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!
Showing posts with label non-review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label non-review. Show all posts
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
The Vorkosigan Series- A Love Letter
I'm not always swift on the uptake. For years I saw this series mentioned anywhere people love books. Romance, romcom, urban fantasy, everyone liked and recommended these books. Finally, in the spring of 2007, I read The Warrior's Apprentice.
Wowza.
In less than 6 months I tracked down and read the whole rest of the series. That 6 months was also when my health tanked and I was diagnosed with Crohn's. It was a miserable time for me, and I read Ethan of Athos over and over. You'd think it would be Miles, brilliant, damaged Miles who attracted me just then. But it was Ethan instead. A man who had been pushed out into a whole scary world that he knew almost nothing about. The friendship between Ethan and Quinn was so sweet, and it kept sucking me in again and again.
Now that I've read the whole thing, I have other favorites, too. Grover Gardner does an excellent job of reading the books (although the very first time I heard him reading The Warrior's Apprentice, I thought "Really? That's who they picked to be the voice of Miles?" By the second chapter I was hooked, and now I can't imagine any other reader), and I've listened to A Civil Campaign over and over. Although I may have referred to Miles as my literary boyfriend once or twice (last week), I really can't imagine a more perfect match for him than Ekaterin. I love watching the two of them bumble along until they're sure what they want. I always cheer during the proposal scene at the end. Miles and Ekaterin are a force to be reckoned with.
It wasn't my favorite at first, but subsequent reads, and listens, of Cetaganda have definitely highlighted its pleasures. I love Rian and the haut lady bubbles. I love the wary, yet friendly and respectful relationship he builds with Dag Benin. Cetaganda and Barrayar are once, and probably future, enemies, but they're still able to work together and help each other, even while saving their respective planets.
Falling Free is a wonderful book, apparently inspired by the author's father. It takes place in the same fictional universe as the Vorkosigan novels, but hundreds of years before our hero's birth. It doesn't have much direct impact on the rest of the series, but it is a bit of a thrill in Diplomatic Immunity when Miles goes to Graf station and sees a performance in the Minchenko Auditorium, and you know who those places were named after. Also, Falling Free is a really community book. You know who's meant to be doing the heavy lifting, but all the characters are heroes in this one. Except for the baddie, who is probably one of the top three (bottom three?) bad guys we've experienced so far in the Vorkosiverse-- a bureaucrat.
The latest Vorkosigan novel went on sale the other week, and with all the squirreliness in my life, I don't have it yet. But since I'm writing this in advance, I'm hoping that by the time this posts I'll have it in my hot little hands. If you're at all curious about these books, especially if you have an ereader, I strongly suggest you pop out and pick up a first edition copy of the new book, Cryoburn. It's got a disc in the back with e-versions of all but one novel in the series. That's a significant savings.
It's going to mean avoiding anything that might have spoilers for the next month or so, but I plan to read the whole series again, in order, before moving on to Cryoburn. Bujold has been writing these books for years; the first one was published in 1986, I believe. But as I said above, I'm a Betty-come-lately to the series. This is the first new Vorkosigan book she's put out since I became a fan. I plan to savor the experience.
As I write this I'm within a few pages of finishing Shards of Honor. It's amazing to go back and see the origins of Miles' personality in Aral and Cordelia. I think in many ways he's more his mother's son than his father's, although he might be surprised to realize which bits came from her.
I caught a vague rumor of a tragedy at the end of Cryoburn, and I have a suspicion what it might be. That may also be why I'm wanting to go slowly through the whole series first. I don't want to get to that tragedy.
Wowza.
In less than 6 months I tracked down and read the whole rest of the series. That 6 months was also when my health tanked and I was diagnosed with Crohn's. It was a miserable time for me, and I read Ethan of Athos over and over. You'd think it would be Miles, brilliant, damaged Miles who attracted me just then. But it was Ethan instead. A man who had been pushed out into a whole scary world that he knew almost nothing about. The friendship between Ethan and Quinn was so sweet, and it kept sucking me in again and again.
Now that I've read the whole thing, I have other favorites, too. Grover Gardner does an excellent job of reading the books (although the very first time I heard him reading The Warrior's Apprentice, I thought "Really? That's who they picked to be the voice of Miles?" By the second chapter I was hooked, and now I can't imagine any other reader), and I've listened to A Civil Campaign over and over. Although I may have referred to Miles as my literary boyfriend once or twice (last week), I really can't imagine a more perfect match for him than Ekaterin. I love watching the two of them bumble along until they're sure what they want. I always cheer during the proposal scene at the end. Miles and Ekaterin are a force to be reckoned with.
It wasn't my favorite at first, but subsequent reads, and listens, of Cetaganda have definitely highlighted its pleasures. I love Rian and the haut lady bubbles. I love the wary, yet friendly and respectful relationship he builds with Dag Benin. Cetaganda and Barrayar are once, and probably future, enemies, but they're still able to work together and help each other, even while saving their respective planets.
Falling Free is a wonderful book, apparently inspired by the author's father. It takes place in the same fictional universe as the Vorkosigan novels, but hundreds of years before our hero's birth. It doesn't have much direct impact on the rest of the series, but it is a bit of a thrill in Diplomatic Immunity when Miles goes to Graf station and sees a performance in the Minchenko Auditorium, and you know who those places were named after. Also, Falling Free is a really community book. You know who's meant to be doing the heavy lifting, but all the characters are heroes in this one. Except for the baddie, who is probably one of the top three (bottom three?) bad guys we've experienced so far in the Vorkosiverse-- a bureaucrat.
The latest Vorkosigan novel went on sale the other week, and with all the squirreliness in my life, I don't have it yet. But since I'm writing this in advance, I'm hoping that by the time this posts I'll have it in my hot little hands. If you're at all curious about these books, especially if you have an ereader, I strongly suggest you pop out and pick up a first edition copy of the new book, Cryoburn. It's got a disc in the back with e-versions of all but one novel in the series. That's a significant savings.
It's going to mean avoiding anything that might have spoilers for the next month or so, but I plan to read the whole series again, in order, before moving on to Cryoburn. Bujold has been writing these books for years; the first one was published in 1986, I believe. But as I said above, I'm a Betty-come-lately to the series. This is the first new Vorkosigan book she's put out since I became a fan. I plan to savor the experience.
As I write this I'm within a few pages of finishing Shards of Honor. It's amazing to go back and see the origins of Miles' personality in Aral and Cordelia. I think in many ways he's more his mother's son than his father's, although he might be surprised to realize which bits came from her.
I caught a vague rumor of a tragedy at the end of Cryoburn, and I have a suspicion what it might be. That may also be why I'm wanting to go slowly through the whole series first. I don't want to get to that tragedy.
Friday, October 8, 2010
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery- a Non-Review
I picked up The Blue Castle again recently and felt the urge to write about it. But I feel absolutely no desire to review it. You see, reviewing something requires analysing it. Looking at what was good and what was flawed. This book has been magic for me since I was 11 years old, and I have no desire to look for flaws and risk killing the magic.
Our heroine, Valancy Stirling, is in a bad way at the start of the book. It's the morning of her 29th birthday, and she's decided it's time to face the truth. She is old and unloved, living with family who intimidate and stifle her, and the secret chest pains she's been experiencing are getting worse. The only pleasant thing in her life are John Foster's books, which she manages to sneak by her mother.
At 11 I *so* identified with Valancy. What teen or preteen hasn't felt ugly and unwanted, misunderstood by her family? And I know that books, like those by L.M. Montgomery and the ones my parents always called my "trashy teen novels", were my solace and escape from that pain. I was right there with her with the shyness and thinking that no boy would ever love me. (At 11. Oy.) By the end of the first chapter I was hooked.
What Valancy discovered, and what I discovered through her, is that there can be so much more to life than your current situation. She got a pretty major piece of news, and it inspired her to let go of her fear. When she let go of her fear she discovered that even though she'd felt alone, there was a dear friend just waiting for her. She found purpose in her life. She found love, and thought it was small, she found a family, community. It was all right there once she moved past her fear and reached for it.
I've read it at least once a year for the last 25 years. (I'm on my third copy. All lovingly treated, but there's only so much use a modern paperback can take before it falls apart.) Every time I read it, it soothes something in my soul, and every time I read it I find something new. I've even read The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough, a version of the novel set in the mountains of Australia. (My Blue Castle was better.)
As an adult I still relate to Valancy, although hopefully in a slightly more mature way. I still have my moments when I feel unloved and unlovely. I still get sucked into the story and root for her when she.. well, I'll leave that part out. Spoilers, you know. It can still make me cry a little bit when everything comes out right in the end. And it still makes me want to be brave. I'd say that's pretty darn good for a silly little novel I read when I was 11.
Our heroine, Valancy Stirling, is in a bad way at the start of the book. It's the morning of her 29th birthday, and she's decided it's time to face the truth. She is old and unloved, living with family who intimidate and stifle her, and the secret chest pains she's been experiencing are getting worse. The only pleasant thing in her life are John Foster's books, which she manages to sneak by her mother.
At 11 I *so* identified with Valancy. What teen or preteen hasn't felt ugly and unwanted, misunderstood by her family? And I know that books, like those by L.M. Montgomery and the ones my parents always called my "trashy teen novels", were my solace and escape from that pain. I was right there with her with the shyness and thinking that no boy would ever love me. (At 11. Oy.) By the end of the first chapter I was hooked.
What Valancy discovered, and what I discovered through her, is that there can be so much more to life than your current situation. She got a pretty major piece of news, and it inspired her to let go of her fear. When she let go of her fear she discovered that even though she'd felt alone, there was a dear friend just waiting for her. She found purpose in her life. She found love, and thought it was small, she found a family, community. It was all right there once she moved past her fear and reached for it.
"Fear is the original sin," wrote John Foster. "Almost all the evil in the world has its origin in the fact that some one is afraid of something."I've used this quote in much the same way Valancy did-- to find the courage to move past fear and open up my life. There have been times when it was written on a notecard and taped to the mirror or the closet door. Sometimes I just had to pick up the book and skim until I found it. That quote has become an anchor for me, one of my fundamental beliefs that makes me the person that I am.
I've read it at least once a year for the last 25 years. (I'm on my third copy. All lovingly treated, but there's only so much use a modern paperback can take before it falls apart.) Every time I read it, it soothes something in my soul, and every time I read it I find something new. I've even read The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough, a version of the novel set in the mountains of Australia. (My Blue Castle was better.)
As an adult I still relate to Valancy, although hopefully in a slightly more mature way. I still have my moments when I feel unloved and unlovely. I still get sucked into the story and root for her when she.. well, I'll leave that part out. Spoilers, you know. It can still make me cry a little bit when everything comes out right in the end. And it still makes me want to be brave. I'd say that's pretty darn good for a silly little novel I read when I was 11.
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