jinian | November 2005 books

Dread Empire's Fall: Conventions of War, Walter Jon Williams. Pretty good conclusion to the sweeping space-opera epic.

Brave New World, Aldous Huxley. Girls remain "pneumatic" and the socialization for a highly specified social order remains highly creepy, which are the only parts I remembered from reading this in high school. I'd forgotten the actual plot, which has to do with savage human nature vs. regimented oversexualized society. It all ends in tears, of course.

The Will of the Empress, Tamora Pierce.

rachelmanija alerted me that this was out. YAY. I finally got a plot element that's been on my Tamora Pierce wish list for years. Happy happy. Also, pretty good book, though the characters are kind of overpowered these days, so it's hard to worry about them where magic's concerned. See also http://www.livejournal.com/users/oyceter/359981.html.

Queens' Play, Dorothy Dunnet. I dreamed that I read this before I actually did, which was very odd. I felt certain even then that trying to find the right cornflour to make tortillas did not actually figure in the book, and it proved to be so. I did make it through this book, unlike the first one, though I wasn't crazy about it and on the whole prefer Francis Crawford of Lymond, the (Zombie) Master of Culter.

A Round-Heeled Woman, Jane Juska. From

read_o_rama, quite a while ago. A memoir loosely based around the 66-year-old protagonist's search for a few good men to shag. Turned out a little more horrifying (she put up with kind of a lot from some of them) and less fun (retrospectives of things only tangentially related to the ad-induced relationships) than I'd hoped.

The Daughters of Copper Woman, Anne Cameron. Stories by a white woman about the native people she became close to. Contains the cutest story ever, in which a Nootka [sic] woman is loved by a bear and is incredibly sweet about it. Also lots of matriarchal/matrilineal folk tales and some forward-looking stories of unknown veracity.

Henry Mitchell on Gardening, intro by Allen Lacy. Recommended by

pameladean, months ago. I enjoyed his writing but found it totally inapplicable to my garden.

Had a Good Time: Stories from American Postcards, Robert Olen Butler. Booksense pick. Favorite quote: "the words of God were like sticky burrs on the pant leg of my mind." (from "Up By Heart") I gave this to my mom after verifying it was good (literary short stories, well done), because she collects postcards. I'd forgotten she didn't like short stories, but she liked these because the postcard framing device helped her see short stories from another angle. Go me.

Geography Club, Brent Hartinger. From

read_o_rama. I'm a little disturbed at the "must stay closeted" feel of so much of this book, but maybe I'd be more sympathetic if I weren't merely bi; I dated guys happily enough, and didn't much notice noticing girls until after high school, so this book was very much not about me. Also, a believable high-schooler first-person POV can be done without ending a chapter on such sentences as "This was [person]'s idea of revenge!" (I am not making up that bang.)

Sex in America: A Definitive Survey, Gina Kolata, Edward Laumann, and Robert T. Michael. The conclusion: people aren't having nearly as much sex as they claim in most surveys; bed death is not a disaster but the rule for most long-term relationships. The survey was flawed in several ways, most notably their poor grasp of what it's like to be queer and what people actually do in bed. I don't know that's it affects a large part of the sample, but I wonder what else the authors left out if I cought that much.

The Necessary Beggar, Susan Palwick. From

rachelmanija. About recreating family after exile from family's context, and how to keep your traditions alive while adapting to the new pond. Very good.

By These Ten Bones, Clare B. Dunkle. Neile rec, known author. I wasn't thrilled with this. I guess I just like the goblin king, and he didn't appear in this book.

Catching Midnight, Emma Holly. From coffee_and_ink/470347.html. She's a passionate young vampire with strong psychic powers! He, um, well he pretty much just has an enormous cock. They don't particularly fight crime. I had a good conversation with Wim about the obligatory "she thinks there's a problem and he blows it off" episode in romance novels, sometimes seen with sexes reversed, and concluded it's to give an opportunity for a fight or an apology. The apology/harmonious-accord path (compared to no fights, la la la, the end) may give added verisimilitude for readers who have had a relationship before in their lives.

The Cursed Towers, Kate Forsyth. YES OKAY YOU ARE THE QUEEN OF CELTOPHILES. Now can you stop spelling out the dialects? #3 in some kind of pro-witch war saga, with various magical races around. Some of the races are interesting, some of the characters are interesting, but reading about them is like slogging through a soup of wet cement.

Aria of the Sea, Dia Calhoun. First reread. Didn't blow me away this time, but I still think it's a good novel about discovering a vocation.

The Phoenix Dance, Dia Calhoun. New one! I was surprised to find it completely about bipolar disorder, by way of the twelve dancing princesses. It suffers a little from carrying the imposed theme, but I really enjoyed it.

The Raven's Tail, Cheryl Samuel. For my research paper on Coast Salish spindle whorls; not all that useful due to being about Tlingit work, but I read it before finding better references. Ravenstail robes are made up of beautiful, intricate geometric designs in black and white, with lots of complex hand-twining weaving techniques that were way over my head. The story of Cheryl Samuel traveling the world to recreate these techniques from museum pieces is amazing to me, and really makes me happy. She hasn't always been appreciated for it, due to being a white chick and working in isolation for a while, but I think she's awesome. I should write to her.

Salish Weaving, Paula Gustafson;
Salish Weaving: Primitive and Modern, Oliver N. Wells;
Hands of Our Ancestors: The Revival of Salish Weaving at Musqueam, Elizabeth Lominska Johnson and Kathryn Bernick. For my research paper on Coast Salish spindle whorls. The Gustafson combines information from the Wells with a lot of good critical points and a close examination of technique; it's best for information, though the whorl drawings are terrible. The Wells and Johnson/Bernick are short, heartwarming booklets, one self-published because the renaissance needed attention and one printed as part of an art exhibit 25 years later -- victory! There's a promising dye list in the Wells.

In the Coils of the Snake, Clare B. Dunkle. Yay, this one has the goblin-based angst, my buttons are pushed, I read happily.

Barrayar, Lois McMaster Bujold. Comfort reading. Effective. (I certainly hope you don't need me telling you how good Bujold is.)

A Rumor of Gems, Ellen Steiber. From

gwyneira, and also Neile. Beautiful, meditative parallel-urban fantasy with interesting characters and reasonably complicated plot. Read this!

The Authority 1, Warren Ellis et al.
Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden 1, Yuu Watase.
Negima 1, Ken Akamatsu. For no discernible reason, ten-year-old Negi has graduated from a magic academy -- his magical sneezes blow clothes off teenaged girls, and he seems to know just enough deliberate magic to be a menace -- and been sent to teach Japanese schoolgirls English. I knew fear when I saw the introduction, which said something about how each of the 31 girls in the class has her own personality and her own trials. Harem manga is one thing, and I actually like Love Hina, but no. Just no. (I read it anyway. Still no.)
Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life 1, Bryan Lee O'Malley. Bizarre and fun.
Shinobu Kokoro, Temari Matsumoto. From

rachelmanija. Wow, this is way more smutty than I thought it would be. Still appealing goofy, though, as advertised.
Transmetropolitan 3-4, Warren Ellis et al. Sick and wrong and damned funny and great.
XXXholic 5, CLAMP.