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bookgazing) wrote2012-08-14 07:44 am
bookgazing) wrote2012-08-14 07:44 am
A Bundle of Books
Right, it’s finally time to admit defeat. I have four reviews partially written and I absolutely must write a review of one other book, but otherwise I’m just not going to get around to writing full reviews of all the books I’ve read since the beginning of the 2012. It’s time to make use of Eva’s fabulous one sentence review format again (with a little chatty embellishment from me in place, because do I ever love to talk).
Books I Loved and Found Every Page a Delight
Read ‘Kingdom of Gods’ – N K Jemisin if you...if you...just do it NOW OK?! Read this book if you loved the previous books in the Inheritance trilogy, or if you want to know more about Sieh. Read this book if you’re in the mood for an emotional, epic fantasy novel, one with a painful, loving and ultimately happy gay romance at its heart. Read this book if you’re sick of love triangles never being solved by threesomes. Read this book if you like lots of action, adventure, romance and fantasy. I would throw it at you if you were all near enough. I’m so annoyed at myself that I haven’t been able to find enough time to write a full post about this book. Maybe I’ll have time to fit in a trilogy re-read at the end of the year...
Reviewed at:
Calico Reaction
SFF Book Review
Read ‘My Cousin Rachel’ by Daphne Du Maurier if you enjoy narratives written in swift, clear prose which leave you feeling deliciously uncertain about the motivations of all the characters. Deadly, deadly literature here. This one also deserves a big long review full of feelings, because it is excellent.
Reviewed at:
Coffe Stained Pages
‘The Greatcoat’ by Helen Dunmore if you want a historical ghost story, centred around a creepy love story, which is genuinely disturbing in places and quick to read. I’d read more from the newly launched book division of Hammer after this solid debut (especially as Jeanette Winterson has written about witches for them).
Reviewed at:
Savidge Reads
Read ‘Even the Dogs’ by Jon Mcgregor, if you want to understand how life can turn out for addicts and don’t need some positive spin to get through such a difficult subject. This one is absolutely bleak, but because Mcgregor writes with an almost detached by empathetically detailed style I never felt like I was being pushed to co-operate in some kind of salivating voyeurism of unfortunate people. At the same time, when I say his style is detached, I fell so hard for these characters. Mcgregor’s signature stream of conscious style and decision to constantly return to one central event, always feels gorgeous to me and it fit so well with his subject matter in this book, without compromising his subject matter and turning his novel into a purely posed, aesthetic experience.
Note: There’s an argument to be made that Mcgregor doesn’t show the positive things that can be achieved by services like homeless shelters, drugs councilling etc as well as the hopeless side of life as an addict, so his novel is unbalanced. As he spent months talking to addicts I personally think his book works to expose a variety of particular experiences of living with drug addiction that come from people who never saw a chance of escaping their drug or drink problems. It’s maybe not so much that he wants to skew the picture of addicted life and so ignores the positive help available in the UK, more that he wants to show a very particular section of the addict population. Your mileage may vary.
Reviewed at:
Kevin from Canada
Read ‘Jezebel’ by Irene Nemirovsky if you’d like a narrative of suspense which shows a less than likeable woman pushed to the edge by social expectations. So bitter and sad. Nemirovsky is very much still one of my go to authors for when I want a reliably great reading experience.
Reviewed at:
dovegreyreader
Savidge Reads
Books I Would Have Loved, Except for One or Two Little Quibbles or Books I Really, Really Liked
Read 'Spirit Walker' by Michelle Paver if you enjoyed 'Wolf Brother' and are looking for more fantasy action drama, populated by brave characters with big hearts. The relationship between boy and wolf is still lovely. The descriptions of the natural world are simple, but effective and Paver manages to get across just how frightening orca whales can be. I think this series is really respectful of historical characters, for example there’s never any suggestion that not knowing scientific explanations for phenomenon makes the characters in this book stupid. I’m intrigued by the plot revelations. And I enjoyed seeing sections of the book focus on Renn (the female character with an aptitude for magic, who doesn’t want to end up becoming a mage).
I was however a little bit concerned about Paver’s rather traditional choice to link evil magic with a disfigured villain.
Reviewed at:
Fantasy Book Review
Books I Definitely Liked, Although They Didn’t Blow Me Away or Books that had Great Points Counterbalanced by Not-Great Ones
Read ‘Ship of Souls’ the excerpts about the teenager characters, which she shared on her website. The parts about kids relating to each other show her flair for sharp characterisation. I thought this book felt like it could have used more words overall, that some of Dee’s background information was info dumped perfunctorily and that plot development felt rushed. And the magic was probably a bit too idk maybe mystical gives you a sense of what I mean, at least for my own personal tastes. I know, I know ‘Why does magic have to make sense?’ but I just couldn’t get on board with the particular talking, glowing magical bird that appeared all of a sudden in this book.
However, I loved seeing the characters begin to get to know each other and reading D’s observations about his friends. Some parts of the book, like the moment when Dee’s ankle is grabbed, were clear and easy to picture. And the part of the plot that took part in the underground tunnels felt really original.
Reviewed at:
The Booksmugglers
The Happy Nappy Bookseller
Books That Aren’t For Me but I Could Still See Some Good Points
Read ‘The Last Dickens’ by Matthew Pearl if you feel like an action filled historical thriller. I kept getting frustrated by the third person narrative’s repeated attempts to make the female character an excepto-girl (even though the character never talks about having problems with other women). It wore it’s historical knowledge quite heavily, the plot was forgettable once I’d finished and ugh setting your novel in the nineteenth century is not a valid excuse for making your narrative perpetuate the kind of racial problems you might expect to find in a novel written in the nineteenth century (oh is there an Indian villain? Really, you do surprise me). I did like the pace and the body guard character though.
Reviewed at:
Beth Fish Reads
Read 'Skunk Girl' by Sheba Karim if you want a contemporary coming of age tale about a socially estranged girl and don't mind conflicts that are resolve a little too easily.
Reviewed at:
Bloggin’ ‘bout books
Read ‘The Artist of Disappearance’ by Anita DeSai if you like reading stories with interlinking themes in quick succession and are happy puzzling over what you’re supposed to make of individual, slightly vague, open ended stories. Lots of people who aren't me and get paid for their reviews love this one, but I thought while the first story contained an intriguing element and the second one said interesting things that overall the three stories lacked something that would have made them feel invigorating to read.
Reviewed at:
Friday Nirvana
Read 'The Yacobian Building' if you like stories which build up a large cast of related characters. I didn’t care about any of the characters by the end of the book and probably wouldn’t have picked it up at all if I’d known there was going to be almost a rote, meaningless destruction of the most liberal, gay character at the end of the book.
Reviewed at:
So Many Books
As always I'd love to know what you thought of any of these books. Agree with me? Violently disagree? Just want to chat about books? Let me know :D
Books I Loved and Found Every Page a Delight
Read ‘Kingdom of Gods’ – N K Jemisin if you...if you...just do it NOW OK?! Read this book if you loved the previous books in the Inheritance trilogy, or if you want to know more about Sieh. Read this book if you’re in the mood for an emotional, epic fantasy novel, one with a painful, loving and ultimately happy gay romance at its heart. Read this book if you’re sick of love triangles never being solved by threesomes. Read this book if you like lots of action, adventure, romance and fantasy. I would throw it at you if you were all near enough. I’m so annoyed at myself that I haven’t been able to find enough time to write a full post about this book. Maybe I’ll have time to fit in a trilogy re-read at the end of the year...
Reviewed at:
Calico Reaction
SFF Book Review
Read ‘My Cousin Rachel’ by Daphne Du Maurier if you enjoy narratives written in swift, clear prose which leave you feeling deliciously uncertain about the motivations of all the characters. Deadly, deadly literature here. This one also deserves a big long review full of feelings, because it is excellent.
Reviewed at:
Coffe Stained Pages
‘The Greatcoat’ by Helen Dunmore if you want a historical ghost story, centred around a creepy love story, which is genuinely disturbing in places and quick to read. I’d read more from the newly launched book division of Hammer after this solid debut (especially as Jeanette Winterson has written about witches for them).
Reviewed at:
Savidge Reads
Read ‘Even the Dogs’ by Jon Mcgregor, if you want to understand how life can turn out for addicts and don’t need some positive spin to get through such a difficult subject. This one is absolutely bleak, but because Mcgregor writes with an almost detached by empathetically detailed style I never felt like I was being pushed to co-operate in some kind of salivating voyeurism of unfortunate people. At the same time, when I say his style is detached, I fell so hard for these characters. Mcgregor’s signature stream of conscious style and decision to constantly return to one central event, always feels gorgeous to me and it fit so well with his subject matter in this book, without compromising his subject matter and turning his novel into a purely posed, aesthetic experience.
Note: There’s an argument to be made that Mcgregor doesn’t show the positive things that can be achieved by services like homeless shelters, drugs councilling etc as well as the hopeless side of life as an addict, so his novel is unbalanced. As he spent months talking to addicts I personally think his book works to expose a variety of particular experiences of living with drug addiction that come from people who never saw a chance of escaping their drug or drink problems. It’s maybe not so much that he wants to skew the picture of addicted life and so ignores the positive help available in the UK, more that he wants to show a very particular section of the addict population. Your mileage may vary.
Reviewed at:
Kevin from Canada
Read ‘Jezebel’ by Irene Nemirovsky if you’d like a narrative of suspense which shows a less than likeable woman pushed to the edge by social expectations. So bitter and sad. Nemirovsky is very much still one of my go to authors for when I want a reliably great reading experience.
Reviewed at:
dovegreyreader
Savidge Reads
Books I Would Have Loved, Except for One or Two Little Quibbles or Books I Really, Really Liked
Read 'Spirit Walker' by Michelle Paver if you enjoyed 'Wolf Brother' and are looking for more fantasy action drama, populated by brave characters with big hearts. The relationship between boy and wolf is still lovely. The descriptions of the natural world are simple, but effective and Paver manages to get across just how frightening orca whales can be. I think this series is really respectful of historical characters, for example there’s never any suggestion that not knowing scientific explanations for phenomenon makes the characters in this book stupid. I’m intrigued by the plot revelations. And I enjoyed seeing sections of the book focus on Renn (the female character with an aptitude for magic, who doesn’t want to end up becoming a mage).
I was however a little bit concerned about Paver’s rather traditional choice to link evil magic with a disfigured villain.
Reviewed at:
Fantasy Book Review
Books I Definitely Liked, Although They Didn’t Blow Me Away or Books that had Great Points Counterbalanced by Not-Great Ones
Read ‘Ship of Souls’ the excerpts about the teenager characters, which she shared on her website. The parts about kids relating to each other show her flair for sharp characterisation. I thought this book felt like it could have used more words overall, that some of Dee’s background information was info dumped perfunctorily and that plot development felt rushed. And the magic was probably a bit too idk maybe mystical gives you a sense of what I mean, at least for my own personal tastes. I know, I know ‘Why does magic have to make sense?’ but I just couldn’t get on board with the particular talking, glowing magical bird that appeared all of a sudden in this book.
However, I loved seeing the characters begin to get to know each other and reading D’s observations about his friends. Some parts of the book, like the moment when Dee’s ankle is grabbed, were clear and easy to picture. And the part of the plot that took part in the underground tunnels felt really original.
Reviewed at:
The Booksmugglers
The Happy Nappy Bookseller
Books That Aren’t For Me but I Could Still See Some Good Points
Read ‘The Last Dickens’ by Matthew Pearl if you feel like an action filled historical thriller. I kept getting frustrated by the third person narrative’s repeated attempts to make the female character an excepto-girl (even though the character never talks about having problems with other women). It wore it’s historical knowledge quite heavily, the plot was forgettable once I’d finished and ugh setting your novel in the nineteenth century is not a valid excuse for making your narrative perpetuate the kind of racial problems you might expect to find in a novel written in the nineteenth century (oh is there an Indian villain? Really, you do surprise me). I did like the pace and the body guard character though.
Reviewed at:
Beth Fish Reads
Read 'Skunk Girl' by Sheba Karim if you want a contemporary coming of age tale about a socially estranged girl and don't mind conflicts that are resolve a little too easily.
Reviewed at:
Bloggin’ ‘bout books
Read ‘The Artist of Disappearance’ by Anita DeSai if you like reading stories with interlinking themes in quick succession and are happy puzzling over what you’re supposed to make of individual, slightly vague, open ended stories. Lots of people who aren't me and get paid for their reviews love this one, but I thought while the first story contained an intriguing element and the second one said interesting things that overall the three stories lacked something that would have made them feel invigorating to read.
Reviewed at:
Friday Nirvana
Read 'The Yacobian Building' if you like stories which build up a large cast of related characters. I didn’t care about any of the characters by the end of the book and probably wouldn’t have picked it up at all if I’d known there was going to be almost a rote, meaningless destruction of the most liberal, gay character at the end of the book.
Reviewed at:
So Many Books
As always I'd love to know what you thought of any of these books. Agree with me? Violently disagree? Just want to chat about books? Let me know :D
no subject
(Anonymous) 2012-08-15 03:26 pm (UTC)(link)Nonnecromancer
no subject
PS How was your trip? I've been following along via facebook photos and it looks like you've bene having a great time.