What are you reading?

Okay, so my resolve to post more about my reading didn't last very long. I'll blame it on Monday, since that IS the night my gaming group gathers, and there's usually at least one person who stays late. (You know who you are.)

Okay, so it's actually my own fault.

Anyway, I've been reading bunches and bunches of books. Physical books, ebooks (thanks to my iPad), audiobooks, podcast novels…I love books. If I went back over everything I've read since the last time I posted, we would run into a few problems.

• You would run away before I made it a quarter of the way through my list.
• You would decide I was even more insane that you thought.
• I can't remember EVERYTHING I've read.

So, recently finished books it is.

Lamplighter (Monster Blood Tattoo #2) by D.M. Cornish
I love these books. The setting is intriguing and original–a bit steampunk, a bit medieval, with a good dose of oddball semi-organic primitive technology. Plus, the characters are well developed with distinctive personalities. My husband's only complaint is that the hero, Rossamund Bookchild, doesn't seem like a fifteen-year-old boy. I'm okay with it, because at his age in this setting, young people are out working as soldiers, risking their lives fighting bogles (deadly monsters). I think that would sort of skip over much of what we associate with the teen years. I can't wait to read book three, which comes out this month in Australia and New Zealand, and next month in the US, UK, and Canada. (I'm not going to give the title, because the title of each book is Rossamund's profession during that book. It would be a bit of a spoiler.

Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2) by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins
Like The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay are emotionally harsh. I'm not kidding; lots of characters you come to adore will suffer in grueling, cruel ways, physically and mentally. Some will die.

Strike that; many of them will die. In fact, the games are supposed to end with only one person out of twenty-four still alive. They entire idea is to kill lots of people in a highly entertaining fashion. The entire point of the books is to fight against it.

Despite the gruesome premise, the books are all wonderful. The struggle to overcome a great, pervasive evil is riveting, as is Katniss, the heroine. I find the battle to win over the hearts of the people, inspiring them to join in fighting the corrupt, evil government at least as interesting as the physical battle. (I waited to read Catching Fire until Mockingjay was released because I couldn't stand to wait between them!)

If you can take it emotionally, I highly recommend the series.

New Spring (Wheel of Time prequel) by Robert Jordan
I reread New Spring late last month, as part of the run-up to the release of Towers of Midnight (Wheel of Time #13) on November 2. I finished all the other books, but wanted more WoT, and realized that I had only read New Spring once!

As a result, I think I gleaned more from it than any of the other re-reads. The first time through was when it was first released, so a lot has happened in the series since them. Insights into the characters of Morraine, Lan, Elaida, and Siuan (even glimpses of Liandrin) have been illuminating. Certain events that start in The Gathering Storm involving Lan make the bits of Malkieri custom, from a time closer to the fall of Malkier, especially enlightening.

I highly recommend it for all fans of the Wheel of Time; it still shocks me that some haven't read it! And of course, I recommend that all fans of epic fantasy give the Wheel of Time a shot. Not that I'm biased…

Distinctions: The Prologue to Towers of Midnight (Wheel of Time #13) by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
I heard one section of the Prologue to ToM at Dragon*Con, read by Brandon, and couldn't resist buying this on my iPad, through the Kindle app. I loved it. It has made me even more excited about the release of Towers of Midnight in just over three weeks! Of course, now chapter one is posted for free on Tor.com. I will say this: it's excellent!

Nim's Island
This is a "middle readers" book. That means about fifth through seventh or eighth grades. I enjoyed it, and finished it quickly. The setting is interesting, and all the characters, human and (non-speaking) animal, are fun. Totally clean and age-appropriate. It could almost convince me that living almost alone on a tiny, remote island would be fun!

Current Reads
Greywalker
The Way of Kings* (Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Outsider by Ann H. Gabhart (Kindle app)
Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott
Homespun Bride by Jillian Hart
The Herbal Body Book: A Natural Approach to Healthier Skin, Nails, and Hair by Stephanie L. Toules

*I've been reading The Way of Kings since I got home from Dragon*Con. I am absolutely forcing myself to prolong it. I have definitely enjoyed it, but it helps that it's a huge book, and I'm afraid of damaging it. So I only let myself read it at home.

It's Tuesday; what are you reading - 03.16.2010

Yes, I know I'm a day late with this.

So I think I need to change the direction of my reading. A summary of my last week and a half of reading:

Unwind by Neal Shusterman
A story set in the future United States, where all life is protected from conception to age thirteen. From the age of thirteen to eighteen, parents or guardians may choose to "unwind" a life, where the body is dismantled and at least 99.44% of it is reused. This way, the unwanted individual is never ended but is instead divided.

Wonderful characters, intriguing plot, emotionally wrenching. Tragic yet with a note of hope.

The Giver by Lois Lowry
This story is set in the future, an advanced enough future that they are able to institute sameness. Everything is flat; there is no color, and emotion is very, very dulled, except for a few, isolated individuals. Sameness is enforced–terminally if necessary.

Great plot, well-developed characters, emotionally wrenching with a very sad, tragic ending.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Again in the future United States. The country fell apart in the past, dividing into thirteen districts and ruled from the Capitol. Over seventy years earlier, the poor districts rebelled against the Capitol. They were utterly defeated, and District Thirteen was totally wiped out.

To remind the districts of how much they're under the control of the Capitol, they instituted the Hunger Games. Once each year, the Capitol has a massive "festival" nationwide, with a mass gathering mandatory in each district. At the festival, the names of each child age twelve through eighteen are placed in two glass balls (one for boys, one for girls). One boy and one girl are chosen in each district, and those two "tributes" are whisked away to the Capitol. They are given the "honor" of participating in the Hunger Games, where only one can survive. It's proceeded by a week of testing and interviews, which is televised to the nation. (Again, mandatory viewing.) If the tributes impress the audience, sponsors can pay to drop a gift to that kid–tools, food, medicine, clothes, weapons. So the kids must each put on a good show, or else they'll die fast.

The main characters, Katniss and Peeta, are from District Twelve (Appalachia), one of the poorest districts. The Capitol, by contrast, is rich and frivolous, and very technologically advanced, which highlights the cruelty of their rule.

A full cast of well-developed characters. Brutal plot. Redemption. Emotionally wrenching from beginning to end.

Incantation by Alice Hoffman
My husband bought me this audiobook for Christmas. It is set in Spain, at the beginning of the Spanish Inquisition. Sixteen-year-old Estrella deMadrigal lives in a pleasant, peaceful village that's experiencing the first rumblings of serious persecution against Jews, especially "hidden Jews". Some families had pretended to convert to Catholicism generations earlier, after authorities had taken their children, to ensure their return. My husband and I have just reached the point where the executions (murders, really) are beginning.

Masterfully told. Perfectly captures the feeling of the age. Sad, sad, sad.

Give me comedy! I can't take another book like this! Maybe I can find a Robert Aspirin MYTH novel I haven't read yet…because I've read all the Discworld novels in the past five months.

I'm also reading Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson. Not nearly the emotional toll of the other three, but still not light and cheery. (It's excellent; I can't wait to find out what happens to Elantris and the main characters. Like any good book, I also don't want it to end.)

Current non-fiction reads:
The Organic Garden: Green and Easy by Allan Shepherd
1 Dough, 100 Cookies by Linda Doeser
Gardening with Native Plants of the South by Sally Wasowski

Week 2: It's Monday; what are you reading?

Well, week two for me of participating in J. Kaye's It's Monday; what are you reading?

It's been a busy, Pratchett-filled week! I finished Jingo, which was fun. I have also finished The Last Continent, The Fifth Elephant, Carpe Jugulum, and The Truth. I've started Thief of Time, but I'm nearly a quarter of the way into it and it's just not interesting me. (Blasphemy, I know!)

I'm also reading Mrs. Sharp's Traditions: Reviving Victorian Family Celebrations of Comfort & Joy. I've been reading it a chapter or so at a time, and I like what she says about a home being a refuge, a source of comfort and calm. Though I do really well in the cooking and craft areas, and fairly well in the fiber arts area, and I'm great at figuring out how to use space, I'm terrible at keeping up with it. I'm using this to try and stay motivated.

My husband and I finished our audiobook (Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke), and started a new one: Tiger by Jeff Stone. It's the first book in the Five Ancestors series.

I enjoyed Inkheart. After reading it last year, it was interesting to hear it as an audiobook! I keep forgetting that it's actually a translation from German…if only the translations of the classics from Ancient Greek were so well done!

Tiger I'm not so sure about. The synopsis on the case seems like it should be interesting, but in some ways it comes off as a caricature of Asian literature. It's jsut a little too stereotypical, if you know what I mean.

Oh, I'm also reading Singer's Crown. Very good book. :)

Week 1: It's Monday; what are you reading?

I'm a fan of J. Kaye's Book Blog. She does several reading challenges each year; last March she started a weekly event called "It's Monday; what are you reading?"

Sounds like fun; wish I had found it before!

I've been on a Discworld kick; in the last month and a half, I've read about a dozen of them. (Gotta love Terry Pratchett!)

My husband and I are listening to the audiobook of Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. I read it last year, but my husband the media specialist happened across it at the public library. We're about three-quarters done, and I'm really enjoying the reading.

Today I finished Hogfather, which is hilarious. It's the Discworld take on Santa Claus. But of course, since we're talking Discworld, it's pretty odd. Especially when Death and Death of Rats get involved, dragging Death's adopted granddaughter into things. (I really wanted to get to this one before Christmas, but c'est la vie. At least it's still technically the Christmas season, since Epiphany/Twelfth Night isn't until tomorrow.)

Then I started the next book, Jingo, at lunch. This one is a reread for me. In true Discworld fashion, it takes all those legends of lost or sunken continents, throws in some mindless nationalism, and brings it through insanity and out the other side. It also gives Leonard of Quirm, the Ankh Morpork version of Leonardo da Vinci, a prominent role. (I love his names for stuff…like the "Going Under the Water Machine", for a submarine!)

I'm also reading The Bread Machine Cookbook. Tonight I'm going to take on Honey Whole Wheat Bread for the second time.

Also, I've decided to give up on the One Year Bible thing, since it never works for me. Instead, I'm going to try to read The Old Testament this year, and the New Testament next year. (I was inspired by our Minister of Administration, who is doing a two year plan for the Bible.) I'm in Genesis, which I always find fascinating.

That's really it for right now.