While She Knits--Whatcha Reading?

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

While Megan knits and purls and tweaks Return of the Thief, what have you been reading recently that you'd recommend hunkering down with the shorter days and colder temperatures?*

I'll start. I've read some great things lately and some books that haven't quite lived up to my expectations.

I've started reading the Armand Gamache detective series by Louise Penny and it's a step above other mystery series I've read. The books are character and setting-driven and take place in a very small town in eastern Quebec, Canada. I've only read a couple of books so far but know I'll keep reading my way through the series.

I read The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal. It's an alternate history/sci fi story of what might have happened if a meteor had hit the earth in the 1950s and started an extinction event. It's part Hidden Figures as it follows a group of women who want to be astronauts as the world decides that colonizing Mars is the only way to save the human race. I had some issues with some repetitive elements but liked it.

I read Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher and thought it was a hoot. The main character is a university professor of English and it's just so much fun. The entire book is told in letters of recommendation and it shows the absurdity of the higher education system, along with how essential it is. There's a sequel that I'm waiting for from the library.

I read a couple of sequels-- Wildcard by Marie Lu and Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor and found them both disappointing. Especially Muse of Nightmares, after loving Strange the Dreamer so much.

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz was a lot of fun. It's a mystery story within a mystery story and, although I tried really hard to solve the mysteries, it surprised and stumpted me at every turn.

But my favorite recent read is Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. She's a genius at pacing and writing from different narrator's POV. I really loved everything about it.

What about you? What have you loved or not loved?


*Unless you're in the southern hemisphere--what are your fav summer reads? 

Comments

[ibmiller.livejournal.com]

I've sadly been reading a couple of books that I DON'T want to recommend. I posted overly long, cranky reviews on Goodreads.

I haven't read a ton of prose besides those books - though I do have two more that dropped just as I also got the other two from the library, but I'm sort of recuperating narratively from my reaction to those two, I think. (I can't remember if I posted a review of the romance/thriller novel dedicated to MWT that she posted about on her tumblr here, but I did enjoy that, though I thought the plotting was a bit weaker than the character work on that. At Your Service, it was called, and I read two more from the library by her as well - one which was nice, the other in an interesting trend I've seen with romance novels, loosely connected in the same "continuity" with a different central couple, but sadly, the second (which is technically the first, but I read it second) starred a real jerk as the romance hero, and I didn't enjoy it nearly as much).

I continue to read tons and tons of comics. Tom King's Batman series is still fascinating, though extremely unever. His Mister Miracle series just concluded, which is much more philosophical, but sadly it didn't hit me like a ton of bricks, which is what his last two miniseries, Omega Men and Vision, did to me, so I'm kinda let down.

Deathstroke, by Christopher Priest, continues to be incredibly hilarious but also dark and gripping, and the current arc, with Slade Wilson the assassin in Arkham Asylum along with many of Batman's worst villains, is also extremely trippy and reality bending.

Because I binge-watched Daredevil season 3 and Iron Fist season 2 on Netflix over vacation last month, I also read several Iron Fist and Daredevil comics. So far, the Iron Fist stuff is kinda fun but not really earth shattering (I mostly read the run called "Immortal Iron Fist" by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction). I also read Frank Miller's "Man Without Fear" Daredevil origin story - and it's amazing how much the tv show steals from it...and how much I wish it didn't. It's nowhere near as good as the amazing "Daredevil: Born Again," which I seriously would put up there as one of the best comics of all time.

I've read Horowitz's Sherlock Holmes pastiche, House of Silk, and thought it was fun but not amazing. Do you think Magpie Murders is anything special on the character/social commentary front? I'm not very good at puzzles, so a book that is only middling at presenting them is likely to fool me :). I used to be a big fan of Mary Robinette Kowal, but I've drifted away from her stuff as I kinda got tired of the vaguely pleasant but fairly predictable plotting and bog-standard Regency romance characters. It's all very nice. I'm still disappointed that the novel she had a bunch of fans sort of beta read seems to have been slashed from the publishing schedule (since she finished it like 5 years ago).

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I've read several romance-type novels that do that same thing--focus on satellite characters in the next book, which I don't mind, usually. But I'm with you, if a main character is selfish or unredeemed by the end of the book, (or if the author can explain why they are so damaged--Kaz in Six of Crows, for example) I get really aggravated. That's what was so wonderful about Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. Inej was not willing to sell herself short, or try to change someone, and wouldn't sacrifice herself to that kind of relationship. But don't get me started on all the reasons I love those books!

Magpie Murders was clever and fun, but nothing special as to depth of character. I prefer Michael Connelley and Louise Penny mysteries, by far.

I do like graphic novels and heavily promote their use in school libraries and classrooms. I usually only read middle and high school-type titles, and haven't read any of the ones you mention, but man! the artwork is phenomenal in today's graphic novels, isn't it?

[ibmiller.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the details!

There's so much talent in comics these days, it's great. I'm (obviously) pretty deep into the Marvel and DC superheros, but I think it's really great that there are so many younger comics that kids can get started on. I wish Marvel and DC would have a serious effort to fill some of that market space, instead of focusing more and more on late teen-30s age range with the "edgier" stuff only. I think there should be plenty of the older stuff, but not at the expense of high quality all-ages stuff, like there used to be with Marvel Adventures Spider-Man by Paul Tobin and Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane by Sean McKeever, and Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade by Landry Walker.

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed Six of Crows. Crooked Kingdom less so, but by then I was definitely reading to discover what came of Kaz and Inej. :)

You mentioned Spinning Silver in your original post and I would like to re-read that one sometime (it would make an especially good winter read, I think). The "romance" aspects of it definitely left me a little confused and with mixed feelings as to what Novik was trying to bring together at the end. I think I can see what she was aiming for, but I'm not sure it was entirely successful. I don't like it when I can't decide if I'm rooting for a couple or not. I had this same problem with her other book, Uprooted. And, come to think of it, I didn't always care for the way relationships played out in her Temeraire books, though I liked those very much for other reasons.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

What didn't you care for in Spinning Silver, romance-wise? I liked both romances pretty well. The one between Miryam and the Staryk king reminded me a lot of Elizabeth and Darcy, so I liked that one from the start. I only came around to liking the romance between the tsar and Irina after Novik unexpectedly threw in a chapter from the tsar's POV. That's when we found out that he had not made a pact with the demon; it was his mother who did that and the poor guy had lived his whole life with that thing inside him. And the parts where the tsar tried to figure out what everyone else saw in her somehow endeared him to me just a little. Anyway, unlike some of the romances in Muse of Nightmares, I thought the ones in Spinning Silver made sense and fit the story well.

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the reminder that I need to finish Daredevil season 2 before I can move on to 3. I really enjoyed the first season.

[ibmiller.livejournal.com]

Daredevil season 2 is an odd beast. I really liked the first half, but the second half didn't work for me at all. Third season is much more consistent, though I still think that all of the Netflix shows are at least 3 episodes too long, and need to embrace a more episodic, monster of the week format to really be strong.

But the cast of these shows are just so amazing. Everyone talks about D'Onofrio as Kingpin, but Charlie Cox was a revalation - I loved him in Stardust, but he's magnificent as Matt. And Deborah Ann Woll as Karen is really intense and complicated - definitely one of my faves.

[frosted-feather.livejournal.com]

How interesting that you read graphic novels too! Do you ever read manga? I've become a huge fan of many, many manga series in the last 5 years, not really any Western graphic novels. Avatar the last Airbender was my introduction to it all.

[ibmiller.livejournal.com]

I don't read much manga at all, sadly. I read a large chunk of Fullmetal Alchemist in 2007ish, but never finished the series, and I've read a few volumes here and there. I have two problems with manga - 1) I have to retrain my brain to read American comics and books after I do more than one volume of manga, and it can give me headaches. 2) I'm already super invested in DC and Marvel characters. :)

I did actually just read a volume of manga last week, though - Red Riding Hood's Wolf Apprentice. It was very cute and angsty, and I enjoyed it a lot.

I used to be super against the shonen/shoujo style, but the art of Takeshi Miyazawa in Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, written by Sean McKeever, got me into it (a highest of recommends from me). The new issue of Shazam actually features a backup story with art by a Japanese artist which is incredibly cute and well done. I'm also a huge fan of Gurihiru, who did several of the Avatar The Last Airbender comic books (I have their art of The Incredibles on my wall right now!)

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

I just re-read two of my favorites, Howl's Moving Castle and The Scorpio Races, thanks to a readalong organized by Maggie Stiefvater over on Slack. Slack was a confusing format for me at first, but now that I've gotten the hang of it, I've really enjoyed going over those books again with other readers (and a few familiar authors). ;)

I started re-reading Castle in the Air after HMC, and was astounded by how much I'd forgotten. Pretty sure I had only read it once before, and was probably disappointed that time by the seeming absence of my favorite characters. I was far more delighted with it this time around, and I was even picking up Thick As Thieves vibes from the overall shape of the story! Now I need to hunt down a copy of House of Many Ways...

In an effort to read more of the classics, I picked up Howard's End and made it halfway through before I put it down and completely forgot about it until now. Oops. (Doesn't bode well, does it?) Maybe I'll just re-read The Count of Monte Cristo or King Lear instead.

Muse of Nightmares was more or less what I expected it to be. A wild ride, but suffering the same wordiness and repetitiveness of the first book, with less of the charm. I'm glad I saw the story to its conclusion, but I was kind of relieved when I finished it.

[dannybailey.livejournal.com]

I need to read The Scorpio Races! I just read The Raven Cycle this year and I really enjoyed it. That was my first Stiefvater experience. :D

[frosted-feather.livejournal.com]

Same for me on "Castle in the Air!" I loved the main character (Abdullah?) and I really drew the parallels to TaT, and also The Horse and His Boy (one of my favorites ever). It works really well as a stand-alone apart from Howl and Sophie's story.

[dannybailey.livejournal.com]

I read this a while ago, but I think MWT fans will really appreciate it:

The Rifter series by Ginn Hale. It's a fantasy serial that was published in 2011 and deserves SO MUCH more recognition than it gets. The story is really wonderful, with unique world building, a really compelling romance, and super twisty timelines that makes everything a little confusing until it all comes together.

I recommend this series especially for fans of the Queen's Thief books because it has the same quality of re-readability. When I reread Megan's books I always pick up little easter eggs and things that only make sense in retrospect. The Rifter is the same way, so when you reread it with the context of knowing the outcome then things that you thought you understood take on new meanings. I don't know anyone else who has done this as successfully as MWT or Ginn Hale. (If you know of any books that do this, let me know! I want to read 'em!)

Unfortunately, the books are out of print in paperback, although some libraries do have them. The paperbacks were published as 3 bind-ups rather than original 10 novellas, so don't get confused if you see just 3 of them!

Better still, you can still get the ebooks. The first part of the series is on kindle for 99c. But it's cheaper to buy it from Weightless Books as a full series, if you think you'll like it. Here's the link: https://weightlessbooks.com/fiction/the-rifter-subscription/

[readsintrees.livejournal.com]

Hmm, too many to list everything, but some notable books that I've enjoyed in the last couple of months are:

"The Archived" by Victoria Schwab (contemporary fantasy)

"The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets" by Eva Rice (coming of age in post-war London, got a rare 5 stars from me!)

"Broken Things" by Lauren Oliver (murder mystery with a Narnia-like flavor)

"All Our Wrong Todays" by Elan Mastai (time travel/alternate reality with a deliciously crass writing style that I deeply enjoyed, another rare 5 star book for me).

"A Face Like Glass" by Francis Hardige (whimsical fantasy with a spunky heroine)

[honestavocado.livejournal.com]

I recently read the Six of Crows Duology and I thought it was pretty good.

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

I adored Spinning Silver, and was going to recommend it to everyone!

I actually liked Muse of Nightmares. A very different book, which I ended up admiring a lot, is All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater. And I've just started reading TheLove Letters by Madeleine L'Engle, and am thinking of rereading The Other Side of the Sun. Just reread Watershed Down and The Children of Green Knowe.