imperfectletter | Entries tagged with isaac asimov

30. Fifty Short Science Fiction Tales ed. by Isaac Asimov and Groff Conklin (285)

I'm not reviewing 50 stories. They're all short-short stories (their definition of short-short, anyway), between 500 and 3,000 words. I really like some of them (e.g., The Haunted Space Suit by Arthur C. Clarke, Stair Trick by Mildred Clingerman) and I don't like some others at all (e.g., Hilda by HB Hickey, The Rag Thing by David Grinnell).

31. Lythande by Marion Zimmer Bradley (237)
Anthology of short stories about Lythande, a woman who must stay disguised as a man or lose her sorcery and her life.

The Secret of the Blue Star
Not my favorite story, but a poignant look at how difficult it can be for Lythande to have to hide the truth from everyone.

The Incompetant Magician
Lythande performs a task for a fellow magician in exchange for a remnant of her past. The story itself isn't that interesting, but I like the end.

Somebody Else's Magic
Lythande's secret is threatened when she helps a dying woman and is bound by somebody else's magic. A frustrating story with a weird ending.

Sea Wrack
Lythande decides to help a fishing village rid itself of a murderous mermaid. I really quite like this one, and it brings to mind several old fairy tales I've heard.

The Wandering Lute
Lythande attempts to disenchant a lute and has several amusing adventures on the way. There is a sequel story, "The Gratitude of Kings", that isn't in this book. I like both stories; there are several entertaining characters and situations.

Looking for Satan by Vonda McIntyre
This story isn't told from Lythande's perspective at all, but that of Wess, a girl from the North who has come south with her friends to find their kidnapped friend Satan. It is definitely the strongest story in the bunch and my favorite.

32. *Dune by Frank Herbert (510)

I'm counting this as a new read because while I did read it back in high school, I didn't understand any of it. It's very complex and quite an interesting book. It was hard for me to separate what was happening in the book from what I remember from the SciFi miniseries, though, which made things interesting when, for instance, the same line was spoken, but by a different character (which happened frequently). There were a number of characters that I liked better in the miniseries - almost all the women were much stronger there.

33. *It's All Too Much by Peter Walsh (230)

I originally bought this book because I'm a big fan of his (now cancelled) tv show Clean Sweep. On it, he would help a person, or a couple (usually a couple), or a family go through the clutter from two rooms of their home, while the rest of his team redesigned and redecorated those rooms to be more functional and more beautiful (well, usually more beautiful; I didn't always agree with their aesthetics, but that's to be expected).

This book is supposed to be how to do that (the decluttering part) for yourself.

Mostly I liked it. I got some sticky pagemarkers to keep track of things I wanted to look back at later, and I have a bunch of pages marked. The main problem I have with this - which is the problem I have with most declutter/get organized stuff I've looked at - is that it's for a family, in a house. Many of the suggestions involve getting the family involved, do stuff with the kids, etc, etc, and maybe it's supposed to be easier to convert things from "do it with the family" to "do it by yourself", but I found page after page of how to do stuff with the kids frustrating. And frankly, I skipped a lot of it, which means I may have missed advice and information, but that's the way it goes.

33 / 110 books. 30% done!

10 / 75 *new books. 13% done!

1 / 10 non-fiction. 10% done!

10532 / 33000 pages. 32% done!

Current Music: John Mayer - Vultures

fiveforsilver

Originally posted in February and March of 2007 (multiple posts combined) in

fiveforsilver:

23. *Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson (603)

Sequal to Forty Signs of Rain, which I read last December. The focus seems to have shifted a little to a different character, which I thought was interesting - he didn't seem like the main-character sort in the first book.

The really funny thing is that I read Earth by David Brin recently, which has similar themes of global warming and politics and a similar style of skipping from one character's story to another, so I kept expecting Brin's characters and plotlines to show up in this book. It was a bit confusing, but my fault, nothing to do with the book. I like these books a lot.

24. *Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich (296)

I finally read it. My neighbor lent me this and Chocolat months ago; I read Chocolat immediately but didn't get around to reading Metro Girl until last night.

It was funny - I find most of Evanovich's books laugh-out-loud funny. Definitely light reading. Barney, the main character, reminded me of a less ditzy version of Stephanie Plum, and Hooker was very like Morelli. Except for the way he kept talking about himself in the third person, which I found vaguely creepy, possibly because the only character in the Plum books who did that was a psychotic killer who also had a dorky nickname for himself.

25. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov (192)

I haven't read this for some years - since long before the movie came out. I'm glad I didn't reread it soon before the movie came out, or I may have been annoyed about it, like many other Asimov fans. As it is, I liked the movie well enough, even though it has almost nothing to do with the book. I like the book a lot, too - the stories are creative and unusual, even (or perhaps especially) in today's world of science fiction.

First book of March (I can't believe it's March):

26. The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley (248)

A book I've loved for years, and unlike some other books that I've reread since high school (those that I have recently or will probably soon stop rereading), McKinley's books hold up. They're still well-written and interesting, whether I read them at 15 or 25. And she has a new book coming out this year! How exciting!

26 / 85 books (30.59%)

16 / 50 *new books (32.00%)

7678 / 30000 pages (25.59%)

Currently Reading:
*Shadow in the North by Philip Pullman (361)

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%)

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.

First Test, Tamora Pierce (206)
Page, Tamora Pierce (288)
Squire, Tamora Pierce (380)
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.
*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.
*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.
Trickster's Choice, Tamora Pierce (403)
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.
Heir to the Empire, Timothy Zahn (404)
Dark Force Rising, Timothy Zahn (439)
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.
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.
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.
*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.
Lythande, Marion Zimmer Bradley (237)
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.
*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.
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.
*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%)