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Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
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10:23 am - Known Nonfiction Magicians; Kings Like Whoo; Red Wildfire Musicophilia; Windup Sweetness
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| Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
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11:15 pm - Darkborn Light
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Darkborn, by Alison Sinclair
It took me a few chapters to get past my innate "but this author writes SCIENCE FICTION and it's really GOOD science fiction and FULL OF CRUNCHY BITS and THIS IS NOT THAT" reaction. Once I simmered down, I thoroughly enjoyed this fantasy story. The worldbuilding is well-worked out but didn't get in the way of what is essentially a character drama. Excellent, and I'm looking forward to sequels.
(210/275)
Dawn Light, by Diane Ackerman
I don't think I gave this book its due. I usually love Diane Ackerman's highly digressive, adjective-laden style, but most of her books that I've read tie that style to a very strong through-line and this one is, instead, very short pieces tied together by nothing more pervasive than a meandering seasonal progression through very many dawns, and ideas somehow connected to morning or the sun or dew or ... I needed a sharper focus than this book had, but I don't feel like it's the book's fault. If I was in a more meditative, in-the-moment, sort of mood when I read it I would have liked it more. There were a few pieces which grabbed my attention and made me swoon: one on flying with cranes, one on rain, and a couple about bees. Still, I think even if I weren't all distracted, I would rather have read another one of her books that DO have the strong throughline... good thing I have a (small) unread hoard of those upstairs.
(211/275)
current mood: feeling sorry for Mister Baseball who is being pathetic
current music: "I Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine," Beth Orton
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| Sunday, November 1st, 2009
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11:49 pm - Candid Christmas
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Christmas: A Candid History, by Bruce David Forbes
A charming, crisp, and concise book about the history of Christmas. I've read about a lot of this stuff before but the author still made interesting to rehash those topics (especially since several times he mentioned competing theories I hadn't come across the first time), plus there were some things I'd never heard about before at all (eg the bit about Washington Irving). Right on target.
(209/275)
current mood:  amused
current music: KMRB, "Cornflake Girl," Tori Amos
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| Saturday, October 31st, 2009
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11:21 pm - Secret Goth Madonna
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Goth, edited by Lauren M. E. Goodlad and Michael Bibby
A mix of some very personal and more very academic/dry/specific essays about aspects of Goth culture. The topics (and occasional photographs) were very interesting even when the writing left me cold. And *some* of the writing was exceptionally good.
(206/275)
Bright Dark Madonna, by Elizabeth Cunningham
I love this series. It's a goofy premise - Mary Magdalen was actually a divinely-gifted priestess of Isis who originally came from Celtic Britain and was named Maeve - but the story as a whole (starting with Maeve's childhood in the first volume, and continuing through to her post-child-bearing years with this 3rd one) is so well told, so funny and strong and self-aware and elegantly articulate, that I can't help but be completely won over from one brilliant moment to the next. And the characters are totally endearing, which never hurts.
(207/275)
The Secret Mitzvah of Lucio Burke, by Stephen F. Hayward
Historical fiction set in Toronto, in the 30s. So witty and wry and charming and full of believable people in implausible but powerful situations that it almost made me like Toronto. Considering my longstanding irrational grudge against the place, that's particularly impressive.
(208/275)
current mood: happy
current music: KMRB says "Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson"
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10:30 pm - snerk
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 | If I were a Springer-Verlag Graduate Text in Mathematics, I would be W.B.R. Lickorish's An Introduction to Knot Theory. I am an introduction to mathematical Knot Theory; the theory of knots and links of simple closed curves in three-dimensional space. I consist of a selection of topics which graduate students have found to be a successful introduction to the field. Three distinct techniques are employed; Geometric Topology Manoeuvres, Combinatorics, and Algebraic Topology. Which Springer GTM would you be? The Springer GTM Test |
current mood: amused
current music: damn you k'tepi, i have the theme to the wonder years stuck in my head
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| Friday, October 23rd, 2009
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12:22 am - Never Down a Quiquiriqui; Libyrinth Darkness Ramblas; Edge of Making Crow; Souvenir Blood Horses
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| Sunday, October 11th, 2009
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11:35 pm - oh yeah, that's why he's looking at us funny
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Tiger has now conducted a thorough scent investigation of every single dog hair (of Lily's) that came home on my clothes.
Conclusion: He firmly supports ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) birdmojo's "no dogs in the house" stance and insists that this BETTER not be a prequel to whoever that darn dog is moving in here.
current mood: amused
current music: KMRB fails again, "Peaches"
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| Monday, October 5th, 2009
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4:24 pm - Rocket Emporium
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The Enchantment Emporium, by Tanya Huff
I was in the middle of Rocket Boys (which is very good! see below) and I kept sneaking off to read this instead, so I just gave in to it. Tanya Huff is one of my favorite authors and this was a wonderful book. Not quite as goofy as the Summoner series, not as angsty as the Blood series - right in between - a lovely piece of funny, sharp urban fantasy with a dash of (unconventional) love story thrown in. I'm tempted to claim it's her best yet.
(192/275)
Rocket Boys, by Homer H. Hickam, Jr.
Sweet, touching, occasionally hilarious memoir of growing up in a small coal town with big science dreams. Plus, stuff blows up. I saw and enjoyed the movie October Sky (based on this book) and I was still really glad to have read the book as well - it's like the movie version had all the rough edges filed off, and the rough edges make the story so much richer... very glad I finally got around to trying this one again! (I first tried it right after the movie came out... AGES ago... and I just never got around to coming back to it until now.)
(193/275)
current mood: good
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| Saturday, October 3rd, 2009
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1:42 am - Dirty Unsuitable OED; Treason's Prey Under Hokusai's Spacesuit; The Sparrow Queen of Song
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| Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
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1:40 am - too funny
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About reading "slush" (the slushpile is an editor/professional reader's stack of submitted, non-solicited stories):
http://jimhines.livejournal.com/467074.html
(a small sample:
I do not want your D & D.
I do not like your elf PC.
I can not stand your purple prose.
I want to punch you in the nose!)
current mood: heh heh heh
current music: KMRB is stuck on Chumbawumba. The *bad* DJ takes over this time of night.
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| Thursday, September 17th, 2009
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11:27 pm - Best Skin Unit; In the Court of the Arctic Breathers; Yentl's Squid
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| Sunday, September 6th, 2009
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12:59 am - the book the movie is about
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The Stones of Summer, by Dow Mossman
I read this book because of a wonderful movie (sort of about the book) named Stone Reader which I heartily recommend to ANYONE who likes geeking out about books... I can't heartily recommend the book so broadly, but it's absolutely brilliant none the less. It's just that it's a hot mess of a book, with about 15 different things going on (about 12 of which I dug really intensely) and it's very very demanding. Yet there are parts where it's so utterly emotionally convincing that I was completely swept away by it ... and I've stayed up very late finishing it because no way was I giving it back to the library - I had to finish it NOW NOW NOW. If you like somewhat experimental weird-ass fiction of the 60s/70s, it's gotta be among the best. The dialogue and characters felt Velveteen Rabbit real.
(172/275)
current mood: sleepy, impressed
current music: I have the song from the Johnny Appleseed movie (Disney) stuck in my head
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| Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
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9:48 pm - After the Scientific Chinche Planet; Fall Lang Thief; Gay Geek Routes
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| Sunday, August 16th, 2009
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10:51 am - Hope After the Guernsey Ages
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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
My ever-so-jaded perspective on the world kept me skeptical about this very gentle story until about page 60 or so. Then I started trusting it and really liked the book from then on. I laughed out loud several times. Similar in tone/feel/setting to I Capture the Castle or 84, Charing Cross Road, though not so completely amazingly brilliant, of course (what is?).
(158/275)
Hope, Human and Wild, by Bill McKibben
Very interesting. The tiniest bit dated since it came out in 1995, but the descriptions of Curitiba and Kerala were satisfying on several different levels, and his exploration of ways that sustainable living might actually happen and/or work in the USA was really worthwhile even if deliberately vague/meandering. He's also very easy to read.
(159/275)
After the Moment, by Garret Freymann-Weyr
All of this author's other books, it seems to me through the filter of an imperfect memory, are about very good people who are all struggling to do the right thing but nonetheless there is some conflict and things that need to be worked out.... and this feels more like a bunch of people with serious problems who blunder around hurting each other but nonetheless they are doing the best they can and try to find good in the struggle. That doesn't make it any less excellent than previous novels by this author - I'd actually say it was better, if I didn't hold such an overwhelming and undisplaceable love for a couple of them close to my heart - but it does make it different. What it has in common with the rest of her writing is that (once I got used to the difference) it was every bit as compelling and I found myself resenting any outside interruption that made me stop reading it for a couple of hours, and mulling over its themes and characters long after I put the book down. PS Reading some reviews of this book, I am reminded that part of the reason I love Freymann-Weyr's work is that her teenagers think like I thought at their age - even while going through crises or being realistically self-absorbed, they're also fundamentally serious about the larger world and about other people's experiences as well as their own - in a way that many teenagers in otherwise perfectly wonderful books are not. (Granted I went through my own not-serious-at-all-about-the-rest-of-the-world phase at the end of my teenagerhood, but when I was in high school I took MORE interest in larger society than I do now, not less! It's very satisfying to find that seriousness in YA; it makes it easier for me to empathize with characters when they feel that extra bit like me-and-most-of-my-friends-as-teens.)
(160/275)
Fables 12: The Dark Ages, by Bill Willingham et al
Still utterly in love with this comic book series. Swoon. If I had to live with only being allowed to read one continuing graphic story, this is the one I'd pick.
(161/275)
current mood: snuggled
current music: dryer noises
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| Sunday, August 9th, 2009
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6:55 pm - Portable Librarian Lifelode; Dead Starclimber Thief; Midnight's Holes
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Lifelode, by Jo Walton
This was a lovely book. Kind of like Ursula LeGuin's early stuff and yet still very much uniquely a Jo Walton book (even though ALL of her books are quite different). I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think the only reason I haven't read the first trilogy Walton wrote is that then I will be ALL OUT of books by her to read, and that would be utterly tragic.
(150/275)
The Portable MLIS: Insights from the Experts, edited by Ken Haycock and Brooke E. Sheldon
This had a meh first few essays and a meh last few essays but there were parts in the middle that were REALLY good. The essay on library systems was particularly keen.
(151/275)
You Don't Look Like a Librarian, by Ruth Kneale
Cute, fluffy. I didn't take it very seriously because I was really sick while reading it. Not sure if taking it seriously would've resulted in greater appreciation or lower tolerance of irritating bits. Probably the former.
(152/275)
The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner
This was BRILLIANT YA fantasy-without-too-much-fantasy-in. The characterization, plot, setting, etc., were all good, but best of all they were seamlessly devoted to the furthering of the *story* - and the story was amazing. Seriously, Lloyd Alexander caliber quest fantasy with a very NON-standard quest protagonist. Don't know how I missed this when it came out, but I"m ever so excited to read the rest of the series.
(153/275)
Holes, by Louis B. Sachar
Very tasty modern parable YA which managed to still have the little Sachar goofy touches without taking away from the seriousness of the point. I enjoyed it a lot although it did suffer a bit from coming right after the AMAZINGNESS of The Thief.
(154/275)
Starclimber, by Kenneth Oppel
This was a good conclusion to a great series. Paradoxically, I would've enjoyed the novel more if it hadn't been so full of information about stuff I already read a lot about - namely training to go into space and Emily Carr .... the infodumps were handled just as smoothly and not-detracting-from-the-plot-ly as in the first two books, but since I already KNEW all about that stuff, I got impatient more than a few times. But it was still very WHEE ADVENTURE in many places and if you think being a cabin boy in a blimp would be awesome you should go read the first book, Airborn, because that's how the story starts.
(155/275)
Marvel Zombies: Dead Days, by Robert Kirkman et al
Meh. The art for this was really interesting and occasionally beautiful but the story - OY. Marvel Universe is just silly at this point. And then it didn't even end! There was just a giant cliffhanger! ARGH!!! Can't recommend it but you might want to flip through it looking at the zombified heroes & other pretty drawings.
(156/275)
Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie
The thing about Salman Rushdie is that I really really don't feel *qualified* to review his novels (with the exception of Fury, which still pisses me off because someone of his verbal gifts should not have lowered himself to the self-indulgence of writing yet another of those tiresome May-December romances from the point of view of the December which are LAME, lame I tell you and I don't care how brilliant the novelist writing it is.... oh, sorry, tangent.) Anyway, this book was not quite as wonderful and amazing as The Satanic Verses but it was still pretty bloody wonderful and amazing and even though it really made me work for my immersion in the story, when I was immersed, it was a headlong tumble down the rabbit hole, AND had very true things to say about the present century through a pan-Indian perspective, and I loved it. And I now feel much better about reading the rest of his opus instead of fearing that it willl disappoint me...
(157/275, 9/75)
current mood: languid
current music: Irish and Celtic Music Podcast
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| Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
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8:39 pm - Free Sky Apocalypse
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The Sky People, by S. M. Stirling
This has enough of a certain something that I'll read the sequel, but honestly I'm a bit meh about it. The charming central conceit - the other inner planets also harbor shockingly Earth-like life (as in old pulp novels) - is both its best pleasure and the thing that makes it hardest to suspend disbelief and enjoy the story, by turns. I know, I'm being fussy.
(147/275)
Free Fall, by Laura Ann Gilman
I didn't love this book as wholeheartedly as some of the earlier volumes in the series (places where there was too much tell not enough show, a very few places where it felt a bit Mary-Sue-ish) but it was still really good. Looking forward to the next one! If it looks interesting to you, I STRONGLY recommend starting with the first in the series, Bring It On.
(148/275)
A Kiss Before the Apocalypse, by Thomas E. Sniegoski
Noir existentialist theological fantasy with a not-fallen-just-left angel protagonist who can, among other skills, talk to his (very believable) dog. Not for everyone, but wow, is it my cup of tea! LOVED it.
(149/275)
current mood: tuckered out
current music: rado KMRB serving maribou's brain is currently playing "Afternoon Delight"
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| Monday, July 27th, 2009
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2:24 pm - Shakespeare Documents Vs. The Dirt Files
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Housekeeping Vs. The Dirt, by Nick Hornby
Shakespeare Wrote for Money, by Nick Hornby
Is it bad that I like a novelist's essays about books better than his novels? I do really enjoy his novels, but I *love* his essays about books. I suspect I'll be unconsciously plagiarizing his turns of phrase in weeks to come... Also, I was unduly enthused to see him discovering the wonders of YA.
(143, 144/275)
The Documents in the Case, by Dorothy L. Sayers with Robert Eustace
Sayers is just so incredibly readable and the plot here was a lot of fun ... I can't even get mad at the weak science or questionable characterizations (which are, y'know, totally in period seeing as it was written in the 20s). Her voice, or I suppose voices here, is so GREAT!!!! One of my favorite writers, but I sadly suspect this is the last of her books I haven't read. I will have to stoop to Thrones, Dominations soon... (I've actually heard good things about it.)
(145/275)
Revenge of the Spellmans, by Lisa Lutz
Izzy Spellman is one of my favorite characters of all time. This book wasn't as exciting plotwise as the first two, but it was very satisfying - full of subplot resolutions such that the next book (March 2010!) can start out with a (relatively) clean slate.
(146/275)
current mood:  sick
current music: my equally sick husband is playing Afro Samurai in the next room
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| Friday, July 24th, 2009
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11:37 pm - Merry Pride Underpants; Reenchantment of Fatal Bees
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The Adventures of Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey
So I bought this for an almost-seven-year-old's birthday and then I realized maybe I should read it to see if it was really as awful as I had heard it was, first. It's not! It's cute and fun and if I was seven I would love it. Not Wonderful Literature, but perfect for the fun present that his parents would never get him.
(137/275)
Pride, by Rachel Vincent
Total guilty pleasure, but boy is this series fun. Even if I have to turn off the "hey look at that giant illogical PLOT HOLE" part of my brain to go near it. Already have the next one on hold at the library. It does help that I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to think the heroine is a giant spaz... since she is one.
(138/275)
The Merry Recluse, by Caroline Knapp
I confess I read this book for the title. Parts of it were compelling enough (ie downright brilliant) that I'm glad I have one of her full length books sitting around here somewhere... I think newspaper-column-length essays are just generally not my favorite format.
(139/275)
A Reenchanted World, by James William Gibson
Sigh. In many ways this is a more-than-decent synthesis of recent environmental history and I wish I could recommend it. But there were just too many slapdash things in here... parts of it felt intellectually lazy, and the whole "the only good Native American is the one who acts the way *I* think is best for them" (I paraphrase) not-so-terribly-on-topic paternalistic jaunt into the evils of Indian casinos was so (unintentionally, to be sure) racist-or-damn-close-to-it I almost quit reading the book. It's a shame, because there were parts of the book that were really really good. But the further away I get from having just finished it, the less I like it. Sigh.
(140/275)
The Language of Bees, by Laurie R. King
Man, I LOVED this book. Best in the series so far, IMO, even with the spoilerspoilerspoiler. I do like it better when Russell is the protagonist and Holmes is a secondary character, as is the case here, and when they are puzzling things out in Great Britain with lots of discursive tangents rather than rushing all over the globe undergoing Important Events.
(141/275)
Fatal Voyage, by Kathy Reichs
Fun! Somewhere between the briliance of the King above and the trashy of the Vincent above on the "how much do I have to tell myself not to be embarrassed by loving this" scale... equally much a page-turner as either of those. Much better than the last one in the series was! My eagerness to continue reading about Temperance Brennan has been restored.
(142/275)
current mood: up past my bedtime
current music: Catherine McLellan, "Family Names"
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| Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
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10:55 pm - I never do this but
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here are TWO really cool videos I stole am reblogging from pegkerr: (and apologies if you are now thinking MAN SOMEONE ELSE IS BLOGGING THAT DAMN VIDEO, but really, if you haven't watched either of them - they are great!!)
The Wedding Dance of The Funnest Wedding Ever (well, besides my own, but mine wasn't nearly so sociable):
I hadn't caught up with Gordon Korman's more serious heir John Green in a while, but (once again) he has some excellent things to say about why nerds are awesome!
current mood: ebullient
current music: "I'm a man without conviction, I'm a man who doesn't know"
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| Sunday, July 19th, 2009
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11:08 am - Lord John and the Brutal Citrus Brotherhood
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Citrus: A History, by Pierre Laszlo
This is a very academic but not a very academically-structured little book... I mean, you can tell the author is a chemist (even if he didn't point it out from time to time) but the book rambles all over the place. It doesn't make any pretensions that it ISN'T doing this, and I quite enjoyed reading it, but don't go in looking for SRS BZNS or compelling narrative. Delightful, nonetheless.
(133/275)
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, by Diana Gabaldon
Lord John and the Hand of Devils, by Diana Gabaldon
I think I slightly prefer the Lord John books to the main series, as much as I like Claire Fraser & her adventures ... these books make incredibly good brain candy for me - like a cross between Georgette Heyer and Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series, maybe (she says, not having actually read either of those yet) - and they're short and zippy in a way doorstops just can't be. I liked Brotherhood of the Blade best of these two, I think because the short stories in Hand of Devils were a smidge too short for my taste. Not that stopped me from staying up late to finish the last of them.
(134,135/275)
A Brutal Telling, by Louise Penny (ARC)
Most of the things I want to say about this particular volume are spoileriffic and the book doesn't come out until October. It's another not-really-cosy-at-all village mystery set in the small bilingual-but-more-Anglo-than-not Three Pines, Eastern Townships, Quebec, much like the other 4 in the series only the emotional stakes (well, and honestly, the need to trust the author) get higher with each book. I'm mulling over whether I liked this one less than the last one, or whether it's just still sinking in ... but I can say that the writing in every volume in the series is brilliant, so if you like character-heavy mysteries with a walloping dose of wonder in them, you should go read the first of these, Still Life, right now.
(136/275)
current mood: languid
current music: currently on repeat in my head is "She's a Brick House"
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lazy