5 posts tagged “fiction”

I started out the month with the conclusion of Robin Hobb's Soldier Son Trilogy. Boy, that woman loves to torture her characters! Then it was off to revisit Compact space through the eyes of C.J. Cherryh's Chanur clan; depending on one's viewpoint, that counts for either three books or five due to the omnibus edition containing the first three novels in the series. A Gaimanish mood took me then back to Earth, or at least an Earth that might exist just beyond our perception. Actually, one might say the same thing about Madeleine L'Engle's stories of the Murry family. There is a reason A Wrinkle in Time and the following tales have remained young adult favorites, and that is because they aren't just good YA fiction--they are good fiction, period.

I didn't include the volumes from which I read  smattering of short stories here and there, but those are great for when I'm feeling attention span-challenged.

I can't believe April's already wrapped up and it's May already. That means it's time for the Kentucky Derby, dinner outside, and my birthday. I'll hit the quarter-century mark in the middle of the month, and it is my considered opinion that this would be an excellent opportunity for anyone who was waiting for an excuse to buy me lots of Guinness and chocolate to do so.

The theme for the first part of March was religion, with the majority of my reading time going towards a thoughtful rereading of Karen Armstrong's lucid and fascinating study of Axial Age insights across several different cultures. After a Discworld interlude (always worthwhile), I followed up with a look at Abraham from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim perspectives. Then I ditched the serious reading entirely for the nostalgic popcorn of Xanth. I loved those books when I was a kid, but got turned off by the author's attitude when I read his autobiography in high school. Rereading the first three books in the series as an adult, I am struck by a certain misogyny in the way the author portrays his female characters, though I am sure he would argue he was simply spoofing the way women have been portrayed in fantasy fiction in general.

Edited 6 APR 09, when I remembered that I had also reread Interesting Times in March. That's what I get for not recording books as I finished them.

I only completed four books in February, three of which were rereads (and, coincidentally, happened to have the word "dragons" in the title). The fourth was Regenesis, which was a fantastic read that lived up to all the anticipation I'd built ever since I'd heard there was going to be a sequel to Cyteen.

Those four books did not encompass all of the reading I did in February, but the rest consisted of snatches here and there of books that aren't necessarily meant to be read straight through (mostly religion texts). Still, I'm hoping March will find me in a stronger reading mood.

Only five, alas. I must be slipping.