September Reading Roundup
Oct. 2nd, 2012 12:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kmoIt's that time of the month. Nope, I mean that other time of the month. Not counting that book on Victorian pornography I got to read for my dissertation (Did you know Jean Jacques Rousseau spent most of his life pining for a woman to spank him?) I read a mystery novel, a short story collection, and some YA fiction with lesbians. G
ETA: Who has 2 thumbs, speaks limited French and just got her copy of Dark Currents in the mail today? This moi! Guess what I'll be reading in October.
Maisie Dobbs- A Lesson in Secrets- I really liked the Maisie books at first. I love the interwar period and I loved that Maisie "had a bad war" and her attendant PTSD and angst. But now while I still like her maturity, she's become more of a Debbie Downer than anything else. And the plot for this one felt kinda phoned in. As it does when it's your 7th or 8th book in a cash cow mystery series. Not going to be rushing out to buy the next one
Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman- I don't really go in for short story collections, but this was simply brilliant. Damn he is just the most creative writer of the age. I'm awestruck. And happy that I have finally read "A Study in Emerald" and "The Problem of Susan." And now I want to go re-read American Gods before HBO turns it into their next hit series.
Ash; Huntress, Malinda Lo- Finally got around to reading these YA lesbian retellings of Cinderella. Everyone who said that Huntress is the stronger book was totally on the money. There were a few things I liked about Ash- especially the Huntresses and the gender flip with the fairy godparent, who is a lot more morally ambiguous and slightly dangerous here. But Ash herself was a bit too passive for me. The dual lady protagonists of Huntress were much more agentic and I found the Eastern mythology inspirations more original. But I felt the endings of both books were kinda rushed and I was let down by the ending of Huntress especially. But I would still recommend them- Kushiel fans in particular, I think you would like them. The treatment of same-sex relationships is very similar to Terre d'Ange. If you only read one, read Huntress- it's a prequel, but only loosely related to the first book.
ETA: Who has 2 thumbs, speaks limited French and just got her copy of Dark Currents in the mail today? This moi! Guess what I'll be reading in October.
Maisie Dobbs- A Lesson in Secrets- I really liked the Maisie books at first. I love the interwar period and I loved that Maisie "had a bad war" and her attendant PTSD and angst. But now while I still like her maturity, she's become more of a Debbie Downer than anything else. And the plot for this one felt kinda phoned in. As it does when it's your 7th or 8th book in a cash cow mystery series. Not going to be rushing out to buy the next one
Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman- I don't really go in for short story collections, but this was simply brilliant. Damn he is just the most creative writer of the age. I'm awestruck. And happy that I have finally read "A Study in Emerald" and "The Problem of Susan." And now I want to go re-read American Gods before HBO turns it into their next hit series.
Ash; Huntress, Malinda Lo- Finally got around to reading these YA lesbian retellings of Cinderella. Everyone who said that Huntress is the stronger book was totally on the money. There were a few things I liked about Ash- especially the Huntresses and the gender flip with the fairy godparent, who is a lot more morally ambiguous and slightly dangerous here. But Ash herself was a bit too passive for me. The dual lady protagonists of Huntress were much more agentic and I found the Eastern mythology inspirations more original. But I felt the endings of both books were kinda rushed and I was let down by the ending of Huntress especially. But I would still recommend them- Kushiel fans in particular, I think you would like them. The treatment of same-sex relationships is very similar to Terre d'Ange. If you only read one, read Huntress- it's a prequel, but only loosely related to the first book.