melonbrawl ROOTs around in the book piles

This year's challenge: 50 books 25 books

The guidelines: physical books only, Early Reviewer books don't count.

Get your gardening gloves ready: it's time to dig some spuds!

Edited 1/30: due to the tyranny of exam studying, I'm scaling back my goal.

1. The Deviant Strain, Justin Richards
BookMooch 9/12

Kicking off the year with a Doctor Who novel -- typical, no? This is one of the new series novels featuring Chris Eccleston's doctor, Rose, and Jack Harkness, who are all crunching around in the snows of modern-day Russia. Standing stones, nuclear submarines, glowing blob-creatures, and people who aren't at all who they seem all make appearances. The pacing is pretty good and the story engaging, but for whatever reason it didn't really grab me. I bet I would have enjoyed it as a TV episode, but it wouldn't have been a favorite.

Rating: Three stars
Disposition: Since it's a Book Crossing book, it's getting a controlled release through PaperBack Swap

2. Grail, Elizabeth Bear
Gift, 12/12

Grail is the third and last book of the Jacob’s Ladder series, which centers around a generation ship many hundreds (thousands?) of years out from Earth. The ship has been out long enough to have political and philosophical factions, complex biological adaptations, and thoroughly interesting AIs. This all makes for an intriguing situation when the ship reaches a habitable -- and indeed already inhabited -- planet. I love this particular world and am sad that Bear has ended the trilogy. I’ll definitely reread them.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

3. Assimilation², Volume 1, Scott Tipton
Bought 2/13

A Star Trek: Next Generation/Doctor Who comic book crossover? Yes, please! Very nice art and good storyline (though I still think the Borg would kick the Cybermen’s butts, not the other way around). I’m really looking forward to the second compilation, which is due out at the end of the month.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

>4 melonbrawl:: Oh, thanks for letting me know that's out! Onto the wishlist it goes, because I'm going to have to check it out at some point, if only out of sheer curiosity.

Bragan, you're welcome! I'd recommend it, if for nothing other than the art -- it has more of a crayon/oil pastel feel than what I'm used to. My one quibble is that one of the artists can't seem to draw an Amy who looks like Amy.

4. 1493, Charles Mann
Gift, 12/12

Another solid historical overview from the author of 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. This time, Charles Mann is looking at the various global repercussions of Columbus’ transatlantic voyage. Mann traces the impact of South American silver flooding commodity markets worldwide, the movement of malaria and yellow fever from Europe to the Americas, the effects of exporting food crops, and the ways these things are all intimately connected. Highly recommended.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

5. The Wine-Dark Sea, Patrick O’Brian
Bought 10/11

Rather than try to review this, I think I’ll just note that a) the first half of the book is almost pure character development (which I love), and b) this installment includes a description of the high Andes that is almost dreamlike in its beauty. And as usual, the blurb on the back of the book does almost nothing to give the reader the flavor of the story.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

You are doing just fine, Melonbrawl!

6. The Glorious Dead, Scott Gray et al.
Bought 12/12

This is Volume 2 of the Doctor Who Complete Eighth Doctor Comic Strips. It was a Christmas present to myself, and I really enjoyed nibbling away at it slowly, kind of like a really good chocolate bar. There are some great stories in here, including some ideas on what happened to Grace after the TV movie, the tale of a kind-hearted Cyberman, and some fabulously silly anniversary specials. Oh, and the titular story arc is great. I'm now looking for excuses to buy myself another volume of this set!

Rating: Five stars
Disposition: Keep

I wonder if I'm going to finish 1Q84 by the end of the month. I might make it -- I'm about 20 pages into Book 3 and moving fast. So very glad I opted for the three-volume paperback set...it makes it easy to cart it around in my everyday work bag.

Did it!

7. 1Q84, Haruki Murakami
Bought 10/12

It's a strange thing to read over a thousand pages of a novel and still not be sure how you feel about it. It's a great premise: people unwittingly walk into a world that is almost but not quite exactly like the 1984 they know. Two of these people are childhood acquaintances who come to realize they're fated to meet again, but the route there is winding and treacherous. 1Q84 has Murakami's trademark other-worldliness: a ghostwritten novel; a gifted assassin; the roaming spirit of an NHK fee collector; and a cult that hears the voices of tiny people. It also has crisp slice-of-life writing, which is just the right counterpoint. But for all this, there's something flat about the story. Perhaps it's intentional -- part of the point is that our two major characters aren't fully themselves without the other. I'm not fond of that trope, so that could be my sticking point. If you're a long-time reader of Murakami, this is definitely worth your time. If you're new to his work, I'd suggest exploring it through some of his other novels first.

Rating: Three and a half stars, possibly four
Disposition: Keep. At least one person I know will want to read it.

8. The Briar King, Greg Keyes
Bought 7/09

I pulled up one of my oldest tubers with this one. The Briar King is a fairly standard fantasy novel of the "ancient evil is coming" variety. The characters are fairly well-written, the action is fast-paced, and the world interests me. However, there isn't quite enough there there to really push it into the "must read more!!" category. I don't know. I'm not the world's most avid reader of medievalesque fantasy, so perhaps that's what's holding me back. Glad I read it, though -- it was starting to bug me that it had been sitting on the shelf so long.

Rating: Three stars
Disposition: Keep, but only because we have the rest of the series at home.

Go fot it!!

9. Assimilation², Volume 2, Scott Tipton
Bought 4/13

Second volume of the Star Trek: Next Generation/Doctor Who comic book crossover. I liked this one better than the first -- less story set-up, more running around doing things. Also, someone seems to have finally figured out how to draw Karen Gillan decently. Good.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

10. Johannes Cabal, Detective, Jonathan L. Howard
Bought 4/12

Jonathan Howard had a bit of "sophomore slump" with this one, I'm afraid. The mystery was clever enough, the plot raced along nicely, and Johannes was as sour as ever, but the story was missing that magical...something. I think it had to do with Cabal being in an essentially mundane environment; amateur-detective-cum-fugitive is exciting, but arguing with the Devil and running an evil carnival was way better. Still looking forward to the third installment, though. It promises to be appropriately eldritch.

Rating: Three and a half stars
Disposition: Keep

11. The Broken Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin
Bought 10/12

Installment 2 of 3 in the Inheritance Trilogy. I loved the main character and very much enjoyed Jemisin's exploration of just what can go wrong when gods are so much a part of mortals' lives.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

12. A Madness of Angels, Kate Griffin
PaperBack Swap 10/10

Rating: Three and a half stars
Disposition: Pass along

13. Shada: the Lost Adventure, Gareth Roberts and Douglas Adams
Gift 7/13

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

Yay for Shada! I have that one on my TBR and am looking forward to it :)

I enjoyed it a lot -- it's perfect summer reading. :)

I've been thinking of getting around to Shada soon, myself. The episode -- what exists of it -- is so much fun, I've been hoping the novel version at least comes close to doing it justice. Glad to know it gets a thumbs-up from you!

14. War of Knives, Broos Campbell
PaperBack Swap 7/13

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

Okay, exam is over, so no more excuses for me!

15. Harvest of Time, Alastair Reynolds
Bought 7/13

Oh, this was so, so much fun. Yet another in my endless string of Doctor Who Novels, but definitely a cut above most others. Alastair Reynolds is an engaging writer who really likes to write fun, potentially believable scenarios on the outskirts of physics. (My physicist partner hasn't thrown any of Reynolds' books out the window yet, which tells me he's doing okay.) Harvest of Time is a Third Doctor novel involving: a North Sea oil rig, deeply suspicious secret government projects, caterpillar people, body-snatching metallic crabs, UNIT, Jo Grant, multiple universes/alternate futures, and (naturally) the Master. If any of this appeals to you, check it out. If all of it appeals to you, feel free to ditch whatever you're doing and head directly towards your preferred sci-fi book vendor. You won't regret it.

Rating: Four stars.
Disposition: Keep

OK, that one's definitely going on my list. :)

16. Treason's River, Edwin Thomas
PaperBack Swap 6/13

This is the third volume of the ongoing chronicles of the hapless Lieutenant Jerrold. This time, he's managed to get further in over his head than usual, which is really saying something. Jerrold's intelligence-agent friend gives him the job of bringing a letter from London to Philadelphia. In the course of the attempted delivery, Jerrold finds himself embroiled in Aaron Burr's scheme to invade Mexico. Oops.

Fun read, especially if you like the "Napoleonic Wars" genre but get a bit tired of characters who excel at everything.

Rating: Four stars.
Disposition: Keep

17. Morality Play, Barry Unsworth
BookMooch 11/10

I really loved this one. Unsworth's word choices and ways of framing sentences puts the reader solidly in the 14th century. The mystery is engaging, but what really makes this something special is the way the perspective of the narrator (a wayward priest) points out just how different his time is from our own. Highly recommended for anyone who likes a little literary time travel.

Rating: Four stars.
Disposition: Keep? Pass along?

18. The Lambs of London, Peter Ackroyd
Bought 9/10

This isn't one of Peter Ackroyd's better novels. I liked the way he conveyed the feeling of a smothering, static social order, but ultimately, it bled into boringness. Avoiding that is a difficult trick. Each of the major characters is caught in his or her own circumstances in a world where trying to break out of your place actively courts disaster. No doubt about it, disaster does come. You see it coming a mile away. The form it took surprised me a bit, but something about the ending felt tacked-on. Unless you're an Ackroyd completist, I'd pass on this one.

Rating: Three stars.
Disposition: Off to the library book sale

19. The Wheel of Ice, Stephen Baxter
Gift 7/13

Another "past Doctor" Doctor Who book. Jamie, Zoe, and Two investigate a mining colony on Saturn. People there are organized into lettered groups as in Brave New World, but no one at all seems to have any fun. More 1984, I suppose. Anyway. There's something old, awake, and terribly lonely at the heart of the ice moon being mined, and it's not pleased at having its house drilled. The reader isn't encouraged to have any sympathy for the head of the mining corporation -- she's horrible -- but all the other folks in charge of the colony are regular decent people trying to make a living. All perfectly in keeping with Second-Doctor-Era stories.

The Wheel of Ice isn't the showstopper that Harvest of Time was, but it's definitely good. Jamie is well-written by an author who clearly really loves the character, and there's a bonus Glaswegian robot for an extra helping of Scots smack-talk. Overall impression? Go for it.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

And in a complete divergence from the last book, I'm reading the next Patrick O'Brian (The Commodore, for those playing along at home). It is seriously hitting me right in the feels.

{brag} Also, about that exam back in post #1 that cut so heavily into my reading time? I passed. This gives me a Certified Archivist title on top of my extant Master's in Library Science & Archives Administration. {/brag}

Woo hoo! Congratulations! Definitely worth bragging about!

Also, good to know re Wheel of Ice -- I have that one on my "request from the library" list.

You are so right to brag about passing the exam. Congratulations.

Congrats!

And I'm also glad to know you liked The Wheel of Ice. I have that one on the TBR Pile, but, well, I haven't been thrilled with the last, um, many books I've read by Stephen Baxter, so I've been looking at it a bit dubiously.

Also, I must get back to Patrick O'Brian...

Thanks, all! Bragan, Wheel of Ice has a frustratingly Baxter-y ending (you know the kind: too many threads left loose, a little too much "ooh, mysterious"), but for all that, it's still a fun read. Might as well borrow instead of buy it.

I can handle Baxter's endings, so maybe that'll be OK. :)

Aha! It was your review of Harvest of Time I saw! Our library ordered the audiobook version (narrated by Geoffrey Beevers) and it seemed to me that the title was familiar for some reason. Managed to figure it out, reread your review and am very much looking forward to reading the book!

I also read Wheel of Ice and liked it, although the mining company head was a bit too Professor Umbridge for my tastes. Still, good story, and I approve of Second Doctor stories on principle, so well worth the library borrow.

OMG, narrated by Geoffrey Beevers?! I have to go find this. Seriously, that's the next best thing to having it narrated by Roger Delgado, which would prove a bit tricky.

I agree on the mining company head in Wheel of Ice. There was no there there, which was a shame. Some depth would have been much more interesting.

Ahhh! Playing catch-up!

20. The Commodore, Patrick O'Brian
Gift 11/11

Gave me a major case of the feels in several directions at once. Love little Brigid and her relationship with Padeen.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

21. Peter Wicked, Broos Campbell
PaperBack Swap 8/13

Matty Graves is growing into a really interesting character. I liked him from book one, but he's just gotten better with each installment. Campbell does for post-Revolutionary/pre-War of 1812 America what O'Brian does for Napoleonic War-era Europe -- Campbell's use of language and idiom makes the characters shine. Also, the man clearly knows cats. They're just as much people as the humans, which is always fun.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

22. The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
Bought 10/13

Just finished this tonight. I liked it far more than I expected to, although I can't quite figure out why I was hesitant to read it. The pacing was smooth and deliberate without ever dragging, and Morgenstern's descriptions of the magical circus tents were a delight. The one thing that distracted me (and this is in no way the fault of the author) is that portions were set in my home town and I couldn't stop trying to figure out exactly where. Silly brain.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Willing to pass along

WOW, that's rather special. That would keep me wondering too.

Almost there...

23. Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion, Terrance Dicks
Bought 12/12

I scooped this up last year during a hurried visit to my old neighborhood's sci-fi bookstore. I thought it was Terror of the Autons. Nope, this is "Spearhead from Space." Well, okay. It's a perfectly solid novelization that has nothing really special to recommend it in this age of recorded video. Well, this reprint has a short, charming introduction by Russell T Davies, but it's not worth $6.

Rating: A workmanlike three stars.
Disposition: Keep for now

24. A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Madeleine L'Engle
BookMooch 9/10

I read the first three books of the Time Quintet many years ago, but I didn't remember this one at all. It was completely absorbing, but I really think A Wrinkle in Time is unbeatable. I'll try to remember to get the last two of the set from the library at some point.

Rating: Three and a half stars
Disposition: Keep for completeness' sake

Just one more to go!

I have Terror of the Autons! Will have to remember that the Auton Invasion is a different story so that I don't pass it by in the secondhand shop.

And finally, number 25:

25. When Old Technologies Were New, Carolyn Marvin
Gift 7/12

I've been wanting to read this book for ten years. I finally got a copy last year, and finally actually read it over the past couple of months. Marvin writes about the social aspects of 19th century electric communication -- telegraph, telephone, and electric light -- and turns over a few interesting stones along the way. She digs deep into the gendered and classed nature of "expert" culture, looks at the ways electric lighting changed the nature of the social gathering, and has some really great stuff to say on the ways that each generation constructs its own past as well as its own future. Her writing is dense but clear.

This book was written in the 1980s, which alternately made me wish for an updated edition and made me really revel in the 19th century fantasies that had come true since publication. Jules Verne would have really liked Skype.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

Congrats, Melonbrawl!!!

Thanks, Connie!

Congrats on meeting your goal, and with a very interesting-sounding book to boot! :)

on reaching your target. Well done!!!

Thanks, rabbitprincess and Ameise1!