fiveforsilver (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fiveforsilver) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
imperfectletter2008-01-03 03:45 pm
fiveforsilver) wrote in imperfectletter2008-01-03 03:45 pm
126-137
Originally posted in October of 2007 in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fiveforsilver:
126. *A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (403)
It was ok. I think I missed something, though, because I don't know what the title has to do with the story. It seemed like a story of what might have happened to Sara Crewe or Mary Lennox if magic had been real in their worlds, but their stories are far more magical. Maybe my expectations are too high - most of the YA books I have read recently have either been old favorites (which means all sorts of authorial sins can be forgiven) or new favorites with an inspiring level of writing ability (such as Scott Westerfeld). I expected the writing to be more lyrical; it was too flat for the times and places and events that were being portrayed.
Also, while many things were left unexplained at the end of the book, the events within it were tied up neatly. This left me with a vague curiosity about some things (what was the Order? why was that boy chasing Gemma? what are the Realms and what will happen to that girl now?) but no desire or need to read further in the series.
This is a classic case of 'don't judge a book by its cover'. The cover art is beautiful, and the title brings great expectations, and neither quite lives up to its promise.
Last books of October:
127. Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce (320)
128. Page by Tamora Pierce (288)
129. Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce (409)
Rereads. Inputting data into LibraryThing's Common Knowledge made me want to read these again.
Fist books of November:
130. *So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld (225)
I think this was Westerfeld's only YA book that I hadn't read (because I couldn't find it before). It is an excellent book, as usual. It reminded me of William Gibson's Pattern Recognition (both are about advertising and people who see advertising in ways that the rest of us don't).
131. Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce (403)
Also a reread, ditto above. However, I should put the Trickster books away for a while - a very long while - because lately Aly's Mary Sue-ness is so irritating that I can barely enjoy all the things I do like about these books.
132. *It's the Little Things: 300 Simple Ways to Indulge Yourself by Amy Collins (300)
I picked this up randomly at a library book sale earlier this year or last year. I put off reading it because (once I got it home) I was afraid it would be stupid or annoying. To my surprise, there are a lot of good suggestions and it is calming to just sit down and read a few pages from it.
133. Trickster's Queen by Tamora Pierce (444)
Yeah, I skimmed quite a bit while rereading this. Aly really started to irritate me.
134. *Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith (310)
In a world where vampires and werewolves (and so on) are real (if not accepted), Quincie's uncle is starting a vampire-themed restaurant. Then bad things start happening to the people connected with it.
The first half of this book is fairly blah. It's all setup for what happens in the second half of the book. The second half is much more interesting, and the more I think about it, the more I like it. There are twists that aren't normally found in the vampire books (at least, not the ones I've read).
**SPOILERS**
I recognized that Quincie had been turned when she thought the olives were off. I was fascinated by the book being told from the perspective of Quincie-as-vampire after that point, though it took me a while to get into it after how blah the first half had been. I mean, how often are there female vampires in these kinds of books? And how often is a vampire story told from the perspective of the vampire? And then to combine those two - really, it was very interesting.
I was surprised at who all were what kinds of non-humans. I hadn't figured it all out, although I suspected Brad and her uncle alternately (but not both of them! and not Ruby, I just thought she was a b*tch...though I think I liked her at the end.
135. *Little (Grrl) Lost by Charles de Lint (271)
Another YA urban fantasy by Charles de Lint. This is an updated version of the Littles or the Borrowers -type of story, it's really a cute story with as much urban as fantasy. I didn't love it like I loved the Blue Girl, but I liked it.
136. The Android's Dream by John Scalzi (394)
Reread. Hilarious book. I can't wait for the sequel.
137. *Smoke and Shadows by Tanya Huff (396)
First book in the Smoke Trilogy, sequel to the Blood books. More vampire Henry Fitzroy. So far (I'm halfway through book two) they're just as much fun as the first series, although I miss Vicki and Mike.
137 / 150 books (91.3%)
66 / 70 *new books (94.3%)
44,775 / 50,000 pages (89.5%)
fiveforsilver:126. *A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (403)
It was ok. I think I missed something, though, because I don't know what the title has to do with the story. It seemed like a story of what might have happened to Sara Crewe or Mary Lennox if magic had been real in their worlds, but their stories are far more magical. Maybe my expectations are too high - most of the YA books I have read recently have either been old favorites (which means all sorts of authorial sins can be forgiven) or new favorites with an inspiring level of writing ability (such as Scott Westerfeld). I expected the writing to be more lyrical; it was too flat for the times and places and events that were being portrayed.
Also, while many things were left unexplained at the end of the book, the events within it were tied up neatly. This left me with a vague curiosity about some things (what was the Order? why was that boy chasing Gemma? what are the Realms and what will happen to that girl now?) but no desire or need to read further in the series.
This is a classic case of 'don't judge a book by its cover'. The cover art is beautiful, and the title brings great expectations, and neither quite lives up to its promise.
Last books of October:
127. Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce (320)
128. Page by Tamora Pierce (288)
129. Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce (409)
Rereads. Inputting data into LibraryThing's Common Knowledge made me want to read these again.
Fist books of November:
130. *So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld (225)
I think this was Westerfeld's only YA book that I hadn't read (because I couldn't find it before). It is an excellent book, as usual. It reminded me of William Gibson's Pattern Recognition (both are about advertising and people who see advertising in ways that the rest of us don't).
131. Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce (403)
Also a reread, ditto above. However, I should put the Trickster books away for a while - a very long while - because lately Aly's Mary Sue-ness is so irritating that I can barely enjoy all the things I do like about these books.
132. *It's the Little Things: 300 Simple Ways to Indulge Yourself by Amy Collins (300)
I picked this up randomly at a library book sale earlier this year or last year. I put off reading it because (once I got it home) I was afraid it would be stupid or annoying. To my surprise, there are a lot of good suggestions and it is calming to just sit down and read a few pages from it.
133. Trickster's Queen by Tamora Pierce (444)
Yeah, I skimmed quite a bit while rereading this. Aly really started to irritate me.
134. *Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith (310)
In a world where vampires and werewolves (and so on) are real (if not accepted), Quincie's uncle is starting a vampire-themed restaurant. Then bad things start happening to the people connected with it.
The first half of this book is fairly blah. It's all setup for what happens in the second half of the book. The second half is much more interesting, and the more I think about it, the more I like it. There are twists that aren't normally found in the vampire books (at least, not the ones I've read).
**SPOILERS**
I recognized that Quincie had been turned when she thought the olives were off. I was fascinated by the book being told from the perspective of Quincie-as-vampire after that point, though it took me a while to get into it after how blah the first half had been. I mean, how often are there female vampires in these kinds of books? And how often is a vampire story told from the perspective of the vampire? And then to combine those two - really, it was very interesting.
I was surprised at who all were what kinds of non-humans. I hadn't figured it all out, although I suspected Brad and her uncle alternately (but not both of them! and not Ruby, I just thought she was a b*tch...though I think I liked her at the end.
135. *Little (Grrl) Lost by Charles de Lint (271)
Another YA urban fantasy by Charles de Lint. This is an updated version of the Littles or the Borrowers -type of story, it's really a cute story with as much urban as fantasy. I didn't love it like I loved the Blue Girl, but I liked it.
136. The Android's Dream by John Scalzi (394)
Reread. Hilarious book. I can't wait for the sequel.
137. *Smoke and Shadows by Tanya Huff (396)
First book in the Smoke Trilogy, sequel to the Blood books. More vampire Henry Fitzroy. So far (I'm halfway through book two) they're just as much fun as the first series, although I miss Vicki and Mike.
137 / 150 books (91.3%) 66 / 70 *new books (94.3%) 44,775 / 50,000 pages (89.5%)