May Roundup
Jun. 6th, 2012 05:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cjmarloweDoing this now before yet another month gets away from me! (Though I have excellent excuses this time: this past weekend was Pride in Winnipeg, and then last night I had a big presentation for the town council). In May I wrote 4341 words and posted one story. And most of those words were written over three days, when I was on vacation. But at least I read a lot?
Movies and Books, May 2012:
X-Men: First Class
(yes, that's it)
and
Kameron Hurley - God's War
SF world based on Middle Eastern cultures. Captivating and complex and, in some ways, deeply weird (bugs as magic!). I like weird that's not spelled out, and books that respect the reader's intelligence and problem-solving capability.
Veronica Roth - Insurgent
I liked this a lot, and it took the direction it needed to to broaden the story and make for a compelling book that's very different from the first book, but I still liked Divergent a bit better, for various reasons.
Andrea Hairston - Redwood and Wildfire
I picked this one up specifically because it was this year's Tiptree Award winner. And it was just...so much more than I was expecting. I'm a little in love with it.
Jo Walton - Among Others
I'm amazed this can be so grounded and so enchanting at the same time. I actually teared up at the end, unexpectedly and completely out of the blue. I know it won't (Mieville will get it, and even though I love him I thought Embassytown was one of the least deserving of this year's nominees) but I kind of want this one to win the Nebula. [ETA, because I wrote that bit before the Nebula Awards and now that I'm finally posting my roundup I didn't want to delete it, Among Others WON!]
Naomi Novik - Temeraire / His Majesty's Dragon
Naomi Novik - Throne of Jade
Naomi Novik - Black Powder War
I haven't read the latest books in the series, so I decided to start over from the beginning again before getting to them. Still a quick and enjoyable read, and I remembered more than I thought I did.
Derek Landy - Playing With Fire
An entertaining diversion, which is exactly what I wanted when I picked it up.
Naomi Novik - Empire of Ivory
And at last I'm getting into the books in the series I haven't read yet. I knew, in general terms, how this one ended, so I read the whole thing a little bit apprehensively, but it was mostly lovely.
Naomi Novik - Victory of Eagles
This might just be my favourite book in the series so far, which is surprising considering how much I was kind of dreading it--I found the idea of reading about Laurence in that position kind of unbearable. But I feel like this was the point where the series got more emotionally and socially complex, and that's really interesting to me.
Lisa Goldstein - The Uncertain Places
This wasn't quite what I was hoping for, when I read the description, but the longer I sit with it the more it feels like it sinks into me. Enjoyable, either way.
Mira Grant - Countdown [novella]
In some ways, more of a documentary than a story--the prologue to Feed. How we got there. But I really enjoyed it for what it was, because I like things like that.
This entry was originally posted at http://cj.dreamwidth.org/10282.html.
Movies and Books, May 2012:
X-Men: First Class
(yes, that's it)
and
Kameron Hurley - God's War
SF world based on Middle Eastern cultures. Captivating and complex and, in some ways, deeply weird (bugs as magic!). I like weird that's not spelled out, and books that respect the reader's intelligence and problem-solving capability.
Veronica Roth - Insurgent
I liked this a lot, and it took the direction it needed to to broaden the story and make for a compelling book that's very different from the first book, but I still liked Divergent a bit better, for various reasons.
Andrea Hairston - Redwood and Wildfire
I picked this one up specifically because it was this year's Tiptree Award winner. And it was just...so much more than I was expecting. I'm a little in love with it.
Jo Walton - Among Others
I'm amazed this can be so grounded and so enchanting at the same time. I actually teared up at the end, unexpectedly and completely out of the blue. I know it won't (Mieville will get it, and even though I love him I thought Embassytown was one of the least deserving of this year's nominees) but I kind of want this one to win the Nebula. [ETA, because I wrote that bit before the Nebula Awards and now that I'm finally posting my roundup I didn't want to delete it, Among Others WON!]
Naomi Novik - Temeraire / His Majesty's Dragon
Naomi Novik - Throne of Jade
Naomi Novik - Black Powder War
I haven't read the latest books in the series, so I decided to start over from the beginning again before getting to them. Still a quick and enjoyable read, and I remembered more than I thought I did.
Derek Landy - Playing With Fire
An entertaining diversion, which is exactly what I wanted when I picked it up.
Naomi Novik - Empire of Ivory
And at last I'm getting into the books in the series I haven't read yet. I knew, in general terms, how this one ended, so I read the whole thing a little bit apprehensively, but it was mostly lovely.
Naomi Novik - Victory of Eagles
This might just be my favourite book in the series so far, which is surprising considering how much I was kind of dreading it--I found the idea of reading about Laurence in that position kind of unbearable. But I feel like this was the point where the series got more emotionally and socially complex, and that's really interesting to me.
Lisa Goldstein - The Uncertain Places
This wasn't quite what I was hoping for, when I read the description, but the longer I sit with it the more it feels like it sinks into me. Enjoyable, either way.
Mira Grant - Countdown [novella]
In some ways, more of a documentary than a story--the prologue to Feed. How we got there. But I really enjoyed it for what it was, because I like things like that.
This entry was originally posted at http://cj.dreamwidth.org/10282.html.
