January 2006 books
Apr. 15th, 2006 09:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jinianI've started thinking it must be 2007 already. That doesn't usually happen.
Learning the World, Ken MacLeod. From![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
papersky. A coming-of-age novel loosely based around a blog in a generation ship of sorts, this also has a great plot thread with MacLeod-standard good aliens. Very good. Might be interesting to compare to A Deepness in the Sky.
The Year's Best Science Fiction, 22nd Annual Collection (2004), ed. Gardner Dozois. Lots of these are a bit depressing, but it's a good haul. I especially liked: "Start the Clock", Benjamin Rosenbaum; "Shiva in Shadow", Nancy Kress; "The Ocean of the Blind", James L. Cambias; "The Garden", Eleanor Arnason; "Investments", Water Jon Williams (note: I read this in the right order, Dread Empire's Fall books and then novella, but spoilers exist if you read in publication order). Caitlin R. Kiernan remains very very good at creepy horror. Stephen Baxter's "Mayflower II" had glaring evolutionary stupidities and an outright plot flub.
The Child That Books Built, Francis Spufford. Christmas present! From my actual wish list! Darker and more incisive than I was expecting: the author is a hard-core literary escapist and attributes it to, among other things, having a sister who was dying for years and years. Often very funny too, and beautifully written.
So Many Books, So Little Time, Sara Nelson. Saw at bookstore, checked out at library. Lots of recs I don't know how to evaluate, since the author doesn't seem at all like the same kind of reader as I am. I guess I'll see. She did like The Orchid Thief.
Hannah's Garden, Midori Snyder. Library shelf. If your family's the designated guardian of a garden that's a gateway to faerie and no one is ready to take over for the sick grandfather, drama may ensue. Pretty good, but not really worth seeking out. (Instead, read a surprisingly similar plot done up McKillip-style in Solstice Wood!) Is the presence of hypercompetent teens in fantasy because so many of us felt like we were horribly put upon for carrying out our normal responsibilities (or slacking on them, like I did)?
The Shell House, Linda Newbery. Library shelf. Compare and contrast: modern teenager with a crush on his male best friend, who makes friends with a very religious girl and argues with her about theology; WWI soldier of about the same age, in love with another soldier, who loses his partner and alienates pretty much everyone. It didn't really grab me at first, but the ending sticks out in my mind.
Cetaganda, Lois McMaster Bujold. Reread #lots. I love Ivan in this one. Poor tormented Ivan. This is where I really start to feel for Miles, too.
The Etched City, K. J. Bishop. Library shelf. The back says "Stephen King's Dark Tower series, China Mieville ... Aubrey Beardsley and J. K. Huysmans." I haven't read Huysmans, but I'd say that's pretty accurate. It's dark and interesting, with morally ambiguous characters in a gritty world. Quite good.
Four Ways to Forgiveness, Ursula K. Le Guin. Library shelf. A beautiful collection of four related stories. I'd read "Forgiveness Day" before, but none of the others. All very good, emotionally real.
Colors in the Dreamweaver's Loom, Beth Hilgartner. Fromtiassa, who specifically mentioned it was hard to find and had a sequel, so I went and got it! (Luckily for me, I managed to get the sequel next month via ILL.) Good quest fantasy, more appealing than average, with some fine characters and the best solution to a certain obligatory ending that I've ever seen.
Laughter on the Stairs, Beverley Nichols. Fromread_o_rama. Quietly funny story of gardening, house maintenance, and small-community politics.
Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder. From The Child That Books Built, also reread #n. I'd forgotten about playing ball with a pig bladder! What I'd really like is to have these and some kind of equivalents from other countries, for kids to read. So much of this is foreign to us now, but it's still kind of what the U.S. is supposed to be like in the back of my head.
So Yesterday, Scott Westerfeld. An entire hierarchy of trendsetting and corporate repackaging is going on behind the scenes in the U.S.? Sounds about right to me. Hunter is the most interesting of the players in the hierarchy, a "cool hunter" who goes looking for grist for the fashion mill. The manic intrigue revolves around a mysterious pair of shoes roughly equivalent to the Holy Grail. Lots of fun.
Sprig Muslin, Georgette Heyer. Fromgwyneira. Fun romance, but I didn't like any of the characters as well as the people in Cotillion.
Midnighters 1-2, Scott Westerfeld. From Neile Graham and, very soon, lots of people. In Bixby, Oklahoma, people born exactly at midnight are the only humans awake in the "blue time", an extra hour that happens at midnight. Note that they are not the only beings active during that hour. The Secret Hour was engaging and fun, but skimmed over the more interesting characters in favor of a little romance and didn't really delve into backstory (though there was a reason for that). Touching Darkness, the second book, was everything I could have asked for -- massive magic-geeking, dire character secrets, behind-the-scenes manipulation, battle against dark creatures, whee! (The last book, Blue Noon, is out and I read it in March; it is less perfect than #2 but still very good.)
The Deed of Paksenarrion, Elizabeth Moon. First reread. A D&D-style paladin's origin story done extremely well. Also long -- this was three novels before it got an omnibus release.
Ishi in Two Worlds, Theodora Kroeber. Ishi was the last of his "wild Indian" people, the northern California Yahi, who were exterminated by the ranchers taking over their territory. Due to persistence, flexibility, and a lot of luck, he made a second life with the white people at the University of California Museum of Anthropology. Very sad, but hopeful too.
Boys Over Flowers 13, Yoko Kamio.
The Demon Ororon 1-4 (all), Hakase Mizuki. Bloody and awful and very pretty. The plot kinda stalls out after book 2, just going ever more hopeless, and I couldn't see why [spoiler] only sometimes.
Fushigi Yuugi 14-15, Yuu Watase.
Kazan 1, Gaku Miyao (?). I must get better! Stronger! Oh, wait, I'm already way more badass than anyone else, and I'm only ten. Never mind. Still need to find that plot token, though.
Mars 10,14-15 (end), Fuyumi Soryo. There's a little character development over the course of the series, but I think Soryo might have been doing the RPG thing where the main character is largely a blank so you can fill in as Mary Sue. I don't really get into that, so this was sort of an unsatisfying series for me.
Transmetropolitan 8-9, Ellis et al. Cliffhanger! Argh!
Learning the World, Ken MacLeod. From
papersky. A coming-of-age novel loosely based around a blog in a generation ship of sorts, this also has a great plot thread with MacLeod-standard good aliens. Very good. Might be interesting to compare to A Deepness in the Sky.The Year's Best Science Fiction, 22nd Annual Collection (2004), ed. Gardner Dozois. Lots of these are a bit depressing, but it's a good haul. I especially liked: "Start the Clock", Benjamin Rosenbaum; "Shiva in Shadow", Nancy Kress; "The Ocean of the Blind", James L. Cambias; "The Garden", Eleanor Arnason; "Investments", Water Jon Williams (note: I read this in the right order, Dread Empire's Fall books and then novella, but spoilers exist if you read in publication order). Caitlin R. Kiernan remains very very good at creepy horror. Stephen Baxter's "Mayflower II" had glaring evolutionary stupidities and an outright plot flub.
The Child That Books Built, Francis Spufford. Christmas present! From my actual wish list! Darker and more incisive than I was expecting: the author is a hard-core literary escapist and attributes it to, among other things, having a sister who was dying for years and years. Often very funny too, and beautifully written.
So Many Books, So Little Time, Sara Nelson. Saw at bookstore, checked out at library. Lots of recs I don't know how to evaluate, since the author doesn't seem at all like the same kind of reader as I am. I guess I'll see. She did like The Orchid Thief.
Hannah's Garden, Midori Snyder. Library shelf. If your family's the designated guardian of a garden that's a gateway to faerie and no one is ready to take over for the sick grandfather, drama may ensue. Pretty good, but not really worth seeking out. (Instead, read a surprisingly similar plot done up McKillip-style in Solstice Wood!) Is the presence of hypercompetent teens in fantasy because so many of us felt like we were horribly put upon for carrying out our normal responsibilities (or slacking on them, like I did)?
The Shell House, Linda Newbery. Library shelf. Compare and contrast: modern teenager with a crush on his male best friend, who makes friends with a very religious girl and argues with her about theology; WWI soldier of about the same age, in love with another soldier, who loses his partner and alienates pretty much everyone. It didn't really grab me at first, but the ending sticks out in my mind.
Cetaganda, Lois McMaster Bujold. Reread #lots. I love Ivan in this one. Poor tormented Ivan. This is where I really start to feel for Miles, too.
The Etched City, K. J. Bishop. Library shelf. The back says "Stephen King's Dark Tower series, China Mieville ... Aubrey Beardsley and J. K. Huysmans." I haven't read Huysmans, but I'd say that's pretty accurate. It's dark and interesting, with morally ambiguous characters in a gritty world. Quite good.
Four Ways to Forgiveness, Ursula K. Le Guin. Library shelf. A beautiful collection of four related stories. I'd read "Forgiveness Day" before, but none of the others. All very good, emotionally real.
Colors in the Dreamweaver's Loom, Beth Hilgartner. From
tiassa, who specifically mentioned it was hard to find and had a sequel, so I went and got it! (Luckily for me, I managed to get the sequel next month via ILL.) Good quest fantasy, more appealing than average, with some fine characters and the best solution to a certain obligatory ending that I've ever seen. Laughter on the Stairs, Beverley Nichols. From
read_o_rama. Quietly funny story of gardening, house maintenance, and small-community politics.Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder. From The Child That Books Built, also reread #n. I'd forgotten about playing ball with a pig bladder! What I'd really like is to have these and some kind of equivalents from other countries, for kids to read. So much of this is foreign to us now, but it's still kind of what the U.S. is supposed to be like in the back of my head.
So Yesterday, Scott Westerfeld. An entire hierarchy of trendsetting and corporate repackaging is going on behind the scenes in the U.S.? Sounds about right to me. Hunter is the most interesting of the players in the hierarchy, a "cool hunter" who goes looking for grist for the fashion mill. The manic intrigue revolves around a mysterious pair of shoes roughly equivalent to the Holy Grail. Lots of fun.
Sprig Muslin, Georgette Heyer. From
gwyneira. Fun romance, but I didn't like any of the characters as well as the people in Cotillion.Midnighters 1-2, Scott Westerfeld. From Neile Graham and, very soon, lots of people. In Bixby, Oklahoma, people born exactly at midnight are the only humans awake in the "blue time", an extra hour that happens at midnight. Note that they are not the only beings active during that hour. The Secret Hour was engaging and fun, but skimmed over the more interesting characters in favor of a little romance and didn't really delve into backstory (though there was a reason for that). Touching Darkness, the second book, was everything I could have asked for -- massive magic-geeking, dire character secrets, behind-the-scenes manipulation, battle against dark creatures, whee! (The last book, Blue Noon, is out and I read it in March; it is less perfect than #2 but still very good.)
The Deed of Paksenarrion, Elizabeth Moon. First reread. A D&D-style paladin's origin story done extremely well. Also long -- this was three novels before it got an omnibus release.
Ishi in Two Worlds, Theodora Kroeber. Ishi was the last of his "wild Indian" people, the northern California Yahi, who were exterminated by the ranchers taking over their territory. Due to persistence, flexibility, and a lot of luck, he made a second life with the white people at the University of California Museum of Anthropology. Very sad, but hopeful too.
Boys Over Flowers 13, Yoko Kamio.
The Demon Ororon 1-4 (all), Hakase Mizuki. Bloody and awful and very pretty. The plot kinda stalls out after book 2, just going ever more hopeless, and I couldn't see why [spoiler] only sometimes.
Fushigi Yuugi 14-15, Yuu Watase.
Kazan 1, Gaku Miyao (?). I must get better! Stronger! Oh, wait, I'm already way more badass than anyone else, and I'm only ten. Never mind. Still need to find that plot token, though.
Mars 10,14-15 (end), Fuyumi Soryo. There's a little character development over the course of the series, but I think Soryo might have been doing the RPG thing where the main character is largely a blank so you can fill in as Mary Sue. I don't really get into that, so this was sort of an unsatisfying series for me.
Transmetropolitan 8-9, Ellis et al. Cliffhanger! Argh!
