True Notebooks by Mark Salzman, The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket, Nanotech (an anthology)

True Notebooks describes Salzman's experiences teaching a writing class to a bunch of high risk offenders in one of California's many prisons. I confess to a bias for this sort of book in the first place, but I thought this was a particularly good example of the 'ingenue discovers that child murderers are people too' genre. It further confirmed that Salzman writes books I like to read.
(30/200)

Not too much to say about The Ersatz Elevator, which is 6th in the series. If you liked the other 5, you should like this one. If you don't, you won't. The puns seemed particularly egregious in this one, but I remain unsure as to whether this is a positive or negative statement.
(31/200)

The editors of Nanotech are Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. This was my gym book for a few weeks, which means I can't remember what parts I liked and what ones I was indifferent to. At least not as well as I normally would. The first story in the book was the short version of Greg Bear's Blood Music, which novel I love. The last story in the book, and another one called 'Remember'd Kisses', particularly stuck with me, and I think Kathleen Ann Goonan's story was also exceptionally good. But there wasn't anything in there I hated, and most of the stories were excellent.
(32/200)

The Laws of Evening, by Mary Yukari Waters; The Hidden World, by Alison Baird

The Laws of Evening is a collection of short stories that resembles a prism. The narrative voice is quite detached, even when it shifts to the first person. The stories are delicate, considered, elegant, much like the characters and encounters they describe.
(33/200)

The Hidden World is a fun fantasy novel (another gym book) aimed at the 10-15 set. It takes place in Newfoundland and draws heavily on Celtic mythology. I really found it a bit too didactic, but I might not have minded the endless pedagogical paragraphs at all if I'd read it in one comfortable sitting instead of while working out. I really need gripping stories when I'm exercising.
(34/200)