March reading list
1. Warchild - Karin Lowachee
2. The Shortest Way to Hades - Sarah Caudwell
3. Burndive - Karin Lowachee
4. Cagebird - Karin Lowachee
5. Firewatch - Connie Willis
6. Once Again to Zelda: The Stories Behind Literature's Most Intriguing Dedications - Marlene Wagman-Geller
7. The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
I've finally found a Neil Gaiman novel that I like without reservations. I've always said that Neil needed a better editor for his novels but The Graveyard Book was just right. For the first time, he has created a protagonist that I truly care about and there were no wasted words in telling Bod's story.
Karin Lowachee’s trilogy of novels about young men dealing with war and its aftermath are interesting for their characters more than their plots and the futuristic world setting.
Firewatch is a compilation of very disturbing short stories. There are one or two stories that are of uneven quality but overall it left me very unsettled in a good way; the same way I feel after reading Shirley Jackson.
Once Again to Zelda had an interesting premise but the writing was so pedestrian that it made even the most interesting anecdote boring. I stopped reading midway through when the author made me yawn while reading about the tumultuous life of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. But I’m still counting it as one book the time I spent slogging through part of it felt like the equivalent of me slogging through an entire book.
The Shortest Way to Hades showed me why Ursula likes Sarah Caudwell. I have been reading her books in internal chronological order but I think if I read this first before Thus Adonis Was Murdered, I would have been hooked on Caudwell immediately. I blame Ursula for this. It's like that time she pimped Pratchett to me via Wyrd Sisters instead of the fabulous Night Watch or Guards! Guards! or even Reaper Man.
2. The Shortest Way to Hades - Sarah Caudwell
3. Burndive - Karin Lowachee
4. Cagebird - Karin Lowachee
5. Firewatch - Connie Willis
6. Once Again to Zelda: The Stories Behind Literature's Most Intriguing Dedications - Marlene Wagman-Geller
7. The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
I've finally found a Neil Gaiman novel that I like without reservations. I've always said that Neil needed a better editor for his novels but The Graveyard Book was just right. For the first time, he has created a protagonist that I truly care about and there were no wasted words in telling Bod's story.
Karin Lowachee’s trilogy of novels about young men dealing with war and its aftermath are interesting for their characters more than their plots and the futuristic world setting.
Firewatch is a compilation of very disturbing short stories. There are one or two stories that are of uneven quality but overall it left me very unsettled in a good way; the same way I feel after reading Shirley Jackson.
Once Again to Zelda had an interesting premise but the writing was so pedestrian that it made even the most interesting anecdote boring. I stopped reading midway through when the author made me yawn while reading about the tumultuous life of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. But I’m still counting it as one book the time I spent slogging through part of it felt like the equivalent of me slogging through an entire book.
The Shortest Way to Hades showed me why Ursula likes Sarah Caudwell. I have been reading her books in internal chronological order but I think if I read this first before Thus Adonis Was Murdered, I would have been hooked on Caudwell immediately. I blame Ursula for this. It's like that time she pimped Pratchett to me via Wyrd Sisters instead of the fabulous Night Watch or Guards! Guards! or even Reaper Man.