1. I’m not sure how The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman first came to my attention. I’ve curated a long list of blogs about forthcoming books and may have read a rave about the first volume there. In this one, The Lost Plot, the fourth in the series, Irene finds herself again torn between her duty to the neutral Library and the ongoing feud between Dragons (order) and Fae (chaos). Her efforts to extricate a fellow Librarian are complicated by her affection for Ky, her draconic assistant. Will Dragon infighting implicate the Library? She has to travel to a 1920s-era New York to find out.
2. I like Star Wars enough to read tie-in books. And I love Elizabeth Wein for her Code Name Verity, one of the ten books ever that has made me cry. So I gobbled up Cobalt Squadron, a story about Rose and Paige and the Rebellion. They have a mission that challenges the strength of their relationship–and their flying skills.
This story would have been absolutely fantastic if I were, say, in eighth grade. As it was, I enjoyed it moderately. Like Leia by Claudia Gray, it belongs in the crop of really good Star Wars young adult fiction that the new trilogy of movies has produced.
3. The adoration I have for K. J. Parker can hardly be overstated. In this trilogy, The Two of Swords, there’s an empires-breaking war going on. Volume One of the story differs somewhat from his other epics in that each section (serialized as ebooks) features a different perspective character, some of which crop up in later parts as minor characters. This one’s got two brothers, generals, on opposite sides in a battle; a mysterious Lodge with its own agenda; and an archer, a thief, a musician-spy, and an assassin. I’m going to positively tear into the next volume.
4. I’m listening to Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman and have perhaps an hour left. That Thor! That Loki! So much ridiculous. And I’m in the middle of the seventeenth Peter Diamond mystery, Beau Death by Peter Lovesey. More on these when I’m finished.
1. I finished Leia: Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray, and I liked it enough to set up a mental flag to read more of her writing. This is mainly due to the reference to The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin that caught me by surprise, made me laugh aloud, and led me to investigate the availability of more Claudia Gray ebooks through the public library (which turns out, happily, to be most of her titles). The UKL reference, plus the line in her biography that says she is always up for a Jane Austen trivia challenge. That the book ended completely as I expected is not a mark against it when you want to read something about Star Wars.
2. Having read all of Ann Patchett‘s novels, and counting Run among my all-time top ten, I was pleased to read The Getaway Car, Patchett’s long essay about writing. Fully aware that she is preaching to the choir in that she is addressing readers and writers and lovers of books, she explains her experience with writing, inspiration, drafts, publishing, and the lifelong practice of putting words to paper. She says writing down the stories in her head is like trying to collect a gorgeous butterfly by running over it with a car and sticking it with pins. Forgiving herself for what she does to her novels is one of the hardest parts of writing for her. If Patchett thinks of her novels as crushed butterflies, I wonder what they looked like before she started writing them! But I understand what she means, that trying to siphon an idea onto the page destroys it on at least one level. This is meant to be inspiring–and is. But she explains it better than I do, so you’d do much better to read the essay itself.
3. I adore Georgette Heyer, because the Publisher’s Weekly blurb is correct that reading her is the next best thing to reading Jane Austen. I began Friday’s Child feeling somewhat apprehensive that the volume appeared to be lacking the character type with whom I most identify in Heyer’s books, the wry or sarcastic one, and I felt the book suffered for having such a cadre of vacuous minds as the protagonists: the rakish Sherry (Viscount Sherinford), Hero Wantage, and Sherry’s three bachelor friends and his ex. But as I continued reading, I found more and more to delight. Sherry’s transformation is an utter joy, by which I mean it had me laughing. And Sherry is right, Hero does get herself into every imaginable scrape ever, but she always means well. In a blog or guest post or author’s note or something of Sherwood Smith was the first place I encountered a Heyer recommendation, and for that I am her obedient, etc.
4. I’m in-progress with Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon and it is exactly my kind of page-turner. The protagonist, Ofelia, who is between 70 and 80, decides to hide to stay behind when her colony is moved off-planet after four decades of residence. Of course, in science fiction, if you think you’re alone, you aren’t. It’s one of the best first contact books I’ve read–but I will say no more at this point, except that I’m enjoying it leaps and bounds above The Speed of Dark, the only other title by Moon I’ve read.
1. I’ve been reading one book of A Song of Ice and Fire per month since July, and although I will not ever call George R. R. Martin my favorite author, I have a better appreciation for his work. Not for A Feast for Crows, the fourth book in the series–by far the worst, and one that I’m relieved to be done with–but for his epic series in general. To be able to evolve a character like Jaime Lannister from someone loathsome at best into a more redemptive persona (not a good person, but a better one)–well, that takes ever so much skill. I guess it’s also worth adding that I can count on one hand the number of books that actually made me feel nauseous, so there’s that. Generally, I’d say that I wouldn’t have lasted reading through the series if not for the television series giving me a starting point, which is a galling concession since my house words are “The Book Is Better.” But there isn’t anything quite like A Song of Ice and Fire, and I find myself actually looking forward to book five, A Dance with Dragons, which brings back all the favorite characters that do not appear in book four.
2. A short story collection like this one, with 20 different authors, is like a box of chocolates. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016, edited by Karen Joy Fowler and John Joseph Adams, is a who’s who of current and up-and-coming genre authors that is not to be missed. Although, I’ve read the first six stories and only liked one. The rest were weird or incomprehensible or not actually genre fiction by my definition. If I have a choice between reading 1,000 pages and reading 10 pages, I will almost always choose the thousand (see Martin above). Nevertheless, I will press on with reading a short story between novels, because I’ve found this is the only way to keep myself from tossing down the whole box of chocolates at once and making myself sick on them. There’s the Ted Chiang story at the end that I’m sure will be a delight.
3. I lasted through less than 10% of The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss, and I’ll tell you why. (Hint: It has nothing to do with my low, low standards of what constitutes a Sherlock Holmes novel.) It was the metatext. One character, Caroline, appeared to be writing about another character, Mary Jekyll, but Mary and Caroline interrupted the text to comment upon the text. Mary: Why don’t you give them an example? Caroline: I just have. Only at the end of the first chapter is it apparent that Caroline has given the text to several readers who commented upon it, but she decided not to implement any of the changes–or delete the comments. It was just too irritating. To say absolutely nothing of the character that slightly resembled Sherlock Holmes in name. The end.
4. I’m halfway through Leia: Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray, and it’s delightful. I’ve read fewer than ten Star Wars novels–but certainly the Timothy Zahn trilogy–and this one ranks right up there with it. It’s a classic YA novel in that Leia is 16 and finding herself through the three tasks she has set for herself before she can be named the Alderaanian heir. In the course of these, she brushes up against many familiar characters and places–Grand Moff Thrawn, Saw Gerrera, Naboo, C-3PO, etc.–all the while puzzling out why her parents are so busy and secretive. She gets into plenty of trouble, some caused by her and some not, but the voice feels true and the adventures are fun. Plus, adopted people are pretty awesome. I hope it ends as fun as it’s begun.
This Week's Reads 