Book Logging
Nov. 20th, 2015 10:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckBee and Puppycat v.1 - I was left feeling like I hadn’t actually been reading the first volume of a story. There were lots of things that seemed to refer to important events I hadn’t seen and not in an incluing sort of way. There were also a couple of pieces that seemed to be part of a bigger story and that ended very abruptly without resolving anything. Most of the book, though, was very brief stories that set up for jokes. I’m not sure what I expected. Maybe plot? Maybe continuity? It was kind of cute, but I don’t think I’ll bother looking at further volumes.
Hark! : a Vagrant - Some of theses comic strips didn’t work for me, but others really made me laugh. I kept wishing Scott was handy so that I could show him this strip or that one. Of course, now, it all blurs together enough that I can’t remember the specifics.
Lackey, Mercedes. Closer to the Heart - The resolution to the central plot of this book (a political conspiracy involving treason, smuggled weapons, and interference in another country’s civil war) was really only an afterthought. None of the characters involved in the plot had much personality (I’m not sure any of them even had names), and the leader came completely out of left field to the point that none of the characters recognized him as someone they’d met before. But, you know? I’d read a dozen books like this one just because it was relaxing and low pressure. I didn’t buy the plans the characters made and executed as things that would necessarily work, but I didn’t care. I wish Lackey would simply write slice of life stuff. I’d read it.
Lawson, Jenny. Furiously Happy - I laughed out loud while reading this, a lot. I’ve put it on my Amazon wishlist, and I want to get Scott to read it. My anxiety has some things in common with Lawson’s. When she talked about the anxiety around flying, for example, it really resonated for me. I’m not afraid of the flight. I’m afraid of getting to the plane with everything I need. I’m afraid of getting off the plane with everything and getting to where I’m going. There are always ten zillion, non-specific ways in which the whole enterprise could go horrifically wrong. Lawson and I don’t have the same set of labels in other ways, but I got the impression that she really understood and could articulate what anxiety, depression, and all of that is like. It’s a layer of screamingly funny stuff over things that, if you don’t have that cushion, will make you cry. I’ve put a hold on Lawson’s other book at the library, but there’s a waitlist. Highly recommended.
Over the Wall - This had just enough information about the world to really intrigue me, but I wasn’t all that interested in the human characters. The girl was the main character and the one who kept the story moving. Her brother was the damsel in distress, and the story wouldn’t happen without him, but… I was actually really, really interested in the demons. What are they? How are they imprisoned? How many of them are there? What do they do to fill time? Will the one that helped the girl be okay afterwards?
Step Aside, Pops - I didn’t like this book quite as well as Hark! A Vagrant. I’m not sure if it didn’t feel as fresh or if I was feeling worse, physically and/or psychologically or what. I still grinned a lot, and I kept paging through, and I’ll certainly pick up more of Beaton’s work if it comes my way.
Three Thieves. Book Two : The Sign of the Black Rock - I feel like this story is going to progress by inches (or maybe millimeters). Our intrepid trio ends up taking shelter at an inn. Unfortunately, the Queen’s guards take shelter there, too, and the landlord is trying to hide the fact that he’s dealing with smugglers while, at the same time, trying to make a profit off of everything else that’s going on. I’ll read book three, but I’m not actually sure that I like any of the characters or am interested in the underlying story.
Tiny Titans: Return to the Treehouse - This was a much longer book than what I’ve gotten used to in the series. I think it ran at least 100 pages (as opposed to the 20 or so of the other volumes I’ve read recently). There was a central thread running through the story— Bad guys stole the Tiny Titans’ treehouse, and the Tiny Titans search for it and try various potential substitutes that never quite work. A lot of the older characters make brief appearances and are fairly ridiculous.
Vess, Charles. Drawing Down the Moon: The Art of Charles Vess - Back when Scott and I did regular trips to the comics store, Vess’s Book of Ballads and Sagas was on my pull list, and I’ve generally enjoyed his art when I’ve seen it. At any rate, I was shopping a comics site for part of Scott’s Christmas present and spotted that they had a section of half price stuff, books with minor damage, and started digging through the list. I got this for $15. I wouldn’t have paid full price for it because it’s an indulgence and isn’t something I’m likely to look at often.
You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack - Some cartoons in this were pretty funny. Some weren’t. Some, I suspect, would be funny for someone who had the correct context. I didn’t always.
Started but not finished:
Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld - I didn’t expect this volume to be so huge when I got it out of the library nine weeks ago, so I didn’t open it immediately. Our cleaning lady moved it up on top of the bookshelf in the living room, and I kept forgetting it was there. When I finally opened it, I didn’t care for it. I may not have given it enough time to draw me in, but… I had trouble following the art. It’s dense and kind of lacking in contrast. I’m also not sure I’m comfortable with the main character being a thirteen year old girl who turns into a sexy, scantily clad older woman when she crosses from one world to another.
Balogh, Mary. Only a Kiss - I really, really liked this, but I reached a point where I couldn’t go forward because I could see a suspense sort of plotline coming that I wasn’t going to find relaxing. I really liked both hero and heroine. I thought the heroine’s reasons for being troubled and hesitant made a lot of sense.
Bebris, Carrie. Suspense and Sensibility - This is the second book in Bebris’s series featuring Darcy and Elizabeth as detectives who keep encountering cases with a touch of the supernatural. In this case, the focus is on Kitty Bennett and her coming out in London. Kitty meets a young man named Dashwood (the son of the older brother in Sense and Sensibility). I didn’t go very far into the book, but apparently, he gets possessed by the spirit of an evil ancestor and kind of destroys everything he owns so that he’s poorer than Kitty by the end of the book. I just wasn’t very interested.
The Golden Twine (Cat’s Cradle Book 1) - The art here is very pretty, and I could follow it easily, but the characters and story didn’t grab me. This looked to be a secondary world with monsters and magic. I just didn’t want to deal with monsters.
H.D. Selected Poems - I read about a dozen of these and had trouble following what they said. The flow of language wasn’t the sort that I’m able to get into properly. I do want to try more poetry, but I expect I’ll find that most of it just doesn’t quite work for me. I’ve never been particularly good at reading poetry.
Lutz, Lisa. The Spellman Files - GoodReads claimed this was funny. I didn’t actually find it so. I ended up feeling bad for all of the characters without actually being willing to spend more time with them. Also, I got about a third of the way into the book and still wasn’t sure what the plot was. I don’t think that’s a way to construct a mystery (and the book may have been mismarketed. Who knows?). If I’d been invested in the characters, I wouldn’t have minded the lack of plot, but as it was, I put the book down and couldn’t be bothered to come back to it.
Nix, Garth. Newt’s Emerald - I wanted to like this. It’s set in a Regency world with magic. The main character is a young lady making her debut and, at the same time, trying to retrieve a magical jewel that has been stolen from her family. The latter quest requires that she disguise herself as a young man so that she can go to places she can’t as a young lady of the ton. Unfortunately, the plot and setting together seem to play to Nix’s weaknesses rather than to his strengths. There’s no room for world building, for one thing, and Nix has never been entirely convincing at building romances. The parts of this I read weren’t by any means terrible; they just weren’t engaging enough to hold my attention.
Putney, Mary Jo. Not Always a Saint - I’m not entirely sure what put me off this one. I read a couple of chapters and then started skipping around a bit. The hero is a skilled doctor and a vicar and inherits a title. That just seemed like too much. He also, apparently, was married for a while but never had intercourse with his wife (If I’m reading it right, they made out and cuddled but never had intercourse) and was never interested in anyone else that way. Um. Yeah. Okay. The heroine goes by Jessie, but, based on one bit I read, I think her actual name is Jezebel. Her father was supposed to be pretty vile, so I suppose the name choice might be put down to that, but really? Jezebel? It doesn’t seem a likely name for the daughter of even a semi-respectable family.
Read, Miss. Tales from a Village School - I was expecting this to be soothing and fairly gentle. It was, sort of. I had some trouble with style. The book is a collection of vignettes set in a village school (in England, in, I think, the 1950s) and centered around a class of five and six year olds. The narration is extremely fragmented— There’s just enough explicitly said to give a reader a vague picture if they already know something about the setting. I wasn’t immersed, but there wasn’t anything creating stress until, well— sudden racism. There’s a little boy named Abraham. He’s described as 'swarthy' and as a 'gypsy.' He’s shown to be a perpetual liar, troublemaker, and thief and to be disrespectful and unwilling to learn. It made me feel icky about having touched the book.
Richler, Mordecai. Jacob Two-Two and the Dinosaur - Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang was a rather formative book in my childhood. I never knew there were other books in the series. I can’t tell if I’d have enjoyed this more if I’d read it forty years ago, but it just didn’t work for me. There are a couple of other books in the series (one by Richler and one not), and there was apparently a cartoon series (I found it on YouTube but haven’t dared try it yet).
Supermutant Magic Academy - I only read about a dozen pages of this. I didn’t find it funny, and there didn’t seem to be any sort of through line in terms of story or character. Not for me.
Hark! : a Vagrant - Some of theses comic strips didn’t work for me, but others really made me laugh. I kept wishing Scott was handy so that I could show him this strip or that one. Of course, now, it all blurs together enough that I can’t remember the specifics.
Lackey, Mercedes. Closer to the Heart - The resolution to the central plot of this book (a political conspiracy involving treason, smuggled weapons, and interference in another country’s civil war) was really only an afterthought. None of the characters involved in the plot had much personality (I’m not sure any of them even had names), and the leader came completely out of left field to the point that none of the characters recognized him as someone they’d met before. But, you know? I’d read a dozen books like this one just because it was relaxing and low pressure. I didn’t buy the plans the characters made and executed as things that would necessarily work, but I didn’t care. I wish Lackey would simply write slice of life stuff. I’d read it.
Lawson, Jenny. Furiously Happy - I laughed out loud while reading this, a lot. I’ve put it on my Amazon wishlist, and I want to get Scott to read it. My anxiety has some things in common with Lawson’s. When she talked about the anxiety around flying, for example, it really resonated for me. I’m not afraid of the flight. I’m afraid of getting to the plane with everything I need. I’m afraid of getting off the plane with everything and getting to where I’m going. There are always ten zillion, non-specific ways in which the whole enterprise could go horrifically wrong. Lawson and I don’t have the same set of labels in other ways, but I got the impression that she really understood and could articulate what anxiety, depression, and all of that is like. It’s a layer of screamingly funny stuff over things that, if you don’t have that cushion, will make you cry. I’ve put a hold on Lawson’s other book at the library, but there’s a waitlist. Highly recommended.
Over the Wall - This had just enough information about the world to really intrigue me, but I wasn’t all that interested in the human characters. The girl was the main character and the one who kept the story moving. Her brother was the damsel in distress, and the story wouldn’t happen without him, but… I was actually really, really interested in the demons. What are they? How are they imprisoned? How many of them are there? What do they do to fill time? Will the one that helped the girl be okay afterwards?
Step Aside, Pops - I didn’t like this book quite as well as Hark! A Vagrant. I’m not sure if it didn’t feel as fresh or if I was feeling worse, physically and/or psychologically or what. I still grinned a lot, and I kept paging through, and I’ll certainly pick up more of Beaton’s work if it comes my way.
Three Thieves. Book Two : The Sign of the Black Rock - I feel like this story is going to progress by inches (or maybe millimeters). Our intrepid trio ends up taking shelter at an inn. Unfortunately, the Queen’s guards take shelter there, too, and the landlord is trying to hide the fact that he’s dealing with smugglers while, at the same time, trying to make a profit off of everything else that’s going on. I’ll read book three, but I’m not actually sure that I like any of the characters or am interested in the underlying story.
Tiny Titans: Return to the Treehouse - This was a much longer book than what I’ve gotten used to in the series. I think it ran at least 100 pages (as opposed to the 20 or so of the other volumes I’ve read recently). There was a central thread running through the story— Bad guys stole the Tiny Titans’ treehouse, and the Tiny Titans search for it and try various potential substitutes that never quite work. A lot of the older characters make brief appearances and are fairly ridiculous.
Vess, Charles. Drawing Down the Moon: The Art of Charles Vess - Back when Scott and I did regular trips to the comics store, Vess’s Book of Ballads and Sagas was on my pull list, and I’ve generally enjoyed his art when I’ve seen it. At any rate, I was shopping a comics site for part of Scott’s Christmas present and spotted that they had a section of half price stuff, books with minor damage, and started digging through the list. I got this for $15. I wouldn’t have paid full price for it because it’s an indulgence and isn’t something I’m likely to look at often.
You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack - Some cartoons in this were pretty funny. Some weren’t. Some, I suspect, would be funny for someone who had the correct context. I didn’t always.
Started but not finished:
Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld - I didn’t expect this volume to be so huge when I got it out of the library nine weeks ago, so I didn’t open it immediately. Our cleaning lady moved it up on top of the bookshelf in the living room, and I kept forgetting it was there. When I finally opened it, I didn’t care for it. I may not have given it enough time to draw me in, but… I had trouble following the art. It’s dense and kind of lacking in contrast. I’m also not sure I’m comfortable with the main character being a thirteen year old girl who turns into a sexy, scantily clad older woman when she crosses from one world to another.
Balogh, Mary. Only a Kiss - I really, really liked this, but I reached a point where I couldn’t go forward because I could see a suspense sort of plotline coming that I wasn’t going to find relaxing. I really liked both hero and heroine. I thought the heroine’s reasons for being troubled and hesitant made a lot of sense.
Bebris, Carrie. Suspense and Sensibility - This is the second book in Bebris’s series featuring Darcy and Elizabeth as detectives who keep encountering cases with a touch of the supernatural. In this case, the focus is on Kitty Bennett and her coming out in London. Kitty meets a young man named Dashwood (the son of the older brother in Sense and Sensibility). I didn’t go very far into the book, but apparently, he gets possessed by the spirit of an evil ancestor and kind of destroys everything he owns so that he’s poorer than Kitty by the end of the book. I just wasn’t very interested.
The Golden Twine (Cat’s Cradle Book 1) - The art here is very pretty, and I could follow it easily, but the characters and story didn’t grab me. This looked to be a secondary world with monsters and magic. I just didn’t want to deal with monsters.
H.D. Selected Poems - I read about a dozen of these and had trouble following what they said. The flow of language wasn’t the sort that I’m able to get into properly. I do want to try more poetry, but I expect I’ll find that most of it just doesn’t quite work for me. I’ve never been particularly good at reading poetry.
Lutz, Lisa. The Spellman Files - GoodReads claimed this was funny. I didn’t actually find it so. I ended up feeling bad for all of the characters without actually being willing to spend more time with them. Also, I got about a third of the way into the book and still wasn’t sure what the plot was. I don’t think that’s a way to construct a mystery (and the book may have been mismarketed. Who knows?). If I’d been invested in the characters, I wouldn’t have minded the lack of plot, but as it was, I put the book down and couldn’t be bothered to come back to it.
Nix, Garth. Newt’s Emerald - I wanted to like this. It’s set in a Regency world with magic. The main character is a young lady making her debut and, at the same time, trying to retrieve a magical jewel that has been stolen from her family. The latter quest requires that she disguise herself as a young man so that she can go to places she can’t as a young lady of the ton. Unfortunately, the plot and setting together seem to play to Nix’s weaknesses rather than to his strengths. There’s no room for world building, for one thing, and Nix has never been entirely convincing at building romances. The parts of this I read weren’t by any means terrible; they just weren’t engaging enough to hold my attention.
Putney, Mary Jo. Not Always a Saint - I’m not entirely sure what put me off this one. I read a couple of chapters and then started skipping around a bit. The hero is a skilled doctor and a vicar and inherits a title. That just seemed like too much. He also, apparently, was married for a while but never had intercourse with his wife (If I’m reading it right, they made out and cuddled but never had intercourse) and was never interested in anyone else that way. Um. Yeah. Okay. The heroine goes by Jessie, but, based on one bit I read, I think her actual name is Jezebel. Her father was supposed to be pretty vile, so I suppose the name choice might be put down to that, but really? Jezebel? It doesn’t seem a likely name for the daughter of even a semi-respectable family.
Read, Miss. Tales from a Village School - I was expecting this to be soothing and fairly gentle. It was, sort of. I had some trouble with style. The book is a collection of vignettes set in a village school (in England, in, I think, the 1950s) and centered around a class of five and six year olds. The narration is extremely fragmented— There’s just enough explicitly said to give a reader a vague picture if they already know something about the setting. I wasn’t immersed, but there wasn’t anything creating stress until, well— sudden racism. There’s a little boy named Abraham. He’s described as 'swarthy' and as a 'gypsy.' He’s shown to be a perpetual liar, troublemaker, and thief and to be disrespectful and unwilling to learn. It made me feel icky about having touched the book.
Richler, Mordecai. Jacob Two-Two and the Dinosaur - Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang was a rather formative book in my childhood. I never knew there were other books in the series. I can’t tell if I’d have enjoyed this more if I’d read it forty years ago, but it just didn’t work for me. There are a couple of other books in the series (one by Richler and one not), and there was apparently a cartoon series (I found it on YouTube but haven’t dared try it yet).
Supermutant Magic Academy - I only read about a dozen pages of this. I didn’t find it funny, and there didn’t seem to be any sort of through line in terms of story or character. Not for me.
no subject
Date: 2015-11-21 09:06 pm (UTC)I agree with you that the Spellman Files do not read like mysteries at all. I've read the first three, and I like them, but I think of them as being more of a chick-lit kind of thing. The emphasis is definitely on the dysfunctional family aspect, rather than solving a case.
Mercedes Lackey is such a great way to just shut your brain off and read. I've read a lot of her Valdemar books, and I almost always enjoy them, even if they're not ground-breaking. I'm way behind on the most recent series, but I'm sure that I'll get there eventually.
no subject
Date: 2015-11-22 05:51 pm (UTC)Maybe look at the online archive and see what you think? http://harkavagrant.com/archive.php
The Spellman Files came up as a recommendation on GoodReads in such a way that I go the impression that the book was both a mystery and funny. There was humor in what I read; it just wasn't what I was looking for, somehow. I think maybe I was looking for something gentler? Maybe?
Mercedes Lackey takes a lot of flak for not being particularly sophisticated in terms of her plots, world building, romances, character development, and all, but I still find her quite readable. I can see the weaknesses, but I really don't care because her books tend to be just what I need when I'm tired and stressed out. They don't make me anxious or make me work hard. Given her sales numbers, I really don't think that it's just adolescents reading her books, either.