Saving my Sanity ...

These are so cute

2011-06-29T18:18:00.001+12:00

Did I really do that?

2011-06-28T14:06:00.002+12:00

Yes, I did. I started a new blog over at WordPress. I had a few reasons and the easy way to explain them is to copy here the first post from over there.

It’s called Too Many Books and I hope to do better at keeping it up than I’m doing over here, mostly because I’m not planning to try to do complicated things like reviews, but simply to post the odd book thing (including pictures of Marcus I admit) when I think of it.

Please do come over if it sounds interesting.

(There’s going to be a stitching one too, again where I can just toss something up, but that’s only a template right now. All the same, you’re welcome to follow it if you wish. It’s called Sometimes Stitching.)

GOOD GRIEF, ANOTHER BLOG (from Too Many Books)

Why do I do this to myself? Here I am, starting another blog…

The thing is that at present I can’t manage to provide the kind of depth of content I’d prefer for Saving My Sanity… (darned Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, you know), but I don’t want to retool the blog in case things change and I can go back to it. Also, I’ve been using WordPress to work on a fan “site” for Catherine Asaro (called Prism, but not yet publically online as I still have plenty of content to add) and I find it’s easier to use to quickly toss out a post than Blogger.

So here we go, another blog.

The key phrase above is “toss out a post”. That’s what I want to be able to do. A quote, a thought, a pretty cover, an upcoming release, anything book related like that. Short, quick stuff rather than trying to do in depth reviews or analysis (although if I am so inspired, I’ll “toss” one of those up here as well).

Secondly, I have several authors where I dream of slowly reading my way through their series and/or standalone books, often in an order of my own devising rather than ones readily available on other sites. This will also be a place to store those orders and my progress through the books.

Lastly (for now), some older favourite series/authors are beginning to be reprinted in lovely, matching editions (and in hardcover or trade which I prefer these days) where I drool over them and dream about buying them if I had the money. My books were often either purchased as they came out, or bought later and mostly second hand. Both those things tend to mean my collections are in multiple formats and with differing cover art. And in the case of those second hand purchases, old, ratty and sometimes musty and falling apart. The very thought of a lovely new set of books, all matching size and matching covers makes me happy. So I’ll also be using this blog to imagine my own dream library.

That’s the plan. Will it eventuate? I don’t know. I hope so, but the dreaded fatigue monster always remains on the horizon and I remain at its mercy. We’ll see. I shall continue to hope and dream – and read of course.

Please do come over and try Too Many Books.

Just for fun

2011-06-28T13:58:00.001+12:00

I saw this over on Geek Art Gallery today.

World War Z by Max Brooks

2011-05-12T16:33:00.000+12:00

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can't believe I'm reading a zombie book. It's all Calico Reaction's fault.

Wow, I really don't know what to say about this book.

It's a good book, but it's so different from what I usually read that I feel like I don't have any context for commenting on it.

I'll say up front that I am not a zombie person. They just don't appeal to me. So you won't get me to watch zombie movies (although I have seen 28 Days or whatever the first one was called) and you generally won't get me to read zombie books.

The two I have tried (and liked) were this one and Mira Grant's Feed. And both, I have felt count as zombie books for people who don't like zombies. In both, the focus is not on blood, guts and gore and killing as many zombies as you can, but one what effect a zombie plague has on people and society and how people adapt and change to meet this new challenge. They are about science and psychology more than gore. This is something I find I do like.

In World War Z, this is in fact quite a bit of zombie killing, but by structuring the narrative as Brooks has done - make it a transcription of first hand reports after the fact - adds a distance that allows me to take on the facts without having to be traumatized by the gory details. The book almost reads as non-fiction (which I assume was the author's intention) but with a touch of the personal.

I really enjoy the scientific puzzle of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic books and this book gave me that. I never did find out what caused the virus, but I got to see how it developed, how it was dealt with and even a touch of the effect it has had on people a decade later.

That really did work for me.

I can't say that I "loved" this book in a "rave and squee about it" kind of way, but I certainly didn't dislike it either. That implies my reaction of sort of "meh" but it wasn't that either. This was a very satisfying book for me, even if I'm usually a character reader and this book was lacking in characterisation.

As I said at the beginning, it's a very different style of book from my usual as I find it hard to vocalise my reaction.

Satisfying sounds like damning it with faint praise, which isn't what I mean to do at all. I recommend the book, and while I can easily describe its basic ideas and conceits, I don't know how to describe my reaction to it. So go and try it for yourself. I do think it's worth it.

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Winter is Coming

2011-04-19T12:18:00.001+12:00

And no, I’m not talking about A Game of Thrones. I may be the only person on the internet to use that title and not be talking about George R. R. Martin and HBO.

Winter really is coming here. We’ve hit the middle of autumn and the temperature seriously dropped yesterday. Enough that we pulled out all the heaters and searched for our slippers.

Cally, being a cat, thought this was brilliant of course and it didn’t take long before she was happily sprawled in front of the heater, claiming the warmest spot in the house.

Heater + cat = winter on the way.

I don’t think she’s really sticking her tongue out at me, but it sure does look that way.

Family Photos #7 - Change

2011-04-19T11:58:00.001+12:00

The theme for FP#7 was CHANGE, as chosen by Dave.

Since he picked it, we’ll start with him. I suspect he was inspired by the change of seasons (it’s autumn here now, and cold enough that yesterday we turned the heater on for the first time). Certainly, that’s what he chose to photograph with this beauty.

Marcus wasn’t quite sure about the idea of change until he found 10 cents in the car on Sunday and his Grandad Ross gave him an Australian 10-cent coin to go with the New Zealand one. I don’t remember the details exactly, but we were talking one day in the supermarket and a lady gave him some Japanese small change she had in her purse after getting back to New Zealand the day before. So here we have New Zealand, Australian and Japanese change. (Marcus hasn’t quite grasped the idea of close ups and focusing the camera yet.)

Pam got in quickly with her photo, which wasn’t anything I had thought of when I considered the idea of change. But as she pointed out, a generation ago you wouldn’t have found a pizza oven in a friends’ garden where you could sit in the sun and cook your lunch. Times change.

When I told Sally the theme, her reaction was, “that’s easy”. She moved house at the weekend, so it’s all about change for her right now. Here are a lot of boxes and a cat who probably isn’t so keen on the whole idea of change right now.

As for me, the theme turned out to be pretty easy for me too. It was my birthday at the end of March and while I’m not going to tell you what number changed to the next one, I had a lovely day. Family and friends got together to buy me a Kindle which I absolutely love and I was well looked after all round. (The very cool card Sally sent me is sadly missing from the photo as I hadn’t checked the letterbox when I took this.)

And this week you get a bonus, lucky viewers. Marcus has developed a fascination with Doctor Who (that isn’t quite matched by his ability to sit down and actually watch it) and having a mother who is a fan and gets given Doctor Who-style presents means there are several TARDISes (TARDIi?) around the place. He recently lined them all up and took a photo. The TARDIS is meant to be all about change, so I’m including his picture just for fun. (Although I’m rather embarrassed to discover there were five!)

After talking to Mum, who has just been down to Christchurch, I chose the next theme and it is MUNTED (if you scroll down the page linked you’ll come to the specific Christchurch definition).

Twilight’s Dawn by Anne Bishop

2011-04-16T20:25:00.001+12:00

Twilight's Dawn by Anne Bishop
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Read 13-4-11 to 16-4-11

Just so you know, there are no spoilers here - although that does make this a post about feelings rather that details. I figured vagueness was better than spoilers.

This was wonderful. All of it, including the last story. In fact, especially the last story, which I thought was perfect.

This book is not an ending; it's stories of resolution, again including and especially the last one. It lets me breathe easy for all the characters and look forward to learning more about them and their lives should Ms Bishop share them with me (and she has plenty of scope to do so - again, this book is not an ending). I hope she does; I love these people and their world. But if she doesn't (please, please do), then I know everyone has finished with their hearts at peace.

I didn't read any of the reviews that came out about it because I didn't want to be spoiled, but I understood some people weren't happy (or had issues, as I said I didn't read them) with what Ms Bishop did here (that last story again) and/or felt this was the end.

I chose to trust the author; she hasn't let me down yet. And once again she didn't here. She was true to her world, true to her characters, true to their stories and the rules she had set up. To me, this was a wonderful collection of stories about easing hearts and loving family and I loved it. Especially that last story; it built from everything that had gone before and for me, it was perfect.

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Sign some equations

2011-04-12T19:14:00.001+12:00

I found this in my Google Reader Feeds tonight. Apparently it came from here.

After having a mental confusion moment today and confusing the equations for the area of a circle and the volume of a sphere (at least when the numbers came out I realised they couldn’t be right), this seemed to appear at a perfect time.

Family Photos #6 - Warmth

2011-04-01T18:16:00.002+13:00

Once again I am late. I shall endeavour to improve.

The theme for FP#6 was WARMTH, as chosen by Sally.

Marcus had a few choices, including Mummy sleeping with her socks on (okay, pretending to sleep for the photo, but it’s true I can’t get to sleep if my feet are cold) and Marcus himself tucked up in bed with Boris the white tiger (taken by me). In the end though, he chose a picture of his very favourite, woolly red socks, which were bought a couple of years ago for Red Socks Day and have remained favourites ever since.

Pam provided a lovely, late summer picture that I’m guessing is from her garden.

Sally sent us this darling bunny. If you live in Wellington, he’s looking for a new home and can be found at the Wellington SPCA.

I admit that I’m the one who actually took Dave’s photo, but it was at his request and you’ll see, when you take a look, why he couldn’t do it himself. Cally considers him to be her rightful sleeping place at night – I took this when I woke up at 1am to take a trip to the bathroom.

I thought about this one quite a lot. I have a picture of Cally curled up behind the TV having a sleep, but I decided this one of our Galileo thermometer showing it to be a balmy 24C in late March.

Dave has chosen the next theme and it is CHANGE.

Family Photos – Week Five = Rest and Relaxation

2011-03-16T17:10:00.001+13:00

Sorry this is so late. It took everyone, including me, a while to get our photos taken and then I got a head cold when I was just getting organised to put up the post.

Given the fact we all have busy lives, we’ve decided to make this a fortnightly challenge rather than a weekly one. That gives everyone a bit more time to find a good photo.

The theme for Week 4 was REST AND RELAXATION.

Marcus had an excellent idea and set up a photo-shoot for his favourite bedtime friend, Brown Bear Barney.

Pam sent us a photo of Grandad Len taking a moment for a bit of R&R. You can see who influenced me to be a reader, which Dave and I then passed on to Marcus.

Sally’s photo shows one of her workmates getting in a nap on the job.

Dave pointed out that he seems to get very little time for any rest or relaxation, but that if he did, this is what he’d choose to do with it.

As for me, I couldn’t resist this picture of Marcus sleeping. He has always slept in some very strange positions or with an interesting array of friends. (I have sneaked into his room and snapped a photo many times and fortunately he never responds to the flash at all and keeps right on sleeping.)

Sally chose the next theme and it is WARMTH.

DarkShip Thieves by Sarah A. Hoyt

2011-03-08T16:51:00.001+13:00

DarkShip Thieves by Sarah A. Hoyt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars (8/10)
Read: 3-3-11 to 8-3-11

This book ended up being a bit up and down, but overall I really liked it.

It stared off well, then seemed to slow a bit (although not in a bad way) when Athena got to Eden. At that point, I could see it turning into SF Romance, and while I don't mind that at all, it wasn't exactly what I had been expecting.

But I was wrong. While the romance is there, it's nicely done and not dwelled upon on its own account too much. Instead, the SF plot begins to build up, tying in a lot of threads that I had thought were only background world-building, into a generally satisfying whole.

I did especially enjoy the parts back on Earth where Thena began to put all the pieces together and work out what was really going on. I did think she was a little slow on the uptake, as I'd worked out the basics (although I admit, not the specifics) back when she was on Eden, but I can also kind of see how they were pieces her back brain probably didn't want to put together, so I'll forgive it.

However, after all that excellent third quarter or more, it all seemed to resolve very easily and suddenly. I was reading the ebook and keeping a mild eye on my progress through the book. I had seen that part three started at something like chapter 46, with another 6 or 7 chapters to go to get to the end. That meant I was very surprised to find I was at over 90% of the book when I was still in the early 40s, chapter wise and in the middle of the action on Earth. I was wondering how Ms Hoyt was going to tie everything up and get them rescued and home again in the short space left.

Very quickly, turned out to be the answer. Suddenly escape becomes easy, the villain is dealt with with surprising speed (and really, very little action on the part of the main protagonists) and they're off home, to end on an ironic note, rather than a satisfying one.

Yes, finishing with the same officious controller was clever, but I wanted to see the family's reaction to having them back, and Doc Bartholomeu's response to all they had learned. Not to mention, whatever the heck is happening back on Earth and where the other Mules might have gone.

If this is the beginning of a series, hopefully I'll still learn those things, but for a standalone, the ending didn't work for me.

All the same, I really enjoyed myself reading this one. I loved the world Ms Hoyt created (and in a way, I'm not sure why) and the characters (well, I had a love/hate relationship with Thena, but I loved Kit and I want to see how they both live beyond the parental legacies they were given). I'll happily read more books by her, but next time, I really would like a more satisfying ending please.

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Family Photos – Week 4=Signs

2011-02-28T22:02:00.001+13:00

Firstly, please welcome my sister, Sally, who is joining the fun. Thanks for playing, Sally.

The theme for Week 4 was SIGNS.

Marcus has his own special hideaway in the storage space under the house, which was made to be his “office” because Daddy had an office and he wanted one too. This space now has a sign on the door. Not only did Marcus photograph a sign, he made it first too.

This sign is located at the entrance to Dave’s work (although facing towards the people coming out, not the ones coming in). He did once tell me the story of why it looks like it does, but I’m afraid I don’t remember it. If you want to know, you’ll have to ask him.

Pam sent along this one. She tells me Marcus should remember it as when they walked along this bit of shared pathway together Marcus was sure it meant the man had fallen off his bike.

Sally has been kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park this week (which sound like a fabulous way to have a holiday, but rather too strenuous for me), so what could be more appropriate than this sign.

As for me, I’ve been dropping Marcus off at the school turning circle for a couple of weeks now, but last week was the first time I picked him up there after school as well. He’s feeling very grown up and independent doing it, and it makes things so much easier for me too. I thought such a big step forward deserved to be commemorated with a photo.

So there you are, five very different “signs” photos. Thanks again to Sally for joining us. Dave has chosen the theme for week 5 and it is REST AND RELAXATION. There should be lots of possibilities for that one.

The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin

2011-02-28T18:01:00.001+13:00

The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia by Ursula K. Le Guin

I'm going to have to call this one a DNF.

I managed the first four chapters and found it both interesting and compelling while at the same time vaguely unappealing.

I read the first four chapters, and found the exploration of the societies interesting, but just couldn't manage reading it at the moment.

I'll be leaving it on my reader and I hope to get back to it at some point.

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Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

2011-02-23T14:06:00.001+13:00

Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

My rating: 3½ of 5 stars (7/10)
Read: 14-2-11 to 23-2-11

This is just a really fun book. It's rather clever, the premise is good and its a rollicking good adventure. It's not great literature, but it's well worth going along for the ride.

The prose isn't perfect - I do wish Mr Aaronovitch had used a few more semicolons and a few less commas for one thing - but it's easily readible and the narrator's voice is good. Peter is snarky and a bit rude and a lot of fun to hang around with.

If the blurb sounds like something you might enjoy, go on, give it a go.

This book was published in the UK with a much nicer title and cover. There it’s Rivers of London and the cover is much cooler in my opinion. Why do publishers do this? It just adds confusion. So depending on where you live, you might need to look for that title.

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Yes, I’m fine

2011-02-22T16:26:00.001+13:00

Just a quick note to let friends who don’t know which part of New Zealand I live in that my family and I are fine. We’re at the other end of the country from Christchurch where the earthquake was.

The news is just heart-breaking as are the pictures on the TV. My parents’ families are from the area and I spent a lot of my holidays there as a child, so seeing places I’ve been in rubble is horrible.

So far, I’ve heard from/about good friends and family who are okay. There are others we’re waiting to hear from. The whole country is being asked not to use the phone service to leave it available where it is needed so we’re using twitter/email etc to make contact.

It’s just unreal.

Family Photos–Week 3 = Green

2011-02-21T20:43:00.003+13:00

I’m the culprit that made things late this week. I found a lovely photo I wanted to use, but I had to ask permission to post it first. Happily, the lovely Melanie has given me the go ahead. You’ll see why I needed to ask her when you get down to my entry.

The theme for Week 2 was GREEN.

Marcus went to a birthday party for a school friend at a local ten pin bowling alley. They all turned out to be far more interested in the games than the bowling and they ended up playing the machines instead. Marcus (with a bit of help from Dad) managed to win a build-it kit for a dinosaur skeleton. Together, he and I did achieve something that looks a bit like a triceratops, but since the foam is a bit soft, we had to work on getting him to stand up without falling apart altogether.

Dave, in a fit of either genius or madness decided to zoom in (literally I suspect; I’m jealous of the macro lens he has for his camera) for his computer, or possibly the computer dock. He didn’t give me the specifics.

Pam tells me she had so many ideas for green that it was hard to make a decision. But this friendly monster did the trick. I’m impressed she had her camera with her when stumbling on this guy. And she assures me he didn’t chase her after she’d taken her shot.

And here’s my photo. Since this lovely young man isn’t my own child, you’ll understand that I needed to get permission from his mum before I put up his picture. He’s the younger brother of a girl who was in Marcus’ class last year. He and his two other brothers (who together make a set of triplets) will be starting school later this year. They were enjoying the annual school picnic that was held on Friday night. I didn’t go there planning to take his picture, but he’s such a gorgeous kid and he was beautifully dressed all in green so how could I possibly resist.

So there you are, four very different “green” photos. Pam has chosen the theme for week 4 and it is SIGNS. That one could be interesting.

We’ll also hoping my sister may be able to join in. I haven’t heard back from her yet, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Delay with this week’s family photos

2011-02-21T18:42:00.001+13:00

Sorry, but there’s going to be a delay posting this week’s photos. I needed to ask permission to publish my photo of choice and I’m just waiting to hear back.

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

2011-02-20T20:47:00.002+13:00

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

My rating: 5 of 5 stars (10/10)
Read: 18-2-11 to 20-2-11
For: Calico Reaction Book Club 2011

Not a review, just a little rave.

I really loved this. It just worked for me on some many levels. It wasn’t that I was crowing about it constantly as I read, but it was just so satisfying that I kept on reading and reading until I was finished. This is a vampire book, there’s talk about feeling filled and sated in it. That’s how I felt when I got to the end.

It's my first Octavia Butler book, and I find myself glad of that, since it means there's more for me to read. At the same time, it's terribly sad to know there will be no more books from her. I would so have loved to find out what things were like for Shori and her family a few years from now. The book is absolutely complete on its own, but it would be so interesting to get to revisit later when Shori has had a chance to rebuild herself and her family.

I guess that's the sign of a good book - that I so want to know how things work out for the characters, even when it’s already a satisfying and neatly finished story.

I got this one from the library and I think I'm going to have to track down my own copy, because I think I'll want to reread this.

Many thanks to Sharra at Calico Reaction for introducing me to an author I always knew was considered to be great, but whose work I had never tried for myself.

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I will try to remember to come back and leave a link to the Book Club discussion when it starts, as there will be lots of detailed discussion of the book. Like I said at the beginning, this is a rave rather than a review.

Link to Fledgling on Calico's Book Club

Elfland by Freda Warrington

2011-02-19T09:51:00.001+13:00

Elfland by Freda Warrington
My rating: 3½ of 5 stars
Read: 11-2-11 to 18-2-11

I liked this book, but it just didn't work for me as a whole.

I found the pace to be near glacial, which slowed my reading terribly. It wasn't that nothing was happening, but that the things that were happening didn't appear to heading in any particular direction. In the end, it got there, but boy did it take a long time.

Calico Reaction suggested that it read like a family saga, and I think there's a lot to that. You can have a great book about family without it turning into a 'family saga' but this one did the latter. But at the same time it was trying to be a grand fantasy and sadly it kind of missed the mark on blending the two together. It did pieces of each beautifully, but putting them together didn't quite gel.

But I can see all the things I should have loved but only appreciated. So I wonder if the problem lies with me rather than the book, and other people may simply love it. I certainly hope so as there's some very nice stuff in there.

I liked the use of the piece of story at the beginning that turns out to belong further into the book. However, that first part was just a bit too obscure about where it fitted so that when we got to that point later, I was having to flip back to the front to be sure I'd got it right. I feel it should have been clearer than that. If we had been let in on the fact it was Rosie's wedding day it would have all made much more sense and let me feel I'm now slipped into the story proper.

And that's part of the overall problem. The narrative wandered so much that we never could really be sure if we in the main plot of the book or not. Or when the action that back cover blurb had promised us would finally show up. Personally, that drives me crazy. I like my book to be going somewhere. I don't mind if it twists and turns and turns my senses upside down along the way (all the better really) but I like it to have some kind of narrative drive, and it just felt like this book didn't.

As for the characters, I really did like them. I liked Rose and I liked Sam and Lucas. Matt and Jon Made me struggle a bit harder, but even they grew on me. And I would have loved to see more interaction directly between Auberon and Jessica. But they too failed to blend quite properly into the family saga/fantasy novel. It was like they weren't quite sure which set of lines they were supposed to be following.

And yet, the most annoying thing is that the pieces were all there for me. Pieces I like. This book should have worked for me and I'm terribly disappointed that it didn't.

Since I got sick, I judge things on a cost/benefit ratio. While I got some good stuff out of this book, I had to work way too hard and way to long for it to be fully worth it for me. If I get the benefit, that kind of cost is worth paying, but I just didn't get enough back this time.

But I still feel like I should have done. It should have worked. I can imagine myself remembering bits of pieces of this book in the future and thinking it was the book I wanted it to be rather than the book it actually was; I can see myself wanting to reread it to recapture those glorious pieces and being disappointed all over again that what I find is how they didn't produce the right fantastic reality for me.

Don't let all this put you off though. This is me. This is the pieces not mixing for me (and I'm sorry I've gone on this long and still been so vague about my problems with the book). I know lots of people loved it. I hope you'll be one of them.

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Family Photos – Week 2 = Car

2011-02-13T19:37:00.001+13:00

Dave came in on the wire, taking his photo about 7.30 on Sunday night, but everyone has managed to produce a photo.

The theme for Week 2 was CAR.

Marcus took a picture of Dave changing the temporary tyre back to the repaired one after my car got a flat when I was taking Marcus to school on Monday.

Dave took a picture from the driver’s seat while popping out to the supermarket tonight.

Pam took a picture of this once handsome 1958 Jaguar, which is now showing a bit of wear and tear.

I took a picture of one of the occupants of Marcus’ sandpit. This was a present for his birthday two weeks ago, so it is still a new favourite.

I’ve chosen the theme for Week 3 and it is GREEN.

Family Photos – Week 1 = Cat

2011-02-07T17:35:00.001+13:00

My parents gave Marcus a camera for his birthday. So far he’s alternated between taking lots of photos and forgetting about it completely. So to keep his interest up, we’ve set up a challenge. Each week we’re going to pick a topic or theme and everyone (so far that’s me, Marcus, Dave and my mother) has to take a photo based on that. On Mondays, I’ll put them up here on my blog.

The theme for Week 1 was CAT.

Marcus took a picture of our cat, Cally.

Dave took a picture from Marcus’ pre-school dictionary.

Pam (aka Mum or Granny Pam) took a picture of her cat, Mac.

Kerry (ie me) took a picture of her appliqued bag.

Marcus has chosen the theme for Week 2 and it is CAR.

Bedtime snack

2011-01-18T21:01:00.001+13:00

First, some background.

With it being summer and holidays here, before Christmas Dave bought a little pup tent for Marcus. It's too small for Dave, and almost too small for me, but Marcus loves it. However, we don't really have any flat ground in our backyard (and I'm not having Marcus sleeping in a tent pitched on the fence-less front yard).

So we found a compromise.

Yes, Marcus has a tent (or more accurately, the tent lining) in his bedroom. Not only does he think it is one of the coolest things ever, so does his friend who came over the other day.

Tonight, Marcus came out and asked for a bedtime drink. His instructions were very specific. I was to provide:

One cup of milk for drinking
One cup of milk for dunking gingernuts
Gingernuts
An imaginary plate of mice for his stuffed toy snake to eat

Being a good mother, I provided the snack as required and everyone was happy.

All right, so in the end I wasn't happy as one of the glasses of milk got spilt. But he was so delighted I guess it was worth it. Hooray for Friend for Carpets.

(Tonight's post was brought to you by blatant product placement.)

Dust by Elizabeth Bear

2011-01-11T15:41:00.001+13:00

Dust by Elizabeth Bear

My rating: 4½ of 5 stars
Read: 6-1-11 to 11-1-11

I really enjoyed this. I was a bit nervous starting as my experience with Elizabeth Bear has previously left me feeling kind of stupid.

I read and loved Blood and Iron and Whiskey and Water, but mostly because of the beauty of the prose. I was left somewhat confused about what had actually gone on plot-wise. For that reason, while I own the other two Promethean Age books (Ink and Steel and Hell and Earth) I've never been quite brave enough to start them. I feel the same way about the Edda's Burden books, but since the first is a selection for the Women of Fantasy 2011 Book Club, I guess I'll be giving it a try this year after all.

I was first intrigued by the idea of Dust ages ago, but never actually bought it and started it. So here we are, the first month of the Women of SF 2011 Book Club and Dust is the choice. And finally, I read it.

I'm so glad I did. This time, I actually got to feel kind of clever instead of stupid. As the book revealed more and the world and plot developed, I could see the way the myth and society and near-mystical concept of the world had built out its past. And it was very cleverly done. It was almost as if the book existed on two levels, with the kind of bizarre setting of the present day imposed on the fundamental SF concepts underneath. But it is that intertwining and balance that makes the book such a good read (and so fundamentally Bear from what little of her work I've read). It would have been much less of a book if it had only been the SF tale, and I don't think I would necessarily have liked it. But having that underpinning there gave me something to hold on to and to ground the book for me. With the Promethean Age books I felt like I was trying and failing to grasp air. Here, I felt like I had something solid, and strangely beautiful in my hands, twisted into strange, reality-defying shapes.

For all the the narration switched regularly between Rien and Perceval (with side steps to other characters, especially Dust), this felt like Rien's book to me. We are introduced to the Exalt and the larger world through her eyes and that too may help provide the more grounded feeling I had with this book. Then we have Perceval's point of view to balance Rien's, and yet we find that in her own way, Perceval knows little more of the world than Rien does. So both young women find they way and we, the readers, find ours with them.

The supporting characters were less well developed I felt, but while reading didn't feel that the story was lessened by that. Yet I find I'd like to know more, especially about Tristen. Looking back, I think it is a pity those other characters weren't developed better, but there are two more books for that to happen and I'm pretty sure I'll be reading them. (In fact, when I finish this I'll be off to buy myself an copy of Chill although I don't quite know when I'll have a spare moment to read it.)

Mostly, I'm left with a feeling of something wondrous and peculiar and strange, in all the best possible ways. It's a feeling I'd generally expect to find in fantasy rather than science fiction, and this is very definitely a science fiction novel, which makes me feel like I've discovered a special treat.

View all my reviews

Geo Restrictions Sigh

2011-01-07T15:30:00.001+13:00

Why is it that the stuff I don’t want to buy is not geo-restricted and therefore available to me, while the stuff I do want to buy, I can’t?

(Don’t worry, that’s a rhetorical question. There is no sensible answer.)

The Down Side to Digital Readers

2011-01-06T20:45:00.001+13:00

I really love reading books on my iPhone, but today I have been caught out by one of the down sides of digital reading.

I’ve spent the day immersed in N. K. Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. I’m reading it for the Women of Fantasy 2011 challenge over at Jawas Read Too! (I’m also planning to read Dust by Elizabeth Bear this month for the Women of Science Fiction 2011 challenge hosted by Dreams and Speculation.)

I bought The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms pretty much when it came out but hadn’t found time to read it, despite seeing many excellent reviews of the book and it featuring on a number of Best of 2010 lists. I was delighted to have the required kick in the pants to get it read.

Those reviews and list were right. It’s a really wonderful book. So yes, I’ve been reading it all day to the point of sometimes ignoring Marcus when I should be giving him proper motherly and holiday attention.

But occasionally my iPhone glitches. For some reason it can stop registering the drop in battery power, to the point that I have no idea how much is left. And when that happens it will hit the point where it just turns itself off, totally out of power. It did that – right when I was at the climax of the book! Arrrggghhhh! I am so frustrated. I want to finish it. I want to finish it now!

So I’m writing this grumpy post instead while it powers itself up enough for me to use it. I’ll have to read with it attached to my laptop while it continues charging, but at least I’ll be able to finish the book.

I love my iPhone. I love reading on it. But it’s moments like this that remind why I’m lusting after a Kindle.

If you have issues with “Twilight” and/or bad grammar…

2011-01-01T16:43:00.001+13:00

If so, then you absolutely need to read Reasoning with Vampires. Go to the last page and work backwards. It really does work best that way.

The author, deciding she couldn’t mock Twilight without reading it, undertook the mission and is commenting not only on content, but on how fundamentally awful the writing actually is. I have read the book and I admit, I didn’t notice most of this at the time. But I sure am now it’s being pointed out to me. Also, any decent editor should have picked it up.

I’m also amazed to see how many times, because she must think it’s a good idea, one author can insert unnecessary details into the middle of a sentence.

Dave sent me the link and I am blaming today’s total lack of productivity on him. I’m sitting at my computer and laughing hysterically instead. (Still, it’s New Year’s Day and a holiday. It is also totally his fault that he’s been doing most of the Marcus-minding today while I read and laugh.)

Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay

2010-12-20T20:18:00.001+13:00

Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Read: 29-10-10 to 20-12-10

I'm not quite sure what I think of this book.

I liked it, but it wasn't prefect. The prose was beautiful and so was the setting. But something about it just didn't seem to flow properly for me. It was beautifully put together, but it seemed to be lacking narrative flow.

All the different points of view sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. Some of the characters are introduced and never seen again. I wouldn't have understood the shifts of first person POV if I hadn't heard a podcast with the author, explaining it.

(All the first person POV is for female characters, because in such times they had to be powerfully in the moment to have an impact on the world.)

I've still given this a high rating, because it's a beautiful book and I really enjoyed reading it, but it isn't perfect and I find myself left with a slightly puzzled feeling.

I read this with a book group and about half of the commenters loved it and half were disappointed. I find myself somewhere in the middle, and it is clear different readers have very different responses, so read it for yourself and see what you think.

View all my reviews

Sobering but important

2010-12-20T12:23:00.001+13:00

This video was made by Laurel of Dreams at Stake who has very severe CFS. Because of that it took her over 4 months to make.

It is well worth watching.

As always with You Tube videos I post on the blog, it doesn’t fit my template, so please do click through at watch it either at Laurel’s site or You Tube.

Pie

2010-12-18T12:53:00.001+13:00

From tastefullyoffensive.com:

It’s the scientist in me, but I think that’s totally brilliant.

My November Reading

2010-12-10T15:58:00.001+13:00

Considering that my main reading focus remains Janny Wurts’ Wars of Light and Shadow series (of which I am up to book 4 and which I am still loving), I’m pleased with what I managed this month.

Seabiscuit was finished this month, but certainly wasn’t all read this month. It’s been my “take a break” book over the last few months and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. I will be reading Laura Hillenbrand’s new book, Unbroken, when life (and my reading schedule) eases up a bit.

As well as dragging me into the Wars of Light and Shadow, Beyond Reality is also to blame for me reading some short fiction this month (and next as well). I don’t usually find short stories an easy read and only pick ones that are filling in pieces of bigger series I already read. But the group has been picking 2 stories a month and so far I’ve managed to read them all. I found that if I copy the story off the internet and turn it into an ebook I can read on my phone I find it much easier to manage, so that is what I’ve been doing. So far, some have worked better for me than others, but I’m looking forward to continuing with the challenge. I’m not sure just when I read the shorts, so I’ve just added them to the end of the list (links are to the stories themselves, not to reviews.

Indulgence in Death – J. D. Robb (373pp)
Eve Dallas, Book 38; Futuristic Mystery; eBook; 8/10
Seabiscuit – Laura Hillenbrand (453pp)
Non-Fiction; 8/10
Bonds of Justice – Nalini Singh (348pp)
Psy/Changeling, Book 8; Paranormal Romance; eBook; 8/10
Guardian of the Dead – Karen Healey (348pp)
YA; Fantasy; New Zealand; 10/10
Fugitive Prince – Janny Wurts (576pp)
Wars of Light and Shadow, Book 4; Fantasy; eBook; 10/10
How Do You Tuck in a Superhero? – Rachel Balducci (208pp)
Non-Fiction; Library Book; 6/10
Paper Cradle – Stephen Gaskell
Short Story; Web/eBook; 6/10
A Study in Emerald – Neil Gaiman
Short Story; Web; 7/10
Hokkaido Green – Aidan Doyle
Short Story; Web/eBook; 5/10

Best book of the month = Fugitive Prince
Biggest disappointment of the month = Hokkaido Green

November Reading:
Books read this month = 6
Short Stories read this month = 3
Total reads this month = 9

10/10 reads this month = 1
DNFs this month = 0
New reads this month = 9
Rereads this month = 0
paper books : eBooks = 3 : 6 = 33.3 % : 66.6 %

Pages read this month = 1994

November Challenges Progress:
Flashback Reading Challenge = 0
Big Book Challenge = 1

November List Progress:
eBooks read = 6
SFF books read = 6
Library Books read = 1
Audiobooks listened to = 0

Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey

2010-11-21T19:44:00.001+13:00

Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars (10/10)
Read: 17-11-10 to 21-11-10

Oh, I really liked this. I've had it sitting on my TBR shelf for months, and now I wish I'd started it sooner.

It was great to find a New Zealand book with both a wonderfully accessible heroine and Maori myth that wove so seamlessly into a contemporary narrative. I also thought that Healy did a wonderful job in explaining the mythology (most of which I knew at least to some small degree) to the reader without belabouring the point for those who already knew what she was talking about.

I haven't read much in the way of modern versions of my own homeland's mythology that isn't either historical or a retelling. I thought this was beautifully done and it's so great to have a wonderful New Zealand book to share with friends both locally and overseas. I have a good gift on my hands here.

I loved Ellie. She was wonderfully easy to like I think as much for her flaws as for her strengths. She's complex and very relatable and I would love to see her in another book one day. Kevin and Mark were also great characters, if less rounded than Ellie and I'd love to learn more about them too.

I'm not going to say much about the ending, because I don't want to spoil it, but I thought it was just perfect, which surprised me a little, as it wasn't at all what you might expect. In fact, it was the end that pushed my rating up from a 9 to a 10, because it just rounded off this wonderful, unique, unexpected book perfectly.

I'll be keeping my eyes of for Karen Healey's next book, also set in New Zealand and called The Shattering which is due for publication in September 2011.

Go out and find a copy of Guardian of the Dead and read it. I loved it and I hope you will too.

View all my reviews

Laura Hillenbrand on Today Show

2010-11-21T11:22:00.001+13:00

Laura Hillenbrand is the author of the best-selling book, Seabiscuit, which I finished reading last week. She has now released a new book called Unbroken, that I have on reserve from the library and I’m looking forward to reading.

While I am attracted to both books because of their subject and because they are so well written, it is also because Laura Hillenbrand has severe CFS. She’s been ill for the better part of 25 years, much of that time spent in bed. Despite that, she’s written one best seller and it’s looking like this new book may well be one as well.

While I don’t know her and she’s never heard of me and never will, I respect her so much, to have achieved what she has. My writing, while probably never of publishable standard anyway, just faded away on me, dried up and vanished completely. I miss it, but there’s just nothing there in my head any more for me to work with.

Hillenbrand has managed not only to do the hard, physical and mental work of writing two books – she’s done all the research and work involved in preparing to write them as well (check out the enormous number of research books on her shelves in the video below). I couldn’t take in that information and collate it into anything coherent any more, let alone then write it all up so beautifully (and I’m not as sick as she is).

I’m very impressed (and I admit, a little jealous) and I wish Hillenbrand all the very best, both with her health and her career. It’s so good to see someone with this awful illness doing so well.

The video below is from NBC’s Today Show and talks mostly about the book, but also a little about the illness. It’s so nice to see something in the media that acknowledges how serious it is without being disbelieving, disrespectful or mocking.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand

2010-11-14T14:48:00.001+13:00

Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand

My rating: 4 of 5 stars (8/10)
Read: 16-9-10 to 14-11-10

A friend lent me this book, and while I've been reading it very slowly, I've also been thoroughly enjoying it.

Hillenbrand made her subject come alive and I found myself cheering for this ungainly little racehorse too - and racing is not something that interests me at all.

So don't let a lack of interest in horse racing keep you from a great book filled with wonderful characters.

I was also interested to read the book knowing Hillenbrand suffers from severe CFS. I am so impressed that she managed to write this while often house-bound. In the interview at the back, she mentions sometimes needing to just close her eyes and write with her eyes closed. While I don't suffer the awful vertigo she does, I could totally relate to that.

View all my reviews

Indulgence in Death by J. D. Robb

2010-11-10T09:45:00.003+13:00

Indulgence in Death by J.D. Robb
Eve and Roarke, Book 38
My rating: 4 of 5 stars (8/10)
Read: 8-11-10 to 9-11-10

I really enjoyed this one. I always enjoy a new book about Eve and Roarke and this one didn't let me down. It has an interesting - if particularly twisted - mystery and Eve faces it in her usual fashion.

I've heard some people complain that they don't enjoy the interactions between Eve and Roarke as much now their marriage is settling down (they celebrate their 2nd wedding anniversary in this book). I'm quite the opposite. Books are so often about people getting together and the drama and conflict involved in that (there's got to be drama and conflict for a story after all). I'm loving seeing the developing, calming relationship that is growing between two such tempestuous people. To have a good marriage - and Eve and Roarke certainly do - they can't stay in conflict. So the conflict is coming from outside now and it is their solid relationship that stands against it.

This very fact was used to great effect in this book, and how Eve exploited someone's outside view of their marriage compared to the reality of it made for a satisfying conclusion to the mystery.

Although, that said, if I have any particular issue with Nora Roberts' books, it is that I often feel they sometimes end about a chapter too soon. If the main issue of the book is resolved, she often stops it at that point. While I don't want the end of a book to meander on, I'd like a little more finish than she sometimes gives me, and I feel this book suffered from that.

I can't really go into more details without spoilers, which I don't want to do, but I felt it wouldn't have hurt to see at least one more police interview at the end, and maybe finish on the up note of a planned barbeque with friends that was constanly mentioned throughout the book but forgotten right at the end.

It's a minor complaint, but has left me feeling a little disappointed at the end, after having had a great adventure.

View all my reviews

This is cool too

2010-11-07T10:17:00.001+13:00

But go and watch in on You Tube itself as my blog template doesn’t show the full width of the clip and you need to see it all.

This is delightful

2010-11-07T10:10:00.001+13:00

This is the most delightful, gorgeous thing to watch. Look at the happiness and joy on that little boy’s face.

Everyone else looks and sounds pretty happy too.

My October Reading

2010-11-02T17:01:00.001+13:00

I got more read than I expected this month, so I’m pleased with that. I’m still loving The Wars of Light and Shadow and they are still taking up most of my reading time (and a lot of my available energy).

Son of the Shadows – Juliet Marillier (608pp)
Sevenwaters, Book 2; Fantasy; 9/10
Whisper of Sin – Nalini Singh (unknown)
Psy-Changeling, Book 8.5; Short Story; Paranormal Romance; 8/10
Here, There Be Monsters – Meljean Brook (unknown)
The Iron Seas, Book 0.5; Short Story; Steampunk Romance; 8/10
Anatomy of an Epidemic – Robert Whitaker (416pp)
Non-Fiction; Library Book; 6/10
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot (369pp)
Non-Fiction; Library Book; 10/10
Warhost of Vastmark – Janny Wurts (576pp)
Wars of Light and Shadow, Book 3; Fantasy; 10/10
Tea with the Black Dragon – R. A. MacAvoy (176pp)
Fantasy; eBook; Reread; 7/10
Cryoburn – Lois McMaster Bujold (345pp)
Vorkosigan, Book 14; SF; 10/10
How to Fossilise Your Hamster – Mick O’Hare (256pp)
Non-Fiction; Library Book; DNF
Ten Things I Love About You – Julia Quinn (377pp)
Bevelstokes, Book 3; Romance; eBook; 7/10

Best book of the month = Warhost of Vastmark (Cryoburn was a very close second)
Biggest disappointment of the month = Tea With the Black Dragon (because it wasn’t as good as I remember, not because it was bad)

October Reading:
Books read this month = 7
Short Stories read this month = 2
Total reads this month = 9

10/10 reads this month = 2
DNFs this month = 1
New reads this month = 8
Rereads this month = 1
paper books : eBooks = 5 : 4 = 56 % : 44 %

Pages read this month = 2867

October Challenges Progress:
Flashback Reading Challenge = 1
Big Book Challenge = 1

October List Progress:
eBooks read = 4
SFF books read = 6
Library Books read = 2
Audiobooks listened to = 0

Post it Note Update

2010-10-23T15:47:00.002+13:00

I finished Warhost of Vastmark today (just as brilliant as the previous two books). While I keep telling myself that if it’s too much effort, I can stop marking/making notes as I read this series, there’s so much that I want to mark that I can’t stop myself. So here’s the book pile as it is now.

From top to bottom, that’s my son Marcus in the background, then The Curse of the Mistwraith, The Ships of Merior and Warhost of Vastmark (all read and with their attendant post-it notes) and at the bottom Fugitive Prince and Grand Conspiracy waiting for me to get to them.

Oh and that’s today’s book loot in the very background.

Book Loot

2010-10-23T15:41:00.001+13:00

We drove over to Barbara’s Books today for me to pick up my copy of Lois McMaster Bujold’s Cryoburn, which had come in for me. They had a good selection of near-new books at reduced prices, so despite my good budgetary intentions, I came home with more books than I had planned.

While perhaps bad for one’s bank balance, engaging in book loot is always a satisfying experience.

Cryoburn – Lois McMaster Bujold
I’ve been hanging out for the new Miles adventure and can’t wait to start this. It also contains a CD-ROM that includes the book as an ebook (along with nearly all the other Vorkosigan series books, although I had already bought those) and a selection of interviews and essays.
From Black Rooms – Stephen Woodworth
I’ve read the first two in this series and liked them. The third is in my TBR pile. This is the fourth book, which I’d been holding off buying until I’d finished the one before it. But when it’s sitting there for $5 (instead of nearly $25 new), well, it needs to come home with me.
Servant of the Empire – Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts
I read this (and Mistress of the Empire) when they came out, but for some reason I never had my own copies. I think I must have borrowed them off a friend. So naturally, at a reduced price, they came home with me too.
Mistress of the Empire – Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts
See above. Besides, I’m on a major Janny Wurts kick at the moment as I read my way through her Wars of Light and Shadow series.
Firebird – Mercedes Lackey
For some reason I never read this one in my Mercedes Lackey reading days. But I’ve joined Erica’s Women of Fantasy 2011 Book Club and this is one of the selections, so a $15 hardcover (instead of nearly $50 new – which is what I paid for Cryoburn) was a no-brainer.

So all in all, I’m a happy book buyer. I also got Warhost of Vastmark finished, so I can even start Cryoburn this afternoon without any lingering feelings of guilt.

Wars of Light and Shadow - Quick Update

2010-09-26T10:33:00.001+13:00

Just a quick picture of the state of my books in Janny Wurts' wonderful Wars of Light and Shadow series.

This is Curse of the Mistwraith and The Ships of Merior finished, with Warhost of Vastmark ready for me to start tomorrow.

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First lost tooth

2010-09-22T15:56:00.001+12:00

First lost tooth
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

It's been an exciting few days at our house. We noticed Marcus had his first wobbly tooth at the weekend, and he's been carefully taking a container to school each day to save it if it comes out there.

I picked him up this afternoon and he immediately started patting his pockets, and looked very worried when both appeared to be empty. We hurried back to the classroom and eventually found the container (with tooth inside) rolled under the next table over.

It is now safely at home and we're waiting to see if the tooth fairy comes tonight.

I can't quite believe that my tiny, scrap of a baby is big enough to be losing teeth. (I also have no idea how a full size adult tooth is going to fit in the tiny gap the lost tooth has left. I hope that doesn't mean there are braces in our future budget.)

We're All Fine

2010-09-04T18:27:00.001+12:00

In reply to Christine's request, just a quick note to let everyone know we're fine after today's earthquake in Christchurch.

We live in Auckland at the top of the North Island, while Christchurch is halfway down the South Island. Dave tells me it's around 700km away in a straight line (and around 1100 if you drive; New Zealand has a lot of twisty, turny landscape and therefore roads).

Marcus and I were staying with my parents who live in Palmerston North, which is south of Auckland, but still a long way north of Christchurch. We flew back this afternoon and were about an hour late as our plane was one of the ones that had been grounded in Christchurch and had to wait for the airport to reopen to be able to leave.

We're now home again in Auckland and looking forward to a night in our own beds.

All our friends and family in the area are well and accounted for. Luckily there appears to have been no loss of life. Houses in New Zealand are built to earthquake standards (it was mostly old buildings and chimneys that fell it seems) and that combined with a fairly small population and the fact most people were asleep at the time rather that out and about seem to be the reasons we have been so lucky.

My parents are both from around Christchurch and recognised a lot of places that have been shown on the news. Things could have been much worse, but there's still going to be a lot of rebuilding to do.

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Just for Janny

2010-08-31T09:32:00.000+12:00

Here you go, The Ships of Merior after four chapters:

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A new start

2010-08-22T16:57:00.001+12:00

Having finished (and loved and highly recommend) The Curse of the Mistwraith, I've now started the second book, The Ships of Merior.

And yes, I'm letting loose with the post-it notes again. Here's Ships after on chapter.

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Pretty, pretty

2010-08-18T15:36:00.001+12:00

Look what I got in the mail today:

Many thanks Theresa at Fantasy and Sci-Fi Lovin’ Blog for a wonderful giveaway and being willing to pay the awful postage to send it to New Zealand.

I’m looking forward to reading it – and I’ve got at least one friend I think will probably read it too – so thank you very much.

Catted on a Sunday afternoon

2010-08-15T17:07:00.001+12:00

Current state of Curse of the Mistwraith

2010-08-15T10:21:00.001+12:00

I’m up to Chapter 17 (two chapters to go!) and here’s what my copy of the book currently looks like:

Part of my knows I’m crazy doing this, but there’s so much in this book that I feel I’m going to either miss or certainly forget if I don’t mark it.

Inhuman by Eileen Wilks

2010-08-12T20:50:00.001+12:00

These all-new paranormal romances from today's hottest authors feature a female werewolf who comes into her own; a Lord who crosses paths with a fiery mage; a mixed-blood Child of the Moon who faces an uncertain future; and a woman whose sixth sense proves to be a dangerous talent.

As I started Eileen Wilks' Night Season, the first two characters we met were the two from the story "Inhuman" in this book. Since I couldn't remember the details about them, I decided to go back and read the shorter story before going on with the full book.

It's a good little story and a good introduction to Kai and Nathan. It also is a good reminder of how much the world changed at the end of the previous book.

I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to Kai and Nathan next as I move on to Night Season.

This is barely even a comment on the book, and certainly doesn’t count as a review. It’s one of those situations where a short story is written for an anthology that is a side-piece to a full series. It adds to the main story-line but isn’t totally essential. So this isn’t the place to start if you want to try Wilks’ world of the Lupi. For that, you need a different short story – Only Human in the Lover Beware anthology – or jump right into the first book in the series, Tempting Danger.

Inhuman (in the anthology On the Prowl)
Eileen Wilks
World of the Lupi, Book 3.5
7/10
Read: 31-7-10 to 1-8-10

World of the Lupi

0.5 – Only Human (in the anthology Lover Beware) (Goodreads link)
   1 – Tempting Danger (Goodreads link)
1.5 – Originally Human (in the anthology Cravings) (Goodreads link)
   2 – Mortal Danger (Goodreads link)
   3 – Blood Lines
3.5 – Inhuman (in the anthology On the Prowl)
   4 – Night Season (Goodreads link)
   5 – Mortal Sins (Goodreads link)
5.5 – Human Nature (in the anthology Inked) (Goodreads link)
   6 – Blood Magic (Goodreads link)
   7 – Blood Challenge (due out Jan 2011) (Goodreads link)
   8 – Ghost (working title)

See Maru Jump

2010-08-12T19:00:00.001+12:00

This is such a cool video. See Maru (who has a whole YouTube Channel of his own) jumping out of a huge box in slow motion. It shows just how agile and graceful cats are when they jump.

Lovely little ME/CFS joke

2010-08-02T16:11:00.001+12:00

How do you identify the grocery list of someone with ME/CFS?

It's on the table at home.

July 2010 Reading

2010-07-31T19:06:00.001+12:00

Wow! I managed to read a decent number of books this month – and to “review” them too. All while also reading The Curse of the Mistwraith. So I’m feeling quite proud of myself, even if a lot of this month’s books were on the shorter side.

Pretty Polly – Barbara Hambly (unknown)
Darwath; Short Story; Fantasy; 8/10
The Last Stormlord – Glenda Larke (674pp)
Watergivers, Book 1; Fantasy; eBook; 9/10
Restoring Harmony – Joelle Anthony (320pp)
YA; SF; Library Book; 6/10
Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi (160pp)
Graphic Novel; Non Fiction; Library Book; 7/10
The Deadly Dinner Party – Dr Jonathan A. Edlow (264pp)
Non Fiction; Library Book; 6/10
Dragon Prince – Melanie Rawn (576pp)
Dragon Prince, Book 1; Fantasy; eBook; Reread; 9/10
The Fire King – Marjorie M. Liu (336pp)
Dirk and Steele, Book 9; Paranormal Romance; eBook; 8/10
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang – Kate Wilhelm (256pp)
Science Fiction; Reread; 9/10
Scatterlings – Isobelle Carmody
Children; SF; eBook; 7/10

Best book of the month = Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
Biggest surprise of the month = Persepolis
Biggest disappointment of the month = Restoring Harmony

July Reading:
Books read this month = 8
Short Stories read this month = 1
Total reads this month = 9

10/10 reads this month = 0
DNFs this month = 0
New reads this month = 7
Rereads this month = 2
paper books : eBooks = 5 : 4 = 56 % : 44 %

Pages read this month = 674 + 320 + 160 = 264 + 576 + 336 + 256 + 238 = 2824

June Challenges Progress:
Flashback Reading Challenge = 2
Big Book Challenge = 2

June List Progress:
eBooks read = 5
SFF books read = 7
Library Books read = 3
Audiobooks listened to = 0

Scatterlings by Isobelle Carmody

2010-07-31T18:48:00.001+12:00

Merlin awakes from a terrifying accident not knowing who, or where she is. All she knows for certain, is that this is not her world ... Bewildered and alone, Merlin sets out through an alien landscape to try and discover the truth about herself - as terrifying as it may be.

I discovered Isobelle Carmody through her Obernewtyn series, and as I always do with any author I like, I toddled off to check out her backlist.

This post-apocalyptic tale was the one that interested me most (although I hope to try out her fantasy some time too) and when I saw the ebook on sale, I bought it, downloaded it and let it sit on my phone until I was ready to read it. After finishing Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, I decided to stick with the end-of-the-world theme and give Scatterlings a go.

First up, this is a children's book, probably aimed at preteens around 10 - 12 (although I have no experience with picking ages for books so don't take that as gospel). All the same, it is a nice, easy little read for an adult and I enjoyed it.

It doesn't have a lot of depth, but I did think that it matched the idea of the worth of survival against the need to preserve technology that I found in Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang. The Citizen gods in their domes are determined to survive, even if their time has passed and they are willing to use anyone and anything required to do it.
Meanwhile, the clans have adapted to survive in this new world (the cause of the old world's demise is never really addressed by the way) and their society is disrupted and thrown into upheaval by the intrusion of the Citizen gods.

I really liked the concept of honesty among the clans, and the way that the presence of telepathy made lying essentially obsolete. In many ways, this was the greatest difference between the old world and the new, not biology or technology but honesty.

There is not a lot of depth to the characters here, but I'm not sure that it was ever intended. This is a adventure story wrapped around a mystery and it does do both those things well.

The main character is Merlin, who at the beginning of the book wakes with no memory of who she is. I don't want to say anything about this as any discussion would involve spoiling the solution to the mystery, which I don't want to do. All I will say is that the answer is not what you might expect and very clever. I also liked the answer Merlin found to solve the main dilemma, one that managed to think of both sides of the problem and avoid lots of wanton destruction.

There is also an unexpected twist at the end that I thought was particularly well done. The solution was an apt one that was obvious when you stopped to think about it, but not something I had anticipated. In a way, that leaves the ending quite open, but to me it felt well finished all the same.

While nothing to blow the mind, I found this a very enjoyable story and I'm glad I found it and read it. If you'd like a pleasant little read and you see this in a second-hand bookshop or library, I'd recommend picking it up.

Scatterlings
Isobelle Carmody
7/10
Read: 28-7-10 to 31-7-10

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

2010-07-28T17:14:00.001+12:00

When the first warm breeze of Doomsday came wafting over the Shenandoah Valley, the Sumners were ready. Using their enormous wealth, the family had forged an isolated post holocaust citadel. Their descendants would have everything they needed to raise food and do the scientific research necessary for survival. But the family was soon plagued by sterility, and the creation of clones offered the only answer. And that final pocket of human civilization lost the very human spirit it was meant to preserve as man and mannequin turned on one another.

Sweeping, dramatic, rich with humanity and rigorous in its science, Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang is widely regarded as a high point of both humanistic and hard science fiction. It won science fiction's Hugo Award and Locus Award on its first publication and is as compelling today as it was then.

When I dug out my grotty old paperback of this book, I checked the publication date out of curiosity. It is a 1981 edition that I clearly bought second hand. So I'd guess I bought it in the late '80s when I was in my late teens. That feels right with my vague memory of first reading it and means it is now well over 20 years since I read Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang. That long ago read had left me with a good feeling about the book, but I had no idea how it would hold up all these years later. Considering it was already around 10 years old in my hypothetical "late '80s" (it won the Hugo Award in 1977) it can certainly now be classed as an old book and maybe even a classic. It was republished as part of the "SF Masterworks" series in 2006 (with the nice cover shown above and not the horrible one I have) so there are clearly people out there who do consider it a classic.

In terms of the book "holding up", I had two main reactions. A yes and a maybe.

I think the scientific premise stands up very well. In fact the end of the world as it comes to David and his family could be an eerily close future. It is a world of pollution, climate change and declining population where humanity's science can't keep up with what we have done to our planet. The solution the family reaches - to clone themselves - has been a science fiction staple for a while now, but I suspect was much newer in 1976 when the book was first published. It is, in fact, disturbingly much more possible now that it was then, making Wilhelm's vision of what such a drastic step might do to our cloned descendants still very timely all these years later.

As for the maybe, that concerns the writing style. This book is very much a "tell" book, rather than a "show" book. I can't truly say if this is a product of when it was written and published - too many years and other books have gone by, not to mention brain cells, for me to remember. However, I have my doubts that it would be published today in this form for just that reason. It's an older style of story-telling now and with demands for a first paragraph "hook" and lots of "show" from modern writers, Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang may well have a style that would not resonate with modern readers.

Did it work for me? Yes, it did. Whether that is because the style still works (well, of course it does if it tells the story well) and stands on its own, or because I read it with the awareness I was rereading an older book, I really can't say. But hey, I enjoyed reading it and surely that what counts? All the same, for all that it is about people, their personalities, individuality (or loss of same) and psychology, it is an idea book more than it is a character book.

Considering that, Wilhelm does an excellent job of making you care for the characters as, twice over in quite different societies, we watch people forced to stand back as their youngers take over their place in the community and wonder if things will be better or worse in the new future.

I liked David a lot. I'm not sure why, as in many ways there isn't all that much too him, but I remember I did last time and I did now as well. He starts out young, disbelieving and a little idealistic, but faced with the coming catastrophe, embraces the only solution they have found to save themselves and make a future. All the same, he and the other "elders" clearly see cloning as a short term solution that needs to be replaced by sexual reproduction as soon as fertility returns. It is the clones themselves, really not the same as their progenitors, who change the plan. And David is forced to stand aside to let what he sees as a dangerous future fall into place without him and those like him.

I don't know if it is a fault in the writing or a deliberate choice of the writer, but on the whole the clones themselves, both in the early generations and later in part 2, have very little personality and none of them really stand out. It seems to me that the only one who truly has character in the book is Barry. All the other main characters, David, Molly, Ben and Mark, have their own personalities and individuality. It is Barry who remains part of his brother-group, who feels right that way, but still can stand back and see the bigger picture.

For all I liked David and Mark, on this reading it was Barry who impressed me most. It is Barry who can see that the community is failing, that with the successive generations the clones are losing creativity and that without inspiration to solve an unexpected problem, failure is the only possible result. The next generation, led by Andrew and his brothers, can still see this, but see no reason to do anything about it. Their solution will inevitably lead to the end of the community, but this does not seem to concern them unduely.

Barry cannot do anything to change things himself and like David however many generations before (I do wish there was some idea of how much time has passed between part 1 and part 2), he must stand aside as the future forges on, however disastrously, just as David was forced to do.

But what saves the community is Mark. Strange, single, individual Mark, who is still creative, inspired and ingenious. And Barry has enough wisdom to stand back and let Mark do what he can’t do himself.

I didn't remember the bit of psychological theory thrown into the mix that suggests there is an optimum age for individual ego to develop, that in the clone groups it is swamped by the brother or sister group and never occurs. But Mark is still with Molly at that age and has no clone brothers, so in him that development does occur, no matter how many generations it is since the original catastrophe. It's an interesting idea. I have no idea if it makes sense in terms of modern psychological theory, but it certainly works for the book.

I ended up taking away two main things from Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang. Okay, on reflection, make that three.

First and most clearly, the book is an ode to individuality. It is that individuality and inspiration that lets David and the others find a solution to ensure survival, one that that they consider must be only temporary. But as the clones form their own small collectives, they wish to maintain that and go to whatever ends to see that happen. As they lose their individuality to conformity, all those things that allowed humanity to reach the heights it did begin to be lost. It is only with the rediscovery of individuality in first Molly (and a little in Ben) and later in Mark, that humanity has a chance to escape a second possibility of extinction.

But it is also about the lengths we will go to in order to maintain our own kind, and for the purpose of this book the clones are a totally different type of "own kind" from humanity such as we are out here in the real world as represented by David and later by Mark. David's generation saw the cloning as a necessity to survival - but they weren't setting out to make a new kind of human (as they in fact did). They were, as they saw it, creating a stop-gap measure that would allow "real people" (for lack of a better term) to re-emerge on the other side.

On the other hand, the clones wanted their kind of people and community to survive. And as they begin to face their extinction in the latter part of the book, they too will go to great lengths to maintain their own kind. The problem is that "their kind" is a dead end - they have lost too much of what it takes to survive and it is only going to get worse. Andrew and the others' solution doesn't seem very practical to me and would probably only hold off the inevitable a bit longer (something that the epilogue seems to endorse). But, unlike David and Walt and their colleagues, the clones lack the ingenuity or ability to risk or “something” that David and the others did have, to try a different way. They choose to maintain their way and in the end they lose.

And a smaller third thing, that struck me as I reached the last few chapters was that perhaps, survival is enough. Barry objects to Mark's plan because he sees all the things that will be lost. They will have to be so focused on survival that the "higher learning" things the Valley community has struggled so hard to maintain and gone out foraging for will get forgotten. Perhaps they will indeed, but surely as Mark sees, our very survival is the most important thing. Once you have that, you can start rebuilding those other things, but if you are so determined to keep the electricity and the technology and such without the proper infrastructure to maintain it, then you'll fall. And in the end, that is what happens to the clones, while the reader is left with the feeling Mark and his group will thrive - slowly perhaps, but surely.

Hmmm, after having written all this, I find that if I go back to the original question of how the book holds up, I have to say very well. Clearly it has made me think and reflect, and that's what good science fiction should do. Many books these days tell a story and little more - and there's nothing wrong with that - but the classics are the ones that stick with us and have something more to them. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang surely fits into the latter category and I hope it is still being read well into the future.

On a simpler note, I've also always felt that it has such a perfect last line. It sums up what much of the whole book and its dominant theme of individuality is all about. And it reads beautifully too.

Because all the children were different.

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
Kate Wilhelm
9/10
Read: 27-7-10 to 28-7-10

Jacob’s Faith by Lora Leigh

2010-07-27T16:59:00.001+12:00

I had two attempts to read this in 2010. In all honesty, neither went entirely well.

23 Jan 2010 to 31 Jan 2010

Sorry, but I just don't care.

I don't care about the characters. I've read a quarter of it and there doesn't seem to be any plot showing up yet. I'm just not in the mood to plough through this and I'm giving up.

[and]

7 Apr 2010 to 7 Apr 2010

After reading the next book and finding it okay [Aiden’s Charity which I rated 6/10], I decided to try this again. I still don't particularly care about the characters and there wasn't much plot, but I skimmed through it quickly and managed to pick up the most important points - mainly characters that may show up again later and the introduction of a new type of Breed.

Jacob’s Faith
Lora Leigh
Breeds, Book 11
5/10
Read: 7-4-10 to 7-4-10

Breeds (in chronological order)

Tempting the Beast
The Man Within (Goodreads link)
Elizabeth’s Wolf
Kiss of Heat (Goodreads link)
Soul Deep
The Breed Next Door (in Hot Spell anthology) (Goodreads link)
Megan’s Mark
Harmony’s Way (Goodreads link)
Tanner’s Scheme (Goodreads link)
Wolfe’s Hope
Jacob’s Faith
Aiden’s Charity (Goodreads link)
In a Wolf’s Embrace (in Beyond the Dark anthology) (Goodreads link)
Dawn’s Awakening (Goodreads link)
A Jaguar’s Kiss (in Shifter anthology) (Goodreads link)
Mercury’s War (Goodreads link)
Christmas Heat (in The Magical Christmas Cat anthology) (Goodreads link)
Coyote’s Mate (Goodreads link)
Bengal’s Heart (Goodreads link)
A Christmas Kiss (in Hot for the Holidays anthology) (Goodreads link)
Lion’s Heat (Goodreads link)
Styx’s Storm (due Oct 2010)
Navarro’s Promise (due Jan 2011)

Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs

2010-07-27T16:47:00.001+12:00

Whee, I loved this one. I thought it dropped away bit at the end when a new character showed up to be the solution to a major issue, but really, I don't care. Great read. Yay for Patricia Briggs who is such a good author.

Silver Borne
Patricia Briggs
Mercy Thompson, Book 5
10/10
Read: 1-4-10 to 11-4-10

Mercy Thompson

Moon Called (Goodreads link)
Blood Bound
Iron Kissed
Bone Crossed
Silver Borne
River Marked (due Jan 2011)

Chicks Dig Time Lords by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea (editors)

2010-07-27T16:05:00.001+12:00

A combination of anecdote and analysis, this was an interesting read. Most of the entries were relatively light-weight, concentrating on the authors' experience of Who fandom, but there were a few more in-depth essays delving deeper into topics of women and Doctor Who.

Chicks Dig Time Lords
Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea (eds)
7/10
Read: 14-4-10 to 21-4-10

The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum

2010-07-27T15:53:00.001+12:00

Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Deborah Blum follows New York City's first forensic scientists to discover a fascinating Jazz Age story of chemistry and detection, poison and murder.

Deborah Blum, writing with the high style and skill for suspense that is characteristic of the very best mystery fiction, shares the untold story of how poison rocked Jazz Age New York City. In The Poisoner's Handbook Blum draws from highly original research to track the fascinating, perilous days when a pair of forensic scientists began their trailblazing chemical detective work, fighting to end an era when untraceable poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime.
Drama unfolds case by case as the heroes of The Poisoner's Handbook-chief medical examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler-investigate a family mysteriously stricken bald, Barnum and Bailey's Famous Blue Man, factory workers with crumbling bones, a diner serving poisoned pies, and many others. Each case presents a deadly new puzzle and Norris and Gettler work with a creativity that rivals that of the most imaginative murderer, creating revolutionary experiments to tease out even the wiliest compounds from human tissue. Yet in the tricky game of toxins, even science can't always be trusted, as proven when one of Gettler's experiments erroneously sets free a suburban housewife later nicknamed "America's Lucretia Borgia" to continue her nefarious work.

From the vantage of Norris and Gettler's laboratory in the infamous Bellevue Hospital it becomes clear that killers aren't the only toxic threat to New Yorkers. Modern life has created a kind of poison playground, and danger lurks around every corner. Automobiles choke the city streets with carbon monoxide; potent compounds, such as morphine, can be found on store shelves in products ranging from pesticides to cosmetics. Prohibition incites a chemist's war between bootleggers and government chemists while in Gotham's crowded speakeasies each round of cocktails becomes a game of Russian roulette. Norris and Gettler triumph over seemingly unbeatable odds to become the pioneers of forensic chemistry and the gatekeepers of justice during a remarkably deadly time. A beguiling concoction that is equal parts true crime, twentieth-century history, and science thriller, The Poisoner's Handbook is a page-turning account of a forgotten New York.

I picked this up on a whim from the new books stand at the library.

I was rather surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I think it is the long ago chemist in me (hey, I have a BSc(Hons) in Chemistry) that was attracted to it. I very briefly considered forensic science while at university but quickly realised I was way to squeamish for it. But I do love a good forensic mystery where it is science that solves the puzzle.

To read about the beginnings of that science was fascinating.
It was also very interesting to hear about the chemical issues of drinking in the Prohibition era. I had realised the full implications of what the law meant or how absolutely dangerous it had been.

If you like a bit of chemistry, a bit of history and some interesting poison cases, this might be just the book for you

The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
Deborah Blum
9/10
Read: 17-5-10 to 18-5-10

Fledgling by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

2010-07-27T15:31:00.001+12:00

Theo Waitley has lived all her young life on Delgado, a Safe World that is home to one of the galaxy's premier institutions of higher learning. Both Theo's mother, Kamele, and Kamele's onagrata Jen Sar Kiladi, are professors at the university, and they all live comfortably together, just like they have all of Theo's life, in Jen Sar's house at the outskirts of town.

Suddenly, though, Theo's life changes. Kamele leaves Jen Sar and moves herself and Theo back into faculty housing, which is not what Theo is used to. Once settled back inside the Wall, Kamele becomes embroiled in faculty politics, and is appointed sub-chair of her department. Meanwhile Theo, who has a notation in her file indicating she is "physically challenged", has a series of misadventures, including pulling her best friend down on the belt-ride to class, and hurting a team mate during a scavage game.

With notes piling up in her file, Theo only wants to go "home" to the house in the suburbs, and have everything just liked it used to be.

Then, Kamele uncovers evidence of possible dishonest scholarship inside of her department. In order to clear the department, she and a team of senior professors must go off-world to perform a forensic document search. Theo hopes this will mean that she'll be left in the care of the man she calls "Father", Professor Kiladi, and is horrified to learn that Kamele means to bring Theo with her!

A lovely return to the Liaden universe and a long break. Theo is a delightful protagonist and I enjoyed watching her grow.
It took me a little while to get back into the swing of thing, but once I did the book was a delight.

It did feel a little unfinished though. The overall mystery was never properly put to rest. Sure, a satisfying conclusion was reached, but the reader was left to figure out a lot of the details by inference rather that because it was written into the book.

A couple of characters got away and we still don't know the exact why of what was being done. I hope these things are concluded in the next book. (I have a copy of Saltation and will be starting it an a day or two.) But even if it isn't, I won't be very unhappy.

I really enjoyed Fledgling and it has confirmed my desire to reread the entire Liaden series, as I've only read it all once. I'm quite, quite sure these are books that only grow richer with rereading.

Fledgling
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Liaden Universe®, Book 12 (in my own personal reading order)
8/10
Read: 11-5-10 to 18-5-10

Liaden Universe® (in my own personal reading order)

Local Custom
Scout’s Progress (Goodreads link)
Mouse and Dragon (Goodreads link)
Conflict of Honors (Goodreads link)
Agent of Change (Goodreads link)
Carpe Diem (Goodreads link)
Plan B (Goodreads link)
I Dare (Goodreads link)
Crystal Soldier (Goodreads link)
Crystal Dragon (Goodreads link)
Balance of Trade (Goodreads link)
Fledgling
Saltation (Goodreads link)
Liaden Unibus I (Goodreads link)
Liaden Unibus II (Goodreads link)
Ghost Ship (due 2011)

The Tender Leaves by Essie Summers

2010-07-27T15:23:00.001+12:00

Maria was curious about the father she had never known, so it was luck when Mrs. Jensen offered to pay her fare to New Zealand for looking after her. Maria could have done without Mrs. Jensen's disapproving nephew, Struan, or could she?

I don't know that this is the first romance I ever read, but it's certainly one of the early ones. I know I was attracted to it because it was set in New Zealand and written by a New Zealand author. Such things are easier to find these days, but weren't so much back when I was a teenager. I went on to read other Essie Summer books, again because they were set in New Zealand, but this one always remained my favourite.

So when I saw it for sale used a month or two back, I bought it, mostly for nostalgia's sake. I had no idea if it would stand the test of time or not, but I remembered it with pleasure so I decided to take the chance.

I've been very tired this last week and wanted a simple, gentle read, so I decided it was time for The Tender Leaves.

I'm pleased to say that it does stand up on a reread. I was enchanted by it all over again and enjoyed a book that featured my own country and indeed, a lifestyle that reminded me of what I know of my mother's childhood.

The book has a copyright date of 1980, but really the feel of it is more like something out of the sixties. My mother grew up on a New Zealand farm very like Heronshaw (although in the South Island and not in Hawkes Bay as in the book) and the feel of life fits more with her teens and twenties than mine. For example, the characters take a boat back to New Zealand from England for one thing, and that would have been more likely in the late sixties (indeed my parents did exactly that) than in the eighties. Plane travel was already the done thing by then and taking a cruise ship would have been a luxury few could afford.

The book is explicitly set in about 1980 as Johanna mentions the Napier earthquake (1931) as being half a century ago, but I still can't shake the feeling that the lifestyle it describes was fading by then. But I don't care in the least as it adds to the feel of the book, which is what I love about it.

My only other complaint is that Maria seems to be fairly dumb about figuring out some of the clues put before her. But I honestly don't know if that's because she is, or because this time I already knew the answers and what the clues really pointed towards. I think this is a book where a first read is a different experience than a reread because of this, but that's okay as the reader can enjoy both. It's a gentle mystery that resolves into a trope a rather like (I'm not sure what that says about me) but one that really can't be given away without changing the experience of the book, so I'm going to shut up about it now.

If you'd like a gentle, old fashioned and sweet romance, this is a book that provides it beautifully. And if you read it long ago, I can assure you that it stands up very nicely to a reread.

The Tender Leaves
Essie Summers
8/10
Read: 18-5-10 to 22-5-10

Devil to Pay by Jeaniene Frost

2010-07-27T15:12:00.001+12:00

Fall in love with the unpredictable and irresistible dukes (and one dog named Duke) of Four Dukes and a Devil. Join New York Times bestselling authors Cathy Maxwell, Jeaniene Frost, and Tracy Anne Warren, along with USA Today bestselling author Elaine Fox and RITA® Award winner Sophia Nash, for tales of noble danger and devilish desire.

I got my hands on this one to read the Jeanine Frost story "Devil to Pay". Being a completist, I wanted to read it before adding the next Cat and Bones book, Destined for an Early Grave to the TBR.

It's just a pleasant little story, with no effect on the major storylines, but I like the characters and Blake's determination not to let anyone else be hurt was very well done. There was a brief cameo from Cat and Bones and it was nice to see Mencheres again, especially now his own book is out and on my wishlist.

As I said, just a pleasant little story and not necessary for the novels, but if you like to do everything in order like I do, it's worth the read.

Devil to Pay
Jeaniene Frost
A story in the Night Huntress world
7/10
Read: 21-5-10 to 22-5-10

Night Huntress

Halfway to the Grave
One Foot in the Grave
At Grave’s End (Goodreads link)
Destined for an Early Grave (Goodreads link)

Night Huntress World

First Drop of Crimson (Goodreads link)
Eternal Kiss of Darkness (Goodreads link)

Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale (The Final Chapter) by Russell T. Davies and Benjamin Cook

2010-07-27T14:52:00.002+12:00

I loved the first half of this book when I read it (before the second half was added for the reprint), but this time I just wasn't in the mood.

I wonder if it was because the new series has started and we have a new Doctor now and all this fussing about the old Doctor didn't seem so to-the-point.

Or maybe I've just had enough of the ups and downs of RTD now I'm watching Stephen Moffat.

Or maybe I'm just in a reading slump, which my lack of reading any other books right now does seem to suggest.

Anyway, I find I don't really want to keep reading.

All the same, I highly recommend the book, as I loved it the first time I read it, so check out that review instead of this one.

Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale (The Final Chapter)
Russell T. Davies and Benjamin Cook
DNF
Read: 29-5-10 to 14-6-10

Local Custom by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

2010-07-27T14:34:00.001+12:00

Each person shall provide his clan of origin with a child of his blood, who will be raised by the clan and belong to the clan. And this shall be Law for every person of every clan . . .

Master trader Er Thorn knows the local custom of Liaden is to be matched with a proper bride, and provide his prominent clan Korval with an heir. Yet his heart is immersed in another universe, influenced by another culture, and lost to a woman not of his world. And to take a Terran wife such as scholar Anne Davis is to risk his honor and reputation. But when he discovers that their brief encounter years before has resulted in the birth of a child, even more is at stake than anyone imagined. Now, an interstellar scandal has erupted, a bitter war between two families—galaxies apart—has begun, and the only hope for Er Thorn and Anne is a sacrifice neither is prepared to make . . .

A totally lovely reread of a series that has been a keeper ever since a friend introduced me to it. I moved to hardcover with the series and eagerly await new books.

I decided to go in chronological order for my reread and I found myself wondering if this would be the best way for a new reader to go. There were parts where I found myself harking back to what I could remember of the later books (which were, in fact, written first). It'll be interested to see what I think when I get up to the ones that were written first.

I have taken copious notes (does anyone know how to get the annotations I've put on a Stanza ebook back off the phone to save for future reference?) mostly on things I think might be important later. Doing this, does make me feel like I've taken the entirety of the book on board this time, which I don't think I did on a first reading where I was eager to see where the story went. These are definitely books that need to be reread.

I could see some of the romance tropes the authors choose to use in their SF book - mostly the "big misunderstanding" where the hero and heroine are at odds over something that could be solved with a conversation. The difference here is that Lee and Miller had it work by introducing the differing "local customs" of Liad and Terra, so even when Er Thom and Anne thought they were communicating, they were sometimes at cross purposes without knowing it because of their different base points of understanding. This is a major part of the book - it is its title after all - and I think it is done well. As is the resolution, when finally, each works out that they had taken the other's words according to their own meaning and takes the time to work out what the other had meant according to that other's own understanding.

I am really enjoying rereading the series, and I look forward to picking up Scout's Progress after a break reading something else. The random number generator picked Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince, so I'll give that a try tomorrow morning.

Local Custom
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Liaden Universe®, Book 1 (in my own personal reading order)
9/10
Read: 6-6-10 to 15-6-10

Liaden Universe® (in my own personal reading order)

Local Custom
Scout’s Progress (Goodreads link)
Mouse and Dragon (Goodreads link)
Conflict of Honors (Goodreads link)
Agent of Change (Goodreads link)
Carpe Diem (Goodreads link)
Plan B (Goodreads link)
I Dare (Goodreads link)
Crystal Soldier (Goodreads link)
Crystal Dragon (Goodreads link)
Balance of Trade (Goodreads link)
Fledgling
Saltation (Goodreads link)
Liaden Unibus I (Goodreads link)
Liaden Unibus II (Goodreads link)
Ghost Ship (due 2011)

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

2010-07-27T13:00:00.001+12:00

Originally published to wide critical acclaim in France, where it elicited comparisons to Art Spiegelman's Maus, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi's wise, funny, and heartbreaking memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran's last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.

Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran: of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life and of the enormous toll repressive regimes exact on the individual spirit. Marjane’s child's-eye-view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a stunning reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, through laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love.

I'd seen a lot of mentions of this book (and its follow-up) on blogs. While I never went out to look for it, it did remain in the back of my mind.

While in the library today I saw it on a display stand and immediately picked it up. My mother is visiting and I thought it was something that would appeal to her, so I figured that even if I didn't read it, she might.

In fact, I picked it up not long after we got home and sat there until I finished it. I have already put a library hold on the second book.
This is a fascinating read about Satrapi's childhood in Iran at the time of the revolution. We follow the author from childhood (I'm not sure how old she is at the start) through the revolution and the Iran/Iraq war until she is fourteen and her parents send her to Austria to get her out of Iran.

It was fascinating to see the lives of Iranians who seemed to have very similar notions to my own, adjusting to the strict post-Shah atmosphere of Iran. Satrapi grows into a typical teenager interested in pop music and clothes, in a society where such things are forbidden. For some reason the scene that most showed it for me was the one where her mother warned her about painting her nails and she insisted she would keep her hands in her pockets.

As someone who knows nothing beyond popular knowledge of the Iranian revolution, I found it ironic that the same people who knew enough to support the revolution against the Shah, were the same ones to recognise the oppression of the new regime and to be opposed to that as well. Satrapi's parents and relatives were some of these.

I know I haven't given this a hugely high score, and I'm not even quite sure why as I tend to rate by gut feeling. I think it was mostly because it didn't feel finished, stopping abruptly as Satrapi left Iran (although I realise that this is non-fiction rather than fiction, meaning things don't always wrap up neatly) and because the graphic novel is a medium I struggle with.

All the same, I agree with others who have described this as an important work and I highly recommend reading it.

Persopolis: The Story of a Childhood
Marjane Satrapi
Persopolis, Book 1
7/10
Read: 15-7-10 to 15-7-10

Persopolis

Persopolis: The Story of a Childhood
Persopolis 2: The Story of a Return (Goodreads link)

The Deadly Dinner Party by Dr Jonathan A. Edlow

2010-07-27T12:44:00.001+12:00

Picking up where Berton Roueché’s The Medical Detectives left off, The Deadly Dinner Party presents fifteen edge-of-your-seat, real-life medical detective stories written by a practicing physician. Award-winning author Jonathan Edlow, M.D., shows the doctor as detective and the epidemiologist as elite sleuth in stories that are as gripping as the best thrillers.

In these stories a notorious stomach bug turns a suburban dinner party into a disaster that almost claims its host; a diminutive woman routinely eats more than her football-playing boyfriend but continually loses weight; a young executive is diagnosed with lung cancer, yet the tumors seem to wax and wane inexplicably. Written for the lay person who wishes to better grasp how doctors decipher the myriad clues and puzzling symptoms they often encounter, each story presents a very different case where doctors must work to find the accurate diagnosis before it is too late. Edlow uses his unique ability to relate complex medical concepts in a writing style that is clear, engaging and easily understandable. The resulting stories both entertain us and teach us much about medicine, its history and the subtle interactions among pathogens, humans, and the environment.

I found this in the library by chance. I like a scientific/medical mystery book of this kind, so I brought it home.

While the case studies were interesting, the writing did, on the whole, let the book down. The author had a tendency to outline the problems, hint or explain the issue quickly and then diverge into a history lesson about the bacterium/condition/additive/whatever in question before finally finishing up conclusion of the case study and final outcome.

For me, it just flattened everything, and the mystery and resolution thereof got seriously bogged down in everything else. It's not that I don't want to know the history of the condition, but the way it was done in this book didn't work for me.

The information was interesting, but it wasn't exactly a stimulating read. Not bad, but certainly not amazing either. But a short read and a nice break from the epic fantasy I've been reading lately.

The Deadly Dinner Party
Dr Jonathan A. Edlow
6/10
Read: 15-7-10 to 16-7-10

Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn

2010-07-27T12:36:00.001+12:00

Melanie Rawn's best-selling debut is a novel of love and war, magic and madness, and deadly dangerous dragons that hold the secret to unimaginable wealth that could prove key to mutual peace-or a bloody tyrant's reign. And among it all, an idealistic young ruler struggles to civilize a culture that understands the strength of the sword-but has yet to discover the true power of knowledge.

It's gone slowly, but I really enjoyed rereading Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince. I loved meeting the characters all over again and watching them find their feet and change their world. In many ways, it's a relatively simple story (certainly not as complicated as the later volumes in the series or Rawn's truly complicated - but excellent - Exiles series), but a most enjoyable one.

It shows it's age a little bit, mostly in that some of the themes probably wouldn't be treated the same way today (mostly Rohan's pain in trying to be "civilised" and finding himself a "barbarian" underneath). But all in all, it was still a very enjoyable read and I hope to find the time to go back to the rest of the series before too long.

Dragon Prince
Melanie Rawn
Dragon Prince, Book 1
9/10
Read: 15-6-10 to 23-7-10

Dragon Prince

Dragon Prince
The Star Scroll (Goodreads link)
Sunrunner’s Fire (Goodreads link)

The Fire King by Marjorie M. Liu

2010-07-27T12:26:00.001+12:00

Long ago, shape-shifters were plentiful, soaring through the sky as crows, racing across African veldts as cheetahs, raging furious as dragons atop the Himalayas. Like gods, they reigned supreme. But even gods have laws, and those laws, when broken, destroy.

Zoufalství. Epätoivo. Asa. Three words in three very different languages, and yet Soria understands. Like all members of Dirk & Steele, she has a gift, and hers is communication. When she is chosen to learn the dead language of a shape-shifter resurrected after thousands of years of icy sleep, she discovers a warrior consumed with fury.

Strong as a lion, quick as a serpent—Karr is his name, and in his day he was king. But he is a son of strife, a creature of tragedy. As fire consumed all he loved, so death was to be his atonement. Now, against his will, he has awoken. Zoufalství. Epätoivo. Asa. In English, the word is despair. But Soria knows the words for love.

I haven't been in the mood for romance lately, or at least, not the genre version, but I wanted something different as a break from The Curse of the Mistwraith and this is the one that caught my eye.
I've been reading Marjorie M. Liu's Dirk and Steele series from the beginning, but I was starting to lose track of what had gone before and who was who, so I didn't immediately buy this one when it came out. Then I discovered that it, and all the previous books, were finally available as ebooks. That pretty much made the decision for me, I purchased it and (surprise, surprise) it immediately sat in the TBR list as my books usually do.

It had a lot of good reviews when it came out, so I was rather looking forward to reading it.

I'm very glad I did. This was an excellent addition to the series. There wasn't too much baggage from earlier books, meaning I could get on with enjoying the story here without worrying too much about what had happened before. There was one recurring character that I don't remember much about (Robert), but since I know he's still a mystery to everyone else, it didn't matter at all that he was also a mystery to me. All the same, I hope he gets his own book one day and we finally find out what his story is.

I loved Soria and Karr. Both were well-rounded with good, solid back stories and it was lovely seeing them get to know each other. Their interaction was lovely.

I really liked the way Karr walked most easily in his chimera shape rather than staying in human form - something that fitted with his history as well as his personality - and the way Soria took that in her stride and accepted it as part of him. So often with shape shifter stories the shifter spends most of his/her time in human form and the animal shape is only used in particular or extraordinary circumstances. Karr was equally human, lion and dragon and he embraced all of them rather than trying to fit the human norm. Of course, that was easier when he was originally alive and it will be interesting to see what happens in the future now he wants to live in the modern world with Soria.

I also particularly liked that Liu chose to make what had happened when Soria lost her arm not be something paranormal. So often in a paranormal book, everything ends up tying back to the character's abilities and the plot of the book. Here, this is not the case, and it was a refreshing change. What happened to her had a huge effect on her and was a major factor in why she ended up in the place she did with Karr and therefore was every important, but I really liked that it was separate from anything to do with Dirk and Steele.

We saw progress for Eddie, who suffered a major, um, "setback" in the earlier book, The Last Twilight. While I don't remember all the details of that, we were given enough for this story, which was all that was needed. It will be interesting to see what we learn about him next - and if Evie sticks around.

Eddie and his choices at the end of the book act as a stark contrast to what Roland does (or rather doesn't do) both in this book and earlier when Soria was hurt. He doesn't come across particularly well here, but I suspect there is more to things than we have learned so far. I will be interested to see if Roland ends up getting a book of his own and what we will discover then. He's certainly not past the point of no return, but he's got some work to do to beat his own demons. I rather think I'd like to see him do it. But he sure owes Soria for past behaviour.

It was also a nice touch that, while his is clearly a romance, it actually contains no explicit sex. While I have nothing at all against a good sex scene, it can be annoying when over-the-top attraction, lust and sex take over from the story. If I have to choose, I'll take a good
story over a sex scene any day. In The Fire King, Liu focuses on the story and the development of the relationship between Soria and Karr, rather than just lust. That's a win in my book.

The existence of the chimera also answers an interesting question about the shapeshifters in this universe that, I must admit, I had never thought to ask. But it's a good one, and I'm glad Liu brought it into the series. It will be interesting to see what happens between the shifters and the chimera in the future.

I'm really glad I did stick with this series. This was an excellent story with really enjoyable characters and I find myself really looking forward to the next one.

The Fire King
Marjorie M. Liu
Dirk and Steele, Book 9
8/10
Read: 22-7-10 to 26-7-10

Dirk and Steele

Tiger Eye (Goodreads link)
Shadow Touch (Goodreads link)
The Red Heart of Jade (Goodreads link)
A Dream of Stone and Shadow in Dark Dreamers (Goodreads link)
Eye of Heaven (Goodreads link)
Soul Song
The Last Twilight
The Wild Road (Goodreads link)
The Fire King

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

2010-07-27T11:53:00.001+12:00

They took her clothes and sneakers. They dressed her in a long red gown. And they shackled her to the wall of an abandoned mansion-within easy reach of a figure stirring in the moonlight.

She knows that it is a vampire.

She knows that she's to be his dinner, and that when he is finished with her, she will be dead. Yet, when light breaks, she finds that he has not attempted to harm her. And now it is he who needs her to help him survive the day...

Wow, what an amazing book. I don't know that I have words for it just yet, having only finished it a few moments ago, but what an amazing book.

Added in a comment shortly after:

I just finished it and I've immediately joined the community of Sunshine-lovers (okay, that sounds wrong, but I figure you know what I mean).

It was an interesting read, as it went very slowly, but never felt slow. I did need to read some of the long, almost convoluted sentences slowly, but all the information was there, you just had to get it from the Sunshine-speak.

I also felt that this might be the book that has the most of Robin McKinley herself in it, as I often felt when reading Sunshine's thoughts that they were very similar to how McKinley writes when she blogs.

I would also like to know how the timing of the writing of this book fits with the author developing ME, as it kind of reads like someone with ME might think (it certainly feels like my brain going all over the place sometimes).

Anyway, I loved it and I can totally see that it is a book I will need to read again. I am looking forward to my copy arriving so that I can read it whenever I want.

Sunshine
Robin McKinley
10/10
Read: 30-4-10 to 12-5-10

Wow, a post!

2010-07-27T11:34:00.001+12:00

I’ve actually added some comments (I definitely wouldn’t go so far as to call them reviews) on Goodreads lately. As always, length varies depending on what I had to say. These are generally comments made shortly after I finished reading and I can’t promise as to the quality of their grammar (and sometimes also spelling), although I do try to be coherent. I’m trying to get into the habit to type something when I fill in the finish date and rating on any book, which means at least I have some recollection later of what I thought of the book.

I’ll post them here (mostly to make it look like I’m keeping up with this blog, great big fat lie though that is) shortly.

I’m currently sitting cross legged on the bed while Marcus sits beside me watching The Pink Panther on Cartoon Network. Yes, it’s 11.20am on a Tuesday and my darling son is home from school sick. He’s now rapidly improving, but wants his Mum close, so here I am. Hooray for laptops!

He gave us quite a fright yesterday though. I picked him up from school and he promptly collapsed in my lap, telling me he’d “had a bad day”. Talking with the teacher, we both agreed he was a bit under the weather and a day off was probably in order. I remember I did put a hand to his forehead then, to see if he had a temperature, but he felt quite normal.

Half an hour later he was curled up in our bed with a temperature of 41C (that’s 105F) and very listless. I managed to get some paracetamol into him and took him to the doctor. He diagnosed flu and a mild ear infection and sent us home with ibuprofen and antibiotics (for if we thought it had got bad enough to need them). Happily, the diarrhoea didn’t develop until after we got back from the doctors!

But that’s all it’s been. No vomiting or other symptoms (thank goodness). We needed to get up several times in the night, but only had to change the bedclothes once (happily around 10pm rather than something like 2am, which would have seemed much harder I’m sure). This morning his temp is pretty much back to normal, the trips to the bathroom are less frequent and he’s got some spirit back. I’m sure he’ll keep on improving as the day goes on, although I’m not going to make any decisions about school tomorrow just yet. Right now, I’m inclined to keep him home at least another day to be sure.

He’s like this pretty much every time he gets sick. He throws up this really high temperature really fast and panics us. Stays hot and sick until the fever breaks and then recovers pretty quickly. But it’s that fast developing high fever that always freaks us out. And we always rush him off to the doctor just in case this is the time it’s not going to come right on its own.

But he’s munching rice crackers and getting demanding at the moment, so he’s on the road to recovery. And hey, I’m actually updating my blog.

A new experience (or keeping 3M in business)

2010-07-24T18:14:00.001+12:00

I’ve been reading Janny Wurts’ The Curse of the Mistrwraith with the Beyond Reality group on Goodreads. I’ve already mentioned my disquiet about the book, but reading with the group and the author is proving to be a fantastic experience as there is such a wealth of detail and beautiful writing in the book and this is bringing it all out. We’re doing three “chapter sets” a week, which has been a great pace so far, but I do seem to be speeding up this week.

(As an aside, I have now remembered why I stopped on my original read and I am nervous to see if I have the same reaction. Hopefully I’ve matured enough in the intervening years to go past that and have faith in the final conclusion.)

Anyway, I started out writing notes as I went on my iPhone, but as the CFS tiredness hit again, that got to be too difficult. So the first three chapter sets have notes on the iPhone, while the second three have none. Neither of these options really worked for me. I couldn’t keep up with the notes I wanted to make, especially as I had to tap out any quotes in full and that was tiring (it also felt too much like homework). But I didn’t want to have no notes at all, because there is so much going on that I want to savour and remember (and because I have such a sucky memory I can see myself in later books trying desperately to remember that thing I’m sure is so important but don’t recall at all).

So I resorted to a tried and true solution, but one I’ve never used before myself.

(Yellow is for notes, blue is for quotes.)

That’s not quite two chapters worth as I started today with the post-its at the beginning of the third group of three chapter sets. I think I’m going to go through a LOT of post-it notes. Still, I’m sure 3M will be perfectly happy for me to keep them in business.

Onwards I shall read. There are lots of “ah-ha” moments already in 250 pages of a fat book that is the first of eleven, so I’m sure I have much rewarding reading ahead of me (so long as I can get past that thing that bugged me last time and that I’m not going to mention for risk of spoiling anyone).

But see Janny, look what you’ve made me do! I never, ever, ever would have imagined I’d turn into a post-it note kind of reader.

Finished a couple of books

2010-07-05T19:11:00.001+12:00

I’ve been reading Glenda Larke’s The Last Stormlord for the last week or so. It’s this month’s fantasy book for Beyond Reality, and I’m the one who nominated it – a good reason to get myself organised and actually read it. I bought this when it came out in March, and I’m glad to have read it.

To quote what I posted to Good Reads when I finished it:

I found this a really solid, really enjoyable read.

I like the world Ms Larke has created. The world building doesn't goes as deep as some novels, but it's real and well thought out and the idea of waterpower is a good one.

I liked the characters - and I especially disliked the antagonists we're introduced to throughout the book. I find myself very worried about what they might do and the effect their actions might have.

I'm looking forward to book 2 and will be buying it when it comes out.
It's going to be hard knowing there's a whole other wait for the third book to be released and the end of the story.

I’m sorry that’s no kind of a review, but I do recommend the book. It was detailed and yet suspenseful and like I said, I’m looking forward to the release of book 2. A 9/10 rating for this one.

With that finally finished, I picked up Restoring Harmony by Joelle Anthony. This is a slightly dystopic YA novel that I saw mentioned around the blogosphere a few months back. I asked my library to get it and it turned up about 10 days ago. Since I was reading The Last Stormlord, which is a long book, clocking in at just under 700 pages, I didn’t think I would get to it in time and considered buying the ebook to read later.

In fact, I found this a quick and easy read. There’s not much substance to it really, but it was an enjoyable tale to use up a few hours. I’m certainly glad I didn’t pay for it. Okay, but average. 6/10.

Now I’m tossing up whether to go back to rereading Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn or start my next group read for Beyond Reality, which is the intimidating Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts. I tried to read it once, long ago, and got stuck about halfway. I’m hoping having the group (and the author!) to encourage me will keep me going as I’m assured it is the beginning of a brilliant series. Sadly, having never finished it, I gave away my copy of the book (and the second and third in the series) and now I’ve had to buy it again. It’s on its way from The Book Depository, but I have a copy from the library to tide me over until it arrives. I’m a little scared of it to be honest, but I’m also interested to see if it’s as wonderful as so many people tell me.

Discover the Liaden Universe® – a competition!

2010-07-05T13:06:00.001+12:00

Sharon Lee & Steve Miller are the author team behind the classic and ever-popular Liaden Universe®. This series of “adventurous romantic space opera” holds cross-over appeal for both romance and science fiction readers.

To celebrate the release of MOUSE AND DRAGON, Lee and Miller’s thirteenth Liaden novel, the authors are hosting a contest. It’s open to anyone and everyone who has yet to sample a Liaden Universe® novel. They're giving away 36 digital copies of THE DRAGON VARIATION omnibus, which includes CONFLICT OF HONORS, LOCAL CUSTOM, and SCOUT’S PROGRESS.

Not only that, but if you’re a blogger who wants to help spread the word about it, you’ll be entered for a chance to win a $36.00 gift card from Barnes and Noble! And if you’re a blogger new to the Liaden novels of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, you can enter both tiers of the contest.

Here is an excerpt from the official announcement at Sharon Lee’s blog:

In celebration of the publication of Mouse and Dragon, the thirteenth novel set in their Liaden Universe®, authors Sharon Lee and Steve Miller are holding an Expanding Universe Contest! Yes! No less than thirty-six electronic copies of The Dragon Variation will be given away.

The Dragon Variation is an omnibus edition of three Liaden Universe® novels — Conflict of Honors, one of the first modern SFRomances; Local Custom, second place winner of the Prism Award for best Futuristic of 2002; and Scout’s Progress, the first place winner of the Prism Award for best Futuristic of 2002, Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice for Best SF Novel of its year, and the prequel to Mouse and Dragon.

That's three complete novels under one cover. No prior knowledge of the Liaden Universe® required. Electronic! In Baen Books’ DRM-free, multiplatform style. This omnibus can be read on your Kindle, your phone, your iPad, your desktop, or other ereader.

To enter the contest, visit the Expanding Universe post at Sharon Lee’s blog and follow the instructions you see there (it’s easy). The contest ends at "midnight Eastern Daylight Time (4:00 a.m. GMT) Friday, July 16". Winners will be announced on Saturday, July 17, 2010.

I love these books and just started to reread the series. I highly recommend them and this is the perfect way to try them out.

Wow, an audiobook

2010-07-04T11:48:00.001+12:00

Goodness, I actually started listening to an audiobook last night. I haven’t been reading them this year because I kept falling asleep and couldn’t keep my place. But I decided what the heck, I can relisten to pieces of it if necessary and started anyway.

I’m listening to Sweet Danger by Margery Allingham, which is an old favourite of a book that I’ve read several times. I rather enjoy listening to Albert Campion’s adventures (I know I’ve listened to Mystery Mile as well, although I can’t remember which others, if any, right now.)

Anyway, I’m really just patting myself on the back in public because I started listening and really enjoyed what I listened to. Hopefully I’ll keep it up and get right through to the end.

How to find the time?

2010-07-01T16:00:00.002+12:00

I was lying on the floor in my son's bedroom while he went to sleep last night (long story that I think boils down to security). When this happens, I'll usually read something on my iPhone - it's small, light and provides it's own backlight meaning his bedroom light can stay off.

Not wanting to read either of my current long reads, I opened the short story Pretty Polly by Barbara Hambly, which I bought and downloaded from her website. She's releasing electonically some short stories she has written and is writing about characters from her older series that she doesn't currently have contracts to write full books for.

As someone who was developing her reading habits in the days when those early books were new, I'm delighted by this and hope it will be a long term thing. I certainly hope it's going well for her. I'm helping as best I can - buying four copies of one story last year and sending off the other three as Christmas presents surely is a good thing.

Anyway, reading about the survivours in the Keep of Dare made me realise I'd like to read the whole Darwath series if I could find the time. Hambly's Windrose Chronicles are already on this imaginary reread tbr list.

There are many books being published now that are great reads, but there are older books out there that are richly deserving of a reread as well. When you combine the two - well, that's a whole, big lot of books.

But I kind of like making lists, so here's what I'd like to reread (from the 80s and 90s mostly I think).

- The Windrose Chronicles (Barbara Hambly; 1986 - 1988 + 1992)
- Darwath Books (Barbara Hambly; 1982 - 1983 + 1996 & 1998)
- Chronicles of the Cheysuli (Jennifer Roberson; 1984 - 1992)
- Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies (Melanie Rawn; 1988 - 1993)
- Memory, Sorrow and Thorn (Tad Williams; 1988 - 1993)
- Time Master Trilogy (Louise Cooper; 1985 - 1987)
- The Fionavar Tapestry (Guy Gavriel Kay; 1984 - 1986)
- Novels of the Jaran (Kate Elliott; 1992 - 1994)
- Cycle of Fire (Janny Wurts; 1984 – 1988)

Well, I was right about the dates. All the series but the Jaran books were started in the 80s and except for the two extra Darwath books, all were finished by the early 90s. I guess that dates my personal Golden Age of Fantasy.

The problem is, where will I find the time and energy for all that rereading when there are new books I want to read as well?

Like the saying goes:

Too many books, not enough time.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
(Edited to add Cycle of Fire)

Challenge Wrap Up: Once Upon a Time IV

2010-06-29T22:01:00.001+12:00

Each year, Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings hosts the Once Upon a Time challenge. It’s a chance to read fantasy, mythology, folklore and fairy tales. It is, of course, right up my alley. Last year was the first time I signed up. I didn’t quite manage to complete it, easily reading the books component, but not managing to watch A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I was going to take the easy way and just sign up for the books this year, but I’ve decided to take the risk. It won’t be the end of the world if I don’t manage it and it gives me something to aim for.

So I’ve decided to aim for “Quest the Third”. The challenge is to read at least 5 books that fit somewhere within the Once Upon a Time IV criteria. They might all be fantasy, or folklore, or fairy tales, or mythology…or your five books might be a combination from the four genres AND top it off with a June reading of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream OR a viewing of one of the many theatrical versions of the play. I’m planning to watch the play rather than read it.

The timetable for the challenge is between Sunday, 21st March and Sunday, 20th June 2010.

My Once Upon a Time IV reading list (reviews over on Saving My Sanity...):

Enchanted Glass – Diana Wynne Jones
Archangel’s Kiss – Nalini Singh
The Ivory and the Horn - Charles de Lint
Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
At Grave's End - Jeaniene Frost
Silver Borne - Patricia Briggs
Heart Mate - Robin D. Owen
The Girl Who Chased the Moon - Sarah Addison Allen
The Iron King - Julie Kagawa
Many Waters - Madeleine L'Engle
Sunshine - Robin McKinley

Once again I failed to watch the play (usual excuse of bad health and little energy), but I'm happy with the books I managed to get read. And if nothing else, it is lovely opportunity to see what books I'm reading in a certain genre over a certain amount of time.

Challenge Wrap Up: Sci Fi Experience 2010

2010-06-29T21:55:00.001+12:00

Chris of Stainless Steel Dropping hosts some wonderful challenges. I haven’t tried his Sci Fi Experience before, but I going to this year and see if I can get some of those SF books languishing on the TBR read at last.

The Sci Fi Experience 2010 will take place from January 1st, 2010 through February 28th, 2010. During this time I will be following what is my natural inclination during these winter months, and that is to fully embrace science fiction, in my reading, film/tv watching, and game playing. Two years ago I decided to share this winter reading predilection with all of you wonderful readers in the hopes that perhaps others would join me in experiencing the unique joy that comes with entertaining science fiction stories. There is no official sign up, no call to read a certain number of books, no pressure to challenge yourself in any way. Nothing about this two month period of science fiction celebration should cause anyone to feel obligated to participate. I host two other very involved challenges throughout the year and the last thing I want to do is start a new year adding stress to your busy lives, or my own.

My list of potential reads is over on Saving My Sanity… Let’s see what I actually read.

The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
Mirror Dance - Lois McMaster Bujold
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
The Ask and the Answer - Patrick Ness
Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - Russell T. Davies and Benjamin Cook
Doubleblind - Ann Aguirre
A Wind in the Door - Madeleine L'Engle
This Alien Shore - C. S. Friedman
Life As We Knew It - Susan Beth Pfeffer

Nine books completed.

June 2010 Reading

2010-06-29T21:48:00.001+12:00

Yes, technically there’s still one more day of June to go down in this part of the world but with three books on the go and none near completion, I might as well do this now and post it.

Right now I am reading SOOOOOO slowly. I’m not sure if it’s lack of time or that the actual reading process has slowed. I rather suspect it’s a combination of both. Therefore, not surprisingly, June was a poor reading month.

With a vague feeling that I’d been struggling this time last year as well, I took a look back at my 2009 monthly posts and found some interesting numbers. To make it more interesting I also wet back to my Library Thing account to find the numbers for 2008.

	2010	2009	2008
April	14	11	6
May	6	6	5
June	3	3	13
July		6	9
August		8	13

Looking at this, I don’t really know if it has any significance or not. It looked quite good until I added in the 2008 data. But it is worth noting that 2009 is the year Marcus started school and the demands on my time and energy went up markedly. My reading did pick up as the year went on, so I hope that happens again as the TBR has exploded out of control and is now up to 65 books, which is huge for me.

So here you go, my 3 measly books read in June this year.

Saltation – Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (400pp)
Liaden Universe, Book 12; SF; 8/10
Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale (The Final Chapter) – Russell T. Davies and Benjamin Cook (768pp)
Media; Non-Fiction; Library Book; DNF
Local Custom – Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (320pp)
Liaden Universe, Book 1; SF; 9/10
Feed – Mira Grant (608 pages)
Newsflesh, Book 1; SF; Library Book; 9/10

Best book of the month = Local Custom
Biggest surprise of the month = Feed
Biggest disappointment of the month = Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale

June Reading:
Books read this month = 3
Short Stories read this month = 0
Total reads this month = 3

10/10 reads this month = 0
DNFs this month = 1
New reads this month = 2
Rereads this month = 1
paper books : eBooks = 1 : 2 = 33 % : 66 %

Pages read this month = 400 + 320 + 608 = 1328

June Challenges Progress:
Flashback Reading Challenge = 1
Big Book Challenge = 1
Once Upon a Time IV Challenge = 0

June List Progress:
eBooks read = 2
SFF books read = 3
Library Books read = 1
Audiobooks listened to = 0

Spell Fail

2010-06-29T21:38:00.000+12:00

Looking back over today's posts I see that my spelling and grammar are even more atrocious than usual. I do apologise and choose to blame the CFS brain fog which is in the ascendant at the moment.

And here's a cute photo of Marcus from our recent visit to Wellington. His cousin has SUCH a cool playground to play on.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

May 2010 Reading

2010-06-29T20:37:00.001+12:00

Yes, I acknowledge that this post is a month late. I do apologise for that. I have no excuse beyond the usual one: bad health and lack of energy.

It was an interesting reading month. One clear favourite came through in the shape of Robin McKinley’s Sunshine, which was one of those books that I didn’t know why I hadn’t read, but I just hadn’t. I picked it up this month and was blown away by it. I returned my library copy, only to go online and order a copy for myself. I paid a little extra to get exactly the format and cover I wanted. (Deerskin currently remains on the TBR.)

The biggest surprise of the month was Deborah Blum’s book about the development of chemical forensics in New York in the 1920s. It was on the “look at this” display shelf at the library and I picked it up out of curiosity. As soon as I started reading I was hooked as she related the development of new chemical tests for poisons to cases of the time and the lives of two of the men most closely involved. I’m very glad I picked this one up.

I continue with my grand total of zero for audiobooks this year. I just can’t manage them as all I do is fall asleep and then can never find the place where I stopped following the story and started phasing out. I’ve been listening to podcasts instead, which are marginally better if only because they are shorter, meaning I can get one finished in a few nights.

Sunshine – Robin McKinley (389pp)
Fantasy; Library Book; 10/10
Fledgling – Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (384pp)
Liaden Universe, Book 11; SF; eBook; 8/10
The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York – Deborah Blum (336pp)
Non-Fiction; Library Book; 9/10
The Tender Leaves – Essie Summers (188pp)
Romance; Reread; 8/10
Devil to Pay (in the anthology Four Dukes and a Devil) – Jeannine Frost (unknown)
Night Huntress World; Paranormal Romance; Short Story; 7/10
Through Violet Eyes – Stephen Woodworth (368pp)
Violets, Book 1; SF; Mystery; Reread; eBook; 7/10
With Red Hands – Stephen Woodworth (336pp)
Violets, Book 2; SF; Mystery; eBook; 7/10

Best book of the month = Sunshine
Biggest disappointment of the month = none

May Reading:
Books read this month = 6
Short Stories read this month = 1
Total reads this month = 7

10/10 reads this month = 1
DNFs this month = 0
New reads this month = 4
Rereads this month = 2
paper books : eBooks = 3 : 3 = 50 % : 50 %

Pages read this month = 389 + 384 + 336 + 188 + 368 + 336 = 2001

May Challenges Progress:
Flashback Reading Challenge = 2
Big Book Challenge = 0
Once Upon a Time IV Challenge = 1

May List Progress:
eBooks read = 3
SFF books read = 4
Library Books read = 2
Audiobooks listened to = 0

Challenge Wrap Up: Time Quartet/Quintet Read-Along

2010-06-29T20:26:00.002+12:00

Time Quartet/Quintet Read-Along

Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Trilogy/Quartet/Quintet books were some of my favourites growing up. So I’m going to try to take the opportunity being offered by Kailana at The Written Word to reread them in the first half of 2010.

Here are Kailana’s guidelines:
You have until January 31st to finish the book.
On January 15th I will post a place to talk about spoiler-related things. Things you want to talk about but can't mention in your review.
The reviews should aim to be finished on the last week of January because I want to have questions that everyone answers in their posts and people need to have time to come up with them.
For a sense of community I am hoping that people will come up with questions about the book. I am hoping to have them all by the 20th so I can post them and people can write their reviews. Even if you take the whole month to read the book I hope you will come up with questions. Send in a few so there are some variety. It isn't much fun if people send the same questions over and over again. How you choose to use the questions (and whether you choose to use all of them) is up to you.
When I post the questions on the 20th, I will also post a place to post links to your reviews.
Feel free to use the button, made by Jason, wherever you want. It's great!

Will I make it? Let us see…

A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
A Wind in the Door - Madeleine L'Engle
A Swiftly Tilting Planet - Madeleine L'Engle
Many Waters - Madeleine L'Engle

I did start the last book, An Acceptable Time, in May, but I don't think I even finished before I realised I simply didn't feel like reading it. The lovely feeling of the earlier books seemed missing and I just wasn't interested. Since my reading is a bit of the struggle at the moment and the TBR is more out of control than usual, I decided to pass on it.

I'm still happy with my success with the challege and I really enjoyed the reread. Most of all, I'm delighted that A Swiftly Tilting Planet didn't let me down and remained the amazing read I remembered from childhood.

Thank you Ms L'Engle so a wonderful trip around the universe and down memory lane.

Random Cute Cat Photo

2010-05-28T19:45:00.001+12:00

I’m trying to archive my digital photos and I found this one of Cally. She’s looking so cute I decided to share.

Pretty, Pretty

2010-05-19T09:36:00.000+12:00

Lookie, my books have arrived from The Book Depository:

I love this edition of Sunshine and I decided so go with the trade paperback for Deerskin as I find that size easier to read than a mass market paperback these days for books only available in paper.

I find this rather ironic, being one of those people who used to call trade paperbacks abominations because they were neither a hardcover nor a mass market. But reality -and age - come to us all. If this is the edition that's easier to read (and the price is reasonable), then that's the one to buy.

The most important thing is that I have pretty new books. Yay!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Reading orders

2010-05-13T21:03:00.001+12:00

Do you struggle with working out what order to read a series? Especially if the books haven’t been written in sequential chronological order?

I’m currently having this problem.

I want to reread Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s Liaden Universe books, and I have no idea what order I want to do it in.

Strict chronological order doesn’t work for me, since the first two books chronologically, Crystal Soldier and Crystal Dragon were written much later and I think you really need to have an appreciation of Liad and its “current” universe before going back to those two if you’re going to get the most from them.

I thought I was going to read it in publication order (something I certainly tend to prefer on a first reading) but something is stopping me. I think part of it is that the two I read first (at the suggestion of friends) weren’t published first, but I feel like they should be read first, probably because that’s the way I did it originally. When I started the series, those two were first chronologically, so it made sense to start there. But more books have been written since then which messes up my reading plan even further.

I think I’m just going to have to make up a “Kerry” order and go with that. It won’t be justifiable by any specific logic, but if it’s most comfortable for me, surely that makes it right for me? The authors themselves say that there is no set order, so I’m free to do it my way, right?

It’s starting to feel like one of those logic puzzles where you have to fit everything into place with clues. There are small groupings that go together and do have a set order, but some overlap and there’s one coming up that ends the plot lines of more than one sub group. I’m finding it surprisingly stressful, which reading shouldn’t be.

Thinking out loud…

The Parents’ Generation

Local Custom
Scout’s Progress
Mouse and Dragon (due June)

“Current” Books

Agent of Change
Conflict of Honors
Carpe Diem
Plan B
I Dare
Ghost Ship (due 2011)

Crystal Universe

Crystal Soldier
Crystal Dragon

Theo Waitley

Fledgling
Saltation

Stand Alones

Balance of Trade

That sequence doesn’t work for me, although I do like having all the mini-sequences laid out clearly. So let’s look at publication order…

Publication Order

Agent of Change
Conflict of Honors
Carpe Diem
Plan B
Local Custom
Scout’s Progress
I Dare
Balance of Trade
Crystal Soldier
Crystal Dragon
Fledgling
Saltation
Mouse and Dragon (due June)
Ghost Ship (due 2011)

While that makes a certain developmental sense, it isn’t what I want. So let’s try the next option…

Chronological Order

Crystal Soldier
Crystal Dragon
Balance of Trade
Local Custom
Scout’s Progress
Mouse and Dragon (due June)
Conflict of Honors
Fledgling
Saltation
Agent of Change
Carpe Diem
Plan B
I Dare
Ghost Ship (due 2011)

Okay, that’s looking better, but I don’t want to read those first three first. What if I move them to the bottom, take out the two Theo books since I’m reading them now and add in the short story collections? I think that leaves me with something I can work with…

Kerry’s 2010/11 Reread Plan

Local Custom
Scout’s Progress
Mouse and Dragon (due June)
Conflict of Honors
Agent of Change
Carpe Diem
Plan B
I Dare
Crystal Soldier
Crystal Dragon
Balance of Trade
Liaden Unibus I
Liaden Unibus II
Ghost Ship (due 2011)

I don’t know that this is the slightest bit of interest to anyone, beyond a look into my disordered mind, but writing it down has helped me work out what I want to do. That means it was a useful exercise.

Yay, books on the way (aka I love Robin McKinley)

2010-05-13T18:11:00.001+12:00

After reading – and absolutely loving – Robin McKinley’s Sunshine that I borrowed from the library, I knew I just had to have my own copy. Books costing what they do over here, I toddled off to the website of The Book Depository (wonderful people who have free international shipping) to order a copy.

I was all set to hit “Order” when I checked my Google Reader and discovered that Calico Reaction (join her June bookclub read of Sunshine) was having a competition to win a signed copy of the book. I hesitated in my shopping and entered the competition instead.

Robin McKinley competitions seem to be the order at the day at the moment, as Ms McKinley herself is having a competition to win an ARC of her new book, Pegasus, due out in November. All you have to do to enter is comment on her forum, Facebook, or Twitter with your favourite line from one of her books.

After a bit of thought, I chose my favourite line from the oh-so-wonderful The Blue Sword which come towards the end when all the villagers accompany Harry back to Corlath:

- including Rilly, who was beside herself with excitement, and her mother, who was beside herself with Rilly -

There were so many excellent entries that I immediately decided I need to do both some McKinley rereading and catch up on any of her books I haven’t read yet. This forces me to admit that Chalice remains on the TBR Shelf and for some reason I didn’t get into Rose Daughter the first time I tried to read it. Both have now been bumped up the to-be-read-list.

I was quite pleased to see that there was only one book I both didn’t own and hadn’t read, which was Deerskin. I know exactly why. At the point the book was published, I wasn’t in the right headspace to read about some of the issues the book addressed (it’s a retelling of the fairy tale Donkeyskin and if you check the link you’ll see what I mean, but I don’t want to be directly responsible for spoiling anyone).

There were so many wonderful lines from Deerskin posted and I’m a different person know, so the book immediately went on to my mental wishlist.

Upon reflection, I also realised that the odds of me winning the copy of Sunshine are pretty small, so I succumbed to temptation and ordered both Sunshine and Deerskin from The Book Depository. Both have now shipped and I’ll be able to start haunting the PO Box in a week to 10 days until they arrive.

If I get lucky and win Calico Reaction’s competition after all, some lucky friend will get a copy of a wonderful book. But it won’t be signed, I’ll be keeping that one for myself.

Testing, testing...

2010-05-13T17:11:00.000+12:00

In an attempt to make an actual blog post (at least occasionally), I've installed a blogging app on my iPhone. This is simply a test to see how it works.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

April 2010 Reading

2010-04-30T08:22:00.001+12:00

Considering how I’ve been feeling this month, I was surprised at how many books I read this month (although I did note that the page count was down from March, so I must have read shorter books this month). There were also two I skimmed very quickly to pick up the major plot points without reading the whole story, that that bumped things up too. All the same, I’m very pleased with myself. Still now reviews though, I’m sorry. I will try to get one done on Many Waters in the next few days since that’s for a specific challenge.

The Ivory and the Horn – Charles de Lint (338pp)
Newford, Book 6; Urban Fantasy; eBook; 7/10
Except the Queen – Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder (371pp)
Fantasy; Library Book; DNF
A Civil Campaign – Lois McMaster Bujold (405pp)
Vorkosigan, Book 12; SF; eBook; Reread; 9/10
Winterfair Gifts – Lois McMaster Bujold (71pp)
Vorkosigan, Book 12.5; SF; eBook; Reread; 9/10
Howl’s Moving Castle – Diana Wynne Jones (304pp)
Wizard Howl, Book 1; Fantasy; Children; Library Book; 8/10
At Grave’s End – Jeaniene Frost (342pp)
Night Huntress, Book 3; Urban Fantasy; eBook; 8/10
Aiden’s Charity – Lora Leigh (223pp)
Breeds, Book 11; Erotic Romance; Paranormal; eBook; 6/10
Jacob’s Faith – Lora Leigh (257pp)
Breeds, Book 12; Erotic Romance; Paranormal; eBook; 5/10
Seeker – Jack McDevitt (384pp)
Alex Benedict, Book 3; SF; eBook; 8/10
Silver Borne – Patricia Briggs (342pp)
Mercedes Thompson, Book 5; Urban Fantasy; 10/10
Heart Mate – Robin D. Owens (340pp)
Celta, Book 1; Fantasy; Romance; Reread; eBook; 7/10
The Girl Who Chased the Moon – Sarah Addison Allen (269pp)
Magic Realism, Library Book; 7/10
Chicks Dig Time Lords – Tara O’Shea and Lynne M. Thomas (eds) (192pp)
Non-Fiction; Media; 7/10
The Iron King – Julie Kagawa (363pp)
Iron Fey, Book 1; YA; Fantasy; eBook; 7/10
Diplomatic Immunity – Lois McMaster Bujold (211pp)
Vorkosigan, book 13; SF; eBook; Reread; 8/10
Many Waters – Madeleine L’Engle (310pp)
Time Quintet, Book 4; Children; SF/Fantasy; Reread; 7/10

Best book of the month = Silver Borne
Biggest disappointment of the month = Jacob’s Faith and Aiden’s Charity

April Reading:
Books read this month = 14
Short Stories read this month = 1
Total reads this month = 15

10/10 reads this month = 1
DNFs this month = 1
New reads this month = 9
Rereads this month = 6
paper books : eBooks = 5 : 10 = 33 % : 66 %

Pages read this month = 338 + 405 + 71 + 304 + 342 + 223 + 257 + 384 + 342 + 340 + 269 + 192 + 363 + 211 + 310 = 4351

April Challenges Progress:
Flashback Reading Challenge = 6
Big Book Challenge = 0
Once Upon a Time IV Challenge = 8

April List Progress:
eBooks read = 10
SFF books read = 12
Library Books read = 2
Audiobooks listened to = 0

A poem for Good Friday

2010-04-02T17:27:00.001+13:00

I don’t remember where I first saw this, and even more sadly, I don’t remember the poet’s name (if anyone recognises it, please do tell me). It’s short, it’s simple, it’s very New Zealand and it is something I remember every Good Friday. It’s something that speaks to me, for all its simplicity.

This year, I thought I would share.

Stark and dark upon a hill
Stood a tree whose dank timbers
Drank blood and infamy

Let titoki and the rata
And the great pohutukawa
Spread their red in memory

March 2010 Reading

2010-04-01T16:38:00.001+13:00

Prophecy: Child of Earth – Elizabeth Haydon (736pp)
Symphony of Ages, Book 2; Fantasy; 9/10
Blackout – Connie Willis (491pp)
SF; eBook; 8/10
Fantasy in Death – J. D. Robb (368pp)
Eve Dallas, Book 37; Futuristic; eBook; 8/10
Shalador’s Lady – Anne Bishop (448pp)
Black Jewels, Book 8; Fantasy; 10/10
Devil Bones – Kathy Reichs (310 pp)
Temperance Brennan, Book 11; Mystery; eBook; 6/10
The Dead and the Gone – Susan Beth Pfeffer (321pp)
Moon Crash, Book 2; YA; SF; Library Book; 7/10
Memory – Lois McMaster Bujold (345pp)
Vorkosigan, Book 9; SF; Reread; eBook; 10/10
Komarr – Lois McMaster Bujold (320pp)
Vorkosigan, Book 10; SF; Reread; eBook; 9/10
Enchanted Glass – Diana Wynne Jones (331pp)
YA; Fantasy; 8/10
Archangel’s Kiss – Nalini Singh (352pp)
Guild Hunter, Book 2; Fantasy; Romance; 8/10
Acheron (Part II) – Sherrilyn Kenyon (293pp)
Dark-Hunters, Book 15; partial read; Reread; eBook; 7/10
A Swiftly Tilting Planet – Madeleine L’Engle (278pp)
Time Quintet, Book 3; Children; SF; Reread; 10/10
The American Heiress – Dorothy Eden (218pp)
Fiction; Library Book; 7/10
The Women of Nell Gwynne’s – Kage Baker (122pp)
SF; Novella; Library Book; 6/10
The Line – Teri Hall (220pp)
The Line, Book 1; YA; SF; Library Book; 7/10

Best book of the month = Shalador’s Lady
Biggest disappointment of the month = Devil Bones

March Reading:
Books read this month = 13
Short Stories read this month = 2
Total reads this month = 15

10/10 reads this month = 3
DNFs this month = 0
New reads this month = 10
Rereads this month = 5
paper books : eBooks = 9 : 6 = 60 % : 40 %

Pages read this month = 736 + 491 + 368 + 448 + 310 + 321 + 345 + 320 + 331 + 352 + 293 + 278 + 218 + 122 + 220 = 5153

March Challenges Progress:
Flashback Reading Challenge = 5
Big Book Challenge = 1
Once Upon a Time IV Challenge = 2

March List Progress:
eBooks read = 6
SFF books read = 13
Library Books read = 4
Audiobooks listened to = 0

This Alien Shore by C. S. Friedman

2010-03-28T20:43:00.001+13:00

From Amazon.com:

In a far-future interstellar society, star travel is monopolized by the Outspace Guild, which controls the only method of faster-than-light travel that doesn't result in horrible mutations among the star travelers. Now a deadly software virus is attacking Guild members, so the Guild's investigators, led by Dr. Masada, must learn where it came from and how to defeat it before interstellar society breaks down.

Meanwhile, a young woman, Jamisia Shido, has to flee for her life from a space habitat near Earth, where all mutations are forbidden and launched, if discovered, into Guild-controlled interstellar space. Secret illegal therapy for a disaster that killed her parents has left Jamisia with issues she doesn’t understand and may have made her the key in the fight against the virus.

I picked this book up several years ago, caught by both the blurb and (I’m shallow, I admit it) the beautiful cover. But for some reason, I never got around to reading it. It has remained on the TBR list, because, really, I did want to read it, but somehow it never graduated to “reading it now”. Every so often I would toss it out as a nomination for the monthly SF read on the Beyond Reality book group (great group by the way, I recommend it) in the hope if it got picked, I would get myself organised and actually read it. Finally, it was selected for the group’s March read and yes, I did read it.

And now, it’s taken me well over a month to get to reviewing it. Since it has been so long, I’m just going to start typing and see what appears on the screen, as I’m not sure that I can manage a “proper review”.

This is one of those books that tosses you into the deep end of the story and leave you to drown or swim. As my updates on Goodreads show, I spent almost the first half of the book in a state of confused fascination. The set up is well done – by tossing Jamisia in to the action with no idea of what’s going on Ms Friedman gives the reader a character to follow who is learning what is happening at the same time the reader does.

Slowly, Jamisia works out what has been done to her, even if the why of it remains elusive. Interspersed with Jamisia’s flight across the galaxy, we also follow the Guerans (who hold the monopoly on spaceflight due to initially unexplained mutations) who are trying to track and destroy a virus that is killing their space pilots. This section of the book slowly leads to the why of what has been done to Jamisia.

It is only at the end that all the pieces come together and you learn exactly what has been going on and how it all fits. I really enjoyed the mystery of This Alien Shore and slowly being able to work it all out. As I said above, it took me a while to figure out what was going on, but I thought Ms Friedman placed all the clues and important of pieces of information in plain sight right from the beginning and all the hints built on each other until I had enough to figure it out.

Some of the Beyond_Reality readers felt that the book failed because there were no characters in it that they could identify with. I certainly agree that this is a book about ideas and concepts more than anything else, but I didn’t have any problem with the characters. They too were mysteries to be explored, but unlike many books where the goal is to discover who the characters are, this time it was more a case of what and why. I am usually a character reader myself, but this time the lack of intense characterisation didn’t bother me and I loved the book all the same. I think a lot of that is because the mystery element is so strong within an SF story, so I still got lots of things I like.

The SF aspects of the book are more than just a background to the mystery though. They are the very reason for the mysteries facing the characters. The basic idea is that when mankind first left Earth for the stars, the drive system used caused massive mutations in the human genome (some of this seemed a little far fetched to me as I’m not quite sure how humans turn in octopus-like creatures etc). When the people back on Earth discovered this they immediately cut off all their colonies. Much later, those colonies (or more specifically, specific Guerans) discovered a new, safer form of space travel and went home to Earth, only to find their mutations despised by the supposedly “pure” humans. This conflict is integral to both the set-up and resolution of the book and I felt it was well developed.

So all in all, I really enjoyed This Alien Shore and I’m glad that I have finally read it. I apologise to those Beyond-Reality members who didn’t enjoy my choice, but it worked for me.

This Alien Shore
C. S. Friedman
9/10
Read: 12-2-19 to 22-2-10

Once Upon a Time IV

2010-03-26T22:24:00.002+13:00

The timetable for the challenge is between Sunday, 21st March and Sunday, 20th June 2010.

My Once Upon a Time IV reading list is over here.

A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle

2010-03-26T21:50:00.001+13:00

From Goodreads.com:

Fifteen-year-old Charles Wallace Murry, whom readers first met in A Wrinkle in Time, has a little task he must accomplish. In 24 hours, a mad dictator will destroy the universe by declaring nuclear war—unless Charles Wallace can go back in time to change one of the many Might-Have-Beens in history. In an intricately layered and suspenseful journey through time, this extraordinary young man psychically enters four different people from other eras. As he perceives through their eyes "what might have been," he begins to comprehend the cosmic significance and consequences of every living creature's actions. As he witnesses first-hand the transformation of civilization from peaceful to warring times, his very existence is threatened, but the alternative is far worse.

This isn’t a proper review. I’m not talking much about the plot, or deeper meanings or the paradoxes involved in time travel. I’m really just gushing, because I totally loved reading this book.

While I was supposed to be rereading it for Kailana’s book challenge this month, I kept putting off starting it. This was because I remember this book with such fondness and I was afraid it wouldn't live up to my memory. I was disappointed in my reread of A Wind in the Door and I was so scared the same thing would happen again.

I needn't have worried. I loved this book all over again. It simply works for me in all ways. One the sidebar of my blog, I attempt to give some kind of explanations for my book ratings. I list 10/10 as: “I loved this; it hit all my buttons both in the writing and the emotional impact”. That describes my reactions exactly. Everything just worked together for me and I loved the book.

Which is kind of funny when I think about it, as the main characters of the previous books, especially Meg and Charles Wallace who have always been my favourites, are actually pushed into the background by all the vignettes of Madoc and Gwydyr and their descendants and the futures they might bring. It doesn't matter in the least. I found myself caught up in all their stories, and especially Mom O'Keefe's, and kept reading steadily whenever I had a chance so that I read the book in a day that included lots of after school activities.

While Meg isn’t in the action a lot, the device of her kything with Charles Wallace to follow him on his journey is brilliant. It pulls the reader in and lets him/her be part of the story with her. She also adds a sense of solidity to the fantastic of Charles Wallace and Gaudior’s quest. Her reactions to what happens match mine and we’re in this whole adventure together.

L'Engle's use of theology is much quieter here, which also helps. It's fundamental to the story in its own way (partly about the balance of the universe and partly as the tale of Cain and Abel plays out again and again) but it fits the story so much more smoothly. Yes, it is Christian theology, but it isn't shoved in your face and I think this book would be much more accessible to a non-Christian reader than the previous book. For me, it was a beautiful backdrop to the story that fitted it perfectly.

The whole story fit for me. It's beautiful and ultimately a successful ending, but it remains bittersweet throughout, which adds more power to the story. Meg’s discovery of the depths in her mother-in-law, almost too late, is a perfect example, and the story is stronger for it.

There are also some gorgeous moments of writing and phrasing. The dog’s name is beautiful and a perfect fit to the power and bittersweet tone of the story. Charles Wallace calls her Ananda, which he explains means -

That joy in existence without which the universe will fall apart and collapse.

Wow. As Mrs Murray says, it’s a mighty name for one dog to carry, but it is so beautiful and amazing.

I love the book’s title too. There’s something round, and evocative and just plain cool about it. A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Go on, say it again. It describes the story exactly (and is specifically used when Charles Wallace is Within Chuck) and sounds lovely. In fact, all three of the original books have wonderful titles: A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Unfortunately, after that they become much more plain and less magical. Although Many Waters comes from the most beautiful verse (which may be Biblical but I can’t remember), An Acceptable Time does sound kind of boring. I’ll be interested to see if there’s a hidden meaning in that one too. I don’t remember, but I’ll find out come May.

So in conclusion, I really loved this book all over again and I'm so glad I did get up the courage to reread it. Now I know how powerful it remains for an adult reader, I'm sure I'll be doing it again. This may be a book for children, but it is also a book for adults and there is certainly nothing childish about it.

A Swiftly Tilting Planet
Madeleine L’Engle
Time Quintet, Book 3
10/10
Read: 25-3-10 to 26-3-10

Time Quintet

Yay, I have my book.

2010-03-23T23:02:00.001+13:00

My darling, tech-savvy husband saw my blog post earlier in the day about not being able to buy Rebels and Lovers. After checking the situation out with me when he got home, he made a suggestion.

In the end, we had to use his home computer, to allow him to connect remotely to his work computer, which allowed him to connect remotely to a server he has a share in, based in Texas.

We loaded up the ebook retailer website and it let me buy my book without a murmur, happily taking my money in the process.

When I came up to my own computer, it was still telling me I shouldn’t be able to download without providing a US or Canadian credit card number. I know that one’s fallible. All I have to do is access my bookshelf directly through Stanza on my iPhone and it downloads to that device like a charm.

Then, going back to my laptop again, the file is now perfectly happy for me to download it to my own hard drive as a backup in case something happens to the version on the phone or I want to read it on my laptop for some reason.

So, HA! We did it. And we paid for it. In such a way that all the right people get paid as they should be paid.

But le sigh, it was extremely complicated and stressful (both things I don’t need) and common sense says that surely it shouldn’t have been those things.

I’ve said it here before, but I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY hate Geographic restrictions on ebooks.

Adventures in (Not) Book Buying

2010-03-23T10:33:00.001+13:00

I wanted to buy a book today. I thought it was going to be simple. But oh how very wrong I was.

The book is Rebels and Lovers by Linnea Sinclair and it is being released on 23rd March 2010 in mass market paperback with a retail price of US$7.99.

Due to my CFS, I find reading mass market paperbacks to be hard work. I read lying down a lot and it is awkward to hold the pages open and they are still pretty heavy. Also, they tend be squeeze more (and smaller) text onto the page and my brain tends to scream “information overload” and struggle to read it. My preferred reading method these days is in ebook format on my iPhone which is light, easy and I can choose how much text is on each screen “page”. (There are few or no ereaders available for purchase directly in New Zealand, not even the Kindle Amazon now proclaims is international.)

Therefore I was planning to buy myself the ebook of Rebels and Lovers. I have several of Ms Sinclair’s books as ebooks and planned to buy this one the same way.

Each Tuesday (which is Monday in the US) I look up the new book releases on my main ebook retailer’s site. Sure enough, there today was Rebels and Lovers. But hang on, the price is US$10.99. That’s three dollars more than the paperback and I’m not sure I want to pay that much. Due to new release discounts etc, it comes back down to about the same as the paperback price. While I object on principle, after thinking about it for a while, I decide to go ahead and buy.

All right, at this point I have to make a confession. Due to my extreme frustration with ebook geographic restrictions, I do work around this by using a friend’s US mailing address on my online account for this site. It’s always worked before (so long as I don’t pay by credit card which shows up my NZ address) and I don’t feel particularly bad about it as I pay for the book and everyone gets their share of my money, including the retailer, the publishing house and especially the author. In fact, it worked fine yesterday when I bought a different book. I’m not sure on the actual legalities of it, but parallel importing is legal in New Zealand, so I’ve always felt I should be able to buy the books anyway. I’m allowed to import the paper versions into the country, but for some reason not the electronic ones. Bizarre. (Of course, a huge amount of publishing seems bizarre these days.)

But overnight something has been upgraded (I rather suspect they’re checking my IP address now, although I’m not tech-savvy enough to know). Now I get a failure message instead because my “purchase location does not match the address on your account”. Well, that’s bloody annoying. But it may be legal, I admit, but it’s still bloody annoying.

I could buy myself the paperback. But in all honesty, I didn’t want a paperback for the reasons given above. Plus the fact that I have very little bookshelf space these days and I tend to hoard it for my Keeper book. While I really enjoy Ms Sinclair’s books, she qualifies as an ebook keeper for me, not a paper book keeper.

But if I can’t have the ebook, what are some of my other options?

I can buy it locally, through a specialty shop that does parallel importing. That’ll cost me $NZ24.90, which works out at about US$17.80. And with my CFS, I can’t just pop out to shop, so I’ll have to wait until a weekend when Dave can take me or pay a courier charge to have it shipped.

I can buy it from Amazon for US$7.99, but then they’ll charge me US$4.99 for shipping (and if I bought more that one book it would be another US$4.99 for each one so bulk buying doesn’t help), making the total US$12.99 and they tell me it’ll take 14 to 30 business days.

I can buy it from The Book Depository for US$7.73. At the moment they have free worldwide shipping (which I expect will end for people in places like me before too long because I don’t believe it can be sustainable). So price-wise, this is currently my best of my options as I’ll only be paying the US price for the book. They offer a shipping time of around 2 weeks which is better than Amazon.

But remember, I didn’t want a paperback copy in the first place and I can’t decide if I want to read the book enough to buy one.

So right now, I’m trying to decide it I can be bothered dealing with all this just to buy a book. The more I think about it, I suspect the less likely I am to decide to go ahead. That means everyone loses. I don’t get to read the book, Ms Sinclair doesn’t get her royalty and the people who do the hard work at the publishing house have their jobs made riskier because there’s another lost sale.

The whole business is crazy and I’m just getting to tired to deal with it all.

And yes, I’m very annoyed. Because at bottom, all I want to do is read what I expect to be a good book. And I can’t.

February 2010 Reading

2010-03-22T21:42:00.002+13:00

I had really hoped I might get caught up with reviews before posting my February reading, but it’s almost the end of March now, and it just isn’t going to happen. As always, I started the year with great hope that I’d keep up. It’s nice to be able to share my thoughts on the books I read. But I haven’t been feeling well and I can’t manage it at the moment. I will try to get a bit further caught up, but I’m going to post this before I have two full months worth of reading waiting in my drafts instead of just one.

The Ask and the Answer – Patrick Ness (519pp)
Chaos Walking, Book 2; YA SF; 8/10
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie – Alan Bradley (304pp)
Flavia de Luce, Book 1; Mystery; Library Book; 7/10
Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale – Russell T. Davies and Benjamin Cook (512 pp)
Non-Fiction; Media; Library Book; 9/10
Doubleblind – Ann Aguirre (320pp)
Sirantha Jax, Book 3; SF; eBook; 8/10
Magic Under Glass – Jaclyn Dolamore (240pp)
Fantasy; YA'; Library Book; 7/10
A Wind in the Door – Madeleine L’Engle (203pp)
Time Quintet, Book 2; Children; SF; Reread; 7/10
This Alien Shore – C. S. Friedman (576pp)
SF; 9/10
Life As We Knew It – Susan Beth Pfeffer (352pp)
Moon Crash, Book 1; SF; YA; Library Book; 9/10
Ace of Cakes – Duff Goldman (256pp)
Non-Fiction; Library Book; 7/10

Best book of the month = This Alien Shore
Biggest disappointment of the month = The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

February Reading:
Books read this month = 9
Short Stories read this month = 0
Total reads this month = 9

10/10 reads this month = 0
DNFs this month = 0
New reads this month = 8
Rereads this month = 1
paper books : eBooks = 7 : 2 = 78 % : 22 %

Pages read this month = 519 + 304 + 512 + 320 + 240 +203 + 576 + 352 + 256 = 3282

February Challenges Progress:
Flashback Reading Challenge = 1
Big Book Challenge = 3
Sci Fi Experience = 6

February List Progress:
eBooks read = 1
SFF books read = 5
Library Books read = 5
Audiobooks listened to = 0

Where the Wild Things Are

2010-03-15T21:50:00.001+13:00

My mother just sent me this. It’s Marcus (in the middle) with my cousin’s two sons. They were playing at Lollipops in Palmerston North at a birthday party for the other boys’ cousin (ie my other cousin’s daughter). The relationships are all a little bit complicated as you can see, so to simplify things we just call all the kids cousins.

Anyway, I thought it was just too cute not to share.

A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle

2010-03-15T16:05:00.001+13:00

From Goodreads:

There are dragons in the twins' vegetable garden," announces six-year-old Charles Wallace Murry in the opening sentence of The Wind in the Door. His older sister, Meg, doubts it. She figures he's seen something strange, but dragons—a "dollop of dragons," a "drove of dragons," even a "drive of dragons"—seem highly unlikely. As it turns out, Charles Wallace is right about the dragons—though the sea of eyes (merry eyes, wise eyes, ferocious eyes, kitten eyes, dragon eyes, opening and closing) and wings (in constant motion) is actually a benevolent cherubim (of a singularly plural sort) named Proginoskes who has come to help save Charles Wbllace from a serious illness.

Here we go, the second book in Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet and the second book for Kailana’s challenge. I’ve always felt that A Wrinkle in Time and A Swiftly Tilting Planet are the most well know of L’Engle’s books about Meg Murry, but I look back at this one with great fondness.

There are two reasons for that: Proginoskes the cherubim and mitochondria (and farandolae). All these years later, I found that while not all of the book stood up to an adult reread, those two aspects of it did.

I don’t remember when I first read this book, but it would have been back in my teens. I know that I would have still been in high school, already leaning towards a university degree in science (even without ever having studied biology). I had never come across the word mitochondria before, but already being a scientist at heart, I went straight off to try to find out more. This was not such as easy a task as it would be now, in those long ago, pre-internet days, but I was delighted to discover that mitochondria were indeed real (although I admit to being equally disappointed to find out that farandolae were not).

I also loved Proginoskes – I thought he was described beautifully - and I always particularly liked my cover (shown above) for its attempt to illustrate him, which I always thought did a pretty good of it. Rather like mitochondria, a cherubim (singular, of course) was something I didn’t know much about, but was encouraged to explore further. Many, many years later, I read Faith Hunter’s Bloodring and sequels that features a cherubim, and whatever Hunter’s vision of it, my mental picture was shaped by Progo.

Sure, those are both kind of sentimental reasons for liking a book, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Surely good books should provoke an emotional and even sentimental response?

Meg remained a favourite character, but Charles Wallace was underused in this book – no surprise as he was ill for most of it, but I still noticed the lack. It was great to have Calvin there, but in all honesty, he didn’t do all that much. It was Mr Jenkins who was a surprising star, as a man who had been portrayed as shallow and mean showed that there was more to him than anyone, even himself, would ever have expected.

However, I did feel that A Wind in the Door had dated much more obviously that A Wrinkle in Time had done. There was more pseudo-science in this one, and in the time between 1973 and now, even the general concepts of many of the ideas used by L’Engle have been invalidated by the progress of modern science. We don’t use sound to look at very small things, we use electrons, and we know so much now about the structure of the mitochondrion that L’Engle’s vision, while interesting, is also kind of silly.

The underlying theology was also a lot more prominent this time. In itself, that doesn’t really bother me, as like I’ve said, much of my own is pretty similar. But it was much more to the fore this time to the point that I noticed it, and I suspect other readers may feel the same way. In A Wrinkle in Time I felt she blended the science and theology nicely, but they didn’t mesh quite as well this time.

All the same, I enjoyed my reread, and found that one of my favourite lines of all time came from this book. I’d always known it was in one of the Time Quintet books, but I’d imagined it was A Swiftly Tilting Planet not A Wind in the Door.

Calvin’s eyes met her for a long moment and held her gaze, not speaking, not kything, simply being.

That last phrase, “not speaking, not kything, simply being” is something that I’ve often remembered and wished I could achieve more often in my own life. We get so caught up in all the things we have to do, remember, keep up with, that we forget to simply be. This line has always reminded me of that. I need to try to simply be more often.

One last small love from this book – the comment tossed away in passing that Sandy and Denys will be Teachers one day. I like that. That even the “normal” ones are special too.

So all in all, a pleasant reread, but it didn’t stand the test of time the way A Wrinkle in Time did. It’ll be interest to see my reaction to A Swiftly Tilting Planet which I remember with even more affection than I did this one.

A Wind in the Door
Madeleine L’Engle
Time Quintet, Book 2
7/10
Read: 12-2-10 to 16-2-10

Time Quintet

A Wrinkle in Time
A Wind in the Door
A Swiftly Tilting Planet (Goodreads link)
Many Waters (Goodreads link)
An Acceptable Time (Goodreads link)

Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore

2010-03-12T21:49:00.001+13:00

From Goodreads.com:

Nimira is a foreign music-hall girl forced to dance for mere pennies. When wealthy sorcerer Hollin Parry hires her to sing with a piano-playing automaton, Nimira believes it is the start of a new and better life. In Parry's world, however, buried secrets are beginning to stir. Unsettling below-stairs rumors swirl about ghosts, a madwoman roaming the halls, and Parry's involvement with a league of sorcerers who torture fairies for sport. Then Nimira discovers the spirit of a fairy gentleman named Erris is trapped inside the clockwork automaton, waiting for someone to break his curse. The two fall into a love that seems hopeless, and breaking the curse becomes a race against time, as not just their love, but the fate of the entire magical world may be in peril.

Before I even start this review, I want to make a comment on the cover. This book, or more accurately this book’s cover, has been causing a stir around the internet. The main character, Nimira, is foreign and dark-skinned, but the book was originally published with the top cover, featuring a white-skinned model. This practice is know as “whitewashing” and there is an excellent post about it at The Book Smugglers which I highly recommend reading.

There was so much fuss that the publisher, Bloomsbury, reprinted the book with the new cover, shown to the left. Personally, I like this one better and the model is a much better representation of Nim. However, the copy I got from the library had the original cover, which is why that one is at the top of the post.

It’s now a month since I read this book (the danger of letting reviews slide) and I’m finding it hard to know what to say about it. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with the book – rather it was a very pleasant read – but I’m not finding lots of memorable things to tell you about. Instead, I’m left with a series of impressions more than a coherent review.

I really liked Nim. She had a bright, positive character that added lovely colour to the novel. There was a real sense of her background and homeland as a bright, sunny, desert kind of place that contrasted beautifully with the more English-like setting of the novel that gave me a feeling of cool and green and something much softer edged. Her situation wasn’t great at the beginning of the novel, but she fully owned that her own actions had brought her to that position and when the offer from Hollin Parry came up, she took the risk and the chance to improve things.

Her interaction with the clockwork automaton and discovery of the spirit inside was nicely done, as were her developing relationships with both Erris and Parry. The plot did grow a little complicated with the discovery of wives in attics and external politics, but it never went out of control.

I found myself a little surprised at the ending. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but that it felt more like a pause than an ending. I had assumed that the book was a standalone, but the resolution suggests there is another book coming. I don’t know for sure if that is the case, but Nim and Erris’s story isn’t finished yet and I hope we do find out what happens to them next.

So all in all, this was a very nice little story. It was a very good debut and I’ll be keeping an eye out to see what Jaclyn Dolamore produces next.

Magic Under Glass
Jaclyn Dolamore
7/10
Read: 5-2-19 to 12-2-10

Doubleblind by Ann Aguirre

2010-03-02T21:15:00.001+13:00

From Goodreads:

It’s not easy to tread lightly
wearing steel-toed boots.

Sirantha Jax isn’t known for diplomatic finesse. As a “Jumper” who navigates ships through grimspace, she’s used to kicking ass first and taking names later—much later. Not exactly the obvious
choice to sell the Conglomerate to the Ithtorians, a people whose opinions of humans are as hard as their exoskeletons.

And Ithiss-Tor council meetings aren’t the only place where
Ambassador Jax needs to maneuver carefully. Her lover, March,
is frozen in permanent “kill” mode, and his hair-trigger threatens to sabotage the talks—not to mention their relationship.

But Jax won’t give up on the man or the mission. With the Outskirts beleaguered by raiders, pirates, and the flesh-eating Morgut, an alliance with Ithiss-Tor may be humanity’s only hope.

Which has Jax wondering why a notorious troublemaker like her was given the job…

I’ve had this one since it was published at the end of last September, but somehow it took me until now to get to it. (Thank you, Carl, for your Sci-Fi Experience, which focussed me on getting some long-waiting science fiction read in the first months of the year.)

It was way back in October 2008 that I read Wanderlust, the previous book in the series, so it had been a long time since I’d been hanging out with Jax and friends. To be honest, I couldn’t remember all that much of the storyline. I knew they’d been running around the Clan planet and that things had gone wrong with March and he was now both dangerous and pretty much emotionless. Oh yeah, and that Jax was supposed to be going to Vel’s planet as an ambassador. But that was pretty much all.

All that meant I was a bit nervous about how easy or hard it might be to get back into the series, especially since it is written in first person present test, and it tends to take me a little bit of time to adjust to it.

I was happily surprised by how easily I slipped back into Jax’s company and her world. I actually remembered enough to get by, even if I was missing some particular details.

A lot was made, in the blurb and at the beginning of the book, of the fact that Jax isn’t the kind of person to be an ambassador. She’s loud, brash and far from diplomatic. The thing is, I didn’t feel this was fair. Sure, the Jax we met at the beginning of Grimspace was all those things. But Jax has been through a lot since then and she’s learned a lot and grown a lot. She’s much better suited for the mission than anyone might think. And those who expect her to fail are likely to be quite surprised.

Sure, this book is about the diplomatic mission and how it progresses. Jax and her companions don’t dare let on just how desperate they are for this alliance to go through, and it soon becomes clear that there are two factions on Ithiss-Tor, each of which has pretty much already made up its mind already on how they are going to vote. The result is important and the reader is never going to be fully distracted from that by the other themes of the book, but those themes are very important too.

Because even more than being about the alliance, I found this book to be about Jax, her growth and especially her relationships with her friends. She comes to Ithiss-Tor unsure about how her relationship with Vel stands here on his home planet and learns a lot about herself, and even more about him, his past and his relationship to his own species.

An even stronger indication of how much Jax has changed is shown in her determination not to give up on Marsh. Traumatised by what he felt he had to do in the last book, he’s seriously psychologically damaged and has withdrawn inside himself. The old Jax would most likely have considered him too much work and cut him loose. The Jax we know now is willing and able to acknowledge that she loves him and isn’t prepared to let him go. She has no idea how to heal him, but she’s determined to try. And I thought Aguirre’s solution to the problem was brilliant. There was no way Jax was going to be able to repeat what Mair had originally done for March, and instead she comes to her own, wild and unexpected answer.

I had been a little concerned that the ending of the book might become sort of squashed as both the emotional and dramatic stories came to their conclusions, but I shouldn’t have worried. Aguirre wrapped things up nicely and effectively, with events flowing from plot point to plot point and I particularly liked the final rescue and resolution.

Then, on the last page, it all went to hell. Of course. All ready for the next book.

Happily, Ann Aguirre has announced that her publisher has bought the next (and last) two Jax books, meaning she will be able to finish up the story as she planned. Personally, I’d rather have a story with a beginning, middle and end, whether that is over one book or several, so I’m delighted with this news as the story will reach an organic end, rather than just rambling on and on.

And to finish, look at the beautiful cover for the fourth book, Killbox, which will be published this September.

Doubleblind
Ann Aguirre
Sirantha Jax, Book 3
8/10
Read: 2-2-10 to 11-2-10

Sirantha Jax

Grimspace (Goodreads link)
Wanderlust
Doubleblind
Killbox (Goodreads link: Due September 2010)
Aftermath (forthcoming)
Endgame (forthcoming)

Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale by Russell T. Davies and Benjamin Cook

2010-03-02T17:19:00.001+13:00

From Goodreads.com:

A fascinating look at the creative life of the hit BBC series, Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale is executive producer Russell T. Davies' personal tour of the Doctor's universe. A unique collection of correspondence between Russell and writer Benjamin Cook, the book explores in detail Russell's work on Doctor Who Series 4, revealing how he plans the series and works with the show's writers. Fully illustrated with script pages, personal notes, and never-before-seen photos and artwork, The Writer's Tale is a love letter to television, and a fitting tribute to one of the most popular family dramas of all time.

This is another book I discovered thanks to the internet (there seem to be a lot of those, which is probably why my TBR pile is so out of control). This time it was discussed on one of the Doctor Who podcasts I listen to. I don’t 100% remember which one, but I think it was the DWO WhoCast. I listened, thought the podcasters’ comments were interesting and didn’t think much more about it. A few weeks later, we were in the library and my husband saw it on the new books stand and pointed it out to me. What the heck? I thought, grabbed it and brought it home with me.

When we got home, I opened it to have a look at what it was like and just kept on going until I was finished, some time the next day. I was surprised at how fascinated I found myself by the whole thing and I happily read my way though to the end and then found myself wanting to start watching season four of the new Doctor Who all over again.

This book is mostly the emails between Russell T. Davies (showrunner for the first four seasons of the modern Doctor Who) and writer Benjamin Cook. As I understand it, Cook suggested that Davies might like to email him about the writing of season 4 and what started off a little nervously soon became a no-holds barred look at the mind and personality of Davies as he worked.

While I have happily enjoyed watching Doctor Who over the last five years, I haven’t always been happy with some of the episodes Davies has written. I can easily enjoy them on a first watching, but when I think back on them, the story can be seriously lacking. After feeling exactly this way about David Tennant’s swan song, The End of Time, I finally figured out with the help of a friend that Davies is an emotional writer. It’s all about the emotion with him and how to pack the biggest emotional wallop into the story. So when you stop and think about it, the story can have next to no plot at all, or have a totally stupid plot, but it sure has the emotional moments. As someone who likes both, not all of Davies’ stories work for me. (Indeed, this is why I’m looking forward to seeing what Steven Moffat does with the show, as he seems to be much more plot based than Davies.)

Reading The Writer’s Tale only confirmed this for me. Davies seems to live his entire life by his emotions (and very exhausting it seems to be too). He seems to spend a lot of his time despairing that he will never write anything, or that what he has written is rubbish. He pushes every deadline to the limit and yet constantly pulls it off at the last moment. I certainly wouldn’t want to live with him (but that’s okay, because I’m sure he wouldn’t want to live with me either) but it certainly makes for interesting reading at a distance.

It was fascinating to see his ideas progress from the places each one began to the final product we eventually saw on screen. It was particularly fascinating to see him slowly creating a new character to be the companion in season 4, only have have Catherine Tate return to reprise her role as Donna and see the changes that made in the developing scripts.

I enjoyed reading this – it’s a great balance of information about the show and Davies himself, pretty photos from the show (I like pretty photos), large sections of scripts in progress and even cute cartoons penned by Davies. It also contained some interesting words of wisdom that I wanted to share.

On writing and creativity (p.77):

It is not a democracy. Creating something is not a democracy. The people have no say. The artist does. It doesn’t matter what the people witter on about; they and their response come after. They’re not there for the creations.

Right on, Russell! Say it again. I would always far rather a writer be true to their vision than be swayed by the fans. Fans don’t have a clue what they want and too many cooks are sure to spoil the broth. I can choose not to like the artist’s choices, but I’d rather they stuck to the truth of their creativity.

Oh dear. I had a couple of other quotes I wanted to share, but I can’t track down where I wrote the relevant page numbers. I’ve tried flipping through the book, but I still can’t find them, so I’m just going to stop the review here.

If you like Doctor Who, this is a very fascinating read. (If you’ve never seen the new Doctor Who, don’t even consider this one as you’ll be totally lost.) I enjoyed it far more than I expected to when I started and I’ve got my name on the hold list for the follow up volume that looks at writing the 2009 television specials.

And roll on Easter and the new season and new Doctor. I can’t wait.

Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale
Russell T. Davies and Benjamin Cook
9/10
Read: 4-2-10 to 5-2-10

Follow up to The Ask and the Answer review

2010-03-02T16:00:00.001+13:00

After struggling to write my review of The Ask and the Answer, I have just found some notes on it stored on my phone. Rather than trying to redo anything, I think I’ll just post them here.

I've been struggling with this and unable to figure out why. Now at about 2/3 through, I think I'm finally figuring it out.

Things hadn't been too bad all around up to this point. Disturbing, yes. Worrying, yes. But still borderline okay. In many other books, this might be the point where rescue arrives, saving us from all the moral and practical dilemmas to come.

But Ness isn't doing it this way.

The underlying sense of doom that made the early parts slow but with an inevitable portent of growing disaster may be what made reading the book so difficult.

The Mayor is a master manipulator who can twist and spin everything to make it come out sounding the way he wants it too. He's been especially doing it to Todd and Viola until they both find themselves where they have very few choices but to make the decisions others want them to make. He's creepy and freaky and a very, very nasty villain who makes me want to shudder.

Now, at 2/3 through, the boot has fallen and the worst is beginning to happen. The sense of doom has been proved to be correct. In a way, this has made reading it easier as we can just get on with it now.

The Mayor has done that evil thing where he's turned life into a fascist dictatorship but step-by-step convincing the populace these measures are for the better, when it is clear to the reader at least that this is far from true. And he's doing really awful things in the background.

The Ask is clearly very much based on the Inquisition and it is very easy to see parallels to Nazi Germany. I'm not a history buff and generally only know about things as they appear in popular knowledge, but the old Mayor Ledger also seems to have a very Chamberlain-esque feel about him.

Todd is trapped in this. He's been manipulated emotionally (and occasionally physically) into the place the Mayor wants him to be and he's going along with things out of a sense there's no escape. He's not pleased by what the Mayor's doing but sees no solution. He's turning himself off in order to cope. His triumph will be to turn on again and make Todd's decisions rather than the Mayor's decisions when the time comes.

As for Viola, she's also been tossed into a position where her choice has largely been made for her. She can see the evil that is being fought but she is still clear-eyed enough to see that the issue isn't simple and the possibility clearly remains that stopping the Mayor may have to be followed by stopping Mistress Coyle.

At this point Viola seems to be more on the side of good - although not really through any action of her own - but I rather suspect there's still some plot twists to come.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

2010-03-02T15:17:00.001+13:00

From Goodreads:

A delightfully dark English mystery, featuring precocious young sleuth Flavia de Luce and her eccentric family.

The summer of 1950 hasn't offered up anything out of the ordinary for eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce: bicycle explorations around the village, keeping tabs on her neighbours, relentless battles with her older sisters, Ophelia and Daphne, and brewing up poisonous concoctions while plotting revenge in their home's abandoned Victorian chemistry lab, which Flavia has claimed for her own.

But then a series of mysterious events gets Flavia's attention: A dead bird is found on the doormat, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. A mysterious late-night visitor argues with her aloof father, Colonel de Luce, behind closed doors. And in the early morning Flavia finds a red-headed stranger lying in the cucumber patch and watches him take his dying breath. For Flavia, the summer begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw: "I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn't. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life."

Did the stranger die of poisoning? There "was" a piece missing from Mrs. Mullet's custard pie, and none of the de Luces would have dared to eat the awful thing. Or could he have been killed by the family's loyal handyman, Dogger... or by the Colonel himself! At that moment, Flavia commits herself to solving the crime -- even if it means keeping information from the village police, in order to protect her family. But then her father confesses to the crime, for the same reason, and it's up to Flavia to free him of suspicion. Only she has the ingenuity to follow the clues that reveal the victim's identity, and a conspiracy that reaches back into the de Luces' murky past.

This is a book I saw reviewed very positively on several blogs. It sounded like it should be quite delightful. Eccentric English families, strange murders, a Victorian laboratory and its resident eleven year old chemist. What could be better? So I reserved it from the library and started it pretty much right away.

Unfortunately, I think I was expecting too much. While I enjoyed the story, I found it lacking a certain deftness in execution that I had been expecting from other readers’ reviews. Instead, the writing seemed a little stodgy, rather like a sadly undercooked pie crust.

I kept on reading, interested to find out just what was going on, and I’m not in the least sorry that I read the book, but there was still that something missing from the experience. I think, if that delicate, quirky touch had been there, this would have been a brilliant book, filled with strange and delightful characters and happenings.

Instead, I found it all a bit over the top. Flavia was fun, but she was terribly precocious for an eleven year old, and you’ve got to get the characterisation just right for that to work. Sure, I’ve never been to England in the 1950s, but I can’t quite believe the other characters all told Flavia all the secrets they did, or let her traipse around the countryside the way she did. She was never at home and no-one seemed to care. And she just kept on getting in the way. If I had been the policeman in charge, I’d have wanted to lock her in her bedroom and throw away the key.

All her chemical investigations and musings were also a lot of fun, but I do query an eleven year old, even such a precocious one as Flavia, holding quite that much knowledge in her head. (Of course, it didn’t help that this adult who was once a chemist couldn’t really remember any of it, so maybe I was just jealous.)

From the blurbs and reviews I’d read, I had been expecting there to be a lot more solidarity between the sisters than there was which was something I was looking forward to reading, so finding that the girls really didn’t seem to care all that much about each other was rather disappointing.

Please, don’t think this is a bad book, because it wasn’t. But for me, it was an average book and I’d been expecting something spectacular. This was very much a case of having expectations that were way too high and that’s one of the few downsides of reading lots of book blogs. Sometimes, something that works well for others, just doesn’t work as well for me.

All the same, I have the sequel, The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag (aren’t the titles just so cool?), on reserve from the library. I won’t be going into it with such high expectations, which I hope will make the reading experience more enjoyable.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Alan Bradley
Flavia de Luce, Book 1
7/10
Read: 2-2-10 to 4-2-10

Flavia de Luce

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag (Goodreads link: Due for release 10-3-10)