ebook

Just Like Magic by Sarah Hogle

Started: 11/25/22
Finished: 11/27/22

I don’t usually read holiday books, and I don’t read a lot of romance novels, and I certainly don’t read a lot of holiday romances, but I loved this book. The main character is pretty awful at the beginning, but the book takes a ludicrous turn FAST, and it’s funny, and I swear I cried TWICE before it was over. Super light read, super ridiculous plot, oversimplified resolution, and I couldn’t have enjoyed it more.

The Charmed List by Julie Abe

Started: 10/5/22
Gave up: 10/8/22

I read a Buzzfeed article about cozy fantasy books for the fall, and this sounded promising. Magic hidden in plain sight in Palo Alto, cute little romance. And sure, those things happen. But the characters are in high school, and I just cannot. I literally said, “Ugh, teenagers,” when I put this one down for good.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

Started: 9/22/22
Gave up: 9/24/22

I have been wary of David Mitchell books. Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks sound so impenetrable, and that’s really not what I’m looking for in my fiction. So when Jo Walton wrote basically the same thing and then said that this book (and Utopia Avenue) are completely different and totally wonderful, I figured I would trust her. I HAVE to stop doing that. I started this book, and I guess I just wasn’t in the mood for 17th century Japanese and Dutch morality and hand-wringing and ugh with the overly gross descriptions. So I gave it up. I MIGHT still try Utopia Avenue when I get around to it.

The Donut Trap by Julie Tieu

Started: 9/18/22
Gave up: 9/22/22

Giving up two books in a row is never a good sign for my state of mind, but I think I’m justified here. I made it to 72% before I got tired of the drama between 22-year-olds. It started out cute, light, good immigrant family stuff, but at the point where I quit, stuff that had barely been hinted at in the first three quarters of the book was all of a sudden brought out and OH, here’s the obstacle our characters have to overcome, and ugh, I don’t care. Not a good setup.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Started: 9/6/22
Finished: 9/17/22

I can’t say I liked this book. A lot of the first half was too dryly written, a little too academic. It makes perfect sense why it was that way – I mean, it takes a long time for spiders to evolve to the level of intelligence necessary for a first person point of view to be viable – but it means I didn’t really get drawn in. The problems to be solved and their eventual solutions were interesting and unusual, and maybe I’ll read the sequel, but it’s not jumping to the top of my TBR list.

Also, giant sentient spiders. No, thank you.

The Undateable by Sarah Title

Started: 9/6/22
Gave up: 9/6/22

I love Jo Walton, but I do not love all that she recommends. She likes to read a lot of romance, which is not an issue in itself; I like romance, too. I just don’t like the ones SHE likes. This is at least the second one she has really enjoyed that I have put down EARLY.

This one is about two people who fall in love despite bickering the whole book, or so I’m told. I quit before they even met. The woman seemed fine, character-wise, and the writing didn’t bother me, from what little I read, but the man! What an ass. And the writing suffered from his point of view. In a page and a half, I was hit over the head 6 times with how he lives with his little sister. His sister? No, his little sister. Who is an adult with a job. But you say he lives with sister? No, he lives with his little sister. Who cares? How is this important? It’s either bad writing or a deliberate choice to make the guy look like he’s intimidated by his sister’s success and covering it by reminding HIMSELF at every opportunity that he’s older. Either way, it makes me not like him, and why would I bother reading a romance featuring a guy I do not like? He has a job barely works at and doesn’t care about and then tries to get someone fired when she suggests that maybe she could do his job better. Anyway, I quit.

Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather by Sarah Pinsker

Started: 8/11/22
Finished: 8/11/22

Short story by an author I LOVE, and I LOVED this story. The premise is that the lyrics to a traditional ballad are posted online, and the action happens in the comments. It’s great, and everyone should read it. (Also, it won the Hugo Award for short stories this year.)

Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather

Bots of the Lost Ark by Suzanne Palmer

Started: 8/2/22
Finished: 8/6/22

I love Suzanne Palmer’s bot stories, and she won a Hugo for this one, too. It’s a sequel to her previous bot short story, The Secret Life of Bots. Links to both!

Secret Life of Bots: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/palmer_09_17/

Bots of the Lost Ark: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/palmer_06_21/