31 October 2010

What I am reading: October 2010

  1. Blameless by Gail Carriger: The third in Carriger's Steampunk paranormal series (others reviewed here). Alexia has been cast aside by her husband, as he believes her unfaithful.However, others may not agree and may find the child of a werewolf and a soulless to be of frightening concern. We get a real look into life outside the progressive area (where paranormals are accepted and have legal rights) and see how Italy and the Templars might have worked within the framework of "soul" and its abundance or lack thereof allowing the cheating of death (and G-d's will) through becoming paranormal.(DT)
  2. Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews: As I mentioned last time I talked about Ilona Andrews' books, I enjoy her (their: husband and wife writing team) more each time I read another book: their writing never disappoints. This is the second in the The Edge series and I liked the characters and the world just as much.(DT)
  3. Scrub-a-Dub Dead by Barbara Colley: I've been reading this mystery series on and off for years through my mother's loans and I think they have been getting better: the writing that is. The protagonist is Charlotte, the older single mom of a 40 year old doctor. She runs a cleaning service in the Garden District area of New Orleans, where she and her family have always lived. This one takes place after Katrina, and there are mentions of the trauma and the damage, but it's basically a genre mystery.(DT)
  4. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (DT) This is a re-read. Sometimes, when I feel myself confronting my own mortality and that of those I care for, it is calming to read through someone else's progression through survival.
  5. Frostbitten by Kelley Armstrong: I'm pulling HC books out of the shelves to pack away for more space: never an easy project. So I too the opportunity to reread this. It's an adventure of Elena Michaels, first seen in Bitten, and her husband Clay. The other regular characters make brief appearances (although I would have enjoyed more time with their unusually precocious twins) but the book concentrates on exploring their relationship and a deeper understanding of their past while being action oriented and using the medium of a hunt for Mutts (unaffiliated werewolves) in Alaska as the vehicle. (DT)
  6. Death by the Light of the Moon (1992 #7)
  7. Poisoned Pins (1993 #8)
  8. The Goodbye Body (2005 #15)
  9. Damsels in Distress (2007 #16)by Joan Hess: I avoided Joan Hess for years because I had tried her Maggody series and didn't enjoy it. However, while I was rereading the Teagarden books (below), Aurora kept mentioning Hess (they both live in Arkansas- I'd guess they are friends in real life). Serendipitously, the last box of my mother's mysteries that I sent to myself included these 4 books and I liked them very much. I always enjoy books with booksellers as protagonists and when I was younger often dreamed of living a subsistence existence (but enjoying myself) as a book store owner (I think the Internet has really destroyed that dream). Claire Malloy is a bit tougher emotionally than I am, but considering she is a widow (and how she was widowed) and supporting a sarcastic teenager as a bookseller, perhaps that's understandable. And we seem to have sarcasm and some reading tastes in common:). I was particularly amused by DiD and its biting portrayal of the SCA (here, as ARSE). I'll be asking Mom if she has the others in stock as it looks like Claire will finally be getting married, after all these years procrastinating, and what could be better than a honeymoon in Egypt? (DTM)
  10. Feint of Art by Hailey Lind: Annie Kincaid is a talented artist. Unfortunately a grandfather who is a famous forger, and who "brought her" publicly, into the business when she was a child (unknown to her parents) had destroyed her promising career and she has been reduced to a faux finish business. Interesting story, sets up a love triangle with her new landlord (who has a security business specializing in art) and a man who seems to be an art thief. Fun read. (DTM)
  11. Three Bedrooms, One Corpse (Aurora Teagarden #3)
  12. Last Scene Alive (Aurora Teagarden #7)by Charlaine Harris: After reading the last Sookie Stackhouse I remembered how much more I liked Hariss' other books. If mom doesn't have the others, I'll buy these (again) on Kindle to reread the story of a librarian and her quite interesting experiences (love those bookseller/librarian/publisher mysteries).(DTM)
  13. Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold: I bought this as soon as it was available, read it and greatly enjoyed it. Is this the end of the Vorkosigan saga? I very much hope not. I've followed Miles since his "birth" and the stages of life and traumas that he has gone through have always, in a strange way, resonated. Let's put that to Bujold's wonderful writing.(B)
  14. Whack 'n' Roll by Gail Oust: The start of a new series about a group of (mostly retired, mostly over 60) women who live in a planned active retirement community in South Carolina. They seem pretty happy, (unlike my friend who does not enjoy her S.C. life and is waiting for her oldest to graduate HS before fleeing back North) and are joined by a love of either golf or bunco, a dice game. The protagonist, Kate McCall, is extremely nosy and enamored of CSI and such shows, so when a body part turns up on the golf course, she can't leave it to the sheriff. The next one will be out soon and I'll probably borrow it from mom: it's a bit weak but I can see it might develop well. (DTM)


The (M) stands for Mobipocket (the generic form of the file that Kindle Reads) as well as AZW and PRC, the other forms readable by Kindle. Let's leave DT as Dead Tree books. (And perhaps I should add M for books borrowed from my mother:).)I think it's clear what percentage of my reading is becoming e-format. The vast majority are also free, either as public domain or as promotional offers through Amazon and the other online sources I frequent. B stands for Baen, the best of the on-line stores by so many orders of magnitude there is no comparison.

1 comment:

Joyce said...

I finished Cryoburn, Blameless, All Clear (Willis), and a few other books a week ago. It was a weird, non-stop week of reading. I'm embarrassed to report that my favorites list went into the ether months ago and I lost track of your blog. Plus you've added the decluttering one, too--another topic dear to my heart lately.