Books in 2011
So, I'm really really behind on posting what I've been reading. Here's the list of books and later, I will post a list of comics, manga and graphic novels I've read this year.
2.Running With The Pack Edited by Ekaterina Sedia. This is a collection of short stories with a Werewolf theme that I started in 2010, but read most of & finished in 2011. I enjoyed all of the stories except the last one, Gestella by Susan Palwick. This is a story that I wouldn't ever really enjoy, but making it last really tainted my experience with the whole collection and annoyed with the editor for choosing to make this the end note.
*Spoilers*
My problem with Gestella isn't the writing, it is well done, but with the story itself. There are too many RL stories of scumbags murdering their wifes/girlfriends, I really didn't need it in my fiction world as well. Especially one in which the husband uses the fact that his wife is a werewolf to make it so that no one will ever know that she was murdered. To end a collection about werewolves with the main character being 'put down' by Animal Control is bad enough, but it is extra galling when the story right before it is about a woman accepting the wolf and gaining a type of peace with her curse. IMO, that would have been a way stronger end note. Gestella should have been earlier in the collection. I still wouldn't have liked it, but it wouldn't have left a bad taste in my mouth for the whole thing like having it at the end did.
*/Spoilers*
3.Knitting Rules! by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Another book from the internet's The Yarn Harlot and also another one started in 2010, but finished in 2011. Most of her books are essays/collected wisdom with a knitting bent, but this one is a true knitting reference book. Sure it's still irreverent and silly, but there are some really good tips and tricks in it. I checked this out from the library, but put it on my 'to buy' list (I really need to be able to reference the hat chapter whenever needed).
4. Big Girl's Don't Cry: The Election That Changed Everything for American Women by Rebecca Traister. This was an interesting look at the 2008 election from a feminist POV with a lot of information I hadn't known before. I did feel the ending was either a little naive or too optimistic about how the political system will treat women from now on.
5. The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson. The last of the books I started in 2010 and finished in 2011. This was a hard book for me to read for multiple reasons. Straight-up mystery isn't really my genre and I really wanted to read the story of the title character, Lisbeth Salander, but ended up with the story of Mikael Blomkvist and felt kind of cheated for the first half of the book. I read the 1st half in 2010 over 3 weeks and it really felt like a slog. I got the book back from the library in 2011 and finished the 2nd half in about 3 days. Part of this has to be because the two story lines finally merging into one. Overall I ended-up enjoying it and I'm on the library's hold list for the second book. The book does need a Trigger Warning for a rape scene. That was another thing that put me off the book for a bit before I could pick it up again.
6. Storm Front by Jim Butcher. This is the first novel of the Dresden Files and I'm posting this while over half way through book 7. I have thoughts about these books, but I feel that I'm far enough along that I need to finish the series before talking about them.
7. Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
8. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
9. Summer Knight by Jim Butcher
10. Death Masks by Jim Butcher
11. Blood Rites by Jim Butcher
2.Running With The Pack Edited by Ekaterina Sedia. This is a collection of short stories with a Werewolf theme that I started in 2010, but read most of & finished in 2011. I enjoyed all of the stories except the last one, Gestella by Susan Palwick. This is a story that I wouldn't ever really enjoy, but making it last really tainted my experience with the whole collection and annoyed with the editor for choosing to make this the end note.
*Spoilers*
My problem with Gestella isn't the writing, it is well done, but with the story itself. There are too many RL stories of scumbags murdering their wifes/girlfriends, I really didn't need it in my fiction world as well. Especially one in which the husband uses the fact that his wife is a werewolf to make it so that no one will ever know that she was murdered. To end a collection about werewolves with the main character being 'put down' by Animal Control is bad enough, but it is extra galling when the story right before it is about a woman accepting the wolf and gaining a type of peace with her curse. IMO, that would have been a way stronger end note. Gestella should have been earlier in the collection. I still wouldn't have liked it, but it wouldn't have left a bad taste in my mouth for the whole thing like having it at the end did.
*/Spoilers*
3.Knitting Rules! by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Another book from the internet's The Yarn Harlot and also another one started in 2010, but finished in 2011. Most of her books are essays/collected wisdom with a knitting bent, but this one is a true knitting reference book. Sure it's still irreverent and silly, but there are some really good tips and tricks in it. I checked this out from the library, but put it on my 'to buy' list (I really need to be able to reference the hat chapter whenever needed).
4. Big Girl's Don't Cry: The Election That Changed Everything for American Women by Rebecca Traister. This was an interesting look at the 2008 election from a feminist POV with a lot of information I hadn't known before. I did feel the ending was either a little naive or too optimistic about how the political system will treat women from now on.
5. The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson. The last of the books I started in 2010 and finished in 2011. This was a hard book for me to read for multiple reasons. Straight-up mystery isn't really my genre and I really wanted to read the story of the title character, Lisbeth Salander, but ended up with the story of Mikael Blomkvist and felt kind of cheated for the first half of the book. I read the 1st half in 2010 over 3 weeks and it really felt like a slog. I got the book back from the library in 2011 and finished the 2nd half in about 3 days. Part of this has to be because the two story lines finally merging into one. Overall I ended-up enjoying it and I'm on the library's hold list for the second book. The book does need a Trigger Warning for a rape scene. That was another thing that put me off the book for a bit before I could pick it up again.
6. Storm Front by Jim Butcher. This is the first novel of the Dresden Files and I'm posting this while over half way through book 7. I have thoughts about these books, but I feel that I'm far enough along that I need to finish the series before talking about them.
7. Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
8. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
9. Summer Knight by Jim Butcher
10. Death Masks by Jim Butcher
11. Blood Rites by Jim Butcher