Comments | tabacoychanel: 2012 Books Read

tabacoychanel

2012 Books Read

Jan 11, 2013 23:13

It's probably pretty obvious that I took Shakespeare in the spring. Other than that, I read a lot of self-help books thinly disguised as social science? The stars are not part of any strict ranking system - it's all very much still in beta, although I will undertake to try to blog more about books in the coming year, even though I'm not sure LJ is ( Read more... )

masterlist: books, bibliophile

Comments 9

hamsterwoman January 12 2013, 05:56:41 UTC

What did you think of the Uglies series? They were my introduction to Scott Westerfeld, whom I now like quite a lot (even though as a dystopia they're pretty shallow).

And how's the newest Orson Scott Card?

tabacoychanel January 12 2013, 06:30:43 UTC

even though as a dystopia they're pretty shallowI think that the series is a lot more interesting when you look at it in the context of what is going on in YA publishing right now instead of as a self-contained story. You could take any angle - how futuristic post-apocalyptic societies interpret the artifacts of modern life, or teenage love triangles, or how to resist oppressive regimes or anything really, and when you look at how these themes are cropping up all over the place (there is really an absurd amount of post-apocalyptic fiction, i blame the mayans) it's way more fun. I'll be honest, I thought I wasn't going to finish Uglies at first. Until she left for Smoke and then things got interesting. But it's not a story I'll ever be keen to reread. I've heard good things about his other series about vampires or zombies or something - have you read it ( ... )

hamsterwoman January 12 2013, 06:46:16 UTC

One thing I really liked about the Uglies series was Shay, and the difficult friendship between her and Tally. It felt like the books recognized it as at least as important as the love triangle stuff, which I felt distinguished it from the other random post-apocalyptic stuff I've read (even *good* post-apocalyptic stuff like Hunger Games).

I've read the vampires books (Peeps and The Last Days), and I quite liked Peeps, which was the most scientific vampire book I've ever read (generally not a fan of vampires, you may recall), and has some really interesting asides on parasitology. The Last Days is not bad, either, but it's about music in addition to vampires, so, that's two things I don't care about. And also, I think it makes less sense.

The Westerfeld series that's been my favorite so far is the Leviathan books. It's WWI with steampunk and what I've been calling "genepunk" -- the Axis side has steampunky machines, but the Allies have bioengineered whale-blimps and bear railroads and all kinds of really cool worldbuilding stuff. ( ... )

tabacoychanel January 12 2013, 07:11:24 UTC

Omg Shay! I am 110% with you I think that their relationship felt fraught and real in a way that the romantic stuff didn't. Given her history, I found her transformation into a bubbly airhead in the first half of Pretties especially poignant, because I cold see exactly how it happened, how she was still the same person underneath only they'd twisted those same personality traits that made her rebellious, and made her pliable instead. So much psychological depth in her and Tally's rivalry. I was afraid at one point he was going to turn her into a Head Bitch caricature, and I'm so glad he didn't. Will keep an eye out for the Leviathan books! "Genepunk" is a very descriptive word, thank you for coining it. Sounds right up my alley.

for all his batshit personal views
Remember when he reinterpreted Hamlet? If not here is a review: Old King Hamlet was an inadequate king because he was gay, an evil person because he was gay, and, ultimately, a demonic and ghostly father of lies who convinces young Hamlet to exact imaginary revenge on ( ... )

Thread 7

lady_padme January 13 2013, 06:43:17 UTC

Did you ask if 90 books was respectable? I'm dying of shame just looking at your list! I'm not sure if I read half the books you have! Kudos to you!

tabacoychanel January 13 2013, 06:55:34 UTC

lol
i'm sorry i can't hear what you're saying i'm too busy looking at your icon

i guess it's because i know a lot of people who have read 100+ books, easy - even 200 - but i think the quality matters a lot. like, i think in 2010 it was i reread the NJO and i got such a kick out of it that i read the YJK and the JJK, neither of which i'd read before. And whatever else you might say about the franchise, the books certainly aren't difficult to read. So of course I breezed through those. I have a lot of books like that on my list this year - not SW EU books, I mean like books that aren't particularly meaty.