It's time for the continuing adventures of Liz and her reading list! These are the books I read in April 2007.
New: 27---
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (science fiction: this is actually not about censorship. It's about human nature and futility and hope, and about how we need to
live and be aware of living instead of just going through the motions. It reminds me of
A Canticle for Leibowitz, only without the heavy Catholic overlay, and with Bradbury's habit of tiptoeing
just this side of the line between vividness and overwriting... except when he trips and crosses it. *grin*)
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Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell (nonfiction: about assumptions and subconscious thinking, and how our conscious selves are much less in charge of our thoughts, actions, and emotions than we think we are.)
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Mansfield Park, Jane Austen (fiction: I have now read all six of her novels. Yay! See my
review for detailed thoughts.)
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Bloodchild and Other Stories, Octavia E. Butler (science fiction: a short story collection, explores power dynamics and human relations with 'the other.' Butler doesn't flinch from potentially unsettling conclusions, which repels and draws me in equal measure.)
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Saiyuki, vols. 1-9, Kazuya Minekura (manga: four guys and a jeep travel west to save the world, but the journey is more important than the destination. This is brilliant and I love it. I will attempt a better review in a few days.)
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Saiyuki: Reload, vols. 1-7, Kazuya Minekura (manga: continuation of
Saiyuki. It's fascinating to watch Minekura's art style evolve over the course of the story.)
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Wild Adapter, vol. 1, Kazuya Minekura (manga: modern-day noir, small-time yakuza and an almost supernatural drug in the suburbs of Tokyo. I am assured there is massive subtext starting in vol. 2 once we properly meet the other main character. *grin* Beautiful artwork.)
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Fruits Basket vol. 16, (manga: high school life, family drama, supernatural elements, comedy, tragedy. And yet all the elements balance. I love this series.)
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Trigun Maximum, vol. 10, Yasuhiro Nightow (manga: cracked-out sci-fi and gunfights. You know what?
( spoiler ) *nods firmly*)
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Samurai Deeper Kyo, vol. 20, Akimine Kamijyo (manga: samurai fights with random supernatural trappings. Okay, can we stop the set-piece fights and get
on with the story? Nice revelation about Yuya's brother, though.)
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Monster vols. 5-6, Naoki Urasawa (manga: like
The Fugitive, only creepier, set in reunification Germany with all the attendant social issues. The art is clean and clear, the plot is gripping, and... I think we may have swerved into supernatural territory at the end of vol. 6. I guess that's not
too surprising, given how implausible some of the other plot points are, but it's still a bit of a shock after such a long, careful build-up and the resolute grounding of the other weird elements in the fabric of everyday life.)
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Lucifer, vol. 11 [Evensong], Mike Carey, Peter Gross, et al (comics: the end of the story, and there's really no other way it could have ended. That was how things had to go. I am sorry for ever doubting Carey; he pulled everything together amazingly well, given the number of wheels he'd tossed into the air and started spinning. And he
ended the story; technically, DC owns the rights to this particular interpretation of the devil, but it would be hard for anyone to retcon things back from where Carey took them.)
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Old: 9---
Taltos, Steven Brust (fantasy: in which we learn how Vlad met Morrolan, Sethra Lavode, and Aliera)
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Issola, Steven Brust (fantasy: in which Lady Teldra finally gets some characterization, and Vlad saves the world... or, more accurately, kind of helps other people save the world while wishing he were somewhere else and didn't have friends who routinely get involved in stuff like that)
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Phoenix, Steven Brust (fantasy: in which Vlad kills a king, starts a war, and gets in a lot of trouble, most of which is, ironically enough, unrelated to the assassination and the war)
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The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader, and the Imagination, Ursula K. Le Guin (nonfiction: pretty much what it says on the cover)
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The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Malcolm Gladwell (nonfiction: also pretty much what it says on the cover. Fascinating.)
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Heroes Die, Matthew Woodring Stover (sci-fi/fantasy: combines your typical bloody sword-and-sorcery with a bleak dystopian science fiction future and manages to be a tightly-paced action/adventure, a nuanced and unromantic love story, and a bleak yet ferociously unbowed piece of social criticism and philosophy, all at the same time. I love this book.)
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Blade of Tyshalle, (sci-fi/fantasy: which resolves some of the unresolved plot threads from
Heroes Die, as well as deepening the world-building in both Overworld and the dystopian future Earth. "Each of us is the sum of our scars" -- this is a true thing.)
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Lucifer, vol. 1 [Devil in the Gateway], Mike Carey, Scott Hampton, Chris Weston, et al (comics: going back to the beginning, and by god, there are the seeds of the end, laid out one by one. The series doesn't really hit its stride until vol. 2 or 3, but already this grabbed my attention.)
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The Sandman, vol. 4 [Season of Mists], Neil Gaiman, et al (comics: in which Lucifer quits his position as ruler of Hell and dumps disposal of that realm onto Dream, who copes badly.)
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April Total: 36 books (plus several magazines and a lot of fanfiction)
Year to Date: 135 books (88 new, 47 old)---------------------------------------------
My landlords are building a fence. This is good, because when I saw the cleared ground, my first fear was that they were getting ready to build a garage. See, their ultimate plan is to build a connected garage with a studio apartment over it, and then to convert the house back into one unit instead of two apartments. Which means I will have to move.
Fortunately, that time still seems a few years away. :-)
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