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What were you expecting?

What I’ve Been Reading

The Unkindness of Ravens by Abra Staffin-Wiebe

May 10, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 5/7/19
Finished: 5/10/19

A good novella, interesting magic. The story is the member-of-nobility-hides-with-the-common-people-and-learns-a-lesson type, but it’s done well.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fantasy, gods, magic, novella, source: Tor.com, Trickster's Mark

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

May 10, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 5/8/19
Finished: 5/10/19

I’ve heard so much about this book while also learning absolutely nothing about it, so I really didn’t know what to expect.  It’s an interesting story, but I think I was looking for more to come out of it.  More…plot.  So I’m left feeling unsatisfied. Sort of “that’s it?”  I’m pretty sure that’s the fault of my expectations, though, and not of the book itself. I need more distance from it.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fiction, library, source: the world

The Mislaid Magician Or Ten Years After by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

May 7, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 5/4/19
Finished: 5/7/19

The third Cecelia and Kate book was the 2nd best.  Told in letters like the first one, although we get Thomas and James’ POVs, too, which is fun.  Best, though, is what happened to the mislaid magician in the title.  Fun, light, ridiculous, and fun.  (Did I mention it was fun?)

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: Cecilia and Kate, ebook, fantasy, magic, period, Regency, source: trusted author

Tragedy at Law by Cyril Hare

May 4, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 4/30/19
Finished: 5/4/19

I went back and read the first of the Francis Pettigrew mysteries.  If I had read this one first, I wouldn’t be interested in reading any more.  First of all, Pettigrew is barely in it.  Certainly not a main character.  Second, the murder happens in the last 10% of the book.  No exaggeration.  And one of the suspects only got introduced a chapter ahead of it.  I MIGHT try the third one before I decide about the series, but I’m not in a hurry.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, Francis Pettigrew, Jo Walton Reads, mystery, source: Jo Walton

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

May 2, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 4/30/19
Finished: 5/2/19

Books don’t scare me like movies do, but even so, I take precautions and only read horror stories during the day.  Luckily (sadly?), this one didn’t scare me at all.  I’m not going anywhere near any of the movie or TV adaptations, though.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, horror, library, source: the world

With a Bare Bodkin by Cyril Hare

April 29, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 4/26/19
Finished: 4/29/19

Because Jo Walton liked it, I gave it a try.  This is the second of the Francis Pettigrew mysteries, set in England in early WWII.  Pettigrew is a lawyer, everyone is pretty isolated, and the murder doesn’t actually occur until the second half of the book.  Entertaining, but odd.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, Francis Pettigrew, Jo Walton Reads, mystery, source: Jo Walton

The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo

April 25, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 4/24/19
Finished: 4/25/19

Overall, I don’t think I liked this book.  I read it quickly, it drew me in pretty well, but it’s written from the point of view of this woman who never seems to have matured past college age.  She’s telling the story to someone, and her voice is irritating.  And her two great loves?  Also irritating.  I would not be friends with any of them, and oh my god, she’s just wrong.  I don’t think I felt this strongly about that when I finished it.  Given a week to let it sit, and yeah – I didn’t like it.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fiction, library, source: Emily

Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys

April 24, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 4/19/19
Finished: 4/24/19

I was hesitant to start this one because I kept getting hung up on the Lovecraftian parts of the book reviews, and the whole unknowable-horror-tentacled-monster thing is what keeps me away from Lovecraft.  The other parts of the book reviews (the solid writing, flipping Lovecraft’s whole bigotry thing, the found family theme) are why I read it anyway.  Final thoughts: good story, good characters, hardly any tentacles.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, family, library, Lovecraftian, mystery, SF, source: Tor.com

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe

April 19, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 4/18/19
Finished: 4/19/19

This is a movie waiting to happen, and I’d happily watch it.  It’s the story of a lonely, sarcastic, black French Canadian teenager transplanted to Austin, Texas in the middle of high school. In some ways it’s predictable, in other ways it isn’t, and I flew through it.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fiction, source: browsing at B&N, YA

When You Read This by Mary Adkins

April 18, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 4/18/19
Gave up: 4/18/19

I couldn’t get into this one.  It’s the story of a woman who died told via the emails of the people who knew her (and one person who didn’t know her but started working for her boss after she died).  It might be depressing, it might be uplifting, I think it’s supposed to be funny, but I didn’t stick around to find out for sure.  I wasn’t learning enough about the characters to care, and the intern really bugged me.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fiction, gave up, source: BookPage mag

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon

April 17, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 4/14/19
Finished: 4/17/19

The first in a series of mysteries set in Venice that I picked up because Jo Walton says they’re wonderful and I trust her.  For some reason she recommends starting with book 2 (she’s on book 22 (!) and the author is still alive), but I started with book 1 because what kind of monster do you take me for?

I enjoyed it, even though this was one of the more disturbing motives – definitely not a cozy mystery.  Maybe Jo Walton’s recommendation about starting with book 2 was a typo.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: Commissario Brunetti, ebook, Jo Walton Reads, library, mystery, source: Jo Walton

The Grand Tour Or The Purloined Coronation Regalia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

April 14, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 4/9/19
Finished: 4/14/19

The second of the Cecelia and Kate novels, maybe not quite as delightful as the first one, but close and still fun.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: Cecilia and Kate, ebook, fantasy, magic, period, Regency, source: trusted author

The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark

April 9, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 4/7/19
Finished: 4/9/19

Steampunk fantasy novella set in post-Civil War New Orleans.  I’m not always a fan of stories that use gods to fuel the magic system (capricious gods that act like children annoy me), but I liked it this time.  Details built an alternate New Orleans without a lot of exposition, and the characters were well done.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fantasy, gods, novella, source: Tor.com, steampunk

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

April 7, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 4/7/19
Gave up: 4/7/19

This is hard to admit, but I gave up on Dandelion Wine.  I love Ray Bradbury, but I couldn’t read this.  It’s an ode to small-town life before the Great Depression.  Remember when boys were boys and men were men and small towns were great and aren’t little brothers wonderful and gosh, summer lasts forever, and MAYBE if there had been a plot!

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fiction, gave up, source: trusted author

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

April 7, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 4/6/19
Finished: 4/7/19

The writing in this book was painful, but also felt painfully real and accurate for a coming of age/coming out story told from the perspective of a teenager.  I have diaries from around then (a little younger, but still), and MAN are they painful to read now in exactly the same way.  I got over the wincing discomfort and enjoyed this one.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fiction, source: unknown, YA

Tiamat’s Wrath by James S.A. Corey

April 6, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 4/1/19
Finished: 4/6/19

Book 8 in the Expanse series.  Even though it’s been over a year since I read the last one (Dec 2017), I was able to jump right in with no refresher.  I think book 4 and maybe book 2 are the weakest in the series so far – this one falls squarely in the middle for quality, and a little higher for emotional kicks.  It’s the second to last book, and it feels like it.  I’m not ready for the last one, but I don’t have to be for a while yet.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, SF, source: trusted author, space, The Expanse

The Cold Between by Elizabeth Bonesteel

April 1, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 3/27/19
Finished: 4/1/19

Space military!  Kind of.  It’s the military part that threw me a bit. They all have military ranks and a chain of command, but the way they interact and feel about each other is NOT military.  I couldn’t decide if it meant the author just didn’t know what she was talking about, but then it occurred to me that their mission is a bit more Star Trek than military, and that shift made it work for me.  I liked it.  Planning to read more in the series.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: Central Corps, ebook, military, SF, source: Tor.com, space

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova

March 27, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 3/25/19
Finished: 3/27/19

First in the Brooklyn Brujas series, young adult.  The big adventure/quest part took me by surprise. It’s not that I didn’t expect the book to have one, but I didn’t expect it to be like that.  In a good way.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: Brooklyn Brujas, ebook, family, fantasy, magic, source: Tor.com, witches, YA

The Skeleton Takes a Bow by Leigh Perry

March 25, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 3/23/19
Finished: 3/25/19

Book 2 in the Family Skeleton series.  Still fun.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, Family Skeleton, fantasy, library, mystery, source: trusted author, supernatural

The Test by Sylvain Neuvel

March 23, 2019 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 3/23/19
Finished: 3/23/19

Really good novella set in the near-enough future about a super-messed up citizenship test.  Good and disturbing – the good kind of disturbing.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, novella, SF, source: Tor.com, tech
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