queensthief | While She Knits

Poked by my children, I've been reading the Harry Dresden (http://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/) books by Jim Butcher, although I am taking a brief hiatus from Harry's adventures to read the Tomorrow novel series by John Marsden.

eta: the Dresden books are probably not ones I would recommend for kids in Middle School or younger

Edited 2010-09-10 14:06 (UTC)

I read a looooot of comics this summer and almost no Books With Just Words. By far the most powerful story I've read, in either category, is Fumi Yoshinaga's historical spec fic series Ooku.

JUST SO YOU KNOW, IT IS NOT A KIDS' SERIES.

The basic concept is similar to Brian K. Vaughan's (also very good, also not a kids' series) Y: The Last Man: in the late 18th century, a fairly grisly disease striking only men reduces males to 20% of the Japanese population.

This completely upends traditional, firmly male-dominated Japanese society; the Ooku, or Inner Chamber, where the Shogun traditionally kept his concubines, is filled with men instead of women, and the Shoguns themselves are women. Women take over farming and trade; men who can produce children become a valued commodity. The result is a cultural and personal struggle to find balance, enforce rules, and hang onto a sense of normalcy in a terrifying and seemingly incurable situation. It is brutal, but also extraordinarily insightful and sympathetic.

If you know Japanese history, it's a real treat to see how Yoshinaga uses it--e.g., the Redface Pox is the real reason for Japanese isolationism, and keeping out unwanted Christian missionaries was only a front. If you don't know Japanese history, I think the atmosphere and personalities are still perfectly evident. In either case, it's a powerful series, and (loathe I am to say it) in a minority of truly well-written comics.

I read White Cat recently, which I found fascinating and dark and twisty. (I did a longer review here (http://bysinginglight.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/white-cat-a-review/).)

I also read Scarlett Fever, by Maureen Johnson. Has no resemblance that I can think of to MWT's books, but is still pretty fun.

And I can't wait for Pegasus (September!) and Factotum (November!) to be released. *squee*

Recently I read Lisa See's Shanghai Girls and wow. The bond between the two sisters May and Pearl is at the heart of this book, and I really enjoyed getting a glimpse into the life of Chinese who moved to America around WWII and after. Warning: it gets dark, but I think it ends on a good note. The story is certainly a testament to human resilience.

Right now, I've finally caved (thanks to

spellcoats) and am reading The Hunger Games. I'm not far into it, but I'm really enjoying it!

I am currently reading Doomsday Book by Connie Willis right now. I love To Say Nothing of the Dog but had never read Doomsday. I was very surprised by how different the two books are but I love them both.

The Beekeeper's Apprentice is the first in a series of novels by mystery writer Laurie R. King, depicting the latter years of Sherlock Holmes' career. A new Jewish-American sidekick, Mary Russell, adds some youth and spunk to the usual mix of characters. Skeptical about the premise at first, I was nevertheless won over by the entertaining, well-written adventure. Fanfic at its best, really.

By the way. I can't wait to check out BBC's new series Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, written by Steven Moffat (the same guy writing the new Doctor Who). The previews look very, very promising!

And alas! for the Horn Book Symposium is sold out! If anyone goes, please give us a report!

Having been waiting for Mockingjay since I first read The Hunger Games back in the fall of 2008, I spent most of the summer looking forward to it and was mostly happy with it.

But! although I appreciated Mockingjay and all, it was Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness that stole my heart and stomped on it this summer. To say that I cried at the end would not be quite accurate. To say I sobbed great, wracking sobs would be closer. Be forewarned, however, it is not so much three books that can be read separately as one giant 1600 page novel that is chopped up into smaller units for easier carrying.

I have also been listening to the many adventures of Jacky Faber by L. A. Meyer this summer. I'm not a big audiobook listener, but I am loving Katherine Kellgren's narration to pieces.

I'm going! I'm going!! Actually the whole trio from Mt. Kisco is going (that would be my sister, the lovely Maria [who lurks here, but can't be persuaded to post], and me!)

As to awesome things read recently:

White Cat -- definitely very good!
Incarceron, and
Sapphique "The Love that moves the sun and the other stars...".sigh... AWESOME!
Mockingjay AWESOME! Although very grim (or maybe BECAUSE it's very grim)
The Poison Diaries. Loved this one, too.
The White Horse Trick. LOVE IT!! Everything Kate Thompson writes is brilliant, but this beats all!
Kiss Me Deadly. Worth reading for Maggie Stiefvater's "Hounds of Ulster" alone. And the other stories are good, too!
The Demon's Covenant. I adore Sarah Rees Brennan.

Plus I've been doing some re-reading....

I love this thread.

Must now run and water the garden. Plus, I have to figure out where we'll sleep in Boston. The street will not do....
~D.

There's only one book I've read recently that's had a big impact on me. It's a manga, Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms by Fumiyo Kouno. It's the story of people in Hiroshima, beginning several years after the bomb was dropped in 1945. At first, the book seems a sweet, straightforward story about the impact the bombing had on people's lives, then suddenly--BAM--it twists around your heart. After that, it turns into several stories that intertwine characters and time periods until you don't know if you're coming or going. It's one of those books that is intentionally opaque so that as soon as you finish you want to read it again to pick up on what you missed. I kept thinking about it long after I finished. Highly recommend it.

Earlier in the year I read and loved Finnikin of the Rock by Marchetta. Oh, and All the Broken Pieces by Burg--I read that twice, too, which I hardly ever do.

I'm 70 pages into Les Liasons Dangereuses and I love it so much. It is feeding into my dark streak, which is something I'm being bitten for right now, so yay?

Brent Weeks' new book The Black Prism just came out and is AMAZING! But there's always the age old fallback plan of rereading the Thief over and over and over and over. Not that I ever do that...

Seer of Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier is coming out in December, but I think what I'm most looking forward to is Blackveil by Kristen Britain. It comes out in February (So technically not this year, but I always use the schoolyear) and I am SO EXCITED!!!! I cannot WAIT to get my hands on that book!!!!!

Looking forward to I Shall Wear Midnight, the fourth Tiffany book from Terry Pratchett, due out this month!

Read Mockingjay a few days ago, thought it was really good. For anyone who has actually *finished* the Hunger Games trilogy, there is a really thoughtful and insightful set of discussions of both Mockingjay and the series as a whole, here: http://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/unlocking-mockingjay-the-complete-set-of-posts-and-a-round-up-of-the-first-30-discussion-points/ It helped me to see a lot of the allegorical/symbolical things going on beneath the action-packed surface (Lots of spoilers in the discussions, so be forewarned.)

What else...

It seems like most of what I have read recently or want to read soon has already been mentioned frequently in various Sounis posts, so I'll just mention a couple recent reads: The Blue Castle, by L. M. Montgomery (a sweet little story about a young woman finding love and overcoming her role as the family drudge) and The Golf Omnibus, by P. G. Wodehouse (comic short stories about golf; I loved it and I'm not even a fan of golf).

--Handmaiden

Haha, I'm planning on doing a retro-reading: books I should have read long ago that I'm damned sure I would like, but have never gotten around to it.

o Kurt Vonnegut (only ever read Slaughterhouse-Five but it ROCKED)
o PG Wodehouse (don't judge meeee)
o Raymond Chandler

Probably it is a good idea to respond to this comment with more authors of a similar nature that you feel I ought to read... because I probably haven't read them.

I'M ONLY TWENTY OKAY?!?

PS. I totally had a sparkly remembrance of Harry Potter the other day, and now I am writing a fanfiction for it for nostalgia's sake, even though I've never written a fanfic in my LIFE. It shall be an interesting experience.

I just read a few great books:

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - I am still marveling. It's a quiet sort of epic fantasy with what's been described as an anti-hero protagonist. I loved it. And the writing is incredible.

And Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier - loved that, too.

And I've just discovered Dorothy L. Sayers and I'm about to read Elizabeth Wein, so life's good :)

Unlundun by China Mieville is my new love. Creative and hilarious, it was set in Unlundun, a kind of mirror city of our London. The people there ran into some trouble and was waiting for the Chosen One, according to the Book, to arrive. Entering, Zanna and Deeba her best friend, then the story just kept twisting and turning. I could assure you this is not the typical Chosen One came and the hooray kind of story.

The book got me at the Binjas. A clan of trashcan who are brilliant martial artists and can use nunchujy and such! How could I not love this?

ps. Also eagerly await for Monster of Men and I shall wear midnight, plus Mortal Coil, book 5 of Skulduggery Pleasant.

There's a lot of great stuff coming out this fall, I cannot wait until Thanksgiving break when I'll have access to a library that's got them.

I Shall Wear Midnight - Terry Pratchett (I love all things discworld)
Cryoburn - Lois McMaster Bujold (Finally a new Vorkosigan book!)
Troubled Waters - Sharon Shinn (that is another author I feel this group would probably enjoy)

are probably the three I'm looking forward to most. I think there's also another book by Rick Riordan set in the Percy Jackson universe, and those were quite fun.

I just bought a book called Prang's Standard Alphabets. Printed in 1901; the original edition was 1880-something, I think.

It isn't a book in the sense of a story. It's what it says: Alphabets. From plain to ultra-decorative, and just basically a magnificent example of the printer's art. I'll have to scan some of the pages and post them to Photobucket. The intricate lines, the layers of color, even gilding on some of them - they're just gorgeous.

I got something of a deal on it, and should probably sell it because it's worth much more than I paid for it, but not yet!

Oh, and I went to a library book sale a few weeks ago and spent an appalling amount of money, but who can resist books for $1, or 50 cents on the second day?

I'm reading The Lives of Christopher Chant right now. I've never read any of that series.

I'm re-reading Kate Seredy's The Good Master, and also The Chestry Oak.

I also bought a bunch of books by Maud and Miska Petersham. The Story Book of Gold, of Clothing, of Oil, etc. There are 12 of them. They're nonfiction, and I'm sure the stories are interesting enough, but they were printed in the 1930's and I really bought them for the lovely lithographed illustrations. The depth and the colors - oh, they really knew how to print picture books back then!

Well, I'll confess to a fondness for space opera (among a bunch of other things--people talking about Adams should also read Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman!); anyway, having finished all of Lois M. Bujold's Miles V. books and several by Elizabeth Moon, I finally discovered the Liaden Universe books by Steve Miller and Sharon Lee. I bring them up here because many of the books feature Clan Korval, a group of people with a strong streak of Gen-like deviousness and invincibility in a pinch.

Plus, after belatedly discovering Dorothy L. Sayers last summer, this year I came across a series of mysteries by Bruce Alexander that I quite like. They're set in Georgian London, and they feature a blind magistrate named John Fielding who is based on the actual brother of writer Henry Fielding. Apparently John Fielding tended to get involved in investigation and founded the Bow Street Runners. The books give him a young "apprentice," and they're quite well written.

Read Mockingjay the day it came out--wow! Grim, but good!

A friend of mine just gave me Enchantress from the Stars, which she loved when she was younger. I've never read it. Has anyone else?

Just finished reading A Clockwork Orange, which I loved, and I'm currently wading and moaning through a vol. II of a massive series by Michelle West for no reason than my own stubbornness.

But really I'm just killing time for Pegasus.

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