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lady_ragnell) wrote2022-10-24 11:21 am
lady_ragnell) wrote2022-10-24 11:21 am
2022 Books, Post 15
More than a month, oof! First time that's happened this year, but there were a few books that I struggled hard with getting through but also, for some reason, refused to let myself put aside. Hopefully the next batch will go more easily!
Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer
One of the ones I struggled hard with. My first read of one of Heyer's mysteries as opposed to her romances, and I mostly found it dull. Didn't much like the characters, the mystery didn't feel particularly solveable, just generally irksome. Not much more to say about it than that.
Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas
I got a load of used romances and things to have fun with an enjoy during a busy patch, but I wasn't really expecting to fall in love with any of them. Well, happy surprise, I really adored this one! Miracle of miracles, it had time-hopping that actually worked for me, I liked the characters and how overall maturely they handled a lot of things, really the only thing I didn't particularly care about was stuff that was setting up for the next book in the series. Actually, I reread the first few pages putting it back on my bookshelf and promptly reread the whole thing a week after I read it the first time. I got another book by Thomas in my romance order, and I'm excited to get to it!
A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson
Continuing that Ibbotson reread from last time with a perennial favorite. I love the way Ibbotson balances tone, how things can be tragic and sweet and funny and all of it feels sincere and none of it feels like it doesn't fit the atmosphere she's created. The romance in this one doesn't get a huge amount of build, but I love all the side characters in it, and it's sweet anyway. Inspired me to request one of my favorite side characters for Yuletide as I did a few years ago!
Squashed by Joan Bauer
I read a lot of Bauer in high school, but haven't reread her much as an adult. This year, however, I wanted an autumnal read and took this off the spare room shelf. I like Bauer for writing teen characters whose dreams and interests aren't what society tells us are big and exciting (my two favorite books by her, the heroines are knowledgeable about and interested in, respectively, waitressing and shoe sales), and this one is about raising giant pumpkins! I like the agriculture bits in this one, and even the teen drama and insecurity pieces. I do NOT, however, like the constant focus on her weight, and losing it, especially from her father. I didn't remember that, so it felt like a really shitty surprise to go back to a book I used to love and find that.
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
There's a limited amount of Montgomery I haven't yet read, and I'd been hearing good things about this one for a while, so I thought I'd finally give it a try, and sure enough, I really liked it! It's a sort of ridiculous trope, the "after a mix-up at a doctor's appointment character thinks they are dying and decides to live by it, including a marriage with a person they love who they think doesn't love them" one, but I read a book with the premise in high school and enjoyed it, and I loved this one too! It's a deliciously iddy trope, and Montgomery leaned in with a side order of "her family is dreadful to her and she uses her newfound freedom to tell them to fuck off and gets free." Just a joy! Glad I finally read it.
The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
This one grabbed me a bit less than I wished it did, given "sci fi whodunnit" is very much what I'm wanting right now! Nothing wrong with it, just perhaps not my style? I do enjoy Kowal's commitment to married couples deeply and commitedly in love. While my heart does tend to belong to the falling-in-love tropes, there's something lovely and comforting about people who are already committed to growing and changing together. This seems to set up some possibility for future books, and I'll probably give those a try too, even if I wasn't all that excited about this one. I will say, one thing that I both appreciated and which I suspect made it more difficult for me to stay engaged in this one: I find it hard to read books where all the odds, at every turn, seem horribly stacked against our heroes, with figures in authority refusing to listen to or respect them. I also find it annoying when characters can buy themselves out of everything without any worry. This book plays those circumstances against each other, mitigating both, but also the presence of both made it not so much something for me.
Nine Rules to Break when Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
I'd been meaning to read MacLean for a while, though I realized midway through that actually this is my second by her, I just read the first ages ago and hadn't registered her name. I liked it but didn't love it, basically! I think it's just that the tropes and character types she enjoys are not necessarily the kinds I tend to be on the lookout for? Still, I've got another by her on my to-read shelf and I'm not disappointed by that. I think she's what I sometimes call a bread-and-butter romance writer, where I don't swoon over their books, but get exactly what I need out of them, which is a day of relaxation and fun.
Ancient, Strange, and Lovely by Susan Fletcher
I grew up on Fletcher's Dragon Chronicles, so I was intrigued to see that she'd written another one, set in the far future from the others. It's clearly and pointedly inspired by environmental issues and pollution, about the resurrection of a species possibly helping with mitigating those things in unexpected ways. I liked Bryn, the main character, and her adventures (and her unexpected new friend, who I wondered a few times if Fletcher was foreshadowing a future romance for. If so, good for her!). However, it is set in near-future Oregon and Alaska, when the previous books in this series were very much set in a secondary fantasy world. It sort of tried to shift things around so that world was the history of this world, but I'm not fond of that kind of retcon. I would have much preferred for her to either write a book not in her series about a slightly different kind of dragon being brought back for environmental reasons in our world or for her to do the brave thing and scale her world forward hundreds of years to sketch out a parallel environmental problem. And, to finish, a side note: Fletcher, like many authors, certainly has her interests (pottery and falconry) and she's not afraid to let you know it, and for that I respect her.
All the Feels by Olivia Dade
Second in Dade's series working through her feelings about Game of Thrones. (Which, to be clear, I don't judge.) I continue to find her books fine but not personally inspiring, which is a pity! I think I just have trouble suspending my disbelief as far as "the actors in the actual show are so upset that they start writing fanfic." I never know how I feel about fandom showing up as an interest or theme in original work. This series handles it better than some, but nonetheless, I think I would like it more as a Hollywood series with actors processing their GoT sadness in non-fannish ways? That's on me, not Dade, though. And I'm probably going to read the third book anyway.
The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri
To be clear, I liked this book. There was nothing wrong with it, it's a worthy sequel to the first, I cannot point to anything that fell short. I just also spent three agonizing weeks with my bookmark in it, where whenever I was presented with the opportunity or the excuse to read another book, I immediately did so. I read less than half of it in those three weeks, before sitting myself down and reading the rest of it yesterday night. I don't know why! I wish I did! I imagine about 90% of it is on me, I'm exhausted right now and don't have a brain, and I should have known better than to start an epic fantasy. It's just also frustrating to both want to read something and not to want to read it at the same time. Anyway, I spent most of this read, when I wasn't being frustrated, wishing I could rescue Rao from the narrative, he's had a very rough time of it.
Phew, 150 books still in October! We'll see what the next group of books brings. Hopefully it will be less than a month before we all find out! In the meantime: questions? Comments? Recommendations?
Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer
One of the ones I struggled hard with. My first read of one of Heyer's mysteries as opposed to her romances, and I mostly found it dull. Didn't much like the characters, the mystery didn't feel particularly solveable, just generally irksome. Not much more to say about it than that.
Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas
I got a load of used romances and things to have fun with an enjoy during a busy patch, but I wasn't really expecting to fall in love with any of them. Well, happy surprise, I really adored this one! Miracle of miracles, it had time-hopping that actually worked for me, I liked the characters and how overall maturely they handled a lot of things, really the only thing I didn't particularly care about was stuff that was setting up for the next book in the series. Actually, I reread the first few pages putting it back on my bookshelf and promptly reread the whole thing a week after I read it the first time. I got another book by Thomas in my romance order, and I'm excited to get to it!
A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson
Continuing that Ibbotson reread from last time with a perennial favorite. I love the way Ibbotson balances tone, how things can be tragic and sweet and funny and all of it feels sincere and none of it feels like it doesn't fit the atmosphere she's created. The romance in this one doesn't get a huge amount of build, but I love all the side characters in it, and it's sweet anyway. Inspired me to request one of my favorite side characters for Yuletide as I did a few years ago!
Squashed by Joan Bauer
I read a lot of Bauer in high school, but haven't reread her much as an adult. This year, however, I wanted an autumnal read and took this off the spare room shelf. I like Bauer for writing teen characters whose dreams and interests aren't what society tells us are big and exciting (my two favorite books by her, the heroines are knowledgeable about and interested in, respectively, waitressing and shoe sales), and this one is about raising giant pumpkins! I like the agriculture bits in this one, and even the teen drama and insecurity pieces. I do NOT, however, like the constant focus on her weight, and losing it, especially from her father. I didn't remember that, so it felt like a really shitty surprise to go back to a book I used to love and find that.
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
There's a limited amount of Montgomery I haven't yet read, and I'd been hearing good things about this one for a while, so I thought I'd finally give it a try, and sure enough, I really liked it! It's a sort of ridiculous trope, the "after a mix-up at a doctor's appointment character thinks they are dying and decides to live by it, including a marriage with a person they love who they think doesn't love them" one, but I read a book with the premise in high school and enjoyed it, and I loved this one too! It's a deliciously iddy trope, and Montgomery leaned in with a side order of "her family is dreadful to her and she uses her newfound freedom to tell them to fuck off and gets free." Just a joy! Glad I finally read it.
The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
This one grabbed me a bit less than I wished it did, given "sci fi whodunnit" is very much what I'm wanting right now! Nothing wrong with it, just perhaps not my style? I do enjoy Kowal's commitment to married couples deeply and commitedly in love. While my heart does tend to belong to the falling-in-love tropes, there's something lovely and comforting about people who are already committed to growing and changing together. This seems to set up some possibility for future books, and I'll probably give those a try too, even if I wasn't all that excited about this one. I will say, one thing that I both appreciated and which I suspect made it more difficult for me to stay engaged in this one: I find it hard to read books where all the odds, at every turn, seem horribly stacked against our heroes, with figures in authority refusing to listen to or respect them. I also find it annoying when characters can buy themselves out of everything without any worry. This book plays those circumstances against each other, mitigating both, but also the presence of both made it not so much something for me.
Nine Rules to Break when Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
I'd been meaning to read MacLean for a while, though I realized midway through that actually this is my second by her, I just read the first ages ago and hadn't registered her name. I liked it but didn't love it, basically! I think it's just that the tropes and character types she enjoys are not necessarily the kinds I tend to be on the lookout for? Still, I've got another by her on my to-read shelf and I'm not disappointed by that. I think she's what I sometimes call a bread-and-butter romance writer, where I don't swoon over their books, but get exactly what I need out of them, which is a day of relaxation and fun.
Ancient, Strange, and Lovely by Susan Fletcher
I grew up on Fletcher's Dragon Chronicles, so I was intrigued to see that she'd written another one, set in the far future from the others. It's clearly and pointedly inspired by environmental issues and pollution, about the resurrection of a species possibly helping with mitigating those things in unexpected ways. I liked Bryn, the main character, and her adventures (and her unexpected new friend, who I wondered a few times if Fletcher was foreshadowing a future romance for. If so, good for her!). However, it is set in near-future Oregon and Alaska, when the previous books in this series were very much set in a secondary fantasy world. It sort of tried to shift things around so that world was the history of this world, but I'm not fond of that kind of retcon. I would have much preferred for her to either write a book not in her series about a slightly different kind of dragon being brought back for environmental reasons in our world or for her to do the brave thing and scale her world forward hundreds of years to sketch out a parallel environmental problem. And, to finish, a side note: Fletcher, like many authors, certainly has her interests (pottery and falconry) and she's not afraid to let you know it, and for that I respect her.
All the Feels by Olivia Dade
Second in Dade's series working through her feelings about Game of Thrones. (Which, to be clear, I don't judge.) I continue to find her books fine but not personally inspiring, which is a pity! I think I just have trouble suspending my disbelief as far as "the actors in the actual show are so upset that they start writing fanfic." I never know how I feel about fandom showing up as an interest or theme in original work. This series handles it better than some, but nonetheless, I think I would like it more as a Hollywood series with actors processing their GoT sadness in non-fannish ways? That's on me, not Dade, though. And I'm probably going to read the third book anyway.
The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri
To be clear, I liked this book. There was nothing wrong with it, it's a worthy sequel to the first, I cannot point to anything that fell short. I just also spent three agonizing weeks with my bookmark in it, where whenever I was presented with the opportunity or the excuse to read another book, I immediately did so. I read less than half of it in those three weeks, before sitting myself down and reading the rest of it yesterday night. I don't know why! I wish I did! I imagine about 90% of it is on me, I'm exhausted right now and don't have a brain, and I should have known better than to start an epic fantasy. It's just also frustrating to both want to read something and not to want to read it at the same time. Anyway, I spent most of this read, when I wasn't being frustrated, wishing I could rescue Rao from the narrative, he's had a very rough time of it.
Phew, 150 books still in October! We'll see what the next group of books brings. Hopefully it will be less than a month before we all find out! In the meantime: questions? Comments? Recommendations?
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I've recently read Nghi Vo's Singing Hills novellas, which I enjoyed quite a bit (especially the second one) and I think you might like! The third one is coming out...oh, shit, tomorrow? I should put that on hold!
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And oh, thank you for the reminder of the release of the next novella from Nghi Vo! I liked the first two a lot (especially since there are mammoths in this world, a highly specific thing I always love).
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