All Summer Blackout; Wilder Tough Kingdom; Writing Reverie Comics; Naked Outer Genesis

[maribou]

Blackout and All Clear, by Connie Willis
Were these almost 1200 pages worth reading? Yes. Would I have preferred the same story whittled down to 800 or so? Yes. Go read Impossible Things first, please, and get around to these after you've tried a bunch more Willises. (I still teared up at the end.)
(40/200; 45/200)

Summer World, by Bernd Heinrich (ARC)
Do you want to read many many pages about bugs, and some other stuff about birds and trees and even the odd mammal or two? Here you go. Not the best of his books - it's a bit disjoint and even rambly from time to time - but it scratched my itch for one of my favorite authors and got me happy about the oncoming warm weather. I think if you hadn't read him before I would give you The Mind of the Raven or The Trees in My Forest or A Year in the Maine Woods instead.
(41/200, 23/100)

The Kingdom of Ohio, by Matthew Flaming (ARC)
You know how I'm always saying "Oh, I can't stand present tense, but this book is so good I didn't mind?" Well, this book was not that good. If you, gentle reader, don't care about present tense, you might really like it. The story is quite intriguing and the characters strive nobly and there was not just Tesla, but by two different versions of him... I eventually did finish it, despite my verb tense issues.
(42/200, 24/100)

Tough Cookie, by Diane Mott Davidson
I like this series, but I like the regular supporting characters better than the protagonist, and I like her better when she's around them. Soooo, of course, the book I brought on vacation was the one book (so far) where the protagonist is mostly cut off from the regular supporting characters. Doh. There were some charming bits, but as a whole... meh.
(43/200, 25/100)

The Wilder Life, by Wendy McClure (ARC)
I thought a memoir about rediscovering the Little House books might not hold my attention (especially since my attention often wandered during the boring bits of the books themselves when I was a kid), but it did! The author's wry and charming voice, as well as her frequent admissions of screwing up and/or dorkitude, probably had something to do with that.
(44/200, 26/100)

Muse and Reverie, by Charles DeLint
The first few stories in this collection were clunkers for me; I'm glad I hung on because many of the rest were top-drawer. If I don't connect with a deLint story, it feels formulaic and clumsy; if I do connect with it, it feels heartfelt and insightful... three or four of these transcended that kind of shorthand altogether.
(45/200)

Writing Out the Notes, by Bob Hallett
I've spent a lot of nights sitting around listening to musicians talk about music. This is like that. Well-told, engaging, funny, makes you hear songs differently. There are a few places where the writing could possibly stand some polish? But then maybe it wouldn't feel so homely. I am very glad I own this book.
(46/200, 27/100)

Best American Comics 2010, edited by Jessica Abel, Matt Madden, and Neil Gaiman
I liked more of these than I did last years', but maybe didn't fall madly in love with as many? I am all aswoon over Fred Chao though.
(47/200)

Naked in Death, by J. D. Robb
My officemate and my youngest sister have both read the hell out of this series, so I finally decided to give it a try. The writing is downright awkward in spots (especially the descriptive spots) and the worldbuilding sometimes feels like someone threw Star Trek and Philip K. Dick in a blender and only kept the bedazzled parts...... but wow! the dialogue sizzles! the cat is HILARIOUS! and I really did care about the characters. So, it's worthwhile popcorn reading; I'll be trying the next few before I decide whether I'm in it for the long haul (34 books!!!) or not.
(48/200)

Tales from Outer Suburbia, by Shaun Tan
Shaun Tan received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Prize the other day. "Oh yeah!" thought I, "I keep meaning to check out that guy's stuff." So I did. This book of illustrated short stories was exuberant, artful, and quietly splendiferous, and you should all go find a copy and read it as soon as possible. It made my walk to work last Thursday incredibly better than it would've been otherwise.
(49/200)

The Book of Genesis, illustrated by R. Crumb
I was raised post-Vatican-II Catholic and I took an undergraduate minor in religion. So I've read Genesis at least six times straight through, and dabbled in it a lot more than that. I expected to be bored by yet another tour through it, but I was wrong. R. Crumb is earthy, intense, and very specific in his illustrations; it was hard to stop reading. "Just one more chapter! Let me see how he does Lot's wife!" and so on. Aces.
(50/200)

Comments

[maida-mac.livejournal.com]

I am really disappointed by the Connie Willis stuff. She's been one of my favorite authors, but I'm slogging through the audio books a small piece at a time. Obviously, I think it's worth slogging through, but I shouldn't have to slog through a Willis book. :-/

I found Muse and Reverie to not be as engaging as the earlier collections as a whole, but when Charles got it right, it was RIGHT.

Bob Hallett! I dearly need to remember to pick this up. I thought about it after the recent show and then forgot.

[maribou]

Yes, yes, and yes!:)

[evrythgcnhapn.livejournal.com]

The only Willis i've read so far is Pasasge(s?) and i really really liked it:)

I am intrigued by the Wilder Life and Writing out the notes!:)

I'm glad you tried and somewhat liked Naked in death:) There are a lot of them, but you don't really have to read them in order (although sometimes that helps), and some of the later ones are the best!

And, i'm sending you a parcel for your bday, but it won't go til tomorrow, so it won't be there in time:( But, i didn't wrap it, so you can open it right away and not spoil it;P

[maribou]

Cool, Passage is one of my favorites. I think you would like both of the ones you are intrigued by. I *do* have to read them in order, because somewhere along the way I turned into a read-them-in-order person...

YAY PRESENTS!