![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Halloween Books!
Oct. 31st, 2024 01:14 pmHave some books! I was just talking about books with a coworker so here's some more book talk for y'all!
Finished Reading Recently
I finally _finally_ after thirty-five years on this earth, have gotten around to reading any Lois McMaster Bujould. Her stuff is good, it turns out! Miles Vorkosigan is a delight! I read The Warrior Apprentice and then Shards of Honor because I am trying to follow her reading order of "approximately in universe-chronological order", but not quite landing it. About halfway through Warrior Apprentice, I was delighted to realize that this was just a big ol' con game! Of course I was rooting for Miles to win and excited to see how things would get Much Worse before he did! Shards of Honor I found less inherently delightful (especially as I am obviously spoiled for some plot points because it comes chronologically before Warrior Apprentice) but I enjoyed hanging out with all relevant parties and I actually really liked reading them in the order I did, partly prepared for and partly to give context to the later book.
I will throw out a content warning for rape/sexual violence as a minor plot point in Warrior Apprentice and a more major one in Shards of Honor. It's not that I won't read books that have rape in them, but I do like to know ahead of time what I'm getting into (and I prefer books that...you know...don't.) If you want/need more details about that, feel free to ask me (and heck, if you ever want to read a book I mentioned here and want to know about specific content warnings, I am always happy to share!)
I mentioned last post needing to finish Catherynne Valente's The Past Is Red before it poofed...and I did not succeed! I was so annoyed at myself! But I put in a hold request for a paper copy (I am finding physical books come to me faster than digital when the library has both, even with the few days wait time as they travel through the Minuteman) and received that and managed to finish it up a few nights ago. I think I actually really liked it, even though it feels more "literary" and metaphorical than most of the straightforward genre plots I normally read. I want to digest it a bit more and then maybe read it again now that I have the whole story in my head, to be able to actually see all the connections and know what happens.
I did indeed receive Richard Osman's The Man Who Died Twice which I found just as enjoyable as the first Thursday Murder Club book. These are extremely charming murder mysteries, with a satisfying mostly-black-and-white morality where the bad guys get their comuppance and the good guys get their happily-ever-afters, even if bad stuff happens along the way. Fluffy in all the best ways, funny as hell, excessively charming.
Currently Reading
Right now I am halfway through Pretties, Scott Westerfield's sequel to Uglies. I am...I am not enjoying it as much as everyone around me loves it, and I'm feeling a little badly about that. I think I am just....exhausted by how teenaged everyone is, which yeah, obviously, it's a young adult novel about teenagers. The world is designed so that most of everyone in it is inspid and on the one hand, it's written excellently to the brief, but on the other hand, I do not think I like the brief very much. I'm still enjoying it enough to keep going, but I feel disappointed that this is something a lot of people find amazing and I'm not with them there. (this is absolutely an invitation for people who love the series to send me their enthusiasm, although preferably without spoilers/holding off on sharing until I've finished the quadrilogy.)
Reading in the Future
I am currently in possession of or on hold for:
Both Orphan's Tales books (Cat Valente)
Space Opera (Cat Valente)
RootlessUprooted (Naomi Novik --which I have heard also carries a CW for sexual violence)
Bury Your Gays (Chuck Tingle)
Comfort Me With Apples (Cat Valente)
all of which I think I have mentioned in the past.
Additionally, I have gotten a copy of The Pairing by Casey McQuiston after SamSam recommended it --they say it starts better than it finishes, but their enthusiasm for the start was quite enough to be worth a try, especially because I do like me a gay romance.
The waitlist between books 3 and 2 was much shorter than 2 and 1, so I already have a copy of Osman's The Bullet that Missed. There's one more ThursMurderClub after that, and then I have to wait until 2025 for the publication of the fifth.
And I keep meaning to swing by JdC's house and pick up Barrayar, which is probably the correct next Vorkosigan saga book to read (given that it apparently picks up directly after Shards of Honor).
I kinda want to try and draw back a little on getting out books from the library, and give my personal bookshelves a good shakedown sometime. I'm pretty alright at paring down my shelves as much as a hoarder-adjacent book lover possibly can, but I'd guess there's probably 20 volumes that I've never read and would like to sometime. A lot of them are gifts from Alys or Shan over the years, and it seems like a good idea to read some of those, especially before Chrimbo when I will presumably get more books they love and want to shove into my face (just as I will do to them).
Booksbooksbooksbooks!
~Sor
MOOP!
Finished Reading Recently
I finally _finally_ after thirty-five years on this earth, have gotten around to reading any Lois McMaster Bujould. Her stuff is good, it turns out! Miles Vorkosigan is a delight! I read The Warrior Apprentice and then Shards of Honor because I am trying to follow her reading order of "approximately in universe-chronological order", but not quite landing it. About halfway through Warrior Apprentice, I was delighted to realize that this was just a big ol' con game! Of course I was rooting for Miles to win and excited to see how things would get Much Worse before he did! Shards of Honor I found less inherently delightful (especially as I am obviously spoiled for some plot points because it comes chronologically before Warrior Apprentice) but I enjoyed hanging out with all relevant parties and I actually really liked reading them in the order I did, partly prepared for and partly to give context to the later book.
I will throw out a content warning for rape/sexual violence as a minor plot point in Warrior Apprentice and a more major one in Shards of Honor. It's not that I won't read books that have rape in them, but I do like to know ahead of time what I'm getting into (and I prefer books that...you know...don't.) If you want/need more details about that, feel free to ask me (and heck, if you ever want to read a book I mentioned here and want to know about specific content warnings, I am always happy to share!)
I mentioned last post needing to finish Catherynne Valente's The Past Is Red before it poofed...and I did not succeed! I was so annoyed at myself! But I put in a hold request for a paper copy (I am finding physical books come to me faster than digital when the library has both, even with the few days wait time as they travel through the Minuteman) and received that and managed to finish it up a few nights ago. I think I actually really liked it, even though it feels more "literary" and metaphorical than most of the straightforward genre plots I normally read. I want to digest it a bit more and then maybe read it again now that I have the whole story in my head, to be able to actually see all the connections and know what happens.
I did indeed receive Richard Osman's The Man Who Died Twice which I found just as enjoyable as the first Thursday Murder Club book. These are extremely charming murder mysteries, with a satisfying mostly-black-and-white morality where the bad guys get their comuppance and the good guys get their happily-ever-afters, even if bad stuff happens along the way. Fluffy in all the best ways, funny as hell, excessively charming.
Currently Reading
Right now I am halfway through Pretties, Scott Westerfield's sequel to Uglies. I am...I am not enjoying it as much as everyone around me loves it, and I'm feeling a little badly about that. I think I am just....exhausted by how teenaged everyone is, which yeah, obviously, it's a young adult novel about teenagers. The world is designed so that most of everyone in it is inspid and on the one hand, it's written excellently to the brief, but on the other hand, I do not think I like the brief very much. I'm still enjoying it enough to keep going, but I feel disappointed that this is something a lot of people find amazing and I'm not with them there. (this is absolutely an invitation for people who love the series to send me their enthusiasm, although preferably without spoilers/holding off on sharing until I've finished the quadrilogy.)
Reading in the Future
I am currently in possession of or on hold for:
Both Orphan's Tales books (Cat Valente)
Space Opera (Cat Valente)
Bury Your Gays (Chuck Tingle)
Comfort Me With Apples (Cat Valente)
all of which I think I have mentioned in the past.
Additionally, I have gotten a copy of The Pairing by Casey McQuiston after SamSam recommended it --they say it starts better than it finishes, but their enthusiasm for the start was quite enough to be worth a try, especially because I do like me a gay romance.
The waitlist between books 3 and 2 was much shorter than 2 and 1, so I already have a copy of Osman's The Bullet that Missed. There's one more ThursMurderClub after that, and then I have to wait until 2025 for the publication of the fifth.
And I keep meaning to swing by JdC's house and pick up Barrayar, which is probably the correct next Vorkosigan saga book to read (given that it apparently picks up directly after Shards of Honor).
I kinda want to try and draw back a little on getting out books from the library, and give my personal bookshelves a good shakedown sometime. I'm pretty alright at paring down my shelves as much as a hoarder-adjacent book lover possibly can, but I'd guess there's probably 20 volumes that I've never read and would like to sometime. A lot of them are gifts from Alys or Shan over the years, and it seems like a good idea to read some of those, especially before Chrimbo when I will presumably get more books they love and want to shove into my face (just as I will do to them).
Booksbooksbooksbooks!
~Sor
MOOP!