all good people read good books
This year I have gotten my ebook collection in better order, both on my computer and in figuring out how to work with OverDrive so I can check out ebooks from the library. Also, ebook popularity seems to have caught on appropriately, so new releases are usually also available in the digital public library as much as in physical copies, and much easier to access without leaving the house (I don't buy books). This means not only did I read books but I also kept track of what I read, so I figured it would be kinda cool to recollect them for the future.
I included summaries of my reactions to them and general thoughts about the writing, with an attempt to not spoil anything and also trying to keep it short because this became a super long post. I'm happy to talk in more detail in comments if desired, and would also love to see opinions from others who have read stuff.
Since my list of to-read stuff is infinitely long, I tend to prioritize stuff by recommendation. This way, I tend to benefit by rarely reading crap books, and since I'm the type of person who finds it really really difficult to quit anything in the middle, it means if a book starts slow, I figure it's pretty likely that it'll be rewarding in the end. If you are reading the list below and are reminded of something you think I'd like, feel free to recommend to me. While I do gravitate towards SF/F, I'm not exclusive to it.
These are listed not in the order that I read them, but grouped somewhat by author and book type.
The Psi Corps trilogy (B5)- J. Gregory Keyes
1. Dark Genesis: The Birth of the Psi Corps
2. Deadly Relations: Bester Ascendent
3. Final Reckoning: The Fate of Bester
I finished another full Babylon 5 watching earlier this year with a small group of friends and since it had been so long since I'd read the main trilogies of books, I decided to re-read them. Turns out either I have a really awful memory or else I hadn't actually read all of them before. I suspect I'd read the first book of each of the three trilogies, and possibly before I'd finished watching all of the screen stuff. So this read was really good because it was at least 2/3 new material. I'm pretty certain these books are not for people who have not seen B5 (and ideally Crusade). But they are fun for the ones who have and who can't get enough of the universe.
Anyways, the three books of this series cover events of Bester and the Psi Corps pre-Bester, pre- and peri-B5, and post-Telepath War. It was great reading for filling in a lot of universe knowledge and really getting to know Bester well. Unfortunately, as fascinating of a character as Bester was, I just don't like him, and this sort of tinged the whole thing for me a little, making it my least favorite of the trilogies. Overall it was still enjoyable and the ending was satisfying.
The Passing of the Techno-Mages (+prequel) (B5) - Jeanne Cavelos
4. The Shadow Within
5. Casting Shadows
6. Summoning Light
7. Invoking Darkness
This series tells you far more about the Shadows and the Techno-Mages than anything on the screen, which I found mostly incredibly fascinating because I loved Galen so much, and it centers around Galen and the mages. It add more to the Shadow storyline of B5, but not a whole lot else although it does a great job at bringing bit characters to vivid life and giving them depth and warmth and backstory that fits in very well with what we originally knew of them. It retells one scene (Geometry of Shadows) from another vantage, and for the most part stops where it is still interesting and fun, without going totally overboard.
Overall it was my second favorite of the trilogies, and gives opportunity to find a lot of fun (if stretchy) parallels between the Mage tech and other universes where great power comes from sketchy sources, and how to use it for good, which I find pretty fun to think about. Recommended for people who enjoyed the B5/Crusade/B5 movies and want more.
Legions of Fire / Centauri Prime trilogy (B5) - Peter David
8. The Long Night of Centauri Prime
9. Out of the Darkness
10. Armies of Light & Dark
This is my favorite trilogy of these and the one I would recommend to anybody who wanted to get more of the main characters of the show: Londo and G'kar. And Vir, because Vir is awesome. It takes a lot of the events shown and referenced and briefly hinted at in the end of season 5 and in the next 20ish years and gives all the detail about how and why certain things happened. I'm a big sucker for getting into the heads of characters and seeing the full story behind awesome events, and there was a plethora of that here.
Lilith's Brood / Xenogenesis - Octavia Butler
11. Dawn
12. Adulthood Rites
13. Imago
Recommended by a local friend, and when I looked up the books, I realized I hadn't actually read anything by Butler, despite having heard of her for yeeeears. So these were my first. It had the benefit of being a trilogy that got better with each book. Not that it started off bad, but it got better. Each book in the trilogy is a new story in the same universe, with overlapping concepts but only a few overlapping characters, so while it is helpful to read them in order, I suspect it isn't required.
I now have a bunch more of Butler's books in my library waiting to be read.
The Inheritance Trilogy - N.K. Jemisin
14. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
15. The Broken Kingdoms
16. The Kingdom of Gods
This recommendation came from a FB friend on the heels of the sad puppies debacle, when a certain internet person in SF known for his extreme racist/sexist opinions made several disparaging remarks about the author. I decided that was good enough reason for me to look up her books and read them, and I'm glad I did. I would read more from Jemisin.
The worldbuilding is interesting and the characters are mostly compelling. I did find myself re-reading parts occasionally as there is a lot of complexity that isn't always written out explicitly. There were beautiful and inspiring parts of it, but also some flatness. I liked the third book the least of the three (although they were all enjoyable), possibly because I found it harder to identify with the main characters. The three books only overlap a few characters, and are individually separate stories, but I think reading in order is recommended.
It did provide a satisfactory overall ending, as well as a quote I like a lot:
"You are what your creators and experiences have made you, like every other being in this universe. Accept that and be done.
[...]
The future, however, is yours to make."
Imperial Radch - Ann Leckie
17. Ancillary Justice
18. Ancillary Sword
19. Ancillary Mercy
I saw the first book mentioned among several friends as it gained media attention for its "feminist" approach of having a protagonist who literally can't see gender, so she uses female pronons for everybody. This worked amazingly well for me! Without differentiating gender for anybody, the characters are freed from a universe of gender essentialism, which was surprisingly refreshing to read. It introduced other relevent -isms, of course, but only as minor occasional details, and in a way that let me observe it rather than feel like I'm still living it. This may not be a big deal to people who read SF happily without constantly being aware of the what gender stereotypes this particular author has chosen to fit or defy and which gender-archy they have set up in this universe. In fact, I thought I was one of those people, until I read this. Ultimately, this is not a book "about" gender (although it is about identity in general), but it uses it very well.
As to the reading experience, the first book was slow to catch on for me, in large part because Leckie did most of her exposition and world-building through flashbacks spread slowly over the first half of the book. Combine that confusion with my normal mixup over unfamiliar names, and I ended up flipping back and re-reading parts a few times to try to figure out what was going on. But by the end of the first book, it was smooth sailing and completely enjoyable. The next two books are continuations of the same, but even better, and I was sad to stop reading at the end of the third. It was a satisfactory closure, but there is plenty of room for more stories in this universe and I hope some of them are told. I will definitely read more books from Leckie when she writes them. Highly recommended, and is the one set of books from this year I've been eagerly talking about it to various people. Must read in order.
20. Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
This was recommended by a local friend and it's basically 80s geek culture nostalgia loosely wrapped around a plot in a future world and made into a story. If you were a geek and old enough to remember the 80s, this book is a ton of fun. I suspect I'm on the young end of the target demographic but I still enjoyed it. If you've already read the book and/or want to see if you'd be a good target (and don't mind a small amount of spoiling), check out the crazy list of references someone put together.
Unfortunately, the nostalgia value is really the best thing about the book. The future virtual world here is kind of interesting, but the plot is fairly straightforward and unsurprising, and all the characters all felt pretty flat and one-sided to me. Don't look for any redeeming literary breakthroughs here, but if you want a comfortable amusement park ride, it's an easy read.
21. Armada - Ernest Cline
I enjoyed the first book by Cline and thought that his second book sounded like fun. I probably should have been suspicious that I hadn't heard about it from anybody. While I did finish it and would rate it "OK," it was basically worse in all ways than RPO. It felt to me like it was a junior high school boy's creative writing that borrowed plot concepts and tropes heavily from Ender's Game and Guardians of the Galaxy. There are still a bunch of geeky references, but they're more of the style of how my high school geek friends would reference in-jokes and quotes in place of having real conversation, instead of actually adding to the writing. I thought there were about two chapters worth of interesting plot, but it didn't come until about 9/10 of the way through the book. Maybe good as a fluff vacation book if you're bored, but I wouldn't otherwise recommend seeking it out.
22. The Door Into Ocean - Joan Slonczewski
This was recommended to me by a stranger I met at a meetup group sometime last year. I remember nothing else about the meetup or the person I met, but I remembered the title of this book and recently looked it up. This is another supposedly feminist ground-breaker, in that the main conflict of the book is with a eco-friendly alien society who have no men and no violence. While the political and cultural concepts are pretty interesting, and I have no doubt it was pretty distinct among the other SF of the 80s, I was put off somewhat by the strongly re-inforced gender stereotypes among the characters. Because the point of view shifts around to many different characters, I didn't get the benefit of seeing everybody evenly like with the Ancillary books. In this book, men (with a few exceptions) are violent, abusive, loud, and controlling; women (with a few exceptions) are negotiators, nurturers, quiet, and egalitarian. It got a little old.
This one also started slow for me, and took a good half of the book to hook me in, due to the gradual introductions to the characters and worlds. Most of the characters never fully resonated for me. Despite all that, the story was interesting, and it kept me thinking about it after I finished it, so I'll conclude that I mostly liked it. There are apparently several other books in the same universe, but I'm not sure yet if I will continue with any of them.
23. Among Others - Jo Walton
I picked it up because it won a bunch of SF awards, and while I'm not going to say I didn't enjoy it, it's more of a subtle layered book than an entertaining one. It's slow and nuanced and reads more like a vignette that is expanded to book length. I heard it referred to as a love letter to 80s SF literature, which is a little confusing because it doesn't use the references as plot like in RFO, and it looks more like contextless name-dropping until you realize that most of us readers are the sort of person who form opinions of people based on what's on their bookshelves. And then the SF references become another subtle way of getting to know the main character and seeing her life through yet another lens.
This book didn't stir up any grand feelings in me, but I admired the artistic and literary merit of the writing, and I loved the multitude of levels that are available to view it from, without ever being in your face.
24. The Slow Regard of Silent Things - Patrick Rothfuss
This was mentioned by large numbers of friends when it first came out, and I can see why. I would describe this even more as an expanded vignette. It's a feeling book, not a doing book. Nothing "happens" and yet it's like not only do you get to know Auri, you get to know Auri's world - which may or may not be the same as anybody else's world - as seen through Auri's eyes and thoughts, and it's fascinating and beautiful. Definitely a book for certain types of people and not others. I think it's helpful to have read the other Kingkiller books, but not required.
25. The Martian - Andy Weir
I got ahold of the book after people started raving about the movie (which I haven't seen, but will). The book was fun and intelligent and funny and interesting and unusual. The main character managed to stay juuust on the right side of amusing vs annoying, and it probably helped that it reminded me very hard of a couple of my friends in real life. The science in the book was written in a way that I continually felt like it was just perfectly in my reach to understand the point he was making without thinking too hard or distracting me from the story. Whether this is because I'm the exact right level of science nerd for the target audience or it's just really well written, I'm not sure. I suspect a little of each. Highly recommended for everybody who this XKCD comic describes.
26. Lost Girls - Alan Moore & Melinda Gebbie
This has been on my list for a while due to hearing mentions of it for years from Moore fans. I didn't actually know much about it when I got it, and my glib summary is that it that boy, it sure puts the "graphic" into "graphic novel." Yep, this (or these, as it comes in three volumes) are totally porn. So porny that I was kind of surprised it was shelved in the general graphic novel section in the library. So porny that it would be really, really easy to only see the sex (lots of sex, all kinds of sex, some of it disturbing) and miss the rest of the artistry and depth and literary subtlety in it.
27. Harpy's Flight - Megan Lindholm
I picked up this because I really loved this author's Elderling series (under the pseudonym Robin Hobb) and was curious about her earlier/other work, and also because I was visiting a house with books and the paper version was lying around. It is fairly light and has an interesting story, although I didn't find it thrilling, nor did I feel particularly attached to it. There are more in the series, which I may read eventually if they come my way, but I'm not going to go out of my way to find them (my library doesn't seem to have any Megan Lindholm in any form).
A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket
28. The Bad Beginning
29. The Reptile Room
30. The Wide Window
I'd heard of this series for many years, so when I stumbled across the ebook collection, I decided to try it out. It's cute, easy reading, short youth fiction. I like his writing style, but I sort of lost interest after three books. They're so quick I will probably continue the rest eventually, but I'm not really in a hurry to do so. I'd recommend them for kids.
31. The Two Princesses of Bamarre - Gail Carson Levine
I picked this up as part of an ongoing interest in finding children's books I can recommend with strong female protagonists and also to bring my year's book total up to a nice round number. It was cute but not spectacular. It would probably be appealing to a young girl who loves princesses and fairies and worlds of superfluous magic, but I think anybody older than 10yo or kids who don't idolize fairies would probably find it a bit wearying.
32. No Flying in the House - Betty Brock
I'm counting this because I picked it up and read it, because it was lying on the bookshelf at the house I was at and had a cute cover and well, what else could I do? It's a cute little fantasy story. Recommended for young kids who like fairies.
32 books, 16 authors, 9 women.
I included summaries of my reactions to them and general thoughts about the writing, with an attempt to not spoil anything and also trying to keep it short because this became a super long post. I'm happy to talk in more detail in comments if desired, and would also love to see opinions from others who have read stuff.
Since my list of to-read stuff is infinitely long, I tend to prioritize stuff by recommendation. This way, I tend to benefit by rarely reading crap books, and since I'm the type of person who finds it really really difficult to quit anything in the middle, it means if a book starts slow, I figure it's pretty likely that it'll be rewarding in the end. If you are reading the list below and are reminded of something you think I'd like, feel free to recommend to me. While I do gravitate towards SF/F, I'm not exclusive to it.
These are listed not in the order that I read them, but grouped somewhat by author and book type.
The Psi Corps trilogy (B5)- J. Gregory Keyes
1. Dark Genesis: The Birth of the Psi Corps
2. Deadly Relations: Bester Ascendent
3. Final Reckoning: The Fate of Bester
I finished another full Babylon 5 watching earlier this year with a small group of friends and since it had been so long since I'd read the main trilogies of books, I decided to re-read them. Turns out either I have a really awful memory or else I hadn't actually read all of them before. I suspect I'd read the first book of each of the three trilogies, and possibly before I'd finished watching all of the screen stuff. So this read was really good because it was at least 2/3 new material. I'm pretty certain these books are not for people who have not seen B5 (and ideally Crusade). But they are fun for the ones who have and who can't get enough of the universe.
Anyways, the three books of this series cover events of Bester and the Psi Corps pre-Bester, pre- and peri-B5, and post-Telepath War. It was great reading for filling in a lot of universe knowledge and really getting to know Bester well. Unfortunately, as fascinating of a character as Bester was, I just don't like him, and this sort of tinged the whole thing for me a little, making it my least favorite of the trilogies. Overall it was still enjoyable and the ending was satisfying.
The Passing of the Techno-Mages (+prequel) (B5) - Jeanne Cavelos
4. The Shadow Within
5. Casting Shadows
6. Summoning Light
7. Invoking Darkness
This series tells you far more about the Shadows and the Techno-Mages than anything on the screen, which I found mostly incredibly fascinating because I loved Galen so much, and it centers around Galen and the mages. It add more to the Shadow storyline of B5, but not a whole lot else although it does a great job at bringing bit characters to vivid life and giving them depth and warmth and backstory that fits in very well with what we originally knew of them. It retells one scene (Geometry of Shadows) from another vantage, and for the most part stops where it is still interesting and fun, without going totally overboard.
Overall it was my second favorite of the trilogies, and gives opportunity to find a lot of fun (if stretchy) parallels between the Mage tech and other universes where great power comes from sketchy sources, and how to use it for good, which I find pretty fun to think about. Recommended for people who enjoyed the B5/Crusade/B5 movies and want more.
Legions of Fire / Centauri Prime trilogy (B5) - Peter David
8. The Long Night of Centauri Prime
9. Out of the Darkness
10. Armies of Light & Dark
This is my favorite trilogy of these and the one I would recommend to anybody who wanted to get more of the main characters of the show: Londo and G'kar. And Vir, because Vir is awesome. It takes a lot of the events shown and referenced and briefly hinted at in the end of season 5 and in the next 20ish years and gives all the detail about how and why certain things happened. I'm a big sucker for getting into the heads of characters and seeing the full story behind awesome events, and there was a plethora of that here.
Lilith's Brood / Xenogenesis - Octavia Butler
11. Dawn
12. Adulthood Rites
13. Imago
Recommended by a local friend, and when I looked up the books, I realized I hadn't actually read anything by Butler, despite having heard of her for yeeeears. So these were my first. It had the benefit of being a trilogy that got better with each book. Not that it started off bad, but it got better. Each book in the trilogy is a new story in the same universe, with overlapping concepts but only a few overlapping characters, so while it is helpful to read them in order, I suspect it isn't required.
I now have a bunch more of Butler's books in my library waiting to be read.
The Inheritance Trilogy - N.K. Jemisin
14. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
15. The Broken Kingdoms
16. The Kingdom of Gods
This recommendation came from a FB friend on the heels of the sad puppies debacle, when a certain internet person in SF known for his extreme racist/sexist opinions made several disparaging remarks about the author. I decided that was good enough reason for me to look up her books and read them, and I'm glad I did. I would read more from Jemisin.
The worldbuilding is interesting and the characters are mostly compelling. I did find myself re-reading parts occasionally as there is a lot of complexity that isn't always written out explicitly. There were beautiful and inspiring parts of it, but also some flatness. I liked the third book the least of the three (although they were all enjoyable), possibly because I found it harder to identify with the main characters. The three books only overlap a few characters, and are individually separate stories, but I think reading in order is recommended.
It did provide a satisfactory overall ending, as well as a quote I like a lot:
"You are what your creators and experiences have made you, like every other being in this universe. Accept that and be done.
[...]
The future, however, is yours to make."
Imperial Radch - Ann Leckie
17. Ancillary Justice
18. Ancillary Sword
19. Ancillary Mercy
I saw the first book mentioned among several friends as it gained media attention for its "feminist" approach of having a protagonist who literally can't see gender, so she uses female pronons for everybody. This worked amazingly well for me! Without differentiating gender for anybody, the characters are freed from a universe of gender essentialism, which was surprisingly refreshing to read. It introduced other relevent -isms, of course, but only as minor occasional details, and in a way that let me observe it rather than feel like I'm still living it. This may not be a big deal to people who read SF happily without constantly being aware of the what gender stereotypes this particular author has chosen to fit or defy and which gender-archy they have set up in this universe. In fact, I thought I was one of those people, until I read this. Ultimately, this is not a book "about" gender (although it is about identity in general), but it uses it very well.
As to the reading experience, the first book was slow to catch on for me, in large part because Leckie did most of her exposition and world-building through flashbacks spread slowly over the first half of the book. Combine that confusion with my normal mixup over unfamiliar names, and I ended up flipping back and re-reading parts a few times to try to figure out what was going on. But by the end of the first book, it was smooth sailing and completely enjoyable. The next two books are continuations of the same, but even better, and I was sad to stop reading at the end of the third. It was a satisfactory closure, but there is plenty of room for more stories in this universe and I hope some of them are told. I will definitely read more books from Leckie when she writes them. Highly recommended, and is the one set of books from this year I've been eagerly talking about it to various people. Must read in order.
20. Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
This was recommended by a local friend and it's basically 80s geek culture nostalgia loosely wrapped around a plot in a future world and made into a story. If you were a geek and old enough to remember the 80s, this book is a ton of fun. I suspect I'm on the young end of the target demographic but I still enjoyed it. If you've already read the book and/or want to see if you'd be a good target (and don't mind a small amount of spoiling), check out the crazy list of references someone put together.
Unfortunately, the nostalgia value is really the best thing about the book. The future virtual world here is kind of interesting, but the plot is fairly straightforward and unsurprising, and all the characters all felt pretty flat and one-sided to me. Don't look for any redeeming literary breakthroughs here, but if you want a comfortable amusement park ride, it's an easy read.
21. Armada - Ernest Cline
I enjoyed the first book by Cline and thought that his second book sounded like fun. I probably should have been suspicious that I hadn't heard about it from anybody. While I did finish it and would rate it "OK," it was basically worse in all ways than RPO. It felt to me like it was a junior high school boy's creative writing that borrowed plot concepts and tropes heavily from Ender's Game and Guardians of the Galaxy. There are still a bunch of geeky references, but they're more of the style of how my high school geek friends would reference in-jokes and quotes in place of having real conversation, instead of actually adding to the writing. I thought there were about two chapters worth of interesting plot, but it didn't come until about 9/10 of the way through the book. Maybe good as a fluff vacation book if you're bored, but I wouldn't otherwise recommend seeking it out.
22. The Door Into Ocean - Joan Slonczewski
This was recommended to me by a stranger I met at a meetup group sometime last year. I remember nothing else about the meetup or the person I met, but I remembered the title of this book and recently looked it up. This is another supposedly feminist ground-breaker, in that the main conflict of the book is with a eco-friendly alien society who have no men and no violence. While the political and cultural concepts are pretty interesting, and I have no doubt it was pretty distinct among the other SF of the 80s, I was put off somewhat by the strongly re-inforced gender stereotypes among the characters. Because the point of view shifts around to many different characters, I didn't get the benefit of seeing everybody evenly like with the Ancillary books. In this book, men (with a few exceptions) are violent, abusive, loud, and controlling; women (with a few exceptions) are negotiators, nurturers, quiet, and egalitarian. It got a little old.
This one also started slow for me, and took a good half of the book to hook me in, due to the gradual introductions to the characters and worlds. Most of the characters never fully resonated for me. Despite all that, the story was interesting, and it kept me thinking about it after I finished it, so I'll conclude that I mostly liked it. There are apparently several other books in the same universe, but I'm not sure yet if I will continue with any of them.
23. Among Others - Jo Walton
I picked it up because it won a bunch of SF awards, and while I'm not going to say I didn't enjoy it, it's more of a subtle layered book than an entertaining one. It's slow and nuanced and reads more like a vignette that is expanded to book length. I heard it referred to as a love letter to 80s SF literature, which is a little confusing because it doesn't use the references as plot like in RFO, and it looks more like contextless name-dropping until you realize that most of us readers are the sort of person who form opinions of people based on what's on their bookshelves. And then the SF references become another subtle way of getting to know the main character and seeing her life through yet another lens.
This book didn't stir up any grand feelings in me, but I admired the artistic and literary merit of the writing, and I loved the multitude of levels that are available to view it from, without ever being in your face.
24. The Slow Regard of Silent Things - Patrick Rothfuss
This was mentioned by large numbers of friends when it first came out, and I can see why. I would describe this even more as an expanded vignette. It's a feeling book, not a doing book. Nothing "happens" and yet it's like not only do you get to know Auri, you get to know Auri's world - which may or may not be the same as anybody else's world - as seen through Auri's eyes and thoughts, and it's fascinating and beautiful. Definitely a book for certain types of people and not others. I think it's helpful to have read the other Kingkiller books, but not required.
25. The Martian - Andy Weir
I got ahold of the book after people started raving about the movie (which I haven't seen, but will). The book was fun and intelligent and funny and interesting and unusual. The main character managed to stay juuust on the right side of amusing vs annoying, and it probably helped that it reminded me very hard of a couple of my friends in real life. The science in the book was written in a way that I continually felt like it was just perfectly in my reach to understand the point he was making without thinking too hard or distracting me from the story. Whether this is because I'm the exact right level of science nerd for the target audience or it's just really well written, I'm not sure. I suspect a little of each. Highly recommended for everybody who this XKCD comic describes.
26. Lost Girls - Alan Moore & Melinda Gebbie
This has been on my list for a while due to hearing mentions of it for years from Moore fans. I didn't actually know much about it when I got it, and my glib summary is that it that boy, it sure puts the "graphic" into "graphic novel." Yep, this (or these, as it comes in three volumes) are totally porn. So porny that I was kind of surprised it was shelved in the general graphic novel section in the library. So porny that it would be really, really easy to only see the sex (lots of sex, all kinds of sex, some of it disturbing) and miss the rest of the artistry and depth and literary subtlety in it.
27. Harpy's Flight - Megan Lindholm
I picked up this because I really loved this author's Elderling series (under the pseudonym Robin Hobb) and was curious about her earlier/other work, and also because I was visiting a house with books and the paper version was lying around. It is fairly light and has an interesting story, although I didn't find it thrilling, nor did I feel particularly attached to it. There are more in the series, which I may read eventually if they come my way, but I'm not going to go out of my way to find them (my library doesn't seem to have any Megan Lindholm in any form).
A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket
28. The Bad Beginning
29. The Reptile Room
30. The Wide Window
I'd heard of this series for many years, so when I stumbled across the ebook collection, I decided to try it out. It's cute, easy reading, short youth fiction. I like his writing style, but I sort of lost interest after three books. They're so quick I will probably continue the rest eventually, but I'm not really in a hurry to do so. I'd recommend them for kids.
31. The Two Princesses of Bamarre - Gail Carson Levine
I picked this up as part of an ongoing interest in finding children's books I can recommend with strong female protagonists and also to bring my year's book total up to a nice round number. It was cute but not spectacular. It would probably be appealing to a young girl who loves princesses and fairies and worlds of superfluous magic, but I think anybody older than 10yo or kids who don't idolize fairies would probably find it a bit wearying.
32. No Flying in the House - Betty Brock
I'm counting this because I picked it up and read it, because it was lying on the bookshelf at the house I was at and had a cute cover and well, what else could I do? It's a cute little fantasy story. Recommended for young kids who like fairies.
32 books, 16 authors, 9 women.