Reading Update

Here are the books I re-read since the beginning of May:

N.K. Jemisin, The Inheritance Trilogy (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Broken Kingdoms, The Kingdom of Gods). Epic fantasy. Not earth Medieval Europe based, wonderfully developed characters. Naha is a favorite.

Lois McMaster Bujold, Sharing Knife Series (4 books: Beguilement, Legacy, Passage, Horizon). Fantasy/romance. Has a great depiction of riverboat culture.

Kate Elliott, Spiritwalker Trilogy (Cold Magic, Cold Fire, Cold Steel). Epic fantasy. I love Ms Elliott's worldbuilding. An example: an intelligent species based on troodons.

Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Good Omens. Because it's a delightfully funny apocalypse tale.

Elizabeth Bear, 2 books: Blood and Iron and Whiskey and Water. Urban fantasy. Inventive combination of classic Fairie, the Morgan/Arthur myth, mages, werewolves, and a dragon, centered in New York City. Her Morgan is my favorite Morgan ever. And Ms Bear gives the kelpie realistic horse-like behaviors when he's in human form.


Here's what I read that was new for me since the beginning of May:

C.J. Cherryh, The Morgaine Saga. A collection of three SF novels; interplanetary time travel and culture clashes.

N.K. Jemisin & Hiromi Goto, Systems Fail. A collection of short stories and essays published for WisCon38, where they were the Guests of Honor.

Ursula Vernon, Toad Words and Other Stories. Ms Vernon tells delightfully original fairy tales. She is also very good at re-imagining traditional fairy tales. If you're unfamiliar with her work, starting here would be a good choice. Then read Digger (beginning of the story)  - just sayin'.

I finished Toad Words today. I think I'm ready to tackle more new books now.

Books Read So Far in 2014

Hi.  I'm still around, just busy.

So far this year I've managed to complete a total of five books. Five. Yeah, only five.

(1) Jonathan Strahan, ed., The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, volume seven. This is a Big Book, 624 pages in my trade paperback version. I started it last year. One thing about anthologies, they don't have the pressure of what happens next pushing you to pick them up again soon. But I finished it. Yay! Good, thought-provoking stories in here.

(2) Jo Walton, Among Others. Many wonderful things have been said about this book. They're true. This is the first book of hers I've read. I will seek out more.

When I was in junior high and high school, I always loved really thick books. Thick books meant you got to live in that story world longer. I still favor them. If you do, too, try these next three, at around 600 pages each!

(3) (4) & (5) Kate Elliott's Spiritwalker Trilogy:  Cold Magic, Cold Fire and Cold Steel
I read these last year, and they've been calling to me to re-read for quite some time - my subconscious, on the job. Now that I've completed them again, I noticed scenes to study for help with some of the issues in my current WIP (the novel, not the short stories so much).

I'm almost done with Catherynne M Valente's The Bread We Eat in Dreams. This is a collection of short works. There are stories in here I absolutely love, including "The Consultant," "The Wolves of Brooklyn," and "Twenty-five Facts About Santa Claus."

Not sure how much more book reading I'll be doing. I have many, many short stories to read. More about that in my next post.

I Do Read Books, Honest!

I try to post what I've read quarterly. Dropped that ball in 2013! There were two books posts, one in May, with all of five books, and another one in July with eight more books. Here's what I read between  early July and the end of the year.  

(13) Vonda N McIntyre, Starfarers. First book in the Starfarers Quartet. I've always loved McIntyre's fiction and this book made me finally realize why. Her SF is primarily biology based, which is far more appealing to me (a biologist) than purely techy stuff. 

(14) Vonda N McIntyre, Transition. Book two in the Starfarers Quartet. Loving this series!

(15) Vonda N McIntyre, Metaphase. Book three in the Starfarers Quartet. I haven't found a paper copy of book four (Nautilus) yet. I'm gonna have to buy the ebook from Book View Cafe. Must read all the books! 

(16) Mary Robinette Kowal, Glamour in Glass.  Continuing adventures of Jane and Vincent of Shades of Milk and Honey (see July post). I enjoyed this book more because the story line didn't feel as close to Austin.  Also really like how the author limits herself to the vocabulary of the Regency. 

(17) Mary Robinette Kowal, Without a Summer. More Jane and Vincent, and another good one. There will be more books in this series. 

(18) Amy Thomson, Storyteller. I met Ms Thomson at WisCon. This is the first book of hers I've read. It was really interesting and I haven't cried that often while reading in a long time (hit the mommy buttons hard for me). Good SF. 

(19) Ursula Vernon, Digger Omnibus. Oh, people. Read this book! A practical wombat (that's Digger), oracular slug, talking statue, Shadowchild, Ed.  Just some of the marvelous characters you'll meet here. 

(20) Terry Pratchett, Hogfather. Because I always read this book in December. It's traditional. Just checked my list and this is my only Pratchett book for the year. That is very untraditional!

Twenty books in a year is not much, but it's better than I did in 2012, when I read only fifteen. And I didn't read any from September through November because I was writing and cruising. 

It was a year for series: two short story collections by LeGuin, three books in Kowal's Glamourist Histories, the three books of Elliott's Spiritwalker Trilogy, and three of the four books in McIntyre's Starfarer's Quartet. 

I read books by seven authors new to me: Jared Diamond, Skyler White, Steven Brust, Mary Robinette Kowal, Madeline Robins, Kate Elliott, and Amy Thomson. That's a good thing. 

I still have many books in my To Be Read pile, including more authors new to me. It's going to be fun. 

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 ...

WisCon Summary

I had a great time!  I learned the Dealer's Room is probably the most dangerous place at a con.

Especially when you drive there and have your car conveniently located in the hotel parking garage.

These are my book acquisitions.  Authors and publishers donate ARCs (Advanced Reviewer Copies) that are sold as part of the first day's fundraiser for the Tiptree Award.  The Incrementalists by Steven Brust and Skyler White is an ARC; it won't be published until September.  And I am reading it now ... bwahaha.  There is also an ARC of Sold For Endless Rue by Madeleine Robins.  By day three of the con I'd forgotten I scored that particular ARC, remembered I wanted her book and roamed over to the dealer's room and bought it.

One of the last events of the con is Sign Out, where authors sit at tables in a large room and fans approach with books to sign.  Ms Robins kindly signed both the book and ARC for me.  I bought three books by Mary Robinette Kowal, but had her sign only her latest one, Without a Summer.  Jo Walton was a guest of honor at the con, so my copy of Among Others is signed.  And all four books by Amy Thomson are signed. 

The book on the bottom of the pile was given to me by a lady who had more books than her luggage would hold.  I hadn't heard of the author so she insisted I take it. 

My To Be Read pile is now ginormous. 

The Reading of Books

This year, I haven't done much reading of books.  In four months, four books were read.  Rather pathetic.  I must do better.  What I did read was all very good, so that's something...

(1) Elizabeth Bear, Range of Ghosts.  First book of the Eternal Sky trilogy.  (Book two is in the TBR pile even now.)  Ms Bear uses a Central Asian basis for the culture of the story.  It's wonderfully done.  (Are you as tired as I am of Euro-Medieval-based fantasy?  I'm so glad there are authors who feel this way, too.)

(2) Jared Diamond, The World Until Yesterday.  Basically, this is a big book of comparative anthropology.  I learned a great deal about the world view of hunter-gatherers, which at some point will be incorporated into my novel Shadows. 

(3) Ursula K. Le Guin, The Unreal and the Real, Volume One: Where on Earth.  A collection of realism and magical realism short stories, some of Ms Le Guin's favorites.  I love this author.  She's so versatile - science fiction, fantasy, lit fic, poetry, translations, essays.  Her book on writing (Steering the Craft) is excellent. 

(4) Ursula K. Le Guin, The Unreal and the Real, Volume Two: Outer Space, Inner Lands.  Fantasy and science fiction short stories selected by the author.

I want to write more short fiction, but I'm very much out of practice.  Reading more of it will remind me how this form works.  At least theoretically.  And even if it doesn't, I'll have read a lot of great stories!

Sir Terry, Happy 65th, Sir!

Today is Terry Pratchett's birthday.  He's my favorite author.  He was the best-selling living author writing in English in the world prior to the Harry Potter phenomenon.  I suspect he'll retake first place eventually, if it hasn't happened already.  *grin*  He may be the most shop-lifted author in Britain.  And some folks compare him to Shakespeare. 

An article by Brandon Sanderson gives a marvelous argument for the Shakespeare comparison.  And also says: "But what other authors do with light allusions, Discworld does with a sledgehammer.  And with light allusion too.  Then it steals your wallet."

An article at Tor is another tribute.  "His ability to write fantasy novels that are sharp, referential, and relevant have led many fans to the genre who might have otherwise never explored it.  His is a mind that never stops learning and exploring, and the books that he writes reflect the scope of his interests, making us smarter in turn." 

If you've never read this man's work, I'd suggest Going Postal or Small Gods or Witches Abroad or Hogfather to get you started.  If he's your kind of author, well, then you'll understand firsthand about Discworld stealing your wallet.

Worth every dollar.  Or pound.  Or cockle.  Or whatever your local bookseller accepts in trade. 

Cover images from lspace, a place of awesome Discworld information.

Terry Pratchett's website

Reading Sir Terry Pratchett

I love Sir Terry Pratchett's work.  The man is brilliant, insightful, and possesses a marvelous sense of humor.  On the right side here on my blog, four of the icons below my profile are from his work:  the Discworld (which travels through space supported by four elephants standing on the back of a giant turtle),  Death playing guitar (from Soul Music), the Librarian, and the Watch (from Guards! Guards!).

To celebrate becoming a Knight, Sir Terry made himself a sword that includes thunderbolt iron (pieces of meteorite).  Collected the ore, smelted it on his property, made the sword!

Image from HERE

Starting in on the many books in the Discworld series can be daunting.  Here's my contribution to the many reading order lists.  As a fan it's probably a requirement!

Dithering

I can't settle on a blog topic, so here's a mix of stuff as it occurs to me.

Princess Cruises sends me emails with enticing sales.  I dithered for weeks in late January/ early February about taking a 14 day trans-Atlantic cruise before finally deciding I'd buy a new computer and attend at least one writing conference instead.

About writing conferences:  I'm going to WisCon, a science fiction writing convention.  It's in Madison, Wisconsin.  Shame they didn't name it MadCon ...

Another email from Princess Cruises.  This time I only dithered for a few days (up until today, actually) about a 12 day cruise around the British Isles that includes England, Ireland and Scotland, even the Orkneys!  Still need to buy that new computer, and this cruise, though shorter than the trans-Atlantic one, was half again more expensive.  I guess because there are more ports.  Really don't have that kind of money, but it sure is fun to dream.

I can't explain why this makes me so excited, but my blog got two hits from KERIBATI, someone searching on red imported fire ants.  Hi, Keribati person!  I sure hope Solenopsis invicta hasn't invaded your islands.

The Inkwell, a sort-of novel I wrote with a friend, is completely posted now - see tab at top of my blog here.  There are 40 sections of roughly 2000 words each.  We learned collaborating on a story can be so much fun it's amazing it's not illegal.  Have a look if you're so inclined.

I really enjoyed the cruise to Alaska last year and hope one shows up in these sale emails that actually fits my budget.  The sea, it is calling me ...

Three interchangeable responses to "You're a bitch!"
1.  You say that like it's a bad thing.
2.  Everyone has to have a hobby.
3.  And?

On Monday I finished reading a book (The World Until Yesterday by Jared Diamond).  Since then I've purchased three books (The Fire Ants by Walter Tschinkel; Queen Victoria's Book of Spells, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling; and Shattered Pillars by Elizabeth Bear).  My TBR pile will never disappear.

Perhaps I need a large writing project to keep my mind focused.  (Rising Tide version 3 is out visiting Beta readers.)  Without one ...  ooooh shiny!

Fire Ant Research Team

I was trying to come up with an idea for a blog post, and what popped up was "Write about FART."  Well, that's a part of my life I haven't thought about in many years!  I hunted through three boxes of stuff to find this piece of letterhead; folded it so you could see the footer, too.  ;-)

For one quarter during my senior year in college, while I worked on my undergraduate research project, I was part of Dr. Walter Tschinkel's  Fire Ant Research Team.  From information at that link, there are now ten areas of research done in Dr. T's lab.  What I did fell under what is currently area Six on that list: allometry.  "Division of labor among the workers of ant colonies is based on worker age, but in a minority of species it is also based on worker body size (which varies greatly), a phenomenon referred to as polymorphism."  (Under Easily Amused:  when I highlighted that quote from the FSU link, the text turned gold and the highlight color was garnet = school colors.  Very nice touch!)

I investigated a small aspect of a red fire ant colony's response to threat.  I'd mentally outline an area on the side of a mound, stomp on the ground at the base of the mound, then collect every ant that crossed my 'area.'  Over the ten week quarter, I made many stops to collect ants.  Almost every time I was near a road at least one passerby would warn me that's a fire ant mound and I should stay away!  Folks in the south are nice like that.  I gave up on sampling near busy streets because too many people interrupted me.

You may be wondering how I collected the ants.  With a gadget made in the lab!  Nonscientists are probably unaware of how often we use something cobbled together at the bench from stuff in the drawers at the time.  I had a glass test tube, maybe an inch across and about six inches long, closed with a black rubber stopper.  The stopper had two holes in it.  Each hole had a short glass rod tube stuck through it.  One glass rod tube had a longish piece (about a foot) of rubber tubing attached.  The other had (1) a very small mesh screen tightly covering the end inside the test tube and (2) a shorter piece of rubber tubing.  The operator (me) sucked on the shorter piece of tubing and "vacuumed" up ants with the longer piece.  (That may have had a bit of glass rod tube on the working end, I just don't remember.)  Ants collected in the test tube.  The mesh screen prevented me from sucking up ants.  I think I had a timer for how long I collected for each session.

So, now I had a test tube with ants.  Angry ants, I might add.  This was where I could calmly watch what fire ants do when they sting you.  Yes, sting.  They hang on tight with their big jaws, arch up their bodies, bring their rump (with the stinger) around underneath and then jab.  There were times I watched them sting me, too.

This picture is NOT an ant on me, but from HERE, a good article from the University of California Riverside on red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta).

Okay, back to that tube of ants.  I only had one sampling gadget, so the ants couldn't stay in there.  The solution was plastic boxes with their edges dipped in talc powder.  The powder kept the ants from climbing out of the box while I was emptying the tube and before I got the lid on.

Back in the lab, I sorted them by size class (large stack of sieves with grid sizes from larger to smaller).  I remember measuring ant heads under a dissecting microscope as part of this.  At the end, my results hinted at a skew toward larger ants responding to the threat.  I think one of Dr. T's graduate students at the time used my work as a starting point for her thesis.

I can't end this without putting in a plug for Dr. Tschinkel.  HERE's an article from Discover Magazine on his work visualizing the shape of ant nests underground.  AND he wrote a book!

I'm going to order it today.  It may sit in my TBR pile for a while, or I may nibble at it until I finish it.  No telling. 

Edit:  Dr. T's book was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2007!  Wow!!

This Year and Books

2012 wasn’t a bad year for me.  I put in much time editing and writing and as a result have taken a novel farther than I have ever done before.  I took a real vacation for the first time in nearly a decade to a place that has fascinated me since I was a kid = awesome with awesome sauce. 

I didn’t read as much as I’d like; time spent writing is time not reading.  Looking over the list, it was a year of mostly favorite authors, their new stuff as well as re-reading older works.  Here it is, with ocasional notes: 

JANUARY
(1)  David Jauss, On Writing Fiction, Rethinking Conventional Wisdom About the Craft.  Essays on point of view, flow, epiphanies, and more. 
(2)  Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn.  Beautiful writing.

FEBRUARY
None

MARCH
(3) Seanan McGuire, Discount Armageddon.  Marvelous fun!  A monster-protecting competition-level ballroom dancer protagonist who is seriously awesome!  This book made the Grande Finale of the Cover Battle of 2012 at Ranting Dragon.  Up against Blackbirds, as of now (12/31/12) the count is 52%/48% in favor of Blackbirds. 
(4) Elizabeth Bear, By the Mountain Bound.  Prequel to All the Windwracked Stars.  Good fantasy, spun from a Norse foundation

APRIL
(5) Elizabeth Bear, The Sea Thy Mistress.  Sequel to All the Windwracked Stars.  Now I’ve finally read all three books that make up the Edda of Burdens series. 

MAY
(6) N.K. Jemisin, The Kingdom of Gods.  Book three in The Inheritance Trilogy.  Marvelous and satisfying.
(7) Ellen Datlow, ed, Naked City.  Anthology of urban fantasy stories by Jim Butcher, Holly Black, Elizabeth Bear, and others.  Loved it! 

JUNE
(8) Carol King, A Natural Woman.  A memoir that brought back memories of events we all lived through and how important her music, and the music of others, was in defining and solidifying those times.
(9) Jenny Lawson, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir).  Hilarious and sad and fascinating.  At times like watching a train wreck.  But in a good way.

JULY
None.  :-( 

AUGUST
(10) Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter, The Long Earth.  New SF book, not Discworld.  I enjoyed it. 

SEPTEMBER
None.  :-( 

OCTOBER
(11) Lois McMaster Bujold, Cordelia’s Honor.  Re-read of a loved book.

NOVEMBER
(12) Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Good Omens.  Another re-read of a favorite.  Yes, I took time off from writing during NaNoWriMo to read!  If you look at my stats [Kat's NaNo Stats] you can probably tell when it was, too.  {Oops.  Maybe not!  It was the first slump; the second slump was work-induced.}

DECEMBER
(13) Elizabeth Bear, shoggoths in bloom.  Collection of many good short stories
(14) Terry Pratchett, Hogfather.  Traditional to read this at Christmastime.  Starting back when my daughter was around 14, we would read this out loud to each other, doing voices.  She does Death’s voice very well. 
(15) Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time.  The book that follows Hogfather.
In Progress:  Elizabeth Bear, Range of Ghosts.  Thought I might get it finished today, but didn’t.

Well, I managed more than one book per month.  Perhaps I will do better next year.

OMG, my cup of New Year's Egg Nog is nearly gone!  I blame that for any typos.

I know 2012 could not end soon enough for many.  I feel fortunate that I was not in that group this time.

May 2013 be kind to all. 

Reading on 12/12/12

Over at shouldbereading , today's meme is:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you'll read next?

I am currently reading Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear:   

Ms Bear's imagery and sensory details, along with a ripping great yarn, are why I love her work.  This is book one of a trilogy; she has used a Mongul base rather than the standard fantasy medieval European base.  I'm only on Chapter 5.  So far it's wonderful. 

I most recently finished Shoggoths in Bloom by Elizabeth Bear:

This is a collection of short stories.  I started it back in October; took a break for NaNoWriMo in November, and finished it early in December.  It includes her two stories that won Hugo Awards.

I will next read Hogfather by Terry Pratchett:

because it is a family tradition to read this book at Christmastime.  I may read it before finishing Range of Ghosts.  Or I may watch the movie, which is well done but lacks one of my favorite scenes, one that involves a teddy bear. 

Please share your recent and future reading list!  

NaNoWriMo Prep

What little planning I’m doing for NaNo is moving along.  I have more than fifty prompts for stories but only hazy ideas for characters.  That bit’s a little worrisome.  Back when I wrote lit fic short stories, I could start with anything.  Over the last four years or so - when I’ve focused on novels - it seems I need a character before I can start writing.  I’d love to get back to starting with anything.  Maybe that ability will return in November. 

My daughter is doing NaNo this year.  She’s far more organized than I am, with pages of notes.  She writes faster, too.  Good writing, let me tell you, and that’s not just because I’m her mom! 

Elizabeth Bear’s new short story collection, Shoggoths In Bloom, arrived at my door Wednesday.  I plan to devour it.  Several of the stories included are among my favorites (“Tideline” and “Cryptic Coloration”) and I’m sure I’ll have a few more favorites by the time I finish the book. 

I’m also half way through another anthology, Dragon Lords and Warrior Women, edited by Phyllis Irene Radford.  Maybe I’ll get that one done before November 1 as well. 

See, it’s all part of the NaNo prep.  If I want to write short stories, I need to read them!

Happy reading, everyone!

Books I Read in June

I realized today that I didn’t mention the books I read in June.  I took an excursion out of Speculative Fiction into the genre of ----- Memoir!  That’s a big leap for me.  I enjoyed it. 

Carol King, A Natural Woman.  This brought back memories of events we all lived through and how important her music was in defining and solidifying those times.  I’ve always loved her music, and now I admire her even more. 

Jenny Lawson, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir).  Hilarious and sad and fascinating.  At times like watching a train wreck.  But in a good way.  Was a huge shift of gears from Carol King.  I sporadically read Jenny’s blog [LINKY THING to The Bloggess] so that did prepare me, sort of. 

When I have wrestled this version of my novel into completion, I am going on a reading binge.  And probably a movie binge.  Should probably accompany that with a walking binge.  Just saying.

Book Day

It’s not quite the end of the month.  There is no way I will finish another book before Friday morning, especially since I haven’t even started one, so here’s the list of what I’ve read so far this year:

JANUARY
(1)  David Jauss, On Writing Fiction, Rethinking Conventional Wisdom About the Craft.  Essays on point of view, flow, epiphanies, and more. 
(2)  Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn.  Beautiful writing.

FEBRUARY
None

MARCH
(3) Seanan McGuire, Discount Armageddon.  Marvelous fun!  A monster-protecting competition-level ballroom dancer protagonist who is seriously awesome!
(4) Elizabeth Bear, By the Mountain Bound.  Prequel to All the Windwracked Stars.  Good fantasy, spun from a Norse foundation

APRIL
(5) Elizabeth Bear, The Sea Thy Mistress.  Sequel to All the Windwracked Stars.  Now I’ve finally read all three books that make up the Edda of Burdens series. 

MAY
(6) N.K. Jemisin, The Kingdom of Gods.  Book three in The Inheritance Trilogy.  Marvelous and satisfying.
(7) Ellen Datlow, ed, Naked City.  Anthology of urban fantasy stories by Jim Butcher, Holly Black, Elizabeth Bear, and others.  Loved it!  The title is from an early 60's detective show. 

My last book post covered the first quarter of the year (January - March).  Didn’t seem worth repeating the list at the end of April with only one addition, so I waited.  Two of the new ones on the list are from the TBR* pile (Bear and Jemisin) and one is a recent purchase (Datlow). 

My target is two per month (average) for the year.  Gonna have to have some three books or more months to make that happen.  Oh, yeah, seriously, because if I do NaNo that shoots both October and November for reading.  I’m having a great time writing the new ending to my novel, though, and I’ve already scheduled a movie binge for when that’s done.   Sherlock!  The Prisoner!  Well, they’re both TV shows, but several episodes combined are as long as a movie ...  perhaps I should call it a DVD binge.

Reading will happen.  I have confidence.

*TBR = To Be Read.  I have several piles, including a few PDF books in the computer.

Bookkeeping

Last year I was determined to read more books than the year before.  To keep myself accountable, I posted the list of books each month.  It worked - 31 books read last year, up from about six.  Well, back in January I decided to post the list quarterly instead of monthly.  Guess what?  Not so much reading has been happening!  (To be fair, quite a bit of writing has happened, and it all comes out of the same available time.  It's always been a trade-off.)  So far this year:


JANUARY
(1)  David Jauss, On Writing Fiction, Rethinking Conventional Wisdom About the Craft.  Essays on point of view, flow, epiphanies, and more. 

(2)  Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn.  A classic.  Beautiful writing.

FEBRUARY
None!

MARCH

(3) Seanan McGuire, Discount Armageddon.  Marvelous fun!  A monster-protecting competition-level ballroom dancer protagonist who is seriously awesome.  This was the first book of hers I'd read.  I will definitely read more.

(4) Elizabeth Bear, By the Mountain Bound.  Prequel to All the Windwracked Stars.  Good fantasy, spun from a Norse foundation



Okay, a rate of four books in three months will keep me ahead of 2010, but won't get me anywhere near 2011.  Gotta do something about this.

Started reading another book from the TBR pile today.

2011 Bookkeeping - The Final Entry

I set out at the beginning of the year to read more in 2011 than I had in 2010.  I made the list public as a way to encourage myself to do the reading.  It worked.  I don’t think I read more than a dozen books in 2010, and completed thirty-one in 2011.  Here’s the entire list.  It’s heavy on science fiction and fantasy, but that’s what I enjoy reading and writing.

JANUARY
(1) Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay.  Satirical fantasy/mystery set in Discworld’s largest city, Ankh-Morpork.
(2) John Scalzi, Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded.  A collection of selected blog entries covering a decade by an award-winning science fiction writer.

FEBRUARY
(3) Neil Gaiman, fragile things, short fictions and wonders.
(4) Elizabeth Bear, The White City.  Book 3 in the New Amsterdam series, about a woman forensic sorcerer and man amateur detective who happens to be a vampire, set in a turn of the century contrafactual history.
(5) Lois McMaster Bujold, Shards of Honor. Science fiction (SF) adventure romance.
(6) Lois McMaster Bujold, Barrayar. SF adventure romance, continuation of Shards of Honor.  This one won a Hugo Award.  Note:  (5) + (6) have been published as Cordelia’s Honor

MARCH
(7) Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times.  Satirical fantasy set in the Discworld’s Aurient.

APRIL
(8) Neil Gaiman, Smoke and Mirrors.  Short pieces by a master.  Finished on April First.  So many potential overtones and undertones to that!
(9) Louise Erdrich, shadow tag.  Well done literary story of the breakup of a marriage.
(10) Damon Knight, Creating Short Fiction.  An old stand-by of writing advice;  my copy was published in 1981.  It was good to be reminded of some of the basic mechanics. 
(11) Jack Dann & Gardner Dozois, Eds, Wizards.  A collection of short stories about this fantasy archetype by some of the best fantasists (Peter S. Beagle, Kage Baker, Elizabeth Hand, and others).
(12) Karen Armstrong, A Short History of Myth.  Truly short; a two and a half hour read including note taking!
(13) Vonda N. McIntyre, Dreamsnake.  SF classic.  It’s been years since I read this, and it feels good to know I still love it.  Came away with good structural examples to help with my novels, too.  Lagniappe.
(14) Lois McMaster Bujold, Young Miles.  SF space opera; won Hugo and Nebula awards.  Miles is Cordelia’s son (Aral’s son, too, but he didn’t get his name in any of the titles) (see books 5 & 6 above).

MAY:  None

JUNE
(15) Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight.   Latest book in the YA Tiffany series.
(16) Ursula K. Le Guin, The Word for World is Forest.  SF classic, one of her earlier published works.
(17) Emma Bull, War for the Oaks.  Urban fantasy classic.  Wonderful.  I’ve been running across references to this book for several years, and finally read it.
(18) Lois McMaster Bujold, The Sharing Knife, Volume One: Beguilement.  Fantasy adventure romance.
(19) Lois McMaster Bujold, The Sharing Knife, Volume Two: Legacy. 
(20) Lois McMaster Bujold, The Sharing Knife, Volume Three: Passage.  
(21) Lois McMaster Bujold, The Sharing Knife, Volume Four: Horizon. 

JULY
(22) Elizabeth Bear, Bone and Jewel Creatures.  Short fantasy of wonderfulness.
(23) Phil and Kaja Foglio, Girl Genius.  On-line steam punk graphic novels.  I started re-reading in May from the very first entry of November 4, 2002, and read it all, right up to the current entry.  This year they won their third Hugo Award.  It updates on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  Here’s where to find the beginning of the story:  http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021104
(24) Emma Bull, Territory.  Fantasy set in the American West.  Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday and magic for the win.

AUGUST
(25) Lois McMaster Bujold, The Curse of Chalion.  Fantasy.  Another good one.

SEPTEMBER
(26) Irene Radford, Thistle Down.  Fantasy.  Fun, fluffy; good summer read.
(27) N.K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Fantasy.  Very good.
(28) N.K. Jemisin, The Broken Kingdoms.  Fantasy. Another really good one.
(29) Tiffany Trent & Phyllis Irene Radford, eds.  Breaking Waves.  A collection of short pieces of many genres to benefit The Gulf Oil Spill Relief Fund.

OCTOBER, NOVEMBER:  None

DECEMBER
(30) Terry Pratchett, Snuff.  Newest Guards book in Discworld.
(31) Anne McCaffrey, Dragonflight.  Ms McCaffrey passed away in November and I decided it was time to re-read some of her work.  This was the first book of hers I ever read, I think back in the ‘70s.


I enjoyed reading all the books on this list - I don’t complete books I’m not enjoying!  Choosing a favorite is impossible.  The one’s I liked the best, that stuck with me long after I finished:

Bone and Jewel Creatures - #22
Cordelia’s Honor - #5 & 6
Dreamsnake - #13
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - #27
War for the Oaks - #17

I'll keep a list again in 2012, but I don't know if I'll post it every month.

Thanks for reading; comment if you've got one!

Moar Bookkeeping

I certainly have read more books this year than last, even if I don’t read another one until January! Making the list and publishing it to keep myself accountable has worked for me.

JULY

(22) Elizabeth Bear, Bone and Jewel Creatures. Short fantasy of wonderfulness.
(23) Phil and Kaja Foglio, Girl Genius. On-line steam punk graphic novels. I started re-reading In May from the very first entry of November 4, 2002, and read it all, right up to the current entry. They have won two Hugo Awards for this. [EDIT: As of August, make that THREE Hugos!!] It updates on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Here’s a link to the beginning of the story:
Girl Genius starts here
(24) Emma Bull, Territory. Fantasy set in the American West. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday and magic for the win.

AUGUST

(25) Lois McMaster Bujold, The Curse of Chalion. Fantasy. Another good one.

SEPTEMBER

(26) Irene Radford, Thistle Down. Fantasy. Fun, fluffy; good summer read.
(27) N.K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Fantasy. Very good.
(28) N.K. Jemisin, The Broken Kingdoms. Fantasy. Another really good one.
(29) Tiffany Trent & Phyllis Irene Radford, eds. Breaking Waves. A collection of short pieces to benefit The Gulf Oil Spill Relief Fund. There are some marvelous stories in here, including "After the Dragon" by Sarah Monette.

I highly recommend the N.K. Jemisin books.  These are her first published novels, and the stories are complex with well-realized characters.  I couldn't put them down.

Of course I will read more books before the end of this year. Terry Pratchett’s newest Discworld book, Snuff, will be available October 11, so that’s one for sure. And the TBR piles are still here...

On the other hand, ideas for my November NaNoNovel are popping up and there’s some editing to finish before I start on that!

Thanks for reading; comments welcome.

eBooks?

Digital books are all the rage.  Cries of paper books are dead are heard across the land.  I don’t have an eReader and don’t have plans to buy one any time soon.  I like paper books.  I spend much of my work day on a computer and don’t want to spend even more time in front of a lighted screen when I get home.  I spend some, of course, catching up on the news and blogs, but I certainly don’t want all my reading to be on a light box.  I understand eBooks are marvelous and are especially helpful for people who don't have the strength or endurance to hold a paper book.  Useful they are, but not the solution for everyone.

Please read this marvelous essay by Seanan McGuire (who writes urban fantasy, horror, and is also a professional musician), where she very articulately explains why paper books and libraries and bookstores you can walk into are so important. 

seanan-mcguire on why paper books are important

A quote from her essay:  "...every time a discussion of ebooks turns, seemingly inevitably, to "Print is dead, traditional publishing is dead, all smart authors should be bailing to the brave new electronic frontier," what I hear, however unintentionally, is "Poor people don't deserve to read.""

A summary of what she says so marvelously is that there is already a digital divide.  Many people are poor and can not afford computers and internet.  Libraries and used book stores are essential for poor kids to have access to books.  Many poor kids live in areas where if they had an eReader (say, a donated one) it would be stolen.  Now, if your paper book gets stolen, well, it’s one book.  Your eReader?  That could be your entire collection! 

All you need to read a paper book is the ability to read and enough light to see the page.  No electricity need be involved, because sunlight is free.

Please keep this in mind if there’s talk in your community of reducing library services.  Please donate books whenever you can - Toys for Tots, for example. 

Help keep the world of books available for everybody.

Thanks for reading; comments are welcome.

The TBR Pile

TBR = To Be Read and is a stack of books, well, actually, several stacks of books, that are awaiting my attention.  As a way of figuring out just what it is I have here, I decided to make a list!  I am a list-type person, but this is a list I’ve never put together before.  So here goes. 

Pile Number One (so designated because it’s closest to the computer):

Vonda N. McIntyre, Metaphase
A.S. Byatt, Possession
Elizabeth Bear, By the Mountain Bound
Elizabeth Bear, The Sea Thy Mistress
John Scalzi, Zoe’s Tale
Val McDermid, The Wire in the Blood
Margot Edmonds & Ella Clark, Voices in the Winds, Native American Legends
Robert Bresloff, The Wee Musketeers (a middle school book by a friend of mine)
Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys
Caitlin Brennan, Song of Unmaking

Pile Number Two (on the living room couch):

N.K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
N.K. Jemisin, The Broken Kingdoms
Vonda N. McIntyre, Transition
Genevieve Valentine, Mechanique
Sarah Monette, The Virtu
Sarah Monette, The Mirador
Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

eBooks (no, I don’t have a ‘reader,’ I get PDF files from Book View Cafe; this pile is IN the computer!)

Phyllis Irene Radford & Tiffany Trent, eds, Breaking Waves (in progress, I’m about 3/4 through it)
Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff & Pati Nagle, eds, Brewing Fine Fiction
Phyllis Irene Radford, ed, Ways to Trash Your Writing Career
Vonda N. McIntyre, Superluminal (need to read this before Transition and Metaphase)

Want to read but don’t have yet:

Catherynne M. Valente, Myths of Origin (due out Nov 2011)
Terry Pratchett, Snuff (the 39th Discworld novel, due out Oct 2011)
Camille Alexa, Push of the Sky (she has a story in Breaking Waves that I love, so need to read one of her books)
M.H. Bonham, Serpent Singer and Other Stories (the title story is in Breaking Waves & I loved it, so ...)

Oh, my, there are only four guys on this list (John, Bob, Neil and Terry). Think I need to add more books by men!?!? 

AND that’s 25 books!  So far this year I’ve read 26 books.  Yikes!  I know I won’t read much in November (NaNo will be happening), so looks like this list will last into the new year even without any additions.  And of course there will be additions!

What books do you have in your TBR pile(s)?

Thanks for reading; comments are welcome.