Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Books of 2018- Installment #20

96. We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix
I first became aware of Grady Hendrix's work from the podcast Geek's Guide to the Galaxy, and I've been a fan ever since! I couldn't wait to read his new book. Well, I guess I could because I had to wait more than 2 months for the library to lend me a copy! I think this book is less horror than his other books, but it is of the times, which has plenty of horror. He has written a book where the protagonist is a female guitar player in a metal band. So if you're curious about how it's of the times, you can guess there's some misogyny in this book. But Grady Hendrix does a good job of depicting, not being a misogynist, and not overwhelming me in the horror of it.

97. The Physick of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
Salem witches... This book was written before the #metoo movement, and I think that you can see that. Something incredible has happened in the #metoo movement. There's been a coalescing of expression. People are really starting to figure out how to talk about some issues that we didn't seem to have to vocabulary to highlight as clearly. Perhaps that is not accurate, maybe it is just as a character in the novel says, “We can understand the world only through the language that is at our disposal. Every period has its own linguistic— and perceptive— lens.” But regardless, talking about the Salem witch trial automatically triggers discussions of how society treats women, and while there is a lot of other aspects to this story, I know that for myself, my lens that I have been looking through ever since the 2016 election results is a lens that looks at the misogyny inherent in the system to bastardize a Monty Python's Holy Grail quote...

98. Static Ruin by Corey J. White
This is the third book in the Voidwitch trilogy that started with Killing Gravity, which I got free from Tor.com! While it could be the conclusion, it could easily continue as well. I love Mars and Ocho (Seven/Nine). Ocho reminds me so much of my little baby!! Mars gets some closure and some freedom.

99. The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang
Once again Tor.com gave me a free book!! I have to adore Tor.com! They have given me some amazing books this year!! And almost all of them the first book in a trilogy. I have read so many trilogies this year because of this excellent marketing ploy!

100. The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler
I love the premise of this book. It's 1996 and Emma signs up for AOL, but for unknown reasons this allows her to log into Facebook in 2011! She of course doesn't know what Facebook is and she doesn't really understand what her profile tells her about herself, but she wants to find out! On this journey she talks to her best friend Josh...

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Saturday, November 10, 2018

Books of 2018- Installment #19

91. Night and Silence by Seanan McGuire
This is the latest Toby Daye story and (spoiler alert) while I'm so thrilled that Tybalt and Toby are doing well again, there were some major bombs in this story!! I have so many questions!!!!!!!!

92. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
I had heard that this was an amazing mystery, so I checked it out from the library. It has a the feel of a real Clue game but like a real Clue game- real in the uber British sense. It's fascinating! Our narrator doesn't know what's going on at first, and neither do we. If you read blurbs, it's given away pretty early on. I would say, resist! Just ride the confusion with the narrator. If you do read the blurbs, you won't know know what's going on, but sit with the confusion a bit and feel what the narrator's feeling. It's fascinating!

93. Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
This is the last book in an unusual trilogy. The universe Becky Chambers has created is amazing! It's so deeply thought-out and so full of vivid and engaging characters, species, inhabitants. The three books have a relationship with each other, but in no way need to be read together. Obviously if you do, you will have a different experience than if you don't but... At first I thought the second one (A Closed and Common Orbit) was the best, but now I'm not sure. Perhaps it's Record of a Spaceborn Few. So good news, it's a trilogy that gets better as it goes along!

94. Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
A little girl on her bike falls through a hole and lands on a giant metal hand. What is the hand? How did it get there? Why is it there? The unraveling of the mystery is what drives the book. It is not told in the traditional narrative form. We read the transcripts of recorded interviews and journal entries to see how this story unfolds.

95. The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James
A girl alone in space... I feel like this must some how be in the zeitgeist because I feel like I keep encountering it. The first two examples that pop into my head are this one and Girl in Space podcast. At any rate, this is a very touching and gripping story about a girl in space.

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Saturday, November 3, 2018

Books of 2018- Installment #18

86. An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim
This is a really interesting time travel story. A pandemic hits the country and time travel is invented to solve the problem. But it doesn't. So what happens to the lovers who get separated by this? What happens to the country? It was a moody and affecting story.

87. The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal
Lena Denham apparently has started a less than 100 pages bookclub. I think this would be a perfect addition to this bookclub. This is a wonderful look at relationships and making choices, set in a space age that sent us to Mars long, long ago.

88. How to Invent Everything by Ryan North
I heard about this book on a podcast (All the Books), and it's awesome! It's funny and hella informative!!!

89. City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
I had picked up A Darker Shade of Magic and couldn't get into it, so I wasn't really expecting to want to read anything else by her. This book, however, was not the same. It grabbed me right away and hey- ghost story!!!

90. The Spaceship Next Door by Gene Doucette
I have no idea how this book wound up on my radar, but when I saw John Joseph Adams's name on the cover, I said, "Sign me up!" It took me a little bit to get into it, but the author is from Massachusetts, and it's set in Mass, and that just tickles my NE fancy. I ever so enjoyed his candlepin bowling commentary! I read it out loud to my hub, who was not suitably impressed! Have to have lived in New England, I guess!! Basically it's a story about what would happen if a spaceship landed next door and then did nothing....

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Sunday, October 14, 2018

Books of 2018- Installment #17

81. I'd Rather be READING: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life by Anne Bogel
My friend saw this book and learned about her podcast and forward the link to me. I put the book on hold at the library and the podcast in my queue. I have enjoyed the podcast and was pleased by this book. She's really got a great way about books and a lot of interesting things to say, even if it was just preaching to the choir!! I'm happy to hear it all reinforced!

 82. Underneath by Heather Marie Adkins
This was a novella my friend suggested I read ages ago and for reasons unknown, I took awhile to get there.

83. Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King & Own King
My friend suggested I read this book, and while I've never considered myself a Stephen King fan, I really enjoyed 11.22.63. So with her recommendation and my own feelings about 11.22.63 I decided to check it out. Earlier I had tried to read a book called Rage Becomes Her by Soraya Chemaly which has made reading this book in a little different light. [It's challenging to read about how much women are treated poorly as we are getting screwed by the Republicans and freakin' confirming freakin' Brett Kavanaugh!]

84. I'd Rather be Reading: A Library of Art for Book Lovers by Guinevere de la Mare
When I was looking for the Anne Bogel book in the library catalogue, I got this one as well. I decided I had to read it too! It was super cute! Lots of great art and essays. And a lovely contrast to Sleeping Beauties. What a heavy (but awesome) book that was!

85. Catalysts, Explorers and Secret Keepers: Women of Science Fiction edited by Monica Louzon, Jake Weisfeld, Heather McHale, Barbara Jasny, & Rachel Frederick
I was excited to read this anthology. It sounded so interesting. Here's the premise from their kickstarter page, which I read after it was published.

“In response to the overwhelming support for our Journal of Science Fiction, the Museum of Science Fiction is pleased to announce Catalysts, Explorers & Secret Keepers, an anthology of science fiction showcasing how women have been an integral part of science fiction as authors, as readers, and as characters for more than a century. With content curated by Museum staff, this anthology will include a variety of original and reprinted fiction from preselected authors and new fiction selected during an open call for submissions.” - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1608905146/catalysts-explorers-and-secret-keepers-women-of-sf

There were several pieces that I really enjoyed and others that weren't for me.

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Thursday, October 4, 2018

Books of 2018- Installment #16

76. The Brightest Fell by Seanan McGuire
Well, this is the last of my run of Toby Daye books. While there is one more published novel, I can't read it until my hold comes in. Am I going through withdrawals? Of course!! Does it suck to have to wait to read the next one?? Oh, yeah!! Sigh...

77. The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland
Wow!! This book was awesome!! It was so moving!! It starts off sweet with a little something looming over the tale and then wow! I couldn't put it down and was crying at the end!!

78. Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
Okay, so I'm super into Seanan McGuire right now and cannot seem to control myself. So here I am reading another Seanan McGuire- sure it sounds like someone else, but Mira Grant is her pen name for her more Sci Fi/thriller novels. Imagine my delight when I hoped this book and it's set in freakin' Monterey!!! Joyous whoops!!!

79. Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant
Look I tried to read some other books, I really did! But they didn't grab me (or I'm still reading them and they're a little harder to zip through), so here I am once again on Seanan McGuire's doorstep. But hey, that's cool! She's awesome!!!

80. Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
I love Murderbot and the whole series, so this was a no-brainer. Had to read it!!

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Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Books of 2018- Installment #15

71. The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley
Wow what a book!! I had heard all this praise for this book and the premise intrigued me. A modern retelling of Beowulf. Then I was thinking about how I don't really know the Beowulf story. Sure I've watched some movie adaptation, but I couldn't recall any details. I checked out the gist of the story on Wikipedia. Then I dove into this book. And what a great story!! My understanding (from Wikipedia) is that the poem is alliterative. And while there is alliteration in this beautifully written book, I would say one of its strengths is the stunning prose! Maria Dahvana Headley knows how to craft beautiful sentence after beautiful sentence. She sets the style of her writing with the first words and maintains this incredibly powerful style throughout! Amazing! So that is I think a nod to the source material. Then on top of that it is an incredible rendering of the lives of women. So good!

72. Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire
This book was very hard to get. I had stumbled on it accidentally. There's the normal portal I use to find library e-books, but it didn't show this book as an option. I felt this was odd and checked the relatively new app on my Kindle, and there it was in the catalogue. I put it on hold, but it never showed up in my holds list in the normal portal. Eventually it became available to read, but I couldn't get it through the normal portal. I had to open a new portal on my computer, but eventually I was able to check it out. All this is to say, I loooooooooove October Daye and Seanan McGuire, and it absolutely was worth all the work to read this 7th book in the October Daye series!

73. The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire
Obviously I love Toby. I rarely read two books in a series one after another, but I just had to know. I just had to know what was going to happen next. And let me tell you, every single book in this series goes somewhere I didn't expect. Every time!

74. A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire
So here I am again, just devouring the Toby Daye books like I'm a night-haunt! I like to think that Seanan McGuire would be okay with it since she's such a prolific writer!!!

75.Once Broken Faith by Seanan McGuire
What can I say? I had free time and couldn't stop reading about Toby!!!

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Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Great Short Stories I've Read Online

These are some great stories, and I'll keep adding to it as I find more and more great stories online!









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