My recent reading seems to have been mostly fantasy and biographies – only one of which is typical!

My television watching has influenced my reading a bit lately.  I watched The Crown, which made me want to read a biography of Churchill, so I picked up Gretchen Rubin’s book, 40 Ways to Look at Winston Churchill.  I love her Happiness Project, but I’m sorry to report this concept didn’t work for me.  It’s more or less 40 brief essays on different aspects of Churchill, and since the whole idea is to present conflicting views, she doesn’t contextualize or give relative weight to different ideas enough.  There ended up being a lot of seemingly contradictory things and I didn’t know how to interpret them.  It is vaguely satisfying to have read this, though, after first seeing her mention it in The Happiness Project ten years or so ago.

I also read a biography of Mister Rogers, The Good Neighbor by Maxwell King.  My toddler is very into Mister Rogers at the moment, and I’ve been enjoying watching the show with him.  There were no huge revelations in here (Mister Rogers really was as he seems) but some interesting backstory, especially in how he developed the concept of his TV show and the principles behind it.

Over in the fantasy realm, I read a good duology, Spellbreaker and Spellmaker by Charlie N. Holmberg.  A late Victorian fantasy, it has the very distinctive feel of historical fiction set in that time, with a cool magic system and a good romance. Continue reading “What I’ve Been Reading Lately (June, 2023)” →

Happy May!  This seems to have been my month for continuing and/or completing series, with a lot of books falling into that category.  I’ve been trying to stay on top of series and read them without too long a gap between books (because I forget too much, or lose track of the series entirely!) so I’ve been focusing some reading there lately.

I finished the last book in Martha Wells’ Raksura series, The Harbors of the Sun.  I’ve loved this series, so it’s kind of a shame to get to the end!  Books Two and Three were probably the best but I enjoyed this installment very much as well, and we got to see some new angles and aspects to the world.

I also finished the Janie series by Caroline B. Cooney with Janie Face to Face.  It was…odd.  The entire series was about the aftermath of a long ago kidnapping, and this book finally brings in the point of view of the kidnapper – in fact, alternating chapters are from her point of view.  Which was fascinating, but she seemed very different from how she was portrayed (by report) in the other books.  Meanwhile most of Janie’s story in this book focuses on her romance with on-and-off boyfriend Reeve, and introduced SO MANY new issues in their relationship that were…never resolved at all.  The book also seemed to be hurtling us towards a more dramatic, more thrilleresque ending finally, but ultimately never really went there.  So, I don’t know – it was all kind of odd! Continue reading “What I’ve Been Reading Lately (May, 2023)” →

Happy Spring!  The weather is finally turning warm near me, but even though I do love reading under a warm blanket, my reading is still continuing along.  Mostly fiction in the last few weeks – and not quite as much Martha Wells as last month!

I did read two more installments in Wells’ Raksura series though – Book 4, The Edge of Worlds, and an anthology of short stories set in the same world, Stories of the Raksura, Volume One (of Two).  I should have read the short stories before Book 4, I think – no real harm in spoilers, but the chronology would have fit better.  I enjoyed both books – the short stories had some interesting alternate perspectives and filled in a few pieces of world building, and Book 4 started a new adventure that continues into the final book.  Still highly recommend this series! Continue reading “What I’ve Been Reading Lately (April, 2023)” →

I’ve been reading a lot of good books lately, some quite varied…although you could sum a surprising amount of it up just by saying “Martha Wells” – who, even though it’s only March, is a serious contender this year for new addition to my favorite authors!

My recent reads have included no less than three Martha Wells books, all strikingly different – although I think I finally clued into the through-line between them.  First I read Emilie and the Hollow World, a YA novel that feels like a homage to classic sci fi, which centers on Emilie who stows away on a rather steampunk ship and finds herself accidentally on a mission to another world inside the – well, I don’t think it’s Earth, so let’s just say planet.  Then I read The Siren Depths, Book 3 of the Raksura series, and possibly my new favorite – more for the character drama than the action, though that was pretty good too.  And then I caught up on the Murderbot Diaries with Fugitive Telemetry, one of the best of the series I think, with the main character fully realized by this point, and easier to follow than some as a pretty tightly-plotted murder mystery. Continue reading “What I’ve Been Reading Lately (March, 2023)” →

2023 is starting off with some good reading, which I’m very much enjoying!  My writing slowed down a bit recently, but I’ve read through quite a few books in the past few weeks.

One of the more unusual books I’ve read was Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back – From a Certain Point of View.  A collection of short stories, they’re all set during The Empire Strikes Back, but from the viewpoint of background characters.  So, people who are going about their own lives and stories while the main plot unfolds – think unidentified rebel pilots fleeing Hoth, evacuees from Cloud City, and so on.  My favorite was by Catherynne M. Valente (of the Fairyland series) who wrote the story of the giant space slug who swallowed the Millennium Falcon.  It loved them so much and just wanted to make a special home for them!

I read a duology by Marissa Meyer (of the Lunar Chronicles), Gilded and Cursed.  A retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, she created a wonderful fantasy mythology.  The story focuses on Serilda, a miller’s daughter, who lies to…well, let’s call him the Fairy King, and when she’s taken to his castle to spin straw into gold, she meets a very charming not-quite-ghost who helps her.  They were good and exciting books, but they also got very dark and rather bloody in spots; YA books have changed in the past ten years!  There was also such a sense of hopelessness to Serilda’s situation (even though I was sure throughout it would somehow turn out well) that it was kind of a heavy read.  Recommended, but be in the right mood for it! Continue reading “What I’ve Been Reading Lately (February, 2023)” →