While She Knits

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

Summer is over, school has started, Megan is back in Ohio knitting a new pair of socks for her upcoming trip to Boston as a Boston-Globe Horn Book Awards Honoree, and thesehnsucht 's recent post brings to mind just how long it has been since we had a WSK conversation.

What books have you read recently that really left an impression on you?  What are the ones on your To Be Read or Upcoming New Release lists that you are simply itching to get at? 

Comments

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

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

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

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.

[elvenjaneite.livejournal.com]

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*

[elvenjaneite.livejournal.com]

Apparently I am entirely wrong and Pegasus is also being released in November. I really thought it was September for some reason.

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

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!

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

I have copies of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire waiting for me to pick up at the library. I held out until all three books were released because I just wanted to read them all at once.

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

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.

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

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!

[(Anonymous)]

Oh gosh I am counting down the days to Pegasus. Did you also know there will be a sequel? She is actually writing a sequel. Miracles do come true. Now maybe (meaning, maybe a 2% chance) she will write a sequel for Sunshine. One has to hope.

[queens-thief.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh I am counting down the days to Pegasus. Did you also know there will be a sequel? She is actually writing a sequel. Miracles do come true. Now maybe (meaning, maybe a 2% chance) she will write a sequel for Sunshine. One has to hope.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

I just read To Say Nothing of the Dog and had read Doomsday book before! I had trouble imagining how the same basic set-up could result in a funny book, but it surely did.

Currently reading (rereading) The Iliad -- no, really! Fagles translation. It's kind of a page-turner. Unlike when I read it in Greek and had to look up every other word!

[elvenjaneite.livejournal.com]

According to her blog, it's not a sequel. It's one story cut in two (like Lord of the Rings). Also according to her blog, there will eventually be another story set in the Sunshine universe, but that won't strictly be a sequel either. (as in, it may not have any mention of Rae and Mel and Con.)

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

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

[hwaet.livejournal.com]

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.

[deirdrej.livejournal.com]

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.

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

I had trouble imagining how the same basic set-up could result in a funny book, but it surely did.


I know, I felt the same way! The same basic set up resulting in two very different novels, one tragic and one comedic, takes some serious writing skills. So many authors can only do one or the other.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

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.

[thesehnsucht.livejournal.com]

squee! I've been reading Ooku too!
I know some people have a prejudice against comics, especially manga, but it's definitely worth reading

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

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?

[qwentoozla]

Sherlock was awesome! I loved it and I hope you do too. :)

[qwentoozla]

I loved Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog! I read Blackout last month, excellent, but so annoying how abruptly it ended. I got all into it! I know the sequel is coming out next month though.

[readingisgoodforyou.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

I loved Finnikin of the Rock as well. I read it two times, back to back.

I've had a ridiculous course load this semester, so I haven't had much time for reading, but I was able to read The Chronicles of Chrestomanci Vol. I and I really liked it. Cat Chant bugged me for a while because he was passive and just let his sister behave like a monster for most of the book. He does have potential to be awesome, though, like Christopher Chant.

I, too, can't wait for Pegasus and Monsters of Men -- I just hope I can find the time to read both of them when they come out. Oh, and I am also excited for The Curse of the Wendigo, the sequel to The Monstrumologist to come out as well. I had to read the latter for my YA lit course this past summer and I surprisingly liked it. I'm normally not a fan of horror, but this was written more along the lines of Dracula and Frankenstein than Stephen King.

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

Yeah I've heard Blackout kind of leaves you going, "What??? It's over? But...." I'm waiting until the second half is released before I read it.

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I think it premieres here in October. I'm excited!

[amolegere.livejournal.com]

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...