Book Logging
Mar. 24th, 2014 11:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckDoctor Who, Series 2, vol. 2: The Eye of Ashaya - There wasn't anything particularly memorable about this one. There wasn't anything wrong with it, either. It did what it promised by giving more of the Doctor's adventures. I did note that these volumes keep dropping hints of bigger, nastier things to come. I hope the library keeps up with the series because I'd like to see if those hints ever come to anything.
Goldacre, Ben. Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks and Big Pharma Flacks - Scott's parents would hate this book, but they're exactly the sort of people who ought to read it. They're into homeopathy and nutritional fads and such. Goldacre looks at the actual research done into such things and points out not just where the claims are unjustified but also where they're actively harmful. He also addresses vaccination scares and research/publication biases.
Jemisin, N.K. The Kingdom of Gods - Again, I have to thank Mark Reads for getting me through this book. I enjoyed it and am glad I read it, but I think I'd have stopped midway through if I hadn't been reading along. I have trouble with reading about emotional pain, and these characters hurt.
Pierce, Tamora. Trickster's Queen - I originally got the two books in this series through BookMooch and then got rid of them again without reading them. I hadn't read The Song of the Lioness then, and I'd heard that there were issues with the books that made them problematic. I'm glad that I've read them now (thanks again to Mark Reads). I think that, in execution, this book and the one before it are less problematic than they could be. The main character could be taken for a White Savior, and I'm not the best person to judge that sort of thing, but she's one factor in what happens. The other movers and shakers are people of color. The heroine has training and aptitude that are useful, pivotally so, but it's not her revolution. She remains aware that she's a newcomer.
Walton, Jo. What Makes This Book so Great - I read this book pretty rapidly. I enjoyed seeing what Walton had to say about each book. I haven't read most of the books she wrote about, but I could still follow what she had to say. I'm not going to run out and get any of these books because I suspect that my taste and Walton's don't march together and because most of them sound like things that I couldn't handle right now.
Started but not finished:
Chainani, Soman. School for Good and Evil - I really thought I was going to finish this one. I got halfway through, though, and the rest seemed like a chore. I did like that the friendship between the two girls was at the heart of the story and that one of the girls recognized how warped the entire set up was. (The other girl was too busy trying to change her role in the school. She wanted to be there.) I did read the ending, and I liked it. There are sequels, one out and one coming soon. I feel that the end of this one would work well for a stand alone, so I'm not sure how the sequels will work. I'm curious enough that I'll probably try at least book two.
Conant-Park, Jessica and Susan Conant. Simmer Down - I basically took against the main character right off the bat, so I'm giving this one a pass. There's no point in forcing myself.
Haptie, Charlotte. Otto and the Flying Twins - GoodReads recommended this, and it's simply not my sort of thing. I read about six chapters because I'd taken the book to bed with me and couldn't be bothered to get up and get a different book. This one is apparently about the conflict between people with magic and people without magic with the people without magic oppressing those with it.
Kagawa, Julie. The Iron King - I just barely started this one. I discovered that I really didn't want to spend time with the main character-- I'm kind of out of charity with teenagers (not good when I like to read middle grade and YA). I also felt sort of like I'd seen this before. I probably should have given this one more of a chance. I've heard good things about the series.
Layton, Edith. To Wed a Stranger - I liked the idea of this one-- an arranged marriage with two people needing to get to know each other and the woman, an acknowledged beauty, becoming ill and losing (temporarily?) her looks. I just couldn't get very far. I can't read most romances. I like the idea of them-- they should be low stress reading-- but somehow, they almost never work for me.
McPherson, Catriona. After the Armistice Ball - I had high hopes for this one. GoodReads recommended it, and I've enjoyed books set in this particular era (1920s) before. Unfortunately, the main character didn't appeal to me. I read two or three chapters but couldn't get into the book.
Mull, Martin. Spirit Animals book 1: Wild Born - This is the first in one of those kids' series where each book is written by a different popular author. They seem to be popular right now. I don't remember why I decided to try this one-- No, I take that back. I think several volumes turned up in Amazon's recommendations for me based on my having purchased Rick Riordan books. I got about four chapters into this, far enough that the four main characters had been introduced. That was almost half the book as it's not very long. I felt as if there were a checklist of personality traits and bits of character backstory that Mull had to follow for these characters. There probably was. I expect that a series like this is heavily pre-planned by the publisher.
Goldacre, Ben. Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks and Big Pharma Flacks - Scott's parents would hate this book, but they're exactly the sort of people who ought to read it. They're into homeopathy and nutritional fads and such. Goldacre looks at the actual research done into such things and points out not just where the claims are unjustified but also where they're actively harmful. He also addresses vaccination scares and research/publication biases.
Jemisin, N.K. The Kingdom of Gods - Again, I have to thank Mark Reads for getting me through this book. I enjoyed it and am glad I read it, but I think I'd have stopped midway through if I hadn't been reading along. I have trouble with reading about emotional pain, and these characters hurt.
Pierce, Tamora. Trickster's Queen - I originally got the two books in this series through BookMooch and then got rid of them again without reading them. I hadn't read The Song of the Lioness then, and I'd heard that there were issues with the books that made them problematic. I'm glad that I've read them now (thanks again to Mark Reads). I think that, in execution, this book and the one before it are less problematic than they could be. The main character could be taken for a White Savior, and I'm not the best person to judge that sort of thing, but she's one factor in what happens. The other movers and shakers are people of color. The heroine has training and aptitude that are useful, pivotally so, but it's not her revolution. She remains aware that she's a newcomer.
Walton, Jo. What Makes This Book so Great - I read this book pretty rapidly. I enjoyed seeing what Walton had to say about each book. I haven't read most of the books she wrote about, but I could still follow what she had to say. I'm not going to run out and get any of these books because I suspect that my taste and Walton's don't march together and because most of them sound like things that I couldn't handle right now.
Started but not finished:
Chainani, Soman. School for Good and Evil - I really thought I was going to finish this one. I got halfway through, though, and the rest seemed like a chore. I did like that the friendship between the two girls was at the heart of the story and that one of the girls recognized how warped the entire set up was. (The other girl was too busy trying to change her role in the school. She wanted to be there.) I did read the ending, and I liked it. There are sequels, one out and one coming soon. I feel that the end of this one would work well for a stand alone, so I'm not sure how the sequels will work. I'm curious enough that I'll probably try at least book two.
Conant-Park, Jessica and Susan Conant. Simmer Down - I basically took against the main character right off the bat, so I'm giving this one a pass. There's no point in forcing myself.
Haptie, Charlotte. Otto and the Flying Twins - GoodReads recommended this, and it's simply not my sort of thing. I read about six chapters because I'd taken the book to bed with me and couldn't be bothered to get up and get a different book. This one is apparently about the conflict between people with magic and people without magic with the people without magic oppressing those with it.
Kagawa, Julie. The Iron King - I just barely started this one. I discovered that I really didn't want to spend time with the main character-- I'm kind of out of charity with teenagers (not good when I like to read middle grade and YA). I also felt sort of like I'd seen this before. I probably should have given this one more of a chance. I've heard good things about the series.
Layton, Edith. To Wed a Stranger - I liked the idea of this one-- an arranged marriage with two people needing to get to know each other and the woman, an acknowledged beauty, becoming ill and losing (temporarily?) her looks. I just couldn't get very far. I can't read most romances. I like the idea of them-- they should be low stress reading-- but somehow, they almost never work for me.
McPherson, Catriona. After the Armistice Ball - I had high hopes for this one. GoodReads recommended it, and I've enjoyed books set in this particular era (1920s) before. Unfortunately, the main character didn't appeal to me. I read two or three chapters but couldn't get into the book.
Mull, Martin. Spirit Animals book 1: Wild Born - This is the first in one of those kids' series where each book is written by a different popular author. They seem to be popular right now. I don't remember why I decided to try this one-- No, I take that back. I think several volumes turned up in Amazon's recommendations for me based on my having purchased Rick Riordan books. I got about four chapters into this, far enough that the four main characters had been introduced. That was almost half the book as it's not very long. I felt as if there were a checklist of personality traits and bits of character backstory that Mull had to follow for these characters. There probably was. I expect that a series like this is heavily pre-planned by the publisher.
