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#1 - #9) "Temeraire", by Naomi Novik: (I might have started the first book before New Year's.) The entire series of nine books all at one go. Against the backdrop of the Napoleonic wars we have Naomi Novik working out what it would mean for there to be another sentient creature on earth besides humans; one much larger and more dangerous, and in some ways smarter. How does that play out in different cultures? Well, obviously cultures which can find ways to co-exist with dragons have advantages. Co-existance takes different forms in different cultures, and unsurprisingly Britain is not actually all that great at it. Hell, they INVENTED racism. If they can't properly co-exist with people who are a little darker skinned how the heck are they going to really find a good way to interact with dragons? And what does that end up meaning for a loyal British naval officer who gets hooked to a dragon? The British way to control dragons is to make them imprint when just hatched to one person who will keep them in line and make them work for the crown, but as Laurence travels with Temeraire and sees the broader world he starts to question everything.
#10) Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, November/December 2022: (I didn't read everything in it, because I really can't be having with Kristine Kathryn Rusch, sorry. She's just dead dull.) There was a lot of gritty sweetness in this issue.
#11 & #12) "The Colour of Magic" and "The Light Fantastic" by Terry Pratchett: Re-reads of course, but it had been so long that I really was surprised at how much I didn't remember properly. In between I have watched the movie a couple of times, which is really quite different. It's not Discworld as it later becomes, but going back to looking at how Pratchett developed his amazing alternate universe from spoofing sword & sorcery books is really fun. I love how it starts with Bravd and The Weasel, his spot-on tribute to Fafrd and The Grey Mouser, as they watch Ankh-Morpork burn and decide that it isn't all bad, because they owed a tavern keeper a rather large bill.
#13) "The Dead Star Rover" by Robert Abernathy: (Not sure this can actually be counted as a book, but I read it as a stand-alone on my Kobo.) In a far future Earth (or possibly some other planet, that's never really explained) humans are all tribes separated by the type of machines they drive. Kind of like the difference between big truck people and tiny car people today. A terrapin man shoots down an aero woman, and is thrown out of his tribe for bringing her back alive. The couple travel together across the desert encountering the variety of other tribes.
Audiobooks...
#14) "Within These Wicked Walls" by Lauren Blackwood, read by Nneka Okoye: Alternate magical universe fanfic of Jayne Eyre. Young magic-user takes on an insanely powerful curse. She's 19 and unfortunately acts pretty much like it. I was not impressed. The reader, Okoye, probably wasn't too bad.
I started and abandoned five other audiobooks because either the reader or the writer were not up to my standards. I might be spoiled, but I'm also not going to waste my time, sorry.
#15) "A Prayer for the Crown-Shy" by Becky Chambers, read by Em Grosland: This was book 2 of the Monk and Robot series. On the one hand, I kind of wish I'd read or heard book 1. On the other... nothing much happens in this book. They see different places and there's some slight description of how different people live on this planet (which doesn't seem to be Earth but some far-future other planet that was colonized and nearly destroyed by development) but mainly they talk and philosophize and it's kind of dull.
#16) "Network Effect" [The Murderbot Diaries] by Martha Wells, read by Kevin R. Free: I have to admit that I was not that into Kevin Free's narration with the first of these books I listened to, but I keep coming back for more. He's not really a bad reader; pacing can be quick without being loud, and can be intense without being too fast to understand, and I have the feeling he really understands the main character. This is billed as the first full-length stand-alone novel of the Murderbot Diaries, and the entry in the library app doesn't tell me what number it is in the series. There's a lot of background behind this story, but you get all you need given to you. Plenty of action and adventure, and I'm sure a lot of us can identify with Murderbot. He's just a wonderful character, with his complex and difficult way of relating to others.
Currently reading: "Great Northern?" by Arthur Ransome, which is the last of the Swallows and Amazons books.
Currently listening to: "Komarr" by Lois McMaster Bujold, read by Grover Gardner. I have of course read this before, but it's been such a long while that I am enjoying it pretty well. Although Bujold's absolute adoration of her own characters is a bit much, sometimes. I'm like 'okay, back off on writing your own fanfic, will you?' and I'm not a big fan of Grover Gardner as a reader, but after some of the absolutely horrible readers I've heard lately I'm getting to be more of a fan. I just wish he could really do different voices. Like, a voice that's different for when a person is thinking rather than actually speaking would be nice, because it's really hard to tell if they actually just said that thing or only thought it.
#10) Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, November/December 2022: (I didn't read everything in it, because I really can't be having with Kristine Kathryn Rusch, sorry. She's just dead dull.) There was a lot of gritty sweetness in this issue.
#11 & #12) "The Colour of Magic" and "The Light Fantastic" by Terry Pratchett: Re-reads of course, but it had been so long that I really was surprised at how much I didn't remember properly. In between I have watched the movie a couple of times, which is really quite different. It's not Discworld as it later becomes, but going back to looking at how Pratchett developed his amazing alternate universe from spoofing sword & sorcery books is really fun. I love how it starts with Bravd and The Weasel, his spot-on tribute to Fafrd and The Grey Mouser, as they watch Ankh-Morpork burn and decide that it isn't all bad, because they owed a tavern keeper a rather large bill.
#13) "The Dead Star Rover" by Robert Abernathy: (Not sure this can actually be counted as a book, but I read it as a stand-alone on my Kobo.) In a far future Earth (or possibly some other planet, that's never really explained) humans are all tribes separated by the type of machines they drive. Kind of like the difference between big truck people and tiny car people today. A terrapin man shoots down an aero woman, and is thrown out of his tribe for bringing her back alive. The couple travel together across the desert encountering the variety of other tribes.
Audiobooks...
#14) "Within These Wicked Walls" by Lauren Blackwood, read by Nneka Okoye: Alternate magical universe fanfic of Jayne Eyre. Young magic-user takes on an insanely powerful curse. She's 19 and unfortunately acts pretty much like it. I was not impressed. The reader, Okoye, probably wasn't too bad.
I started and abandoned five other audiobooks because either the reader or the writer were not up to my standards. I might be spoiled, but I'm also not going to waste my time, sorry.
#15) "A Prayer for the Crown-Shy" by Becky Chambers, read by Em Grosland: This was book 2 of the Monk and Robot series. On the one hand, I kind of wish I'd read or heard book 1. On the other... nothing much happens in this book. They see different places and there's some slight description of how different people live on this planet (which doesn't seem to be Earth but some far-future other planet that was colonized and nearly destroyed by development) but mainly they talk and philosophize and it's kind of dull.
#16) "Network Effect" [The Murderbot Diaries] by Martha Wells, read by Kevin R. Free: I have to admit that I was not that into Kevin Free's narration with the first of these books I listened to, but I keep coming back for more. He's not really a bad reader; pacing can be quick without being loud, and can be intense without being too fast to understand, and I have the feeling he really understands the main character. This is billed as the first full-length stand-alone novel of the Murderbot Diaries, and the entry in the library app doesn't tell me what number it is in the series. There's a lot of background behind this story, but you get all you need given to you. Plenty of action and adventure, and I'm sure a lot of us can identify with Murderbot. He's just a wonderful character, with his complex and difficult way of relating to others.
Currently reading: "Great Northern?" by Arthur Ransome, which is the last of the Swallows and Amazons books.
Currently listening to: "Komarr" by Lois McMaster Bujold, read by Grover Gardner. I have of course read this before, but it's been such a long while that I am enjoying it pretty well. Although Bujold's absolute adoration of her own characters is a bit much, sometimes. I'm like 'okay, back off on writing your own fanfic, will you?' and I'm not a big fan of Grover Gardner as a reader, but after some of the absolutely horrible readers I've heard lately I'm getting to be more of a fan. I just wish he could really do different voices. Like, a voice that's different for when a person is thinking rather than actually speaking would be nice, because it's really hard to tell if they actually just said that thing or only thought it.
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