Seven books between 9-16 September!
Two of these books were technically on my unread pile but they're not actually on the image. One because I started it before my last birthday and the second because I thought I'd deleted it from my Kindle.
The one I thought I'd deleted was Malicious by James Raven. I have a habit of doing that, getting cheap or free Kindle books and then getting rid of them when I feel overwhelmed by my unread pile. This one was actually rather good, so I'm glad I did get to read it!
Malicious is about a policewoman who is addicted to online porn. And a hacker who specialises into watching people on their webcams and then blackmailing them. It's a nice little mystery and the internet aspects were well done; it wasn't a "down with the kids" sort of thing. I quite enjoyed it.
The one I started before my last birthday was It. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I read it as part of my Stephen King project, and there will be a longer post on it posted shortly
(I'm actually writing them both at the same time, and I finished that one first).
My unread pile has jumped up like crazy this week. This is because of a Gaiman Humble Bundle - 18 manuscripts on a pay-what-you-like basis! You got the basic bundle for whatever you wanted, unlocked a few more by paying more than average, and unlocked a couple more by paying over $15. The average was up to $18 when I got around to it, so I just paid a round $20. Actually, I paid that twice because it stalled on the paypal option and I didn't think it had gone through. Hopefully they'll reply to my emails with a refund soon.
I've read of those books so far; Manuscript found in a Milk Bottle, which is a cute short story, and Love Fishie, which is Neil Gaiman's kid's vanity project, and about as a good as that implies.
Trigger Warning wasn't actually part of the Humble Bundle. It's an audiobook, written and read by Neil Gaiman, of short stories. I liked them, and I'm getting a lot better at concentrating on new audiobooks.
The Illustrated Mum and Stargirl are both old favourites. I listened to Stargirl as an audiobook for the first time, and I only wish the reader had sounded a bit less like Gilbert Gottfried. He had a kind of annoying nasal voice totally unlike how I imagined Leo sounding.
Although Stargirl has a sequel I prefer to pretend that it doesn't exist. I feel that the reason the book works is because Stargirl is other, to us as well as to Leo. When we get inside her head the magic disappears.
The Illustrated Mum I read on Kindle. I did look at the audiobook, but the reader was doing annoying little kid voice, and, as you might expect, the illustrations are quite plot relevant.
It's from the point of view of Dolphin, daughter of Marigold and younger sister of Star. Marigold has a lot of tattoos and manic-depression/bipolar disorder. She was also a foster child, -
- and while googling I have discovered that there is a TV adaptation! Excitement! I am watching that this afternoon! It's on youtube!
- anyway, yes, Marigold was a foster child following her own mother's abuse. She's also developed a fear of hospitals, following some horrible experiences.
All of this means that Star and Dolphin cover for Marigold when she has one of her "spells"; they don't want to be taken into care, and nor do they want to send her to hospital. So they just cope.
As the older sister, this mostly falls on Star and we enter the story at the point at which she is becoming sick of it.
Reading it as an adult (instead of a teenager) there are a few things I didn't pick up on before. Mostly, how utterly unlikely it is that Dolphin should - spoiler alert - find her father so easily.
And it turns out that the same company who televised The Illustrated Mum also did Double Act. Squee!
I also never realised previously that Marigold's frog tattoo is actually for Dolphin's father, though I think I probably did twig that Dolphin was named that because her father taught Marigold how to swim. Though perhaps not, I can be a bit oblivious.
