Oh, look, I *do* still remember how to log in to my blog. Fancy that.
Yes, I know it's been an awfully long time... ::wanders around, doing some dusting and sneezing copiously, cleaning off some graffiti someone scribbled on with black magic marker, shovelling out the spam:: So much for my resolution to find something to post at least once a month. And to post flower pictures... and... ::sigh:: Ah, well.
Starting over, then. What to blog, what to blog? Well, heck, I'm a librarian, so there's always *one* topic to fall back on when imagination fails... ;)
BOOKS!!
So, let's see. A test of my memory, as (of course) I've been forgetting to keep my book journal, too... let's see if I can recall the last ten books I've read (not including comic books, except for graphic novels, 'cause single issues are just too short to justify including here.) I'll offer myself a handicap (because given my sieve-like memory for some things, I think I'll need one) and include everything I'm reading right now.
10. The Shadow of Saganami, by David Weber: Weber's trying to breathe new life into his Honor Harrington space-opera saga by having Admiral Lady Dame Harrington take a step back and making her a minor supporting character in this one while the new generation of recruits struts their stuff. It works surprisingly well. Honestly, I've been getting kinda bored with the main Honor Harrington series. I tried to start At All Costs immediately after I read this, but I just couldn't get into it. The Honor books have been getting thicker, which doesn't normally bother me. But they've also gotten considerably drier. The politics of war have taken over from character interests. Frankly, if I wanted to read escapist fiction about military politics, I'd read the President's speeches about Iraq. There's enough technical jargon in the most recent books in the series to make Tom Clancy throw up his hands, and the universe of characters has been getting wider and wider. It's like trying to remember the names of all the delegates at the U.N. and what committees they're on. The main series was fantastic at the beginning, but it's lost its focus, and it's becoming too much to wade through now. Saganami, however, does not share the failings of the later main-series books. While I admit to having done a bit of back-and-forth flipping in Saganami to keep track of characters (doesn't help that they can be referred to by first name, last name, rank, or position, depending on who's talking to/about them), and yes, there's still scads of techie jargon, this book felt more like a return to the early Honor books, when Honor's fire and character and determination in the face of desperate odds carried you along for a wild ride on a heaving battledeck. Weber also manages to break with some of his own stereotypes in this one, and that's something I'd be delighted to see more of. Keep the good characters coming, Dave. I'm not in this for the technical manuals.
9, sort of. (um. There was another in here, and I'm even pretty sure I enjoyed it and recommended it to someone else... darned if I can remember what it was, though. I'd remember if I saw the title again, but, um... right. Moving on.)
9, really. The Givenchy Code, by Julie Kenner: Okay, I want to read more of this lady! Dan Brown, are you listening? Yes, I know you're making tons of money writing utter tripe. Do us all a favor and give it to Ms. Kenner. Don't worry, she writes popular code/suspense books, too, but she does it ten times better than you could ever hope to. I'm trying to branch out by reading things I wouldn't normally. Sometimes, it's an utter failure. (Dan Brown, case in point.) Sometimes, it nets me a new author. Julie Kenner writes a highly amusing cross between mystery/suspense and witty chick lit, and it *works.* She even has the guts to sneak in a reference to the book she's showing up. ;) The main character is a gorgeous math grad student with boyfriend troubles and a horrible weakness for designer shoes... oh, yeah, and a psycho assassin on her trail, (a la The Most Dangerous Game) courtesy of a MMORPG gone live and *real.* She must rely on the hunky ex-military man assigned as her protector, and on her own code-cracking smarts to beat the game and call off the killer. Oh, and you have to read the author's self-interview at the end.
8. His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Book 1), by Naomi Novik: I finished this in half a day, and immediately went out to put the next two in the trilogy on order. The premise is quite simple: it's England's side of the Napoleonic Wars, with the benefit of aerial support in the nature of dragons. Yes, it's alternate history, yes, it has mythical creatures in it, but this doesn't read like fantasy at all. This reads like the best of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin books or C. S. Forester's Hornblower crossed with Anne McCaffrey's Dragonrider series. Cpt. Will Laurence is a career Navy man, committed to the seagoing life, until he overtakes a French ship with a most unusual cargo: a dragon's egg, straight from China. There is not enough time to get the prize home before the egg hatches, and Laurence finds his neat nautical world turned upside-down when the dragon chooses *him* for a partner. He must quit his beloved Navy and the life he knew to join the undisciplined barbarians of Britain's tiny Aerial Corps, because a dragon is too valuable a piece of ordinance to His Majesty's forces to throw away for the sake of a mere captain's career. But his new life, and his new partner, are not quite what he expects, either....
7. Quicksilver, by Stephanie Spinner: This was cute. It's a YA title about the Trojan War, told from the point of view of teenaged Hermes. The business with Paris forces the fun-loving youth from his favored role of Trickster into the humorless task of Psychopomp of the Dead, and man, does he hate it. The language is modern and the beginning comes across as sort of... flip, but as the action gets more serious, so does Hermes, and we are reminded that this is a boy who's been a teenager for centuries. He's an intriguing mix of juvenile and mature, and in his role as informed bystander, he has some pretty insightful commentary on the war and what it does both to his deific family and the earth below. Light, but fun-- a retelling that might intrigue young readers enough to read more.
6. Fairest, by Gail Carson Levine: No, this isn't out 'til September. Yes, I love the perks of my job, and you may feel free to hate me for it. My boss brought me an advanced reading copy from Book Expo, and I devoured it pretty much as soon as I got it home. Piece of advice-- don't read this if you're PMSsy. I bawled loudly and shamelessly through about half the book. This is another YA title, so again, pretty fast read for me. You may know Levine from her other Princess Tales (including Ella Enchanted, which, for the record, was loads better than the movie made from it). This is another fairy tale retelling, set in the same world, including the same well-meaning but ultimately rather wicked fairy. She sort of combines the tale of Snow White with the story of the Ugly Duckling, with a dash of Singin' In The Rain thrown in for good measure. Levine writes wonderfully likeable and entertaining characters with a strong supporting cast, and I loved how she snuck in the expected story elements in unexpected ways. I particularly admire her flawed villains... she gives them understandable motives for their actions, "flaws" them with good points, and makes them very hard to hate outright. Not only does it make it disturbingly easy for the reader to step into the villain's shoes, but it means she sets herself a hard task for a satisfying ending in which everyone gets what he or she deserves. I admit to being a bit let down by the final plot twist (I feel she sort of dodged one of the issues it raised), but the denouement was satisfying and touching and very well done. Four hankies. Oh, and if you like Levine's books, I heartily recommend Shannon Hale, author of The Goose Girl (one of my personal favorite fairy tales to start with) and Enna Burning (set in the same world) and the wonderful Princess Academy. She's also due out with a new book in the fall that will return to the fictional land of Bayern, River Secrets.
5. ChocolateChocolate, by Lisa Yockelson: Yes, okay, this is a cookbook. If you're on a diet, just skip to the next number right now. Really. You don't want to read this. Alright, you've been warned. For those of you that are still here and love chocolate, BUY THIS BOOK. (If you don't love chocolate, I'm sure help can be found for you somewhere, poor thing.) I accidentally ordered two of them (I saw reviews in two different sources, and put my order in twice... der), and although I was prepared to buy both and give one away, two of the clerks in Tech Services piped up with offers to take it off my hands. (It was very nearly a bidding war.) This... this is gourmet chocolate baking to the utmost. She includes a list of 180 types of chocolate (cocoa powder to Milky Way to single-bean imports) and where to find it. And then she goes into a list of types of chocolate, and the best uses of each. And of "intensities" of chocolate and ways to combine it for different effects. The recipes, organized by type, include old faithfuls and intriguing inventions, and are not for the casual chocolate nibbler or the faint of heart... this is an encyclopedic tome for the die-hard blood-and-bone chocophile. She not only puts more chocolate than you think you might believably cohere into her recipes, she discusses the pros and cons of specific *brands* of fine chocolate. She includes personal notes on each recipe-- what she likes, what she's tried, tricky bits to watch for, and why she does something in a particular way rather than another that might seem easier. Her directions are clear and easy to follow, the pictures will make you drool, and her extensive knowledge of chocolate in all its forms makes me worship at her cocoa-dusted feet. And for the record, I'm eating a Double-Dark Fudge Brownie as I write this. (Page 92. You're welcome.)
4. Read or Die, v. 1, by Shutaro Yamada and Hideyuki Kurata (Illustrator): I was excited to hear about this because I loved the (admittedly kooky) anime. Unfortunately, this manga doesn't quite live up to the anime's promise. The heroine, Yomiko Readman, "The Paper," special agent for the Library of England, is the same, but her masterful control of paper as weapon and defense and her incurable and voracious bibliomania just don't come across as well in this format (ironically enough). It was an okay story (although the bad guy was just a whack-job, and not even a particularly amusing one). Yomiko comes across as almost as much of a freak as the villain (well, in a way, she is, but...), and what she is and does is never really satisfactorily clarified. The art is sort of uneven, and I wasn't deeply enamoured of his layout... the frame-to-frame progression was confusing at times. I think I'll stick with the anime.
reading now:
3. Yume no Hon: The Book of Dreams, by Catherynne M. Valente (in bookbag): Just as a side note, I love the spelling of her first name. I'm not generally too keen on odd alternate spellings of traditional names (SanDeE*, anyone?), but this one is... classy. :) Anyway, this is a slim little book, but a dense read. The description intrigued me when I first saw it, and it's been sitting on my to-be-read shelf at home for awhile waiting for me to get in the mood to crack it. (Erm... not literally. I'm not overly particular with paperbacks, but I don't *destroy* bindings, thank you. Especially not of library books.) Her use of language is beautiful and evocative and... well, dreamlike. Worthy of the title, I think. It reads almost like free-verse poetry in a prose format. It's been very slow going because I keep stopping to reread a passage and think about it, or admire it, or try to unpack its possible meanings. I think that's a pretty high recommendation right there, for anyone who likes that sort of book. If I like this one enough, I'll be reading The Labyrinth next.
2. Watch By Moonlight, by Kate Hawks (in purse): Okay, I'm a sucker for retellings. This is a retelling of Alfred Noyes's poem/ballad, "The Highwayman," told from the point of view of the tavern wench Bess. If you've read the poem, you have an inkling of what happens. If you haven't, I'll just tell you that Bess falls in love with an infamous highwayman, and advise that you read the book before you read the poem to avoid spoiling it for yourself. It's pretty good so far. I'm reading it just now because the author's coming out with a new series that I'm debating getting for the library (or perhaps just for myself, if I don't think she'll appeal), and I wanted to see what sort of writer she was first.
1. Wintersmith, by Terry Pratchett (on nightstand): Discworld. Witch-in-training Tiffany Aching and the Wee Free Men. The personification of Winter... in love. With Tiffany. Need I say more? Oh yeah... how 'bout that this is another advanced reading copy, and you won't get to read it 'til *October.* ^_^ Don't hate me because I'm a librarian. God, I love my job.
Posted by gris at June 4, 2006 11:14 PM