book list, November 2007
Dec. 2nd, 2007 02:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingIt's time for the continuing adventures of Liz and her reading list! These are the books I read in November 2007.
New: 8
---Gun Show Nation: Gun Culture and American Democracy, Joan Burbick (nonfiction: an exploration of guns and America, starting around the Civil War and continuing to the present. I was fascinated at how the whole Second Amendment issue is quite recent and was drummed up as part of the conservative response to the liberal movement of the sixties. I'm not sure I agree with all of Burbick's conclusions -- to be honest, while I see no reason to ever own a gun, and probably never will own or use a gun, I find them kind of sexy -- but it's an interesting and educational read.)
---Slave to Sensation, Nalini Singh (romance: deals with Sasha, an empath, and Lucas, a were-leopard. First in Singh's Psy-Changeling series -- 'series,' in romance novel terms, still means a set of books written in the same created world, rather than a single story told over multiple volumes. Workmanlike.)
---Visions of Heat, Nalini Singh (romance: Faith, a seer, and Vaughn, a were-jaguar. Second in the Psy-Changeling series. You can see Singh getting better as a writer.)
---Dog Days, John Levitt (fantasy: one of those modern 'magic is hidden among us' urban fantasy things. Don't bother reading this one; the prose is fine, but the plot meanders to hell and back, and the narrator, Mason, is so disconnected from his life that I found it impossible to care about anything that happened to him. He glances over the surface of everything, never particularly caring, and Levitt either thinks this is okay or doesn't succeed in showing how troubled Mason actually is.)
---Trey of Swords, Andre Norton (fantasy: a Witch World novel. This feels like either two thirds of a full book, or one very short book with an ancillary short story tacked on for length requirements. Yonan's story is resolved, and so is Crytha's, but because they sort of overlap, I was left very frustrated that their almost-but-not-quite romantic subplot never materialized or was satisfactorily resolved. Even if they didn't get together, I would've liked to see them meet at the end, realize how their respective quests overlapped, and maybe for Yonan to become her sworn guard or something. *pouts*)
---Transformers, Alan Dean Foster (film novelization: I don't usually watch movies. It's not that I don't like them; I just forget to find time to go to the theater. So I read novelizations while I'm closing the store. This one is somewhat overwritten, though I think the floridity may just be Foster's natural style. Also, Foster seems to rely on people having already seen the movie; there's a lack of concrete visual description that hit me halfway through, when I realized that I had no idea what these people or machines looked like.)
---Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle vols. 13-14, CLAMP (manga: the resolution of the Dragonfly race plotline, plus Kurogane's backstory, ominous hints about Syaoran, and the revelation that Fai hasn't renounced magic quite as much as he'd like people to think. I love this story!)
Old: 12
---Witch World, Andre Norton (fantasy: in which Simon Tregarth uses the Siege Perilous to escape his enemies, and finds himself in a strange country ruled by witches and threatened by a strange, relentless enemy.)
---Web of the Witch World, Andre Norton (fantasy: direct sequel to Witch World, in which Simon and Jaelithe continue the fight against the Kolder and find their marriage tested by various trials, both within and without.)
---The Crystal Gryphon, Andre Norton (fantasy: a Witch World novel, in the Dales of High Hallack, where we see some of the side effects of Kolder's presence in the world. Kerovan, the heir of Ulmsdale, is born with marks of nonhuman heritage. Joisan, his betrothed, is left in charge of refugees from Ithdale after her home falls to invaders from Alizon. Their paths cross, though only Kerovan knows this -- Joisan has never seen his picture -- and then Kerovan's evil relatives complicate things by kidnapping Joisan.)
---Gryphon in Glory, Andre Norton (fantasy: in which Kerovan is an idiot and attempts to leave Joisan for her own good. He travels into the Waste to enlist help against the invaders. Joisan follows him, and they get caught up in an ancient conflict between the Light and Dark.)
---Year of the Unicorn, Andre Norton (fantasy: in which the Wereriders, who fought in service to the Dalesmen, claim their price -- thirteen brides -- and return to their homeland of Arvon. Gillan, one of the brides, causes problems.)
---Gryphon's Eyrie, Andre Norton and A. C. Crispin (fantasy: in which Kerovan is still being an idiot and trying to protect Joisan from himself and his heritage. Because she loves him, she sticks around and keeps trying to show him the error of his ways. Finally, finally, she gets through. Go Joisan!)
---The Jargoon Pard, Andre Norton (fantasy: an indirect sequel to Year of the Unicorn, which deals with Kethan, the heir of Car Do Prawn, and his troubles with his family, a witch, and a magical belt.)
---Dzur, Steven Brust (fantasy: a Vlad Taltos novel, in which Vlad returns -- briefly -- to Adrilankha and attempts to fix one of the problems he created when he left abruptly several years ago.)
---Winter of Magic's Return, Pamela F. Service (fantasy: in which, several hundred years after nuclear war devastates the earth, three schoolchildren in Britain go on a quest to bring King Arthur back from Avalon.)
---Tomorrow's Magic, Pamela F. Service (fantasy: sequel to Winter of Magic's Return. In which Arthur's new kingdom is growing, but Morgan Le Fay is consolidating her strength near the ruins of London, and Merlin is having trouble making his magic work in the new world.)
---Weirdos of the Universe, Unite!, Pamela F. Service (fantasy/sci-fi: in which two kids, Coyote, Siegfried, a Chinese dragon princess, Baba Yaga, the Horned King, and a tribble attempt to save the earth from invading aliens. This is a kids' book, and it reads like one -- don't look for great depth or resonance -- but it's so much fun that I don't care!)
---Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, CLAMP (manga: the Dragonfly race continues)
November Total: 20 books (plus several magazines, a few newspapers, and a lot of fanfiction)
Year to Date: 348 books (199 new, 149 old)
New: 8
---Gun Show Nation: Gun Culture and American Democracy, Joan Burbick (nonfiction: an exploration of guns and America, starting around the Civil War and continuing to the present. I was fascinated at how the whole Second Amendment issue is quite recent and was drummed up as part of the conservative response to the liberal movement of the sixties. I'm not sure I agree with all of Burbick's conclusions -- to be honest, while I see no reason to ever own a gun, and probably never will own or use a gun, I find them kind of sexy -- but it's an interesting and educational read.)
---Slave to Sensation, Nalini Singh (romance: deals with Sasha, an empath, and Lucas, a were-leopard. First in Singh's Psy-Changeling series -- 'series,' in romance novel terms, still means a set of books written in the same created world, rather than a single story told over multiple volumes. Workmanlike.)
---Visions of Heat, Nalini Singh (romance: Faith, a seer, and Vaughn, a were-jaguar. Second in the Psy-Changeling series. You can see Singh getting better as a writer.)
---Dog Days, John Levitt (fantasy: one of those modern 'magic is hidden among us' urban fantasy things. Don't bother reading this one; the prose is fine, but the plot meanders to hell and back, and the narrator, Mason, is so disconnected from his life that I found it impossible to care about anything that happened to him. He glances over the surface of everything, never particularly caring, and Levitt either thinks this is okay or doesn't succeed in showing how troubled Mason actually is.)
---Trey of Swords, Andre Norton (fantasy: a Witch World novel. This feels like either two thirds of a full book, or one very short book with an ancillary short story tacked on for length requirements. Yonan's story is resolved, and so is Crytha's, but because they sort of overlap, I was left very frustrated that their almost-but-not-quite romantic subplot never materialized or was satisfactorily resolved. Even if they didn't get together, I would've liked to see them meet at the end, realize how their respective quests overlapped, and maybe for Yonan to become her sworn guard or something. *pouts*)
---Transformers, Alan Dean Foster (film novelization: I don't usually watch movies. It's not that I don't like them; I just forget to find time to go to the theater. So I read novelizations while I'm closing the store. This one is somewhat overwritten, though I think the floridity may just be Foster's natural style. Also, Foster seems to rely on people having already seen the movie; there's a lack of concrete visual description that hit me halfway through, when I realized that I had no idea what these people or machines looked like.)
---Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle vols. 13-14, CLAMP (manga: the resolution of the Dragonfly race plotline, plus Kurogane's backstory, ominous hints about Syaoran, and the revelation that Fai hasn't renounced magic quite as much as he'd like people to think. I love this story!)
Old: 12
---Witch World, Andre Norton (fantasy: in which Simon Tregarth uses the Siege Perilous to escape his enemies, and finds himself in a strange country ruled by witches and threatened by a strange, relentless enemy.)
---Web of the Witch World, Andre Norton (fantasy: direct sequel to Witch World, in which Simon and Jaelithe continue the fight against the Kolder and find their marriage tested by various trials, both within and without.)
---The Crystal Gryphon, Andre Norton (fantasy: a Witch World novel, in the Dales of High Hallack, where we see some of the side effects of Kolder's presence in the world. Kerovan, the heir of Ulmsdale, is born with marks of nonhuman heritage. Joisan, his betrothed, is left in charge of refugees from Ithdale after her home falls to invaders from Alizon. Their paths cross, though only Kerovan knows this -- Joisan has never seen his picture -- and then Kerovan's evil relatives complicate things by kidnapping Joisan.)
---Gryphon in Glory, Andre Norton (fantasy: in which Kerovan is an idiot and attempts to leave Joisan for her own good. He travels into the Waste to enlist help against the invaders. Joisan follows him, and they get caught up in an ancient conflict between the Light and Dark.)
---Year of the Unicorn, Andre Norton (fantasy: in which the Wereriders, who fought in service to the Dalesmen, claim their price -- thirteen brides -- and return to their homeland of Arvon. Gillan, one of the brides, causes problems.)
---Gryphon's Eyrie, Andre Norton and A. C. Crispin (fantasy: in which Kerovan is still being an idiot and trying to protect Joisan from himself and his heritage. Because she loves him, she sticks around and keeps trying to show him the error of his ways. Finally, finally, she gets through. Go Joisan!)
---The Jargoon Pard, Andre Norton (fantasy: an indirect sequel to Year of the Unicorn, which deals with Kethan, the heir of Car Do Prawn, and his troubles with his family, a witch, and a magical belt.)
---Dzur, Steven Brust (fantasy: a Vlad Taltos novel, in which Vlad returns -- briefly -- to Adrilankha and attempts to fix one of the problems he created when he left abruptly several years ago.)
---Winter of Magic's Return, Pamela F. Service (fantasy: in which, several hundred years after nuclear war devastates the earth, three schoolchildren in Britain go on a quest to bring King Arthur back from Avalon.)
---Tomorrow's Magic, Pamela F. Service (fantasy: sequel to Winter of Magic's Return. In which Arthur's new kingdom is growing, but Morgan Le Fay is consolidating her strength near the ruins of London, and Merlin is having trouble making his magic work in the new world.)
---Weirdos of the Universe, Unite!, Pamela F. Service (fantasy/sci-fi: in which two kids, Coyote, Siegfried, a Chinese dragon princess, Baba Yaga, the Horned King, and a tribble attempt to save the earth from invading aliens. This is a kids' book, and it reads like one -- don't look for great depth or resonance -- but it's so much fun that I don't care!)
---Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, CLAMP (manga: the Dragonfly race continues)
November Total: 20 books (plus several magazines, a few newspapers, and a lot of fanfiction)
Year to Date: 348 books (199 new, 149 old)
