April 2007 books
Sep. 6th, 2007 11:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jinianAnatomy of a Rose, Sharman Apt Russell. From ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rachelmanija. I've decided this should be called science prose-poetry. It's not popularizing primarily, but demonstrating beauty and structure using repetition, analogy, and vivid imagery. Despite its occasional fumbles with binomial nomenclature, I recommend this highly, whether or not you care about flowers. (I of course do, and I came away with a pleasingly long list of scientific papers to look up, though I was a little disappointed the author cited a review article rather than directly citing the research of my grad program's head.)
Singer of Souls, Adam Stemple. From Neile. Charming and mildly dark story about a heroin-addicted bard going cold turkey and discovering his magical power and Faery -- until the end, when it turns cruelly dark in a hurry, and does so in a way that I didn't feel was totally supported by the previous text. Not ideal bedtime reading.
The Not-So-Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen, Mitali Perkins. Library shelf. Good YA about an Indian-American girl and her family's adjustment to a long visit by Indian grandparents, which brings out a lot of cultural conflict.
Hillbilly Gothic, Adrienne Martini. Not sure where I heard of this. Depressing story about a woman's severe mental illness following childbirth, which is a common pattern in her family.
The Bermudez Triangle, Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes, The Key to the Golden Firebird; Maureen Johnson. Death! More death! Adventure! Teenage lesbianism! The focus is on relationships, with a side of growth, and everyone is a sympathetic character. Johnson is really good.
Passing for Human, Jody Scott. Women's Press SF. Deeply peculiar story about aliens masquerading as humans, for reasons somewhere between anthropology and cheap thrill.
Catalina, Markus Orths. Interesting historical novel with gender-bending.
The Green Glass Sea, Ellen Klages. Wiscon. Geek girl grows up in the shadow of the Manhattan Project. Very well done, but I didn't connect with it completely.
Life As We Knew It, Susan Beth Pfeffer. Fromrachelmanija. This I loved, and remember really well months later. Worldwide natural disaster as experienced in a small town by a very real-seeming teenager who doesn't stop caring about her friends or her ice-skating.
Circle of the Moon, Barbara Hambly. Also fromrachelmanija. I think I liked Sisters of the Raven better, but this is a worthy sequel more in the mystery vein. I was annoyed by the protagonist's (believable) slowness to figure out what was up with the slave species, but liked the other group of humans.
The Music of Dolphins, Karen Hesse. From IROSF "Feral Fantasy" article. Feral child raised by dolphins learns about human society and tries to help another feral child. Sad, but good stuff.
Knowledge of Angels, Jill Paton Walsh. From IROSF "Feral Fantasy" article. Bounced hard. Direct address to reader almost always strikes me as overly twee, and it really bugged me within the first page. I didn't struggle with it much.
Morality for Beautiful Girls, Alexander McCall Smith. From IROSF "Feral Fantasy" article. So endearing! Very open, sympathetic characters struggle with moral issues and mysteries (and all call each other by titles and often full names).
The Sunday Philosophy Club. Don't really care about the writing or the characters; this protagonist has stupid problems. And I admit Botswana itself charmed me. So I next read:
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies. And liked it.
The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown, Robin McKinley. Found used, yay, so reread. Um, yeah, race problems. I still love them some though.
Avielle of Rhia, Dia Calhoun.
Fool Moon, Jim Butcher. When I wish that characters from a book really existed, it's usually a good sign. When I wish that Harry Dresden really existed solely so that I could hunt him down and smack him in the head, it is not so much a good sign. Yeesh. I read two of these since many people seem to like them, but that's plenty.
Moon Called, Patricia Briggs. From IROSF "Feral Fantasy" article. Woman-to-coyote shapeshifter: raised by werewolves, working as mechanic, generally pretty awesome. Unfortunately universally desirable to all males, but the story's fun and I didn't mind the Mary-Sueness of it all that much.
20th Century Boys, Naoki Urasawa. All 22 volumes. From oyceter. Amazing! There aren't enough women, but they're great, and the men are all good too. Moments of realistic creepiness, incredible loyalty, and saving the world. Read this!
Bleach through 271. Yay Rukia and her Kaien flashbacks, boo hundredth formulaic Ichigo battle.
Chicken With Plums, Marjane Satrapi. Melancholy and evocative.
Desolation Jones, Warren Ellis et al. Dark and disgusting, yet impressive.
Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall, Bill Willingham et al. A couple of good character backstories, but mostly fluff. (There will be no more Fables for me, as they're decreasing in interest and it seems the next one was pretty offensive.)
Jack of Fables 1, Bill Willingham et al. Annoying character, but also fun to read about. Excellent use of mystery Fable Sam.
rachelmanija. I've decided this should be called science prose-poetry. It's not popularizing primarily, but demonstrating beauty and structure using repetition, analogy, and vivid imagery. Despite its occasional fumbles with binomial nomenclature, I recommend this highly, whether or not you care about flowers. (I of course do, and I came away with a pleasingly long list of scientific papers to look up, though I was a little disappointed the author cited a review article rather than directly citing the research of my grad program's head.)Singer of Souls, Adam Stemple. From Neile. Charming and mildly dark story about a heroin-addicted bard going cold turkey and discovering his magical power and Faery -- until the end, when it turns cruelly dark in a hurry, and does so in a way that I didn't feel was totally supported by the previous text. Not ideal bedtime reading.
The Not-So-Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen, Mitali Perkins. Library shelf. Good YA about an Indian-American girl and her family's adjustment to a long visit by Indian grandparents, which brings out a lot of cultural conflict.
Hillbilly Gothic, Adrienne Martini. Not sure where I heard of this. Depressing story about a woman's severe mental illness following childbirth, which is a common pattern in her family.
The Bermudez Triangle, Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes, The Key to the Golden Firebird; Maureen Johnson. Death! More death! Adventure! Teenage lesbianism! The focus is on relationships, with a side of growth, and everyone is a sympathetic character. Johnson is really good.
Passing for Human, Jody Scott. Women's Press SF. Deeply peculiar story about aliens masquerading as humans, for reasons somewhere between anthropology and cheap thrill.
Catalina, Markus Orths. Interesting historical novel with gender-bending.
The Green Glass Sea, Ellen Klages. Wiscon. Geek girl grows up in the shadow of the Manhattan Project. Very well done, but I didn't connect with it completely.
Life As We Knew It, Susan Beth Pfeffer. From
rachelmanija. This I loved, and remember really well months later. Worldwide natural disaster as experienced in a small town by a very real-seeming teenager who doesn't stop caring about her friends or her ice-skating.Circle of the Moon, Barbara Hambly. Also from
rachelmanija. I think I liked Sisters of the Raven better, but this is a worthy sequel more in the mystery vein. I was annoyed by the protagonist's (believable) slowness to figure out what was up with the slave species, but liked the other group of humans.The Music of Dolphins, Karen Hesse. From IROSF "Feral Fantasy" article. Feral child raised by dolphins learns about human society and tries to help another feral child. Sad, but good stuff.
Morality for Beautiful Girls, Alexander McCall Smith. From IROSF "Feral Fantasy" article. So endearing! Very open, sympathetic characters struggle with moral issues and mysteries (and all call each other by titles and often full names).
The Sunday Philosophy Club. Don't really care about the writing or the characters; this protagonist has stupid problems. And I admit Botswana itself charmed me. So I next read:
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies. And liked it.
The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown, Robin McKinley. Found used, yay, so reread. Um, yeah, race problems. I still love them some though.
Avielle of Rhia, Dia Calhoun.
Fool Moon, Jim Butcher. When I wish that characters from a book really existed, it's usually a good sign. When I wish that Harry Dresden really existed solely so that I could hunt him down and smack him in the head, it is not so much a good sign. Yeesh. I read two of these since many people seem to like them, but that's plenty.
Moon Called, Patricia Briggs. From IROSF "Feral Fantasy" article. Woman-to-coyote shapeshifter: raised by werewolves, working as mechanic, generally pretty awesome. Unfortunately universally desirable to all males, but the story's fun and I didn't mind the Mary-Sueness of it all that much.
20th Century Boys, Naoki Urasawa. All 22 volumes. From oyceter. Amazing! There aren't enough women, but they're great, and the men are all good too. Moments of realistic creepiness, incredible loyalty, and saving the world. Read this!
Bleach through 271. Yay Rukia and her Kaien flashbacks, boo hundredth formulaic Ichigo battle.
Chicken With Plums, Marjane Satrapi. Melancholy and evocative.
Desolation Jones, Warren Ellis et al. Dark and disgusting, yet impressive.
Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall, Bill Willingham et al. A couple of good character backstories, but mostly fluff. (There will be no more Fables for me, as they're decreasing in interest and it seems the next one was pretty offensive.)
Jack of Fables 1, Bill Willingham et al. Annoying character, but also fun to read about. Excellent use of mystery Fable Sam.
