book list, December 2006
Jan. 2nd, 2007 06:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingI made three resolutions last 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 December, 2006:
New: 13
---Dhampir, Barb and J.C. Hendee (fantasy: like Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a Dungeons & Dragons world; wants to be gritty and realistic but doesn't quite make it)
---Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman (fantasy: short story collection, pieces of which I've read in other places. Varying quality, but many are quite good. I particularly liked Sunbird, How to Talk to Girls at Parties, Feeders and Eaters, and A Study in Emerald, which is, of all things, a meld of Lovecraft and Sherlock Holmes.)
---Killing With the Edge of the Moon, A.A. Attanasio (fantasy: the subtitle is 'a graphic novel without illustrations,' which makes no sense to me, but perhaps explains the heavy hand on the descriptive language. Decent story, of the 'modern kids abducted into a dangerous, magical side-world' variety, but nothing special.)
---Chobits vols. 2-3, CLAMP (manga: cute and silly, about humanoid computers; one of these days I will track down vol. 4 and finish the series.)
---xxxHolic vols. 1-2, CLAMP (manga: people tell me I should read this alongside Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle; I can see how the stories interlink, but this one just doesn't engage me the same way. It's well done, though, if a bit shaky in the first chapters, and Yuuko and Watanuki completely and utterly deserve each other.)
---Godchild vols. 1-3, Kaori Yuki (manga: the story of a young English nobleman in Victorian/Edwardian times, with poison, murder, and random supernatural elements. I like creepy gothic weirdness and moral ambiguity, okay? And Kaori Yuki's artwork is very, very pretty.)
---Monster vols. 1-3, Naoki Urasawa (manga: like The Fugitive, only creepier, set in reunification Germany with all the attendant social issues. The art is clean and clear, and the plot is gripping.)
Old: 20
---Tactics of Mistake, Gordon R. Dickson (science fiction: another piece of the Childe Cycle. Same problems -- very cerebral, very Western-centric, and I do not agree with all the ideas -- but compelling nonetheless. Say what you will about Dickson; he has vision.)
---Dreams Made Flesh, Anne Bishop (fantasy/romance: story collection in her Dark Jewels universe. I feel vaguely embarrassed about liking this world so much -- there are a lot of technical flaws! -- but Bishop's writing has an emotional draw that tends to carry me past the awkward bits. Plus I like torture and gore. It's a failing, but there it is.)
---Clover vol. 3, CLAMP (manga: minimalist and gorgeous; I really do need to find vols. 2 and 4 someday)
---Fruits Basket vols. 1-4, 8-10, 12-13, (manga: high school life, family drama, supernatural elements, comedy, tragedy. And yet all the elements balance. I have vol. 14 on hold request from the library, but it's taking such a long time to come! So I'm rereading old volumes in the meantime.)
---Angel Sanctuary vols. 4-7, 9-11, 17, Kaori Yuki (manga: fucked up and brilliant exercise in treating Judeo-Christian traditions as myths instead of revealed truth, and thereby freeing them to be reshaped, discarded, or contradicted at the author's whim. Also a quest to save the world, sort of. I seem to be writing AS fanfiction, so I've been trying to get canon straight in my head.)
December Total: 33 books
2006 Total: 375 books (250 new, 125 old)
---------------------------------------------
I will probably do a detailed analysis of this in a few days, because I want to break down the results for my own interest, but right now I would just like to point out that I averaged more than a book a day last year. *is smug*
When I finished a book last night, I found myself starting a new page for January out of habit. And I thought, well, I've had fun keeping this list in 2006. So I'm going to do the whole thing again in 2007. My goal for this year is to crack 400 books, or to read more nonfiction and classical literature -- whichever turns out to be easier. :-)
---------------------------------------------
We did the twice-annual inventory at the store today. My brain melted, as I expected, and is currently in the process of recongealing out of soggy oatmeal. Ugh.
These are the books I read in December, 2006:
New: 13
---Dhampir, Barb and J.C. Hendee (fantasy: like Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a Dungeons & Dragons world; wants to be gritty and realistic but doesn't quite make it)
---Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman (fantasy: short story collection, pieces of which I've read in other places. Varying quality, but many are quite good. I particularly liked Sunbird, How to Talk to Girls at Parties, Feeders and Eaters, and A Study in Emerald, which is, of all things, a meld of Lovecraft and Sherlock Holmes.)
---Killing With the Edge of the Moon, A.A. Attanasio (fantasy: the subtitle is 'a graphic novel without illustrations,' which makes no sense to me, but perhaps explains the heavy hand on the descriptive language. Decent story, of the 'modern kids abducted into a dangerous, magical side-world' variety, but nothing special.)
---Chobits vols. 2-3, CLAMP (manga: cute and silly, about humanoid computers; one of these days I will track down vol. 4 and finish the series.)
---xxxHolic vols. 1-2, CLAMP (manga: people tell me I should read this alongside Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle; I can see how the stories interlink, but this one just doesn't engage me the same way. It's well done, though, if a bit shaky in the first chapters, and Yuuko and Watanuki completely and utterly deserve each other.)
---Godchild vols. 1-3, Kaori Yuki (manga: the story of a young English nobleman in Victorian/Edwardian times, with poison, murder, and random supernatural elements. I like creepy gothic weirdness and moral ambiguity, okay? And Kaori Yuki's artwork is very, very pretty.)
---Monster vols. 1-3, Naoki Urasawa (manga: like The Fugitive, only creepier, set in reunification Germany with all the attendant social issues. The art is clean and clear, and the plot is gripping.)
Old: 20
---Tactics of Mistake, Gordon R. Dickson (science fiction: another piece of the Childe Cycle. Same problems -- very cerebral, very Western-centric, and I do not agree with all the ideas -- but compelling nonetheless. Say what you will about Dickson; he has vision.)
---Dreams Made Flesh, Anne Bishop (fantasy/romance: story collection in her Dark Jewels universe. I feel vaguely embarrassed about liking this world so much -- there are a lot of technical flaws! -- but Bishop's writing has an emotional draw that tends to carry me past the awkward bits. Plus I like torture and gore. It's a failing, but there it is.)
---Clover vol. 3, CLAMP (manga: minimalist and gorgeous; I really do need to find vols. 2 and 4 someday)
---Fruits Basket vols. 1-4, 8-10, 12-13, (manga: high school life, family drama, supernatural elements, comedy, tragedy. And yet all the elements balance. I have vol. 14 on hold request from the library, but it's taking such a long time to come! So I'm rereading old volumes in the meantime.)
---Angel Sanctuary vols. 4-7, 9-11, 17, Kaori Yuki (manga: fucked up and brilliant exercise in treating Judeo-Christian traditions as myths instead of revealed truth, and thereby freeing them to be reshaped, discarded, or contradicted at the author's whim. Also a quest to save the world, sort of. I seem to be writing AS fanfiction, so I've been trying to get canon straight in my head.)
December Total: 33 books
2006 Total: 375 books (250 new, 125 old)
---------------------------------------------
I will probably do a detailed analysis of this in a few days, because I want to break down the results for my own interest, but right now I would just like to point out that I averaged more than a book a day last year. *is smug*
When I finished a book last night, I found myself starting a new page for January out of habit. And I thought, well, I've had fun keeping this list in 2006. So I'm going to do the whole thing again in 2007. My goal for this year is to crack 400 books, or to read more nonfiction and classical literature -- whichever turns out to be easier. :-)
---------------------------------------------
We did the twice-annual inventory at the store today. My brain melted, as I expected, and is currently in the process of recongealing out of soggy oatmeal. Ugh.
