A Writer's Paradise

Remiss & Reading

I thought for certain I'd posted to this journal since LAST TUESDAY. But apparently not.

Regardless, it's time for a reading post.

I have been reading entirely for pleasure of late. That is to say, there has been no obligation reading, no research reading... nothing that I haven't been salivating to read and salivating during the reading of. This has included Buffy: The Long Way Home, which I won't count as even a graphic novel because it's not quite long enough, but I did enjoy that muchly, too. And, it was my Valentine from my husband.

Okay. The list:

5) V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd (graphic novel)
6) Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey (fantasy)
7) Reader and Raelynx by Sharon Shinn (fantasy)
8) Austenland by Shannon Hale (chick lit)
9) Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (fantasy)

Not my usual sort of analysis after the cut.

Okay, so, a leetle beet of my usual analysis to start with V for Vendetta. I came to this graphic novel (and it is a novel) via the backdoor of having seen the movie first, then reading the novelization of the film (egads!) and then reading the original, the graphic novel. I could just as easily pretend the novelization doesn't exist, so I think I will. The movie and the comic are all that really exist for me, and I really do adore them both. I still read them both as a love story. Not a Romance, but a story about love, unconditional, pure love for other humans, the choice of man's humanity to man over man's inhumanity to man. The politics that get screwed up in the movie? Don't actually matter to my reading of the story. Anarchy is not the opposite of fascism. Love is. It's like The Bridge of San Luis Rey for the comics set. I am incapable of rational articulation on V for Vendetta. But there's my irrational articulation for you.

I think the next thing is to take Twilight and Skin Hunger together. Twilight is Anita Blake for Girl Scouts. Skin Hunger is Harry Potter for the Young Kafka Readers' Society.

Both are well-executed young adult fantasy. Skin Hunger is probably the better book, in terms of fresh territory and style and technique and a whole slew of things that writers certainly care about. But I read it with a faint feeling of dissatisfaction, even when I was reading it compulsively to find out what happens next. I don't think it is YA, not in the way I want to read YA. There is a distinct nihilistic streak to the book which makes it exactly the sort of thing I would never re-read wittingly. Compare this to the perfectly clear, perfectly competent Twilight that reeks of wish-fulfillment so deep that a couple of times I was blushing because I was enjoying the wish-fulfillment so much that I was kind of sighing and murmuring to myself a little. Yes. Out loud.

Of Skin Hunger, I read a brief review somewhere (apologies for not knowing where) that said something like, "I wonder if this is the sort of book for kids that adults like but kids don't." I wonder that too. I know how adolescent girls react to Twilight, because I live with an adolescent girl who ate all three available volumes in about a week, and nothing, not even Harry Potter, ever got her to read that much that quickly. And all of her friends have done exactly the same thing.

If it seems I am damning Twilight with faint praise at any point here, let me assure you, I am not. Twilight carries with it an extremely well-executed extended metaphor equating food/hunger with sex/lust. I am constantly amazed by the author's twists and turns on the conceit, and hell if I know if her tropes are breaking new ground or not, but they feel fresh to me.

My only concern is that Twilight is All About the Boyfriend, but honestly, bookworm-writer-theatergeek-feminist high schooler that I was, I was (or would have been) All About the Boyfriend, too, and I really can't get fussed about that. It's great if you were the girl who wasn't. But plenty of girls were. And it wasn't just Society's Great Patriarchal Influence at fault--it was also the hormones and the mystery. If I were still on the potent combo of hormones and mystery, I'd still be just as boy crazy now as I was then. Further, I really identified with Bella pre-Edward, and even post-Edward, too. She's detached, reserved, self-sacrificing, and completely undervalues herself--she's the perfect portrait of an only child who's been raising her mom since she was born.

I'm not sure what has provoked this impassioned defense of Twilight; it's selling well enough on its own. Perhaps it is my innate distrust of the popular, which I know a lot of people (but not a majority, OBVI) share.

In any case, I'm certainly not saying read Twilight over Skin Hunger. I am saying read both.

Reader and Raelynx... I was half-way through this before I realized it was more or less going to wrap up the Twelve Houses books. I just went looking, and if Shinn writes a fifth book, it looks like it's going to follow a character outside of our main six. (Insert cry of dismay here. Why can't Tayse and Donnal get their own books, exactly?? I know Aj agrees with me.) All the same, it was a nice ending. I look forward to re-reading this series in the relatively near future.

Austenland is So. Awesome. Here, go read the plot summary. Back? Good. Shannon Hale, who subverted every expected trope in her YA Princess Academy made me like chick lit again. Competent, intelligent heroine! And witty, too! The book was simply too short; I wanted to stay much longer in Jane's world. Not necessarily in Austenland, but in Jane's head. If you have been disappointed by much or most of the Austen-based fare out there, this is a sure remedy.

Lunchtime Meme

Hey! You know how TiVo is a godsend and I love it? TiVo also sucks! It especially sucks when you watch, say, Lost only on weekends, and so the Lost discussion group is spoilering your spoiler while you're eating your leftover stiffado and trying to read the newest Sharon Shinn book! So, I'm back at my desk, exiled to the Land of Meme.

But it's a good meme, for it is a book meme, and it was snurched from Gwyneira, so. Here goes.

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?

Oh, lots of things. Almost anything Arthurian-based. Almost anything really literary that's been published in the last ten or twenty years.

(Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can't die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for a while, eventually you realize it's past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?

Eh. I can get through anything eventually, boring-wise. It's an issue of badly-written for me. There are things that could kill me with their badly-writtenness.

Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you've read, when in fact you've been nowhere near it?

Back before I finished the Harry Potter series, I found it expedient not to mention that I hadn't been keeping up with it, on several occasions. It was just not worth the discussion.

As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realize when you read a review about it/go to 'reread' it that you haven't? Which book?

Yes, but nothing anyone has heard of.

You're interviewing for the post of Official Book Adviser to some VIP (who's not a big reader). What's the first book you'd recommend and why?

Srsly, not a good question. It depends on the VIP. But I'd probably start out with something in pop non-fiction. Like Everything is Miscellaneous.

A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?

Oh, Japanese. Definitely. Maaaaybe one of the Chineses. But something I'd never be able to spend any real time on for learning myself.

A mischievous fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?

I think that fairy came by, and we already agreed on Pride and Prejudice.

What's one bookish thing you 'discovered' from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art – anything)?

I've found lots of books this way--most recently, Austenland by Shannon Hale.

That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she's granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leather-bound? Is it full of first edition hard covers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead – let your imagination run free.

What a ridiculous question! She's obviously granting me Powell's bookstore. DUH. All the branches thereof, too. I'll have a sleeping cot in the YA section, and we'll set up the kitchen in the cookbook store. (I see no reason not to just move in. With a library like that, who needs a house?)

let's do a book report

This is Day Two of Sick, so let's discuss what I've read since the beginning of 2008.

Lessee:

1) Booty: Girl Pirates on the High Seas by Sara Lorimer (er.... folklore?)

2) Tempted by Megan Hart (romance)

3) Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot (chick lit)

4) How Sassy Changed My Life: A Love Letter to the Greatest Teen Magazine of All Time by Kara Jesella and Marisa Meltzer (non-fiction)

And I read bits of:
Seafaring women : adventures of pirate queens, female stowaways, and sailors' wives by David Cordingly, Iron Men, Wooden Women: Gender and Seafaring in the Atlantic World, 1700-1920 by Margaret S. Creighton and Lisa Norling, Bold in Her Breeches: Women Pirates Across the Ages by Jo Stanley, and Women Pirates: And the Politics of the Jolly Roger by Ulrike Klausmann, Marion Meinzerin, Gabriel Kuhn, and Tyler Austin. Of these, I highly recommend Bold in her Breeches and Seafaring Women, and bid you all to avoid Women Pirates.

I also read the Sharon Shinn stories out of two anthologies, The Queen in Winter being one of them... The other must be a Firebirds anthology, which I'm still working my way through.

Now, the silly thing is, I know I read at least one other book. But I can't think of what it is, for the life of me.

Detailed discussion after the cut.

Booty: Girl Pirates on the High Seas by Sara Lorimer

A very slight volume, but functioned as a starting point for my women pirate research. Almost identical, it seemed, to Women of the Sea: Ten Pirate Stories by Myra Weatherly, except in the ordering of the pirates presented. Fun, but not filling.

Tempted by Megan Hart

As twistily emotional as Broken or Dirty, I felt that the situation (potential polyamory) was problematized but never delved into. I wasn't satisfied by the ending the way I was with the previous two Hart books. The happiest ending was deemed impossible. Hm. Not that I don't think it was extremely well written, and I will definitely be eager to read Hart's next effort.

Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot

Intensely frustrating at times. Lizzie, the main character was almost unbelievably unaware at times, while at others, hyper-aware. I don't know. Also, Lizzie as University of Michigan alumna and native of Ann Arbor didn't ring true, in very minute details like how Lizzie wouldn't have had free tuition to UM and there is no such place as McCracken Hall... If you had to fake a dorm at UM, why wouldn't you come up with something plausible, like "Ford Hall" or "North Quad?" (Further, at UM, we never call anything "halls." The dorms just get called by their name, and that's it: Stockwell, MoJo (Mosher-Jordan), Bursley, etc.) But it came out alright, and I understand there are two sequels.

How Sassy Changed My Life: A Love Letter to the Greatest Teen Magazine of All Time by Kara Jesella and Marisa Meltzer

Man, this really was an eye opener. I think that all my hoopy frood Third Wave feminist ideals totally came through exposure to this magazine. I know that I had a sort of awakening around late junior high, but I always assumed that it was, you know... growing up, but I wonder now exactly how much of it just came about through Sassy (which I read religiously for three years). Some of the articles quoted in the book I remember reading, clear as day. I must have read each issue two, three times. This book is a fantastic overview of what was going on behind the scenes, sure, but the exploration of the culture vis-a-vis young women... oh, yeah. Suddenly, it all makes a lot more sense.

Reading Review 2007

Other than somehow skipping 46-49 in my numbering scheme, I have read fewer books than I thought this year. The other possibility--and it's a very real one--is that I've actually read the books that were originally 46-49 and somehow forgot what they were.

Anyway, 57 books. It's a semi-respectable total for me, what with being in school and all the other things I've been reading: articles on information science, fic, short stories...

Anyway.

I read 12 books (21%) of non-fiction, broken down into the sub-categories of history, biography, writing, literary criticism, and linguistics. This is on par with 26% non-fiction in 2006 and 20% non-fiction in 2005.

Yay, trends!!

In the fiction category, I read:

6 mainstream
15 romance
3 SF
18 fantasy
3 horror

Which, proportionally, is par for the course for me, though I usually fit in more SF.

I only re-read one book. This is also part of the recent trend. I used to re-read madly. I'm rather surprised at this lack of re-reading, but can only surmise that emotionally solid enough that I don't need the comfort of re-reading old faves (in spite of school stress (and in fact, the only way to handle school stress was to read about information science, anyway)), and I did in fact re-read that book right in the middle of school stress. --Oh, wait. I did re-read the first three Harry Potter books in an effort to just go straight through the series and be done with it. But that almost doesn't count. Somehow. I swear.

I discovered many new-to-me authors this year, the standouts being Sarah Micklem, Megan Hart, Lionel Shriver, Ruth Downie, Tananarive Due...

I think my favorite book was Jo Walton's Farthing.

Last Book Report of the Year

53) Tease by Suzanne Forster (romance)
54) Lady Beware by Jo Beverley (romance)
55) Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Crusie (romance)
56) Lost in Austen: Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure by Emma Campbell Webster (uhm...)
57) General Winston's Daughter by Sharon Shinn (YA)

Well, I haven't passed 60 this year, but passing 50 is good. But more on my performance, later...

Reviews after the cut.

Tease by Suzanne Forster (romance)

After Megan Hart's work (in the same Harlequin Spice line), I suppose anything would be something of a disappointment. There were definitely points I desired to slap the heroine. Too many of them, probably. It worked out okay in the end, more or less, but there were some eyerolls even close to the end. Motivations were iffy. The fact that the heroine wasn't always sure which man was in her bed seemed unlikely. The misunderstandings between, well, everyone, were annoying, and did not ratchet up the tension. And here's the really weird thing: this is in the line billed as erotic romance, and somehow, all of the sex scenes--every single one of them--ended at the point of penetration and faded to black. Bizarre.

Lady Beware by Jo Beverley (romance)

Lovely Beverleyness once again. I adore this author. I heap love and praise on her head. If you haven't yet read her (and you even vaguely like romance), why not??

Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Crusie (romance)

A very entertaining Crusie. Exactly what I was in the mood for over the holidays. Funny stuff. Funny enough that I overlook the occasional moments of dimness on the heroine's part, and I can ignore the phrase "she licked into his mouth" in reference to tongue-kissing. Almost.

Lost in Austen: Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure by Emma Campbell Webster (uhm...)

Too much fun. I "died" several times. I'm deeply amused by Webster's snarky commentary. I look forward to going through this a few more times, as I explore the other ways out.

61) General Winston's Daughter by Sharon Shinn (YA)

I didn't connect with this Shinn effort the way I usually do, but it was well-written and enjoyable nonetheless, and had an extremely nice presentation of the arguments about imperialism and colonialism. I think Shinn works best for me when she's writing fantasy. This was Ruritanian, not fantasy.

Books of Late

46) Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder by David Weinberger (non-fiction)

47) Out Front with Stephen Abram: A Guide for Information Professionals by Stephen Abram (non-fiction)

48) Foundations of Library and Information Science by Gayle Rubin (non-fiction)

49) Dirty by Megan Hart (romance)

50) Broken by Megan Hart (romance)

51) Twice the Temptation by Suzanne Enoch (romance)

52) A Touch of Minx by Suzanne Enoch (romance)

Reviews after the cut.

Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder, Out Front with Stephen Abram: A Guide for Information Professionals, and Foundations of Library and Information Science.

I read these three for school, along with a slew of articles that will certainly not get mentioned here. I rather like the articles better, in general, but that's how it is with professional fields, I guess. More info in an article. Less balderdash. I feel the same way about anthropology. In any case, Weinberger's would be great for non-librarians, but Abram is the ground-breaker in my future profession, and I think I appreciated his book the most. The Rubin book is a great introduction. I got to choose the Weinberger, as it happens, but I think that whoever selected books for my class did a great job. (I say "whoever" because I think all sections are reading the same things.)

As for Megan Hart's Dirty and Broken... these are not typical romance. First, they're categorized as "spice" or "erotic romance" or some such (but not "romantica"), and the sexual component is heavy. And yet, I'd say they are some of the best-written books Harlequin has put out. Period. I've pored over the internet for reviews that do these books justice, but I think most people doing the reviewing get hung up on the liberal use of the word "cunt" or the fact that the books are genre-atypical. Well. Humbug to all of that. Hart's characterization skills are mighty, and it's a rare romance novel that has me invested in more than just wondering when the couple is going to hook up or say "I love you." There are subplots that are interesting! There aren't true villains! There is depth and complexity and subtleness!

The nearly Aspergian qualities of one heroine (Elle of Dirty) contrast sharply with the extreme emotional awareness of the other (Sadie in Broken), and prove that Hart is no one-trick pony. These books are not chick lit, but they have many factors in common (the romance is not the sole focus, for example) with chick lit. At the same time, there is an emotional resonance far beyond any chick lit I've ever read, something sort of on par with *gasp* modern literature, but without the pretentious shit that so turns me off of modern literature.

I think I've found a new fave.

And as for old fave, Suzanne Enoch: Twice the Temptation and A Touch of Minx are both Sam and Rick stories. (Twice is one regency paired with a Sam/Rick adventure.) I love Sam so much. I'm not sure Rick is actually worthy of Sam, but he's not half bad. Not even a quarter bad. Or maybe I over-identify with Sam's loose moral code somewhat? I mean, cat burglar who won't steal from museums, just greedy bastards! Alright then! Anyway, I don't know how much more Enoch can wring from this series (my best guess? Three books. Though I think we probably should only have one more at most), but I look forward to seeing what she does.

Books, and School

I managed to read three books this month, but hey, I'm in school and I'm reading articles like it's going out of style. I should have 3-4 school books to report by the end of the term, so there's that. But still, that means I'm on track to read about 60 books this year, maybe 70 if I'm lucky. That's punk-level reading, man!

Today, however, I read two chapters of one of my school books while sitting outside in the 80 degree autumnal weather. I also burned up the last of the stray wood in our chimenea, so I killed two birds with one stone. Three, really; I wanted to spend time outside in the 80 degree weather! This is so not October 21st. Well, it is October 21st, actually, and I like it, because it's how my brain thinks October 21st should be, thanks to growing up in North Carolina. But I have been in Michigan ten years now (uhm... okay... more like fourteen), and my brain is a little hesitant. It's looking at the trees and going, "Those aren't right. Those are supposed to be like flaming jewels!" But the leaves are not doing that thing, they're doing the thing where they get paler and paler and then go brown or drop off. Just like in North Carolina.

The grass is emerald green still, greener than spring, even--and the only thing that's right is the blazing blue October sky. I may be enjoying global warming in small doses (sitting outside of an afternoon and reading a book and activating all my good Vitamin D!) but things are really just not right around here.

Ahem.

The good news about school is that the period of group work is almost done; soon, I won't have to coordinate with 5 other people, and won't feel the burning pressure to not let my group down, either. It'll just be me and my schedule and my preferences for working quickly near the last minute. (I'm not quite such a procrastinator that I work up to the last second, but I like to keep it pretty close...) That should cut substantially into my fretting time.

Since September 12, I've read:

(43) V for Vendetta by Steve Moore [SF]

Yes, okay, I read the novelization of the film from the graphic novel. I'm a schmuck. But there were lots of elements from the graphic novel added back in that made this novelization a hybrid bridging the two things together. I mostly read it to tide myself over until I had a chance to nab the graphic novel or see the film again. Though, I will say, I almost feel like there was some sort of foul play afoot--why did they pick someone with the last name Moore to write the novelization? Were they trying to fool anybody?

(44) Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler [chick lit]

Just finished this, in about a day. There's much to like, and much to be confused about... it's like literary chick lit with pretensions and low production values. Worth the read, but I'm never going to like any chick lit heroines other than Bridget herself, am I?

(45) Farthing by Jo Walton [alt history]

Finished this last week, and it's amazing. Walton really knows what she's doing. Chilling, horrifying, and bleak, yet with just enough hope and lighter touches to keep the reader from going under completely. If you haven't heard of it, it's basically British manor house murder mystery... in a Britain that negotiated a peace with Hitler in the early 40s. Things are bad on the European Continent, but Britain has been a little beacon of hope for Jews and others that the Reich considers undesirable... until there's a sudden, V for Vendetta-ish slide into fascism (it was interesting to have experienced the two so close together).

What's great about this book, however, is not the chilling world-building--though that's good, don't get me wrong--but I really, really love the relationship between the married couple at the center. It's so exactly right. On the surface, the main character is a silly woman, but underneath, she's got reservoirs of compassion and strength that just make her astonishing, but also real. While reading it, I wasn't quite certain if her husband loves her as much as she loves him, but I've decided, for my own comfort, that he does... In any case, the two viewpoint characters are sympathetic in a way that I don't think I've experienced for a long time in recent fiction (outside of maybe a Robin McKinley novel). I've always liked Walton's work, but now I think I love it.

Books Read; Rejections Recorded

(40) The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers by Betsy Lerner [non-fiction]

Go forth and read this, if thou be a writer. That is all.

Unless you aren't having any motivation problems. In which case, ignore above.

That is really all.

(41) Idlewild by Nick Sagan [science fiction]

Lots of fun and inventive stuff dispersed throughout (delicious and nutritious as the two opposing forces of the universe? Yep!), though occasionally, I wondered if I had skipped pages or paragraphs or whole chapters--something about Sagan's writing style didn't keep me abreast of things properly, and I don't usually zone out.

Still. Michigan-based science fiction! Yay! I love the sequel title: Edenborn. Because Idlewild was the "Black Eden," a resort for African-Americans before desegregation killed it--I presume.

(42) Jackaroo by Cynthia Voigt [YA - ruritarian fantasy??] re-read

I loved this book soverymuch when I was younger, and while it is still most excellent, I had a harder time emotionally connecting to the story this time. I don't know if that's because I'm just older and more cynical, or because I've read the books in the series that follow them--and while the bleakness and the beauty of this book are still apparent, they pale in comparison to the three following books.

Voigt doesn't write easy books; they aren't easy on the reader, and they aren't easy on the characters. On the surface, this looks like a swashbuckling adventure tale. It is much, much deeper.

For the record, I not only did not win WotF, I didn't even make quarter-finalist. That's my first time! Boo! I am now worried that I killed my dear story in the rewrite, so double-boo!

SO TRUE

What are you reading? Xenocide...

Updates, Context, Reading

I so owe this blog the rest of the Getting Beyond Competent stuff. The rejections, mainly. I'm so loathe to go look at the rejections, though, it's not even funny. Perhaps tomorrow I'll be braver?

In the meantime:

I'm so freaking impressed with Context, I can barely talk. They are so very organized. But my main source of unspeakable impressment is because they have my name up on their page, where I'm listed as an attending author. With a link and all. Now, granted, I've shared TOCs with Lucy A. Snyder (who runs the sheang) a couple times, so we know of each other, and the other half of this is, as authors go, I'm no big deal and I don't expect anyone to actually pay attention to me. But if you are going to go to the trouble of pimping the authors attending your convention, it's so very smart to actually be able to recognize them when they show up. It's freaking good attention to detail. The kind of thing geeks are supposed to be good at and so frequently aren't. (AFAIK, I'm not on panels or anything, I'm just an attending author, but cool nonetheless.)

I read two more books this week:

(38) The Good House by Tananarive Due [horror]
(39) Titans of Chaos by John C. Wright [fantasy]

Discussions after the cut, and yeah, they might be spoilery.

(38) The Good House by Tananarive Due [horror]

Due reads a lot like Stephen King, though I was sort of sick-horrified by the horror in this one because I don't know anything about Due (I pretty much know how far King is going to go; plus, he leaches abuncha the tension out of things by telling you ahead of time when people are going to die, in the name of foreshadowing), and didn't know where she was going. On the whole, it's a damn good thing I didn't put the book down the six times I almost put the book down, because the ending was great.

Anyway, yeah. Stephen King. I couldn't get him out of my head while reading this; the approaches to character are very similar, the writing is transparent and stays out of its own way in a Kingian way, and yet, Due is very clearly doing her own thing here. And she doesn't telegraph her endings, so there's some serious win there. I'll be looking for more Due, as soon as I stop being scared.

(39) Titans of Chaos by John C. Wright [fantasy]

'Member how I love, love, loved the first one in this series? Yes, well. Unfortunately, I've read Wright's blog in the meantime, and now that I know him as other than an avant-garde neo-feminist, I had a hard time sticking with my interpretation of the gender politics in the series. In other words, it was much harder to like what was going on. Ultimately, yeah, well-written (EXTREMELY well-written), interesting (EXTREMELY interesting) stuff; ultimately, probably not going to purchase any more Wright. I'm cranky that way. I don't often let politics interfere with my entertainment, but sometimes its unavoidable.

Books Read. Also, Donate, If You Can

First off, you should be aware of the Strange Horizons Fund Drive. They pay pro-rates to their fiction writers, and they are also non-profit and self-supporting. It's like donating to NPR or what have you--except they don't keep interrupting A Prairie Home Companion to take your pledge. They publish some of my favorite writers on a regular basis (like Steph Burgis and Patrick Samphire and Deb Coates and Sarah Prineas and oh! Check out Leah Bobet's "The Girl from Another World" this week!), and have even published me once upon a time.

So. If you have change to spare, it'd be cool.

Okay. Here's what I've read lately. Impressions after the cut.

(34) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling [fantasy]
(35) Sins of a Duke by Suzanne Enoch [romance]
(36) The Sharing Knife: The Beguiling by Lois McMaster Bujold [fantasy]
(37) The Sharing Knife: Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold [fantasy]

(34) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling [fantasy]

Loved it. I think that's all I can say about it at this point--it's the only one in the series I want to reread for its own sake, and not just to keep up with the series.

(35) Sins of a Duke by Suzanne Enoch [romance]

I had a really hard time getting into this one. I didn't like the heroine much; she starts out slapping the hero, and I suppose that just never worked for me. I felt like the acceptance between Peep and the princess was unearned. I don't know! I'm so sad, because Enoch is such a fave of mine. I don't know why this one didn't work for me, unless it is possibly an issue of expectations hoisted too high on Sebastian's book.

(36) The Sharing Knife: The Beguiling by Lois McMaster Bujold [fantasy]
(37) The Sharing Knife: Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold [fantasy]

Supposed to be one book in two volumes... could've been one book in two volumes... yet, it cleaved very nicely at the halfway point, and I felt that the ending of the second book was much more "narrative-interrupted." I enjoyed these, no question, but I didn't feel the same love I did for Curse of Chalion or half the Miles canon. Early on in the books, I bounced against moments that I can only describe as Mercedes Lackey-esque. Something I think I'd like to examine further, when I have a moment to myself, but something in the magic system and the way the Lakewalkers worked, early on, reminded me of Valdemar magic and the Heralds--right up until Bujold problematized it and reminded me why I love her to pieces. So. Yeah.

Out of clever rejection entry titles; this is mostly about books anyway.

Speedy JJA reject from F&SF on Friday... Three rejections in seven days! It's not a record by any means, but after weeks of no mail, it's odd.

So. Books.

(30) The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown [non-fiction; biography]

Hm. This biography--which may actually have been more like a recitation of press events coupled with some insider dish than a true biography, it's hard to say--was an enlightening chronicle (exactly as its title says) of a public life that I only barely registered while it was being lived. I remember, with a kindergartener's bile, the pre-emption of my cartoons for the royal wedding in 1981. I always liked Fergie and her red hair better than Diana while I was growing up, but there's nothing quite like untimely death to get my attention. The greatest enjoyment I got out of the book was probably the look at how the monarchy functions today, and some interesting statements about the balance of power versus the display of power.

(31) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire [fantasy]
(32) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [fantasy]
(33) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince [fantasy]

My first reads on these three (obviously by J.K. Rowling). I liked Goblet well enough, thought Phoenix dragged a lot at the start, but Half-Blood Prince really worked for me, as I felt that wise, competent, practically-adult Harry is a guy who I'd really be able to get behind if he were, you know, leading a magical army that I might want to join.

I am not a mega-fan of this series--I have no wish to immerse myself into HP fandom, for example, and no desire to find or write fic. (I might watch a vid or two, but that's different.) But I can't understand the detractors of this series--at least, not the ones who've read it. I completely understand not wanting to jump on the bandwagon. I just don't know why you'd bother reading all of them if you aren't somewhat moved by the characters or the situations, and then rant on about the small, sentence-level mundanities in the writing. Obviously, these books aren't about the writing. Not the style, not the voice, not the prose itself. The best thing Rowling does is to not allow style/voice/prose to get in the way of her strengths, which are many. The books are about the story, the struggle, the conflict. And that's enough, isn't it?

Now, I must twiddle my thumbs until my book 7 copy gets here from Britain. Sigh.

Independence Week Book List

(26) Regency House Party by Lucy Jago [non-fiction]

A tie-in with the television show, this is a great, comprehensive guide to the Regency, plus a primer on what it would be like to time travel backward to about 1810 Britain or so. Super. There's even a fantastic chapter on race relations. Or at least, the beginnings of one (the author could only do so much and keep up with the show at the same time).

(27) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
(28) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
(29) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

by JK Rowling, all [fantasy]

These were re-reads, and just as engrossing as ever. I remembered book 1 perfectly (I may've read it twice before, anyway); book 2 less so, and book 3 just barely. I do not think this is because the movies diverge from the books increasingly as they go on, but I might just want to lie to myself.

Anyway. I liked Azkaban better this time; I may very well have read it with my eyes closed or something the first time. Hard to say.

I did read the British versions, for what that's worth (a few u's and the use of the word "queuing" and at least one puzzled moment of "What did Fred say there?"--mainly).

I'm on to the next three. It'll be my first time through them. And then I get to wait, along with everyone else, I guess--the goal was to read Phoenix before seeing the movie, because I didn't like how that turned out with Goblet as much. Likewise, I wanted to be caught up by the time the last book came out. It's been a harrowing month, trying to assess the timing.

Books

The most recent spate of books:

(22) The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver [mainstream]

(23) Medicus by Ruth Downie [historical fiction]

(24) The Ghost Brigads by John Scalzi [SF]

(25) The Way of the Cheetah by Lynn Viehl [nonfiction, writing]

Impressions after the jump.

The Post-Birthday World has echoes of Sliding Doors and could be considered a work about alternate universes or time-streams. Mostly, it read alternately like an experiment in defending cheating on your SO (cheat first, or you'll get cheated on), an apology for why it's okay to make risky decisions or less moral choices in your life (at one point, the protagonist says, "I learned I wasn't a saint" or something like that), and an exploration of narrative choice. Not that it wasn't enjoyable at times--it was--but I found some of the character's maddeningly cruel or annoying or... whatever.

Medicus: well, I'm just a sucker for Roman doctors, okay? You can blame Gillian Bradshaw for that. I didn't get totally sucked in with this as though it were a Bradshaw novel, but this was Plenty Good, and I enjoyed it.

The Ghost Brigades: I started arguing with Scalzi in my head about some of the details of consciousness transferral, but by the time I was getting good and ranty about it, the pace took off at the speed of light, and I was too busy flipping pages and reading as fast as I could to care anymore. So. I hope you weren't looking for a good dissection. This book, I felt, read a lot faster than 90k, incidentally.

The Way of the Cheetah: this is an ebook. I bought it--yes, I did--and printed it out, and then I read a lot of it during my leisure time in the mornings, leaving it out where my husband could read parts of it. He pointed out that the section on editing wasn't very well edited (he meant copy-editing). In spite of that, it has some good exercises that I look forward to doing, and had a really important message to writers about not caring what other writers are doing/saying/eating for lunch. It only stands in the way of your own work. And how..

Late Book Entry

Sometime between mid-April and now I read four books. The list is here, and the chatting about each book is in the extended entry (not seeable by LJ users, so you gotta click through if you wanna know).

You'll notice that once again this is a romance-heavy list. Initially, I could only plead escapism and a general lack of desire to read, well, anything else, when bouts like this came upon me. The most recent one? I went so far as to find books about why I've been having this keen psychological need to read romances. (I mean, we could argue that I might need to back away from science fiction and fantasy while writing it, but you know, it just doesn't seem that way at all.)

The most interesting theory I've run across thus far about romance novels is that many of them are retellings of the Hades-Persephone myth. Yeppers! I've adored that myth--and its fairy tale version, "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" forever. Edit: As Steve pointed out, "ESWM" is not a Hades-Persephone retelling--it's a Psyche-Eros retelling. OOPS! /End Edit Add to this that I love retellings independent of their romantic aspects, and you've got a two for one sale in my subconscious. Okay! Mystery solved (I thought), and in just the first three chapters!

Then I met the other theory--this one, I think, is Jayne Ann Krentz's very own theory: that in the romance novel hero, women aren't reading/writing their ideal mate, they are writing about the person they were never allowed to be as girls growing up--brash, sardonic, rude, powerful, egotistical, etc.--and then taking those fearsome and repressed aspects of their personalities and taming them with the feminine traits of compassion, accommodation and love (the traditional romance heroine). Every time one reads a book like this, one could be working through some deep-seated psychological need for being a more assertive woman.

Okay! (I thought) There's some of that, too.

Anyway, with me or against me on all of this, I have finally figured enough of my romance reading habit out that I can now be totally comfortable with it. Or at least mostly comfortable with it.

18) Taming Rafe by Suzanne Enoch [romance]

19) Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women: Romance Writers on the Appeal of the Romance edited by Jayne Ann Krentz [lit crit]

20) Dark Champion by Jo Beverley [romance]

21) Beginnings, Middles & Ends by Nancy Kress [non-ficiton]

Taming Rafe was very Enochy, but an earlier effort, I should think. I enjoy her as she grows and matures as a writer, so I probably will stop sifting through her backlog and just wait eagerly for the new stuff. Not that this was notably less mature than current works, but I feel like before she was writing more to formula, and now maybe she's writing to please herself.

Dangerous Men... was the book that gave me all the groovy new theories about romance. As a whole, it was great; individually, some of the essays seemed light or repetetive. Reading it about 15 years later was also a bit of a challenge. Some of the trends in romance noted at that point are already out of fashion, so. Yeah.

Dark Champion was great. So much more enjoyable than the last Beverley medieval romance I read. The plotline veers into the ridiculous at points, but the character moments made up for it.

Beginings, Middles & Ends probably deserves its very own entry. I am going to be doing many exercises from this book at some point, and I'll probably do a few of them here on the blog.

HOW? (plus books)

How did it get to be a week (and change) since my last post?

Well, basically, not having any content will do that, I suppose. I shall now take this opportunity that I've been in a bit of a writing slump lately. I'm trying to figure it out. When I do, I'll try to explain.

But--there's been no noticeable reading slump, so. Onward.

Jo Beverley is the master of taking the familiar trope and making it fresh and interesting, plus making the unforgiveable understandable. I'd read the Company of Rogues books well out of order, so I'd already known that the main character in this book backhands his wife rather spectacularly--it's sort of a central plotpoint in a later book, as a character witnesses it and thinks that men are generally brutes. (Beverley deals with things. That's why I like her.) Anyway. This was a spectacularly uncomfortable take on the arranged marriage trope. I loved it.

(16) Bag of Bones by Stephen King [horror]

I vaguely remember being sort of scared by parts of the Dark Tower series--the first few books of it that I read in my youth--but mostly, no, I haven't been too terribly frightened by Stephen King books. Perhaps that was because I was reading fairly selectively, and maybe also because some of the things he chooses to write about just fascinate me, without any particular horror. (Apocalyptic fiction? I've never read any that was worse than what I've cooked up in my subconscious.)

Now, with Bag of Bones, I had a bit of a hard time going to sleep on my side when I was reading it. You know. In case the ghosts came out from underneath the bed to get me while my back was turned.

Kudos, Mr. King. I haven't had that sensation since becoming an adult.

That said, mostly this book was just sad, in the way of death and the horrible things people do to each other. Troublingly sad... Not quite enough to break me for any length of time, but the ending (last quarter, really) still bothers me.

(17) Wait Until Midnight by Amanda Quick [romance]

Okay. It's gotten past phoning it in. I mean, I'll keep reading Quick, because she'll inevitably write a good one again--but it will be a while--and this Victorian trend is nigh unto disastrous. I'm not actually blaming the setting; I'll just note that the setting seems to be correlated with boring me to death.

Fortnightly Books

Man, February got away from me quickly. Even more so because January felt soooo long, like I had all the time on earth.

(12) Old English Literature: A Short Introduction by Daniel Donoghue [non-fiction]

Well, I don't see how it's an introduction, but beyond that, it's a fantastic book. It digs deeply into recurring themes in OE lit, as well as digs around in word etymologies. It's a nice bridge between linguistic and literary analysis. It was also a massive idea-generator. My copy is studded with post-it flags, and I wrote segments of "Lawncare in the Afterlife" with this book in hand.

(13) Lie by Moonlight by Amanda Quick [romance]

Hm. She's not really doing anything new and different at this point.

(14) An Unsuitable Gentleman by Jo Beverley [romance]

On the surface, I'd say she is also not doing anything new and different, and yet, I think maybe she is. In this book, the author uses a wealthy heroine to good effect, and that made a pleasant change from the usual formulae.

Reading on Vacation

(8) Freedom's Gate by Naomi Kritzer [fantasy]

A compelling beginning, and it wasn't all setup or anything! This trilogy really read like one long, complete book, in some ways, but was otherwise perfectly trilogy-like in others.

The setting is an alternate Central Asia, post-Alexandrian conquest, where a variety of cultures clash over freedom and religion. There's magic--djinn magic, as it were, real Arabian-nights-genies kind of stuff, with flying palanquins even--but there are consequences to the magic, and it's all brilliantly done. I love the world, the characters are humanly flawed and real, and I devoured book one like it was chocolate.

(9)Freedom's Apprentice by Naomi Kritzer [fantasy]

A middle book without middle book problems. The natural endpoint of book one forces the events in book two, which in turn forces the events in book three! Genius! There's not much to add without delving into the plot--though suffice it to say, it's a ripping yarn, with no dull moments that I could discern.

(10)Freedom's Sister by Naomi Kritzer [fantasy]

A satisfying ending. The third book delves into some (necessary) narrator switches that I wasn't really *happy* about, but understood the need for. As it was, I did grow to enjoy the look through the secondary character's eyes at the events of the first two books, and thought that the author did an excellent job making the POV switches work to serve the story on deeper levels. Ultimately, I cried over the ending, and that hasn't happened in quite some time.

(11)The Cartoon History of the Modern World by Larry Gonnick [er... graphic "novel"?]

I got hooked on Gonnick back in college, when one of my textbooks was The Cartoon Guide to Linguistics. I really liked the History of the Universe, and waited forEVER to get volume 3. This new thing was pretty good--as I said to Steph when she asked: "It has some history I might argue with, and some history I wouldn't argue with; it's a good review of the history I do know, and a good beginning point for the history I never knew." And that about sums it up. It has a view of the American Revolution that was shockingly unbiased--it was like reading about a different war altogether. Granted, I never really did care for American history, but I don't remember ever being quite so exposed to the British viewpoint.

I've read almost everything I brought with me--I have half an academic treatise on Old English left to get through and I do have The Pirates of Venus if I can bring myself to be interested in that... but in the meantime, tomorrow we got to Powell's, so I'll soon be back in entertaining reads!

Humdiddle-iddle

A day early, I present to you this fortnight's reading report.

(5) Dark Moon Defender by Sharon Shinn [fantasy]

Much less place-holder middle than the last book in the series; this was the Gathering Allies episode, perhaps? Anyway, we learned more about the Lirrens. I was entertained by Justin, though not particularly pleased with the blatant secret-based plot. Yes, I know... it wasn't miscommunication, and yeah, I suppose there were some valid reasons for the lovers to withold information, but still. A smidge irksome.

Also irksome: in Mystic and Rider, it seemed that Kira and Donnal were lovers. In Kira's book, it was made clear that they never had been, and it was no foregone conclusion that they were going to *become* lovers. Here we are in book three... and we're back to lovers. It's not like these are simple assumptions on the part of the non-Kira, non-Donnal characters. I'm a mite perplexed.

(6) Cell by Stephen King [horror]

Ooooh, cell-phone zombies. Apocalyptic nightmare.

Ooooh, the pay off wasn't as good as the pitch. For some reason. I don't know. Maybe I was hoping for something with the emotional resonance of Lisey's Story, which, well, no. Anyway. A good book to pass the time, but this one isn't a monument to King's genius.

(7) Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder [fantasy]

Sequel to Poison Study. A good read... I could have stood some further development of Valek, but I suppose there wasn't really room. What was there was good, and it didn't suffer (entirely) from Middle Book Syndrome. (There were some things that were clearly set-up: Cahill, mainly.) Very enjoyable, not ridiculously deep, but not entirely fluff, either. Yelena is an energetic and engaging, ruthlessly practical character.

Early Fortnightly Book Report

I wanted to write about the most recent two books read whilst they are fresh in my mind. So, maybe this will be a little more frequent than fortnightly (though not by much)... as my trend is, largely, to finish up several books at once periodically.

Today, I finished two books:

(3) The Thirteenth House by Sharon Shinn [fantasy]

Sequel to Mystic and Rider, which was an unabashed love story of a fantasy; I rather though that this one was going down a similar road, but I think it was actually a coming-of-age story instead. There's a love affair in here too, but it was of the sort that was making me increasingly angry throughout the book... and without spoiling the book, I can't really go on in any detail, but suffice it to say, I was happier than not with the ending.

The sentence level writing in this book was better than in the first (and who knows, it may've just been that people didn't spend paragraphs smiling at each other that made this perception), but I felt that the plot wandered a bit. I think we're in The Hard Middle that creeps into many a fantasy series. The series-level plot arc isn't actually going to advance here... so it's The Hard Middle. In point of fact, I didn't perceive that any of the series-levels stakes were even raised in this book; they were raised continually throughout the first book, and pretty much held steady here.

Hm. It makes it sound like I didn't like this, because I *did* like it, well enough; Shinn is an author I trust to do things that suprise me, and happily so. (Full disclosure: have not read the angel series at all.) This book did nothing to tarnish that.

(4) Lisey's Story by Stephen King [fantasy]

Horror schmorror. This was fantasy to my way of thinking, can openers and all. (I do not buy the review that says it's a romance or a supernatural thriller.) I really loved this; like Misery, it's a book about writing, but unlike Misery, it's a book about the writer's impact on his family and the family's impact on the writer. (You could widen that to any artist, to be honest...) In any case, it was just lovely. Not quite the shivers of reading an early Dark Tower book or anything, but possessing a transcendent quality all it's own. Rather than rehash the plot, I'll just say that I think this book takes a page from Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey.

Books 1&2, Writing Report

Well past two weeks into January, and I have not made my first fortnightly book report!

I am reading at the slow-and-steady-wins-the-race pace of about a book a week. I read:

(1) Firethorn by Sarah Micklem [fantasy]

I liked this. I admit I picked it up because I saw the words "gritty, feminist fantasy" on the cover and thought, "Yeah. I want some gritty, feminist" fantasy. Though there are flaws (I kept feeling like the book was walking around with it's scalp missing. It was like the top wasn't there, the thing that kept the book from jumping out like snakes-in-a-can), it had many fine attributes as well.

The book was an interesting mix of familiar tropes and unfamiliar twists on them. Herbalist? Check. Knight? Check. Camp follower? COOL. Knight is married already, doesn't take her virginity, the abuse/rape in her past is low-key and humiliating but not devasting forever and ever and there is no magical healing penis in the story? Realistic! There is no fairy tale in this book. I deeply appreciate that.

For a while, I was semi-convinced the magic was merely a belief system with a whole lot of superstition and coincidence to back it up, but I think it really is meant to be a magic system. I liked it better the first way, I guess. There's a lot to this book, though I was disappointed to learn that it's the start of a (sigh) trilogy, not a standalone.

(2) Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge by Eleanor Herman [non-fiction]

Well, I was looking for a light non-fiction something before delving into some serious research for upcoming books, and I got some light non-fiction here. And there's nothing that bugs me about the actual scholarship here, and that's a pleasant thing. Organization, however? Oof. It jumps all over the place, in time and geography, often revisiting the same kings and mistresses several times in different chapters before you can fathom the whole story. Madame de Pompadour's story would have been much better if it had been told all at once, for example... The other thing I didn't really like was the purple prose of speculation in some places. I'd excerpt some of it, but I left the book at my aunt's... and it just wouldn't be sporting, as this was otherwise a very fine book.

Writing--

I'm around 500 words on the pirate story, and loving every minute of it. No projected total in mind, other than "not over 5000 words". Still no title, either.

Tarot Book

17,289 / 78,000 (21.0%)

Excerpt in the extended entry.

"I understand that I was wrong, that my memory is wrong: I am a princess."

"You are not a princess," the Queen said, and she did not say it kindly.

"Oh, but I am! I'm quite certain that Sir Garet and Lady Kadri speak the truth, and there is a spell on me--"

"No. That's not what I mean. You are not a princess because God has chosen you to be a princess or even because you were born to a King and a Queen, nor is it because you are innately good or beautiful. You are not a princess because you are locked in a tower and beloved by a prince, and you are not a princess because you can sleep on twelve mattresses and wake with bruises from the pea beneath them. We treat the Divine Right of Kings with the same contempt as we do fairy tales in Arcana. In Arcana, the lowliest stablegirl can become the Empress in due time, with the right training and will, and no one in this country will blink twice. The high become low and the low become high because of who they are, because of their character, because of the way they face off against the lions in their lives. You can request asylum, and we will grant it because we will always need a bargaining chip against the Oestrians, no matter who rules their country, but we will collect no taxes for you to dress in silks and sleep in feathers. We will even call you princess, if that is what you wish--but to none of us will you be a princess."

Reading: Year in Review (Plus, Book 78)

Finished Fugitives of Chaos by John C. Wright (78) [fantasy] yesterday (two days ago?) and am in the middle of a analysis of Old English poetry and Firethorn. Chances are slim that I'll finish either or both before the first stroke of 2007, and if I do, I'll update this post.

So. Seventy-eight books this year! A moral victory, that.

I read 21 works of non-fiction (mostly in the history/sociology/anthropology category (9 books) and writing (5 books) and self-help (3)).

The rest were fiction:

10 science fiction
5 mainstream
22 fantasy novels
15 romances (most of them Regency)
4 mysteries
1 horror

And only three books were re-reads. I think.

I read several new-to-me fiction authors this year (including John C. Wright, Mindy Klasky, Shannon Hale, Dawn Cook, Robert Parker, James Patrick Kelly, Joe Haldeman and Maria V. Snyder), as well as reading through the backlogs of authors I already knew (Suzanne Enoch, Jo Beverley, Sharon Shinn).

The reason I'm excited about having exceeded 50 books this year is because that's about the point you have to get to where they start to blur together in a pleasant way. A bad book doesn't become a blot on the memory of an entire month, but rather, you have a vague, fond memory of "all the books I read this year." It gives the good a better opportunity to outweigh the bad, to some extent. And no, I have no idea if that makes sense to anyone but me.

My reading goals for 2007 are pretty simple: read everything that's currently in a wicker holding basket under my bed. That's probably a good 40 books right there. My second goal: read everything I have out on interlibrary loan currently (I've got about four books, and a bit over two weeks). My third goal: read everything anyone has loaned me (most notably, Hardwired). My fourth goal: read (or skim) everything I currently have checked out from the library where I work.

If I make it into any of the books on my To-Read Shelf, I'll be shocked... But this is doable, perhaps, if I make it to one hundred books next year.

Fortnightly-ish Book Report

Orphans of Chaos by John C. Wright (76) [fantasy]

I already said some things here, and didn't feel very differently by the time I got to the end, which was abrupt in the fashion of books that seem to have been chopped in half. So, I ILL'd book 2 ASAP, being unable to wait to purchase the paperback, and being too poor to purchase the hardcover. (I'll eventually buy the paperback, to have the complete set.)

I was describing the book to Julie the other day and we decided Wright is a brilliant sort of feminist commentator. (Whether he is or not? We do not know.) A character that is likened to a Barbie doll, who's also a shapeshifter who's been adapting her shape to please men, being built from the ground up by a patriarch to want to please men... we got a lot of mileage out of the discussion.

Eager to see book two....

Trickster's Queen by Tamora Pierce (77) [young adult]

Well, it's not often that I read a Tamora Pierce and go "eh." I think the last time it happened was in the Daine series. I just never really connected with the character, let alone the story; the love interest got interesting only near the end, the catalyst-god never got interesting at all, and overall, I kept waiting for things to happen. The action was rarely face level (if that term makes sense). It was a lot of watching the main character pat down her spy network. And a lot of watching various secondary character's be in awe of the deviousness of the main character.

Ambitious, I guess, but Beka Cooper and her action-oriented Piercian siblings are much more to my liking.

Well, that's 77 books for the year so far, and I might make it to 80 (I also might not). Huzzah the me.

Orphans are Eating my Brains

First, an excerpt from Orphans of Chaos which just struck me, back-handed, right across the mouth. Because I'm a good sucker for scientific fantasy:

"Well," she said, "I will see if you can be taken up to the Chapel tomorrow. You do not have the energy relationship in the moral direction a person devoted to his God normally manifests. Your relational structures are extensional rather than intentional, and form nodes going into two time-directions, but not toward eternity. This type of atrophy is typical of atheists and agnostics..."

Of course. Worshipping God as perceived by a fourth-dimensional being... Excellent.

This book is like Nine Princes in Amber meets The Five Children and It. With a dash of Sade. But only a dash. Rather more spanking than one thinks one shall find in Nesbit or Zelazny.

In other news, a page of practically Zen koans about writing: Fifty Writing Tools: Quick List. Via Slithytove.

And on Kiki's blog, an entry about writer's blockage versus writer's block that says rather more to me than it should. (My main complaint about my blockage? "I'm too damn old to be this pathetic.")

Fortnightly Books

I've decided to report on books fortnightly instead of immediately upon reading.

I only have two to report for now (I'm theese close to finishing Orphans of Chaos, but nope, not yet).

Seducing Sir Oliver by Nicole Byrd (74) [romance]

Picked it up on a whim at the library. I think this book signals the trend of said library's romance selector being a secret romance-hater or a romance-nothinger ("I don't hate you. I nothing you."), because rarely do I stumble across anything other than middling romance in that collection. I wanted to like the book (based on the premise) a lot more than I did. Sexy scientist heroes are hard to write, though, especially in a Regency setting...

Terrier: Beka Cooper 1 by Tamora Pierce (75) [young adult]

It's no secret that Tamora Pierce was a touchstone author in my childhood. I probably wouldn't have liked this book when I was on the prowl for women-knight stories immediately after reading Alanna (the dislike would have come from the distinct lack of chivalry), and there was certainly a period of my life where I would have been frustrated to be reading about George Cooper's ancestors instead of George Cooper, but I'm pleased to say I'm (cough) mature enough to appreciate the subject of this book. Enjoyed the heck out of it, in fact.

This book is essentially a police procedural in a fantasy medieval world, and it works as such. I think it would work just fine if you were knew to Tortall, in fact, though the in-jokes work best if you're familiar with the whole shebang.

The good news (for me) was that it takes place while Tortall is free from the various magical animals that feel somewhat jump-the-sharky to me in previous Tortallian outings (magic purple-eyed cats being the exception to that; magic purple-eyed cats got me when I was eleven, and they are reserved a certain place in my heart forever). I rather liked seeing Tortall when women knights were about, pre-Alanna, and seeing the social trends that led to the end of lady knights (separate bathing facilities, for example).

I read it quickly and happily, and am eagerly awaiting the further adventures of Beka and the Rogue.

Books: Paid Companion, Lost Burgundy, My Freshman Year

The Paid Companion by Amanda Quick (71) [romance]

Fairly typical Amanda Quick. She's not doing anything different, but no one minds. The premise is very cute, and perhaps not fully developed, but fully developed is not where Amanda Quick goes, and that would have de-romped the book. I could have stood to read either version, but this one was just fine.

Lost Burgundy by Mary Gentle (72) [science fiction]

I was unable to explain this book to anyone else at Writer's Retreat. But FINALLY, after 4 books, they explain Green Christ and just about everything else. I really loved Florian in this book. The ending very nearly satisfied me. Very nearly. I understand why this series consistently gets 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon--there are many, many wonderful things about it, but all love for it must be felt with reservation (with the possible exception of Mrissa). Like the character of Ash herself, the book is amazing to contemplate, but J really wouldn't want to get too close.

My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student by Rebekah Nathan (73) [non-fiction]

A fantastic ethnography of student life at a big university. Considering "big university" is the setting of my day job and I employ numerous students, I did find reading this book both helpful and interesting. Not a lot has changed since I became a freshman 13 years ago--and yet, there are important differences, and most importantly, I've changed a lot in 13 years, and the pressures and problems of ages ago are significantly less fresh in my mind. Recommended reading to just about anyone anywhere whose paths may ever cross with a university or college of any sort.

Various Updates

Third time is the charm:

Happy NaNoWriMo to the brave ones. I am not currently NaNo-enabled, myself, but bon chance to those who are.

I've tried to post that twice now, and failed for a variety of reasons...

Rejections, rejections, rejections. I have a lot of stories to send out on Monday, let's put it that way.

Me? I've spent the weekend reading and watching Shakespeare. The week was spent reading and sleeping and digging out at work. Not a hundred percent after the week of sick--I get tired pretty easily--but feeling very nearly the thing now.

Books read of late:

Something Sinful by Suzanne Enoch (67) [romance]
The Rogue's Return by Jo Beverley (68) [romance]
Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn (69) [fantasy]
Billionaires Prefer Blondes by Suzanne Enoch (70) [romance]

As you can see, the romance streak continues. I was so excited to see the new Sam/Rick book that I surprised myself. I *hate* romance sequels. I *adore* this series, though.

Realizing I had an unread Sharon Shinn on hand that didn't involve angels was a treat... I couldn't tell you *why* I don't want to try her angel books, but I just don't. Not even a little. But I genuinely like everything she has written, on one level or another, so I can't quite figure out where my irrational prejudice comes from. Hm.

Though... one minor complaint about Mystic and Rider... the phrase "Senneth smiled" seemed like it was on every single page of the first half. Or if they do, it should be remarked on a few times in passing dialogue (culminating in "Why the hell you smilin' at me again, Senneth, you freak?") and left alone. TOO MUCH SMILING. I almost stopped reading the book at one point, but it did get better from there on.

I do think I need to reread Summers at Castle Auburn... if I could just remember to...

Rejection. Sickies. Books: Blink and To Rescue a Rogue

Rejection from Clarkesworld. Second rejection on this story that indicates it would be a better novel than a short story.

I'm doomed, I tells ya. Doomed.

I am about *thees* close to pulling the story, but--no. A firm no on that. It probably would be a better novel (it was from an idea for a novel I had when I was 16, in fact). And my recent revisions might have left it a weaker story--the last two editors have mentioned questions about things that were sort-of answered in the too-long introduction that I chopped. Which makes me think I should rewrite it. Again. But a no on that, too.

This is the dark tea-time of the writing soul, right here. I've got to be stubborn enough to print it out again, pick a market, and send it off. Without fiddling, without pulling it so it can become a novel, without self-doubt, without waiting two weeks... Sure, it might be the wrong thing to do for that story, but it's the right thing to do for my career.

There you go. I take my own advice, and here it is, in action.

*

I think that was a pretty good speech, given that I'm full of mucus and aches. (My cat stares at me right now: why aren't you lying down, Sick Human, so that I can nest atop thee? Is that not what Sick Humans are for? Quit playing with that computer.)

I was sick yesterday, and I'm sick today, and I honestly can't see that I'll be well tomorrow, though I'm crossing my fingers for it. It's not that I'm at that bored stage of sick, it's that I'm at that miserable stage of sick. But I can't stand in a hot shower all day, which is about the only place (besides sleep) that I feel relief.

Anyway. Between naps yesterday I managed to finish reading:

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell (64) [non-fiction]

Which was entertaining and fine, but was more anecdotal than anything helpful. I'll sum it up for you: intuition is actually a thing, but be careful that your intuitions aren't based on too small a sample. Okay then. Carry on.

Nah, I simplified it a bit much, but at the same time, I coulda gone for some science. And more practical applications.

The day before that, I finished off:

To Rescue a Rogue by Jo Beverley (65) [romance]

I've been on a Beverley binge lately. Well, I'm still on it, actually, as I've another in hand.

I was deeply impressed by this book. The premise nearly threw me completely off--a woman falls for a man who's trying to kick opium. I thought that there was no good way that could be sexy, but Beverley handled it with a great deal of finesse, and it was, astonishingly, very not-oogy. Even more cleverly-handled was the heroine, who at first I thought I was not going to like, but who won me over in an Emma or Cher from Clueless kind of way (how can anyone stand a rich, happy, popular girl whose biggest problem is that she's a little bored and can't get what she wants?).

Anyway. It was a refreshing read in a year in which I've had to make a rule to sit down with a new book only when I have a free hour, as if I don't make it thirty pages in, I'm probably never going to pick the book up again. Weird rule, but it's helped me want to keep reading things...

Now, excuse me. My throat hurts, and the cat has finally settled down, and my latest Beverley is calling to me.

Books Update

I have been remiss in a big way, so I'm just going to list my conquests, er, recently finished books:

Glasswright's Apprentice by Mindy Klasky (58) [fantasy]

The Dragon's Bride by Jo Beverley (59) [romance]

Lady Rogue by Suzanne Enoch (60) [romance]

Reading by Starlight: Postmodern Science Fiction by D. Broderick (61) [nonfiction]

Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead... But Gutsy Girls Do: Nine Secrets Every Working Woman Must Know by Kate White (62) [nonfiction]

I should have read the postmodern science fiction book with a handful of notecards to write down everything I should still read, but mostly, I think I just need to read LOTS and LOTS of Samuel Delaney.

I feel like I'm forgetting a book, but I'm not... mostly because I did a skimming re-read of Elizabeth and Mary and read about half of Get Off the Unicorn, plus most of two cookbooks, several copies of Interzone and Locus and listened to the podcasted, condensed version of Dramatica.

Actually, that last one took up a lot of brain space, and I did download the book for free, skim it, and peer at all the diagrams, so:

Dramatica: A New Theory of Story by Melanie Phillips and Chris Huntley (63) [nonfiction]

I will say a word about that one:

Phew.

It's certainly interesting. It certainly has some ways of looking at story that I'd never have come up with on my own. I appreciate the term "storymind" and the discussion of archetypes alone is worth the time. But phew. It's so inorganic feeling, and I can't see how it always fits the kind of stories I want to tell. Maybe I'm not getting the big picture.

Books: Dream Maker's Magic, Have Spacesuit

The Dream Maker's Magic by Sharon Shinn (56) [young adult]

I believe this is Shinn's last book in the Truthteller world. I felt sort of set at sea while reading this one, and I don't know why... I felt like I was reading a cross between Cynthia Voigt and some other author that's on the tip of my brain. There was some trademarky Shinn-ness not in evidence here. I also couldn't tell you what it was.

Regardless of this vague disquiet, I found this linked trilogy to be profound, with a deep sense of metaphor.

Have Spacesuit, Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein (57) [science fiction]

A ripping yarn, this one. Kip was endearing, PeeWee more so.

Books: I (heart) Bad Boys, Crystal Singer, Killashandra

I Love Bad Boys by Lori Foster, Janelle Denison and Donna Kauffman (53) [romance]

Entirely readable.

Crystal Singer and Killashandra by Anne McCaffrey (54 & 55) [science fiction] (reread number ajillion)

I first read these back in 1987 or 1988, when they were some of my first science fiction encounters. I loved them then, and even now I can read them and recover nearly all of my early love, especially when I block out all memories of the newer sequels.

I feel there's some deeper analysis I should be doing when I reread old favorites, but less face it, we return to books from our childhoods because we want comfort, not because we want to win some prize for literary vivisection.

Book: Safe-keeper's Secret

Safe-Keeper's Secret by Sharon Shinn (52) [young adult]

You know, I think I read this series out of order, but that actually made this book cooler, if I did.

The premise is the same as in Truth-Teller's Tale: there are people in the world who have a magical ability (binding?) that makes them keep secrets, and there are people in the world who can only tell the truth. It's a lovely conceit. Shinn once again manages to obliquely visit the problems of modern society--in this book's case, incestuous sexual abuse--through secondary characters, while main characters remain unscathed. I'm not sure if this is good auctorial distancing to introduce uncomfortable topics to younger readers or the bad sort of auctorial distance wherein one keeps the main characters safe.

I'll let you know some other day. :)

***

In other news, I had a nice weekend at the lake, wherein I swam, kayaked, and wrote my fingers off. I'm ready to send out "Rampion," believe it or not, having shaved it down to a mere 7,500 words. Which plucks it out of novella-length and back to short story length, if you're not demanding that 7,499 be the actual cut-off. Whatever. I don't think I can pare off another ten words, to be quite honest.

I also may've solved the ending of "WDTP"--better late than never, I guess. I would that I'd solved both the ending and the beginning before I sent it off to F&SF, but that's the nature of the beast. I'll probably never sell there--if only because nothing I ever send there has had time to go through my editorial remorse process. In fact, the process seems to come about only when items are sitting in JJA's slush pile, and no other. Alas, eh? Alas.

Books: Spiderwick 5, Reforming a Rake

The Wrath of Mulgrath by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black (50) [children's]

A good conclusion to the series. I don't have anything very real to add to my previous conclusions, but I do like how the authors handled the parents' divorce and the kids' reactions to it. It was real. Not lovely; just real.

Reforming a Rake by Suzanne Enoch (51) [romance]

This is the book in the series that comes before Meet Me at Midnight, and all I can say is that I think I was in a better mood when I read this because I enjoyed it more than MMaM... even though the sexual attitudes of the hero were just obnoxious. (I suppose they were rakish, actually. But, bleah.) I don't know if you could write a real Regency rake and make him agreeable to a modern feminist (but now I'm wondering how I could do just that... here we come, time travel romance concept number 384).

Anyway. I was sad it was over, and have gone hunting for the third book in the series.

Books: Spiderwick 2-4, Truth-Teller's Tale, The Geography of Thought

The Seeing Stone, Lucinda's Secret, and The Ironwood Tree by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi (45-47) [children's]

I'm really enjoying this series. Having spent my childhood absorbing whatever fairy lore I could come by, this series conjures up a deep sense of nostalgia. I did, in fact, run around with my shirt inside out to fool the fairies now and again. The older sister, Mallory, is very much my personal hero, too. I'm about half-way through the fifth book.

The Truth-teller's Tale by Sharon Shinn (48) [young adult]

This book is Sharon Shinn working her mojo. I love the premise (that there are Truth-Tellers who automagically know the truth and Safe-Keepers who are bound to keep secrets that they are told), and love the way it unfolds (twin sisters who are each a Truth-Teller and a Safe-Keeper). The book is mostly a coming-of-age romance, with darker emotions but lightly told. In spite of the semi-medieval, semi-19th century setting, the issues felt extraordinarily modern--loving, attentive parents still cannot protect their daughter from a sexual predator, for example. It was rather like tales drawn from Reviving Ophelia at some points, though all teen girl angst was done away with by the machinations of a loving sister.

It was a nice world to visit. Too bad we don't live there. I'd love being a Truth-Teller, no question...

The Geogrpahy of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently... And Why by Richard Nisbett (49) [non-fiction]

A nice, balanced overview of the intellectual inheritance from the Greeks in the West and Confucianism in the East. I wanted to read this book because I have been planning to write a book with an Asian-American character, but I think this book gave me a lot of ground to go one step further and think about how alien perceptions might differ from human perceptions. There's a sideways step to the left between the East/West dichotomy that aliens could slip into.

The things I found most revealing were not the most obvious ones--it's not really a shock that Asians think more holistically than Westerners--nor even the personal ones--I think my mother brought me up to think more like an Asian in terms of context and interpersonal relationships trumping other considerations. I was intrigued by the notions of "priming" members of one culture to think like another culture. Even more intriguing was the method of priming bi-cultural members, like showing Asian-Americans a picture of Mickey Mouse and evoking Western cultural responses thereafter, versus showing them Eastern iconography. Very interesting reading, and very illuminating.

Books: Flirting with Danger and Specials

Flirting with Danger by Suzanne Enoch [romance/mystery] (43)

The oddest duck in the world is the sequel to the romance novel (this one is the sequel to Don't Look Down). Usually they end up being romantic mysteries, I've noticed, and this one is no different--the difference here is that I was still compelled to keep reading.

I think I know why, too. Enoch's quite brilliant, really; the more I think about her method, the more impressed I am. Step one is the fact that she took the traditional romance "reforming the rake" plot and did a gender switch. Rick has only the window dressing of a romance hero; he's actually, perhaps, the heroine. Samantha is the rake--not sexually, so much; she's actually a cat burglar--and the tension comes in from not knowing if she'll reform. The question is still up in the air by the end of book two, in fact. And that's the thing about a romance novel ending: the readers have to believe that when the characters cross the threshold together that they are actually entering into a static box of happy domesticity.

Enoch is the master of making sure the box at the end of the story contains Schroedinger's relationship--you have to assume it's okay, because to peek at it continues the story. Works for me. I'd easily read another Samantha/Rick book, but I'm content if I can't.

Specials by Scott Westerfeld (44) [young adult]

The final book in the Uglies/Pretties trilogy. It worked pretty well, and I was satisfied. Perhaps my favorite of the series, but I'm a bit sad about the disposal/dispersal of Tally's love interests. I may have more to say about the trilogy as a whole later on...

Returned, Rejections, Reading

Back from Montana and the parts in between. I got my mountains, which Brook's book needed. I got other things as well... I'd like to do the trip again in a leisurely fashion--I could spend a full day in Badlands, hiking; I'd like to see Deadwood in spite of how hokey it looks; and I could stay a week apiece in Glacier and Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. But, all told, we saw plenty.

Came home to rejections from F&SF and Escape Pod. Onward. Just, not today. Probably not tomorrow, either.

I had something of a break from writing while I was on vacation. It was good I didn't take the laptop, really, because the amount of time it could have gotten conveniently used was negligible. Part of that was due to my traveling companions--my stepdaughter required all the attention I would have devoted to any writing. As it was, I did take notes on a story, sketch the beginning of another, and jot down some good thoughts--stolen moments, here and there. I think the break will last through tomorrow, as I'd very much like to get the house clean[er], and find a way to keep it clean[er].

I did manage to read a bit on the trip, though I haven't finished everything I started reading yet.

The Field Guide by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi (41) [children's]

Cute and fast--maybe a little too fast, as I'd sort of hoped this would keep our attention as an audiobook longer than it did. I didn't listen to the rest of the books in the series yet, and I feel that altogether they amount to a whole book... possibly a little young for my stepdaughter based on their length? I don't know. It's so hard to listen to an audiobook and judge what reading it would be like, especially for this age range.

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson (42) [science fiction]

Really good. The book ate my brain, in all the best ways. My favorite in the Hugo field so far. I may have more detailed thoughts later.

Book 40

How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James N. Frey (40) [non-fiction]

I dithered on this book for a while. I checked it out of the library--twice. I nearly took it back--twice. I kept it in my bag instead of tossing it in the book return because I paged through it in a moment of boredom at work and happened across a few interesting paragraphs. But every time I sat down to read it cover-to-cover, I lost the plot.

I've read a lot of books on writing craft in the last couple of years--more than I ever thought I'd read. It's nice when someone can explain a concept in a way that finally gets through to you, after all those years of wondering what the hell people were talking about exactly when they use the jargon of reading and writing. We learn about climax and denouement in eighth-grade English class (if not sooner), but you have to try writing a story a few times for it to pick up meaning, and even then, you might not be able to articulate exactly what you learned, or what you think you learned, or what you know you didn't learn.

So, I guess that's why I read writing books at this point. This book in particular was helpful with things like identifying how a climax actually works--Frey suggests the climax is the point where the story turns upside down, which is far more helpful to me than drawing a little peaky mountain graph about rising action. Frey also had the helpful advice to authors to make sure their characters are working to maximum capacity--I believe this is a good way to avoid idiot plots in short, and makes the characters more engaging in the long run. And doesn't it seem obvious, really? It probably is obvious. But it's something I needed to hear, and in this way.

Well worth the double double-checking out.

Books: Fashion in Costume and Princess Academy

Fashion in Costume, 1200-1980 by Joan Nunn (38) [non-fiction] (reread?)

I think I read this book long ago in Durham. If so, it had nearly the same squiggles around various medieval ensembles as this copy did, with notes from community theatre costumers: "Juliet" and "Nurse," for example, all through the 14th century costumes. Honestly, I think I recognized the drawings, not the text...

Since I'm not an expert, merely a writer trying to keep some sort of authenticity in her fantasy medieval worlds (and Regency and Renaissance worlds, too), I can't tell you how good the book is. I thought it was good. I dutifully copied down bits of information like the fact that it wasn't until the early 1600s women had night chemises instead of just sleeping in their day chemises or the buff. Good stuff. I hope it doesn't lead me astray...

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (39) [young adult]

Different than I expected, but satisfying enough for all that. The plot seemed a little heavy on the love parts, but the introductions to diplomacy and commerce were very cool. I was kind of hoping for a view of the wider world; it was a little bit as if Mel in Crown Duel never made it off her mountain. Perhaps that's the problem with mountain books? I don't know. I had a brief moment of trepidation in realizing this was a YA fantasy about mountians and royalty, but I can safely say it's nothing like what I've written. (I'm still worried about The Giver, though. And not for the mountains.)

Anyway. It's good to read fresh YA.

Book: The Bronte Project

The Brontë Project : A Novel of Passion, Desire, and Good PR by Jennifer Vandever (37) [fiction]

Since anything I said about this book would be shadowed by the disappointment that this is not the book I hoped it was, I'll say nothing. Or at least, not much. This should have been my kind of book, but it just wasn't. I can't recommend it to anyone, because I don't think I know anyone whose kind of book this would be. But I don't have a particularly wide acquaintanceship, so.

But beyond the jacketflap managing to mislead me--and I admit, I wanted to be misled....

Mostly, I just didn't like the humor. If it was meant to be humor. And I wasn't moved by any of it. If there was meant to be movement. So. When I want a 21st century novel about 19th century novelists, I'll stick with The Jane Austen Bookclub.

Books: His Majesty's Dragon, Elizabeth and Mary, Lady Elizabeth's Comet

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik (34) [fantasy]

You know how when everyone hypes a book to death and you think, "I will not be taken in by this hype," and you prepare to be hard on a book--and then you utterly fail, because it actually is that good? Yep, that's this book. It does exactly what it needs to do, and it does it well.

Dragons. In Napoleonic warfare.

It's my wish-fulfillment version of Patrick O'Brien. It's Age of Sail without learning every bloody sail and rigging arrangement. It's Regency romance outside of the drawing rooms, and even has girls captaining dragons just as they ought. It's Pern for grownups. And it has Nelson and Trafalgar and Napoleon.

Excuse me while I join the hype.

Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens by Jane Dunn (35) [biography]

As biography goes, it was a bit heavy handed in spots, often repeating or over-emphasizing certain bits of key information. I came to this book with a solid grounding in Elizabeth's life and almost none in Mary's--so while I feel greatly enriched in my understanding of Mary Stuart, I felt that so much of Elizabeth's life was glossed over that I wonder what I was really missing about Mary. On the other hand, the glossing was done to maintain the focus on the relationship between the two queens. As pivotal as Elizabeth was to Mary's life, being her jailor for half of her life and her ultimate executioner, Mary was significantly less important to Elizabeth overall, so perhaps the proportions were right.

It's always tempting to make parallels in history, or to try and fit dual forces on a seesaw and argue that when one goes up, the other goes down--see my AP European History essay on the Spanish Hapsburgs and the French Bourbons to see just how tempting--but not everything fits that way. I'm not saying Dunn is wrong, I'm just saying it's tempting, and what is tempting is sometimes too facilely undertaken and stretched past the point of necessary credibility. So--while I happily add this to my inventory of biographies, I will also happily seek other sources. I have a big fat Mary, Queen of Scotts bio lying around somewhere, and I think a smaller ERI lurking as well.

Nonetheless, a riveting read.

Lady Elizabeth's Comet by Sheila Simonson (36) [romance]

Easily one of my favorite books ever, this Regency romance subverts the genre by being narrated in the first person by a lady astronomer who ends up engaged to a breezy, charming old friend while falling in love with a quieter, self-contained man. It may, in fact, barely fit inside the genre at all. The subtitle on the cover is "A Romance of Regency England," as if to say, "Not Quite a Regency Romance."

The self-deprecation of the narrator is perfect--light and not overdone. I could wish for more, but I don't know how I could get more. Everything hangs together just as it ought. This book serves as my ideal for a Regency; were it a bit broader in scope, it would be perfect (and I think that's what I mean by "more"--it feels a bit narrow because we rely on the first-person narrator, and don't get to dig around in other heads as we do in Jane Austen).

Book: 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published & 14 Reasons Why It Just Might

78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published & 14 Reasons Why It Just Might by Pat Walsh (33) [non-fiction]

Okay, so this is a pretty necessary book--if you haven't spent the past two years reading Making Light and Miss Snark and The Evil Editor and everyone else out there who's fighting the good fight to educate writers on publishing.

Since I have spent the last two years reading everything I could find on the publishing biz by the people in the publishing biz, as printed on the web for free, this book was a lot like reading the Cliff's Notes. Note: I'm not knocking Cliff's Notes. It's the only way I was able to get through The Aeneid (though, as a supplement, not a replacement). And, just like Cliff's Notes, this book doesn't get into the nitty-gritty, like alg's comprehensive profit and loss essays or Michelle Sagara West's book contract dissections.

Now, the only thing left to do is to ponder the deeper symbolism of this work. The 78 in the title is clearly an allusion to the 78 cards in a tarot deck, which means that if one is clever and creates a tarot out of the bad reasons, one can do personalized readings for the prospects of one's book--by the dark of the moon only. The 14 is, of course, a red herring that makes you think of the word fortnight.

Moments, Bells & Buttons

A particular meme that I've seen going around is the "what flips your switch in other people's writing" and (I think) hence, what do you like to write about?

Since I'm declaring the month after I finish The Bitter Road "Embrace My Inner Twee Month," it is handy to start thinking about this.

I like warfare. The more I read about it, the more I convince myself that I understand it, and that makes it okay, or at least, bearable. I don't like modern warfare, though. I like to read about interstellar warfare (Starship Troopers, Old Man's War, but if it's future warfare, it's got to be not-depressing (no Forever War). Past wars can be depressing (or at least not glorious) (I like wounded soldiers returning from the Peninsular War, cf. Lady Elizabeth's Comet, but this has to be really well handled to ring my particular bell). I love most anything with Roman warfare in it, though I tend to like it more in visual media (Gladiator, Rome) or the original source material (anything by Tacitus).

War gets about a thousand times better if there are women in it--Honor Harrington and Cordelia Naismith in the future, for starters, but I'll take any woman at any point performing most any role. Tanith Lee's Heroine of the World is a book I only half-remember, but I think the main character was an army camp doxy, and that was good enough for me. Far more enjoyable: Mary Gentle's Ash, Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword.

But it's not just about women in war, it's women fighting. Tamora Pierce's Alanna mostly stays out of war, and I thought the war parts were maybe the weakest bits of the Keladry series... but when Alanna first picked up the sword, I was won over to fantasy forever. Here were GIRLS doing STUFF. More stuff than even Eilonway in the Prydain Chronicles.

If girls can't go to war, then they'd better be strong leaders. Elizabeth I floats my boat in a big way--strong E. R., in fact, and I don't like historical romances that focus overmuch on her love life. Part of that is because I don't think the man who could match her existed in her own time. Women queens are as good as women warriors at times (best if both, however), so Narnia got in with me okay, even though Susan and Lucy didn't quite get to do enough.

And, well, if women can't be queens or warriors, they've gotta be good at what they do, independent, stubborn... my early attraction to McCaffrey's Pern centered around Menolly and Lessa. On the other hand, I tire quickly of "strong-minded Southern women" plots. I'm not sure why.

In the completely opposite direction, I really love healers. Charis in Bradshaw's Beacon at Alexandria is an early love, and I particularly like to read about midwives and doctors--especially good ones in bad conditions. Claire in Outlander? At least half her appeal was that she was a WWII nurse trying to make her way as a healer in the 1700's. (Time travel is a big flashy button marked FUN for me, too, and Outlander typifies the kind of time travel novel I like. Mostly. I like my time travel complicated and fraught with misery--I rarely like the easy-peasy knockoffs of Outlander.)

Female to male cross-dressing--either as a lark in Regency novels, or as a matter of life and death (or life and freedom) as in the Alanna books or Beacon at Alexandria. I think if done right, I could equally get behind a female to male cross-dressing novel, but it'd have to be on par with Beacon in terms of motivation. I do love the movie Stage Beauty, actually, so I know I can get behind it in some circumstances.

(Considering how early most of these buttons were installed, I'm a bit amazed that I considered gender-subversion and -inversion such a high priority at such a young age.)

On the romance side of things, I want a couple who argues. Not one who hates each other, but one who are each others' first and best intellectual adversary. It's a theme in Lady Elizabeth's Comet, for starters, but I'm sure I encountered it earlier than that. I know I like how it shows up in Pride and Prejudice.... I think it comes from tiring of seeing women characters simply sitting around and agreeing with their menfolk. At the same time, it's particularly boring if a female character is called "spirited" and is really just petty and spoiled. It takes a deft hand to write an argumentative couple so that they resonate instead of grate. See also Doris Egan's Gate of Ivory.

Well, I've been writing this for about 30 minutes, and I could keep going for another 60. We pause now so that I can actually go write... something with an argumentative couple, as it happens.

Book: Sebastian

Sebastian by Anne Bishop (32) [fantasy]

I would have to re-read the Blood Jewels series in order to figure this one out, but it really felt like Bishop's writing quality has gone down. It's not like it's bad, it just seems unsophisticated. In fact, the whole book seems a bit unsophisticated in comparison to previous work by the same author.

And I'm always going to think that when a female character has nothing going for her but a combination of innocence and a history of being abused, and when self-described bad boys never seem to do anything worse than have a little wild consensual sex. Daemon was far badder than Sebastian, so I know that Bishop knows how to do this. The only thing I can think of is that this book is meant to be one of those fantasy/romance crossover books, which I am getting SO tired of because it seems like no one does either the romance or the fantasy justice.

Anyway. A bit disappointing. The gorgeous cover art lured me in, and the conceit of Ephemera kept me reading... but the characters with any depth (Glorianna and Lee) never got to be onstage all that much, and as much depth as Sebastian should have had, well, he just didn't.

Book: Freakonomics

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (31) [non-fiction]

Admittedly, I was looking for the next Guns, Germs and Steel. Suffice it to say, this book doesn't explain everything--but that would be asking for truth in advertising, I guess--nor even most things. It covers sumo wrestling, school cheating, drug dealing and real estate, plus there's a semi-comforting bit on how over-parenting is a big waste of everyone's time. While I was entertained and maybe a little bit educated, much of it was a bit too facile, and I was looking for more depth.

Books: The Queen and King of Attolia

The Queen of Attolia (29) and The King of Attolia (30) by Megan Whalen Turner [fantasy]

I believe these are marketed as YA, but I find the political intrigue to be complex enough to want to class them elsewhere--no looking down the nose at YA, but I think these books deserve a wider audience.

Good stuff. I love what Turner does with Gen in Queen; King is good, but as the end drew near it felt nothing like the end. It reads like the first half of a longer novel, or perhaps the first book in a much longer series. I dearly hope the next book is The Thief of Attolia and covers (spoiler: highlight the next line) Costis's training as said thief.

My writer brain turned on for a few scenes--mostly when the motivations of some of the characters seemed muddled, and there were a lot of setbacks for no very good or obvious reason. I didn't get as much sense of Costis as I was hoping for. He's no Irene or Eddis, or even Ornon, able to hold his own with Eugenides. But that's the only time writer-brain clicked on, and otherwise, I was able to snuggle in and enjoy the fun.

Book: Misery

Misery by Stephen King (28) [horror]

I believe it was the_red_shoes who mentioned that this is a book about writing as much as it is a horror story, and boy howdy is it. I read this one in a big gulp today, and have spent much of the evening sucking the marrow from its bones.

I--hm. I don't even know how to talk about this book. But it definitely is about writing, and it's honest about it, even with the backdrop of psychokiller and amputation and faux romance heroines.

Words Written; Books (well, book) Read: Spenser #3

If I tell myself that I'm not writing on this project, then I won't scare it away. So I'm not writing on this project, which happens to be one of those projects I devised when I was 12 or 14 or something, and even at the time I knew it was a potentially bad idea, yet somehow, here I am, writing things nearly against my will. It's like spilling an overfilled pitcher of lemonade while trying to walk to the picnic table: the lemonade just WON'T go into the cups I picked out right now.

Honestly, part of me started doing this as a freewriting excercise, and bam, suddenly it became the thing I had decided to never write. (It's not that terrible of an idea, actually, it's just... well, it's a 12-year-old's idea! On the other hand, it wasn't working (probably) all these years because I was trying to write it for adults, even when I was 12. And now I think I'm just writing it for me, specifically, my inner 12-year-old, and it's working. It's sort of creepy.)

So anyway. I'm having fun. And I'm thinking I might get back to The Bitter Road this weekend, using this Other Thing as a guidepost.

Oh, and a book.

God Save the Child by Robert B. Parker (27) [mystery]

Susan! Yay, Susan.

This was the book where I realized Spenser never tells the reader his first name. I want to smack him a little for this. But Spenser also really hooked me with this book, when Susan asks him if he's a catcher in the rye, and he sort of doesn't say no. Their relationship really works for me. Thing that works less well: the endless sartorial detail. It doesn't make me miss the 70s in the slightest, and I can't wait to get to some books that don't mention platform shoes.

And, oh, yes, a 160-odd day rejection from Cicada with a nice handwritten note saying that they're all bought up on fantasy, but try us again sometime. Good deal. Onward.

Books: The Decoy Princess, Medicine in the Crusades

I'll note that at the end of this month, a quarter of the year will have fled, and I will have read over 25 books. I might just be on track for 100 books this year. Of course, I've now just jinxed it...

The Decoy Princess by Dawn Cook (25) [fantasy]

I honestly thought this was chick-lit-Luna-esque fantasy when I decided to read it... and I guess it was, to some extent... I suppose it says good things about Luna's methodology that I can no longer tell what's supposed to be crossover romance/fantasy and what's just fantasy (I can still sniff out a plain romance, though... there's definitely no fantasy in those). Anyway, it had a bit more depth than I was expecting, and I rather enjoyed the unexpected bit with the "players."

My only beef was when I approached what should have been the end of the book and it so clearly became not-the-end. "Why?" I sighed. "Why can't I find a nice stand-alone book to bring home to mom? Why does everybloodybook have a bloody sequel?" Some books need sequels, to be sure. But not half by far.

One of the things I rather liked about romance novels all these years was that you could reliably count on the story being over once true love has won the day, but even that's no longer the case. (And I'm not talking Malloreanesque series following the love stories everyone in the family, I'm talking romantic partners getting a chapter two. While that's an interesting thing to think about, it's really not what motivates my romance novel reading.)

Anyway, I liked this well enough to go pick up Cook's truth series. Plus, Cook (common as it is) is my mother's maiden name, so yaknow, there's always a little extra love for the Cooks of the world.

Medicine in the Crusades: Warfare, Wounds and the Medieval Surgeon by Piers D. Mitchell (26) [non-fiction]

God bless archaeologists. This book is the work of an osteoarchaeologist who was having a hard time with his "palaeopathological research on crusader period excavations... there was very little relevant historical work with which to compare [his] findings. In order to properly interpret the signs of a weapon injury or disease on a crusader skeleton a sound knowledge of contemporary history and medical practice is immensely helpful." So, his motives are pure, eh?

There's really good stuff in this book, including a chapter on torture, and there's a lot on the evolution and development of Western hospitals. If you're writing anything at all related to the Crusades or the general time period, this is a must. This book is directly relevant to at least three projects I'm working on, probably more, and I have really enjoyed reading this. I honestly can't tell what the technical level of the book is, however, because I've been reading archaeological papers for years now, but I think it's pretty accessible. And the bibliography is lovely and lootable. An enthusiastic thumbs up.

Books: The Godwulf Manuscript, An Invitation to Sin

The Godwulf Manuscript by Robert B. Parker (23) [mystery]

The first book in the series, and my second Spenser book. I'm not altogether certain if this Spenser is as likeable as Robert Urich-Spenser or later-novel Spenser. Maybe he needs Hawk and Susan. Sorta like Lord Peter Whimsey being all cooler for his valet and Harriet Vane. I had a hard time emotionally engaging with Spenser in this book, but I've promised to make a good go of this series, and so I shall.

An Invitation to Sin by Suzanne Enoch (24) [romance]

Shades of the Malloreans! Maybe it's because there's a brother named Charlemagne, and that's at least as eccentric as a brother named Beowulf. Maybe because there's a domineering patriarch-brother (not Charlemagne, alas). Maybe because it's part of a linked series about brothers & sisters, and there are interfering aunts. I don't know. But if I hadn't known I was reading Enoch, I could have sworn it was Beverley. Regardless, this was still Enoch and still a delight.

Books: Ancient Medicine, Meet Me at Midnight, Making the Perfect Pitch, Burn

Ancient Medicine: From Sorcery to Stone Age by Michael Woods and Mary B. Woods (19) [kid's non-fiction]

Well, this wasn't quite the book I was expecting when I ordered it in on interlibrary loan, but hey, it still had some good info--fantastic info for kids, with solid allusions to how good archaeological and historical conclusions are drawn. I found it to be a good starting point on my ancient medical research. It got me interested in Roman public health and Cloacina, goddess of sewers, for instance.

Meet Me at Midnight by Suzanne Enoch (20) [romance]

Eh. Not my favorite of Enoch's work. A solid effort, of course, and a reviewer on Amazon did point out a very favorable thing about the book: there's not one stupid misunderstanding between hero and heroine in the whole book. That does indeed make it nicer. Actually, Enoch never seems to go for the misunderstanding plot. (I pause to ponder if this is really true. Yep, I think it's really true.) I adore her for that as well as her other skills, even if this one doesn't leap onto my favorites list.

Making the Perfect Pitch: How to Catch a Literary Agent's Eye edited by Katharine Sands (21) [non-fiction]

It had the information I was looking for. It did not otherwise stun and excite me. Perhaps because I can find most of the rest of the insights revealed therein by reading Miss Snark and other agent blogs. The format of the book was essays from agents alternating with samples alternating with interviews with agents. If there weren't a Loquacious Community of Blogging Agents, this would be a find. As a well-read reader of the LCoBA, it was merely okay.

Burn by James Patrick Kelly (22) [science fiction]

I read it because it's Hugo nominated (as a novella, not a novel, but hey, it's in book format so here it is on the book-blog). I really liked it. I don't know what the rest of the novella field holds, but this will be tough to beat. Kelly had me at "Trancendentalist space colony." The execution didn't 100% live up to the excitement generated by the initial concept, but really, what could? I really admired Kelly's willingness to dig in with the simple-life details. The descriptions of apple trees were evocative of my own humble roots. Weird, yes? That I'd so get a kick out of apple trees in science fiction? Yes, but I do.

Book: The Forever War

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (18) [science fiction]

My objections (noted in the previous entry) aside, I did enjoy this. The science fictional aspects are rich and deep: the play with relativity and the bleak danger of "collapsar planets" were fascinating. The socio-political and gender-sexuality stuff rang untrue to me, but, hey. In the end I was satisfied.

Book: The Midwife's Apprentice

The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman (17) (reread 1) [children's]

By chapter four, I remembered why I had a less than positive reaction to this book the first time--not only is it not funny like Cushman's first book, it's grim. The not-funny is forgivable. But the grim is too grim. I would tend to think that a very grim book, which has no place to go but up, would be okay, but it so doesn't seem to work that way--there's no sense of joy in the relief of the grimness, for example; we are too distanced from Brat/Beatle/Alyce, I think, by the omniscient third person narrator. And in the middle of the book, the narrator does something half-prank, half-revenge, but it's written even more distantly than the whole rest of the book. I had a hard time figuring out how and why Alyce managed to come up with the idea let alone the daring to do this...

Most of the secondary characters were terribly unlikeable until nearly the end, and I'm still not certain of how the midwife came to be redeemed. She does one good act, follows it up with many, many demonstrations of bad character, and then at the end, is worthy once more.

I've got one word for this: ambivalence. On my part, and on the part of the author, I think, as well.

Book: Histoire de la Maison des Baux, Howl's Moving Castle, The Wrong Stuff

Histoire de la Maison des Baux by Gustave Noblemaire (14) [non-fiction]

I debated counting this book in my log because it was in French and my comprehension wasn't fantastic, and I skimmed it looking for relevant information. But on the other hand, it was in French, so maybe it should count double.

What a great book! Written in 1904, it's heavily detailed with the history of the region and the family, has geneaological tables out the wazoo, and has a FANTASTIC map of the Baux plateau. If there were an English translation of the book, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Heck, if I could find a copy in French to buy, I'd probably embark on some madcap attempt to translate it for the web (because there'd be no other market, I'm quite sure), since it's well off copyright. (I can't find a purchasable copy, btw, even with the 1976 reprint of a whopping 250 copies.) Anyway, I'm glad I got to see it, however briefly (thank you, interlibrary loan!).

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (15) (third reread) [YA]

I don't believe I've read this since high school, and it largely lived up to my memories. It's a lovely story with lovely characters, including a good stepmother and a fire demon who is really a (spoiler). Anyway, probably my most favorite thing about the book is that the plot relies heavily on John Donne's "Song," a poem which is placed third in my copy of A Treasurey of the World's Best Loved Poems, which was given to me by my aunt when I was 13. I don't know if I read the poem in that book before or after reading Howl for the first time (I tend to think I read the poem first), but it all seemed part of the tremendous synergetic magic of life.

The Wrong Stuff by Sharon Fiffer (16) [mystery]

I know, I don't read mysteries. But this one sucked me in with its clutterers and its furniture restorers, and I was halfway through the thing before I remembered I don't like mysteries much. And boy howdy do I not like mysteries much. Every time we veered off deep into mystery solving territory, I was sort of annoyed, and just waiting to get back to the inner workings of the characters' lives and inter-relationships. Fortunately, those were so entertaining that, for the most part, I was able to ignore the fact that I was reading in a genre I don't actually like.

Also? When I say I don't like mysteries, I think it's just in book form. I always enjoy Monk and various other PI television shows. One day, I will figure out what my aversion is about. Until then, I'll keep haphazardly picking up mysteries and reading for all the stuff around them. In the meantime, I don't like having this aversion. It feels like a betrayal, because when people tell me they don't like science fiction I get a sort of red mist over my eyes just before the rage blackout, because science fiction isn't one thing. I realize that mysteries have a more strict set of genre conventions (I mean, they never solve the mystery in the first act, now do they?), so maybe my aversion is a tiny bit smaller of an egregious hypocracy. Maybe?

Book: Matilda Bone

Matilda Bone by Karen Cushman (13) [children's]

I rather liked Catherine, Called Birdy, though I wasn't as enamored of The Midwife's Apprentice--but I read them both a long time ago, and I think I expected the second to be a lot like the first (and it wasn't). (I do intend to give The Midwife's Apprentice another try now that I've reached a more forgiving age and have a new interest in midwifery.) Matilda sort of came in between the two in terms of tone, I think... for the record.

I enjoyed it, in part because it was the fast, semi-humorous read I was looking for. I had a few quibbles about the timing. (What was up with the weather? Still cold at Easter? In England? Even at the end of the medieval warm period, I don't think the coldest part of the year would end after the vernal equinox. It's still England.) Beyond what seems to be a dubiously timed and unremarked nod to the beginnings of the Little Ice Age, the social position of women to me read like the post-Black Death surge in gender equality. But for now I'm going to leave it alone, since the parts that worked for me worked quite well. I enjoyed the "survey of medieval medicine" feel to the piece; I've always loved stories about historical medicine, especially from a female perspective.

Book: Pale Kings and Princes

Pale Kings and Princes by Robert Parker (12) [er... mystery?]

Given that I've agreed to name my firstborn Spenser in honor of my husband's obsession with Parker's character, I decided it was time to see what that's all about. (The fact that we also had a cat named Spenser will never be brought up in this blog again. Probably.)

I started with this one because I'd seen the TV movie of it with Dann a few weeks ago. Dann was horrified I didn't begin at the beginning, but I find that with some series, and especially long-running ones, the beginning is rarely a good place to start. (Exceptions exist.) I think it was a good choice. I probably won't mind starting at the beginning now, even if the first book is a real pooper (which I hope it isn't), because I'll know that good stuff is coming.

Yes, I like Spenser just fine. So far, the things that turn me off in mystery series don't seem much in evidence, so I'm good. Would I read the series diligently if I didn't have Dann to talk to about it? Perhaps not, but watching him grin at me when I quote him a bit of Hawk or Spenser that amuses me easily puts the series close to the top of my reading list. I can probably handle several of these a year. It helps that they read superfast, as well.

No, our secondborn would not be named Hawk. But I do like the name Avery, now that I think about it.

Small, Random Notes

Based on her website, I think I'd like Suzanne Enoch as much as I like her books.

Startling moment while reading Jo Beverley's FAQ: she writes Science Fiction, too.

Advice from alg: Don't be an idiot (to editors).

Notion I'm not sure I believe (voiced in the previously linked entry of alg's): It's easier to get published than it is to find an agent. I'm thinking, if that's true, then it's a difference so minute when you have neither that I won't even think about it any further. This is about as useful a statistic as "It's easier to (professionally) publish a novel than it is to (professionally) publish a short story." Well, okay, even if that's true, the economies of scale are beyond significant. You can write a good deal more good short stories in a year than you can write good novels, sheerly from a time standpoint... That alone renders statements like that frickin' meaningless to those of us slaving in the NeoPro Salt Mines (and the Pre-Pro Salt Mines, for that matter). Doesn't it? Am I just talking out my ass here?

C. George Boeree's Dialects of English. Oh, yes... very yes.

Ian Creasey's report of Milford 2005. If you click through to pictures, you can see why I will never be able to live in Wales. Between the varying degrees of rain and the required hard hats, it gives me terrible hair.

Early this week I made the decision to start carrying notecards in my purse (in a nifty purple notecard holder), so that notes could be filed upon returning home, instead of languishing, unloved and separate from the rest of the notes pertaining to their project in a notebook. So far, I've had tremendous joy, and not a little success. Filing (into a rational file system, organized by my own self) is relaxing in a way that it... really shouldn't be.

I am completely not sold on this pitch generator, but it's an interesting concept. Of course, if you can't play Madlibs without a computer program...

I'm going to make stiffado this weekend.

I am more in the mood to read than I have been in the last four years. Unfortunately, it is still outweighed by my mood to write, so even though I could make some serious headway into all the books lying half-read on my nightstand, I probably won't. I'd really like to grant myself a reading amnesty week, and say: Nope, no internet, no TV, no writing, just reading, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep. In other words, maybe that will be my reward when I finish The Bitter Road.

Book: Winter Fire

Winter Fire by Jo Beverley (11) [romance]

In spite of my early complaints about how the hero seemed to be treating the heroine as an aristocrat treats a dairy maid he intends to swive... well, actually, this attitude was somewhat played out in the plot. Not quite enough to satisfy me on all levels, but it did put the book back on the right track for me, and I ended up rather enjoying myself on this trip back to Malloren territory.

What a fine line romance writers walk... it is so terribly easy to slip into a very bad place in terms of character, conflict and motivations. I respect Beverley more with each book I read, not only because there is no evidence of slipping, but also because every time she manages to subvert the genre conventions just enough to keep things fresh without stepping over the line into something so off-the-wall that it fails to satisfy.

Books: Poison Study, Writing the Breakout Novel

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder (9) [fantasy]

This is one of those occasions where the cover sold the book. I couldn't stop staring at it in the dealer's room of ConFusion. Then, of course, I couldn't afford to buy it, so I requested it on interlibrary loan--but awesomely, my library has a program where certain books are bought outright instead of borrowed, and that's what happened here. So, other people in my library will get to read it, and when I get around to buying a copy, Ms. Snyder gets a double-shot of income from just me.

Of course, the blurb also intrigued... Enough so that I didn't forget about the brilliant cover. (Interestingly, the cover is so good, that I was shocked when I realized it was a Luna book. It's not that Luna's don't have good covers, I just don't think I've seen one that good yet from them.) And when I got the book, I read it over the course of just a couple of days, instead of the usual weeks-long slog that reading a novel seems to have turned into around here.

Now... this is definitely a case of what the author does right that makes you ignore anything they've done wrong. There were certainly moments where I wondered exactly what the setting was supposed to be... all the details point to your usual faux medieval setting, right up until people refer to briefcases and refer to each other snarkily as "Mr. Assassin." But I was willing to write that off as "unexplored world-building bit" in order to keep reading, because the yarn was ripping and I didn't want to stop and wrangle with myself about it.

The author does some interesting things in this book... she's made a bloodthirsty assassin who certainly dwells in a darker place, and unapologetically so. Sure, there are a few redeeming qualities about the gent, but they aren't fully redeeming by any stretch. The narrator (and heroine) at one point says something to the effect that dealing with said assassin made her see the world through a veil of blood. I rather liked that. It spoke volumes. It's also important that she grows accustomed to the veil of blood, and uses it; it keeps her alive.

A compelling premise, coupled with compelling characterization and compelling plot. It's not a richly detailed and convoluted court intrigue per George R.R. Martin or even Jacqueline Carey, but it has elements of that. The details of the poisons were intriguing... I could have gone for even more of them... but I liked the ones I got. And it looks like there's a sequel coming on.

Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass (10) [non-fiction]

I really swore there'd be no more writing books for a while--not once I finished King's On Writing and the copy of Techniques of the Selling Writer I bought last year--but someone recommended this book and I went for it (again on interlibrary loan). I'm glad I did, and yeah, I'll probably buy a copy at some point in the future.

I can't see following the advice in this book to the letter, but I also can't see reading the advice in this book and not applying large chunks. There's a clarity to Maass's vision, especially the parts on raising stakes and making characters and conflict. It's not a book about high craft, but it does assume you want to get to a solid, workmanlike level on all craft points, while truly excelling at a few. I think that's a fairly rational viewpoint, and one I can get behind.

I will definitely be putting this book in my novel-writing arsenal, if for nothing else than clarifying certain points for myself while in the muck of writing.

Books: Women in Antiquity, 2 Books on Les Baux

Women in Antiquity: New Assessments edited by Richard Hawley and Barbara Levick (6) [non-fiction]

A series of papers from a conference on Women in the Ancient World. Some papers were more deeply relevant to the story-research for which I nabbed this book, of course: in particular Lucia Nixon's "The cults of Demeter and Kore" and Helen King's "Self-help, self-knowledge: in search of the patient in Hippocratic gynaecology." Some were more interesting to the neglected scholarly side of my brain, like Ken Dowden's "Approaching women through myth: vital tool or self-delusion?" All in all, a good read, if a bit dense at times.

The Baux of Provence by Lucien Bély (translated by Paul Williams) (7) [non-fiction]

Material on the Baux of Provence--both the family and the castle--is hard to come by. This book appears to be a guide book (I got it on interlibrary loan), but much attention is paid to the layout (vital) and there are a few family details, too. I'm quite desperate for information; I have one book left to read on the Baux (which I am using as a setting piece and inspiriation in a book I will be writing next year or so, assuming that I'm still writing on spec for another year or two), but it's in French. My French is doable, but I figured I'd get the English sources out of the way first. Anyway. Not a bad book, but slight.

Historical Guide to Les Baux en Provence by Vernon Blake (8) [non-fiction]

This book is seriously old school. The prose is excruciatingly ornate and convoluted, and makes the information seem somewhat... dubious. However, the book does appear to have been first published in 1900 (I'm not completely sure), and I took probably an inch of notecards' worth of information from this volume, so, worth the read for that.

Book: The Jane Austen Book Club

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler (5) [literary mainstream?]

I resisted this book. I resisted it a lot, right up until I realized that Karen Joy Fowler was Karen Joy Fowler, and that maybe, just maybe, I'd give a refugee from my genre a chance to woo me on a subject I'm a stickler for. I've read a few of the Jane Austen sequels floating around, and have not really enjoyed any of them--so much so that I'm not even willing to try Joan Aiken's sequelae, and I love Joan Aiken. Of course, this isn't a sequel, it's metafiction, but I didn't really know that until I was reading it.

And... it just worked, on so many levels. It works as chick-lit or whatever you want to call it, it works as a romance, it works as fiction, it works as homage to Austen, it works as critical analysis (lite) of Austen, it works as spec fic, almost! Not quite. But almost. Perhaps I mean that it works as an introduction to spec fic, as a bridge book. It also works as a sociologic study.

It just plain works.

Fowler understands Austen, and she understands people who love Austen. She understands geeks, too, of a variety of sorts. She's also great at busting the played-out tropes. She gives us an older woman/younger man scenario that doesn't play out as though the author is being sensational or bizarre or just stupid, and she gives us a Lesbian character who acts like a person, not a cartoon or a caricature. It was all terribly refreshing. I could have stood it if the book went on another hundred pages, frankly, and I think my review could go on another hundred pages, because I haven't talked about all the light homages to Austen and the comedic genius of the character of Bernadette... or any of the rest of it.

This book is jampacked with the good stuff, and I'm done gushing now. Really.

Middles and Endings

One of the books I am in the middle of is Karen Joy Fowler's The Jane Austen Bookclub. I am enjoying it immensely; Fowler writes at the intersection of science fiction and Jane Austen, which is a street corner I've been known to stroll from time to time. Innocently, of course, officer. The description of vampire LARPers obfuscating at a con to the consternation of a dog breeder wearing a "dog is my co-pilot" button had me in stitches. I ended up relating the whole scene to the LARPer who sits next to me at work. She's resolved to read it immediately. I'm going to be so sad when it ends.

I'm also in the middle of Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass, at the suggestion of queenoftheskies in the Plotting Fiction community. I've eased off the writing books of late, since I've certainly reached the point where it seems like they're not telling me anything new.

I'm enjoying this book, however, mostly because Mr. Maass's predictive powers have astonished me. There's an exercise where he asks you to write down your top three favorite novels of all time--and then in the following paragraphs, says, "Oh, you probably picked a classic and a children's book; you read most of them as formative experiences, and none of them are less than ten years old."

I picked The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley (pre/sequel to a Newberry winner, i.e., kid's book); The Beacon at Alexandria (perhaps the book I've read and reread the most since 1987); and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (duh).

Then I kept reading. I don't care if I don't get a single writing tip out of this book, it was just damn cool to have the magician pick my ten of hearts out of the deck.

As for endings, the senior staff of The Michigan Daily published their last hurrah of the year before turning over editorial duties to the new crowd. It's my understanding that the seniors still work on the paper, and are there to guide the new folk through the process until graduation in April. I could be really wrong about that, though: maybe the whole thing was really just a ploy to write this headline: Students Like Sex: Especially in the Graduate Library.

When I walked into my beautiful, 86-year-old building with it's marble-lined halls and frescoed walls, my eye was caught by the stack of Dailys sitting on the book return kiosk. I immediately noticed the headline. I immediately burst out laughing, and took a copy in to share with the office.

Now, I spend my fair share of time taking mental pot-shots at the copyediting of the Daily; I figure the place where kindness comes into play is not in foregoing judgment, but rather in foregoing the writing of the kind of letters to the editors which take public pot-shots at the copyediting. Today, I revoked at least the last three months of mental pot-shots, in part because of the humor of the headline, but in greater part for the correct use of the word commove. Even though they spelled "aisle" as "isle."

As endings go, this one was pretty happy.

Books: Boy Meets Boy, More Callahan, and Some Self-Help

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan (4) [young adult]

There is a gigantic fantasy element to this story, since it's set in a town where your kindergarten teacher can discern if you are gay or straight and helps socialize you (happily) accordingly, and at the high school, the football captain is also the homecoming (drag) queen. It's a beautiful dream, however, and I liked sharing that dream.

Callahan's Secret by Spider Robinson (3) [science fiction]

I admit, I still love the puns.

I'd ask you if it makes me a bad person, but I sincerely don't want your opinion on that subject.

Cheapskate Monthly Money Makeover by Mary E. Hunt (2) [self-help]

As with most self-help books, there's a pile of preaching that the author feels they have to say before getting to the actual help. I think everything in here is covered better in the first half of Smart Women Finish Rich. This read like remedial personal finance for women--but since there are women who need remedial personal fiancial educations, it serves its purpose. It just wasn't something I needed to read. Fortunately, I got it from the library and returned it on time, so there was no financial outlay, and I speed-read pretty well at this book's writing level, so it was only an hour of my time.

Reading: Battle Cries and Lullabies

Battle Cries and Lullabies: Women in War from Prehistory to the Present by Linda Grant De Pauw (1) [non-fiction]

First book of the New Year!

I plucked this book off the library shelf some months ago, and it was overdue-book-guilt that finally spurred me to read through it and take down the notes for my various warrior women and camp follower stories.

In general--some very good information. There was a particular reliance on secondary source material that agitated me--"Where does this particularly odd bit of info come from?" I'd think to myself, then flip to the notes and see that it came from something written in 1943 with no indication of where the original info might have come into the picture. I never realized I'd turned into a research snob until now... But the good news is, I have totally looted the bibliography, and I can go read all of those books next.

I spent more time reading the early stuff--ie, before modern warfare--and taking detailed notes there; I read very quickly past the later stuff, especially the American Civil War (though I did slow down over the black women section, since that stuff is less widely known and therefore more interesting) and WWII and Vietnam. The section on WWI was illuminating but brief, and the section on the Israeli army was fascinating. For the rest of it, I'm particuarly interested by the camp follower stuff; in my Unitarian jihad story (a story about Unitarians going on Crusade long before the Unitarian jihad jokes circled the internet widely), a camp follower figures prominently.

All in all, it's a very good survey book for women and warfare. It goes back to Jebel Sahaba, in point of fact... it belabors the question of "what is warfare?" for the context of the book, while it is pretty succinct on the question of "what is a woman?" (answer: anyone who self-identifies as a woman). The book was a little light on some questions that I consider material when talking about women and warfare, and that's the stuff that usually shows up in the archaeological record--like, the question of what women are doing when attacked: if they are not facing the attackers--are they simply running away, or is it more that they are trying to protect children? Though, to be fair, the book says it's not focused on so-called primitive warfare, and those questions come up more (not exclusively, just more) in that context.

From a technical standpoint, there are some copyediting snafus (the spelling of "Jebel Sahaba" is up for debate, but calling it "Jebl Sababa" and "Gebel Sababa" on the same page is a bit much)... perhaps snafus of typesetting, too (a needlessly-hyphenated word at the beginning of a sentence, as though it was going to wrap, and then didn't). I'm not sure why I go all nitpicky on copy-editing sometimes and not others, but this one really bugged me.

I think the next book on warfare I'll read should be Ray Kelly's Warless Societies and the Origins of War.

The Year [of Reading] in Review

Before I go any further, one last book:

THC by Kathryn Hinds (58) [fantasy]

Work-in-progress...

I don't think I'll finish another book this year.

--------

Number of books read: 58 59 (2 37s!)

(which means, slightly more than one a week. Someday, I'll tell myself that a book a week is an acceptable number, but not this year.)

Breakdown by genre:

Young Adult/Children's: 11
Fantasy: 18
SF: 5
Romance: 9
Non-fiction: 12
Mainstream/classics/literary: 4

(Non-fiction this year included: history, historical analysis, essays on feminism, pop-culture, lit crit, biography, and similar)

I felt that this year actually represented, proportionally speaking, my interests. For a change.

The List of 2005:

Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey (1)
Household Gods by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove (2)
Sin and Sensibility by Suzanne Enoch (3)
Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton (4)
Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce (5)
The Wolf Hunt by Gillian Bradshaw (6)
An Exchange of Hostages by Susan R. Matthews (7)
Tales of the Beau-Monde by Sahara Kelly (8)
The Wastelands by Stephen King (9)
So Worthy My Love by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss (10)
Wizard and Glass by Stephen King (11)
Adriana by Catherine Moorehouse (12)
Peace-Weavers and Shield-Maidens: Women in Early English Society by Kathleen Herbert (13)
Arrow's Flight by Mercedes Lackey (14)
Writing from the Inside Out: Transforming Your Psychological Blocks to Release the Writer Within by Dennis Palumbo (15)
Arrow's Fall by Mercedes Lackey (16)
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley (17)
Carthage Ascendant by Mary Gentle (18)
The Wild Machines by Mary Gentle (19)
Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King (20)
Secrets of the Night by Jo Beverly (21)
Song of Susannah by Stephen King (22)
Major Problems in American Women's History edited by Mary Beth Norton (23)
Wolf Wing by Tanith Lee (24)
Something Wicked by Jo Beverly (25)
Sarah, Plain and Tall (26) and Skylark (27) by Patricia MacLachlan
The Dark Tower by Stephen King (28)
Sunshine by Robin McKinley (29)
Planet Simpson by Chris Turner (30)
My Life So Far by Jane Fonda (31)
LM by E.S. (32)
Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl (33)
The Sword and the Mind translated by Hiroaki Sato (34)
Seduction and Betrayal: Women and Literature by Elizabeth Hardwick (35)
TN by MKL (36)
Red as Blood by Tanith Lee (37)
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory McGuire (37)
Across the Nightingale Floor by Liam Hearn (38)
Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce (39)
The Brontë Myth by Lucasta Miller (40)
Jane Austen by Carol Shields (41)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (42)
St. Raven by Jo Beverly (43)
Restoree by Anne McCaffrey (44)
An Arranged Marriage by Jo Beverley (45)
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (46)
Flirting with Danger by Suzanne Enoch (47)
Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Human Behavior by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson (48)
Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia McKillip (49)
Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman by Elizabeth Buchan (50)
Favour of Your Company: Tickets and Invitations to London Event sand Places of Interest, c. 1750-c.1850 by Victoria Moger (51)
Caleb's Story by Patricia MacLachlan (52)
The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld (53)
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (54)
Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson (55)
Time Travelers Strictly Cash by Spider Robinson (56)
Pretties by Scott Westerfeld (57)
THC by Kathryn Hinds (58)

Book: Pretties

Pretties by Scott Westerfeld (57) [young adult]

I can't quite tell if this book actually suffered from middle-book-itis or if there was another syndrome at fault; it certainly didn't feel as fresh and bubbly as Uglies, though it was well-paced and engaging and enjoyable. So, if Pretties was a middle-book-itis sufferer, it still managed to live a rich, full life.

I do have to say, these two books have garnered the most attention from people around me. I don't quite know why, but more people have read the back cover copy of these books and said, "I think I'll be on the look-out for this!" than is usual for me and my reading tastes. Don't know why. Good job, marketing department? I mean, my sixty-some-year-old aunt (who spends her time working on boiled wool projects) and my eighteen-year-old work-study student (majoring in accounting) both had the same reaction, and several people on the age and interest spectrum in between have, too.

Book: Time Travelers Strictly Cash

Time Travelers Strictly Cash by Spider Robinson (56) re-read [science fiction]

This book has more than just Callahan stories in it, and I've only really thoroughly read the non-Callahan stuff once. I hate to admit it, but it's true; this time, even, I just skimmed.

As for the Callahan stuff, it's all still good and readable, even a bit more readable than the first batch of stories--more reliably science fictional, which is part of the good in it. The in-jokes in this volume's time travel story were less opaque than when I read them as a kid, but weren't any funnier since I still haven't ready any Phillip Jose Farmer books--they're hard to find, you know? I think I went looking for them a few times in the days before Amazon.com.

The noticeable difference between the stories in this book and the stories in the first Callahan collection is that Jake becomes an active and proactive character. In book one, he's a first-person narrator on the scale of Nick in Gatsby--always the observer, never the actor. Jake almost grows a smidge Mary Sue-ish through this set of stories, he becomes so darn proactive. I always thought he was too passive early on... there could be more balance. (Not enough Doc Webster in this book!)

I've swung right on into the next one, which was always my favorite. I realized, halfway through the first story, that it takes place after Lady Slings the Booze, which, somewhere along the way, I got rid of, I think in a small snit of over-feministism. Which was a violation of my book-getting-rid-of policy--if you think you ever might want to read a book again, you absolutely can't get rid of it. Shame on me.

*glee*

One of my favorite things about reading blogs is that occasionally, you just accidentally find something you've long wanted to find but have given up looking for.

Have you ever read Susan Cooper's Seaward? I read it probably six or ten times in my early teens, and it was one of those books I kept by my bed and read the best parts to soothe myself to sleep for a while. There's a part of a poem quoted in it--and the poem just totally cuts off, interrupted by plot. It's about selkies and a struggle between semi-Celtic gods... good stuff.

The whole poem, "The Shortest Day," is on the web! I found it because Jed was reporting on the Solstice; I honestly don't know how long it would have been before I went looking for it again (probably the next time I re-read the book). I know I looked once, back when the Web was young; I searched Yahoo, I think, for the words "beseeching fires" because that's the part that sticks in my head ("they burned beseeching fires").

Anyway. Happy Solstice.

Book: Callahan's Crosstime Saloon

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson (55) (re-read n+at least 5) [science friction]

I read this book to death in my early teens. The puns! The empathy! Hard to put down, it were. I remember gleefully buying my now worn-out paperback copy in 1991--an epic moment, since I'd checked the book out of the library more times than I could remember.

The stories hold up pretty dandily, though I'm older and wiser and a little more cynical about bars as a second home than I was before I reached the legal drinking age. Doesn't matter, though; when I read these stories, I was thirteen again, and reveling in the folksy optimism of the whole experiment.

So, yeah. If you haven't heard of it, Callahan's is a magical bar on Long Island, tended by an Irish-alien barkeep, where you go, drink your drink, walk up to a chalk line and make a toast to the deepest pain in your soul, throw your glass into the fireplace, and then pour out your troubles to the regulars, who are likewise trying to heal their psychic scars by paying for them in cold hard karma. Typically, the first-person narration of Jake, who is a reg'lar guy, only kicks in when the toaster is a special case--a science fictional case, like a psychic or a time traveler or a precog's wife.

In between, everyone puns a lot.

And, since it's a collection of short stories and not a novel, it's easy to dive in and dive out. You know, if you're one of those people who can't commit to a whole novel. I'm looking at you, Joe.

Book: Uglies

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (54) [young adult]

Much more than The Secret Hour, this book hit all the right notes for me and was a good, satisfying read. It tackles some big issues in some good ways, though I'm not altogether certain of how I feel about the perpetuation of the "pretty = stupid" stereotype underpinning to the plot. There's a big bad evil society of secret agent doctors that turn you pretty with plastic surgery and then scrape off important parts of your brain at the same time.

In spite of that, the rest of the themes are fantastic--there's a lot of stuff about friendship and betrayal that I liked, and I wouldn't have expected them at all--and there were nice observations about our own society's perceptions of beauty. The pretties (who are the opposite of the titular uglies) are of a prettiness based on averaging and symmetry, and the moment when the main character sees a magazine from our time (the story is far-future) and looks at one of our models is one of my favorites.

Me and the Books

And the "Fifteen things about Me and Books" meme, seen everywhere.

1. I essentially taught myself to read by having certain of my books memorized and then going through, sounding out the first word, and then matching each word thereafter to the word I had memorized. I remember doing this. I also remember choosing to do it as an alternative to irritating my mother, who worked nights and didn't really seem like reading to me while she was asleep.

2. I habitually sought out small refugia for reading. I had a reading lamp in my closet, and used to sit in it with my afghan so no one would see me reading and say "Go outside and get some fresh air" or something irritating like that. I would read underneath a table at my neighbor's house (they babysat me), in the attic at my grandparent's house, and I almost always had an outdoor alternative, too, in case they did catch me and order me to go out and play.

3. The only true fight I ever had with my mom (while I lived at home) was when she revoked my library privileges because of some undone housework.

4. I wanted to write books almost as soon as I could read them.

5. I used to put just books on my Christmas lists to Santa. This would always cause commentary in my family. "She just wants books!" my aunt would intone in a hush, slightly confused voice to my mother. "I know," my mother would say calmly.

6. I am ashamed by how many books I now own that I have not read. It is the opposite of the problem I had as a kid, when I would reread books three times a month because I didn't have enough new ones to keep me occupied. Of course, I really knew books like Little Women and Anne of Green Gables... now I read a book and I barely remember it a year later.

7. It was easier to eschew TV in favor of books in the old days. But now that many shows have abandoned episodic story-telling, it's hard. Yes, I do prefer each season of a show act like a novel, because it fits my brain, but at the same time, it's frustrating--you can no longer miss an episode, or pick up in the middle of a season, several seasons late.

8. I definitely did read books under the covers with a flashlight. Bedtime came way too early in my opinion. I would also wait until I was sure my mom was asleep and turn my lamp on and read until long after midnight. I did this last thing as early as age 11 or 12... I always assumed that the whole "kids need more sleep than adults" thing was bupkiss, as a result. I woke up easily enough.

9. When forced to turn the lights out, I would sleep with books open under my pillow in hopes that the vapors from the words (or maybe from the ideas?) would permeate my dreams. I did this particularly often with The High King by Lloyd Alexander.

10. From age 10 until I left for college, I had a stack of 2-3 books next to my bed that constituted my favorites. (The stock rotated.) I would reread my favorite passages every night before falling asleep, the way some people would listen to the radio or do whatever they do to get relaxed. Books that I know were in that pile at one point... The various Prydain Chronicles, the various Narnia books, books by Robin McKinley, books by Patricia McKillip, the Anne books (all except Windy Poplars), A Girl of the Limberlost, books by Tamora Pierce, A Journey for a Princess, Clan of the Cave Bear, L'Engle books, McCaffrey's Harper Hall...

11. Around age 11, I moved to adult books early, easily and eagerly, until I hit one that had sort of a nihilistic ending, at which point, I retreated back into young adult books. Then, I ended up reading Go Ask Alice (which I've happily since discovered was a FAKE), and it depressed me as much as the adult book had, and I realized, it wasn't the dividing line between adult/young adult that was important, it was the subject matter. I think that's when I decided that mainstream settings meant a book was unreliable, and that good stories almost always had a wizard or a spaceship or something similar. Or calico dresses.

12. My childhood reading habits certainly seemed idiosyncratic. No one in my family read as much as I did. My mom said she read as much as I did when she was my age--and she also said that her mother ruthlessly censored what she brought home from the library, which she didn't do to me except for the one time she saw I was reading a horror novel about what happens to teenage girls when they stay home alone without parents, and she made me return that. I'm still not sure she was right, but she probably wasn't completely wrong, either. Anyway. I never thought I'd read as little as I do now (about one book a week). I'm still somewhat shocked by it, even though one book a week is a perfectly respectable number for most people.

13. In certain times and places I have been reduced to reading anything I could find. While vacationing on a ranch in Colorado, I found an attic of beat-up A.A. Fair novels and read them for lack of other material. I read children's primers from the 1880's while stuck on my grandparents' farm. I read Reader's Digest condensed books and for fun I would figure out what had been excised at my other grandparents' house. I read my mother's nursing texts at home when I hadn't gotten to the library recently. I started reading romance novels when trapped at my aunt's house with no other books in sight. Hell, in France, I read Sir Walter Scott's least popular novel out of desperation for English-language material. All in all, I suspect my piles and piles of unreads are a sort of response to literary starvation.

14. I used to walk my neighbor's dog when the neighbor worked 12 hour shifts. I asked that she pay me in books.

15. Five books would never be enough to take to a desert island. NEVER. I find that to be the most depressing question that can be asked.

Book: The Secret Hour (Midnighters Book 1)

The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld (53) [YA fantasy]

A delightful book in many ways, though I was bothered by some rather nitpicky things like... the word "tridecalogism," which I would take to mean 30-letter word, not 13-letter word... perhaps "triskaidekalogism," but of course it isn't thirteen letters... anyway, yes, I realize it could be considered an in-character mistake, except the kid who thought it up is at least twice as smart as me anyway. Also, "polymath" doesn't mean anything about math, which Westerfeld points out on his website, and yet--the word is linked with mathematical ability throughout the entire book.

But other than this sort of minor ranting and raving, the book revolves around a really neat premise. A premise far neater than it actually plays out in the book, actually, with one or two exceptions. Given my chance to wander a frozen world for an hour every night, I'd be far nosier and exploratory than any of the main characters seem to be--of course, Plot is coming to get them, so they don't have a lot of time.

Piled on top of this, there is some solid characterization, especially in light of the superpowers of the main characters. I think I'd be about as crazy as Melissa with her mindreading ability. She acted abominably at times, and I could totally understand why.

I'm not sure I'll seek out the sequel soon though; one of the things I look for in YAs is the subtle, layered nuance of character, as per McKinley, McKillip, Sherwood Smith, and I didn't see as much of that in this book as I would have liked. I didn't fall in love with any of the characters, basically; Dess... Dess grew on me, but it took some time, and only when she got down and geeky did the like really well up within me. Jess was a little too daylight, a little too 11:59 for me, to quote the other characters.

Book: Caleb's Story

Caleb's Story by Patricia MacLachlan (52) [children's]

Audiobook. Glenn Close's narration is terribly sweet, and I think she creates a deeper sense of love than even MacLachlan was aware she was building, if her interview at the end of the audiobook is any way to judge. The book is a story about forgiveness, essentially; I'm not altogether certain if it was realistic in that regard, but sometimes realism doesn't supply the necessary catharsis. All in all, a lovely capper to a lovely trilogy.

***

As you can see, I have hit just past the half-way point of my 2005 reading goal. Nothing to be proud of here... at the same time, I'm glad I didn't give in and read only 20 books or whatever might have happened if I *had* given in. Oh, well--no use in bemoaning any of it. It is what it is.

Right now, I find that I crave biography. We'll see where that takes us for the rest of the month.

Reading: Favour of Your Company

Favour of Your Company: Tickets and Invitations to London Event sand Places of Interest, c. 1750-c.1850 by Victoria Moger (51) [non-fiction]

Pure research. I was mostly reading this to see the tickets and invitations to lend a more authentic air to my Regencies, but guess what!? The notes were packed with concise, important information--like the exact location of Vauxhall Gardens and the way that Almacks' subscription balls worked. Fantastic!

Book: Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman

Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman by Elizabeth Buchan (50) [mainstream]

From the title, I was definitely expecting something more... poppish. More chick litish. Funnier.

Once I'd gotten over my misconceptions, it was a really nice book. It was pleasant to read about someone who has the baser emotions and yet manages to rise above them, though there was a part of me who kept wondering where, exactly, the line is to be drawn between not being a doormat and becoming a shrieking harpy, and likewise, the line between being graceful and becoming a doormat. I'm not sure modern women know. I think the last woman who knew might very well have been Jane Austen.

Hm.

PS Happy Thanksgiving!!

Book: Alphabet of Thorn

Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia McKillip (49) [fantasy]

I discovered McKillip at the age of thirteen and pined for the next several-many years that her catalog wasn't bigger. I loved The Forgotten Beasts of Eld then, and really, really loved The Changeling Sea later on... but since The Changeling Sea, I've been tremendously difficult to please. I didn't particularly get anything out of The Book of Atrix Wolfe or Ombria in Shadow, and I recently cast aside The Tower at Stony Wood for not engaging me (and for not being comprehensible).

And I know it's not McKillip's fault, not entirely. I no longer have the time and patience to be a thorough and careful reader; I read now for entertainment and escape--which I did then, too, but I had time back then--the time of childhood, when you can read a book in a day because you have a day. The few times I've taken a day to read a book since the age of twenty-two have been stolen days--sick days, mainly, when being ill is a luxury because no one gets mad that you aren't making dinner or cleaning the cat-litter.

Anyway. This wasn't supposed to be a rant about life, it was supposed to be a discussion of why I wanted to love Alphabet of Thorn and just couldn't, quite.

It felt slow, and sometimes that's nice. I could understand wanting to savor the language or the growing relationships between the characters, but I couldn't actually savor these things. I was impatient to find out the secrets and impatient to have things change. I enjoyed the last few chapters of the book immensely, though I felt like those were the chapters that I should have met much earlier on... the whole book felt like a lot of waiting. I can't get too upset about it, either, since most McKillip books I've read follow this pattern; but somehow in the past I've enjoyed the waiting more.

Part of the disappointment might also have come (I suppose) from wanting more about the library in it. The library was an interesting setting, but there was no real Librariness to it the way I like. I was expecting an anthem. I didn't get it.

Book: Animals in Translation

Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Human Behavior by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson (48) [non-fiction]

Really interesting take on animal behavior, with insightful observations that pushed all the right buttons for me as a science fiction writer--I study animals in part to make good aliens. I have my own theories on consciousness and social hierarchies that I'm using to explore the aliens in By Right of Conquest...

I have just enough training in animal behavior to be dangerous, I'm sure (ie, one college class). Of course, it was the animals I studied in that class (primates) that made me doubt some of the claims Grandin makes (specifically, the ones about primates), and which in turn caused me to call into question many of the other claims Grandin makes throughout the book. But I'll bet she hasn't worked with primates half as much as she has with cattle, so maybe I'll give her a pass when she claims things like proto-humans, like all primates, didn't hunt in groups until they learned to do so from wolves... it's a bit of a romantic view (that dogs and humans both domesticated each other), but the evidence she cites is in direct contradiction to certain documented chimpanzee behaviors. She also says that proto-humans (like all primates) don't form same-sex and non-kin friendships... I think bonobos and baboons arguably contradict that as well.

Anyway. The book should probably be required reading for pet owners present and future, and it certainly has a place in my heart for making me think more deeply about animal consciousness--and consciousness in general.

Book: Flirting with Danger

Flirting with Danger by Suzanne Enoch (47) [romance]

SE's first adventure in contemporary fiction... I laughed in all the right places, didn't want to put it down, and was sad when it ended. Good stuff.

The basic plot is that art thief captures the attention of victim/billionaire. I can't see any way that this could be anything other than fun in Enoch's hand.

My favorite part, though, was the author's note detailing why she'd tried contemporary romance after 11 historicals and x number of Regencies. First, the note itself was funny; second, that means I'm woefully under-read in Enoch's work, which is actually a Really Good Thing, as it means Much Pleasure Awaits Me.

Reading: Mansfield Park

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (46) (re-read)

It was good to re-read this, since I had been clouded in my memories by that ridiculous movie, in which Fanny was empowered.

It's not so much that Fanny needs to be empowered to make the novel more palatable--she's not a super-pathetic character, in my view; I can see what Austen was intending to do with her--she's just really, really restrained. And good, yes, sure. I've heard complaints that one cannot see where the goodness and restraint comes from, what with Fanny's upbringing, but it's not hard, not really; Mrs. Norris scared the crap out of her when she was a kid, and her role model was Edmund. The only flaw in Austen's characterization is bringing her to Mansfield at age 11; at 7, I could see it as having more effect, developmentally speaking.

Either way. The book is not as enjoyable as, oh, every single other book written by Jane Austen simply because it's not particularly funny. Mrs. Norris is just mean. She's not mean and mockable like Lady Catherine, and she's not mitigated by doing bad things to hateful characters, like John Dashwood's wife in Sense and Sensibility does to Lucy Steele. There's never a point where "the enemy of my enemy" comes about, nor does there ever seem to be a reason behind her meanness to Fanny, other than that she's a bully and Fanny is weak and she can. It's just--not funny.

Mary Crawford isn't funny. She's witty, but not inherently funny. Mr. Rushworth is funny for about six pages during the play, but he quickly becomes an object of pity. Lady Bertram is almost funny, but she's so annoying that she eventually becomes unfunny, and since she enver stands up to Aunt Norris, so one cannot forgive her.

All in all, Mansfield Park is a massive failure on the part of light drawing room comedy. I have nothing but sympathy for Fanny and Mr. Rushworth, and deep hate for nearly all the other characters, most especially Edmund the Obtuse. Henry Crawford very nearly redeems the whole thing, but then he goes and screws it up by conveniently turning out to be so bad that they let Fanny not marry him.

Of course, bad Austen still beats damn near anything else in print. Don't get me wrong. And the book is still better than the movie; the movie is like a badly painted wall--you can see where they patched and didn't sand. By making Fanny as proactive as she is in the movie--by essentially turning her into Eliza Bennett in the guise of making her more like Jane Austen herself--they've done away with the point. The point is weak enough already.

Oh, well. I enjoyed the book, in spite of the above rantings, and I enjoyed it the first time I read it, too (though I liked it better when it was simply the only Austen I hadn't read, and when I didn't hate Edmund so much because I was letting Austen lead me around by the nose).

Book: An Arranged Marriage

An Arranged Marriage by Jo Beverley (45) [romance]

In thinking about this romance novel, I had some sort of grand revelation about how harshly I've been judging romance novels for the past fifteen years--which is how long it's been since I picked up Woodiweiss's Ashes in the Wind and stayed up all night reading it--enthralled by the plucky Al(anna) and completely certain that the author cadged the villianess's flaming death from Jane Eyre.

I've maybe twice wanted to stay up all night with a romance novel since then. That, combined with a snobbish attitude that I think I picked up from my English teachers in junior high, has made me less good at judging the books on their own merits. Really, I'm not so hard on other genres--except mysteries, which I tend to find boring in the extreme (with a few exceptions, like noirish foofy mysteries, as per A.A. Fair, and gimmicky mysteries in which I'm highly invested in the gimmicky, as per Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mysteries), and Westerns, which I abhor in the written form because for me a Western is about landscape and vernacular, and both are best witnessed on a screen in my opinion.

That was a hell of a digression, by the way.

I don't know, really, what it is I want out of a romance novel that leaves me so wanting more at the end of most of them. I had some quibbles with this one--which was that the hero got off too easily, and everyone knew it, including the author, and everyone said it, and still the main character got off too easy after all that acknowledgment. But I think that was a writing quibble, not a romance quibble.

So, what's my romance quibble?

I think... well, I think it's about consequences. Too often there are blithely executed plot threads (kidnappings, disguises, lying, rapes, pre-marital sex, scandalous behavior, time travel, public humiliation, and who knows what all) that are lightly attended to in terms of character development. To paraphrase Mary Lou--I'll read just about anything (no matter how squicky) if I feel it's being true.

I'm not sure I'm done mulling this one over. But I'm done for now.

Books: Restoree

Restoree by Anne McCaffrey (44) [science fiction] (n+3 re-read)

I have evidence that I first read this in May of 1989--when I was 14 (for me, the golden age of science fiction was 14, not twelve); I read it last in June 2001. I'm sure I read it at least three times in between, or at least the good parts of it.

It's space opera--I think. I also think when I was younger, I didn't really care, and read it largely for the romantic elements (plus the "waking up on another planet with a different identity" elements). I don't think even on my last reading I realized all the little hints about McCaffrey's SF interests were foreshadowed in this book (one of her earlier novels, if not her first one). There are crystal resonances, for starters--shades of Crystal Singer.

Anyway, big discussion? No. Someday, perhaps. It's definitely on my favorites shelf, however, and has been since I first read it.

Ayeeee!!! + Reading: St. Raven

Ok. I'm a no-bloggin' losah. Still getting a handle on the job, yaknow? I mean... it's not like the job has taken over my life (not exactly), but between resolutions earlier this year not to internet when I should be writing, combined with the new job's necessary no-internet-while-working interdiction, and the total impossibility of internet while showering (don't even suggest wireless, waterproof phones or similar--I'm not in the mood) and the even greater impossibility of internet while sleeping, that means... almost no internet.

I can't say the impact has been negative on my psychological health. I do feel a bit out of the loop, but I also feel... much more positive. Hm. Perhaps one can know too much about the lives of those around you--locally or professionally. Or, perhaps one can be too invested in learning about the lives? Something like that.

Onward.

St. Raven by Jo Beverley (43) [romance]

Quite good. A couple of momentary quibbles (I didn't think sidesaddles were common in Georgian England, but were a later Victorian addition, but I could be so very wrong), but I gave them up in order to enjoy the story. The few things Jo Beverly does less well are completely eclipsed by that which she does extraordinarily well. All writers should be so lucky. The female lead had enough chutzpah to keep me interested and enough propriety to be realistic. A delicate balance!

Book: Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (42) (n + 2 reread)

Once I've reread a book four times or more, I start picking out small things to watch for throughout the text--this character, or that bit of craft. On this read-through of P&P I was intrigued by the point of view and voice, which are masterfully handled, and I think in a way unique to Jane Austen. I also watched for the characterization of minor characters. I paid a lot more attention to period details as well... in short, I'm beginning to think that reading classic literature is an education every time you pick up a volume. Or maybe that's just Jane Austen...

Book: Jane Austen

Jane Austen by Carol Shields (41) [biography]

This is a relatively and appropriately light overview of Jane Austen's life and works. As biographies go, I do like the ones that dig and dig and dig some more, but I also like the ones that give the picture of the forest for the trees. Generally, if I find someone interesting enough to read a biography of them, I will read two or four or six; as such, my biography pool is small, and consists (I now realize) largely of female Victorian writers and English royalty.

Ok, done digressing.

Anyway, this book did very well with contextualizing the writing of Austen's books in her life without getting bogged in the details. I enjoyed it very much. I have a few points I want to argue with, of course, most especially the emphasis on how much writers need to know other writers in order to improve their work, to learn "how it's done," and the implication that Austen's work somehow lacked because of this lack of writerly communication. I want to argue that *bunches*, in fact, because I think, yes, there are many, many wonderful things to be found from belonging to the greater community of writers--but never once has someone explained something to me about writing and have I then "gotten" it. Everything I've ever "gotten" about writing has been learned from reading examples of what I needed to get. Before I started joining in the Grand Writing Conversation, I got these things less consciously than I do now--and perhaps I did not know to go seek these things--but I still got them.

You *can* advance your craft without talking about it with other craftswomen. I'm quite, quite sure of it, and Jane Austen is my proof, so I'm not sure whyfor the lamentations. Isolation from fellow writers, in fact, is probably beneficial to some personalities and at certain points in anyone's career.

I don't know; it's something to chew on and argue with in my head for a few weeks.

Book: The Bronte Myth

The Brontë Myth by Lucasta Miller (40) [bio-literary criticism]

Good stuff, Maynard. I totally dig this kind of book, and there was much to dig, except for the vast overlooking of Anne once more. There are, perhaps, two paragraphs devoted to how Anne became the Nothingness of the Brontë myth. I don't think that's a failing on Miller's part; after all, how long can you discuss a Nothingness in just a few chapters (absence is a big thing to archaeologists, and they will speculate endlessly on it; so a Nothingness would need to be covered in, oh, three volumes, at the least, if you were to ask me)? Anyway, Charlotte and Emily's ascension to places of literary sainthood were thoroughly explored, however, and this book is an extraordinarily valuable resource for those trying to get beyond the basics of being a Brontë fan but not quite ready to start setting up home shrines.

Clearly, Anne still needs me to save her. Which is good for me. V. good.

Book: Alanna: The First Adventure

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce (39) (re-read) [YA fantasy]

I got this as an audiobook to share with my stepdaughter and ended up listening to most of it in Wales as before-sleep comfort-listening. It worked better read aloud than it does on the page in many ways, and as usual with listening instead of reading, you pick up on all sorts of things you didn't notice before. I still intend to have K. listen to this, but I'm glad I bought it for a whole host of other reasons.

Not much new ground to tread here... I still like this book least in the series, though I like it much better now. I did not like the reader's faux-Scottish and faux-English accents that some characters acquired, but I thought her Alanna voice was particularly good...

Book: Across the Nightingale Floor

Across the Nightingale Floor by Liam Hearn (38) [YA? fantasy?]

Beautiful and sad and more violent and sexual than I was expecting for a YA book. I suspect if I'd been able to read this at age 13, I would have thought nothing of it--after all, I was reading adult books far more violent and sexual already--but in this day and age of overprotective parenting, like I said, slightly surprised at the marketing schema. That said--it fit the setting, it fit the plot, and the book as a whole is very good, with just enough magic to keep it interesting. I love books about assassins. If anything, I would want more of the assassin stuff... but fortunately for me, there are two more books in the series, and I might just get my wish.

There were things about the love plot I could have done without--love at first sight, and Takeo's exceeding sensitivity to his love interest's "fragility" (the latter of which was at least subverted in the text by said love interest's ability to thwart rape by stabbing would-be rapists). There were other things that bothered me, too, and it's silly to protest, because they all fit the cultural puzzle--courtly love is courtly love, isn't it? Even in psuedo-Japan? But still. If you don't know how to frame it in the culture, it would not be good behavior to imitate, even in spirit. Ah, well...

Book: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory McGuire (37) [historical/fairy tale retelling]

No magic, but a very interesting treatment of the Cinderella story. I read this and Ellen Klages's "Basement Magic" this week in prep for my stepmother panel.

It was a hard book in some ways, with hard moments, but I thought it extraordinary that a childhood trauma could be made to account for Cinderella's passivity--even though I tend to think of Cinderella as the least passive of the heroines who've been coopted into the Disney pantheon--she, after all, rebels and sneaks out of the house.

Books: TN & Red as Blood

TN by MKL (36) [science fiction fantasy]

Work in progress.

Edited to add: It doesn't matter how many vacuum tubes you put into a fantasy--it still stays fantasy. Sorry, Mris!

Red as Blood by Tanith Lee (37) [fantasy]

I read this oh-so-many years ago, and I loved the last story and was sort of confused and weirded out by the others. And this time, I had nearly the same reactions--though this time I loved the Snow White retelling, and it's a positive stepmother, so hooray!--but when story after story had a Satanic bent, I started to get a little freaked out. I suppose they are meant to be read as horror stories on some level, in which case, they worked; but I'm not actually a horror fan, so, yech. (I like horror that isn't horrific to me. I can't remember ever actually being afraid of vampires, for example, so vampires are merely fantasy to me; but I spent a long childhood being a-skeered of the Divil.) Though--I suppose the right adjective is Gothic, that place between horror and fantasy, and it's good for me to read stuff that makes me uncomfortable once in a while.

Anyway, well worth the read, and well worth owning. I wish there were more. I'm a bit peeved that this book appears to be out of print. It's a fantastic collection, and deserves a wide readership--especially the "Beauty and the Beast" retelling at the end that so caught my attention fifteen years ago.

Book: Seduction and Betrayal

Seduction and Betrayal: Women and Literature by Elizabeth Hardwick (35) [non-fiction]

A book of essays about women and literature, only sometimes touching on seduction and betrayal. The Brontës are covered, and it was the essay on them that first attracted me to the book. Zelda Fitzgerald, Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf each have a chapter, as well as Dorothy Wordsworth and Jane Carlyle. The ultimate essay, "Seduction and Betrayal" focuses on three novel characters instead of real women and their relation to literature. I confess, I skipped the chapter on Ibsen's women, since I've never read any Ibsen. I know. I'm a heathen.

I didn't fall in love with these essays or their meanings; there were Things to Think About, but never moments of éclat when I finally understood something to a greater degree than I had before. The title is much sexier than the work. Perhaps if the essays had been made to work together, if there had been more flesh connecting them...

Book: The Sword and the Mind

The Sword and the Mind translated by Hiroaki Sato (34) [non-fiction]

The front cover says: "The Classic Japanese Treatise on Swordsmanship and Tactics."

I picked it up because I was writing a short story with a sword duel in it, and I thought, "It sure can't hurt." And it's wonderful. I wasn't hoping to learn how to sword fight myself, but I was looking for a way to write about it, and I think, if anything, this book has managed to provide an excellent example. There are detailed descriptions of attacks, defenses, and pictures from the original manuscript with stances.

This is mainly a translation (I don't know any Japanese at all, but there are many hallmarks of what I consider a good translation in the text--lots of footnotes--which is the best way to translate anything older, in my opinion; in a modern fiction book, you would not wish to disrupt the lyrical flow of a text with footnotes, but I think anything non-fiction, technical or prone to be analyzed, you do want the deeper explanations. Or at least, I do.) of the Heiho Kaden Sho. It is also, interestingly, one of those Barnes & Nobles specials--something B&N published.

The last two-thirds grew increasingly Zen and less practical for writing the kind of swordplay I'll be writing, but at the same time got more interesting for me personally. I read approximately 2 pages a day for the last several months, so dense were the concepts.

I intend to keep this book on my desk, next to my medieval herbals and my atlases of world history, as an essential fantasy writer's tool.

Book: Garlic and Sapphires

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl (33) [non-fiction]

What started out as a fun book about being a food critic turned into something deeper about identity and power. The best part of the turning deeper is that the author didn't necessarily go for the pat answers on the matter of identity and power, though the end game did seem rather abrupt: life was immediately better once she stopped being the restaurant critic for the New York Times.

Well, who knows. Maybe it did.

I really liked the fun parts, and the deeper parts weren't bad. I found myself getting a bit bored and frustrated when the author started describing a time in her life that was boring and frustrating, but beyond that, it was clearly written and, at times, wildly entertaining. Perfect light non-fiction.

Book: LM

LM by E.S. (32) [fantasy]

I can't talk about this book much since it's someone's unpublished work in progress, but I like to think that I learn something from each book I read... whether or not I share that something here is another matter... Anyway, in this book, I learned something important about finding your strengths and making sure that you have an example of your more broad-based strengths on every page. (In this case, E. excels at descriptive detail without being boring.)

Just a thought.

Book: My Life So Far

My Life So Far by Jane Fonda (31) [biography]

I read this with a prurient intention. Ok, not prurient. One step down from prurient. I've been intrigued by Jane Fonda since watching Barbarella one Sunday afternoon when I was about 14: "What on earth is this crap?" being my main emotion. I never have learned to see it as satire. But I thought it was cool that Duran Duran got their name from this movie.

Later (about age 17), an acquaintance told me an interesting story about running into Jane Fonda and Ted Turner at a Broadway show, and how Ted Turner sort of yelled at said acquaintance, while Jane stayed gracious and smiling throughout.

And then I took a class on Westerns and became a huge Henry Fonda fan.

And it was only after all this that I became culturally aware of "Hanoi Jane." Since that all happened before I was born.

So, when the autobiography came out, I have to say I was truly intrigued, and consumed it with the aforementioned one-step-below-prurient intent.

My curiosities about Henry Fonda and Barbarella and Ted Turner were all pretty well satisfied. There were some boggy parts, and the extended metaphor about the "acts" of Fonda's life sort of irked me, but I think, overall, it was well worth the read. If anything, I think I'd like to read some more biographies of the same space/time/group; Fonda quoted at times from the bios of her father, her ex-husbands and so forth, and some of them might prove to be very readable. But I'd also really like to see On Golden Pond, which I wasn't allowed to watch as a child because of the swearing.

Anyway.

Book: Planet Simpson

Planet Simpson by Chris Turner (30) [non-fiction, pop culture]

While I didn't need to be told that The Simpsons is a deep, deep social satire, it was fun to listen to many of the punchlines from the show for a few hours. The analysis was at times deeper than necessary and at times relentlessly pointless. The long introduction about bar night Simpsons-watching in a Canadian college town made me want to tear my hair out, but before I went bald, the book became more substantive. I enjoyed the tracing of the origins of the show, especially the transition from the Ullman shorts to the first episodes.

Book: Sunshine

Sunshine by Robin McKinley (29) (re-read) [fantasy]

It was interesting to re-read this book (as it is interesting to re-read most, if not all, McKinley books). The first time, I read for the relationship between Sunshine and Constantine--I mean, when you start out with two characters chained to a wall and one of them is supposed to eat the other one, it's rather hard not to be interested in how they deal with each other from that point onward. This time, though, I found myself picking up on the details, admiring the world-building, and generally enjoying myself--and being a smidge frustrated with the relationship between Sunshine and Constantine, when it turns out that I'm *now* much more interested in Mel.

Mel is the reason fans are clamoring for a sequel, I think. I mean, that door is wide open; I didn't quite realize it the first time, but I was doing a much better job of paying attention to details the second time.

McKinley just keeps getting better and better. Part of that is that she's getting better as a writer--and part of it is that I'm getting better as a reader. Go figure.

Book: The Dark Tower

The Dark Tower by Stephen King (28) [fantasy]

This is the end.

I read the first two Dark Tower books in 1989, when I hadn't even started high school. Now I'm thirty, I've read the first two Dark Tower books between five and seven times and all the rest once or twice, and I'm done.

I'm torn in my perceptions. Overall, I'm pleased. Emotionally drained, but emotionally satisfied as well. Ka comes full-circle. Everything begins again. I understand the choice to start at the beginning, since it's, well, something I would do. It's gives hope. I can spin out the possibilities from this ending. I'm good with that.

My complaints, in fact, are so nit-picky that I'm not even going to go over them here. Someday, when I have free-time dripping from the tips of my fingers (hm), maybe I'll write my analysis of the use of POV in these books. I doubt it. I'm more like to analyze something more fun, first. So, someday, when I've had many months of the dripping free-time, perhaps I will vent my spleen on the subject. Until then... well, if you haven't read these books yet, and if for any reason you've been refusing to read Stephen King, and if you're making do for fantasy with, oh, say, Robert Jordan because you've read everything else--stop. Put that down. Try this on for a while. It's well worth the time and tears. And, oh, yes, the tears. I sobbed for several chapters, never doubt it.

Books: Sarah, Plain and Tall and Skylark

Sarah, Plain and Tall (26) and Skylark (27) by Patricia MacLachlan [children's]

I wasn't sure if I was going to like these, which is why I never read them until K. and I were looking for something for our trip. I guess I'd thought these were Laura Ingalls Wilder knockoffs, like so many things set on the frontier seem to be? But there is a deft hand at play in these books; each sentence counts, each image is meaningful, and the prairie is almost an alternate reality to Wilder's world, one which felt less real but more like a place I'd want to live. (Of course, I believe the setting is a few decades later than Wilder's, so you know, maybe things were a little easier? Hm. Somehow I doubt it. The omnipresent feeling of work pressing down on the reader pervades Wilder's; that feeling is nearly absent in MacLachlan's.)

Either way, I am 100% behind stories about good stepmothers, and I fully support lyrical writing that manages to evoke the numinous in spartan settings. I'm looking forward to the next books in the series.

Unbook: Dimwit's Dictionary

Something that won't make the booklist, because I couldn't bring myself to read over 5,000 clichés: The Dimwit's Dictionary. You can download the Dimwit's Dictionary, in fact, but that version is no more superior than the paperback one I checked out of the library; it's not as if you can run your writing through a program highlights all your cliché moments and let you decide to keep or excise them.

(Note to the programmers with time on their hands... if you ever want a way to make very little money but to earn the gratitude of a thousand writers, you would build the above-mentioned program. Additionally, you would build a program that counts overused words in a piece of writing--the algorithm would have to exclude overused words that are invisible, like "said" and the usual suite of pronouns and the like. End sidebar.)

Nevertheless, it's interesting to met that such a book exists--that someone was so bugged by cliché that they wrote a whole book. For my own use... At best, my browse-through will make me more aware of times I use cliché--at worst, nothing will change.

Too bad it didn't list characters who scream "Noooooo!" when someone dies. But, even if it did, George Lucas wouldn't have read it. Just a thought.

Book: Something Wicked

Something Wicked by Jo Beverley (25) [romance]

I've really grown to love the Mallorean series, and I have to admit, it was somewhat against my will. I've never been particularly fond of threaded character series--this minor character becomes a major character in another book, and on and on--largely because if I identify with a character, I don't want them to become relegated to second string later on! Things are a bit different in the romance genre, and allowances must be made--threaded characters seem to be thick on the ground. I both mind it less in romance (after all, once the story is done, the story is done for romance characters) and mind it much, much more (hints that my happily ever afters aren't happy? Or, even worse, they're so gooey happy that they're insufferable bores?).

But, anyway. Slowly, I'm learning who to trust in romance. I've never enjoyed the genre for its own sake (I don't think). It's similar to how I feel about mysteries and Westerns and horror--similar, and yet different. I don't get a thrill from reading a mystery, from going down the path of exploration, gathering clues with the narrator as we go. The payoff gives me no chills, no sense of deep satisfaction that we've put the world aright again. Likewise, I get no rewards from going through the motions in a romance.

A good mystery for me is one with a main character so compelling, so personally identifiable, that I can't look away. Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mysteries, for example--I buy them all. Because the heroine is Jane Austen, and because I want to see what Barron will do with her this time. I'm not 100% satisfied with the characterization of Jane in those book, but I am always 100% interested.

My tolerance for romances is significantly greater. While there is only one mystery series I follow, and a few more that I'm at least familiar with, I've found many romance authors that I like and not a few that I trust (authorially speaking, on both "like" and "trust.")

All of this is a very long-winded way of saying, I've come to trust Jo Beverley over the last few books of hers that I've read, and that's always a good thing.

Book: Wolf Wing

Wolf Wing by Tanith Lee (24) [YA fantasy]

The final(?) volume in the Claidi Journals, which have proved to be weird and wonderful in the way that only Tanith Lee can really pull off. This last one felt a little spare of actual doings; we spent a lot of time traveling to seemingly no purpose, which is technically not true, but, somehow...

Anyway, it was nice to see Claidi finally revealed as the true agent of her own life (that's not much of a spoiler, really) rather than the puppet of other people, but I'm slightly dismayed by how long (four books!) it took for Claidi to realize that. I suppose it's good and proper for her to develop, and it's not like Claidi was never proactive, or anything. I don't know.

I still like Venn better than Argul, in that Venn is a flawed character and Argul is not. The Venn bits were the ones that really came alive for me in this book; his last scene with Dengwi really made me cheer. "Look, he's finally figured something out!"

Anyway. It's a good series, and I'll try to get my stepdaughter to read them at some point.

Book: Major Problems in American Women's History

Major Problems in American Women's History edited by Mary Beth Norton (23)

I read the equivalent of a couple of books for my feminism panel at WisCon, and this was the one of which I read the largest percentage (ie, most of the book). (I read about a third each of three other books as well, which I won't list as having read, but will eventually get around to mentioning here.)

This book is composed of primary source documents and essays discussing those documents--perfect for my purposes--it was like having a lot of research done for me. Happily, both sides of a point were often illustrated, and the essays were fairly balanced (and yet, pro-feminist) in the ways they addressed the issues at hand.

I learned more from this book than I'd ever want to distill into one of my half-assed website book reviews, but in brief, I'll mention that I was surprised to find out that Betty Friedan has ameliorated her position on the women's movement so much that she sounds like Phyllis Schlafly.

This book only covered through the 80s (being written in 1989), but I managed to scrounge up a book that focused on feminism from 1975-1995 to supplement it. Not surprisingly, there aren't a lot of books about the last 10 years. There almost never are, and you have to go to articles for that. This wasn't something I had the time (or, made the time, admittedly) to do.

Book: Song of Susannah

Song of Susannah by Stephen King (22) [fantasy]

The King pseudo-diary at the end was interesting, but I notice now that King knows the ending, he does that hyper-annoying omniscience thing with point of view where he says things on par with, "And lo, though the Character would do her best, she would be dead in three weeks anyway."

Stephen King--stop doing that. I've noticed you do it in darn near every damn book you write, and the cool thing about the Dark Tower series was that you hadn't been. Sure, sure, it's nice that you believe in inevitability and fate, and it's interesting that you look at your stories as bits of history, which you are telling us about after the fact, but my goodness does it just make me want to take a baseball bat to your narrator.

Book: Secrets of the Night

Secrets of the Night by Jo Beverley (21) [romance]

The first half was enthralling; the second half read like a long denouement. Either way, there wasn't a single point where I wanted to put it down.

The author pulled off something spectacular here. There was a delicious degree of detail, tantalizingly revealed but never overstated, in the historical research--moments where I wriggled slightly and thought, "That--that is lovely." The author's note at the end is a squeeful "I researched this and this!" that shows how much she was holding back, and I found it enjoyable to see how enthused the author really was for this book. So, she hit some important world-building marks for me, true... but she also hit some really fine character moments.

I did not particularly like that the early sexual attraction of the main character was predicated solely on the looks of her true love--he's unconscious when they meet--but I didn't think it was out of character or out of time, either way. But when Brand woke up, I pushed that thought out of my head. Their connection ended up being based on more reasonable things, for one, and for another, Brand was an extraordinarily sympathetic character. As was Rosa.

Probably the best romance I've read in years. Not, perhaps, hysterically funny like Suzanne Enoch's works, but with a charm all its own.

Book: Wolves of the Calla

Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King (20) [fantasy]

Finished listening to this while painting my office. I suspect there isn't quite enough work left to carry me through the next book, but one never knows.

V. sad about Susannah and Ben Slightman the Younger. Otherwise, am v. pleased by King's increasing ability to enthrall me. Think that silly English teachers in high school who were down on King were just jealous.

I'm not sure I'll have a comprehensive statement on what I think about the Dark Tower books. If I do, it won't be until months after I've read them all.

In other news, .5 walls with no paint, 1 wall with 1st coat, and the rest are done. Write Club tomorrow means I won't finish 'til Thursday at the earliest. Drat.

Reading: The Wild Machines

The Wild Machines by Mary Gentle (19) [fantasy]

Yes, I do persist in calling this book-series-thing a fantasy. I'm not so sure it's not science fiction, but hey. What do I know?

I do know that Gentle has done a fairly amazing bit of characterization with Ash. Or is it that we just love hard women, thanks to Sigourney Weaver? Dunno. Will think on it. Talk later. Reading now.

Reading: Carthage Ascendant

Carthage Ascendant by Mary Gentle (18) [fantasy]

See, I started out reading this in the Americanized split-into-four-books version. That's a big mistake, straight off the bat, unless you have the remaining three books on hand and treat them like there's no gap in between. I didn't have that luxury, however.

So, I went to England and bought the omnibus and then didn't really get rolling on books 2-4, or rather, the last three quarters of Ash: A Secret History until I was stricken with the Common Cold of Doom. (I know it is a cold because I have no fever. Right? That's how that works, isn't it?)

I tried to say what I thought about the "first" book at the time, and really didn't know what to say. And I still don't. I need to finish the whole thing--there's no question of that--before I even come up with a judgment. Right now, I'm mostly just worried that Ash doesn't develop enough by the end--but I'll admit, that's because I read what seem to be some pretty skeezy reviews on Amazon, so for now I'll give Gentle the benefit of the doubt. And really, how do I want Ash to develop, other than to get over her idiotic husband? I rather like her just the way she is, otherwise. It was a rather brilliant bit of characterization when someone asks her if she (as a soldier) has taken to drink or religion to make peace with the killing she does. And she points out the ways in which it does suck to be a soldier at times--there's a rather horrifyingly realistic story about watching numerous innocents die in a ditch from starvation while they are caught between two armies, and Ash does admit that this bothered her, that it was horrid--but otherwise, she doesn't worry about her profession much.

Pragmatism. It's an underrated characteristic, both in fiction and in real life. I have always enjoyed pragmatists--they just seem to get more done, in the end.

Anyway, I'm reporting the omnibus as the four separate books that they shoudln't be simply because I read the first one as a separate volume last year sometime. It makes the accounting simpler in the long run. And, well, because I need to pad my numbers if I'm going to make it to 100 this year. Also... 1100 pages. There should be credit for that... Ash would approve of my pragmatism. If she saw any sense in having a goal to read a hundred books in a year in the first place.

Reading: The Blue Sword

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley (17) [YA, fantasy]

(n+3 reread)

Sigh-inducingly delightful. Is it really just because I met this book at an impressionable age? I think not; many other books met around the same time do not hold up as well.

True, as I age, I am less taken in with Harry's magical accrual of military ability, but every other point is nearly pitch-perfect, and thus, we can overlook this one thing... plus, Harry reacts to it interestingly, and that helps. As Lou says, you can do crazy, crazy stuff in fiction, stuff that's just wrong... as long as you show people dealing with the fall-out. It's when you deny the fall-out that things fall apart.

Reading: Arrow's Fall

Arrow's Fall by Mercedes Lackey (16) [fantasy]

I can't think of the last time I read this book, but I know it was before I actually had an adult, romantic relationship with someone. Because, in the old days, I used to think, yeah, Dirk was pretty romantic, and isn't life-bonding cool?

Casting aside all the other things you might say for or against Mercedes Lackey in general and this series in particular, let's focus just a minute on how I, an old, old lady of 29 years, cannot fathom what in God's name Talia is doing with a jerk like Dirk. He's moody and cranky and jealous and jumps to conclusions and drinks too much, and anything redemptive we know about him is something some other character told us, not something we see for ourselves, except maybe for how he's pretty ok with Griffon the Firestarter at a few key moments.

Kris, early on (back in Arrow's Flight) sort of pissed me off by doubting Talia, but that was, essentially, one stupid miscommunication/mistake, rather than a whole slew of miscommunication idiocies. Kris, let's see... is vain, but not unbecomingly so, and overall, seems particularly sensitive, kind, generous, caring, smart, stable, and keeps his head in a crisis. Plus, he loves that idiot Dirk like a brother. Yeah, Kris looks like a winner, and the sort of person I'd like to build a relationship with.

I... I... Oy! I don't think there's anything really left to say about it. Except... wow, when you write about mystical life-bond wossits, you better be damned careful how the character stacks up outside of said wossits, or at least come down with some Anne McCaffrey style pragmatism (yeah, characters have this whole thrall thing going on when their dragons have sex, but it in no way makes anyone think that the thrall-bonded partner is necessarily good and worthy and stuff. Remember how Lessa dreaded the thought of F'lar's bronze not covering her queen? etc).

Reading: Writing from the Inside Out

Writing from the Inside Out: Transforming Your Psychological Blocks to Release the Writer Within by Dennis Palumbo (15) [non-fiction, writing]

This book's subtitle should actually be: "kicking your ass, but gently."

I particularly like the chapter, "Three Hard Truths," in the middle of the book. I think that it should be at the beginning, and there should be a warning that if you can't at least read this very brief chapter and realize there is some value in it, then you can't ever complain about writing. You can write--you just got your bitch-about-it card clipped.

Beyond that... I read this book because I felt like I was having psychological blocks. *grin* Turns out, yep, I was. (I mean, I assume...) And probably still have. It's a gentle ass-kicker, this book, but it also affirms what I'd already expected--writing is tough, on occasion, and the selling of it is tough, always. It basically says, "Shut up and keep writing." But nicely. Therapeutically.

Reading: Arrow's Flight

Arrow's Flight by Mercedes Lackey (14) (re-read) [fantasy]

When I was a kid, I never fully realized that the main character's loss of magical control is a metaphor for depression. Hey, look. Now I do.

'Twas a fast read, but it doesn't quite hit the comfort buttons of Arrows of the Queen.

Reading: Peace-Weavers and Shield-Maidens

Peace-Weavers and Shield-Maidens: Women in Early English Society by Kathleen Herbert (13) [nonfiction, history]

I read this as part of the preliminary (gestational, one might say) research for the fantasy novel I'm going to write in a few years. (Maybe one year. I'm not sure when this book will get written, but it hangs around the front and back of my brain at random times, and has for several years--it's not actually going anywhere.)

The first part was my favorite--a down-and-dirty linguistic assessment of the words for "woman" in Anglo-Saxon. "Weaver-person" is actually the most likely provenance of the word "woman"--"man" merely meanging "person"--and "weapon-person" was the world for male human.

It's a fine distinction, and Herbert goes on to discuss why weaver-persons could be men (scops--word-weavers--were traditionally male), and there are many fine examples of women who were weapon-persons by action, if not gender. The blurry lines of gender identity, I suppose... only, the Anglo-Saxons didn't seem all that confused. Of course, they had about fifty words for "person" on top of mann, so. (shrug)

Anyway, a very interesting historico-linguistic analysis, just the way I like 'em.

Reading: Adriana

Adriana by Catherine Moorehouse (12) (re-read) [romance]

I only spent the past five years looking for this book! I read it first when I was about 15, didn't really think on it again, but then was suddenly struck by a desperate desire to reread it--only, I couldn't remember the title and had most of the relevant details wrong, so Google yielded nothing.

Of course, it turns out that in my fractured mind, I'd completely amalgamated it with another book, so I remembered a hybrid of the two (to my credit, they have very similar plots... though I couldn't tell you what the second book was--at least my guesses on title on this one were close). Not that rereading this was disappointing, or anything; I climbed into the tub with it at 8:30 after swearing I'd get out at 9, but didn't exit until there were two chapters left and it was bedtime. I finished today on break at work, and am writing this on my afternoon break.

In any case: a fast-paced read that has held up well in the intervening 15 or so years since it was published. It's a classic girl-disguised-as-boy plot; a few moments that stood out clearly in my memory were less exciting during my reread, but other moments that I'd glossed over during my tunnel-visioned youth turned out to be really quite charming. All things considered, a nice rediscovery. I suspect I'll want to reread it in another decade or so.

Reading: Wizard and Glass

Wizard and Glass by Stephen King (11) (re-read) [fantasy]

Sadly, I'm not as intrigued by Roland's childhood as every other freaking person on the freaking path to the freaking Dark Tower. I don't know why. Maybe because I liked it better when I had a very dim picture of his childhood in my head--it made him more a creature of myth, an archetype, and that's how I like my gunslingers: archetypal. A cross between The Man With No Name and the Pale Rider, and heck, even Shane didn't seem to have much of a past--just an ever-present now where the fighting happens.

Well, actually--I just summed it up right there, didn't I? I feel like I could eke a mighty fine essay about the Western vs. the Dark Tower, some day when I've finished the books and think it all through. But... not just yet.

I find the best moments in this book to be the ones outside of the flashback. I think going through the world of The Stand is creepy and fun. I enjoy the trip to Oz. The ending of Blaine is satisfying. I like how Jake and the others grow. And I'm way, way ready for the next book, which I hope has fewer flashbacks. Sorry!

Books: So Worthy...

So Worthy My Love by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss (10) [romance]

Another loaner from Lou, borrowed when we were both waxing poetic about Woodiwiss's influence on our reading childhoods (adolescences, also).

I, uh, go on for an unpardonably long time after the cut.

And, well. It was sort of like mix-and-match Woodiwiss, you know? The reason I had chosen to borrow it from Lou, in fact, is that we were both waxing poeting about different Woodiwiss books, and we somehow thought we were talking about the same book right up until we started naming characters (and the title, too; titles are a dead giveaway).

Problematically, I found myself confused several times while reading it. Why yes, I remember this plot element from that one book, and this one from the other...

I was genuinely interested at the beginning. I read straight through with appreciation and eagerness right up until the mutual declarations of love, and then--the whole thing devolved into a giant schmaltz-fest of pointlessness for the last several hundred pages, while the supposedly secondary and tertiary plot-lines were rounded up and then dragged on and on for even longer.

I am all for breaking the romance format, I really am. I think Outlander, for example, which breaks every romance rule in the book, is the best romance novel out there. (Arguably, it's just a plain good novel, and may not be romance at all, but that's where it gets shelved, so let's go with it for now.) But I think the power of Woodiwiss's writing has always lain with the sparks between the hero and heroine, and notably, the sparks always go out of her stories as soon as said hero and heroine are secure in their mutual love. Then, when there is a massive, well, piling-on of every secondary character (I'd say the villain is a main character, but so far in Woodiwiss's works, not usually... not in this book, for certain), it just becomes tedious. The world spits at them; they cling to each other. Or to the image of their perfect love. Whatever.

I don't mean to be so negative, but really, I was very bored by the middle of the book, and kept putting the book down. I had to skip pages in order to keep going, in fact. I have a feeling that it's just--I didn't bond with this book as an adolescent, and it doesn't have enough going to please me as an adult. I have another unread Woodiwiss on my shelf, and I will be very interested to see if that one works for me or not.

I should add that this is one of Woodiwiss's works that made me laugh out loud--this is not usual. The exchange between Maxim and one of his servants about Elise's haircolor had me in stitches. So, there's something going for it...

Books: Dark Tower 3

The Wastelands by Stephen King (9) (re-read) [fantasy]

Actually, not so much a re-read as a listen-to-something-already-read. Audiobook ahoy, and the first one of the year.

I don't feel at all competent to speak to what makes a good audiobook. I just know that I usually hate listening to things done by the narrator of this (whoever he is), but the book itself overcame that hate--*and* I think he did a better than usual job of it.

Anyway, the thing that struck me on this re-read was how impatient I was as a younger being--I hated The Wastelands, and always skimmed it on re-reads. I no longer know why I hated this book. It's good. It's better than the ones preceding it in the series in many ways. Why didn't I like it?

I can guess--it doesn't so much advance the plot as kind of stand in the plot's way, and it ends on a cliffhanger and then has a smug author's note at the end which essentially says, "Yeah, I know, cliffhanger! Whoa! Who knew! Well, y'all best write me some letters if you want to see more--suckers!" Or maybe that's just how I interpreted it when Wizard and Glass was nowhere to be seen. Except, no... it still sort of seems that way.

Also--and total digression here--I first encountered the Dark Tower series at the same time I encountered Piers Anthony, and I was beginning to think that smug author'sl notes were de rigeur for the kind of books I wanted to write. I used to compose smug author's notes in the shower of a morning, when I had nothing else to think about. I didn't exactly notice the passing of the smug author's note, but you know, I'm glad it left my consciousness.

Onward. To Wizard and Glass.

Books: "Romantica" and Torture

An Exchange of Hostages by Susan R. Matthews (7) [science fiction]

Lou loaned me this book, with promises that the psychological exploration of character was fascinating. And there is no doubt, it was that. It's the story of a surgeon turned torturer, in a world where that is a necessary, usual and even respectable job progression. It was horrifying and revelatory, the both because it took so long for me to become truly horrified; not until Andrej tortured a woman did I get squicked. I'm not at all sure I like what this might say about me. Except that I note, upon reflection, that Matthews' world is densely protected by words. It takes effort to worm one's way past the alien concepts--the passage of time is obscured by non-standard terms ("eights"); names and concepts feel deliberately opaque, and cultural allusions are almost wholly alien. I didn't get annoyed by this, or anything; I appreciate the sentiment that future-time shouldn' t be fully or immediately understandable to us, especially a future where humans are space travelers and spread to many different planets.

But I think the author did all of this for it to serve as a distancing function. We're reading about torture. It's that much easier to read about it if we never over-identify with either the torturer or his prisoners.

Tales of the Beau-Monde by Sahara Kelly (8) [romance]

Er, well, actually, "romantica," which is supposed to be a blend of romance and erotica. I'd have to say, however, it failed to satisfy my desire to read either. Perhaps not the fault of the author; it was a technically apt book, far, far better than I'd been expecting... I wonder more if it was a fault of writing to a supposed market.

I say supposed market, because I am not it. And I really don't know anyone who is. I mean, I know people who'd be interested in romantica as a concept, including myself, but I don't know anyone who'd actually be interested in reading this book, or any others of its style, which is thin on plot, romantic tension and sexiness. There was a glimmer of good romantic tension in a couple of the vignettes I read (the book was a series of linked tales), but... eh. The book was rather short, and the sex was less interesting than that of most romance novels because the characters were barely explored, barely differentiated, even.

I only read this because Julie and I dared each other to buy one of these romantica things to see what it was all about. Hers, I'm afraid, had a much greater chance for unintentional comedy--rumors of a "Cajun batman" lover abound.

Differences

The main difference between me and my husband, besides the obvious (male/female, introvert/extravert, etc.):

When given a list, my husband's obsessive-compulsive tendencies will cause him to go through every item on the list until it's done.

When given a list, I will think of a reason to do ten things that aren't on the list instead.

Both are effective if you know how we work. If you want the bathroom cleaned, you write it on his list, and you don't put it on mine.

I was just thinking of this because I now have so many unread books that I don't know where to start. As soon as I made my first-in, first-out resolution, I read five books that I'd bought recently instead. When I started lining up books in the order I thought I wanted to read them, I went and grabbed books outside that line-up entirely. I'm trying now to read books people have loaned me in an effort to return them before another six months goes by--that's working about as well as can be expected. I considered having my husband make a list for me, because he'd select based on no criteria that would ever occur to me; but that's when I realized I'd end up reading everything not on that list.

All the same, I really should read something. My inability to commit to a new book is very strange, and does not, sadly, result in more writing--just in more time spent on the IntarWeb.

Book: The Wolf Hunt

The Wolf Hunt by Gillian Bradshaw (6) (re-read) [fantasy]

A comfort read. The last time I read this, I was definitely in it for the France. Bretagne felt strongly evoked, and I'd recently been to all the cities discussed in the story. This time, I was unable to capture the magic, and I remain uncertain how clear the Britanny-ness of it was drawn, and how much was in my head.

Spoilers below.

In any case, I was reading for Tiher this time. There is a general consensus that Tiher is the true romantic hero in this story, and sadly, I re-read this, thinking, "Oh! Oh, maybe Tiher will win this time!" Which, of course, he does not.

It's one of those cases, I think, where a secondary character steals the show. The writer has a difficult decision: let the secondary character go on, or tone him down a bit? It's interesting that this one comes out the way it does. Tiher doesn't have a chance to be anything other than perfect, because he's set up to be the foil in almost every instance: foil to his cousin, foil to the Normans.

Tiarnan doesn't stand a chance: he spends the first half of the book being stupidly in love with one of the most unlikeable characters in fiction, and for the second half the book, he's a wolf. We don't even get a chance to see Tiarnan in a way that would make us love him. The post-wolf denoument probably should have been extended, for one thing. Having Tiarnan grievously injure his wife (while he's in wolf form) also loses us sympathy for him. Tiher comes out looking like a winner all the way around, in comparison, for he is a bastion of self-control and honor.

Perhaps these are genre-reader expectations: the romance element requires certain behaviors from Tiarnan that we see more strongly expressed in Tiher; the fantasy element requires more to be made of Tiarnan's time as a wolf, when there would be further exploration of the theme of otherness, contrasting himself with Marie. There are too few scenes of either of those genre elements, and it falls toward a pallid center instead. One of the genre readers in me wants more, in both directions, though either direction would do.

Book: Lioness Rampant

Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce (5) (re-read) [YA, fantasy]

Mostly this was read to round out the previous rereading I was doing on this quartet.

I still love Alanna a lot... though this time, I paid more attention to secondary characters, particularly Liam, Roger and Thom... or maybe, "was struck by," not "paid more attention to." As a girl, I read for girls. Boys were of little or no interest to me, either as viewpoint characters or secondary ones, with a few notable exceptions, like Taran.

Other than that, no new insights, just a good read.

Now, That's Entertainment (to a very small subset of people)

I was digging around my file drawers in order to locate some juvenilia for a mad project one of the Julies and Lou and I conceived.... and found a partial reading list for 1989! 1989, for the record, was the year I turned fourteen, and I started this list while I was in the eighth grade.

This is a vindication for me; it means I didn't imagine how much I read as a teen. (123 books written down from mid-March 1989 to mid-March 1990, and there are indications that I just forgot to write things down for a few months at a time.)

I'm also entertained by a) how many books I've read that I've forgotten; b) guessing how many of these were first reads or rereads, because I reread some of them still; c) my willingness to try anything. Ngaio Marsh! I remember hating that book, and it's part of why I don't read many mysteries; and d) how sometimes chronological reporting just didn't happen.

Here's the list--and I don't know, but assume (sic) written after anything that seems suspicious; I'm not going to correct anything. Notes in bold are editorial from 2005. I was going to just put out the list, but half-way through typing it, I realized I have some very clear memories of reading these--up to and including how my bedroom was arranged that week (I was big on furniture arranging).

1989

"Books Read (finished on or before recorded date.)"

March 20 - Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
read this for Mrs. Gossett's English class. Hated it.
March 21 - The Perilous Gard - Marie Pope
probably the first read!
March 27 - The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton
March 31 - Nerilka's Story - Anne McCaffrey
March 31 - Alas, Babylon - Pat Frank
April 1 - The Bearkeeper's Daughter - Gillian Bradshaw
April 2 - Imperial Purple - Gillian Bradshaw
April 3 - Thornyhold - Mary Stewart
April 5 - The Undertaker's Gone Bananas - Paul Zindel
This must have been for class, because there was no way I'd have picked up mainstream YA on my own.
April 7 - My Enemy the Queen - Victoria Holt
April 9 - Castle Barebane - Joan Aiken
April 11 - The Ivy Tree - Mary Stewart
April 12 - The Five-Minute Marriage - Joan Aiken
April 15 - Titan - John Varley
April 16 - Wizard - John Varley
The Varley severely warped my mind.
April 22 - The Eye in the Stone - Allen L. Wold
April 29 - Message to Hadrian - Geoffrey Trease
April 30 - The Intruder - Helen Fowlder
May 3 - Restoree - Anne McCaffrey
May 5 - The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley
May 5 - When in Rome - Ngaio Marsh
May 6 - The Hero and the Crown - Robin McKinley
May 7 - The Blue Castle - L.M. Montgomery
May 9 - Tarzan of the Apes - Edgar Rice Burroughs
For class, but actually liked it. Picked up the sequel from the library later.
May 11 - The Summer Queen -
May 16 - Winter World - C.J. Mills
May 19 - Child of the Grove - Tanya Huff
No memory of this one, but I keep seeing it around now and believing I've not read it!
May 25 - The Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Very distinct memories of reading this, at night, in my bedroom. The blue bedspread with white flowers, and my bed against the interior wall.
May 20 - A Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakesepeare
May 13 - The Return of Tarzan - Edgar Rice Burroughs
May 29 - Exit Earth - Martin Caidin
I remember checking this out of the library
June 12 - The Weeping Ash - Jone Aiken laugh
And this one, I remember, was on the bottom of the stack of library books by my bed for about two weeks. I read a lot of it in bed.
June 17 - Through a Glass Darkly - Karleen Koel
Read in a day that my mom was working. I don't think I ate lunch
June 14 - Fire Get - Cheryl J. Franklin
June 16 - Miss Philadelphia Smith - Paula Allardyce
June 15 - A Cluster of Separate Sparks - Joan Aiken
June 21 - Night Fall - Joan Aiken
June 22 - Last Movement - Joan Aiken
June 25 - Prentice Alvin - Orson Scott Card
June 28 - Silence of Herondale - Joan Aiken
June 30 - The Embroidered Sunset - Joan Aiken
I really don't remember most of these Aikens, but I sure must have liked them ok.
July ? - Dinosaurs! - Ray Bradbury
July ? - The Cuckoo Tree - Joan Aiken
July ? - Adriana - Catherine Moorehouse
OMG! THIS IS THE BOOK I'VE BEEN TRYING TO REMEMBER FOR THE LAST FIFTEEN YEARS! *ahem* Sorry. (runs to check amazon) Man, did I ever have the title wrong (in my head) and the author wrong (on paper--no e in Moorhouse)
July ? - The Lord of the Far Island - Victoria Holt
July ? - The Eldorado Adventure - Lloyd Alexander
July ? - My Uncle Oswald - Roald Dahl
July ? - Callahan's Crosstime Saloon - Spider Robinson
July ? - New Stories from the Twilight Zone - Rod Serling
I think the question marks indicate that I was on vacation
July 30 - Melancholy Elephants - Spider Robinson
August 1 - 1984 - George Orwell
August 3 - Stone 588 - Gerald A. Browne
August 8 - Once Upon a Summer - Janet Oke
August 8 - The Winds of Autumn - Janet Oke
August 11 - Harrowhouse - Gerald A. Browne
I'm pretty sure the last four were all I could scrounge between my grandparents' and aunt's houses.
August 7 - Stardance - Spider Robinson
borrowed from the Midland library
August 13 - The Abyss - Orson Scott Card
Aunt Carol bought me this, out of the blue!
August 15 - The Crystal Crow - Joan Aiken
August 16 - The Fortune Hunters - Joan Aiken
August 18 - Midnight is a Place - Joan Aiken
August 20 - Blackground - Joan Aiken
August 26 - Troy - Richard Matturro
August 28 - Time Pressure - Spider Robinson
September 1 - The Steerswoman -
September 23 - Alternities - Michael P. Kube-McDowell
I don't know what the gap was from. I think I might have just stopped keeping track for a while, given the weird date order that comes next, or maybe the start of school was very busy
Oct. 11 - Gentlehands - M.E. Kerr
Sept. 26 - Harry and Hortense at Hormone High - Paul Zindel
Oct. 2 - The Crystal Cave - Mary Stewart
Oct. 7 - The Hollow Hills - Mary Stewart
Oct. 10 - The Last Enchantment - Mary Stewart
Oct. 14 - The Isle of Glass - Judith Tarr
I remember reading this when the weather turned colder... a weird sense of chilliness pervades these memories...
Oct. 1 - Cress Delehanty - Jessamyn West
Oct. 17 - The Golden Horn - Judith Tarr
Oct. 20 - The Hounds of God - Judith Tarr
Oct. 10 - Katharine Hepburn: Actress -
Oct. 23 - Green Ice - Gerald A. Browne
Oct. 24 - Orphans of the Sky - Robert A. Heinlein
Nov. - Arrows of the Queen - Mercedes Lackey
The rest all fall under simple month headings. Rather than type "Nov." or "Dec." every time..."
November:
Arrow's Flight - Mercedes Lackey
Arrow's Fall - Mercedes Lackey
The Oathbound - Mercedes Lackey
Magic's Pawn - Mercedes Lackey
The Wicked Day - Mary Stewart
Firebrand - Marion Zimmer Bradley
Hawkmistress - Marion Zimmer Bradley
Spellsword - Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Isis Pedlar - Pedlar!
Romeo and Juliet - Shakespeare
I Am the Cheese - Robert Cormier
December:
The Shrouded Walls - Susan Howatch
Nemesis - Isaac Asimov
Starbridge - A.C. Crispin
Stormqueen Marion Zimmer Bradley
Nov. - Brisingamen - Diana L. Paxson
Dec. - Through the Ice - Piers Anthony and Robert Kornwise
Oct. - Dragonsdawn - Anne McCaffrey
Nov. - Exit Earth - Martin Caidin (reread)
Interesting that I note reread here, when I'm sure at least a dozen other things must be as well
December:
The Dragonbone Chair - Tad Williams
Magic's Promise - Mercedes Lackey
Reap the Wrhilwind - C.J. Cherryh/Mercedes Lackey
The Sheepfarmer's Daughter - Elizabeth Moon
Divided Allegience - Elizabeth Moon
Oh, god, and the next book in the Paksenarrion trilogy either wasn't out or hadn't been purchased by my library... quelle debacle... I was a wreck!

1990

Book: Tooth and Claw

Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton (4) [fantasy]

I'm not sure if there's any precedent for this type of blended genre: dragons meet Victorian England. But whether or not there is a precedent, this is the on that everyone has noticed; there will be many imitations from here on in. Griffins meet Soviet Russia! Unicorns meet the existentialist movement in France! Oh, I can think of a hundred unclever combinations...

Tooth and Claw works. It's a love-letter to the Victorian novel, complete with far-fetched coincidences of Dickensian proportion... The textual nods are sly and wonderful, and lie thickly on the ground... beyond the homage to Trollope, however, the overlay of dragon society is perfectly evoked fantasy. I can imagine a less fantasy-savvy writer thinking they could do something like this and failing miserably; but Jo knows fantasy. Pitch-perfect from beginning to end; my delight far exceeds my jealousy, and that's saying something. I wish I'd thought of this...

Reading: Sin and Sensibility

Sin and Sensibility by Suzanne Enoch (3) [romance]

I really wasn't going to read any romance this early in the year, but Suzanne Enoch is hands-down my new favorite romance writer, and there was her book on the shelf, and I was in Borders and feeling kinda blue...

Normally, I can't read a romance novel if I'm feeling content with life. They bore me. I totally use romance novels for all the wrong reasons--little nuggets of escapism, when my romantic relationships aren't functioning above 50%. Which is why I'm extremely hard on romance novels, as a rule; if the main reason for reading them isn't present, the other factors of the novel don't, in any way, make up for not feeling that base-line excitement that comes from the tension...

But, Enoch is so good, I think it doesn't matter. She makes enough with the funny that I laugh. She keeps the plot-lines interesting. The heroine is never that annoying, insipid heroine I can't identify with, and the hero is always just sardonic enough that he catches my interest--even when my own sardonic husband is keeping my sardonic-indicators maxed out at home.

Alas, but Enoch did go with the "spurned suitor puts the heroine/hero in actual physical danger" angle, which I am officially tired of in Regency romances--but she managed to do it in a mostly non-annoying way. For a minute, I didn't think she was going to, and it would have been officially awesome if she hadn't--but at least the heroine didn't get kidnapped by said spurned suitor. Props for that.

Anyway. I'm altogether pleased with Enoch. Now, for something densely packed and totally academic, to make up for having broken my pledge so early.

Book: Household Gods

Household Gods by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove (2)

I picked this book up on a whim, and just as capriciously pulled it off the wrong end of my to-read pile (FIFO, dammit! FIFO!).

This is the book about a present-day woman who goes back in time to live life in the Roman era--particularly, in what is now Austria, under Marcus Aurelius.

I have mixed feelings about it. I do not like Nicole very much. The first two chapters (set in the present) were jaw-clenchingly painful, as Nicole made idiotic decision after idiotic decision and managed to be nasty, judgmental and bitchy simultaneously with being weak, door-mattish and socially inept. Possibly this was the point. Very possibly, we were supposed to feel that Nicole was made better by her experiences in the past--because she is more bearable in the end--but along the way she is in turn neglectful of her children and then downright mawkish over them, full of high-flung ideals that are a little too high-flung and neglectful of others' viewpoints, right up until she overturns common sense... Ugh, I don't even know really where to begin.

Sure, maybe she's supposed to be complex and human because of her contradictions, but mostly, she's just irritating. In almost every scene, I found myself rooting for every other character, with the possible exception of Umma's mother.

And in the end....

**SPOILERS**

And in the end, she's raped for her troubles.

WTF, authors? Is it that she was such a bitchy woman you couldn't think of any way to make her understand reality? Because that is weak. Weak. Or, were you punishing her, and now she's contrite? That's even weaker.

Possibly, it had to be done for narrative logic: she might never have really wanted to leave the past without facing that brutality head-on. But I don't buy that either.

Anyway.

In response to the rape, Nicole does the first and only thing in the entire book that made me cheer for her: she heads off to lodge a plea for restitution against the Imperial Government. When it fails, it's because she realizes that the laws of the Roman Empire are utterly different than the laws she knew, and merely accepts it.

And yet, in spite of my occasionally seething anger at the main (and viewpoint) character, I enjoyed the book a lot. I liked the details of Roman life. I liked the secondary characters, Titus and Gaius and Julia and the kids. I liked Dawn and Cyndi and Gary, too, but we didn't spend half as much time with them as the Romans. I liked Brigo, even.

And, most importantly, I read this quickly and with voracious passion. And I very much liked that.

Book: Arrows of the Queen

Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey (1) (re-read) [fantasy]

I read this poor thing to death in my early teens. Later (and by that I mean "in later books in her series" as well as just later in general), I grew to find Lackey's writing unsatisfying. (I think it was in the middle of Winds-of-something that I got fed up with nasty sorcerers calling Selenay a bitch to prove their evil nastiness.) This led to getting rid of all Lackey-books, period, which, in retrospect, was a mistake.

This book has flaws, but they're all minor and in-spite-of. This book rolls along wonderfully--almost perfectly paced (ok, a leetle draggy at the beginning--it takes far too long for Talia to get tot the Collegium) and enough stuff happens that, even if it didn't excite me this time, I remember being crazy-excited about it in my teens. (Incidentally, enough stuff still excited me, and, amazingly, I still cried at the places I remember crying before.)

I'm glad I picked up a new copy of this. It's solid first book in many ways, and I had definitely missed it. I'll probably reacquire the next two books in this trilogy (which, interestingly, may be the only trilogy where I wonder what the hell the end-book is doing there, and not the middle-book), and I might reacquire the Vanyel series, but right there is where it ends. As much as I want to know what happens to Elspeth in the future, there's no way I can slog through the Winds-of books again, and I don't even want to consider the books after that (unless I've fantasized those completely. Do they even exist?)

Reading Survey 2004

anthologies: 1
romance: 6
sci-fi: 7
fantasy: 8
historical: 4
YA: 11
chapter books: 3
popular/mainstream: 1
pop culture: 2
non-fiction (writing): 1
non-fiction (history): 3

total: 48

Book: Old Man's War

Old Man's War by John Scalzi (48)

My criteria for a good book are simple. To quote the author, simple is not easy. The fact that I giggled and misted up in a span of two pages? That fits my criteria, and I know it wasn't easy.

I loved the book. It did all the things I hoped it would do--carried me along so well that I forgot the outside world and brought me through the holidays, as well as breaking my "finish half a book and stop" slump.

Well worth walking up both hills to get this sucker. (grin) Perhaps a more detailed analysis later, when I'm not all tuckered out from a hard few days of family visitation and driving and playing a lot of The Sims 2.

Book: The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

The Woman Who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce (47) (re-read)

This book just didn't compare to the rest of the Lioness Quartet in my teen-aged mind, and upon re-reading it now, it really feels like a middle book in a lot of places. The next book has the actual adventures in it, the ones that Alanna wants to go on at the end of In the Hand of the Goddess. This book always seemed to be a lot of hanging around in tents.

That said, I think that some of the more important character development happens in this book, and I do find those scenes to be the most interesting parts. The painful fights with Jonathan--so necessary to Alanna's growth--are even more painful now that I've grown up. I like the shift towards George best of all--he was vague enough not to be scary when I was growing up, and now I'm pretty amazed at the subtlety with which Pierce portrays this crime boss, doing it in a way that doesn't horrify younger readers--but rather does older readers. Collection of ears, indeed.

How to Buy a Book

I read Whatever on a fairly regular basis. I don't remember how I found it, I certainly never got into any big name blogs other than Wil Wheaton's... I was definitely reading it occasionally before WorldCon, and I guess afterwards, I made it a regular thing. Ok, mystery solved.

Anyway, I was pretty psyched about his novel, Old Man's War. 'Cause, well. It's a great premise. And I love Starship Troopers. And people keep comparing it to that.

So, when I got a Borders giftcard by accident (it was indeed by accident: a big case of right place, right time), I decided that the perfect reward for being lucky enough to get an accidental giftcard was a copy of Old Man's War. It would also, I decided, be a good reward for studying for my exam, and a good motivator to actually read some more this year. After my exam on Friday, I headed out to Borders and braved the crowd--where I ran into Lou prowling the DVDs--and found nary a copy of the book.

Horrors! The author had reported several sightings of his book; how could Borders, in the heart of Bordersland (even though not Store 1), not be carrying this book? Were they just sold out--? Where was my instant gratification?

Thwarted! I wanted a copy of The Human Evolution Coloring Book last week, and it still hasn't arrived from Amazon.com... so I was picturing waiting for a full week (plus Christmas) to get the book.

Not just any book, either. The cool, surgical scrub green of the cover now represented a Holy Grail of Reading Refreshment to me. This would be the magical book that reinvigorated my passion for reading! That overwrote all desire to watch telly and read fic and surf the internet! But it was not to be found! If Borders doesn't have it... OH, GODS OF READING, WHY HAST THOUGH FORSAKEN ME??

Ahem.

It was a disappointing weekend, to say the least: no coloring book, no Scalzi.

On Monday, I checked the Borders website, and it swore on its mama's grave that Store One had a copy.

Well. Ok. It's Monday. It's the second shortest day of the year. It's snowing. And the wind-chill is zero degrees, Farenheit. (You gotta give Michael Moore props--I didn't have to look up the spelling on Farenheit.) Edit: OK, apparently not. Fahrenheit. Fahrenheit, Fahrenheit, Fahrenheit.

And I'm going to Borders to get a copy of Old Man's War.

I decided I might die of cold-induced sinus headache before I got to Borders across the Diag, so I drove over. "They validate, right?" I asked Brandon, who agreed. Then I parallel parked inside a parking structure (which I think tells you just what sort of demons are in charge of Ann Arbor's parking regime).

This, let me tell you, is a lot of freakin' work for one book.

Brandon was all freaking out about the Borders floorplan reorganization, but since I could actually see the section I wanted from the front doors, I was ok. But I usually am. I like change. I, in fact, will instigate change if I don't get enough of it.

No book on the shelf.

This is not a change. I'm already not a fan.

Time to assay the info desk. A very tired-looking employee is willing to believe the book is not on the shelf, but not before he checks the shelf himself, even though I told him it wasn't there. I'd just like to point out that *I* do this to patrons, so it is obviously the correct behavior in some settings--but in a bookstore where books are shelved alphabetically by author's last name? A little insulting. What I'd like is a badge that certifies my familiarity with the alphabet and the basic rules of classification that would give me speed-pass options at bookstore information desks. Can anyone arrange that?

Anyway, he checked the shelf. The endcaps. He double-checked his computer. He checked some restocking carts randomly scattered about. He triple-checked his computer.

"Is it a new book?"

"Very new," I said. "But your website says you have it."

"I guess... I could check in the back." He wandered off. Only what I wanted you to do in the first place, buddy.

In the meantime, I picked up the paperback of Tooth and Claw, and a book about a modern woman who gets thrown back into Roman times, written by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove. On the former--been waiting for that. On the latter--I picked up the book to read the back blurb because of Judith Tarr's name. But I decided to buy it because it was a modern woman thrown back into Roman times. I realized: I have a sub-genre that I will read anything from. It was sort of pleasant to realize I have a weak spot like that. Where nothing will ever seem too cheesy or lame to dive into. Not that this one looks cheesy or lame.

Once I'd congratulated myself on having yet another fine, low-class quality (this time of being a non-discriminating reader in at least one sub-genre), the anemic store-guy came back, book in hand.

"Excellent! Thank you!" I burbled. I didn't even get a smile or a "welcome."

That was fine. I scurried off to make my purchases, went home, did my chores, chatted with one of the Julies on-line about my own novel, went to bed to read... and fell asleep in the middle of chapter two.

Which says nothing about the book--I'm enjoying it so far, and am as pleased as punch that I didn't have to kill anyone to get a copy.

Even though I forgot to both use my Borders giftcard and failed to have my parking validated.

Books: The Way Back; The Peoples of the British Isles

The Peoples of the British Isles: From Prehistoric Times to 1688, A New History by Stanford E. Lehmberg (45)

A clean, concise and clear overview of my favorite times in my favorite place. My quibbles are minor...

After the execution of Charles I in 1649, England had no king until 1660. It was almost as if eleven years without Parliament had to be balanced by a similar span of time without a monarch before the traditional partnership between king and Parliament could be restored.

As analysis goes, it's not. As speculation, it's romantic. But in fact, 11 years of "personal rule" (not tyranny, as the book is quick to caution) by the king, followed by 11 years of rule of Parliament, is, in fact a coincidence. Little bits like that, phrased like that, seriously detract from my pleasure in reading history. "Coincidentally, the eleven years without Parliament..." would be a fine starting poing. "Almost as if" should never show up in a history book. It either was or it wasn't, or the author should acknowledge his/her hedging. Speculation should be handled as speculation--which this book manages to do properly, now and again. A sentence from the previous chapter:

According to a persistent legend, Cromwell was heard to mutter: "cruel necessity" [at the execution of Charles I].

The Way Back by Cory Martin (46)
The OC media tie-in

Verdict? There is much better fanfic out there. The only thing--and when I say "only," I mean that's it--the only thing going for this book was the brief flashes of setting detail that showed that the author is not actually a zombie. In fact, those flashes were so brilliant, I had to wonder what the hell happened in the rest of the book. (I'm guessing someone had a formula to follow.) Dialogue? Completely un-showlike. Emotion? Leaden. Themes/tropes/motifs? Dropped in like planet-busting asteroids. Continuity errors? You betcha. Grammatical conundrums? Gordian. And yet. I felt like there was an author in there who knew what s/he was doing, but wasn't allowed to bust out of framework to make anything actually work for the poor reader.

Actually, I'm rather glad it didn't work for me. It'd be a hard road in life, to be carting around OC media tie-ins.

Book: Fire from Heaven

Fire from Heaven: Life in an English Town in the Seventeenth Century by David Underdown (44)

Read for class (and for a paper). It was enjoyable reading for all that it's scholarly and densely packed. Underdown definitely approaches the material like a scholar, in that issues are thematically, not narratively, addressed, and there's no way to really follow one person's lifetime easily throughout the book.

I particularly liked learning about the link between Dorchester, England and Dorchester, Mass. We get a lot of misinformation about the Puritans and the Pilgrims and alla that in the American school system, and it was kind of nice seeing where some of that started back in England, and how different a Puritan town in England seems than one in New England. (Stories of Puritan colonies in New England always seem vaguely sinister to me, and perhaps they should: if you didn't get along with the Puritans, where were you going to go? The wilderness? Whereas, in England, options abounded.)

This was a book that felt doubly useful, because it relates to research I'm doing in the extreme pre-planning phase of my alternate America story. Definitely felt like it was time well spent for that as well.

Book: In the Hand of the Goddess

In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce (43) n + 1 reread

I mentioned somewhere, somewhen, that this was the first book that did it for me. This is the first book I stayed up very late to finish, this is the first book of fantasy that made me realize I wanted to live, breathe and eat fantasy (not just read it or write it, though it may have been the first book for that, as well). I'm pretty sure that I'd read many things I loved already (I'm pretty sure Anne of Green Gables was under my belt; I remember getting that series for Christmas well before 6th grade, which is when I read Pierce) and some fantasy books as well (I know I'd read the Prydain Chronicles already).

I reread it this time and my critical eye was quick to notice that Alanna has all the luck. She's strong, and if not pretty, she's got red hair and violet eyes and all the most handsome and powerful men in the kingdom panting after her; she's beyond talented with anything she turns her hand to. I read this book at age 11 with baited breath (I actually recall trembling with excitement when I turned the pages), and now, of course, I am more reserved.

I do not find the things I note critically now to be flaws, however; I know that they work. They worked exceptionally well on an 11-year-old in 1986, and they work pretty well even now, 18 years later. Alanna has plenty to overcome, and her perfection and luck don't get annoying because she's also perfectly likeable.

I chose to reread this book critically not in an attempt to pick at it, but in an attempt to try to discern what was so all-consumingly wonderful about it so long ago, and to try and figure out if I have (or could) capture any of that in my work. I'm not so sure... but doubt about my work shouldn't be included in the reading of this book, even if that's the reason why I chose to read it. (Or should it? Now we are at a historical cross-roads. In 500 years, when all blogs from the 21st century written by YA fantasy novelists have been lost, except for mine, it will be, I'm sure, an excruciatingly painful moment for the Biographers. Haw, haw. I think I'll leave this whole line of thought alone from here on in.)

Book: Alanna: The First Adventure

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce (42) (re-read #2) [YA fantasy]

Yep, I've only read this book twice now. I've read the successive ones in the trilogy numerous times, I think because I first read In the Hand of the Goddess, and so much goes on in that book that it was painful to me to go backward. However, time has passed, and I am older and wiser and interested in books for more than mere entertainment value.

What I wanted to do--what I needed to do--for The Bitter Road was to really diagnose a first book of the sort I'm trying to write (well, actually, it's written, but, you know.) Crown Duel and The Blue Sword are aimed a little older than I'm trying to go, and others are aimed a little younger. Alanna is just right.

I paid good attention for the first third of the book. By the second third, I was all drawn into the story and forgetting my goals from moment to moment. So. I hope I learned enough with the first third, because the rest was read for sheer entertainment purposes.

Alanna was the heroine of my youth. I first read about her when I was eleven, and she totally hooked me on strong female heroines and fantasy novels. I had missed her, I think... It's been a few years since I'd read anything from this series (nope, Alanna doesn't show up in the booklog prior to 2001, which is how far back my on-line archive goes).

Ok, enough generic extolling. I'm not prepared to say anything specific, so I'll hug myself and go back to sleep--at home, down with a cold today.

Book: The Whim of the Dragon

The Whim of the Dragon by Pamela Dean (41)

Where was this trilogy when I was a kid? And I mean that very literally. Where was it? Other people read these books when they were growing up. Somehow, I didn't. It was not for lack of prowling the YA shelves, I assure you. I found Tamora Pierce and Robin McKinley and all the other usual suspects...

Anyway, I really like this trilogy, not only for the tropes it turns on their ears, but just for the sheer love of words it displays. Though, the magic comes in during the trope-busting: I won't give the ending away, but it was quite satisfying and very unexpected.

Book: King John

King John by W.L. Warren (40)

A biography of the worst king of England? I'm so there! Plus, it was required for my class...

First, valuable, valuable information about the time period. For someone who was trying to write a story set in the time period at one point (and, I suppose, technically I still am), the book has extremely good stuff--not just political and military happenings, but good background info on social structures. It really cleared up a period of history that was actually quite murky in my head.

Beyond that, it humanized King John for me, pointing out his strengths as well as his flaws. Warren is good at suggesting the places where John should have turned left instead of right (ie, pointing out simple human errors), as well as explaining John's deep weaknesses of character. This one's definitely a keeper.

Book: Silver

Silver by Penny Jordan (39) (n + 3 re-read)

It wasn't quite as satisfying this time. I may have to shelve this one for about five years before I pick it up again. Oh, all the words were there, right where I left them, but the plot was too familiar after this, which must be more than the tenth time I've read this book.

So, no lengthy discussion. The inspiration just isn't there. It's still an extremely well-plotted book, I think. And well-structured, too. If nothing else, this read-through let me realize that, and it's a good lesson for me.

Book: My Lady Notorious

My Lady Notorious by Jo Beverley (38)

I believe I read the last book in this series some time ago, and found it very disappointing, I think because I had missed all the stuff that came before. Now I wish I had it, still. (Actually, I think I didn't read the book because it was so clearly the end of a series--stopped around page 90.)

In any case, this one was pretty darn good. I liked the heroine-disguised-as-a-man thing, which ended up with the usual "could that be homoerotic tension with the hero?" thing neatly resolved by the fact that the hero figures it out and is teasing the hell out of the heroine. Nice.

But, the author againdid the thing that made me so unhappy in Lord of My Heart--there was a point where the heroine acted rather out of character. (With very vague notions of finding evidence to blackmail a woman who aided in her ruin, the heroine leaves the sanctuary of a locked-room and enters a Satyricon-esque house orgy. Once out and about, she develops some good reasons for staying there, but... An otherwise selfless woman who only does disastrous things when pushed to the point of utter necessity and for the sake of family, does something truly reckless? It could be argued that she wants to make sure that her love interest doesn't get seduced out from under her nose, and that's... potentially a more pleasing subtext. But still.)

The saving grace here was that this action was not without consequences.

I'm thinking more deeply about romance novel motivations lately, and I think the time has come for a fallen woman to be a fallen woman, and to own her sexuality and her virtue, as per Madeleine E. Robins' Point of Honour, but more firmly in romance territory. I've read a few books that sort of explore this--Mary Balogh's More than a Mistress springs to mind--but I'm thinking of pushing beyond that.

I wonder if it would sell.

Anyway. Good stuff. Cyn and Charles--er, Chastity--are likeable. (I did squee whenever Cynric called her Charles. It was like shared territory. I'm sure they'll do fine in Canada together.)

Book: Strange Bedpersons

Strange Bedpersons by Jennifer Crusie (37)

My first Crusie. I'd seen her books mentioned around the internet as fun and funny, and that's what this was. It read fast--about two hours, maybe two and a half. I don't think it quite did the task of distracting me from everything else on earth (yep, there's still melancholy in the air...), but on the other hand, I didn't stop reading once in two and a half hours.

Book: The Drawing of the Three

The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King (36) (re-read)

I think, in some ways, I like this book best of the Dark Tower ones I've read so far (and I'm up through Wizard and Glass). I'm sure that's residual from when I read the series the first time, and felt like I could identify with Eddie Dean. (I think about that now and wonder what I was thinking.)

The images are compelling, the lone door on the beach especially. The Tarot-esque imagery of The Three. The fact that Jake is saved. The fact that Roland is loved and learns to love. King was just getting his groove really on with this story, and yet had not fallen off course at all. Everything that happens in this story happens for good reason. (I never felt that way with The Wastelands, but that's coming up soon, so I'll find out if I still feel that way.)

Hm. I feel like there's more to say. Something about Randall Flagg and the concept of making the "stand" and remembering the face of your father. Etc. Good stuff.

Book: Who Will Take This Man?

Who Will Take This Man? by Jacquie D'Alessandro (35)

A readable romance, with a nice combination of lightness and depth. The humor was spry, though some of the dialogue fell like chunks of paving stones (and early characterization of Meredith as a shrew rang untrue). The mystery angle was deftly handled; I was actually surprised, and yet bought it, in the end. I didn't realize until about an hour after I finished it that there was a dangling plot-thread--which, presumably, will be chased in another book. (Andrew and Catherine are so very clearly meant for each other.) Likewise, the other sub-plot romance, between the butler and the fallen woman, was extremely well-done.

My only quibble is that it delved into "mouth too wide for beauty" territory--glancingly at the beginning, but about halfway through the book (page 190, to be exact), it jumped in with both feet. The only saving grace was that it was the hero explaining it to the heroine (obliquely), but not even that overcame it...

He slowly traced his fingertips over her face... "This woman who has captured my interest... she is not a classic beauty. Her features are too stark and angular."

Ok. So far, so good. Stark, angular faces are definitely an acquired taste. But then:

"Her mouth is too wide and mobile, her lips too rosy and plump. Yet it is the sort of mouth that inspires sensual fantasies..."

Ok, yes, well. I'm well aware that the Regency era had a different standard of beauty than now, but let's face facts: she's beautiful, with her red, pouty lips. Ok? Beautiful. Also, the difference in the beauty standard is not explained in the text, ever, and so this statement that she's too blah for beauty (and yet we know she's beautiful) is unearned. He goes on:

"Her nose is a shade too wide, and her jaw far too stubborn... her smile is enchanting and illuminates her entire face. She has a a tiny dimple, just there" --he skimmed the pad of his thumb over the corner of her mouth--"that winks when she grins. Her skin is like velvet cream stained with peach that deepens and pales in the most fascinating way depending on her mood. And her eyes... her eyes are extraordinary. The same vivid aqua of the Aegean, just as deep, just as fathomless...."

Ok--stop! She's gorgeous, and we all know it!

I wish I could find Mrissa's entry on the "mouth too wide for beauty" thing. If I find it anytime soon, I'll post a link.

Book: The Gunslinger

The Gunslinger by Stephen King (34)

This is the revised version. I could definitely tell where stuff had been changed, at times, but it didn't detract, no, not in the least. I thought, if anything, it strengthened things. Of course, it's been over a decade since I first read The Gunslinger, and probably five or six years since I read it last--but I read Wizard and Glass when it came out, without re-reading any of the stuff that went before it. (What's my point? My point is, I'm familiar with the world, but not over-familiar with the original book, so the revisions worked well.)

This book, to me, is hands-down Stephen King's best book. It's spare, mythic and doesn't get bogged down in the usual King book-elements. What are those usual King book-elements? That's a bit hard to pinpoint in one brief journal entry, but there is usually injected some piece of faux-realistic harshness that I just find... tiresome after a while. It's like, in an effort to make multi-dimensional characters, King falls down and makes them over-human or something. I like Roland best when he's being archetypical, relentless, super-human. Not frail and eaten by lobsters (yeah, I already started The Drawing of the Three).

King's other bad habit is also largely absent in this book: his driving need to tell you the end of the story at the beginning and at every stop along the way, which might be considered foreshadowing but mostly seems hamfisted. "What John didn't know was that death awaited him around the next corner..." Fortunately, I think King didn't know the end when he started this, and maybe not even when he revised it, and most of the foreshadowing in this book is either disguised as prophecy or actually done right.

With these two bad habits supressed, there's nothing to really get in the way of King's imagination or my enjoyment thereof. Roland is not a good man (well, maybe by his world's definitions, though his world doesn't place any premium on "good," I think), but his quest is compelling, nonetheless. Roland may actually be the pinnacle of King's achievements in characterization--in this book. Sadly, it doesn't carry through quite as clearly as it could in each of the subsequent books. I was surprised by how much more I liked Jake this time, and couldn't tell if it's because his character was expanded any, or if I just know him from future books and like him there. Or if my burgeoning maternal instincts have changed how I view boys--no longer peers, but as children who should be cared for.

Book: The Wide Window

The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket (33)

Again, read with Kayla, but this time I challenged her to read it on her own. When she was done, I read it, and we discussed it. This worked quite well, and I discovered that she's a much more careful reader than I gave her credit for, which was a delightful surprise. In turn, she discovered that no, she's not at the height of her reading powers yet (which you'd suspect she knew already, but apparently, no) when I finished the book in well under two hours, and it had taken her the better part of her free time for several weeks. We talked about how the only way to become a faster reader is to practice, and then discussed the story. A LOT. Her capacity to yak over literature may lead to great things...

Overall, I liked this installment quite well, and was not in the least surprised when the adults proved incompetent again. Maybe it just goes faster when you aren't reading it aloud a chapter at a time. Either way, I had many laugh-out-loud moments, and had the realization that it's a fairly good thing Mr. Poe doesn't become rational and helpful, lest he die horribly.

Book: Paladin of Souls

Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold (32)

I do like this book, immensely, and look forward to reading it again. But somehow, it didn't hit me right between the eyes, the way I was expecting it to. I don't know if I was reading too fast or with half a brain (I do suspect the latter). I found myself reading without absorption for 2-3 pages at a time, and having to go back and pick up where I'd left off paying attention.

Half a brain? Or just that the writing wasn't direct, one-two-punch writing on the sentence level? Sometimes, I had to wade into paragraphs knee-deep before I could figure out what the subject of the paragraph (or even the first sentence) was. If it wasn't half a brain (which I still strongly suspect), I would start worrying that Bujold has reached the point where she's too well-loved as a writer by the people editing her stuff that they aren't being stringent about clarity.

That said, her style is still utterly engaging. Ista is a great character, Cordelia-esque in the extreme, and only the second female POV character I've experienced from Bujold. The secondary characters (Foix, dy Cabon, Liss) were supremely engaging, though I could wish for a little more angst over the romance angle. Arhys really drew my eye for so long, and Ista's too, and Illvin never seems really worried about it. I can imagine that Illvin loved his brother too much to become jealous, or any number of other likely scenarios--I can imagine that Ista was too world-weary and practical to get fussed about Arhys--but I didn't want to imagine it. I wanted some analysis. A nice discussion with a secondary character, perhaps.

The dealings with the gods, though--I found them finely drawn, almost poignant. Ista's regrets and her feelings of being trapped are almost palpable. I would love to see more books from her POV, though it seems quite unlikely, given how we lost Cazaril after The Curse of Chalion. I'm curious which secondary character will win the spotlight in the next book.

Book: The Reptile Room

The Reptile Room by Lemony Snickett (31)

Read with Kayla.

As usual, I love the snideness. It got a little thick in the last four pages of the book, which went on and on in a faux-elegiac mode.

My only objection to this series is that it's a bit shallow, on the whole. Humor doesn't have to be shallow, nor does peril have to be silly. Granted, this is only book 2, but if Mr. Poe doesn't grow as a character and wise up soon, I'm going to be disappointed.

I have a challenge on with Kayla that she can read the next 2 books before school starts (then we will go out for ice-cream to discuss the books, and a celebratory round of putt-putt afterwards). It all means I have to read the next 2 books before school starts, as well, so I can discuss them intelligently with her.

The challenge is mostly to get her reading. I know she likes this series; she just doesn't ever really think to sit down and read, though, and I want to give her at least a few months where she's motivated to do that. Then, we'll see if it takes. I don't actually remember how it went with my grandparents, but I know we read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books in one summer, and that was enough to hook me as a reader. I can imagine my grandmother saying, "Oh, I bet you won't finish them by the end of summer." I tried to do the same here, but more positively.

Rarities

Writing Fiction: If This is the Best...

I can't say that I'm one of those people who thinks that things were better in the past. If things (songs, stories, poems, books) of the past are better, it's only because we don't have to slog through acres of bad stuff anymore to find the good stuff; the bad stuff fell away like so much dross. And, even if we lived through it, it still fell away like dross from our memories: I remember the books I read that I loved, I remember a few of the truly dreadful ones, but the hundreds and hundreds of not-so-good to mediocre books I read as a kid, I barely recall at all. I know that I read them, because I remember reading, I remember staring at stacks of books on my desk... but I don't remember them.

All too often, really good short work is a rarity.

Nevertheless, I'm glad someone said it. That so many things now, even the "best" things, kind of... suck. I consider it a triumph of mere circumstance if I pick up a magazine and find just one wholly compelling story therein.

I don't think I'm venerable enough, and certainly not knowledgable enough, to go into a long tirade, so I'll just re-read this on occasion and feel grim satisfaction that it's been noted.

Books: The Hidden Land

The Hidden Land by Pamela Dean (30)

Wow. Just... wow. I know why, logistically, this is the middle book in a trilogy and not the end of the first book in a duet, but it should be the latter, not the former.

It started fast and didn't let go. It ended beautifully. Tearfully, too. I loved Laura before, but I love Ted now, too. Such great characters. Such great moments. Patrick snarking about how this is what happens when you read Shakespeare at a young age. Ted struggling to be all manful and figure out what's going on.

I adore this book. This is just the type of story I love: it starts and it's confusing but intriguing and it slowly draws you in, until it absolutely lays you out near the end with a total roundhouse punch. Shades of the Dalemark Quartet in that regard.

The other worthwhile thing I drew from it was the fantastic trope for writing. It's like a novelist's nightmare--no nothing so blatant as "being trapped inside your own creation"--but the whole novelist (especially a spec-fic novelist) doing the world-building thing and then finding that the whole thing falls apart half-way through the process. Been there, done that...

Books: Fray, Seduced by Moonlight

Fray by Joss Whedon, et al. (28)

Not quite a book. Not a graphic novel, either, by the definitions my husband gave me. Nonetheless, really, really good. So good I forgot to be incapable of reading comics. No, really! Maybe because there wasn't a *lot* of text, and it gave me a chance to read the pictures? I don't know.

It was really lovely, and dammit, why isn't this a TV show?

I want Mel's hair.

Seduced by Moonlight by Laurell K. Hamilton (29)

Book 3 in the Merry Gentry/faerie series. I don't know. I think I heard complaints that this one was all sex, but frankly, I thought it was all politics (whcih just happened to be predicated on sex). I thought that the new power developments were interesting, and that while Merry's getting a little too all-powerful, it hasn't gotten boring yet.

This series hasn't yet become such a tangled mess that I can't enjoy it (looks nervously at the last two Anita Blake books she can't bring herself to finish). While I think Anita's story is aided by getting back to the gritty business of her actual business , I think that Merry's business is the courts, and the story works better set there. I think there's hope for that for the next couple of books, considering that this book covers just one day, and they're due at the Seelie Court in two days.

Uh-huh.

Book: The Secret Country

The Secret Country by Pamela Dean (27)

I might have totally loved this book when I was younger. I liked it a lot this time, though I did have some trouble sinking into some of the concepts, and an even harder time understanding some of the conclusions the kids jumped to in their many, many detailed and rapid-fire conversations about what was going on. I'm not sure if it was me being slow or if the transitions were awkward, or...

Things I really appreciated: Laura as a POV character; the whole bit with the unicorns; the way the book dodged a number of common tropes in this kind of story; the way the kids are both kids and competent, without sacrificing either kiddishness or competence.

I'm glad I brought book 2 on this trip. I didn't expect this one to end as it did.

Literary Games

M'ris talks about 6th grade and the literary games she used to play.

She had much more accommodating friends than I did. Or maybe she was just better at making friends, which would be true. With my mom working nights a lot, I never really even considered sleepovers and such-like an option until she stopped.

My friends--they were good ones. We played a few literary games, mostly the one where I wrote the satiric tragi-comedy of our lives called "Sons of Chickens" during math class. But I don't think I could have ever gotten them to play a Secret Country-style game with me like M'ris did with her friends, which is how I imagine it being. For myself, it never occurred to me to re-enact books. Perhaps because I had no partners. Perhaps because I wanted things to be more real than that.

I made maps, mostly. I made a map of the backyard and where the portals to other worlds were (there were a few). I made maps of the woods that are now housing developments and named things in Anne of Green Gables style: Dryad's Bubble, Marshy Meadow, the Young Firs. Always so busy exploring and world-building that I never really got around to acting things out. Only with the distance of time can I see the story was there all along. The girl, the dog, the woods. Always the book in my pocket--and sometimes I didn't even know what I was fleeing, to go lie under the Young Firs and imagine that cold, damp pine needles in fact make a comfortable bed.

I feel like there is more to say; I'm merely uncertain of how to say it...

Book: The Wings of a Falcon

The Wings of the Falcon by Cynthia Voigt (26) (re-read n+1)

I think I mentioned at some point (somewhere) that I thought Oriel is a psychopath of sorts (or maybe a sociopath?). And re-reading this didn't fully destroy that illusion, except that he does have a conscience, it's just external and comes in the form of Griff.

But that's a really simplistic view of a very complex process. You can see Oriel becoming more and more Griff-like throughout the book. The beautiful thing is that Griff doesn't become more Oriel-like. I could make a big essay about it, in fact, using examples from the text, but I'm pretty sure I'm right, and it's nearly 1AM, and you're going to have to take my word for it.

What leapt out at me this time was the Christ-metaphor. Griff is Peter, the disciple who carries on with the message afterwards. The beauty of this metaphor is that Griff gives Oriel his Christ-like qualities (the ability maybe, but the desire, certainly, to put an end to bloodshed and killing) to begin with. And if you take it to the next level, it says (to me) that Christ learned compassion from humanity, and then returned it a thousand-fold. Oriel learned compassion and mercy from Griff, and returned it mulitiplied, likewise.

It's beautiful, read that way. That way only works at the metaphorical level, however; neither Oriel nor Griff is not superhuman or divine. Griff is Burl from Jackaroo: another "man who sees." Voigt used the notion of the "man who sees" to good effect in Jackaroo: that's how Gwyn decides to marry, because Gwyn is also a woman who sees, though her journey to that place is much rockier. On Fortune's Wheel suffers (if it suffers) because it takes until the last few chapters for either of the main characters to develop the trait displayed by Burl and Griff. (And, just to bring the final book of the series in, I believe the eponymous Elske is a woman who sees from the beginning, like Burl and Griff.)

As usual, the first half of the book is nearly too painful to read. The hopelessness and unsettledness of Griff and Oriel's lives is difficult. There is child abuse, torture, rape (of minor characters, but rape nonetheless) and enslavement to contend with. I never feel like I can breathe until they get over the mountains and meet Beryl. Even then, I know what's coming... though my first time through the book, I was taken entirely by surprise.

The point-of-view shift is abrupt, necessary and masterfully done, and if I didn't trust Voigt from the first two books in the series (and the rest of her opus), I'd have serious problems with it. I hear stories about people picking this book up first out of all Voigt's work, and I nearly shriek with terror at the news.

And what lies prior to the POV shift just makes me cry. Every single time.

I'd like it noted I'm on my second copy of this book. I found a hardcover, and I'm not looking back--paperbacks of this series just do not hold up to constant reading. I am on very few second copies of many works--McKinley's The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown, and I need a new copy of Beauty; and thank goodness I started with the hardback versions of Smith's Court Duel and Crown Duel, because the paperback omnibus of the 2 which is called Crown Duel isn't going to hold up forever with repeated pawings and loanings. (I also need a new copy of Bradshaw's The Beacon at Alexandria, and I'll note that I've always owned the hardback of that.) A few others, as well. But I just wanted to mention what kind of company the Kingdom series keeps on my bookshelves.

Wait...

Where did my entry from yesterday go? I posted one about all the things I'd done this week! Crud.

Oh, well. Here's a reading quiz borrowed from Sherwood Smith. Hopefully someone will answer it.

1. Name a book you love no matter what anyone says.
2. Name a book you loathe no matter what anyone says.
3. Name a book you think is undeservedly obscure.
4. Name a book you think is undeservedly famous.
5. Name a book you think you ought to read.
6. Name a book you think I ought to read.

Book: Island of Ghosts

Island of Ghosts by Gillian Bradshaw (25) (re-read)

(sigh) Such a good book.

And, I think, one of Bradshaw's more successful novels. Ariantes is a very likeable character, equal to Gwalchmai or Charis in narrative voice. First person is perhaps Bradshaw's forte?

It's not Beacon at Alexandria, which is almost perfectly meaty. What's here is lovely, if a bit spare (somewhat lacking in sub-plots; even the romantic sub-plot gets eaten by the main thrust of the story).

The legs of the story may be in the cultural comparisons. How she makes the Romans seem so alien and mysterious, while making the scalp-taking, nomadic Sarmatians seem likeable and rational, I'll never know. It's a gift.

Book: Wifey

Wifey by Judy Blume (24) (re-read)

Well, admittedly, this book was the height of eroticism when I first read it in early high school. This time I read it for the story and kind of glossed over the sex parts as not particularly interesting.

Also, admittedly, there was much I couldn't understand about the story when I was younger. For example, I kind of viewed the book as having a happy ending back then, because the husband forgave the wife and they stayed married. I'm not so sanguine, now.

Still, and all. The characterizations are deft. Very readable, though a lot depressing.

edited to add:
It occurred to me at one point while reading this, and then again later after I posted this, that this is a distillation of Austen's Persuasion. Or perhaps an answer-back to Persuasion.

Sandy is persuaded not to marry Shep; Shep returns. However, Sandy and Shep both married in the meantime, as if to say to Jane Austen: compromises happen. Which may, in fact, be the theme of the book. Sandy stays married to the Mr. Elliot character (Norman) in the end, and Shep is a serial adulterer, for all that he's found some measure of happiness with his wife.

Hm....

Reading List

My list is huge, my ambitions high, and my resolve weak.

Can't possibly read 14 books this month. Why am I even thinking about it?

Better updates tomorrow. I'm very tired tonight. I don't even know why.

Book: London's Perfect Hero

London's Perfect Hero by Suzanne Enoch (23)

A very nice wrap-up to the trilogy. I liked this one best of all, and thought it was nice that the author didn't adhere strictly to her formula (heroine chooses to teach a man how to be a better gentleman, and they fall in love), but didn't leave it behind, either.

She (the author) is just getting funnier and more interesting... I'm ready for whatever's next. Enoch seems to handle darkness well, without making it cartoony or losing a light touch. I appreciate that a lot, and could hope that's an area she'll explore more.

Book: A Garden in the Rain

A Garden in the Rain by Lynn Kurland (22)

I was browsing the discarded Pronto (our academic library's "fun" books) shelves and saw this one--a romance set in Scotland, that appeared tasteful and well-bred from the cover art and the title and so forth.

"Lynn Kurland, Lynn Kurland..." I thought to myself. "Is that a name I remember?" It wasn't, until I looked through the book log--yes, I'd read something by her last year, and had enjoyed it. So, it all boded well: just back from honeymoon in Scotland, and no bad associations with the name.

Other than being frustrated with the lack of proactiveness in both main characters, it was very good--delightful. I've had two experiences with time-travel romances: fantastic (Diana Gabaldon) and horrifying (I'll be kind and not name names). While this wasn't Gabaldon, it established in my mental landscape a pleasant upper middle-class of time travel romance.

I think I'll be keeping this one.

(In other news, I got first dibs on the new Suzanne Enoch, so I feel that I'm finally getting a sense of the good romance genre writers.)

Book(s): Crosstitch, Fires of the Faithful and Turning the Storm

Crosstitch by Diana Gabaldon (19) (re-read)

I read this about five years ago for the first time (as Outlander, which is about 5 paragraphs longer), and loved it then. I love it now, even, but I've developed a more critical eye in the last five years (duh) and could find moments in the story where things fell off-kilter, just a smidge, and so forth.

But, I think what I determined is that it's a damn good thing I'm not an editor, because I don't know if I'd ever think anything was good enough anymore. And I know that 5 years ago I thought this book was fabulous. I still think it's good (really good), but... I'm all picky now.

I still appreciate this book, however, and how! The pacing is great, for one thing, and the willingness to totally abuse the main characters is impressive. I think Gabaldon's finest point is tenacity; she doesn't beat anything to death, but she doesn't let things pass. She investigates every corner and every emotion...

Which brings me to my next book.

Fires of the Faithful and Turning the Storm by Naomi Kritzer (20 & 21)

This should have been about four more books, I think. Ok, maybe not. Maybe reading these on the heels of Gabaldon's work is what made me think, "Ok, why didn't she take that further?" But actually... yeah, a lot of the things I thought she should have taken further. Deeper.

And yet it all worked. It carried me along, speedily, anxiously, and the emotions were there, if occasionally glossed over.

Book: The First Five Pages

The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman (18) (re-read)

I couldn't really remember reading this, so I thought I'd have another go. I mean, it sounds like it's going to have really good advice, right?

It has some good advice, some middling and some that's just plain bad.

I'm going to say this is a book for freshman and pre-freshman writers. Much of the good advice is straight out of Elements of Style. It's advice you need to hear, and I suppose if you don't know enough to say, "I'm going to sit down with Elements of Style, and I won't get up again until it owns me," then this is a good place to start.

However, the book-saidism heresy was extolled herein. Something like, "Use other words than said. But be careful. Especially if you're a novice."

That's not useful advice for anyone. There are few people humble enough to admit they're a novice.

Additionally, the examples were so contrived that it was hard to learn anything from them.

I don't know. I think the guiding principles were valuable, but frequently fell apart in the detailed explanation and discussion of said principles. I wanted more. I wanted well-thought-out depth. I wanted Forest for the Trees-level analysis.

(Forest for the Trees--I'm not sure what all the messages in that book actually were. But one message came out and smacked me: "You'll never write unless you sit down and write." The message was so strongly sent that I actually put the book down and wrote. I never did pick it back up again, because I'm still driven by what she said, somewhere around chapter 3. I'm saving the rest of that book for a truly bad spell.)

Book: A Secret History

A Secret History : The Book Of Ash, #1 by Mary Gentle (17)

It was good. I think, as long as it was, I was expecting more (more what?). Maybe more character development? I thought, perhaps there would be a point where I loved Ash as much as I'd love a Vorkosigan. Not quite.

It read really fast, though, and I think "With 3 more books, who knows who I'll love?"

I appreciated the realism that there was, since it made the fantastical something else. The faux scholarship got in the way on occasion. Yes, yes, histories are lost. Students of history know this. But, no, no, there's other evidence. We'd know if every major city-state in Italy burned to the ground in the 15th c. We don't think that happened, do we? So, trying to pin this into the realm of lost history brought me out of the book a few times. Which is too bad, because I think that she could have slid the Visigothic invasion right between my ribs, with a tiny bit more circumspection. Alas.

But who knows. Maybe she'll pull it off in books 2-4.

Packing List Update

So, I've settled on my reading choices for while in Britain. Now I need airplane books (at least one for coming and one for going) and books for New York. While I plan to be enthralled by my nephew for most of the New York legs, I'm not stupid. I'll need at least one book for either leg.

You thought I was done agonizing, didn't you?

I'm wavering. There's the Garth Nix trilogy, which is now all in paperback--but do I want to re-read 2 books, just to get to the 3rd?

And yet, Nix would be a pretty safe bet, especially since it's easier going, and that's really what you need when there are distractions: easier going.

Kay's Fionavar Tapestry comes to mind, too, though I'd have to buy book 3. I've never read the trilogy, but have heard good things.

And Archangel Protocol.

And Trollope's Can You Forgive Her?, because it's long, and there's nothing quite like a Victorian novel once it gets going.

It's like betting on horses. They all look good, but you just don't know which ones are going to be ready for the track.

I am about halfway through the first Ash book, and so far I like it more than Lisa did, but less than Marissa did. But that's ok; it's the first half. I'm liking it enough that picking up the omnibus volume in England sounds like a good plan, even if I don't run out of books while there.

I am planning lots of nights reading, curled against my husband and smothered in eiderdowns. Some might be dubious about this form of honeymooning. Some might wonder why we don't just go to pubs instead, to while away the evenings. Fortunately, I don't much listen to those some.

Packing List

In between agonizing over the correct number of pants to take on a 13-day journey through Britain (with 2 days added on to either end to visit the nephewling in New York, which does complicate the matter slightly), I'm agonizing about books.

The current book packing list is:
Jane and the Wool House Stephanie Barron
Shirley Charlotte Bronte
The Peshawar Lancers SM Stirling *
Good Omens Gaiman and Pratchet *
Fires of the Faithful and Turning the Storm by Naomi Kritzer *
Cross-stitch and Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon **

* I think Dann will read these, too
** rereads

Now, for the methodology:

I read the first Jane Austen mystery by Barron on the bus from Bath to Glastonbury. It was perfect, in that atmosphere; actual Austen would have been at odds with jouncing around on a bus, but faux Austen was perfect. Only a few of this series that I've read in America have been as good, and either Barron is an author who's only good every other book, or it's about atmosphere. I did like Jane and the Stillroom Maid quite well, but I read that in France, where the atmosphere also worked. You know. The Devonshires were friends with Marie Antoinette. Yeah, I'm grasping.

As for the Bronte, I never could read Wuthering Heights (from cover to cover, I mean; yes, I did write a term paper on it, Mrs. Gobel-I-hope-you're-not-reading-this)... until I got to Haworth. I've told this story to a few people, but here goes again: the day I went to Haworth, it was kind of dark and gloomy, and I spent a lot of time on the train and then on a bus, and then I slogged all around Haworth, quite lost, getting more and more depressed because the town was so dark and narrow--

And then, quite suddenly, I came to an open space overlooking the dales, and the sun broke from cover and everything was flooded with light. I teared up.

"Charlotte, I understand." Murmured, like a prayer. It's kinda cheesy, invoking a dead writer, but it was a true moment, nonetheless.

In fact, the banner pic on Writer's Paradise is from about ten minutes after that moment, when I popped out my camera and just started snapping, trying to capture the moment. Didn't work so well, but I'm glad I have the pictures just the same.

Anyway, even though I invoked Charlotte's name, it was Wuthering Heights that sucked me in. I'm hoping the same magic will spur me through Shirley.

The Stirling and Good Omens are just books I've been meaning to read; the Kiplingesque nature of the Stirling and the Britishness of Good Omens are meant to be atmospheric. The Kritzer has been sitting on the to-read shelf for a month or so, and I'm kind of salivating over those, but I've put them off because I knew I'd be traveling soon. And the Gabaldon--again, atmospheric. I'd intended to read them before I left, but while I'm there will be fine as well.

I'm not sure it's enough. I have plenty of material on the unread shelf, but there's pressure to take stuff that appeals to my traveling companion, too. Marissa seems so geeked about the Mary Gentle series that I want to try it, too; the description is compelling, the atmosphere would be appropriate enough (and it would be appropriate: I read faux Scottish histories in France, I can read faux French histories in Scotland). But the last two books don't appear to be available new, so it would be a small ordeal.

The intense academic study over which books is due to my second England trip, where I did not bring enough to read by half. In fact, I only brought 2 books, I think, one of them Wuthering Heights, the other by Amanda Quick. You can guess how the Quick went. I devoured WH, and look, day 3, nothing to read. Smooth.

In Winchester, I found only one bookstore, with almost no fiction section--certainly no YA or SF. The added burden on selection was that I neither wanted to haul a lot of books nor spend crazily. I ended up with Orlando by Woolf, and couldn't get into it.

After that, though, Dwinn and Julie showed up. We found second-hand bookstores as well as better-stocked regular shops. I read a lengthy historical about the conquest, uninspiringly entitled The Conquest. Right place, right time: in the middle of it, we stopped in at Battle. Mostly, D&J entertained me and kept me busier than I'd kept myself, so I spent less time gobbling books.

For my trip to France, I swore to be prepared. I brought something like ten or fifteen books, knowing that half-way through the trip, we would be staying with an American family desperate for English language material. I stocked up at the ten-cent shelf in the library. I spent my graduation gift-cards. The plan was to leave half the books with the Carefoots, but it ended up being most of them; the only thing I hadn't read by the time we reached their house was the aforementioned Jane and the Stillroom Maid and a Peter Whimsy mystery. I had finished Sharon Shinn's Summers at Castle Auburn before we left Paris, and AS Byatt's Possession before we reached Provence. The rest flowed past like water.

Afterwards, we scoured the second-hand shops in Tours, looking for English paperbacks, because new ones were well over ten bucks. From this adventure I read some stuff I never would have read, like a book by David Baldacci, and Sleeping with the Enemy, and some Sir Walter Scott (and not his best work, by a long shot; the very academic intro to the book was dubious: "why are you reading this, and not Ivanhoe or Waverly, anyway?") We wanted to trade books at the obvious trade-friendly hotel, but the lady running the breakfast room didn't approve our balance of trade. ("Look, I know we're only leaving Red Gauntlet and Sleeping with the Enemy, but we need more than two books. We're going crazy.") I ended up sneaking Nora Roberts out of the breakfast room in my pants.

Of course, the balance is that I know I read about 3 books a week on each of these vacations; but for the burdens of not being able to get one's hands on things more compelling than Redgauntlet, it would have been 5 or 6. I probably do have enough, given that I've held off purchasing the latest Harry Potter in order to get a British copy; I could easily re-read that whole series while there. (I did buy my first HP in England, but foolishly shipped it home unread. I'd smite myself if I knew how.)

Does my paranoic preparation make sense, now? Vacation is when I eat books, and seem to stumble over the worst book karma.

Book: Spindle's End

Spindle's End by Robin McKinley (16) (re-read)

I kind of know why I "forgot" this book. This book, sadly, is forgettable.

I don't mean that it's not worth reading. I don't mean it's bad, or even mediocre. It's actually quite good. But I'm not quite sure where McKinley's head was when she wrote this. It wasn't in the place that produced Sunshine, nor the place that produced The Blue Sword or... well, all of the rest of them, except, maybe, perhaps Outlaws of Sherwood.

Possibly, just possibly it's that she didn't stay in one character's head. The first half of the book was ostensibly from Katriona's viewpoint, and the second half was ostensibly from Rosie's. But most of the book is omniscient, and so broadly so that it's very hard to get involved. Didn't fall in love with Narl, not the way I did with Constantine or Corlath. Didn't want to be either Katriona or Rosie, not the way I did with... well, you get the point.

Of course, if this is McKinley's worst book, she really has nothing to be ashamed of. And I've read all the rest of her books, and it is, and she doesn't. It's just... well, I should have realized why I couldn't remember this book, before I picked it up again.

Book: The Kestrel

The Kestrel by Lloyd Alexander (15) (re-read)

A richer, more complex book than the first one, and the one that hooked me lo these many years ago. (Was I nine? Ten? Twelve? Certainly no older than that. Probably no younger.) I remember, at the time, finding Theo to be a very romantic hero, even in the midst of realizing he was not a hero. But I've always been attracted to the tormented souls.

I could wish for more. More depth, more characterization, more complexity. But that's just greed. It is what it is. It's very good as it is. Almost as thrilling as it was more than a decade ago (almost two decades!).

Research and Spring

The grass didn't all go brown over the winter, which just means that the snow fell before the cold killed it. It's not emerald green, but for a Michigander, it's green enough.

(I am reminded of growing up in North Carolina, looking out and seeing how bleah and horribly dreary winter was, and then having my aunt come visit from Michigan and just go into ecstasies. "The grass is so beautiful! So lush! So green! Oh, is that a dandelion?" Yeah. Dandelions in November and February. Winter in North Carolina was a joke.)

Right now, there's a pretty, patterned dusting of snow on the green grass, looking almost fractal in nature.

Signs of spring. You just have to know how to see them.

Writing and the usual blathering behind the cut-tag.

I could not settle down for writing last night, so I researched instead. I read about a quarter of La Nouvelle France: The Making of French Canada--A Cultural History by Peter N. Moogk. Am growing attached to the mid 1600's for my Crisis Point in my alternate history (in which the settlement of the New World is brought to a screeching halt).

This book has some good stuff in it, including early population reports, good descriptions of the fur trade (see, if I halt the settlement of the New World in 1650, Detroit will never become important; Mackinac will remain the portal between Montreal and the interior), and other tidbits. In thumbing through it, I think I may have to read another quarter of it; I only skimmed famly dynamics and magic/religion last night. Of course, if I'm at the point of reading half of it, it's no longer enough to just take notes from the library copy; I'm going to need to buy a copy and just keep it on my shelf.

This is the path to too many books, you know. This is how it happens.

I printed off 4 of the 5 stories I need to rewrite (I don't know that it's easier to edit from paper, but I believe you have to go over the story on paper at least once before you can consider it rewritten). It made a healthy stack of pages. Sometimes I amaze myself with my output. Only sometimes, though.

Sometimes I also amaze myself with my willingness to dance with the self-justification monkey. He's a friendly monkey, of course, but when other people see you dance with him, they get disgusted. Right now, we are doing the "Can't Write X Until after my Vacation!" Waltz. That's because I have 2 stories steeping in my head, both of which take place in Britain--specifically, in places I am going to visit in Britain in just 20-some short days. So, the monkey assures me that I can work on these stories in Britain, I don't have to do them now. Even though I've already been to these places, it will be much easier when they're fresh in my mind...

Stupid monkey.

This week's revelation is that I'm making my short stories too complicated. Stop with the fripperies, Fuller. Just tell the story.

So noted.

Book: Render Unto Caesar

Render Unto Caesar by Gillian Bradshaw (14)

I love Bradshaw. Absolutely love. I don't think I'm ever less than 95% satisfied when I read her stuff.

That said, I'm going to say that the other 5% does seem to loom larger in some works than others. Sometimes I think the solutions are too facile. Hermogenes needs a woman--so, he falls in love with the gladiatrix! Well, actually, I don't think the choice of who he fell in love with was too facile (I mean, who else was it going to be?), but maybe the getting there was. I don't know. Maybe... maybe it would have been solved with one more piece of bad-assedness on the gladiatrix' part. Maybe if it (the romance, their happiness) hadn't seemed like a foregone conclusion. Maybe a lot of things. Bradshaw writes about exceptional people, but her exceptional women always seem to get less exceptional when they fall in love.

I'll be interested to hear what she has to say about this book in a few years. I read somewhere recently about Wolf Hunt that she thought she'd stuck the heroine with the wrong guy. I'm not sure I agree (since I'm always fond of the dark broody ones), but I don't necessarily disagree, either... so I'd like to see what a few years of reflection brings her (and me) on Render Unto Caesar.

Of course, I'm going to be dwelling on the 5% for years to come, as long as it takes her to write another Hawk of May or In Winter's Shadow or even Beacon at Alexandria. Wolf Hunt came so close, as did Island of Ghosts...

Book: The Storyteller's Daughter

The Storyteller's Daughter by Cameron Dokey (13)

There was definitely a point where I stopped being interested, but kept reading anyway because I knew it would go quickly. This YA was a little too Y for me, I guess. I kept waiting for the big grab, and it didn't come. Too much distance in the telling, I think. I never felt like I was in the heart of any of the characters. Alas.

Book: Barrayar

Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold (12) (re-read)

I think, somewhere between figuring out that, though the most compassionate person ever, she's still a social misfit, and enjoying the hell out of the bad-ass moment in which she brings back the head of the Pretender, I fall head over heels for Cordelia. I want to be her. (sighs) Only on boring days, though. I promise. Her life's a smidge too interesting.

Write Club Report

I finished a short story, but not much else. Of course, that was plenty, but I have a complex of some sort, that no matter what you accomplish, you should work the whole time you set aside to work. Which is a good Puritan work-ethic sort of thing to think, but may not always be necessary... or right. Work smarter, not harder, right?

I also bought some books: Garth Nix' Abhorsen is out in paperback, I found Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint, I got the promised-to-myself Archangel Protocol (but couldn't find Naomi Kritzer's books) and grabbed War of Honor in paperback for my husband (and myself, though I've already read it).

Unfortunately, Arborland Border's has an unusually vapid selection. And it has nothing on Border's Store 1. Of course, meeting in Store 1 would be difficult--parking is a nightmare, and getting a table in a cafe so close to campus is even worse. And, of course, instead of going to Store 1 to order what I couldn't find at Store Whatever, I will just order from Amazon.com. But they're somehow linked to Border's, so I guess no one's losing any money.

Ridiculous world.

Book: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkein (11) (re-read)

Not that I read this book that carefully last time; I had a hard time enjoying the thing, largely because of the lack of real female characters. Once I realized that there weren't any real male characters, either, I was more into it. This time I read it for more of the right reasons, whatever they are. And, whatever they are, they do work. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and am looking forward to finishing the trilogy.

Book: Shards of Honor

Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold (10) (re-read)

I saw Brandon reading this the other day, and got jealous. Plus, Dann just finished reading the series, and I was jealous the whole time he was reading it. So, when I was a bit sad, and in need of a hot bath and a good familiar book, I took this up, and read it in 2 days.

It's not perfect, but there's no flaw that's meaningful to me. It's good. And it's the gateway book: everything that comes after is even better. I adore the series.

(thump, thump, thump)

I've been trying to argue with Marissa that I'm not fen. And as I get bogged down in my self-justifications, I fail. My argument right now boils down to "I'm not fen, because the plural of fan is fans." Very convincing, no?

But I don't consider myself fannish, because I'm interested in everything. Not one particular show or author or genre, just everything. Though I've recently (and hopefully temporarily) narrowed my focus.

Right now I'm interested in other writers. To the point that I spend all my free moments searching out writer-blogs, looking for the ones that hit home. My regular writing reads, which used to just be Julie, Lisa, Marissa and Elizabeth Bear, are no longer enough. I crave commentary on the process. Every process.

I've read John Hansen on-and-off for a while, but now I've systemically gone over his archives, reading about each and every rejection and laughing because I've gotten those same rejections and had those same reactions... enthusing when he makes a sale.

On top of John Hansen, my search for a good read has taken me to:

• The Strange Horizons Readers' Choice Awards has the bonus of containing links to a year's worth of content, so after I voted, I just started reading everything I missed since I started reading regularly.
  
• reading the endless comments on the slushkiller entry in Making Light
  
• browsing random authors from the blogs of other authors. This lead me to this author, who had me at the phrase: "I like to tell people that Archangel Protocol is kind of like Left Behind for Unitarians." I'm going to pick up that book and her books tonight, for sure.
  

I hope this ends soon.

Book: The Bad Beginning

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snickett (9) (re-read)

Kayla and I are reading this series before bed; Dann and I got the first five for her for Christmas, and the second five for her for her birthday.

I read this one two years ago, but stopped because, well, entertaining as they are, they seemed a smidge expensive to read for something so slight. But they're perfect for Kayla--she enjoys the humor, adores the plot and hates Count Olaf--so it's way more fun than me reading them alone.

Book: Jump the Shark

Jump the Shark by Jon Hein (8)

A Christmas present, this was, and I went through it pretty quickly. It's good bathroom reading, or "I want to hang out with my husband while he watches sports but need something to read" reading.

Book: Westmark

Westmark by Lloyd Alexander (7) (re-read)

I read this oh-so-many years ago, and only finally completed the trilogy (Kestrel was out of print forever) recently. So, since I'm trying to pump up the reading stats, I thought I'd delve into something slim and previously read.

It is both a more complicated and a less complicated book than I remember. I think I was 12 when I read it, so that kind of makes sense. There are no few leaps of faith the author asks us to take, Mickle becoming Very Important to Theo Very Quickly, for example. (And I won't even mention how their friendship-with-implied-something-else at the end of Book One becomes an out-and-out betrothal at the beginning of Book Two.)

All the same, it's not shabby, and certain moments and images have stayed with me, so long now that I wasn't honestly sure where they had come from until I read this again. In fact, I would have said those moments and images were straight out of Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire." Strange.

Book: Ethan of Athos

Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold (6)

A book I didn't mash into the first big read-through of the Vorkosigan shenanigans, because at the time, it didn't have Miles in it, and what the hell would be the point?

But Miles would have been too much. Ethan was v. cute on his own.

Book: Dreamcatcher

Dreamcatcher by Stephen King (5)

Not sure when I've read a book that made me cry long before the ending. Other than this.

Nothing like the movie. Forget the movie was made. The ending of the movie was a freaking mess. The ending of the book had some real depth that would not have translated to a movie screen, I suppose, but still.

Book: Wolf Queen

Wolf Queen by Tanith Lee (4)

Good, but strange. I'll give the author props for springing a credible surprise. Interestingly, this book felt more like a "middle" book than the previous one did. Do I think that because I know that Wolf Wing is on the horizon? I also felt that some of it was almost too much. Suddenly, the main character has All the Power in the Universe. But the story isn't done. Odd.

Not sure what I think, ultimately. Still, liked it, will read sequel.

Book: Beacon at Alexandria

Beacon at Alexandria by Gillian Bradshaw (3) (re-read)

Sooooo good. For different reasons every time. When I was younger, I thought the disguise story was the best. Somewhere in the middle, I fell in love with Athanaric. Lately, I've been concentrating on the details of Roman life. This time, for example, I was struck by how, all along, I was never upset by the mentions of slavery in the book. It was casual, part of daily life, etc. It's deftly handled. While Charis is a "good" person, she is still a person of her time, and convincingly so.

Book: Water

Water by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson (1)

While I'm always delighted to get the chance to read new Robin McKinley (and old Robin McKinley, for that matter), I find that her short stories are frequently hit or miss for me. It's why I've never gone looking for a replacement copy for A Door in the Hedge, whereas I have re-read her novels so many times that I've actually worn out copies and had to go buy replacements.

Fortunately, I sincerely liked most of these stories, both the McKinley and the Dickinson. I didn't find enough layers in most of the stories to love any of them, though "The Kraken" came close... but "A Pool in the Desert" actually made me cry, so I consider that one pretty damn successful.

I think the problem with a) short stories in general and b) short stories from one of my favorite novelists is that most people can't make a person fall in love in under 8k words. You can't excise a single word from any of McKinley's novels and not feel like you've lost something, that's how important each piece is to building up the love.

Just a thought. I could be wrong. I'm not wrong for me, though.

Reading Statistics 2003

End o' Year Tally, and New Goals

19 Romance
11 Science Fiction/Fantasy
4 Young Adult
5 Graphic novels
9 Mainstream
7 Nonfic-Writing
3 Nonfic-Science
6 Nonfic-Other
3 Classics

I beat my goal by 7 and last year's total by 4. Still dont' feel like I read much.

Standout new-to-me books were Sunshine and Cleopatra's Heir. Did I uncover any new writers--ie, people I will read again just on the power of their name? Yes... Suzanne Enoch and Susan Vreeland. Too much romance? Yes. Proportionally, way yes.

No more reading of borrowed books, unless I ask to borrow it. No more romances from the discard pile at work. They all combine to make reading a chore, and that's part of the reduced numbers. I don't think I'll ever break 200 books a year again, and 300 is an impossible thought; but I'd like to break a hundred again. In fact, that's my goal. One hundred books in 2004.

Book: Trading Spaces Behind the Scenes

Trading Spaces Behind the Scenes (67)

I wasn't sure if this counted, but you know, I read the damn thing cover-to-cover while watching the West Wing marathon, so there you have it, number 67. Did you know that Paige Davis married a guy whose last name is Page? That's why she kept her name. So as not to be Paige Page. Erp.

Now, I have to go and make sure I end the year on a higher literary note. :)

Book: The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing

The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing by (66)

I picked this up because I was told it was a good book for structure. And it is! It's the most over-structured plan to writing that I've ever even heard of. Will I use all the advice step-by-step? Absolutely not. Will I keep the advice in the back of my mind as I plan, write and edit? Absolutely. It did answer some questions I've been trying to get answered... like where to put chapter breaks and so forth. I will take these as suggestions, not as rules, but I'm glad that someone out there has addressed the issue.

Book: Elements of Style

Elements of Style by Strunk & White (65)

Essential. And witty as well.

Book: Cleopatra's Heir

Cleopatra's Heir by Gillian Bradshaw (64)

When I closed the book, I said, out loud, "That was really good." Seriously. Without thought, just said it.

It was an emotionally satisfying book. I think I've said before that I'm Bradshaw's ideal audience, so I don't know how the rest of the world will find it, but really-- she always delivers a good, extremely well-researched story with likeable characters. There's almost nothing else to say... except that I wish she'd write more books. I also wish that this book had really happened.

Book: Conflict of Honors

Conflict of Honors by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (63)

The first of the Liaden Universe books to be written (I believe), I can only hope that the subsequent ones are better. I don't want to be too harsh, but this book really reads like a first novel. Or, maybe a novel written by two writers, neither of whom are willing to say to the other, "No, not quite right, let's fix this." I don't know.

Maybe it didn't seem so great because "fans of Miles Vorkosigan will love these!" propaganda got my engines revved for something a bit different?

Maybe because it's the first one?

I've got two more in this trilogy to go, because I bought the omnibus edition; lord knows if I'd picked up just this book, I wouldn't keep going. But I will go on, because I feel I have to. But I'm counting each book separately, damn it, while praying that they live up to their copious praise and get much better.

Please note: these aren't BAD. They just aren't great.

Book: The Dewey Decimal System of Love

The Dewey Decimal System of Love by Josephine Carr (62)

Quite fun. Almost the perfect librarian romance, except that the main character was a bit too set in her ways to charm me at first. Of course, I know librarians who I feel are just like her, so I should probably get over it, but it was hard to step into her shoes completely. Went very quickly, though; I started and finished it in a night and a day, and I felt that the character did love books convincingly. Sometimes that's missing from depictions of librarians. Those depictions make me wonder.

Book: Bath Tangle

Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer (61)

Everyone! Always! Spoke in exclamations!

I know that's a function of it being written earlier last century, in part. And I admire the heck out of Heyer. But I think, of all the models I might use for writing a Regency, she is not the best one. Sherwood Smith points out in her essay Why I Can't Read Most Fantasy Novels or Regency Romances that Heyer created her own vision of Regency society based on what was important to her and to her generation of women. Lady Serena embodies the New Woman of Heyer's time in a big way.

The thing that threw me most was the omniscient perspective; only once did I feel a character breathe, and that was Ivo. Hm.

Books: A Midsummer Night's Dream, What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew

A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare (59)

(n+13th reread)

Yeah, I think I've reread this now about a dozen times since I started working on this book. Backwards and forwards, sideways and upside down. You'd think I have it memorized by now. Well, possibly, I do.

Do I have to mention that I love it?

***

What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist--the Facts of Daily Life in 19th-Century England by Daniel Pool (60)

Re-read.

I did not do it cover-to-cover this time; there was more dipping. But as I perused the Table of Contents today to read up on how to prepare for a ball, I realized, yeah, I've re-read the whole damn thing this month. Not a usual happening in the course of research (for example, I've only read chunks of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Who Betrays Eliza Bennet, The Encyclopedia of Superstitions and Ninteenth-Century Costume and Fashion for this project, though at least two of these I've read in their entirety before).

It's good; it's an overview, not something in-depth, but it's still good.

***

You realize what that means, don't you? I've hit my mark for 2003! 60 books, or one every six-point-some days! That means, anything I read in the month of December is a complete bonus. I doubt I'll bring it up to 100 by December 31st, but I've got my fingers crossed for 2004.

Some other reading goals for 2004: clear off my "to-read" shelf, to finish or return unfinished all the books I've borrowed and accept no more loans except the ones I specifically request, to re-read the Westmark trilogy, to re-read the Outlander series before Scotland, to work on my back-log of Arthurian books, and I think--that's about enough.

Book: Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (58)

(n+1 reread)

whump

That's me, whumping. Such delights. This was the closest, most attentive reread I've had in a long time. Where I attempted to capture and savor every word, to gain a full understanding of what a lively lady of Jane Austen's time might really be like, if you got to know her. This was in part so I can write a version of a lively lady who is not too far out of the period in my Regency romance. And partly for pleasure.

I found that the text answered itself on all questions. Austen certainly knew what she was doing. There is no thread left unwoven.

It is to be jealous, but one might as well be jealous of a goddess.

Effusive enough?

I think so.

Book: Exile's Daughter

Exile's Daughter by Lisa A. Nichols (57)

WIP.

Book: Anne of Green Gables

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (56)

Kayla and I have been reading this for what seems like forever. I put off a bit of it because I knew I couldn't handle the chapter where Matthew dies; plus, we rarely did more than one chapter at a time because we had to stop and explain about why they didn't have electric lights and so forth. No, Anne wasn't Amish, they just lived a long time ago.

I got through the chapter with Matthew, but barely. My voice cracked a couple of places. Couldn't tell if Kayla noticed; she didn't cry. She just said, "I feel very bad for Anne," but she didn't cry. Tough kid.

So, yes, this was a reread for me... and though I hadn't read it for some time, I'd read it so much that there wasn't much I didn't remember. Except for how flowery the language was. I honestly skipped not a few paragraphs of this dewy morn or that ferny spring here and there, mostly to keep my audience awake for the good parts, which are very good, especially if you're a little girl with an overactive imagination and a propensity toward chatter-- which I certainly was, and Kayla certainly is. The indoctrination into the sisterhood is complete; Kayla is full-on thrilled by the prospect of seven more books in the series. Though I don't have Windy Poplars; my dog chewed it to pieces after I read it the first time, and I actually figured it was ok, because there wasn't enough Gilbert Blythe in it, and I never bought a replacement in all these years.

Book: Sunshine

Sunshine by Robin McKinley (55)

Just wonderful. A surprising departure (my favorite YA author actually wrote about sex), but a good one nevertheless. Quite a compelling vampire, in a compelling story. Smart, funny, sexy, exciting, etc. (sigh) If it were a meal, I'd be pleasantly full with my palate fully satisfied. As it is not a meal... I dipped back in and reread the good parts-- ie, all the interactions between Con and Sunshine. I haven't done a dip-back-in like that in years. The last time was a Lois McMaster Bujold. The time before that? Must have been back in high school. (Sometimes, it doesn't pay to get older.)

Squee

I'm no fan-girl. But damn, was I excited when Sherwood Smith wrote me back, and said nice things, too.

Book: The Rake: Lessons in Love

The Rake: Lessons in Love by Suzanne Enoch (54)

Oops... actually read this way, way back on the 16th or something, in North Carolina. Very enjoyable. Enoch is a new fave.

Book: A Rose in Winter

A Rose in Winter by Kathleen Woodiwiss (53)

(sighs) Much better. I started reading this before I went to North Carolina, but forgot to take it with me. It was nice to return to this after the previous book...

I know at least one person who hates this book because of it's somewhat absurd premise, but I cannot agree. As irritating as I found Heather, I adore Erienne. Her sense of honor is admirable, and I find the Lord Saxton/Christopher Seton contest absolutely fascinating--re-readable, at the very least, since I'm sure I've read this three or four times in the last decade alone.

Book: The Flame and the Flower

The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodwiss (52)

I thought I hadn't read this already. Guess what? I had! Probably almost 15 years ago. Guess what else? I hated the main character! It all seemed ok when I was 15, but holy crow, batman, I wanted to make the main character cry on several occasions. Just because I knew I could. She was always near tears, anyway, and she really, really, really, really irritated me. One sharp word from her rapist/husband (oy), and tears welled in her eyes. She never said, "That's enough." She never yelled back. She never tried to ignore him. She never got angry. She never threw a tantrum. She just cried. Useless, mewling... And the intense justification of it all. Granted, I know there are people like this in the world, but lord knows, I wasn't that pathetic at 18.

All I could think was that this seemed like an early effort. And the hero is great, rakish, strong, irritatingly obtuse, demanding. The only other thing that grated was the use of "naught" to stand in for "not" instead of "nothing." A bit odd. It may be correct, but it certainly didn't seem correct.

Reading v. Writing: Round 2

I am non-book-reading schmuck. But that's what happens when you write more words in a day than you read.

Book: Trickster's Choice

Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce (51)

I had my doubts; at first it seemed like Pierce was taking a very heavy-handed tactic with the god jumping in before Aly got a chance to do anything. Should have known an experienced author like Pierce knew what she was doing. So, it worked. It worked quite well, and I am ready for the next one!

It may be simply that the Lioness quartet really is Pierce's best work, or maybe she just does better focusing on the knights (because the Keladry stuff was great until the end-that-was-not-an-end), so I don't know... the Daine books seemed too crowded; all the stuff that was going on made it feel like the structural integrity of the world was falling to pieces (who knows; maybe that's what Pierce meant to happen, since it was sort of what was happening in the story). There were flashes of that in this book, except that time and again, I felt that Pierce pulled them together and was able to make them work.

If I were 13 again, I would be so frustrated right now... part of the problem of growing older is that it's just that much harder to agonize over the plights of fictional people. I hate that, actually; the brief moments of frustration I had when Aly woudn't tell anyone her real identity were fun. I wish I could agonize about it for days. But I know that the writer will fix everything eventually, and I know that Aly is not real, and I have real things to agonize over instead. I miss it. I really do. And Pierce was one of the first (if not the first) author to do that to me, back in the sixth grade. So she'll always have a special place in my heart...

Book: The Joy of Writing Sex

The Joy of Writing Sex: A Guide for Fiction Writers by Elizabeth Benedict (50)

Hm. I mostly read this because of the fact that I am frequently worried about writing sex scenes, because I know my mom will read them. Also other people's moms. Like my step-daughter's friends' moms.

Well, the book didn't solve that, but it did have some good pointers, like avoid the stupid euphemisms. Like "himself" instead of "his penis" (or your word du jour). And "don't write a sex manual" (good advice I'd like to give a number of authors). Make sure the sex advances the plot or characterization. All good advice. Advice I wasn't completely in need of. "Himself." Teehee.

Book: The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries

The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen's Novel to Film by Emma Thompson (49)

Hilarious. The diaries, I mean. It was interesting to read a movie script, which I largely did because I am having creative visions of adapting one of the Bronte's lesser-known books to film at some point. Not that it's at all the same (Bronte v. Austen), but it was a beginning. The diaries were just the complete icing on the cake. I want to make movies with Ang Lee and Emma Thompson! Well, who doesn't...

Book: Writing Short Stories

Writing Short Stories: The Most Practical Guide by William H. Phillips (48)

Well, as guides go, yeah, it's helpful. The most practical guide? We'll see.

I had the idea of scene cards before I read this, but it did give me some pointers on how to use them. The "what if?" game is cleary outlined. There's a "short story" checklist, that covers such mundania as "Use a verb instead? have a feeling ----> think; had a tendancy ----> tended" through to such ephemera as "What does your story show in general about human behavior?"

I'm not rushing out to buy it, but I may keep my library copy a little while longer.

Book: London's Perfect Scoundrel

London's Perfect Scoundrel by Suzanne Enoch (47)

I wasn't sure how I felt about this until the heroine locked the hero away in a dungeon. From that point on, I read it while cooking waffles, I was so intrigued. Hilarious. There was a good bit with the hesitancy/romancy kind of stuff I adore. I hold it up as a model, that one scene.

I broke my vow (as you can see) about not reading any more romances this year. Alas.

Reading Abatement Program

I started this month out so strong, and finished so weak. (Or rather, finished strong, but had a really weak middle.) I thought, "Surely, this is the month where I break 10 books!" Nope. I guess that's what retirement is for.

Book: Friday

Friday by Robert A. Heinlein (46)

Hm. Even while portraying a strong, charismatic, interesting and smart female character, he somehow manages to... oh, I'm sure we've all heard the Heinlein-misogynist rant enough. The fact is, well, Friday is no different than a romance novel hero. His perfect woman, against say, random romance novel's perfect man? Neither portrayal is fair to the gender in question. As for the rest of it, fun world-building, wacky stuff happens, and the conclusion is ultimately unsatisfying (where, exactly, was the over-arching plot? The end feels like something I'd write-- "Hurry up and resolve things! You've gotten yourself into this horrible mess, and the only way out is to end everything unsatisfyingly!" Strange. Apparently that was ok if you were a leader SF, less acceptable for people trying to break in now...

Book: The Insider's Guide to Getting Published

The Insider's Guide to Getting an Agent by Lori Perkins (45)

I thought I should pick up something like this, just to see what's the what. I've no idea if this is the what or not, but hey, I feel semi-educated on the business side of my intended career. I grabbed another couple similar books just to see more of the what. Not done yet.

Book: Self-editing for Fiction Writers

Self-editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself into Print by Renni Brown and David King (44)

There is some solid advice in here, but there were clues within the text to let the reader know that these tips aren't 100 percent true. In fact, there were at least a couple of chapters that were, as far as I could tell, "these are our pet peeves, so don't do them" chapters. Who knows. Maybe they are every editor's pet peeve. But if every piece of advice in this book is taken without a grain of salt, you will end up with writing that is bland and homogenized. Though the authors actually do say, "Take this with a grain of salt," at several points.

My personal preference for applying these rules would be about 90% of the time, just for me. Yes, I think 90% of the time, I'm goofing badly in the manner that they suggest. The other 10% of the time, I think I'm right. This is based on looking at a good 20k of my own work with the advice from the book in hand. The good news is, that from a self-editing standpoint, I already knew some of this stuff, and applied it for at least 60% of the time. Leaving me with a mere 30% net gain in self-editing advice.

Oh, I guess you have to be there.

Book: The Passionate Papers of Fiona Pilgrim

The Passionate Papers of Fiona Pilgrim by John Rubadeau (43)

Loaned to me by my boss, this is was written by a professor at my university. (Oh, the connections!) It's a spoof on romance novels, and while quite entertaining, the faux bad writing was... brain-melting. I'm afraid to write now, until I cleanse my palate.

Book: The Eyre Affair

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (42)

Finished just now...

I want to live in that world.

That's my starting point on talking about this book. There was an irritating habit of the author, who, when felt limited by his first person narrator, just started talking about things she could not know. But there was also everything else about this book, which more than made up for that, and the flaws of no few authors around him. This is perhaps the best book for literature geeks there is. So many little jokes. History buffs will also enjoy it, especially "the French revisionists" who keep assassinating English leaders from a distance.

Naturally, I am displeased that this book is considered mainstream fiction and not spec fic, when it's so clearly a fantasy... but beyond that, I reiterate, I want to live in that world. I'd be a great LiteraTec.

Book: Point of Honour

Point of Honour by Madeleine E. Robins (41)

Finished last night...

Alternate universe Regency. The Queen Regent has fallen ill, and a political struggle ensues. The main character, a "fallen" woman, is caught up in the shady side of the politics, acting as an agent of inquiry.... such a fun book. I read it voraciously, and with great delight. I'm not fully satisfied by it, but there is a vague promise of sequelae which may quench that. Naturally, I love any book where women kick ass, but I surprisingly found the descriptions of the portly fencing master who initially seduced the heroine some of the most engaging writing in the book.

Book: One Thousand White Women

One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus (40)

I appreciated this book on many levels, but I was more in love with the premise of its alternate history than any of the other things about it. And, I think as a speculative fiction reader, I was disappointed that the alternate history didn't actually lead to an alternate present, so that made me a bit sad-- but that was an expectation that the author cannot and should not be faulted for. One very real problem: I found the characterizations of many of the women a little too movie-like. Everything was larger than life. For a while, I wondered if the main character weren't actually as insane as her family accused her to be, since things were so odd... There were hints that this was actually the result of a nuanced characterization of the narrating character, however, and if that reading is actually true, then that catapults this book onto a much higher level, at least in my view: an unreliable narrator who is never proven unreliable is quite daring.

Book: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale edited by James B. South (39)

Very enjoyable. I honestly wasn't sure if it would be, but there was just the right amount of academic sniping, academic double-speak, true scholarship and admiration for the show. Made it very readable; I found it was no difficulty whatsoever to put a few essays under my belt every day. My current understanding of Kant and Aristotle has grown, and while I'm ultimately glad that all I learned about philosophy was in Residential College classes where it was shown integrated in the context of the art and history of the era the philosophy was grown from (as opposed to just... sitting... in... philosophy... class...), I was slightly regretful I hadn't had more philosophy in college.

And this was a birthday present from Julie, so, thanks, Julie!

Book: Mr. Darcy's Daughters

Mr. Darcy's Daughters by Elizabeth Alston (38)

Hm... Well, I think anyone who is not the original author who tries to write a sequel is always fighting an uphill battle against criticism for how things were handled. My main complaint resides in the romance-novel-esque features of the plot, though I thought the characterizations were all either sound or interesting or well-reasoned. Also-- the editor was asleep at the wheel. There was at least one major discrepancy, wherein a character was called by another character's name in the narration. As for plot-- a smidge too slow. It was a cautionary lesson for me, who tends to write slow plots. Overall... enjoyable, as it held my interest enough, but I will not be rushing out to purchase my own copy when I return this one to the owner.

Book: Why is Sex Fun?

Why is Sex Fun? The Evolution of Human Sexuality by Jared Diamond (37)

I had the pleasure of hearing Diamond speak (largely about his theorems in Guns, Germs and Steel), and I loved it. I decided to become a Jared Diamond fan at that point.

I enjoyed this book, of course (especially the chapter on male lactation), and I'm glad I'll have it in my reference library, though overall, I wasn't as enthralled as I was by Guns, Germs and Steel. These things happen. Maybe Guns was just too good. Maybe I'm not far enough removed from my student days (after all, there are glancing mentions of Hrdy's work, of parent-offspring conflict, etc. that I'm altogether far too familiar with, still). Still, quite good.

Book: Permutation City

Permutation City by Greg Egan (36)

Yeah, so, ok. If anyone is keeping count, I picked this book up because it was mentioned in the recent issue of Scientific American (the article on multiple universes, of course). It's been a good long while since I've read some really straightforward, fairly hardcore SCIENCE fiction. (The last, in fact, was some not-very-good space opera, if I remember correctly.)

This was pretty good. Not quite what I was expecting in the way of multiple universes, so that was a tad unsatisfying, but on the other hand, the story was engaging, though occasionally the science was out there trying to drown me. What impressed me most was just the sheer number of world-building-blocks that were present. Kind of flabbergasting, really-- they just kept flying at you. I didn't buy the time-line (I can't imagine humanity achieving that level of technology in 43 years-- but I may be short-sighted), but I understand why the author chose that time-line-- it would have been hard to write any further in the future, for the kind of story he wanted to tell. And I liked the story. I thought the POV narrators were always sympathetic, and only when shown from other POV's could you tell that they were irritating personalities-- or crazy ones. To me, that's an accomplishment, because behaviors didn't become erratic when leaving the POV or anything.

I'm reading sci fi nowadays with a very strong author's eye, and I found myself trying to follow along with said eye, trying to pick up the threads of narrative flow and rising action and so forth. This failed in a couple of ways. First, I got sucked into the story-world, and was too busy trying to make sense of the logic of the world that I forgot to look for the logic of the story. Second, I recognized ultimately that the author approached the book like a man approaches a book. The plot essentially hinged on a scientific problem, and that's where the climax came in. There were plenty of emotional crises, too, and the climax did come into play there. But the final word on how the story developed was "man makes thing-- thing becomes uncontrollable-- man and thing duke it out-- one of them wins." Doesn't help with the problems I'm facing in my story. What was helpful was witnessing an author create their world and going for it, full-bore. No tentativity (word?), no hesitancy, just faith that what was done was enough to hang a story from. And it worked. And that's a very good lesson for me.

Forthcoming Book: Trickster's Choice

Looking really forward to Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce.
Have to read everything I own, first, but that might be about enough time. Might.

Book: She: Understanding Feminine Psychology

She: Understanding Feminine Psychology by Robert A. Johnson (35)

This, more than He gave me story ideas, but less than He seemed applicable to real life. I'm either too close to the situation to evaluate myself using this technique, or more likely, I grew up so non-traditionally that I'm just not a regular ol' woman. Probably the former, actually. Or maybe, even more so, this was written for a slightly older generation of women. A lot of Johnson's thoughts on feminine psychology revolve around mothers and marriage, but there's almost nothing about fathers. Whereas, fathers, or lack thereof, are somewhat central to my psychology. Likewise, "marriage is the first death of self, the transition from maidenhood to matronhood" (massive paraphrase) is largely... meaningless to me. My first death of self happened a hundred years ago in my childhood, and the transition from maidenhood to matronhood happened long before I married Dann. So.

Still, useful, and I was able to look at the book and say, "Yes, that's my mom," or "Yes, that's my aunt."

I'd almost like to write a paper or something on the way I think this book speaks to a generation before me and not my own, because I know very few women my age are bound in the same ways.

Books: The Perfect Wedding Reception, Bridal Bargains

The Perfect Wedding Reception: Stylish Ideas for Every Season by Maria McBride-Mellinger (33)

I was again lamenting how little I've read this year, when I happened to look over at the shelf and spy this and another book, which I both read cover to cover several times while planning my wedding. So, I'm going to include them! It's the right thing to do.

This book has gorgeous pictures of impractical weddings, but I found that I was able to apply several notions, such as painting pine-cones silver and using them as place-card holders. My bouquet idea came from here, as did the bridesmaid bouquets. I could have done more things from this book for not very much money, and a lot more things for a lot of money. Mostly, this book helped me gain a general aesthetic sense of what was possible, and led me to the final plan, which was beautiful and well-received.

Bridal Bargains by Denise and Alan Fields (34)

Really breaks down the wedding biz and tells you what you can, should and shouldn't spend good money on. It makes you a more savvy bride, and if I had to do the whole wedding thing over, I probably would have made Dann and my mom both read this book-- it might have saved a lot of wrangling (not that there was much wrangling, but there was enough, and this book would have clamped down on most of it).

The book is subtitled "How to throw a fantastic wedding on a realistic budget."

It's a thoroughly modern book, and suggests internet resources as well as others. "If Bridal Bargains doesn't save you at least $500 on the wedding, then we'll give you a complete refund," it says on the back. Well, I'm pretty sure we saved at least $500 through direct suggestions from the book-- though we saved more by prioritizing and deciding what was really important to us, though a lot of that decision-making was aided through information in this book.

One further note: I bought a grand total of 4 "budget bride" books, and got another few out of the library. Waste of money. I returned the library books, and sold the other 3 budget bride books back on Amazon. The other books had suggestions like "cook your own food." Which is a fine idea if you're really trying to cut the price down that much, but let me tell you, if you've decided to cook your own food, then you don't need to spend $10 on a book to tell you that, and nothing practical about how to do it (except to make and freeze the food ahead of time... very practical, I'm sure, if you're only inviting 10 people, but most people don't have freezers that big.)

I recommend both of these books to brides.

Book: He: Understanding Male Psychology

He: Understanding Male Psychology by Robert A. Johnson (32)

Interesting, and somewhat helpful. It's written very generally (no case studies or anything like that, like so many lay-psychology books); also, treats male psychology as an extended metaphor using an Arthurian legend. So, it appealed on a number of levels (plus, my mom loaned it to me). There were a couple of points where I would say, "Ah, yes. Dann." And a couple more points where I said, "Ah, yes. Me!" So, our theory that Dann and I have fairly mixed-up male/female roles is still born out.

I'm reading She now, so we'll see how that works out...

FYI, Mom had to read this for one of her shaman classes. I think that's also very interesting, and says something about her shamanic movement of choice.

Book: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill (31)

Yeah... much better than the movie.
'Nough said.

Book: Bride of the Beast

Bride of the Beast by Sue-Ellen Welfonder (30)

Talk about the ridiculous depths I've sunk to of late...

One time, Dann said to me about the romance novel I was reading "Why are you reading girl porn?" And I was able to say that it wasn't any such thing, that it was just a light romance. But this book is girl-porn. Sheesh.

I'm immediately going to start reading something with war and killing in it. Or perhaps just something with intellectual stimulation. But something.

edited to add...
I'm not intending to say anything negative about this book, you must understand. Of all the romances I've read this year (and it's appallingly many for someone who does not fancy herself a romance reader), this was certainly on the top tier: well-written, emotionally convincing, seemed well-researched. The comment on the "girl-porn" angle was not meant to be trash it, it's just more, ah, stimulating than the rest of the romances I've read of late.

One might say it was such a complete romance novel that it rather sated me on romance novels for a while, and now I feel the need to get back to the Victorian literature and the science-fiction that I claim to know and love.

edited to also add...
I also have to give this book kudos for having a memorable and entertaining sub-plot with a pregnant woman who won't stay confined to her bed. Her husband, the local laird, puts her bed in the main hall, to make sure she stays in it.

That made me laugh quite a lot, and reminds me of someone...

Book: Biography of the English Language

Biography of the English Language by Celia M. Millward (29)

A really, really interesting, in-depth and good inventory of the English language from soup to nuts. I got a copy from the library 'cause it costs an arm and a leg, and I certainly took my time reading it (it was pretty dense), but it's a pretty invaluable reference tool for a geek like me. Anyway. Very fun. Very enjoyable.

Book: Tea for Two

Tea for Two by Cathy Maxwell and Liz Carlyle (28)

Oh, whatever. The best part of reading this book was having Dann make fun of me. On the front of the book, floating somewhere below the title (but not a sub-title), it says: "Beware, it's hot!" He absolutely couldn't handle that. When I write a romance novel, I'm going to make absolutely sure there is something that silly on the cover of mine. Just for Dann.

Not that the book was unreadable or bad, it just failed to make an impact. Perhaps a true sign that I am/should be done with romance novels for a while.

Book: THoM

THoM by E. Catherine Tobler (27)

I won't post much about this since I think the author is trying to keep it reasonably under wraps until she gets a chance to finish/market it, but it was a decent read, and since I read it, I get to include it in my count. So there!

Book: The Writing Life

The Writing Life by Annie Dillard (26)

I started this book during this "let's read other writers talking about writing" phase. I'm pretty much over that. It's not that I don't appreciate the little nuggets, but no other writer can offer much advice to any other about how to get your ass in the chair-- the best they can say is "get your ass in the chair. And write."

But a book on how writing is daring, how it changes you, how you have to love writing to be a writer? As a memoir of the craft, it works fine. As a guide to other writers, it's a bit pretentious. So, I'm not sure who, exactly, this book is for. Would anyone other than writers even pick it up?

I did particularly enjoy this paragraph:

"On break, I usually read Conrad Aiken's poetry aloud. It was pure sound unencumbered by sense. If I ever caught a poem's sense by accident, I could never use that poem again. I often read the Selin poems, and 'Sea Holly.'"

Book: I am Legend

I am Legend by Richard Matheson (25)

Brandon loaned this to me, since I got him addicted to Buffy (at least, I think that's why). Anyway, I read it over the course of two nights, and it was quite creepy. I'm not sure I understood the whole "living" and "dead" vampires thing until the end, and that was frustrating, but it was an important distinction, for the ultimate plot hinges on that.

I was very sad about the dog.

A classic, well-written, and yeah, you can totally see that Stephen King was influenced by this guy a lot.

Book: The Blue Sword

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley (24)

Such a great book. I finished re-reading it at lunch today, and I was humming with happiness. Last night, Julie was saying it's just her favorite book ever. I hemmed and hawed, but I have to think about that: do I ever hum when I read my other long-time favorites? Not so much...

If I ever write a book half as good and a tenth as loved, I will be content with my life.

edited to add: the Amazon link shows the cover of the book I knew and love and wore to shreds whilst growing up. I have a new cover. It's not nearly so cheesy. But I don't like it nearly as well.

Wedding Night Reading

I really wanted to read The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley the night before I got married.

I thought about it on the 12th, but my mom was already in bed in the guest room, so I didn't go get it. I forgot to retrieve it on the 13th, so at 11:30 at night, mom (again in bed) barred the way. Dann says "Why didn't you just sneak in?" but that seemed rude.

So, at 1:45 AM on the 14th, after finishing the last chore before the wedding (I believe I was writing out the picture list), I found myself telling myself the story.

I haven't picked it up since then, by the way. But I'm pretty sure I remember about 85% of the book. From orange juice to Corlath walking through the wall, to "Harimad-sol" and the little house tiled with blue, to sneaking away and the flavorful potatoes and the final victory.

I mentioned all of this at some point to Dann, who was kind of mystified by the whole thing. Can I explain it? Can I explain why, of all my best-loved books, I wanted to read this particular well-loved favorite on the night before my wedding? I think it has something to do with Corlath-- Dann's eyes don't turn yellow or anything, but they're both sexy to me in similar ways. I also think it has something to do with what words we selected at our ceremony. We affirmed that we are individuals making a choice; we have not become one entity. Like Corlath and Harry, though that was never my most immediate thought when chosing things. Harry informed a lot of my personality as I was growing up.

Considering that I read the book first in 1987 or 1988ish... and that I've read the book, on average, twice a year, I've read the book at least 30 times. Probably more. It served me well, when I was unable to read it last week.

Book: The Lady is Tempted

The Lady is Tempted by Cathy Maxwell (23)

Very enjoyable, though I think it was the setting and my mood as much as anything. Everything tastes better on your honeymoon, official or otherwise. I had no complaints about the book, but no specific praise either... the conflict came entirely from the main characters' perceptions about honor, and frankly that was refreshing. No one tried to kidnap the female character, there was no back-story so convoluted that you wondered why you were even bothering to try, and I was altogether very glad to have read it.

Choose 3 Books Meme

Meme

Choose three books from your personal library that as a set of three would allow most of your friends to guess with reasonable certainty that they came from your house, and explain why if necessary. The aim is to pick books if possible such that any two of the three don't necessarily uniquely define you.

Selected Poems by Conrad Aiken
Hawk of May by Gillian Bradshaw
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

Then choose three more that people would be surprised to find on your shelves (Terminal damage to your street cred is optional).

Ten Stupid Things Women Do To Screw Up Their Lives by Dr. Laura (it was passed on to me, and btw, I've done a lot of those things)
Flatland
The Gas We Pass

(Note: I chose to answer with fiction/poetry the first one; I think that I have a better chance to be defined by non-fiction, amazingly enough, but it seems less fun that way. As for the second, I don't know what is meant by "people," since a lot of people would know that I have read Flatland, even though it's all mathy, and no one who reads this would be surprised about the young adult or romance novel obsessions...)

Book: Queen of Attolia

Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (22)

re-read
I read The Thief about 2 or 3 years ago, and then this one. I remember loving this one to pieces at the time, and so when I was looking for something good and calming to reread, I chose this one... but I think the experience is enhanced by reading them both. This one was still nice, but the impact wasn't as great.

Something about this book really reminds me of Cynthia Voigt's "The Kingdom" series... perhaps because the darkness and complexity increases in each book. I can't imagine what book 3 would be like (though I don't believe a book 3 would be a good idea here...). Still, very enjoyable, with lots of the little details that just make for good reading. The exchanges between Eddis and Attolia about Eugenides are hilarious. The relationship between Attolia and Eugenides as viewed from the outside are fab, as well (in essence, "don't make me cut off your other hand!" Shocking and appalling all around them, and for them, it's practically foreplay).

Overall, I find it a little hard to swallow that this book is meant for ten-year-olds. Not an average ten-year-old, I'm sure! I think I would have liked it, but I was also devouring things like Clan of the Cave Bear, which I now re-read and scratch my head, going, "Really?" Because Kayla is 8 & 1/2, and I can't imagine her reading this or Clan of the Cave Bear in a year and a half.... but by my 8 & 1/2, I easily had 100 books under my belt, I bet-- Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, Little House, all the sequels, Alice in Wonderland, The Incredible Journey, all the Beverly Cleary, most of Judy Blume... and let's not forget, Brighty of the Grand Canyon... What strange memories I'm conjuring. Trying to figure out what happened by 8 & 1/2. Do I remember reading it in Sault Ste. Marie? Do I remember reading it on Hart Street? At Denny and Ernie's house? At the new house? Well, if it happened at the new house, I was 9, so I can't count it. Memory is such a strange place.