One imperfect letter, one missing page

88. *The Boneshaker by Kate Milford
Young Adult, Fantasy/steampunk, 372p

A strange medical fair comes to town and unlike most of her neighbors, Natalie is not convinced that they are really there to help people.

The Boneshaker is well-written with an intriguing plot and Natalie is a great character, but I'm left a bit disappointed at the end of the book. There are too many loose ends, too many things that were superficially explained but never really explained. It's a fun book but ultimately unsatisfying.

89. *Doctor Who: Cobwebs by Jonathan Morris, read by Peter Davison
Science Fiction, Audiobook, 2h19m

Excellent story.

90. *Doctor Who: Apollo 23 by Justin Richards, read by James Albrecht
Science Fiction, Audiobook, 5h31m

The American English (dialogue and accents both) was not very good.

91. Deerskin by Robin McKinley
Adult, Fantasy, 320p

92. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Young Adult, Fantasy, 471p

93. Fire by Kristin Cashore
Young Adult, Fantasy, 461p

94. *Omnitopia Dawn by Diane Duane
Adult, Science Fiction, 352p

Excellent new science fiction novel by one of my favorite authors. I didn't even know she had a new book out until I happened to see it in the store! I can't speak to how realistic the MMPORPG or hacking is, but the characters are fantastic and the story is intriguing. Although it reads as a stand-alone, it is the first in a trilogy and I eagerly await the upcoming books.

94 / 160 books (59%)
53 / 80 *new books (66%)
3 / 7 ^non-fiction (43%)
23508 / 48000 pages. (45%)
Audiobooks: 54h19m

38. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Adult, Fantasy, 615 pages

I really enjoy this book; the characters have depth, the plots intertwine convincingly, and the resolutions are satisfying on all levels.

39. *A Wizard of Mars by Diane Duane
Young Wizards series, book 9
Young Adult, Fantasy, 550 pages

A Wizard of Mars is a fantastic addition to the Young Wizards series. The story is tight, the characters are wonderful as always, and it's just a great read.

A more complete review will have to wait until I've reread it.

40. *A Girl's Guide to Guns and Monsters edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes
includes Vicki Nelson story by Tanya Huff
Adult, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Short Stories, 299 pages

This book has a great title, doesn't it? It does. Unfortunately, the title is the best part of the book. I love good short stories, but these stories are mostly on the mediocre side.

40 / 160 books. 25% done!

21 / 80 *new books. 26% done!

3 / 7 ^non-fiction. 43% done!

11158 / 48000 pages. 23% done!

First books of May:

48. Sunshine by Robin McKinley (405)

Still my favorite book. It's funny, because all the things that so many people dislike about it - the informal, somewhat scattered narrative, the random bits of information that aren't really related to the plot, the shadowy half-defined secondary characters that nonetheless are important parts of the story - are all things I love about it, that makes it perfect for me.

I heard an interview with Salmon Rushdie that likened oral storytelling to a juggler that keeps throwing more and more balls into the air and how you're just watching to see how they keep them all in sync, and I think that's the kind of story Sunshine is - not a straightforward, beginning-middle-end story but a meandering, sidelining, keep-adding-another-ball kind of story.

Most of McKinley's novels are like that, actually.

49. So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane (226)
50. Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane (272)

One of my favorite YA series, although that's becoming a long list. Deep Wizardry is without question my favorite book in the series. My only problem with it is that the whalespeak is inconsistent - sometimes S'reee understands and uses human terms for things, sometimes she doesn't.

51. *The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler (250)

I'm glad I bought this, because I definitely will have to read it again before I can really make a judgment on it. I love the movie. I mean, I love the movie. I don't think it's the best movie ever or anything, but I'm not sure when I last saw a movie that really got book people, especially such a variety of them. I adore movie-Grigg, the geeky sci-fi guy. The conversation between him and Jocelyn where he says he thinks she would like Ursula Le Guin is so perfect, so realistic, so exactly how that kind of exchange really goes. As are the other conversations they have about SF books (well, I can't speak to the last one personally, but I'm sure it's happened somewhere).

Um. The book. I'll have to not watch the movie for a while, and then reread the book, I think. I liked it, I liked it well enough to reread it, but I keep seeing scenes from the movie when I try to think about what happened in the book.

51 / 110 books. 46% done!

19 / 75 *new books. 25% done!

2 / 10 ^non-fiction. 20% done!

15593 / 33000 pages. 47% done!

Currently reading: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (yes, for exactly the reason you're thinking)

Originally posted in May and June of 2007 in fiveforsilver:

64. Teklords by William Shatner (293)
65. Teklab by William Shatner (308)

I left the book I was reading - Deep Wizardry - at home when I went to visit my parents, and I saw these books on the shelf when I was looking for something to read. They are fairly mindless entertainment and it's been at least 10 or 12 years since I read them. I actually remember the movies better than the books (as I recall, they were about the same quality - mindless entertainment).

66. *The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (525)

This, on the other hand, was actually pretty good. It's a YA book that also includes drawings and pictures, and it's an intruiging story as well as compelling pictures.

I did think that the end came too quickly, though - everything was figured out and tied up all at once, and then suddenly it was over.

Last books of May:

67. The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones (182)

A fun YA book.

68. Tek secret by William Shatner (292)

The third of the three Tek books that my parents have. I think there are two others that they don't. Again, mindless fun.

69. So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane (226)

First books of June:
70. Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane (272)
71. High Wizardry by Diane Duane (269)

This series includes some of my favorite books and I reread them probably once a year at least.

I may have forgotten one or two books, since this is a lot longer than I usually take between updates, but, well, whatever. Not a big deal.

71 / 100 books (71.0%)
36 / 50 *new books (72.0%)
21,783 / 30,000 pages (72.6%)

Currently Reading:
A Wizard Abroad by Diane Duane

Originally posted October 10, 2006 in fiveforsilver:

68. *Stealing the Elf-King's Roses by Diane Duane (401)

My first non-Young Wizards book by DD. Based on the title, I expected it to be more fantasy related, but I should have known better. It's actually an SF book. It was...a pretty good book, but it didn't grab me the way the YW books do. I'm trying the "Door Into" series (same author) but having trouble finding the first two books.

69. Quest for a Maid by Frances Mary Hendry (270)

This is an older book - the bad writing in the cover says I got it in 1994 (not that I have all that much better handwriting now, but I wouldn't write my name in a book in pink highlighter these days). It's historical fantasy, about the kings of the British Isles and what might have happened if magic existed. And it's a good story, about a young girl with more compassion and strength than she realizes - she runs around willy-nilly saving lives and befriending outcasts, not even realizing that she's doing unusual things.

70. Sunshine by Robin McKinley (389)

Some previous words.

*New reads

70 / 100 (70.0%) books

16 / 30 new books (53.3%)

26,132 / 50,000 pages (52.3%)

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