book list, July 2006
Aug. 1st, 2006 01:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingI 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 July, 2006:
New: 33
---A Tolkien Miscellany, J. R. R. Tolkien (mostly fantasy, a bit of literary theory: I'd read a couple of the individual pieces before -- Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wooton Major -- but Tree and Leaf, Tolkien's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the various Middle Earth poems were new to me, so I'm calling this a new book.)
---Southern Fire, Juliet E. McKenna (fantasy: a magical invasion of a decentralized archipelago whose people abhor magic as evil. There are a number of interesting concepts in the way McKenna sets up her society, but she finks out and uses boring elemental-style magic, and I found myself wishing that she had left the 'evil barbarian' magical invaders out altogether and just told a story about inter-island politics instead, because those and the fortune-telling systems were the parts that really interested me. Also, her names don't have a consistent ethno-linguistic 'sound,' and her spelling system is a mess. But I will be reading the sequel, when it comes out, because I like Kheda and I want to know what happens to him next.)
---The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch (fantasy: this has been described as Ocean's Eleven in a fantastical version of medieval Venice, and, barring the Victorian London influences, that's about spot on. Marvelously engaging; go read it now!)
---The Mirror Prince, Violette Malan (fantasy: yet another 'let's do a new spin on elves and fairyland!' attempt that isn't actually new or particularly interesting at all. A waste of perfectly good time and money. The technical quality of the writing is good, though, even if the subject matter is pointless.)
---Time Was, Nora Roberts (romance: unexceptionable for the genre, though the standard sci-fi 'future' and the time-travel schtick would've been irritating if I'd actually cared enough to take it seriously.)
---Times Change, Nora Roberts (romance: sequel to Time Was, in which the previous lead characters' sister and brother get together. Hey, this is how I kill time while I'm closing the store some nights.)
---Spider-Man: The Darkest Hours, Jim Butcher (comics-based novel: pretty standard for a Spidey story, though Jim Butcher writes it quite well. I may have to look into his original work.)
---Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer (fantasy: definitely for kids, no particular depth, and quite fun, though it doesn't pay more than the barest lip service to realism and the fairy society would never in a million years actually work.)
---Fruits Basket, vols. 7-10, 13, 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. Actually reduced me to sniffles a couple times, which is not easy to do!)
---Angel Sanctuary, vols. 1-20, Kaori Yuki (manga: this series ate my brain. It is fucked-up and brilliant, and I will review it in more detail later.)
Old: 6
---The Death of Chaos, L. E. Modesitt, Jr. (fantasy: I have ISSUES with Modesitt -- the sound effects alone could keep me going for twenty minutes -- but I keep rereading some of his books anyway, so clearly there's something there that resonates. I think, in this particular case, it's the wood-crafting scenes.)
---Fruits Basket, vols. 4-6, 11-12, Natsuki Takaya (manga: heartwarming)
July Total = 39 books (plus a lot of fanfiction, a couple newspapers, and several magazines)
Year to Date = 180 books (132 new, 48 old)
These are the books I read in July, 2006:
New: 33
---A Tolkien Miscellany, J. R. R. Tolkien (mostly fantasy, a bit of literary theory: I'd read a couple of the individual pieces before -- Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wooton Major -- but Tree and Leaf, Tolkien's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the various Middle Earth poems were new to me, so I'm calling this a new book.)
---Southern Fire, Juliet E. McKenna (fantasy: a magical invasion of a decentralized archipelago whose people abhor magic as evil. There are a number of interesting concepts in the way McKenna sets up her society, but she finks out and uses boring elemental-style magic, and I found myself wishing that she had left the 'evil barbarian' magical invaders out altogether and just told a story about inter-island politics instead, because those and the fortune-telling systems were the parts that really interested me. Also, her names don't have a consistent ethno-linguistic 'sound,' and her spelling system is a mess. But I will be reading the sequel, when it comes out, because I like Kheda and I want to know what happens to him next.)
---The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch (fantasy: this has been described as Ocean's Eleven in a fantastical version of medieval Venice, and, barring the Victorian London influences, that's about spot on. Marvelously engaging; go read it now!)
---The Mirror Prince, Violette Malan (fantasy: yet another 'let's do a new spin on elves and fairyland!' attempt that isn't actually new or particularly interesting at all. A waste of perfectly good time and money. The technical quality of the writing is good, though, even if the subject matter is pointless.)
---Time Was, Nora Roberts (romance: unexceptionable for the genre, though the standard sci-fi 'future' and the time-travel schtick would've been irritating if I'd actually cared enough to take it seriously.)
---Times Change, Nora Roberts (romance: sequel to Time Was, in which the previous lead characters' sister and brother get together. Hey, this is how I kill time while I'm closing the store some nights.)
---Spider-Man: The Darkest Hours, Jim Butcher (comics-based novel: pretty standard for a Spidey story, though Jim Butcher writes it quite well. I may have to look into his original work.)
---Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer (fantasy: definitely for kids, no particular depth, and quite fun, though it doesn't pay more than the barest lip service to realism and the fairy society would never in a million years actually work.)
---Fruits Basket, vols. 7-10, 13, 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. Actually reduced me to sniffles a couple times, which is not easy to do!)
---Angel Sanctuary, vols. 1-20, Kaori Yuki (manga: this series ate my brain. It is fucked-up and brilliant, and I will review it in more detail later.)
Old: 6
---The Death of Chaos, L. E. Modesitt, Jr. (fantasy: I have ISSUES with Modesitt -- the sound effects alone could keep me going for twenty minutes -- but I keep rereading some of his books anyway, so clearly there's something there that resonates. I think, in this particular case, it's the wood-crafting scenes.)
---Fruits Basket, vols. 4-6, 11-12, Natsuki Takaya (manga: heartwarming)
July Total = 39 books (plus a lot of fanfiction, a couple newspapers, and several magazines)
Year to Date = 180 books (132 new, 48 old)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-01 07:36 pm (UTC)Angel Sanctuary really needs a warning label to the effect of "This series is dark and twisted, and really, something in here will probably disturb you or make you do a doubletake at some point, no matter how cynical and worldly you think you are," but it is so pretty that I don't care. I love the plot twists, and the way a lot of the story is unreliable -- characters tell two or more versions of the same story, or they say one thing and mean another, or they're flat-out lying, or they deliberately mislead people, or they think they mean what they're saying but their actions give the lie to their words, or they misinterpret other characters' motives, and so on.
I also like the character interactions. I like the depth of emotion, and the way it's never flat-out stated exactly what type of love or strong emotion various characters feel toward various other characters; I like the fluidity of motive. I especially like the way that a grand clash of heaven, earth, and hell is essentially folded into the quests of a few characters, who are fighting not for any grand principles, but for much more personal reasons (good and bad reasons, both -- sometimes both from the same person).
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-01 07:40 pm (UTC)I like dark and twisty and shadows and gray. So this definitely sounds like my type of series. I shall have to investigate at the library.
And yes! Fruits Baket 14 comes out today. If you're reading from the library, I'd advise getting on the wait list ASAP! *does happy dance*
I've see way ahead on spoilers, but I'm still almost giddy with finding out what happens next!