very long book post
Jul. 1st, 2014 09:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redroseIt's been a while.
I'm going to get pickier about which books get shelf space from now on, so fewer will be keeps. I'll also be culling the library this summer, I hope.
Melusine
The Virtu
The Mirador
Corambis - Sarah Monette - very good quartet. (Warning, the first book contains a violent rape in the first 50 pages or so.) Characters well fleshed out, interesting world. I ended up donating Melusine (which I had owned) to a library.
The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison (Sarah Monette) - very good book. Court intrigue, a kind protagonist. Recommend.
vN - Madeline Ashby - a good read about an artificial human, and I will be looking up the rest of the series.
Peyton Place - Grace Metalious - blech. Ponderous. Didn't really get to know any of the characters. Read it for a read-along. At least now I can say I read it.
The Human Factor - Graham Greene - set in the 70s or 80s. Spy novel. How... different from what the world is today. As expected from Greene, characters well drawn.
Murder in Amsterdam - A.C. Baantjer, H.G. Smittenaar translated - 2 Dutch police procedurals in translation. Skip it. Dated, and I don't really need to deal with the sexism.
My Real Children- Jo Walton - Most excellent... An exploration of the parallel lives of a woman, with the two different worlds spinning off (possibly) a choice she made... Highly recommend!
The Wailing Wind - Tony Hillerman - scored a bunch of mystery novels at a used book sale. Good, as expected.
Princess of the Midnight Ball - Jessica Day George - retelling of 12 dancing princesses. Nice enough bit of fluff.
Assassination Vacation - Sarah Vowell - interesting, amusing, but in the end, not as deep as I had wanted. Am not keeping.
Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha - Dorothy Gilman - another pass-the-time mystery. Not worth keeping.
Trio of Sorcery - Mercedes Lackey - What I thought was 3 new Diana Tregarde stories. Which was 1 + non-Diana story. And the Diana story was transphobic. I have decided to wreck the book rather than donate or resell it. The other 2 weren't bad, but I will not have that sort of stuff in my pleasure library.
Good in Bed - Jennifer Crusie - pleasant chick-lit or romance. Enjoyed.
Breakdown - Sarah Paretsky - a V.I. Warshawski mystery novel. As with the whole series, recommended.
Liar's Poker - Michael Lewis - Absolutely fascinating book about Wall Street bond traders in the '80s, written by a former Wall Street person, in the late '80s. The start of bonds based on mortgages, with tranches. It did not feel dated at all, because the echoes and repercussions affect the world today....
Sword-Bound - Jennifer Roberson - Yay! Another Tiger & Del! Wonderful to see a series where the protagonists are married? coupled? raising a family, and still smacking things with swords!
Terrier
Bloodhound
Mastiff - Tamora Pierce - highly recommend. YA, but fantastic, following a young police woman as she starts her career.
Gibbons Decline & Fall - Sherri Tepper - wonderful, fun sci-fi, if you can stomach the sometimes cudgel-like feminism and environmentalism. What if humans did sex differently than we do now?
The Family Tree - Sherri Tepper - as with the previous book and the cudgel. Very oddly structured, but when the two plotlines come together, much good.
Eye of the Heron - Ursula K. LeGuin - an interesting exploration of pacifism on a different world.
The Warrior's Apprentice - Lois Bujold - Bujold reread; need I say more?
Trickster's Queen
Trickster's Choice - Tamora Pierce - again, YA, again, fantastic! This time, the main character is a spy.
Servants: a Downstairs History of Britain from the Nineteenth Century to Modern Times - Lucy Lethbridge - I have concluded that no one wants to do housework.
Love Continuance & Increasing - Julian Griffith - most excellent non-standard romance. I will be on the lookout for more from this author.
The Moon is Down - John Steinbeck - did not leave much of an impression.
Nine Goblins - T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon) - very amusing fantasy, I do believe I laughed out loud. Highly recommend.
Books I did not finish & maybe a bit about why:
Priestess of the White - Trudy Canavon - Didn't care enough about anyone to finish the last 50 pages or find the other 2 in the trilogy. Read Wikipedia summary instead.
The Fatal Crown - Ellen Jones - I thought I was getting a decent historical novel. Instead, I got a romance. Between Matilda and Henry, who ripped England in 2 between them. And Henry II ... was Henry's son, not Geoffrey of Anjou. Seriously. I expect the afterword to tell me where the author has taken liberties, not tell me that the author has taken liberties.
A Study in Silks - Emma Jane Holloway - Sherlock Holmes' niece in steampunk London. Once I saw it hung on a cliffhanger at the end, I wasn't interested in finishing.
Nimishia's Ship - Anne McCaffery - didn't connect with any character, and lost interest.
The Faded Sun: Kutath - C.J. Cherry - I want to like all Cherryh's books, but after slogging through the first 2 in the trilogy, I just don't have it in me to finish this one. I am looking forward to catching up on the Foreigner series, though.
I'm going to get pickier about which books get shelf space from now on, so fewer will be keeps. I'll also be culling the library this summer, I hope.
Melusine
The Virtu
The Mirador
Corambis - Sarah Monette - very good quartet. (Warning, the first book contains a violent rape in the first 50 pages or so.) Characters well fleshed out, interesting world. I ended up donating Melusine (which I had owned) to a library.
The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison (Sarah Monette) - very good book. Court intrigue, a kind protagonist. Recommend.
vN - Madeline Ashby - a good read about an artificial human, and I will be looking up the rest of the series.
Peyton Place - Grace Metalious - blech. Ponderous. Didn't really get to know any of the characters. Read it for a read-along. At least now I can say I read it.
The Human Factor - Graham Greene - set in the 70s or 80s. Spy novel. How... different from what the world is today. As expected from Greene, characters well drawn.
Murder in Amsterdam - A.C. Baantjer, H.G. Smittenaar translated - 2 Dutch police procedurals in translation. Skip it. Dated, and I don't really need to deal with the sexism.
My Real Children- Jo Walton - Most excellent... An exploration of the parallel lives of a woman, with the two different worlds spinning off (possibly) a choice she made... Highly recommend!
The Wailing Wind - Tony Hillerman - scored a bunch of mystery novels at a used book sale. Good, as expected.
Princess of the Midnight Ball - Jessica Day George - retelling of 12 dancing princesses. Nice enough bit of fluff.
Assassination Vacation - Sarah Vowell - interesting, amusing, but in the end, not as deep as I had wanted. Am not keeping.
Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha - Dorothy Gilman - another pass-the-time mystery. Not worth keeping.
Trio of Sorcery - Mercedes Lackey - What I thought was 3 new Diana Tregarde stories. Which was 1 + non-Diana story. And the Diana story was transphobic. I have decided to wreck the book rather than donate or resell it. The other 2 weren't bad, but I will not have that sort of stuff in my pleasure library.
Good in Bed - Jennifer Crusie - pleasant chick-lit or romance. Enjoyed.
Breakdown - Sarah Paretsky - a V.I. Warshawski mystery novel. As with the whole series, recommended.
Liar's Poker - Michael Lewis - Absolutely fascinating book about Wall Street bond traders in the '80s, written by a former Wall Street person, in the late '80s. The start of bonds based on mortgages, with tranches. It did not feel dated at all, because the echoes and repercussions affect the world today....
Sword-Bound - Jennifer Roberson - Yay! Another Tiger & Del! Wonderful to see a series where the protagonists are married? coupled? raising a family, and still smacking things with swords!
Terrier
Bloodhound
Mastiff - Tamora Pierce - highly recommend. YA, but fantastic, following a young police woman as she starts her career.
Gibbons Decline & Fall - Sherri Tepper - wonderful, fun sci-fi, if you can stomach the sometimes cudgel-like feminism and environmentalism. What if humans did sex differently than we do now?
The Family Tree - Sherri Tepper - as with the previous book and the cudgel. Very oddly structured, but when the two plotlines come together, much good.
Eye of the Heron - Ursula K. LeGuin - an interesting exploration of pacifism on a different world.
The Warrior's Apprentice - Lois Bujold - Bujold reread; need I say more?
Trickster's Queen
Trickster's Choice - Tamora Pierce - again, YA, again, fantastic! This time, the main character is a spy.
Servants: a Downstairs History of Britain from the Nineteenth Century to Modern Times - Lucy Lethbridge - I have concluded that no one wants to do housework.
Love Continuance & Increasing - Julian Griffith - most excellent non-standard romance. I will be on the lookout for more from this author.
The Moon is Down - John Steinbeck - did not leave much of an impression.
Nine Goblins - T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon) - very amusing fantasy, I do believe I laughed out loud. Highly recommend.
Books I did not finish & maybe a bit about why:
Priestess of the White - Trudy Canavon - Didn't care enough about anyone to finish the last 50 pages or find the other 2 in the trilogy. Read Wikipedia summary instead.
The Fatal Crown - Ellen Jones - I thought I was getting a decent historical novel. Instead, I got a romance. Between Matilda and Henry, who ripped England in 2 between them. And Henry II ... was Henry's son, not Geoffrey of Anjou. Seriously. I expect the afterword to tell me where the author has taken liberties, not tell me that the author has taken liberties.
A Study in Silks - Emma Jane Holloway - Sherlock Holmes' niece in steampunk London. Once I saw it hung on a cliffhanger at the end, I wasn't interested in finishing.
Nimishia's Ship - Anne McCaffery - didn't connect with any character, and lost interest.
The Faded Sun: Kutath - C.J. Cherry - I want to like all Cherryh's books, but after slogging through the first 2 in the trilogy, I just don't have it in me to finish this one. I am looking forward to catching up on the Foreigner series, though.
