September books

[jinian]

Only Begotten Daughter, James Morrow
Difficult to get into, partly because of what I thought was needless grue and partly because religious nuts are scary. And what I said last month about satirical-not-funny applied here too, but at novel length I cared about the characters, and it went good places eventually. A few things really surprised me, which was good.

The Folk Keeper, Franny Billingsley.
A Mythopoeic Award winner. Corinna is a stubborn, angry orphan girl posing as a boy who can control the Folk, a very necessary task, when some people come after their long-lost... well, they're not sure why the lord wanted her. Good coming-of-age novel with interesting magical beings.

Ghost World, Daniel Clowes.
Recommendation here. A moody graphic novel about a pair of cynical young hipsters. Parts of it were annoying and others painful, and the ending (the same as the movie's) is, probably intentionally, haunting. The whole thing works better in comic form, but that's not much of a surprise.

The Silver Gryphon, ed. Gary Turner and Marty Halpern.
I never thought I'd see a Canty cover with french fries and a can of Moxie on it. Mostly decent stories, only a few above okay. "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" by Paul De Fillipo was fun, and I found Ian Watson's "Separate Lives" compelling. It may also be notable that I did not hate Richard Paul Russo's "Tropical Nights at the Natatorium" (unlike his Ship of Fools, which is stupid and pointlessly gross).

Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold.
First reread. I like it as a mystery, but I've grown spoiled by the Big Life Changes books, and I wish Ekaterin were on screen more. (She does important things, but we mostly don't get to see her being great.) What BLC will happen next? Obviously there has to be parental death, probably both in one book the way I feel it, and then what? Gregor. Ivan? A.J. Hall's idea?

The Apocalypse Door, James D. MacDonald.
Fun, interesting religious-noir without enough explanation. Are the antagonists evil? Extraplanar? Extraplanar and therefore necessarily evil? I want more clarity here.

Jitterbug Perfume, Tom Robbins.
I should have liked this more than I actually did. It has some good magic, and I enjoyed the perfume talk; I just didn't care for any of the characters. (Sorry, I didn't have much to say about it at the book club meeting, either.)

Perfect Circle, Sean Stewart.
After I post this, the eponymous song will run through my head a lot less often. I think. The book is nearly as good as the song, but I don't have much to say about it. Will sees ghosts, which has messed up a lot of things in his life, and has trouble with his family, especially his ex-wife and her second husband. What's the right word for Sean Stewart's writing? It gleams.

Crown Duel and Court Duel, Sherwood Smith.
The first book was recommended in the Worldcon "Fantasy of Manners" panel, which I know about because various people posted, which was, at least in come cases, due to fear of the wrath of coffee_and_ink. I assume the first book was recommended because it was first, since I didn't think it was FoM. Offstage court intrigue, yes, and a little about social class: how Mel has nothing going on with boys because she's above them, and the contrast between the Astiars' informality and others' more rigid interactions with vassals. The manners started in Court Duel, with neat fan protocols and some opaque courtiers, but I found that book more predictable (due to my vast experience with YA romance) and a little disappointing in terms of manners as well. Meliara never really works within the manners paradigm or sees what is useful about formalized interactions, and I do think that there are benefits to indirection at times. Really enjoyable books, though. I've put the author's Wren books on hold.

The Kingdom of Kevin Malone, Suzy McKee Charnas.
Mythopoeic Award winner. I didn't care for any of the characters all that much, but I don't think I was supposed to. It was a very well done examination of heroic fantasy. There are big signs that the hero's role could be assumed by another person, several people are needed to accomplish the goal without questing around together, and the ending, while pretty much happy, is just about the opposite of wish fulfillment.

Can I Get There by Candlelight?, Jean Slaughter Doty.
gwyneira mentioned reading this recently, and the author's name rang a bell. I have no idea what happened to my copy of Summer Pony, but it must have been extremely worn by the time I decided horses were stupid and mean. This is a member of the fine 'unexplained time travel' genre, also represented by many works of Ruth Chew. If I were the main character I'd feel pretty bad about the way it ended, but, since I'm not, it did seem oddly tidy.

Knight's Wyrd, James D. MacDonald and Debra Doyle.
The Mythopoeic Award winner which I have liked least so far. I can see the shining edges of a thing that's the same between this and the others, a sort of measured order in the main plot and admirability in the protagonist, but I didn't enjoy the writing style and the small-scale plot seemed poorly thought out. Will have to poke a toe into the authors' space operas, which Wim has at least some of.

Aria of the Sea, Dia Calhoun.
2001 Mythopoeic Award winner. I was very impressed with this one. The writing was clear, even minor characters seemed fully imagined, and the plot interested me in the small points and the overall arc. It's "coming of age" again, I suppose, like a lot of YA; Cerinthe pursues her dream of becoming a dancer and tries to deal with her role in her mother's death. She makes a really impressive amount of progress toward maturity. I stayed up until I got to the end, and I was sick at the time. This book is great. Go read it.

The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of, Thomas M. Disch.
Interesting, yet annoying, attempt to describe the attitude of science fiction as a whole to various topics. I disagree with Disch on Mary Shelley and pretty much everything he said about feminist SF, and he totally missed the boat on "The Women Men Don't See". Mostly I didn't like the way he showed no affection for anything. I seem to be seeing that as much more of a failing recently.

The Ropemaker, Peter Dickinson.
2002 Mythopoeic award winner. Enjoyable quest adventure, with interestingly defined roles for two families in keeping up the magic that protects their home. Lots of kinds of magic, showy and quiet, and good family relationships. Some of the resolution seemed inadequate to parallel the mysteries of earlier events. The epilogue was an interesting choice; I don't think I would have used one.

Alice 19th #1, Yuu Watase.
Shows potential to be pretty interesting. Alice is an atypical Watase heroine, but a fairly typical destined heroine: she's shy and ineffective but holds the promise of great power if she can change her ways, etc. We'll see where this goes.

Promethea #3, Alan Moore et al.
The artistic experimentation continues, along with the Tarot/Kabbalah/whatever else we can drag in mystical holism.

Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi.
Noticed while looking for SF author events. Simple comic strips about the author's childhood in revolutionary Iran, some funny and some bittersweet, most just part of the story. I wasn't blown away, but I'll certainly read the next one.

Ilium, Dan Simmons.
Different plot lines put together fairly well, interesting posthumans, intrigue and war. Can I read the next part yet?

The Furies, Suzy McKee Charnas.
Formerly subjugated women take over from their oppressors and disagree about how it's appropriate to do it. Feels like a transitional book. Still one more to go in the series.

The Ships of Air, Martha Wells.
Second in the Aliens and Airships series. (roobug knew what I meant!) Our heroes continue not to have much of a plan, but they're not doing too badly against the overwhelming force of nasty sorcerer-enslavers so far. Next one Now Please.

Briar's Book, Tamora Pierce.
It's weird that this would be comfort/bedtime reading, since it's about a plague that kills several people we care about, but it is. Briar and Rosethorn are plant mages, you see.

Why We Do It, Niles Eldredge.
I was rather horrified by "The age of exploration and conquest makes it abundantly clear that humans of all ethnicities enthusiastically hop into bed with one another, often making babies in the process.", as that wasn't exactly a consensual thing a lot of the time. Eldredge is trying to refute something that I don't think Dawkins, in promoting the selfish gene theory, actually said: that genes explain all human behavior. Obviously Eldredge is correct; it's just that I already understood his point -- from reading Dawkins. It does seem like some people didn't, so maybe the book is called for.

Veniss Underground, Jeff Vandermeer.
coffee_and_ink didn't recommend this as such, but what she did say interested me enough to pick up the book (and, as she says, persist through the jangly but short first section). Frightening far future with kids' bioengineering kits like chemistry sets, with about the appalling results you'd expect, and adults trying for Cetagandan-style life-sculpture but falling creepily short. The experimental narration (sections in first and second person, most in third, these sequential) actually worked pretty well for me.

Wish #2, CLAMP.
The cuteness continues as grounded angel Kohaku is tricked into time travel by her bratty opposite number. Probably my favorite part of this series is that the Metatron is --> A Bunny. With a flower. Which leads to Alan Rickman, in a bunny suit, with a flower. How could that not be my favorite part? (The soul-eating catgirls are pretty good, too.)

The Hollow Kingdom, Clare B. Dunkle.
2004 Mythopoeic Award winner. Evidently first in a trilogy, but it certainly stands alone. Kate is the pretty sister, but stubborn and clever, so when the Goblin King wants to kidnap and marry her, she manages to elude him very effectively. Easily spoilable plot happens. My only problem with this story was the romance-novel way in which necessity became consent became love. It's just a little uncomfortable that way, though, not terrible.

Summerland, Michael Chabon.
Mythopoeic award 2003. Magical beings play baseball, and they need a hero from our world to help them out. I didn't like some of the ways Chabon played fast and loose with mythology, but it's a fun book, engagingly written.

Island of Ghosts, Gillian Bradshaw.
Horse-nomads come to Roman Britain! And Bradshaw is just good, that's all there is to it.

Archimedes' Revenge, Paul Hoffman.
Assorted math stuff that all you smart bastards out there probably knew about when you were fourteen. Well, it's neat.

A Piece of Justice, Jill Paton Walsh.
Recommended by gwyneira. Charming mystery novel with bonus quilting. I am bad with spoilers so I won't even try, but it has a great ending.

Passions Between Women, Emma Donoghue.
Historical examination of lesbian culture in Britain in the 18th century. She certainly found a lot of something that many sources say isn't there. Interesting stuff.

A Plague of Sorcerers, Mary Frances Zambreno.
desayunoencama recommendation. Cute, but oddly distant, story of a lackluster apprentice coming into his own magically and the coincidence that allows a plot to be dismantled. I'm not sure what to think about the ending; do children really know about the kinds of psychological problem that are taken for granted there?

Not Even Wrong, Paul Collins.
Collins tells a good story about his family's experiences with autism, with (perhaps overly strong) comparisons to historical cases of wild children. I guess I like reading about other kinds of consciousness than mine. (If I am on the autistic spectrum, I'm fairly high up, with just a minor tendency to be literal and a dislike of touch or speech from nonfriends.)

The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Laurie R. King.
Mary Sue meets Sherlock Holmes. Entertaining, sometimes a little annoying. Probably won't seek out the sequels.

Fruits Basket #1, Natsuki Takaya.
I LOVE FRUITS BASKET. I will hear no ill said of it. And I rather regret turning the book back in to the library without scanning the part where Tohru's sweetly smiling grandfather says, "Deep down, they're just evil people."

Knitting books

Knitter's Stash, ed. Barbara Albright. Several nice lace patterns, no really compelling (fun to knit and fun to wear) pieces.
Glorious Knits, Kaffe Fassett. Granted, this is dated (mid-80s?) in color choice, motifs, and model hair, but I think even at the time "Absurd Knits" would've been a better name.
Latvian Dreams, Joyce Williams. Super-cool colorwork patterns and really excellent instructions for knitting and finishing.
Sweaters from a New England Village, Candace Eisner Strick. Reasonably nice patterns, nothing outstanding. People would wear these if they got them as gifts, which is probably useful.
The Urban Knitter, Lily M. Chin. Making knitted shoes (with plain rubber soles from the cobbler) is a very neat idea, but overall I was underwhelmed. Easy, uninspiring patterns.
Simply Beautiful Sweaters and Simply Beautiful Sweaters for Men, Linden Phelps and Beryl Hiatt. Beautiful for the lovely yarns, definitely, but, with the exception of one very nice (and frequently used) woven cable pattern, not so much for inventive patterns.
The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns, Ann Budd. I don't much want to make hats, gloves, or vests, but the sizing information in this utilitarian little book is extensive and wonderful in case I ever want to, plus it's useful to me already in making socks and sweaters. I need to get a copy of my own.