sausconys_books

04:00 pm: 2009 50 Book Challenge
1) Twist by Colby Hodge (1/1)
2) The Night Bird by Catherine Asaro (1/12)
3) UpLink by Jane S. Fancher (1/21)
4) Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre (1/31)
5) The Sharing Knife: Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold (2/10)
6) Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 13 by Hiromu Arakawa (2/17)
7) The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (2/22)
8) Harmonies of the 'Net by Jane S. Fancher (2/28)
9) The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald (3/6)
10) Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 14 by Hiromu Arakawa (3/12)
11) An Accidental Goddess by Linnea Sinclair (3/13)
12) Fruits Basket Vol. 21 by Natsuki Takaya (3/14)
13) Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 15 by Hiromu Arakawa (3/23)
14) Impostor by Valerie J. Freireich (3/30)
15) Phantom Dream Vol. 1 by Natsuki Takaya (3/30)
16) Fruits Basket Vol. 22 by Natsuki Takaya (4/1)
17) Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 16 by Hiromu Arakawa (4/9)
18) The Stars Down Under by Sandra McDonald (4/16)
19) The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (4/24)
20) Diamond Star by Catherine Asaro(4/30)
21) Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie (5/7)
22) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (5/13)
23) Lace and Blade edited by Deborah J. Ross (5/19)
24) Beyond Heaving Bosoms by Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan (5/31)
25) The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer (6/4)
26) The Snow Queen by Mercedes Lackey (6/10)
27) Star Hunter by Andre Norton (6/11)
28) The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster (6/16)
29) Greylorn by Keith Laumer (6/24)
30) Farscape: The Beginning of the End of the Beginning by Rockne S. O'Bannon and Keith R. A. Decandido (6/25)
31) Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (7/2)

Tags: 2009 challenges, 50 book challenge

02:30 pm: reading challenges update post
I'm keeping track of my 50 Book Challenge in a separate post, but here's my progress for my other challenges:
( Here are the lists )

02:06 pm: ugh, has it really been over a month since I posted?
Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels by Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan: Hilarious and entertaining, just like their website. The sad thing is, this book illustrated so well why I don't read or like much romance.

The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer: A fun read.. I loved Molly O'Hara! I will definitely be reading more by Heyer.

The Snow Queen by Mercedes Lackey: I found this really slow and hard to get into. I liked the Sammi culture though.

Star Hunter by Andre Norton: I've been listening to classic pulp SF on my ipod and several books are kind of running together in my memory now. This was typical early Norton. I find her later stuff with female characters more interesting.

The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster: This was so grim, yet I loved listening to it. I think I'm a budding Forster fan-girl, so I should listen to the rest of his books.

Greylorn by Keith Laumer: I have read some of Laumer's short fiction, which I loved, but this book annoyed me. More typical pulp SF.

Farscape: The Beginning of the End of the Beginning by Rockne S. O'Bannon and Keith R. A. Decandido: This is Farscape! Decandido nailed these characters and it really is like a season 5, only in comics. I can't wait to get the hardcover of the continuing story, Strange Dectractors.

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine: I expected to love this, but found myself irritated by it instead. I probably would have adored it when I was a teenager (but it wasn't even written then- I feel old!).

Believe it or not, I'm actually suffering a terrible reading slump lately. Most of my books have been audiobooks for the past few months. I'm trying to drag myself out of the reading funk by reading YA books, especially YA fantasy, but I've already tossed 3 of those into the trade pile too. I also have a pile of manga to read. It's sad because I usually read more in summer than any other time of year, but this summer so far, has been cold and wet.

08:50 pm: mostly audiobooks this time
( spoilers )

10:27 am: Dreamwidth invite codes
I have two if anyone is interested.

10:59 pm: Fruits Basket Vol. 22 by Natsuki Takaya: This volume was actually kind of sad. I was really happy with how a lot of things worked out.

Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 16 by Hiromu Arakawa: I never know what to say about Fullmetal Alchemist. I just love it so much that it's hard to find words.

The Stars Down Under by Sandra McDonald: I'm having major issues with this series. I liked the first book better because it was more SF/space opera, but this one was SF meets magical realism and it lost me. I'll finish the series, mostly to get the bad taste of how this one ended out of my mouth (thankfully, I read a description for book three, which had a major spoiler so I'm not so pissed off now).

01:09 am: Amazonfail
I'm sure most people on my Flist have heard about this, but Amazon thinks you need to be told what books are adult- and those "adult" books are GLBTQ themed books, BDSM themed books and at least two books on sex and disability, but books like American Psycho are just fine.
http://markprobst.livejournal.com/15293.html


According to Amazon, at first, this was a result of a new policy, but now they are saying it's a glitch. Here's another theory: http://tehdely.livejournal.com/88823.html

01:52 am: updated series I need to finish post
I hope this works this time. My laptop is completely farbot (I can feel the Farscape obsession coming on again), so since I was in my rarely used (because it's freezing!) library rearranging books, I thought I'd try posting this from in here. I've had the heater on for a while now and I'm nice and toasty, BTW.

( this list is way too long )

Tags: series, unfinished series

01:03 am: my reading has been slow
I was sick for about half of the month, so I didn't read many novels, although I've been doing pretty well with catching up on two mangas I got behind on.

An Accidental Goddess by Linnea Sinclair: I know she's really popular with SFR and RSF fans and with some people on my friends list, but I haven't liked a single book I've read or tried to read of hers. I much prefer romantic SF to SFR/futuristics so her books just don't work very well for me since I want more fully realized SF worlds and less romance tropes. Also, I hate, hate, hate alpha males. (I also attempted to read Gabriel's Ghost and Games of Command this month, but I didn't make it through either one of them).

Fruits Basket Vol. 21 by Natsuki Takaya: All I have to say is FINALLY! I'm sad that this manga is winding down but I've started another manga series by Takaya.

Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 15 by Hiromu Arakawa: I loved this volume, which was a prequel about the war in Ishbal, plus the scene between Edward and Riza about Ed possibly loving Winry was priceless.

Impostor by Valerie J. Freireich: I loved the first two books in the Polite Harmony of Worlds series, but this one made me deeply uncomfortable. The antagonist was truly evil and he committed horrible atrocities, plus the heroines were both rape victims and the hero was deported and kept getting beaten up- it all just got to be too much. Plus I think it might have been an example of Muslim fail, but I have to admit that I don't know much about the religion and its customs, but all of the Muslim characters ended up being pretty bad.

I also wanted to read some of my Rachel Gibson books, but I hated every single one I tried so I tossed the whole pile. I guess I shouldn't have gotten all of her books after liking the first two I read.




Tags: reads

08:33 pm: updated romance reading challenge post
Because I can't seem to edit my old one, here's a new post.



The China Bride by Mary Jo Putney
How to Marry a Marquis by Julia Quinn
Tall, Dark & Dead by Tate Hallaway
Dead Sexy by Tate Hallaway
Someone to Watch Over Me by Lisa Kleypas
Worth Any Price by Lisa Kleypas

Tags: 2009 challenges

05:57 pm: a month's worth of reading
Fullmetal Alchemist Vols 13 & 14 by Hiromu Arakawa: I found 13 really disturbing so I rushed through part of it, then put it down for a while, then rushed through again until I finished. I liked 14 a lot better. My biggest question is WTF is up with Riza's tattoo!

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman: I liked this one a lot, even though I was left with odd conflicting feelings about most of the female characters. But I liked Lyra a lot, which from reading reviews is something rare, I think. I want a daemon!

Harmonies of the 'Net by Jane S. Fancher: Wow, it got even more angsty! I found this series to be increasingly more confusing as I spent more time in Stephen's head. The poor kid. I love the relationships in both of Fancher's series, but I'm always a bit reluctant to recommend them to SF romance fans because most of the time, people complain that they want only straight romances or only exclusive relationships between two people.

The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald: I actually expected to like this more than I did. I had a real issue with the whole "cry rape" storyline and I found some of the military stuff and the huge cast confusing. I also thought the end was very rushed. What I did like was the Aboriginal Australian mythology and the multi-cultural cast of characters. I'll be sticking around for book two and probably three as well.

11:59 am: two challenges I forgot to link to
Oh man, I'm so far behind. I signed up for the Chunkster Challenge again this year. I'm doing the Mor-book-ly Obese option, which means I have to read 6 or more adult books (no YA) from 450 pages on up. I haven't finalized a list and I don't have to, but here's a few I'm thinking of reading:
Hidden in Sight by Julie E. Czerneda
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Seeds of Time by Kay Kenyon
Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

I'm also doing the Read Your Own Books Challenge and I'm not making a list for that, just trying to stay focused on mostly reading my own books, rather than getting so many from the library. I challenges myself to read 25 of my own books this year (but really, I need to read more).

08:42 am: what I've been reading
UpLink by Jane S. Fancher: I love Fancher's books and I'm so disappointed that she can't seem to find a publisher now. I love the angst and her gay, bi, and genderbending characters.

Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre: I liked this even better than Grimspace, even though romantic SF is my favorite sub-genre and this one had a lot less romance. I love all of Aguirre's characters, but Vel is my favorite. And while I got flashes of such films as Aliens while reading, I still loved this.

The Sharing Knife: Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold: I don't know how it happened but Lois has snuck in as my co-favorite author, along with Clive Barker. I love pretty much everything she's ever written and all of the things I read her books for are present here too. Bujold is one of a very few authors I've read who really understand disability and write about it with sensitivity. I thought this was the perfect ending to the series, but I wouldn't mind more books set in the Wide Green World.

I also attempted to read Deirdre Martin's hockey romance series, but I had major issues with it right from the first book and they only got worse from there. I'm just not meant to read romance books.



Tags: aguirre, bujold, fancher, reads

01:03 pm: February reading goals

• The Sharing Knife: Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold
• The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (reading now- this my downstairs book since it's the hardcover omnibus of the whole trilogy and thus very awkward to read in bed with the reading light)
• Harmonies of the 'Net by Jane S. Fancher (reading now- my bedtime book)
• The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald
• read however many volumes of Fullmetal Alchemist I can get to, then finish them next month (I got 13-17 from the library and have read Vol. 13 so far)

02:54 pm: warning, swearing rant ahead
( stupid computer )

09:56 am: January reading goals
I got out of the habit of posting these toward the end of last year and I found they really helped me get through TBR books, so I'm starting again.
Twist by Colby Hodge
The Night Bird by Catherine Asaro
UpLink by Jane S. Fancher
Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre


Tags: reading goals

09:22 pm: 2008 reading chart



Tags: 2008, chart, reads

03:41 pm: the book deluge continues
Here's a list of the books I've bought, gotten in trades, and received as gifts lately:
( long list of books, again )</div>

Tags: acquisitions

03:37 pm: forthcoming books
( large list )

Tags: forthcoming

08:44 pm: first two books of 2009
Twist by Colby Hodge: I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. I had attempted to read a few Shomi books they year they started coming out, but I either wasn't in the mood at the time or the books just weren't for me. I had a sampler of some newer Shomi books and I never got around to reading it until last fall and Twist had me hooked so I requested it from the library. And I ended up really liking it. I'm not much of a paranormal vamps and weres fan anymore, but this book was gripping. I liked Abbey and Shane a lot and I loved the post-apocalyptic future. I might go back and try the Shomi books again now.

The Night Bird by Catherine Asaro: I can't believe I'm saying this because she's one of my favorite authors, but this book was terrible! I guess because of all of the "troubles" with Luna (from what I've read, sales weren't bad, especially for fantasy, but Harlequin wanted romance type numbers, hence the dropped series), there's pressure on the authors to use a lot more romance cliches. This book had my least favorite: rape the heroine until she likes it and falls in love with her rapist husband. GAG! The only things I liked about it were Allegra's relationship with Ozi and the further developements of the political situation on The Lost Continent. I'm really hoping Asaro can find a publisher for her Prince Aron story that Luna rejected- probably because Aronsdale is egalatarian to matriarchal, which isn't as conducive to asshole alpha heroes and their victim brides.