2014 Books Read
1. SHADOWFANE by Janny Wurts
2. HEART OF BRIAR by Laura Anne Gilman
3. SOUL OF FIRE by Laura Anne Gilman
4. DIVINE MISFORTUNE by A. Lee Martinez
5. THE GIRLS OF ATOMIC CITY: The untold story of the women who helped win World War II by Denise Kiernan
6. CODEX by Lev Grossman
This book was frankly distasteful. I kept giving it more chances and there was a glimmer of something around 3/4ths of the way through, but it wasn't enough to recommend it. It's a thriller wrapped in a mystery and a urban fantasy that looks down its nose at you as it feels itself intellectually superior. The idea is interesting - a guy spends his vacation helping a rich client out cataloging ancient books, while looking for a specific book. Apparently the book he is looking for is a battle ground about a) if it exists in the first place and b) disagreement between the husband and wife owners. The rich clients are ancient royals and the wife wants to use this book against her husband - though I don't understand why since it would "ruin" her too in the process. Add to this the protagonist who is a super A personality finance dude learns the joy of MMOs and becomes the stereotypical slacker gamer. There were awkward attempts at romance (he sleeps with a literary expert who is helping him search for the book that felt totally out of left field, this weird flirtation between him and the wife of the rich client.) And to make it even more surreal the dude to wrote the MMO was also involved in hunting for this mythological book so there are super weird coincidences and mirroring between the game and real life. The ending was just over the top scene that ended on a dry note that left you asking WTF?
See? Lots of potential. But the author's attitude and pretension just bled through and ruined it. I love intelligent writing that uses big words, but this guy hammered you with them and assumed you know really obscure literary and art history references. I'm not shy of learning, but the way it was used just felt so mean.
7 & 8. MILES TO GO/PROMISES TO KEEP by Laura Anne Gilman
I loved delving back into the world of the Cosa. I loved seeing things from Ellen and Danny's perspectives. I love how Laura Anne writes.
I made the mistake of not reading books 3 & 4 of the PSI series, and encountered a major spoiler. Being that this was from a kickstarter, I found some typos that bugged me. There was one instance of character inconsistency that also bugged me (Why does Ellen take a thermos of coffee to the cemetery?) I feel that if the kickstarter had made more or if there wasn't a time crunch it might have had these tiny things caught and perfected.
Another side effect of being a kickstarter was their size and depth. I feel like both stories could have had more to them to expand them from novellas to full novels EACH. They were fantastic as they were, I never felt that the story was incomplete; I just feel that there could have been subplots explored, more character and world development.
9. Base Pay Administration and Pay for Performance from World at Work
Latest round of professional course. They can be taken in any order. This is #6 of 10 for me.
I'm not sure if most of it is common sense because of all the other courses, being in HR for 8 years now, or it really is that common. :P
Note: I've skimmed a bunch of books for work, I'm debating if I should include them or not in this list. :\
2. HEART OF BRIAR by Laura Anne Gilman
3. SOUL OF FIRE by Laura Anne Gilman
4. DIVINE MISFORTUNE by A. Lee Martinez
5. THE GIRLS OF ATOMIC CITY: The untold story of the women who helped win World War II by Denise Kiernan
6. CODEX by Lev Grossman
This book was frankly distasteful. I kept giving it more chances and there was a glimmer of something around 3/4ths of the way through, but it wasn't enough to recommend it. It's a thriller wrapped in a mystery and a urban fantasy that looks down its nose at you as it feels itself intellectually superior. The idea is interesting - a guy spends his vacation helping a rich client out cataloging ancient books, while looking for a specific book. Apparently the book he is looking for is a battle ground about a) if it exists in the first place and b) disagreement between the husband and wife owners. The rich clients are ancient royals and the wife wants to use this book against her husband - though I don't understand why since it would "ruin" her too in the process. Add to this the protagonist who is a super A personality finance dude learns the joy of MMOs and becomes the stereotypical slacker gamer. There were awkward attempts at romance (he sleeps with a literary expert who is helping him search for the book that felt totally out of left field, this weird flirtation between him and the wife of the rich client.) And to make it even more surreal the dude to wrote the MMO was also involved in hunting for this mythological book so there are super weird coincidences and mirroring between the game and real life. The ending was just over the top scene that ended on a dry note that left you asking WTF?
See? Lots of potential. But the author's attitude and pretension just bled through and ruined it. I love intelligent writing that uses big words, but this guy hammered you with them and assumed you know really obscure literary and art history references. I'm not shy of learning, but the way it was used just felt so mean.
7 & 8. MILES TO GO/PROMISES TO KEEP by Laura Anne Gilman
I loved delving back into the world of the Cosa. I loved seeing things from Ellen and Danny's perspectives. I love how Laura Anne writes.
I made the mistake of not reading books 3 & 4 of the PSI series, and encountered a major spoiler. Being that this was from a kickstarter, I found some typos that bugged me. There was one instance of character inconsistency that also bugged me (Why does Ellen take a thermos of coffee to the cemetery?) I feel that if the kickstarter had made more or if there wasn't a time crunch it might have had these tiny things caught and perfected.
Another side effect of being a kickstarter was their size and depth. I feel like both stories could have had more to them to expand them from novellas to full novels EACH. They were fantastic as they were, I never felt that the story was incomplete; I just feel that there could have been subplots explored, more character and world development.
9. Base Pay Administration and Pay for Performance from World at Work
Latest round of professional course. They can be taken in any order. This is #6 of 10 for me.
I'm not sure if most of it is common sense because of all the other courses, being in HR for 8 years now, or it really is that common. :P
Note: I've skimmed a bunch of books for work, I'm debating if I should include them or not in this list. :\