Books from my bedroom bookshelves: Part 3
Jan. 30th, 2016 04:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckI spent a lot of time yesterday making these lists and making notes about what I remember about these books. I'm posting these mainly so that I don't lose track of them, but I'd welcome comments-- positive or negative-- from anybody who's read any of these.
These are listed alphabetically by author, but the title is first because that's how I typed them in to begin with.
Things by known authors:
Diamond Star by Catherine Asaro: This one’s autographed, and I have personal reasons for keeping it even if I never read it.
The Sky So Big and Black by John Barnes: Can this one go? I don’t remember buying it, and I don’t think I’m going to read it. I don’t feel strongly enough about Barnes as an author.
The First Betrayal by Patricia Bray: I know I’ve read something else by this author, but I can’t for the life of me remember what. Get rid of?
DS9: The Way of the Warrior by Diane Carey: I liked Carey’s early Star Trek tie in books but mostly the ones that focused on original characters. Who knows? Maybe a tie in novel will fill an otherwise anxiety filled evening?
DS9: Station Rage by Diane Carey
NG: Ghost Ship by Diane Carey
Divine by Mistake by P. C. Cast: I’ve liked some Cast books and not others. Maybe I should try this before I pitch it?
Heart’s Blood by Gail Dayton: The blurb on this isn’t promising. I bought it on the strength of having liked something else the author wrote. I never opened it because of the blurb and because of disliking the other book by this author that I bought at the same time.
The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint: When did I stop reading de Lint? Should I bother trying to figure out what I have and haven’t read of his?
Schild’s Ladder by Greg Egan: I’m not sure I’m up to working as hard as this is likely to require. We will keep it, though, because Scott read it and liked it.
Beyond Tomorrow's Mountains by Sylvia Engdahl: This is a discarded library book, so I likely picked it up at a bag sale. I don’t think I’ll ever read it, and Cordelia’s pretty unlikely to, either.
Italian Peepshow by Eleanor Farjeon: This is also a discarded library book. Farjeon’s other books have tended to be fairly gentle, so I’m inclined to keep this one to try later.
Return to Elysium by Joan Grant: Grant’s books are a particular form of wingnuttery that is either fun or completely awful. The idea is that all of her books are stories of past lives. I pick them up when I find them in hopes that they’ll be amusing.
So Was Moses Born by Joan Grant
A Step to the Stars by Philip E. High: I found High’s works through a couple of Ace doubles in the library paperback exchange in high school. I think that I’ve grown out of liking his stuff. I’ll always have a soft spot for the things I read as a teenager, but his particular repeating themes annoy me now.
Snow White and the Seven Samurai by Tom Holt: I have several partially read Holt books on the shelves in the basement. I don’t feel a strong need to finish any of them or to get rid of them. My general impression of his books is that, whatever page I open to, I’ll find something that appeals to my sense of the ridiculous but that doesn’t compel me to read more.
Away Is a Strange Place to Be by H.M. Hoover: I loved Hoover’s books as a tween, but as I got older, I started being put off by the darkness in all of them. I keep trying new to me books by her in hopes that this one will recapture the magic, but… It hasn’t happened yet.
The Lion’s Cub by H.M. Hoover: This is one of the few (two?) historical novels Hoover wrote. I am very curious about it.
The Killing Moon by N. K. Jemisin: I liked the Inheritance Trilogy, but I had to be coaxed through them with a readalong, so I haven’t started this one yet. I’m concerned that I won’t be able to handle the anxiety from it.
Skiver’s Guide by Diana Wynne Jones: I mostly picked this up because, as far as this author is concerned, I’m a completest. I’m not sure I’m actually going to read it. It’s very short, so maybe I will.
Marriage of Mercy by Carla Kelly: I bought a bunch of Kelly’s books used all at once based on having liked one or two of her other books. I keep looking at them, however, and feeling negative interest for reasons I can’t put my finger on.
Marrying the Captain by Carla Kelly
Marrying the Royal Marine by Carla Kelly
The Surgeon’s Lady by Carla Kelly
Psychohistorical Crisis by Donald Kingsbury: I picked this up (remaindered?) on the strength of having liked Courtship Rite when I read it either during high school. (At that point, I tried every new fantasy and SF book that came in because the library was tiny and had nothing much in that direction.)
The Shadow of the Lion by Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, and Dave Freer: I’m pretty sure I got this remaindered. I may actually have tried to read it, but I don’t remember for sure.
Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis: I got this last year for my birthday, from Scott’s parents. I wanted it because there was talk on a forum I visit of a readalong. That hasn’t materialized, and I don’t seem to be motivated to do it on my own.
Southern Fire by Juliet McKenna: I bought this on the strength of liking the first couple of books in another series by McKenna. I think I bought it more for Scott (who actually finished that other series), but I’m not sure he ever got around to it.
Wonder City Stories by Jude McLaughlin: I bought this for myself recently after realizing that I didn’t dare put it on my Amazon wishlist because Scott’s parents, if they looked at it at all closely, would flip. I wanted the book, but I really didn’t want to argue with them about it. Now I have to sit down and read it. I’m looking forward to that. I’ve really liked other things by the author and the later, draft chapters, in this series.
Scion of Cyador by L. E. Modesitt: This is an ARC, so I pretty much have to have gotten it at the Friends of the Library book sale. Beyond that… Who knows? I haven’t opened it because I haven’t been dealing with doorstop fantasy for years now. I liked the Soprano Sorceress series and bits of the Recluce series, but I don’t know that I’d be able to read them now.
The King’s Touch by Jude Morgan: I picked up several of Morgan’s books last summer based on liking one I got from the library and on them being relatively cheap (and not in the library). I’m not sure I’m actually going to read them, however. That would require actually, you know, picking them up and opening them.
A Little Folly by Jude Morgan
The Taste of Sorrow by Jude Morgan
The Left-Handed Spirit by Ruth Nichols: I really loved some of Nichols’ middle grade books when I was in elementary school. I read The Marrow of the World repeatedly. At any rate, based on that, I thought it was worth gambling $4 on this one.
The Lion in the Gateway by Mary Renault: I’m pretty sure this was a book sale purchase, probably a bag sale purchase. I think this is a children’s book.
The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi
Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn: I started either this on the next book on the list and then got distracted. At that point, I was buying Shinn’s books automatically. I stopped when I realized I wasn’t finishing this one, whichever one it was.
The Thirteenth House by Sharon Shinn
Banner of the Damned by Sherwood Smith: I’m not actually sure I should have bought this, given that I bounced hard off of Inda, but it sounded interesting. I’ve had it a couple of years and haven’t picked it up once.
Eight Million Gods by Wen Spencer: I’m not sure how I ended up with this one in hardcover. I think I put it on my Amazon wishlist to keep track of it, not expecting anyone to buy it because, if I were shopping, I’d buy a ton of paperbacks because more books for the money is better. Then Scott bought it.
Ruled Britannia by Harry Turtledove: Turtledove’s books are very hit or miss for me. A lot depends on what bits of history he’s playing with and how much I agree or disagree with his assumptions about what would happen. This one sounded intriguing, but I haven’t opened it.
Andover and the Android by Kate Wilhelm: This must have been a bag sale book because I can’t think why else I’d have picked it up. I haven’t loved any of the Wilhelm I’ve read. I haven’t hated any of it either, of course.
Otherland 1: City of Golden Shadow by Tad Williams: This is another one I don’t know why I picked up. Well, actually… The library has (or used to have) the next book or two in this series, and those looked interesting, but they had lost their copy of book one.
A Little Fear by Patricia Wrightson: Another withdrawn library book. I think I may just give this to the librarian at Cordelia’s school to pass on to some child or another.
The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny 6: I asked for this as a present because I wanted the Amber stories that are in it. I’m not sure what else is in it that I don’t own in other forms.
The next few are on other lists and just cross indexed here. I have a phobia of deep water which includes things set on boats.
Involve deep water so I’ll never read them:
The Mermaid’s Madness by Jim Hines: See series list.
Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix: See series list.
A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski: See borrowed books list.
Endless Blue by Wen Spencer: See known authors list.
These are listed alphabetically by author, but the title is first because that's how I typed them in to begin with.
Things by known authors:
Diamond Star by Catherine Asaro: This one’s autographed, and I have personal reasons for keeping it even if I never read it.
The Sky So Big and Black by John Barnes: Can this one go? I don’t remember buying it, and I don’t think I’m going to read it. I don’t feel strongly enough about Barnes as an author.
The First Betrayal by Patricia Bray: I know I’ve read something else by this author, but I can’t for the life of me remember what. Get rid of?
DS9: The Way of the Warrior by Diane Carey: I liked Carey’s early Star Trek tie in books but mostly the ones that focused on original characters. Who knows? Maybe a tie in novel will fill an otherwise anxiety filled evening?
DS9: Station Rage by Diane Carey
NG: Ghost Ship by Diane Carey
Divine by Mistake by P. C. Cast: I’ve liked some Cast books and not others. Maybe I should try this before I pitch it?
Heart’s Blood by Gail Dayton: The blurb on this isn’t promising. I bought it on the strength of having liked something else the author wrote. I never opened it because of the blurb and because of disliking the other book by this author that I bought at the same time.
The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint: When did I stop reading de Lint? Should I bother trying to figure out what I have and haven’t read of his?
Schild’s Ladder by Greg Egan: I’m not sure I’m up to working as hard as this is likely to require. We will keep it, though, because Scott read it and liked it.
Beyond Tomorrow's Mountains by Sylvia Engdahl: This is a discarded library book, so I likely picked it up at a bag sale. I don’t think I’ll ever read it, and Cordelia’s pretty unlikely to, either.
Italian Peepshow by Eleanor Farjeon: This is also a discarded library book. Farjeon’s other books have tended to be fairly gentle, so I’m inclined to keep this one to try later.
Return to Elysium by Joan Grant: Grant’s books are a particular form of wingnuttery that is either fun or completely awful. The idea is that all of her books are stories of past lives. I pick them up when I find them in hopes that they’ll be amusing.
So Was Moses Born by Joan Grant
A Step to the Stars by Philip E. High: I found High’s works through a couple of Ace doubles in the library paperback exchange in high school. I think that I’ve grown out of liking his stuff. I’ll always have a soft spot for the things I read as a teenager, but his particular repeating themes annoy me now.
Snow White and the Seven Samurai by Tom Holt: I have several partially read Holt books on the shelves in the basement. I don’t feel a strong need to finish any of them or to get rid of them. My general impression of his books is that, whatever page I open to, I’ll find something that appeals to my sense of the ridiculous but that doesn’t compel me to read more.
Away Is a Strange Place to Be by H.M. Hoover: I loved Hoover’s books as a tween, but as I got older, I started being put off by the darkness in all of them. I keep trying new to me books by her in hopes that this one will recapture the magic, but… It hasn’t happened yet.
The Lion’s Cub by H.M. Hoover: This is one of the few (two?) historical novels Hoover wrote. I am very curious about it.
The Killing Moon by N. K. Jemisin: I liked the Inheritance Trilogy, but I had to be coaxed through them with a readalong, so I haven’t started this one yet. I’m concerned that I won’t be able to handle the anxiety from it.
Skiver’s Guide by Diana Wynne Jones: I mostly picked this up because, as far as this author is concerned, I’m a completest. I’m not sure I’m actually going to read it. It’s very short, so maybe I will.
Marriage of Mercy by Carla Kelly: I bought a bunch of Kelly’s books used all at once based on having liked one or two of her other books. I keep looking at them, however, and feeling negative interest for reasons I can’t put my finger on.
Marrying the Captain by Carla Kelly
Marrying the Royal Marine by Carla Kelly
The Surgeon’s Lady by Carla Kelly
Psychohistorical Crisis by Donald Kingsbury: I picked this up (remaindered?) on the strength of having liked Courtship Rite when I read it either during high school. (At that point, I tried every new fantasy and SF book that came in because the library was tiny and had nothing much in that direction.)
The Shadow of the Lion by Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, and Dave Freer: I’m pretty sure I got this remaindered. I may actually have tried to read it, but I don’t remember for sure.
Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis: I got this last year for my birthday, from Scott’s parents. I wanted it because there was talk on a forum I visit of a readalong. That hasn’t materialized, and I don’t seem to be motivated to do it on my own.
Southern Fire by Juliet McKenna: I bought this on the strength of liking the first couple of books in another series by McKenna. I think I bought it more for Scott (who actually finished that other series), but I’m not sure he ever got around to it.
Wonder City Stories by Jude McLaughlin: I bought this for myself recently after realizing that I didn’t dare put it on my Amazon wishlist because Scott’s parents, if they looked at it at all closely, would flip. I wanted the book, but I really didn’t want to argue with them about it. Now I have to sit down and read it. I’m looking forward to that. I’ve really liked other things by the author and the later, draft chapters, in this series.
Scion of Cyador by L. E. Modesitt: This is an ARC, so I pretty much have to have gotten it at the Friends of the Library book sale. Beyond that… Who knows? I haven’t opened it because I haven’t been dealing with doorstop fantasy for years now. I liked the Soprano Sorceress series and bits of the Recluce series, but I don’t know that I’d be able to read them now.
The King’s Touch by Jude Morgan: I picked up several of Morgan’s books last summer based on liking one I got from the library and on them being relatively cheap (and not in the library). I’m not sure I’m actually going to read them, however. That would require actually, you know, picking them up and opening them.
A Little Folly by Jude Morgan
The Taste of Sorrow by Jude Morgan
The Left-Handed Spirit by Ruth Nichols: I really loved some of Nichols’ middle grade books when I was in elementary school. I read The Marrow of the World repeatedly. At any rate, based on that, I thought it was worth gambling $4 on this one.
The Lion in the Gateway by Mary Renault: I’m pretty sure this was a book sale purchase, probably a bag sale purchase. I think this is a children’s book.
The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi
Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn: I started either this on the next book on the list and then got distracted. At that point, I was buying Shinn’s books automatically. I stopped when I realized I wasn’t finishing this one, whichever one it was.
The Thirteenth House by Sharon Shinn
Banner of the Damned by Sherwood Smith: I’m not actually sure I should have bought this, given that I bounced hard off of Inda, but it sounded interesting. I’ve had it a couple of years and haven’t picked it up once.
Eight Million Gods by Wen Spencer: I’m not sure how I ended up with this one in hardcover. I think I put it on my Amazon wishlist to keep track of it, not expecting anyone to buy it because, if I were shopping, I’d buy a ton of paperbacks because more books for the money is better. Then Scott bought it.
Ruled Britannia by Harry Turtledove: Turtledove’s books are very hit or miss for me. A lot depends on what bits of history he’s playing with and how much I agree or disagree with his assumptions about what would happen. This one sounded intriguing, but I haven’t opened it.
Andover and the Android by Kate Wilhelm: This must have been a bag sale book because I can’t think why else I’d have picked it up. I haven’t loved any of the Wilhelm I’ve read. I haven’t hated any of it either, of course.
Otherland 1: City of Golden Shadow by Tad Williams: This is another one I don’t know why I picked up. Well, actually… The library has (or used to have) the next book or two in this series, and those looked interesting, but they had lost their copy of book one.
A Little Fear by Patricia Wrightson: Another withdrawn library book. I think I may just give this to the librarian at Cordelia’s school to pass on to some child or another.
The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny 6: I asked for this as a present because I wanted the Amber stories that are in it. I’m not sure what else is in it that I don’t own in other forms.
The next few are on other lists and just cross indexed here. I have a phobia of deep water which includes things set on boats.
Involve deep water so I’ll never read them:
The Mermaid’s Madness by Jim Hines: See series list.
Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix: See series list.
A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski: See borrowed books list.
Endless Blue by Wen Spencer: See known authors list.
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no subject
Date: 2016-01-30 09:52 pm (UTC)There was a time I read Tom Holt until they got to seem very repetitive. His historical novels were v different.
I really enjoyed Banner of the Damned - it was a slow-builder but packed a wallop.
no subject
Date: 2016-01-31 12:15 am (UTC)I really loved Expecting Someone Taller because it wasn't like anything I'd read before and because I'd fairly recently been studying the Volsung Saga and the Eddas and so had some context for it. None of the Holt I've read since has compared. I haven't tried any of Holt's historicals. Do you recommend them?
Banner of the Damned sounds very interesting from everything I've seen people saying about it. I just worry that it will set off my anxiety. Of course, the only way to know is by trying to read it.
no subject
Date: 2016-01-31 12:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-04 01:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-01 02:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-04 01:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-30 10:37 pm (UTC)I have one half-finished Tom Holt book about which I feel the same, haha.
given that I bounced hard off of Inda
I'm curious, do you remember why you bounced? I'm veeery slowly reading through the Inda books (I'm in the middle of #3) but I really liked the first two, once I got used to the super-dense worldbuilding and the way everyone has five different unpronounceable names :P
I've read the first Otherland book but haven't continued on. I liked it, the way I like Tad Williams, but I don't find them quick reads, for sure...
I actually didn't realize Zelazny had Amber short stories, huh!
no subject
Date: 2016-01-30 11:05 pm (UTC)The volumes of Zelazny's collected short stories are quite substantial, so he seems to have written a lot of stories that weren't collected in the anthologies I've already got. The books are (or were. I haven't checked recently) expensive, so I haven't pursued getting other volumes.
As far as Inda goes, it set off my anxiety. Over the last decade or so, what I can read in terms of novels aimed at adults has contracted because a lot of things that really shouldn't (and didn't used to) have started to set off my anxiety in a way that's not fun and not sustainable. There is a kind of story related anxiety that's good; this is not it.
Peeking at the end doesn't help, and I've only got a handful of authors I can reliably read: Donna Andrews, Kerry Greenwood, Mercedes Lackey, Jayne Ann Krentz/Jayne Castle/Amanda Quick. I can handle some middle grade books but almost no YA. Part of the reason I keep trying romances and mysteries is that I'm hoping that the formula will help.
no subject
Date: 2016-01-30 11:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-31 08:51 pm (UTC)I can definitely see Inda being not good for one from an anxiety perspective. And I can see how a formula plot like cozy mystery or romance would help -- I hope you find some (more) authors/series that do work for you like that.
The Tom Holt I'm intermittently reading is the sword in the stone one, and you raise a good point -- Arthuriana is generally not my cup of tea, so it's possible that something different -- fairy tales or Eddas -- would grab me more than this level of charming/amusing/entertaining but not engrossing...
no subject
Date: 2016-02-04 02:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-04 08:28 pm (UTC)Ruth Nichols!
Date: 2016-02-06 05:01 am (UTC)Re: Ruth Nichols!
Date: 2016-02-08 09:34 pm (UTC)A Walk Out of the World came out in paperback in the 1990s some time, and copies of that edition are quite inexpensive on Amazon. Hardcover copies are more expensive, though.
I imprinted on The Marrow of the World, rereading it several times in elementary school. I offered it when someone requested it for Yuletide a couple of years ago, and I kind of regretted not matching on it.
I did not like The Song of the Pearl. I'm not sure if I was the wrong age for it or if it was that it wasn't what I was expecting or if it was philosophical differences or something else entirely. I haven't felt inclined to seek it out to try it again. If I recall correctly, that had to do with multiple reincarnations and had lots of dying and suffering and echoes of past lives.