books, August
Wow I did not read much that wasn't Avengers fic.
Frank Warren, The World of Postsecret. Exactly what you’d expect.
Anne Perry, The Cater Street Hangman, Callender Square. I’ve had Perry recommended to me a couple times, and a historical spousal detective team is right up my alley.
These were published in 1979 and 1980.
So... not so much.
They’re a bit didactic, with quite a lot of monologuing about how very different things were Back Then-- did you know poor people existed then? Well, our heroine pretty much did not. The first two were kind of a slog, not least because the style of the time seems to have been to discover who did it, then end the book immediately.
I’m reading one from 2013, and we’ll see if I’m willing to backtrack. Signs point to no, so far.
Nora Roberts, The Liar. The numbers are too big, the town too cute, the characters too unaware that they are in a book. Even if they don’t expect the surprise twist ending, Roberts should know that her readers do.
Anne Perry, Midnight at Marble Arch. Yup, done with Perry. I need denouement! And less heavy-handedness!
Sarah Addison Allen, First Frost. I have been disappointed in Allen’s books because I liked Garden Spells so much, and this one gets back to the strange people with strange powers. I’m glad-- I like her writing and it relies on the world being right.
Andi Teran, Ana of California. Too wedded to its origins as Anne of Green Gables, and also waffly on the subject of what is unforgiveable and what is not. A character who is supposed to be sympathetic hates another because he got drunk and outed her to his friends... and she spreads a rumor that the Latina from Los Angeles, apparently the only Latina in the school, is in a gang and has connections. Because that’s completely harmless. Even if the titular Ana weren’t an orphan entirely due to gang violence.
Basically, either go for the full Anne treatment and make it cute and sweet, or do the opposite and actually engage with the setting and such. In between, no.
Frank Warren, The World of Postsecret. Exactly what you’d expect.
Anne Perry, The Cater Street Hangman, Callender Square. I’ve had Perry recommended to me a couple times, and a historical spousal detective team is right up my alley.
These were published in 1979 and 1980.
So... not so much.
They’re a bit didactic, with quite a lot of monologuing about how very different things were Back Then-- did you know poor people existed then? Well, our heroine pretty much did not. The first two were kind of a slog, not least because the style of the time seems to have been to discover who did it, then end the book immediately.
I’m reading one from 2013, and we’ll see if I’m willing to backtrack. Signs point to no, so far.
Nora Roberts, The Liar. The numbers are too big, the town too cute, the characters too unaware that they are in a book. Even if they don’t expect the surprise twist ending, Roberts should know that her readers do.
Anne Perry, Midnight at Marble Arch. Yup, done with Perry. I need denouement! And less heavy-handedness!
Sarah Addison Allen, First Frost. I have been disappointed in Allen’s books because I liked Garden Spells so much, and this one gets back to the strange people with strange powers. I’m glad-- I like her writing and it relies on the world being right.
Andi Teran, Ana of California. Too wedded to its origins as Anne of Green Gables, and also waffly on the subject of what is unforgiveable and what is not. A character who is supposed to be sympathetic hates another because he got drunk and outed her to his friends... and she spreads a rumor that the Latina from Los Angeles, apparently the only Latina in the school, is in a gang and has connections. Because that’s completely harmless. Even if the titular Ana weren’t an orphan entirely due to gang violence.
Basically, either go for the full Anne treatment and make it cute and sweet, or do the opposite and actually engage with the setting and such. In between, no.