june 2007 books
Jan. 8th, 2008 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jinianBook MADNESS! (And again only very short notes. Feel free to ask if you want elaboration, and I'll try to dredge up my opinions.)
The Sorceress and the Cygnet, Patricia McKillip. Yay good/evil power consideration, yay archetypes come to life, yay awesome women. BOO racial essentialism!! (Even the most sympathetic characters call the protagonist by his group affiliation instead of his name, and it bugged the heck out of me.)
Shadow of the Moon, Rebecca York. Incredibly obvious author setup! [I now wonder what I meant by that, as I remember the book not at all.]
Necklace of Kisses, Francesca Lia Block. I thought grown-up Weetzie Bat could never work, but I was wrong.
Animal Architects: Building and the Evolution of Intelligence, James R.
Gould and Carol Grant Gould. Very cool stuff, especially the bowerbirds.
Fly on the Wall, E. Lockhart. So sweet! Love!
Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, Octavia Butler. I keep thinking I haven't read the second one, but I have, it's just completely different from what I think a sequel would be like.
The Mountain's Call, Caitlin Brennan (Judith Tarr). Not bad for fantasy romance.
Secret Society Girl, Diana Peterfreund. From![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gwyneira. Eight Deadly Words.
Zahrah the Windseeker, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu. Great! Lots of intriguing magic stuff, good strong young woman character.
The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden, Catherynne M. Valente. Tiptree winner 2006. Beautiful stories, nested together carefully.
Half Life, Shelley Jackson. Tiptree winner 2006. Charming and unsettling.
253: the Print Remix, Geoff Ryman. Fromrysmiel. Very good intersecting slices of life on a train about to crash. The web format might be better.
Cures for Heartbreak, Margo Rabb. Fromgwyneira. Funny and touching YA.
Keturah and Lord Death, Martine Leavitt. NYMBC. Unsatisfying somehow.
Master of None, N. Lee Wood. Library shelf. This novel about a man on a planet ruled by women goes from major protagonist subjugation (to the point that it made me uneasy) to "what these broads need is a real man" without passing through much of anywhere I wanted to be in between. I found it compelling, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
Kung Fu Princess: Daughter of Light, Pamela Walker. Decent YA, but why oh why does she have to be half white?
Charisma, Steven Barnes. Suffers from "thriller character syndrome" (tm Wim), or actually two of them: too many characters with obscure agendas that I confused with each other, and that thing where a minor character's interior life is introduced only for them to be KILLED. And he actually got me with the latter, which doesn't usually happen. But it was generally pretty good and compelling, though not entirely believable, and I liked the ending.
Mairelon the Magician, Patricia C. Wrede. A little cute, a little tidy, but very enjoyable mystery and satisfying ending.
Manstealing for Fat Girls, Michelle Embree. From booksarepretty.blogspot.com. Rude and dark and great.
The Chymical Wedding, Lindsay Clarke. Despite enjoying this and thinking it good, I don't remember it enough to give an idea of what it's like.
Dokebi Bride, Marley. Vols 2-3.
Tsubasa, CLAMP. Through 156.
XXXHolic, CLAMP. 49-137. Tube fox is love!
The Sorceress and the Cygnet, Patricia McKillip. Yay good/evil power consideration, yay archetypes come to life, yay awesome women. BOO racial essentialism!! (Even the most sympathetic characters call the protagonist by his group affiliation instead of his name, and it bugged the heck out of me.)
Shadow of the Moon, Rebecca York. Incredibly obvious author setup! [I now wonder what I meant by that, as I remember the book not at all.]
Necklace of Kisses, Francesca Lia Block. I thought grown-up Weetzie Bat could never work, but I was wrong.
Animal Architects: Building and the Evolution of Intelligence, James R.
Gould and Carol Grant Gould. Very cool stuff, especially the bowerbirds.
Fly on the Wall, E. Lockhart. So sweet! Love!
Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, Octavia Butler. I keep thinking I haven't read the second one, but I have, it's just completely different from what I think a sequel would be like.
The Mountain's Call, Caitlin Brennan (Judith Tarr). Not bad for fantasy romance.
Secret Society Girl, Diana Peterfreund. From
gwyneira. Eight Deadly Words.Zahrah the Windseeker, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu. Great! Lots of intriguing magic stuff, good strong young woman character.
The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden, Catherynne M. Valente. Tiptree winner 2006. Beautiful stories, nested together carefully.
Half Life, Shelley Jackson. Tiptree winner 2006. Charming and unsettling.
253: the Print Remix, Geoff Ryman. From
rysmiel. Very good intersecting slices of life on a train about to crash. The web format might be better.Cures for Heartbreak, Margo Rabb. From
gwyneira. Funny and touching YA.Keturah and Lord Death, Martine Leavitt. NYMBC. Unsatisfying somehow.
Master of None, N. Lee Wood. Library shelf. This novel about a man on a planet ruled by women goes from major protagonist subjugation (to the point that it made me uneasy) to "what these broads need is a real man" without passing through much of anywhere I wanted to be in between. I found it compelling, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
Kung Fu Princess: Daughter of Light, Pamela Walker. Decent YA, but why oh why does she have to be half white?
Charisma, Steven Barnes. Suffers from "thriller character syndrome" (tm Wim), or actually two of them: too many characters with obscure agendas that I confused with each other, and that thing where a minor character's interior life is introduced only for them to be KILLED. And he actually got me with the latter, which doesn't usually happen. But it was generally pretty good and compelling, though not entirely believable, and I liked the ending.
Mairelon the Magician, Patricia C. Wrede. A little cute, a little tidy, but very enjoyable mystery and satisfying ending.
Manstealing for Fat Girls, Michelle Embree. From booksarepretty.blogspot.com. Rude and dark and great.
The Chymical Wedding, Lindsay Clarke. Despite enjoying this and thinking it good, I don't remember it enough to give an idea of what it's like.
Dokebi Bride, Marley. Vols 2-3.
Tsubasa, CLAMP. Through 156.
XXXHolic, CLAMP. 49-137. Tube fox is love!
