samvara

Happy Snak by Nicole Kimberling

Sun, 02 Feb 2020 01:24:47 GMT

Sweet, fun, a little bit goofy, first-contact science fiction with a tang of earthy (heh) pragmatism.

Gaia Jones just wants to run a snack bar and what better place to do it than the giant alien facility built by their brand new... 'friends?' from outer space. Her somewhat antisocial life-style takes a hit when she assists an alien with an illness and inadvertently takes on a lot more than she expected.

Mad points for plausible interesting aliens and alien contact.

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Everfair by Nisi Shawl

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 11:46:59 GMT

*glee* The steampunk alternate history of Belgium’s invasion of the Congo if the natives had known a lot more about steam technology. Air canoes! Mechanical bicycles!

Queer women, women being awesome.

Read everything she has written, there's lots.

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The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 11:37:01 GMT

Intensely personal, rich in nuance. Women finding their places in the world.
Queer women. Cruelty to women. Slavery. Read it anyway.

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The Island of Lost Girls by Manjula Padmanabhan

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 10:58:10 GMT

Rock solid dystopian future writing and worldbuilding, fabulous bio-mechanics. Interesting body and gender identity stuff. Cruelty to women. Diversity of opinion among women who continue to work together as if women do that.

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Turbulence by Samit Basu

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 10:27:27 GMT

Thoroughly enjoyable romp.

A fun look at what happens when an entire airplane worth of passengers get superpowers - not the most sophisticated writing but good idea and good characters. Fun!

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The Woman Who Thought She Was A Planet by Vandana Singh

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 10:26:28 GMT

Run, don't walk, and read this lady's short stories.

Thoroughly interesting and enjoyable. Some body-horror. Yes, she does think she is a planet. No, I don’t want to spoil it.

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The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola

Mon, 15 Jan 2018 12:16:47 GMT

All kinds of awesome.

The unnamed protagonist meanders through a fabulous mosaic of folk tales. Reminds me of books like the Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (1890), The Palm-Wine Drinkard (1952) has that same delightful lack of self-consciousness and weird, rambly lack of adherence to more conventional and more modern writing traditions.

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Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

Mon, 15 Jan 2018 12:06:39 GMT

Opium wars, the high seas, imperialism and colonialism. The Ibis, an ex-slave ship is re-fitted to carry opium and indentured servants, becomes the focal point of the story as far-flung characters start to converge. Deeti is fleeing her dreadful rapey brother-in-law, Zachary has fled racism and accidentally jumped up a class or two, Neel is on his way to prison and Paulette, too seeks a better future.

This is rich, evocative, and full of complex language and details. I can see why it was Booker shortlisted, they all seem to have that intensely personal, wordy style.

I want to love this more than I do, the (realistic) sexual violence makes me angry and sad and my willingness to experience it in fiction when I have to put up with it in life is very low.

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Tail of the Blue Bird by Nii Ayikwei Parkes

Sun, 24 Dec 2017 09:28:31 GMT

Rich, complex and earthy. It sounds more like I'm trying to describe a wine but seriously, this is beautiful, vivid storytelling. At it's simplest this is a whodunnit, but there's so much more going on... family and culture, myths and legends.

"Sonokrom is a place that has not changed for hundreds of years; the men and women speak the language of the forest, drink aphrodisiacs with their palm wine and commune with the spirits of their ancestors. However, the woman's intrusion and ensuing events lead to an invasion from Accra, the capital city, spearheaded by Kayo; a young forensic pathologist convinced that scientific logic can shatter even the most inexplicable of mysteries."

Warning: cruelty to woman, cruelty to children

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Anti-rec: Breaking the Patterns of Depression by Michael D. Yapko

Fri, 03 May 2013 02:24:41 GMT

A copy arrived ~~unsolicited~~ ETA: as a surprise gift from a friend in the mail last week for maharetr and another copy came addressed to me yesterday. I might have read it and was looking through the table of contents when I found this:

Text: A NOTE ABOUT GENDER USAGE

The case examples throughout the book tell stories about men and women who have battled depression. in the case of presentations, the mixed use of "he" or "she" is easy, deliberate, and purposeful. How-ever, when I speak in general terms or in terms of principles, I use only masculine pronouns. Why? it is simply too clumsy and distracting to try to work both the masculine and the feminine into each idea. so, to make the book an easier read, I opted for the less-than-perfect choice of the traditional masculine. I hope you will understand that its a choice made not of ignorance or preference but of necessity.

Dear Michael D. Yapko,

I hope you will understand that I do not read works that contain hate-speak, it is a choice made not of ignorance or preference but of necessity.

Me.

*Interesting note: the Amazon preview does not display this page but the Random house one does.

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Fairview 619 by Rebecca Schwarz

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 00:29:02 GMT

SF short story, interesting, sad, creepy. Training a smart house to do laundry is harder than you might think.

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Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 23:37:59 GMT

Friends don't let friends date vampires.

Fun look at the vampire romance trope from the perspective of a determined and feisty lass called Mel. Her best friend thinks the vampire at the local high school is worryingly attractive... will their friendship survive?

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Santa Fe Fandango by Elinor Groves aka Pati Nagle

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 02:25:39 GMT

LibraryThing Early Reviewers copy.

Romance. Professional woman gets all giddy over a hot moviestar and 'saves' him from a busload of teenaged girls. They then semi-accidentally meet for dinner and, despite his bodyguard's hostility, manage to snatch a quick conversation. I presume a romance ensues but I stopped here. I'm uncomfortable with portraying teenaged girls this way, I'm uncomfortable with the main characters, with the lavish descriptions of hair and clothes and the underlying flavour of hostility to women (those women are evil but I'm not like them).

It's quite possible this will appeal to others but I've drifted pretty far from traditional romance novels and this wasn't working for me. It should be acknowledged that Cinderella was never my fantasy :)

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Reading, Rex Riders, The Demon's Surrender, Courtney Crumrin and Pet Noir

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:44:24 GMT

Rex Riders by J. P. Carlson. LibraryThing Early Reviewers copy. Dinosaurs in the wild west; it's such a great (and yes pulpy) concept and the illustrations are seductive. Young Zeke Calhoun is constantly getting into trouble. His uncle doesn't understand him, and his attempt to helpfully ride a neighbour's valuable, escaped stallion isn't working out as he planned. When he stumbles across an unconscious alien and his domesticated juvenile T-Rex he gets an opportunity to 'borrow' an even more exciting steed. I read the first 233/440 pages then admitted I just wasn't into it and put it down. This reads like a first novel pitched at a young audience. I found the shifting point of view a little confusing, initially this read like Zeke's story and later it shifted to being... Uncle Jesse and Bull's? The character development was a bit flat and the exposition chunky - telling, not showing. I did love the T-Rex Zeke manages to ride and Carlson obviously did too. I probably wouldn't pick up another book by this author but I might recommend it to young, dinosaur enthusiasts.

The Demon's Surrender by Sarah Rees Brennan. Young adult fantasy. Book 3. The Ryves brothers are deep in crisis, the Market is at war with the Aventurine circle and the leadership of the Market is yet to be determined. I have so much love for this series. The point of view for the final book is Sin (Cynthia) and it's a joy to ride along with her as events unfold. I really value the personhood found in the characters, especially the ladies and I value how central their stories are. There is such a lovely balance of whimsical humour and emotional depths that I found myself giggling one moment and holding my breath the next.

Courtney Crumrin Tales Volume 2: The League of Ordinary Gentlemen by Ted Naifeh. I'm enjoying the back story but love the works that feature Courtney the most. I was unsurprised by the plotline but enjoyed watching it unfold - Aloysius' world is a creepily dark as I could hope for.

Pet Noir by Pati Nagle. LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Noir detective style short stories about a superkitty "feline investigator" engineered to go undercover on a space station. Leon works for the Security department until he pays off the cost of his creation. In the meantime he badgers his human partner for food and fights crime! I enjoyed this. Leon is a convincingly reluctant, cynical cat detective and Nagle has captured the tone that makes the genre so enjoyable. The stories are reasonably light and build in a lot of humour but retain some of the darker elements. The first of the five stories is the weakest, it sets up the characters and the scene but Leon is a bit too savvy for a four week old kitten. Despite this, it's worth a read and I'd cheerfully read more of Nagle's work.

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Heroine Addiction by Jennifer Matarese

Tue, 24 May 2011 13:41:44 GMT

I've been looking forward to Heroine Addiction since I knew it was being written and it is with pure glee that I added it to my LibraryThing.

Vera Noble has done her best to leave her superhero origins behind; but family is still family and when her father's mortal enemy comes to her for help she can't quite say no.

Fun and interesting exploration of family dynamics when the family business involves invading aliens, volcanoes and evil super villains. I love how the world looks when there have always been superheros and how many tiny practicalities are woven in. Vera is refreshing, witty and oh so human.

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Reading, Northlight, Dark Horse, Agatha H., Swordspoint and The Shattered City

Wed, 11 May 2011 02:57:19 GMT

Northlight by Deborah Wheeler. LibraryThing Early Reviewers. An emotionally repressed and terribly cool Ranger from the North makes her way inland to find someone to help her rescue her partner from an ongoing border war. She forms an unlikely alliance with an idealistic young scholar as secrets unfold around them. Has a lot going for it, creative, interesting, good characters. I appreciate a good post apocalypse story and really enjoy a story with complex female characters (of different ages even!). I wanted a more complex plot but would definitely read more of her work.

Dark Horse by Kate Sherwood. Boy from Wrong Side of the Tracks making Good through love of a Good Man and Horses Loses Boy but Finds other Boy(s) - what’s not to love. Quite nuanced queer poly relationship accidentally developing between people who are not philosophically poly. What actually won my heart was the way Sherwood wrote the emotional process of dealing with grief and past relationships, her characters felt very real.

Agatha H. and the Airship City (Girl Genius) by Phil Foglio. Novel of first Vol of the webcomic - I loved it! I found it a lot easier to absorb the rich details that are present in the webcomic when it was presented in text form and it was like a second voyage of discovery appreciating just how much there is to see in the webcomic.

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner, turns out I’ve read it before which is a little bit of a shame because people have been nudging it at me promising great things and while I enjoyed it, it wouldn’t make my re-read list (except how it sort of stealthily did). Also I liked it far more this time which may simply be not having the flu. In a city where Swordsmen fight Lord's honour battles for them, a rising star and his nihilistic lover are drawn into political machinations. Rich, complex world building and characterisation. I loved how many different plot lines were interwoven and really appreciated the queer characters. I wish the characters were more likeable, this has enough going on that it has strong re-readability but I'm not invested enough in anyone to want to follow their story.

The Shattered City by Tansy Rayner Roberts. Creature Court (2). Satisfying follow on, I look forward to book 3. This kept up the pace and expanded further on the setup in Power and Majesty. Yay!

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Changeling: A Novella (Conversation Pieces, Volume 3) by Nancy Jane Moore

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:33:19 GMT

LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Mixed feelings. Maggie dreams of a city that her parents deny ever existed, but she is drawn to paint it at every opportunity. She is trapped by her unhappiness with her life and relationship with her body (wheelchair) and as her dreams become more real she is driven to pursue them.

From a narrative point of view I felt this was just getting interesting when the novel ended; it felt like the set up of a much larger story and not a story in itself. I do appreciate seeing a disabled character with a normal sex life - by which I mean taking just as many opportunities to be weird and screw things up as everyone else - but I was uncomfortable with how her disability resolved at the end of the story.

I would not seek out more of her writing based on this.

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Reading for 2010

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 00:36:02 GMT

The count comes to 107 books partly due to comfort reading benders and the iPad says 294 items tagged 'Fanfiction.' the Fanfiction count is a mix of converting old favourites for re-reading and downloading from the AO3 which has become my main source for fic.

( Read more... )

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True Game and Chronicles of Prydaine

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 01:14:25 GMT

King's Blood Four, Necromancer Nine, Wizard's Eleven, The Song of Mavin Manyshaped, The Flight of Mavin Manyshaped, The Search for Mavin Manyshaped, Jinian Footseer, Dervish Daughter and Jinian Star-Eye by Sheri Tepper. Re-reading for comfort. There are a lot of ideas I like in these earlier books and I like reading books about women and their choices. I was particularly struck by Mavin explaining rape to Mertyn and how she covered some of the complexity of the social dynamic.

( Cut for potentially triggering quote about sexual assult and food )

The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer and The High King by Lloyd Alexander. Re-reading also for comfort, my brain is tired. Gentle, heroic and probably very good for young-ish boys. Darn, this was one of the series I loved when I was a child and now I read it and it still has many fine qualities but it’s so obviously a story about boys, as if their story is the only one worth telling.

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Surface Detail by Iain Banks

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 00:56:03 GMT

New culture novel but would probably stand alone. Lededje Y'breq wants revenge for her abuse and subsequent murder. Her highly personal tale is woven through a much bigger one exploring of the use of virtual realities as Afterlives - specifically Hell(s) and the galactic war raging around it.

I usually love his books but for me this tipped over the ‘too gross’ line where the suffering described doesn’t justify the payoff the story achieves.

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Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 05:01:55 GMT

You definitely need to have read other books in the series, have a fondness for the Vorkisigans in general and Miles in particular. Miles investigates a finance scheme involving trading cryogenically frozen people on a planet deeply interested in death and aging. A failed kidnapping attempt sees him stumbling, hallucinating into the run-away heir (and his menagerie) of the force-frozen leader of a cryo reform movement. Shenanigans ensue!

( Spoilers )

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Digger - A wombat. A dead god. A very peculiar epic.

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 00:41:43 GMT

Digger by Ursula Vernon. Graphic novel and web-comic. Digger is a wombat who ends up in very different world, far from home which she handles with gorgeous wombattish pragmatism. The plot is a mix of heroic quest and slightly creepy whimsy, I love the variety of female characters and the humour. The art relies on lots of blacks, has great atmosphere and is good at conveying emotion. maharetr has the first three books and was giving me one every time I finished another assignment. After I finished book three she gave me the webcomic link and I caught up - loved it, will follow the continuing adventures with enthusiasm.

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Pratchett, Merry Gentry and Sholan Alliance

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 05:50:00 GMT

I have been reading, just haven't been reviewing. I've also been comfort reading.

Wintersmith, Making Money and I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett. The first and last are Tiffany Aching books who I am still very fond of and I enjoyed her continuing adventures. I particularly liked the bad Don't Pay the Ferryman joke. Making Money follows on from Going Postal and was fun.
A Kiss of Shadows, A Caress of Twilight, Seduced by Moonlight, A Stroke of Midnight, Mistral's Kiss, A Lick of Frost, Swallowing Darkness and Divine Misdemeanors by Laurell K. Hamilton. Re-reading and catching up while sick, good mindless reading.
Turning Point, Fortune’s Wheel, Fire Margins, Razor’s Edge, Dark Nadir and Stronghold Rising by Lisanne Norman. Re-reading in preparation for reading book 8 Shades of Gray that I now have sitting on my 'to read' pile at home. First contact space opera with a decent female primary character and a lot of interesting stuff about race and gender.

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Is there a USian who would feel comfortable buying me an ebook?

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 06:01:53 GMT

I wants an electronic copy of Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal but cannot find a seller in Australia.

I can Paypal you $ and would prefer the apple version to other stores.

ETA: Whee! Thank you thank you thank you!

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Dear Diary, toys, sweets, movies, books

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 07:14:38 GMT

New mattress has arrived! Mattress shopping apparently involves having a bunch of conversations about products while lying down - I see the value but felt a bit uncomfortable at times.
Have been given a vast quantity of gulab jamun - people need to come over and help eat them.
Saw Inception, loved it.
Read My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor. An account of an aneurysm and subsequent recovery from the perspective of a brain scientist. Fascinating and inspiring insight into how the brain works and what bits are 'us' and what bits are 'the machine.' Glad I read it, bits of the book keep popping up as I integrate it with my world view. She did a TED talk as well.

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