Lightning Round: Books
Mini-reviews of the billionty books I read last fall. Most are adapted from the communal spreadsheet we kept for the autumn reading challenge.
A Song of Ice and Fire Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (acquaintance)
Liked this a lot; more to my taste than Uprooted, I guess, even though I liked the transgressive student/teacher relationship in Uprooted. Land of winter much like Land of the dead! The Winter King at a Jewish wedding! I felt it was well paced, unlike too many other massive fantasy novels, and had an excellent last line. The only discordant note for me was a graphic, upsetting death.
Other stories I thought about while reading this book: Rumpelstiltskin, Persephone, the aforementioned George R.R. Martin, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin, Deathless by Catherynne Valente, the white-on-white Tarr family in Defiance.
Whereas by Layli Long Soldier
Picked up for a deeper dive after discovering her in New Poets of Native Nations. Some stuff powerful, others less accessible IMO. I'd like to read it through again to let more sink in. Note to self: a video of Long Soldier reading at Radcliffe.
Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw
Picked this up on a tip from
rachelmanija.
Fun/charming riff on classic horror characters taken care of by physician Greta (van) Helsing. Like The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, but more to my tastes, which is to say, more medicine and less bubbly/snarky/meta/filled with lukewarm jokes. Loved the medicalese “explaining” different types of vampires and coming up with diseases and treatments for different monsters. 3-D printed bones for crumbling mummies! Vocal rest for banshees!
At first I was disappointed by the characterization of Ruthven, made explicitly different from the original story that featured him-why not create your own character, then?-but he grew on me. I liked the hints of m/m and m/f along the way, although the endgame relationship wasn’t one I’d been rooting for.
Dreadful Company by Vivian Shaw
Enjoyed! More cuddly monsters, tacky vampires, Phantom of the Opera references, a few outright laughs, unexpectedly creepy in the middle. Also a splash of service kink and a heavily implied m/m relationship at the end.
My main complaint with these books is how Shaw uses all these italics, like, anywhere from one or two per page to upwards of seven, as if she doesn’t trust you to know where to place emphasis in sentences and dialogue, or she wants to control how you hear the rhythms of the text. Too much! Also there would suddenly be these swears that jolted me from the flow, like, we are reading a light and irreverent meta-horror mystery adventure and then a FUCK would appear and I wondered what age the audience was supposed to be. It needed either more swears or none. IMO.
Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
Another case of liking the second book more than the first or third. The pattern is getting old of "I don't care about these humans, oh wait I do," and it didn't help that Murderbot mostly observed rather than participating for the first half of the novella.
I'm interested in how the fourth and final installment will go, as Murderbot must finally confront its feelings about Dr. Mensah. …In, like, two days, when it comes out. Rogue Protocol was just published in August, and the second came out in May. These really should be packaged as a four-section novel.
Exit Strategy (Murderbot #4) by Martha Wells
I'd been looking forward to this series being over; just wanted some closure and for Murderbot to stop calling itself Murderbot and admit it liked Mensah. But the conclusion was surprisingly enjoyable! For me, #4 and #2 were the good ones.
Monstress vol. 1 by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda et al
Heard good things about this series, and it's living up to expectations. My coworker says it's an interesting contemporary American take on Japanese mythology; I'm into it, although I know a lot is going over my head. Definitely for adults. Nudity, limb/organ loss, swearing. Requires careful attention to follow the intercultural politics & history.
Monstress vol. 2 by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda et al
Gentler learning curve than vol. 1. More mother/daughter stuff. Art remains beautiful.
Monstress vol. 3 by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda
I've sort of given up on following the intricacies of the politics, but the main story and art are still very good.
Forget the Sleepless Shores by Sonya Taaffe
Short story collection by an acquaintance (
sovay). Intriguing characters and scenarios, absolutely packed with surprising and evocative word choices. Unfortunately, that made for slow reading and I had to return the book to the library before I got very far. Some consolation about the reading speed came after two reader/writer friends mentioned similar experiences. Heh. I do look forward to borrowing it again.
Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
#3 in the Wayfarers series. It's interesting how each installment so far has taken place in a different part of this universe: the multispecies crew of a ship, a newly embodied AI and her engineer/artist friends on one planet + an escaped clone slave trying to get off a different planet, and now half a dozen characters living in a fleet of traditional human colony ships during a time of cultural uncertainty.
This volume was fine. It did a good job of establishing different voices and perspectives for each character, although it took me nearly half the book to identify certain ones by name rather than by profession or history. It explored some good ideas about sustaining closed systems in space, although the funerary composting thing could have been edited down. ETA: Thought of this book when a similar subject hit the news this week!
I think the main issue, as happened with The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, was that I’m not super interested in utopias, or at least in utopias that are depicted in a way that drains tension from the narrative. Well, even writing that out doesn’t explain it, because this book was about what to do when your utopia starts to crack as new generations don’t necessarily want to uphold traditions, while some outsiders do but make mistakes in cultural competency. Maybe I didn’t believe that the system ever would have worked? Or maybe I’m not clear on what’s bugging me.
Regardless: I liked A Closed and Common Orbit more than both this and #1.
On the Other Side of Freedom by DeRay Mckesson
Not sure what I think yet. An odd mix of memoir, historical accounting and advocacy. I was most taken with his remark that he's tired of "allies" and now looks for "accomplices" in pressing for social justice.
It will be interesting to pair this with They Can't Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery, a more journalistic take on Ferguson, police brutality and #BlackLivesMatter that's been sitting on my shelf for a year and a half.
Two Mates for the Dragon by Zoe Chant, Lauren Esker, et al
ebook for charity, featuring two fan friends under their ‘shifter romance’ pseudonyms. Heard about it from
rachelmanija. Dragons aren’t particularly my thing, but oh gosh, there was a good one in here about consent and desire through the lens of a compulsion placed on a woman by an abusive dragon: "Never Get Between a Dragon and His Treasure" by Juno Blake. Also, there was one about a SEX DRAGON. What more can you ask?
Fave lines:
- "When you're in the water, I will know you. Let me know you, mate of David Monaghan."
- "I would never take you unwillingly, and I would never use my power to compel you to desire me.”
P.S. I was glad to finish this, not because I was in a hurry for it to be over, but because my brain decided to read the title to the tune of "Three Coins in the Fountain" every time I encountered it, and that is not an earworm I enjoyed.
When My Brother Was an Aztec by Natalie Diaz
Was reinvigorated to read this after hearing a recording of one of her poems at an event. And then she won a MacArthur "genius" grant!
The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
Spooky! Text has a great lulling rhythm and surprising, funny word choices: "a perspiration of boys," "little charred pits of [eye] sockets."
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
So it sounds like Sherman Alexie has been a douchebag to numerous women, but I'd never read any of his books (unless you count watching the movie version of Smoke Signals) and wanted to fill the gap. FWIW, I bought it used for $1. This is a great book, deceptively simple, covers a lot of emotionally & socially difficult material. I'm almost sorry to say that, given the author's recent reputation, but it seems there's a reason it's so widely assigned in schools. P.S. It's only 10 years old??? WTH?
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Great YA read. Sophisticated perspectives on anti-Black racism & police violence in the U.S., navigating two cultures, finding out which friends are really your allies. Incredibly relevant/current. Just a couple of anvilicious messages towards the end. (Adapted into a movie starring Amandla Stenberg.)
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl vol. 8 by Ryan North & Erica Henderson
Squirrel Girl's back in SPACE. More "negotiation > fisticuffs" philosophy, and a bittersweet semi-f/f time travel finale. Allusions in one issue alone include Due South, Kurt Vonnegut, Carl Sagan. <3 Main complaint was strange amount of AAVE appropriation.
The Smoking Mirror by David Bowles
Heard about this at a Readercon panel about depictions of the underworld/afterlife from different cultures. Teenage twin shapeshifters navigate Mesoamerican afterlife to rescue their mom. It was fine. A lot of tell-don't-show.
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
Good worldbuilding, interesting characters, effective dread and horror, and the exploitation of natives and native land is all too real. Yet protag/narrator is low on personality. Book was also oddly structured, but I did tear up at the end.
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
In which Christine is trapped in an abusive relationship and Raoul has a Madonna/whore problem. Enjoyable detective story "pieced together" from various "accounts" such as memoirs, testimonies and police interviews; a little bit racist, a little bit preoccupied with "purity"; quite funny at times. Side effect: soundtrack of musical constantly running through my head.
If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino
Have owned this for half of forever and finally gave it a go. It demanded more than I could give at the time. It's about reading and writing and publishing and stories and unresolved tension and dudes who meet manic pixie literary women. Other than that last, it will reward rereading.
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
there is a ghost! he is scary! update: there is another ghost! she is also scary! goodness me, and I did not expect that ending.
Descender vol. 6: The Machine War by Jeff Lemire & Dustin Nguyen
The story isn't over but this could serve as a conclusion. The watercolor art remains gorgeous.
Saga vol. 8 by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
Eh. Was glad for the catch-up in the beginning; it's been a while.
Saga vol. 9 by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
I gasped out loud on the plane at a thing that happened, then said "Oh s#*%ʺ another time.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee
That... sure was a relationship. A+ wild ride.
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
There are a lot of sad people in this book. They all feel real. Also it's weird (in a good way) to read about everyone going to Central Square and MIT and Cardullo's and Redbones BBQ and the Mapparium and stuff. [I read this to fill the "Book set in Massachusetts" Bingo square.]
My Teacher Is an Alien by Bruce Coville
Oh to return to the time of Scholastic book sales...
My Teacher Fried My Brains by Bruce Coville
Flowers for Algernon for the younger set.
My Teacher Glows in the Dark by Bruce Coville
Surprisingly sophisticated concepts about gender, consent, relativity and the idioms of different cultures! Also there is a pickle-like alien named Gurk.
The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening & The Struggle by L.J. Smith
The Vampire Diaries: The Fury & Dark Reunion by L.J. Smith
Hadn't read these since high school, when I used to doodle the characters' names in my physics notebook. Interesting to read it now with 20 years' distance and compare it to the TV adaptation. Alas, 95% of the emotional impact disappeared with time.
Originally posted at https://bironic.dreamwidth.org/378963.html, where there are
comments.
A Song of Ice and Fire Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (acquaintance)
Liked this a lot; more to my taste than Uprooted, I guess, even though I liked the transgressive student/teacher relationship in Uprooted. Land of winter much like Land of the dead! The Winter King at a Jewish wedding! I felt it was well paced, unlike too many other massive fantasy novels, and had an excellent last line. The only discordant note for me was a graphic, upsetting death.
Other stories I thought about while reading this book: Rumpelstiltskin, Persephone, the aforementioned George R.R. Martin, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin, Deathless by Catherynne Valente, the white-on-white Tarr family in Defiance.
Whereas by Layli Long Soldier
Picked up for a deeper dive after discovering her in New Poets of Native Nations. Some stuff powerful, others less accessible IMO. I'd like to read it through again to let more sink in. Note to self: a video of Long Soldier reading at Radcliffe.
Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw
Picked this up on a tip from
rachelmanija.
Fun/charming riff on classic horror characters taken care of by physician Greta (van) Helsing. Like The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, but more to my tastes, which is to say, more medicine and less bubbly/snarky/meta/filled with lukewarm jokes. Loved the medicalese “explaining” different types of vampires and coming up with diseases and treatments for different monsters. 3-D printed bones for crumbling mummies! Vocal rest for banshees!
At first I was disappointed by the characterization of Ruthven, made explicitly different from the original story that featured him-why not create your own character, then?-but he grew on me. I liked the hints of m/m and m/f along the way, although the endgame relationship wasn’t one I’d been rooting for.
Dreadful Company by Vivian Shaw
Enjoyed! More cuddly monsters, tacky vampires, Phantom of the Opera references, a few outright laughs, unexpectedly creepy in the middle. Also a splash of service kink and a heavily implied m/m relationship at the end.
My main complaint with these books is how Shaw uses all these italics, like, anywhere from one or two per page to upwards of seven, as if she doesn’t trust you to know where to place emphasis in sentences and dialogue, or she wants to control how you hear the rhythms of the text. Too much! Also there would suddenly be these swears that jolted me from the flow, like, we are reading a light and irreverent meta-horror mystery adventure and then a FUCK would appear and I wondered what age the audience was supposed to be. It needed either more swears or none. IMO.
Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
Another case of liking the second book more than the first or third. The pattern is getting old of "I don't care about these humans, oh wait I do," and it didn't help that Murderbot mostly observed rather than participating for the first half of the novella.
I'm interested in how the fourth and final installment will go, as Murderbot must finally confront its feelings about Dr. Mensah. …In, like, two days, when it comes out. Rogue Protocol was just published in August, and the second came out in May. These really should be packaged as a four-section novel.
Exit Strategy (Murderbot #4) by Martha Wells
I'd been looking forward to this series being over; just wanted some closure and for Murderbot to stop calling itself Murderbot and admit it liked Mensah. But the conclusion was surprisingly enjoyable! For me, #4 and #2 were the good ones.
Monstress vol. 1 by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda et al
Heard good things about this series, and it's living up to expectations. My coworker says it's an interesting contemporary American take on Japanese mythology; I'm into it, although I know a lot is going over my head. Definitely for adults. Nudity, limb/organ loss, swearing. Requires careful attention to follow the intercultural politics & history.
Monstress vol. 2 by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda et al
Gentler learning curve than vol. 1. More mother/daughter stuff. Art remains beautiful.
Monstress vol. 3 by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda
I've sort of given up on following the intricacies of the politics, but the main story and art are still very good.
Forget the Sleepless Shores by Sonya Taaffe
Short story collection by an acquaintance (
sovay). Intriguing characters and scenarios, absolutely packed with surprising and evocative word choices. Unfortunately, that made for slow reading and I had to return the book to the library before I got very far. Some consolation about the reading speed came after two reader/writer friends mentioned similar experiences. Heh. I do look forward to borrowing it again.
Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
#3 in the Wayfarers series. It's interesting how each installment so far has taken place in a different part of this universe: the multispecies crew of a ship, a newly embodied AI and her engineer/artist friends on one planet + an escaped clone slave trying to get off a different planet, and now half a dozen characters living in a fleet of traditional human colony ships during a time of cultural uncertainty.
This volume was fine. It did a good job of establishing different voices and perspectives for each character, although it took me nearly half the book to identify certain ones by name rather than by profession or history. It explored some good ideas about sustaining closed systems in space, although the funerary composting thing could have been edited down. ETA: Thought of this book when a similar subject hit the news this week!
I think the main issue, as happened with The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, was that I’m not super interested in utopias, or at least in utopias that are depicted in a way that drains tension from the narrative. Well, even writing that out doesn’t explain it, because this book was about what to do when your utopia starts to crack as new generations don’t necessarily want to uphold traditions, while some outsiders do but make mistakes in cultural competency. Maybe I didn’t believe that the system ever would have worked? Or maybe I’m not clear on what’s bugging me.
Regardless: I liked A Closed and Common Orbit more than both this and #1.
On the Other Side of Freedom by DeRay Mckesson
Not sure what I think yet. An odd mix of memoir, historical accounting and advocacy. I was most taken with his remark that he's tired of "allies" and now looks for "accomplices" in pressing for social justice.
It will be interesting to pair this with They Can't Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery, a more journalistic take on Ferguson, police brutality and #BlackLivesMatter that's been sitting on my shelf for a year and a half.
Two Mates for the Dragon by Zoe Chant, Lauren Esker, et al
ebook for charity, featuring two fan friends under their ‘shifter romance’ pseudonyms. Heard about it from
rachelmanija. Dragons aren’t particularly my thing, but oh gosh, there was a good one in here about consent and desire through the lens of a compulsion placed on a woman by an abusive dragon: "Never Get Between a Dragon and His Treasure" by Juno Blake. Also, there was one about a SEX DRAGON. What more can you ask?
Fave lines:
- "When you're in the water, I will know you. Let me know you, mate of David Monaghan."
- "I would never take you unwillingly, and I would never use my power to compel you to desire me.”
P.S. I was glad to finish this, not because I was in a hurry for it to be over, but because my brain decided to read the title to the tune of "Three Coins in the Fountain" every time I encountered it, and that is not an earworm I enjoyed.
When My Brother Was an Aztec by Natalie Diaz
Was reinvigorated to read this after hearing a recording of one of her poems at an event. And then she won a MacArthur "genius" grant!
The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
Spooky! Text has a great lulling rhythm and surprising, funny word choices: "a perspiration of boys," "little charred pits of [eye] sockets."
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
So it sounds like Sherman Alexie has been a douchebag to numerous women, but I'd never read any of his books (unless you count watching the movie version of Smoke Signals) and wanted to fill the gap. FWIW, I bought it used for $1. This is a great book, deceptively simple, covers a lot of emotionally & socially difficult material. I'm almost sorry to say that, given the author's recent reputation, but it seems there's a reason it's so widely assigned in schools. P.S. It's only 10 years old??? WTH?
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Great YA read. Sophisticated perspectives on anti-Black racism & police violence in the U.S., navigating two cultures, finding out which friends are really your allies. Incredibly relevant/current. Just a couple of anvilicious messages towards the end. (Adapted into a movie starring Amandla Stenberg.)
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl vol. 8 by Ryan North & Erica Henderson
Squirrel Girl's back in SPACE. More "negotiation > fisticuffs" philosophy, and a bittersweet semi-f/f time travel finale. Allusions in one issue alone include Due South, Kurt Vonnegut, Carl Sagan. <3 Main complaint was strange amount of AAVE appropriation.
The Smoking Mirror by David Bowles
Heard about this at a Readercon panel about depictions of the underworld/afterlife from different cultures. Teenage twin shapeshifters navigate Mesoamerican afterlife to rescue their mom. It was fine. A lot of tell-don't-show.
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
Good worldbuilding, interesting characters, effective dread and horror, and the exploitation of natives and native land is all too real. Yet protag/narrator is low on personality. Book was also oddly structured, but I did tear up at the end.
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
In which Christine is trapped in an abusive relationship and Raoul has a Madonna/whore problem. Enjoyable detective story "pieced together" from various "accounts" such as memoirs, testimonies and police interviews; a little bit racist, a little bit preoccupied with "purity"; quite funny at times. Side effect: soundtrack of musical constantly running through my head.
If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino
Have owned this for half of forever and finally gave it a go. It demanded more than I could give at the time. It's about reading and writing and publishing and stories and unresolved tension and dudes who meet manic pixie literary women. Other than that last, it will reward rereading.
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
there is a ghost! he is scary! update: there is another ghost! she is also scary! goodness me, and I did not expect that ending.
Descender vol. 6: The Machine War by Jeff Lemire & Dustin Nguyen
The story isn't over but this could serve as a conclusion. The watercolor art remains gorgeous.
Saga vol. 8 by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
Eh. Was glad for the catch-up in the beginning; it's been a while.
Saga vol. 9 by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
I gasped out loud on the plane at a thing that happened, then said "Oh s#*%ʺ another time.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee
That... sure was a relationship. A+ wild ride.
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
There are a lot of sad people in this book. They all feel real. Also it's weird (in a good way) to read about everyone going to Central Square and MIT and Cardullo's and Redbones BBQ and the Mapparium and stuff. [I read this to fill the "Book set in Massachusetts" Bingo square.]
My Teacher Is an Alien by Bruce Coville
Oh to return to the time of Scholastic book sales...
My Teacher Fried My Brains by Bruce Coville
Flowers for Algernon for the younger set.
My Teacher Glows in the Dark by Bruce Coville
Surprisingly sophisticated concepts about gender, consent, relativity and the idioms of different cultures! Also there is a pickle-like alien named Gurk.
The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening & The Struggle by L.J. Smith
The Vampire Diaries: The Fury & Dark Reunion by L.J. Smith
Hadn't read these since high school, when I used to doodle the characters' names in my physics notebook. Interesting to read it now with 20 years' distance and compare it to the TV adaptation. Alas, 95% of the emotional impact disappeared with time.
Originally posted at https://bironic.dreamwidth.org/378963.html, where there are
comments.