Book Logging
Dec. 23rd, 2014 05:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckAndrews, Donna. The Good, the Bad, and the Emus - Andrews' Meg Langslow books are reliable reads for me. I haven't yet run into one that made my anxiety spike, and this one was no exception. I enjoy the recurring cast of characters (though many of those didn't appear in this book or had only the smallest of roles). This book focuses on Meg's long lost grandmother. Her grandfather hired a PI to find the grandmother, and he did, but she'd been murdered a few months before.
Garfield Minus Garfield - Most of these simply didn't work for me. Some the strips felt complete even without Garfield, but some of them felt like something important was missing. I think I'm not so good with empty space.
Guinea PIg Pet Shop Private Eye: Hamster and Cheese - This was cute but not particularly substantial. Someone's been stealing the pet shop owner's sandwiches. Sasspants, the guinea pig, just wants to be left alone.
Hilda and the Midnight Giant - There were interesting parallels between Hilda's interactions with the tiny people and her interactions with the giant. I did wonder how the tiny people built so many things when they kept saying they had no hands. Maybe they have psychokinesis?
Hilda and the Bird Parade - This one comes immediately after Hilda and the Midnight Giant, so I thought I'd better list that one first and ignore alphabetical order. This one has Hilda and her mother trying to adjust to life in the city. Hilda, being Hilda, finds a little magic.
Johnson, Steven. How We Got To Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World - This reminded me a little of James Burke's The Day the Universe Changed. It wasn't exactly the same thing, but each chapter ranged widely even as it traced one type of technology and expanded on all of the things that resulted from it. There are six chapters: glass, sound, clean, cold, light, and time (not in that order).
Knights of the Lunch Table: The Dragon Players - I like how the supernatural elements of this are just barely there, enough that I can see them if I'm paying attention, but not really enough for most of the characters to perceive (Though what other explanation there can be for that locker, I don't know). The main character is just trying to get through each day.
The Misadventures of Salem Hyde: Spelling Trouble - This was cute. Salem is a magically gifted little girl trying to navigate elementary school without giving away that she has magic. She has poor impulse control and little sense of the potential repercussions of her actions. Her family gets her an experienced animal companion to help her learn when and how to use magic. Short and funny.
The Misadventures of Salem Hyde 2: Big Birthday Bash - Salem is no good at hiding the fact that she has magic. This time she's attending a birthday party and wants to give the best gift ever.
Owly: A Time to Be Brave - I wonder what Owly eats. More than one book has shown creatures to be afraid of Owly because Owly's an owl and should hunt them. But Owly doesn't seem to hunt anything (Owly can't even fly). In this one, there's a possum that the little worm mistakes for a dragon that in turn is terrified of Owly.
Owly: Flight Lessons - I'm not sure what to say about this one that I haven't said about earlier volumes. This one is still cute. It gives an interesting perspective on Owly as being disabled. At least, that's how I read it-- Owly's wings are too short to make flying possible, so Owly is earth-bound.
Robot Rampage - GoodReads recommended this. I don't exactly regret reading this as it took about five minutes, but I'm not sure it was a good investment of my time. It was beyond simple, and the characters were cardboard.
Started but not finished:
Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher - This didn't really work for. I'm not entirely sure why. Some of it was that I saw a plot twist coming pretty much immediately and didn't want to go there (I looked at the end before I gave up to make sure I was right. I was). I also didn't have much of a feel for the main character as a person, and I wanted a reason to read about him that wasn't just me being told that he was cool. I read about a third of this.
The Shadow Hero - I ran out of time on this one because there's a waitlist. I started it and put it aside and lost track of it. I only managed to find it because I saw that it was due back at the library. Oops. I'll come back to it.
Magazines read:
Discover January/February 2015
Garfield Minus Garfield - Most of these simply didn't work for me. Some the strips felt complete even without Garfield, but some of them felt like something important was missing. I think I'm not so good with empty space.
Guinea PIg Pet Shop Private Eye: Hamster and Cheese - This was cute but not particularly substantial. Someone's been stealing the pet shop owner's sandwiches. Sasspants, the guinea pig, just wants to be left alone.
Hilda and the Midnight Giant - There were interesting parallels between Hilda's interactions with the tiny people and her interactions with the giant. I did wonder how the tiny people built so many things when they kept saying they had no hands. Maybe they have psychokinesis?
Hilda and the Bird Parade - This one comes immediately after Hilda and the Midnight Giant, so I thought I'd better list that one first and ignore alphabetical order. This one has Hilda and her mother trying to adjust to life in the city. Hilda, being Hilda, finds a little magic.
Johnson, Steven. How We Got To Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World - This reminded me a little of James Burke's The Day the Universe Changed. It wasn't exactly the same thing, but each chapter ranged widely even as it traced one type of technology and expanded on all of the things that resulted from it. There are six chapters: glass, sound, clean, cold, light, and time (not in that order).
Knights of the Lunch Table: The Dragon Players - I like how the supernatural elements of this are just barely there, enough that I can see them if I'm paying attention, but not really enough for most of the characters to perceive (Though what other explanation there can be for that locker, I don't know). The main character is just trying to get through each day.
The Misadventures of Salem Hyde: Spelling Trouble - This was cute. Salem is a magically gifted little girl trying to navigate elementary school without giving away that she has magic. She has poor impulse control and little sense of the potential repercussions of her actions. Her family gets her an experienced animal companion to help her learn when and how to use magic. Short and funny.
The Misadventures of Salem Hyde 2: Big Birthday Bash - Salem is no good at hiding the fact that she has magic. This time she's attending a birthday party and wants to give the best gift ever.
Owly: A Time to Be Brave - I wonder what Owly eats. More than one book has shown creatures to be afraid of Owly because Owly's an owl and should hunt them. But Owly doesn't seem to hunt anything (Owly can't even fly). In this one, there's a possum that the little worm mistakes for a dragon that in turn is terrified of Owly.
Owly: Flight Lessons - I'm not sure what to say about this one that I haven't said about earlier volumes. This one is still cute. It gives an interesting perspective on Owly as being disabled. At least, that's how I read it-- Owly's wings are too short to make flying possible, so Owly is earth-bound.
Robot Rampage - GoodReads recommended this. I don't exactly regret reading this as it took about five minutes, but I'm not sure it was a good investment of my time. It was beyond simple, and the characters were cardboard.
Started but not finished:
Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher - This didn't really work for. I'm not entirely sure why. Some of it was that I saw a plot twist coming pretty much immediately and didn't want to go there (I looked at the end before I gave up to make sure I was right. I was). I also didn't have much of a feel for the main character as a person, and I wanted a reason to read about him that wasn't just me being told that he was cool. I read about a third of this.
The Shadow Hero - I ran out of time on this one because there's a waitlist. I started it and put it aside and lost track of it. I only managed to find it because I saw that it was due back at the library. Oops. I'll come back to it.
Magazines read:
Discover January/February 2015
