My original thought, when planning this post, was that 2010 was kind of a "meh" reading year for me. But after flipping through my journal, I realised that there were some good things in there, just didn't find any new (to me) authors who absolutely knocked my socks off.
I discovered the very competent Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter. (That's not the faint praise it sounds like. I'm very picky about my Urban Fantasy.) The first book in the series is Skinwalker.
I really enjoyed What the Librarian Did by Karina Bliss. I don't read much category romance anymore, but this one was good. A well balanced combination of fun and emotion. And to an Ugly American the New Zealand setting was just a touch exotic. I definitely look forward to reading more from this author.
Exit Strategy and Made to Be Broken by Kelley Armstrong are the only two books in the Nadia Stafford series. (So far. I'm still hoping for more.) I put off reading these for a while because I wasn't sure I wanted to read about a heroine who's a hitman... woman... whatever. But Nadia has strong reasons for doing what she does, and it was easy for me as a reader to accept what her line of work. I absolutely loved her mentor, Jack, and hope if there are further books in the series that they will develop the relationship between them.
Changes by Jim Butcher ended with a real shocker that leaves the whole Dresden Files series in question. Can't wait to see what happens in the new one, due out this spring.
Draw the Dark by Isla J. Bick was excellent, and a book that I never would have discovered if not for Netgalley. My review is here.
Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews was good.
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl was good. I hope to get around to the sequel, Beautiful Darkness, sometime in the new year.
There were other books this year that, unfortunately, didn't live up to my hopes for them. Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie, The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen, and Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn were all slightly disappointing. None of them were bad books by any means. But they didn't live up to the authors' previous books.
And then there was the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. I found these books both obsessively readable and not very good. The story is told in first person by MacKayla Lane, possibly the most insipid, TSTL heroine I've ever encountered. In fact, there were times when she wandered past TSTL and into Why Aren't You Dead Yet? I frequently longed to beat her over the head with one of her pretty pink shoes. I only put up with Mac to get access to the delectable Jericho Barrons. Who is also sometimes a bit of a tool-- if I were Mac I'd have planted one of my pretty pink shoes where the sun don't shine about 5 minutes after meeting the guy. But honey, I'd still bang him like a screen door. And so I will be putting up with the irritatingly ignorant Mac just to find out what happens to Barrons in the final book, due out in about 3 weeks.
So those were the standouts of my reading year. For anyone who's curious, you can see my full 2010 reading list here. Happy New Year, y'all!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
I have a plan
After four years with the Little Red Book, I feel like I've got a handle on tracking my reading. Now I need to work on the other side of the equation.
My TBR shelf was always a bit out of control. I tried to keep the TBR to one shelf on my bookshelf. Then it was a double row of books on that shelf. Then it was a double row of books with others piled on top. For every one I read, three more magically appeared. They were breeding like rabbits. Pretty soon I was going to have to rent them their own apartment. And still, I didn't always have exactly the right book for my reading mood.
Then came the Kindle.
For a while I did pretty good. Since I could have just about any book I wanted any time I wanted, there was no need to stockpile. I could download a sample for any book that struck my fancy, and then browse and buy at leisure. It was the damn freebies that got me. Out of the 153 books in my TBR file, I only purchased 8 of them. Everything else was a promo.
Then All Romance Ebooks had a major sale leading up to the introduction of Agency pricing last spring. Hello, Sony Pocket, and hello piles of ebooks. Bought at a discount, of course, but still purchased and languishing on my reader. With the world of ebook retailers suddenly wide open, I also discovered Kobo. And let me tell you, Kobo loves to run coupons. This summer Carina Press opened it's doors, and I've probably bought half of the books they've published so far, many from Kobo at obscene discount. And then there were the thousands of library books available for download with my Sony.
Are you starting to get the picture here? I have a lot of books, just waiting to be read. And with them demurely tucked away on ereaders, and not bursting off the living room shelves, it's easy to forget exactly how much I have, and how much I really don't need to take advantage of that next coupon.
My name is Chronic Betty, and I have a book buying problem.
The only way to take control and clear out some of this backlog is to start making a list. For a while this summer I had a list of all the books I needed/wanted to read, along with a notation for whether I had paid for them, gotten them as a freebie, or downloaded them from the library. I'd cross each book off as I read it. But it quickly got cumbersome, since I didn't dedicate a special notebook to this and instead just mixed it in with all the rest of the every day notes. (Proof that my Little Red Book was a good idea.)
So for 2011 I'm trying something new. I've had my Goodreads account for a while, but I haven't taken full advantage of it's shelf system to organize my books. This year I will. I've created a shelf called Books to Read in 2011. There are 105 books on it right now. A few of these are library books that I know I'll be able to download at some point in the coming year. A few more are books that are coming out in 2011 that I know I'm going to want to buy. But the majority are books that are sitting on one of my ereaders, just waiting for me to get around to them. This list isn't set in stone. There will probably be additions as the year goes on. But if I can get most of the books on this list read by the end of the year, I'll feel pretty good about my progress. If I stay away from the coupons it will help.
My TBR shelf was always a bit out of control. I tried to keep the TBR to one shelf on my bookshelf. Then it was a double row of books on that shelf. Then it was a double row of books with others piled on top. For every one I read, three more magically appeared. They were breeding like rabbits. Pretty soon I was going to have to rent them their own apartment. And still, I didn't always have exactly the right book for my reading mood.
Then came the Kindle.
For a while I did pretty good. Since I could have just about any book I wanted any time I wanted, there was no need to stockpile. I could download a sample for any book that struck my fancy, and then browse and buy at leisure. It was the damn freebies that got me. Out of the 153 books in my TBR file, I only purchased 8 of them. Everything else was a promo.
Then All Romance Ebooks had a major sale leading up to the introduction of Agency pricing last spring. Hello, Sony Pocket, and hello piles of ebooks. Bought at a discount, of course, but still purchased and languishing on my reader. With the world of ebook retailers suddenly wide open, I also discovered Kobo. And let me tell you, Kobo loves to run coupons. This summer Carina Press opened it's doors, and I've probably bought half of the books they've published so far, many from Kobo at obscene discount. And then there were the thousands of library books available for download with my Sony.
Are you starting to get the picture here? I have a lot of books, just waiting to be read. And with them demurely tucked away on ereaders, and not bursting off the living room shelves, it's easy to forget exactly how much I have, and how much I really don't need to take advantage of that next coupon.
My name is Chronic Betty, and I have a book buying problem.
The only way to take control and clear out some of this backlog is to start making a list. For a while this summer I had a list of all the books I needed/wanted to read, along with a notation for whether I had paid for them, gotten them as a freebie, or downloaded them from the library. I'd cross each book off as I read it. But it quickly got cumbersome, since I didn't dedicate a special notebook to this and instead just mixed it in with all the rest of the every day notes. (Proof that my Little Red Book was a good idea.)
So for 2011 I'm trying something new. I've had my Goodreads account for a while, but I haven't taken full advantage of it's shelf system to organize my books. This year I will. I've created a shelf called Books to Read in 2011. There are 105 books on it right now. A few of these are library books that I know I'll be able to download at some point in the coming year. A few more are books that are coming out in 2011 that I know I'm going to want to buy. But the majority are books that are sitting on one of my ereaders, just waiting for me to get around to them. This list isn't set in stone. There will probably be additions as the year goes on. But if I can get most of the books on this list read by the end of the year, I'll feel pretty good about my progress. If I stay away from the coupons it will help.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Little Red Book
Way, way back in 2006, while making my New Year's resolutions, I decided it was time to get organized about this reading thing. I knew I did it. A lot. But how many books did I read in a year? No idea. If someone wanted a recommendation I was reduced to scanning my book shelves, which was only partially successful because I'm also a library junkie. And when reading a series with a lot of similar titles, the "oh, crap, have I read this one yet?" factor was just too high. It was time to start my Little Red Book.
The journal itself is something I won that year in the Cherry NaNo group. Left to my own devices I probably would have grabbed a plain old notebook from the grocery store. And within a month or two there would be a reading list in the front and grocery lists, driving directions, and all kinds of other random crap in the back. So the pretty journal was a blessing. Even though it's showing some wear after four years of constant use, it's still in good shape. No random doodles, no pages torn out. Just an ongoing list of the books I've read since I started my project.
Being me, I have a few rules for the Little Red Book. Only books read in their entirety are recorded. DNFs don't make it. If it's an anthology, I have to read the whole thing. Two stories out of five doesn't make the cut. And most of all, these have to be books I've never read before. Re-reads most definitely don't go in the book.
Even with all these rules I've managed to make it to 400 books in the last four years. I expect to finish book number 401 before midnight on Friday. At the rate I've been reading, and considering the number of pages I have left, this book should take care of me for another 48 years. Since that would make me approximately 84 years old, this is probably the only reading journal I will ever need.
I highly recommend you start a reading journal of your own, if you don't have one already. You can do it the old fashioned way, like me with my Little Red Book. You can make a spreadsheet and track them on your computer. Or you can go the social media route and use a website like Goodreads or Shelfari. And you don't have to use my rules. Make up your own, or have none at all if that suits you. However you decide to do it, start a list. Try it for a year. You might be surprised to see how satisfying tracking your reading habits can be.
The journal itself is something I won that year in the Cherry NaNo group. Left to my own devices I probably would have grabbed a plain old notebook from the grocery store. And within a month or two there would be a reading list in the front and grocery lists, driving directions, and all kinds of other random crap in the back. So the pretty journal was a blessing. Even though it's showing some wear after four years of constant use, it's still in good shape. No random doodles, no pages torn out. Just an ongoing list of the books I've read since I started my project.
Being me, I have a few rules for the Little Red Book. Only books read in their entirety are recorded. DNFs don't make it. If it's an anthology, I have to read the whole thing. Two stories out of five doesn't make the cut. And most of all, these have to be books I've never read before. Re-reads most definitely don't go in the book.
Even with all these rules I've managed to make it to 400 books in the last four years. I expect to finish book number 401 before midnight on Friday. At the rate I've been reading, and considering the number of pages I have left, this book should take care of me for another 48 years. Since that would make me approximately 84 years old, this is probably the only reading journal I will ever need.
I highly recommend you start a reading journal of your own, if you don't have one already. You can do it the old fashioned way, like me with my Little Red Book. You can make a spreadsheet and track them on your computer. Or you can go the social media route and use a website like Goodreads or Shelfari. And you don't have to use my rules. Make up your own, or have none at all if that suits you. However you decide to do it, start a list. Try it for a year. You might be surprised to see how satisfying tracking your reading habits can be.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Sweet!
I was poking around at Goodreads the other day, as I am occasionally wont to do, and I rediscovered the giveaways section. (It's a tab under Find Books.) Many, many people throw their names in the hat for these things, so I wasn't expecting much. But I went ahead and applied for a few that looked interesting. And I was chosen for one! The drawing was Monday, and they say it could take 4-6 weeks for the book to arrive. Well, I guess Penguin is ready to wrap things up for the holidays, because FedEx just delivered my copy of A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.
Obviously, two days before Christmas is not the best time to start an almost 600 page novel. But the blurb sounds really good, right up my alley, and I look forward to cracking it open sometime after the first of the year.
So if you're on Goodreads, I encourage you to take a look at the giveaways page and apply if you see something interesting. You never know when you might get lucky! (Almost 1200 people signed up for 25 copies of ADoW, so I feel pretty lucky indeed. Anyone want to buy me a lottery ticket?) And here's a link to my profile, if you'd like to friend me over there: http://www.goodreads.com/chronicbetty. You know I love seeing what everyone else is reading!
Obviously, two days before Christmas is not the best time to start an almost 600 page novel. But the blurb sounds really good, right up my alley, and I look forward to cracking it open sometime after the first of the year.
So if you're on Goodreads, I encourage you to take a look at the giveaways page and apply if you see something interesting. You never know when you might get lucky! (Almost 1200 people signed up for 25 copies of ADoW, so I feel pretty lucky indeed. Anyone want to buy me a lottery ticket?) And here's a link to my profile, if you'd like to friend me over there: http://www.goodreads.com/chronicbetty. You know I love seeing what everyone else is reading!
Friday, December 17, 2010
A Survey of One-Hit Wonders
Now please be advised, readers, that Diva defines a one-hit wonder not as an author with a single successful book but as a writer who wrote what I deem to be one and only one excellent book after reading others in their canon.
Feel free to dispute my selections--some obscure, some revered--but be armed with the title of another good book he/she wrote.
1. Whitney Otto
The Book of Superior Perfection: How to Make an American Quilt
Dismal 1995 film adaptation notwithstanding, this collection of stories examines the defining events in the lives of a group of women who quilt together in Grasse, California as they make a wedding quilt for Finn Bennett Dodd, the granddaughter of one of the members. Sophia Darling, the first story, is my favorite--romantic, true, and devastating. Seriously--anyone who can describe a seventeen year old as having a heart that "resembled nothing so much as a badly-formed arrow, all rough edges and sharpness" had incredible potential writing for women.
The Letdowns: The Passion Dream Book (the first 50 pages are great, too bad she abandons all the characters in the Renaissance era prologue to focus on an interracial couple in a dull and pedantic story. A Collection of Beauties at the Height of their Popularity is the only book I have ever actually marched to the counter of a bookstore with and demanded my money back BECAUSE IT WAS SO BAD. If I wanted to read about a bunch of drugged out promiscuous people doing lines of cocaine off someone's daughter's school picture, I'd be a very different person. Since I'm me, I required my $12 back and got it.
2. Tracy Chevalier
The Book of Superior Perfection: Girl With a Pearl Earring
Another book whose movie I disliked--Colin Firth in an impossibly bushy red wig seemed ineffectual and rather like he was, um, ogling a very very young girl whilst married. The novel, however, explores Griet's coming of age as a housemaid who falls in love with Vermeer, poses for his painting, and is cast out in disgrace. The descriptions are vivid and Griet's inner life is observant and honest. Plus, great last line..."A maid comes free."
The Letdowns: The Lady and the Unicorn--Chevalier's other attempt to enliven a famed artwork came across as lewd and annoying. The tapestry guy uses a rather icky unicorn story as a pickup line. It's not pretty. Also, Falling Angels which centers around a cemetery but meanders dully until my favorite character, Ivy Mae, gets raped and strangled at a suffragist rally. Horrible, horrible, horrible.
3. Beth Gutcheon
The Book of Superior Perfection: More than You Know
I reviewed this here and it's one of the most romantic novels I've ever read. No disclaimer, no warnings, just a stunning love story with a malevolent ghost in the mix. I could quote the luminous writing for hours.
The Letdowns: Domestic Pleasures--only one chapter of this book had a taste of the magic of MTYK. The rest of it is about a single mother reeling from her ex-husband's death and getting involved with his bastard lawyer. Leeway Cottage--again, the chapter about Nina before she gets stuck in the concentration camp is lovely but the rest of the book vacillates from a dreadful marriage to brutal scenes in said camp. She wrote a sequel to this which I felt it unnecessary to explore since I hated all of the characters both individually and as a group.
4. John Steinbeck
Book of Superior Perfection: East of Eden
One of my favorites ever, this ambitious allegory of Cain and Abel follows three generations of the Trask family: jaunty one-legged egomaniac Cyrus, his sons the brutal Charles and apathetic Adam who are trashed by devil allegory Cathy, and Adam and Cathy's twins Cal and Aron. Cal Trask is the first character I ever read of whom I truly thought: I am him. That is me. Not Anne Shirley nor Laura Ingalls, my perennial favorites, could compete with the shattered depths of my identification with Cal.
The Letdowns: Of Mice and Men (unengaging and depressing), To a God Unknown (egotistical and damn creepy), Cup of Gold (practically nonsensical), Winter of Our Discontent (smug and self-aggrandizing), The Grapes of Wrath (tragic and miserable without loveliness), et. al.
Feel free to dispute my selections--some obscure, some revered--but be armed with the title of another good book he/she wrote.
1. Whitney Otto
The Book of Superior Perfection: How to Make an American Quilt
Dismal 1995 film adaptation notwithstanding, this collection of stories examines the defining events in the lives of a group of women who quilt together in Grasse, California as they make a wedding quilt for Finn Bennett Dodd, the granddaughter of one of the members. Sophia Darling, the first story, is my favorite--romantic, true, and devastating. Seriously--anyone who can describe a seventeen year old as having a heart that "resembled nothing so much as a badly-formed arrow, all rough edges and sharpness" had incredible potential writing for women.
The Letdowns: The Passion Dream Book (the first 50 pages are great, too bad she abandons all the characters in the Renaissance era prologue to focus on an interracial couple in a dull and pedantic story. A Collection of Beauties at the Height of their Popularity is the only book I have ever actually marched to the counter of a bookstore with and demanded my money back BECAUSE IT WAS SO BAD. If I wanted to read about a bunch of drugged out promiscuous people doing lines of cocaine off someone's daughter's school picture, I'd be a very different person. Since I'm me, I required my $12 back and got it.
2. Tracy Chevalier
The Book of Superior Perfection: Girl With a Pearl Earring
Another book whose movie I disliked--Colin Firth in an impossibly bushy red wig seemed ineffectual and rather like he was, um, ogling a very very young girl whilst married. The novel, however, explores Griet's coming of age as a housemaid who falls in love with Vermeer, poses for his painting, and is cast out in disgrace. The descriptions are vivid and Griet's inner life is observant and honest. Plus, great last line..."A maid comes free."
The Letdowns: The Lady and the Unicorn--Chevalier's other attempt to enliven a famed artwork came across as lewd and annoying. The tapestry guy uses a rather icky unicorn story as a pickup line. It's not pretty. Also, Falling Angels which centers around a cemetery but meanders dully until my favorite character, Ivy Mae, gets raped and strangled at a suffragist rally. Horrible, horrible, horrible.
3. Beth Gutcheon
The Book of Superior Perfection: More than You Know
I reviewed this here and it's one of the most romantic novels I've ever read. No disclaimer, no warnings, just a stunning love story with a malevolent ghost in the mix. I could quote the luminous writing for hours.
The Letdowns: Domestic Pleasures--only one chapter of this book had a taste of the magic of MTYK. The rest of it is about a single mother reeling from her ex-husband's death and getting involved with his bastard lawyer. Leeway Cottage--again, the chapter about Nina before she gets stuck in the concentration camp is lovely but the rest of the book vacillates from a dreadful marriage to brutal scenes in said camp. She wrote a sequel to this which I felt it unnecessary to explore since I hated all of the characters both individually and as a group.
4. John Steinbeck
Book of Superior Perfection: East of Eden
One of my favorites ever, this ambitious allegory of Cain and Abel follows three generations of the Trask family: jaunty one-legged egomaniac Cyrus, his sons the brutal Charles and apathetic Adam who are trashed by devil allegory Cathy, and Adam and Cathy's twins Cal and Aron. Cal Trask is the first character I ever read of whom I truly thought: I am him. That is me. Not Anne Shirley nor Laura Ingalls, my perennial favorites, could compete with the shattered depths of my identification with Cal.
The Letdowns: Of Mice and Men (unengaging and depressing), To a God Unknown (egotistical and damn creepy), Cup of Gold (practically nonsensical), Winter of Our Discontent (smug and self-aggrandizing), The Grapes of Wrath (tragic and miserable without loveliness), et. al.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Do you like a challenge?
I have a confession to make. I love the thrill of a challenge. 52 Books in 52 Weeks, 43 Things, NaNoWriMo, Team in Training. I like the adrenalin of starting something new. I like the camaraderie that projects like this create.
But I have another secret for you. I'm terrible on follow through. As much as I might want to do something at the start, if the motivation to do it doesn't come from within me, I'm not going to finish.
I've noticed lately, probably because we're coming up on the start of a new year, a lot of reading challenge sign ups, both on Goodreads and various book blogs. Usually, the challenges are linked to what you're reading in some way-- read x number of YA novels, read x number of first time authors, read every book on this list of classics, etc. One of the more attractive challenges to me was about stepping outside your comfort zone and trying different styles or genres. Sometimes I wonder if my reading interests are too narrow, and think that a challenge that forces me to read something different would be good for me.
And this is where I always get hung up. I don't read because it's good for me. I read for entertainment. I read for pleasure. Reading a book I don't want to read is like forcing myself to gag down lima beans. I don't like it, and I'll avoid it whenever I can. Add that to my little quirk about not starting a new book until the last one is finished and suddenly there's a whole lot less reading in my life. Not good.
That said, I do like having reading goals. What's the difference? My goals involve the number of books I read in a year. The subject matter is totally up to the whims of the moment. And I have many reading whims.
I think I'm going to create two goals for myself this year. The first goal is to reach 500 in my little red book. (I'll talk more about that in a future post.) My other goal is to read down some of the massive TBR list waiting for me on my Kindle and Pocket. I may even go so far as to say no buying books for a certain length of time or until I've read a certain number of books in my backlog. I'm not certain about that part yet. A no buying policy could lead to another book binge in the week between Christmas and New Year's, especially if there are any good coupon deals.
So, that's my tentative reading plan for 2011. What's yours? Have you thought about it at all, or is everyone just trying to hang on until Christmas?
But I have another secret for you. I'm terrible on follow through. As much as I might want to do something at the start, if the motivation to do it doesn't come from within me, I'm not going to finish.
I've noticed lately, probably because we're coming up on the start of a new year, a lot of reading challenge sign ups, both on Goodreads and various book blogs. Usually, the challenges are linked to what you're reading in some way-- read x number of YA novels, read x number of first time authors, read every book on this list of classics, etc. One of the more attractive challenges to me was about stepping outside your comfort zone and trying different styles or genres. Sometimes I wonder if my reading interests are too narrow, and think that a challenge that forces me to read something different would be good for me.
And this is where I always get hung up. I don't read because it's good for me. I read for entertainment. I read for pleasure. Reading a book I don't want to read is like forcing myself to gag down lima beans. I don't like it, and I'll avoid it whenever I can. Add that to my little quirk about not starting a new book until the last one is finished and suddenly there's a whole lot less reading in my life. Not good.
That said, I do like having reading goals. What's the difference? My goals involve the number of books I read in a year. The subject matter is totally up to the whims of the moment. And I have many reading whims.
I think I'm going to create two goals for myself this year. The first goal is to reach 500 in my little red book. (I'll talk more about that in a future post.) My other goal is to read down some of the massive TBR list waiting for me on my Kindle and Pocket. I may even go so far as to say no buying books for a certain length of time or until I've read a certain number of books in my backlog. I'm not certain about that part yet. A no buying policy could lead to another book binge in the week between Christmas and New Year's, especially if there are any good coupon deals.
So, that's my tentative reading plan for 2011. What's yours? Have you thought about it at all, or is everyone just trying to hang on until Christmas?
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Review: Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
A lady does not smoke cheroot. She does not ride astride. She does not fence or attend duels. She does not fire a pistol, and she never gambles at a gentlemen's club.I really enjoyed this one, mostly because Callie is my favorite kind of heroine-- intelligent and accomplished, but terribly insecure about her appearance and ability to attract a mate. Read into that what you will, but I love seeing this kind of heroine come into her own and find the man of her dreams.
Lady Calpurnia Hartwell has always followed the rules, rules that have left her unmarried - and more than a little unsatisfied. And so she's vowed to break the rules and live the life of pleasure she's been missing.
But to dance every dance, to steal a midnight kiss - to do those things, Callie will need a willing partner. Someone who knows everything about rule-breaking. Someone like Gabriel St. John, the Marquess of Ralston - charming and devastatingly handsome, his wicked reputation matched only by his sinful smile.
If she's not careful, she'll break the most important rule of all - the one that says that pleasure-seekers should never fall hopelessly, desperately in love...
Callie receives a wake up call the night of her younger sister's betrothal ball, and she make a list of nine things she wants to experience.
Kiss someone- PassionatelyAn overheard conversation is the spur she needs to take the list from a fantasy to a project. By an impulsive act that struck me as out of character, Callie lands in the home of the man she's fantasized about for years, Lord Ralston. That same day a sister he never knew about landed on his doorstep, and he decides that Callie is the solution to the problem of launching this new sister in society. I found this a bit improbable also. But if you can go with the flow, it gives them an excuse to spend time together for the rest of the book.
Smoke a cheroot and drink scotch
Ride astride
Fence
Attend a duel
Fire a pistol
Gamble (at a gentleman's club)
Dance every dance at a ball
Be considered beautiful. Just once.
I liked Ralston a lot, too. He and Callie had great chemistry, both physically and mentally. Although a rake and an accomplished lover, of course, he had an endearing habit of saying exactly the wrong thing after fooling around. Through the filter of Callie's insecurities they were more devastating than charming, but from his point of view he was desperately trying to be the person he felt Callie deserved.
The list provides momentum to the story. Many of the adventures also become opportunities for Callie and Ralston to advance their physical and emotional intimacy. But if felt like the last few were accomplished just to be accomplished. They didn't add anything to the story. I would have preferred to close the book knowing that they planned to continue their adventures than to rush through them.
Also, there was a side story about a bet that I could have done without. It never really added up to much in the story, except for one more fall out between the lovers before the final declaration. It could have been cut with no negative impact to the story as a whole.
Overall, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake was charming and heart wrenching (I might have teared up a time or two), a solid B+.
I downloaded this one from the library (hooray for the library!), and I'm already on the waiting list for the next book in the trilogy, Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Mid-Day Mini Monday
You're probably all getting really sick of listening to me talk about this, but today I'm working through Memory, the (depending on how you count them, because the books were written and published all out of order and they still manage to be brilliant) tenth book in the Vorkosigan series.
This book suffers from the same problem that every series seems to face eventually. There's stuff that has to happen, the mundane, taking care of business stuff. Recovering from what happened in the last book, set up for the next one. You gotta do it. But it's not terribly interesting, at least not on the re-read. Not if that's all you're doing, with no other plot stuff woven in.
The first third of the book has some pretty significant stuff going on. There's a big "oh, shit" for Miles in there, and something major happens for Gregor. If this was Gregor's story, the first third of the book would be fascinating. But it's not, and it's not. At about the one-third mark the real business of the book is introduced and things pick up. At the half-way point, where I am right now, things are really getting hot. If I didn't have other stuff I had to do, I wouldn't have put down the book to write this.
But the first part of the book? Meh.
This book suffers from the same problem that every series seems to face eventually. There's stuff that has to happen, the mundane, taking care of business stuff. Recovering from what happened in the last book, set up for the next one. You gotta do it. But it's not terribly interesting, at least not on the re-read. Not if that's all you're doing, with no other plot stuff woven in.
The first third of the book has some pretty significant stuff going on. There's a big "oh, shit" for Miles in there, and something major happens for Gregor. If this was Gregor's story, the first third of the book would be fascinating. But it's not, and it's not. At about the one-third mark the real business of the book is introduced and things pick up. At the half-way point, where I am right now, things are really getting hot. If I didn't have other stuff I had to do, I wouldn't have put down the book to write this.
But the first part of the book? Meh.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Review: Changeless by Gail Carriger
Review by Lora (DivaBetty)
After reading Soulless by Gail Carriger, I was hooked.
Our preternatural heroine, Alexia (we find her witty but sometimes annoying), has married her werewolf hottie Connall Maccon (we LOVE him) and parlayed her newlywed aristocratic status into a post on the Shadow Council--Queen Victoria's advisors on the supernatural.
Suddenly, when the British fleet comes in from India by way of Egypt, all the supernaturals are rendered temporarily mortal and the ghosts are exorcised permanently. The BUR Agency where Connall works and the Shadow Council investigate, debating whether a plague or a new weapon is to blame for the "changelessness".
This phenomenon follows Connall back to Scotland where he goes to settle some business with his former pack, which he abandoned after a betrayal (cue blah blah blah exposition in which he was in every way justified in his actions blah blah). Alexia follows him by dirigible and is tailed by compelling French inventor Madame Lefoux who dresses in men's clothing, has a rather suspicious affiliation with our heroine's equally suspicious former-vampire-drone-turned-ladies'-maid Angelique. Attempts on Alexia's life and rummaging of her belongings ensue at Woolsey Castle where the dwindled former pack is a mess because Connall's successor (nice guy, crappy Alpha) has died. They are pissed at Connall, Connall's pissed at them, and amusing sequences follow in which they are all stuck as mortals but beat the crap out of each other anyway...astonished by how long it takes for natural healing to occur.
The wit abounds, the clever satirical steampunkishness remains charming.
The pseudoscience with the aethographer (telegraph-meets-satellite-phone-booth) and the dirigible felt laborious and overly detailed, perhaps in an unwise authorial attempt to have it MAKE SENSE which it does not. Personally, I like the series and I'm willing to check my disbelief at the doorway for the sake of entertainment but this reminded me of the numerous times in the wretched movie adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife that the silly screenwriter had characters try to "explain" how and why the time traveling occurred instead of letting it be a condition of the story. It just *is*, okay? The aethographer thingie sends messages and is tricky. The dirigible is a blimp with fancy deets. Basta!
Minor complaint: I really enjoyed Ivy Hisselpenny in book 1, Alexia's fashion-victim friend who was both conventional and hilarious. This time around she's caricaturized and Alexia dismisses all of her concerns and feelings in a cavalier manner underscoring my belief that our soulless mc is as caring as a toadstool. By ramping up the ludicrous hysterics, the author reduced a likeable character to another something for Alexia to turn up her nose at--she did that plenty often enough as it was. Is there anyone to whom she doesn't feel superior? Would I be terribly distressed if someone smacked her? The answer to both, sadly, is in the negative.
I won't spoil the WTF ending but I am personally torn between instantly downloading book 3 Blameless or simply chucking this one at the wall. Sufficient to say I believe that someone (namely my adored Connall) is acting out of character for the sake of a cliffhanger.
Our preternatural heroine, Alexia (we find her witty but sometimes annoying), has married her werewolf hottie Connall Maccon (we LOVE him) and parlayed her newlywed aristocratic status into a post on the Shadow Council--Queen Victoria's advisors on the supernatural.
Suddenly, when the British fleet comes in from India by way of Egypt, all the supernaturals are rendered temporarily mortal and the ghosts are exorcised permanently. The BUR Agency where Connall works and the Shadow Council investigate, debating whether a plague or a new weapon is to blame for the "changelessness".
This phenomenon follows Connall back to Scotland where he goes to settle some business with his former pack, which he abandoned after a betrayal (cue blah blah blah exposition in which he was in every way justified in his actions blah blah). Alexia follows him by dirigible and is tailed by compelling French inventor Madame Lefoux who dresses in men's clothing, has a rather suspicious affiliation with our heroine's equally suspicious former-vampire-drone-turned-ladies'-maid Angelique. Attempts on Alexia's life and rummaging of her belongings ensue at Woolsey Castle where the dwindled former pack is a mess because Connall's successor (nice guy, crappy Alpha) has died. They are pissed at Connall, Connall's pissed at them, and amusing sequences follow in which they are all stuck as mortals but beat the crap out of each other anyway...astonished by how long it takes for natural healing to occur.
The wit abounds, the clever satirical steampunkishness remains charming.
The pseudoscience with the aethographer (telegraph-meets-satellite-phone-booth) and the dirigible felt laborious and overly detailed, perhaps in an unwise authorial attempt to have it MAKE SENSE which it does not. Personally, I like the series and I'm willing to check my disbelief at the doorway for the sake of entertainment but this reminded me of the numerous times in the wretched movie adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife that the silly screenwriter had characters try to "explain" how and why the time traveling occurred instead of letting it be a condition of the story. It just *is*, okay? The aethographer thingie sends messages and is tricky. The dirigible is a blimp with fancy deets. Basta!
Minor complaint: I really enjoyed Ivy Hisselpenny in book 1, Alexia's fashion-victim friend who was both conventional and hilarious. This time around she's caricaturized and Alexia dismisses all of her concerns and feelings in a cavalier manner underscoring my belief that our soulless mc is as caring as a toadstool. By ramping up the ludicrous hysterics, the author reduced a likeable character to another something for Alexia to turn up her nose at--she did that plenty often enough as it was. Is there anyone to whom she doesn't feel superior? Would I be terribly distressed if someone smacked her? The answer to both, sadly, is in the negative.
I won't spoil the WTF ending but I am personally torn between instantly downloading book 3 Blameless or simply chucking this one at the wall. Sufficient to say I believe that someone (namely my adored Connall) is acting out of character for the sake of a cliffhanger.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Freebie!
I've been talking a lot about the Vorkosigan series lately, since I'm working my way through the whole series again before starting the new book. (Up to Mirror Dance. Four more books to go before the new one.) So I thought I'd mention that the publisher, Baen, has one of the books available for free. The Warrior's Apprentice is the first book in the series that features Miles as the protagonist. It's the first book that I read in the series, and in my totally biased opinion is an excellent place to start.
To download the book, go to the Baen free library. (This is an excellent resource if you like scifi. Be sure to read the introduction, where they explain the reasoning behind the free library. Baen was way ahead of the ebook curve.) Click The Authors, then Lois McMaster Bujold, then Warrior's Apprentice. Once on the Warrior's Apprentice page you've got your choice of about a million different formats.
Enjoy!
To download the book, go to the Baen free library. (This is an excellent resource if you like scifi. Be sure to read the introduction, where they explain the reasoning behind the free library. Baen was way ahead of the ebook curve.) Click The Authors, then Lois McMaster Bujold, then Warrior's Apprentice. Once on the Warrior's Apprentice page you've got your choice of about a million different formats.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
'Tis the Season
... to be reading! When I was a kid, one of the best parts of any holiday was the seasonal books that Mom would pull out of storage for us. Some of them I just remember the cover for, like Santa Mouse.
And then, there are others, like Cajun Night Before Christmas, that starts so memorably:
Christmas in America was a gift from my Pop-Pop for my first Christmas. It's out of print, probably never had more than that one printing, and is hideously expensive on the second-hand market. Amazon has copies for around $40. Fortunately, I still have that original copy (signed by the author even! I started early), and I was able to get copies a few years ago for my parents and brother, so none of us have to be without it, even if we can't all be together for the holiday.
The great thing about Christmas in America is that there is so much to see and learn. Unlike many picture books, Christmas is text-heavy. And the family in the story is German American, with corresponding foods and traditions, so not always easy to pronounce, either. But being German American myself, some of those foods and traditions were familiar from our own celebrations, even if the story takes place almost 100 years ago.
Moving into the present, I'm looking forward to reading a few grown-up Christmas books this year, too. My parents are seriously addicted to Hallmark movies. There have to be at least 30 hours of Hallmark Christmas movies on the dvr in the living room right now. They've watched Mrs. Miracle and Call Me Mrs. Miracle (Kaylee!) at least twice since Saturday. That got me interested in the books, even though I'm generally indifferent to Debbie Macomber. I was able to download Mrs. Miracle from the library, and I'm on the waiting list for Call Me Mrs. Miracle. I haven't had a chance to start reading yet, but I'd better get on it soon, or I may find myself wrestling my mother for possession of the ereader.
The other seasonal read I'm looking forward to is A Christmas to Die For by Marta Perry. I'm not normally an Inspie reader, but the first book in this series, Hide in Plain Sight, was one of the first books I read when I bought my Kindle summer of 2009. Harlequin had it available as a promotional freebie (and as far as I know it still is), so I decided to give it a try. Plus, the setting is Amish country, which sounded interesting, although the hero and heroine are not Amish themselves. When I saw that the second book in the series was Christmas themed, I decided to read it on Christmas Eve. Well, circumstances conspired against me, and A Christmas to Die For is still sitting, unread, on my Pocket a year later. This time I'm not banking on getting to read it on Christmas Eve, but I do plan to get to it sometime this month.
So, do you have any special books for the holidays? Any holiday-themed books you plan to read this season?
And then, there are others, like Cajun Night Before Christmas, that starts so memorably:
'Twas the night before Christmas
An' all t'ru de house
Dey don't a t'ing pass
Not even a mouse.
But our very favorite book, the one that we still snuggle up on the couch on Christmas Eve to read together, is Christmas in America by Beverly A. Scott.
Christmas in America was a gift from my Pop-Pop for my first Christmas. It's out of print, probably never had more than that one printing, and is hideously expensive on the second-hand market. Amazon has copies for around $40. Fortunately, I still have that original copy (signed by the author even! I started early), and I was able to get copies a few years ago for my parents and brother, so none of us have to be without it, even if we can't all be together for the holiday.
The great thing about Christmas in America is that there is so much to see and learn. Unlike many picture books, Christmas is text-heavy. And the family in the story is German American, with corresponding foods and traditions, so not always easy to pronounce, either. But being German American myself, some of those foods and traditions were familiar from our own celebrations, even if the story takes place almost 100 years ago.
Moving into the present, I'm looking forward to reading a few grown-up Christmas books this year, too. My parents are seriously addicted to Hallmark movies. There have to be at least 30 hours of Hallmark Christmas movies on the dvr in the living room right now. They've watched Mrs. Miracle and Call Me Mrs. Miracle (Kaylee!) at least twice since Saturday. That got me interested in the books, even though I'm generally indifferent to Debbie Macomber. I was able to download Mrs. Miracle from the library, and I'm on the waiting list for Call Me Mrs. Miracle. I haven't had a chance to start reading yet, but I'd better get on it soon, or I may find myself wrestling my mother for possession of the ereader.
The other seasonal read I'm looking forward to is A Christmas to Die For by Marta Perry. I'm not normally an Inspie reader, but the first book in this series, Hide in Plain Sight, was one of the first books I read when I bought my Kindle summer of 2009. Harlequin had it available as a promotional freebie (and as far as I know it still is), so I decided to give it a try. Plus, the setting is Amish country, which sounded interesting, although the hero and heroine are not Amish themselves. When I saw that the second book in the series was Christmas themed, I decided to read it on Christmas Eve. Well, circumstances conspired against me, and A Christmas to Die For is still sitting, unread, on my Pocket a year later. This time I'm not banking on getting to read it on Christmas Eve, but I do plan to get to it sometime this month.
So, do you have any special books for the holidays? Any holiday-themed books you plan to read this season?
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