Book Logging
Jan. 14th, 2014 09:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckAndrews, Donna. Duck the Halls - I need to find more mysteries that I can read the way I read Andrews' stuff. It just kind of flows, and the next thing i know, I'm done. This was a Christmas themed mystery-- Someone's playing pranks on various churches in the days leading up to Christmas. The main character volunteers to help the towns churches (and a Jewish temple) share space and coordinate events so that everything planned can still go forward. Then there's a murder. The main character has twins who are supposed to be four. They read as younger to me.
Andrews, Donna. The Hen of the Baskervilles - The local community is having a big fair (like a state fair but not). The main character is the second in command of the team running the fair. During the first day of the fair, somebody steals some chickens, smashes a potentially prize winning pumpkin and steals a valuable quilt. Then there's a murder. The main character's twin boys are supposed to be two and a half in this one but they read older to me.
Jemisin, N.K. The Broken Kingdoms - If I hadn't been reading along with Mark Reads, doing a chapter at a time, I probably wouldn't have been able to finish this one. It's not that it's a bad book. It's decidedly not. It does a lot of interesting and difficult things. It's that I have trouble facing books where things go wrong in this sort of way, books that aren't simple and straightforward (I never did manage to read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms in spite of trying it along with Mark Reads. I just couldn't. I wanted to, but I couldn't).
Krentz, Jayne Ann. River Road - Unlike most of Krentz's recent works, there was no hint of psychic powers in this book. That surprised me. This book also felt kind of fragmented. There were a lot of bits from the point of view of secondary characters. Krentz is still writing the same basic book here, so if you've read previous books, you'll know already whether or not you'll enjoy it. I don't think this is the place to start with her work. It has all of her weaknesses and not enough of her strengths.
McCall Smith, Alexander. The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon - For some reason, several books that I could actually read came in at the library all at once. It gives me the illusion that reading is easy again. I still really enjoy volumes in this series. I'm aware that there are issues of cultural appropriation and that Botswana is likely not like what McCall Smith is writing, but I still really enjoy these books and the characters found therein. The mysteries are slight, as usual. The real joy is in visiting with the characters again.
Pierce, Tamora. Trickster's Choice - I'd avoided this series when I was reading Tamora Pierce's other books. I'd gotten the impression that it had White Savior problems, and I didn't want to deal with those. This time, I was reading along with Mark Reads, and I trusted Mark and his commenters to help me see the real problems while enjoying what was worthwhile. This one wasn't as bad as I'd feared (my fears were pretty darned dire). There were bits that didn't work, bits where the main character should have been called out and wasn't. Of course, my biggest problem has more to do with the idea that a destined monarch is the best solution to a nation's problems. Just once, I'd like to see the destined representative democracy or something of the sort.
Books started but not finished:
Boxers - This was well put together. I got maybe thirty or forty pages in. I just couldn't bear the terrible things people were doing to one another (and were going to do to each other). I know that things like this have happened and continue to happen. It's just that reading about them makes me feel helpless and hopeless. I haven't got the psychological spoons to cope.
Simner, Janni Lee. Secret of the Three Treasures - I think I'd have enjoyed this more before I became a parent. As it was, I didn't really sympathize with the main character. I was too busy wondering what I'd do if Cordelia were to do the things this character does. I can see why a kid would enjoy this book-- The main character makes everything an adventure. She's brave and resourceful. She's just also terrifying for a parent because she doesn't think of consequences.
Andrews, Donna. The Hen of the Baskervilles - The local community is having a big fair (like a state fair but not). The main character is the second in command of the team running the fair. During the first day of the fair, somebody steals some chickens, smashes a potentially prize winning pumpkin and steals a valuable quilt. Then there's a murder. The main character's twin boys are supposed to be two and a half in this one but they read older to me.
Jemisin, N.K. The Broken Kingdoms - If I hadn't been reading along with Mark Reads, doing a chapter at a time, I probably wouldn't have been able to finish this one. It's not that it's a bad book. It's decidedly not. It does a lot of interesting and difficult things. It's that I have trouble facing books where things go wrong in this sort of way, books that aren't simple and straightforward (I never did manage to read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms in spite of trying it along with Mark Reads. I just couldn't. I wanted to, but I couldn't).
Krentz, Jayne Ann. River Road - Unlike most of Krentz's recent works, there was no hint of psychic powers in this book. That surprised me. This book also felt kind of fragmented. There were a lot of bits from the point of view of secondary characters. Krentz is still writing the same basic book here, so if you've read previous books, you'll know already whether or not you'll enjoy it. I don't think this is the place to start with her work. It has all of her weaknesses and not enough of her strengths.
McCall Smith, Alexander. The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon - For some reason, several books that I could actually read came in at the library all at once. It gives me the illusion that reading is easy again. I still really enjoy volumes in this series. I'm aware that there are issues of cultural appropriation and that Botswana is likely not like what McCall Smith is writing, but I still really enjoy these books and the characters found therein. The mysteries are slight, as usual. The real joy is in visiting with the characters again.
Pierce, Tamora. Trickster's Choice - I'd avoided this series when I was reading Tamora Pierce's other books. I'd gotten the impression that it had White Savior problems, and I didn't want to deal with those. This time, I was reading along with Mark Reads, and I trusted Mark and his commenters to help me see the real problems while enjoying what was worthwhile. This one wasn't as bad as I'd feared (my fears were pretty darned dire). There were bits that didn't work, bits where the main character should have been called out and wasn't. Of course, my biggest problem has more to do with the idea that a destined monarch is the best solution to a nation's problems. Just once, I'd like to see the destined representative democracy or something of the sort.
Books started but not finished:
Boxers - This was well put together. I got maybe thirty or forty pages in. I just couldn't bear the terrible things people were doing to one another (and were going to do to each other). I know that things like this have happened and continue to happen. It's just that reading about them makes me feel helpless and hopeless. I haven't got the psychological spoons to cope.
Simner, Janni Lee. Secret of the Three Treasures - I think I'd have enjoyed this more before I became a parent. As it was, I didn't really sympathize with the main character. I was too busy wondering what I'd do if Cordelia were to do the things this character does. I can see why a kid would enjoy this book-- The main character makes everything an adventure. She's brave and resourceful. She's just also terrifying for a parent because she doesn't think of consequences.
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Date: 2014-01-14 06:02 pm (UTC)