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June Booklog
Jul. 1st, 2014 02:06 pmPump Six and Other Stories - Paulo Bacigalupi
Kissing the Witch - Emma Donoghue
Three Parts Dead - Max Gladstone
The Round House - Louise Erdrich
The Tropic of Serpents: A Memoir by Lady Trent - Marie Brennan
Iron & Velvet - Alexis Hall
Shadows & Dreams - Alexis Hall
Talker 25 - Joshua McCune
The Girl With All The Gifts - M.R. Carey
Carmilla - J Sheridan LeFanu
The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling)
Not that long ago I was talking to someone about short story collections and how I have a hit-and-miss relationship with them. There are a few authors, I think, who write amazing short stories; alas, there seem to be more who use these collections as dumping grounds for their more half-baked ideas.There's also the thing, I think, where fandom has the short story-to-novella length form down to a fine art, so that's where I go when I want shorter stories. So it's kind of weird that I started the month off with two collections of short stories.
Pump Six I've been meaning to read for years, because I'd really loved The Windup Girl by the same author, and I'd heard there were a couple of stories set in that universe. So of course I'm only getting around to reading it now, when I've forgotten everything about the novel. Of the ten stories in the collection I absolutely loved nine of them. Nine of them are, like, cynical dystopias about environmental/technological apocalypses and mistrust of corporations, all good stuff. But the tenth is a contemporary story about a man who "accidentally" kills his wife. This annoyed me for two reasons, 1) it felt really out of place, like it was breaking the established theme, and 2) man kills woman, begins new life, might have been dark and groundbreaking at some point, but now it feels like it should be a square on misogynistic cliche bingo.
Back when I was talking about how much I'd liked one of Emma Donoghue's novels, basically everyone said I should read Kissing the Witch. A collection of feminist, occasionally queer, fairytale retellings, about the women trapped inside traditional fairytales. I can't image why you guys thought I would like this? Hee, yes, highly recommend.
Three Parts Dead I bought almost randomly - I had a book token, it was a pound, I vaguely recalled hearing something good about it, though I couldn't remember what or from who - and I'm delighted I did, cause I really loved it. It's a sort of fantasy steampunk thing, set in a world years after magicians have gone to war with the Gods. The world-building is awesome, it reminded me a little of China Meiville's Bas-Lag trilogy, although I liked the plot a lot more. Don't get me wrong, I love the Bas-Lag books, but I do think they coast by on the world-building. Lots of interesting, diverse characters too. I really look forward to reading more in this series. And that's kind of saying something, given that I'm currently experiencing one of my periodic bouts of annoyance at why is everything a series?
The Round House is about the rape and attempted murder of a women on a native american reserve in the 1980s (a time and place about which I know shamefully little) and the effect this has on her adolescent son. I mostly read SF/F, and I love it, but sometimes I want something different, not as a palate cleanser, as such, but just as a change of pace. And I'm so glad this was recommended to me; it's beautiful and horrible and fascinating. The thing that horrified me the most, actually, wasn't the rape, of which we only see the aftermath, but the legal purgatory the family find themselves in because the mother can't remember where, on tribal, state, or federal land, the attack took place. Anyway, if you're up to it, recommended.
The Tropic of Serpents is the continuing adventures of a pseudo-Victorian lady dragon naturalist. Much like the first one, if the words Victorian lady dragon naturalist appeal to you then you should love this, and if they don't thenwe can't be friends don't bother.
Iron & Velvet and Shadow's & Dreams are the first two (currently the only two; alas, I would read twelve of them) volumes in the Kate Kane series. And lesbian urban fantasy is a genre there ought to be more of, as all right thinking people would surely agree. Anyway, as urban fantasies go it's pretty standard fare: London, vampires, werewolves, magic, a supernatural PI. But damn if they didn't hit me square in the ID. Everyone is a woman; the PI, the vampire prince, the alpha werewolf, the witch queen of London; and there's this sort of love quadrangle going on. They're fun, and sexy, and silly, and sort of embrace their own silliness, and I really loved them a lot.
Talker 25 I did not like at all. Which was surprising because... dragons. It's set in a world twenty years after dragons have mysteriously appeared in the world, and people have reacted about as well as you'd expect to hundreds of giant fire breathing lizards appearing out of thin air. It sounded so promising, but it was just bad. The world-building was nonsensical and half-arsed (where did the dragons come from? why can some people talk to them telepathically? why do all dragons sound like some kind of sub-par Smaug?) The writing read a lot like the younger end of YA, then two thirds of the way through it turns all rape threats and torture porn. Bah.
I went through a zombie phase a few years ago where I read every zombie book going (I'm an adult now; I like dragons) after which I felt like zombies had been done to absolute death. But The Girl With All The Gifts was written by the guy who wrote the Felix Castor, so I gave it a shot. I ended up really liking it. There were enough twists on a familiar formulae to keep me interested; the twist about the protagonist is pretty obvious almost from the first page, but the ending is fucking awesome! Good undead stuff.
I'd been meaning to read Carmilla for ages; novella, vampires, Victorian sapphism. Yay.
The Silkworm is the second mystery JK Rowling has written under her Robert Galbraith pseudonym. This is set in the world of writers and publishing, and I very much enjoyed reading her take down of a certain type of white male literary writer (I would love to know how much of that stuff is based on her real life experiences). It was a pretty engaging mystery, and I had no idea who the killer was until the reveal. Funny thing is, I know I read the first one last year but I can't remember a single thing about it; so yeah, enjoyable if not particularly memorable.
Kissing the Witch - Emma Donoghue
Three Parts Dead - Max Gladstone
The Round House - Louise Erdrich
The Tropic of Serpents: A Memoir by Lady Trent - Marie Brennan
Iron & Velvet - Alexis Hall
Shadows & Dreams - Alexis Hall
Talker 25 - Joshua McCune
The Girl With All The Gifts - M.R. Carey
Carmilla - J Sheridan LeFanu
The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling)
Not that long ago I was talking to someone about short story collections and how I have a hit-and-miss relationship with them. There are a few authors, I think, who write amazing short stories; alas, there seem to be more who use these collections as dumping grounds for their more half-baked ideas.There's also the thing, I think, where fandom has the short story-to-novella length form down to a fine art, so that's where I go when I want shorter stories. So it's kind of weird that I started the month off with two collections of short stories.
Pump Six I've been meaning to read for years, because I'd really loved The Windup Girl by the same author, and I'd heard there were a couple of stories set in that universe. So of course I'm only getting around to reading it now, when I've forgotten everything about the novel. Of the ten stories in the collection I absolutely loved nine of them. Nine of them are, like, cynical dystopias about environmental/technological apocalypses and mistrust of corporations, all good stuff. But the tenth is a contemporary story about a man who "accidentally" kills his wife. This annoyed me for two reasons, 1) it felt really out of place, like it was breaking the established theme, and 2) man kills woman, begins new life, might have been dark and groundbreaking at some point, but now it feels like it should be a square on misogynistic cliche bingo.
Back when I was talking about how much I'd liked one of Emma Donoghue's novels, basically everyone said I should read Kissing the Witch. A collection of feminist, occasionally queer, fairytale retellings, about the women trapped inside traditional fairytales. I can't image why you guys thought I would like this? Hee, yes, highly recommend.
Three Parts Dead I bought almost randomly - I had a book token, it was a pound, I vaguely recalled hearing something good about it, though I couldn't remember what or from who - and I'm delighted I did, cause I really loved it. It's a sort of fantasy steampunk thing, set in a world years after magicians have gone to war with the Gods. The world-building is awesome, it reminded me a little of China Meiville's Bas-Lag trilogy, although I liked the plot a lot more. Don't get me wrong, I love the Bas-Lag books, but I do think they coast by on the world-building. Lots of interesting, diverse characters too. I really look forward to reading more in this series. And that's kind of saying something, given that I'm currently experiencing one of my periodic bouts of annoyance at why is everything a series?
The Round House is about the rape and attempted murder of a women on a native american reserve in the 1980s (a time and place about which I know shamefully little) and the effect this has on her adolescent son. I mostly read SF/F, and I love it, but sometimes I want something different, not as a palate cleanser, as such, but just as a change of pace. And I'm so glad this was recommended to me; it's beautiful and horrible and fascinating. The thing that horrified me the most, actually, wasn't the rape, of which we only see the aftermath, but the legal purgatory the family find themselves in because the mother can't remember where, on tribal, state, or federal land, the attack took place. Anyway, if you're up to it, recommended.
The Tropic of Serpents is the continuing adventures of a pseudo-Victorian lady dragon naturalist. Much like the first one, if the words Victorian lady dragon naturalist appeal to you then you should love this, and if they don't then
Iron & Velvet and Shadow's & Dreams are the first two (currently the only two; alas, I would read twelve of them) volumes in the Kate Kane series. And lesbian urban fantasy is a genre there ought to be more of, as all right thinking people would surely agree. Anyway, as urban fantasies go it's pretty standard fare: London, vampires, werewolves, magic, a supernatural PI. But damn if they didn't hit me square in the ID. Everyone is a woman; the PI, the vampire prince, the alpha werewolf, the witch queen of London; and there's this sort of love quadrangle going on. They're fun, and sexy, and silly, and sort of embrace their own silliness, and I really loved them a lot.
Talker 25 I did not like at all. Which was surprising because... dragons. It's set in a world twenty years after dragons have mysteriously appeared in the world, and people have reacted about as well as you'd expect to hundreds of giant fire breathing lizards appearing out of thin air. It sounded so promising, but it was just bad. The world-building was nonsensical and half-arsed (where did the dragons come from? why can some people talk to them telepathically? why do all dragons sound like some kind of sub-par Smaug?) The writing read a lot like the younger end of YA, then two thirds of the way through it turns all rape threats and torture porn. Bah.
I went through a zombie phase a few years ago where I read every zombie book going (I'm an adult now; I like dragons) after which I felt like zombies had been done to absolute death. But The Girl With All The Gifts was written by the guy who wrote the Felix Castor, so I gave it a shot. I ended up really liking it. There were enough twists on a familiar formulae to keep me interested; the twist about the protagonist is pretty obvious almost from the first page, but the ending is fucking awesome! Good undead stuff.
I'd been meaning to read Carmilla for ages; novella, vampires, Victorian sapphism. Yay.
The Silkworm is the second mystery JK Rowling has written under her Robert Galbraith pseudonym. This is set in the world of writers and publishing, and I very much enjoyed reading her take down of a certain type of white male literary writer (I would love to know how much of that stuff is based on her real life experiences). It was a pretty engaging mystery, and I had no idea who the killer was until the reveal. Funny thing is, I know I read the first one last year but I can't remember a single thing about it; so yeah, enjoyable if not particularly memorable.