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Dec. 25th, 2008 01:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
furyofvissarionVictory of Eagles - Naomi Novik. The latest installment in the Temeraire series continues to thrill—I am not super-wise about Napoleonic history, but there were a few parts where I thought, wait, THAT didn't happen in real life, holy crap! The dragons continue to be witty & hilarious & surprising, & Laurence's sense of honor continues to piss me off (though I think it's fully appropriate & in character, & anyway, the plot would be missing a lot of stuff without it). Hm, not much else to say here but a fun read like the other books in the series, & I await impatiently the next one!
The Crown of Dalemark - Diana Wynne Jones. I happened to see this on the library shelf, although it's not unknown for me to read this one on its own. I always think this is my favorite of the Dalemark quartet, then I think that maybe it's tied w/Cart & Cwidder, or maybe also w/Drowned Ammet. Really the only thing for sure is that The Spellcoats is my least favorite, because it's so jarring to me to be whisked, after 2 books, to a different time where the connection to the other books isn't apparent for a while, & plus I just don't like the characters as much. Anyway, I think The Crown of Dalemark & Drowned Ammet may actually tie, because, hey, Mitt! And the ocean! But the last book has lots of the former but none of the latter, but also MITT + MAEWEN 4-EVA. So I guess it's a hung jury. Anyway, lovely comfort read, & as always I love how clever & dogged Maewen is, w/o being stereotypically “feisty” or whatever.
From There to Here: 16 True Tales of Immigration to Britain: The 2nd Decibel Penguin Prize Anthology - Edited by Arts Council. This anthology contains the winning entries of a contest soliciting “true personal accounts of immigration to Britain.” Unfortunately I felt like many of the pieces were rushed & too short (presumably to fit the contest requirements), & a lot of them felt quite simple to me: Immigration Narratives 101. I realize that not everyone will have read a zillion of these things like I have, but still... I wanted a lot more from this book than I got.
The Dark Is Rising - Susan Cooper. Holiday season re-read. As deliciously creepy to me as ever.
The Broken Bridge - Phillip Pullman. I was surprised to see this book--I haven't read any Pullman aside from His Dark Materials & the Sally Lockhart books, & I didn't know that he'd written any mainstream YA. Yay for multifaceted authors, but it was still weird to see him pulling a Sarah Dessen or something. Anyway, I wanted to like this book but mostly I found it a bit dull & also quite Problem Book-ish. Ginny Howard is a mixed-race (black/white) teenager growing up in a v. white town in Wales w/her dad. She's been told her mom died shortly after her birth, but when a half-brother suddenly appears, everything she's been told about her life starts unraveling. I did like that Ginny got questioned on her Eurocentric view of art (she's a budding artist, like her mother), & I appreciated that a queer character shows up in the book in a fairly positive way. But all piled together it was a bit after school special-ish. (I feel compelled to note that I didn't find the Lyra books particularly preachy, so it's not that I think, as many people do, that Pullman is just all heavy-handed messages.)
Kitty Goes to Washington - Carrie Vaughn. Another happy piece of serendipity on the library shelf, though I'd've liked to have seen the first book to check out as well. I do love these books--& I appreciate that, in Kitty's universe, being a werewolf or a vampire doesn't necessarily mean you're suddenly evil or a slave to your instincts. One of the themes of the book, & a recurring point raised on Kitty's radio show, is that being supernatural isn't an excuse for bad behavior, no matter how tempting it might seem at some points. I also always love Kitty's snappy radio banter. I warmed to Ben a little more rereading this, but I still prefer Cormac, sigh.
The Crown of Dalemark - Diana Wynne Jones. I happened to see this on the library shelf, although it's not unknown for me to read this one on its own. I always think this is my favorite of the Dalemark quartet, then I think that maybe it's tied w/Cart & Cwidder, or maybe also w/Drowned Ammet. Really the only thing for sure is that The Spellcoats is my least favorite, because it's so jarring to me to be whisked, after 2 books, to a different time where the connection to the other books isn't apparent for a while, & plus I just don't like the characters as much. Anyway, I think The Crown of Dalemark & Drowned Ammet may actually tie, because, hey, Mitt! And the ocean! But the last book has lots of the former but none of the latter, but also MITT + MAEWEN 4-EVA. So I guess it's a hung jury. Anyway, lovely comfort read, & as always I love how clever & dogged Maewen is, w/o being stereotypically “feisty” or whatever.
From There to Here: 16 True Tales of Immigration to Britain: The 2nd Decibel Penguin Prize Anthology - Edited by Arts Council. This anthology contains the winning entries of a contest soliciting “true personal accounts of immigration to Britain.” Unfortunately I felt like many of the pieces were rushed & too short (presumably to fit the contest requirements), & a lot of them felt quite simple to me: Immigration Narratives 101. I realize that not everyone will have read a zillion of these things like I have, but still... I wanted a lot more from this book than I got.
The Dark Is Rising - Susan Cooper. Holiday season re-read. As deliciously creepy to me as ever.
The Broken Bridge - Phillip Pullman. I was surprised to see this book--I haven't read any Pullman aside from His Dark Materials & the Sally Lockhart books, & I didn't know that he'd written any mainstream YA. Yay for multifaceted authors, but it was still weird to see him pulling a Sarah Dessen or something. Anyway, I wanted to like this book but mostly I found it a bit dull & also quite Problem Book-ish. Ginny Howard is a mixed-race (black/white) teenager growing up in a v. white town in Wales w/her dad. She's been told her mom died shortly after her birth, but when a half-brother suddenly appears, everything she's been told about her life starts unraveling. I did like that Ginny got questioned on her Eurocentric view of art (she's a budding artist, like her mother), & I appreciated that a queer character shows up in the book in a fairly positive way. But all piled together it was a bit after school special-ish. (I feel compelled to note that I didn't find the Lyra books particularly preachy, so it's not that I think, as many people do, that Pullman is just all heavy-handed messages.)
Kitty Goes to Washington - Carrie Vaughn. Another happy piece of serendipity on the library shelf, though I'd've liked to have seen the first book to check out as well. I do love these books--& I appreciate that, in Kitty's universe, being a werewolf or a vampire doesn't necessarily mean you're suddenly evil or a slave to your instincts. One of the themes of the book, & a recurring point raised on Kitty's radio show, is that being supernatural isn't an excuse for bad behavior, no matter how tempting it might seem at some points. I also always love Kitty's snappy radio banter. I warmed to Ben a little more rereading this, but I still prefer Cormac, sigh.