Against a Fine Fool; Catering to Wonder

[maribou]

A Fine Ending, by Louis Rastelli
I bought this novel because it was set in Montreal in the 90s and that's also what I liked best about it. But the matter of fact prose is somehow rather tasty as well.
(126/275, 5/75)

To Play the Fool, by Laurie R. King
The language, setting, and characterization in this mystery were really enjoyable. The plot felt like a bit of a pretext but I didn't mind much because I was caught up in the story anyway.
(127/275, 6/75)

Against a Dark Background, by Iain M. Banks
This is very smart and very literary space opera, and I really didn't care for it until about halfway through. After which I thought it was awesome, go figure.
(128/275, 7/75)

Catering to Nobody, by Diane Mott Davidson
I liked Cereal Murders well enough that I picked up a bunch of her other books - and I've finally got around to tackling the series in order. This one made such good vacation reading that I may save the others for the same purpose...
(129/275, 8/75)

Tales of Wonder, by Huston Smith with Jeffrey Paine
Things I like: 1) autobiographies, 2) travel books, 3) religious books that aren't too dogmatic, 4) charming old men. Big surprise, I really enjoyed this short, crisp look at the famous religion writer's own life.
(130/275)

Comments

[maribou]

I believe you are misremembering my statements. I don't completely remember but I think you were insisting and insisting that I read Banks and I was trying to explain that a) I already HAD read some of his books and b) I had to be in the right mood for them because I find them rather demanding and c) quit pestering me already!

But honestly that's sort of an extrapolation from my vague memory of what happened x'd with what you just said x'd with the fact that I've read at least 2 or 3 of his books before now and probably had 3 or 4 sitting around in various piles in the house at the time we had the conversation.

[maribou]

I may also have said that I found his NON-sf fiction very very creepy, because, well, the Wasp Factory among others, but that doesn't mean I didn't like it, just that I have to really really be in the right mood.

[cow.livejournal.com]

What's the second counter?

[maribou]

Books I've owned since before Jan. 2009 that I have now read...

Besides the raw 275 "goal" I have some other (actually more important) goals for this year: get my pile of ARCs down to just a few (they don't count as books I own since they are a separate thing), get my total pleasure-reading library checkouts down below 50 and keep it there, and read at least 75 of the copious numbers of books I *own* already sheesh...

I find I'm exposed to so many books through my job that I keep grabbing the newest shiny to catch my eye and meanwhile stuff I'm even more enthused to read languishes untouched in various stacks of no! really! read this next!s around the house.

[cow.livejournal.com]

Makes sense. I have one bookshelf for my unread shelf, and if it's full I don't let myself buy books, because of exactly that--I would have hundreds of books lying around never read. Sad for the books. :(

(Right now I'm kind of failing at that, because a whole bunch of different library holds came in at once, but those don't really count. I just have to try to stay out of the local used bookstore until I finish them. >:3)