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You are viewing the most recent 20 entries December 7th, 200907:15 pm: More book reviews
More books I finished recently, this time reading for my dissertation. ( George Meredith, One of Our Conquerors )( Janet Browne, Voyaging and The Power of Place )( Anna K. Nardo, George Eliot’s Dialogue With John Milton )Current Mood:  amused , darwin, eliot, genre: biography, genre: literary criticism, genre: victorian fiction, meredith
October 3rd, 200705:33 pm: Quick book review
Just a quick book review; there are many, many more coming if I ever get back up to speed. *looks in despair at enormous piles of books, both read and unread* ( Red Seas Under Red Skies, Scott Lynch )
Tags: book reviews
August 14th, 200705:44 pm: Moar Book Reviews
Once again, only three paragraphs on each, or I would be here forever. ( Octavia Butler, Kindred )( John Crowley, Little, Big )( Joanna Russ, The Female Man )( Joanna Russ, The Two of Them )I am now wondering if I should start The Virtu by Sarah Monette, the sequel to Melusine, or not. Melusine is unfortunately one of those books I was very enthusiastic about at the time I read it but which I’ve lost the favorable impression of since. Monette having a fundamental misunderstanding about the term slash doesn’t help. Current Mood: cheerful August 9th, 200710:02 pm: Book reviews!
Recently, I’ve read a lot of books but haven’t posted anything about them to any journaling service because the thought of writing up everything I wanted to say about all of them intimidated the hell out of me. Then I decided to limit myself to three paragraphs per book, which is the genesis of this post. ( Elizabeth Bear, New Amsterdam )( Elizabeth Bear, Whiskey and Water )( Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind )( Scott Lynch, The Lies of Locke Lamora )( Elizabeth Bear, Carnival )( Ellen Kushner, The Privilege of the Sword )And this isn’t even everything I read! Except it’s still getting long, so there will have to be another post. Later. Current Mood:  awake April 30th, 200702:29 pm: Books I read in April
(Along with others, but these are the ones I had interesting reactions to). ( Guy Gavriel Kay, Ysabel )( Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own )( Ian McDonald, River of Gods )( Ursula K. LeGuin, The Left Hand of Darkness )( Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa, This Bridge Called My Back )( C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader )( Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell )( Ursula K. LeGuin, Changing Planes )I have a whole pile of books and am not sure what I’ll begin with next. Maybe the biography of James Tiptree, Jr. Or Joanna Russ’s The Female Man. Or Roger Zelazny’s Lord of Light. Tags: book reviews
January 4th, 200711:51 pm: More book reviews
These are not going to be in any particular order, because most of the time I didn’t date them. I’m also not including most of the literary criticism I read, because it’s hard to summarize and makes little sense outside of the research I’m doing. ( Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams )( Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire )( Steven Brust, Dzur )( Ursula K. LeGuin, Always Coming Home )( Lynn Merrill, The Romance of Victorian Natural History )( Raymond Williams, The Country and the City )( Sarah Monette, Mélusine )( Megan Whalen Turner, The Thief )Currently reading: Perdido Street Station, by China Miéville, which is a book that I’ve stalled on before and which I’ve now decided has to be attacked, rather like a literary criticism book, so that’s what I’m doing. Tags: book reviews
December 15th, 200609:42 pm: Belated book review post, part 1
This goes back to books I was reading in July. Some of these I waited to write anything about because I thought I needed extra time to understand them, but by this point, if I’m still in a state of confusion, I’m probably going to remain there. And there will be more posts coming. ( Liz Williams, Nine Layers of Sky )( Naomi Novik, Temeraire )( Rikki Rooksby, A.C. Swinburne: A Poet’s Life )( M. L. Rosenthal, Running to Paradise: Yeats’s Poetic Art )( W. H. Hudson, Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest )( Elizabeth Bear, Blood & Iron: A Novel of the Promethean Age )Current books in progress: Megan Whalen Turner, The Thief; Dana Phillips, The Truth of Ecology; Gilbert White, A Natural History of Selborne. Tags: book reviews
July 13th, 200610:07 pm: Review: "Dead Beat" by Jim Butcher; "The Weavers of Saramyr" by Chris Wooding
So, since my Amazon books did finally arrive, here are reviews of a few of them. ( Dead Beat )( The Weavers of Saramyr )Currently reading Nine Layers of Sky by Liz Williams; will post on it when I’m done. Tags: book reviews
July 9th, 200504:15 pm: Random scattering of thoughts about books I've read in the past two months
These aren't book reviews, except in miniature. They don't contain spoilers, except of an extremely general nature (I may mention "love triangle," for example, but I won't mention the names of the characters involved in the love triangle). And they're not in order. I know I read them, but I don't really remember the dates, so I'm putting them down more or less as they occur to me. ( Mini-reviewlettes )Rant coming up later. Tags: book reviews
March 28th, 200510:05 pm: Review of "The Fall of the Kings," by Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman (minor spoilers)
This was a book that left a disjointed impression on me, so it will be disjointedly rambled about. ( The Fall of the Kings )Currently in the middle of Diana Wynne Jones’s Dalemark Quartet; “meh” on the first book, but I’m enjoying the second one much better. I’ll post a review when I’m done with all four. Tags: book reviews
March 23rd, 200509:16 pm: Review of The Etched City, by K. J. Bishop (mild spoilers)
This is one of those books where the first term that comes to mind is “interesting.” Unusually, it was also the term that I finished the book with. It’s interesting. Since I abandoned a book that seems like it’s taking the track of generic high fantasy to read it, that’s more of a compliment than it appears. ( The Etched City )Final Analysis: This is an idiosyncratic fantasy, so perhaps it’s only right that I give it an idiosyncratic recommendation. Pick up if you’re in the mood for dark, violent, urban fantasy spent with some really different people, and not so much in the mood for a tight plot. Be prepared to be frustrated with some parts of it. Be prepared to be fascinated with others. It’s not a clone of generic fantasy, and in the end, that might be enough. I just didn’t think it was. Currently reading The Fall of the Kings by Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman, which will be the next review when I’m done. Tags: book reviews
November 26th, 200409:00 pm: Review of Charles de Lint's 'The Blue Girl'
Just as for the other books I’ve reviewed, there will be very mild spoilers here, so you should DEFINITELY NOT READ THIS if you want everything in the book to be a complete surprise. ( The Blue Girl )Currently reading Sarah Micklem’s Firethorn, which shall be the next reviewed book. Tags: book reviews
June 25th, 200408:59 pm: Underappreciated Fantasy Authors 1: Glen Cook
So this is a little series of commentaries on fantasy authors I’ve read and enjoyed for various reasons, but don’t see a whole lot of people reading and enjoying. In some cases, it’s because the books might be out of print, but I did manage to find them in print pretty recently, or easily in used bookstores. So if you want to read some good fantasy that’s really interesting in some ways, then you could try to find these authors. The author I’m reviewing today, Glen Cook, has written over twenty fantasy novels as well as some science fiction ones. I’ll be talking about the two series I’ve read. Even though he has some weaknesses, I consider it a crime that more people don’t know who he is. ( Cynical fantasy at its best )Awww, that left me all warm and fuzzy, and with a desire to go dig out the Black Company novels again, so I can be happily depressed. Tags: book reviews
June 4th, 200411:17 pm: Review of George R. R. Martin's 'A Game of Thrones'
Because Jordan's Waste of Time still has about 10 fans to one of Martin's, and this is not the way things should be. ( This series will eat you alive, but in a good way )Yes, Martin is an author I get fangirlish about. Deal. Tags: book reviews
May 29th, 200403:07 pm: Review of Carol Berg, Transformation/Revelation/Restoration.
I've never done a proper review of these, more like a few 'OMG!squee' posts. So it's time. Unfortunately, I can't quote from these books to show you how wonderful they are, because I don't have them with me at the moment. But I can do a detailed review, thanks to my overly crowded with useless details of books I read years ago memory. ( My god, an original twist on demons. Who would have thought? )Berg is one of my five favorite fantasy authors now- the only one that I ever started liking that fast. Tags: book reviews
May 15th, 200410:38 pm: Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy! Oh, and a review.
Finished my novel today. Whee! It's somewhere in the neighborhood of 120,000 words, which is a good length. I'll be starting the next one, Loyalty's End, on Monday. *pause for self-celebration* As further proof that I am insane, I've started another novel that I won't be posting online, Starfire Nights, and plan to do about 2500 words a day on. And I still have way too much energy. So... A review of one of my favorite books, The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay. Once again, very minor spoilers for plot thingies that I don't think are important. (My god, I said "thingies." Help). ( He has made me mourn the passing of lions... )*checks* No, didn't work. Still have too much energy. Tags: book reviews
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