book list, June 2006

[edenfalling]

I made three resolutions this year. First, get a job. (Done!) Second, exercise more regularly and lose weight. (Done!) Third, keep a list of the books I read.

These are the books I read in June, 2006:

New: 21
---Black Powder War, Naomi Novik (historical fantasy: sequel to His Majesty's Dragon and Throne of Jade; very engaging and continues to fill in the world-building gaps left by the previous books)
---The Duke's Ballad, Lyn McConchie and Andre Norton (fantasy: a Witch World novel in the classic tradition; could use a fair bit of thematic and plot tightening)
---Mélusine, Sarah Monette (fantasy: lush and decadent: see my review)
---Sebastian, Anne Bishop (fantasy: kind of tacky, actually, but quite readable; definitely the beginning of a series)
---Soul of the Sword: An Illustrated History of Weaponry and Warfare from Prehistory to the Present, Robert L. O'Connell, illus. John Batchelor (nonfiction: less illustrated than it sounds, and quite interesting, though it falls apart a bit after WWI)
---Yu-Gi-Oh!, vols. 1, 4, Kazuki Takahashi (manga: games, games, and more games; incredibly tacky, but I love it anyway)
---Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist, vols. 5, 13, 14, Kazuki Takahashi (manga: continuation of the previous series. Okay, I begin to see where people are getting Kaiba/Yami... but I still don't really agree.)
---YuYu Hakusho, vol. 9, Yoshihiro Togashi (manga: archetypical shonen fight story, "like caffeinated crack")
---Gravitation, vols. 2, 3, Maki Murakami (manga: shonen-ai and rockstars; Murakami is on the good crack, oh yes...)
---Fruits Basket, vols 1-6, 11, 12, Natsuki Takaya (manga: somehow manages to include slapstick humor, crack fantasy, high school travails, martial arts fighting, and pull-your-heartstrings drama/romance/tragedy... without seeming to have multiple personality disorder. I would really like to know how Takaya pulled that one off!)



Old: 12
---A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold (science fiction: Regency romance in space! I swear I only meant to reread two pages of this, but this book pulls me in like a black hole, and makes me laugh so much I can't really bring myself to mind.)
---Gryphon's Eyrie, Andre Norton (fantasy: more classic Witch World, sequel to The Crystal Gryphon and Gryphon in Glory, in which Kerovan finally stops being such an idiot... mostly)
---Yu-Gi-Oh!, vols. 2, 5, Kazuki Takahashi (manga: games, games, and more games; incredibly tacky, but I love it anyway)
---Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist, vols. 4, 8, 10-12, Kazuki Takahashi (manga: continuation of the previous series)
---Bridge of Birds, Barry Hughart (fantasy: the first adventure of Master Li Kao and Number Ten Ox, in "an ancient China that never was;" complete with gods, fairy tales, scholars, adventure, slapstick comedy, and more; absolutely beautiful; owes a lot to the Judge Dee stories)
---The Story of the Stone, Barry Hughart (fantasy: sequel to Bridge of Birds, more cerebral than the first book, but still quite good)
---Eight Skilled Gentlemen, Barry Hughart (fantasy: third Master Li book, still has flashes of genius but this one's merely okay, and something of a let-down after the two preceeding books)



June Total = 33 books (plus a bunch of fanfiction, a couple newspapers, and several magazines)

Year to Date = 141 books (99 new, 42 old)

Comments

[yuki-buffy.livejournal.com]

gravitation is good crack! (i love yuki!!!) and it only gets crackier as the series goes on. can you say flying panda mecha?

[edenfalling]

can you say flying panda mecha?

*boggles*

[yuki-buffy.livejournal.com]

well, it was Rage Kitazawa... you won't meet her for a while.

[yuenoclow.livejournal.com]

Whee, drive-by review!

Gravitation just gets crazier and crazier as it goes on. You're not quite sure what Murakami-sensei is on to write that kind of craziness, but... *shrugs*

And *squee!!!* Furuba! God I love that series... Wait until you read volume 13, the class trip is *so* much fun... *snickers* But before *that* happens, you have the teacher/parent meeting with Yuki's mother. *wince* Erk.

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

ialwasy look forward to these. by the way for some reasn it says may total, adn it lists two bits of manga twice (and i'm 99 perent sure because ihad it read to me by some speech ting and ther were two paragraphs repeated agai nlater.)
ayway, this is handy or my to-read list, lol!

[edenfalling]

I don't think they have vol. 13 at my local library yet. *sigh* I'm still waiting for vols. 7-10.

[edenfalling]

It said May instead of June because I do these lists on cut-and-paste, and I forgot to switch that part! Thanks for catching it.

Yu-Gi-Oh! and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist are sort of like parts one and two of a trilogy, with Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World being the third part. Of course, each 'part' is then composed of several volumes, so it gets confusing. Also, I read some volumes from each series for the first time in June, so they're listed as new books, and I reread some volumes that I first read in May, so those are listed as old books.

YYH#9 is gold

[(Anonymous)]

Kuwabara = wub. He's so incredibly lame that he transcends it and becomes cool.

Or something like that.

Re: YYH#9 is gold

[edenfalling]

Kuwabara is a massive dork, but as I think I said to someone a couple months ago, he has a good heart and I love that. :-)

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

so this was me not payig nattention. blah. I somehwo thin kyou're avery organized person so I feel abit weird for even suggestion you wer mixignthing up.
oh well.