October 2013 reads
>> Friday, November 01, 2013
Fewer than usual this month, but on the other hand, no duds. I'll take that!
1 - Barrayar, by Lois McMaster Bujold: A
review coming soon
Audiobook. This one continues the story where Shards of Honor left off. Cordelia is now Lady Vorkosigan, and
expecting a baby. But with Aral named Regent for the underage Emperor, it's not a peaceful life. Brilliant,
brilliant, brilliant. I love Bujold's honourable, competent main characters and I love how they deal with what are
really serious issues. Why on Earth didn't I continue with the series the first time??
2 - Thankless in Death, by JD Robb: B+
review coming soon
Eve and the team are after an entitled, self-absorbed arsehole who kills his parents for daring to ask him to
get a job and move out, and then, having discovered a taste for killing, decides to get even with the multitudes
whom he feels have slighted him. I liked it much better than I thought I would at the beginning.
3 - Troubled Waters, by Sharon Shinn: B+
review
here
Reread in preparation for the release of the sequel in early November (I realised reading that blurb that I
had no idea who the heroine was!). The books are set in a world dominated by the 5 elements. The heroine was born
amongst the ruling families, but her father was disgraced and she grew up in exile. After her father dies, the
King's advisor turns up to collect her, telling her she's meant to become the King's fifth wife. And so it all
starts. As I noted in my review, it's a book with not much of a sense of peril, but it's still hugely enjoyable. I
always sort of sink into Shinn's prose, and this was no exception.
4 - The Daughter of Time, by Josephine
Tey: B+
review
here
Reread for my book club (well, listened to the audiobook this time). Detective Alan Grant is laid up in
hospital after an accident and very bored, so he uses his investigative techniques to look at the accusations that
Richard III murdered the little Princes in the tower. The material is as fascinating as ever, and the structure
really clever. I enjoyed it this time as well, but it really is very partisan. Also, this time around I
particularly noticed some of the more dated elements, such as the difference between the cultured, upper class
characters (all of whom are interested in and appreciative of the new point of view Grant offers them) and the
working class characters (who refuse to consider it at all). The narration by Derek Jacobi really made clear (quite
in line with the tone of the text, really) how patronisingly working class characters are dealt with. Other
elements, such as the personalised, even somewhat defferential care Grant gets in an NHS hospital (in which he
stays for weeks on end for what's basically a broken leg!) are just as much of the time the book was written in
(the 1950s), but charming, rather than infuriating.
5 - The Testament of Mary, by Colm
Tóibín: B+
review here
On the Man Booker shortlist. Mary of Nazareth reminisces about the events of her son's life. Short, but her
ambivalence about what's going on, as well as the way the brutality of the crucifixion is brought to life, pack a
punch. It's a fascinating perspective.
6 - Appointment With Death, by Agatha Christie: B
review coming soon
Audiobook. I chose this one as my next Christie because part of it is set in Jordan, including some really
interesting scenes in Petra. That was great fun to read, as was the plot about the horrible, controlling matriarch,
whose death is suspected to have been caused by someone in her family having had enough of her psychological
torture.
7 - We Need New Names, by NoViolet Bulawayo: B-
review here
On the Man Booker shortlist. We follow the heroine from her childhood in Zimbabwe to her teenage years in the
US. The first Zimbabwe-set part was good, but the second got really unfocused as the author just chucked in
everything but the kitchen sink.
8 - The Lowland, by Jhumpa Lahiri: B-
review here
On the Man Booker shortlist. The story of two brothers. One of them leaves Calcutta and settles in the US
after completing his studies, the other becomes a revolutionary. I liked it, but it felt a bit too stretched and
the really interesting themes at the beginning of the book then narrowed into something a lot less interesting.
9 - Stir
Me Up, by Sabrina Elkins: B-
review coming soon
New Adult. The heroine is about to finish high school and is determined to become a chef, over her father's
objections. The hero is a young veteran who had a leg blown off in the war, and is recovering at the heroine's
house, as his aunt is her stepmother. I thought it started well, and I liked it, but I sort of gradually lost
interest as the book progressed.
10
- Cloud Atlas, by
David Mitchell: Still listening
review coming soon
Audiobook. I've heard enough about this one to know it's supposed to be 6 different stories nestled within
each other. So far I've had 3: a journal written by a 19th century man travelling in the South Pacific, letters
detailing the escapades of a young English composer in 1920s Belgium and a noirish thriller set in the 1970s,
starring a plucky reporter investigating a nuclear power station. I've enjoyed all of them in their own right (and
knowing we return to each later made me feel ok about leaving them at quite key moments to move on to another), but
in spite of some links (so far, each protagonist finds the previous story), I don't yet get why these stories have
been put together in this book. I'm hoping this will become clearer.
11 - The
Lotus Palace by Jeannie Lin: Still reading
review coming soon
I've actually only just started this one. I've been meaning to try one of Lin's China-set historicals for
ages. So far, all I know is that the heroine is maidservant to a courtesan and the hero a client there. He seems
like a bit of a wastrel so far, but I'm sure there'll be more to him.
2 comments:
Re: 'Barrayar' - I don't know if you get the author's afterword in audio books, but she explains that 'Shards' was a first book, originally including the start of 'Barrayar', which she lopped off to make 'Shards' the right length. She then wrote 4 or 5 of the later books before returning and finishing 'Barrayar'.
I just think it's a much better book than 'Shards', because she's a more experienced writer at that point. So if you happen to start reading the series with the reunited book,'Cordelia's Honor', there's an impetus to keep reading that 'Shards' alone might not give you.
(Bad news: you now have to read those 4 or 5 intervening books until Bujold's writing with that experience again. But Miles is compensation.)
I'll look forward to your review of Cloud Atlas - it rather baffled me. (Black Swan Green/ The Thousand Autumns, I liked very much.)
The (very old) edition my friend has includes an interview with Bujold at the end, which was really nice. In it she does cover some of that, but not all. That's interesting that Shards was supposed to include the beginning of Barrayar. It felt like it closed at the right point when I read it. I think you are right that Barrayar is clearly the product of a more experienced writer, but I still adored Shards, so I think I'll be just fine with the next few books! :)
Baffled is a good description of how I'm feeling at the moment with Cloud Atlas. I'm enjoying each story, but I'm really, really not getting what are supposed to be the unifying themes... why this is a novel and not a collection of independent novellas all chopped up, so to speak. We'll see.
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