March reads:
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (my review here)
- Drive by Daniel H. Pink: Subtitled ‘The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us”, this book confirms what I’ve always suspected as a writer and mom. Pink explains that the carrot-and-stick approach taken by businesses to get the most of their employees only works under very limited circumstances. Instead, what motivates us all are intrinsic desires for: autonomy (do what we want to do), mastery (to do it well), and purpose (do something of significance). This book is more geared towards businesses, but the principles can be applied to other areas.
- The Mermaid’s Madness by Jim C. Hines: Danielle (Cinderella), Snow (White) and Talia (Sleeping Beauty) are back in this dark version of the The Little Mermaid, featuring lust, betrayal, murder and madness. I was not wild about this book, partly because of nautical fantasy fatigue and partly because the fairy tale has never been my favorite. Danielle came across as subdued and Talia (even though she is deeply sympathetic) kept striking the same angry note . Snow was the one who sparkled in this book.
- Soulless by Gail Carriger. I wanted to like this book more than I did. Vampires and werewolves in Victorian England? Cool! The voice of this book is so delish, full of wit and wryness and tongue-in-cheek humor (just check out an excerpt if you don’t believe me). Unfortunately, none of the characters drew me. I’ve seen the sharp-tongued bluestocking spinster many times (and I admit Alexia’s superior airs got on my nerves at times) and Macon was just another Alpha Male (albeit one who becomes hairy and drooly at the full moon). Their didn’t seem much to their relationship aside from “You are boorish brute/waspish on-the-shelf spinster, but our mutual physical attraction is so overwhelming we need to make out right now!” Pity, because the premise and the voice were so good.
- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (my review, along with that of the prequel, here)
- The Affinity Bridge by George Mann: A steampunk detective story, featuring airships, automatons, a Queen Victoria kept alive past her time by machines and a plague that turns its victims in shambling zombie-like creatures. The plot was okay, but neither of the two detectives appealed strongly to me, The mid-book change of Newbury’s character from that of a bookish academic to a criminal-chasing, bad-guy-fighting, running-on-trains daredevil left me quite bemused.
- Kindred in Death by J. D. Robb
- Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson: Really good. Really very good. I love how Sanderson continued to put new spins on his magic systems and opened the scope to show more about the non-human races of his world. The fight scenes (using magic) are so visually appealing–they would look great on screen. I didn’t find Ruin as compelling of a bad guy as the Lord Ruler, and the ending was not the one that suits my personal preferences, but it was right for this trilogy. I’ve already got Elantris—which I will read once I figure out where I misplaced it!
- Sylvester by Georgette Heyer: I’ve been hankering to re-read this book for a while. I read a vast amount of Heyer’s regency novels in my teenage years and this was my favorite. I was pleased that the book read just as well to me at 29 as it did at 19. It was a bit disconcerting to be closer to (actually, passed!) Sylvester’s age than Phoebe’s. Instead of viewing the book as a young girl/older guy match, I viewed it with the matronly air of an almost-thirty-year-old seven-years-married veteran. Those young whippersnappers! I loved the prose, the witty dialog, the appearance of several secondary characters, the way Heyer weaves some pretty improbable events into her narrative. I was always fond of Phoebe–she rides horses and writes novels, she’s not beautiful and often shy, but she has spunk. The only let-down is that I’ve already read my favorite Heyer, so the next one I pick up to reread will be a step down!
Read any good books recently?
So at least the last two were good. Of course, my current “next” list is stronger on Megan Whalen Turner’s books (having loved the one, it’s more certain I’ll love the other).
Haven’t read anything awesome lately myself. :sighs: Been too busy. But keeping my eyes open.
Did you read MWT’s The Thief? Isn’t it just awesome? My favs are The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia. Can’t decide which one I like best.
The Hunger Games and Catching Fire were also good reads. Sometimes I feel like I’m really hard to please, but really, I do like much of what I read!
I read The Thief ages ago at the rec of Jane Kendall, my then writing instructor. LOVED it. But I’m utterly in love with Greek/Roman mythology. :sighs: As for the rest, not yet. I almost read The Queen of Attolia, but ran out of time with my other sixty some books from the library and it didn’t draw me in instantly, so I didn’t try past my second renew. :sighs again:
Eventually, need to get whole series.
Think I’ll pass on Hunger Games. I really, REALLY don’t like dystopian.
I’m a big fan of MWT’s series so just picture me jumping up and down and squealing, “YES, YES! GET ‘EM NOW. RUN, DON’T WALK!”
I’m not fond of dystopian either, so I was surprised at how much I liked The Hunger Games. Maybe, because they are YA and so not as unrelentingly grim as adult novels are??
How’s HTRYN treating you?
Um…:embarrassed silence: :twiddleth thumbs: I haven’t yet finished “Like Little Tongues of Power” to do it on that and haven’t yet managed to get myself into doing it on “In This Wood.” It’s incredibly more tedious a second round through. 🙁 Very naughty Megs.
Well, I’m in no position to be wagging my finger at any one else. Things fall to the wayside all the time in my life. Unless something is grabbing my legs with peanut-butter-covered hands and screaming at me, it’s going to be get shunted aside at some point or another!
My favourite Georgette Heyer is Devil’s Cub. I reread it every few years and still love it when she shoots him!
I enjoyed The Hunger Games and Catching Fire too. I’ve read quite a bit of YA lately. The Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy is good fun, though pitched at the younger end of YA.
The book I finished yesterday was The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff. Not my usual reading fare but a fascinating look at the lives of plural wives, weaving together the stories of a real-life 19th century woman and a fictitious modern-day one, both the nineteenth wives of their respective husbands.
Ohh, Devil’s Cub used to be my favorite Heyer before it got displaced by Sylvester. It is a very close second and will be the next Heyer I acquire and read (sadly the copy I owned is at my parents’ house on the other side of the world and inaccessible!). The shooting scene makes me chuckle, but I’m glad she was such a bad shot! I love Vidal, though he would be awfully hard to live with!
The 19th wife book sounds very interesting, but I find the whole notion of being one of multiple wives to be sad sad sad (unless the husband is awful, in which case it’s good to be just one among many, I suppose!).