February books
May. 6th, 2005 09:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jinianI haven't stopped reading, though February was a little slow for it; I've just stopped posting. There is an Ode to Shoes coming on, I just have to remember to bring home my notes for it. Meanwhile, read about reading, if you like.
The Stone of the Stars, Alison Baird. Found circa sartorias. Not bad, but definitely an "I've read Tolkien" book, especially in the unwontedly long prologue in which everyone's names begin with El-. Sartorias mentions that the author has other YAs, but they're not at the library and I don't care that much.
Dime-Store Magic, Kelley Armstrong. Found circa sartorias. Fluffy, slightly annoying, with a predictable romance plot and unexciting language... totally saved by a lovely thread of magical-system geekery running though the whole thing, strongly evident in great ways in the one sex scene. I may not have much taste, but I've certainly found another hot button. (I suspected as much after I read "Transfigurations" for the third time, but this is further proof: magic-geekery can make up for a lot.)
Industrial Magic, Kelley Armstrong. And when the magic-geeking is not present, the book is not nearly as appealing. Oh well.
In the Country of the Blind, Michael Flynn. My overriding (maybe unkind) thought was "someone make Kage Baker read these." This is the complicated yet plausible world-manipulating secret society complex that I want to read about. Imagine if they could travel in time!
Imaginary Numbers: An Anthology of Marvelous Mathematical Stories, Diversions, Poems, and Musings, ed. William Frucht. From Syaffolee. Some interesting short pieces, none that really stands out in my mind. I think I need assignments to really get math concepts now, which makes me sad.
The Winter Prince, Elizabeth Wein. From rachelmanija's Lists (in memories). Penetratingly painful in places, complicated and very good.
Mongo: Adventures in Trash, Ted Botha. Booksense pick. Everything from vegan food via dumpster-diving to valuable antique furniture snatched from the path of the garbage truck qualifies as "mongo", and Botha talks in depth about a person or two of each kind of treasure. Really interesting and no little inspiring.
Enna Burning, Shannon Hale.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gwyneira said there was a sequel to The Goose Girl, one of my last year's favorites, and I found it very good. It had a new main character and didn't depend too heavily on the previous book, and the problems were interesting, with nonobvious solutions. (Well, except the romance part, but that was sweet instead of annoying here.) A lovely book.
Comics:
Amy Unbounded again! Hurrah! (No response to months-old fan letter, alas.)
Castle Waiting: The Lucky Road (volume 1) and The Secret of Brambly Hedge (?), Linda Medley. Medley did a story in the Ottaviani scientist-stories collection I read in December. These were charming, though the second one was pitched awfully young, but they're all the library has. It doesn't look like there's much else available from her.
Ceres: Celestial Legend (volume 1), Yuu Watase. Watase's heroines are annoying, but the boys who surround them are all pretty and at least superficially interesting. I think if these took any time to read I'd stop, but they don't.
Fallout, Jim Ottaviani et al. Maybe the way I need to get my history is in comic form. I feel like I have a much better picture (hm!) of the development and aftermath of the first atomic bomb now that I've read this. The different styles in some of the sections made me work harder to identify characters, so I kept track of them more explicitly than I need to in a movie, which seems to have made for better retention. I'm still crap with dates, though.
Fruits Basket (volume 3), Natsuki Takaya. We love Furuba, oh yes we do. So sweet, so well drawn, such delicately balanced sorrow.
Fushigi Yuugi (volumes 5-10), Yuu Watase. Minor plot points not seen in the anime: Chiriko getting smacked in the head and going stupid, stint in Amazon castle of doom. Otherwise, pretty much the same, which means dumb protagonists, plot tokens, and overpowered villains. Why am I reading this again? Because, for some reason, I really liked the anime. See also rationale for Ceres.
Mars (volume 1-5), Fuyumi Soryo. The art doesn't quite do it for me, but the characters are fascinating. They do things I wouldn't expect, but those things build up my idea of their personalities rather than creating conflict. They seem very real.
Neon Genesis Evangelion (volume 1), Toshiyuki Sadamoto. I hadn't realized this was a mangalization of the anime, which came first. Not having watched it, I think I'll drop reading this.
Paradise Kiss (volumes 2-5:complete), Ai Yazawa. Still so pretty! I'm much more interested in the supporting cast, since the heroine and her boy are in a push-pull dynamic that Strangers in Paradise has soured me on, and the fourth wall needs to be much stronger than it is, but it is charming and pretty and did I mention pretty?
Revolutionary Girl Utena (volumes 3-5: complete), Chiho Saito. It's weird, as Utena has always been weird, but this one has "Mr. Licky-Lick" on top of it all. I feel like the authors were going for some kind of meaning in all the strangeness, but, well, they missed. Or they were so subtle and good that I now think what they want me to think without noticing, I guess.
The Stone of the Stars, Alison Baird. Found circa sartorias. Not bad, but definitely an "I've read Tolkien" book, especially in the unwontedly long prologue in which everyone's names begin with El-. Sartorias mentions that the author has other YAs, but they're not at the library and I don't care that much.
Dime-Store Magic, Kelley Armstrong. Found circa sartorias. Fluffy, slightly annoying, with a predictable romance plot and unexciting language... totally saved by a lovely thread of magical-system geekery running though the whole thing, strongly evident in great ways in the one sex scene. I may not have much taste, but I've certainly found another hot button. (I suspected as much after I read "Transfigurations" for the third time, but this is further proof: magic-geekery can make up for a lot.)
Industrial Magic, Kelley Armstrong. And when the magic-geeking is not present, the book is not nearly as appealing. Oh well.
In the Country of the Blind, Michael Flynn. My overriding (maybe unkind) thought was "someone make Kage Baker read these." This is the complicated yet plausible world-manipulating secret society complex that I want to read about. Imagine if they could travel in time!
Imaginary Numbers: An Anthology of Marvelous Mathematical Stories, Diversions, Poems, and Musings, ed. William Frucht. From Syaffolee. Some interesting short pieces, none that really stands out in my mind. I think I need assignments to really get math concepts now, which makes me sad.
The Winter Prince, Elizabeth Wein. From rachelmanija's Lists (in memories). Penetratingly painful in places, complicated and very good.
Mongo: Adventures in Trash, Ted Botha. Booksense pick. Everything from vegan food via dumpster-diving to valuable antique furniture snatched from the path of the garbage truck qualifies as "mongo", and Botha talks in depth about a person or two of each kind of treasure. Really interesting and no little inspiring.
Enna Burning, Shannon Hale.
gwyneira said there was a sequel to The Goose Girl, one of my last year's favorites, and I found it very good. It had a new main character and didn't depend too heavily on the previous book, and the problems were interesting, with nonobvious solutions. (Well, except the romance part, but that was sweet instead of annoying here.) A lovely book.Comics:
Amy Unbounded again! Hurrah! (No response to months-old fan letter, alas.)
Castle Waiting: The Lucky Road (volume 1) and The Secret of Brambly Hedge (?), Linda Medley. Medley did a story in the Ottaviani scientist-stories collection I read in December. These were charming, though the second one was pitched awfully young, but they're all the library has. It doesn't look like there's much else available from her.
Ceres: Celestial Legend (volume 1), Yuu Watase. Watase's heroines are annoying, but the boys who surround them are all pretty and at least superficially interesting. I think if these took any time to read I'd stop, but they don't.
Fallout, Jim Ottaviani et al. Maybe the way I need to get my history is in comic form. I feel like I have a much better picture (hm!) of the development and aftermath of the first atomic bomb now that I've read this. The different styles in some of the sections made me work harder to identify characters, so I kept track of them more explicitly than I need to in a movie, which seems to have made for better retention. I'm still crap with dates, though.
Fruits Basket (volume 3), Natsuki Takaya. We love Furuba, oh yes we do. So sweet, so well drawn, such delicately balanced sorrow.
Fushigi Yuugi (volumes 5-10), Yuu Watase. Minor plot points not seen in the anime: Chiriko getting smacked in the head and going stupid, stint in Amazon castle of doom. Otherwise, pretty much the same, which means dumb protagonists, plot tokens, and overpowered villains. Why am I reading this again? Because, for some reason, I really liked the anime. See also rationale for Ceres.
Mars (volume 1-5), Fuyumi Soryo. The art doesn't quite do it for me, but the characters are fascinating. They do things I wouldn't expect, but those things build up my idea of their personalities rather than creating conflict. They seem very real.
Neon Genesis Evangelion (volume 1), Toshiyuki Sadamoto. I hadn't realized this was a mangalization of the anime, which came first. Not having watched it, I think I'll drop reading this.
Paradise Kiss (volumes 2-5:complete), Ai Yazawa. Still so pretty! I'm much more interested in the supporting cast, since the heroine and her boy are in a push-pull dynamic that Strangers in Paradise has soured me on, and the fourth wall needs to be much stronger than it is, but it is charming and pretty and did I mention pretty?
Revolutionary Girl Utena (volumes 3-5: complete), Chiho Saito. It's weird, as Utena has always been weird, but this one has "Mr. Licky-Lick" on top of it all. I feel like the authors were going for some kind of meaning in all the strangeness, but, well, they missed. Or they were so subtle and good that I now think what they want me to think without noticing, I guess.
