In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 26th Year, Week 32/52

Three books last week, all new.  Raising Steam, The Girl Who Just Appeared, and The Steerswoman.  Two of them I bought very recently.  The third, Raising Steam has been on my to-read list for a while.  I read it last week because it seemed like the right time.

Knowing the circumstances under which it was written may be affecting my opinion, but it seems somewhat flimsy at times.  The jokes are cruder and more obvious.  It feels like the tone of the book is trying too hard to mimic earlier instalments.

The Girl Who Just Appeared is about a woman who was adopted.  The only hint to her birth family is the name and address on her birth certificate.  When that address comes up for rent she decides to move in and finds an old diary under the floorboards.  Great beginning, interesting book.

The Steerswoman is about a guild of truthtellers.  A steerswoman - or man, though they are rarer - is bound to truthfully answer any question they are ask, as long as their questions are answered in return.  The second you refuse to answer a steerswoman's question, you are under their ban and they will never answer a question for you again.  The book follows one specific steerswoman, who is investigating strange crystals that were strewn across the landscape some thirty-thirty-five years before.  Late eighties feminist hard sci-fi heavily disguised as fantasy, which happens to be my favourite genre (see Jinian Footseer).

In Which We Discuss The Talisman

Published in 1984, The Talisman was a collaborative work between Stephen King and Peter Straub.

I was quite excited to read this.  King praised Straub highly in Danse Macabre, and I'd previously read the first comic in the series of the graphic novelization, though I couldn't recall the plot.

It feels more fantasy than horror or sci-fi.  In short, it's about a boy who can flip between two worlds; our world, and The Territories, a condensed version of our world where people's twinner's live.  Twinners are the other halves of people who live in both worlds.  Jack is on a quest to save his mother and the mother of his twinner (his, twinner, Jason) having died at a young age.  The book is later tied into The Dark Tower Series, although this was not planned and, reportedly, the references to The Dark Tower Series in The Talisman were written in by Straub not King.

In 1984, King's career had taken off.  He was writing as Richard Bachman as well, and I'll be reading Thinner next.   He was teaching creative writing in Maine, where he still resides.

James Smythe had a similar experience to me, with totally forgetting the plot before he reread it.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 26th Year, Week 31/52

Terry Pratchett died this week.

The first Prachett book I ever read was Only You Can Save Mankind, when I was ten.  Then The Colour of Magic, at eleven.  Then Jingo.  Then, I think Maskerade, then I saw the animated version of Wyrd Sisters, then I spent my birthday money on lots more of the discworld books, whatever they had in my local waterstones.  I'm now reading Raising Steam.  It's the last one for me.  It's the last one for all of us.

Last week, I reread Peony in Love for my feminist book group, which meets next week.  I read it back in November or December as well, so I won't repeat what I said then.

The Housemates was a book I've had sitting on my unread pile for a while.  It reads like someone watched Big Brother, hated it, and decided a fitting punishment for the contestants would be to mash it up with the Saw movies.  Everyone involved in the torture-gameshow is a criminal, and the whole thing is arranged by their victims.  Uncomfortably gory and violent, but compelling and quiet well plotted.  The ending, when it comes, is more obvious than I thought it would be.

Fortunately the Milk... I saw at the library, and had finished it before I got home.  A short children's book, with lots of illustrations, about a father explaining why he was delayed bringing home the milk.  Definitely does not including a time-travellings stegosaurus.

I read How to Become a Police Officer: The Insider's Guide because I'm applying to join the WMP when applications open on Monday.  Some of this is inspired by Commander Vimes.  Vimes is who I want to be when I grow up.  It's a pretty good guide, which talks through the recruitment process in depth with examples of questions that are likely to come up.  I'm confident about the tests - SJT, verbal and mathematic.  I'm confident about the phone interview and the bleep test (I ran one in my garden the other day).  I'm less confident about the initial application form and the face to face interviews, and the roleplay, and the essay questions.  We'll see.  I guess if my application form is fine, that'll mean I've gotten the hang of answering the competency questions, or at least that I'm better at it.

Mr and Miss Anonymous is another book I've had sitting on my unread pile for a while.  I read it because I'm aiming to read all the unread books on my Kobo.  Then maybe sell it or give it away.  I love my Kobo, and it was my faithful companion for months when I couldn't afford a Kindle.  But now I can, and the Kindle is better maintained with a better range of cheaper books.  Plus, I can read my Kobo books on that, or my phone, or my nexus.

Anyway, it's about a couple who donate to an egg and sperm bank.  They meet afterwards, fall in love at first sight, then don't see each other for years.  They meet again when they find out that something very dodgy happened to their genomes.  There are lots of contrived coincidences and love at first sight suddenly happening.  All very silly.  Quick read though.

Something Fierce is the memoir of a girl who served as a revolutionary in South America in the eighties.  I'm glad I read, since that's an area and a time period I don't know a lot about.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 26th Year, Week 30/52

Seven books this week!

Defriended is part of the Point Horror series; a new one, written and released recently, instead of in the late 80s/early 90s.  The first few chapters were totally rad, complete with bad texting and lots of facebook references.  It got a bit better after that.  It was interesting, but lacked the nostalgia factor of the older books.

Dark Places was good.  It was one of the few books I've listened to as an audiobook without having read the original.  It was also one of the first books I've really enjoyed under those circumstances.  I find it hard to focus on listening to things, and concentrate much better when they're written down, so that should tell you something about how compelling it was.

Prep is a book I've read before.  I recently read another book by Sittenfeld, Sisterland, which I really enjoyed.  I didn't like The Man of My Dreams, which I read eight years ago.  That's why it took me so long to try another of hers.  Anyway, that prompted me to read Prep again. 

The Talisman is me starting on my Stephen King chronological reading challenge again.  I'll write a longer post about the book at some point this week.

Fundamentals of Drawing is a book I picked up on the Kindle store for less than a pound.  Excellent for the price.

Howl's Moving Castle was another audiobook.  I listened to it with Tom, after we watched the movie.  He agrees that a Welsh Howl is much more fun.  I'm disappointed that there's no unabridged version available, because I do like the original text.  Luckily, I also have the book on Kindle, so I can read it I want.

Finally, The One.  It's the third part of the original Selection Trilogy, though there's a fourth book coming out in May, which focuses on the children of the main characters from the first three.  I first read the original books when I got my kindle, so near the end of 2012.  I did consider rereading them first, but I wanted to find out how it ended, and now I know it seems silly to go back.  I'll probably reread them some day.

I feel bad about my Kobo.  It was a constant and faithful friend to me for almost a year before I got my Kindle, and now it mostly lies neglected on a bookcase.  I've made a daily habit on HabitRPG to read a chapter of a Kobo book every day, just to get rid of the last ten unread books I have on there.  After that, I don't know.  I can use Calibre to load the books onto my Kindle, or read them on my Nexus or iPhone if I want to.  Maybe I'll sell it.  It's a nice little machine, but the Kindle is more convenient and has cheaper books on it.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 26th Year, Week 29/52

Four books this week!

Hyperion I read for a book club.  It was pretty long.  About six people on their way to visit Hyperion, and what's brought them there.  Those stories are interesting.  The actual frame story, less so.

Fangirl is one that's been on my unread pile for a while.  About a girl leaving home for college and learning to interact with the world outside of her favourite fictitious universe.  Has some excellent dialoague.

The Last Vampire: Eternal Dawn is a new book in the series, written several years after it ended.  It retcons the ending of the sixth book (justified in-story) and carries on with it.

Finally, Fat Chance is about a couple who are overweight.  They enter a weight-loss competition sponsored by their local radio.  It's pretty sensible about obesity and being overweight, and manages to avoid a lot of the obvious fallacies.  It's pretty funny too.

Yeah, this one is half-assed.  I've been busy.