Of Two Minds

I have optimistically labeled this with a monthly name with the idea that I may actually post on a somewhat more regular basis.

The Knight by Gene Wolfe - Given the reviews I read for this, I really expected to like it a lot more than I did. But, though I found the use of the old skald tropes intriguing in a literary sense, the main character was so unlikeable that I never really got hooked.

Bridge of Birds: a Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was by Barry Hughart - I’ve owned this one for years. I probably bought it about the same time as my Jessica Amanda Salmonson phase (and some of those I still need to read as well). I quite enjoyed the read, though it got off to a somewhat slower start than contemporary fantasy tends to and the style may be a little bit of an acquired taste. But, really, how can one go wrong with a book that has extended description about the proper way to prepare porcupine so it is non-fatal. Winner of the 1985 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.

Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom by Julie Kenner - Fun and on the frothy side. The only struggle I had was with how long it took our heroine to figure out the identity of the badguy. I’d probably read the sequel.

I also read The Queen’s Bastard by C.E. Murphy, Deep Trouble by Brenda Hiatt, and partial bits of Elizabeth Bear’s Dust. I have just begun Walter Jon Williams’ Dread Empire’s Fall: The Praxis (but I’ll let that be a February book). I’m looking forward to Jay Lake’s Stemwinder and getting my hands on a copy of Ink by Hal Duncan, among others.

Books acquired in January include: Julie Kenner’s Carpe Demon, Alan Campbell’s Scar Night, and C.S. Friedman’s Feast of Souls. Also: Joyce Goldstein’s Italian Slow and Savory and Dorie Greenspan’s Baking.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 27th, 2007 at 3:29 pm by Jennifer and is filed under Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.