January books
Sunday, 31 January 2010 21:55![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhats
Here are the books I read in January:
1. Iron Council - China Miéville By China Miéville and therefore ace, but also a bit of a let down after how much I loved The Scar and Un Lun Dun. I didn't really connect with any of the characters, which was a shame. Also I got a bit bogged down in the middle (partly due to having a nightmare about working undercover in a Remaking factory, heh). But all the bits about the Iron Council itself were great.
2. Dead Until Dark - Charlene HarrisFun, but I think I prefer the TV version on the whole, though I did appreciate that Sookie clocked that something was up with Sam much faster in the book, as I spent a lot of TV!Sam's scenes thinking "they might as well have just added the caption 'NB this gentleman is a werecollie' and had done with it". I really missed Tara, and not just because I love her (which I do) but for little things like the conversation between Gran and Bill about his human life: in the book it's Gran who asks if Bill had slaves whereas the TV version gave the line to Tara, changing if from just a detail to a way of pointing out that the past wasn't necessarily as filled with happytimes as they're making it out to be. On the other hand, I do like book!Sookie a) identifying as disabled and talking about the difficulties of "acting normal", and b) asserting that her job in a bar is as worthy of respect as it would be if she were a lawyer or something like that. I am not keen on book!Bill, to be honest, he is pretty creepy and authoritarian. TV!Bill can be a bit like that too, but he is also polite and earnest and a little dorky (Wii golf! Not liking texting!). I was immensely skeeved by the book version of the graveyard scene - Sookie is terrified that Bill might kill her, so she distracts him with sex instead. Ick. And I was not impressed by Sam, in collie form, watching her undress, rather than politely turning away. I did like that book!Sookie defeated Rene on her own, though. In conclusion: I MISS TARA.
3. A Study In Scarlet - Arthur Conan Doyle I enjoyed that, apart from the random chunk of Mormom melodrama and hatred half way through, that was odd. I was interested to see how bitter Holmes was about Lestrade and Gregson taking the credit for him solving the crime, I don't remember that from the Adventures, but then he wasn't really doing their work for them in those cases, iirc.
4. Graceling - Kristin Cashore I knew I was going to love this book when Helda told Katsa (aka Our Heroine) that she would look "stunning" in one particular dress and Katsa replied: "If there's anyone I want to stun at dinner, I'll hit him in the face." And I was right, it is a fantastic book. For all Katsa talks about not having many friends, I found that the relationships between her and the friends she does have were a real joy to read about, particularly the easy affection between her and Raffin.
5. Doctor Who: War of the Daleks - John Peel I was under the impression that this one was atrocious but was pleasantly surprised: it's not great, but it's readable enough and Sam didn't annoy me nearly as much as usual. Her bouts of jealousy whenever another woman came within ten feet of the Doctor were a little wearing, but the rest of the time I rather liked her.
6. The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner SO MUCH FUN! Also, the coda made me v. cheerful as YES THAT IS HOW THINGS WENT.
7. Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds I wasn't entirely sure about this, simply because I love the way his books draw me in and grip me more and more as they go on, and I wasn't sure how well that would translate to short stories/novellas. I did end up preferring the ones with characters I already knew, but they were all worth reading, and the penultimate one was UNBELIEVABLY CREEPY. I found the last story slightly unsatisfying because I felt it needed to be fleshed out and explored more, but overall, very good.
8. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant Ah, now I see why everyone was buying this when I was working at Smiths! It is very good - incredibly engrossing. And I loved that it was absolutely focussed on the women, their characters, their relationships and their stories.
9. Doctor Who: Kursaal by Peter Anghelides I LIKED SAM, EVERYONE! I really liked her a lot in this one, hurrah, especially when she was teasing the Doctor by pretending not to know who Gallileo was. But other than that, I thought this one was fairly average: not bad, pretty entertaining, but not amazing.
10. Worrals on the Warpath by W.E. Johns ♥ ♥ Worrals! And OH BILL, "well, you won't let me call you darling," I love him! Worrals and Frecks nicking enemy planes and crasing them! Peril! Excitment! A pilot "making hilarious love to Worrals for ten minutes," which made me laugh a lot because I am twelve. And then! At the end they went to AIGUES-MORTES! I been there, it is great. Just... tiny hearts all round, yes.
1. Iron Council - China Miéville By China Miéville and therefore ace, but also a bit of a let down after how much I loved The Scar and Un Lun Dun. I didn't really connect with any of the characters, which was a shame. Also I got a bit bogged down in the middle (partly due to having a nightmare about working undercover in a Remaking factory, heh). But all the bits about the Iron Council itself were great.
2. Dead Until Dark - Charlene HarrisFun, but I think I prefer the TV version on the whole, though I did appreciate that Sookie clocked that something was up with Sam much faster in the book, as I spent a lot of TV!Sam's scenes thinking "they might as well have just added the caption 'NB this gentleman is a werecollie' and had done with it". I really missed Tara, and not just because I love her (which I do) but for little things like the conversation between Gran and Bill about his human life: in the book it's Gran who asks if Bill had slaves whereas the TV version gave the line to Tara, changing if from just a detail to a way of pointing out that the past wasn't necessarily as filled with happytimes as they're making it out to be. On the other hand, I do like book!Sookie a) identifying as disabled and talking about the difficulties of "acting normal", and b) asserting that her job in a bar is as worthy of respect as it would be if she were a lawyer or something like that. I am not keen on book!Bill, to be honest, he is pretty creepy and authoritarian. TV!Bill can be a bit like that too, but he is also polite and earnest and a little dorky (Wii golf! Not liking texting!). I was immensely skeeved by the book version of the graveyard scene - Sookie is terrified that Bill might kill her, so she distracts him with sex instead. Ick. And I was not impressed by Sam, in collie form, watching her undress, rather than politely turning away. I did like that book!Sookie defeated Rene on her own, though. In conclusion: I MISS TARA.
3. A Study In Scarlet - Arthur Conan Doyle I enjoyed that, apart from the random chunk of Mormom melodrama and hatred half way through, that was odd. I was interested to see how bitter Holmes was about Lestrade and Gregson taking the credit for him solving the crime, I don't remember that from the Adventures, but then he wasn't really doing their work for them in those cases, iirc.
4. Graceling - Kristin Cashore I knew I was going to love this book when Helda told Katsa (aka Our Heroine) that she would look "stunning" in one particular dress and Katsa replied: "If there's anyone I want to stun at dinner, I'll hit him in the face." And I was right, it is a fantastic book. For all Katsa talks about not having many friends, I found that the relationships between her and the friends she does have were a real joy to read about, particularly the easy affection between her and Raffin.
5. Doctor Who: War of the Daleks - John Peel I was under the impression that this one was atrocious but was pleasantly surprised: it's not great, but it's readable enough and Sam didn't annoy me nearly as much as usual. Her bouts of jealousy whenever another woman came within ten feet of the Doctor were a little wearing, but the rest of the time I rather liked her.
6. The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner SO MUCH FUN! Also, the coda made me v. cheerful as YES THAT IS HOW THINGS WENT.
7. Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds I wasn't entirely sure about this, simply because I love the way his books draw me in and grip me more and more as they go on, and I wasn't sure how well that would translate to short stories/novellas. I did end up preferring the ones with characters I already knew, but they were all worth reading, and the penultimate one was UNBELIEVABLY CREEPY. I found the last story slightly unsatisfying because I felt it needed to be fleshed out and explored more, but overall, very good.
8. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant Ah, now I see why everyone was buying this when I was working at Smiths! It is very good - incredibly engrossing. And I loved that it was absolutely focussed on the women, their characters, their relationships and their stories.
9. Doctor Who: Kursaal by Peter Anghelides I LIKED SAM, EVERYONE! I really liked her a lot in this one, hurrah, especially when she was teasing the Doctor by pretending not to know who Gallileo was. But other than that, I thought this one was fairly average: not bad, pretty entertaining, but not amazing.
10. Worrals on the Warpath by W.E. Johns ♥ ♥ Worrals! And OH BILL, "well, you won't let me call you darling," I love him! Worrals and Frecks nicking enemy planes and crasing them! Peril! Excitment! A pilot "making hilarious love to Worrals for ten minutes," which made me laugh a lot because I am twelve. And then! At the end they went to AIGUES-MORTES! I been there, it is great. Just... tiny hearts all round, yes.
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no subject
Date: 31 Jan 2010 23:10 (UTC)Er, yes. I remember
War of the Daleks is my next EDA up when I get back to them. Glad to hear it's readable!
no subject
Date: 1 Feb 2010 15:45 (UTC)Pity it's far less risqué in actual meaning!
Hee, yes! Though it's pretty funny in that meaning too. :)
Now I want to rearead all my Worrals. :D
*encourages you*
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Date: 1 Feb 2010 05:54 (UTC)no subject
Date: 1 Feb 2010 15:47 (UTC)no subject
Date: 1 Feb 2010 15:49 (UTC)no subject
Date: 1 Feb 2010 20:27 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 Feb 2010 12:20 (UTC)