31 July 2010

What I am reading: July 2010

  1. The God in the Hive by Laurie R. King: There seems to be a recent desire on the part of authors to cut their novels on such a cliffhanger, it's as if they had written a book, printed it, and taken a pair of scissors to the binding somewhere in the middle. The latest Gabaldon was so much so, I thought that it was a printing error. The last Laurie R. King, The Language of Bees, wasn't quite as bad but it left us in media res. I have been reading the adventures of Mary Russell, an American in early 20th century England who meets (and marries) Sherlock Holmes since it began and I've generally enjoyed it. I enjoyed this book as well, but it (and the last) also felt a little... unsatisfying. Perhaps too many carbs and not enough protein? That is, I'd like a little more meat on its bones.
  2. Agent of Change
  3. Carpe Diem
  4. Plan B
  5. I Dare by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
  6. Liaden Unibus 1
  7. Liaden Unibus 2
  8. The Tomorrow Log and Dragon Tide
  9. Fledgeling
  10. Saltation by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller--- I saw them, I bought them from Baen books by non-DRM download, I read them and enjoyed them all.
  11. Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews: There are a bunch of paranormal romance series that I have really been enjoying lately. I'm happy with the interesting, tough, intelligent and talented women that are the protagonists of these series and I'm pleased that the men in these series are also intelligent and interesting.
  12. The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross: I love this series by Stross. third in the Laundry series (a Lovecraftian spy/administrative).
  13. Abhorsen by Garth Nix: I was leafing through some books, getting ready to pack them up and clear some shelves and fell into reading this wonderful finish to Nix' Old Kingdom series (Sabriel, Liriel, Abhorsen) (actually, as I see while looking up that link, he will have more books in this series coming out and I am very glad: I haven't liked his other books, but I love these and the world he has created for them). I'm sorry that the earlier books are packed in storage in the States and I may re-buy them (on Kindle) when the new novels come out. It's a fascinating and strange world, with a world based in technology on one side of the Wall, and a world of "magic" on the other side. Or perhaps, a world of Order versus that of Chaos, where the Charter has bound creatures of Free Magic to act in a consistent manner that defends the living world from Chaos and Death . The Abhorsen controls forces of Death with her bells and Charter marks constrain disorder. But necromancers also can use tomes and music to disorder the constraints. Great characters, great ideas and great writing.
  14. Black Magic Sanction (again) by Kim Harrison: I was out, waiting for the kids, and decided to read this, the latest in Harrison's Hollows series, again. A nice satisfying read with solid emotional resolutions and increasing understanding of Rachel Morgan and what she has become and is capable of. Set in a world changed after a mass more than decimation of the human race through an epidemic caused by genetically modified tomatoes, the witches, vampires and other races had to come forward or the world would have imploded. A very good series.
  15. Poppy Done to Death by Charlaine Harris: I had been reading Charlaine Harris' work for years before she started her Sookie Stackhouse series (now famous as the basis for the HBO series TrueBlood), but somehow I had missed this, the last of her Aurora Teagarden series. I really do miss her mysteries and apparently she will only be working on the Sookie books from here on: her website says that she has closed the Aurora, Lily and Harper series while contractually obligated to work on Sookie. Very sorry to hear that, because I think her writing is being stretched too far there and her previous characters have been warm and interesting and their lives and issues worth following. This was a good ending to the series, rewarding even, as we followed Aurora through stress, trauma, and family losses to a happy ending for the petite and intelligent librarian.
  16. Murder by Number by Kaye Morgan: I have to get some of the fluffier stuff off my shelves. This is a hand-me-down from my mom, because I couldn't do a Sudoku to save my life and I tend to pick up paranormals for my light popcorn reading, not mysteries as I did in the US.

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