Year-End Wrapup: Books Read in 2013

Jan. 2nd, 2014 06:43 pm
redheadedfemme: (books. cats. life is sweet.)
This is a list of the books I read last year. Most of these have reviews on my Goodreads page.

Hunted, Kevin Hearne (fiction, urban fantasy)
The Shattered Dark, Sandy Williams (fiction, urban fantasy)
Secretariat, William Nack (nonfiction, horse racing)
The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession With Virginity is Hurting Young Women, Jessica Valenti (nonfiction, feminism, women's issues)
Gun Show Nation: Gun Culture and American Democracy, Joan Burbick (nonfiction, gun control, cultural studies)
Reboot, Amy Tintera (fiction, young adult, post-apocalyptic)
Better Off Without 'Em: A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession, Chuck Thompson (nonfiction, politics/government, Southern culture)
Contaminated, Em Garner (fiction, young adult, post-apocalyptic, zombies)
The Summer Prince, Alaya Dawn Johnson (fiction, young adult, science fiction, post-apocalyptic)
The Darkest Minds, Alexandra Bracken (fiction, young adult, science fiction, psions, post-apocalyptic)
Reality Check: How Science Deniers Threaten Our Future, Donald R. Prothero (nonfiction, science, current events, climate change, evolution)
Magic Rises, Ilona Andrews (fiction, urban fantasy)
Body Work, Sara Paretsky (fiction, mystery)
Autumn Whispers, Yasmine Galenorn (fiction, urban fantasy)
Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies: On Myths, Morons, Free Speech, Football, and Assorted Absurdities, Chris Kluwe (nonfiction, essays, sports)
Unremembered, Jessica Brody (fiction, young adult, science fiction, time travel)
Solstice, P.J. Hoover (fiction, young adult, science fiction, Greek mythology, climate change)
Does Jesus Really Love Me? A Gay Christian's Pilgrimage In Search of God In America, Jeff Chu (nonfiction, religion)
Tales From the Triple Crown, Steve Haskin (nonfiction, horse racing)
Fragments, Dan Wells (fiction, young adult, science fiction, post-apocalyptic)
Writing the Paranormal Novel: Techniques and Exercises for Weaving Supernatural Elements Into Your Story, Steven Harper (nonfiction, writing)
The Farm, Emily McKay (fiction, young adult, vampires, post-apocalyptic)
Haunted Moon, Yasmine Galenorn (fiction, urban fantasy)
The Last Gun: How Changes in the Gun Industry Are Killing Americans and What It Will Take To Stop It, Tom Diaz (nonfiction, current events, gun industry, gun violence)
Agave Kiss, Ann Aguirre (fiction, urban fantasy)
Nightshifted, Cassie Alexander (fiction, urban fantasy)
False Memory, Dan Krokos (fiction, young adult, science fiction)
The Prey, Andrew Fukuda (fiction, young adult, science fiction, post-apocalyptic, vampires)
The Wichita Divide: the Murder of Dr. George Tiller, the Battle Over Abortion, and the New American Civil War, Stephen Singular (nonfiction, current events, abortion, reproductive rights)
Bruce, Peter Ames Carlin (nonfiction, biography, rock music)
Skylark, Meagan Spooner (fiction, young adult, fantasy)
After: Nineteen Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia, edited by Ellen Datlow (fiction, young adult, anthology, dystopia, post-apocalyptic)
What's Wrong With Homosexuality? John Corvino (nonfiction, current events, sexual orientation, debates)
A Natural History of Dragons, Marie Brennan (fiction, fantasy)
I Am Ozzy, Ozzy Osbourne (nonfiction, memoir, rock music)
Once, Anna Carey (fiction, young adult, post-apocalyptic)
Yesterday, Kelly C.K. Martin (fiction, young adult, post-apocalyptic, time travel)
Cold Days, Jim Butcher (fiction, urban fantasy)
Origin, Jessica Khoury (fiction, young adult, science fiction)
The Hunt, Andrew Fukuda (fiction, young adult, science fiction, post-apocalyptic, vampires)
Gunmetal Magic, Ilona Andrews (fiction, urban fantasy)
Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (fiction, young adult, fantasy, dragons)
The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddharta Mukherjee (nonfiction, medicine, cancer)
Doubletake, Rob Thurman (fiction, urban fantasy)

That's quite an eclectic collection, if I do say so myself, even if it's weighted towards young adult and urban fantasy. Here's a few best-ofs.

Best Non-Fiction Book: Secretariat, William Nack. (I can read this over and over again. The beautiful, elegaic, lyrically written story of a great horse.)
Best Fiction Book: Magic Rises, Ilona Andrews. (Kate Daniels' story is steaming towards its bloody conclusion, the characterizations are deepening, the plot is tightening, and the tension is unbearable.)
Best Young Adult Book: Fragments, Dan Wells. (This was the tightest category by far, as I gave several YAs five-star reviews this year. But Dan Wells' book, and its ideas, concepts, and characters is the one that has lingered in my mind, so it--barely!--edges out its competition.)
Worst Book: Once, Anna Carey. (This is on my read list, but I couldn't finish it. I got two-thirds of the way through and realized I didn't like these characters and didn't give a damn what happened to them, so I said "Screw it" and moved on to something else.)
Most Disappointing Book: Autumn Whispers, Yasmine Galenorn. (This author used to be on my Instant-Buy list...now, I don't know. This overstuffed, tangled mess may have ruined the entire series for me. It's maddening because she can do so much better.)
Best Out-of-Left-Field, Improbable Combination That Works: Solstice, P.J. Hoover. (See the description for this book? Young adult, science fiction, climate change, Greek mythology? How, you ask, could all that possibly gel? But it does. Wonderfully.)

I didn't hit my Goodreads Reading Challenge (50 books) last year, so I've challenged myself to only 40 books this year. This may sound quite low, but when you have a day job and are also trying to write and submit your own stories...well, I do the best I can. At any rate, see you with my lists on Goodreads and Pinterest this year, and happy reading!



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Book Review: Reality Check--How Science Deniers Threaten Our Future

Nov. 25th, 2013 09:44 pm
redheadedfemme: (closed minds)
reality check

This book is scary and depressing, and will make you angry. Read it anyway. (4 out of 5 stars)

( Review with spoilers )
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The Book That Ate Its Own Tail

Sep. 27th, 2013 09:38 pm
redheadedfemme: (headbanging writer)
Unremembered by Jessica Brody: 1 out of 5 stars (also on Goodreads)

This book started out so promisingly...and was such a disappointment in the end.

For quite a while now, the trendy thing in young-adult novels is the first person, present tense point of view. I personally think this POV is a bit problematic; I've written stories using it, but it's very easy to go over the top. There's a reason the past-tense POV is pretty much universal: it stays in the background and allows the story and characters to take over, rather than focus the attention on the author's hip, pretentious, artsy-fartsy style of writing.

That being said, this book's first-person, present tense, stream-of-consciousness POV is perfect for this story: a teenager waking up in the middle of the ocean, floating on debris, with absolutely no idea of who she is or how she got there. We learn what happened the same instant Violet (later Seraphina, her real name) does. She is, we come to find out, an unnaturally beautiful, unnaturally strong, unnaturally intelligent (she has a savant-like way with numbers) and unnaturally fast person who...isn't a "natural" person at all.

( review and rant )
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Books Read in 2013

Feb. 3rd, 2013 08:31 pm
redheadedfemme: (books. cats. life is sweet.)
The Hunt, by Andrew Fukuda Buy at Powell's Review at Goodreads

If you like your vampires the way they used to be, scary and ruthless and all-consuming monsters, this book is for you. There's nary any sparkle or angst in sight. 

That said, Andrew Fukuda takes the myth and turns it on its head. Humans ("hepers") are all but extinct, and vampires (ironically called "people") rule the world, or what's left of it. There was obviously a war or catastrophe of some kind, but absolutely NO backstory is given. (I've heard these questions are answered in the second book, The Prey.) You're thrown into the narrative to sink or swim, and the author does a masterful job of sucking you in and making you care about the characters, even though there's no explanation given for the way things are. 

I've heard some people complaining about the main character, and how willing he was to sacrifice what was, for all he knew, the last remnants of humanity, to save himself and his girlfriend. Perhaps...but on the other hand, the protagonist had been hiding amongst these monsters all his life, pretending to be one of them, doing whatever it took, whatever lies and deception were necessary, to stay alive. Needless to say, this would generate some warped thinking. It's noteworthy that he did, in the end, snap out of it, at least to some extent.

Some may say the first two-thirds of the book is slow, setting up the Heper Hunt. Maybe. But the last third is a slam-bang, warp-speed rocket ride you won't be able to put down, even if you stay up until the wee hours of the morning (as I did) to finish it. I wouldn't miss the sequel for anything.

Gunmetal Magic, Ilona Andrews Buy at Powell's Review at Goodreads

Ilona Andrews is one of my favorite urban fantasy authors. The world she has created, with "magic" waves alternating with technology (and slowly destroying civilization) is a deep and fascinating one.

This book focuses on one of the sidekicks to the main character (Kate Daniels). Andrea Nash is a werehyena with an abusive childhood, trying to find her place in the world. There is a mystery to be solved, a former lover to be reconnected with, and a semi-god to be destroyed. All subplots are well woven together and paced. It is helpful but not necessary to have read the previous Kate Daniels books, and indeed there is a Kate Daniels novella tucked into the end of the book that sheds a good deal of light on Andrea Nash (and possesses some unexpected humor--I laughed out loud a couple of times). Good stuff.

Seraphina, Rachel Hartman Buy at Powell's Review at Goodreads

This book takes a while to draw you in, but once it hooks you, it won't let go. It's a story about discovering who you are and standing up for yourself, wrapped in a well-thought-out society, world and religion (and not many fantasy authors deal with religion as well as this one does). It's also punctuated by some of the most fascinating dragons I've ever seen. 

The ending is wonderful, letting you close the book with a good feeling in your chest. "The future would come, full of war and uncertainty, but I would not be facing it alone. I had love and work, friends and a people. I had a place to stand." Just great.


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Books Read in 2013

Jan. 19th, 2013 02:53 pm
redheadedfemme: (books. cats. life is sweet.)
The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddharta Mukherjee [library book, non-fiction, medicine]. Buy at Powell's Review at Goodreads 

Doubletake, Rob Thurman [purchase, fiction, urban fantasy]. Buy at Powell's Review at Goodreads 



 
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