What have I read this week? Very little, once again.
This is a science fiction novel about a man called Nyquist. It seems to be a sort of sequel to A Man of Shadows, as it features the same main character, although it doesn’t really reference the events of the previous book, and could easily be read as a stand-alone. It was kind of interesting but didn’t really grip me.
What have I read this week? Very little.
This is a non-fiction book about gender roles and how gender is constructed. I found it interesting and thought-provoking, as well as funny. I would definitely read more books by the author.
What have I read this week?
This is a fantasy novel about a girl named Sandis and a man named Rone. Sandis has been bound to a numina, which is sort of like a demon. Rone is a thief. Sandis runs away from her master and gets tangled up with Rone. It was an interesting read. I will probably read more in this series.
This is the latest book in the Rivers of London series. I enjoyed it, but I kind of want something new to happen, rather than the same overarching storyline continuing. I will continue reading the series though, because I do like the characters.
What have I read this week?
This is a memoir written by a woman during the Russian occupation of Berlin in 1945. It’s very interesting, but also quite depressing because of some of the stuff that happens.
This is a novel about a woman called MG who is a comic book artist and costume designer who becomes mixed up in a police investigation. I didn’t really like it – I found MG a very annoying character, and since it’s from first-person perspective, you can’t get away from her. For that reason, I’m unlikely to read any more of the series
This is a collection of blog entries from Scalzi’s blog. I didn’t like it quite as much as I like his fiction.
This is a fantasy novel. It’s a spoof of fantasy tropes and a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it.
What have I read this week?
This is a science fiction novel. It is the sequel to Lock In. It’s about an FBI agent called Chris Shane, who suffers from Haden’s Syndrome, s disease which causes locked-in syndrome. He is investigating a possible murder. I enjoyed this a lot. It’s a fun read.
These are books 3, 4 and 5 in the Penric and Desdemona series. I really enjoyed them and am looking forward to the next one.
What have I read this week?
This is an anthology of works by various authors relating to gender. They span a range of different types: fiction, essays, poems, comics, but they are all interrogating gender and/or gender roles. I enjoyed this – I found it interesting and thought-provoking.
I saw a performance of this last week and bought a copy of the text. I have to say I enjoyed the text more than the play: it seemed more complex and richer.
This is a novella set in the same world as The Curse of Chalion. It is the second in a series about a sorcerer named Penric and the demon who gives him his powers, Desdemona. I really enjoyed it, and will definitely read the rest of the series.
This is a novel. It is told alternately by three different women, Rachel, Megan and Anna. It’s one of those unreliable narrator novels, and I didn’t like it because it was so obvious that things were being hidden, purely for the sake of a reveal at the end.
This is a fantasy novel. It’s the last of a series. It revolves around a sorceress and healer who is kidnapped in order to help an evil man take the throne of a neighbouring kingdom. It wasn’t bad, although I could have done without the whole “you will be my bride” part of the plot.
What have I read this week?
This is a collection of four novellas. I quite enjoyed the first and last, really disliked the second, and didn’t like the third much either. I wouldn’t recommend this.
This is a SF novel about a man called Nyquist who is a private detective. He lives in Dayzone, a city where it is always light, and he has taken a case searching for a girl called Eleanor Bale. I found this slow going, but eventually managed to get into it. I found the idea more interesting than the execution, to be perfectly honest.
This is an SF novella set in the same universe as Lock In. It’s exactly what it says: an accompanying book to the rest of the series. I enjoyed it, but I don’t know how interesting someone who hadn’t read any of the books would find it.
This is a SF novella. It’s quite noir-ish, which I enjoyed. It was a great fun read – I really liked it.
This is a children’s book about a boy called Bod who grows up in a graveyard raised by ghosts. I really enjoyed it.
This is a collection of short stories. They are inspired by or retold versions of fairy tales and myths. I enjoyed them, but some of them are definitely horrifying.
What have I read this week?
This is a novel about a young man called Sean who suffers a serious injury to his face. He retreats into a fictional world called Trace Italian, which he turns into a game. It’s by the same author as Universal Harvester, and I didn’t really like this one either. It just didn’t work for me.
This is a post-apocalyptic novel set in the same world as The Girl With All The Gifts. It follows the members of a scientific expedition seeking a cure for the zombie plague. I quite enjoyed this one, although not as much as The Girl With All The Gifts.
What have I read this week?
This is a SF novel set in the same universe as The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit. It has several viewpoint characters, all of whom I found interesting. I liked this a lot, but then I liked the previous two books also. I will admit that this one made me cry a little. I’d definitely read more in this universe, or more by this author.
This is the most recent novel in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. I’m not sure why I still read these – I find them to be the Cheetos of books: you know you shouldn’t, but somehow you find yourself picking it up and consuming the whole thing, then you feel vaguely guilty about it afterwards. I originally started reading these for the vampire/monster hunting, but now it’s 95% sex and relationship issues, and I’m less than sympathetic to someone whose main problem seems to be how to juggle the 87 different incredibly hot people they’re having sex with. Also, the writing in these books is pretty repetitive – in the way of repeating the exact same thing a chapter or two later; it’s almost like these were written as serials. Also, it turns out I hate the phrase “body English” and she uses that a lot. I will probably end up reading the next one, though.
This is a non-fiction book about parents raising children who are very different from them: e.g. straight parents raising gay children, hearing parents raising deaf children, and so on. I really wanted to like this book, because the topic interests me, but I just couldn’t get into it and I didn’t even get past the second chapter, despite having had it out of the library for months.
This is a novel about doctors. I struggled with the introduction by John Updike and gave up partway through the first chapter. I just did not like this.
This is an account of the author’s time as a junior doctor in the UK. I really enjoyed it, partly because I’ve worked in healthcare myself. I guess if you’re easily squicked, it won’t be funny, but I’m not. It was a good read, and I’d definitely read other books by this author.
What have I read this week?
This is a nonfiction book – I guess I would describe it as being about gender and neoliberal capitalism and how the two are intertwined. I’m not quite sure how I felt about it, apart from excluded. It talks a lot about women and the roles women are expected to play/the limits placed on them, and a bit about the same for men, but as a person who’s neither, I just kept feeling “this isn’t for me” – despite the fact that these issues also affect me. I liked the introduction best; after that it got too cisnormative for me – I don’t disagree with her, I just felt that the book didn’t have anything to offer for me as a non-binary person.
Favourite quotes:
Public ‘career feminists’ have been more concerned with getting more women into ‘boardrooms’, when the problem is that there are altogether too many boardrooms, and none of them are on fire.
There was an understanding that gender liberation, like wealth, would somehow ‘trickle down’. The flaw in this plan, of course, was that it was arrant bollocks. Feminism, like wealth, does not trickle down
This is a novel about some strange events occurring in a small town in Iowa. Videos are turning up at the local video store with extra scenes spliced in, and the video store owner and staff become involved in trying to find out who is doing this and why. I didn’t really like this; it just didn’t work for me.
This is a fantasy novel about Prince Bifalt, eldest son of the King of Belleger, a country which has been at war with its neighbour Amika for a long time. Both sides have magic, but Belleger’s disappears overnight, and Bifalt is tasked with tracking down an ancient book which may allow them to restore it or to remove Amika’s magic also. I quite liked this. It was a little annoying in parts, when things were not being explained very clearly, and Bifalt was a bit irritating at times, but overall I enjoyed it. I might well read more of the series.
This is a YA about twin sisters in a post-apocalyptic Texas where families are only permitted to have one child. The authors are twin sisters. I thought this was okay, not great. The idea was interesting, but I didn’t feel like it was as fully developed as it could have been.
Random Ramblings 