The Other Random Walk

The Wrong Reflection - Gillian Bradshaw - excellent science fiction. I don't want to spoil it, so I will just recommend it.

Mort - Terry Pratchett - okay Pratchett is good, and this is okay Pratchett

Jane Austen's Town and Country Style - Susan Watkins - worth the read to get a visual on various Regency houses, dinnerware, styles, etc.

Prince of Annwn - Evangeline Walton - retelling of the first branch of the Mabinogenon. I am probably going to read the rest of the series, which I have, then let them go.

The Family Trade -
The Hidden Family -
The Clan Corporate - Charlie Stross - fascinating series. Just the thing to disappear into on holidays when I don't want to deal with anyone.


Year's total: 122

Today is a vacation day, and I am sitting here in the living room, a the cat curled up beside me, catching up on all sorts of niggling little to dos and generally feeling both relaxed and productive.

3 to the Highest Power - 3 novellas? Novellettes? by Sturgeon, Bradbury, and Oliver. Dated, and unmemorable.

A Companion to Wolves - Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette - interesting, and deals with the implications from the Pern books. I recall reading something about how the wolf packs are very far off real wolf packs, which are family groups.

Black Horses for the King - Anne McCaffery - nice YA King Arthur about how the horses came to Britain.

The Between - Tananarive Due - horror, and thus not my bag, but an interesting story and well told.

Magic in Ithkar 2 - anthology - science fiction/ fantasy and a nice collection of stories.

The Chinese Gold Murders - Robert Van Gulik - decent enough mystery, part of a set and I've read one of the others.

Mr. Campion, Criminologist - Margery Allingham - decent enough collection of Campion short stories. Mystery.

No Love Lost - Margery Allingham - not mystery stories, and sort of only okay.

Dead on Sunday - A. J. Orde - I like these mysteries, and this is no exception.

The Crown Jewels - Walter Jon Williams - nice light amusement of high society.

Final Curtain - Ngaio Marsh - one of the Alleyn series. Focusses on his wife, and a good read. I will probably hunt out the others.

The Golden Key - Melanie Rawn, Kate Elliot, Jennifer Roberson - a good read (vacation!) and interesting story.

Closet Control: The Ultimate Guide to Revitalizing Your Wardrobe and Revolutionizing the Way You Store It - Barbara Horowitz - not much help. Lots of instructions on how to cut apart your T-shirts.

The King's Peace - Jo Walton - alternate universe King Arthur. Very good read.

Clarion II - anthology - I don't remember it, I read it so long ago. Many short stories.

Stellar 1 - anthology - I don't remember it, I read it so long ago. Many short stories.



Unfinished:
The Assassin's Edge - Juliet McKenna - I think the series got too long and complicated for me, so I gave up on this book.

Fires of Azeroth - C. J. Cherryh - The first two of the set were a drag, and I finally gave up.


Year's total: 101

Uncharted Territory - Connie Willis - okay. Sort of thin, compared to her other books.

Earthmen and Other Strangers - an old anthology. Nothing to make me want to keep it.

The Quiet Gentleman - Georgette Heyer - I do believe this will be one of my favorites by her.

The Stone War - Madeleine E. Robins - Interesting, and a good read.

Elemental Magic - anthology - well enough, but I gave it to a friend, instead of keeping it.

Great Science Fiction by Scientists - anthology - Well. All the scientists are men. As are all the characters. Some stories were decent, but I see no reason to keep it.

The Thief's Gamble -
The Swordsman's Oath -
The Gambler's Fortune -
The Warrior's Bond - all by Juliette McKenna - with a fifth book, which I've stalled in for a bit, really a single books spread across separate spines. Very good, with well rounded female and male characters. Much enjoyed. If I don't keep these, they're going to my nieces.

Ooku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 7 - Fumi Yoshinaga - most excellent series. I am looking forward to reading all of them in sequence, once they are all out.

Stories from the Twilight Zone - Rod Serling - passes time. Not bad.


Year to date: 85

Royal Blood
Royal Flush
Naughty in Nice - all by Rhys Bowen - amusing fluff, much as the rest of the series.

Raven's Shadow
Ravens's Strike - Patricia Briggs - fun duology. Really a single book in 2 covers. Well drawn characters, interesting world. Recommend.

Luck in the Shadows - Lynn Flewelling - the first of an ongoing series. Muchly enjoyed. Will be looking for all the next ones (Casket of Souls just came out!)

Daddy-Long-Legs - Jean Webster - light little epistolary novel. Saw the major plot twist coming. It may mean more if I had read it at the right age to identify with the protagonist.

The Dreaming Place - Charles de Lint - apparently his first YA novel. Set in Newford. Okay, but not great, and a shorter read than many of his are now. Will be passing on.

Lady John - Madeleine Robins - read on nook - one of her Regencies. I highly recommend all of them, along with the Sarah Tolerance books.

Bitterblue - Kristin Cashore - What happens after the heroes save the kingdom? Very good read - third of a trilogy. Recommend all 3.

Drift - Rachel Maddow - I have never seen so many curse words in a non-fiction books, which tells you what dry tomes I usually read. An interesting look at how the deliberate restraints on warmaking built into the U.S. Constitution have been subverted, but Democrat and Republican alike. Recommend.

Year's total: 67

Graceling - Kristin Cashore - excellent. If I had a daughter, I'd buy this book for her. Spoiler ROT13'd: Fb avpr gb unir n ebznapr gung qbrfa'g raq va zneevntr!

Dark Moon Defender -
Reader and Raelynx -
Fortune and Fate - Sharon Shinn -
Really good series. Am contemplating for my nieces. A variety of relationships, and relationship types, and the last book is what happens after the war is over, which is a really nice thing.

Isabella - Loretta Chase - ebook - Regency fluff. Amusing.

The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett - one of the Watch Discworlds. A good read. I really do prefer the Witches to everyone else, I think.

Friday's Child - Georgette Heyer - ebook - amusing enough.

Year's total: 48

Silence in Hanover Close - Anne Perry - ending a bit abrupt; otherwise, nicely crafted murder mystery. I especially like the bits where one character is acting as a lady's made in 1887 London. Not pleasant.

The Story of the Stone - Barry Hughart - amusing mystery. I will find the others in the set, but not buy them.

To the Resurrection Station - Eleanor Arnason - interesting book. Rather ... unfocussed? Atypical plot arc. Won't be keeping. Thinner book from the 70s; not as fleshed out as it would have been written 20-30 years later. Publisher would have allowed doorstop.

Mystic and Rider - Sharon Shinn - first of at least 5. Very good. Am in the second now. Probably won't keep. The entire book is spent on a trip to gather information and bring it back to the king. Obviously part of something larger. I do tend to like her books.

Year to date: 27

The Secret Lives of Wives - Iris Krasnow - received free through the LibraryThing early reviewers program.

I was expecting something with more numbers and studies in it. Instead, this is a collection of anecdotes, and commentary on the author's own marriage.

As someone who is contemplating marriage, and in a 9 year relationship but not yet married, this book scares me. There is a lot of emphasis on how hard marriage is, and I saw very little in it that might encourage me to pursue one. I seem to recall hearing that marriage is detrimental to women's health. That research is not even brought up in this book.

The author has a definite viewpoint - you should get married, and stay married. And children are the glue that holds a marriage together. You should stay together if you are bored, unhappy, uncomfortable, for the sake of having a family, and not ripping apart the tapestry that a family becomes. You owe it to your forebears, and to your descendants, to maintain your place.

The background seems to be: A woman will get married, she will lose herself in taking care of the kids, then when they grow up and are out of the house, she will have the time and financial freedom to take up old hobbies and interests.

Most of the women she interviews are very well off indeed. 6 figure salaries. Enough money to take separate vacations.

She seems shocked at the swingers, in an open marriage.

She is very gender essentialist - she and her female friends seem to have some sort of "Sex in the City" thing going. She believes that you should have good male friends, but being friends with a guy is very different from being friends with a woman. Cherish the straight guys who actually want to have a conversation with you. Seriously. You can't expect your husband to talk to you, or listen to you. I find this a deeply weird attitude - people are people, friends are friends - why would I want to be with a person who doesn't talk to me?

I do agree with some of the underlying things in this book: do not expect your husband to be everything to you. Maintain interests outside of the relationship - a job, hobbies, friends.

This book was a disappointment, and I would not recommend it to anyone.

Eternal - Cynthia Leitch Smith - second in the trilogy that started with Tantalize. Seems to have no link to its predecessor. A nice Twinkie like its predecessor.

Blessed - Cynthia Leitch Smith - third of the trilogy. Ties them all together. Again, a pleasant, quick, fluffy read.

Cranford - Elizabeth Gaskell - nook - oh. What a good read. Less action, and more portrait of the people. Recommend.

Lords and Ladies - Terry Pratchett - reread. Since this was published, lots of people have remembered how ... dangerous the Fair Folk are.

Sword & Sorceress XXVI - latest in the series. Enjoyed.

Motel of the Mysteries - David Macauley - amusing book. Illustrated. Future historians excavate a motel, and explain (wrongly) what they find.

Beauvallet - Georgette Heyer - ick. Do not recommend.

The Sleeping Partner - Madeleine E. Robins - fantastic mystery/ alternative history/ Regency fun. Yay! Another will be coming!

Moon Called -
Blood Bound -
Iron Kissed -
Bone Crossed -
Silver Borne - Patricia Briggs - Mercy Thompson series. Coyote in a pack of werewolves. I really like how the love triangle doesn't last for more than a few books.

Cry Wolf -
Hunting Ground - Patricia Briggs - 2 more in the same world as Mercy Thompson. No coyote, only werewolves. Not quite as good.

Wolfsbane - Patricia Briggs - continuation of Masques. It is really nice to see a couple working out how they are going to be a couple, not just the start of, "Oooo! I like him!"

Steal the Dragon - Patricia Briggs - another in the Sianam series, set about 10 years after Masques.

When Demons Walk - Patricia Briggs - a fourth Sianam book. Set a few years after Steal the Dragon.
If you couldn't tell, I really like this series.



Year's total: 18