One imperfect letter, one missing page

122. Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Old Man's War series, Book 1
Adult, Science Fiction, 313 pages

123. The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
Old Man's War series, Book 2
Adult, Science Fiction, 317 pages

124. The Last Colony by John Scalzi
Old Man's War series, Book 3
Adult, Science Fiction, 316 pages

125. Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi
Old Man's War series, Book 4
Young Adult, Science Fiction, 336 pages

125 / 160 books (78%)
59 / 80 *new books (74%)
3 / 7 ^non-fiction (43%)
33684 / 48000 pages. (70%)
Audiobooks: 54h19m

51. *Wizards, Inc edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Loren L. Coleman
Adult, Fantasy, short stories, 306 pages

Most of the stories in this book are so-so but a few - including Theobrama by Diane Duane and No Rest for the Wicked by Mike Stackpole - are very good.

52. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Young Adult, Science Fiction, 265 pages

(Copied from previous review)

A fascinating book about a girl who was in an accident and remembers very little about it or her existence before. She spends the book re-learning how to use her body, regaining old memories, discovering new things she doesn't know why she remembers at all, and learning things about herself that don't seem quite right.

This book has been compared to Skinned by Robin Wasserman and that is not an unjust comparison, but the two books are different enough that each can be judged on its own merit. In Skinned, Lia is in an accident and is uploaded into a biomechanical body that does not look like her. In this book, Jenna still looks and sounds like herself and some of her body is still her original. Both books are filled with questions about trust and friendship and family and humanity. They also look at a parent's relationship with their children, what they're willing to do - and how far they should or shouldn't go - to save their child's life.

Second time through this book and it was excellent, just like the first time.

53. Briar's Book by Tamora Pierce
Circle of Magic series, book 4
Young Adult, fantasy, 258 pages

The Circle books aren't really my favorite but I still like to reread them occasionally. In Briar's Book, a mysterious plague is infecting the city where Briar and his teacher Rosethorn are working and they must work to contain and cure it.

Briar's Book is not one of the better in the series. It drags with too much description of magical medical practices and the story just isn't all that interesting.

54. Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Old Man's War series, Book 1
Adult, Science Fiction, 313 pages

The first book in a series. 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. If you do it, 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.

I love this book and, in fact, the whole series. Scalzi's writing is energetic and always readable; the story is fast-paced and fun with believable, relateable characters; and he delights in inventing truly alien aliens for CDF to fight against.

55. The Last Colony by John Scalzi
Old Man's War series, Book 3
Adult, Science Fiction, 316 pages

Third book in the Old Man's War series. John and Jane are chosen to head up a colony on a new planet. Except things don't go exactly as expected and along with the normal hazards of colonizing a new planet (unfriendly lifeforms, inedible vegetation, etc), they suddenly discover that they've been made pawns in an intergalactic war.

Excellent as usual from Scalzi.

55 / 160 books. 34% done!

26 / 80 *new books. 33% done!

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

15058 / 48000 pages. 31% done!
Audiobooks: 21h19m

11.The Sagan Diary by John Scalzi (audio) (1h18m)
Old Man's War series, set between The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony
Adult, Science Fiction

12. *Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater
Young Adult, Fantasy, 352 pages

Finally, a book about faeries that has traditional faeries and an interesting story! Most books I've read with faeries either had Traditional Faeries And A Boring Standard Fantasy Story or new agey punk-type faeries, which are sometimes fun and sometimes not, but nowhere near traditional.

Great writing, great characters, great story.

13. Cold Fire by Tamora Pierce
The Circle Opens, book 3
Young Adult, Fantasy, 355 pages

As with most of the Circle books, there are so many plots and sub-plots going on that it's difficult for any of them to get the depth they deserve. In this book, Daja and her teacher Frostpine are visiting a city to the north. Daja discovers the daughters of their hosts have magical abilities, so they need to be taught, so she needs to find teachers for them and teach them meditation. There are lots of fires going on in the city and Daja starts developing a friendship with a man named Ben who set up a fire brigade, and she decides to make living metal gloves for him so he can be more effective in rescuing people. The aforementioned daughters are teaching her to ice skate. Frostpine is investigating counterfeit coins.

And so on.

Most of the plots overlap or converge at some point, but still it just seems like the book is too short to hold it all. Also, there is a mystery that the reader learns the answer to early in the book and the characters don't discover until near the end. I found that disconcerting and I would have preferred it handled differently.

For all its flaws, it's not a bad book, just one I think could have been better. I enjoy it nonetheless; Daja is one of my favorite Circle characters - maybe I relate to her because of the metalsmithing - and also the Circle characters have a little less of a tendency toward Mary Sueishness than the Tortall women.

13 / 160 books. 8% done!

3 / 80 *new books. 4% done!

0 / 7 ^non-fiction. 0% done!

3236 / 48000 pages. 7% done!
Audiobooks: 9h03m

146. *Fire by Kristin Cashore
Young Adult, Fantasy, 461 pages
Companion to Graceling

Fire is a monster - an unnaturally beautiful creature who can control the minds of people and animals around her. Fire is also human. As a human monster, she is mistrusted, hated, feared, and desired. Her father was a monster and also a moster, cruel, controlling, and indiscriminate in the use of his abilities, but Fire was raised with human morals.

It's not easy to describe this book, because the story is less about people running around doing things then about the various characters learning about each other and themselves. And yet the story moves quickly and there is certainly action, since Fire's country is at war. Fire is a wonderful book.

147. *Makers by Cory Doctorow
Adult, Science Fiction, 416 pages

I liked the idea of this book and I would have enjoyed the main story and the geekery of it, but there is an odd obsession with weight and obesity starting on the first page that I found very off-putting. I suppose the idea is not inappropriate in a "near-future fable", given current political and social views, but the way it's handled made me cringe. Frequently. Fat people are (ironically) 2-dimensional characters, called "the obese" or, later "the fatkins", no matter who's talking. Doctorow assumes that all fat people want the same thing (to be thin) and will do any idiotic, untested thing to get it. And to assume that being thin will make people happy is just plain stupid. But of course they get what they deserve in the end, right?

I think I would have liked this book without that (unnecessary and cringe-inducing) subplot but it was so annoying and distracting that it overwhelmed many of the good aspects. I won't be reading it again and I don't recommend it.

148. *Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson
YA/Adult, Fantasy, Short Stories, 297 pages

Of the five stories in this anthology, I quite liked Phoenix by Peter Dickinson, absolutely loved Hellhound and First Flight by Robin McKinley, and didn't particularly care for Fireworm or Salamander Man by Peter Dickinson.

149. The Android's Dream by John Scalzi
Adult, Science Fiction (humorous), 396 pages

150. *The poison eaters & other stories by Holly Black
YA, Fantasy, short stories, 158 pages
Early Reviewer

It was like reading a book of fables, but I couldn't work out what the morals were supposed to be (which may be a plus, actually). There was a real mixture of stores I liked and stories I didn't care for but regardless, it was a fun little book and a quick read.

150 / 150 books. 100% done!

78 / 75 *new books. 104% done!

5 / 10 ^non-fiction. 50% done!

43383 / 45000 pages. 96% done!

October

131. Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Adult, Fantasy, 405p

I was so tired from the job I had last month (among other things) that it actually took me about three weeks to read Sunshine. Usually it takes me about two days.

Still one of my absolute favorite books.

132. The Magician's Ward by Patricia Wrede
Young Adult, Historical Fantasy, 288p

133. A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
Adult, Fantasy, 280p

134. Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Adult, Science Fiction, 311p

135. The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
Adult, Science Fiction. 343p

135 / 150 books. 90% done!

72 / 75 *new books. 96% done!

5 / 10 ^non-fiction. 50% done!

38473 / 45000 pages. 85% done!

Audiobooks: 26h30m

89. Lythande by Marion Zimmer Bradley A/Fantasy (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 but that of Wess, a girl from the north who has come south with her companions to find their kidnapped friend Satan. They meet Lythande in the city and Wess and Lythande strike up a curious relationship. It is definitely the strongest story in the bunch and my favorite.

90. *Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka A/?? (94)

Definitely one of the strangest stories I've ever read.

91. Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi YA-A/SF (416)

Zoe's Tale is another fantastic book in John Scalzi's Old Man's War universe. Zoe is the adopted daughter of John Perry and Jane Sagan, who are chosen to head up a colony on a new planet. Except things don't go exactly as expected and along with the normal hazards of colonizing a new planet (unfriendly lifeforms, inedible vegetation, etc), they suddenly discover that they've been made pawns in an intergalactic war.

This book is a retelling of the timeline of The Last Colony from Zoe's perspective. Because she's a teenager, she isn't privy to everything the adults know and do - and, likewise, they don't know everything that happens to her - so Zoe's experience of that time is quite different from her parents'.

Scalzi writes the Old Man's War books so that each of them is a stand-alone as well as part of a cohesive story, and Zoe's Tale is no exception. And although I found it shelved in the adult science fiction section of the bookstore, this was intended to, and in my opinion does, bridge the divide between adult and YA. It is also hysterically funny throughout much of the book. Scalzi wrote Zoe as a brilliant, sarcastic, irreverent character who talks back to adults (human and alien alike) and uses her wits to save the day, yet still manages to act and sound like an believable teenager.

92. *To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (493) A/SF

Well, that was 500 pages of weird. Ned works for a sort of time agency that sends people to the past for...well, probably research, but that's never quite made clear. He's trying to find a sculpture-thing (the Macguffin of the book, the bishop's bird stump) and then ends up stuck unprepared in Victorian times to recuperate from "time-lag" brought on by too many jumps in too short a time.

This book is well-written, impeccably plotted, and intriguing enough that even though I didn't actually like it all that much, it kept me reading to the end in order to figure out what the heck was going on. I did enjoy how (and why) things got tied up at the end. However, this is not a book I'm planning to reread.

93. *The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip (343) A/F

A wizard, daughter of wizards, has a menagerie of mythical and powerful beasts. Her otherwise solitary life changes when a man brings her a child to raise.

I picked up this book due to several recommendations and I'm afraid I'm didn't quite get the point. The language is stilted, the characters are dull, and the plot is plodding and uninspired. Interesting parts are glossed over and boring parts are greatly elaborated on. Intriguing characters get little or no time, which is instead given to boring conversations that could have been summed up in a few lines instead of a few pages and often appear out of nowhere with no build-up.

I rather think it might have been as a better short story or several short stories.

I liked the end well enough, but I haven't yet read a book I disliked where the end made up for everything else, and this is no exception. Definitely will not reread.

93 / 150 books. 62% done!

45 / 75 *new books. 60% done!

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

29183 / 45000 pages. 65% done!

63. ^*Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded by John Scalzi (368) A/Non-Fic

A ten-year retrospective of Scalzi's blog, the Whatever. This book covers a variety of topics in no particular order, from war to business to parenthood.

Scalzi's writing is always a pleasure to read, but I wondered at some of the choices of material to include. Many of the entries are timeless - essays on parenting and advice for aspiring authors, for instance. But many (though not all) of the political posts are hopelessly outdated, having been written just prior to some major event that then made the entry obsolete.

64. *Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich (330) A/Mys

Standard Stephenie Plum book. Things blow up, cars are destroyed, much hijinks ensue around and to her, and there is high sexual tension (and maybe some sex) between her and Joe, and her and Ranger. Entertaining but no new ground.

65. *Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith (307) YA/Fan

We meet Zachery, a guardian angel with a crush on his charge. And we meet Miranda, Zachery's charge, a high school girl who is about to be turned into a vampire. Can Zachery save her soul after he fails to save her life?

Eternal was a quick read that switches perspectives between those two characters, neither of which has a particularly strong or exciting voice. The plot was not very interesting and the world was not explained or described enough to be especially believable. Overall, a mediocre book.

66. *David Inside Out by Lee Bantle (184) YA/Fic

This is a short book that looks at the difficulties that are sometimes faced by gay teens today. What happens to the gay characters is mild compared to what happens to some people in the real world, but it does get across some of the conflict and frustration that must be common for many gay teens. Not a bad read but hardly the "hard-hitting" book that the blurbs made it out to be.

66 / 150 books. 44% done!

38 / 75 *new books. 51% done!

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

19642 / 45000 pages. 44% done!

Last books of August:

104. *Enchantment Place by Denise Little (ed) (338)

I like short stories as a rule. I really like a well-written short story. The premise of this anthology is fantastic - from the cover, "the mall where vampires, were-creatures, sorcerers, witches, elves, and other fey beings go to shop". How much fun does that sound?

Unfortunately, most of the stories fall a little flat. I think a lot of them could have been great fun if they'd been fleshed out more, but as it is they mostly seem rushed or like there are missing pieces. My favorites are the companion stories "Out of the Frying Pan..." by Diane Duane and "...And into the Fire" by Peter Morwood.

105. The Sagan Diary (audio) by John Scalzi (1h18m)

A fabulous book written as the inner thoughts of Jane Sagan, major character in the Old Man's War series. This novelette is set between The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony and listening to it made me want to read The Last Colony again.

106. The Last Colony by John Scalzi (316)

Having just read Zoe's Tale, which is the same timeline as The Last Colony but told from Zoe Boutin's perspective, it adds this whole new dimension to the story. Fantastic.

106 / 110 books. 96% done!

48 / 75 *new books. 64% done!

3 / 10 ^non-fiction. 30% done!

29245 / 33000 pages. 89% done!
Audiobook time: 27h7m

52. *Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (247)

Having recently seen and read The Jane Austen Book Club, I've decided to quit wasting time and read Austen's books myself. I've only read Pride & Prejudice previously and not very thoroughly, either.

I liked Catherine immediately. I can relate to her (and I can't usually relate to characters in books) - I often don't know quite how to act in social situations, and there are many things about social interaction that confuse me, so her general confusion and naivate was endearing and understandable. Most of the other characters were irritating - they told half-truths or just made things up, waffled and chattered about unimportant things when there were important issues to discuss, and were altogether frustrating. Only the Tilneys (and only the Henry and Eleanor; not the father) were genuine; not even Catherine's brother was.

53. ^*The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies by John Scalzi (296)

A fun overview of the history and evolution of science fiction movies. It is entertainingly written and Scalzi isn't shy about saying this is a good movie and that isn't, this worked, that didn't, and these are so bad they're still worth watching just for laughs. "Sci-fi" is rather loosely defined, with quite a few fantasy (usually darker fantasy) movies included.

53 / 110 books. 48% done!

21 / 75 *new books. 28% done!

3 / 10 ^non-fiction. 30% done!

16136 / 33000 pages. 49% done!

First books of February:

12. The Sagan Diary by John Scalzi (100)

I love this book, I love the way it captures the voice (voice? not exactly...close enough) of a very unusual, unique woman in some very strange situations.

The Morganville Vampire series by Rachel Caine
13. *Glass Houses (247)
14. *The Dead Girls' Dance (256)
15. *Midnight Alley (245)

These were better than I expected. Most books I read these days don't particularly surprise me in what happens, in the plot, I mean. But I was totally in the dark in all of these, I had no idea what was going to happen. I'm not saying that this is great literature or anything, but they really kept me guessing and it is definitely an enjoyable series.

15 / 110 books. 14% done!

7 / 75 *new books. 9% done!

4109 / 33000 pages. 12% done!

Currently reading:
The Fuzzy Papers by H. Beam Piper