What Am I Reading Wednesday - November 24

Life continues to be hectic, only now there's 37 percent less year left than the last time I managed to post. How is it nearly December already?


What I Finished Reading This Week

The Master of Blacktower – Barbara Michaels
I have read this book more than any other. Everything about it just works for me: the length, the pace, the setting, the atmosphere, the prose, the dialogue, the clever plot, the sly humor, the genre references, the protagonist who's very realistically constrained by time period and situation, but is still a complete badass. I've read almost a dozen other books by this author, but none of them even come close.


The White Raven – Diana L. Paxson
Meanwhile, The White Raven is probably tied with The Lord of the Rings for the book I've read the second most number of times in my life. After Rosalind Miles' Isolde (on which, more below) left me hungry for a good retelling of Tristan and Iseult, I picked Raven up for the first time in about 15 years, hoping it would still hold up.

It did.( Read more... )

What I Finished Reading At Some Point In The Past Four Months

Star Mother – Charlie Holmberg
Star Mother begins with a (ahem) stellar premise: carefree protagonist is suddenly chosen by the world’s supreme deity, the Sun, to bear his child. The child will become a star whose magic helps maintain the universe. The protagonist will die giving birth to her. The first chapter is also wonderful: we get a real sense of the protagonist, her world, and her place in it.

Unfortunately, the rest doesn’t hold up( Read more... )

I don’t regret reading this; indeed, I really enjoyed the terrestrial worldbuilding. But barring its becoming an amazon freebie some day, I doubt I’ll read the sequel.

Isolde – Rosalind Miles
This book is not good. It is objectively not good. I should have really hated it. But...I didn’t?( Read more... )

What I Am Currently Reading

In A Dark Wood – Michael Cadnum
One of my traditional November/December reads.

League of Dragons – Naomi Novik
This series is another seasonal read.

Rebel Buddha – Dzogchen Ponlop
Incisively written, with not a wasted word.

A Hat Full of Sky – Terry Pratchett
The Nac Mac Feegle books are another traditional winter read for me.


What I’m Reading Next

Nothing this week, as I continue to chip away at the TBR backlog.


What I Still Have Left To Reviewt

The Crone ・ The Kingdoms ・ The Last Graduate ・ Senlin Ascends ・ 最遊記ＲＥＬＯＡＤ ＢＬＡＳＴ (1) ・ 最遊記ＲＥＬＯＡＤ ＢＬＡＳＴ (2) ・ 最遊記ＲＥＬＯＡＤ ＢＬＡＳＴ (3)


これで以上です。