Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater
Started: 10/25/21
Finished: 10/26/21
Recommended to me as fantasy and manners, in a series called Regency Faerie Tales, and how could I not love it?
ebook
Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko
Started: 10/20/21
Finished: 10/24/21
Slow start, but that’s based more on the formatting than the story/writing. It’s not .mobi, so the formatting isn’t perfect. Annoying!
SO EASY to get past the formatting after just a bit. Really good story, totally sucked me in, and I’m looking forward to the sequel.
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
Started: 10/16/21
Finished: 10/20/21
Sarah Gailey LOVED this book, and Tor.com praised it, so I figured I’d try it. It’s a romance that falls into science fiction because there’s a time loop/stuck in time trope involved. The characters are good, the story is good, there’s nothing not to like, and yet I’m a little meh about it. There was a little too much ending.
The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood
Started: 9/30/21
Finished: 10/16/21
New fantasy series! It took me a little bit to get into it, then I was hooked, then I wasn’t sure I was going to finish it, and then I got hooked again. I can’t say whether this was just about my frame of mind or about slow parts in the book. Could be either, but the vast majority of it had my full attention, and I’m still thinking about it, and I’m excited about the next book, which – ugh – isn’t out yet.
The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
Started: 9/22/21
Finished: 9/30/21
By the time I started this one, I didn’t remember anything about it except that it was highly recommended by Jo Walton, and I’m hit or miss on her recommendations. I was expecting something literary or dense, but I was pleasantly surprised to find somewhat hard SF with beautiful imagery. Totally literary, totally genre, and really good. The core story, which takes a bit to get to, is emotional and riveting. Good stuff.
Carpe Demon by Julie Kenner
Started: 8/29/21
Finished: 9/5/21
Recommended by an author I like, this was a surprisingly well-written very silly start of a series about a retired demon-hunter-turned-suburban-mom who has to, surprise!, fight demons again. It was both predictable and not – some of my guesses were right and some were wrong. It’s a nice palate cleanser.
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
Started: 8/21/21
Finished: 8/29/21
There are a lot of people out there who raved about this one, about how it’s a superhero novel turned on its head, it’s about the people supporting the villain, and that’s so new and so different! It’s not THAT new, and it’s not THAT different, and I spent a lot of this book feeling like I had read it before, which isn’t really fair. We were deep within this character’s head, and I enjoyed it, and it was good. I suppose I was just (and still am, apparently) annoyed that it felt over-hyped.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Started: 8/9/21
Finished: 8/14/2021
I saw this while browsing in Powell’s over four years ago, so I think I can be forgiven for not remembering anything about it by the time I actually read it. I went in thinking it would be like Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple, a book I loved when I read it, although I’m afraid I won’t like that one if I read it again.
It was not like Where’d You Go, Bernadette. I did like it immediately, particularly after giving up on two books in a row the day before. The first few pages were funny, and then it took a dark turn but was still funny, and then it was less funny and I started wondering if I had been supposed to think it was funny – was I laughing at a mentally ill person?
I was unsure the whole middle of the book, and I was afraid it was going to be predictable and have an unearned ending, and then it kicked me and I cried and I liked the ending very much.
I don’t know if you should read it.
Can You Keep A Secret by Sophie Kinsella
Started: 8/8/21
Gave up: 8/8/2021
Light read, supposed to be a fun romance, and OH MY GOD I DON’T CARE. The main character is not relatable, the situations are not funny, and I gave it up the same day I started it. Jo Walton, an author whose books I like and whose recommendations I often enjoy, is WRONG about this one (she thought it was terrific and funny).
Reset by Sarina Dahlan
Started: 8/6/21
Gave up: 8/8/2021
Interesting premise, bad writing. TERRIBLE METAPHORS. I tried, I gave up.
Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown
Started: 7/22/21
Finished: 7/27/21
Recommended by someone I follow on Twitter, with their guarantee that I would LOVE it. I did not love it. It was fine, it was okay, but I really didn’t like the modern day characters. I found myself hoping for a ghost and at least one murder. Meh.
Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch
Started: 6/21/21
Finished: 7/3/21
This series comes up whenever anyone is talking about supernatural detectives, and people seem to like it, so I figured I’d give it a try. I liked it, and I’ll probably give it another book or two, but the main character doesn’t have much of an internal life. He gets thrown into this supernatural world, out of nowhere, and he doesn’t seem to have much reaction to it. So maybe that will improve…? Also, he (or the series) has some sexist tendencies, so if that doesn’t get better, I’m out. The mystery and story were interesting, though.
Unseen City: The Majesty of Pigeons, the Discreet Charm of Snails & Other Wonders of the Urban Wilderness by Nathanael Johnson
Started: 6/8/21
Gave up: 6/11/21
Another non-fiction recommendation by Sarah Gailey. Another pass by me. I don’t think it’s the quality of recommendation so much as my own general lack of interest in non-fiction.
An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear
Started: 6/2/21
Finished: 6/8/21
The next Maisie Dobbs book. I’ve been saying this for several books now, but I’m not sure if I’m going to keep reading these. They’re easy, they’re good enough, but Maisie needs more as a character.
The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher
Started: 5/25/21
Finished: 5/29/21
Love T. Kingfisher. This is horror, just scary enough in the beginning and the middle that I refused to read it at night, but it got less scary after that. Very weird. In a good way.
The Project by Courtney Summers
Started: 4/28/21
Finished: 5/5/21
Recommended by Sarah Gailey. There’s a cult! And a missing sister! And trauma! Good, but I was disappointed by the reveal and the end. Which were both quite abrupt.
Daisy Jones and The Six
Started: 4/9/21
Finished: 4/12/21
Another Sarah Gailey recommendation, another good one. It’s a book about a fictional band in LA in the 70s, told in the style of an oral history. Very rock biography/documentary, and very real.
Battleground by Jim Butcher
Started: 4/3/21
Finished: 4/9/21
Book 17 in The Dresden Files, which I have been re-reading via audiobook for the last year or so. I probably should have been listing the last several as new books for me, but I’ve been lazy about it. Anyway, I’m enjoying these books more than ever, particularly the later ones, at least partly because he really dialed back the low-key sexist descriptions of women THANK GOD.
Also, something in this latest book made me cry, and there was a bonus short story at the end that made me SOB. Jim Butcher has made me yell in annoyance, shout at unexpected events, laugh many times, but he’s never made me cry before.
Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear
Started: 3/30/21
Finished: 4/3/21
Book 4, I think, in the Maisie Dobbs series. I like the stories, but I’m over my love for them. Maisie needs friends, please! Someone she actually talks to or has fun with, not just clients and employees and sponsors/mentors. She might become more human.
Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear
Started: 3/6/21
Finished: 3/13/21
Book 3 in the Maisie Dobbs series. Any pretense that she isn’t somewhat mystical is gone, and since the pretense is gone, I feel like I can relax about it. It does remove a little of my enjoyment of the mystery aspect, though. Still great characters and good stories, so I’m in the for long haul with the series.