BOOKS read, Jul-Dec

Jan. 2nd, 2019 08:25 pm
bironic: Neil Perry gazing out a window at night (Default)
[personal profile] bironic
Continued from here.

I've got an unfinished set of book and movie reviews titled "Lightning Round" because it was going to be super quick. It's dated September 23. Ha ha ha. Here is the list anyway. If and when I finish that post, I'll add the links here. ETA: Link added!

24 novels incl. 4 kids’ books, 3 novellas + 1 partial, 7 graphic novel volumes, 4 short story collections + 1 partial, 3 nonfictions, 3 poetry collections, 1 play:

  1. An Unkindness of Ghosts - Rivers Solomon
  2. Trail of Lightning - Rebecca Roanhorse
  3. Guardian angels & other monsters - Daniel H. Wilson
  4. Jonny Appleseed - Joshua Whitehead
  5. New Poets of Native Nations - ed. Heid Erdrich
  6. *Art and Fear - David Bayles & Ted Orland
  7. A Closed and Common Orbit - Becky Chambers ♥

    ** START OF AUTUMN READING CHALLENGE** -- mini-reviews of the below books here
     
  8. Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik ♥
  9. *Whereas - Layli Long Soldier
  10. Strange Practice: A Dr. Greta Helsing novel - Vivian Shaw ♥
  11. Rogue Protocol - Martha Wells
  12. Forget the Sleepless Shores - Sonya Taaffe (acquaintance) -- incomplete
  13. Monstress vols. 1 & 2 - Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda et al
  14. Record of a Spaceborn Few - Becky Chambers
  15. *On the Other Side of Freedom - DeRay Mckesson
  16. Two Mates for the Dragon - Zoe Chant et al
  17. Dreadful Company - Vivian Shaw
  18. The Halloween Tree - Ray Bradbury, illust. Joseph Mugnaini
    (+ A Halloween Treat/Edward Gorey's Ghosts - Edward Gorey)
  19. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie, illust. Ellen Forney ♥
  20. The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas ♥
  21. *When my brother was an Aztec - Natalie Diaz
  22. The Smoking Mirror - David Bowles
  23. Unbeatable Squirrel Girl vol. 8 - Ryan North & Erica Henderson et al ♥
  24. The Marrow Thieves - Cherie Dimaline
  25. Exit Strategy - Martha Wells
  26. ✓ The Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux transl. Lowell Bair
  27. Descender vol. 6: The Machine War - Jeff Lemire & Dustin Nguyen et al
  28. ✓ Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - Edward Albee ♥
  29. ✓ If on a winter's night a traveller (Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore) - Italo Calvino transl. William Weaver
  30. Saga vols. 8 & 9 - Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples et al ♥ for 9
  31. ✓ Interpreter of Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri
  32. My Teacher Is an Alien - Bruce Coville (reread) ♥
  33. My Teacher Fried my Brains - Bruce Coville (reread)
  34. My Teacher Glows in the Dark - Bruce Coville (reread)
  35. Monstress vol. 3 - Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda et al
  36. The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening - L.J. Smith (reread)
  37. The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle - L.J. Smith (reread)
  38. ✓ *Out on the Wire - Jessica Abel
  39. ✓ The Turn of the Screw - Henry James
  40. The Vampire Diaries: The Fury - L.J. Smith (reread)
  41. The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion - L.J. Smith (reread)

    ** END OF AUTUMN READING CHALLENGE**
     
  42. The Tea Master & the Detective - Aliette de Bodard -- incomplete
  43. My Teacher Flunked the Planet - Bruce Coville (reread)
  44. The Stars Are Legion - Kameron Hurley
  45. How Long 'Til Black Future Month? - N.K. Jemisin ♥

*nonfiction
✓ Operation Read More Books You've Owned For Ages


Total for the year:
  • 35 novels
  • 8 novellas + 1 partial
  • 12 graphic novel volumes
  • 6 short story collections + 1 partial
  • 9 memoirs & nonfiction
  • 3 poetry collections
  • 1 play

a.k.a. 74 complete + 2 partial, a.k.a. about 25 more books than usual.

Quick-and-dirty demographics:
  • Women & nonbinary: 39 authors/poets + 4 coauthors/illustrators, 31 books
  • Native: 28 authors/poets, 8 books
  • Other non-white: 5 authors + 2 coauthors/illustrators, 7 books
  • Translations: 2 books + some poems


As always, happy to talk about any of these.
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Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 01:37 am (UTC)
yhlee: (AtS no angel (credit: <user name="helloi)
From: [personal profile] yhlee
Are those the original Vampire Diaries books from way back, rather than the later additions post-TV series? I enjoyed those so much when I encountered them a decade ago, randomly sitting in the Richland, WA library. :)

Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 01:51 am (UTC)
bironic: Neil Perry gazing out a window at night (Default)
From: [personal profile] bironic
Yes, the originals! Or should I say, The Originals? Ha ha. Ha. Gotta say, they lost 95% of their effect on me compared to 1998.

I then obtained from the library a sequel trilogy supposedly written by L.J. Smith after the show started -- Midnight, Shadow... Souls?, something something -- but returned them today after reading only the first chapter. Elena had mentally regressed to a child after coming back from ghosthood. Maybe some other time.

Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 01:54 am (UTC)
yhlee: (AtS no angel (credit: <user name="helloi)
From: [personal profile] yhlee
LOL!

Yeah, I think I would probably find them tough to reread now, but they were fun at the time. :)

Elena regressing to mental childhood is not what I would have expected! OTOH, L. J. Smith never did hesitate to go after some of the really weird tropes. I say this with affection.

Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 02:38 am (UTC)
bironic: Neil Perry gazing out a window at night (Default)
From: [personal profile] bironic
The trouble there was she was mentally a child but also wanted to make out with Stefan? Who understandably wanted none of it? IDK.

Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 02:45 am (UTC)
yhlee: soulless (orb) (AtS soulless (credit: mango_icons on LJ))
From: [personal profile] yhlee
*BLINK* I...I'm kind of with Stefan there, WTF? *blink*

You would think that by now, after having read a lot of fanfic, I wouldn't be taken by surprise by things like this. AND YET.

Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 02:51 am (UTC)
bironic: Neil Perry gazing out a window at night (Default)
From: [personal profile] bironic
LOL. And the narrative was first-person POV of Elena, so, basically, no. If it had been Stefan narrating, maybe it would have felt less uncomfortable.
Edited Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 02:52 am (UTC)

Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 02:06 am (UTC)
seekingferret: Two warning signs one above the other. 1) Falling Rocks. 2) Falling Rocs. (Default)
From: [personal profile] seekingferret
I recommend all the If on a winter's night fic on AO3, and not just the stuff I wrote.

Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 02:40 am (UTC)
bironic: Neil Perry gazing out a window at night (Default)
From: [personal profile] bironic
I saw you wrote an Invisible Cities one this year! I'm of mixed feelings about If on a winter's night, but fandom being fandom, doubtless at least some of the fic will be worth checking out anyway.

Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 03:11 am (UTC)
seekingferret: Two warning signs one above the other. 1) Falling Rocks. 2) Falling Rocs. (Default)
From: [personal profile] seekingferret
Wasn't me. I haven't read Invisible Cities yet.

Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 03:13 am (UTC)
bironic: Neil Perry gazing out a window at night (Default)
From: [personal profile] bironic
Oh! Sorry. What am I thinking of? *rhetorical*

ETA: oh, it was yhlee, right above you. That's funny, I've never confused you before. Sorry again! :)
Edited Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 03:17 am (UTC)

Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 02:25 am (UTC)
jjhunter: Serene person of color with shaved head against abstract background half blue half brown (scientific sage)
From: [personal profile] jjhunter
✓ Operation Read More Books You've Owned For Ages
This is a great operation, I should do that too.

*contemplates the multiple stacks of More Books compiled on her desk during Autumn Reading Challenge with bemused affection*

I know I read over 50 books during that challenge, how did I end up with so many not-yet's and partially-there's collectively masquerading as architectural features on my desk now?

Maybe I should start doing Reading Wednesday posts or something - sharing book progress with snarky comments was very motivating.

Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 02:41 am (UTC)
bironic: Neil Perry gazing out a window at night (Default)
From: [personal profile] bironic
The small spreadsheet cells helped too. :)

Good luck with the to-read pile. So many books, so few available hours in the day.

Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 03:38 am (UTC)
skygiants: the aunts from Pushing Daisies reading and sipping wine on a couch (wine and books)
From: [personal profile] skygiants
I'd be curious about your thoughts on the third Becky Chambers book!

(Did you ever read L.J. Smith's weird adorable Arthuriana?)

Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 03:25 pm (UTC)
bironic: Neil Perry gazing out a window at night (Default)
From: [personal profile] bironic
It's one of the ones half-drafted in that lightning round post! More motivation to finish it off.

(Have not read the Arthuriana - weird and adorable how?)

Date: Jan. 4th, 2019 11:34 pm (UTC)
skygiants: Yoko from Twelve Kingdoms, sword drawn (sword in hand)
From: [personal profile] skygiants
(California teens team up with exasperated Morgan le Fay, middle sister starts learning sorcery and oldest sister turns out to be Arthur reincarnated, chaotic neutral-to-evil Merlin, lots of Edward Eager/DWJ-ish sibling stuff and no romance except for some subtexty Merlin/Arthur vibes and one fairy's consistent attempts to abscond with the useless-but-pretty middle brother.

Until my mid-twenties I had NO IDEA that L.J. Smith was primarily known for supernatural romance.)

Date: Jan. 4th, 2019 11:42 pm (UTC)
bironic: Neil Perry gazing out a window at night (Default)
From: [personal profile] bironic
...wow!

Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 03:53 am (UTC)
chimney_swift: Illustration of chimney swift (bird) against blue sky (Default)
From: [personal profile] chimney_swift
I read The Halloween Tree for the first time this year as well! I picked it and Coraline as my October "out in the woods" books. It wasn't my favorite, but there is something special about Ray Bradbury.

Date: Jan. 3rd, 2019 03:27 pm (UTC)
bironic: Neil Perry gazing out a window at night (Default)
From: [personal profile] bironic
Neat! I was sad most of the interior illustrations weren't as evocative as the cover, but I found the depiction of young, supposedly straight male friendships fascinating.

Date: Jan. 9th, 2019 01:35 am (UTC)
kuwdora: Pooka - card 60, brian froud (Default)
From: [personal profile] kuwdora
reading this over, i really need to read more. i've let that go by the wayside so long. but painting and vidding and mental health breakdowns get in the way of wanting or making time to read. ugh!

Date: Jan. 9th, 2019 01:38 am (UTC)
bironic: Neil Perry gazing out a window at night (Default)
From: [personal profile] bironic
There is only so much time and only so many resources, mental and otherwise. If I had tried to paint, I wouldn't have read so much. And by reading this much, I neglected other things, sometimes including my job! Plus, I have the benefit of at least two hours of public transit commuting a day in which to do nothing else.

So: absolutely read more if you want to, but don't be hard on yourself about it!

Date: Jan. 9th, 2019 01:41 am (UTC)
kuwdora: Pooka - card 60, brian froud (Default)
From: [personal profile] kuwdora
I have a 2 hr commute in the morning and evening (4 hr total)...work schedule is varying these days so I'm back down to 2 or 3 hours. I have been too grumpy to read anymore on my commute even though I mean to do so. I've even got some awesome audiobooks that I keep trying to get through but there's some mental block going on that's keeping me from really getting back into reading. I once read the entire Vorkosigan saga in an entire month.

I have Ninefox Gambit and Ann Leckie's latest published thing that I got at the bookstore last month. Also I have to return overdue library books I never read and pay the fines. And also I keep meaning to re-read my memoir-in-progress so I can work on editing/revising that section by section (it's 80,000 words now).

Date: Jan. 9th, 2019 01:58 am (UTC)
bironic: Neil Perry gazing out a window at night (Default)
From: [personal profile] bironic
Wow, I had no idea your commute was so long. No wonder you're grumpy. (I mean, along with an array of other anxiety- and depression-inducing things, not to make a joke about it.) Sorry you've got the block when you're excited to read or listen to this stuff. Is the Ann Leckie book Provenance?

*\o/* cheerleader pompoms for your ongoing memoir project.

Date: Jan. 9th, 2019 02:02 am (UTC)
kuwdora: Pooka - card 60, brian froud (Default)
From: [personal profile] kuwdora
yes, I've been doing this commute for +2 years now. I am DONE. and have been using all my other non-vidding, non-painting, non-sleeping/eating/depression time to be looking and applying to work. I hate cover letters.

and it is Provenance! have you read it? I don't think I saw it on your list.

Date: Jan. 9th, 2019 02:27 am (UTC)
bironic: Neil Perry gazing out a window at night (Default)
From: [personal profile] bironic
Ah, it was late 2017. I didn't review it, but I thought it was perfectly fine. There were a couple of characters I loved a lot, although they didn't have huge roles. The story improved when Ann Leckie read an excerpt aloud when she came to town - I hadn't realized just how much of a comedy it was meant to be.

>> and have been using all my other non-vidding, non-painting, non-sleeping/eating/depression time to be looking and applying to work

Ugh. Yuuuup, that is how it goes. Unhappy job + job search just kills joy.
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