January books!
Despite the fact that I totally failed last year, once again, I'm determined to keep a record of the books I read, just because I always enjoy reading other people's! This year, I have a goal, in that my Tanith Lee collection has reeled out of control with 25 that I hadn't read at all and giant chunks that I've only read once (this is not all that surprising, I own 97 of her books) So in an ideal world, I'll get through most of them, in a slightly less ideal world, I'll manage just the ones that I haven't read but chances are, it'll end up a mix of both, given that there's other things that I want to read!
Also, I finally have a Kindle. I forget if I mentioned this on here before but I got it for my birthday. It is great but does mean that I keep downloading free/cheap books and this is ... distracting sometimes!
A star means I haven't read it before.
1) Mr Galliano’s Circus - Enid Blyton
2) The Mirror Sisters - Virginia Andrews *
3) Hurrah for the Circus! - Enid Blyton
4) Circus Days Again - Enid Blyton
5) Malicious Pursuit - KG MacGregor
6) Kingmaker: Winter Pilgrims - Toby Clements *
7) Holiday House - Enid Blyton *
8) L’Amber - Tanith Lee *
9) Scheherazade’s Facade - ed. by Michael M. Jones *
10) Pride/Prejudice - Ann Herendeem *
11) Faces Under Water - Tanith Lee
12) Tempting the Gods - Tanith Lee *
13) His Grandfather’s Watch - N. R. Walker *
14) Hunting the Shadows - Tanith Lee *
15) Palace of Spies - Sarah Zettel
16) Dancing Through the Shadows - Tanith Lee *
17) Nimona - Noelle Stevenson *
18) Dangerous Deceptions - Sarah Zettel *
Kingmaker: Winter Pilgrims - Toby Clements.
I picked this up on holiday (they had one of those bookshelves where you could take random books) and devoured it in about two days. It wasn't the best thing ever but it was a great of fun in places and I do find that I want to know what happens in the next one - there were interesting threads and it dodged various things that historical fiction that annoy me. Also, he writes battles really well and I admire this, as I am shite at it.
L'Amber - Tanith Lee.
This is one of her few non-fantasy/sci-fi novels and I was very tense all the way through because it was doing a plot that I normally hate. But Tanith Lee had a dark twist to play on it and I liked that a lot. Not destined to be one of my favourites but it was interesting.
Pride/Prejudice by Ann Harendeem.
This was a lot of fun if you wanted Pride and Prejudice with a gay/bisexual/lesbian spin and since that's what I wanted, mostly, I was happy. It did annoy me a little in places, I liked it best when it felt like it slotted into the original book and the bits where it clearly didn't jarred more, I found. Also, the afterword was really, really BLEH. It was good fun though!
Faces Under Water - Tanith Lee.
This was the third time I've read this one and I find it ... oddly unmemorable. Which is a shame really because there's some really lovely imagery and ideas and the setting is great but the story seems to slide from my head really quite rapidly. It's probably worth reading for the imagery and stuff alone but my memory is ...
Tempting the Gods & Hunting the Shadows - Tanith Lee
Short story collections, published by the same people as the collected best so it seems good to review them together. They were a pretty great set too, they were excellent collections. I think I prefered Hunting the Shadows but only a little, a good mix of dark and vaguely fun.
Dancing Through the Shadows - Tanith Lee
Another short story collection. I did like it but it was nearly all about death and I have death-fear so sometimes, it was a bit uncomfortable to read. Good though, once again, some really striking ones.
Nimona - Noelle Stevenson.
This was a really cute comic, although it didn't quite go to the places that I was expecting and not totally in a good way. There was nothing wrong with it in any way and it was quite clever in many places but I didn't quite buy some of it, I think. But it was fun and pretty and made me laugh.
Dangerous Deceptions - Sarah Zettel
I really liked Palace of Spies so I got the second one for Christmas and re-read the first before reading that one. I found that I didn't like it quite as much as the first one, although I'm not sure why. Possibly because I found myself a little less certain of the relationships and if they felt right somehow and a few of the tropes were more obvious this time around. Still, it was great fun and I'll definitely buy the third at some point.
If there's any I didn't talk about that you'd like to, just ask, I'm always happy to discuss books!
I am hoping to get back to being more active in LJ this year, although it depends on how things go - one of the reasons that I've faded is my anxiety has been high and well, the world news is always anxiety feeding. But I shall do my best!
This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/170261.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.
Also, I finally have a Kindle. I forget if I mentioned this on here before but I got it for my birthday. It is great but does mean that I keep downloading free/cheap books and this is ... distracting sometimes!
A star means I haven't read it before.
1) Mr Galliano’s Circus - Enid Blyton
2) The Mirror Sisters - Virginia Andrews *
3) Hurrah for the Circus! - Enid Blyton
4) Circus Days Again - Enid Blyton
5) Malicious Pursuit - KG MacGregor
6) Kingmaker: Winter Pilgrims - Toby Clements *
7) Holiday House - Enid Blyton *
8) L’Amber - Tanith Lee *
9) Scheherazade’s Facade - ed. by Michael M. Jones *
10) Pride/Prejudice - Ann Herendeem *
11) Faces Under Water - Tanith Lee
12) Tempting the Gods - Tanith Lee *
13) His Grandfather’s Watch - N. R. Walker *
14) Hunting the Shadows - Tanith Lee *
15) Palace of Spies - Sarah Zettel
16) Dancing Through the Shadows - Tanith Lee *
17) Nimona - Noelle Stevenson *
18) Dangerous Deceptions - Sarah Zettel *
Kingmaker: Winter Pilgrims - Toby Clements.
I picked this up on holiday (they had one of those bookshelves where you could take random books) and devoured it in about two days. It wasn't the best thing ever but it was a great of fun in places and I do find that I want to know what happens in the next one - there were interesting threads and it dodged various things that historical fiction that annoy me. Also, he writes battles really well and I admire this, as I am shite at it.
L'Amber - Tanith Lee.
This is one of her few non-fantasy/sci-fi novels and I was very tense all the way through because it was doing a plot that I normally hate. But Tanith Lee had a dark twist to play on it and I liked that a lot. Not destined to be one of my favourites but it was interesting.
Pride/Prejudice by Ann Harendeem.
This was a lot of fun if you wanted Pride and Prejudice with a gay/bisexual/lesbian spin and since that's what I wanted, mostly, I was happy. It did annoy me a little in places, I liked it best when it felt like it slotted into the original book and the bits where it clearly didn't jarred more, I found. Also, the afterword was really, really BLEH. It was good fun though!
Faces Under Water - Tanith Lee.
This was the third time I've read this one and I find it ... oddly unmemorable. Which is a shame really because there's some really lovely imagery and ideas and the setting is great but the story seems to slide from my head really quite rapidly. It's probably worth reading for the imagery and stuff alone but my memory is ...
Tempting the Gods & Hunting the Shadows - Tanith Lee
Short story collections, published by the same people as the collected best so it seems good to review them together. They were a pretty great set too, they were excellent collections. I think I prefered Hunting the Shadows but only a little, a good mix of dark and vaguely fun.
Dancing Through the Shadows - Tanith Lee
Another short story collection. I did like it but it was nearly all about death and I have death-fear so sometimes, it was a bit uncomfortable to read. Good though, once again, some really striking ones.
Nimona - Noelle Stevenson.
This was a really cute comic, although it didn't quite go to the places that I was expecting and not totally in a good way. There was nothing wrong with it in any way and it was quite clever in many places but I didn't quite buy some of it, I think. But it was fun and pretty and made me laugh.
Dangerous Deceptions - Sarah Zettel
I really liked Palace of Spies so I got the second one for Christmas and re-read the first before reading that one. I found that I didn't like it quite as much as the first one, although I'm not sure why. Possibly because I found myself a little less certain of the relationships and if they felt right somehow and a few of the tropes were more obvious this time around. Still, it was great fun and I'll definitely buy the third at some point.
If there's any I didn't talk about that you'd like to, just ask, I'm always happy to discuss books!
I am hoping to get back to being more active in LJ this year, although it depends on how things go - one of the reasons that I've faded is my anxiety has been high and well, the world news is always anxiety feeding. But I shall do my best!
This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/170261.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.