My non-Kindle reads:

Sapphique by Catherine Fisher: The long-anticipated sequel to Incarceron (which I raved about here). While the plot threads were nicely wrapped up, I was disappointed with the lack of character development, both internally and relationally. It was not an emotionally satisfying book.

The Soul Mirror by Carol Berg: I LOVED this book. It might be the best book I’ll read all year, and if not, it’ll at least make my top five. This strong second book of a trilogy delivers and satisfies. In fact, so many of the plot threads from the first book are resolved, I’m curious to see what Berg will do in the third book. I do know that I have a most intriguing narrator to look forward to in book 3. Squee!

Son of Avonar by Carol Berg: I didn’t like this one quite as much as The Soul Mirror. A large part of the book alternates between past and present, and that’s a storytelling device that I personally do not prefer.

Eagle Dreams by Steve Bodio: This book is about falconry (eaglery? *grin*), Mongolia, dreams and cross-cultural connections. Very well-written and enjoyable.

Have you read any good books recently?

I knew the Kindle was going to change my reading habits, and it has. This month I’ve read ten books, six on the Kindle, most of which were free or cheap.

I found Lois McMaster Bujold’s first Miles Vorkosigan book, Warrior Apprentice, over at the Baen Free Library. I’ve been meaning to check out the series for a long time, having heard so many good things about it. I liked the first book well enough to get the rest of the series, especially since Baen has them as attractively-priced e-books on their site.

Other Kindle books:

Rakes and Radishes by Susanna Ives– I was looking for something Regency and romantic and frothy, and this fit the bill until it got really emotionally intense halfway through. There’s nothing wrong with tortured characters, but it wasn’t the tone I’d been looking forward to.

The Trouble with Kings by Sherwood Smith: Fun, light, romantic YA.

Spellwright by Blake Charlton: High-concept fantasy debut, but it took me a while to get over the cleverness of the magic system and into the story. While there were lots on interesting plot things happening, I didn’t connect emotionally with the characters.

Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion by Jane Austen: Why, yes, I’m filling up my Kindle with freebies. Sense and Sensibility is the only Austen I somehow missed reading, but I’ve corrected this oversight. I got so much into it that I had to re-read Persuasion next. Persuasion is my favorite Austen. I’m a sucker for second chances, mature protagonists, calm sensible heroines, and a hero in uniform. 

I love how Austen creates small-scale and yet meaningful stories. She barely touches upon the war, social reform, or high-living celebrity aristocrats, and is content to stay in the quieter world of baronets and gentleman-farmers. Her books are a soothing interlude between all the Save the World fantasies I read.

My classics reading this year seems to have fallen into the Nineteenth Century Women Writers category. I already downloaded Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell and Middlemarch by George Eliot. Any other recommendations? *ears open*

Next up, my non-Kindle reads.

*sigh* I don’t have time for detailed reviews of the rest of these books, so one or two-liners will have to do.

The Hollow Crown by Diana Pharaoh Francis: I didn’t like this as much as the first two, but it’s not the end of the Crosspointe saga.

The Magician’s Guild and The Novice by Trudi Canavan: My interest in these books rises and falls, directly correlated to how much agency Sonea–the main character–displays. Mixed feelings about these.

The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry: A surreal literary detective story. Different from my normal fare, but I enjoyed it.

Sea Glass by Maria Snyder: Poor Opal. Pushed around, tortured, betrayed, shows spine (yay!), more betrayal… Still having a hard time relating to her. And the contemporary tone at one point through me completely out of the story. “Looking too young to have even graduated from high school” is not a comparison I expect in a fantasy, especially after most young people are shown to be doing apprenticeships rather than attending educational institutions.

Indulgence in Death by J. D. Robb: These books are super-quick fast-paced reads for me. I skip all the smoochy romantic stuff (yeah, yeah, you’re in looooove) and go straight for the mystery. *delicious shivers* One thing though—how come Roarke has all this time on his hands to work on Eve’s cases? Empires don’t run themselves, you know!

At Home by Bill Bryson: This is subtitled “A short history of private life” but Bryson devotes quite a far amount of time to large-scale public projects like the Hudson Canal, the Eiffel Tower, and the estates of aristocracy. Aside from that minor quibble, I enjoyed this whirlwind tour through the history of various domestic spheres.

The Laurentine Spy by Emily Gee: This is more a romance than a spy story in a fantasy setting. I liked the characters and premise, but I thought that the protagonists didn’t act very spy-like at times. I guess I expect spies in deep cover to be more capable of controlling their emotional responses… hmm, I wonder what personality types spies tend to be?

December is eating my brain.

Anyhow, backing up a few months here, all the way to… October? November?… here are the books I read:

Breath and Bone and Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg: Berg writes these immersive, slower-paced fantasies that I just love getting into. She takes the time to lay out her world and her story, building them up, drawing you in, shading in the illusions, really letting you get inside her story. Her books may deal with large-scale events, but they don’t *feel* epic. Rather, you get inside one character’s head so intimately that the story feels much closer and finely-detailed than sprawling and far-flung.

Wish they came with a map, though!

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins: What can I say about this book that hasn’t been said ten times over by reviewers all over? Yes, it is a departure in tone and content from the other two books, and yes, Collins chose to make it much darker and yes, Katniss’ emotional unraveling is painful to watch. I can understand why Collins chose to go this route, and despite some quibbles over the way certain plot twists played out, I was gripped by this final installment. Not the kind of book that I’ll ever re-read, though.

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde: This book is weird and whimsical and delightful and dystopian. It’s sorta like a fantasy of manners set in a post-apocalyptic color-conscious society. One’s status, job, and marital prospects are determined by where one falls on the color perception spectrum. This is a future society you’ve certainly never seen before in fiction.

Alcatraz and the Knights of Crystallia by Brandon Sanderson: Woohoo, Alcatraz (and therefore, the reader) have finally made it to the Free Kingdoms. But Alcatraz is about to find out that being famous is not everything, and the evil Librarians are plotting… something… in the Free city. It’s up to Alcatraz to find out what and why and thwart their plans. Underneath the laugh-aloud fun is a vein of seriousness, underneath Alcatraz’s bravado is just a kid struggling with abandonment  and figuring out how to be a hero.

Saving Juliet by Suzanne Selfors: Well, here’s something a bit different. Teenage Shakespearean actress Mimi would rather wield a scalpel than be on the stage. During a production of Romeo and Juliet designed to keep her family’s theater afloat, Mimi and her co-star, rock star hunk Troy Summer, stumble from snowy Manhattan into Shakespeare’s Verona and straight into the midst of the Montague and Capulet feud. Mimi might not be able to escape her fate, but she’s determined to help Juliet escape hers. This story *almost* works–there were definite moments that this time-travel/crossover-to-secondary-world was hard to swallow.

Whew. More books to come…

Wow. I’ve fallen behind in doing these. I blame Quartz, though Inherent Laziness is probably the real culprit.

Way back in August (that was summer! this is fall!), I read:

Academ’s Fury and Cursor’s Fury by Jim Butcher: Still reading the series, so no comments yet. Let’s just say that I have to pace myself with these books or else dirty dishes will pile up, my children will be neglected and no one will see me for about a week.

Alcatraz vs. the Scriverner’s Bones by Brandon Sanderson: David and I are reading the Alcatraz books to each other irregularly, which is why it takes us soooo long to get through one. These are just quirky and lol-funny, but also touch on more serious matters on occasion.

Norse Code by Greg von Eekhout: The story seemed too large for this size book. It felt as if it had gotten stomped on and sat upon to make it fit the page count. Less compact, more sprawling, please.

For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer McCauley: Sometimes I need to fill my head and heart with a gentler, low-stress, old-fashioned parenting style.  For my children’s sake. *grin*

And… September reads:

Storm Glass by Maria Snyder: I prefer the Poison Study series. Yelena is a more compelling character than Opal. But I will read the rest of the trilogy because the library has them all, and I want to encourage the librarian to keep ordering fantasy books.

How Children Learn by John Holt: One of those child development classics. Which I have now read.

NutureShock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman: Ha! People titter when I tell them one of the reasons I homeschool is so that my kids can sleep in. The chapter The Lost Hour proves what I’ve always known: less sleep does not equal more virtue. Oh, and there’s some other stuff in there, too.

Hearing Birds Fly by Louisa Waugh: A British woman’s year living with nomads in western Mongolia. It’s about MONGOLIA. Of course I’m all over it!

Captain’s Fury and Princep’s Fury by Jim Butcher: Still reading the series, still not making any comments, except to say book 5 co-inspired by latest rant. I’m going to devour that last book just the same. Once I feel safe getting it, that is.

Read anything exciting, fun, thought-provoking recently?