Books read, October 2012
Nov. 5th, 2012 08:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
carbonelI decided I was going to quit reading fanfic for a while, and try to make a dent in the pile of books that were sitting in my bedroom. I accomplished the first part, but I can't say I made a dent, since more books kept trickling in at the same time. But I did actually get a number of books read.
Catalyst, by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. This was her first science fiction book, and rather an odd one. It's a short novel set on a rather unpleasant colony world where the primary industry is developing addictive drugs for off-planet sale from the local flora and fauna. Kaslin, the viewpoint character, stumbles into a first-contact situation in the process of trying to get away from a bully. Recommended, but I'm considerably fonder of some of Hoffman's other books.
Ella Minnow Pea, by Mark Dunn. This is an epistolary novel about language, and reminds me in various ways of both The Wonderful O and One for the Morning Glory. It walks an odd line between having realistic characters and having characters do things for the necessity of the plot. It's not mimetic fiction, and can't possibly be, but I wanted it to. Recommended cum grano salis.
The Freedom Maze, by Delia Sherman. The story of a 13-year-old girl in 1960 who reads the same books I did, and requests an adventure from a tricksy creature who sends her on one -- in the pre-war South. The book is compulsively readable, and full of believable characters and events. Very highly recommended.
Earth Unaware: The First Formic War, by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston. This was a guilty pleasure; I picked it up as a $1 ARC at Wiscon. I gather, from reading the afterword, that the book is essentially a novelization of a comic book. It's competently written, and the plot hangs together sufficiently believably to keep me reading.
Homeland, by Cory Doctorow. The sequel to Little Brother, this is a somewhat one-note novel about an evil plot to take over the United States by manipulation of student loan debt. I enjoyed reading it, but the first one felt much more believable as a cautionary tale. This one felt as if it pulled out one thread from all the dire possibilities and focused on that. Worth reading, nevertheless.
Chaos Walking trilogy: The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer, and Monsters of Men, by Patrick Ness. I attended a number of "what's new and recommended in YA" panels, and the first book kept being recommended, so I read it. It was darker than the usual YA, but compelling. The second book was even darker, and not as compelling. The third book was, um, kind of tedious, but at that point I kept slogging through because I wanted to know what happened. Honestly, these books make the Hunger Games look light and fluffy. I recommend the first book with reservations because it's very readable bu not really a complete story, but the other two only if you're interested in highly dystopic YA SF.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its four sequels, by Ann Brashares. It's all![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
guppiecat's fault: he loaned me the first book, and then I wanted to know what happened next. Which is as good a recommendation as any for these books, I guess. They're rather like peanuts: some protein, some fat, okay as long as you don't make a diet of them. Except for the final 10-years-after book, which I found annoying in a number of ways that I can't really discuss without massive spoilers. Recommended for people who like that sort of thing or who think they might want to dip a toe into that sort of thing.
Catalyst, by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. This was her first science fiction book, and rather an odd one. It's a short novel set on a rather unpleasant colony world where the primary industry is developing addictive drugs for off-planet sale from the local flora and fauna. Kaslin, the viewpoint character, stumbles into a first-contact situation in the process of trying to get away from a bully. Recommended, but I'm considerably fonder of some of Hoffman's other books.
Ella Minnow Pea, by Mark Dunn. This is an epistolary novel about language, and reminds me in various ways of both The Wonderful O and One for the Morning Glory. It walks an odd line between having realistic characters and having characters do things for the necessity of the plot. It's not mimetic fiction, and can't possibly be, but I wanted it to. Recommended cum grano salis.
The Freedom Maze, by Delia Sherman. The story of a 13-year-old girl in 1960 who reads the same books I did, and requests an adventure from a tricksy creature who sends her on one -- in the pre-war South. The book is compulsively readable, and full of believable characters and events. Very highly recommended.
Earth Unaware: The First Formic War, by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston. This was a guilty pleasure; I picked it up as a $1 ARC at Wiscon. I gather, from reading the afterword, that the book is essentially a novelization of a comic book. It's competently written, and the plot hangs together sufficiently believably to keep me reading.
Homeland, by Cory Doctorow. The sequel to Little Brother, this is a somewhat one-note novel about an evil plot to take over the United States by manipulation of student loan debt. I enjoyed reading it, but the first one felt much more believable as a cautionary tale. This one felt as if it pulled out one thread from all the dire possibilities and focused on that. Worth reading, nevertheless.
Chaos Walking trilogy: The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer, and Monsters of Men, by Patrick Ness. I attended a number of "what's new and recommended in YA" panels, and the first book kept being recommended, so I read it. It was darker than the usual YA, but compelling. The second book was even darker, and not as compelling. The third book was, um, kind of tedious, but at that point I kept slogging through because I wanted to know what happened. Honestly, these books make the Hunger Games look light and fluffy. I recommend the first book with reservations because it's very readable bu not really a complete story, but the other two only if you're interested in highly dystopic YA SF.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its four sequels, by Ann Brashares. It's all
guppiecat's fault: he loaned me the first book, and then I wanted to know what happened next. Which is as good a recommendation as any for these books, I guess. They're rather like peanuts: some protein, some fat, okay as long as you don't make a diet of them. Except for the final 10-years-after book, which I found annoying in a number of ways that I can't really discuss without massive spoilers. Recommended for people who like that sort of thing or who think they might want to dip a toe into that sort of thing.
