Wednesday books (belatedly)
Mar. 1st, 2013 03:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
carbonelWhat I've read lately:
The Talisman Ring, by Georgette Heyer, as an iPhone book. Didn't enjoy this quite as much as I'd expected, but my expectations were quite high. Sarah Thane is one of my favorite Heyer characters, though.
The Toll-Gate, by Georgette Heyer, also an iPhone book. This is not your usual Heyer, in that the male character is the main and almost-exclusive viewpoint character, and the mystery takes up more screen time than the romance.
Figures of Earth, by James Branch Cabell. This was the bathroom book, so I was at it quite a while. This was the first Cabell I'd read, and I found it an interesting take on pre-Tolkien high fantasy. There's quite a bit of genderfail, consonant with the times.
Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son, by Lois Lowry, all on the iPad. Gathering Blue and Messenger were such short novels (like the first, The Giver, which I read accidentally while sitting at the computer) that I finished them both on the flight from Minneapolis to LAX. Son is considerably longer, and connects all four books. I found the quartet profoundly unsatisfactory in terms of world-building, though I enjoyed the actual stories.
Backroom Boys, by Francis Spufford. On the iPad, as a travel book. I enjoyed reading this, though possibly not as much as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pnh did. The e-book had an annoying feature, though. I came to the end of the chapter about Beagle 2, and Stanza indicated that at least 1/5 of the book was left. But that was all there was, other than end-of-book material. Some sort of weird glitch in the ebook creation process, I suppose.
Graceling, by Kristin Cashore. On the iPad, as a travel book. This is one of the books that keeps coming up as new(ish) and good YA SF/fantasy, and I can see why. It's the story of an likable character who is Graced with special abilities in a world where those with Graces are respected but feared.
Midnight Moon, by Dorothy Lyon. The sequel to Silver Birch, it showed up at the library first. Luckily, I remembered enough of the first to make reading them out of order not a problem. A pleasantly nostalgic read of a middle-grade horse book.
What I'm currently reading:
carried over from last week:
Retreat, Hell!, as an audiobook
Battle Cry, by Leon Uris, as a kitchen book
The Silver Stallion, by James Branch Cabell, as a bathroom book. The sequel to Figures of Earth, though it might have been written first.
The Rook, by Daniel O'Malley. I'm really enjoying this so far (somewhat past halfway through). I don't believe it for a minute, but the combination of world-building and character development and snark are just up my alley.
Fire, by Kristin Cashore. The sequel to Graceling, but I'm not enjoying this one as much as the first. It's a different country with a different set of powers and problems, and I'm finding it quite unpleasant. Only a third of the way through so far, though.
What I plan to read:
The Unknown Ajax, by Georgette Heyer. The next Heyer romance (alphabetically), for the iPhone. Only three left, one of them a contemporary (for then) mystery.
Silver Birch, by Dorothy Lyons.
Arrow, by R.J. Anderson. The third of the Faery Rebels books, the library just notified me that it's in.
Doris Egan's Ivory trilogy. Truly, I'm going to get to this. Real soon now.
Jurgen, by James Branch Cabell, once I finish The Silver Stallion. And then I think I'll be done with Cabell.
Escapade (and associated travel) was great for making progress in the ebooks, but despite all the books I read this week, there's no change in the physical book pile (bathroom books don't count for that). I need to stop requesting library books, both in ebook and physical format. Except for the Dorothy Lyons project, because those go so quickly. After The Rook, it's back to physical books that I own.
The Talisman Ring, by Georgette Heyer, as an iPhone book. Didn't enjoy this quite as much as I'd expected, but my expectations were quite high. Sarah Thane is one of my favorite Heyer characters, though.
The Toll-Gate, by Georgette Heyer, also an iPhone book. This is not your usual Heyer, in that the male character is the main and almost-exclusive viewpoint character, and the mystery takes up more screen time than the romance.
Figures of Earth, by James Branch Cabell. This was the bathroom book, so I was at it quite a while. This was the first Cabell I'd read, and I found it an interesting take on pre-Tolkien high fantasy. There's quite a bit of genderfail, consonant with the times.
Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son, by Lois Lowry, all on the iPad. Gathering Blue and Messenger were such short novels (like the first, The Giver, which I read accidentally while sitting at the computer) that I finished them both on the flight from Minneapolis to LAX. Son is considerably longer, and connects all four books. I found the quartet profoundly unsatisfactory in terms of world-building, though I enjoyed the actual stories.
Backroom Boys, by Francis Spufford. On the iPad, as a travel book. I enjoyed reading this, though possibly not as much as
pnh did. The e-book had an annoying feature, though. I came to the end of the chapter about Beagle 2, and Stanza indicated that at least 1/5 of the book was left. But that was all there was, other than end-of-book material. Some sort of weird glitch in the ebook creation process, I suppose.Graceling, by Kristin Cashore. On the iPad, as a travel book. This is one of the books that keeps coming up as new(ish) and good YA SF/fantasy, and I can see why. It's the story of an likable character who is Graced with special abilities in a world where those with Graces are respected but feared.
Midnight Moon, by Dorothy Lyon. The sequel to Silver Birch, it showed up at the library first. Luckily, I remembered enough of the first to make reading them out of order not a problem. A pleasantly nostalgic read of a middle-grade horse book.
What I'm currently reading:
carried over from last week:
Retreat, Hell!, as an audiobook
Battle Cry, by Leon Uris, as a kitchen book
The Silver Stallion, by James Branch Cabell, as a bathroom book. The sequel to Figures of Earth, though it might have been written first.
The Rook, by Daniel O'Malley. I'm really enjoying this so far (somewhat past halfway through). I don't believe it for a minute, but the combination of world-building and character development and snark are just up my alley.
Fire, by Kristin Cashore. The sequel to Graceling, but I'm not enjoying this one as much as the first. It's a different country with a different set of powers and problems, and I'm finding it quite unpleasant. Only a third of the way through so far, though.
What I plan to read:
The Unknown Ajax, by Georgette Heyer. The next Heyer romance (alphabetically), for the iPhone. Only three left, one of them a contemporary (for then) mystery.
Silver Birch, by Dorothy Lyons.
Arrow, by R.J. Anderson. The third of the Faery Rebels books, the library just notified me that it's in.
Doris Egan's Ivory trilogy. Truly, I'm going to get to this. Real soon now.
Jurgen, by James Branch Cabell, once I finish The Silver Stallion. And then I think I'll be done with Cabell.
Escapade (and associated travel) was great for making progress in the ebooks, but despite all the books I read this week, there's no change in the physical book pile (bathroom books don't count for that). I need to stop requesting library books, both in ebook and physical format. Except for the Dorothy Lyons project, because those go so quickly. After The Rook, it's back to physical books that I own.
