Archives - October 2006

1 October 2006

Nick Hornby, Housekeeping vs. the Dirt: another amusing volume of book criticism (the first was The Polysyllabic Spree). I noticed more where my tastes diverged from Hornby's this time; I didn't note down nearly as many books to check out. Also, I was annoyed by the couple of derogatory references to the limitations of genre fiction (particularly the one where he alludes to a writer who is "heading for territory that gives him more freedom than genre fiction allows"). Also also, the editors of the magazine for which he writes his column still won't let him say anything negative about the books; though Hornby tries to negate this by only reading books he thinks he'll like, there's still at least one book in here he hated -- and couldn't say the title or author. Still, it was fun to read.

Books read: 1

2 October 2006

Patricia A. McKillip, The Tower at Stony Wood: a middling McKillip, I'd say, though I ended up liking it more than I thought I would. On the other hand, writing this a couple of weeks later, I can barely remember the plot, so clearly that wasn't a strong suit. I did like the twist at the end, and the characters, and the lovely writing.

Books read: 1

10 October 2006

Julie Kenner, Carpe Demon, California Demon: fluffy and Buffy-derivative, but enjoyable for all that. Some of the parenthetical first-person asides got kind of annoying, but better in the second book. I'll likely keep reading them, but from the library.

Books read: 2

12 October 2006

Shannon Hale, River Secrets: a sequel to The Goose Girl and Enna Burning (both of which I reread -- The Goose Girl is still my favorite), and not as strong as either of them. I don't think it would stand on its own, as a lot of it I found interesting mostly in a "so that's what happens next" kind of way. I can see why Hale wanted to give the main character, Razo, his own book, though; he's very engaging.

Books read: 1

16 October 2006

Georgette Heyer, The Devil's Cub, The Convenient Marriage: midrank Heyers, I'd say. I started out not caring for Devil's Cub much, because I found the hero's violence rather repugnant, but I ended up liking more than I thought I would, surprisingly. The Convenient Marriage is a reasonably convincing story of a marriage of convenience (gee, couldn't tell that from the title or anything), though the characters weren't tremendously memorable.

Books read: 2

18 October 2006

Scott Westerfeld, Peeps: oh, so shiny: vampires and parasites. I started reading it while eating dinner one night and had to stop and pick it up again later, because of the fairly graphic parasitology bits, but they were really fascinating (just not in combination with grilled cheese and tomato soup, apparently).

Books read: 1

26 October 2006

John Dunning, Booked to Die, The Bookman's Wake, The Bookman's Promise: excellent mysteries, which my mother and my grandmother kept recommending to me until I finally read them. Not only are they crammed full of fascinating tidbits about rare books (the protagonist is an ex-cop who runs a Denver rare book shop), they have great characters, tight, complex plots, and really good pacing -- very intense. There are a couple more I haven't managed to acquire yet, but soon they will be mine.

Books read: 3

30 October 2006

Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer, The Mislaid Magician: Ten years after the events of The Grand Tour, Kate and Thomas and Cecy and James are settled down on their respective estates with their families, when James is asked to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a German railroad engineer who was traveling in England. The investigation quickly opens a whole can of worms and draws in Kate and Thomas also, as well as other family members (I was particularly pleased to meet Aunt Elizabeth again). The epistolary story moves along nicely and is cleverly woven back and forth from character to character and plot thread to plot thread. This time there are letters from Thomas and James too, which I really liked; it adds a whole new dimension to their characters and their relationships (especially to each other).

Books read: 1

31 October 2006

Ina Caro, The Road from the Past: Traveling Through History in France: I love the idea behind this book: a chronological trip through France and its history. Caro begins in Provence in ancient times, seeing Roman ruins, travels north through the Dordogne and the Loire Valley, and ends up in the Ile-de-France, seeing the Versailles of Louis XIV and the Paris of the Revolution and Napoleon. Along the way, she provides a nice overview of French history and a good guide to many famous sites. Occasionally, her personal views intrude a little more than I would have liked (not being particularly interested in her views on the length of men's hair, for instance), but overall, this is a lovely book which made me wish I had the time and money to take just such a journey as she describes.

Books read:


Last updated 4 January 2007. All text and photographs © George Mitchell and Margaret Johnston, unless otherwise noted Comments, questions, suggestions to margaret@lonelymountain.net.