Bookish

Red Hood's Revenge, by Jim C. Hines

Sat, 25 May 2013 00:44:38 GMT

They've taken on the Evil Queen and Ariel; now it's time to beat the crap out of Little Red Riding Hood.

Penguin Books, 2010, 352 pages

Wars may end. But vengeance is forever.

Roudette's story was a simple one. A red cape. A wolf. A hunter. Her mother told her she would be safe, so long as she kept to the path. But sometimes the path leads to dark places. Roudette is the hunter now, an assassin known throughout the world as the Lady of the Red Hood. Her mission will take her to the country of Arathea and an ancient fairy threat.

At the heart of the conflict between humans and fairies stands the woman Roudette has been hired to kill, the only human ever to have fought the Lady of the Red Hood and survived - the princess known as Sleeping Beauty.

Everyone level up now: Red Riding Hood is a 12th-level Assassin!

Verdict: Red Hood's Revenge is an enjoyable continuation of the Princess series. This is the third book, and while in a lot of ways it's more polished and mature than the first two, it's probably not my favorite, which is not to say it's not good. If you like light fantasy with a variety of interesting characters good and bad, most of them women, examining a lot of issues that often get glossed over in genre fantasy but without using them as sledgehammers, I really recommend these books.

Also by Jim C. Hines: My reviews of The Stepsister Scheme and The Mermaid's Madness.

My complete list of book reviews.

15 The Sense of an Ending

Fri, 24 May 2013 05:13:11 GMT

Originally posted by audrey_e at 15 The Sense of an Ending

15 THE SENSE OF AN ENDING Julian Barnes (England, 2011)

The Sense of an Ending won the Man Booker Prize in 2011.

An old man reflects on his youth, and specifically his friendship with Adrian, and the latter's suicide.

What a wonderfully-crafted novel! Julian Barnes managed to gradually build a multi-layered plot that I would not want to spoil in anyway. All I can say is that Tony, the narrator, is one of the most memorable unreliable narrators I've ever read.
This is clearly a book that needs to be read a second time, and it is perfect for a group discussion as it is a puzzling and haunting story.
Since The Sense of an Ending is a reflection on memory and how we view the past, some have argued that it is better to read it when middle-aged or older. I'm 24, but an old soul, and I found this book very meaningful.

4,5/5

Forests of the Night by S. Andrew Swann

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:59:51 GMT

Like many genre authors Swann appears to have wanted to take a swipe at a Chandleresque mystery. The initial problems with that are he does not have Chandler's way with words, or the ability to make his characters sound witty. At the same time a relatively complex mystery does not hit its stride until about 2/3rds of the through the title.

This is not a bad read, and I think Swann would have better served his reader if some of the small exposition dumps about this world had been spread more evenly throughout the book and not back loaded towards the end (and I know some will disagree with me on this).

Nohar is a bidpedal tiger. In a near future world humans bio-engineered animals to turn them into weapons of war. Tigers, lions and bears oh my (and literally). Nohar is descended from two combat veterans, and is scratching out a living as a private invetsigator.

Then Nohar is approached by a representative from a company who wants him to look into the murder of a political campign manager. Things do eventually progress in a reasonable manner to build an entertaining mystery/suspense tale.

Isham and Aagel are introduced who play larger roles in Swann's other Moreau books. Eventually Swann ties together the Moreau and Hostile Takeover books into his Apotheosis trilogy.

Doctor Who Character Encyclopedia by Jason Loborik, Annabel Gibson, Morey Laing

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:57:42 GMT

As character guides for a television show goes this is one of the better efforts, and I think much better than DK Book's other recent genre effort the Star Wars Clone Wars Character Guide. The information is very recent as it includes all of the doctors (except Peter Cushing) and many of the companions, including Clara.

There is a nice use of color photography where available, but I think the book places too much emphasis on the characters introduced during the 10th and 11th doctors tour of duty. It also feels, and some of this comes form casual reading in other places, that many of the older companions were ignored or given short shift. I mean really the main picture for Romana isn't Mary Tamm who played the character the longest?

Regardless if you have a soft spot for guides like such as I do, and are a Doctor Who fan see if you can find a copy for a reasonable price and you'll likely enjoy it.

The Elizabethan World Picture

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:36 GMT

The Elizabethan World Picture: A study of the idea of order in the age of Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton by E. M. W. Tillyard

As you can see from the subtitle it goes substantially onward from Elizabeth's time. It also goes substantially back -- the author opens with discussing how the era was not an irreligious hiatus between two religious eras, but continuous with them.

Opening with a discussion of order in the Elizabethan picture, followed by the great principle, sin. The great chain of being and how every group had its best: the dolphin (or whale) among fish, the lion (or elephant) among beasts, the ruby (or diamond) among stones. How oysters are the lowest sort of animal. The angels in the heavens and the humors in man. Correspondences among things. And the great cosmic dance.

With considerable pointing out of the images in all sorts of writers, to point out that this was not a secular age, not at all.

Requesting a read: Sadness and/or depravity

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:16:24 GMT

Hello fellow book-lovers!

I have two requests for you awesome intrepid book-reccers to throw at me

I am looking for any novels that are incredibly sad. I'm also looking for any books with characters/situations that are just generally messed up (recommendations don't need to have both, just one or the other).

Yes please to fiction, non-fiction, historical fiction, literature, classics.

No thanks to young adult fiction, science fiction, fantasy, graphic novels, books about death of family pets.

I want a book that will either leave me weeping, or creep me out with disturbing themes/characters/storylines.

Thanks in advance for help with the odd request!

ETA: Thanks for the great response so far, definitely many books worth checking out. Keep the recs coming if there are more that belong here!

Yonder Comes the Other End of Time, by Suzette Haden Elgin

Wed, 22 May 2013 02:36:47 GMT

A sequel to the Ozark trilogy, in which the author introduces the main character from her other sci-fi series to Planet Ozark.

Daw Books, 1986, 302 pages

ROGUE TELEPATH!

The Communipaths have traced a mind message of incredible strength to a seemingly empty sector of space, and now Tri-Galactic Federation agent Coyote Jones must find an invisible planet and bring back the unknown telepath who threatens to disrupt the entire Communipath system.

Bursting through a Spell of Invisibility and straight into Brightwater Kingdom on the planet Ozark, Coyote discovers a realm ruled by a iron-willed young woman named Responsible — perhaps the very telepath he seeks. But on this world where Magicians of Rank can call up a storm or cure a wounded and unwelcome offworlder with equal ease, will Coyote's psience or Ozark's spells prove the stronger?

Ozark magic vs. intergalactic telepaths. Fun, charming, and awfully damn silly.

Verdict: This is not a book you'd want to read as a stand-alone. If you have not read the Ozark Trilogy first, and preferably a couple of the Coyote Jones books as well, then Yonder Comes the Other End of Time is going to seem awfully silly and nonsensical. If you have read those books, then this book is still a little silly, but you'll enjoy it more.

Also by Suzette Haden Elgin: My review of The Ozark Trilogy.

My complete list of book reviews.

Tunnel Vision by R. Patrick Gates

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:09:45 GMT

Has anyone read Tunnel Vision by R. Patrick Gates? Does it get any better?

I'm at page 76 and its fairly bad, with a few bright spots. Some of the bad is that it seems like the author is writing what his idea of a poor, hispanic/black neighborhood city neighborhood is like than from actual knowledge. And in general i'm just not caring about what happens. Normally I'd stop reading, but its from the Dell Abyss line from 20 years ago and the majority of their books were fantastic.

http://www.amazon.com/Tunnelvision-R-Patrick-Gates/dp/0440210909/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1369065430&sr=8-2&keywords=tunnel+vision+r.+patrick+gates

Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451

Sun, 19 May 2013 04:57:38 GMT

Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 is a masterwork of twentieth-century literature set in a bleak, dystopian future.

Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.

Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television.

When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.
(Summary from Amazon)

Half review, half dissection on my journal.

The Night of the Living Trekkie by Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall

Sun, 19 May 2013 02:15:02 GMT

So a lot of humor just falls flat for me. Good Omens was all right, and Hitchiker was a bit a stroll thru mud. But, I had read good reviews of this book, and while having to take unpaid time off of work Wednesday I walked to my favorite SF bookstore and low and behold they had a copy.

If you read this book be ready to laugh at yourself, or at least smile, if you are a Star Trek, and yes even a Star Wars fan, have gone to one or more conventions, and enjoy a pair of writers trying to make their characters at least two dimensional (I think saying they were three dimensional would be me giving them a little too much credit).

The in jokes even begin with the character's names. Lead character Jim Pike (if you're a Trek fan you'll easily get that one) is working at a Houston hotel where his sister is coming for a Trek convention. A Gulf War vet Pike wants no responsibility after his experiences in the Gulf.

These really aren't typical zombies that end up attacking people, eating them, and then shambling after them. I think a good job was made at trying to make these zombies, and how they were created, at least a little different, and sorry sweetie no spoilers explaining the zombie creation.

Find a copy, enjoy the quick read I hope you find it as pleasing as I did.

A Beautiful Friendship by David Weber

Sun, 19 May 2013 02:11:55 GMT

Part of the reason I delve into YA fantasy and science fiction is that there is, at times, more variety, something at least a little different from what clogs the adult science fiction and fantasy book shelves. Oh, both are overrun with angst filled vampires etc. but I have discovered some fine authors via YA such as Ben Jeapes, Tamora PIerce, and Scott Westerfeld and Kenneth Oppel.

Which is part of the reason I decided to try David Weber's first attempt at a YA novel. I am familar with his popularity, and I've read one of his books, amusingly, not a Honor Harrington novel. I wanted to see how he handled the move from being primarily a military sci-fi author to a YA story.

Weber handles it well, not perfectly but well. While looking at some online reviews while reading the book, I understand this was, at least in part, a fix-up of short stories previously published about Honor Harrington's ancestor Stephanie Harrington.

Fourteen year old Stephanie is not pleased with her parents over their move to the relative new colony world of Sphinx. At the least it will stunt her desire to become a forest ranger, and she is an ill fit with others her age. The ill fit comes from her knowing that she is smarter than just about everyone in her peer group.

Events lead her to meeting a Sphinxian treecat, whom she names Lioneheart. The treecats are fully sentient and telepathic. Lionheart, Climbs Quickly as he is known among his people, is curious about the humans and wishes to find a way to communicate with them.

The hyper competence of some of the characters harkens back to an Asimov or Brin fault as writers (Neal Stephenson too come to think of it). Stephanie herself should realize that she had the advantage of more schooling than most of her Sphnxian peers as she came form an older colony world.

There are some pieces of politics in the book. If anything I think Weber, who at times sounds like a conservative in the book is also a proponent of preserving wildlife and ecology. Go figure.

To compare this to a Heinlein YA would not be inaccurate. So if you like those Heinlein books you'll likely enjoy this.

Outlined: Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre

Sun, 19 May 2013 01:44:04 GMT

Dreamsnake is an expansion of Vonda McIntyre’s award winning novella, “Of Mist and Grass and Sand.” It’s a post-apocalyptic story about a healer named “SNAKE,” who uses snakes as part of her work. (She is not a faith healer or “snake handler.” She uses genetically engineered snakes as a kind of living hypodermic needle for chemotherapy, and uses their venom to create medicines and vaccines.) When one of her snakes is killed, a rare, alien snake whose venom acts as a kind of sedative, she goes on a quest of sorts to get a new one.

The combination of low tech with extremely advanced bio-science was interesting to me from a world building standpoint.

Read this Outline on Rena's Hub of Random on WordPress.

Book 14: The Buddha in the Attic

Sat, 18 May 2013 05:06:23 GMT

Originally posted by audrey_e at Book 14: The Buddha in the Attic

14 THE BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC Julie Otsuka (USA, 2011)

Written through the perspective of a multiplicity of female voices (first person plural), The Buddha in the Attic tells the story of Japanese immigration to the US, from picture brides to Pearl Harbor.

This book is a true literary accomplishment. It is both well-written and well-researched.
Julie Otsuka explores the lives of these women through a "we" that sometimes turns into a "some of us" to acknowledge the diversity of experience. It is impossible not to sympathize with these women who married men they did not know, worked in the fields or became maids, and then lost everything when the war came.
This short book often reads like a long poem, and I would recommend you to sip it like a good wine.
It is an instant classic of immigration experience in the US, along with Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior. The Buddha in the Attic should be taught in schools.

4,5/5

Ashes Of Honor

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:33:21 GMT

Ashes Of Honor by Seanan McGuire

The sixth October Daye book. Spoilers ahead for the earlier ones.

After a dramatic opening with some help from Tybalt, Toby gets home to find surprising company: Etienne, another knight in Sylvester's service, but while Toby was given her knighthood because of her PI work, Etienne is an actual knight, and old-fashioned.

Which why she is more surprised when he confesses to having fathered a changeling in the unpleasant times that started the whole series. Her mother had hid the girl, Chelsea, from him, until just now, when he got an accusatory phone call demanding her back. She's vanished. He hires Toby to find her.

The course of the investigation turns up a fantastic creature that crushes Toby's car, and they realize that Chelsea is one of those changelings who lack not the powers but the limits of their parents, and her enormous ability to teleport could endanger the world.

Unraveling it all involves heading into regions that have been cut off for centuries, a rose, a ruby, a declaration of love motivated by the real possibility that they will not live to another chance, Jin yelling at people ignoring her medical advice, and really bad tapestries.

Book Review: The Death of American Virtue - Clinton vs. Starr

Fri, 17 May 2013 01:38:34 GMT

The difficulty with writing about the events leading up to the impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton is that the subject is one nearly impossible for people not to take sides on. This is apparent even from the title of Professor Ken Gormley's book The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr which underscores the detailed history as being one of "Clinton vs. Starr". The subject matter of this book seems to effortlessly evoke impassioned defenses and criticisms of the two major players, with one side believing that this was a "right wing conspiracy" to remove Clinton from office, and the other side believing that the morally reprehensible president was able to get away with criminal behaviour scot-free. While it takes him 690 pages to do so, Gormley gives as objective an accounting of this complicated set of facts in a manner that affords all sides and all players the opportunity to give their side of the story, balancing that with the views of their critics, all the while refraining from his own judgements. Gormley leave it up to his readers and to history to come to their own conclusions.

Gormley is nothing if not thorough, and his subject matter demands it. There is more to this story than a series of hook-ups between a 20something intern and the leader of the free world, leading to a stain on a little blue dress. Gormley reviews Clinton's rise to power and his tenure as Governor of Arkansas, along with all of the allegations of gubernatorial hanky-pankey, not in a tabloid style with unsubstantiated rumours, but by getting information from sources present at the time. In practically all cases, there is insufficient information on which to reach a conclusion. There is smoke, but is there fire? Gormley leaves the question open. All he knows is all he knows.

Through this book we learn about an interesting array of characters and of circumstances. We learn about a property development project known as Whitewater, and a failed savings and loan company, all of which have Bill and Hillary Clinton on the periphery. Gormley makes no judgement about whether the Clintons acted fraudulently in connection with these matters. He simply presents the conflicting evidence and the arguments pro and con.

The adage "truth is stranger than fiction" is personified through the array of characters that we meet. Gormley gives more than a thumbnail sketch of all of them, the good, the bad and the flaky. In the book we meet Jim McDougall, the bi-polar dreamer who is present at the creation of this mess. Gormley presents him, warts and all. We also meet his wife Susan, a free-spirit with character, respected by many for her refusal to testify before a grand jury, even at the price of a prison sentence, because she distrusts the independent counsel. Paula Jones, the plaintiff in a sexual harassment suit against Clinton is also portrayed as both victim and gold-digger. Once again Gormley makes no judgements, he simply shows both sides and leaves it to the reader. Other fascinating characters who Gormley tells us much about include Monica Lewinsky and her parents, Linda Tripp (who secretly records her friend Monica and turns the tapes over to the independent counsel), Vince Foster (who tragically takes his own life), a compassionate prison psychiatrist, as well as a number of lawyers and judges, politicians and political staffers too numerous to mention, but many with larger than life personalities.

Of the main protagonists, here again Gormley is reluctant to pass judgement. Ken Starr is presented both as principled and ethical by some, and as being on an out-of-control witch hunt by others. Clinton, through interviews, gets ample opportunity both to defend himself and to vent about his mistreatment at the hands of a vindictive Ken Starr. The insight into what the two central figures were thinking as the matter proceeded is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book.

The whole saga reads like a Greek tragedy, especially when Gormley points out the various points in time when a different decision may have derailed this train-wreck of a tale. From Whitewater and Madison Savings and Loan, to Paula Jones, to Kathleen Willey and Ginnifer Flowers, to the appointment or an independent counsel, to the change in independent counsel, to the discovery of Monica Lewinsky, to the release of the Starr Report, the impeachment proceedings in Congress, the brokering of a deal by yet another independent counsel and the aftermath and fallout for all concerned, there is much to tell. Gormley tells it well, sanitizing nothing and keeping his personal opinion to himself.

Because of the volume of detail, this book can at times seem tedious, but more often it can be a riveting page-turner. Gormley takes a complicated story and explains it as fairly and as interestingly as imaginable. Those with a strong opinion about this saga may be disappointed that their side isn't the dominant one, but those readers who are looking for an objective account of what went on during the chapter of American history will find it in this book.

The Coldest War, by Ian Tregillis

Thu, 16 May 2013 01:59:07 GMT

An alt-history in which demons and supermen threaten Mutually Assured Destruction.

Tor, 2012, 352 pages

Someone is killing Britain's warlocks.

Twenty-two years after the Second World War, a precarious balance of power maintains the peace between Great Britain and the USSR. For decades, the warlocks have been all that stand between the British Empire and the Soviet Union-- a vast domain stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the shores of the English Channel. But now each death is another blow to Britain's security.

Meanwhile, a brother and sister escape from a top-secret research facility deep behind the Iron Curtain. Once subjects of a twisted Nazi experiment to imbue ordinary humans with extraordinary abilities, then prisoners of war in the vast Soviet effort to reverse engineer the Nazi technology, they head for England.

Because that's where former spy Raybould Marsh lives. And Gretel, the mad seer, has plans for him.

As Marsh is drawn back into the world of Milkweed, he discovers that Britain's darkest acts didn't end with the war. And as he strives to protect Queen and country, he's forced to confront his own willingness to accept victory at any cost.

The sequel to Bitter Seeds fast-forwards from World War II to the Cold War.

Verdict: A great sequel, and a book that makes me eager to finish the trilogy. Mixing superpowers, magic, and alternate history in a very grim world of 1963, The Coldest War is a fast-paced bombshell of an adventure not afraid to threaten to destroy the world.

Also by Ian Tregillis: My review of Bitter Seeds.

My complete list of book reviews.

Poll results for "Which Book Should I Outline/do a Reading of Next?"

Tue, 14 May 2013 20:36:11 GMT

Originally posted by othercat at Poll results for "Which Book Should I Outline/do a Reading of Next?"

This is going to be a rough reading-list/schedule of the books I am doing an Outline or Reading of.

(In case anyone was interested)

Outline: ("Movie in fifteen minutes" style overview with snark/humor.)

Dreamsnake, by Vonda McIntyre

This is one of those "I have mixed feelings about this book because of reasons" books. I think some of them boil down to the novella actually being better.

The Bloody Sun by Marion Zimmer Bradley

"I have mixed feelings about this book because a lot of the things I thought were cool when I was a kid annoy the heck out of me now that I'm older." This book may also be one of the sources of my embarrassment squick. Because lord, this poor main character gets jerked around a lot.

Gossamer Axe by Gael Baudino

IIRC Baudino does the thing where Wicca is really honestly actually truly an ancient religion thing. I really liked this book the first few times I read it, lets see how well it ages. I cannot begin to tell you all how hard this book was for me to find. ARGH.

Reading: (By-chapter review/critique/synopsis)

Godstalk, by P.C. Hodgell

Hodgell takes the epic fantasy genre, and gives it a good half twist.

I will possibly also be talking about The Number of Times People Have Thought the Title is the Character's Name, and She Who Likes Bane But Forgot He's a Freaking Serial Killer and why This is One of the Few Books With Purple Prose that Does not Cause Me Anguish.

Survivor, by Octavia Butler

This is part of the Patternist Sequence, but was disowned by the author. (Reason: Star Trek novel.) I acquired a pdf. of the book last year. The pdf. is not very good! This book is also pretty short! I do not have a really strong negative or positive feeling about the book, but I kind of understand why she disowned it, even though I like the main character.

Ralestone Luck, by Andre Norton

This is a book I have not previously read, but got via Gutenberg.

A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay

Another Gutenberg book. I've read a couple of chapters in. Expect some snark because of reasons.

Reading: Telempath, by Spider Robinson, Part Two

Mon, 13 May 2013 18:44:32 GMT

So far, our mental image of Carlson is of a radical mad-scientist type. The guy who worked with him (Our Hero’s Father) has Carlson pegged as a somewhat pathetic anarchist would-be rebel without a clue, an ivory tower liberal who desperately wants to be a social justice ally. (Who is primarily frustrated by not being considered a social justice ally of the groups he wants to defend.) Someone we are primed to dislike intensely because he is an ivory tower academic liberal.

Our Hero’s Father, Jacob Stone on the other hand, is self-defined as an absent minded professor and a slightly pompous, distant authority figure. The elder Stone has basically turned his son Isham into a weapon to be directed at the villain of the piece! Isham doesn’t mind very much, as he is completely on board with the entire killing Carlson thing.

This is going to be important later.

Read this on Rena's Hub of Random on WordPress

Poll!

Sun, 12 May 2013 19:22:09 GMT

I'm doing an experimental poll for deciding which book I should do a synopsis/recap of.

Originally posted by othercat at Poll!

View Poll: What Book Should I Do a Reading or Outline of Next?

The Ozark Trilogy, by Suzette Haden Elgin

Sun, 12 May 2013 16:38:15 GMT

A slightly dotty 80s fantasy trilogy you've probably never heard of — why has it stuck with me all these years?

Doubleday, 1981, 535 pages

When Baby Terrence McDaniels is snatched from his basket at church, Responsible of Brightwater Kingdom knows that more than mere mischief is afoot on the planet Ozark. It was almost comical when milk began souring on Mondays and mirrors shattered inexplicably. But now Responsible sees the abduction as the wrong use of magic — a treachery connected to the forthcoming Jubilee, the 500th-anniversary celebration of the founding of the confederation of Ozark's states. Indeed, she suspects that factions may tear apart the Confederacy itself and thus end the entire culture of Ozark. So she sets out on a Quest...unaware that she will encounter intruders and traitors who will threaten Ozark's existence.

Twelve Fair Kingdoms, The Grand Jubilee, And Then There'll Be Fireworks: An exciting, witty new trilogy about the magic-makers on a wondrously different planet.

In which I talk about Ozarkers, Suzette Haden Elgin and her very odd brand of feminism, and the books that influenced my fan fiction almost as much as Harry Potter.

Verdict: This trilogy would never be published today. It's just too offbeat and requires some great suspensions of disbelief, but it's charming and witty and kind of like a more feminist version of Pern in a very odd sideways way. I have always liked Suzette Haden Elgin's work, even though she is full of woo and her gender roles can make her books wallbangers. (Not as bad as Sherri S. Tepper, though.) It's a series that left mindworms in my head that came out in my fan fiction, and for that alone I'll always thank Elgin for years of entertainment.

Suzette Haden Elgin was at one time a prolific writer, but she never rose above midlist obscurity. She's now in very poor health and will not be writing any more books. I hope more people will discover her books and appreciate what a thoughtful writer she is while she is still alive.

See also the SFWA Ozark Trilogy homepage.

My complete list of book reviews.

Saturday Book Giveaway: The Joanna Brady series by J.A. Jance

Sun, 12 May 2013 03:00:10 GMT

Well, some books you can't even give away! I have sent Red Dragon to myownmuggle and Flowers in the Attic to asulon_bellanca, but I guess The Ninja, Black Wind, and Beast will just stay on my shelves (or get mulched).

This is just about my last giveaway.

I read the Joanna Brady series some years ago, and was a faithful follower for a while. I really only started reading it because I liked the Southwest setting. The series starts with Desert Heat, in which Joanna Brady, wife of a small-town cop who's running for Sheriff, becomes a widow and decides to run for the office her slain husband was seeking.

Joanna becomes Sheriff Brady, and in each book has another set of crimes to deal with in Bisbee, Arizona and surrounding Cochise County. Like most detective series, it accumulates cruft in the form of an ever-expanding cast, each of whom have their own subplots which you need to be caught up on in each successive book, so by book seven or eight we're reading as much about how Joanna Brady's friend the Methodist minister is adopting a girl from China and the ex-prostitute she rescued a few books ago is getting married, etc. I commented on this phenomenon when I gave away my Tony Hillerman collection.

I enjoyed the Joanna Brady series; it's entertaining police procedural stuff and if you like reading about a bunch of characters over the course of the series, you will probably find it very much to your taste. Not exactly brilliant writing, but for those who want to invest themselves in a fairly long series, it's now up to fifteen books. I have the first eight:

Desert Heat
Tombstone Courage
Shoot Don't Shoot
Dead to Rights
Skeleton Canyon
Rattlesnake Crossing
Outlaw Mountain
Devil's Claw

Has anyone else read these? Comment below! Also comment below if you want these books.

Rules:

1. Only ask for them if you actually want to read them. If you post a review here on bookish, that would be swell.

2. You must PM me your address if you are chosen.

3. U.S. only.

One Salt Sea

Sat, 11 May 2013 01:31:55 GMT

One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire

The fifth October Daye book. Sequel to Late Eclipses.

It opens with Sylvester taking advantage of her new, more fae abilities -- with some backfill on why (for short, Late Eclipses) -- to teach her more swordplay. And to ask Toby to formally take on Quentin as her squire. Even her objection that she's gotten Quentin shot can't keep him from persuading her to do it.

It's when she gets home with Quentin that things get interesting. Because the Luidaeg is there. To collect. Toby had said that she didn't care what the price was for her help with Blind Michael (back in An Artificial Night), and now the Luidaeg is collecting a steep one, because otherwise there will be war: she must protect the children of the Duke and Duchess of Saltmist.

It involves redwoods, a troll trying to talk to rocks, a child's finger being cut off, pixies and bogeys, a choice for Toby's daughter, a mermaid in a wheelchair, someone Toby knew in her misspent years as a runaway, and lots of weapons being taken out of armories.

Classics

Sat, 11 May 2013 01:05:13 GMT

I'm interested in reading more classics, but I'm not sure where to start. Any recommendations? Or advice on which books to avoid? I'm always worried that I might find the books difficult to read due to the language used (ridiculous, I know), and I'm a little intimidated by the longer books (ex. Les Miserables, Anna Karenina) as I'm afraid I'll find them dull and take forever to read them as they drag on. (I have no problem with reading long books--I'm an avid reader, but I hate wasting my time on dull books that just drag on.)

Just a few of the classics I've read over the years are: The Grapes of Wrath (loved it), East of Eden (awful), Madame Bovary, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I'm currently reading Little Women and really enjoying it. I've tried reading Frankenstein and The Scarlet Letter, but couldn't get into them--perhaps I may re-try them one day; are they worth it?

How are Charles Dickens' books? Is there a particular one I should start with? I definitely intend to read A Christmas Carol.

Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf

Fri, 10 May 2013 23:11:29 GMT

The stream-of-consciousness natterings of discontented rich people.

1925, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 216 pages

It is a June day in London in 1923, and the lovely Clarissa Dalloway is having a party. Whom will she see? Her friend Peter, back from India, who has never really stopped loving her? What about Sally, with whom Clarissa had her life’s happiest moment?

Meanwhile, the shell-shocked Septimus Smith is struggling with his life on the same London day.

Luminously beautiful, Mrs. Dalloway uses the internal monologues of the characters to tell a story of inter-war England. With this, Virginia Woolf changed the novel forever.

Who's impressed by Virginia Woolf?

Verdict: Virginia Woolf writes pretty. She's deft and elegant and nuanced. And this book was boring and the prose was annoying. It may have been a landmark of 20th century literature, but I don't care about Mrs. Dalloway's dinner party, her old flame, or the fact that she once kissed a girl and liked it. Sorry, Virginia Woolf fans, but she struck out with me.

My complete list of book reviews.

Jane Austen?

Fri, 10 May 2013 21:26:02 GMT

I've never read any of Jane Austen's books before so I'd like to change that though I don't know the best place to start. Which Jane Austen book would you recommend as a starting point? Or which is your favourite and why?