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Dec. 7th, 2006 06:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnI keep meaning to use this lj to post on books I've read. However, lately I seem to be out of books I'm really interested in, and furthermore have entered a period of regression where all I really want to read are warm fuzzy books (I imagine I'll come out of it after Christmas or so). But anyway, here are some lists:
-Books I really really do want to read but am waiting on my silly D to buy (he's got this Problem that once he's bought a book in a series in paperback, he will only ever buy the rest of the series in paperback): Dzur, Brust. The Sharing Knife, Bujold (hmm, since this is the first in a series maybe I can sneak the hardback in as a Christmas gift for him?...)
-Mindless fuzzy stuff I've read recently: Far and away the best was Liane Moriarty's The Last Anniversary, which is fluffy and cute and chick-lit-ish, but better than chick lit, with awesome characters, and doesn't really deserve the "mindless" bit. Emily Giffen, Something Borrowed and the sequel Something Blue, which are mindless, and not nearly as good, but entertaining and better than most chick lit I've read, despite the annoying premise of the first book. Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Scion, which doesn't really belong in this list-- the first three books in this series, especially the third, were marvelous epic-fantasy works with interesting world-building and characters, but I found this one much less riveting, so here it goes in fuzzy category.
-Stuff I've reread lately that I really like: Emma Bull's "Silver or Gold" in After the King -- I've tried to read other stuff by Bull, I forget what now, and haven't been much impressed, but this story I absolutely adore. So presumably there is other stuff by her that I would like?? Great Expectations, which I read in high school and was like, enh, whatever, but recently reread and loved-- he gets being a kid who kind of doesn't really have a clue, and knows it, and is miserable about it, exactly right. It's almost painful to read.
-Books I keep trying to read: The Time Traveller's Wife, which I've heard from about fifty sources is good, but I keep putting it down after about two pages. Tale of Two Cities, after my other Dickens experience. Some great lines, but I haven't really gotten into it yet. Seems more potboiler than Great Expectations, at least so far.
-Stuff which the local libraries do not have because they are TOTALLY LAME: The first book of any series by Robin Hobb. They have ALL THE REST, just to tick me off. The last two books of the Emily sequence by L.M. Montgomery. WHAT?? Come on, guys, last time I checked SB was, you know, rich. Are you all completely uncivilized?
-What I read that just flipping electrified me, one of those things that there's a "before" and "after" you read it:
here. I've got to get this book, even though I have no interest in Yugoslavia in general. I may ask for it for Christmas.
-What I've actually been reading lately: Photoshop books, for the beginner-to-advanced-amateur. I'm more interested in photograph post-processing and less in Cool Photoshopped Effects. The Hidden Power of Photoshop Elements just completely rocks for me; I can see why other people might not like it (it's awfully dense, for one thing, and lacking in the way of pretty pictures) but it's like it was written for me. I also love Photoshop Wow! - I borrowed v. 6 from the library but am thinking about buying v. 7.
-Books I really really do want to read but am waiting on my silly D to buy (he's got this Problem that once he's bought a book in a series in paperback, he will only ever buy the rest of the series in paperback): Dzur, Brust. The Sharing Knife, Bujold (hmm, since this is the first in a series maybe I can sneak the hardback in as a Christmas gift for him?...)
-Mindless fuzzy stuff I've read recently: Far and away the best was Liane Moriarty's The Last Anniversary, which is fluffy and cute and chick-lit-ish, but better than chick lit, with awesome characters, and doesn't really deserve the "mindless" bit. Emily Giffen, Something Borrowed and the sequel Something Blue, which are mindless, and not nearly as good, but entertaining and better than most chick lit I've read, despite the annoying premise of the first book. Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Scion, which doesn't really belong in this list-- the first three books in this series, especially the third, were marvelous epic-fantasy works with interesting world-building and characters, but I found this one much less riveting, so here it goes in fuzzy category.
-Stuff I've reread lately that I really like: Emma Bull's "Silver or Gold" in After the King -- I've tried to read other stuff by Bull, I forget what now, and haven't been much impressed, but this story I absolutely adore. So presumably there is other stuff by her that I would like?? Great Expectations, which I read in high school and was like, enh, whatever, but recently reread and loved-- he gets being a kid who kind of doesn't really have a clue, and knows it, and is miserable about it, exactly right. It's almost painful to read.
-Books I keep trying to read: The Time Traveller's Wife, which I've heard from about fifty sources is good, but I keep putting it down after about two pages. Tale of Two Cities, after my other Dickens experience. Some great lines, but I haven't really gotten into it yet. Seems more potboiler than Great Expectations, at least so far.
-Stuff which the local libraries do not have because they are TOTALLY LAME: The first book of any series by Robin Hobb. They have ALL THE REST, just to tick me off. The last two books of the Emily sequence by L.M. Montgomery. WHAT?? Come on, guys, last time I checked SB was, you know, rich. Are you all completely uncivilized?
-What I read that just flipping electrified me, one of those things that there's a "before" and "after" you read it:
here. I've got to get this book, even though I have no interest in Yugoslavia in general. I may ask for it for Christmas.
-What I've actually been reading lately: Photoshop books, for the beginner-to-advanced-amateur. I'm more interested in photograph post-processing and less in Cool Photoshopped Effects. The Hidden Power of Photoshop Elements just completely rocks for me; I can see why other people might not like it (it's awfully dense, for one thing, and lacking in the way of pretty pictures) but it's like it was written for me. I also love Photoshop Wow! - I borrowed v. 6 from the library but am thinking about buying v. 7.
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Date: 2006-12-14 02:06 am (UTC)Kathy also recommended The Carpet Makers by Eschbach (sp?) which was really interesting... hmm... I can't say I adored it (that's usually reserved for more cuddly books, which this is not) but it was very enjoyable, in a way very vaguely reminiscent of Clarke.
On the religion-book frontier: have you read any Charles WIlliams? I think you'd like his stuff a lot. The last thing I read by him was a history of the Christian church, The Descent of the Dove. He's also done some interesting fiction which I can only describe as theological thriller. Very weird but cool too-- Descent Into Hell and All Hallows' Eve, particularly the latter, are the best. Way better than C.S. Lewis trying to do SF. Also this reminds me of Raymond Brown's Introduction to the New Testament above Asimov -- I really liked Brown and I think I tried Asimov once but didn't like it enough to stick with it.
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Date: 2006-12-20 11:46 pm (UTC)I'm finding the NT half of the Asimov a bit more palatable than the OT half, so far, but I haven't gotten to the epistles yet. I'll almost certainly release it to a new home when I've finished it, though.