Reading List 2010: #104 - #129
Jan. 1st, 2011 07:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedibuttercupTen weeks, three days, and twenty-six books since my last post. That makes a total of 129 for the year - best since I started tracking! I doubt I'll beat it in 2011.
Numbered in the order I finished them, here are: three historical-flavored fantasy; two short story compilations; three space opera; three graphic novels; two young-adult fantasy; three instructional non-fiction; six other fantasy; two thrillers; and two sci-fi tie-ins.
104. The House on Durrow Street by Galen Beckett. Paperback, 685pp. 2nd of a series. This series is kind of a gothic/regency/fantasy mix, and I love the details and writing style. The characters are all fairly engaging, too, and the magical/political system underlying the plot becomes more interesting and complex with each book. I'm quite fond of Mrs. Quent, the central character; her husband, Mr. Quent; Lord Rafferty; and a few of the other characters. Unfortunately, nearly every other female role in the series is very weak, and if you're squeamish about alternative sexuality or religion one of the secondary characters has a faith vs. love dilemma going on through most of this book that doesn't end favorably on either score (through no fault of his own). Still, I want to see what comes next.
105. Side Jobs by Jim Butcher. Hardback, 432pp. Part of the Dresden Files. What can I say about the Dresden Files that I haven't already said? *grin* It was nice to be able to get rid of most of the short story compilations I'd bought purely for the Butcher story and replace them with this one complete volume, and I really liked the Murphy-POV tag to "Changes" that rounds the collection up. In the end, though, it just made me even hungrier for the next novel.
106. Kris Longknife: Redoubtable by Mike Shepherd. Paperback, 328pp. 8th of the Kris Longknife series. I'd been looking forward to this one ever since the last one came out! The plots in this series are maybe not quite as complex as other space opera found on my reading list - but there's a reason I keep up with this one and ditched Honor Harrington a long time ago, and that's the characterization. Kris and her merry band of misfits are a joy to spend time with.
107. Twilight by Joss Whedon & etc. Graphic novel, 160pp. B:tVS s8:v7. No comment. Seriously, no comment. I can't even believe I'm paying good money for this, it's like a train wreck, I swear.
108. After the Sun Sets by Miriam Blanton Huber. Hardback, 301pp. This is one of those classic illustrated 1930's fairy tale compilations. My grandmother had a copy when I was a kid that I could only read at her house - and then she let my younger cousins crayon all over it in her later years, so I ordered my own. This was the first place I ran across "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" and several other classics; rereading it is always very nostalgia-inducing.
109. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. Hardback, 553pp. 1st of The Heroes of Olympus. The Percy Jackson 'verse continues! Though without him, as far as this book goes. I like Jason, and though I figured out his mysterious origins pretty early on, I enjoyed reading as the details played out. It's still very young in tone, of course, but funny and clever and peopled with likeable characters nonetheless. I'll be keeping up with this series.
110. The Mislaid Magician by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. Paperback, 328pp. 3rd of a series. A fun cap to this regency-mystery-fantasy series, written in epistolary style. Kate and Cecilia continued to be their adorable selves, with spouses and now kids in tow, writing back and forth as they investigated mysteries both national-scale and domestic. Full of charm and wit.
111. 101 Ways to Promote Your Web Site by Susan Sweeney, CA. Textbook nonfiction, 464pp.
112. Homepage Usability by Jakob Nielsen and Marie Tahir. Textbook nonfiction, 315pp.
113. The Zen of CSS Design by Dave Shea and Molly E. Holzschlag. Textbook nonfiction, 296pp.
Yes, I read every page of these. Our computers were down for a long sequence of hours at work, so I dove through a few of the former I.T. manager's works for ideas. Found out some things about HMTL and CSS that I'd either forgotten or never learned - not a surprise, since I was self-taught on that score in the first place. Useful.
114. A Woman Worth Ten Coppers by Morgan Howell. Paperback, 324pp. 1st of the Shadowed Path.
130. Candle in the Storm by Morgan Howell. Paperback, 370pp. 2nd of the Shadowed Path.
The first of these was quite interesting; a fantasy world at war with a couple of low-ranking initiates of the 'good' religion on a quest to try to stop the 'evil' enemy who uses his own priests to drive frenzied mobs through the countryside slaughtering anyone who might resist. Except during the second one the misogyny started getting really heavy-handed. I did not at all appreciate the handling of the female lead's storyline (which includes slavery, 'willing' rape, pregnancy, and distasteful emotional manipulation both against and by her at various points) or the artifical lengths the story went to in order to divide her from the male lead. I doubt I'll pick up the next one.
115. Wolf's Blood by Jane Lindskold. Paperback, 709pp. 6th of the Firekeeper series. The last few books in this series were about twice as long as they needed to be, including this one. Still, she's a writer of undeniable skill, and it was good to visit with Firekeeper and Derian and company again.
116. At The Queen's Command by Michael A. Stackpole. Paperback, 430pp. 1st of the Crown Colonies. This new series is an obvious attempt to cash in on the rising popularity of both history+dragons and the zombie craze, though fortunately it's not a carbon copy of either. It's set in an alternate world that's a near match to Revolutionary-War-era America, with a few fairly obvious differences. I could do without the main character's telegraphed-in-advance marital problems, but aside from that I found it engaging and fun.
117. Slanted Jack by Mark L. Van Name. Paperback, 457pp. 2nd of a series. More from the adventures of Jon & Lobo! One guy, his sentient ship, a kid in need - and a really unscrupulous but good-natured partner lead to an interstellar adventure in which all's well that ends well, except maybe on the romantic front. A pretty enjoyable series so far.
118. Masques by Patricia Briggs. Paperback, 306pp. 1st of series.
119. Wolfsbane by Patricia Briggs. Paperback, 291pp. 2nd of series.
Lightweight fantasy from the back-catalog of the author of the Mercy Thompson series. I'm reading my way through most of her work at the moment, and found these pretty much according to theme: likeable characters in interesting worlds with complicated backstories, evil foes to conquer, and a heaping helping of romance. Fun.
121. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen; adapted by Nancy Butler & Sonny Liew. Graphic novel, 128pp. A pretty decent visual adaptation of S&S, much like the P&P I bought earlier in the year. I'm really appreciating this trend of bringing some of the classics to the graphic novel format - though it does put a bit of a dent in the pocketbook.
122. Atlantis by David Gibbins. Paperback, 451pp. My brother lent me this one - it's one of that trend of archaeological-themed thrillers that have cropped up in the last couple of decades. The theories about where Atlantis could have been, and what it might have been like, as extrapolated from threads in extant ancient works, were neat; but of course all of the amazing discoveries were wiped out at the end because the author doesn't want to deal with realistic fallout of what might happen if such things came to light. And the action heroes were very - well, what you'd expect in any book of this type. A fun, but forgettable rainy afternoon read.
123. Serenity Vol 3: The Shepherd's Tale by Zack Whedon, Joss Whedon & Chris Samnee. Graphic novel, 56pp. Not really what I'd expected for Shepherd Book's backstory; and I'm not even sure it really works on a meta level if you try to directly apply it to the events and characterization we saw in the series. But as far as a plug-in for the movie, and on a writing level? It was really well done. I'll have to do some more in-depth thinking about it, later.
124. Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede. Hardback, 344pp. 1st of Frontier Magic. This is another young-adult series I'll be following - I'm having a lot of fun picking those up now that I'm twenty years past the age I should have been reading their like. *grin* This one is, as the title and series names suggest, the tale of a thirteenth (and therefore traditionally unlucky) child, born in a Frontier America with magic - and whose twin brother is the seventh son of a seventh son. Very fun so far. She runs into the expected prejudice, but her parents are awesome, and she acquires some good teachers; and I very much want to know what happens next.
125. Four Dragons by Diana Dru Botsford. SG-1 #16. Paperback, 304pp. I picked this one up because I saw a request for it on the Yuletide Dark Agenda list, and thought ".... really? A tie-in novel for SG-1?" It turned out to be pretty interesting. It's an early Season 7 adventure; Jack and Daniel are both a little obtuser than I think of them at times, but the rest of the characterization is better than I'd expect from a tie-in; we get bonus Bra'tac; and the real stars of the book are Yu and his Royal Guard. It fit into some of my own personal theories about the Goa'uld in an interesting way, and made me really wish there was more complex-Goa'uld fic out there. So of course I wrote the story. *lol*
126. The Empty Chair by Diane Duane. ST:TOS. Paperback, 421pp. Finally got my hands on this one - the fifth and last Rihannsu book. I adore Ael to pieces, I really do. And this is definitely my favorite flavor of Jim Kirk characterization. Seriously competent but not completely ego-tastic; he just does all his doubting in private. And all the rest of the crew get their moments to shine, too. I love the level of detail and complex plotting and authentic emotional reactions going on behind all the awesome. This'll be one I'll refer back to the next time I write a novella in the Star Trek world.
127. The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines. Paperback, 344pp. 1st of the Princess series. So I discovered another fairy tale adaption series! And of course I picked it up. I really liked it; there was a satisfying mix of detail from both the Disney-fied versions most kids know these days and the older, darker original versions, and all three princesses were fairly well characterized. Not to mention-- the bad guys really were bad, not just 'misunderstood', and the ending happy if not also 'ever after'. I'm curious to see what other stories the author chooses to take on in the rest of the series, after focusing on Cinderella in this one (with bits and pieces of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty).
128. Citadel by John Ringo. Hardback, 400pp. 2nd of Troy Rising. The first in this series was very one-man-empire-building; this one backtracks a little, and tells the continuing story through the points of view of a few of the 'peons' involved in that empire. Lots of military, blue-collar workers, women being awesome, creative technology, and very little of the sexual skeeviness that puts me off Ringo at times. Can't wait to see how he plans to cap this trilogy off.
129. The Associate by John Grisham. Paperback, 434pp. And for the last book of the year: a legal thriller my brother gave me last Christmas. I'm not all that fond of the genre, but this one was actually a pretty good read. A law school graduate gets himself into some hot water, and then out of it again through sheer doggedness and good luck and the underestimation of his enemies. (I wanted to recommend the Leverage team to him at a few points!) Ended well, if not perfectly so, with not too much angst.
Numbered in the order I finished them, here are: three historical-flavored fantasy; two short story compilations; three space opera; three graphic novels; two young-adult fantasy; three instructional non-fiction; six other fantasy; two thrillers; and two sci-fi tie-ins.
104. The House on Durrow Street by Galen Beckett. Paperback, 685pp. 2nd of a series. This series is kind of a gothic/regency/fantasy mix, and I love the details and writing style. The characters are all fairly engaging, too, and the magical/political system underlying the plot becomes more interesting and complex with each book. I'm quite fond of Mrs. Quent, the central character; her husband, Mr. Quent; Lord Rafferty; and a few of the other characters. Unfortunately, nearly every other female role in the series is very weak, and if you're squeamish about alternative sexuality or religion one of the secondary characters has a faith vs. love dilemma going on through most of this book that doesn't end favorably on either score (through no fault of his own). Still, I want to see what comes next.
105. Side Jobs by Jim Butcher. Hardback, 432pp. Part of the Dresden Files. What can I say about the Dresden Files that I haven't already said? *grin* It was nice to be able to get rid of most of the short story compilations I'd bought purely for the Butcher story and replace them with this one complete volume, and I really liked the Murphy-POV tag to "Changes" that rounds the collection up. In the end, though, it just made me even hungrier for the next novel.
106. Kris Longknife: Redoubtable by Mike Shepherd. Paperback, 328pp. 8th of the Kris Longknife series. I'd been looking forward to this one ever since the last one came out! The plots in this series are maybe not quite as complex as other space opera found on my reading list - but there's a reason I keep up with this one and ditched Honor Harrington a long time ago, and that's the characterization. Kris and her merry band of misfits are a joy to spend time with.
107. Twilight by Joss Whedon & etc. Graphic novel, 160pp. B:tVS s8:v7. No comment. Seriously, no comment. I can't even believe I'm paying good money for this, it's like a train wreck, I swear.
108. After the Sun Sets by Miriam Blanton Huber. Hardback, 301pp. This is one of those classic illustrated 1930's fairy tale compilations. My grandmother had a copy when I was a kid that I could only read at her house - and then she let my younger cousins crayon all over it in her later years, so I ordered my own. This was the first place I ran across "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" and several other classics; rereading it is always very nostalgia-inducing.
109. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. Hardback, 553pp. 1st of The Heroes of Olympus. The Percy Jackson 'verse continues! Though without him, as far as this book goes. I like Jason, and though I figured out his mysterious origins pretty early on, I enjoyed reading as the details played out. It's still very young in tone, of course, but funny and clever and peopled with likeable characters nonetheless. I'll be keeping up with this series.
110. The Mislaid Magician by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. Paperback, 328pp. 3rd of a series. A fun cap to this regency-mystery-fantasy series, written in epistolary style. Kate and Cecilia continued to be their adorable selves, with spouses and now kids in tow, writing back and forth as they investigated mysteries both national-scale and domestic. Full of charm and wit.
111. 101 Ways to Promote Your Web Site by Susan Sweeney, CA. Textbook nonfiction, 464pp.
112. Homepage Usability by Jakob Nielsen and Marie Tahir. Textbook nonfiction, 315pp.
113. The Zen of CSS Design by Dave Shea and Molly E. Holzschlag. Textbook nonfiction, 296pp.
Yes, I read every page of these. Our computers were down for a long sequence of hours at work, so I dove through a few of the former I.T. manager's works for ideas. Found out some things about HMTL and CSS that I'd either forgotten or never learned - not a surprise, since I was self-taught on that score in the first place. Useful.
114. A Woman Worth Ten Coppers by Morgan Howell. Paperback, 324pp. 1st of the Shadowed Path.
130. Candle in the Storm by Morgan Howell. Paperback, 370pp. 2nd of the Shadowed Path.
The first of these was quite interesting; a fantasy world at war with a couple of low-ranking initiates of the 'good' religion on a quest to try to stop the 'evil' enemy who uses his own priests to drive frenzied mobs through the countryside slaughtering anyone who might resist. Except during the second one the misogyny started getting really heavy-handed. I did not at all appreciate the handling of the female lead's storyline (which includes slavery, 'willing' rape, pregnancy, and distasteful emotional manipulation both against and by her at various points) or the artifical lengths the story went to in order to divide her from the male lead. I doubt I'll pick up the next one.
115. Wolf's Blood by Jane Lindskold. Paperback, 709pp. 6th of the Firekeeper series. The last few books in this series were about twice as long as they needed to be, including this one. Still, she's a writer of undeniable skill, and it was good to visit with Firekeeper and Derian and company again.
116. At The Queen's Command by Michael A. Stackpole. Paperback, 430pp. 1st of the Crown Colonies. This new series is an obvious attempt to cash in on the rising popularity of both history+dragons and the zombie craze, though fortunately it's not a carbon copy of either. It's set in an alternate world that's a near match to Revolutionary-War-era America, with a few fairly obvious differences. I could do without the main character's telegraphed-in-advance marital problems, but aside from that I found it engaging and fun.
117. Slanted Jack by Mark L. Van Name. Paperback, 457pp. 2nd of a series. More from the adventures of Jon & Lobo! One guy, his sentient ship, a kid in need - and a really unscrupulous but good-natured partner lead to an interstellar adventure in which all's well that ends well, except maybe on the romantic front. A pretty enjoyable series so far.
118. Masques by Patricia Briggs. Paperback, 306pp. 1st of series.
119. Wolfsbane by Patricia Briggs. Paperback, 291pp. 2nd of series.
Lightweight fantasy from the back-catalog of the author of the Mercy Thompson series. I'm reading my way through most of her work at the moment, and found these pretty much according to theme: likeable characters in interesting worlds with complicated backstories, evil foes to conquer, and a heaping helping of romance. Fun.
121. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen; adapted by Nancy Butler & Sonny Liew. Graphic novel, 128pp. A pretty decent visual adaptation of S&S, much like the P&P I bought earlier in the year. I'm really appreciating this trend of bringing some of the classics to the graphic novel format - though it does put a bit of a dent in the pocketbook.
122. Atlantis by David Gibbins. Paperback, 451pp. My brother lent me this one - it's one of that trend of archaeological-themed thrillers that have cropped up in the last couple of decades. The theories about where Atlantis could have been, and what it might have been like, as extrapolated from threads in extant ancient works, were neat; but of course all of the amazing discoveries were wiped out at the end because the author doesn't want to deal with realistic fallout of what might happen if such things came to light. And the action heroes were very - well, what you'd expect in any book of this type. A fun, but forgettable rainy afternoon read.
123. Serenity Vol 3: The Shepherd's Tale by Zack Whedon, Joss Whedon & Chris Samnee. Graphic novel, 56pp. Not really what I'd expected for Shepherd Book's backstory; and I'm not even sure it really works on a meta level if you try to directly apply it to the events and characterization we saw in the series. But as far as a plug-in for the movie, and on a writing level? It was really well done. I'll have to do some more in-depth thinking about it, later.
124. Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede. Hardback, 344pp. 1st of Frontier Magic. This is another young-adult series I'll be following - I'm having a lot of fun picking those up now that I'm twenty years past the age I should have been reading their like. *grin* This one is, as the title and series names suggest, the tale of a thirteenth (and therefore traditionally unlucky) child, born in a Frontier America with magic - and whose twin brother is the seventh son of a seventh son. Very fun so far. She runs into the expected prejudice, but her parents are awesome, and she acquires some good teachers; and I very much want to know what happens next.
125. Four Dragons by Diana Dru Botsford. SG-1 #16. Paperback, 304pp. I picked this one up because I saw a request for it on the Yuletide Dark Agenda list, and thought ".... really? A tie-in novel for SG-1?" It turned out to be pretty interesting. It's an early Season 7 adventure; Jack and Daniel are both a little obtuser than I think of them at times, but the rest of the characterization is better than I'd expect from a tie-in; we get bonus Bra'tac; and the real stars of the book are Yu and his Royal Guard. It fit into some of my own personal theories about the Goa'uld in an interesting way, and made me really wish there was more complex-Goa'uld fic out there. So of course I wrote the story. *lol*
126. The Empty Chair by Diane Duane. ST:TOS. Paperback, 421pp. Finally got my hands on this one - the fifth and last Rihannsu book. I adore Ael to pieces, I really do. And this is definitely my favorite flavor of Jim Kirk characterization. Seriously competent but not completely ego-tastic; he just does all his doubting in private. And all the rest of the crew get their moments to shine, too. I love the level of detail and complex plotting and authentic emotional reactions going on behind all the awesome. This'll be one I'll refer back to the next time I write a novella in the Star Trek world.
127. The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines. Paperback, 344pp. 1st of the Princess series. So I discovered another fairy tale adaption series! And of course I picked it up. I really liked it; there was a satisfying mix of detail from both the Disney-fied versions most kids know these days and the older, darker original versions, and all three princesses were fairly well characterized. Not to mention-- the bad guys really were bad, not just 'misunderstood', and the ending happy if not also 'ever after'. I'm curious to see what other stories the author chooses to take on in the rest of the series, after focusing on Cinderella in this one (with bits and pieces of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty).
128. Citadel by John Ringo. Hardback, 400pp. 2nd of Troy Rising. The first in this series was very one-man-empire-building; this one backtracks a little, and tells the continuing story through the points of view of a few of the 'peons' involved in that empire. Lots of military, blue-collar workers, women being awesome, creative technology, and very little of the sexual skeeviness that puts me off Ringo at times. Can't wait to see how he plans to cap this trilogy off.
129. The Associate by John Grisham. Paperback, 434pp. And for the last book of the year: a legal thriller my brother gave me last Christmas. I'm not all that fond of the genre, but this one was actually a pretty good read. A law school graduate gets himself into some hot water, and then out of it again through sheer doggedness and good luck and the underestimation of his enemies. (I wanted to recommend the Leverage team to him at a few points!) Ended well, if not perfectly so, with not too much angst.
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no subject
Date: 2011-01-02 04:49 am (UTC)I missed The Empty Chair when it came out so I went straight to Amazon and it was available for the Kindle so I grabbed it. And the first four were also available in one file for just $8.99 so yay! now have all five in ebook. Love my Kindle :)
no subject
Date: 2011-01-02 07:53 am (UTC)I doubt I'll ever give up my paper library, but one of these days I will have to get a portable ereader for trips and things. Can't beat them for convenience.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-02 12:19 pm (UTC)110. I believe I've seen something somewhere about a fourth book in the Kate-&-Cecelia series (or possibly a spinoff novel by one of the two collaborators alone, I forget which). Unfortunately, I have not a clue where I saw the reference or what the salient details were....
115. Lindskold is interesting, though I like the "Wolf" books much better than some of her other work. Her current series (three books to date, at least one more seems likely) involves Chinese magic/folklore and a created parallel world interacting with ours. Very different from the Wolf books, and peculiar in certain ways, but fascinating anyway.
124. I liked Thirteenth Child very much also...but one should be aware that the book has a highly controversial reputation in certain quarters of fandom, having been a major catalyst for the extended "RaceFail" kerfuffle.
126. Duane's Rihannsu novels are also among my very favorite Trek books, for many of the reasons you cite. Also, Naraht.
127. These are favorites of mine too. Book two mostly riffs on Andersen's The Little Mermaid; book three mixes Red Riding Hood and more Sleeping Beauty. The fourth and last book is due out soon; that one is titled The Snow Queen's Shadow.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-03 08:18 am (UTC)124. Thirteenth Child was part of the RaceFail mess? Damn it. I read a lot of the debates, but in something that sprawling it's easy to miss particular eddies. *googles* Okay, yeah, I see the problem; though I do still find it charming. *sigh*
126. Naraht! Yes! I loved the diverse minor characters in her series-- no mostly!human!Federation, Duane's world.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-02 11:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-03 08:21 am (UTC)I started tracking them after I put the whole collection into LibraryThing back in '07 mostly because I wanted to know what I hadn't read yet, and it's prompted plenty of interesting comments from my f'list since. Also, a good way to keep track of which series I'm reading, and how many of them I've read.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-04 05:03 am (UTC)As for the others, I've read a handful of Diane Duane's books and have enjoyed every one of them I've read. I agree with your assessment of her characterizations of the Trek characters, they are the best out there, in my opinion, tied only with Ann C Crispin.
Wow, I hadn't realized the Firekeeper series had that many books. I read the first two or three and need to get them again, along with the rest, and read the entire series. Now that I have a netbook, I'm going to get them in ebook format, if I can.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-05 04:10 am (UTC)It's been ages since I've read any Crispin Trek novels - I may have to put them on the list this year, I've got at least two of them. I think I read her Han Solo novels more recently? They were pretty decent, too, if I remember right. Better written than most of the SW tie-ins.
Yeah; I still think the first two Firekeeper books are the best, and they may be the only ones I reread, but all six are worth reading at least the once.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-05 05:15 am (UTC)AC Crispin's "Yesterday's Son" and "Time for Yesterday" are tied with Diane Duane's "My Enemy, My Ally" for the best novelizations of Star Trek TOS. I managed to find "Yesterday's Son" in hardback somewhere (I don't recall) and snagged it with a right quickness!
As far as I'm concerned, tie in novels are nothing more than published fan fiction. After seeing what Ann Crispin and Diane Duane have done with their writing, I hope to see you get the same chance, because your storytelling ability is every bit as good as theirs. Here's hoping you get an opportunity to take the time to write as much as you want to some time in the not too distant future!
no subject
Date: 2011-01-06 07:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-04 09:28 am (UTC)I didn't know the next Rihansu book was out! I know what I'm doing the second I get a library card/money of any kind. :D Thanks!
no subject
Date: 2011-01-05 04:12 am (UTC)Actually, the fifth Rihannsu book has been out since 2006? But it went out of print really quickly, for some reason. You can get the first four in an omnibus now, but I had to order my copy of "The Empty Chair" used through an Amazon co-seller.