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a record of books I read.
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Almost a Bride - Jane Feather (2005)
Began: October 24? | Finished: October 24?
[12/6] New books by Stephanie Laurens and Jane Feather! What a lucky girl I am. I probably wouldn't buy or keep this one (I think I only own a single Jane Feather), but it was a fun read.
The Bastion Club series - Stephanie Laurens
#1 The Lady Chosen (2003) Began: October 23? | Finished: October 23?
#4 A Fine Passion (2005) Began: October 22? | Finished: October 22?
[12/6] I think A Fine Passion must have just crossed my path for the first time, and reading it put me in the mood to read another. I'm willing to purchase (50 cents, tops, but still that's saying something) and keep most Stephanie Laurens books, so I had The Lady Chosen on hand. Can't do it too often, but they do stand up to a re-read periodically.
Jumper/Reflex - Steven Gould
#1 Jumper (1992) Began: October 19? | Finished: October 20?
#2 Reflex (2004) Began: October 21? | Finished: October 21?
[12/6] So I go to 1/2 price burger night, reading a book (one of the Katherine Kerrs, I believe), and there's this guy there, Walter, also reading a book. He strikes up a conversation with me about books and tells me this long involved story about Jumper, Reflex, and Steven Gould, with whom he had some e-mail conversation. Walter had read Jumper as a kid, and it made a huge impression on him. I tend to like kids' books, so I thought I'd try to find it, if I could remember the name. The next time I go to the library I'm browsing the New Books, and what do I see but Reflex by Steven Gould! Right, so my library has a very broad definition of 'New'. I found Jumper in the regular stacks and took them both home with me.
Reflex is a sequel to Jumper, and although 12 years passed between the writing of the two books, there doesn't feel like a big gap in the story (though according to one of the reviews on Amazon, 12 years have passed in the story as well). David Rice escapes his abusive father when he discovers he can teleport. Jumper is the story of him figuring out how it works, how to live with it, and how to fit someone else in his new life. Reflex starts with David getting kidnapped by bad guys, and then David's wife discovers she can jump too. Much adventure ensues as she manages to rescue him. Good books. Worth the read.
Key trilogy - Nora Roberts
#1 Key of Light (2003) Began: October 15? | Finished: October 16?
#2 Key of Knowledge (2003) Began: October 15? | Finished: October 15?
#3 Key of Valor (2004) Began: October 15? | Finished: October 16?
[12/6] Nora Roberts is not typically an author I read, but a friend loaned me this trilogy because of three elements it contains:
- Fantasy
- Romance
- A librarian
Three random women in a small town are brought together and offered a quest to free the souls of three sisters. The women are all about to quit/get fired from their jobs, all three dream of opening their own business, and the quest pays. Upfront, and on completion. So of course they all accept. Each woman has to find a key, and when all three keys are found the sisters will be free. Of course, one of the women just happens to have a brother who lives in town, who happens to fall in love with one of the other women. And he of course has two best friends, one of whom has a romantic past with the guy's sister, which ended badly. You could probably write the book yourself. But it's easier (and more fun) to read it.
The New Work of Dogs: Tending to Life, Love, and Family - Jon Katz (2003)
Began: October 15 | Finished: November 20
[12/5] One day we will have a dog. I mentioned this to a friend, and she told me to read this book before that day comes. As the subtitle suggests, it's about the emotional work with their people that many/most modern dogs perform. I believe the premise is that understanding the reasons why people (and you) want a dog, and understanding the nature, abilities, and limits of dogs, will increase the chances that you and your dog will have a positive, solid relationships that is good for the both of the you. The book is easy to read and well worth it.
Codex Alera series - Jim Butcher
#1 Furies of Calderon (2004) Began: October 10? | Finished: October 13?
#2 Academ's Fury (2005) Began: October 20? | Finished: October 21?
#3 Cursor's Fury (est. Dec 2006) Began: | Finished:
[12/5] These were great! I've never heard of this guy, though he has a long running detective/fantasy series, The Dresden Files ("the story of Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, Chicago's first (and only) Wizard P.I." - from Jim Butcher's website). These ones are straight fantasy (if that isn't an oxymoron). I saw the first book on the New Books shelf at the library. The title and cover art caught my eye, and the picture and bio of the author made me definitely want to read it. He looks/sounds like so many people I went to school with. And then - quite surprising me, I admit it - the book was damn good. I was fortunate that the second book was already out. It was just as good. Now apparently I have to wait a whole year for the next one.
The Outstretched Shadow - Mercedes Lackey & James Mallory (2003)
Began: October 14 | Finished: gave up
[12/5] This was so bad. I like Mercedes Lackey. I admit that her writing isn't exactly elevated, and her books aimed at a younger audience don't hold a whole lot of interest for me. But the stories are usually pretty good. This one - I'm wondering if this Mallory guy wrote it and she just put her name on it. The story took forever to get going. The book is several hundred pages too long. It has potential, the premise is decent, but it just didn't go anywhere.
Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Lucia Graves (translator) (2004)
Began: October 7 | Finished:
[12/5] A recommendation from Raff. Since he doesn't read or really like many fiction books these days, I figure it's worth a try. It takes a while to get into it though (Raff also says this), and I had too much else going on. It was all right, but I read over a hundred pages and wasn't drawn in all that much. I couldn't identify with any of the characters.
The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins (1989)
Began: October 11? | Finished:
[12/5] My next commuting book, except that the Express started publishing daily Sudoku puzzles, which I do instead of enriching my mind and broadening my horizons through reading non-fiction books. I picked this book up once in Ann Arbor, or one very similar to it, and I didn't finish it then, either. I still carry it with me back and forth to work every day though.
Heralds of Valdemar series - Mercedes Lackey
#1 Arrows of the Queen (1987) Began: October 10 | Finished: October 11
#2 Arrow's Flight (1987) Began: October 11 | Finished: October 12
[12/5] My local library system doesn't have the third book in the trilogy, Arrow's Fall, if you can believe it. How wrong is that? I used to own these, but since I purged them from the collection I don't allow myself to own them again. As a result, I still haven't finished my re-read of this series. I really should get it out of one of the neighboring library systems. But at any rate -- these are great reads, especially if you first encountered them at exactly the right age.
Deverry novels - Katharine Kerr
#1 Daggerspell (1986) Began: September 22? | Finished: September ?
#2 Darkspell (1987) Began: October ? | Finished: October ?
#3 The Bristling Wood (1989) Began: October ? | Finished: October ?
#4 The Dragon Revenant (1990) Began: October ? | Finished: October ?
#5 A Time of Exile (1991) Began: October ? | Finished: October ?
#6 A Time of Omens (1992) Began: October ? | Finished: October ?
#7 Days of Blood and Fire (1993) Began: October ? | Finished: October ?
#8 Days of Air and Darkness (1994) Began: November 1 | Finished: November 4?
#9 The Red Wyvern (1997) Begin: November 30? | Finished: December 3
[11/30] I spent much of October re-reading Katharine Kerr. I stopped after Days of Air and Darkness due to discovering David Weber (see the November 2005 page, once I get around to posting it). Kerr is a reliable re-read about every 2 years. All the series together (it's technically divided into a number of different series, but the story is continuous throughout) are 11 books now, I believe.
The premise is reincarnation. Once upon a time, there was a prince who did a stupid thing, was a contributing cause of his love's death, and swore a vow to set things right. Setting things right takes a number of lifetimes (he stays alive while the other players are reborn again and again). 'Current day' (typical fantasy medieval-type [I'm very iffy on historical eras] world) is the lifetime during which he does finally set things right; after that the series continues with other characters.
The books have flashbacks of everyone's previous lives throughout. I rather enjoy that aspect of it. The flashbacks are quite extensive, sometimes almost the length of the entire book. Some of the books I enjoy re-reading just for the past life story it tells.
I just looked up Katharine Kerr's website to get the original publishing dates for the books, and there's a new one coming out! April 2006 in the UK. I didn't see a US date. Very exciting. I better finish re-reading the series.
[12/20] The difficulty here is that I loaned the next book, The Black Raven, to a friend and I never got it back. I read The Red Wyveryn, but now I'm stuck on either finding Raven or skipping it and moving on to The Fire Dragon.
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