mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
And the 52nd book has been read! I actually completed my personal challenge and it feels good.

... I'm also now free to re-read books if I like. Which is lucky because I need to do my annual reading of A Christmas Carol. I'm trying to decide if I should do this again next year. Maybe even up the ante and read more than 52!

52) Ophelia by Lisa Klein - A rather neat take on a very worn-out play (worn-out in terms of pretty much everyone who has ever written a paper on Shakespeare has written about Hamlet - I know I did... Twice.) With Ophelia being such a passive sort of character, a victim of circumstance, and a short-hand symbol for ineffective trapped ladies, it was interesting to read a version of the familiar story told from her point of view. More so when the writer is someone who has actively taught the play at college-level and has studied Elizabethan works as her dissertation. For the most part, I liked this Ophelia - though she sometimes rang with a bit too-forceful grrl-power. She was human and intelligent and, while she was still trapped to some extent, she fought it and, in the end, coped and adapted. I also admit that I really liked Horatio in this. Poor bastard always got the raw end of the stick, I thought. Gertrude was also much more interesting and realistic. Of course, a lot of this would come just from the fact that you're not looking at events through a decidedly biased Hamlet's eyes.

My main complaint, really, was the ending. It wasn't bad, per se, and I was rather happy with the idea of the ending but it felt rushed. Like a deadline was looming and she had to wrap it up. One part of the equation had groundwork laid for the ending but the other half... Not so much. It knocked Ophelia down a wee notch or two in my estimation. Silly, fluffy moment.
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
50) The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales by Maria Tatar - Somewhat dated feeling in some sections, Maria Tatar remains one of my top writers when it comes to analyzing Grimm. Which makes it horrible that I am currently blanking on any particular points in this book. D'oh.

51) Batman Unauthorized ed by Dennis O'Neil - A really interesting set of essays put out by the Smart Pop series (I have their Supernatural and Firefly books of essays, too) with the usual mix of really interesting points of view that left you wanting more/longer essays and ones that are just fine as they are. By and large, though, the interesting ones win out here and there's something neat in how they got one of the classic Batman writers to be the editor. It's also interesting in that this book came out after Batman Begins but before The Dark Knight and so a number of the essays really touch on the Nolan mythos - both on positive and negative scales. I think my favorites were the essays on Ra's Al Ghul (father figure as terrorist), using Arkham Asylum as the real antagonist and a character in its own right, and about how each generation gets the Batman we deserve. The only one that struck me as totally unnecessary and puerile was the one about how the various interpretations of Batman (campy Adam West, vague Michael Keaton, and methodical Christian Bale) can be derived from The Talk delivered by Alfred... Really? We're wasting ink on that? Sheesh.

ONE MORE BOOK AND I HIT 52

I should probably work on my Yuletide because, um... 7 days.
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
48) Dine Bahane: The Navajo Creation Story ed by Paul G Zolbrod - One of the reasons I love the randomly named Sellers Used Books shop up in Jim Thorpe is for treasures like this (and the fact that he recognizes me now and so gives me 15% off instead of the usual 10%). You find the most amazing, out of the way books there. Including something like this. It's very straight forward, not at all adorned or made "literary," and the stories are transcribed with the same cadence and repetition that an oral tradition would have. There are also copious notes in the back (which I mostly ignored because I wanted the rich mythology, yep)... And it was amazingly reasonable. Looove it.

49) Whose Body? by Dorothy L Sayers - I have FINALLY found and read the first Lord Peter mystery and, I have to admit, it's for the best that it wasn't the first one I read. I still enjoyed it deeply, though, but it read more like a first novel than I expected out of someone who seemed so polished as DLS. It also amused me to find that she spent more time on descriptors in this book more descriptions about what the various characters looked like. Also a less focused, isolated view point. In her other books, she tends to pick one and stick with it (usually following around Peter, naturally) but this one had sections clearly told from the shoulders of other characters. (The book with Miss Climpson's input is an outlier but it is necessary to do it in that manner.)

And I finished Nano. I can't say it's brilliant but I wrote and I wrote hard. I also managed to finish my RTH SeSa well in advance and read a bit throughout the month, too. And go to Anime USA as you do in November.
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
45) Spinners by Donna Jo Napoli - A really great YA take on Rumplestiltskin that I'm glad I picked up for a song at GoodWill. I've never read a full length story on this basis; it seems that most writers want to play with Snow White or Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty or Beauty And The Beast, etc. I really liked the way this book was set up as two halves of a whole - mirror halves that were linked by circumstance and history and skill. There was surprising depth to the characters and so much heartbreak. I also totally approved of how she played with the naming magic.

46) Red as Blood by Tanith Lee - A collection of short stories, some better than others. I had already read one or two of them in other anthologies but they still held up to a re-reading. Tanith Lee can be very, very good. Very imaginative, very primal. Sometimes, though, she gets to be too fond of her own words and the story suffers for the macabre or esoteric flourishes.

47) Enigma by Carla Cassidy - Cheap romance novel picked up to see what Harlequin expects in the realm of sci-fi. It was enjoyable enough but the heroine ended up doing one of the typically hair-brained things they so often do in these books. At least she was likeable, though. I also had some quibbles with the continuity. Still... Fun and easy and you can put your brain in neutral. Mutant telepathic twins, evil doctors, sex, etc. Good times.

Also, for the record, NaNo is kicking my f'ing butt. Sigh.
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
43) Creole Folktales by Patrick Chamoiseau - Not NOLA Creole, mind you. These are folktales interpreted and retold from the author's childhood in Martinique. Another rare and delicious find from Half Price Books. The stories are eloquent and picturesque and revealing as all the best folk and fairy tales are.

44) Social Life in Old New Orleans by Eliza Ripley - This one took me a bit to get through, mostly because it was written by a non-writer around about 1912. There's precious little logical flow and it's written more in a conversation style, following the wanderings of an elderly lady's mind as she retells her child and young adulthood. For all that, it's still interesting and the details and unfiltered lens a change of pace. And I do mean unfiltered - some of the word choices were made long before the concept of PC or even equality settled into the preferred norm.

8 books away from my 52 for the year. This is GOOD because next month is Nano and Yuletide and RTH Secret Santa and Anime USA and part-time at the Moravian Bookshop and...

I'm home, btw, because my office actually, unbelievably closed today due to the threat of Sandy. Everyone in the path of this bitchy lady... Please be careful! I love you all.
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
40) Spirits of New Orleans: Voodoo Curses, Vampire Legends, and Cities of the Dead by Kala Ambrose - Another GoodReads win and one that made me squeal since I really hoped to win this drawing. It's got hints of flower-child spiritual mumbo jumbo to it and probably could have used an editor with a closer eye but it was lots of fun and well-researched. You could totally feel her love for the place in the stories and she took time to do some digging. For instance, it's the first time I've read someone else put my thoughts regarding Madame LaLaurie onto paper, ie her husband was a bloody surgeon so why does everyone say she alone was doing the dissections/torture? It's part spiritual guide, part ghost hunter's tome, and part travel book. I have new places to go when it's time to hit the Big Easy again, yep.

41) Vampire Forensics: Uncovering the Origins of an Enduring Legend by Mark Collins Jenkins - A really interesting take on the concept of vampires, full of research and theories. I'm glad I picked it up despite the slightly cheesy title. But National Geographic did right by this one. It covers the literary evolution of vampire stories, the sociological roots, the mythologies, the religions, the rites, the plagues and biology. Lots of food for thought, angles that fascinate and get you to thinking... And, hee, there was mention of Veles.

42) The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in Regency and Victorian England by Kristine Hughes - Not a strictly fun-time read but, holy cow, the informational goldmine! It's broken up by topic and has oodles of nitty gritty details. Everything from technology to social customs. There is a chapter on LIGHTING, for the love of little green men. This is bound to be too much "quality" info for when I'm writing Regency romance novels but it makes the geek in me so happy that my glasses are fogging up with feelings.
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
37) Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L Sayers - It's Lord Peter. What can I say? I love the man for all his flaws and the painful sort of way he carries through with his own moral code. The plot centered at an advertising agency is only more clever when you remember that Sayers herself spent about a decade as a copywriter (her most notable work being the "zoo" series for Guinness - think the Toucan poster, all). Though I could have done without the detailed cricket match. I've never understood the game and so it flew right over my head. Luckily, there was very little in that scene that affected the plot. Anyway, it was good to read it after having seen the BBC adaptation and feeling that they did right by it (Oh, Ian Carmichael, you're too, too Wimsey).

38) Badass: The Birth of a Legend by Ben Thompson - A Half-Price Books find that I couldn't resist and, for a fiver, not feeling too guilty about it. It's a fast, fun read and mostly well-researched. I rolled my eyes at some of the lightness and flippancy when it got to be a bit much but, considering the tone and the fact that (unsurprisingly) the writer is an on-off staffer for Cracked... It was pretty good and it was charming to read a book that ranges all the hell over the place. Start with Anubis and end with Daleks? Okay, buddy. Also he gets points for even knowing who Oya is - even if the write-up lacks one of my favorite myths.

39) Lowcountry Boil by Susan M Boyer - A GoodReads advanced reader gift copy. I really must write a proper review of it for the site. I meant to do that before the book was fully released (9/18) but... Life. Sigh. Anyway, it was a fairly charming read with some wonderful detail in the setting and a clear love for the setting. The plot is fairly strong, too, with minimal holes to it and it had good flow once you got into it. There were a few things, though, that got to me. Firstly, the brand-name dropping and gadget-mentioning felt like someone at work who flashes their Rolex when you ask the time - a bit pretentious and sure to date the book before too long. Not offensive but definitely noticeable. Secondly, while the motives and threads were all finally tied together there was more than a dash of Soap Opera to parts of it. You needed to suspend some of that good common-sense disbelief. Thirdly... Was the supernatural gimmick really bloody necessary? But the heroine is kinda charming and I have an immense and strangely abiding love for her poor beleaguered brother.

... And I swear I'll do a proper update on my life and the past trip to CA soon. Promise. I know I'm boring the hell out of you all.
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
34) Wizards: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy edited by Jack Dann and Gardner R Dozois - Like most anthologies, this was a mixed bag. Most of the stories were quite good and some were even great. Only one was a true struggle to wade through, a confusing and overwrought piece of attempted meta-whosits. The rest? Pretty enjoyable. A short that would eventually become Gaiman's Graveyard Book, something from Peter S Beagle, a gorgeously atmospheric piece from Elizabeth Hand, a layered pseudo-historic tale from Garth Nix, and my first taste of Orson Scott Card (verdict - quite nice).

35) Lady Be Bad by Candice Hern - Meh. What could have been a good idea but turned out to be done with a slightly annoying heavy-handedness. Worth the quarter but it'll be going to the used book store, no question.

36) The Trunk Murderess: Winnie Ruth Judd by Jana Bommersbach - Well-researched, well-written... and it made me so very, very angry. Having a bit more knowledge and training about criminalistics than the the average layperson does that to you when you read about or research cases that violate every single basic tenet of investigation, crime scene integrity, and protocol. Not that knowing more is a requisite. Even if all you knew about such things was your common sense, this true life railroading would have you seeing red. Even if you took it all with a grain of salt, it still is fishier than the ocean. So... yeah. Time to read something fluffy to chill the mind out.
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
32) An Improper Aristocrat by Deb Marlowe - A cute enough romance with a good turn of action and some definite heat. It read easily and enjoyable. The hero and heroine were even charming and a lot of the side characters amusing. On the other hand, if you stopped to think about it, you were knocked on your ass by the complete and total amount of belief you had to suspend to buy the convergence of so many tropes and regency stock ideas... But really cute, anyway. Just don't think too hard. It was also totally worth the quarter I paid for it.

33) More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Pennsylvania Women by Kate Hertzog - A nice selection of stories, definitely in the style of most books like this. AKA just enough to get you interested in reading more about the person. Some of them were a bit more tenuous in their PA connection and it was written in a fairly haphazard manner but I still got some food for thought and interesting new people to look up.
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
30) Peter Pan by JM Barrie

31) Haunted Gettysburg: Eye Witness Accounts of the Supernatural by Jack Bochar and Bob Wasel - Should have bought Gettysburg Ghosts instead. Not bad-bad but it reads like a rather unedited, slightly pretentious self-pub book. Ah, well. It was a fast read.
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
29) The Rum Diary by Hunter S Thompson - My first Hunter S Thompson, loaned to me by a co-worker. I'm a little ambivalent on it, really. It was a fast read with lots of momentum and emotion and some really vivid imagery. So I liked that. But most of the characters felt very cartoon-ish, pure caricatures. Which was less fun because I like to know a bit more about the people running around... Especially if they're bloody nuts and heavily defined by their alcohol tolerance.

But I do like him better than Hemmingway. Ssssh, don't tell what'shisnameteacher.
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
27) 4000 Years of Uppity Women by Nicki Leon - A pretty standard but interesting collection of historical tidbits. Nothing earth-shattering, fun, etc. But I'm frankly shocked that Boudica did not make a single appearance in this volume.

28) Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James - Yeah, I read it. It's basically mediocre fanfiction - rife with typos, lazy writer tricks, and shoddy research... And somehow I kept going and didn't stop until I was done. If I could figure out the secret to that, I would be rich. Seriously. It's the literary equivalent of the greasy deep-fried candy bars you get at the fair; it's going to make you sick as a dog but you can't really say no... But you'll regret it come morning. Boy, howdy.

And that's all I'll say about that.
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
26) Dracula in London edited by PN Elrod - Perhaps it's because I've never read the source material (how I haven't managed yet is a wonder to even me) but this anthology lacked a certain punch. A number of the pieces were very well written and interesting but I'm not inspired to keep it. The ones that played with the theatrical links of Bram Stoker were the most amusing and, by and large, the best. The last piece, focusing on Renfield, was just sensationalist, experimental meh. The one or two that featured Dracula as being kind to orphans and such... Expected. Well-written but inadvertently giggle-inducing.
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
23) Kept by Zoe Winters - First novel as I understand it by this author. Short and fairly to the point. It shows promise and the writing itself was pretty good but you can also tell she's getting the hang of her world. It could have stood another few thousand words to make the transitions smoother. I get the feeling that she's really built the world in her head - the logic and rules and all. She just didn't use it here for some reason. Fast read, though, and entertaining for killing time.

24a) Dick And Jane And Vampires by Laura Marchesani - Yeah, I'm counting this but only as half a book so don't give me that look. Besides, it's a book and it took time to read. Not much time, admittedly, but time. Most of the time spent giggling maniacally and enjoying the retro-rific pictures... And, yes, this is exactly what you think it is. The Dick and Jane story but with a vampire. Cute as hell and totally worth the 2 bucks.

24b) Mercury by Hope Larson - Included as half a book because it's a graphic novel. It's a lovely black and white tale of magical realism set in Nova Scotia. The line work is simple and clean, the storytelling sparse. A nice weaving of two separate timelines and realities with touches of romance and old mythologies. My only gripe might be a certain lack of clarity and closure on some points but, if you know your stories, you can work it out yourself. A keeper.

25) Dragon Fantastic edited by Rosalind M Greenberg and Martin H Greenberg - An utterly mediocre anthology that makes me glad I read it mostly at work so I can pretend I got paid to read it. The one or two good stories in it didn't redeem it, sadly. One of the main problems, really, was the fact that many of the stories seemed to be parts of longer works or already established worlds... that had no other grounding in the stories themselves. Short stories in an anthology should stand alone. They can be part of a larger world or work but, by all that is sensible, you shouldn't have to find the other work to be able to understand what's going on.
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
21) The Chick Is In The Mail edited by Esther Friesner - Another in the "Chicks in Chainmail" series and still, by and large, containing more hits than misses. Which is a rare but good thing to say about an anthology. There are some familiar faces, some new ones, and very little darkness. If you want a fun, light read, this series is it. Brooding and emo and torment are strictly checked at the door. Just what the doctor ordered for a rainy day.

22) Flatlanders and Ridgerunners: Folktales from the Mountains of Northern Pennsylvania by James York Glimm - While technically a scholarly treatment of regional folk tales, remedies, and superstitions, Glimm makes a point to try and capture the speech patterns so you get an interesting arrangement of words and colloquialisms. Also stunningly short and to the point tales. The sort of thing you can read and imagine knowing by heart and sharing amongst others who, most likely, know the story but not the details. Different than the old coal country tales/flavor I'm most familiar with but definitely still with the same ancestors. It was also interesting picking up the themes and recognizing the original root tales which gave birth to these, the stories that circulated and came over with the immigrants... And, okay, I got a kick out of seeing mention of Azilum and knowing the backstory. Geek cred, ahoy.
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
I need to start using this thing again for something other than tabulating my books. Hm, time to try and write again!

On an unbearably cute note, though, there is a mama robin who has made a nest on the wee metal ivy shelf that's on the back of one of my porch pillars. She's sitting there now. All tranquil and fluffy. I can't wait to see what happens.

Also - Nauticon. Lots of fun and I'm kinda in love with Provincetown now. Watching the sunrise over the private, white sandy-soft beach off our back deck was magical. So pink and technicolor! And the adorable shops and the friendliness of the people and the puppies. But 13 rum jiggers in an hour is a bit much even for me.

19) Bobby Singer's Guide to Hunting by David Reed - Really quite charming and an easy read. For the most part, it sounded just like Bobby which is good because I love me some Bobby. I want an Uncle Bobby (and a Mama Chad Michaels and a Papa Latrice and isn't my fictional family fabulous?). There were some nice open-ended bits that hinted but didn't definitely come down on either side of things so that was fun and I love good monster research. The over-arching plot was a bit grandiose but what can you do? Also the Dean voice was not quite right but good enough and I got wibbly over the son/father relationshp.

20) How to Booze: Exquisite Cocktails and Unsound Advice, The Right Drink for Every Situation by Jordan Kaye and Marshall Altier - It started out as hilarious and got less so as things went on but it's a good resource for drink recipes and some interesting history facts. Also the index at the back is organized in a brilliant manner (first by drink, then subdivided by the level of completeness in your liquor cabinet). As one reviewer said on Amazon, it gets pretty "lad-mag" at certain points and I eye-rolled over some of the more forced "my balls are so big" moments of alleged humor. On the other hand... There's a chapter of drinks that is pretty much Shae's Life Diary which makes me snicker.
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
So 2 internship positions came up at work for the scheduling and reconciliation department. I put my name in, sent my resume. Found out today that I'm not getting an interview for it. But, you know, I shouldn't have let myself get excited over the possibility. Even if I'm damn qualified for it, there were only 2 slots and I haven't even been in my current position for a year so... Yeah, and 35 applicants. Hm. Anyway...

17) The Book of Vices: A Collection of Classic Immoral Tales edited by Robert J Hutchinson - Not keeping it but it was an interesting conglomeration of bits and bobs. I can't say I follow some of the logic in classifying some of the choices as one vice or another but you get what you get. At the very least, it got me reading a bit of various authors I've yet to get around to sampling fully - Jane Austen, Seneca, Moliere, etc. It also reminded me that I actually own Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure and should read it someday... Not just let it function as a nifty floating bookshelf.

18) The Science of Sherlock Holmes: From Baskerville Hall to the Valley of Fear, the Real Forensics Behind the Great Detective's Greatest Cases by E J Wagner - Sooo much fun. Not quite as much Holmes as you'd think but definitely worth a read. A really fun take on the history of forensics and with more depth than most "layman" books have, this one is a keeper.
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
15) Stalking The Unicorn: A Fable of Tonight by Mike Resnick - A fun urban fantasy near-noir book. It took a bit to get into simply because I kept wanting it to be properly film noir and it was really late 80's NYC. Once in, though, it was a fun read with some interesting details and, at the end, a nicely layered bit of metaphor and depth. I think I would have liked to see a bit more growth in the main character but, at the same time, he was pretty nicely normal and level-headed about things. I also like the fact that one of the other main characters is a lady in her 60's or so and she's treated as capable and smart and interesting - especially by the main character.

16) What The Librarian Did by Karina Bliss - Because I have no shame and must be honest about what I've read. It's book-shaped and made of paper and filled with words so it must be a book no matter what literary merit it does or doesn't possess. Aside from that... Well, it was a quarter and it was hilarious in that awful way of some romance novels. Not written strictly badly but I argue with some of the paragraph breaks that make following conversations/actions a bit strange. I could also live without the shifting POV. On the other hand... Fast read and who can argue with SECRET UNWED PREGNANCY ADOPTION PLOTS AND RECOVERING ADDICT ROCK STARS?

And then I also saw The Hunger Games )
mindsplinters: (glasses and books)
13) The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L Sayers - It's Lord Peter so naturally I'm biased. I love that demmed foolish man and his sensible sidekick (or stabilizing force, you make the call). Strangely, I had seen the BBC adaptation of this ages ago but never got around to actually reading it. I must say the adaptation was very close and very brilliant. Even if Edward Petherbridge looks rather more like Peter should, Ian Carmichael will forever be my favorite for his Silly Elephant's Child ease. Anyway... Good, solid mystery with a varied cast of characters. Rather a product of its time in some ways at how it approaches certain topics. Rich detail like always, a very clever little death based on timing, and a fast read despite/because of Sayers' definite way of writing. Also featuring one of those moments where Peter is true to himself no matter what, proving that there's more to him than meets the eye. PS if he didn't end up with Harriet Vane, I was rooting for Marjorie Phelps. I love that lady.

14) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - I'm not even going to touch on the "did she or didn't she" argument re: Battle Royale (mostly because when I first heard of the series that's the first thing that came to mind) but I will say this - I enjoyed this more than that. Katniss is a remarkably interesting (and flawed) female lead and she is not sugar-coated which makes me extra happy. There is no author slight of hand to excuse her behaviors/thoughts. Girl is fucked-up, yo, and you know why but it's not presented as a preferred status (ahem, Miss Swann). I also like a lot of the other characters and the detail put into the mechanics of surviving were choice. (Yes, I read the Little House books for the details on cooking and foraging. Sue me.) I also might have teared up a bit at one point. Also... points for making me really really enjoy reading a first person POV.
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11) A Treasury of Deception by Michael Farquhar - I admit it. I will own every damn one of these books this man puts out. By nature of the whole snippet format, they can be light on things and the details are sparse to keep things tight but he's got a great way of getting the point across and a wonderful sense of humor about history. The books also give me a nice mental list of people I want to find out more about.

12) A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle - Can you believe I never read any of her books growing up? Go figure. It was a very fast read, completed in a few hours, and interesting enough to keep me going. I'd be interested, though, in seeing if her other books show growth as a writer and more layers to the characters. I liked it, it was fun, I wish I would have read it when younger but... I kinda wanted to drop-kick Meg for a bit there. I think that was less about the character, though, and more about the writer's lack of time (or something) to properly weigh and develop the situation. Thus the poor kid comes across as unreasonably petty for a handful of pages. Hm.

12 books in under three months is not shabby, all things considered. I shall continue to be resolute!

And maybe stop boring you all with these sorts of posts. Whoops.

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