Quote(s)

“Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science.” - Girl Genius, by Kaja & Phil Foglio

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke

Perspective, it's all about perspective ...

07 July 2013

Eight Great Books

I decided to do another book post.  My other one for 2013 is here, where I confessed to reading all of four books during the first four months of this year.  I also committed to doing better.

I have! Here's what I've read since May first.

(5) Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds, Queen Victoria's Book of Spells, an anthology of gaslamp fantasy.  There are some wonderful short stories in here, beginning with the title story by Delia Sherman.  Others I liked include "The Fairy Enterprise" by Jeffrey Ford, "The Governess" by Elizabeth Bear, "Phosphorus" by Veronica Schanoes, "A Few Twigs Left Behind" by Gregory Maguire, and "Their Monstrous Minds" by Tanith Lee.  To be sure, there were no bad stories in the book.  These were just some I especially enjoyed.

(6) Seanan McGuire, Midnight Blue-light Special.  Book two in the InCryptid series (Discount Armageddon is book one).  The continuing adventures of Verity Price and the Aeslin mice as they work to save New York's cryptid population from attack.  HAIL THE MICE OF CAKE AND ALL CELEBRATIONS.  (I love the mice.)

(7) Steven Brust and Skyler White, The Incrementalists.  Enjoyed muchly.  This is one of the ARCs I picked up at WisCon; it comes out for everyone else in September.  Buy it when you can.  It' a very interesting read.

(8) Mary Robinette Kowal, Shades of Milk and Honey.  Set in a Regency England where skills manipulating glamour are required of ladies (Jane Austen with magic); first of three books.  I love the magic system Ms Kowal developed here. 

(9) Madeleine E Robins, Sold for Endless Rue.  Historical fantasy, with the emphasis on historical.  The action takes place in thirteenth century Italy.  A multi-generational presentation of women's challenges in society.

(10) Kate Elliott, Cold Magic.  Book one in The Spiritwalker Trilogy.  It's been in the TBR pile for over a year.  Damn, why did I wait so long?  This is a wonderful book.

(11) Kate Elliott, Cold Fire.  Book two in The Spiritwalker Trilogy.  I finished book one on a Sunday evening, prowled bookstores on Monday until I found this and stayed up until 4 AM reading even though I had to go to work on Tuesday.

(12)  Kate Elliott, Cold Steel.  The last book in The Spiritwalker Trilogy.  Wonderful series.  I'm sad it's over.  I really enjoyed the world Ms Elliott built and the characters who live there.  My favorite character is Rory; those who know me will completely understand why.

I'm pleased with all the reading I've done - eight books in just over two months.  The downside is I haven't been writing.  It all comes out of the same block of time and I admit I've been reading furiously ...  I just started another trilogy today ...

2 comments:

Tim said...

I read and enjoyed the Pratchett's you mentioned, so I will note these and see what they have in the library.
I re-read Shadow of the Wind recently and saw different things in it. I'll see if his other books are as good. I have a couple of Howard Jacobsons to pick up, haven't read him before but he is an award winner, so my expectations are high.

Kat said...

I'm glad you enjoyed the Pratchett books. ;-)

I haven't read Shadow of the Wind; from the description is sounds quite dark. But I'll see if the library has it.

I should try some of Jacobson's work as well.