This is what I've been up to, besides research, ogling sewing and knitting patterns, random parties, and my new favorite blog.

The Charmed Sphere by Catherine AsaroIt was a YA novel about young mages. It had a 2-3 layered plot that was fun to read before bed: I could still put it down. The plot was not too complicated, and the author was a bit ( Read more... )

Finished two books recently, The Worth of a Shell by MCA Hogarth (haikujaguar and rereading Alison Bechdel's Fun Home. I also finished Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice for All Creation, which had been in progress for about a year. I'm almost done Catherine Asaro's The Charmed Sphere, but will reserve review until I see the ending.

The Worth of a Shell by MCA Hogarth ( Read more... )

From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain by Minister Faust
I plowed through From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain by Minister Faust last week. Overall I enjoyed it, though I think it took me awhile to appreciate it because of 1) How awesome Faust's other book was, and 2) the plot was a little bit of a slow starter. Going for it from the beginning though were 1) ( Read more... )

A few weeks ago, when AgentK was in the shop for repairs, I sat down and read The Pelican Brief. In one evening. I'm impressed at how John Grisham can tell a gripping story using simple but not simplistic language. My dyslexic ass was reading at about 1.3x my usual speed, or I would not have been able to finish it in one day ( Read more... )

Stuff I read in 2009.

On Bullshit by Harry G Frankfurt
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
WE by Yevgeny Zamyatin (translated by Natasha Randall)
Biological Exuberance by Bruce Bagemihl
The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad by Minister Faust (re-read, but LOVE!)
The Admonishments of Kherishdar by MCA ( Read more... )

Holiday adventures were many & sundry, to mixed enjoyment. The holidays are tough for me for many reasons, to be discussed at a later date. I received plenty of indications people care about me, and that was good ( Read more... )

I just got a book in the mail: Biological Exuberance, by Bruce Bagemihl. It is basically a 250-page explanation of historical rationalizations of homosexuality in zoology followed by a 400-page field guide to animal sexuality (including homo & bi behavior) and gender variance with extensive references. I am in gay nerd heaven! I can hardly believe ( Read more... )

WE by Yevgeny Zamyatin (translated by Natasha Randall ( Read more... )

Because I didn't post them as I read them, and I want to remember.

Read in 2008
Virgin: The Untouched History by Hanne Blanke
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Kingdom Coming by Michelle Goldberg
Strangers in Paradise (entire series of graphic novels) by Terry Moore
Microcosm by Carl Zimmer -- a good popular science approach to E. coli and ( Read more... )

A week or two ago, in the storm of publicity over Stephanie Meyer's Breaking Dawn, a dear friend handed me Twilight, the first book in the series, and told me I had to read this bad vampire fiction. It was entertainingly bad, I was told. Being a fan of Forever Knight and the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series, I obliged ( Read more... )