A whole lot of books, 2009-2011

[sophia_sol]

Back in the days after I'd started keeping a list of all the books I read each year but BEFORE I started posting reviews of them, I kept desultory personal notes (ranging from a single word to quite a few paragraphs) on some of the books. And I always vaguely forget I have, and forget where exactly to find them, and I'd like to just have them on my dw so they're FINDABLE again for me. And also some of you might find these interesting/amusing? (N.B. some of these contain what I would now classify as INCORRECT OPINIONS.)

SO HERE'S THREE YEARS' WORTH OF BOOKS IN ONE POST, OKAY GO.

The Case Against Perfection, by Michael J Sandel
read: January 2009
Read for class. Fascinating, and raised wonderfully interesting questions, but ultimately I wasn't satisfied with its conclusions

Tales of Beedle the Bard, by JK Rowling
read: January 2009
Not overly impressive. The only story I really enjoyed was the one about the three brothers and death, and that one can be found in HP7. Mostly the stories didn't feel authentically folk-story-ish.

The Tough Guide to Fantasy Land, by Diana Wynne Jones
read: February 2009
Hilarious, though tedious to read for long sittings.

Brainiac, by Ken Jennings
read: February 2009
Fascinating and funny.

Winds of the Marble Arch and Other Stories, by Connie Willis
read: February 2009
Some stories amazing, some tedious, most quite enjoyable.

Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow
read: March 2009
Awesome, though the ending was a little bit unbelievable.

Old Man's War, by John Scalzi
read: April 2009
Amazing concept, really enjoyable, though the descriptions of battles were boring.

Wild Orchid: A Retelling of the "Ballad of Mulan", by Cameron Dokey
read: May 2009
An intriguing view of the story, and quite enjoyable.

Chalice, by Robin McKinley
read: May 2009
Delightful and wonderfully enjoyable, even if not much actually happened in it.

The Thirteenth Child, by Patricia C Wrede
read: May 2009
Lotsa fun and also really interesting.

House of Many Ways, by Diana Wynne Jones
read: May 2009
Fun and lighthearted, but all in all less good than Howl's Moving Castle.

Smoke and Mirrors, by Tanya Huff
read: May 2009
Fun as always, and even better now that I get more of the tv/book references.

Wake, by Robert J Sawyer
read: May 2009
Awesome and also very fascinating and I can't wait for the two sequels.

Thirteen Orphans, by Jane Lindskold
read: May 2009
Less good than I was expecting. An intriguing concept, but involved far too much sitting around and explaining, and also I had trouble believing in the main character as a person – all in all not up to Lindskold’s usual standard. I had to actually MAKE myself finish it I was so bored in the middle. It did get more exciting towards the end, but still nothing to write home about. But I’ll probably read the sequels anyways when they come out.

The Princess and the Bear, by Mette Ivie Harrison
read: May 2009
Very good story

Austenland, by Shannon Hale
read: June 2009
Absolutely delightful, and for once difficult to predict because it wasn't ACTUALLY a regency romance, and then it all turned out well in the end the way it should, and really, great stuff.

The Nonesuch, by Georgette Heyer
read: June 2009
Pretty enjoyable, like her books always are. I liked the characters, and had fun with the story. But I wasn't so pleased with the ending. There was a whole little dealio where Miss Trent had a horrible misunderstanding about Waldo (she thought he’d fathered children out of wedlock; in fact he just had a tendency to run charities for orphans) that made the end much less enjoyable. Also the rest of it all didn't feel like it ended well enough. But it was still mostly a good book.

Smoke and Ashes, by Tanya Huff
read: July 2009
Very good, of course. I appreciated it more this time around, I think, because I understood more of the tv tropes it was sending up.

Rapunzel's Revenge, by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale
read: July 2009
Graphic novel, so short. Very fun, very enjoyable. Good art, too. And yay strong female character!

I'm Perfect, You're Doomed, by Kyria Abrahams
read: July 2009
Memoir of growing up Jehovah’s Witness. Kinda disturbing and unhappy-making, but very interesting and compelling.

The Actor and the Housewife, by Shannon Hale
read: July 2009
Awesome and absolutely hilarious and very addictive. However, I’m not entirely sure I agree with the ending. I haven’t decided yet. It ends with the two of them deciding to continue just being platonic best friends, which I would ordinarily have no trouble with, but somehow the way the last part of the book was handled meant the ending didn't quite ring true for me. I dunno. At any rate, it was still a very laugh-out-loud awesome book up till that point.

Shadow of the Templar Books One through Four, by M. Chandler
read: July 2009
An online novel. Awesome and hilarious and brilliant and amazing and ADDICTIVE.

Strange Bedpersons, by Jennifer Crusie
read: July 2009
Romance genre, horror of horrors! Hilarious and ridiculous and kinda addictive and also not something that would ever actually be worth a reread. I had trouble believing in the characters as actual people, and also had trouble believing that they’d actually work well together as a couple. But it was fun anyways.

Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2006 Edition, edited by Rich Horton
read: August 2009
Short story collection. Some good, some bad, some indifferent. Overall worth reading.

Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage, by Stephanie Coontz
read: August 2009
Brilliant and fascinating and totally worth reading. Very interesting details about the history of marriage and the reasons for marriage and different cultures’ versions of marriage and so on and so forth. Basically awesome.

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive, by Alexander McCall Smith
read: August 2009
Another great addition to the #1 Ladies Detective Agency series.

The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew – Three Women Search for Understanding, by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, Priscilla Warner
read: August 2009
Very interesting.

Mirror Dance, by Lois McMaster Bujold
read: September 2009
Absolutely marvelous and captivating. Witty and funny and engaging and basically awesome in every way. I need to read everything else Bujold has ever written.

I read the series summary at the front of the first page and thought it sounded a bit ridiculous, but forged on into it. And it turned out to be this really amazing and brilliant book, and funny and witty and thought-provoking. It hit many of my favourite scifi tropes, and addressed issues of self-identity, one of my favourite themes (and it used clones and amnesia to do so! EVEN BETTER!). It was basically a great deal of fun, and extremely engaging.

The main characters were believable, and believably flawed, (I mean, the whole point of the book was Mark (the clone of the famous Miles Naismith Vorkosigan) coming to terms with the fact that he is a majorly messed up person with a majorly messed up past but is still a worthy human being nonetheless -- and also that Miles, who he's always kind of seen as disgustingly perfect, is in fact pretty darn messed up too.

The plot was interesting enough to be worthwhile, but the author also understood that the plot wasn't the important thing and that the actual interesting part is the emotional development of the characters.

All in all, the experience reminded me a lot of reading fanfic (in all the best ways). Me getting into a story with no idea who any of the main characters are or their histories, but reading stuff about them nonetheless and figuring out the important details by paying close attention to casual mentions of things-that-happened-previously. The story being all about the emotions and relationships with any actual plot taking second place. The characters all being extremely witty and larger than life. The AMNESIA (the world has the BEST EVER way of integrating amnesia into any storyline it wants to -- people get put in cryo when they've become recently dead, in order for them not to become brain-dead on the way to proper medical facilities for them to be healed and so forth. And it is a very common experience for people waking afterwards to suffer from "cryo-amnesia" wherein they don't remember anything about themselves, but slowly eventually manage to access the memories again.). The angst, and the hurt/comfort, and and and..... essentially my hindbrain was totally expecting to see explicit guy-on-guy action any moment.

And it was OODLES of fun. I'd been reading too much nonfiction lately, and the fiction that I WAS reading tended to be comfort-rereading, in order to relax after the nonfiction. So I'd forgotten how much fun it is to read a brand-new-to-me book in a series I'm not familiar with, with characters I don't know, and just get swept up in the newness and excitement. It was awesome.

Julie and Julia: 364 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen, by Julie Powell
read: September 2009
Very funny and engaging, and also interesting.

Dreams From My Father, by Barack Obama
read: September 2009
It is a WONDERFUL book. Obama has a very clear and open and engaging writing style; it was completely engrossing. It was written back when he was a total nobody, about himself coming to terms with his racial identity and race relations and family history. I am really glad I read it. It's like reading stuff on Racefail only without the fail.

The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why, by Phyllis Tickle
read: September 2009
About how in the history of the church there tends to be a large reorganization/reimagining/revolutionizing of Christianity every 500 years or so: in the sixth century, culminating with Pope Gregory I; in the eleventh century with the Great Schism; and in the sixteenth century with the Protestant Reformation. So the author was arguing that we now in the twenty-first century are undergoing a similar process of change, which she is calling the Great Emergence.

I was a bit up in air as to what I thought of the book. It was interesting, definitely, but I had a hard time being swayed by her argument. I wasn't seeing enough evidence of this "emergent church" to believe that it's going to have as huge an impact as she was saying. I mean, I admit that it's around and people are talking about the ideas that make it up (she specifically referenced Brian McLaren as a leader of the emergent church, and I recognize the name from people reading his books and talking about his ideas). But that it's going to have an influence equivalent to the Schism or the Reformation? She'd have to work a LOT harder to convince me of that. So I spent most of the book being skeptical, and basically having trouble paying attention to a lot of the specificities of her argument because I was so unsure about her basic premise. Also she never really defined to my satisfaction what the emergent church actually IS....

Jesus: A New Vision, by Marcus J Borg
read: September 2009
AMAZING. It falls into the category of academic works in search of the "historical Jesus" -- in other words, trying to figure out what the actual man was like, and what he intended his mission and his message to be. It was really interesting, and well-written, and believably argued. And also was the sort of book to really get me thinking.

The Jesus portrayed in the book is rather different than the conventional one talked about by conventional christianity. His main mission wasn't a messianic one, and wasn't one of 'salvation' from sin -- it was about revitalizing Judaism within the context of the crisis brought on by Roman occupation.

He saw the preoccupation in the concurrent revitalization movements with the law (a "politics of holiness") as being the wrong focus. The Pharisees were trying to revitalize Judaism by bringing it back to following the exact rules involved in being "righteous" -- and the more careful you were of the rules then the better a Jew you were being. Jesus saw this as being the wrong focus, the right one being on a "politics of compassion", wherein outwardly following the rules doesn't matter. What matters is having a heart (which within the time period was seen as the root of your true self, your essence, not just the modern view of it as being the origin of feelings) that is pure, that is connected to the realm of the Spirit. And through that connection you know God, who is a god of compassion and grace above all, and you work to integrate that essence of compassion with the whole of society.

Except, you know, the author said it all so much more eloquently and understandably than I can. Basically it's an awesome book and I want to bash evangelical christians over the head with it.... *grin*

Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey
read: September 2009
Oh dear lord, how cliched and trite can you get? And so much tell-not-show when it came to emotions, and so much of the plotting and emotional arcs rang hollow, and I kept getting exasperated by things... but it still managed to be engaging. Ish. And I think I’m going to search out the sequels (God help me...)

Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
read: October 2009
Read for bookclub, read very very fast so didn’t get to digest it properly - good book, fun, but ultimately just fluff.

Shadow of the Templar Book One: The Morning Star, by M. Chandler
read: October 2009
Oh look, I’m back to rereading this ALREADY. Fancy that. These books are just so darn addictive.

Manhunting, by Jennifer Crusie
read: November 2009
It was...really addictive while reading. Very funny. Witty banter. But in the end my annoyances with a couple things means I have trouble with it: First, I really dislike the way that Kate assumes the only way to be happy is to get a guy ‑‑ and actually, that's an opinion that it seems like ALL the characters share. It's made clearest in the opening conversation between Kate and Jessie, and it bugged me so much I almost put the book down.

The second frustrating thing is the way everyone assumes Jake should be doing more with his life. Yes, he's educated and intelligent and talented. That doesn't mean his only path to happiness is a successful career! He enjoys his job, and he's good at it ‑‑ and though he may spend the day lazing around in a fishing boat, that's because he's up way early in the morning getting the grounds looking nice. So the way everyone assumes that Jake needs to go be successful again is supremely frustrating to me. Yeah.

Runaways, by Brian K. Vaughan
read: November 2009
Kinda awesome comic book/graphic novel thing. I really liked all the characters, and enjoyed the storyline, and so on and so forth. But the whole thing with Alex being the mole, and ultimately loyal to his parents? Totally didn't feel right. I am very annoyed about that. Gah. Still awesome, though.

Survive!, by Les Stroud
read: December 2009
Vaguely interesting but basically nothing from it has actually stuck in my brain, so I’d still not be much use in a survival situation. Oh well.

Cycler, by Lauren McLaughlin
read: December 2009
Fascinating YA book about gender and sexuality and cool stuff like that. I really enjoyed it.

The Spymaster's Lady, by Joanna Bourne
read: December 2009
Oh gosh it was HORRIBLE. It was like watching a train wreck. I couldn't look away. And yet it got an A- on Smart Bitches Trashy Books! I shudder to think what MOST historical romances must be like in comparison, for them to call this one of the best historical romances they’d ever read.... AUGH. I read trashy harlequin fic challenges all the time and love them, so it’s not that I have something against trashy romance. But this was BAD.

Crocodile On The Sandbank, by Elizabeth Peters
read: December 2009
Awesome story of awesomeness. Seriously. Especially in comparison with Spymaster’s Lady.... The heroine was likable and intelligent and capable. Ditto the hero. There were interesting secondary characters, an interesting mystery, and I totally bought the romance. Also it’s set in victorian Egypt so you can’t go wrong there.

Memoir of a Teenage Amnesiac, by Gabrielle Zevin
read: December 2009
I picked it up because of the title (amnesiafic!) but it turned out to actually be really good. The main character was a little annoying, but that was mostly because she was such a plausible teenage girl.

Ethan of Athos, by Lois McMaster Bujold
read: December 2009
Awesomesauce. Funtimes with stuff to do with gender. A little unbelievable how easily Ethan started just doing what Elli said, but...still awesome. Although I couldn't get over reading “Athos” and thinking of SGA

Deep Secret, by Diana Wynne Jones
read: December 2009
Good times, as DWJ always is. Though not quite as awesome as I remember it being the first time around.

Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
read: December 2009
Absolutely amazing. And brilliant. And awesome. And I totally need to read the sequel. (My reaction upon reading the end? “Not fair, author, to end there!”)

Master & Commander, by Patrick O’Brian
read: December 2009
Really good. I do love this series in all its ridiculous Napoleonic glory. Though I don’t think I actually ship Aubrey/Maturin. (I could see Maturin being secretly in love with Aubrey though)

The Beacon at Alexandria, by Gillian Bradshaw
read: December 2009
WOW. Such an amazing book. Wonderful characters, wonderful history, wonderful sense of the place and time, I liked the romance, interesting interactions between all the many characters. Amazing.

The Grand Sophy, by Georgette Heyer
read: January 2010
Mmm, I continue to adore this book absolutely. Sophy is just SO AMAZING. Though I don’t think I’d actually want to know her in real life...

A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle
read: January 2010
An excellent book. Shorter than I expected (given that it was a novel) but also longer than I expected (since I was expecting a short story). A little odd in structure, what with the third-person middle part telling the story of the various characters involved in the crime; for some reason I was expecting that the whole thing be narrated by Watson. I now have determined that I want to read everything in the Holmes canon.... (augh! That’ll take a while!)

The Plague, by Albert Camus
read: January 2010
Read for school. Very interesting, not overly compelling, but by the end I cared for a few of the characters (though my favourite died). However, from what we've been talking about in class, I can see very well that it is a magnificently written book, very intelligent and thoughtful and well done. I just don’t actively enjoy it. Still, I’m glad to have read it.

Post Captain, by Patrick O’Brian
read: January 2010
Awesomesauce. No, seriously. I love this series so much.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle
read: January 2010
Fun times! Interesting stories, interesting characters, etc etc.

Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett
read: February 2010
Read for class. VERY odd, but interesting and strangely compelling. I’m glad I read it.

Whose Body?, by Dorothy L Sayers
read: February 2010
Not as spectacular as the first book, but still enjoyable

Unnatural Death, by Dorothy L Sayers
read: February 2010
Much better than the second book; I think better than the first too, though less outright funny. Very interesting, though, and I loved all the gossip. And I adored Miss Climpson.

Strong Poison, by Dorothy L Sayers
read: February 2010
Awesome. Lots of fun, and I love Harriet! The best one yet, I think. (Also: Miss Climpson continues to be awesome, along with all the other redoubtable ladies in the Cattery. I highly approve.)

The Five Red Herrings, by Dorothy L Sayers
read: February 2010
Not as good as her other ones. Kind of boring mostly, actually, except for the bits with Lord Peter. I definitely skimmed the most dull bits...

Nine Tailors, by Dorothy L Sayers
read: February 2010
AMAZING. Seriously. Best one yet, EVEN THOUGH there’s no Harriet in it! I loved the bell stuff, and I loved the minor characters (the rector was awesome, as was Hilary). And I really liked the solution to the mystery. I kinda was thinking maybe in the back of my mind that it was the bells ringing that caused him to die, but when it came out that it was the 9-hour peal that did it? I was like, wow, that’s perfect. It ties everything together so well, and gives everything a sense of...horror, almost? That’s not the right word, but when I finished the book, as well as having the sense of “wow good book” I also had this vague sense of disquiet from the events therein – but in a good way. It was amazing. Also I loved how the sluices did turn out to be important, but in a TOTALLY different way than I was expecting.

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, by Dorothy L Sayers
read: March 2010
Mm, excellent. I was spoiled beforehand (from some fanfic) that it was the doctor that did it, but it was still great.

Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers
read: March 2010
Amazing and so scary that that was actually DONE TO HIM in NORTH AMERICA! Read for class.

Have His Carcase, by Dorothy L Sayers
read: March 2010
SO GOOD. Very complicated, but in a much more engaging fashion than Five Red Herrings. I love Harriet, and I love Peter, and I love their interactions. And I found the mystery fascinating.

Murder Must Advertise, by Dorothy L Sayers
read: March 2010
Wow, fantastic. Like all the books are. Really engaging and thoughtful and funny and tragic and, well, wow. (But see my LJ for two posts worth of squirmy thoughts about it)

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built, by Alexander McCall Smith
read: April 2010
Lovely, as always. I love how even more than usual in this one the tiny white van is a character in and of itself. Also how the people and the relationships and the country and the land are all really rather more important than the actual mysteries. Mmmm.

The Murders of Richard III, by Elizabeth Peters
read: April 2010
Good fun.

Swimming to Cambodia, by Spalding Gray
read: April 2010
For school. Hatehatehate; boring and pointless‑feeling and annoying.

His Majesty's Dragon, by Naomi Novik
read: May 2010
I'd convinced myself that it couldn't be nearly as wonderful as I remembered, and then it turned out that my memory was accurate after all. OH TEMERAIRE.

The Enchantment Emporium, by Tanya Huff
read: June 2010
Surprisingly awesome, in a kind of weird way! It definitely gave me a vague impression that the author is at the very least familiar with fandom, and quite possibly a part of it. The total blase approach to sex, for instance. There was never any sex onstage, but constantly referred to, either obliquely or openly. Like, I’m pretty sure Charlie and Allie were having sex. And Roland was in relatively permanent threesome. And sex happened between people as a matter of course during ritual. And I get the impression that monogamy is not exactly common within the Gale family.

But there was reference to a "Joss Whedon is my master now" t-shirt, and when listing off heroic Jacks the last three on the list were O’Neill, Sparrow, and Harkness. Torchwood was mentioned at least one other time, and I recall a couple other similarly fannish references. It was a book steeped in the values of fandom, whether or not it actually came out of fandom.

Black Powder War, by Naomi Novik
read: July 2010
I found myself getting bored in all the battle stuff, but when I left it for a couple weeks and came back it was magically interesting again. I guess I just got bogged down with too much battle. Otherwise, lovely book as always!

Commitment Hour, by James Alan Gardner
read: August 2010
Fascinating! See lj post about it.

Jane of Lantern Hill, by LM Montgomery
read: August 2010
Oh, I love this book so much. I love Jane, and I love her dad, and I love the family relationships and basically everything.

Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale
read: August 2010
I’d forgotten how amazing this book is. Yes, it’s a lovely sweet little children’s/YA book. But it also does great things with culture, and folk knowledge, and songs, and the importance of education, and has girls being awesome and kickass via their knowledge (both their folk knowledge AND their education!).

The Great Good Thing, by Roderick Townley
read: August 2010
Fun and interesting, and pretty darn meta as kids’ books go!

The Demon's Lexicon, by Sarah Rees Brennan
read: August 2010
OMG THIS BOOK

We Didn’t Mean To Go To Sea, by Arthur Ransome
read: September 2010
Lovely as always, though I noticed this time that the girls were rather useless for most of the book in comparison with the boys. Drat.

Samantha Saves The Day
read: September 2010
It’s weird, I totally remember Grandmary finally agreeing to marry the Admiral at the end, but that doesn't happen....!

Meet Addy
read: September 2010
TEARS IN MY EYES

Changes for Addy
read: September 2010
SO MUCH CRYING

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, by Bryan Lee O'Malley
read: September 2010
Cool and interesting, and very engaging style, but the characters all look the same, and also it feels kinda... Okay, so it’s like, Ramona is a prize to be won if Scott passes certain tests, not a person in her own right. And it’s not showed at all why she’d be interested in him in return, since she only ever sees him being creepy – and yet she agrees to go out with him anyways. And Scott’s douchey behaviour towards Knives is shown to be just, y’know, whatever, not a big deal.

Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe
read: September 2010
For school. Quite interesting, quite enjoyable, quite a few problems with it. I had great fun arguing with it in my head as I read.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, by Bryan Lee O'Malley
read: September 2010
Pretty fun, though the problems from book 1 continue.

Boston Marriages: Romantic But Asexual Relationships Among Contemporary Lesbians, edited by Esther D Rothblum and Kathleen A Brehony
read: October 2010
Fascinating! Though it was also sad to me that in a number of the personal stories shared by women in non-sexual relationships, it was not a mutually appreciated thing: one partner wanted sex in the relationship, and the other didn't. Overall I came away from the book feeling like the essay parts were all about how revolutionary and awesome it is, this idea that a sexless primary relationship isn't necessarily a bad thing! And then so many of the example relationships didn't look, to me, like the healthiest or happiest of relationships. (oh, there were some that WERE, but I felt they were overwhelmed by the less positive ones). It was weird.

Dr. Horrible And Other Horrible Stories, by Zack Whedon
read: October 2010
Funtimes! I’d read the first two comics in the book online already, but it was great.

Candide, by Voltaire
read: October 2010
For school. UNEXPECTEDLY HILARIOUS.

Busman's Honeymoon, by Dorothy L Sayers
read: October 2010
AMAZING. Starts out just absolutely hilarious and adorable and perfectly fluffy, and it ends with the sort of OH PETER but you know it’s all going to be all right. Because they have each other and oh man Harriet/Peter OTP FOREVER.

Shards of Honor, by Lois McMaster Bujold
read: November 2010
OMG. LOVE. A little clunky in places, but I was very shortly so entirely engaged by it that I stopped noticing.

The Warrior’s Apprentice, by Lois McMaster Bujold
read: November 2010
Gobsmacked love. MILES. OMG. He is lunatic, in the best possible way.

Just Plain Maggie, by Lorraine Beim
read: November 2010
I love it. I love all the girls, and I love how the adults are all actually good people, and I love the friendships and the happiness and the love of the outdoors. Awesome.

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
read: November 2010
Read for school. See LJ for further details. Overall: very interesting.

A Tale Dark and Grimm, by Adam Gidwitz
read: November 2010
Quite interesting. I felt that it was geared more to people who are unfamiliar with the original Grimm’s tales – it played a lot on the “no really fairy tales are actually super-macabre” thing, which anyone who’s actually read Grimm is aware of. But it was fun nonetheless. I enjoyed recognizing the bits from the original stories and seeing what the author made up to fit the stories together into a single narrative. And I am a big fan of narrative asides.

The Voyage of the Dawntreader, by CS Lewis
read: December 2010
See lj for more details. Good though!

I Shall Wear Midnight, by Terry Pratchett
read: December 2010
Yay pratchett book! Fun and interesting and insightful as always.

Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, by Christ Hedges
read: December 2010
Really really depressing book about how the world (and especially America) is going to pot. And Canada is, alas, likely to follow along since we’re so dependent on the US.....

Nimisha’s Ship, by Anne McCaffrey
read: December 2010
Oh gosh the gender politics and the human/alien interactions and the actually kind of bad writing in general, but still it was fun?

Jhereg, by Steven Brust
read: December 2010
Fascinating, and lots of fun! The main character was engaging, and the world was engaging, and it was hilarious to read this right after a murder mystery because it’s kind of like a backwards murder mystery: It’s a mystery about a murder, but the mystery is trying to figure out how best to commit the murder. Ahahaha.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, by Seth Grahame-Smith
read: December 2010
Hilarious and lots of fun, but ultimately unsatisfying. It felt like it needed to be building up to something, but it fell down in the climax. It really didn't feel like it dwelt long enough on how Abe Lincoln’s presidency and the Civil War managed to mostly eradicate vampirism in the States. Probably this was because the interest in writing the book was in OOH FIGHTING AGAINST VAMPIRES IN SECRET, but – the book is saying that the most important thing he did was actually mostly win the War Against Vampires, and it falls down in that regard, fun as the fighting against vampires in secret is. (Also, the author’s style, with his fondness for very short sentences, kind of bugged me. But that’s a personal thing.) And actually, I almost found myself more interested in the introduction, with the character of the author. I wish we could have found out more about him, instead of him being consigned to only the intro.

Storm Front, by Jim Butcher
read: January 2011
Lots of fun, but egads I was headdesking a lot over Dresden’s way of treating the ladies (namely: ogling each and every one, giving paragraph-long descriptions of what they look like, thinking about how sexy they are, thinking they want to have sex with him, coercing dates out of ladies who aren't actually particularly interested, etc.)

Fool Moon, by Jim Butcher
read: January 2011
Lots of fun again, rather less headdesking. Still ultimately pretty superficial books though – although they ARE fun!

King of the Wind, by Marguerite Henry
read: January 2011
Ahhhhh I love it. SO GOOD. So heartwarming!

Grave Peril, by Jim Butcher
read: January 2011
Oh dear. Okay. Enjoyable, fun, funny, interesting, engaging characters and plot, and yet HELLO ISSUES. For one thing, of course, there’s the gender stuff and the sex stuff and the Harry being stupid stuff. And there’s the how much of a beating can you actually put one human through without them being actually unable to function stuff. Then there’s a couple stylistic things that are a bit annoying, like the way he likes to have characters say things like “let me get this straight” or the like, and proceed to outline what just happened. And multiple times where I’m like, you need a beta reader to help you do things like not overuse certain words. It’s all, *flails* I DUNNO! I like the books and find them kind of hilariously bad at the same time as being really quite good!

When The King Comes Home, by Caroline Stevermer
read: February 2011
I remember when I read this as a teen that the ending was perfect and lovely and moving and it was one of those "finish with a huge sigh of YES THAT" type of books. I think this one I was unduly influenced by the fact that I have way too little sleep right now and thus had trouble focusing enough to read every word ‑‑ I was skimming far more than was warranted. I mean, it was still a good book! And I still really enjoyed it! But I was disappointed by the ending because it didn't give me FEEEEELINGS like last time. But I still love Hail, and somehow I ended up with the belief that Hail and Nallaneen ended up together (I think I ship them?) even though they don't, and omg, new thing, JULIAN/ANDRED/ISTVAN I SHIP IT SO HARD. Also, I was convinced that Maspero was going to actually turn up, and he never did, though of course his writings and stuff ended up being crucial. But I was sure we were going to meet Maspero! Ah well. The tricks your memory plays on you!

Lady of Quality, by Georgette Heyer
Read: February 2011
A very enjoyable book, like all Heyer. Excellent banter, delightful combative relationship between Annis and Oliver. Though I find I agree with what I read online, that Oliver could do with a little more something. At any rate, I spent a large portion of the novel, for some reason, trying to find some way to femslash it, because it begged to be done, for some unknowable reason. Lucilla/Corisande, certainly, but I find that what I REALLY want is a regency romance between a lady of quality and her hired companion. Nobody would think a thing of it! And it would be awesome.

Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, by NT Wright
read: February 2011
Very interesting, though more the first half than the second. Was glad to actually learn what the bible says about what happens to us after death!

The Family of Pascual Duarte, by Camilo José Cela
read: February 2011
For school. Fascinating book, very well done, very depressing. Would not have chosen to read outside of school, but glad I read it.

A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
read: March 2011
For book club. fascinating and wonderful language use. Depressing book, but AWESOME nonetheless because of the language.

Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes, by Maureen Johnson
read: April 2011
Fun, but ultimately forgettable. Aunt Peg was the strongest character in the book. Ginny was ultimately forgettable and the main romance didn't feel at all believable. But I really liked the bits of Peg's life that we saw around the edges, and I think the Peg/Richard thing was really quite interesting. But the majority of the book? Pretty much fluff, and not my favourite kind of fluff either.

Only You Can Save Mankind, by Terry Pratchett
read: April 2011
Fantastic book, and it's been so long since I'd read it that I'd forgotten all the fantastic bits in it.

The Corinthian, by Georgette Heyer
read: April 2011
Fun book, I love it dearly. Pen and Richard are both so delightful, though I admit the age difference is a bit squicky given that Pen is only 17. But dear me, I don't think I noticed the first time around how thoroughly Richard could be read as queer. 29 years old, has NEVER had any interest in any woman or girl, EVER. And now he's met Pen and fallen in love with her, but the entire time he's known her she's been dressed as a boy. And everybody says how she acts more like a boy should than a girl. HMM. Methinks he's sublimating some desires here.

Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections Between Sexuality and Spirituality, by Rob Bell
read: April 2011
Had some issues with it.

The Family Tree, by Sherri S Tepper
read: April 2011
Good times, though I'm reminded again that the bits that aren't about Dora (or Cory) I find boring.

Eagle of the Ninth, by Rosemary Sutcliff
read: May 2011
Ahh, a wonderful book. I hadn't read it since elementary school, and remembered nothing about it except for one vague scene (one or both of the characters in a dark place with a curtain over the opening, to get the eagle, and a deep sense of foreboding. Hey, I was even correct!). But as I read, each thing as it happened sounded familiar. So it was nostalgic AND suspenseful!

It is clear to me that the last time I read the book, I was not a slasher, and I'm pretty sure last time I didn't even really notice Esca much. But this time it was clear to me how important to each other Marcus and Esca are.

Cottia is an interesting complication. I really like her, but she's so YOUNG. I'm not sure, actually, what the implications are supposed to be between her and Marcus. She's going off with him to his new land, but as a wife? As a kid? as a companion? IDK!

At any rate, I'm pretty sure the solution is to wait for Cottia to grow up, then OT3.

It's also interesting comparing this book to what I know of the new movie. I'm quite sure they cut Cottia's character and focused entirely on the Marcus-Esca dynamic. And also changed a lot of events! And also I think to a certain amount changed the characterization. Because Marcus in the book is clearly intelligent and capable (and a good commander), and I don't get that feeling quite so much from the movie fanfic (...and that's without mentioning the d/s dynamic...!)

There's a sly, understated, clever sense of humour in the book, but mostly it's all very serious, and the characters themselves are very serious. It's not my usual, but it works here. And I really like Marcus. And Esca. And Uncle Aquila. And, as previously mentioned, Cottia. And basically it's great and I want fic for this, not just for the movie.

The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale
read: May 2011
Ah, I love it! As I love the fairy tale. And this improves on the sucky bits of the original tale!

Enna Burning, by Shannon Hale
read: May 2011
Far more emotionally harrowing than The Goose Girl. Enjoyable in a very different way!

Teatime in Mogadishu: My Journey as a Peace Ambassador in the World of Islam, by Haile Ahmed Ali
read: May 2011
Interesting

The Android's Dream, by John Scalzi
read: May 2011
AMAZING. AHAHAHAH. This book is utterly mad, in the best possible way. I love it. (also I love the characters too! Which is pretty great since I'd be prepared to love the book just for its mad ideas!) (on a side note, I totally noticed that Sam Berlant did not ever get referred to by pronoun (and thus by gender), I just assumed it was coincidental/accidental. Turns out it was ON PURPOSE. Awesome, John Scalzi!

Smoke and Ashes, by Tanya Huff
read: May 2011
Man, fanficcy much? :D

The Odyssey, by Homer
read: May 2011
See LJ.

A Companion to Wolves, by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette
read: May 2011
It is like a crossover between MANY THINGS OF AWESOME. Pern, The Princess and the Goblin, mythology, fandom...! Pern and bonding and sexual politics only with RAMIFICATIONS. Also threesomes. And then it gets all feminist. And I for one want all the fanfic about Isolfr's daughter being apprenticed to Tin or one of the other whatchamacallit-alfs.

My biggest problem was all the NAMES and TERMS that were so unfamiliar to me that I got them totally mixed up. It was brutal keeping track of who was who, especially when they CHANGED NAMES, or got referred to as "brother/sister of this wolf/human" and it was just bad. I don't even know if we'd ever met one of Isolfr's lovers before they ended up in that threesome.

Addy Saves The Day
read: May 2011
Adddyyyyyyyy! I have ALL THE FEELINGS about Addy.

The Wish, by Gail Carson Levine
read: May 2011
Interesting, and a good idea, and I liked quite a bit about it, but I felt in a few ways it didn't quite hit what it was aiming for. I never really believed the friendship between Wilma and the other girls was strong enough in so few days to survive what happened at the end. And the whole thing with the caricature was just weird. But I liked the Wilma/Jason!

The Fairy's Mistake, by Gail Carson Levine
read: May 2011
A cute sweet little fairy tale adaption. Though believing in Harold being a decent husband in the end is RATHER a stretch.

This Can't Be Happening At Macdonald Hall, by Gordon Korman
read: June 2011
A fun and amusing book, though clear in places that the author really was quite young.

High Fidelity, by M Chandler
read: June 2011
I'd forgotten how much I enjoy this book. Also it was fascinating to see which bits of it had stuck with me and which hadn't -- I'd forgotten the entirety of the Bran subplot, for instance, which is actually a huge driving force of the latter part of the book! But otoh I'd remembered everything about the hilarious and awesome coloured rooms.

Bully Boys, by Eric Walters
read: June 2011
[a note from my future self: it looks like in this write-up of Bully Boys I was half-thinking of making an actual post talking about Bully Boys vs Eagle of the Ninth but was never happy enough with it to finish pulling it together coherently so this reads a little oddly.]

Oh man, this book, lololol. I mean, it's a fun read! And I love Fitzgibbon. But it is such a Boy's Own Adventure kind of book. SO MUCH. Brave young boy acts courageously and gets drawn into the heart of the most important events of the war, and the Dude In Charge admires him and confides in him and keeps him around all the time, when he ought to be talking with people with more experience/knowledge? Yeah. Also, overuse of exclamation points ahoy! SO MANY EXCLAMATION MARKS. It was kind of hilarious. And yet -- I loved this book when I read it back in middle school! I thought it was genuinely amazing! But it turns out to be merely decent.

It is always hilarious to reread books that you haven't read since childhood and seeing how they've changed or haven't! (or rather, how you've changed in relation to them.)

Let me take two examples. One is The Eagle of the Ninth, which I already posted about a while back: it was a book that I loved as a kid and subsequently forgot about. Upon rereading it, it remained a good book, and also contained slashiness that I totally didn't notice at the time.

The other is the book I finished rereading a little while ago -- The Bully Boys, by Eric Walters. It is also a book I loved as a kid! I read it in middle school and then did not touch it again until now, a decade later. It is...less of a good book than I remember it being. Oh, it's still decent. Passable, you know? But it is SUCH a Boy's Own Adventure type of novel, to the point where it is kind of hilarious. Also there is a criminal overuse of exclamation marks.

I still quite enjoy the character of Fitzgibbon! He's just so fantastically -- well, he kind of reminds me of Miles Vorkosigan in a way. Forward momentum! Bluff your way through everything! If things are hopeless, raise the stakes!

But a lot of the things in the book are kind of ham-handedly dealt with, and the entire premise of this random kid being such a close confidant of Fitzgibbon is rather unlikely, to say the least.

So where reading Eagle of the Ninth left me going, "ah, that was a satisfying read, now let me go find fic to fill in the gaps," Bully Boys leaves me going "hmm, I totally need to read up more on the actual James Fitzgibbon as divorced from the ridiculousness of this book." Actually, fic about Fitzgibbon would be pretty awesome! Except not fic of Bully Boys, because I think historical rpf of him would be more interesting than historical-rpf-as-mediated-through-this-published-historical-rpf

Briar's Book, by Tamora Pierce
read: July 2011
Wow, my reaction to this book is rather different than I remember it being in the past. It's been several years since I've read it, I think, and I remember this one scene SO CLEARLY as being just utterly horror-filled and all that -- the one where Tris and Niko go through the sewers and find the mage's room and the stuff in there. It just utterly creeped me out. And these days? Not so much with the visceral creepiness! I mean, yes, it's depressing and sad and a bit creepy, but not nearly on the level I remember it being.

Sprout, by Dale Peck
read: July 2011
See extremely long lj entry about it!

Farthing, by Jo Walton
read: July 2011
Dude. Amazing novel. I loved so much about it. And also? SUPER DEPRESSING WOW. I loved Lucy's voice, and I totally shipped Lucy/David. All the people and relationships and everything felt very real. I felt so sorry for poor Carmichael! And it was the sort of book that leaves you shivery because you can totally see that stuff happening. Also, I just loved some of the minor off-hand details, like Orwell's "Nineteen Seventy-Four", and the athenian vs macedonian vs roman distinction.... Okay, totes need to read the sequels now! And also read up Jo Walton's blog posts about them all!

Tris's Book, by Tamora Pierce
read: July 2011
My least favourite of the quartet, but still good.

Daja's Book, by Tamora Pierce
read: July 2011
Mmmm, I do love this one a lot.

Magic Steps, by Tamora Pierce
read: July 2011
I enjoyed it more than what I remember it being! Also, like Briar's Book, I remember there being more horror than there actually was.... Also, I loved the dancing stuff that I appreciate so much more since Mary taught us dancer stretches!

Street Magic, by Tamora Pierce
read: August 2011
The gang stuff was FASCINATING, and Briar's realization of the actual suckiness of his own childhood.

I, Juan de Pareja, by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño
read: August 2011
Fascinating. Quite enjoyable, but certainly a book of its era, being YA from the 60s. And interesting to think about in conjunction with Eagle of the Ninth since both of them are about a slave and his master and in both the slave is freed by the end but there's still this sense of the slave character enjoying and identifying with his role as the subservient one in the relationship, as if the slavery isn't actually all that bad....

Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen
read: August 2011
Very enjoyable book - I really like Henry a lot! Could see him actually as a person I'd enjoy as a friend! And lots of it is really rather good, but the ending is very rushed, and far more of the telling-not-showing. It's good through Catherine's arrival home, but beginning with Henry's arrival it becomes very rushed and not engagingly done. (Unrelatedly: more authorial asides than in any other austen, and they're pretty awesome!)

Best-Loved Celtic Fairy Tales, retold by Neil Philip
read: August 2011
OH FAIRY TALES I LOVE YOU. Also, pretty pretty pictures. Although the writing style was clearly simple and intended more for children. Whatevs, still good fun. Always fun to identify fairy tale tropes that show up in different variations on a story.

The Magicians, by Lev Grossman
read: August 2011
Check LJ for opinion.

Ha'penny, by Jo Walton
read: September 2011
Very good, though I had to rush my reading of the last half due to it being due back at the library. I didn't like Viola as well as I'd liked Lucy -- she was a believable character and I sympathised with her and I did like her, I just...she was a little more willing than Lucy to try to escape reality. But I loved her and her sisters, and the complicated relationship they had. And Carmichael continues to break my heart. I really need to read Half a Crown now, so that I can find out how the series concludes, since apparently it succeeds in having a somewhat cheerful ending? Which I have a lot of trouble seeing how that'd go down, since the whole point of this book was to show how even if you get rid of the leaders it wouldn't do anything because the general populace is down with what's going on. And that's hard to change.

Half a Crown, by Jo Walton
read: October 2011
ALL THE FEELINGS. Elvira and Betsy-aka-Elizabeth! Elvira and Carmichael! Carmichael and Jack! All these PEOPLE and the PEOPLE THEY LOVE and the awful awful world they live in and QUEEN ELIZABETHHHHHHHH. And I cried over Jack dying, and over the way that Jack and Carmichael never did have the chance to have the sort of life they wanted, both of them unhappy but still happier to have each other than they would have been alone, and then Jack died and it was awful and ohhhhhh ALL THE FEELINGS.

Henry IV Part I, by William Shakespeare
read: October 2011
Lololol so tonight I read Henry IV Part I, as is reasonable to do after having read Richard II relatively recently. Richard II had some interesting bits but was mostly meh as a play. Henry IV on the other hand? LAUGHING OUT LOUD. A LOT. I mean, okay, the plot was totally boring, but the hijinks, and the sheer volume of insults, and the hilarious characters... yeah, GOOD TIMES. But come on, did Henry IV really need to be a character in the play? His scenes were all the most boring scenes. :P Probably because he was only involved in the Actual Plot. (Best line/insult: "Do thou amend thy face, and I'll amend my life" LOLZ)

Pax Avalon: ConflictRevolution, by Steven "Reece" Friesen
read: October 2011
Ahahaha, so, Mennonite action comic book. Main character Very Christian, and pacifist, and lives in an intentional community. And the bad guy is "Gerhardt Reimer", CLEARLY from a Menno background who, because of his experiences in war, has taken a twisted view on what it means to create peace. In other words: This book? SO MENNO. Also hilarious. It's...mediocre, really, though, which is too bad. Because if it turned out to be actually awesome? I'd be all over that. Ah well. Also, its portrayal of religion is clearly of the "my main character's beliefs are the True Beliefs that you should believe too!" version. Which is always annoying. I don't read to be preached at! It's possible to convey morals and beliefs and interesting ideas and so forth without being preachy, and this does not succeed at doing that.

Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins
read: October 2011
Oh, this was an utter delight to read. All the good things about high school boarding school au fanfic only, y'know, published and about a heterosexual relationship. Weird, but good times! The characters were all believable characters and also endearing, the relationships (including the friendships) well done, and the central romance actually made sense. Like, you could see why these two particular characters would be totally into each other, and also why they're behaving the way they are. The relationship troubles grow naturally out of actual character traits and everything! This all should not be as surprising as it is in a published romance. I guess I've gotten accustomed to this idea that published romance is generally far crappier than fanfic? But it's not all. And I know that. Possibly in part it's that this book is YA instead of being part of a general "romance" imprint, idk. (my one problem with the book was how it dealt with her french abilities. It talks a lot about how much trouble she's having, and then all of a sudden she's listening to a convo and realizing she understands it? At least one transitionary stage needs to have been shown. Gah.)

Frontier Wolf, by Rosemary Sutcliff
read: October 2011
See DW.

Suite Scarlett, by Maureen Johnson
read: October 2011
ALL OF THE ADORABLE. I was grinning soppily at the book all the way through. Everything about it is awesome and totally right. I was pleased with the way every single plot thread ended up! Often they turned out even more awesome than I was hoping! I love all the characters and I love all the relationships, especially the siblingy stuff and also the stuff about Mrs Amberson and Scarlett and Mrs Amberson and Donna. And the thing with Eric/Scarlett actually was quite believable and stuff. Because Scarlett's still really very young and inexperienced, and I could see things going down like that, and I'm so glad the book treated it as not entirely a good thing and also not a True Romance or something. Awesome. Basically: Maureen Johnson raised all my hopes by being so awesome on the internet, and then dashed them all by how completely un worth talking about 13 Little Blue Envelopes was, and now EVERYTHING IS AS IT SHOULD BE. Because this book is excellent fun and I could totally see Maureen Johnson's sense of humour and way of looking at things all the way through the book and it was great.

Tongues of Serpents, by Naomi Novik
read: October 2011
See DW post about it!

White Cat, by Holly Black
read: October 2011
Quite good! Defs want to read the next! Although it's predictable in certain ways...

Tortall and Other Lands, by Tamora Pierce
read: November 2011
OH MY GOD ALL THE FEELINGS. See my post about it.

The Demon's Covenant, by Sarah Rees Brennan
read: November 2011
ACTUALLY ALL THE FEELINGS. SO MANY FEELINGS.

The Demon's Surrender, by Sarah Rees Brennan
read: November 2011
Less of the feelings, but still really excellent book! I'm not sure why less feelings. Less siblings? Too much plot and/or fighting? See DW for more.

Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite and Umbrella Academy: Dallas, by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba
read: December 2011
See DW.

Bios, by Robert Charles Wilson
read: December 2011
Kind of deeply mediocre. Not bad in any way (except the gender politics) but not good either. Read most of it like a month ago, and finally read the last quarter today.

The Shattering, by Karen Healey
read: December 2011
Really awesome! Although it was weird how Keri's chapters were first-person, while Sione's and Janna's were third. There was no reason for that. I loved that my newfound knowledge of popular music meant I recognized the names of two of the bands Janna had posters for (one was MSI!) and could deduce what those posters meant about her. And I loved (....thought it was very right for the book) that it turned out Jake really had committed suicide, that he wasn't part of the whole plot.

Marriage: A History, by Stephanie Coontz
read: December 2011
SO MUCH LOVE FOR THIS BOOK STILL. Everyone should read it always.

Comments

[soupytwist]

Hitchhiker's Guide is waaaaaaay smarter than it seems, and has a lot going on: if you get time, I actually recommend a re-read at a slower pace!

And OMG NOBODY BUT ME SEEMS TO HAVE READ THE SMALL CHANGE BOOKS BUT NOW YOU HAVE. I can't breathe when reading them, they're so stressful but so great. Jack and Carmichael BREAK MY HEART. But it IS sort of a happy ending - as happy as ever it could be, anyway - and aahhhhhhhhh.

[sophia_sol]

I've heard that about Hitchhiker's Guide before, since that time I read it years ago, but it's never managed to get high on my priority list of alllll the many tbr books I have listed. I'll continue to keep it in mind though.

And yes the small change books were SUPER GOOD. Though it's been years since I read them and no longer remember a lot of details about them! I do seem to vaguely recall, though, feeling like I didn't quite believe in the degree of happiness the ending managed to achieve, given the world being what it was in that universe. Perhaps I'll have to reread these books sometime too, to remind myself what the ending actually was....!

[soupytwist]

That's legit! (And my VERY favourite Douglas Adams is non-fiction: Last Chance To See, which is a sort of memoir of the time he went around the world with a naturalist called David Cawardine to learn about endangered species.)

Yeah the ending IS a bit whaaaat, but it's also based on literal history. (Walton's response to "Is it a deus ex machina?" is "yes, but it's also exactly what happened in Spain".) So while I don't think the ending is AS great as the rest, I kinda give it a pass almost? Maybe cause I don't feel like any other ending would have been BETTER. I hope you do re-read and have something to say about it. :)

[sophia_sol]

okay that Adams nonfic sounds up my alley, I'll be adding that to my tbr list!

Huh, I didn't realize that the ending was based on something that had actually happened in reality, that's awesome. It's interesting sometimes how things that Really Happen can sometimes seem a lot more unbelievable than the things that people make up. I will keep that in mind for if/when I do a reread in the future.