December Reading List 2013

It's very quickly warming up over here now that NaNo (November) is over. I didn't write anything else. Thinking of trying to get some more work done today if the heat doesn't end up frying my brain.

I can't even believe that this is the last month of 2013. And the last month this year I'll be putting together one of these reading lists. Crazy.

An Ice Cold Grave

I'm very much enjoying this series of books. Much better, in my opinion, than the Southern Vampire Mysteries series and without all the drama. This series is only four books long, so I'll be finishing it next month.

Magic Bleeds

Getting through this series at a rate of knots because I'm reading it with some big fans of the series. After last month's book, however, I don't even mind. This book is going from strength to strength, just like Jim Butcher's Dresden books, and just like I was promised they would! People picking up this series: It's a slow burn, but it's worth it.

Dime Store Magic.

Just when you think I'd be done with paranormal fiction for this month, I pull out this old favourite. Kelley Armstrong's Bitten is being made into a TV series starting out in January. I've read most of the books that the series is going to be based from but, sadly, I've never actually finished this one. So, into the pile for this month it goes!

Neverwhere.

Next on my list is Neil Gaiman!! After the huge success that was reading through The Ocean at the End of the Lane two months ago, I've been looking forward to reading this one with a group with baited breath. Not to mention, this is the book that the radio play read by Benedict Cumberbatch, Natalie Dormer, James McAvoy and others was based from. :D:D

The Lives of Christopher Chant
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This just wouldn't be a month of my reading if I didn't go in for some Young Adult fiction. I absolutely loved my introduction to Diana Wynne Jones last month when reading Charmed Life and so I figure this book will be one of the first that I pick up to follow that up with this month. These books are fantastic, even for adults readers who haven't read them before and so don't have the nostalgic value of their first time reading it.

Mistborn.

This is another book I'll be reading along with my group on Goodreads this month. I've never read anything that wasn't a Wheel of Time book from Brandon Sanderson before--even though I previously worked in a science fiction and fantasy book shop--and I've been told that this is something that needs fixing right away. Therefore, this is a book on my list for the month.

New Release - Rages & Bones, edited by Melissa Marr.

I have been watching the release of this anthology for what feels like Too Damn Long. I am very excited to say, two weeks ago, this book hit shelves.

Many people would have had advanced reader copies long before that.

But now it's free to the general public!!

Well... not free. I mean, you still have to pay for it...

And why wouldn't you, with the likes of Neil Gaiman, Melissa Marr, Holly Black and Kelley Armstrong filling the pages!

Excuse me while I run around in circles in excitement that this book has finally been released. :D:D

For those people who may have been sleeping under a rock (or who are merely just not so excited about this bunch of authors as I seem to be), the novel drumming up this much excitement in me is Rags & Bones, a new anthology edited by Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt including a list of classic stories that have been revisioned and repackaged.

Let me pull out a line up for you:

Holly Black - Sheridan le Fanu wrote an early poem called Carmilla that is largely known for its lesbian vampire content. Oh, and it was originally written in the 19th century.

Neil Gaiman - After what Anne Rice did to the Sleeping Beauty fairytale in 1983-85, I can't wait to see what his magician of dark fantasy manages to put together.

Melissa Marr - I don't know much about Kate Chopin's The Awakening, which is what Melissa's own story in this anthology is based on, but I can't wait to find out!

Kelley Armstrong - W. W. Jacob's The Monkey's Paw sounds interesting.

Kami Garcia - I've read only a little from Kami before, but with the popularity that Once Upon a Time has shone on the character of Rumplestiltskin, I can't wait to see what this author has devised for us here.

Saladin Ahmed - This is an author I've heard absolutely nothing about before, but my love of Spenser's Faerie Queene won't allow me to let this revisioning go by unremarked.

There are 12 stories in the anthology in all. Well worth it for both favourite authors and for those you've never heard of before.If you're still unsure, io9 has published an excerpt from Tim Pratt's retelling of Henry James' The Jolly Corner:

The Cold Corner

by Tim Pratt

I left home five years ago, and haven’t been back since— so why do I still think of it as home at all?

After almost a week spent driving across the country on I‑40 East, I cut north on Highway 202, and within an hour reached the outskirts of my hometown, Cold Corners. The only corners are in the endless rectangular fields of soybeans and tobacco, and with triple-​digit heat and 90 percent humidity in summer, it’s hardly “cold,” so I don’t know where it got the name.  (read more)

New Book Release: 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane' by Neil Gaiman

Several years ago, I decided I wanted to be one of these people who love being a Neil Gaiman fan. I'd heard stories about the kinds of things he wrote and thought I liked the sound of them. Most of all, I thought I liked the sound of the novel American Gods.

I started American Gods. I haven't finished it yet. Don't get me wrong. This isn't a criticism of the work. This is more a criticism of my ability to take in and understand it at the time. Just like his wife Amanda Palmer has said, this novel flew right past my soul.

It was one of the reasons why I was so excited to see Kevin Hearne's book Hounded earlier on this year being described as the best parts of American Gods and Dresden Files. And, also to my pleasure, it was a significantly easier read.

So now I'm entering into a one-book-per-month read-a-thon of Neil Gaiman's works (retweeted by @neilhimself), starting with The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

Early on, before any of us had started this reading, one of the girls in the group linked us all to this blog post written by Amanda Palmer:

"he started working on a short story, something he’d had in the works but wasn’t quite certain of. it wasn’t a memoir, per se, but a purée on a lower blender speed. some part of what pushed him to work on this (instead of the other four projects he had deadlines for) was to give the story to me, like some kind of olive branch, maybe….the story that never got shared that day in surrey hills...

neil started crafting a string of words that was like a long hand reaching out of his heart and across the void that i’d put between us. i didn’t understand that, then. i only see it now."

(read more)

So, I've just finished reading this latest book by Neil Gaiman. The Ocean at the End of the Lane came out three months ago.

It was... It was the kind of book that made me want to bash my head against a wall for taking so many years to actually *get* Neil's writing. The layers that this book took you through were utterly astounding. On the surface, this is a book about a seven year old child who goes through what you think is a memorable experience, only to find that there is so much more than the story of a seven year old to be taken in.

For those who are fans of Gaiman and realise this is his most autobiographical work, you will enjoy stepping into the story and finding out the difference between metaphor and imagination, appreciating the layers as you go deeper and deeper. For those who aren't, this book is easily read on its own without any prior knowledge outside of its pages just for the characters and the wonderfully crafted language.

I rated this highly. I thought it was amazing.

October 2013 reading list

I intend to read a lot of books this month.

Actually, there's one more book that should be here but which needed to be returned to the library when I went down yesterday. Insurgent was read really quickly this month. It was just that good. 

I know this post is just a little bit later than I usually post these, but there were some books that I didn't have in my possession until the library brought them in for me. What's truly funny about the above photo, though, is knowing how many books I have in this house, and seeing that I have pulled all but one of them out of a combination of local libraries. 

Insurgent.

5/5 - Much better than expected!
After reading the first one in this series, I was a bit wary about picking this one up, but it was one hell of a book! Much much better than the first. Enjoyable, easy to read, believable. Makes me want to dive immediately for the last one.

Scarlet.

4/5 - Really enjoyable. Can't wait to see what comes next.
Another sequel. Another young adult novel. After reading the first book in this series, I knew the second one was going to be a winner, and from what I've read so far, it is. Where Cinder was about the story of Cinderella in a future version of this world, Scarlet is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a retold story about Little Red Riding Hood. Usually, I'm sick of Little Red Riding Hood stories, having studied them to death in university, but this one definitely brings something new to the tale while keeping true to a lot of the old tropes.

Discovery of Witches.

DNF - There's at least one in every month.
Many people have suggested I read this one. Thankfully for me, I have a complete and utter weakness for books that people take the time to consider might be for me. So it's on the list.

The Book Thief

5/5 - Stunning. A book that stays with you.
Another book that too many people around me were talking about, so I just had to have a look. All I knew going in was that it was narrated by Death (look at the cover again :D). **Spoiler** It is about World War II in Germany. Just something I think people should get a heads up on.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

5/5 - Evocative, thoughtful and somehow honest. 
I have only ever tried to read one other of Neil Gaiman's books, and it was American Gods. This book is much shorter and has a quasi-memoir nature to it that we don't usually find in Gaiman's books. I absolutely cant wait to crack this one open.

The Realms of the Gods

4/5 - Lots of fun to reread.
This is the last in a series of buddy reads I have been doing with friends online over the last several months. Usually, I try not to reread things because 1) there are just too many books and I feel behind as it is, but 2) especially for books I read so long ago, it is hard to review them like I try to do on my Goodreads account with every book read. Still, its been enjoyable to come back to this old favourite, and I'm probably going to be hard pressed not to return to other Tortall books after this month.

Magic Burns

3/5 - Pretty good, still don't feel like I've gotten into the series yet. 
Another book series I started last month and am continuing through on this month. Apparently, though, this series has six books in it so far. So it'll keep me busy for another couple of months yet. Just your run of the mill paranormal fantasy series so far. Not as good as Patricia Briggs, but it has the element of post apocalyptic world setting going for it.

The Secret of Ella and Misha

DNF - There's at least one in every month.
Jessica Sorensen is a name that just keeps popping up around everywhere lately, so when I had this chance to pick up her book this month, I made sure to do it. Also, it's a fairly short novel. How hard would it be to add an eighth  book to my month, right? (Especially when I'm more used to reading six books per month, no trouble at all!)

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