book list, July 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 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)

Comments

[edenfalling]

What I mean by 'ethno-linguistic consistency' is that names in any given culture often have a certain 'sound' -- that is, after hearing a bunch of them, you get a sense of what is and isn't possible as a name in that particular culture. McKenna's names don't cohere that way, and the couple of characters from a culture that's very clearly not the same as the archipelago -- it's a mainland culture that allows the use of magic -- sound no different from her archipelagan names. This has no effect on the story, but it's a sloppy bit of world-building, and that irritates me.

Yes, Modesitt actually writes sound effects, such as horses neighing (Wheee-eeeh), or the earth grumbling prior to a landslide (Grrrruuurrr), or fireballs hissing through the air and exploding on contact with people/walls (WhhsssssCrumpt!). It's a little peculiar to read, and, in my opinion, unnecessary.

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

aha. that soundsa lto less complicated than I thought. (it's like someon who watched troy said they filmed a few miles aay form wher ithacasuposedly usedto be or something detailed/obscure liek that. or perhaps it was theri comment on the anachronisticcostumes. i might or might not have said that I sometims get big doubletakes--very irrealistic irrational once -- of wtf? they know all that!!! waaa! I gethat anywhere. someone does an astronomy report of star-watching and they jsut soudn liek they take al lthat from lots of leanred info and they jsut know so much!!)
heheh. 've lognago guessed that world-building is one of yoru strenghts and main interests. i 'als oguessign if you've read like six hundrd antas yseriesby now ovre the lengt of yoru reading-lifey ou hav a rightto get very damn picky.
(that's a new thign for me. i kept havignto bite my tongue earlier becausei kept wanting to say 'o hwhat does it matter just enjoy the story' the way I wanted to say i nsome very picky yahoo hp discussions.)

aha. someone mentioned that to me. i laughed back then and now you point it out it makesm e think of kids books and radio plays. adn story hours. is the rest of the prose ofa more mature tone? i'd get annoyedi n that case.