Books
I've been plunging into my TBR shelf lately, and have had some hits and misses.
The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin was excellent, including a twist ending worthy of Agatha Christie. It's a mystery novel translated from Russian, set in the 1870's, primarily in St. Petersburg and Moscow. There are startlingly lyrical passages interspersed with plenty of action, and the protagonist is well defined. I picked this one up randomly at a book sale, and have been surprised and impressed.
Right now I'm slogging through Jennifer Roberson's Shapechanger, which I really wanted to like, but the best way to describe this book is, "These people are idiots!" And every chapter, new idiocy progresses. There's a Fateful Prophecy (how cliche!), codependency disguised as True Love At First Sight, and a protagonist who is perpetually angry. I've just finished a chapter in which she reveals to her husband that she's pregnant, and that she intends to follow him off to war. Then she's upset when he objects. Idiots! But at this point, I'm far enough in that I feel obligated to finish it, or I'll have wasted two evenings and 200 pages.
At least the TBR shelf is shrinking!
9-9-9 challenge
Fantasy
1. Fortune and Fate, Sharon Shinn
2. Twilight, Stephanie Meyer
3. Poison Study, Maria Snyder
4. Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
5. Witchling, Yasmine Galenorn
6.
7.
8.
9.
TBR shelf
1. Exile's Valor, Mercedes Lackey
2. The Valdemar Companion, John Helfers and Denise Little, eds.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Humor
1. The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists, Gideon Defoe
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Nonfiction
1. The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age, Philip Meyer
2. We the Media, Dan Gilmour
3. The World of Rome, Michael Grant
4. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, Henry Jenkins
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Biography/Memoir
1. Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon, James Harford
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Historical
1. Girl With A Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Mystery/Suspense
1. The Winter Queen, Boris Akunin
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Classics, Etc.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Other
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin was excellent, including a twist ending worthy of Agatha Christie. It's a mystery novel translated from Russian, set in the 1870's, primarily in St. Petersburg and Moscow. There are startlingly lyrical passages interspersed with plenty of action, and the protagonist is well defined. I picked this one up randomly at a book sale, and have been surprised and impressed.
Right now I'm slogging through Jennifer Roberson's Shapechanger, which I really wanted to like, but the best way to describe this book is, "These people are idiots!" And every chapter, new idiocy progresses. There's a Fateful Prophecy (how cliche!), codependency disguised as True Love At First Sight, and a protagonist who is perpetually angry. I've just finished a chapter in which she reveals to her husband that she's pregnant, and that she intends to follow him off to war. Then she's upset when he objects. Idiots! But at this point, I'm far enough in that I feel obligated to finish it, or I'll have wasted two evenings and 200 pages.
At least the TBR shelf is shrinking!
9-9-9 challenge
Fantasy
1. Fortune and Fate, Sharon Shinn
2. Twilight, Stephanie Meyer
3. Poison Study, Maria Snyder
4. Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
5. Witchling, Yasmine Galenorn
6.
7.
8.
9.
TBR shelf
1. Exile's Valor, Mercedes Lackey
2. The Valdemar Companion, John Helfers and Denise Little, eds.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Humor
1. The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists, Gideon Defoe
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Nonfiction
1. The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age, Philip Meyer
2. We the Media, Dan Gilmour
3. The World of Rome, Michael Grant
4. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, Henry Jenkins
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Biography/Memoir
1. Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon, James Harford
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Historical
1. Girl With A Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Mystery/Suspense
1. The Winter Queen, Boris Akunin
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Classics, Etc.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Other
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.