I spent much of March and April being caught up in the book I was making for my father's 80th birthday so while I managed to log a respectable number of books read, I didn't review a damn thing. Some of the following books deserve to be discussed in more detail. But the chances of me finding the time/energy to do that? Nil.
March
42. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
43. 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff [re-read]
44. One Big Damn Puzzler, John Harding
45. Gender Outlaws, Judith Bornstein
46. Men at Arms, Terry Pratchett
47. Switched, Amanda Hocking
48. Darkfever, Karen Marie Moning
49. The Painted Boy, Charles de Lint
50. Cut to the Quick, Kate Ross
51. Bloodfever, Karen Marie Moning
52. Faefever, Karen Marie Moning
53. Dreamfever, Karen Marie Moning
54. Shadowfever, Karen Marie Moning
55. We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson
56. A Broken Vessel, Kate Ross
57. Slammerkin, Emma Donoghue (Mount TBR challenge - book 4)
April
58. Whom the Gods Love, Kate Ross
59. The Devil in Music, Kate Ross
60. Waking the Witch, Kelley Armstrong
61. Purge, Sarah Darer Littman
62. Insatiable, Meg Cabot
63. All-American Girl, Meg Cabot
64. Timeless, Gail Carriger
65. The Kiss of Death, Marcus Sedgwick [re-read]
66. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
67. Feet of Clay, Terry Pratchett
68. The Flight of Gemma Hardy, Margot Livesey
69. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Michelle Hodkin
Did not finish
In the Forest of Hands and Teeth, Carrie Ryan
The Sister, Poppy Adams (also published as The Behaviour of Moths)
( Short but not necessarily pithy ... )
- Mood:
relieved
( two more ... )
- Mood:
sympathetic
so.
trying out a new style here. something fairly plain.
you'll understand why it's green once i start posting on the book.
which i hope to do soon.
like maybe today ...
- Mood:testing
John Harding
Blue Door (HarperCollins)
261 pp
Fiction, gothic
Over the past few weeks, I've spent a great deal of time lying awake at night mulling over this novel. Hoping to uncover some logical explanation for the odd occurrences. Coming up with far-fetched theories and then poking holes in them. But no matter how I arrange them, I can never get the puzzle-pieces of Harding's plot to match up in any rational manner.( Spoiler-ish ... )
- Mood:shivered
A Song of Ice and Fire #2
George R.R. Martin
Bantam
1009 pp (including appendices)
Damn George R.R. Martin. Damn him for making me watch helplessly while the Seven Kingdoms tear themselves apart. Damn him for letting horrible things happen to characters I've grown to love. Damn him for allowing so much evil to remain unpunished and for those diabolical plot twists that make everything go horribly wrong just when I finally – idiotically! – thought it might be going right.And damn him for for making me care about characters on opposite sides of these many battles. And for having a plot that is so bloody convoluted that I haven't the faintest idea how it's all going to end. Except that I'm pretty damn sure that more decent people will be harmed and more villains will prosper.
Damn the man. I don't trust him an inch. He's just as sly as Varys, just as wily as Littlefinger, and he doesn't have anywhere near the decency of Tyrion. There are THREE more books in this series! I'm not sure how much more my poor battered heart can take. But his books are just so damn enthralling that I will not be able to resist.
- Mood:fuming
A Song of Ice and Fire #1
George R.R. Martin
Bantam
835 pp
Fantasy
A Game of Thrones is the kind of sprawling epic that will make you seriously consider getting out the colour-coded post-it notes to keep track of the cast of thousands and the myriad tangled threads of the plot.The appendices help. They run to eight pages and list every single character – at least, as far as I could tell. Among so many I may have missed one or two. Martin himself does not. The man has an inordinate fondness for the letter "T" – particularly in combination with "y" – and burdens his reader with Lord Tywin Lannister, his son Tyrion, his dead brother Tygett, and his son, Tyrek and a slew of folks with the surname Tyrell. The latter are not to be confused (but probably will be) with the Tullys, nor should they be mistaken for the Targaryens.
But, oh, what characters! Characters you'll love, characters you'll love to hate, and some you'd love to knock some sense into (I'm looking at you, Sansa). All of them trapped in plot that is more sword and subterfuge than sword and sorcery – a web of deceit and double-crosses, back-stabbings and betrayals that will transfix you for over 800 maddening, riveting pages and leave you breathless, bothered, bewildered, and begging for more.
- Location:with pip in my lap
- Mood:kittened
Salley Vickers
HarperCollins
337 pp
Fiction
Yes, I'm aware that it is March but I've been struggling to write this review for weeks. I am fully awake to the potential transformative power of Venice – not to mention extremely eager to put that theory to the test and experience it myself by say, a year's residence in the city – but I am still not entirely sure what to make of Miss Julia Garnet and her angel.I enjoyed experiencing Venice through Miss Garnet's eyes, watching the city flush her prickly spinsterish heart with emotions her staid existence had not previously offered. It was a different Venice than that of Marlena de Blasi, with less food and more art and religion – although the prosecco seems to be a constant.
( In which I give away the ending among other things ... )
- Mood:exasperated
If there isn't a link to a review or a note that the review is to come, there will be a few dribbles of thought about the book after the cut.
20. A Thousand Days in Venice: An Unexpected Love Story, Marlena de Blasi [review]
21. Palimpsest, Catherynne M. Valente [review to come]
22. The Scorpio Races, Maggie Stiefvater [review]
23. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
24. Miss Garnet's Angel, Salley Vickers [review to come]
25. The Body Finder, Kimberley Derting
26. Reunion, Meg Cabot
27. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
28. Florence and Giles, John Harding [review to come]
29. A Stopover in Venice, Kathryn Walker
30. Darkest Hour, Meg Cabot
31. Life at the Shallow End, Helen Bailey
32. Haunted, Meg Cabot
33. Twilight, Meg Cabot
34. Avalon High, Meg Cabot
35. Teen Idol, Meg Cabot
36. Girl From Mars, Tamara Bach
37. Going Too Far, Jennifer Echols
38. Forget You, Jennifer Echols
39. When Lightning Strikes, Meg Cabot
40. Code Name Cassandra, Meg Cabot
41. Lords and Ladies, Terry Pratchett
( Lots of floof and a few spoilers ... )
- Mood:
embarrassed
Maggie Stiefvater
Scholastic
404 pp
YA, fantasy
They are every color of the pebbles on the beach: black, red, golden, white, ivory, gray, blue ... These are not ordinary horses. Drape them with charms, hide them from the sea, but today, on the beach: Do not turn your back ... They are beautiful and deadly, loving us and hating us."They" are the capaill uisce, the water horses. Every November, they wash up on the shores of the island of Thisby. They smell of salt water and fish and drowning. They eat not oats and hay but raw meat and blood. They are vicious and deadly but they are the fastest horses you will ever ride. They are always drawn to the sea. If you are not strong enough, if the charms you wield are not powerful enough, if you are not quick enough, they will carry you under the waves.
( Smell the salt sea air ... )
- Mood:
pensive
Marlena de Blasi
Ballantyne Books
272 pp
Memoir
It sounds like something out of a fairytale. A man glimpses a woman's profile on the street and falls in love. For a year, he dreams of her, searching for her throughout the city. And then, one day, he sees her again. The intensity of his stare is such that she immediately notices him. But when he attempts to make her acquaintance, she gently rebuffs him. He persists. She demurs. But, curiosity eventually overcomes caution. They meet for the first time on the day she is to leave the city. Drawn to him for reasons she cannot explain, she delays her departure until the last possible moment. Eighteen days later, he travels to her home. Within a month, she has promised to leave everything behind to marry this blueberry-eyed stranger.It sounds like something out of fairytale. But this is Venice – and so the story is true. And this is Venice – and so the story is real.
( Who wouldn't want to spend a thousand days in Venice? )
- Mood: mellow
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