book list, November 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 November, 2006:

New: 6
---The Fall of the Kings, Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman (fantasy: sequel to Swordspoint and The Privilege of the Sword. A bit loose in places, and I spent the second half of the book teetering on the point of such strong sympathetic embarrassment that I nearly couldn't finish reading it. I like the academics, though.)
---Thomas the Rhymer, Ellen Kushner (fantasy: lush but slight)
---Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist vol. 15, Kazuki Takahashi (manga: card games and more card games, and a metaphoric hymn to friendship. Oh, Kaiba, you idiot. Oh, Yugi, you wonderful bitty fierce creature, you! Fight, Jounouchi -- you can break free!)
---Dzur, Steven Brust (fantasy: a Vlad Taltos book, direct sequel to Issola. Fun, but it feels more like necessary filler and set-up than a complete book in and of itself.)
---Chobits vol. 1, CLAMP (manga: very cute, very silly. All about humanoid robots, except nobody calls them that.)
---Clover vol. 3, CLAMP (manga: I love the minimalism and the way you have to read the story out of what isn't said as much as what is. And I really, truly wish my library had the full series.)


Old: 13
---The Final Encyclopedia, Gordon R. Dickson (science fiction: there's something about the sweep of Dickson's Childe Cycle that catches my imagination, even if I find a number of the details incredibly wrong-headed, incomplete, or unconvincing.)
---The Rowan, Anne McCaffrey (sci-fi/romance: psychics in SPACE! *has quiet giggle fit*)
---Damia, Anne McCaffrey (sci-fi/romance: sequel to The Rowan. Afra totally deserved better than being turned into a skeevy old man.)
---The Ship Who Sang, Anne McCaffrey (sci-fi: pieced together from short stories. Her writing's younger and less fluid, but I think this is actually a decent book, if one glosses over the inadvertent sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, and whatnot.)
---The Ship Who Searched, Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey (sci-fi: in which we proceed to invent silly alien archaeology and attempt to be serious about interstellar plagues. Still, I like Tia and Alex, damnit.)
---Deerskin, Robin McKinley (fantasy: a fairy-tale retelling, dark and haunting. Also, dogs.)
---Clover vol. 1, CLAMP (manga: minimalist and gorgeous)
---Angel Sanctuary vols. 1-3, 8, 15-16, (manga: fucked up, brilliant, and very, very pretty. And now you know which volumes I own as of the beginning of December.)


November Total = 19 books (plus a few magazines and some fanfiction)

Year to Date = 342 books (237 new, 105 old)

Comments

[bewize.livejournal.com]

I managed to make it through most of volume 2 tonight and I must say that I'm utterly intrigued by Kira. First, he's drawn amazingly and second, his story line looks like it's going to be a doozy!

As for casts of thousands, its a bit like trying to read Bleach... so many characters! Only this is a bit worse, because so many of the characters seem to be humans first, then angelic beings in human bodies!

I'll get them straight eventually, although I'm totally lost about Adam Kadamon... but I'm sure it'll become clear as I continue to read!

One question that you might have an answer to... is the series 16 volumes (as I thought) or 20 (as reported on wikipedia)?

Thanks!

*uses icon whose appropriateness will become apparent in a few volumes*

[edenfalling]

20 volumes, but I think only 16 have been published in English so far. IIRC from my recent attempt to make amazon.com cough up English volumes rather than Japanese or Spanish (this takes a bit of finagling with the search function, because they're listed oddly), vol. 17 is scheduled for release Real Soon Now. :-)

I love Kira. I like most of the characters in Angel Sanctuary, but Kira is definitely my favorite. And his story is, indeed, a doozy... several times over. :-D

Adam Kadamon suffers from a bit of confusion and also, I think, awkward translation. What I gathered, by the end of the series, is that hir name is actually Seraphita, and Adam Kadamon is a title. (Or possibly the other way around -- as I said, the translation can be muddled.) Se is both male and female, has six wings, has great power including the ability to control time, and is the acknowledged ancestor of at least two angels (Alexiel and Rosiel). Also, se has more or less been missing for a very long time. Telling any more would involve serious spoilers. ;-)

Re: *uses icon whose appropriateness will become apparent in a few volumes*

[bewize.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, thanks for the help! I managed to finish the second volume last night, but am still confused about who is who.

I'll have to get to the bookstore this week and get through volume 3. By the time I manage to read all of them, hopefully, they'll all be in print!

Thanks for the help re: Adam Kadamon, too.