Booklog 2008: Catch-Up Post the Fourth
Apr. 24th, 2008 12:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityofoneHEY CHEVY DUDES! TURN IN YOUR DAMN COPY! While you are giving me lots of time to work on my booklog, we start shipping TOMORROW and a magazine full of BLANK PAGES would, I think, NOT be well-received. If you’re struggling, I can always write a tribute to Dean Winchester and his Impala in honor of tonight’s new SPN. FOR REALS.
Anyway.
31. Barrayar, Lois McMaster Bujold — Finally playing catch-up with the Vorkosigan series, hitting all the ones I skipped because I couldn’t find them in Ireland. (Don’t judge me, Siria!) I already knew pretty much everything that happens in this one, since its events end up having such a great effect on the rest of the series; still, it was a great deal of fun to actually get to see Cordelia come charging in with that severed head.
32. The Vor Game, Lois McMaster Bujold — This is my favorite type of Miles novel: I love him when he’s being Admiral Naismith. And all the shenanigans with Emperor Gregor are fun, too—I finally see why some people ship Miles/Gregor (although I am still not inclined to). This book is just so much fun, with adventure and space battles and espionage and all that good stuff. And yet Bujold makes time for the important character moments, too. All of which really makes me wonder…why has no one tried to adapt these books as a TV series?
33. Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold — The final Vorkosigan novel (so far). Rather reminiscent of Busman’s Honeymoon, except that Ekaterin gets rather less to do. (Ever and always the Miles show, isn’t it, the self-involved little bastard. *loves him*) Bujold gets major points for coming up with a genuinely terrifying bio weapon, and the book is definitely suspenseful, especially since I spent the majority of it really worried about Bel, who has always been a favorite of mine. However, I just don’t think I’ll ever be as fond of Miles in Sherlock Holmes mode as I am of him doing James Bond. (Which is odd, as I like Holmes about ten thousand times better than Bond in all other cases.) Still! Very eagerly awaiting the next one, which in 2006 was rumored to be coming out in the next couple years…That would be, like, around now, right?
34. Gentlemen of the Road, Michael Chabon — Chabon does a big ol’ adventure novel pastiche, down to the convoluted prose that had me making squinty faces at the page and backtracking a number of times. If you can wade through that, there’s a nice friendship to be found between the two leads, and a bunch of pulp clichés that are quiet enjoyable to encounter. In general, the book’s a fun read of the type I might hope to find in one of the houses on Lake Caspian we sometimes used to rent for a week in the summer, and would flip through dangling my feet off the dock; I don’t really remember the titles or plots of any of those books, though, so…draw your own conclusions.
35. Falling Free, Lois McMaster Bujold — The Vorkosigan universe prequel, set approximately 200 years before Miles’ birth. Interesting to read AFTER Diplomatic Immunity, as that book deals with the modern-day Quaddies; this is their origin story. Quaddies are people bioengineered for free-fall, with a second set of arms instead of legs; I still can’t quite picture exactly how this would look, which frustrates me. Nevertheless, this is a solid, if not spectacular, space adventure; Bujold, as always, packs her book with interesting ideas and dynamic set pieces. I’m not sure I was entirely sold on the Leo/Silver relationship, but whatever: adventures in spaaaaaaaaace.
36. Saving Charlie, Aury Wallington — Why do I keep reading tie-in novels? Why would I read a Heroes tie-in novel, of all things? Well, I think I was seriously missing awesome!S1!Hiro. He’s here, sort of, but this book adds absolutely nothing to “Six Months Ago,” and only compounds my frustration with the idea that a person having a terminal disease should be reason enough to give up on saving them from being horribly murdered by having their skull sliced open. I’m just sayin’.
On the other hand, at least Hiro got laid.
37. All Through the Night, Suzanne Brockmann — Intrigued by the idea of a mainstream romance novel revolving around a big gay wedding, I plunged head-first into Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooters series with Book 12. I was surprised to the extent that I was won over: Jules and Robin, the grooms-to-be, were almost sickeningly happy throughout the entire book, and yet…they were just so cute! I was totally on board with their sickening happiness. It certainly sat better with me than the fact that almost all the women in the book are knocked up. Is there something in Boston’s water supply? Yikes.
I liked the secondary romance with Dolphina and Will, too—it’s all very fluffy, to the point where the TERROIST CRISIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST! scenes seem vaguely ridiculous. But it’s quite fun fluff, and did I mention that Jules and Robin are adorable? They really are. Enough to send me seeking out their backstory, somewhere amongst the other eleven books.
38. Hot Target, Suzanne Brockmann — The book in which the paths of FBI Agent Jules Cassidy and movie star Robin Chadwick first cross. It’s all due to Robin’s sister, writer/producer Jane, who’s receiving death threats because of the movie she’s making (and in which Robin stars). The main love story is between Jane and her bodyguard (ha…yeah, cue the Whitney Houston), a Navy SEAL who’s earning some extra money while he’s on leave to take care of his injured mother. Jane and Cosmo held my interest for maybe a third of the novel, mostly for the portion where they still didn’t like each other; once they start owning up to their attraction, I got bored, a feeling that wasn’t helped by all the “big strong man protecting his woman” clichés. The damsel in distress storyline does NOTHING for me.
However, I went into this knowing I was mostly reading for Jules and Robin. Robin is at this point deeply closeted, and his flounderings with his sexuality were sort of interesting, if not entirely believable. I also wasn’t crazy about Brockmann’s need to state for the reader things that to me seem very obvious: if you’re gay, it’s ’cause you were born that way! It is not icky and disgusting! A gay man can totally kick ass! This novel is frequently as subtle as an exploding truck of bricks! However, I am aware that I am really not Brockmann’s intended audience. She’s not writing these books to titillate slash fans; she’s including queer romance in books meant for a market of readers who may not be already comfortable with this sort of thing, and hopefully she’s making some of them think about perceptions and prejudices and whatnot. So fair play to her, on that count.
Also, Jules is awesome, and that’s not to be discounted, either. I spent a while thinking about what’s so appealing about him, and I finally decided that it’s in large part the fact that he’s so very comfortable with himself. Most characters I read about or watch on TV—and especially, most of the ones I come to love—are plagued with self-doubt. Not Jules. He’s like the anti-John Sheppard. He has problems, but he’s secure in himself; he knows who he is. I find that quality, especially in a hot kickass gay FBI agent, extremely refreshing and very appealing. In short: Jules rules.
39. The Third Man/The Fallen Idol, Graham Greene — Reading The Third Man made me want to rethink my previous dislike for Graham Greene, which was mostly based on reading The Heart of the Matter in high school and hating it. I would say I was biased in favor of The Third Man because I love the movie so much, but Greene’s responsible for that too, and both are wonderful: cynical, mysterious, and dark, but not without humor. However, the other story in this collection of two short novellas, The Fallen Idol, brings me right back where I was before: thinking, “omg, this guy is just relentlessly depressing and melodramatic and so, so not for me.” So I don’t know what the deal is, really. Except in regards to one thing: The Third Man is really frickin’ good.
40. Gone Too Far, Suzanne Brockmann — Though not one of the books that focuses on Jules Cassidy, I picked this one up because I’d gleaned from the other volumes that this was the one where Jules’ best friend Sam and his FBI partner Alyssa finally hook up. It ended up being my least favorite of the ones I’ve read so far, and not just because J.C. (initials significant? …actually, I think not) wasn’t onstage very much. The flashback, interracial romance set in the 1940s was actually my favorite part of the book; as for Alyssa and Sam (another interracial couple, it is worth noting, and don’t think I don’t appreciate this stuff, Brockmann), their angst never really held my interest. Maybe it’s because I haven’t read the previous books, and thus lack knowledge of their history and years of sexual tension, but frankly, I think Sam’s impassioned speech about why Alyssa should not take a morning-after pill when she has a brief pregnancy scare would have pissed me off no matter what. The het couples in these books subscribe to gender norms with a little too much vigor, methinks. In fact, the mix of progressive thinking and dyed-in-the-wool traditionalism at play here is actually very interesting. It’s just not so conductive to the utterly enjoyable guilty-pleasure reading experience I’m looking for.
Total Reviews: 40/67
Anyway.
31. Barrayar, Lois McMaster Bujold — Finally playing catch-up with the Vorkosigan series, hitting all the ones I skipped because I couldn’t find them in Ireland. (Don’t judge me, Siria!) I already knew pretty much everything that happens in this one, since its events end up having such a great effect on the rest of the series; still, it was a great deal of fun to actually get to see Cordelia come charging in with that severed head.
32. The Vor Game, Lois McMaster Bujold — This is my favorite type of Miles novel: I love him when he’s being Admiral Naismith. And all the shenanigans with Emperor Gregor are fun, too—I finally see why some people ship Miles/Gregor (although I am still not inclined to). This book is just so much fun, with adventure and space battles and espionage and all that good stuff. And yet Bujold makes time for the important character moments, too. All of which really makes me wonder…why has no one tried to adapt these books as a TV series?
33. Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold — The final Vorkosigan novel (so far). Rather reminiscent of Busman’s Honeymoon, except that Ekaterin gets rather less to do. (Ever and always the Miles show, isn’t it, the self-involved little bastard. *loves him*) Bujold gets major points for coming up with a genuinely terrifying bio weapon, and the book is definitely suspenseful, especially since I spent the majority of it really worried about Bel, who has always been a favorite of mine. However, I just don’t think I’ll ever be as fond of Miles in Sherlock Holmes mode as I am of him doing James Bond. (Which is odd, as I like Holmes about ten thousand times better than Bond in all other cases.) Still! Very eagerly awaiting the next one, which in 2006 was rumored to be coming out in the next couple years…That would be, like, around now, right?
34. Gentlemen of the Road, Michael Chabon — Chabon does a big ol’ adventure novel pastiche, down to the convoluted prose that had me making squinty faces at the page and backtracking a number of times. If you can wade through that, there’s a nice friendship to be found between the two leads, and a bunch of pulp clichés that are quiet enjoyable to encounter. In general, the book’s a fun read of the type I might hope to find in one of the houses on Lake Caspian we sometimes used to rent for a week in the summer, and would flip through dangling my feet off the dock; I don’t really remember the titles or plots of any of those books, though, so…draw your own conclusions.
35. Falling Free, Lois McMaster Bujold — The Vorkosigan universe prequel, set approximately 200 years before Miles’ birth. Interesting to read AFTER Diplomatic Immunity, as that book deals with the modern-day Quaddies; this is their origin story. Quaddies are people bioengineered for free-fall, with a second set of arms instead of legs; I still can’t quite picture exactly how this would look, which frustrates me. Nevertheless, this is a solid, if not spectacular, space adventure; Bujold, as always, packs her book with interesting ideas and dynamic set pieces. I’m not sure I was entirely sold on the Leo/Silver relationship, but whatever: adventures in spaaaaaaaaace.
36. Saving Charlie, Aury Wallington — Why do I keep reading tie-in novels? Why would I read a Heroes tie-in novel, of all things? Well, I think I was seriously missing awesome!S1!Hiro. He’s here, sort of, but this book adds absolutely nothing to “Six Months Ago,” and only compounds my frustration with the idea that a person having a terminal disease should be reason enough to give up on saving them from being horribly murdered by having their skull sliced open. I’m just sayin’.
On the other hand, at least Hiro got laid.
37. All Through the Night, Suzanne Brockmann — Intrigued by the idea of a mainstream romance novel revolving around a big gay wedding, I plunged head-first into Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooters series with Book 12. I was surprised to the extent that I was won over: Jules and Robin, the grooms-to-be, were almost sickeningly happy throughout the entire book, and yet…they were just so cute! I was totally on board with their sickening happiness. It certainly sat better with me than the fact that almost all the women in the book are knocked up. Is there something in Boston’s water supply? Yikes.
I liked the secondary romance with Dolphina and Will, too—it’s all very fluffy, to the point where the TERROIST CRISIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST! scenes seem vaguely ridiculous. But it’s quite fun fluff, and did I mention that Jules and Robin are adorable? They really are. Enough to send me seeking out their backstory, somewhere amongst the other eleven books.
38. Hot Target, Suzanne Brockmann — The book in which the paths of FBI Agent Jules Cassidy and movie star Robin Chadwick first cross. It’s all due to Robin’s sister, writer/producer Jane, who’s receiving death threats because of the movie she’s making (and in which Robin stars). The main love story is between Jane and her bodyguard (ha…yeah, cue the Whitney Houston), a Navy SEAL who’s earning some extra money while he’s on leave to take care of his injured mother. Jane and Cosmo held my interest for maybe a third of the novel, mostly for the portion where they still didn’t like each other; once they start owning up to their attraction, I got bored, a feeling that wasn’t helped by all the “big strong man protecting his woman” clichés. The damsel in distress storyline does NOTHING for me.
However, I went into this knowing I was mostly reading for Jules and Robin. Robin is at this point deeply closeted, and his flounderings with his sexuality were sort of interesting, if not entirely believable. I also wasn’t crazy about Brockmann’s need to state for the reader things that to me seem very obvious: if you’re gay, it’s ’cause you were born that way! It is not icky and disgusting! A gay man can totally kick ass! This novel is frequently as subtle as an exploding truck of bricks! However, I am aware that I am really not Brockmann’s intended audience. She’s not writing these books to titillate slash fans; she’s including queer romance in books meant for a market of readers who may not be already comfortable with this sort of thing, and hopefully she’s making some of them think about perceptions and prejudices and whatnot. So fair play to her, on that count.
Also, Jules is awesome, and that’s not to be discounted, either. I spent a while thinking about what’s so appealing about him, and I finally decided that it’s in large part the fact that he’s so very comfortable with himself. Most characters I read about or watch on TV—and especially, most of the ones I come to love—are plagued with self-doubt. Not Jules. He’s like the anti-John Sheppard. He has problems, but he’s secure in himself; he knows who he is. I find that quality, especially in a hot kickass gay FBI agent, extremely refreshing and very appealing. In short: Jules rules.
39. The Third Man/The Fallen Idol, Graham Greene — Reading The Third Man made me want to rethink my previous dislike for Graham Greene, which was mostly based on reading The Heart of the Matter in high school and hating it. I would say I was biased in favor of The Third Man because I love the movie so much, but Greene’s responsible for that too, and both are wonderful: cynical, mysterious, and dark, but not without humor. However, the other story in this collection of two short novellas, The Fallen Idol, brings me right back where I was before: thinking, “omg, this guy is just relentlessly depressing and melodramatic and so, so not for me.” So I don’t know what the deal is, really. Except in regards to one thing: The Third Man is really frickin’ good.
40. Gone Too Far, Suzanne Brockmann — Though not one of the books that focuses on Jules Cassidy, I picked this one up because I’d gleaned from the other volumes that this was the one where Jules’ best friend Sam and his FBI partner Alyssa finally hook up. It ended up being my least favorite of the ones I’ve read so far, and not just because J.C. (initials significant? …actually, I think not) wasn’t onstage very much. The flashback, interracial romance set in the 1940s was actually my favorite part of the book; as for Alyssa and Sam (another interracial couple, it is worth noting, and don’t think I don’t appreciate this stuff, Brockmann), their angst never really held my interest. Maybe it’s because I haven’t read the previous books, and thus lack knowledge of their history and years of sexual tension, but frankly, I think Sam’s impassioned speech about why Alyssa should not take a morning-after pill when she has a brief pregnancy scare would have pissed me off no matter what. The het couples in these books subscribe to gender norms with a little too much vigor, methinks. In fact, the mix of progressive thinking and dyed-in-the-wool traditionalism at play here is actually very interesting. It’s just not so conductive to the utterly enjoyable guilty-pleasure reading experience I’m looking for.
Total Reviews: 40/67
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-24 08:03 pm (UTC)My copy of Falling Free actually has a picture of the Quaddies on the front, so I had that visual image all throughout the novel. Spaceship building from space stations and legal gray areas/politics and full immersion and change/partial sacrifice of self to help save others and save your soul in the process had me spellbound as a kid.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-24 08:18 pm (UTC)*is suddenly a bit curious about this pairing* DAMMIT.
On my cover, the title is blocking where everything...connects. Possibly I just lack the necessary visual imagination. Alas.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-24 08:46 pm (UTC)There's other fic, too, here (http://lookingglass.thelightgetsin.com/), if you want something shorter.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-24 08:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-25 05:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-24 09:00 pm (UTC)(OMG, how did I never think of that pairing? I have loved these books for years, and yet... maybe I was just too distracted at Miles' general awesomeness.)
I know what I'll be reading tonight.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-25 05:11 pm (UTC)Thanks! I'm stealing the link too!
Date: 2008-04-26 12:28 am (UTC)Re: Thanks! I'm stealing the link too!
Date: 2008-04-26 08:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-24 08:39 pm (UTC)I have read nearly all of Greene's novels. I can certainly understand hating something you were forced to read in high school. And he is depressing, but for me, the darkness of his books is the sort of art I love best - the kind that leaves me crying and exhausted at the end, however not something I can do every day. Might I suggest "Travels with my Aunt" and "Loser Takes All" as less depressing Greene fare?
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-24 08:59 pm (UTC)Suggestions of less depressing Greene are much appreciated! I've heard good things about Travels With My Aunt before. Maybe I'll give that a shot.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-24 09:26 pm (UTC)I HAVE read Gaiman, Neverwhere was one of my first Sci Fi books, followed by plenty of China Meiville. And I have read all of His Dark Materials. Look at me! I recently read the George R. R. Martin books, too, and was trying not to feel embarrassed about really enjoying them. (I'm a literary snob, but I'm working on that!)
Vorkosigan series. Great, I am going to look for that.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-24 09:42 pm (UTC)As for the Vorkosigan books...it's probably best to start with Shards of Honor (or with the omnibus Cordelia's Honor). Unfortunately, what are chronologically the first books in the series are far from the BEST, so give it a few, okay? ;-)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-24 08:54 pm (UTC)On my own, I really think Ivan is in the closet.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-24 09:37 pm (UTC)I think Ivan would be happiest if he could realize that, like Margaret Cho, he's not gay or straight...he's just slutty. (Where's HIS parade?)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-24 11:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-24 10:29 pm (UTC)Vorkosigan series
Date: 2008-04-24 11:57 pm (UTC)But every time I read Shards of Honor and Barrayar I always wish there was a third novel from Cordelia's POV that showed how Miles's parents dealt with his growing up and how the truce with his grandfather finally got hammered out.
I mean, can you just image the kind of hijinks young child Miles would have gotten into?
*wants like whoa*
Also, I'm also waiting for the next book. I can't wait to see Miles being a Da. *chortles*
Re: Vorkosigan series
Date: 2008-05-01 10:50 pm (UTC)And yes. DADDY!MILES BOOK NOW PLZ. ;-)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-25 06:05 am (UTC)