Books I read in April

[limyaael]

(Along with others, but these are the ones I had interesting reactions to).

Comments

[illian]

. . . the ending of Ysabel felt like there were threads in place I didn’t understand, or threads I hadn’t noticed until then, or ones I’d missed because I read too fast, or-and I don’t want to think this-Kay was relying just a bit too much on plot coincidence.

Despite how much I love their works, C.S. Friedman and Cherryh frequently do that to me. It drives me up the wall trying to figure out what I might have missed. After many rereads, I can only conclude my mind doesn't process events in quite the same way theirs do and so I don't make a few critical connections that are obvious to them and others.

[limyaael]

Kay hasn't always done it to me. But The Last Light of the Sun felt like it leaned too much on an object that had mostly gone unmentioned until then, and this one didn't seem consistent with the major characters' personalities.

But, like you said, maybe there are critical connections I'm missing.

[spartezda]

Yes, agreed on Cherryh. The Chanur books especially---I got 9/10ths of the way through each, following along perfectly, and then at the endings went "What? Did I skip a few pages?"

[illian]

Even worse? The Chanur books did it to me less than many of her later works. I think part of that is my brain was more willing to make jumps and allowances in the plot when it is dealing with some very alien mindsets.

I will freely admit that they do some of the best and most consistent alien aliens I've read (i.e. they aren't just slightly off-kilter humans in different and novel flesh/rock/energy-bags).

[sabotabby]

People keep recommending Ian McDonald to me. I should really get around to reading him. Same with This Bridge Called My Back.

Rereading the Narnia books is always an interesting experience. Dawn Treader is my favourite-it does the haunting, vaguely apocalyptic, and deeply sad-but-beautiful thing far better than The Last Battle did.

[limyaael]

Well, unfortunately, I can't recommend any of his other books, as this is the first I've read of his. But there are a few stories online, set in the same universe as River of Gods, if you want to read them:

The Djinn's Wife and The Little Goddess.

The Bridge Called My Back really was very good, not least because each piece wasn't forced into some bland uniformity.

I loved the feeling of the The Last Battle when I was little- the "further up and further in!" part. But I haven't read it in years.

[way_j]

He (McDonald) is also just about to release 'Brasyl', which should be good.

[limyaael]

I just read a review of that at Strange Horizons. For some reason I thought the title was Hy Brasyl and it was some kind of Celtic thing, but the real description sounds much mroe interesting.

[deckardcanine]

The full name thing would aggravate me, too. Was there even a point to the shift, or did you get the impression of lazy editing?

I may have read a portion of TLHoD, or perhaps another LeGuin story, but in any case it had similar premises. It was in the oldest edition of Women of Wonder, a series of sci-fi shorts written by women and compiled by Pamela Sargent. I'd be interested to hear your take on that one collection, which I conisder a mixed bag.

[limyaael]

I honestly don't know. It started about halfway through the book, but for no reason I could name.

I've heard of Women of Wonder, but haven't read it.

[darkelf105]

You're review of "Left Hand of Darkness" was very good. I have just recently read that particulare book and I am glad somebody articulated what I had been thinking :). Also, "Changing Planes" is one of my favorite short story collections, ever.

[limyaael]

Thank you! I can't believe it took me so long to read it; it was probably just that I would make a promise to read it, forget about it, and not have the convenient book in front of me to make me change my mind.

I thought some of the stories in Changing Planes were a bit heavy-handed on the satire, but I still liked them as pieces of writing.

[darkelf105]

It took me a very long time to get to "Left Hand of Darkness", too. I kept putting it in my stack, but the to read pile never seemed to get down far enough. I finally dug it out after I read "The Handmaid's Tale" and went through a whole feminist literature kick...although I must say, Le Guin deals with the problem of gender a bit more subtly and elegant than most. The climate of the planet makes it very hard to tell what effects on the society are because there isn't gender in the way we understand it or what is environmental.

[limyaael]

I think I was disappointed partially because the ending seemed to depend on decisions the characters had compelling reasons not to make. Maybe they had compelling reasons to make them, too, but the other way around struck me more strongly. I didn't have the intense dislike for it that I had for the crucial part of The Last Light of the Sun's ending, but I still was skeptical of it.

The nice thing about LeGuin is that you can start virtually anywhere, since she writes very few series other than Earthsea. I would recommend The Left Hand of Darkness or A Wizard of Earthsea- though Changing Planes would also be good.