- The Scarecrow and His Servant, by Philip Pullman (12/29)
- Disquiet, by Julia Leigh (12/28)
- Silver Wings for Vicki, by Helen Wells (12/28)
- If the River Was Whiskey, by T. Coraghessan Boyle (12/25) (stories)
- Black & White, by Dani Shapiro (12/22)
- A Spy in the Family; An Erotic Comedy, by Alec Waugh (12/22)
- A Circle is a Balloon and Compass Both: Stories about Human Love, by Ben Greenman (12/21)
- Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan (12/20)
- The Trial, by Kafka (12/12)
- Deaf Sentence, by David Lodge (12/3)
- The Lover’s Knot, by Clare O’Donohue (12/1)
- The Way of Shadows, by Brent Weeks (11/30)
- The Oxford Book of Short Stories, edited by V.S. Pritchett (11/29)
- The Conversations at Curlow Creek, by David Malouf (10/31)
- The New Granta Book of the American Short Story, edited by Richard Ford (10/31)
- Her Majesty’s Dragon, by Naomi Novik (10/19)
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson (10/09)
- Iodine, by Haven Kimmel (9/24)
- Sway, by Zachary Lazar (9/20)
- Dead Boys, by Richard Lange (9/15) (stories)
- The Man Without Qualities, Vol 1, by Robert Musil (9/7)
- The Hob’s Bargain, by Patricia Briggs (8/19)
- Bolt, by Dick Francis (8/11) (re-read, many times over)
- Break In, by Dick Francis (8/11) (re-read, many times over)
- Unmentionables, by Beth Ann Fennelly (8/3) (poetry)
- Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy: Knowledge Here Begins Out There, ed. by Jason T. Eberl (8/3)
- Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer (8/2)
- The Likeness, by Tana French (8/2)
- Peeps, by Scott Westerfeld (7/26)
- Finding Battlestar Galactica, an Unauthorized Guide, ed. by Lynnette Porter, David Lavery, & Hillary Robson (7/24)
- Absurdistan, A Novel, by Gary Shteyngart (7/20)
- Trespass, by Valerie Martin (7/7)
- Nothing to Lose, by Lee Child (6/29)
- Dark Roots, by Cate Kennedy (6/25) (stories)
- Lush Life, by Richard Price (6/23)
- Life Class, by Pat Barker (6/16)
- Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion Season 3, by David Bassom (6/13)
- Raven’s Strike, by Patricia Briggs (6/12)
- The Farther Shore, by Matthew Eck (6/11)
- Raven’s Shadow, by Patricia Briggs (6/10)
- War with the Newts, by Karel Capek (6/9)
- Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion Season 2, by David Bassom (6/8)
- Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion, by David Bassom (6/6)
- The Collected Stories, by Isaac Bashevis Singer (5/31) (stories)
- The Final Detail, by Harlan Coben (5/24)
- One False Move, by Harlan Coben (5/22)
- Dragon Blood, by Patricia Briggs (5/20)
- Dragon Bones, by Patricia Briggs (5/18)
- The Devil of Nanking, by Mo Hayder (5/10)
- Slam, by Nick Hornby (5/4)
- Bad Luck and Trouble, by Lee Child (5/2)
- Just One Look, by Harlan Coben (5/2)
- Back Spin, by Harlan Coben (4/29)
- The Death of Virgil, by Hermann Broch (4/28)
- Fade Away, by Harlan Coben (4/28)
- The Monsters of Templeton, by Lauren Groff (4/22)
- Belong to Me, by Marisa de los Santos (4/18)
- Drop Shot, by Harlan Coben (4/13)
- The Watchman, a Joe Pike novel, by Robert Crais (4/5)
- The Tourmaline, by Paul Park (3/30)
- The Murder at the Vicarage, by Agatha Christie (3/26)
- Let`s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste, by Carl Wilson (3/25)
- The Naming of the Dead, by Ian Rankin (3/24)
- Ms. Pettigrew Lives for the Day, by Winifred Watson (3/22)
- The Hounds and the Fury, by Rita Mae Brown (3/20 or 21 while crossing international date line)
- The Hunt Ball, by Rita Mae Brown (3/20)
- The Complete Stories, by David Malouf (3/19) (stories)
- The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist, by Richard P. Feynman (3/3)
- The Good Soldier Svejk, by Jaroslav Hasek (2/28)
- The Faithful Spy, by Alex Berenson (2/19)
- A Princess of Roumania, by Paul Park (2/18)
- Iron Kissed, by Patricia Briggs (2/1)
- You Must Be This Happy to Enter, by Elizabeth Crane (1/31) (stories)
- Tree of Smoke, by Denis Johnson (1/29)
- Fortunate Son, by Walter Mosley (1/27)
- Dead I Well May Be, by Adrian McKinty (1/27)
- Native Guard, by Natasha Trethewey (1/25) (poetry)
- The Oxford Book of English Short Stories, edited by A.S. Byatt (1/24) (stories)
- Housekeeping vs. the Dirt, by Nick Hornby (1/1)
Category Archives: Books
Best of September
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I seem to have fallen behind here, haven’t I. Kept waiting for myself to have written up movies, books, etc., before doing these. Ah well.
The best
The best
The best
My favorite tunes in September were (the only in some cases or the most recent) albums Schwayze (yeah, I know I’m the only one, but it’s FUN), The Billionaires, The Wave Pictures and Everlast.
Random personal highlights: The aforementioned weekend at Monolith (including visiting Mariah, Stephan and Jack!).
Lowlights? Well. If you know about the secondary browsing location and events therein, then you know I had a very, very, very shitty September. Very Shitty. And honestly, the fallout is still going on.
Fantasy: The Way of Shadows, by Brent Weeks
You know that old joke about “why wasn’t anybody poor in their “past lives”?” How in our past lives, we were all Cleopatras and Queen Elizabeth’s and nobody was “the servant girl”. (Speaking to the females in the audience, obviously.) I often feel that way about fantasty novels, they are always taking place in the world one would WANT to be in, where your special magical talents bring you into interaction with the best crowds, the higher bits of “society” and generally, of course, fighting against evils/evil magics.
This book, on the other hand, is set firmly in the lower dregs. The world of “guild rats”, i.e., abandoned homeless “ghetto” children and, for Azoth/Kylar, the way out is to become an assassin, a “wet boy”, sometimes using those evil magics the heros of your typical fantasy are usually working against. There will be of course times when the “bad assassin” will turn out to be working on the side of the morally good, but for the most part, the focuses of this book are on the other side of things, in the back alleys, in the prostitution houses, on the outskirts. “Under the stairs”, so to speak.
It’s violent, brutal and cutthroat. And very engaging.
Short Stories: The Oxford Book of Short Stories, by V.S. Pritchett
Our November challenge book. Admittedly many of these stories are drawn from older/earlier writers, but a big chunk of them felt dated to me moreso in their style than anything else. This is just a random, not researched or well thought out, theory but modern short stories seem to have stronger plots, better drawn (and perhaps intenser) situations, more things happen, and people have stronger reactions to the happenings, while many of the stories from earlier times seem more passive: one character “telling the story” to another, i.e., stories told at a remove (via third person, epistolary, storytelling or other device). Stories where almost nothing happens, or the sense that something “might” happen (sometimes a very specific thing) turns out…not. And then the story just…ends.
Although the Byatt-edited collection we read earlier in the year had stated that it picked “scary” stories purposely, we both found a lot of those icky, or super sad, but not scary. This collection however had some real creep-you-outers.
My favorite was “The Demon Lover” by Elizabeth Bowen.
p.s. yes you’re right it’s sad that it has taken me so long to get to writing about anything I read in October or November that I don’t have the DadReactions to these challenges in my head anymore. But you’ll live without them, I’m sure.
Fantasy: His Majesty’s Dragon, by Naomi Novik
Unusual fantasy taking dragons and plopping them into our historical world (as opposed to planting them in a more fantasy-bound world a la Anne McCaffery, who I dearly love and whose first six or so dragon books will never be equaled*). Dragons as an essential part of aerial battle strategy as the Brits (and others) war against Napoleon. Really entertaining but what made this book for me was the dragon, whose voice I thought was better written (and more engaging to the reader) than those of the humans.
Temeraire, you are awesome.
*More on that soon. SRSLY.
Fiction: The Conversations at Curlow Creek, by David Malouf
I’ve read and enjoyed quite a bit of Malouf in the last several years and this book was no exception. An officer talking to a convict in the wilds of Australia, feeling a possible connection to something from his past, and reminiscing on the choices he’s made, and his childhood loves, and how his life has taken him away from them, and opportunities to find them again. A quiet slim book that packs quite a punch.
…he had long since given up the belief that the forces that move us have anything to do either with nature or reason, or that the heart moves in anything but the most crooked way.
Short Stories: The New Granta Book of the American Short Story, edited by Richard Ford
What a behemoth of a book for us to have picked for our challenge. As you may remember, we wound out spreading this one out and reading it in both July AND October and even then it was touch and go whether we’d finish this one as it’s just too darn big for me to carry around (and I do apparently almost all my reading in transit).
There were a few oldies thrown in at the beginning, where I thought “what is this one doing here?” (i.e., given the composition of the rest of the choices), but for the most part I thought these were good stories. My favorites were “The Pugilist at Rest” by Thom Jones, “Firelight” by Tobias Wolff, “Blue Boy” by Kevin Canty, “Anthropology” by Andrea Lee and “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline” by George Saunders. And my least favorite was the Mary Gaitskill next to which I wrote just “Ick.”
Fiction/Mystery: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson
Really entertaining. In the beginning the focus is split and I started to wonder when the two stories would come together, but the payoff when they did was pretty great. Dark and twisted, totally intense mystery. Loved how it was finally figured out. So many well-drawn characters and spooky pasts to think about. Very cool.
The title is a bit of a misnomer. That person exists, but the tattoo is very little to the point. But that may have been picked by the publisher as apparently Larsson died shortly after turning in this manuscript (and two others).
À la Super Eggplant, currently, I am…
Eating: The new Clubby sandwich from Potbelly’s which is so fucking delicious it may have ruined me for all other sandwiches. But it’s (most likely) insanely high in calories (they don’t even list it on their nutrition page!). Thus helping me in my goal of being the fattest girl in the universe.
Making: Oh, you know. This ‘n’ that and mostly things I can’t talk about.
Reading: At home I am reading “The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood” by David Thomson that I’m pretty sure I borrowed (from Dad) last Christmas so it’s about time I read it, no? I didn’t feel like carrying it on the train this morning though so in transit I am reading “Silver Wings for Vicki” by Helen Wells, who I’m sure only one of you (hi CCB!) knows is the author of the Cherry Ames books which were very, very beloved to me in childhood, although technically they are books originally from my mother’s childhood (the first Vicki book was published in 1947 and the first Cherry Ames in 1943).
Where Cherry was a nurse, Vicki is a flight attendant. And just as with the Cherry Ames’ series, they are full of now hilarious (but so non-PC and borderline offensive) comments on how to be a good woman (to your man), or things of that nature. Here’s a “great” (that’s me, being sarcastic) description of the requirements to be a stewardess, from Vicki’s interview: “Real beauty isn’t necessary, but you have to be nice to look at: well groomed, pleasant, and not too tall or heavy. After all, a plane must carry the biggest payload possible, and the heavier the crew the less paying weight we can carry. Did you see that tall girl who came in ahead of you? She was qualified for this work in everything except that she’s five feet eight and weighs proportionately. But the airlines do recognize that American girls are growing taller, and we’re gradually raising the height and weight limits.”
So far, I don’t love Vicki the way I love(d) Cherry, but she’s growing on me. She’s so perky, how could she not! 🙂
Watching: Only two episodes left to (re)watch in my (zillioneth) rewatch of all of BStarG to get read for the season 4.5 premiere on January 16. (So close, but yet so far.) As well as the webisodes. Which are OK. But not “oh holy shit!” entrancing. Also in the midst of a (re)watch of all four of the Alien films, although my plan to marathon through them all yesterday did not materialize. (Apparently I needed a lot of those hours for sleeping.)
Listening to: Frightened Rabbit “The Midnight Organ Fight” with a little of Sufjan’s old Christmas box set thrown in. (There is a new Xmas EP out but I’m not sure I want it based on this review.)
À la Nick Hornby, books in/books out for November.
Bought:
- The Lover’s Knot (A Someday Quilts Mystery), by Clare O’Donohue
- Deaf Sentence, by David Lodge
- Hurry Down Sunshine, by Michael Greenberg
- Smells Like Dead Elephants, by Matt Taibbi
- The Historical Novel, by Georg Lukacs
- The Way of Shadows, by Brent Weeks
Read:
- The Oxford Book of Short Stories, edited by V.S. Pritchett
- The Way of Shadows, by Brent Weeks