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lady_ragnell) wrote2023-07-04 02:33 pm
lady_ragnell) wrote2023-07-04 02:33 pm
2023 Books, Post 8
Halfway through the year! And on track for what seems to be my usual mid-100s books for the year. I'm still very much catching up on backlog from my shelves, though! I am due to start in on this year's birthday books from early May, to give some idea of where I'm at with that.
Songs in Ursa Major by Emma Brodie
The story of some (fictional) musicians in the late 60s and early 70s. I liked the parts with the actual music and recording, but I've never been interested in that Almost Famous spying-on-the-sex-drugs-and-rock-'n'-roll-of-the-era type of work, so overall it was fine but didn't do too much for me. A little too Star is Born for me (though without the suicide, though I will warn for drug addiction and for era-typical handling of mental illness), I think?
The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten
I wasn't sure I'd come back to Whitten after her first duology, because she's technically a very good writer (though her first was much better than her second in my opinion) but I don't think we share a lot of overlap in interests in tone and characters. However, this promised intrigue, so I gave her another shot! It is definitely more to my taste, what with all the intrigue, and there were some pieces of worldbuilding I really loved (magic comes from dead gods, which is really cool). However, I don't know if I'll read the rest of the series, because our tastes in tones and characters continue not to have much overlap. I'm going to wait and see if it goes OT3, as it should, before I decide. In general, it left me wanting to reread The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms more than to continue with it.
The Fiancee Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur
A very sweet sapphic romcom! Handled the inevitable misunderstandings with more grace than many romcoms do, there was a fun queer friend group, and some interesting and fun little subversions of the basic Cinderella plot. Did have a sort of mortifying very public Grand Declaration at the end of the sort that only works in fiction and does not always even work for me there, but honestly, that's a quibble, this was a candy bar of a book and I ate it right up.
The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older
A lovely little sci fi mystery set in the clouds of Jupiter in a future where the earth has died! Very much a Sherlock-and-Holmes relationship at the center of it, but not the "the Watson narrator is obviously missing things and I'm embarrassed for them" kind like Poirot and Hastings. It was so short! That's about 90% a complaint because I wanted to spend more time in the setting and plot and 10% a complaint that I really do think a few plot points could have used a bit more meat on them. There's a sequel coming, though, and I'm excited for it!
The Devotion of Delflenor by R. Cooper
A reread of one I discovered last year! I was having a craving for lady knights and for pining, and this book truly does deliver both in spades. A must-read for anyone who enjoyed reading peak-pining E/R in 2013-2014 and also enjoyed Tamora Pierce in their youth.
The Last Beekeeper by Julie Carrick Dalton
For enjoyers of Station Eleven, I think. I liked it, but didn't by any means love it. This is a world where the cascading deaths of pollinating insects are growing ever worse, and where even the honeybees have been gone for more than a decade, and a young woman who was at the center of that loss when she was a preteen. Not, as you might imagine, a light read, but if that sort of near-future light-on-spec apocalypse is something you're into, it's not a bad take on the genre.
Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez
I liked my first Jimenez better! This one had a lot of good things (I liked the characters, I liked that she's willing to write a hero with extreme social anxiety and who takes meds for it! Because he's a doctor who trusts medicine!), but ... honestly, I feel like a traitor to fandom saying this, but there's such a thing as an unnecessary fake dating plot, and this one had it. The book would have been a lot tighter and more interesting if they were not fake dating, and would have let them get to the more interesting conflicts (she's just coming off a really bad divorce, his last girlfriend was shitty about his anxiety) faster and in deeper ways.
The Flintstones by Mark Russell & Steve Pugh & Christopher Chuckry
I'd seen bits and pieces of this comic on tumblr over the years, and finally saw a bit and piece with an actual link to read it, so I did so! Was this subtle? No. Was it occasionally ham-fisted? Of course. Is it a smart and almost necessary thing to do if you're going to revive this property in the 21st century? It absolutely was. There were several things (specifically about a vaccuum cleaner) that really wrenched me, and a lot more that were extremely pointed in ways that were clearly pointed at the kinds of people who might buy a Flintstones comic out of nostalgia. If the book had continued I'd have loved to see more depth given to Betty in particular, and also to Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, but for what it is, I found it really interesting and worth a look.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Finally, after MONTHS! This was a very very good novel for which I am simply not the intended audience, I think is the best way to put it! It was really well-crafted, the plot and world and characters were engaging, it created a really cool alternate history, and yet I was at all times aware of just how much book I had yet to get through. For one thing, I did not care much about Strange, and nothing at all about Norrell, which didn't help. If I could have had the book entirely about Stephen Black and Lady Pole and Arabella Strange, I'd have taken that in a second. The only other thing that's an actual criticism and not just "tragically I am not the audience for doorstoppers or I'd have already read Les Mis three times" is that I wish it had leaned more into the conceit of being a nonfic history/biography book. The footnotes were cool, but every time the actual narration addressed the audience in a way that implies some time has passed since all this and they no doubt have context we don't I got about three times as interested in what was going on. I really wanted, I think, the writing of the book to be more relevant to the story of the book, if Clarke was going to use that conceit. Especially given what was happening with the book-on-a-person thing at the end! (Not being more specific because spoilers for a decade-old book, I suppose.)
The Rebel and the Rake by Emily Sullivan
A nice relaxation read after the Clarke! Late Victorian romance novel set at a house party, with scandalous pasts and some good lead chemistry. Nothing super life-changing, but I do think I'll look out for the rest of this series from Sullivan!
And that's all for this time! Next time will probably have a few more rereads, because I'm going to be traveling and usually bring a few rereads for airports and such, and also there will be the continuation of my TBR shelf, as always! So many books, so little time.
Songs in Ursa Major by Emma Brodie
The story of some (fictional) musicians in the late 60s and early 70s. I liked the parts with the actual music and recording, but I've never been interested in that Almost Famous spying-on-the-sex-drugs-and-rock-'n'-roll-of-the-era type of work, so overall it was fine but didn't do too much for me. A little too Star is Born for me (though without the suicide, though I will warn for drug addiction and for era-typical handling of mental illness), I think?
The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten
I wasn't sure I'd come back to Whitten after her first duology, because she's technically a very good writer (though her first was much better than her second in my opinion) but I don't think we share a lot of overlap in interests in tone and characters. However, this promised intrigue, so I gave her another shot! It is definitely more to my taste, what with all the intrigue, and there were some pieces of worldbuilding I really loved (magic comes from dead gods, which is really cool). However, I don't know if I'll read the rest of the series, because our tastes in tones and characters continue not to have much overlap. I'm going to wait and see if it goes OT3, as it should, before I decide. In general, it left me wanting to reread The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms more than to continue with it.
The Fiancee Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur
A very sweet sapphic romcom! Handled the inevitable misunderstandings with more grace than many romcoms do, there was a fun queer friend group, and some interesting and fun little subversions of the basic Cinderella plot. Did have a sort of mortifying very public Grand Declaration at the end of the sort that only works in fiction and does not always even work for me there, but honestly, that's a quibble, this was a candy bar of a book and I ate it right up.
The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older
A lovely little sci fi mystery set in the clouds of Jupiter in a future where the earth has died! Very much a Sherlock-and-Holmes relationship at the center of it, but not the "the Watson narrator is obviously missing things and I'm embarrassed for them" kind like Poirot and Hastings. It was so short! That's about 90% a complaint because I wanted to spend more time in the setting and plot and 10% a complaint that I really do think a few plot points could have used a bit more meat on them. There's a sequel coming, though, and I'm excited for it!
The Devotion of Delflenor by R. Cooper
A reread of one I discovered last year! I was having a craving for lady knights and for pining, and this book truly does deliver both in spades. A must-read for anyone who enjoyed reading peak-pining E/R in 2013-2014 and also enjoyed Tamora Pierce in their youth.
The Last Beekeeper by Julie Carrick Dalton
For enjoyers of Station Eleven, I think. I liked it, but didn't by any means love it. This is a world where the cascading deaths of pollinating insects are growing ever worse, and where even the honeybees have been gone for more than a decade, and a young woman who was at the center of that loss when she was a preteen. Not, as you might imagine, a light read, but if that sort of near-future light-on-spec apocalypse is something you're into, it's not a bad take on the genre.
Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez
I liked my first Jimenez better! This one had a lot of good things (I liked the characters, I liked that she's willing to write a hero with extreme social anxiety and who takes meds for it! Because he's a doctor who trusts medicine!), but ... honestly, I feel like a traitor to fandom saying this, but there's such a thing as an unnecessary fake dating plot, and this one had it. The book would have been a lot tighter and more interesting if they were not fake dating, and would have let them get to the more interesting conflicts (she's just coming off a really bad divorce, his last girlfriend was shitty about his anxiety) faster and in deeper ways.
The Flintstones by Mark Russell & Steve Pugh & Christopher Chuckry
I'd seen bits and pieces of this comic on tumblr over the years, and finally saw a bit and piece with an actual link to read it, so I did so! Was this subtle? No. Was it occasionally ham-fisted? Of course. Is it a smart and almost necessary thing to do if you're going to revive this property in the 21st century? It absolutely was. There were several things (specifically about a vaccuum cleaner) that really wrenched me, and a lot more that were extremely pointed in ways that were clearly pointed at the kinds of people who might buy a Flintstones comic out of nostalgia. If the book had continued I'd have loved to see more depth given to Betty in particular, and also to Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, but for what it is, I found it really interesting and worth a look.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Finally, after MONTHS! This was a very very good novel for which I am simply not the intended audience, I think is the best way to put it! It was really well-crafted, the plot and world and characters were engaging, it created a really cool alternate history, and yet I was at all times aware of just how much book I had yet to get through. For one thing, I did not care much about Strange, and nothing at all about Norrell, which didn't help. If I could have had the book entirely about Stephen Black and Lady Pole and Arabella Strange, I'd have taken that in a second. The only other thing that's an actual criticism and not just "tragically I am not the audience for doorstoppers or I'd have already read Les Mis three times" is that I wish it had leaned more into the conceit of being a nonfic history/biography book. The footnotes were cool, but every time the actual narration addressed the audience in a way that implies some time has passed since all this and they no doubt have context we don't I got about three times as interested in what was going on. I really wanted, I think, the writing of the book to be more relevant to the story of the book, if Clarke was going to use that conceit. Especially given what was happening with the book-on-a-person thing at the end! (Not being more specific because spoilers for a decade-old book, I suppose.)
The Rebel and the Rake by Emily Sullivan
A nice relaxation read after the Clarke! Late Victorian romance novel set at a house party, with scandalous pasts and some good lead chemistry. Nothing super life-changing, but I do think I'll look out for the rest of this series from Sullivan!
And that's all for this time! Next time will probably have a few more rereads, because I'm going to be traveling and usually bring a few rereads for airports and such, and also there will be the continuation of my TBR shelf, as always! So many books, so little time.