A Fan's Playground

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.

( expand this cut to see nested cuts listing all the books )

I need to get on posting all my book thoughts if I’m to have all my 2016 books posted within a reasonable time frame after 2016! At any rate here’s four more books at once:

The Immortals Quartet

I do like these books a lot but not as much as some of Tamora Pierce's other works. The first two books are better than the second two, in my opinion.

( cut for mild spoilers for all four books )

my goodness it's been like five million years since I've posted a book review. I've read books in the meantime! But somehow not posted about them. Let me start working through the backlog. I'll start with some very brief reviews of a few old favourites.

The Blue Castle, by L.M. Montgomery

As always a total delight to read. However, I had a new thought this time about an aspect that has always vaguely frustrated me but have never been able to articulate before. ( spoilers for the end )

First Test, by Tamora Pierce

Yeah okay I've got nothing to say about this one. I LOVE IT the end.

Page, by Tamora Pierce

I've come to realize that structurally this book actually isn't super well put together. It's pretty episodic, covering a lot of time without a lot of important events going on. HOWEVER, the important overarching emotional through-line is ( spoilers I guess )

Writing up extensive thoughts about every book I read was much easier when I read fewer books. Around the beginning of May I switched to reading published books during my lunch hour at work instead of spending it on the computer and all of a sudden my rate of bookreading has SKYROCKETED -- and not just because of the extra hour of reading a day, but because the reading-every-day puts my brain in the mindset of reading profic and so I read more of it at home as well. In the month of May I completed 14 books, which is just shy of a book every other day. Like hell I had enough time/energy to write lengthy reactions to each of those books! Especially since usually these books are completed at lunch (when I'm not at a computer to write my thoughts down immediately) or at bedtime (when my computer has been turned off for the evening already).

But I MISS it, I really do. So I am going to keep trying my best. HERE:

Squire, and Lady Knight, by Tamora Pierce

I realized while reading these that there are two different modes of rereading I do. One is rereading a book that I've read infrequently enough or long enough ago that I don't remember everything that happens, so I am experiencing some or most (or all) of the contents anew. And one is rereading a book that I have already read a million times.

The latter makes a reread really fast! Because I don't need any time to digest or comprehend what I am reading -- I just motor on forward at breakneck pace. It's a way of reminding myself in order of everything I like about the book. There's nothing new or surprising, I'm not about to have any sudden insights about the content, I know exactly what is going to happen next and often the words in which it's going to happen. But it's a wonderful experience anyways because it's so comforting and enjoyable to just wallow in something I love and know so well.

I'm quite sure that there are people out there who would find this way of rereading books unfamiliar and/or uninteresting. But WOWWWW NO I LOVE IT.

This is all a very roundabout way to say, I have nothing much to say about these books. I LOVE THEM THE END?

Actually no there is something to say, and that something is this: ( cut for spoilers )


Jane of Lantern Hill, by LM Montgomery

A comforting reread! I was having a bad evening and this book is a delicious warm hug telling me that everything is okay.

It is a book about NATURE PORN and COMPETENCE PORN and FAMILIAL LOVE.

( cut for spoilers and for some discussion of unhealthy family relationships )


Banished: Surviving My Years in the Westboro Baptist Church, by Lauren Drain

You can tell pretty easily from this book what it is about. Lauren Drain was part of the Westboro Baptist Church for seven years, starting when she was a young teen, and this book chronicles her time among them.

( cut for spoilers and discussion of unhealthy religious experiences )

Moar books! This is a whole bunch at once because my thoughts for these books aren't quite as in-depth as what the other ones inspired.

( Snuff, by Terry Pratchett )

( The Will of the Empress, by Tamora Pierce )

( A Morbid Taste for Bones, by Ellis Peters )

( Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan )

( The Hundred Penny Box, by Sharon Bell Mathis )

( Skylark, by Patricia MacLachlan )

( The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green )

( The True Meaning of Smekday, by Adam Rex )