No True Gentleman by Liz Carlyle (15)
Pretty good! I'm not sure about some of the period details re: propriety (single woman living alone in London with only 2 female servants in her brother's house? I guess...), but the setting was otherwise lovingly evoked, the plot was not in the way of the romance nor vice versa, and I will totally read other things by this author in the future. I finished that last night...
My only complaint is that there is such a trend to set romance novels all in the same universe nowadays, and yet the books are never listed as a series, so frequently you end up plopped right in the middle of ridiculous amounts of backstory. That actually wasn't the case so much with this book. In fact, this one was handled pretty well, despite an initial tangle of that sort of stuff... but it all fell away pretty nicely, for the most part. But I am getting tired of picking up what should clearly be a one-shot book and feeling like I'm missing some important information.
Wolf Tower by Tanith Lee (16)
Picked it up this morning around 9, put it down about twenty minutes ago. Fast read. Quite enjoyable, lots of bizarre Tanith-Lee-esque details; I adore Argul. My only real critique is I wish it hadn't been a YA novel so that we might've gotten a bit deeper into the emotions-- but at the same time, it is what it is, and there are sequels, which is a big yay!
The book is written in diary format, but with no time/date indicators whatsoever. It worked, for the most part. There were some entertaining bits that came about because of the conceit. But I think marketing this towards "fans of Karen Cushman's Catherine, Called Birdy and Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted!" may have somewhat limited its audience. I hope not.
via Angel Mills, who I once gamed with at Ambercon
What books are your comfort reading - the ones you slink back to in times of stress?
young adult novels, mainly, both the ones I first read as a young adult, and some that I've discovered since growing up; I turn to Gillian Bradshaw, Anne McCaffrey, Sherwood Smith, Robin McKinley, Patricia McKillip... but only the ones with happy endings and heroic deeds.
What was your favorite book as a child, and why?
Caught between The Black Cauldron and A Wrinkle in Time and Anne of Green Gables and Little Women
What was your favorite book as an adolescent, and why?
A Ring of Endless Light, Dragonsong, Hawk of May, The Blue Sword, Beauty
What is the most-unread category of books gathering dust on your bookshelf - the books you've bought but just never got around to reading?
The Door into series by Diane Duane... I bought them when I was finishing up high school, and never got around to reading them, in part because I fear that they are an unfinished series. They are probably the only books I do not know and love that I have kept that long, but I can't bring myself to send them on, somehow.
What kind of books would you like to say you read, but never do?
Can I change this question to "like to say I never read, but always do?" 'Cause then it would be romance novels.
I suppose the real answer is 20th century works of "literature." It's like pulling teeth. I'm beginning to believe that "literature" from this century, particularly the latter half, is not going to wear nearly as well as literature from earlier on did.
What's the oddest book you ever read?
I who have never known men by Jacqueline Harpman
What's the book you were never able to get through, despite the recommendations of people you respect?
The Robert Jordan stuff... the Joel Rosenberg stuff... the Terry Brooks stuff... in most cases, I was able to read one book, maybe two, in the series, but never finish out the series. Actual books, not series, would be The Fellowship of the Ring.
What's the book it took you a couple of tries to get into, but was as good as people promised once you finally made it?
Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop
What's your favorite short story... Or do you even have one?
I do, but I neither know what it's called or who it's by. So it's like not having one. But it was about forest deity, and I liked it so well, I was disappointed by everything else I ever read a) by the author, b) in the anthology and c) ever since.
Ok, that's not completely true, but it's close.
As runner up, I'd have to say that Spider Robinson's Callahan's Place short stories are all pretty good.
The desert island. Three books (and collected works don't count; if you want Lord of the Rings, it'll cost you all three slots). Go.
some book on surviving on desert islands
Beacon at Alexandria
Tristram Shandy (never read it, but it's very long and supposedly quite good, and boy, I'm agonna get bored on a desert island)
A Caress of Twilight by Laurell K. Hamilton (14)
A fast and pleasant read. I find it strange that the novels about the vampire hunter have turned into basic smut, but the novels that are supposed to be about a faerie contest to conceive a child have more action at this point. Regardless... I feel like Hamilton's editors grow lax. Witness: "The growing spot of cold remained, but ceased to grow." But I suppose when you sell gadzookillians of books, editors try a little less hard... suppose, hell, I've witnessed it, over and over and over again.
Nevertheless, and in spite of the fact that I feel like Hamilton manages to tap into the collective unconscious and usurp my syrup just before I draw it, I enjoy her novels immensely.
The Mark of Merlin by Anne McCaffrey (13) (reread)
Couldn't be helped.
See below.
Ring of Fear by Anne McCaffrey (12) (reread)
I couldn't help myself, I had to dip in the pond of familiarity. And tranquility, thereby.
I can never decide which of McCaffrey's romances are the best, though it comes down pretty close between Ring of Fear and Mark of Merlin. As regards Ring of Fear, I think it's something of an accomplishment that this book simultaneously makes me wish to live in the '70's and on Long Island. Ridiculous! Impossible! Unlikely! But true! The author has an unerring ability to evoke place and time and make them seem far more wonderful than any place and time you've ever lived with. It's an ability. I wish I had it.
Hazard by Jo Beverley (11)
Phew. Another good romance novel. I started and stopped about three of them (no more rules about finishing books I've started if they start to suck), but stuck with this one as being quite entertaining. I read it all on Saturday night (in the bath-tub, mostly), starting around 9PM and finishing up at 3AM. All things considered, the best genre romance I've read all year. As it was a discarded library book, I had no compunction against bath-tub reading; otherwise I probably would have read something slightly higher level on Saturday night. Or so I like to tell myself.
I'm still plowing through The Biography of the English Language (good, but dense-- can't just run through it, y'know!), Jo Walton's The King's Something (the problem with making your trilogy all begin with the same words means that some readers can't distinguish between books very well; makes me rethink my positioning on titling my space opera series that remains unwritten), and all the rest of the things I've admitted to being in the middle of before-- including having started Mr. Darcy's Daughters last night.
Apparently, I have biblio-ADD.
(If I continue reading at this rate-- one every three days (and there's no reason to suspect that I would be successful at this, so never mind)-- I would be back in the saddle, reading-wise. In 2001, which was not even a banner year, I read over 100 books, or, 1 every 3 days.)
The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland (10)
A really fine book, about forgiveness and revenge and all the places in between. I was actually a bit surprised when I realized half-way through the book that the main character was drawn from history-- Artemisia Gentileschi, but that was mostly duncitude on my part. The author took liberties with the life of Artemisia, and I didn't think they were necessary liberties, exactly (like giving her only one daughter, not 2), but that's just a nit-picky thing I have. I'm more grateful for having been exposed to Artemisia than I am annoyed at the poetic license. Of course, it would be a bit different if she was one of my passions.
I'm looking forward to reading Girl in Hyacinth Blue at some point, by the same author.