Started: 3/13/21
Finished: 3/15/21
I tried one of her other books and gave it up fairly quickly, but this one grabbed me right from the beginning. I’m glad to realize it was content (I don’t always have patience for capricious gods on earth stories (that was the other book of hers I tried)) and not style. This one was horrifying and strange and gross and GOOD.
Started: 2/27/21
Gave up: 3/3/21
People LOVE Diana Wynne Jones, but it appears I am not people. I tried one a while back – it was okay. I tried this one about British witches saving the world in the early 1990s – what’s not to like? But I feel very meh about it, so I gave up. She wrote Howl’s Moving Castle, and it’s supposed to be amazing, so I will try that sometime, but if I don’t like that one, I think I might have to be done with her.
Started: 2/21/21
Finished: 2/27/21
This one starts out weird, gets fascinating, then turns dark and fascinating. And, despite the fact that it took me a full week to finish it (I had ZERO time to read), it’s short!
Started: 2/17/21
Finished: 2/21/21
I heard about this one in a Tor.com article about re-imagined fairy tales. This is a graphic novel with a fairy tale premise and references to ALL the fairy tales. I just finished the first volume, and I’m looking for the next one. It’s telling the back stories of these characters who have moved into Sleeping Beauty’s castle, long after Sleeping Beauty woke up and moved out. What’s appealing is that, so far, these are good people, and they have such nice stories with happy endings.
Started: 1/30/21
Finished: 2/3/21
I love Sarah Gailey and everything they’ve written. This is their first YA book – it’s about friends with magic, and it starts dark. The main character is pretty insecure ways that feel real even though they’re not how any of my insecurities work. I’m not totally crazy about how the magic works. I mean, it’s not explained and I don’t think it has to be, but the friends seem to be so convinced that this one thing will work, and I don’t know why they would think that. Except it’s likely they are trying to convince themselves it’ll work. Anyway, I liked it, I enjoyed it, and a lot of things about it were really good. I’m just not sure it’s really good.
Started: 1/23/21
Finished: 1/26/21
I’ve been meaning to read this for years, but I guess better late than never. This book is so good. Young adult can be hard to read. If it’s bad, it’s cringe-y bad, and I’ll usually put it down. This is good. And it’s hard. I cried, I got angry, I felt helpless, I cried some more, and I got angry some more. And then I cried again. I was so emotional, nearly the whole book, that I stopped reading it in bed. I switched to a friendly murder mystery before going to sleep because I’d be more able to wind down and fall asleep. I’m not going to tell you the plot, even the beginning – it’s easy enough for you to find that. And as awful as it is to know what prompted this book to be written, it’s so much worse knowing how much worse things have gotten since this book was published not even four years ago.
Started: 1/19/21
Finished: 1/22/21
I’d heard of this series, but I didn’t start it until Jess recommended it. I LOVED this book by the time I was only 30 pages in, and I raced through it (as much as I can during the work week these days). I’m thrilled there are 15 more books so far. She’s a private investigator of sorts in England in the period between the world wars.
The only thing I’m hoping gets addressed later on is that she’s kind of perfect. Like, she has no flaws, she has lots of useful skills, and everyone loves her. I mean, I love her, but she needs to have SOMEthing to improve on, right? She did one not great thing, but a) we only find out about it at the end of the book, and b) we find out about it as she’s doing something to correct it.
Started: 1/11/21
Finished: 1/17/21
This is the first book I have re-read in years. It’s technically science fiction (it involves time travel and historians trying to figure out how not to break the space-time continuum), but it’s mostly a light, funny, mystery/romance.
Started: 12/27/20
Finished: 1/2/21
NOT what I expected. I mean, the book cover says straight out it’s a Victorian/Regency novel but with dragons, and it would be ridiculous to expect dragons to behave exactly like humans even with that premise, but a couple of things still took me by surprise. Good surprise, if these two genres are your thing (and they are mine).
Started: 10/11/20
Finished: 10/15/20
This is the end of the Linesman trilogy, which I thoroughly enjoyed in a very low-stakes kind of way. And I want more. This author (who is actually two sisters writing together under a pen name – I can’t even imagine) has written two other books, which I plan to read, but I want more Ean please.
Started: 9/19/20
Finished: 10/1/20
Second in the Linesman trilogy. After two meh books, I deserved a sure thing. Still good, even though I feel like not a lot happened, plot-wise. I like the characters, so I’m okay with that.
Started: 8/30/20
Finished: 9/9/20
Spaceships and FTL travel and psychic powers, oh my! It’s the first book of a trilogy that feels like it was written 30 years ago but only came out about five years ago. That’s not a dig – I really enjoyed it. While I was reading it, I felt like I did when I read books in middle and high school. It’s partly the subject matter and partly the style and the lack of awareness of current events. The characters are diverse and interesting without any point being made about it. Except that they exist without making any points about it, which is a point in itself.
Started: 6/5/20
Finished: 6/10/20
Last in the Winternight trilogy, with a really satisfying ending. I LOVED this trilogy.
Started: 5/29/20
Finished: 6/4/20
Sequel to The Bear and the Nightingale, which I raved about two years ago. It came out last year, and I have the third book already, so I am behind. I flew (using my current definition of “flew”) through this – it’s so good.
Started: 5/23/20
Finished: 5/29/20
I love Sarah Gailey (they are responsible for my hippo cowboy stories), so I am so glad to say I REALLY enjoyed their first novel. Magic noir!
Started: 1/24/20
Finished: 1/28/20
Last in the fairy trilogy by Holly Black. Satisfying.
Started: 1/11/20
Finished: 1/16/20
Second in the fairy trilogy by Holly Black. Good middle book. Great ending.
Started: 1/4/20
Finished: 1/10/20
I’ve read (and liked) one other fairy story by Holly Black, and she’s a guest of honor at a convention we’re going to, so I figured I’d read more of her stuff. This is the first in a trilogy, also about the Fae (you can’t just call them fairies when they’re trying to kill you). It starts off DARK (bad stuff happens to some kids under 10 before they get packed off to live in Faerie), and then we jump ahead ten years and follow them as teenagers.
Started: 12/2/19
Finished: 12/13/19
First in a series about magic based on Indian culture, set in a desert country with gods and spirits and power-hungry emperor-priests. Really good. I think the sequel follows a different character, and I’m a little bummed about that.
Started: 8/24/18
Finished: 8/29/18
An interesting story about what happens when people lose their memories. This being science fiction, it turns out that memories live in your shadow, and everyone’s shadows begin to disappear.