Book Logging
Oct. 9th, 2010 05:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckAlexander, Alma. Worldweavers: Gift of the Unmage - This book's heroine is the seventh child of two seventh children. All her life, people have been waiting for her to manifest the powerful magic that such children are expected to have, and all her life, she's been unable to perform even simple magic. In a last ditch effort to uncover her power, her parents send her to another world for a while. That's the first half of the book, and the back cover spoils some of what happens there, handwaving it as if it weren't important. Overall, I enjoyed this book. I read through it fairly quickly.
Alexander, Alma. Worldweavers: Spellspam - I found the second book in this series less compelling than the first. I think I missed the time when the main character was training. In this volume, someone has found a way to use e-mail to spread malicious spells. The heroine also uses computers for her magic, so she's immediately involved in trying to track the source. The book ended with her making a hard, morally ambiguous choice. I'm not sure there was a better way to resolve the central conflict, but I wanted something happier. I'm still going to try book three.
Andrews, Donna. Swan for the Money - This time, the story centers on a rose show that Meg is organizing. The participants are all a little crazy in ways that make for fun reading. I don't expect I'll remember details in another couple of weeks, but I had fun.
Andrews, Ilona. Magic Strikes - This isn't the first book in the series, but it is the earliest one the library has. Urban fantasy and I generally aren't a good match, so I wasn't trusting that this series would be for me. It's not. I liked the main character, and there's humor in her voice, but the book's too gritty and violent for me. I didn't finish it.
Brennan, Sarah Rees. The Demon's Lexicon - This is another one I didn't finish. The prose was compelling, but I found the world too bleak and violent. I knew the book would send my anxiety sky high. I made it through about seventy pages, some at the front and some at the back.
Dokey, Cameron. Golden - This was a quick read, a retelling of Rapunzel. I'm going to have to try Dokey's other books because I enjoyed this one.
Estes, Eleanor. The Middle Moffat; Estes, Eleanor. The Moffat Museum; Estes, Eleanor. The Moffats; Estes, Eleanor. Pinky Pye; Estes, Eleanor. Rufus M. - I spent a while trying to figure out when these books are set. At first, I thought the timing was indefinite, but Rufus M. includes a war that ends on the eleventh of November, and The Moffat Museum actually includes a date in 1919. I'm putting the Moffat books and the Pye books together as they refer to each other and are set in the same time and place. I enjoyed all of the books but don't have anything different to say about the individual volumes.
Estes had a gift for writing from the point of view of children, incorporating their beliefs about the world and the ways that those beliefs affect their behavior. Most of the chapters in these books cover minor events that are hugely important to the children involved.
Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book - I didn't manage to finish this one. I found it too anxiety inducing. It was almost claustrophobic. I liked Bod, but he wasn't enough to carry the book for me.
Hoffman, Nina Kiriki. Fall of Light - This book frustrated me. The ending lacked resolution on several different points. I enjoyed the prose and liked the characters, but I wanted the book to have an ending instead of just stopping. The details of my frustration are spoilery, but I'll talk about them in comments if anybody's interested.
Hoffman, Nina Kiriki. Spirits That Walk in Shadow - This was a more satisfying read than Fall of Light. The resolution of the conflict was a bit of a deus ex machina, but I didn't mind at all. I just wanted to see more of Jaimie and Kim and their adjustment to college life.
Lindgren, Astrid. Karlson on the Roof - I gave up on this one early. Karlson is a funny little man who lives on the roof of an apartment building and who can fly. He and a little boy who live in the building become friends. I gave up on the book because Karlson is one of those friends who's always causing trouble (and disappearing before the parents find out) and who takes and takes. The little boy seems to get enough out of the friendship to want to continue, but I couldn't see why.
Mantchev, Lisa. Eyes Like Stars - I enjoyed this book, but it felt both frenetic and scattered. I kept hoping it would coalesce into clarity, but it simply moved onward. I'm still looking forward to the sequel. The book's about a girl who lives in a theater, a peculiar theater that's inhabited by the characters from every play ever written. The main character is in trouble with the theater's management because she disrupts things and needs to prove that she can make a unique and valuable contribution or be evicted.
Ooku: the Inner Chambers 1 - I don't have much to say about this that I haven't seen in multiple places already. The translation is awkward, pseudo-old fashioned with 'thee,' 'thy' and 'thou.' I had trouble getting past that awkwardness. I did find the story compelling. I want to know more about the new Shogun (from what I gather, I won't get that in the next couple of volumes). I found the changes to Japanese society fascinating-- Having so few men in the population would change things.
Ooku: the Inner Chambers 2 - I wasn't expecting the level of coercion that I encountered in this book. I've read things that were nastier, more violent and so on. I just wasn't expecting it here. In this volume, the story goes back to the time of the first female Shogun. Her father died, but his supporters covered up his death to prevent civil war. Now everything hinges on her having children.
Pratchett, Terry. A Hat Full of Sky - I have a sneaking suspicion that I should have read The Wee Free Men first. That is, I got the impression from the afterword and from things in the text that this was the second Tiffany Aching book, not the first. I still enjoyed it. I didn't find it laugh out loud funny (which I was expecting based on what I've heard about Pratchett), but I did grin a few times. I found the general philosophy of being a witch appealing, and I rather liked Tiffany when she was herself. I did stumble over the use of dialect in the book. I won't let it stop me from trying other Pratchett, but I'll make sure I'm in a relaxed mood when I do.
Sanderson, Brandon. Alcatraz versus the Knights of Crystallia - I wish it hadn't been so long since I read the previous books in this series. I remember liking them, but I don't remember all the details. Maybe I'll reread them all once next book comes out. This installment was funny, but I didn't feel like it moved the plot forward much. I'm curious as to how Sanderson will wrap up the story in the fourth book (The Amazon blurb claims it's the final book in the series).
Alcatraz attacks people who look at the end of books first (or without getting there by reading everything else first). He's also down on people who pick up a book in a series without reading the preceding volumes first. Both bothered me. I'd rather read about the evil Librarians and the Smedry gifts and so on.
Swan Sister - This is a collection of fairy tale retellings. I enjoyed several of the stories, but none really stick in my head as spectacular. Basically, this is a good book to read if one likes fairy tale retellings but not otherwise recommended.
Tey, Josephine. Brat Farrar - This was my second attempt to read this book. I bounced off it last time. This time, I made a more determined assault and managed to get through it. The reading took some effort even though I liked the characters. I suspect that some of it was that the central impersonation didn't appeal to me and that some of it was my utter disinterest in horses. The story follows a young man who impersonates the missing heir of a comfortably well-to-do family and who comes to suspect that the boy he's impersonating was murdered.
Wilce, Ysabeau S. Flora's Dare - I didn't actually read all of this. I ran aground on a deep desire to take Flora by the shoulders and shake her until she showed some sense. I skipped ahead to the middle of the action and did better. Given determination and a couple more weeks, I might have managed to work my way backward to where I'd stopped reading forward, but I decided not to bother. I didn't want to read about Flora getting into trouble. I know getting into trouble is necessary for getting out of it. I just don't handle reading it very well.
Wrede, Patricia. Thirteenth Child - I enjoyed this book. It was readable as Wrede's books tend to be. I couldn't help but feel, though, that there was a hole in the text left by the utter absence of Native Americans. I wanted to see them and their ways of doing magic and their ways of coping with the megafauna. I don't know if I would have noticed the lack if it hadn't been pointed out to me before I read the book, but I did notice. The lack is also quite unexplained in the text (I don't know how an explanation would fit the text, but I noticed that there wasn't one).
Alexander, Alma. Worldweavers: Spellspam - I found the second book in this series less compelling than the first. I think I missed the time when the main character was training. In this volume, someone has found a way to use e-mail to spread malicious spells. The heroine also uses computers for her magic, so she's immediately involved in trying to track the source. The book ended with her making a hard, morally ambiguous choice. I'm not sure there was a better way to resolve the central conflict, but I wanted something happier. I'm still going to try book three.
Andrews, Donna. Swan for the Money - This time, the story centers on a rose show that Meg is organizing. The participants are all a little crazy in ways that make for fun reading. I don't expect I'll remember details in another couple of weeks, but I had fun.
Andrews, Ilona. Magic Strikes - This isn't the first book in the series, but it is the earliest one the library has. Urban fantasy and I generally aren't a good match, so I wasn't trusting that this series would be for me. It's not. I liked the main character, and there's humor in her voice, but the book's too gritty and violent for me. I didn't finish it.
Brennan, Sarah Rees. The Demon's Lexicon - This is another one I didn't finish. The prose was compelling, but I found the world too bleak and violent. I knew the book would send my anxiety sky high. I made it through about seventy pages, some at the front and some at the back.
Dokey, Cameron. Golden - This was a quick read, a retelling of Rapunzel. I'm going to have to try Dokey's other books because I enjoyed this one.
Estes, Eleanor. The Middle Moffat; Estes, Eleanor. The Moffat Museum; Estes, Eleanor. The Moffats; Estes, Eleanor. Pinky Pye; Estes, Eleanor. Rufus M. - I spent a while trying to figure out when these books are set. At first, I thought the timing was indefinite, but Rufus M. includes a war that ends on the eleventh of November, and The Moffat Museum actually includes a date in 1919. I'm putting the Moffat books and the Pye books together as they refer to each other and are set in the same time and place. I enjoyed all of the books but don't have anything different to say about the individual volumes.
Estes had a gift for writing from the point of view of children, incorporating their beliefs about the world and the ways that those beliefs affect their behavior. Most of the chapters in these books cover minor events that are hugely important to the children involved.
Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book - I didn't manage to finish this one. I found it too anxiety inducing. It was almost claustrophobic. I liked Bod, but he wasn't enough to carry the book for me.
Hoffman, Nina Kiriki. Fall of Light - This book frustrated me. The ending lacked resolution on several different points. I enjoyed the prose and liked the characters, but I wanted the book to have an ending instead of just stopping. The details of my frustration are spoilery, but I'll talk about them in comments if anybody's interested.
Hoffman, Nina Kiriki. Spirits That Walk in Shadow - This was a more satisfying read than Fall of Light. The resolution of the conflict was a bit of a deus ex machina, but I didn't mind at all. I just wanted to see more of Jaimie and Kim and their adjustment to college life.
Lindgren, Astrid. Karlson on the Roof - I gave up on this one early. Karlson is a funny little man who lives on the roof of an apartment building and who can fly. He and a little boy who live in the building become friends. I gave up on the book because Karlson is one of those friends who's always causing trouble (and disappearing before the parents find out) and who takes and takes. The little boy seems to get enough out of the friendship to want to continue, but I couldn't see why.
Mantchev, Lisa. Eyes Like Stars - I enjoyed this book, but it felt both frenetic and scattered. I kept hoping it would coalesce into clarity, but it simply moved onward. I'm still looking forward to the sequel. The book's about a girl who lives in a theater, a peculiar theater that's inhabited by the characters from every play ever written. The main character is in trouble with the theater's management because she disrupts things and needs to prove that she can make a unique and valuable contribution or be evicted.
Ooku: the Inner Chambers 1 - I don't have much to say about this that I haven't seen in multiple places already. The translation is awkward, pseudo-old fashioned with 'thee,' 'thy' and 'thou.' I had trouble getting past that awkwardness. I did find the story compelling. I want to know more about the new Shogun (from what I gather, I won't get that in the next couple of volumes). I found the changes to Japanese society fascinating-- Having so few men in the population would change things.
Ooku: the Inner Chambers 2 - I wasn't expecting the level of coercion that I encountered in this book. I've read things that were nastier, more violent and so on. I just wasn't expecting it here. In this volume, the story goes back to the time of the first female Shogun. Her father died, but his supporters covered up his death to prevent civil war. Now everything hinges on her having children.
Pratchett, Terry. A Hat Full of Sky - I have a sneaking suspicion that I should have read The Wee Free Men first. That is, I got the impression from the afterword and from things in the text that this was the second Tiffany Aching book, not the first. I still enjoyed it. I didn't find it laugh out loud funny (which I was expecting based on what I've heard about Pratchett), but I did grin a few times. I found the general philosophy of being a witch appealing, and I rather liked Tiffany when she was herself. I did stumble over the use of dialect in the book. I won't let it stop me from trying other Pratchett, but I'll make sure I'm in a relaxed mood when I do.
Sanderson, Brandon. Alcatraz versus the Knights of Crystallia - I wish it hadn't been so long since I read the previous books in this series. I remember liking them, but I don't remember all the details. Maybe I'll reread them all once next book comes out. This installment was funny, but I didn't feel like it moved the plot forward much. I'm curious as to how Sanderson will wrap up the story in the fourth book (The Amazon blurb claims it's the final book in the series).
Alcatraz attacks people who look at the end of books first (or without getting there by reading everything else first). He's also down on people who pick up a book in a series without reading the preceding volumes first. Both bothered me. I'd rather read about the evil Librarians and the Smedry gifts and so on.
Swan Sister - This is a collection of fairy tale retellings. I enjoyed several of the stories, but none really stick in my head as spectacular. Basically, this is a good book to read if one likes fairy tale retellings but not otherwise recommended.
Tey, Josephine. Brat Farrar - This was my second attempt to read this book. I bounced off it last time. This time, I made a more determined assault and managed to get through it. The reading took some effort even though I liked the characters. I suspect that some of it was that the central impersonation didn't appeal to me and that some of it was my utter disinterest in horses. The story follows a young man who impersonates the missing heir of a comfortably well-to-do family and who comes to suspect that the boy he's impersonating was murdered.
Wilce, Ysabeau S. Flora's Dare - I didn't actually read all of this. I ran aground on a deep desire to take Flora by the shoulders and shake her until she showed some sense. I skipped ahead to the middle of the action and did better. Given determination and a couple more weeks, I might have managed to work my way backward to where I'd stopped reading forward, but I decided not to bother. I didn't want to read about Flora getting into trouble. I know getting into trouble is necessary for getting out of it. I just don't handle reading it very well.
Wrede, Patricia. Thirteenth Child - I enjoyed this book. It was readable as Wrede's books tend to be. I couldn't help but feel, though, that there was a hole in the text left by the utter absence of Native Americans. I wanted to see them and their ways of doing magic and their ways of coping with the megafauna. I don't know if I would have noticed the lack if it hadn't been pointed out to me before I read the book, but I did notice. The lack is also quite unexplained in the text (I don't know how an explanation would fit the text, but I noticed that there wasn't one).
