This is an archive of my shorter book reviews and notes, which historically have been posted over at the 50 Book Challenge on LiveJournal, but which I’m starting to move over here. I’m posting them with altered date-stamps, but they might show up in my LiveJournal cross-post anyway. Bear with me, please.
Note: Many of these books also have full reviews available in the book review podcast (RSS).
#11:
Eye of the Heron by Ursula Le Guin. It’s faintly reminiscent of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and I started reading One Hundred Years of Solitude after finishing this one, which is kind of an interesting seque. I’m not entirely sure what about it is actually speculative fiction, aside from perhaps applying passive resistance tactics to a frontierland type of environment. Frankly, the premise was a little lacking, but…. eh. Like much of Le Guin’s early work, it’s a bit too simplified.
#12: Spindle Spinning: From Novice to Expert, by Connie Delaney
A re-read to refamiliarize myself with certain concepts in this craft.
#13:
It’s supposed to be a satire about media coverage and school shootings, but it kind of fell flat on the funny.
#14:
This is a courtroom political satire in which the First Lady goes on trial for assassinating her husband during a domestic dispute. It’s marvelous. I recommend the audiobook version of it. I imagine Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy playing two of the leading roles while listening to this novel; it’s that kind of dynamic. I found this novel to be more entertaining than Buckley’s Little Green Men. At least, it was easier to follow with a smaller cast.
#15:
A gritty (Ã la Pulp Fiction) urban novel about a guy who gets into a lot of trouble, really fast, before he even realizes it. Unabridged audiobook– not a bad book, but not precisely my favorite kind of novel, either.
Currently reading: Wizard and Glass by Stephen King (now that he’s finished the Dark Tower series, I figured I ought to read them) and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which might take me a thousand years to read, as it’s my nightstand book, and by the time I go to bed, there’s not much time for reading.
And looking at the calendar, it looks like I might actually be more or less on track for reaching 50 books by the end of the year. I mean, I’m about 5 books behind right now, but I can easily read 2 books a day on weekends, when things slack up a bit around here (I’ve been moving, so things are insane right now).