While She Knits - Summer Reading

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Happy 4th-of-July-Official-Holiday to all you Yanks, and Happy It's July Summer to everyone in the northern hemisphere. Happy Wintertime to those of you in the southern-most parts of the world, and Happy Add Your Own Holiday Here to everyone else.

Whew, that was way harder than you would think. We are a diverse group, geographically speaking.

What are you reading during these lazy days of summer/winter/whatev ? Do you have anything to recommend, or to stay far away from?

I just finished Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy and recommend it highly. At first, it seemed like lots of other fantasy Evil Wants to Take Over the World stories, albeit set in a Russian-like magical world. But I liked book 1 and loved book 2. Book three was nicely done, with a satisfying ending to the series. And, there is an adorable Gen-like character who makes witty, scathing, self-deprecating comments throughout and who I really came to love.

Whatcha reading, everyone?

Comments

[badtzphoto.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec of "Grisha Trilogy", adding it on my to be read list.
I just finished "Shadow Scale" by Rachel Hartman - I like Seraphina better than this one. I am currently reading "The Secret Keeper: A Novel" by Kate Morton and enjoy it a lot.

[elvenjaneite.livejournal.com]

I'm currently belting through the Dandy Gilver mysteries, which are definitely adult. Nice balance of relatively light, but not cozy, and Dandy is just a tad like Phryne Fisher. Which is nice, since season 3 of Miss Fisher hasn't made it to the US yet. *pines*

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I just ordered Shadow Scale for my library. Loved Seraphina but am not so excited about the sequel, now. I think 2nd books in a trilogy must be really hard to write, don't you? So often they are all Star Wars-darkish. When they are done as well as QoA, or as well as the 2nd book in the Grisha series it's a real treat.

I'm assuming Seraphina is going to be a trilogy? Too lazy to look it up just now.

[peanut13171.livejournal.com]

I recently finished The Glass Sentence (The Mapmakers Trilogy #1)
by S.E. Grove and thought it had great worldbuilding.

If you want to read fabulous trilogy try Martha Wells's Raksura trilogy (Cloud Roads, Serpent Sea, Siren Depths). Adventures with shape shifters, flying islands, houses in HUGE trees, a city built on the back of a giant sea-creature. I love the world she created.

I can also recommend Sarah Addison's Goblin Emperor and Ann Leckie's Ancillary Sword (sequel to Ancillary Justice which swept all the SF awards last year). Both have been nominated for Hugos.

I'm currently reading City of Stairs (City of Stairs #1)
by Robert Jackson Bennett and enjoying it. Interesting world and characters.

[badtzphoto.livejournal.com]

If I remember correctly I read that Shadow Scale is the last book and it does read like a conclusion. I agree the second book of a trilogy is tough. I just remembered another series I really like is Bartimeus by Jonathan Stroud. I enjoy reading the djinn very much. He has a new series about fighting haunting ghosts which is really good. The second book is as good as the first. The third is coming this September. I don't know if the series is trilogy or more.

[purpleelephant0.livejournal.com]

I just finished "Uprooted" by Naomi Novik. I enjoyed it very much though my opinion could be a bit warped since I sped through the book in less than a day. The characters were wonderfully vivid and the worldbuilding was well done. I had a few very minor quibbles with it, but loved it overall and would definitely recommend it!

[(Anonymous)]

I just closed the last page of ACoK after (another) full retread of the series- so that's what I've been reading! And I've found myself here because I haven't been able to find a discussion on how the covers for the books have been whitewashed, and it's something that's been nagging at me! Is there links anyone could point me too, or fan art of Gen that is closer the MWT's description?

[ricardienne.livejournal.com]

I'm in the middle of Naomi Novik's "Uprooted", which is fantastic: it's about friendship, magic, and self-determination in a folk-tale-esque setting: if you liked the Graceling series and Seraphina, I'd heartily recommend it. It's completely different from Novik's dragon books (for me, a good thing, because after the first few I couldn't get into them).

I also strongly second Goblin Emperor (aka The Book For People Whose Favorite Queen's Thief Book is King of Attolia) and the Ancillary books, which are really really good.

[elvenjaneite.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhhh, that's a great way to compare Goblin Emperor & QT. I was feeling like they were readalikes in some way, but couldn't quite say how because Maia and Gen aren't really all that similar in many ways.

[jenn hilgeman (from livejournal.com)]

Are you referring to Sturmhond, checkers? I wasn't a huge fan of Mal until the third book, and I will never understand why everyone and their sister fangirls about the Darkling over on Tumblr and Goodreads, but Sturmhond received my undying affection. He was my kind of guy.

I have had next to no luck here lately with books, since everything I want to read doesn't seem to be released until September (seriously, there are at least six or eight books on my TBR list being released in that month). I reread The Kiss of Deception to prepare myself for the sequel being released this coming Tuesday, but other than that, I've been rereading Melina Marchetta novels, which is never a bad thing.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Oh, I LOVED the Bartimeus books. I thought the series had one of the best endings I've read. It was just so...right. I met Jonathan Stroud once and made a fool of myself fangirling as he very politely listened, and gave me a fantastic autograph with a drawing of a bat on it. He really is lovely.

I read part of the first book of his new series but didn't care for it. I hate creepy stuff and it just didn't do it for me. Maybe I should give it another try.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Yes, Sturmhond. Just couldn't get into stalwart, boring Mal at all when there was the sparking personality of Sturmhond right there, making you want to smack him or hug him. And the Darkling--ugh, I'm with you.

[jenn hilgeman (from livejournal.com)]

I adored Seraphina, and I liked Shadow Scale, but I confess I was a bit disappointed by it as well. I thought the dragon stuff was well done, but the romance that I loved so much in the first book seemed to be shifted entirely to the back burner in Shadow Scale (and don't get me started on that vague non-ending).

[jenn hilgeman (from livejournal.com)]

I thought Uprooted was absolutely lovely.

[jenn hilgeman (from livejournal.com)]

Yes! Ugh, I wanted to throttle Mal half the time in the second book for being such a jerk. They say good girls love a bad boy, but I've never been able to get behind that theory. Evil is not attractive and neither is the Darkling. Sturmhond, on the other hand, was a precious snowflake. I feel like he and Gen would get along swimmingly.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Great question, Anon! Let me find an article we discussed a few years ago. I'll post your question on the main Sounis page, so we can talk about the covers, diverse characters in fantasy/sci fi/YA books, and how unusual it is to find darker skinned main characters in the pages of a book, much less on the cover.

Maybe someone else has links to fanart?

[badtzphoto.livejournal.com]

"one of the best endings"
I know, right? I wish there were more books on Bartimeus, with his lifespan, I'm sure he can have 20 books easily :P
I don't care much for creepy stuff, either, but I like George, Lucy, and Lockwood so much I make this one an exception :)
Wow, I'm so jealous that you were able to meet with Jonathan Stroud.

[badtzphoto.livejournal.com]

Thanks, adding "Uprooted" to my list.

[jenn hilgeman (from livejournal.com)]

I normally can't do creepy stuff either (and I was surprised how terrifying it was for a middle grade novel), but I'm with you - George, Lucy, and Lockwood were great fun to hang out with. I'll put up with nightmares for them.

[badtzphoto.livejournal.com]

and book 3 coming out this September - YAY!

[badtzphoto.livejournal.com]

I hope there may be a book about Omar. He doesn't appear enough in this one.

[jenn hilgeman (from livejournal.com)]

Ahhhh, not another September release date! I need books now.

[badtzphoto.livejournal.com]

What is the book title that you're waiting for in September if you don't mind my asking?

[jenn hilgeman (from livejournal.com)]

At this point, it's more like what book isn't being released in September that I want to read. Going off of my Goodreads TBR list alone (I'm sure there are books that I haven't marked as want to read), there is Stand-Off, the sequel to Winger by Andrew Smith; the first book in Rae Carson's new series, Walk On Earth A Stranger; Beastly Bones, the sequel to Jackaby; and Six of Crows, the first book in Leigh Bardugo's new series, which is set in the same world as the Grisha books. The fourth and final book in Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Cycle series was going to be released in September, but it got pushed back until February or March of next year.

[badtzphoto.livejournal.com]

Looks like September is a busy reading month. Yay for September :)

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks, that's so helpful! I actually like the covers in all other respects, I think they convey the tone of the books really well. But they have also shaped how I imagine Gen. I feel ashamed to say this, but it actually took reading further into the series for me to reform a proper visual of him where his skin is not just tan. I'm really curious as to how the covers have impacted other people's reading.
From memory, Gen's skin tone is about one line in each book. It seems to be something unpoliticised in MWT world, without a lot of the social implications given to it in this one. It seems such a pity that the equation seems to have been, skin colour is only tangentially important in this world, so it doesn't matter representing it much in this one- allowing the covers to fall back into whiteness-as-default.

[live-momma.livejournal.com]

I finally finished The Complete Sherlock Holmes: The Heirloom Collection (audiobook narrated by Simon Vance). It's 58 hours, so it's a great bargain (1 audible credit!). DH teased me about the "finally" finished. "You make it sound like a chore." "More like a marathon. You've chosen to do it, but by the end, it's really a grind." I'm sure I'll listen to it again in the future, but maybe not straight through from beginning to end without reading another book in between.

I was #1 on my library's wait list for Uprooted, so I finished it weeks ago. It didn't take long, so I thought about rereading it before it was due back, but it wasn't the kind of book that I want to start over again immediately. It was very good, though, and I'll definitely reread it before the movie comes out (WB has already bought the rights!).

I have book 2 in the Libriomancer series sitting on my side table waiting for me. I keep putting it off because I know it will suck me in, and I've got stuff to get done.

In the meantime, I listened to Robin McKinley's Sunshine on audiobook. I'd read my paper copy once and then loaned it to someone who still has it, so I jumped on it when it was on sale last month. I enjoyed it just as much the 2nd time around.

Everything else has been non-fiction, mostly cookbooks. ;-)

[purpleelephant0.livejournal.com]

I completely agree! I wish there was more about these characters, yet the story ended exactly where it should have.

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

Lately my personal reading has been trying out different webcomics, but I've only stuck with a few of them. Finding webcomics I like has been difficult because, well... I don't really have a WSK for webcomics. Really, thats the reason. For years all my book rec's have come from you all. So basically Sounis is a very important part of my life ;-). I loved Digger and Nimona, and have been making my way through Stand Still, Stay Silent and I'm intrigued by the start of Mare Internum and really really really want the Meek to get up and running again. Any other suggestions out there?

Nearly all of my novel reading has been with my husband. We just finished reading the first and third volumes of The Chronicles of Chrestomanci (re-read for me, new to him) which we enjoyed muchly. (I never liked the second volume. I told him he could read it on his own.) Previously Conrad's Fate was my favorite of the series, but I found I enjoyed the Pinhoe Egg much more this time around. Actually, I really enjoyed them all much more this time around--reading aloud together makes reading go slower, but also more fun.

We're now not quite halfway through Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. It went pretty quickly to start but now the middle is seeming to drag a bit. Ah well. The narration and footnotes are just as fun as I remembered.

I have chosen nearly all of the books we've read together. He likes what I like but I don't necessarily like everything he likes--I'm really picky. So it just works better when I choose them--with his input of course.

Next on our list is Uprooted, which will be fun since it's new to both of us. Only 2 of the 12 books we've read (the Goblin Emperor and Clariel) were new to me and him both, and its fun to have that first-reading experience together. We read His Majesty's Dragon together and he really liked it, but we couldn't go on since my brothers stole my copies of the sequels. (I pretend that the series only has three books in it anyway because I never really got into the later books.) He ordered the second last week, but it hasn't arrived yet. I don't know if we'll read that one together or if he'll just work through the sequels on his own.

We're both excited about Uprooted--I like fairy tale retellings and he's excited for the Russian-esque setting--he lived in Ukraine for a couple years and speaks Russian.

[piartemis18.livejournal.com]

!!!! Rae Carson has a new trilogy! That is the best news; thank you for it.

Of course, my library doesn't have it available to put on hold yet, but I'm sure they'll get in gear soon.

[filkferengi]

Zdrastvuy! Kak dyela?

[jenn hilgeman (from livejournal.com)]

You're so welcome. I read an ARC of it a while back, and it is indeed something to look forward to reading. I hope you like it. It was very much Oregon Trail meets magic.

[jenn hilgeman (from livejournal.com)]

Yay for September. It'll be like Christmas has come three months early.

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

I'm late to the discussion, but keep slogging through JS&MN. It picks back up, and it's really worth the read! Have you been tuning into the miniseries?

Eta: rereading your comment, looks like maybe that's a reread for you. So I guess you know how it ends up. :)

[kitsune-rains.livejournal.com]

I JUST finished Code Name Verity and would HIGHLY recommend it.
An ally spy is captured in Nazi-occupied France and forced to give up every piece of information she has, which she does by writing down the story of what led her to being captured.
I don't want to give too much away because, much like QT this is a book that kept making revelations that completely changed how I processed what I read earlier. Definitely think it needs a re-read to dig out all of those gems.
Also, the two main characters are women, a spy and a pilot, and the best of friends, and it's just characters and a dynamic that is something I rarely read. This book was seriously heartbreaking.
While it's not terribly graphic it does reference and describe torture, so it's probably not something for young readers or people sensitive to that sort of thing.
But WOW SO GOOD.