I read a lot. I really, really like to read. In fact, my parents used to punish me as a child by sending me to a room (not mine) with no books. Banshee inspired med a few years ago to keep a running list of everything i read; i picked up the trick of the Amazon link from Ms. Weevil. Everytime you buy a book linked from my site, a few pennies go towards me buying another book to review! You can find the last 6 months worth of reading here; the various archives stretch back about 2.5 years. Please do feel free to leave your own thoughts on a book in the comments section. Good luck!
July 2004
The Bitch in the House, Cathi Hanauer
Subtitled (accurately!) "26 Women Tell the Truth About Sex, Solitude, Work, Motherhood, and Marriage", this assortment of essays sometimes rings home (and sometimes doesn't). It definitely feels well-written and honestly told throughout. I copied out a few passages into my journal, and definitely plan to photocopy a few of the essays and send them on to friends. If you're feeling in the mood for personal exploration around coming-of-30s/40s age stories, this is a collection for you. Recommended.
| Comments (5) | TrackBack (1561) | link me
Subtitled (accurately!) "26 Women Tell the Truth About Sex, Solitude, Work, Motherhood, and Marriage", this assortment of essays sometimes rings home (and sometimes doesn't). It definitely feels well-written and honestly told throughout. I copied out a few passages into my journal, and definitely plan to photocopy a few of the essays and send them on to friends. If you're feeling in the mood for personal exploration around coming-of-30s/40s age stories, this is a collection for you. Recommended.
| Comments (5) | TrackBack (1561) | link me
Wonder When You'll Miss Me, Amanda Davis
Wow. I devoured this book in a day, while waiting for Beca to give birth. I'd heard good things about it; Heidi had declared it the best book she'd read this year. And yet somehow I was unprepared for how compelling the story was; how it grabbed me and held on. The protaganist is a 16-year-old girl who is sometimes years older than her age, and sometimes years younger. She battles personal demons, and yes, runs away with the circus. There's vivid imagery - I can see so many scenes in my mind. And somehow, Amanda Davis manages to keep the book from turning into a cliché. Add me to the list of people who regret Ms. Davis' death last year. I wonder what she could have done with more time.... Highly recommended.
| TrackBack (400) | link me
Wow. I devoured this book in a day, while waiting for Beca to give birth. I'd heard good things about it; Heidi had declared it the best book she'd read this year. And yet somehow I was unprepared for how compelling the story was; how it grabbed me and held on. The protaganist is a 16-year-old girl who is sometimes years older than her age, and sometimes years younger. She battles personal demons, and yes, runs away with the circus. There's vivid imagery - I can see so many scenes in my mind. And somehow, Amanda Davis manages to keep the book from turning into a cliché. Add me to the list of people who regret Ms. Davis' death last year. I wonder what she could have done with more time.... Highly recommended.
| TrackBack (400) | link me
November 2003
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Ann Brashares
Carol & Sydney were kind enough to loan me their copy of this marvellous book. I enjoyed it almost as much as the first book in the series - it was a perfect read for a lazy Saturday morning. It's good to see a sequel that actually moves on with the characters, rather than perpetually rehashing the same scenese over and over again. Recommended.
| Comments (5) | TrackBack (802) | link me
Carol & Sydney were kind enough to loan me their copy of this marvellous book. I enjoyed it almost as much as the first book in the series - it was a perfect read for a lazy Saturday morning. It's good to see a sequel that actually moves on with the characters, rather than perpetually rehashing the same scenese over and over again. Recommended.
| Comments (5) | TrackBack (802) | link me
October 2003
Sleeping in Flame, Jonathan Carroll
Wow. Jonathan Carroll is really a great writer - i've read a stack of his books, and he still manages to surprise and floor me. Sleeping in Flame is on par with The Marraige of Sticks in my estimation. Too much of the summary & i'll give away the secret of the story; but trust me when i say that the device is one of my favorites: done with style, and the unfolding is quite graceful. Just go read it, ok?
| Comments (4) | TrackBack (732) | link me
Wow. Jonathan Carroll is really a great writer - i've read a stack of his books, and he still manages to surprise and floor me. Sleeping in Flame is on par with The Marraige of Sticks in my estimation. Too much of the summary & i'll give away the secret of the story; but trust me when i say that the device is one of my favorites: done with style, and the unfolding is quite graceful. Just go read it, ok?
| Comments (4) | TrackBack (732) | link me
Vitals, Greg Bear
Silly biotech thriller sci-fi from Greg Bear. Today, the topic is how to live forever. I confess that i liked the beginning, with the descriptions of deep sub exploration far better than the silly conspiracy-theory ending. Do be sure to take the biology with a grain of salt. All that said? Fun. The right sort of thing for bedtime reading during a few super-stressed weeks at work.
| Comments (2) | TrackBack (654) | link me
Silly biotech thriller sci-fi from Greg Bear. Today, the topic is how to live forever. I confess that i liked the beginning, with the descriptions of deep sub exploration far better than the silly conspiracy-theory ending. Do be sure to take the biology with a grain of salt. All that said? Fun. The right sort of thing for bedtime reading during a few super-stressed weeks at work.
| Comments (2) | TrackBack (654) | link me
Chasm City, Alastair Reynolds
I finally get to see how the next one turned out - and quite a wait. With moving, this took well over a month to read - but it was good clean space opera to hold me over. Chasm City is set in the same universe as Revelation Space, and nice nods and bits and bobs to tie the two together, but is definitely not a "show me more of the same" sequel. In summary, two stories woven together, with a lovely trick in the winding that i won't give away here. Highly recommended.
| Comments (36) | TrackBack (556) | link me
I finally get to see how the next one turned out - and quite a wait. With moving, this took well over a month to read - but it was good clean space opera to hold me over. Chasm City is set in the same universe as Revelation Space, and nice nods and bits and bobs to tie the two together, but is definitely not a "show me more of the same" sequel. In summary, two stories woven together, with a lovely trick in the winding that i won't give away here. Highly recommended.
| Comments (36) | TrackBack (556) | link me
July 2003
Summerland, Michael Chabon
This is so on Daniel's Christmas list this morning. Skillfull weaving of fairy tale elements with baseball, written for young adult eyes. It feels like it has some parallels to Gaiman's American Gods - fairy tales from an assortment of cultures crashing together around American tables, but it by no means the same story. I was especially impressed that Chabon was able to write about baseball in a way that helped me understand the story he was weaving through the game, and made me care about it - a feat my friends will understand as challenging. Highly recommended.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (601) | link me
This is so on Daniel's Christmas list this morning. Skillfull weaving of fairy tale elements with baseball, written for young adult eyes. It feels like it has some parallels to Gaiman's American Gods - fairy tales from an assortment of cultures crashing together around American tables, but it by no means the same story. I was especially impressed that Chabon was able to write about baseball in a way that helped me understand the story he was weaving through the game, and made me care about it - a feat my friends will understand as challenging. Highly recommended.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (601) | link me
June 2003
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling
Lordie, Harry is an angry young man in this book. I was continually struck by the fury in our young wizard, and the illogic that clouds his brainmeats as a result. Hermione gets awesomer and awesomer - i look forward to seeing where she goes, as a character. A fun candy read, as expected. Perfect thing to finish up while tired in our tent on the first night of the >Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.
| Comments (111) | TrackBack (609) | link me
Lordie, Harry is an angry young man in this book. I was continually struck by the fury in our young wizard, and the illogic that clouds his brainmeats as a result. Hermione gets awesomer and awesomer - i look forward to seeing where she goes, as a character. A fun candy read, as expected. Perfect thing to finish up while tired in our tent on the first night of the >Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.
| Comments (111) | TrackBack (609) | link me
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon
I think the easiest way to tell you how much i liked this book is to point out that with only a few hundred pages left, i carted it to Seattle and around and about - and we stayed on foot the whole time. (My copy is in hardcover. Heavy. And yet, I just couldn't leave it behind for 4 days.) What an amazing piece of writing - a great story about two boys coming of age; about the birth of the comics industry; about New York during a period of great change. Chabon is a master storyteller with a sense for assiduous wordsmithing. If you haven't read this yet, it's definitely worth picking up. But maybe you want it in paperback, so when you cart it around, unable to let go of it, it doesn't hurt your back so much?
| Comments (15) | TrackBack (441) | link me
I think the easiest way to tell you how much i liked this book is to point out that with only a few hundred pages left, i carted it to Seattle and around and about - and we stayed on foot the whole time. (My copy is in hardcover. Heavy. And yet, I just couldn't leave it behind for 4 days.) What an amazing piece of writing - a great story about two boys coming of age; about the birth of the comics industry; about New York during a period of great change. Chabon is a master storyteller with a sense for assiduous wordsmithing. If you haven't read this yet, it's definitely worth picking up. But maybe you want it in paperback, so when you cart it around, unable to let go of it, it doesn't hurt your back so much?
| Comments (15) | TrackBack (441) | link me
May 2003
Cooking for Mr. Latte, Amanda Hesser
I REALLY enjoyed reading Amanda Hesser's first book, The Cook and The Gardener. I was torn about picking her new book up in hardcover, after reading an excerpted chapter and a pile of mixed reviews. In the end, i bought it on the strength of her previous writings, and because i just plain needed a treat. Overall, i enjoyed CFML, but i didn't find it quite as solid as the first book. There were bits where i was just flat-out annoyed with Ms. Hesser; but then i realized that i feel that way about some of my good friends, and i just love them for who they are. With that realization, i finished the book, having a lot of fun. She's a human, too, neh? Overall, the story of a food writer in NYC didn't enthrall me as much as an American in the kitchen at a French Chateaux trying to get along with a crusty old French gardener, but that's probably more indicative of my story-reading preferences than Hesser's writing. Recommended, but maybe wait for paperback, or borrow mine?
| Comments (24) | TrackBack (677) | link me
I REALLY enjoyed reading Amanda Hesser's first book, The Cook and The Gardener. I was torn about picking her new book up in hardcover, after reading an excerpted chapter and a pile of mixed reviews. In the end, i bought it on the strength of her previous writings, and because i just plain needed a treat. Overall, i enjoyed CFML, but i didn't find it quite as solid as the first book. There were bits where i was just flat-out annoyed with Ms. Hesser; but then i realized that i feel that way about some of my good friends, and i just love them for who they are. With that realization, i finished the book, having a lot of fun. She's a human, too, neh? Overall, the story of a food writer in NYC didn't enthrall me as much as an American in the kitchen at a French Chateaux trying to get along with a crusty old French gardener, but that's probably more indicative of my story-reading preferences than Hesser's writing. Recommended, but maybe wait for paperback, or borrow mine?
| Comments (24) | TrackBack (677) | link me
Holy Fire, Bruce Sterling
What a great read! The perfect thing to be reading through a few incredibly stressfull week at work to put my world back into perspective again, in the gentlest of ways. Enough futurefantastical elements to keep my kid engaged, but enough juicy tidbits for my brainmeats to chew and chew and chew at. Recommended.
| Comments (2) | TrackBack (403) | link me
What a great read! The perfect thing to be reading through a few incredibly stressfull week at work to put my world back into perspective again, in the gentlest of ways. Enough futurefantastical elements to keep my kid engaged, but enough juicy tidbits for my brainmeats to chew and chew and chew at. Recommended.
| Comments (2) | TrackBack (403) | link me