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netgirl_y2kAll the books I've read since, um, the last time I did one of these posts, September, apparently. Gosh, I sort of feel like there should be more.
Borders of Infinity, Brothers in Arms, Mirror Dance & Memory - Lois McMaster Bujold I did go on a bit of a Vorkosigan saga reading spree. Partly because I thought these were a really good run of books in this universe, and partly because this is where we meet Miles' six years younger twin brother Mark Vorkosigan, who is not as immediately likeable as Miles, but is fascinating to me. Also, Cordelia, who we haven't seen in far too long, makes an appearance and is as fabulous as ever. Actually, as much as I love Miles (and Mark, and Ivan, and Gregor) I will always have a special place in my heart for the dear captain. And, thinking about it, I can't remember the last time I was reading or watching anything and could rattle off a list of my favourite characters and have them almost all be boys. So there's your endorsement of this series from me.
Lord Edgware Dies, Hickory Dickory Dock & The Third Girl - Agatha Christie Mission read all the Agatha Christies continues apace. Three perfectly serviceable Poirots, nothing standout as I recall, but comfy reads on these endless rainy nights we've been having.
The Death Maze, Relics of the Dead & The Assassins Prayer - Ariana Franklin I read most of this series about the first female forensic anatomist wandering around twelfth century Europe solving crimes and snarking about the sexism of the time all in one go. Yes, they were made of anachronisms and a slightly Mary Sue-ish protagonist, but they hit so many of my narrative kinks that I couldn't help but love them. I was really sad when I read that the author had passed away, because All of the Narrative Kinks.
Rivers of London & Moon Over Soho - Ben Aaronovitch I read Rivers of London after seeing it recced here, there and everywhere and really enjoyed it. I loved Peter Grant, and the humour and worldbuilding, and the supporting characters. But I did think it lost something by my 1) not knowing anything about London, and 2) slightly resenting how much British urban fantasy (and, well, everything else) assumes that the UK stops before the Midlands. But I did enjoy it enough to pick up the sequel, which I loved so much more. I loved that Lesley wasn't dropped down a hole, which I was expecting, and that what happened with her in book one was dealt with. And that last line was just a tease, because. What. Happens. Next?
The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi Set in Thailand in a post-Apocalyptic world after the oil has run out. I adored the worldbuilding in this, and found the setting refreshingly different. The title is a bit misleading, I think, because very little of it actually focuses on the eponymous windup girl, but I think it's stronger for it.
Iron Council - China Mieville The last in the Bas-Lag trilogy and certainly my least favourite of the three. With Perdido Street Station I was kind of astonished by the depth and weirdness of the worldbuilding, I found the plot of The Scar quite compelling, but I just couldn't get into Iron Council. I found it really slow going, with a lot of different plot threads that didn't come together until the last quarter or so of the book when I was already quite frustrated with the glacial pace of things, and unlike with the previous two books there weren't any characters or bits of worldbuilding I was particularly interested/invested in to get me through the slow bits.
The moral of the story is that I like giant floating pirate cities more than trains. Who'da thunk it?
A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon Which I read and liked (although not as much as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time) but don't seem to have much to say about it.
Goliath - Scott Westerfeld Deryn Sharp is my queen. Wait, I mean king-- No, queen. The final instalment in the Leviathan trilogy, which has been pretty much my favourite thing that I've read all year. Seriously. Steampunk! Alternate history! Awesome Scottish girls in drag! What's not to love?
Snuff - Terry Pratchett Well, it was a Discworld books, and a Vimes book at that, so obviously I loved it. But the Discworld has the curious bittersweetness now, where however much I try it's hard not to read Sir Terry's illness into everything he writes. Although, I will say this cemented in my mind that Sam/Sybil are my OTP to end OTPs in this universe.
How to be a Woman - Caitlin Moran Caitlin Moran cracks me up whether she's reviewing Downton Abbey or talking about feminism. And I agree with 90% of what she says here. Although it is a very heterosexual, young, physically attractive form of feminism she's talking about. I could have lived without the waxing lyrical about Lady Gaga, and I rolled my eyes a bit at the bit about gay men being women's natural allies. But she was mostly right. And hilarious. I couldn't agree more with her that there are about four women in the world who can walk in & look good in high heels, and the rest of us should just give it up as a bad job.
Ash - Malinda Lo I read the prequel to this a while ago because I'd been told it was better than this. Well, whoever told me that lied. This was a lovely, whimsical lesbian retelling of Cinderella, I loved it greatly.
Red Glove - Holly Black I read the first book in the Curse Workers series over the summer and loved it a whole lot, so I was expecting to enjoy this one more than I did. Not that it's a bad book, far from it! It's as fun and easy to read as the first one, but I think that as much as I liked White Cat, it wasn't a world or characters that I felt any need to revisit or spend any more time with. Ho hum.
The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stien I am torn about this novel about a family as narrated by their dog. On the one hand Enzo (the dog; mother, a labrador, father, unknown) was a charming narrator, and I'm behind the idea that sometimes dogs look at you and are thinking things, it's just that I'm fairly sure my two are thinking "If you die, how long is it appropriate to wait before we eat you?" and not about life and philosophy as it pertains to motor racing. And the ending was very very twee. Yes, even for a novel narrated by a dog. But, then, I did cry when the dog died. A lot.
Rereads:
A Dance With Dragons - G.R.R. Martin Reread for fic writing purposes. A thousand pages later and I realised that I'd only really needed to reread Jon Snow's last chapter.
Wyrd Sisters - Terry Pratchett Witches FTW! I am attempting to reread the entire Discworld series in chronological order. I have stalled slightly because up next is Pyramids, which is not my favourite book, even if it is the basis for my favourite ever Discworld fic..
Borders of Infinity, Brothers in Arms, Mirror Dance & Memory - Lois McMaster Bujold I did go on a bit of a Vorkosigan saga reading spree. Partly because I thought these were a really good run of books in this universe, and partly because this is where we meet Miles' six years younger twin brother Mark Vorkosigan, who is not as immediately likeable as Miles, but is fascinating to me. Also, Cordelia, who we haven't seen in far too long, makes an appearance and is as fabulous as ever. Actually, as much as I love Miles (and Mark, and Ivan, and Gregor) I will always have a special place in my heart for the dear captain. And, thinking about it, I can't remember the last time I was reading or watching anything and could rattle off a list of my favourite characters and have them almost all be boys. So there's your endorsement of this series from me.
Lord Edgware Dies, Hickory Dickory Dock & The Third Girl - Agatha Christie Mission read all the Agatha Christies continues apace. Three perfectly serviceable Poirots, nothing standout as I recall, but comfy reads on these endless rainy nights we've been having.
The Death Maze, Relics of the Dead & The Assassins Prayer - Ariana Franklin I read most of this series about the first female forensic anatomist wandering around twelfth century Europe solving crimes and snarking about the sexism of the time all in one go. Yes, they were made of anachronisms and a slightly Mary Sue-ish protagonist, but they hit so many of my narrative kinks that I couldn't help but love them. I was really sad when I read that the author had passed away, because All of the Narrative Kinks.
Rivers of London & Moon Over Soho - Ben Aaronovitch I read Rivers of London after seeing it recced here, there and everywhere and really enjoyed it. I loved Peter Grant, and the humour and worldbuilding, and the supporting characters. But I did think it lost something by my 1) not knowing anything about London, and 2) slightly resenting how much British urban fantasy (and, well, everything else) assumes that the UK stops before the Midlands. But I did enjoy it enough to pick up the sequel, which I loved so much more. I loved that Lesley wasn't dropped down a hole, which I was expecting, and that what happened with her in book one was dealt with. And that last line was just a tease, because. What. Happens. Next?
The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi Set in Thailand in a post-Apocalyptic world after the oil has run out. I adored the worldbuilding in this, and found the setting refreshingly different. The title is a bit misleading, I think, because very little of it actually focuses on the eponymous windup girl, but I think it's stronger for it.
Iron Council - China Mieville The last in the Bas-Lag trilogy and certainly my least favourite of the three. With Perdido Street Station I was kind of astonished by the depth and weirdness of the worldbuilding, I found the plot of The Scar quite compelling, but I just couldn't get into Iron Council. I found it really slow going, with a lot of different plot threads that didn't come together until the last quarter or so of the book when I was already quite frustrated with the glacial pace of things, and unlike with the previous two books there weren't any characters or bits of worldbuilding I was particularly interested/invested in to get me through the slow bits.
The moral of the story is that I like giant floating pirate cities more than trains. Who'da thunk it?
A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon Which I read and liked (although not as much as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time) but don't seem to have much to say about it.
Goliath - Scott Westerfeld Deryn Sharp is my queen. Wait, I mean king-- No, queen. The final instalment in the Leviathan trilogy, which has been pretty much my favourite thing that I've read all year. Seriously. Steampunk! Alternate history! Awesome Scottish girls in drag! What's not to love?
Snuff - Terry Pratchett Well, it was a Discworld books, and a Vimes book at that, so obviously I loved it. But the Discworld has the curious bittersweetness now, where however much I try it's hard not to read Sir Terry's illness into everything he writes. Although, I will say this cemented in my mind that Sam/Sybil are my OTP to end OTPs in this universe.
How to be a Woman - Caitlin Moran Caitlin Moran cracks me up whether she's reviewing Downton Abbey or talking about feminism. And I agree with 90% of what she says here. Although it is a very heterosexual, young, physically attractive form of feminism she's talking about. I could have lived without the waxing lyrical about Lady Gaga, and I rolled my eyes a bit at the bit about gay men being women's natural allies. But she was mostly right. And hilarious. I couldn't agree more with her that there are about four women in the world who can walk in & look good in high heels, and the rest of us should just give it up as a bad job.
Ash - Malinda Lo I read the prequel to this a while ago because I'd been told it was better than this. Well, whoever told me that lied. This was a lovely, whimsical lesbian retelling of Cinderella, I loved it greatly.
Red Glove - Holly Black I read the first book in the Curse Workers series over the summer and loved it a whole lot, so I was expecting to enjoy this one more than I did. Not that it's a bad book, far from it! It's as fun and easy to read as the first one, but I think that as much as I liked White Cat, it wasn't a world or characters that I felt any need to revisit or spend any more time with. Ho hum.
The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stien I am torn about this novel about a family as narrated by their dog. On the one hand Enzo (the dog; mother, a labrador, father, unknown) was a charming narrator, and I'm behind the idea that sometimes dogs look at you and are thinking things, it's just that I'm fairly sure my two are thinking "If you die, how long is it appropriate to wait before we eat you?" and not about life and philosophy as it pertains to motor racing. And the ending was very very twee. Yes, even for a novel narrated by a dog. But, then, I did cry when the dog died. A lot.
Rereads:
A Dance With Dragons - G.R.R. Martin Reread for fic writing purposes. A thousand pages later and I realised that I'd only really needed to reread Jon Snow's last chapter.
Wyrd Sisters - Terry Pratchett Witches FTW! I am attempting to reread the entire Discworld series in chronological order. I have stalled slightly because up next is Pyramids, which is not my favourite book, even if it is the basis for my favourite ever Discworld fic..