(no subject)

[fiveforsilver]

Originally posted March 11, 2006 in fiveforsilver:

Yesterday, I joined two new communities, one about counting the number of books you read in a year, and the other about counting the number of pages in the books you read. I actually joined a number of other new communities yesterday, too, but those are the active ones and I posted already in them. I spent this morning before work trying to remember what I had read since the beginning of the year.

Some of these are possibly books I read last year and not since the beginning of this year, but that's ok. I'm sure I've forgotten a few books that I did read this year.

I have been stuck in a rut recently. Frustrations in college (among other things) and sheer laziness come together, and I spend most of my reading time rereading books I've already read and liked. Not that I didn't do that anyway, but I've been worse about it recently that I used to be. Moving on to new things always holds the possiblity that I might not like it (you all know I'm not the adventerous type anyway) and I dislike wasting my time on things - I - dislike, so I have the stupid habit of just not trying them in the first place.

So anyway, along with counting pages and books, I'm also going to try to keep track of how many of them are new books. New to me, anyway.

The default of the communities are 50 books and 15,000 pages in one year, but I'm already at 19 books and over 7,500 pages, so I decided to up those numbers a bit. Here are my first 19 books, including my thoughs on most of them.

Anyway, not in order of reading, just the order I thought of them.

1. First Test, Tamora Pierce (206)
   
2. Page, Tamora Pierce (288)
   
3. Squire, Tamora Pierce (380)
   
4. Lady Knight, Tamora Pierce (409)
   
   These four books are a completed set in a fantasy series about a girl becoming a knight. Pierce's Tortall books (this series, the Immortals series, and the Lioness quartet) are some of my favorites for light reading, not because I have any illusions about the quality of the work (many if not all of the heroines are Mary Sues, for example) but because if you can look past those flaws, they are enjoyable books about strong female characters in fantasy settings, which is something I have always loved. The character in these books, Keladry, has become my favorite of Pierce's characters, possibly because she doesn't have any innate magical abilities and has to figure out everything without that kind of help, unlike all the other protaganists.
   
   
5. *Young Warriors, ed. Tamora Pierce and Josepha Sherman (312)
   
   An anthology of short stories about, surprisingly enough, young warriors. I read it a couple of months ago, when I first bought it, so I don't remember that much about it, but that the stories are interesting, drawing from a wide variety of cultures and mythologies and using them in sometimes unexpected ways.
   
   
6. *The Will of the Empress, Tamora Pierce (539)
   
   The most recent book in a different series by Pierce, the Circle books. I enjoyed it well enough, but I don't think the Circle books are generally even as well conceived as the Tortall series.
   
   
7. Trickster's Choice, Tamora Pierce (403)
   
8. Trickster's Queen, Tamora Pierce (444)
   
   The most recent books in the Tortall series. Another strong female character - with magic. Aly is possibly more a Mary Sue than any of the other heroines, but even so, I find these books enjoyable and often hilarious. The spying and intrigue remind me at times of what used to be one of my favorite tv shows, Alias.
   
   
9. Heir to the Empire, Timothy Zahn (404)
   
10. Dark Force Rising, Timothy Zahn (439)
    
11. The Last Command, Timothy Zahn (467)
    
    These three Zahn books are Star Wars books. Essentially authorized fanfic, but Zahn is a well-known author in his own right and these are really very good books. They take place following the original three movies and deal with both the personal lives of the characters we know - Han and Leia are married and expecting twins, Luke is worrying about how he's going to eventually teach the twins to be Jedi while trying to juggle government work and trying to find time to teach Leia to be a Jedi, C3P0 is wandering around getting in the way... - and the struggle of the New Republic to both solidify its existance and beat back the still-defiant Empire at the same time. Zahn does a wonderful job of making the characters sound and feel like older versions of the movie characters.
    
    
12. The Outlaws of Sherwood, Robin McKinley (278)
    
    Robin McKinley's (as she puts it) "historically unembarrasing" Robin Hood tale. While Robin is of course the main character, this book focuses also on other characters in his band of outlaws. This story delves more into how the dynamics of the band itself work, with real people - instead of caricatures - as the members.
    
    
13. Sunshine, Robin McKinley (389)
    
    One of my favorite books, Sunshine is a departure from McKinley's previous work. She loaded on the description and the background and the rambling, but I love it. It is not a fairy tale, like many of her other books - it is an alternate universe current-time vampire novel.
    
    
14. *Legends II: Dragon, Sword, and King, ed. Robert Silverberg (401)
    
    These five stories/novellas are all parts of larger things. Since I have read none of the other series that they each belong to, I can say that they do stand alone, but I presume there are many parts that would make more sense to someone who knows the background and history of each story's universe. They were fine. I didn't find any of the stories spectacular, but I enjoyed all of them enough to finish read them, too.
    
    
15. Lythande, Marion Zimmer Bradley (237)
    
16. The Gratitude of Kings, Marion Zimmer Bradley (112)
    
    The first is a book of short stories, the second is a short story in a single book, all about the same person - the Blue Star mage Lythande. Lythande is a female who is forced to go disguised as a male as punishment and to keep her powers. It doesn't specifically say, but I assume that women are not allowed to study to be a Blue Star mage, which is why Lythande disguised herself as a man to gain admittence.
    
    
17. *Chocolat, Joanne Harris (306)
    
    In truth, I liked the movie better, though that is possibly because I saw the movie long before I read the book. It was fascinating, however, to recognize the changes that were made - one character from the book that was split into two characters in the movie and so on. The book is darker, more unhappy and depressing, and the ending is not as clear. Of course this isn't bad, and it's not surprising that a movie would change these things, but even knowing that, I still liked the movie better.
    
    
18. Mutants, ed Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, & Charles G. Waugh (256)
    
    An anthology of science fiction stort stories about different kinds of mutants - natural mutations from a boy who has wings to a horse built like a cheetah, unnatural mutations like a gengeneered child or people altered to live on Mars. One theme in many of the stories is that changes in the physical body might cause unexpected changes in the mind as well.
    
    
19. *Bloodchild and other stories, Octavia Butler (213)
    
    A collection of short stories and essays by Butler, some of which I'd read before, most of which I hadn't. I picked it up at the bookstore yesterday because I needed something to read and wanted something of hers - I have read so much fantasy and sci-fi that I can't keep track of authors names, so I didn't know if I had or hadn't read anything by her.
    
    *New (to me) books
    
    

    7,766 / 50,000 pages (15.5%)

    
    
    

    19 / 200 books (9.5%)

    
    
    

    5 / 50 new books (10.0%)

20-21

[fiveforsilver]

Originally posted March 29, 2006 in fiveforsilver:

20. Daja's Book by Tamora Pierce (232)
( Thoughts )

21. Sunshine by Robin McKinley (389)
( Thoughts )

8,387 / 50,000 pages (16.8%)

Currently reading:
Lint by Steve Aylett (or trying to - I'm not liking this as much as I thought I would)
The Best of the Best: 20 Years of The Year's Best Science Fiction edited by Gardner Dozois

22-24

[fiveforsilver]

Originally posted April 09, 2006 in fiveforsilver:

22. A Wizard Alone by Diane Duane (book 6 in the Young Wizards series) (320)

I'm a big fan of Duane's Young Wizards series. I picked up the third book, High Wizardry, around 11 years ago at a KMart or some such when I was on a long trip with my parents and needed something to read. I did, I admit, judge a book by its cover, but I wasn't disappointed. It took me a few years to realize it was part of a series, though. These are ostensibly written for young adults but the writing style - particularly of some of the later books - and many of the themes can speak to adult readers of fantasy as well.

The two main characters in most of the books are friends and wizarding partners Kit and Nita. In this book, Nita is suffering from depression due to a great loss in the previous book (The Wizard's Dilemma) and so Kit strikes out on his own to try and contact another local wizard who is stuck in the middle of his Ordeal - a sort of test that every wizard goes through when the power is first offered to them. The catch is that that wizard, Darryl, is autistic, and entering his mind to try to communicate with him starts to take its toll on Kit.

A lot of YW fans don't care for this book, and I believe it is not because it's not a good book but because it is - because it gives you a taste of the depression, the lonliness that Nita is feeling, and even an idea of how cut off from the world Kit feels because of his time spent with Darryl. I tend to read it when I'm a little depressed, because while it intesifies those feelings for a while, it eventually brings you back out of it, too.

23. *Old Man's War by John Scalzi (313)

I read Scalzi's blog (although, y'know, I have no idea how I found it), so when I was at the bookstore to waste some time and saw his book, I decided it was high time I found out if I liked his fiction as much as his blogging. And I do.

Old Man's War is science fiction. I had no idea what it was about before I picked it up, but I found that the title is surprisingly apt. It's set in a future time, and all elderly people on Earth are given the option of joining the CDF (Colonial Defense Forces) when they turn 75. You are taken off Earth and - on Earth, at least - declared legally dead. Nobody on Earth knows exactly what happens next...except that they somehow make you young again, to fight in the war.

24. The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner (246)

Another science fiction. This is for some inexplicable reason one of my favorite books, though it's very dated - it was written around the birth of the internet, and Brunner's view of what the internet would become is interesting, though inaccurate in many ways. It's not a book I've ever really been able to summarize or explain well, though. I like the end - it's one of those things that you sort of wish could be in the real world, but it's probably too idealistic to really work.

*New reads

24 / 200 total books (12.0%)

6 / 50 new books (12.0%)

9,266 / 50,000 pages (18.5%)

Current reading:
Lint by Steve Aylett
The Best of the Best: 20 Years of The Year's Best Science Fiction edited by Gardner Dozois
(Still working on those two, one because I don't like it much and the other because it's very long.)
Almost finished with Thud! by Terry Pratchet

25-27

[fiveforsilver]

Originally posted April 16, 2006 in fiveforsilver:

25. Thud! by Terry Pratchett* (373)

I enjoyed it, as I enjoy all of Pratchett's books. That's all, really.

26. Wise Child by Monica Furlong (228)

An old favorite, about an abandonded child who is taken in by the local "witch". Margit, known as Wise Child, is at first terrified but soon learns to love Juniper, her adopted mother and the knowledge that Juniper shares with her.

27. Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank (312)

An apocolyptic story about nuclear war. Written in the '50s, it is dated in many ways, including some blatent racism and sexism - more sexism than racism, I would say, but maybe that is because I am a woman and not black - but the way that characters survive (or don't) after communication, electricity, government, and so on are all cut off is the interesting part.

*New books

27 / 200 total books (13.5%)

7 / 50 new books (14.0%)

10,179 / 50,000 pages (20.4%)

28-29

[fiveforsilver]

Originally posted April 22, 2006 in fiveforsilver:

28. *A Game of Thrones George R. R. Martin (807)

My sister gave me this book. It was...interesting. The beginning was very, very confusing, because there are a dozen different characters and settings. I did get into the story after a while, but I'm not sure I will go out and get the next book on my own. However, when she finishes it in a few months and gives it to me, I'll read it.

29. The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman (122)

I really enjoy this and the other book by Cushman that I have, Catherine, Called Birdy. They are fascinating looks at what it might have been like for those not in power during medieval times.

*New reads

29 / 200 books (14.5%)

8 / 50 new books (16.0%)

11,108 / 50,000 (22.2%)

30-32

[fiveforsilver]

Originally posted May 08, 2006 in fiveforsilver:

Usually I include reviews, but I don't have the energy today. I took a full dose of my headache medicine yesterday, and then didn't quite get a full night of sleep. The effect of the medication seem to have kept going. Which, in the headache-quashing department, is quite nice. In the sleepiness and shortness-of-breath are not so nice. Suffice to say I quite like all of these books.

30. *The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi (317)

31. The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley (248)

32. Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner (375)

* New reads

32 / 200 books (16.0%)

9 / 50 new books (18.0%)

12,048 / 50,000 pages (24.1%)

33, 33.5, 34

[fiveforsilver]

Originally posted May 13, 2006 in fiveforsilver:

33. *LINT by Stephen Aylett (30 of 193)

I tried to like this book. I tried to read this book. I requested my library get it because I heard about it on NPR and it sounded hilarious. But I couldn't read it. It is boring, way too over-the-top, and if it's that over-the-top in the first chapter, where can it possible go from there?

The premise is a fake biography of a fictional science fiction author. A more interesting story is how hard it was to actually find the book. I didn't bother looking it up, except to see if it was in (it was, obviously), and then I went to "new science fiction" to try and find it. It wasn't there. I went to "new fiction". Wasn't there. Finally went to the desk to ask for help and the guy looked it up and said it was...in biographies. What?? Ok...Looked. Wasn't under Aylett. No, it was under "Lint".

I get to tell them it's in the wrong place when I return it.

33.5. *The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction ed. by Gardner Doxois (287 of 655)

I got distracted by other books. And I've also read a lot of the "Year's Best" already, so I'd already read a lot of these stories.

34. *A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin (969)

My sister finished it and mailed it to me. Like the first one, I find it confusing - it can take me a few paragraphs in each chapter to remember who some of the characters are, and what each one is doing. I don't think these are, as some people have said, the best fantasy books ever (or even recently) or anything like that. But they're good.

*New reads

34 / 200 books (17.0%)

11 / 50 new books (22.0%)

13,334 / 50,000 pages (26.7%)

35-38

[fiveforsilver]

Originally posted May 31, 2006 in fiveforsilver

I'm currently reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (642, hardcover) and since it's not exactly easily portable (for a book), I read these in the meatime:

35. Searching for Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (242)
36. Calling on Dragons by Patracia C. Wrede (244)

These are fun books, dragon and princess fantasies with a lot of other fairy tale parodies thrown in. These are the second and third in a series of four (Dealing with Dragons is the first, Talking to Dragons is the fourth, and there is a short story anthology that includes several related stories called Book of Enchantments).

37. A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazney (280)

One of my favorite books, this is the story told from the perspective of a dog, Snuff. I can't come up with anything better than a bit of what's on the back of the book: It's not often that you read a book that forces you to root for Jack the Ripper to save the universe, but Roger Zelazny is not your typical author...

38. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (249)

A sweet book about a little girl who goes from incredible wealth to complete poverty in an instant when her beloved father dies after losing his fortune. She is forced to work practically as a slave at the boarding school where she had been the star student, mocked by girls who once envied her and all but starved by the headmistriss who had never liked her.

38 / 100 total books (38.0%)

11 / 30 new books (36.7%)

14,349 / 50,000 pages (28.7%)

39-41

[fiveforsilver]

Originally posted June 07, 2006 in fiveforsilver

39. Talking to Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (255)

The fourth book in the Enchanted Forest series (the previous two were in my last post).

40. Sabine's Notebook by Nick Bantock (48)
41. The Golden Mean by Nick Bantock (48)

These are the second and third books in the Griffin and Sabine trilogy (there are further books in the series, but the first three are - in my opinion - the best by far). The trilogy is - are - whatever - some of my favorite books. They're not long books; I read these two over lunch in a bookstore, where I was amused to find them shelved in the "art" section. Although maybe it's fitting. It's not so much reading books as it is having an experience, and it feels almost voyeuristic at times - how often do you read someone else's love letters, and a pair of artists at that? The rich artwork is as important a part of the story as the letters and postcards that you read.

41 / 100 books (41.0%)

11 / 30 new books (36.7%)

14,710 / 50,000 pages (29.4%)

42-48

[fiveforsilver]

Originally posted June 25, 2006 in fiveforsilver:

42. First Test, Tamora Pierce (206)
43. Page, Tamora Pierce (288)
44. Squire, Tamora Pierce (380)
45. Lady Knight, Tamora Pierce (409)

I read these earlier this year and felt like rereading them.

46. The Cat Who Played Post Office, Lillian Jackson Braun (272)
47. The Cat Who Talked To Ghosts, Lillian Jackson Braun (288)
48. The Cat Who Wasn't There, Lillian Jackson Braun (288)

I read a few of these whenever I visit my grandma, who has a full set. They're fun, lighthearted books (excepting the murders, of course) about a journalist (after a few books in, mostly-retired journalist) who, with the help of an adopted Siamese named Kao K'o Kung (aka Koko), solves those murders. Occasional hijinks ensue.

48 / 100 books (48.0%)

11 / 30 new books (36.7%)

16,841 / 50,000 pages (33.7%)

Currently reading:
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (656)

49-52

[fiveforsilver]

Originally posted July 11, 2006 in fiveforsilver:

49. Heir to the Empire, Timothy Zahn (404)
50. Dark Force Rising, Timothy Zahn (439)
51. The Last Command, Timothy Zahn (467)

I like these books. I recently watched the original (well, updated) movies, then read Zahn's new book, Outbound Flight, and I felt like rereading these three again. I need to find his other books in the series, and also his not-SW books, as I've heard that they're better than his SW.

52. The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman (518)

With all the talk I've heard about these recently, I felt like rereading some, and this third one is my favorite.

52 / 100 books (52.0%)

12 / 30 new books (40.0%)

19,122 pages / 50,000 (38.2%)

53-59

[fiveforsilver]

Originally posted August 02, 2006 in fiveforsilver:

53. A Wizard Abroad by Diane Duane (332)
54. The Wizard's Dilemma by Diane Duane (403)
55. A Wizard Alone by Diane Duane (320)
56. Wizard's Holiday by Diane Duane (416)
57. Wizards at War by Diane Duane (551)

The 4-8th books in the Young Wizards series. I belong to the author-owned forums/chat and some of the members recently started a weekly book chat, one book per week. I read the 4th book...and got a little carried away and read all the rest of them in about a week, instead of spacing it out. These are ostensibly YA books, but many of the concepts and references are beyond the average YA's grasp, so while many young people like these books about magic and fighting, good versus evil, adults can enjoy them as well. I can't really talk about the plots without giving away major spoilers for the previous books, but suffice it to say I enjoy all of them. A Wizard Alone is possibly my favorite of this bunch (the first three being my favorites of the series). This was my second reading of the 8th book, Wizards at War, and I liked it much better this tie than the first time I read it.

58. He, She, and It by Marge Piercy (429)

After recommending this several times recently, I felt like rereading it myself. From the back of the book:

In the middle of the twenty-first century, life as we know it has changed for all time. Environmental disasters have ravaged the planet's resources, and the world has been divided into coroporate enclaves.

Shira Shipman's marriage has broken up, and her young son has been taken from her by the corporation that runs her zone, so she has returned to Tikva, the Jewish free town where she grew up. there she is welcomed by Malkah, the brilliant grandmother who raised her, and meets the extraordinary man who is not a man at all, but a unique cyborg implanted with intelligence, emotions - and the ability to kill...

59. Mutants ed. by Isaac Asimoc, Martin H. Greenberg, & Charles G. Waugh (256)

Again, from the back:

Exceptionally gifted, strange, sometimes brilliant, but always different - mutants live among ordinary human beings in this collection of stories by some of science fiction's finest writers. Some of the mutations are obvious, some are invisible:
> In Ray Bradbury's "Hail and Farewell," Willie must move from town to town so no one will notice that he never grows older.
> Born with wings, David must choose between a girl who loves him and the live in the skies he was meant to lead, in "He That Hath Wings" by Edmond Hamilton.
> Amy is the first psychic in human history. Will the psychiatrist manipulate her powers to track down others like her, in Alan E. Nourse's "Second Sight"?
All that these mutants want is to belong. But will we let them?

These stories are from the 50's, and in many ways it shows - the treatment of female characters, for instance, and some dated scientific ideas. But I still find many of the interesting, regardless. My favorites are He That Hath Wings (regardless of the annoying female character) and What Friends Are For.

59 / 100 books (59.0%)

12 / 30 new books (40.0%)

21,829 / 50,000 pages (43.7%)

60-63

[fiveforsilver]

Originally posted August 16, 2006 in fiveforsilver:

60. *Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton (267)

For the second time, reading a blog made me want to read the blogger's books. Unfortunately, my library only has this one, but I'll request Dancing Barefoot sometime. The book is excerpts from his early blogging and expanded stories about what he'd written about then. Wil talks about some very emotional subjects in this book; some stories brought tears to my eyes and a number of the stories made me laugh out loud (quite a feat for any written text).

61. *Specter of the Past by Timothy Zahn (416)
62. *Vision of the Future by Timothy Zahn (720)

The Hand of Thrawn books, sequels to The Thrawn Trilogy, in which Zahn ties up a lot of the loose ends from the trilogy. There were a few spots that were a little confusing and a few places where the way things tied up seemed just a bit strained, but overall I like the books very much.

63. Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce (320)

Book 1 of The Immortals Quartet
Even in a world filled with magic, Daine Sarrasi's gift with animals stands out, and between her unusual gift and having to hide the secrets from her past, it's easier for her to connect with animals than people. It takes time (and some gentle and not-so-gentle coaxing from friends and mentors) for Daine to come to trust her new acquaintances.

I really enjoy these books and always like the strong women characters that Pierce writes, but she does have a tendency to do things like pound us over the head with the idea that something bad had happened in her past, long before we find out what it is. A few fewer - or more subtle - mentions of how she can't trust these new people with her secret because they'd surely hate her would have been just as effective, if not more so. But things like that aside, it's a good story and a fun, easy read.

* New reads

63 / 100 books (63.0%)

15 / 30 new books (50.0%)

23,552 / 50,000 pages (47.1%)

Currently reading:
Spindle's End by Robin McKinley
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (I got stalled maybe a third of the way through this...hopefully I'll get started up on it again.)