Books, Too Many, Not Enough
Aug. 16th, 2012 08:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spryngI've been meaning to do a set of posts remarking on the books I've read so far this year, a lot like I did last summer, but I've put it off for so long that going through all them books is a little daunting. So I'm going to do it a little half-assed, with the possibility of turning it into full-assed if I have the time. First, a list of the books. Then, a highlight of my favorites. Hopefully I can then go back and more thoroughly review all of them over the course of a few weeks, but this way I don't end up not posting at all because they're hanging over me like Poe's pendulum, ever present and creaking its way towards my doom.
Not that books bring doom.
Far from it.
Titles marked with a * were audiobooks, which can sometimes affect how well they're received.
the Drowning City by Amanda Downum - 2/5 Mostly because this book promised necromancy and all I got was politics.
Cinder by Marissa Meyer - 4/5 OMG. Cute concept, cute book, well written.
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott - 4/5 An inspiring read, if not very helpful.
A Practical Wedding by Meg Keene - 4/5 Also an inspiring read, and obviously geared towards wedding planning.
the Fault in Our Stars by John Green - 5/5 I cried. A lot. Oh, John Green.
Soulless by Gail Carriger - 2/5 Eh. With a little time I've come to appreciate this one more, but I really wasn't expecting it to be a romance.
Educating Esme by Esme Raji Codell - 2/5 Eh.
the Enterprise of Death by Jesse Bullington - 4/5 This is a fucked up book. Good. But fucked up.
Judge Sn Goes Golfing by John Scalzi - 4/5 Cute and short and very Scalzi.
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire - 4/5 OMG. Also cute, but fast and full of random monsters and very Seanan.
the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin - 2/5 I couldn't stop thinking "first world problems."
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray - 2/5 It had potential, and then it fell back on stereotypes.
the Sagan Diary by John Scalzi - 2/5 Very un-Scalzi. A little too literary for my tastes.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - 2/5 I was really digging this book until I realized the major plot point that was introduced 2/3rds of the way through couldn't possibly be resolved within the next ten pages remaining and BAM - found out it was part of a trilogy. I was pissed.
Hellbent by Cherie Priest - 4/5 I really hope Priest gets to write more in this series. Ray is delightful.
the Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron - 1/5 This had an engaging first chapter, which is what hooked me in the bookstore, but then it just didn't deliver anything substantial.
the Spirit Rebellion by Rachel Aaron - 2/5 This was the second book that came with the first. A little better, but not good enough to get me to read the third.
Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton - 5/5 HOLY SHIT JANE AUSTEN + DRAGONS
*Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer - 4/5 My first audiobook! A book about memory and memory championships. Really thoughtful and interesting.
Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes - 4/5 Spoiler: It's the carbs. But also a good overview of nutritional science since the turn of the 20th century.
*Inkheart by Cornelia Funke - 1/5 UGH. Second audiobook. Terrible reading, but also a horrible main character. Who has a middle grade novel with a middle grade character whose job it is to stand in the corner and say nothing, do nothing? Seriously??
*Snuff by Terry Pratchett - 3/5 Decent Pratchett. Not his best.
Halting State by Charles Stross - 4/5 Stross being fucking weird. At least there were no lobsters this time.
*Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer - 4/5 Rather delightful. Both lighthearted and somewhat serious without going overboard.
*the Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross - 5/5 OMG WTF BBQ. The first in the Laundry Archives series, this is a story about Bob and computational, bureaucratic, Elder Gods-summoning magic. This is also really well read.
Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison - 2/5 Read for a book group. It was just... I don't even know. It felt like literary trying too hard for shock.
*Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver - 2/5 This one was read by the author and has solidified my stance that books should not be read by their authors. It was pretty redundant, but did leave a few impressions behind. Namely, ninja bags of summer squash.
*the Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross - 4/5 Not as good as the first in the Laundry Archives, but still full of tentacular awesome.
*Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, read by Wil Fucking Wheaton - 5/5 Holy shit. Wil Wheaton can read a fucking book. This was a good story absolutely made more awesome by its reader.
the Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf - Unrated. Pretty basic paleo stuff. I just read this to get a better understanding of some of the basics.
Blackout by Mira Grant - 5/5 Yes! The third in Grant's zombie trilogy, and fucking brilliant. Go read Feed if you haven't yet.
*My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki - 4/5 Cute, insightful, and disturbing.
*Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - 2/5 So. Bizarre. I think this was a little ruined for me just because of all my expectations. But the reading was also pretty piss poor and the ending just stretched on and on and on -
Redshirts by John Scalzi - 4/5 One word: meta.
*Matched by Ally Condie - 3/5 Eh. Cutesy YA with similarities to the Giver.
*the Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - 4/5 This would have been better if I had read it instead of listened to it - there was a lot of subtlety of language that was lost when I wasn't paying full attention to the story.
the Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson - 4/5 Finally got around to the second book in Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. Absolutely nothing like I'd expected.
*the Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross - 5/5 + 100 I laid glassy-eyed on the floor while listening to the last half of this, completely unable to move or do anything else.
*On Writing by Stephen King - 4/5 Pretty practical stuff, although he gets too obsessed with his own mortality by the end.
It Starts with Food by Melissa Hartwig - 4/5 Yes. Yes it does.
*the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - 4/5 Informative, engaging and interesting.
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed - 3/5 A decent story, although it lacked complexity and depth.
*the Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson - 5/5 OMG WTH BRANDON. The worldbuilding. The thoroughness. The surprises. I just. What. DAMN.
*Rule 34 by Charles Stross - 4/5 Oh technobabble, I just cannot quit you.
the Apocalypse Codex by Charles Stross - 4/5 I am going to listen to this when it comes out on audiobook because the reader for this series is just THAT GOOD.
*Paper Towns by John Green - 4/5 So much existential teen angst! I love it!
*Salem's Lot by Stephen King - 4/5 This was a good old vampire story. It also made me notice how much King uses young boys in his novels. o.O
Queen of Kings by Maria Headley - 2/5 This had so much potential. It just didn't live up to any of it.
*the Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King - 2/5 Oh dear god, please don't ever make me listen to King read his own story ever again. I don't know how the story was - I think it was probably fine - but King's horrible monotone absolutely was not.
*the End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov - 4/5 My first Asimov. Very solid sci-fi once you get past the misogyny.
When Libby met the Fairies and her Whole Life Went Fae by Kirsten Mortensen - 3/5 This was a Goodreads give-away and very obviously self-published. Not for me, but a decent read.
*Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson - 5/5 x 1000 OMG THE SWORD AND LIGHTSONG AND WTF BREATH AND SIRI AND OMG OMG OMG Sanderson, I love you. You write strong female characters but, you know, not strong female characters, but strong female characters. Have my babies.
Norse Code by Greg Van Eekhout - 2/5 Eh. Little focus on characters at all, very disappointing after Sanderson.
*the Shining by Stephen King - 3/5 Makes more sense than the movie, although I couldn't get movie-Jack's leering face out of my head.
*In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan - 4/5 "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Wise words. Wise. Words.
In Praise of Slowness by Carl Honore - 3/5 More of an overview than anything, but interesting.
Stats:
Most books hit the 4/5 mark. Only two got rated at 1, but six got rated at 5. Generally I didn't so much as read any bad books in this batch as stumble across a bunch which were simply not for me.
Absolute favorites? A tie between Charles Stross' Laundry Archives series (Atrocity Archives, Jennifer Morgue, Fuller Memorandum, and the Apocalypse Codex) and Sanderson's Warbreaker. The worst book I've read so far? Inkheart. I just. It was so bad. Some of it could be blamed on the narrator of the audiobook, but a lot of it was just a lack of agency on the main character's part.
I've also apparently listened to 24 audiobooks and fully come to understand just how important the reader is to the story. Because damn. Warbreaker was not only a brilliant story, but it was read by a brilliant narrator, whereas the Wind through the Keyhole was read by Stephen King and that, hands down, was the worse narration I have heard yet.
Stephen King, I'm sorry, but please never narrate another one of your books. Please.
Not that books bring doom.
Far from it.
Titles marked with a * were audiobooks, which can sometimes affect how well they're received.
the Drowning City by Amanda Downum - 2/5 Mostly because this book promised necromancy and all I got was politics.
Cinder by Marissa Meyer - 4/5 OMG. Cute concept, cute book, well written.
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott - 4/5 An inspiring read, if not very helpful.
A Practical Wedding by Meg Keene - 4/5 Also an inspiring read, and obviously geared towards wedding planning.
the Fault in Our Stars by John Green - 5/5 I cried. A lot. Oh, John Green.
Soulless by Gail Carriger - 2/5 Eh. With a little time I've come to appreciate this one more, but I really wasn't expecting it to be a romance.
Educating Esme by Esme Raji Codell - 2/5 Eh.
the Enterprise of Death by Jesse Bullington - 4/5 This is a fucked up book. Good. But fucked up.
Judge Sn Goes Golfing by John Scalzi - 4/5 Cute and short and very Scalzi.
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire - 4/5 OMG. Also cute, but fast and full of random monsters and very Seanan.
the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin - 2/5 I couldn't stop thinking "first world problems."
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray - 2/5 It had potential, and then it fell back on stereotypes.
the Sagan Diary by John Scalzi - 2/5 Very un-Scalzi. A little too literary for my tastes.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - 2/5 I was really digging this book until I realized the major plot point that was introduced 2/3rds of the way through couldn't possibly be resolved within the next ten pages remaining and BAM - found out it was part of a trilogy. I was pissed.
Hellbent by Cherie Priest - 4/5 I really hope Priest gets to write more in this series. Ray is delightful.
the Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron - 1/5 This had an engaging first chapter, which is what hooked me in the bookstore, but then it just didn't deliver anything substantial.
the Spirit Rebellion by Rachel Aaron - 2/5 This was the second book that came with the first. A little better, but not good enough to get me to read the third.
Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton - 5/5 HOLY SHIT JANE AUSTEN + DRAGONS
*Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer - 4/5 My first audiobook! A book about memory and memory championships. Really thoughtful and interesting.
Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes - 4/5 Spoiler: It's the carbs. But also a good overview of nutritional science since the turn of the 20th century.
*Inkheart by Cornelia Funke - 1/5 UGH. Second audiobook. Terrible reading, but also a horrible main character. Who has a middle grade novel with a middle grade character whose job it is to stand in the corner and say nothing, do nothing? Seriously??
*Snuff by Terry Pratchett - 3/5 Decent Pratchett. Not his best.
Halting State by Charles Stross - 4/5 Stross being fucking weird. At least there were no lobsters this time.
*Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer - 4/5 Rather delightful. Both lighthearted and somewhat serious without going overboard.
*the Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross - 5/5 OMG WTF BBQ. The first in the Laundry Archives series, this is a story about Bob and computational, bureaucratic, Elder Gods-summoning magic. This is also really well read.
Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison - 2/5 Read for a book group. It was just... I don't even know. It felt like literary trying too hard for shock.
*Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver - 2/5 This one was read by the author and has solidified my stance that books should not be read by their authors. It was pretty redundant, but did leave a few impressions behind. Namely, ninja bags of summer squash.
*the Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross - 4/5 Not as good as the first in the Laundry Archives, but still full of tentacular awesome.
*Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, read by Wil Fucking Wheaton - 5/5 Holy shit. Wil Wheaton can read a fucking book. This was a good story absolutely made more awesome by its reader.
the Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf - Unrated. Pretty basic paleo stuff. I just read this to get a better understanding of some of the basics.
Blackout by Mira Grant - 5/5 Yes! The third in Grant's zombie trilogy, and fucking brilliant. Go read Feed if you haven't yet.
*My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki - 4/5 Cute, insightful, and disturbing.
*Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - 2/5 So. Bizarre. I think this was a little ruined for me just because of all my expectations. But the reading was also pretty piss poor and the ending just stretched on and on and on -
Redshirts by John Scalzi - 4/5 One word: meta.
*Matched by Ally Condie - 3/5 Eh. Cutesy YA with similarities to the Giver.
*the Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - 4/5 This would have been better if I had read it instead of listened to it - there was a lot of subtlety of language that was lost when I wasn't paying full attention to the story.
the Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson - 4/5 Finally got around to the second book in Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. Absolutely nothing like I'd expected.
*the Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross - 5/5 + 100 I laid glassy-eyed on the floor while listening to the last half of this, completely unable to move or do anything else.
*On Writing by Stephen King - 4/5 Pretty practical stuff, although he gets too obsessed with his own mortality by the end.
It Starts with Food by Melissa Hartwig - 4/5 Yes. Yes it does.
*the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - 4/5 Informative, engaging and interesting.
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed - 3/5 A decent story, although it lacked complexity and depth.
*the Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson - 5/5 OMG WTH BRANDON. The worldbuilding. The thoroughness. The surprises. I just. What. DAMN.
*Rule 34 by Charles Stross - 4/5 Oh technobabble, I just cannot quit you.
the Apocalypse Codex by Charles Stross - 4/5 I am going to listen to this when it comes out on audiobook because the reader for this series is just THAT GOOD.
*Paper Towns by John Green - 4/5 So much existential teen angst! I love it!
*Salem's Lot by Stephen King - 4/5 This was a good old vampire story. It also made me notice how much King uses young boys in his novels. o.O
Queen of Kings by Maria Headley - 2/5 This had so much potential. It just didn't live up to any of it.
*the Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King - 2/5 Oh dear god, please don't ever make me listen to King read his own story ever again. I don't know how the story was - I think it was probably fine - but King's horrible monotone absolutely was not.
*the End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov - 4/5 My first Asimov. Very solid sci-fi once you get past the misogyny.
When Libby met the Fairies and her Whole Life Went Fae by Kirsten Mortensen - 3/5 This was a Goodreads give-away and very obviously self-published. Not for me, but a decent read.
*Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson - 5/5 x 1000 OMG THE SWORD AND LIGHTSONG AND WTF BREATH AND SIRI AND OMG OMG OMG Sanderson, I love you. You write strong female characters but, you know, not strong female characters, but strong female characters. Have my babies.
Norse Code by Greg Van Eekhout - 2/5 Eh. Little focus on characters at all, very disappointing after Sanderson.
*the Shining by Stephen King - 3/5 Makes more sense than the movie, although I couldn't get movie-Jack's leering face out of my head.
*In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan - 4/5 "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Wise words. Wise. Words.
In Praise of Slowness by Carl Honore - 3/5 More of an overview than anything, but interesting.
Stats:
Most books hit the 4/5 mark. Only two got rated at 1, but six got rated at 5. Generally I didn't so much as read any bad books in this batch as stumble across a bunch which were simply not for me.
Absolute favorites? A tie between Charles Stross' Laundry Archives series (Atrocity Archives, Jennifer Morgue, Fuller Memorandum, and the Apocalypse Codex) and Sanderson's Warbreaker. The worst book I've read so far? Inkheart. I just. It was so bad. Some of it could be blamed on the narrator of the audiobook, but a lot of it was just a lack of agency on the main character's part.
I've also apparently listened to 24 audiobooks and fully come to understand just how important the reader is to the story. Because damn. Warbreaker was not only a brilliant story, but it was read by a brilliant narrator, whereas the Wind through the Keyhole was read by Stephen King and that, hands down, was the worse narration I have heard yet.
Stephen King, I'm sorry, but please never narrate another one of your books. Please.
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