Books in 2008
Here are the books I read in 2008 and actually remembered to add to my list. The ones in brackets are re-reads.
Patricia Briggs, Iron Kissed-sequel to Moon Called and Blood Bound.
Anahita's woven riddle Sayres, Meghan Nuttall. Early 20th century Iran-the culture of the nomads like Anahita’s family continues as it has for centuries, but change is looming. Anahita wants to convince her father to let her have at least some choice in whom to marry; she will marry the man who can guess the riddle woven into her wedding carpet.
Julia Justiss, The Courtesan-the story is fine, but way too much of the book isn’t story.
The princess and the hound Harrison, Mette Ivie, 1970- On the back flap the author credits inspiration from Shards of Honor, Queen of Attolia, and The Blue Sword, which bodes well; not quite as good as those, but promising.
Heinlein, Moon Is a Harsh Mistress [audiobook]
Stonecutter Watts, Leander [Thom Metzger]. Journal entries by the young apprentice stonecutter Albion Straight tell the story of his sojourn with John Good to carve a monument for his dead wife, modeled on his living daughter, who desires nothing more than to be free of her father and his rich but isolated house in the wilderness of western NY State in the early 19th century. Well written, evocative-I like the local color, the references to shape-note music, the descriptions of gravestone carvings like those still visible in upstate NY cemeteries.
Bujold, Brothers in Arms [audiobook]
Dorothy Dunnett, Game of Kings. I’m trying Dunnett again; finding it slow going
[Cetaganda, Ethan of Athos]
Patrick Rothfuss, Name of the Wind-I’m not sure I liked the beginning/framing story, but once Kvothe starting telling about his childhood I was hooked. The type of story you think it’s going to be keeps changing as it progresses and Kvothe’s circumstances change-traveling players, urchin in underside of big city, student at magic university, etc. I wasn’t pleased that the story’s not over by the end of the book-it would be nice to have a few of the threads resolved, and really not much is (okay, he’s not in debt to the moneylender any more).
Jo Walton, Tooth and Claw-comedy of manners, with dragons? that is to say, it’s the dragons who are the main characters. And I’m not sure it’s a comedy.
Kiri Miller, Traveling Home: Sacred Harp Singing and American Pluralism
[Garth Nix, Sabriel (audiobook)]
[Heyer, Toll Gate; A Civil Contract, Unknown Ajax, Foundling, Charity Girl, Bath Tangle, Corinthian]
[Bujold, Legacy (audiobook)]
[Jones, Pinhoe Egg (audiobook)]-gets deeper on successive readings.
Libba Bray, Great and Terrible Beauty-quite good, but for some reason not what I expected. Darker. Maybe I thought a Victorian boarding school where girls learned magic would be more like Harry Potter.
Monster of Templeton-very good. Recognizable Cooperstown, but imagined history (intertwined with real)
Susan Conant and her daughter, Steamed-food mystery. okay, but no dogs, which are really what make Conant’s mysteries enjoyable.
[Dark Lord of Derkholm]
Linnea Sinclair, The Down Home Zombie Blues-really a romance, but pays enough attention to the s-f plot to be reasonably satisfying, as long as you don’t expect great world-building or hard s-f values.
Nancy Atherton, Aunt Dimity and the Duke, … and the Next of Kin, … and the Wild West, … and the Deep Blue Sea
Elizabeth Moon, Command Decision, Marque and Reprisal, Engaging the Enemy, Victory Conditions
Bujold, Sharing Knife: Passage-integrates the romance and the fantasy really well
Point of Honour (Sarah Tolerance)
by Madeleine E. Robins-quite good; detective story set in an alternate Regency England
Libby Bray, Rebel Angels - sequel to A Great and Terrible Beauty.
Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall, by Wendy Mass-free verse musings by Tessa from the afterlife, maybe.
Kiki Strike, by Kirsten Miller. Bizarre little book.
Wicked Lovely, by Melissa Marr-urban faerie, reminiscent of de Lint-Summer King chooses mortal maiden in modern gritty city, with various twists. Quite good.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows [audiobook]
Clare Darcy, Elyza-Regency romance, very pleasant
Shanna Swendson, Enchanted, Inc.-urban fantasy/romance set in NYC; a romance descendant of Magic, Inc., only not. (i.e., nothing like Heinlein. Actually, the blurb on the cover expresses it well: Hex and the City). Fun.
Mercedes Lackey, Snow Queen-set in the Five Hundred Kingdoms-godmothers work to make the stories come out right.
Garth Nix, Across the Wall-short stories; the first long one about Nicholas in Ancelstierre after the end of Abhorsen (very good; want more!).
Tamora Pierce, Will of the Empress-Sandry, Daja, Tris, and Briar gather together from their long travels and go to the Empire where Sandry is a coveted heiress.
Cassandra Clare, City of Bones-urban fantasy with werewolves, vampires, and the Shadowhunters who try to fight off true demons. Clary didn’t know that that world existed until she started seeing it.
[Heyer, Black Sheep]
Joan North, The Cloud Forest
[Robin McKinley, Beauty]
Robin McKinley, Dragonhaven-Reserve for endangered dragons in modern world; I really liked the convincing teenaged-boy voice and the way the story gradually sucks one in.
[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets-English edition, which doesn’t seem to have any noticeable differences]
Charles de Lint, Into the Green
[Sayers, Whose Body-audiobook]
[Austen, Sense and Sensibility-audiobook]
Bill Bryson, Mother Tongue--quite good; in the areas of my expertise, he's usually pretty sound (the only errors are small, unimportant ones)
Bill Bryson, Shakespeare
Terry Pratchett, Making Money
The Truth of Buffy: Essays on Fiction Illuminating Reality-discussions of philosophy, the soul, the use of music in Buffy
On the Prowl-4 short stories, including Alpha and Omega, by Patricia Briggs. I think the criteria for these stories probably included romance; it’s interesting how much more gripping and engaging Briggs’s story is, with sexual tension alone, than the other more obvious, overt romances.
Sherwood Smith, The Fox-sequel to Inda; still very good, but long, following a number of different tracks, including Inda’s anti-pirate forces, the women back at home, and several other people and groups, mostly those we got to know at the Academy in Inda. Some important threads are actually brought to closure. I see that I didn’t put in an entry for Inda when I read it (last year?). One could say something about certain similarities between Inda and Miles Vorkosigan, though it might be hard to analyze just what those similarities are. The competence? The bone-deep sense of honor?
Lillian Stewart Carl, The Secret Portrait-Jean, American journalist living in Scotland, gets involved in a murder, Bonnie Prince Charlie devotees, ghosts, commando units from WWII, local police detectives. Quite enjoyable.
Charlaine Harris, From Dead to Worse-rather good, though not as unified a plot as some of her books. Ties up some loose ends, starts some new interesting developments. Sookie is between boyfriends for the entire book, which is kind of a nice change for the reader, if not for Sookie.
Alexei Panshin, Rite of Passage-enjoyable-girl living on interstellar ship has to survive coming of age.
Andrew Davidson, The Gargoyle-I read the beginning, which was kind of gruesome, and I read the end; might read sometime but maybe not-don’t know that I would enjoy it.
Marion Chesney, Snobbery with Violence-mildly amusing Edwardian mystery
Rita Mae Brown, Sour Puss-latest Mrs. Murphy mystery, with Harry and Fair just married, and many residents of Crozet and vicinity growing grapes for wine.
Noel Streatfield, Family Shoes
Eric Flint/Andrew Dennis, 1634: the Galileo Affair-follows one strand of the events after 1632.
Mercedes Lackey, One Good Knight-a 500 Kingdoms book. Interesting how the beginning is a lot like Dealing with Dragons, only much more internal, angsty, and less funny. But the book as a whole is fun-Lackey popcorn.
[Nix, Lirael-audiobook]
Robin McKinley, Chalice-totally different from Dragonhaven; set in medieval realm with magic, where the new Chalice for her land has to work with the new lord, who has gone too far into the Fire Priesthood to even be human anymore.
SM Stirling, The Sunrise Lands-it does draw me in-I particularly like the bits set in the Mackenzie lands, and the Protectorate is much better now, but I still don’t like the bits where we follow some of the bad guys. Also, the story clearly won't end for another two books.
Stephanie Meyer, Twilight-perfectly decent, but probably not worth the hype. The beginning especially was awfully high-school-centric--which I certainly didn’t mind in early Buffy-hm, maybe there was more witty dialogue there. Anyway, Twilight seems sort of … ordinary. There’s no transcendence.
Eva Ibbotson, Countess Below Stairs-a fun read; basically a regency romance, even though it’s set in the early 20th century. It doesn’t go beyond the tropes, but it’s certainly enjoyable. Includes both upstairs and downstairs.
Patricia Briggs, Iron Kissed-sequel to Moon Called and Blood Bound.
Anahita's woven riddle Sayres, Meghan Nuttall. Early 20th century Iran-the culture of the nomads like Anahita’s family continues as it has for centuries, but change is looming. Anahita wants to convince her father to let her have at least some choice in whom to marry; she will marry the man who can guess the riddle woven into her wedding carpet.
Julia Justiss, The Courtesan-the story is fine, but way too much of the book isn’t story.
The princess and the hound Harrison, Mette Ivie, 1970- On the back flap the author credits inspiration from Shards of Honor, Queen of Attolia, and The Blue Sword, which bodes well; not quite as good as those, but promising.
Heinlein, Moon Is a Harsh Mistress [audiobook]
Stonecutter Watts, Leander [Thom Metzger]. Journal entries by the young apprentice stonecutter Albion Straight tell the story of his sojourn with John Good to carve a monument for his dead wife, modeled on his living daughter, who desires nothing more than to be free of her father and his rich but isolated house in the wilderness of western NY State in the early 19th century. Well written, evocative-I like the local color, the references to shape-note music, the descriptions of gravestone carvings like those still visible in upstate NY cemeteries.
Bujold, Brothers in Arms [audiobook]
Dorothy Dunnett, Game of Kings. I’m trying Dunnett again; finding it slow going
[Cetaganda, Ethan of Athos]
Patrick Rothfuss, Name of the Wind-I’m not sure I liked the beginning/framing story, but once Kvothe starting telling about his childhood I was hooked. The type of story you think it’s going to be keeps changing as it progresses and Kvothe’s circumstances change-traveling players, urchin in underside of big city, student at magic university, etc. I wasn’t pleased that the story’s not over by the end of the book-it would be nice to have a few of the threads resolved, and really not much is (okay, he’s not in debt to the moneylender any more).
Jo Walton, Tooth and Claw-comedy of manners, with dragons? that is to say, it’s the dragons who are the main characters. And I’m not sure it’s a comedy.
Kiri Miller, Traveling Home: Sacred Harp Singing and American Pluralism
[Garth Nix, Sabriel (audiobook)]
[Heyer, Toll Gate; A Civil Contract, Unknown Ajax, Foundling, Charity Girl, Bath Tangle, Corinthian]
[Bujold, Legacy (audiobook)]
[Jones, Pinhoe Egg (audiobook)]-gets deeper on successive readings.
Libba Bray, Great and Terrible Beauty-quite good, but for some reason not what I expected. Darker. Maybe I thought a Victorian boarding school where girls learned magic would be more like Harry Potter.
Monster of Templeton-very good. Recognizable Cooperstown, but imagined history (intertwined with real)
Susan Conant and her daughter, Steamed-food mystery. okay, but no dogs, which are really what make Conant’s mysteries enjoyable.
[Dark Lord of Derkholm]
Linnea Sinclair, The Down Home Zombie Blues-really a romance, but pays enough attention to the s-f plot to be reasonably satisfying, as long as you don’t expect great world-building or hard s-f values.
Nancy Atherton, Aunt Dimity and the Duke, … and the Next of Kin, … and the Wild West, … and the Deep Blue Sea
Elizabeth Moon, Command Decision, Marque and Reprisal, Engaging the Enemy, Victory Conditions
Bujold, Sharing Knife: Passage-integrates the romance and the fantasy really well
Point of Honour (Sarah Tolerance)
by Madeleine E. Robins-quite good; detective story set in an alternate Regency England
Libby Bray, Rebel Angels - sequel to A Great and Terrible Beauty.
Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall, by Wendy Mass-free verse musings by Tessa from the afterlife, maybe.
Kiki Strike, by Kirsten Miller. Bizarre little book.
Wicked Lovely, by Melissa Marr-urban faerie, reminiscent of de Lint-Summer King chooses mortal maiden in modern gritty city, with various twists. Quite good.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows [audiobook]
Clare Darcy, Elyza-Regency romance, very pleasant
Shanna Swendson, Enchanted, Inc.-urban fantasy/romance set in NYC; a romance descendant of Magic, Inc., only not. (i.e., nothing like Heinlein. Actually, the blurb on the cover expresses it well: Hex and the City). Fun.
Mercedes Lackey, Snow Queen-set in the Five Hundred Kingdoms-godmothers work to make the stories come out right.
Garth Nix, Across the Wall-short stories; the first long one about Nicholas in Ancelstierre after the end of Abhorsen (very good; want more!).
Tamora Pierce, Will of the Empress-Sandry, Daja, Tris, and Briar gather together from their long travels and go to the Empire where Sandry is a coveted heiress.
Cassandra Clare, City of Bones-urban fantasy with werewolves, vampires, and the Shadowhunters who try to fight off true demons. Clary didn’t know that that world existed until she started seeing it.
[Heyer, Black Sheep]
Joan North, The Cloud Forest
[Robin McKinley, Beauty]
Robin McKinley, Dragonhaven-Reserve for endangered dragons in modern world; I really liked the convincing teenaged-boy voice and the way the story gradually sucks one in.
[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets-English edition, which doesn’t seem to have any noticeable differences]
Charles de Lint, Into the Green
[Sayers, Whose Body-audiobook]
[Austen, Sense and Sensibility-audiobook]
Bill Bryson, Mother Tongue--quite good; in the areas of my expertise, he's usually pretty sound (the only errors are small, unimportant ones)
Bill Bryson, Shakespeare
Terry Pratchett, Making Money
The Truth of Buffy: Essays on Fiction Illuminating Reality-discussions of philosophy, the soul, the use of music in Buffy
On the Prowl-4 short stories, including Alpha and Omega, by Patricia Briggs. I think the criteria for these stories probably included romance; it’s interesting how much more gripping and engaging Briggs’s story is, with sexual tension alone, than the other more obvious, overt romances.
Sherwood Smith, The Fox-sequel to Inda; still very good, but long, following a number of different tracks, including Inda’s anti-pirate forces, the women back at home, and several other people and groups, mostly those we got to know at the Academy in Inda. Some important threads are actually brought to closure. I see that I didn’t put in an entry for Inda when I read it (last year?). One could say something about certain similarities between Inda and Miles Vorkosigan, though it might be hard to analyze just what those similarities are. The competence? The bone-deep sense of honor?
Lillian Stewart Carl, The Secret Portrait-Jean, American journalist living in Scotland, gets involved in a murder, Bonnie Prince Charlie devotees, ghosts, commando units from WWII, local police detectives. Quite enjoyable.
Charlaine Harris, From Dead to Worse-rather good, though not as unified a plot as some of her books. Ties up some loose ends, starts some new interesting developments. Sookie is between boyfriends for the entire book, which is kind of a nice change for the reader, if not for Sookie.
Alexei Panshin, Rite of Passage-enjoyable-girl living on interstellar ship has to survive coming of age.
Andrew Davidson, The Gargoyle-I read the beginning, which was kind of gruesome, and I read the end; might read sometime but maybe not-don’t know that I would enjoy it.
Marion Chesney, Snobbery with Violence-mildly amusing Edwardian mystery
Rita Mae Brown, Sour Puss-latest Mrs. Murphy mystery, with Harry and Fair just married, and many residents of Crozet and vicinity growing grapes for wine.
Noel Streatfield, Family Shoes
Eric Flint/Andrew Dennis, 1634: the Galileo Affair-follows one strand of the events after 1632.
Mercedes Lackey, One Good Knight-a 500 Kingdoms book. Interesting how the beginning is a lot like Dealing with Dragons, only much more internal, angsty, and less funny. But the book as a whole is fun-Lackey popcorn.
[Nix, Lirael-audiobook]
Robin McKinley, Chalice-totally different from Dragonhaven; set in medieval realm with magic, where the new Chalice for her land has to work with the new lord, who has gone too far into the Fire Priesthood to even be human anymore.
SM Stirling, The Sunrise Lands-it does draw me in-I particularly like the bits set in the Mackenzie lands, and the Protectorate is much better now, but I still don’t like the bits where we follow some of the bad guys. Also, the story clearly won't end for another two books.
Stephanie Meyer, Twilight-perfectly decent, but probably not worth the hype. The beginning especially was awfully high-school-centric--which I certainly didn’t mind in early Buffy-hm, maybe there was more witty dialogue there. Anyway, Twilight seems sort of … ordinary. There’s no transcendence.
Eva Ibbotson, Countess Below Stairs-a fun read; basically a regency romance, even though it’s set in the early 20th century. It doesn’t go beyond the tropes, but it’s certainly enjoyable. Includes both upstairs and downstairs.