival Handbook (TIOLI) - it's a big, dense book, I'm reading it at the table a few pages at a time. I'll _probably_ finish it this month...
Started The Book of Night with Moon by Diane Duane. It's not, itself, a TIOLI book - but it's the first one in the series and the second one is a TIOLI book (To Visit the Queen was published in the UK as On Her Majesty's Wizardly Service). Also I felt like reading it again, especially as I don't seem to have reviewed it yet. And I think I'll read the third book, too, just to get it done - less interested in early Hollywood than modern New York or London, I guess. Or it's a little too hardboiled, or something. But I have The Big Meow as an ebook, and I would like to finish it (it was being serialized for a while, then stopped, then was released entire at last).
40jjmcgaffey
Books Read
108. The Book of Night with Moon#, by Diane Duane - review. Love it, as always. Feline Timeheart wizards, dealing with Gates and minor things like the potential destruction of the universe...
109. To Visit the Queen#, by Diane Duane - review. Not quite as wonderful as Night with Moon, which means only great. A very tangled, confused, convoluted book - this time they're dealing with the potential destruction of the _multiverse_. TIOLI October 2012, challenge #10 - book published under a different name (it was On Her Majesty's Wizardly Service in the UK).
Currently Reading
Still working on The Survival Handbook - I got distracted by the Feline Wizards and have been reading them at table as well, so I haven't read any of it in a while. I'll get back to it.
I'm going to start, as an ebook, The Big Meow - the third Feline Wizards book. I've read about half of it before, but not the whole thing - what I have is an eARC, what Diane Duane put out after the sequential publishing of the book didn't quite work. I hope it comes out as a real book sometime - not so much in paper, though I'd be happy to get it, but a finished, polished ebook would be great. And ebooks for the other two, as well...hope!
Need to read The Disappearing Spoon - it's due back at the library soon. I'll just return the other library book. Oh rats, there's also The Graveyard Book - that one's not due back quite yet, but soon, and it's a TIOLI. OK, renew Spoon and read Graveyard.
108. The Book of Night with Moon#, by Diane Duane - review. Love it, as always. Feline Timeheart wizards, dealing with Gates and minor things like the potential destruction of the universe...
109. To Visit the Queen#, by Diane Duane - review. Not quite as wonderful as Night with Moon, which means only great. A very tangled, confused, convoluted book - this time they're dealing with the potential destruction of the _multiverse_. TIOLI October 2012, challenge #10 - book published under a different name (it was On Her Majesty's Wizardly Service in the UK).
Currently Reading
Still working on The Survival Handbook - I got distracted by the Feline Wizards and have been reading them at table as well, so I haven't read any of it in a while. I'll get back to it.
I'm going to start, as an ebook, The Big Meow - the third Feline Wizards book. I've read about half of it before, but not the whole thing - what I have is an eARC, what Diane Duane put out after the sequential publishing of the book didn't quite work. I hope it comes out as a real book sometime - not so much in paper, though I'd be happy to get it, but a finished, polished ebook would be great. And ebooks for the other two, as well...hope!
Need to read The Disappearing Spoon - it's due back at the library soon. I'll just return the other library book. Oh rats, there's also The Graveyard Book - that one's not due back quite yet, but soon, and it's a TIOLI. OK, renew Spoon and read Graveyard.
41jjmcgaffey
Books Read
110. The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman - review. Fun, deeper (more philosophy) than I expected. TIOLI October 2012, challenge #11 - a book with a title word relating to a cemetery.
111. Glenraven*, by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Holly Lisle - review. Weird book, but an interesting story. Not TIOLI, but prep - next I'll read Into the Rift, which is a TIOLI book.
112. The Survival Handbook*, by Colin Towell - review. Dense, _lots_ of info, but eventually disappointing - there were errors I could identify, which meant I couldn't trust the info in subjects I didn't know enough about to identify errors. TIOLI October 2012, challenge #9 - book about survival.
Currently Reading
The Disappearing Spoon, just because - that's not a TIOLI, but I want to read it. It's fascinating but too dense to read at a sitting. I'll have to make it a table book, as soon as I finish The Survival Handbook.
Still working on The Survival Handbook. Getting near the end, whew. Done!
I should work on more TIOLI books, but I think I'm going to start the Mercy Thompson series. It's been sitting there waiting for me for quite a while. Or maybe not - I just got the last book I didn't own, so there's no library books involved. Now I can take as long as I want.
And The Big Meow as an ebook - it'll take me a while to read it, probably, unless I'm stuck somewhere.
Sheesh. Now I'm reading two more ebooks, Jane Carver of Waar and Shadow Unit 1. The first I was looking at on Baen Ebooks, read through the first few chapters (the free stuff), and bought - haven't started back in on it, but I will soon. That's fun. And Shadow Unit 1 I got from the Humble Ebook Bundle - I wouldn't have picked it up otherwise, it didn't sound interesting. Then I wanted to test reading a .mobi book in FBReader (it works fine, BTW) - and read through the intro, the first story and the start of the third before firmly putting it down to go to sleep. I'll be back to that soon. But I want to finish The Big Meow first!
So now I'm starting In The Rift, for TIOLI.
Of the BOMBs - one keep (for now), one discard.
110. The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman - review. Fun, deeper (more philosophy) than I expected. TIOLI October 2012, challenge #11 - a book with a title word relating to a cemetery.
111. Glenraven*, by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Holly Lisle - review. Weird book, but an interesting story. Not TIOLI, but prep - next I'll read Into the Rift, which is a TIOLI book.
112. The Survival Handbook*, by Colin Towell - review. Dense, _lots_ of info, but eventually disappointing - there were errors I could identify, which meant I couldn't trust the info in subjects I didn't know enough about to identify errors. TIOLI October 2012, challenge #9 - book about survival.
Currently Reading
The Disappearing Spoon, just because - that's not a TIOLI, but I want to read it. It's fascinating but too dense to read at a sitting. I'll have to make it a table book, as soon as I finish The Survival Handbook.
Still working on The Survival Handbook. Getting near the end, whew. Done!
I should work on more TIOLI books, but I think I'm going to start the Mercy Thompson series. It's been sitting there waiting for me for quite a while. Or maybe not - I just got the last book I didn't own, so there's no library books involved. Now I can take as long as I want.
And The Big Meow as an ebook - it'll take me a while to read it, probably, unless I'm stuck somewhere.
Sheesh. Now I'm reading two more ebooks, Jane Carver of Waar and Shadow Unit 1. The first I was looking at on Baen Ebooks, read through the first few chapters (the free stuff), and bought - haven't started back in on it, but I will soon. That's fun. And Shadow Unit 1 I got from the Humble Ebook Bundle - I wouldn't have picked it up otherwise, it didn't sound interesting. Then I wanted to test reading a .mobi book in FBReader (it works fine, BTW) - and read through the intro, the first story and the start of the third before firmly putting it down to go to sleep. I'll be back to that soon. But I want to finish The Big Meow first!
So now I'm starting In The Rift, for TIOLI.
Of the BOMBs - one keep (for now), one discard.
42jjmcgaffey
Books Read
113. In the Rift*, by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Holly Lisle - review. Not bad. A lot of philosophy, which I wasn't expecting - and a nice ending, not happily ever after in Glenraven. A lot of questions left, but not loose ends, not really. TIOLI October 2012, Challenge #12. Also a BOMB - I'll keep it, for now at least.
114. The Yoga Adventure for Children*, by Helen Purperhart - review. Interesting book, but not for me. Sorry it took me so long to review it! TIOLI October 2012, Challenge #2 - ER book received over a year ago (October 2007! Only 5 years old...).
115. 1066 And All That*, by W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman - review. Yuck. You know those funny bits with stuff kids get wrong on tests? This is 116 pages of that, about English history. Boring, and gone. TIOLI October 2012, Challenge #14 - book with letters and numbers in the title.
Currently Reading
Trying to do a few more TIOLI reads, easy ones (In the Rift was one). Cosmicomics is a (favorite) reread, 1066 And All That is comedy and should be pretty fast, and I'd like to read The Yoga Adventure for Children just to get it off my list (a very old ER book that I've never read or reviewed). The rest of the TIOLI books are too heavy or simply too long to read today, so I'm skipping them.
Still reading The Big Meow as an ebook, with two more ebooks lined up as soon as I'm done. Not spending enough time in waiting rooms and such, so I have to read them at home...
And The Disappearing Spoon is my table book now and for another week or two, I suspect. Bite-size bits - a few pages, seldom as much as a chapter - at each meal make it work perfectly for me.
BOMB - one keeper, so far, and two discards.
113. In the Rift*, by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Holly Lisle - review. Not bad. A lot of philosophy, which I wasn't expecting - and a nice ending, not happily ever after in Glenraven. A lot of questions left, but not loose ends, not really. TIOLI October 2012, Challenge #12. Also a BOMB - I'll keep it, for now at least.
114. The Yoga Adventure for Children*, by Helen Purperhart - review. Interesting book, but not for me. Sorry it took me so long to review it! TIOLI October 2012, Challenge #2 - ER book received over a year ago (October 2007! Only 5 years old...).
115. 1066 And All That*, by W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman - review. Yuck. You know those funny bits with stuff kids get wrong on tests? This is 116 pages of that, about English history. Boring, and gone. TIOLI October 2012, Challenge #14 - book with letters and numbers in the title.
Currently Reading
Trying to do a few more TIOLI reads, easy ones (In the Rift was one). Cosmicomics is a (favorite) reread, 1066 And All That is comedy and should be pretty fast, and I'd like to read The Yoga Adventure for Children just to get it off my list (a very old ER book that I've never read or reviewed). The rest of the TIOLI books are too heavy or simply too long to read today, so I'm skipping them.
Still reading The Big Meow as an ebook, with two more ebooks lined up as soon as I'm done. Not spending enough time in waiting rooms and such, so I have to read them at home...
And The Disappearing Spoon is my table book now and for another week or two, I suspect. Bite-size bits - a few pages, seldom as much as a chapter - at each meal make it work perfectly for me.
BOMB - one keeper, so far, and two discards.
43jjmcgaffey
Books Read
116. The Big Meow, by Diane Duane - review. Needs work - what I have is an e-ARC. Glad I read it, really hope I get a chance to read it after she's had a chance to polish it up. Technically I finished this before In the Rift...but I'm going to count it here (mostly so I don't have to mess with the previous post). Ebook.
117. The Eggchild#, by Lorna Baxter - review. Love this, as always (this is probably my dozenth read). I picked it up to see if it answered a Name That Book request (it didn't) and couldn't put it down until I'd finished.
118. The Disappearing Spoon, by Sam Kean - review. Fun, and I'd like to reread - but nothing much stuck. Well, a few anecdotes, which is more than I'd had before. Library book.
119. Mercy Thompson: Homecoming, by Patricia Briggs - review. Good story - particularly interesting as I don't remember much of Mercy's story, so this was almost like coming to it fresh. And a great lead-in to a reread of the series. Library book.
120. Shadow Unit 1, by Emma Bull - review. Oh, that's good. A very interesting universe, with a premise that neither the characters nor the readers are sure about, at least as far as this book goes - it's presented as a TV show, a paranormal cop story/CSI, with individual episodes by different authors. Ebook.
121. Unnatural Issue, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Good. The next one in the Elemental Masters series; the fairy tale is Donkeyskin, but it's not nearly as harsh a story as Robin McKinley's Deerskin. And Robin's there! And Peter! Very good. Ebook.
122. Moon Called#, by Patricia Briggs - review. Finally restarting Mercy's series. I've read this at least once before; interesting universe, annoying every-male-dangling-after-the-heroine trope.
123. Blood Bound#, by Patricia Briggs - review. Second book in Mercy's series; still too many males dangling after her. Good story, but the love triangle (love square?) obscures that.
124. Iron Kissed*, by Patricia Briggs - review. Ah, there we go! Love triangle neatly and effectively resolved (and no, he doesn't get another female to bond with!). Also a strong mystery/thriller, as Mercy gets snagged into poking her nose into Fae affairs as well...with serious consequences for her, among others. Apparently this was my first full read, too. Keeper.
Currently Reading
Still working on Cosmicomics. I didn't finish it in time for TIOLI - got about halfway through by midnight October 31. Then I got distracted and I've stayed that way. I'll finish it eventually. Maybe I should make it my table book (since I don't currently have a good solid non-fiction to fill that role).
Also still reading Jane Carver of Waar. Slightly uneven - I think I'm seeing "male gaze" at times, she's thinking about herself as a sexual object. And then she thinks how what she really misses is cuddling, and she's back to feeling real... Poor Jane, the obstacles thrown in her way! I think I need to reread at least a couple John Carters, just to see how well he caught the style. It's pretty close, though (I read Tarzan quite a bit, so I know Burroughs' style in general).
Primarily, though, I'm reading Mercy's series. Bone Crossed is next.
And I can't spend too much time reading, though I want to - I've been out sick (just a cold, but one of those that really knocks you out) for the past week, so I've got a lot of stuff to catch up with - and Thanksgiving coming. Not doing a big meal - it's just my parents and myself, and we're going to a restaurant (save our energy for Christmas, when the family's coming), but I am baking pies, for us and for donation.
116. The Big Meow, by Diane Duane - review. Needs work - what I have is an e-ARC. Glad I read it, really hope I get a chance to read it after she's had a chance to polish it up. Technically I finished this before In the Rift...but I'm going to count it here (mostly so I don't have to mess with the previous post). Ebook.
117. The Eggchild#, by Lorna Baxter - review. Love this, as always (this is probably my dozenth read). I picked it up to see if it answered a Name That Book request (it didn't) and couldn't put it down until I'd finished.
118. The Disappearing Spoon, by Sam Kean - review. Fun, and I'd like to reread - but nothing much stuck. Well, a few anecdotes, which is more than I'd had before. Library book.
119. Mercy Thompson: Homecoming, by Patricia Briggs - review. Good story - particularly interesting as I don't remember much of Mercy's story, so this was almost like coming to it fresh. And a great lead-in to a reread of the series. Library book.
120. Shadow Unit 1, by Emma Bull - review. Oh, that's good. A very interesting universe, with a premise that neither the characters nor the readers are sure about, at least as far as this book goes - it's presented as a TV show, a paranormal cop story/CSI, with individual episodes by different authors. Ebook.
121. Unnatural Issue, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Good. The next one in the Elemental Masters series; the fairy tale is Donkeyskin, but it's not nearly as harsh a story as Robin McKinley's Deerskin. And Robin's there! And Peter! Very good. Ebook.
122. Moon Called#, by Patricia Briggs - review. Finally restarting Mercy's series. I've read this at least once before; interesting universe, annoying every-male-dangling-after-the-heroine trope.
123. Blood Bound#, by Patricia Briggs - review. Second book in Mercy's series; still too many males dangling after her. Good story, but the love triangle (love square?) obscures that.
124. Iron Kissed*, by Patricia Briggs - review. Ah, there we go! Love triangle neatly and effectively resolved (and no, he doesn't get another female to bond with!). Also a strong mystery/thriller, as Mercy gets snagged into poking her nose into Fae affairs as well...with serious consequences for her, among others. Apparently this was my first full read, too. Keeper.
Currently Reading
Still working on Cosmicomics. I didn't finish it in time for TIOLI - got about halfway through by midnight October 31. Then I got distracted and I've stayed that way. I'll finish it eventually. Maybe I should make it my table book (since I don't currently have a good solid non-fiction to fill that role).
Also still reading Jane Carver of Waar. Slightly uneven - I think I'm seeing "male gaze" at times, she's thinking about herself as a sexual object. And then she thinks how what she really misses is cuddling, and she's back to feeling real... Poor Jane, the obstacles thrown in her way! I think I need to reread at least a couple John Carters, just to see how well he caught the style. It's pretty close, though (I read Tarzan quite a bit, so I know Burroughs' style in general).
Primarily, though, I'm reading Mercy's series. Bone Crossed is next.
And I can't spend too much time reading, though I want to - I've been out sick (just a cold, but one of those that really knocks you out) for the past week, so I've got a lot of stuff to catch up with - and Thanksgiving coming. Not doing a big meal - it's just my parents and myself, and we're going to a restaurant (save our energy for Christmas, when the family's coming), but I am baking pies, for us and for donation.
44ronincats
Thanks for the update on The Big Meow. I thought she was never going to finish it. I may even have subscribed at some point, years ago. I know I read it online up to the point where she took that long hiatus, but can't remember any of it now.
Hope you are feeling better.
Hope you are feeling better.
45jjmcgaffey
If you subscribed online, you can get the eARC - contact her/them on the website, which I think is something like bigmeow.com or thebigmeow.com (I don't have my bookmarks at the moment). They'll help you log in, and then you can get the book.
I remembered enough to keep checking back (at long intervals), and when she finally decided the subscription model wasn't working and released the whole thing to anyone who had subscribed (and paid for a book? Not sure about that), I found out only a couple months later. It worked. Though it took another couple months to get the new login etc.
And yes, feeling much better. Still not 100%, but a lot closer - enough to get caught up on all the chores that fell behind while I was sick...sigh. Thanks.
ETA - it's the-big-meow.com
I remembered enough to keep checking back (at long intervals), and when she finally decided the subscription model wasn't working and released the whole thing to anyone who had subscribed (and paid for a book? Not sure about that), I found out only a couple months later. It worked. Though it took another couple months to get the new login etc.
And yes, feeling much better. Still not 100%, but a lot closer - enough to get caught up on all the chores that fell behind while I was sick...sigh. Thanks.
ETA - it's the-big-meow.com
46jjmcgaffey
Books Read
125. Bone Crossed, by Patricia Briggs - review. Nice continuation of the series - a new, higher-level enemy. Who is probably dealt with, for a change, by the end of the book - though not necessarily all the ends tied up.
126. Silver Borne*, by Patricia Briggs - review. Interestingly different - not yet another grand threat, but (relatively) minor problems from all directions, interweaving. Quite a bit about werewolf and Fae politics, here.
127. Lady in the Dark, by Peter O'Donnell - review. Minor interruption - I got a new Modesty Blaise strip compilation, and couldn't wait to read it. Fun, as always - nothing wonderful, but nicer than the last one (which was rather grim).
128. River Marked*, by Patricia Briggs - review. Last one (so far) - again, quite different. The Fae seem to have decided that Mercy's a good troubleshooter - and in the process of shooting this particular trouble, she learns a heck of a lot about herself and her heritage. Really not what she's believed all her life...
129. Jane Carver of Waar, by Nathan Long - review. Not bad, interesting, not a favorite. It's an annoying style that Long has captured very accurately. And I do want to read the next book, and _may_ reread this one. But not frequently.
130. Ashes of Honor, by Seanan McGuire - review. Lovely, the latest Toby Daye story. Toby's growing up...a lot of changes, even more (and deeper) than the last book. Next, please!
131. Beauty and the Werewolf, by Mercedes Lackey - review. A nice 500 Kingdoms book - a wild mix of fairy tales, not even counting the ones she consciously avoids allowing to develop. Why is it not a good idea for everyone to know about the Tradition? Hmmm.
132. Magic Bites, by Ilona Andrews - review. I'm glad I got hooked by the short story I read a while ago, because this one wouldn't have drawn me in. I need to read later ones in the series.
133. Alphas: Origins {novella}, by Ilona Andrews - review. A very interesting introduction to a new (?) world - I'd like to read more.
134. Alpha & Omega {novella}, by Patricia Briggs - review. Having read all of Mercy, I now need(ed) to read Anna and Charles. I dug up the novella to begin it properly (got the standalone ebook). Love it as always.
135. Cry Wolf#, by Patricia Briggs - review. Again, lovely as usual. And much better immediately after the novella.
136. Hunting Ground*, by Patricia Briggs - review. Funny. I thought I'd read this, before I read Fair Game when it came out - but I hadn't, at all. Good story, good expansion of the world.
137. Fair Game, by Patricia Briggs - review. Got the ebook because I didn't have the patience to wait until the library book became available. Good story, both for Charles and Anna and with major changes that will affect all of this world (Mercy, too). The next book (which I think is Mercy, Frost Burned) will be _very_ interesting.
138. The Keeper of the Bees*, by Gene Stratton-Porter - review. Good story - could have been better, less preachy, but still one I'll reread frequently.
139. Yankee in Oz*, by Ruth Plumly Thompson - review. Cute, in the proper Oz vein. One thing that I hadn't seen before (though there's a lot of Oz books I haven't read) - Tompy, the boy hero, has read the Oz books and therefore knows quite a bit about the place and some of the rules and tricks to get by. I don't know if I'll reread, but I'm glad I read it.
140. Trio of Sorcery#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Three good stories - two established series and one new one, and all three ones I'd like to see more of. I was scanning the cover and just glanced inside...
141. Rapunzel's Revenge, by Shannon Hale - review. I've picked this up in the library a half-dozen times, but this time I actually read all of it. Cute, fun, I'll keep an eye out for the next book...but I'm not sure I'll ever bother to reread it, it's a little _too_ cute for me. Nicely managed fairy tale, though.
Currently Reading
The Medusa and the Snail by Lewis Thomas, as my table book. It's not very good. He keeps making assertions/assumptions, then using them as the basis for the next chapter's argument as if they were true. I keep stopping to read something else, instead. But I'll get through it - and then get rid of it.
March Upcountry by David Weber. Why I'm reading this I don't know - it wasn't on my TBR pile, but I was fooling around with my ebooks and it suddenly insisted on being read. I have it in both ebook and paper copies, and I think I'll be switching back and forth. And of course I'll have to read the whole series...
And I _will_ finish Cosmicomics! I'll make it my table book as soon as I finish the Lewis Thomas.
Well, it's been a while - I got pretty busy over Thanksgiving. But I managed to read quite a few, too.
125. Bone Crossed, by Patricia Briggs - review. Nice continuation of the series - a new, higher-level enemy. Who is probably dealt with, for a change, by the end of the book - though not necessarily all the ends tied up.
126. Silver Borne*, by Patricia Briggs - review. Interestingly different - not yet another grand threat, but (relatively) minor problems from all directions, interweaving. Quite a bit about werewolf and Fae politics, here.
127. Lady in the Dark, by Peter O'Donnell - review. Minor interruption - I got a new Modesty Blaise strip compilation, and couldn't wait to read it. Fun, as always - nothing wonderful, but nicer than the last one (which was rather grim).
128. River Marked*, by Patricia Briggs - review. Last one (so far) - again, quite different. The Fae seem to have decided that Mercy's a good troubleshooter - and in the process of shooting this particular trouble, she learns a heck of a lot about herself and her heritage. Really not what she's believed all her life...
129. Jane Carver of Waar, by Nathan Long - review. Not bad, interesting, not a favorite. It's an annoying style that Long has captured very accurately. And I do want to read the next book, and _may_ reread this one. But not frequently.
130. Ashes of Honor, by Seanan McGuire - review. Lovely, the latest Toby Daye story. Toby's growing up...a lot of changes, even more (and deeper) than the last book. Next, please!
131. Beauty and the Werewolf, by Mercedes Lackey - review. A nice 500 Kingdoms book - a wild mix of fairy tales, not even counting the ones she consciously avoids allowing to develop. Why is it not a good idea for everyone to know about the Tradition? Hmmm.
132. Magic Bites, by Ilona Andrews - review. I'm glad I got hooked by the short story I read a while ago, because this one wouldn't have drawn me in. I need to read later ones in the series.
133. Alphas: Origins {novella}, by Ilona Andrews - review. A very interesting introduction to a new (?) world - I'd like to read more.
134. Alpha & Omega {novella}, by Patricia Briggs - review. Having read all of Mercy, I now need(ed) to read Anna and Charles. I dug up the novella to begin it properly (got the standalone ebook). Love it as always.
135. Cry Wolf#, by Patricia Briggs - review. Again, lovely as usual. And much better immediately after the novella.
136. Hunting Ground*, by Patricia Briggs - review. Funny. I thought I'd read this, before I read Fair Game when it came out - but I hadn't, at all. Good story, good expansion of the world.
137. Fair Game, by Patricia Briggs - review. Got the ebook because I didn't have the patience to wait until the library book became available. Good story, both for Charles and Anna and with major changes that will affect all of this world (Mercy, too). The next book (which I think is Mercy, Frost Burned) will be _very_ interesting.
138. The Keeper of the Bees*, by Gene Stratton-Porter - review. Good story - could have been better, less preachy, but still one I'll reread frequently.
139. Yankee in Oz*, by Ruth Plumly Thompson - review. Cute, in the proper Oz vein. One thing that I hadn't seen before (though there's a lot of Oz books I haven't read) - Tompy, the boy hero, has read the Oz books and therefore knows quite a bit about the place and some of the rules and tricks to get by. I don't know if I'll reread, but I'm glad I read it.
140. Trio of Sorcery#, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Three good stories - two established series and one new one, and all three ones I'd like to see more of. I was scanning the cover and just glanced inside...
141. Rapunzel's Revenge, by Shannon Hale - review. I've picked this up in the library a half-dozen times, but this time I actually read all of it. Cute, fun, I'll keep an eye out for the next book...but I'm not sure I'll ever bother to reread it, it's a little _too_ cute for me. Nicely managed fairy tale, though.
Currently Reading
The Medusa and the Snail by Lewis Thomas, as my table book. It's not very good. He keeps making assertions/assumptions, then using them as the basis for the next chapter's argument as if they were true. I keep stopping to read something else, instead. But I'll get through it - and then get rid of it.
March Upcountry by David Weber. Why I'm reading this I don't know - it wasn't on my TBR pile, but I was fooling around with my ebooks and it suddenly insisted on being read. I have it in both ebook and paper copies, and I think I'll be switching back and forth. And of course I'll have to read the whole series...
And I _will_ finish Cosmicomics! I'll make it my table book as soon as I finish the Lewis Thomas.
Well, it's been a while - I got pretty busy over Thanksgiving. But I managed to read quite a few, too.
47ronincats
Even if you weren't around here much, you got a lot of good reading done! Are you going to have a thread for 2013?
and Happy New Year!
and Happy New Year!
48jjmcgaffey
Yeah, quite a bit of reading. And I do enjoy listing them, even if it's a pain sometimes. Yeah, I think I will do it again in 2013.
Need to list the last few books for this year, though!
Need to list the last few books for this year, though!
49jjmcgaffey
Books Read
142. March Upcountry#, by David Weber - review. An old favorite. I do love stories where the spoiled brat learns to be a decent person - and those around him/her learn that s/he can really contribute. Read (all this series) as a mix of paper and ebook - switching back and forth as the whim took me.
143. March to the Sea#, by David Weber - review. Not quite as good as March Upcountry, at least partly because the gore becomes somewhat repetitious. But still fun (and lots of character development).
144. March to the Stars#, by David Weber - review. Still downhill - all the way down to very good. Too much gore, too many twists in their eventual goal, and some very nasty events. But still some development, not only from Roger, and more understanding of the characters. I'd read but not reviewed this one and Sea, so good, I managed to get them reviewed.
145. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, by Lois McMasters Bujold - review. Great book. First read of an ebook - and I don't know why I interrupted Prince Roger, I just suddenly wanted to read this. A worthy part of the Vor series - Ivan makes a great protagonist, and he has more in common with Miles than either of them would believe.
146. We Few#, by David Weber - review. Not great. Too many twisty plots and doublethinking, and (unfortunately) the action goes back into space so Weber gets to spend pages on thousands of missiles and the details of acceleration, etc. The final scene, though, I think is worth it. And I'd read another if they wrote it.
147. The Medusa and the Snail*, by Lewis Thomas - review. Bleah. Several interesting or well-written essays, a lot badly written or relying on previous assertions for their arguments, and by the end I was annoyed enough that while I agreed with many of his opinions it was only reluctantly that I admitted he actually had good ideas. Yay, dump!
148. Moon of Three Rings*, by Andre Norton - review. Language too high (Andre style), actions too opaque, plotting too convoluted and hidden (all the way to the end - the explanation makes less sense than not knowing). I'll keep it long enough to read the rest of the series and see if any of it is worth keeping.
149. Redoubt, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Good. More of a conclusion than the previous one - Mags has actually learned something, and has more info that he hasn't yet reviewed. Interesting events - Mags gets pushed to use a totally different set of skills (several, actually, counting trying to deal with Amily). And he's lost most of his accent, yay.
150. Magic Burns, by Illona Andrews - review. Library book. MUCH better - this one's worth reading, and I want the next. The writing's much smoother, dialog and description flow, and - yeah. This is what I got hooked on (when I read the much later short story).
151. War Maid's Choice by David Weber - review. Nearly forgot about this one, though I enjoyed it quite a lot. I'm reading in too many places! This was an ebook (on my new tablet!), and I only mentioned I'd read it in the Final 2012 ReadaThing thread. Nice book - Bahzell is _not_ the protagonist, for a change, though he's a pivot for a lot of the changes happening. And with a six-year gap (in-universe) since the last book, a lot of things have changed and a good many haven't. Good story.
Currently Reading
Kon-Tiki, by Thor Heyerdahl - my table book (I forgot about Cosmicomics). Interesting, but dense. He's explaining all the makeshifts and plots and begging he did to set up the trip.
Agatha H. and the Airship City by Phil and Kaja Foglio - the novel of the graphic novel. Interesting - I think I'm going to read both of them simultaneously. With the novel, of course, we get a lot more explanation of what people are thinking...which helps! Complicated story. Which I know well - from half a dozen rereads of the graphic novel - but still. Oh, and reading it as an ebook.
This thread was a lot of fun. It's hard keeping track of my books, in too many places (I really wish the LT app (for Android) would happen, so I could date, rate and review on my phone immediately when I finish a book rather than having to go find a computer). And of course it takes time - just the copy-and-pasting, and writing the mini-review (and yes, I could skip that, but I like it). But I do enjoy listing them here, and the interaction with others in the thread. I'd like to put more about what else I'm doing, too - maybe I can manage that in 2013. More of an integrated chronicle and less of a simple list of books.
See you there!
142. March Upcountry#, by David Weber - review. An old favorite. I do love stories where the spoiled brat learns to be a decent person - and those around him/her learn that s/he can really contribute. Read (all this series) as a mix of paper and ebook - switching back and forth as the whim took me.
143. March to the Sea#, by David Weber - review. Not quite as good as March Upcountry, at least partly because the gore becomes somewhat repetitious. But still fun (and lots of character development).
144. March to the Stars#, by David Weber - review. Still downhill - all the way down to very good. Too much gore, too many twists in their eventual goal, and some very nasty events. But still some development, not only from Roger, and more understanding of the characters. I'd read but not reviewed this one and Sea, so good, I managed to get them reviewed.
145. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, by Lois McMasters Bujold - review. Great book. First read of an ebook - and I don't know why I interrupted Prince Roger, I just suddenly wanted to read this. A worthy part of the Vor series - Ivan makes a great protagonist, and he has more in common with Miles than either of them would believe.
146. We Few#, by David Weber - review. Not great. Too many twisty plots and doublethinking, and (unfortunately) the action goes back into space so Weber gets to spend pages on thousands of missiles and the details of acceleration, etc. The final scene, though, I think is worth it. And I'd read another if they wrote it.
147. The Medusa and the Snail*, by Lewis Thomas - review. Bleah. Several interesting or well-written essays, a lot badly written or relying on previous assertions for their arguments, and by the end I was annoyed enough that while I agreed with many of his opinions it was only reluctantly that I admitted he actually had good ideas. Yay, dump!
148. Moon of Three Rings*, by Andre Norton - review. Language too high (Andre style), actions too opaque, plotting too convoluted and hidden (all the way to the end - the explanation makes less sense than not knowing). I'll keep it long enough to read the rest of the series and see if any of it is worth keeping.
149. Redoubt, by Mercedes Lackey - review. Good. More of a conclusion than the previous one - Mags has actually learned something, and has more info that he hasn't yet reviewed. Interesting events - Mags gets pushed to use a totally different set of skills (several, actually, counting trying to deal with Amily). And he's lost most of his accent, yay.
150. Magic Burns, by Illona Andrews - review. Library book. MUCH better - this one's worth reading, and I want the next. The writing's much smoother, dialog and description flow, and - yeah. This is what I got hooked on (when I read the much later short story).
151. War Maid's Choice by David Weber - review. Nearly forgot about this one, though I enjoyed it quite a lot. I'm reading in too many places! This was an ebook (on my new tablet!), and I only mentioned I'd read it in the Final 2012 ReadaThing thread. Nice book - Bahzell is _not_ the protagonist, for a change, though he's a pivot for a lot of the changes happening. And with a six-year gap (in-universe) since the last book, a lot of things have changed and a good many haven't. Good story.
Currently Reading
Kon-Tiki, by Thor Heyerdahl - my table book (I forgot about Cosmicomics). Interesting, but dense. He's explaining all the makeshifts and plots and begging he did to set up the trip.
Agatha H. and the Airship City by Phil and Kaja Foglio - the novel of the graphic novel. Interesting - I think I'm going to read both of them simultaneously. With the novel, of course, we get a lot more explanation of what people are thinking...which helps! Complicated story. Which I know well - from half a dozen rereads of the graphic novel - but still. Oh, and reading it as an ebook.
This thread was a lot of fun. It's hard keeping track of my books, in too many places (I really wish the LT app (for Android) would happen, so I could date, rate and review on my phone immediately when I finish a book rather than having to go find a computer). And of course it takes time - just the copy-and-pasting, and writing the mini-review (and yes, I could skip that, but I like it). But I do enjoy listing them here, and the interaction with others in the thread. I'd like to put more about what else I'm doing, too - maybe I can manage that in 2013. More of an integrated chronicle and less of a simple list of books.
See you there!
