Annotated booklist from 2009
Here is a list of the books I read in 2009, when I remembered to add them. Some are annotated. Those in brackets are ones I was rereading. I already posted a few annotated entries, but include them here again anyway.
[Briggs, Dragon Blood]
[Heyer, Talisman Ring]
[Bujold, Sharing Knife: Beguilement, Legacy, Passage]
A Brother's Price Spencer, Wen. Good, very readable. A particularly good place to examine the hero/heroine tropes, since the male/female roles have been swapped. Jerin certainly takes the traditional place of the sought-after and protected heroine, but he also seems to share the role of the hero with several of the women.
The nabob's widow Lee, Elsie. Regency. Imitation Heyer.
The passions of Medora Graeme Lee, Elsie. Romance, not regency; reminded me of Mary Stewart (though that might just have been the Greek island setting), but without the murders; I thought it was better than Nabob’s Widow.
Book club : an Unshelved collection Barnes, Bill. Fun. But mostly I’ll just get my Unshelved fix online at www.unshelved.com .
The mad Miss Mathley, Martin, Michelle-story was engaging enough but many attitudes not at all right for the period
Bujold, The Sharing Knife: Horizon-yes! Very satisfying. I love the epilogue-I always like seeing the characters a little while after the end of the story. Or to just have the story go on, and on. I really like the diction and idioms of the characters, which strike true for the feel of the American riverlands. I recognize some of them from my grandmother, who grew up in Kentucky at the end of the nineteenth century; for instance, I was charmed by Fawn’s telling Dag he was taking a lazy man’s load-I can remember misunderstanding my grandmother when she told me the same thing, and replying to her, “But I’m carrying as much as I can! … uh … oh.” The pacing is different, as it has been throughout the Sharing Knife books. The sit-up-and-take-notice, I-can’t-go-to-bed-now moment, when the bat-mudmen attack, doesn’t happen until well towards the end of the book, much later than the chapter 11 (I think it is) death-magic moment in Curse of Chalion. I still love Dag and Fawn, and they’re still central, but the whole story has moved out from them, into all the people coalescing around them. Maybe from is the wrong word--the story is still about them, but it has expanded. In many ways. And all the groundwork discoveries, including discovering that it’s not all new, are really cool.
The tale of Briar Bank : the cottage tales of Beatrix Potter Albert, Susan Wittig.
McCaffrey, Todd, Dragonheart-eh; kind of jumpy, particularly in first half or so. Annoying reminders of things that are left hanging even by the end (whose is the voice Fiona hears?); unevenness of angst (oh no! someone mildly criticized me! Oh, 50 more dragons just died, oh well). And what happened to the dragon sickness plot, anyway-it just went away? Seems like they forgot about it. Even if it’s supposed to be picked up in the next book, its disappearance from the last third of the book seems strange.
Briggs, Raven’s Shadow
Wen Spencer, Tinker-like Borderlands, but in Pittsburgh. Enjoyable-I’ve requested the sequel from the library.
Jo Walton, Ha’penny-sequel to Farthing, set in same unsettling alternate history England; alternates chapters from point of view of same inspector as in Farthing and another young woman from upper class family (the several sisters of an aristocratic family have really complicated relationships with each other, ranging from love to attempted murder. I suspect they are based on the Mitford sisters (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitford_family ).)
Kristin Cashore, Graceling-people born with different-colored eyes have “graces”-talents like fighting. Katsa kills and frightens for the king, but also helps run a Robin-Hood-like council that secretly helps people. In spite of her few friends she feels alone until she meets another Graceling. Together they try to find out who kidnapped his grandfather and why.
Wen Spencer, Wolf Who Rules-sequel to Tinker. I’m liking these books a lot. Some pages seem to have missed being copyedited or proofread. Tinker, now technically an elf, has to interpret her dreams, help the human population of Pittsburgh, now in Elfhome, learn how to be Wolf Who Rules the Wind’s consort, keep the world from being destroyed or overrun with onihilda. She has help from some really nice people-elves, human beings, and tengu.
Aunt Jane’s Nieces, by Edith Van Dyne (L. Frank Baum)-a fairly good example of girls’ series fiction of its era.
Wondrous strange : a novel Livingston, Lesley. Urban fantasy. Okay, I haven’t quite decided how good this is. The mixture of theatre and faerie is always fun. I had a problem with the gratuitous dragging in of mythological or legendary names (like Fenris Ulf) that were not the actual legendary person, and I prefer the usage of Faerie for the place, not the people. At several points I thought that it was about to break through and become sublime, but it never did, quite. The character of Tyff worked very well.
Flora Segunda, by Ysabeau Wilce-The house is a mixture of Hogwarts and the Beast’s house in McKinley’s Beauty; the butler reminds me of Oreg in Dragon Bones; the family reminds me a little of some of Diana Wynne Jones’s families, but mostly just of itself. Well crafted, inventive world (wildly alternate world west coast? with magic?). Flora, with her friend Udo, tries to rescue the house’s butler, then the Dainty Pirate, then herself-but it’s much more complicated than that. Very good. I look forward to the sequel (especially since I didn’t understand the significance of the last couple of paragraphs).
Oxygen : the molecule that made the world Lane, Nick.
Kitchen redos, revamps, remodels, and replacements without murder, madness, suicide, or divorce Weimer, Jan. Really good, readable, also has great lists to consult during process. One of the few we actually bought a copy of. Get Sam Clark first, though.
Kitchens : plan, remodel, build Creative Homeowner Press.
The subtle knife [sound recording] Pullman, Philip, 1946-
Tender morsels Lanagan, Margo, 1960-
1001 ideas for kitchen organization Provey, Joseph R. Lots of good ideas. Yay, Rev-a-shelf.
Ultimate guide to kitchens : plan . remodel . build Not that interesting.
The smart kitchen : how to create a comfortable, safe, energy-efficient, and environment-friendly workspace Goldbeck, David. Disciple of Silvers; microwaves are evil.
Kitchens that work : the practical guide to creating a great kitchen Edic, Martin. Good ideas, leads one through a step at a time. Having read Sam Clark, I don’t need to read all the details here, but still has some new ideas, or puts things a new way.
A complete guide to kitchen design with cooking in mind Silvers, Donald E.-opinionated, presents Sam Clark’s ideas as his own, no way but his way.
Kitchen makeovers Taunton Press. Not that interesting; some nice photos.
Kitchens & baths for today & tomorrow : ideas for fabulous new kitchens & baths Farris, Jerri.-all about style, and I don’t like the style-modern, bleak, bare.
The motion-minded kitchen : step-by-step procedures for designing and building the kitchen you want with the space and money you have Clark, Sam.-Yay, Sam Clark. THE kitchen design and renovation book.
Eat-in Kitchens : inspiration for updating an American Classic, Leone, Catherine Warren Some pretty good ideas
Everything and the Kitchen Sink: Remodel Your Kitchen Without Losing Your Mind-one of the few we actually bought. Readable, fun, as well as useful. Helps you think about the way you yourself live, cook, etc. (as opposed to how the magazines might like you to live) in lots of short quizzes. Talks (as several of these books have) about work modules or stations, which work better for multiple cooks than work triangles. Walks you through the process, but geared more towards choosing an overall design, style, and details for professionals to realize and install than the nitty-gritty of doing the actual design and installation yourself.
Patricia Wrede, Thirteenth Child-Excellent, as always. Set in the northern mid-west of a frontier America with magic, where some things are familiar (the first three presidents, the state of Pennsylvania), but many are not (particularly the mammoths and steam dragons of the great plains). Eff’s large family is realistic and delightful. Her twin brother is the lucky and powerful seventh son of a seventh son, but she is the unlucky thirteenth child, or at least so her more distant relatives, especially her uncle, insist. Their magic teacher leads them to explore the three main geographical schools of magic. Lovely worldbuilding and a good story, but I’m glad that this is the first book of Frontier Magic, as it seems to be setting up for much more to come.
[A Deeper Season, by E.E. Beck and Sahiya http://lookingglass.thelightgetsin.com/ excellent book-length AU Vorkosigan fanfic, Miles/Gregor]
[What Passing Bells, by E.E. Beck and Sahiya-sequel to above fanfic. Followed by the shorter Seeds]
A Place to Stand, by E.E. Beck http://lightgetsin.livejournal.com/293281.html#cutid1 A three-chapter story in the alternate Vorkosigan universe of A Deeper Season.
Eva Ibbotson, Morning Gift-pleasant romance; Ruth grows up in Vienna; when Nazi Germany annexes Austria her family flees to England but she accidentally gets left behind; family friend and eminent paleontologist Quin Somerville marries her to get her out, but their planned annulment runs into problems. Lots about her extended family, including piano prodigy and fiance Heini.
Eva Ibbotson, Magic Flutes (successful foundling prepares castle for wrong girl; princess helps backstage at opera), A Company of Swans (Harriet leaves dreary father’s house in 1912 Cambridge for ballet in the Amazon), Madensky Square (clothes shop in Vienna), A Song for Summer, A Glove Shop In Vienna (short stories, including little boy and his “rich” grandmother)-more gentle romances.
Okay, not a book, but … the movie Up was very enjoyable. I needed a handkerchief for the touching first part, and I could have done without the 3-D for some of the high-up bits on cliffs! But it was so sweet ... and I loved the dogs--they were so dog-like (in a talking, evil minion (or possibly not so evil) way). Squirrel!
Lauren Willig, Secret History of the Pink Carnation. Not terribly taken with the adventure, history, or romance, and the geography had some problems-Calais to Paris is ~200 miles; they couldn’t do it in part of one day over roads the badness of which was frequently remarked upon.
Anne Walsh, Living with Danger, other Dangerverse fanfic (Harry Potter alternate universe, in which Harry and Draco are rescued and raised with Hermione by her sister Danger, her husband Remus Lupin, Harry’s godfather Sirius Black (also rescued), and Sirius’s wife Aletha). Interesting interweaving of AU and canonical events.
Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes, City of Glass. Sequels to City of Bone. Good urban fantasy; quite funny sometimes but lots is fairly dark. Good resolution-though one of the main plot points had been obvious (well, not the details) for at least the last book and a half before the characters found out.
Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. What do you know?-in spite of the hype, it’s really very good! Very sweet, romantic but not at all fluffy epistolary novel, about a young writer, her friends, and the people on Guernsey she starts corresponding with right after WWII.
Commencement / Sullivan, J. Courtney Set at Smith College. Gripping, but speaks to me less than Tam Lin does.
A posse of princesses / Smith, Sherwood. Set in same world as her other books; princesses gathered for a prince’s ball (or house party) are down to earth and idiosyncratic, not fairy-tale. Rhis, from mountainous Nym, makes friends among the other princesses, courtiers, and scribes.
[Gaudy Night]
Charlaine Harris, Dead and Gone-Sookie Stackhouse’s adventures continue. The Weres come out to the human world, to mixed reactions.
[Heyer, Cotillion]
[Tey, Daughter of Time]
[Peters, The Last Camel Died at Noon]
[Heyer, These Old Shades]
Miriam Grace Monfredo, Through a Gold Eagle-decent mystery set in Seneca Falls on the eve of the Civil War. I enjoy the mentions of bankers in Utica, Gerrit Smith (Hamilton class of 1818), other local color.
[Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment]
Deja dead / Reichs, Kathy. I’m finding the gruesomeness pretty disturbing-more than the television show based (remotely) on these books. I think maybe because Brennan in the book is more disturbed by what she’s doing than she is in the show, and we are privy to her feelings.
The shack : a novel / Young, William P.-okay, it was better than I thought it was going to be, if still hyped, and I did think the setup was emotionally manipulative (and somewhat overwritten). Many of the theological points were addressed many times before, including by C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity and the Problem of Pain. I did like the way he portrayed the three Persons of God. Here are some of the places where he did a good job of getting across a good theological point: p.123 respecting choices, not violating free will; p.125 “your choices are not stronger than my purposes, and I will use every choice you make for the ultimate good and most loving outcome” (cf. Perelandra); p. 127 “We’re not justifying it. We are redeeming it.” (I was worried about the “you don’t understand yet” and the potential implication that one day we would understand how a child’s murder was good, but he seems to not be saying that). I like the relationship ideas-“God in relationship”-though the word Love is stronger. I like pp. 167-8 with Missy. I like all the hugging.
Mary Balogh, First Comes Marriage, Then Comes Seduction, Last Comes Love
Patricia Briggs, Hunting Ground-next Alpha and Omega book
Catherine Coulter, Wizard’s Daughter-Nicholas and Rosalind meet, know they must marry, and try to unwind ancient magical secrets. Not very convincing Regency setting, and the fantasy parts really lack any world-building at all.
The year my life went down the loo / Maxwell, Katie.-cute, but slight story told in the e-mails from 16-year-old Emily on sabbatical with her family in England to her friend back home in WA.
Ill met by moonlight / Hoyt, Sarah A-Will Shakespeare’s wife Nan and baby Susanna have been taken by the Fair Folk; Quicksilver, usurped brother of the fairy king, wants to use Will to avenge his parents’ murder and get the throne back. One of my main quarrels with the book is that Will doesn’t seem smart enough, and he is almost entirely passive. I think I want him to be more like Miles Vorkosigan. At any rate, some of the intelligence and wisdom we see in his writing ought to be evident in his character.
[Robin McKinley, Sunshine]
Shiver / Stiefvater, Maggie - Grace is obsessed by the wolves that live in the Minnesota forest around her small town in the 21st century. Sam is one of those wolves, in the winter, but turns back into his human self in the summer. They both tell the story of their meeting and subsequent events, which involve both Grace’s friends from school and Sam’s packmates and mentors. Gripping, witty, heart-wrenching. The ending is satisfying, but rather abrupt-a little longer narrative, and more explanation, would have been nice.
Barbara Hambly, Bride of the Rat God-The title is pure camp, and also fits perfectly with the sort of silent movie Christine is making in early 1920s Hollywood. Her sister-in-law Norah comes from her own tragedies in England during WWI to be Christine’s companion and help her with her three personable Pekinese dogs, who figure prominently in the story, as do mysterious murders, a cursed necklace, an ancient Chinese wizard, a cute and sensible photographer, and the demon Rat God to whom Christine has been unwittingly pledged. The blurb on the front-“Too beautiful to live, too wild to die”-is completely random and irrelevant to the book (though it would fit with one of those silent movies). Hambly is, as usual, competent and evocative.
The hunger games / Collins, Suzanne-Katniss takes the place of her little sister for the annual Hunger Games, along with the baker’s son Peeta. Quite good.
Sherwood Smith, Senrid-This is far better than most adolescent writings (*cough* Eragon *cough*), but not as consistent or as good as her later works.
[Bujold, Shards of Honor-audiobook]
[Heyer, Faro’s Daughter]
Pullman, Once Upon a Time in the North-very nice little story; I like getting some backstory on Lee Scoresby and Iorek.
Scarborough, Godmother-a different take on the fairy godmother and various fairy tales, set in modern Seattle, where an overworked social worker needs more than mundane help.
[Harris, Dead Until Dark-audiobook]
Gillian Baxter, Horses and Heather-children taking care of ponies; not much plot, but soothing when recovering from flu.
Rapunzel’s Revenge, graphic novel by Shannon Hale and Nathan Hale-cross between Rapunzel (and other fairy tales) and American tall tales like Paul Bunyon. Rapunzel is a strong girl role model as she escapes and sets out with her friend Jack to rescue her mother from the mines and the countryside from the heavy rule of the witch.
Pratchett, Unseen Academicals-the University has to field a team to take on the Town at football (soccer to us philistines); but of course it’s more complicated than that, and football is not what it’s really about.
Flora’s Dare-sequel to Flora Segunda. While this is complete in itself, the plot also thickens (Flora learns more about herself and others) and sets up for Flora’s continued adventures.
Various mostly Harry Potter fanfic (some Vorkosigan crossover) by A.J. Hall, found at http://www.fictionalley.org/authors/a_j_hall/ or http://ajhall-fics.livejournal.com/
[Briggs, Dragon Blood]
[Heyer, Talisman Ring]
[Bujold, Sharing Knife: Beguilement, Legacy, Passage]
A Brother's Price Spencer, Wen. Good, very readable. A particularly good place to examine the hero/heroine tropes, since the male/female roles have been swapped. Jerin certainly takes the traditional place of the sought-after and protected heroine, but he also seems to share the role of the hero with several of the women.
The nabob's widow Lee, Elsie. Regency. Imitation Heyer.
The passions of Medora Graeme Lee, Elsie. Romance, not regency; reminded me of Mary Stewart (though that might just have been the Greek island setting), but without the murders; I thought it was better than Nabob’s Widow.
Book club : an Unshelved collection Barnes, Bill. Fun. But mostly I’ll just get my Unshelved fix online at www.unshelved.com .
The mad Miss Mathley, Martin, Michelle-story was engaging enough but many attitudes not at all right for the period
Bujold, The Sharing Knife: Horizon-yes! Very satisfying. I love the epilogue-I always like seeing the characters a little while after the end of the story. Or to just have the story go on, and on. I really like the diction and idioms of the characters, which strike true for the feel of the American riverlands. I recognize some of them from my grandmother, who grew up in Kentucky at the end of the nineteenth century; for instance, I was charmed by Fawn’s telling Dag he was taking a lazy man’s load-I can remember misunderstanding my grandmother when she told me the same thing, and replying to her, “But I’m carrying as much as I can! … uh … oh.” The pacing is different, as it has been throughout the Sharing Knife books. The sit-up-and-take-notice, I-can’t-go-to-bed-now moment, when the bat-mudmen attack, doesn’t happen until well towards the end of the book, much later than the chapter 11 (I think it is) death-magic moment in Curse of Chalion. I still love Dag and Fawn, and they’re still central, but the whole story has moved out from them, into all the people coalescing around them. Maybe from is the wrong word--the story is still about them, but it has expanded. In many ways. And all the groundwork discoveries, including discovering that it’s not all new, are really cool.
The tale of Briar Bank : the cottage tales of Beatrix Potter Albert, Susan Wittig.
McCaffrey, Todd, Dragonheart-eh; kind of jumpy, particularly in first half or so. Annoying reminders of things that are left hanging even by the end (whose is the voice Fiona hears?); unevenness of angst (oh no! someone mildly criticized me! Oh, 50 more dragons just died, oh well). And what happened to the dragon sickness plot, anyway-it just went away? Seems like they forgot about it. Even if it’s supposed to be picked up in the next book, its disappearance from the last third of the book seems strange.
Briggs, Raven’s Shadow
Wen Spencer, Tinker-like Borderlands, but in Pittsburgh. Enjoyable-I’ve requested the sequel from the library.
Jo Walton, Ha’penny-sequel to Farthing, set in same unsettling alternate history England; alternates chapters from point of view of same inspector as in Farthing and another young woman from upper class family (the several sisters of an aristocratic family have really complicated relationships with each other, ranging from love to attempted murder. I suspect they are based on the Mitford sisters (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitford_family ).)
Kristin Cashore, Graceling-people born with different-colored eyes have “graces”-talents like fighting. Katsa kills and frightens for the king, but also helps run a Robin-Hood-like council that secretly helps people. In spite of her few friends she feels alone until she meets another Graceling. Together they try to find out who kidnapped his grandfather and why.
Wen Spencer, Wolf Who Rules-sequel to Tinker. I’m liking these books a lot. Some pages seem to have missed being copyedited or proofread. Tinker, now technically an elf, has to interpret her dreams, help the human population of Pittsburgh, now in Elfhome, learn how to be Wolf Who Rules the Wind’s consort, keep the world from being destroyed or overrun with onihilda. She has help from some really nice people-elves, human beings, and tengu.
Aunt Jane’s Nieces, by Edith Van Dyne (L. Frank Baum)-a fairly good example of girls’ series fiction of its era.
Wondrous strange : a novel Livingston, Lesley. Urban fantasy. Okay, I haven’t quite decided how good this is. The mixture of theatre and faerie is always fun. I had a problem with the gratuitous dragging in of mythological or legendary names (like Fenris Ulf) that were not the actual legendary person, and I prefer the usage of Faerie for the place, not the people. At several points I thought that it was about to break through and become sublime, but it never did, quite. The character of Tyff worked very well.
Flora Segunda, by Ysabeau Wilce-The house is a mixture of Hogwarts and the Beast’s house in McKinley’s Beauty; the butler reminds me of Oreg in Dragon Bones; the family reminds me a little of some of Diana Wynne Jones’s families, but mostly just of itself. Well crafted, inventive world (wildly alternate world west coast? with magic?). Flora, with her friend Udo, tries to rescue the house’s butler, then the Dainty Pirate, then herself-but it’s much more complicated than that. Very good. I look forward to the sequel (especially since I didn’t understand the significance of the last couple of paragraphs).
Oxygen : the molecule that made the world Lane, Nick.
Kitchen redos, revamps, remodels, and replacements without murder, madness, suicide, or divorce Weimer, Jan. Really good, readable, also has great lists to consult during process. One of the few we actually bought a copy of. Get Sam Clark first, though.
Kitchens : plan, remodel, build Creative Homeowner Press.
The subtle knife [sound recording] Pullman, Philip, 1946-
Tender morsels Lanagan, Margo, 1960-
1001 ideas for kitchen organization Provey, Joseph R. Lots of good ideas. Yay, Rev-a-shelf.
Ultimate guide to kitchens : plan . remodel . build Not that interesting.
The smart kitchen : how to create a comfortable, safe, energy-efficient, and environment-friendly workspace Goldbeck, David. Disciple of Silvers; microwaves are evil.
Kitchens that work : the practical guide to creating a great kitchen Edic, Martin. Good ideas, leads one through a step at a time. Having read Sam Clark, I don’t need to read all the details here, but still has some new ideas, or puts things a new way.
A complete guide to kitchen design with cooking in mind Silvers, Donald E.-opinionated, presents Sam Clark’s ideas as his own, no way but his way.
Kitchen makeovers Taunton Press. Not that interesting; some nice photos.
Kitchens & baths for today & tomorrow : ideas for fabulous new kitchens & baths Farris, Jerri.-all about style, and I don’t like the style-modern, bleak, bare.
The motion-minded kitchen : step-by-step procedures for designing and building the kitchen you want with the space and money you have Clark, Sam.-Yay, Sam Clark. THE kitchen design and renovation book.
Eat-in Kitchens : inspiration for updating an American Classic, Leone, Catherine Warren Some pretty good ideas
Everything and the Kitchen Sink: Remodel Your Kitchen Without Losing Your Mind-one of the few we actually bought. Readable, fun, as well as useful. Helps you think about the way you yourself live, cook, etc. (as opposed to how the magazines might like you to live) in lots of short quizzes. Talks (as several of these books have) about work modules or stations, which work better for multiple cooks than work triangles. Walks you through the process, but geared more towards choosing an overall design, style, and details for professionals to realize and install than the nitty-gritty of doing the actual design and installation yourself.
Patricia Wrede, Thirteenth Child-Excellent, as always. Set in the northern mid-west of a frontier America with magic, where some things are familiar (the first three presidents, the state of Pennsylvania), but many are not (particularly the mammoths and steam dragons of the great plains). Eff’s large family is realistic and delightful. Her twin brother is the lucky and powerful seventh son of a seventh son, but she is the unlucky thirteenth child, or at least so her more distant relatives, especially her uncle, insist. Their magic teacher leads them to explore the three main geographical schools of magic. Lovely worldbuilding and a good story, but I’m glad that this is the first book of Frontier Magic, as it seems to be setting up for much more to come.
[A Deeper Season, by E.E. Beck and Sahiya http://lookingglass.thelightgetsin.com/ excellent book-length AU Vorkosigan fanfic, Miles/Gregor]
[What Passing Bells, by E.E. Beck and Sahiya-sequel to above fanfic. Followed by the shorter Seeds]
A Place to Stand, by E.E. Beck http://lightgetsin.livejournal.com/293281.html#cutid1 A three-chapter story in the alternate Vorkosigan universe of A Deeper Season.
Eva Ibbotson, Morning Gift-pleasant romance; Ruth grows up in Vienna; when Nazi Germany annexes Austria her family flees to England but she accidentally gets left behind; family friend and eminent paleontologist Quin Somerville marries her to get her out, but their planned annulment runs into problems. Lots about her extended family, including piano prodigy and fiance Heini.
Eva Ibbotson, Magic Flutes (successful foundling prepares castle for wrong girl; princess helps backstage at opera), A Company of Swans (Harriet leaves dreary father’s house in 1912 Cambridge for ballet in the Amazon), Madensky Square (clothes shop in Vienna), A Song for Summer, A Glove Shop In Vienna (short stories, including little boy and his “rich” grandmother)-more gentle romances.
Okay, not a book, but … the movie Up was very enjoyable. I needed a handkerchief for the touching first part, and I could have done without the 3-D for some of the high-up bits on cliffs! But it was so sweet ... and I loved the dogs--they were so dog-like (in a talking, evil minion (or possibly not so evil) way). Squirrel!
Lauren Willig, Secret History of the Pink Carnation. Not terribly taken with the adventure, history, or romance, and the geography had some problems-Calais to Paris is ~200 miles; they couldn’t do it in part of one day over roads the badness of which was frequently remarked upon.
Anne Walsh, Living with Danger, other Dangerverse fanfic (Harry Potter alternate universe, in which Harry and Draco are rescued and raised with Hermione by her sister Danger, her husband Remus Lupin, Harry’s godfather Sirius Black (also rescued), and Sirius’s wife Aletha). Interesting interweaving of AU and canonical events.
Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes, City of Glass. Sequels to City of Bone. Good urban fantasy; quite funny sometimes but lots is fairly dark. Good resolution-though one of the main plot points had been obvious (well, not the details) for at least the last book and a half before the characters found out.
Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. What do you know?-in spite of the hype, it’s really very good! Very sweet, romantic but not at all fluffy epistolary novel, about a young writer, her friends, and the people on Guernsey she starts corresponding with right after WWII.
Commencement / Sullivan, J. Courtney Set at Smith College. Gripping, but speaks to me less than Tam Lin does.
A posse of princesses / Smith, Sherwood. Set in same world as her other books; princesses gathered for a prince’s ball (or house party) are down to earth and idiosyncratic, not fairy-tale. Rhis, from mountainous Nym, makes friends among the other princesses, courtiers, and scribes.
[Gaudy Night]
Charlaine Harris, Dead and Gone-Sookie Stackhouse’s adventures continue. The Weres come out to the human world, to mixed reactions.
[Heyer, Cotillion]
[Tey, Daughter of Time]
[Peters, The Last Camel Died at Noon]
[Heyer, These Old Shades]
Miriam Grace Monfredo, Through a Gold Eagle-decent mystery set in Seneca Falls on the eve of the Civil War. I enjoy the mentions of bankers in Utica, Gerrit Smith (Hamilton class of 1818), other local color.
[Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment]
Deja dead / Reichs, Kathy. I’m finding the gruesomeness pretty disturbing-more than the television show based (remotely) on these books. I think maybe because Brennan in the book is more disturbed by what she’s doing than she is in the show, and we are privy to her feelings.
The shack : a novel / Young, William P.-okay, it was better than I thought it was going to be, if still hyped, and I did think the setup was emotionally manipulative (and somewhat overwritten). Many of the theological points were addressed many times before, including by C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity and the Problem of Pain. I did like the way he portrayed the three Persons of God. Here are some of the places where he did a good job of getting across a good theological point: p.123 respecting choices, not violating free will; p.125 “your choices are not stronger than my purposes, and I will use every choice you make for the ultimate good and most loving outcome” (cf. Perelandra); p. 127 “We’re not justifying it. We are redeeming it.” (I was worried about the “you don’t understand yet” and the potential implication that one day we would understand how a child’s murder was good, but he seems to not be saying that). I like the relationship ideas-“God in relationship”-though the word Love is stronger. I like pp. 167-8 with Missy. I like all the hugging.
Mary Balogh, First Comes Marriage, Then Comes Seduction, Last Comes Love
Patricia Briggs, Hunting Ground-next Alpha and Omega book
Catherine Coulter, Wizard’s Daughter-Nicholas and Rosalind meet, know they must marry, and try to unwind ancient magical secrets. Not very convincing Regency setting, and the fantasy parts really lack any world-building at all.
The year my life went down the loo / Maxwell, Katie.-cute, but slight story told in the e-mails from 16-year-old Emily on sabbatical with her family in England to her friend back home in WA.
Ill met by moonlight / Hoyt, Sarah A-Will Shakespeare’s wife Nan and baby Susanna have been taken by the Fair Folk; Quicksilver, usurped brother of the fairy king, wants to use Will to avenge his parents’ murder and get the throne back. One of my main quarrels with the book is that Will doesn’t seem smart enough, and he is almost entirely passive. I think I want him to be more like Miles Vorkosigan. At any rate, some of the intelligence and wisdom we see in his writing ought to be evident in his character.
[Robin McKinley, Sunshine]
Shiver / Stiefvater, Maggie - Grace is obsessed by the wolves that live in the Minnesota forest around her small town in the 21st century. Sam is one of those wolves, in the winter, but turns back into his human self in the summer. They both tell the story of their meeting and subsequent events, which involve both Grace’s friends from school and Sam’s packmates and mentors. Gripping, witty, heart-wrenching. The ending is satisfying, but rather abrupt-a little longer narrative, and more explanation, would have been nice.
Barbara Hambly, Bride of the Rat God-The title is pure camp, and also fits perfectly with the sort of silent movie Christine is making in early 1920s Hollywood. Her sister-in-law Norah comes from her own tragedies in England during WWI to be Christine’s companion and help her with her three personable Pekinese dogs, who figure prominently in the story, as do mysterious murders, a cursed necklace, an ancient Chinese wizard, a cute and sensible photographer, and the demon Rat God to whom Christine has been unwittingly pledged. The blurb on the front-“Too beautiful to live, too wild to die”-is completely random and irrelevant to the book (though it would fit with one of those silent movies). Hambly is, as usual, competent and evocative.
The hunger games / Collins, Suzanne-Katniss takes the place of her little sister for the annual Hunger Games, along with the baker’s son Peeta. Quite good.
Sherwood Smith, Senrid-This is far better than most adolescent writings (*cough* Eragon *cough*), but not as consistent or as good as her later works.
[Bujold, Shards of Honor-audiobook]
[Heyer, Faro’s Daughter]
Pullman, Once Upon a Time in the North-very nice little story; I like getting some backstory on Lee Scoresby and Iorek.
Scarborough, Godmother-a different take on the fairy godmother and various fairy tales, set in modern Seattle, where an overworked social worker needs more than mundane help.
[Harris, Dead Until Dark-audiobook]
Gillian Baxter, Horses and Heather-children taking care of ponies; not much plot, but soothing when recovering from flu.
Rapunzel’s Revenge, graphic novel by Shannon Hale and Nathan Hale-cross between Rapunzel (and other fairy tales) and American tall tales like Paul Bunyon. Rapunzel is a strong girl role model as she escapes and sets out with her friend Jack to rescue her mother from the mines and the countryside from the heavy rule of the witch.
Pratchett, Unseen Academicals-the University has to field a team to take on the Town at football (soccer to us philistines); but of course it’s more complicated than that, and football is not what it’s really about.
Flora’s Dare-sequel to Flora Segunda. While this is complete in itself, the plot also thickens (Flora learns more about herself and others) and sets up for Flora’s continued adventures.
Various mostly Harry Potter fanfic (some Vorkosigan crossover) by A.J. Hall, found at http://www.fictionalley.org/authors/a_j_hall/ or http://ajhall-fics.livejournal.com/