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1) The Killing Moon by N K Jemisin (library)
I read about 80 pages of this, enjoyed the tone of it greatly but couldn't warm to any characters and eventually decided I would return it to the library and perhaps borrow it again another time.
2) Everything and the Moon by Julia Quinn (library)
This opens with an author's note about how she doesn't believe in love at first sight and this was her attempt to write it. She says that she thinks she has convinced herself in this book. I'm not sure she convinced me. It felt distinctly romance-by-the-cliche; the beautiful but (oh no) clumsy girl, the handsome earl, the misunderstanding that leads to a years-long-estrangement because of pride, the fucking overheard soliloquy that resolves it, the oddly meh-inspiring opinionated maiden aunt and cousin -- both characters who I would normally have loved in other JQ novels, but here they just felt like retreads. Also, sheer nitpickery but it made me wonder if JQ was even paying attention when she was writing it: if your hero and heroine both have black hair and blue eyes, having the hero joke that nobody would think she was his sister given their respective colouring is not actually a joke that works.
3) An Irresistible Batchelor by JR Ward (library)
This is the author who does the shamelessly iddy Vampire Brothers romance novels, and this was nowhere near as shameless and iddy as those are, alas. It wasn't a terrible read. It was just predictable, and a bit dull. Apparently I'm not in a mood to forgive romance novels for being average at the moment.
4) The Prize in the Game by Jo Walton
I picked this up secondhand, and then when I got around to reading it realised I had already read it some years ago. Which is fine; I recall it as being a good book, and I'll re-read it someday, so it can sit on a shelf for now.
5) Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb
I read this because I got a kindle, and this was already in my amazon ebook library (I think there must have been a giveaway at some point). I'm glad it was here to read; I had a good time, and enjoyed the characters, and enjoyed the layers and masks and deceptions of every single person whose viewpoint we got too see.
6) What Makes This Book Great by Jo Walton
I read a sample of this because amazon suggested it, and then I bought the ebook because Tor.com wasn't letting me at the articles there and I don't mind paying extra for ease of reading. The articles do a thing which good analysis does: makes me want to read a lot of books I've not -- for whatever reason -- bothered to add to my (already very long) internal mental to-read list, enough for me to add a lot of titles to my actual amazon wish-list, to the point of me just leaving amazon open for easy find-and-add on my laptop while I read on my kindle. Admittedly I still don't see myself reading Brust or Cherryh or Bujold, but these essays made it clearer why those authors don't work for me, I think.I have to say that Walton is another person who makes me wonder why I bounced off Pamela Dean's Tam Lin. I mean, I didn't even bounce off it interestingly, I just thought it was boring and that I didn't like Janet very much, but I didn't hate it. I just... I didn't fall in love with the people in it, or with the lifestyle, and so many people I know seem to revere the damned book that I just feel like I'm missing a huge emotional component by not getting it. Oh well.
I read about 80 pages of this, enjoyed the tone of it greatly but couldn't warm to any characters and eventually decided I would return it to the library and perhaps borrow it again another time.
2) Everything and the Moon by Julia Quinn (library)
This opens with an author's note about how she doesn't believe in love at first sight and this was her attempt to write it. She says that she thinks she has convinced herself in this book. I'm not sure she convinced me. It felt distinctly romance-by-the-cliche; the beautiful but (oh no) clumsy girl, the handsome earl, the misunderstanding that leads to a years-long-estrangement because of pride, the fucking overheard soliloquy that resolves it, the oddly meh-inspiring opinionated maiden aunt and cousin -- both characters who I would normally have loved in other JQ novels, but here they just felt like retreads. Also, sheer nitpickery but it made me wonder if JQ was even paying attention when she was writing it: if your hero and heroine both have black hair and blue eyes, having the hero joke that nobody would think she was his sister given their respective colouring is not actually a joke that works.
3) An Irresistible Batchelor by JR Ward (library)
This is the author who does the shamelessly iddy Vampire Brothers romance novels, and this was nowhere near as shameless and iddy as those are, alas. It wasn't a terrible read. It was just predictable, and a bit dull. Apparently I'm not in a mood to forgive romance novels for being average at the moment.
4) The Prize in the Game by Jo Walton
I picked this up secondhand, and then when I got around to reading it realised I had already read it some years ago. Which is fine; I recall it as being a good book, and I'll re-read it someday, so it can sit on a shelf for now.
5) Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb
I read this because I got a kindle, and this was already in my amazon ebook library (I think there must have been a giveaway at some point). I'm glad it was here to read; I had a good time, and enjoyed the characters, and enjoyed the layers and masks and deceptions of every single person whose viewpoint we got too see.
6) What Makes This Book Great by Jo Walton
I read a sample of this because amazon suggested it, and then I bought the ebook because Tor.com wasn't letting me at the articles there and I don't mind paying extra for ease of reading. The articles do a thing which good analysis does: makes me want to read a lot of books I've not -- for whatever reason -- bothered to add to my (already very long) internal mental to-read list, enough for me to add a lot of titles to my actual amazon wish-list, to the point of me just leaving amazon open for easy find-and-add on my laptop while I read on my kindle. Admittedly I still don't see myself reading Brust or Cherryh or Bujold, but these essays made it clearer why those authors don't work for me, I think.I have to say that Walton is another person who makes me wonder why I bounced off Pamela Dean's Tam Lin. I mean, I didn't even bounce off it interestingly, I just thought it was boring and that I didn't like Janet very much, but I didn't hate it. I just... I didn't fall in love with the people in it, or with the lifestyle, and so many people I know seem to revere the damned book that I just feel like I'm missing a huge emotional component by not getting it. Oh well.