Skip to main content

What I read -- December 2016



“The Magician King” by Lev Grossman. So I could finish the series. It’s a heist story! I liked how he handled time, POV, and backstory in this one. It was smooth. This series hit a sweet spot for me. I guess I read the same things as LG growing up.

“In the Labyrinth of Drakes” by Marie Brennan. Well, I thought I might as well just finish this series off too! Ed got it for his birthday.

“A Darker Shade of Magic” by V.E. Schwab. I finished the previous book on Christmas, but we weren’t giving out gifts until the 27th, so I was left with nothing to read (we’d gone away, and my sister’s house isn’t exactly filled with the sort of thing I might choose to read). I asked the boy for an early Christmas present, but he said he’d only do a trade, and I hadn’t gotten him any suitable trading item (lesson for next year), so I asked my sister, and she went and hunted under the tree and gave me this. It was on my list. V.E.Schwab might be my new favorite author. There weren’t any unnecessary words in the whole thing. I loved the two main characters, and the revelation about Lila’s eye… well. I hope in subsequent volumes she doesn’t become some major magic wielder or anything, that would be so unsatisfying. People who choose to go a different route than their “potential” marks them for are somewhat missing in the fantasy I read.

“Karen Memory” by Elizabeth Bear. The boy gave it to me for Christmas. A neat thing about reading it has been I follow EB on Twitter, and she’s been working on another story with some of these characters, so I’ve gone from feeling like an outsider to an insider. I started reading, thinking the steampunk elements were kind of stupid, but then they became integral to the story, so that was good. The character was great. Bear sure makes her suffer!

Popular posts from this blog

Best TW feedback ever

Over at the dayjob, SMEs are feverishly trying to get documents back to me all marked up, in preparation for the release that's supposed to happen the week I'm back from VP. Today's best comment: Unfortunately not true. SMEs, they're so cute.

What I read: August 2023

"The Absolute Book" by Elizabeth Knox. I got it for Christmas. It was delightful, even if maybe some stuff wasn't explained completely. Or maybe that's part of why it was delightful.  "Crucial conversations" By Joseph Grenny and three other old white men. Another office book club selection. The word "candor" comes up a lot. I really resented this book.  LHC #220: "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt. There was a girl at my previous company who wanted to have an office book club, and she had this book on her desk for months and months. I can totally understand this. I found portions crazy stressful to read. Like, I would be skipping ahead to see how much more in the section, could I get through it, pacing around, etc. I wanted to know how it ended, sure, but I was having weird stress dreams and stuff. If it wasn't a library book I might not have finished it at all. It was such a relief when Boris showed up again and something happened. I di

What I read: March, 2010

"The Man from St. Petersburg" Ken Follett. Oh. My. God. I read it because we had two copies lying around. Ick. This book made me feel dirty. I made some negative comment about this book to my sister, who repled "I've read every book he's ever written." I think she's mad at me now. This book was all tell, no show. There was no tension. The sex was funny. It reminded me of my dad's novel. It seemed well-researched, from what I can tell. When my friend said that of my karate-zombie novel, I took it as damning with faint praise, so there you go. There was no female character with whom I could identify. Or male character, for that matter. I don't need a woman to be a role model. I really strongly disliked this book. "Wanderlust" Rebecca Solnit. I'd come across her name in a discussion of the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, and came across this when I was looking for her other book on the TPL website. As walking is an integral part o