lady_ragnell (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lady_ragnell) wrote2019-10-21 04:33 pm
lady_ragnell) wrote2019-10-21 04:33 pm
2019 Books, Post 13
More than a month this time, but phew, life is intense right now and will be for the next 3-4 weeks (... right, NaNoWriMo starts late next week. 5-6 weeks?), so I have not been doing as much reading as I want to, with so many good things awaiting me on my TBR shelf and a bunch of Agatha Christie home from the library with me! I have made a bit of progress, at least.
The Young Widower's Handbook by Tom McAllister
Saw it in a store this summer and decided to try it from the library. I have trouble reading about grief, but I wanted to give this a try. I didn't end up liking our main character all that much, tragically, and was expecting the side characters the back promised me to be a little more madcap, and ... just generally I felt like I liked it when I read it, but looking back at it a month on, I'm not finding that much to admire.
The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory
Another in Guillory's series of delightul vaguely-connected romcoms. This one involves low-stakes enemies to lovers and a secret relationship! And if anyone out there ever read astolat's "Favourite" in Merlin fandom, the relationship reminded me of that a little, where they argue a lot but can't seem to stop having sex. Anyway, nothing deep to say about this one, nothing more or less than a deeply enjoyable romcom! If you like romcoms, give it a try. If you don't, this one probably won't convince you otherwise. (But really, if you're following me here you probably don't mind the occasional romcom.)
Meet Cute by various authors (a short story collection with no listed editor, to my extreme annoyance)
Little YA romcom meet cutes! As in any short story collection, some worked really well for me and some were instantly forgettable. But overall it was just full of sweetness and was a lovely read for a day when I was extremely tired.
Project Duchess by Sabrina Jeffries
A competent but fairly forgettable romance novel! Everyone was kind of disastrous, but the hero was way more infatuated with the heroine than he wanted to admit, which is always fun. I'll probably at least make an attempt at the rest of the series? But if I don't run across another one at the grocery store as I did this one, I won't cry.
A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier
This concept was so promising! It's about the "spare women" in England post-WWI (quite post it, in fact, WWII is threatening), about a community of women doing embroidery for a church no less! Relationships between women and embroidery are both entirely up my alley. This book ... wasn't. Because I didn't like the main character much, I didn't get as much community as I wanted, and, spoiler alert, I am so sick of women's fiction where the main character ends up unexpectedly pregnant while not with the father and decides to Do It On Her Own. This had good elements--a secondary f/f relationship, cool discussions of bell ringing and embroidery, the very concept itself--but the execution left me cold.
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith
I haven't done a lot of nonfic this year! This one was delightful. Not too much autobiography, layperson science, and cephalopods, what's not to love? Hit just the right notes for me and got into some interesting musings at the end as to whether there is an objective experience of being an octopus--he deplored the word "consciousness" for that concept despite it being in the title, but it was an interesting and thoughtful read and was a delightful nonfic.
The Serpent and the Rose by Kathleen Bryan
After all that romance, I needed to get back to my beloved SFF! I grabbed this one off a shelf at random at a used bookstore, and ended up quite liking it! Strongly medieval-ish fantasy often ignores the very present religious aspect of that time period, but this one definitely doesn't. The whole plot is based around it, really! There's some fun worldbuilding, it went in directions I feared it wouldn't, and the characters were a little annoying at times but in ways I was strangely fond of? I was really shocked when I looked up the release date for this book and it was 2007, because it felt like 80s or 90s fantasy: the Chosen One farm boy (who is possibly the child of a god, we'll see if I can find the rest of the trilogy), the noble and good princess-type figure torn between duty and him (with a bonus of her being a competent magic-worker in the bargain), the evil king really obviously trying to Overthrow The Current Religion And Put The Old One Back, possibly being shadow-ruled by an Evil Priest Type ... like, this book has a lot of stereotypes, but it does them solidly, and I appreciate that!
The Queen of Ieflaria by Effie Calvin
Second-world fantasy arranged betrothed lesbians. Need I say more? No, I will--this book was pretty charming! Good worldbuilding, I liked most of the characters a whole lot and they went through some nice growth, and while reading other books in the series isn't a priority, it's definitely something I'm interested in doing. Maybe a little less pining than I like in my arranged marriages, but that's because it's more about engagement than marriage and because one was originally supposed to marry the other one's brother, so there hasn't been long-term epistolary pining. More's the pity. Long-term epistolary pining + arranged lesbian marriage? Sign me up! Anyway, for once, a book I could forgive for being what it was rather than what I'd hoped it might be, and a very enjoyable read.
Mike and Psmith by PG Wodehouse
Someone recommended it on the Yuletide fandoms post and I wanted to give more Wodehouse a try anyway, so there I went! Less embarrassing to read than the misadventures of Bertie Wooster, and I'm going to give the rest a read, but I devoutly hope that the rest of the series has less cricket. I've got no idea what the hell a wicket is and really can just tell that it seems like baseball but even more boring, and I wanted less of it and more school shenanigans. Anyway, the real strength of any Wodehouse is the dialogue and general voice! Always delightful, and also infectious.
Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn
Another one from the used bookstore. I keep meaning to try more Shinn, so this was fun, plus it's that rare beast: a fantasy standalone! It had court intrigues! It had some background fantasy! It had an engaging main character whose relationship with her sister is very important to her (and perhaps even more important to her sister)! This was just generally an enjoyable book, and one I was happy to read. I was actually reminded in some ways of Karen Cushman's books, if those were party of anyone else's childhood? (Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife's Apprentice, for those who don't, as I didn't, know Cushman's name off the top of their heads.) Think those, with fey-touched fantasy. Warning, though: the fey-touched part involves the enslavement of those fey, who are referred to by several characters as being equivalent to hunting falcons. It's not presented as being an okay thing to be happening, but still, worth a mention, I imagine it could give some people a nasty turn.
And that's it for this time! Next up is the Agatha Christie I mentioned above, plus some sci fi and whatever else happens to come off my shelf or home from the library. Although probably the next post you'll see from me is my Yuletide letter!
Questions? Comments? Recommendations?
The Young Widower's Handbook by Tom McAllister
Saw it in a store this summer and decided to try it from the library. I have trouble reading about grief, but I wanted to give this a try. I didn't end up liking our main character all that much, tragically, and was expecting the side characters the back promised me to be a little more madcap, and ... just generally I felt like I liked it when I read it, but looking back at it a month on, I'm not finding that much to admire.
The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory
Another in Guillory's series of delightul vaguely-connected romcoms. This one involves low-stakes enemies to lovers and a secret relationship! And if anyone out there ever read astolat's "Favourite" in Merlin fandom, the relationship reminded me of that a little, where they argue a lot but can't seem to stop having sex. Anyway, nothing deep to say about this one, nothing more or less than a deeply enjoyable romcom! If you like romcoms, give it a try. If you don't, this one probably won't convince you otherwise. (But really, if you're following me here you probably don't mind the occasional romcom.)
Meet Cute by various authors (a short story collection with no listed editor, to my extreme annoyance)
Little YA romcom meet cutes! As in any short story collection, some worked really well for me and some were instantly forgettable. But overall it was just full of sweetness and was a lovely read for a day when I was extremely tired.
Project Duchess by Sabrina Jeffries
A competent but fairly forgettable romance novel! Everyone was kind of disastrous, but the hero was way more infatuated with the heroine than he wanted to admit, which is always fun. I'll probably at least make an attempt at the rest of the series? But if I don't run across another one at the grocery store as I did this one, I won't cry.
A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier
This concept was so promising! It's about the "spare women" in England post-WWI (quite post it, in fact, WWII is threatening), about a community of women doing embroidery for a church no less! Relationships between women and embroidery are both entirely up my alley. This book ... wasn't. Because I didn't like the main character much, I didn't get as much community as I wanted, and, spoiler alert, I am so sick of women's fiction where the main character ends up unexpectedly pregnant while not with the father and decides to Do It On Her Own. This had good elements--a secondary f/f relationship, cool discussions of bell ringing and embroidery, the very concept itself--but the execution left me cold.
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith
I haven't done a lot of nonfic this year! This one was delightful. Not too much autobiography, layperson science, and cephalopods, what's not to love? Hit just the right notes for me and got into some interesting musings at the end as to whether there is an objective experience of being an octopus--he deplored the word "consciousness" for that concept despite it being in the title, but it was an interesting and thoughtful read and was a delightful nonfic.
The Serpent and the Rose by Kathleen Bryan
After all that romance, I needed to get back to my beloved SFF! I grabbed this one off a shelf at random at a used bookstore, and ended up quite liking it! Strongly medieval-ish fantasy often ignores the very present religious aspect of that time period, but this one definitely doesn't. The whole plot is based around it, really! There's some fun worldbuilding, it went in directions I feared it wouldn't, and the characters were a little annoying at times but in ways I was strangely fond of? I was really shocked when I looked up the release date for this book and it was 2007, because it felt like 80s or 90s fantasy: the Chosen One farm boy (who is possibly the child of a god, we'll see if I can find the rest of the trilogy), the noble and good princess-type figure torn between duty and him (with a bonus of her being a competent magic-worker in the bargain), the evil king really obviously trying to Overthrow The Current Religion And Put The Old One Back, possibly being shadow-ruled by an Evil Priest Type ... like, this book has a lot of stereotypes, but it does them solidly, and I appreciate that!
The Queen of Ieflaria by Effie Calvin
Second-world fantasy arranged betrothed lesbians. Need I say more? No, I will--this book was pretty charming! Good worldbuilding, I liked most of the characters a whole lot and they went through some nice growth, and while reading other books in the series isn't a priority, it's definitely something I'm interested in doing. Maybe a little less pining than I like in my arranged marriages, but that's because it's more about engagement than marriage and because one was originally supposed to marry the other one's brother, so there hasn't been long-term epistolary pining. More's the pity. Long-term epistolary pining + arranged lesbian marriage? Sign me up! Anyway, for once, a book I could forgive for being what it was rather than what I'd hoped it might be, and a very enjoyable read.
Mike and Psmith by PG Wodehouse
Someone recommended it on the Yuletide fandoms post and I wanted to give more Wodehouse a try anyway, so there I went! Less embarrassing to read than the misadventures of Bertie Wooster, and I'm going to give the rest a read, but I devoutly hope that the rest of the series has less cricket. I've got no idea what the hell a wicket is and really can just tell that it seems like baseball but even more boring, and I wanted less of it and more school shenanigans. Anyway, the real strength of any Wodehouse is the dialogue and general voice! Always delightful, and also infectious.
Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn
Another one from the used bookstore. I keep meaning to try more Shinn, so this was fun, plus it's that rare beast: a fantasy standalone! It had court intrigues! It had some background fantasy! It had an engaging main character whose relationship with her sister is very important to her (and perhaps even more important to her sister)! This was just generally an enjoyable book, and one I was happy to read. I was actually reminded in some ways of Karen Cushman's books, if those were party of anyone else's childhood? (Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife's Apprentice, for those who don't, as I didn't, know Cushman's name off the top of their heads.) Think those, with fey-touched fantasy. Warning, though: the fey-touched part involves the enslavement of those fey, who are referred to by several characters as being equivalent to hunting falcons. It's not presented as being an okay thing to be happening, but still, worth a mention, I imagine it could give some people a nasty turn.
And that's it for this time! Next up is the Agatha Christie I mentioned above, plus some sci fi and whatever else happens to come off my shelf or home from the library. Although probably the next post you'll see from me is my Yuletide letter!
Questions? Comments? Recommendations?
no subject
no subject