Books, June, mostly

[thanate]

Downstairs has been taken over by large hardbacks and I keep vaguely wondering if I'd get farther in them if I invested in a sturdy music stand, since most of my reading time is while nursing, which makes larger books logistically difficult.

Also not listed are probably about ten or fifteen picture & board books (with may repetitions.)

Lies and Prophecy- Marie Brennan. This was bookmarked in a folder called "e-books to buy" for quite some time, as it is e-only. College in a post-magic resurgence world; quite good, though when things got exciting it didn't go in quite the sort of direction I was expecting, which is ok too. Feeds both the college nostalgia & magic adventure cravings; recommended.

Wheel of the Infinite- Martha Wells. Comfort reread, still good. Demons, ghosts, mad gods, a possessed puppet, & a mandala that remakes the world. Among other things. Based off of Angkor Wat, with good gender, phenotypic, & competence balance among characters. Also filed under "religions that work." On reread, my favorite thing continues to be the "wow, your culture is really weird" byplay in the internal dialog of the to POV characters.

Reflections on the Magic of Writing- Diana Wynne Jones. I'm told that my mother read me The Lives of Christopher Chant when I was two, so I think it's safe to say that I've been reading Diana Wynne Jones books my entire life. This is a collection of essays where she talks about what she thinks she put into them, as well as various biographical bits, followed by a couple afterward bits by her sons. Lessons in writing, cumulative biography, & subjective worldview, also compulsively readable & entertaining. I am glad I didn't [couldn't] read it before, as neither literary analysis nor mundane "where this came from" details would have pleased my younger self, but I also think she would have approved of the life & literary lessons I *did* learn from reading her books. Also interesting is that almost none of the clever [metatextual] bits she talks about in the writing of Fire and Hemlock are the clever [narrative structure] bits I picked up in reading it to near-memorization. I'm going to shelve this with writing books, but I think it could be enjoyed just as much as either autobiography or an essay collection.

The Spirit Lens: A Novel of the Collegia Magica- Carol Berg. I think I am overthinking this book; as a silly spy/intrigue novel, it's reasonably fun. However, I have nits to pick, starting with the subtitle; it is most definitely not a novel of the Collegia Magica, as the narrator leaves his post as the librarian there in the first two pages to go get involved with the aforementioned intrigue. It's also very much a boy book, which it makes me vaguely sad to see from a female author; there are good and competent female characters, but they're all somewhat sidelined to the action and usually in need of rescuing. And the narrator irritated me. I'm undecided whether I'll hunt up the second book (I think it's a trilogy?) in hopes of more on the main character I liked.

The Ogre Downstairs- Diana Wynne Jones. Rereading some of the DWJ I usually skip in the wake of her talking about them. This is still not my favorite (as are most books set in the "real" world...) but I guess I can see why other people get enthusiastic about it. Perils of step family, magic chemistry sets. Much amused to realize that sounding out the greek letters was worth my time.

Witch's Business (Brit: Wilkins' Tooth)- Diana Wynne Jones. Actually, I'm not sure if I ever finished this before; it definitely picked up nicely after where I left off last time. A spring holiday adventure of vengeance & consequences with magic in. I had thought this was the book where the gang talks in "colorful" language, but it's "vile" (expletives such as slimy, degutted, and zombie-burger feature) which leaves me wondering what the book with the colors was.

Aunt Maria (Brit: Black Maria)- Diana Wynne Jones. (technically July, but part of the set) This is DWJ-does-horror a la Stepford Wives, although she does a sinister female dominance. I'm a little too much in sympathy with the points she's trying to make about things that are stupid here, and so find much of this a bit tooth-grinding to read. But there are good bits, too; I quite like Mig's mother once she gets going, for instance.

Also in book news, I'm confused that the only person I've seen mention this was not from among my writer-friends; maybe it's just too far out to get excited about a new (mostly) DWJones book?

Comments

[cheshiretiffy.livejournal.com]

Are you and grauwulf handy? Maybe one of you could whip up a sturdy book stand.

[thanate.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid we're at the point where if there's an actual pre-made option, getting is going to be far easier than making both time-wise and in terms of ever seeing it happen. Too many things to do, not nearly enough time.