Rogue Arctic Wolf's Avalon of Wonder; Good Diamond Tesseracts in the World

[maribou]

Arctic Dreams, by Barry Lopez
I've been researching the Arctic actively since the 1990s, and of course all Canadians are raised to revere the Great Northern Frontier, and then, this book is a bit out of date, so the factual stuff in here was not so exciting. Kind of a rehash for me. But, oh, the lovely lovely prose enriching all the descriptions of his personal experiences and of various Arctic animals. Bee-oooootiful. Swoon. Frex: "In the reprieve at the end of a day, in the stillness of a summer evening, the world sheds its categories, the insistence of its future, and is suspended solely in the lilt of its desire." Purrr.
(141/300)

Through Wolf's Eyes, by Jane Lindskold
A perfectly serviceable vacation read that only disappointed me because I love the author's Athanor duet SO much and I keep hoping other things by her will be fully that awesome... instead of just quite good. Ah well. Will still keep an eye out for the sequels.
(142/300)

Rogue, by Rachel Vincent
Meh. It kept my interest, and overall it was a fun quick read, but I had a lot less patience for the narrator's moments of utter stupidity this time around. Maybe because in the first novel of the series, it was pretty clear that she was booksmart but not so smart about real life, plus had a tendency to let her temper drive all thoughts out of her head - whereas in this one she frequently seemed outright DUMB, and the glimpses of 'grad school life' on offer did not ring true AT ALL. Maybe I was just cranky when I was reading it. The plot was good though, kept me interested past my snarkiness.
(143/300)

Avalon High, by Meg Cabot
I actually bought this one so I could send it to my sister when I am done, because she wanted to own a copy and I wanted airport reading... it was Very Good airport reading. I do enjoy Meg Cabot, but I had my doubts about this one - needn't have worried.
(144/300)

Tesseracts 7, edited by Paula Johansen and Jean-Louis Trudel
A mixed bag - some wonderful stories, some lame stories, a relatively high proportion of those stories which irritate me because they never quite resolve into something I can parse ... but it's been SO long (years) since I started reading this one that I can't really remember which was which. I bought it for the Peter Watts story, which was very good, so the other good stories were basically a bonus anyway.
(145/300)

Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days, by Alastair Reynolds
I really enjoyed these two novellas but they felt distractingly familiar - I want to say at least the first one has been reprinted in an anthology somewhere, because I'm pretty sure I'd read it before ... anyway, he still rocks, but I think I prefer him at novel-length.
(146/300)

The Good Thief, by Hannah Tinti (ARC)
Very nifty, kinda odd. Everyone was making RL Stevenson comparisons and I was pretty skeptical, but now that I've read it - it's pretty on the money. Definitely more than a dash of Dickens in there as well, though not quite as heavy/intense as either of those guys. If you like Boys' Own type stuff, with an added splash of literary flair, you'll probably love this. I really dug it.
(147/300)

As Leaven in the World, edited by Thomas M. Landy
A collection of intellectual essays about the intersection between Catholicism and academia in modern times. Some of them were rather dry and a couple were just flat-out confusing, but for the most part it was really interesting and scratched the itches that led me to seek it out in the first place.
(148/300)

C. S. Lewis: A Shiver of Wonder, by Derick Bingham
It was very odd to read such a stridently evangelical biography of someone about whose life I am already pretty well-educated. Not necessarily bad - I mean, I knew going in what sort of a book it was, and chose to read it anyway - but just odd. While some particularly pleasing spots and thoughtful flashes of insight made up for any occasional discomfort I felt, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who doesn't have a pretty high preachy-tolerance level. C. S. Lewis may've had a gift for wooing skeptics, but Bingham? Not so much.
(149/300)

Comments

[evrythgcnhapn.livejournal.com]

ok, so she's not that dumb in the Stray? phew!
see, i told you Avalon high was good:P It's not every day (in fact it's very rare) that i've read something (good) that you haven't:P
thank for artic dreams, i think i'll see if JEremiah wants to read it too:)he really liked the Beowulf graphic novel, btw. I'd forgotten that he'd tried a couple times to read the copy of the book i have; this went over much better:P
i have 2 others of the through wolf's eyes series. i think the second and third book, even. maybe i'l read them next and send you the other two?

[maribou]

weeelll, it was more like, she has more excuses for being dumb. plus her guy is a total pain in the ass in the first one so it makes more sense that she jerks him around.

I'd love to have the next 2 of the wolf series, when you get a chance to read them. what did you think of the first one?

[evrythgcnhapn.livejournal.com]

ah ha. so good for a veg-out book, but not so annoying as Rogue?

i will send you them:) to be hones,t i haven't read the first one yet. I'm rereading a Peirs anthony, coz that's the mood i'm in, but i think i'll read that next, so it maybe a couple months before you get them..... i can't read multiple books at a time, i just get confused:P

[maribou]

Yes, exactly.

No rush on the wolf ones, I was just curious about what you thought ... but I'm not panting after the rest of the series or anything .. I have a LOT of veg-out stuff to catch up on!!

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Some of those sound nifty!

[maribou]

Some of them very much are! Esp. Arctic Dreams and The Good Thief.