October Reading
Obligatory Sandy Update: We were extremely fortunate down in our part of Southeastern VA. Days of rain but we didn't lose power. Sandy was gentle compared to Irene- that biotch knocked my power out for a week! And now we have a house full of "hurricane supplies" (liquor and junk food)...which is both a good and a bad thing. But overall, I feel really blessed. I have friends and relatives in the NJ-DE area that don't expect to get electric back for at least a week, and it is COLD there. This is my 2nd hurricane and I can honestly say, give me a blizzard any day over this ish.
Room, Emma Donoghue- I got into Emma Donoghue because she is a queer lady that usually writes about other queer ladies in a fantasy and/or historical setting. (Kissing the Witch is still one of my fave books of all time and I read it when I was young and questioning. Best lesbian fairy tale retelling evah) This isn't queer at all, really, and the premise- a boy and his mom who are being held captive by a crazy awful rapist man- is super triggery, But it is so so SO well done. The narrative voice of Jack is breathtakingly original- I loved seeing the world through his eyes. And despite the dark premise, it really is a story about love. I couldn't put it down.
Soulless, Gail Carriger- I've been wanting to read the Parasol Protectorate series for a while now and I really enjoyed this. It's a wry and silly take on an alternate Victorian England where vampires and werewolves live among humans. It reminds me a lot of the Pink Carnation, books, which are about female spies during the Napoleonic era, except even sillier and with a supernatural element. Parasol Protectorate also features a campy gay vampire, which of course is like catnip to me. I don't normally go for werewolf on Victorian lady action, but I enjoyed the romance here, even if it was a bit more bodice rippery than I was expecting going in. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series. One thing I found disconcerting was the shifting omniscient POV- makes me realize how much more I prefer first person or limited omniscient. It's just too jarring to be inside everyone's head at once, IMO.
A Red Herring Without Mustard, Alan Bradley- This is the 3rd in the Flavia de Luce series. Picture Sherlock Holmes as a morbid motherless 11 year old girl living in postwar Britain and there you have it. She's adorable. I want to adopt her. And her POV is lol-larious. The first book blew me away, the second was still good but a bit of a let down, but this one is a return to fine form. I love the way that Bradley balances the mystery element with the dynamics of the de Luce family: the distant widower father and Flavia's two older sisters who love to terrorize each other in the way sisters often do. The best part for me is the way Flavia is a genius, but still unmistakably a girl who longs for her dead mother (vanished in a climbing expedition when she was a baby) more than she really knows. And I will be super disapointed if Harriet (Flavia's mom) doesn't make a return from the dead at some point. I'm surprised this book doesn't get more fannish attention, but I suspect it might have something to do with the lack of shipping possibilities. Le sigh.
Only read 3 books this month. *shrugs* I know I had said I was going to read Dark Currents but I got all nervous that I wasn't going to like it and so I put it off. :( Maybe next month. But I just ordered Cloud Atlas for myself because I really want to see the movie and I am one of those people who absolutely has to read the book first. Well...has to read the book first if I think the book is any good.
Room, Emma Donoghue- I got into Emma Donoghue because she is a queer lady that usually writes about other queer ladies in a fantasy and/or historical setting. (Kissing the Witch is still one of my fave books of all time and I read it when I was young and questioning. Best lesbian fairy tale retelling evah) This isn't queer at all, really, and the premise- a boy and his mom who are being held captive by a crazy awful rapist man- is super triggery, But it is so so SO well done. The narrative voice of Jack is breathtakingly original- I loved seeing the world through his eyes. And despite the dark premise, it really is a story about love. I couldn't put it down.
Soulless, Gail Carriger- I've been wanting to read the Parasol Protectorate series for a while now and I really enjoyed this. It's a wry and silly take on an alternate Victorian England where vampires and werewolves live among humans. It reminds me a lot of the Pink Carnation, books, which are about female spies during the Napoleonic era, except even sillier and with a supernatural element. Parasol Protectorate also features a campy gay vampire, which of course is like catnip to me. I don't normally go for werewolf on Victorian lady action, but I enjoyed the romance here, even if it was a bit more bodice rippery than I was expecting going in. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series. One thing I found disconcerting was the shifting omniscient POV- makes me realize how much more I prefer first person or limited omniscient. It's just too jarring to be inside everyone's head at once, IMO.
A Red Herring Without Mustard, Alan Bradley- This is the 3rd in the Flavia de Luce series. Picture Sherlock Holmes as a morbid motherless 11 year old girl living in postwar Britain and there you have it. She's adorable. I want to adopt her. And her POV is lol-larious. The first book blew me away, the second was still good but a bit of a let down, but this one is a return to fine form. I love the way that Bradley balances the mystery element with the dynamics of the de Luce family: the distant widower father and Flavia's two older sisters who love to terrorize each other in the way sisters often do. The best part for me is the way Flavia is a genius, but still unmistakably a girl who longs for her dead mother (vanished in a climbing expedition when she was a baby) more than she really knows. And I will be super disapointed if Harriet (Flavia's mom) doesn't make a return from the dead at some point. I'm surprised this book doesn't get more fannish attention, but I suspect it might have something to do with the lack of shipping possibilities. Le sigh.
Only read 3 books this month. *shrugs* I know I had said I was going to read Dark Currents but I got all nervous that I wasn't going to like it and so I put it off. :( Maybe next month. But I just ordered Cloud Atlas for myself because I really want to see the movie and I am one of those people who absolutely has to read the book first. Well...has to read the book first if I think the book is any good.