xicanti's 888

My final list, pulled from my TBRs. I plan to read others in these categories as well, so I'll list those below each list of 8.

8 Mysteries:
The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Bangkok 8 by John Burdett
The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr
Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie
At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie
Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie
After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

8 Collections of Short Fiction:
The American Short Story, ed. by Thomas K. Parkes (touchstone wrong)
What Was Always Hers by Uma Parameswaran
The Collected Short Fiction of C.J. Cherryh (x-list)
The Compass Rose by Ursula K. Le Guin (touchstone wrong)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, Sixteenth Annual Collection
The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Nineteenth Annual Collection
The Sandman: Book of Dreams, ed. by Neil Gaiman
The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Twentieth Annual Collection

Also Read:
Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson
Tales of the Slayers by Joss Whedon et al.
The Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, ed. by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant
Midnight Days by Neil Gaiman et al.

8 Historical Novels:
Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
Shogun by James Clavell
The Garden of Earthly Delights by Nicholas Salaman (touchstone wrong)
The Dark Queen by Susan Carroll (touchstone wrong)
The Courtesan by Susan Carroll
The Wise Woman by Philippa Gregory
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Mary, Called Magdalene by Margaret George

Also Read:
Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland
Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana by Anne Rice

8 Pieces of Non-Fiction (of varying scholarly merit):
A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester
Etiquette For Women by Irene Davison
Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition by B.R. Burg
The Watcher's Guide, volume 1 by Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder
Firefly: The Official Companion, volume 1
Firefly: The Official Companion, volume 2
Mary Pickford: America's Sweetheart by Scott Eyman
Caught in the Web of Words by Katharine Maud Elisabeth Murray

Also Read:
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
TV Classics: Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Anne Billson
Judaikitsch by Jennifer Traig and Victoria Traig

8 Books of Folklore or Mythology:
The Arabian Nights
The Pink Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
The Brown Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
The Mabinogion
The Book of Werewolves by Sabine Baring-Gould
Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy
The Unicorn by Nancy Hathaway (touchstone wrong)
The Book of Ballads by Charles Vess

Also Read:
The Tale of the Four Dervishes and Other Sufi Tales by Amina Shah

8 Children’s/YA Novels:
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce
The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White
Westmark by Lloyd Alexander
Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel

Also Read:
Tithe by Holly Black
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan
The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan
The Icebound Land by John Flanagan
Valiant by Holly Black
The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
Ironside by Holly Black
The King of Attolia by Holly Black
Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson
The Fake McCoy by Mindi Scott
Kristy's Great Ideat by Ann M. Martin
Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls by Ann M. Martin
The Truth About Stacey by Ann M. Martin
Mary Ann Saves the Day by Ann M. Martin
Dawn and the Impossible Three by Ann M. Martin
Kristy's Big Day by Ann M. Martin
The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
Claudia and Mean Janine by Ann M. Martin
Magic Under Glass by Jackie Dolamore
Boy-Crazy Stacey by Ann M. Martin
The Ghost at Dawn's House by Ann M. Martin
Amy Unbounded: Belondweg Blossoming by Rachel Hartman
Logan Likes Mary Anne! by Ann M. Martin

8 Science Fiction Novels:
Dune by Frank Herbert
Voyage to Venus by C.S. Lewis
That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover
Foreigner by C.J. Cherryh
The Collected Short Stories of C.J. Cherryh (x-list)

Also Read:
Astonishing X-Men: Gifted by Joss Whedon et al
Back to the Stone Age by Edgar Rice Burroughs
My Own Kind of Freedom by Steven Brust

8 Books from the list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die:
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake

Also Read:
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan

Okay, my touchstones are pretty wonky, but I think I have my final lists now. Almost everything is currently in my possession, so I shouldn't have any problems finding titles unless I'm targeted by an obscure class of thief who rifles through peoples' unfinished basements in search of books they probably haven't read yet.

I plan on starting Twilight later today. I've designated The Book of Werewolves as my current nonfiction read, and I've also made some progress through The Watcher's Guide as my fun, very much on-the-side read.

I finished Twilight today, (full review posted on the work page), and have made good progress through The Book of Werewolves. I'm finding the latter really interesting; Baring-Gould has structured his arguments very well.

The Book of Werewolves sounds fascinating, is it all about folklore and such?

It's a nineteenth century anthropological look at the werewolf. Baring-Gould discusses werewolves in several different cultures, highlighting the myths themselves and the real life cultural and psychological phenomena that may have inspired them.

A must read! Thanks!

This is probably a stupid question, but how do you do the crossing out words thingie like on your Twilight entry?

It's an HTML code. LT won't let post the right characters, but if you go to this site you'll see instructions. :)

Keeping the formatting references in house and with relevant allusions to Library Thing, you can go to Noisy's Profile for some of these things. He doesn't mention s though.

Robert

aha! Thank you both for the links. So let me test this out. It works!

Thank you, thank you, for posting the links for adding the stike out! It makes it so much easier to quickly tell what I have read. I love the way it looks. I am going to have to read some more books so that I can make some more lines. It is such fun!

Perhaps the reason Noisy didn't mention s is that it doesn't work here. Where s didn't work, strike did.

Robert

Horray for being able to cross things off!

I finished New Moon the other day, so there's another one gone. I found that I enjoyed it more this time through. I really appreciated how Meyer dealt with the relationship between Bella and Jacob, and I thought her pacing was good. She threw wrenches into the works at all the right moments.

I finished Eclipse last night. I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the other two, unfortunately. I felt that Meyer did more telling than showing, and I found the tension utterly lacking. Sigh. I'll still read the next one, but I'll be borrowing it from the library instead of buying it in hardcover. Full review up on the work page.

I've decided to focus in on The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Nineteenth Annual Collection now. I'm glad I did so; I'm getting a big kick out of it.

I finished off The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Nineteenth Annual Collection today. Review, x-posted from my 50 Book Challenge thread:

I'd seen these mammoth anthologies around, but until very recently I hadn't had much interest in short fiction. I read the odd piece here and there, (mostly when my favourite authors released collections), but I'd never really considered myself a short fiction fan.

Then last November, I read a couple of very good collections outside my normal range of experience. "Hey!" I said to myself. "That was actually really good!" I read a little more... then a little more... then decided to take the plunge and invest in some nice, big anthologies chock full of short stories. I couldn't initially find any of the books in this series at my favourite bookstores, so I took this one out of the library and tucked in.

I'm very, very glad I did. I didn't enjoy everything, but I came quite close. Each and every one of these stories is thoughtful and well-written. The stories are a lot of fun, but at the same time the reader feels like she's reading something with definite literary merit. The authors have explored some very interesting themes; they've played with older source material and broken new ground in equal measures. The fantasies range from contemporary, urban stories to full-on high fantasy. The horror selections are mostly of the sort that provide the reader with a pleasurable thrill of terror, but there are also a couple of stories that remind us of the horrors humankind is capable of and at least one selection that relies completely on shock value. All in all, it's a good mix of literate, enjoyable stories.

I found the fantasy summations interesting and useful, but the horror section was very difficult to wade through. It mostly consists of dense, lengthy lists of books and stories. I mostly skimmed, looking for authors and titles I was already familiar with.

Overall: excellent stuff, and highly recommended. Be forewarned, however, that it's not a quick read; the pages are formatted to contain about twice as much text as those of a regular book, so be prepared to spend about the same amount of time with this as you would with a 1200 page novel. (4.5 stars)

I finished The Watcher's Guide today. It was definitely aimed at a younger audience, but I still found it enjoyable. The sections on the crew and how they put the show together really made it for me. Full review up on the work page.

I'm working my way through Dune, too. I'm about two hundred pages in, and have just reached the point where I feel like I can really sink into the book.

I finished Dune tonight. I'd first read it ten years ago, and decided it was about time to revisit it. I remembered very little from the first time through, (basically just that the main character was named Paul, the planet was a desert, and giant worms featured prominently), and would say that I enjoyed reading it over again; however, I didn't feel that the last segment really measured up to what had come before. It was choppy and felt disconnected. In some ways, this worked with the book's overall themes, but it still didn't make for good reading from my perspective. Oh well. I've kept it so I can read it again in another ten years or so. Full review on the work page.

I got distracted by some other interesting reads, so it's been a while since I made any progress with my 888 list. I'm back at it now, though; I'm about a hundred pages into Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith. I'm enjoying it so far, but I think I got more out of the first book in the series.

I finished Tears of the Giraffe early this morning. Overall, I enjoyed it quite a bit, but I do wish McCall Smith had broken some new ground. The plot was structured differently and there were fewer cases, but it still felt remarkably similar to the first volume. It seems like the characters are now in a place where they can really grow, though, so hopefully there'll be more developments over the next few volumes.

I polished off The Book of Werewolves on my lunch break. It was interesting overall; I liked how Baring-Gould took a more anthropological approach to the subject matter. Full review on the work page.

I finished Sense and Sensibility earlier today, so now I've read something from every category except Historical Novels! I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Austen's writing is just lovely, and this book showcased many of the things she's interested in. I particularly liked how she dealt with the restrictions polite society placed upon conversation. There's tons of great subtext here. Some of it is heartbreaking. Some of it is hilarious. All of it is fun to sort through. Full review on the work page.

I finished Foreigner today, after a grueling five-and-a-half-day slog. Whew! My review, x-posted to my 2008 reading list:

Foreigner by C.J. Cherryh - seller

The only human allowed into an alien society is thrust into a situation that challenges all his preconceptions.

Intellectually, this book has a lot going for it. The society is carefully constructed, and the book is structured in such a way that the reader is fully immersed in it. The main character is reasonably easy to relate to. The style mirrors his thoughts in an effective way as he reacts to everything happening around him. There's tons of food for thought as Cherryh explores the differences between atevi and human hardwiring.

I wish I could say I'd enjoyed it, but it just didn't work for me. I can see why I should have liked it. It's exactly the sort of thing that I normally like very much. And yet, it fell almost completely flat for me. There were two short segments when my attention was fully engaged, but for the most part I just didn't care. I couldn't get involved with Bren or his predicament. I was pretty bloody glad when I finally finished it.

This is one of those rare books that I think I would have gotten more out of had it been pared down to only its most essential elements. I didn't want all the little details of atevi society. They're different. I get it. I didn't need to be told so over and over and over again. It often felt like Cherryh was giving the reader the same example of their differences over and over again, in slightly different ways each time. It just got to be too much for me.

But I think the style was the biggest sticking point. I believe that we, as readers, react to different styles in very individual ways. What works for one person just doesn't work for another, and it can be difficult to pinpoint exactly why. I think I would have liked Cherryh's style very much had this been a short story, but it just didn't jive for me as a novel. I sometimes felt like I was decoding the book as I sifted through Bren's realistically recorded thoughts. Sigh.

And finally, I guessed what was going on almost instantly and became increasingly annoyed with Bren as he failed to see what was happening.

So no, this most definitely wasn't a winner. I may read the next book eventually, just in case the series gets better, but it's far from a priority. And I'll definitely be borrowing it from the library instead of buying it. (2.5 stars)

This might sound silly, but, am I supposed to go to your messages to reply to a message you left me? I noticed, some people reply to my posts on my message board? What's the protocol?

You can reply right on your message. It's possible for users to see exactly which posts they've contributed to, (via the Your Posts option to the side), so it's pretty easy to check and see if anyone's responded to a comment. :)

You are a life saver! I suppose I should read some 'how to's" to make my life easier! I am so glad I asked. :)

No problem. :)

I crossed Northanger Abbey off my list yesterday; another one down! I'd rank it as my favourite Austen novel. I got a huge kick out of how she played with the conventions of the gothic novel. It was a damned fun read!

I finished At Bertram's Hotel this morning, so that's another one down. It was decent, I guess, but definitely not Dame Agatha's best work. I much prefer her smaller, more personal crime stories. She doesn't carry the story off nearly as well when she moves out into broader-reaching gang heist territory.

When I was a teenager, I read every Agatha Christie that my local library had, which was most but not all of them. In the years since, I have occasionally picked up one of her books, but have mostly been disappointed about half-way through when I realize it's one I've already read -- too bad I didn't keep a list, so I'd know which I haven't read!

My favorite was Crooked House, which I rarely see mentioned. Perhaps because it was never made into a movie?

I credit Dame Agatha for my enduring interest in mystery novels, and British mysteries in particular. I'm envious of you being able to read these books for the first time!

I've actually been reading Christie for about ten years now. I'm on a quest to obtain all her books. I currently own everything except a couple of the short story collections and three of her romance/general fiction titles, and I've got maybe ten more to read. She's one of my favourite authors. Her books are a lot of fun!

Crooked House is one of my favourites, too. I read somewhere that Agatha Christie herself considered it her favourite novel.

I finished What Was Always Hers by Uma Parameswaran yesterday, so there's another one down. It was a big disappointment. Review below, x-posted from my reading list post:

What Was Always Hers by Uma Parameswaran - seller

A collection of five stories about the Indo-Canadian experience.

I really, really wanted to like this book. In theory, it seems like just the sort of thing I'd enjoy very much. Parameswaran examines a segment of society that I have some personal experience with but haven't read a great deal about. The stories mainly focus on women, with some attention paid to a male character in "Darkest Before Dawn." Several of the stories are obviously set in my home city, despite a transparent name change, and I usually find it fun to read about places I see every day. Some of the dialogue is nicely set out, and Parameswaran gives the reader a good feel for how each character speaks.

But as much as I wanted to, I just couldn't enjoy this. It consistently fell flat for me. The stories frequently demand that the reader make intuitive leaps that are not properly set up beforehand. The first two offerings are overlong, with many unnecessary details that add nothing to the final payout and contribute little to the character development. The three shorter stories are opaque; it seems clear that Parameswaran means to say important things about life here, but I can't tell what they are and I'm not really motivated to dig deep enough to find out.

So I really can't recommend this. The stories show promise, but they just aren't tight enough. (2 stars)

I stayed up late last night to polish off The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Sixteenth Annual Collection, ed. by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. My comments, x-posted from my reading list:

Finally, something else to add to my list! After I finished What Was Always Hers, I really felt like I needed some proof that people are doing good work in the short story medium. This collection was just the thing to restore my faith in short fiction. It was fun, literary, absorbing and utterly enjoyable.

Unfortunately, it did take me forever to read. I find that large books take me ages simply because of how heavy they are. They're difficult for me to hold and lug around. When you consider that this anthology series is also formatted to hold about twice as much text per page as a regular book, you've got a 1400-page doorstop to get through. Yeah. It was worth it, though I definitely won't be reading the series back to back.

My very favourite story was definitely "A Pool in the Desert" by Robin McKinley. I wept so, so hard while I was reading it. Close runners-up were "Mermaid Song" by Peter Dickinson, "The Coventry Boy" by Graham Joyce and "Seven Pairs of Iron Shoes" by Tracina Jackson-Adams, but I wouldn't discount any of the stories herein. They were uniformly excellent. Just glancing back over the table of contents, about ten more titles jumped out at me. Out of nearly fifty entries, the only one that did very little for me was "The Prospect Cards" by Don Tumasonis.

So yes. I highly recommend this. Full, more carefully considered review on the work page.

I saw a thing about A Crack in the Edge of the World on PBS and it was really interesting. I loved Krakatoa. Hope this one is as good.

I'm really looking forward to it. I read one of Simon Winchester's books on the Oxford English Dictionary last year and was very impressed with his style.

I finished A Pocket Full of Rye earlier today, so there's another one down. I had a great time with it! Definitely one of Christie's more engaging mysteries. It flowed very nicely, and I found that the character dynamics and plotting were both handled very well. Full review on the work page.

I expect to finish the second Firefly companion this evening too, but I won't cross it off until it's definitely done.

I'd hoped to read about eight books a month from this list, so it looks like I'm on track so far. Good times.

I finished Firefly: The Official Companion, volume 2 last night, as planned. It didn't disappoint. I think I'd launch right into a big rewatch of the whole series if I weren't currently engrossed in Buffy.

Next up is Etiquette For Women by Irene Davison. It looks like it'll be a really quick read. I started it last night and am already about halfway through.

Etiquette For Women proved as quick a read as I suspected. I finished it this morning. It was a very interesting little book. There were so many tiny little rules these people had to follow! It'll prove an excellent resource for anything I write on this period.

I finished The Brown Fairy Book today. It was somewhat disappointing, but still entertaining enough. Full review on the work page.

The BBC video version of Pocket Full of Rye is really good. Worth looking for.

I'll be sure to keep an eye out for it! I've been very impressed with some of the BBC's past Agatha Christie adaptations.

I started in on The Sword in the Stone this morning, and have made me way through the first couple of stories in The Pink Fair Book. So far so good on both counts.

I figure I'll spend the next little while alternating between 888 reads, library materials and Go Review That Book selections so I can make some progress with all my varied reading commitments.

I finished The Sword in the Stone this evening. My thoughts, x-posted from my reading list:

King Arthur's boyhood takes an interesting turn when Merlyn becomes his tutor.

I think I am either too old or too young to have read this book for the first time. I know I'd have adored it if I'd read it when I was eight. I'd have shrieked with delight at all the Wart's adventures. I'd have longed to try everything for myself. Hell, I'd probably even have instituted my own personal eddicational system based on this book!

(I did stuff like that when I was little. It was rarely successful, but it was a hell of a lot of fun).

Were I a little older than I am now, I suspect I'd have been drawn in by the oh-so-British prose. It just begs you to do the voices in your head as you read! There's a real sense of delight behind the words, and it seems to me that White's approach owes more than a little to such children's authors as E. Nesbit. I'd probably have viewed the book as a welcome return to childhood dreams.

As it currently stands, though, I got tired of this pretty quickly. It's very much a boy's school story, (albeit with King Arthur as the boy in question), and as a result is quite episodic. There's also a great deal of educational material packed in here, both seriously and as satire, and it all got to be just a bit too much for me. Were this a treasured childhood read, I'm sure I'd have loved revisiting it with a clear idea of just what everything means... but, having come to it for the first time at twenty-four, I just found it tedious. I didn't particularly want a cleverly educational book. I didn't want a fine example of fun-yet-informative children's lit. I wanted a good story, and this just didn't deliver on that level.

Recommended to youngsters, oldsters, and those who've already read and loved it. Others, think about what you really want from the book before launching in. You, like me, may find that you're at the wrong point in your life for this tale. (2.5 stars)

I polished off Voyage to Venus today. It took me forever to finish. Blah. My thoughts, x-posted from my reading list:

In the second volume of Lewis's Space Trilogy, Dr. Ransom travels to Venus to play his part in the foundation of a new world.

This little book has a lot going for it. It's written in an elegant and simple style that works well with the subject matter. Perelandra, (Venus), is nicely realized and described. The book presents a thorough exploration of its topic, examining the issues at hand from several different angles. And yet, I just couldn't get into it. I think it's because it, unlike Out of the Silent Planet, is very Christian in its outlook. While the first volume was more universal in its outlook, this one demands that the reader know a fair amount about the Christian creation myth. I found the allegory almost overwhelming. This isn't a novel so much as a vehicle for the author's ideas about spiritual development.

Of course, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's just not what I felt like right now. (3 stars)

***WARNING: SOME SPOILERS BELOW***

My thoughts on The Sparrow, x-posted from my reading list:

When an astronomer discovers intelligent life in space, the Jesuits launch a mission to make first contact.

I've abandoned a lot of books in my time. Usually, it's because they bore me. The plot doesn't engage me. I don't feel anything for the characters. The writing doesn't pull me in. The setting leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

This one was different. The premise was interesting. The plot was nicely developed through a series of flashbacks. I wasn't quite invested in the characters, but I could see myself getting there eventually. The writing was lovely. There were some fascinating things going on with the whole idea of goodness and faith. I'm sure that, had I finished it, I'd have given it at least four stars.

But I just couldn't. This is the very first book I've had to put down not because I didn't like it but because it disturbed the hell out of me.

Because the book is told in flashbacks, we quickly learn just how the main character ends up. His hands are mutilated, he's forced into prostitution and he loses his faith. I honestly could not see myself reading forward to see how it all came about. Strange as it sounds, I didn't have nearly enough invested in him to watch him go through that. If I'm going to read about a character who goes through hell, I have to really, really care about them. I have to hope against hope that things will be better for them, someday. I couldn't care about Emilio like that. I didn't want to subject myself to any more, regardless of how good the book was overall or how small a part the mutilation played in the bulk of the story. I abandoned it a little over two hundred pages in.

I just finished The Sparrow last week and I entirely understand why you abandoned it! I can hardly look at my own hands without getting squeamish thinking about Emilio's, and I have to say that if you found it disturbing at 200 pages then you made a good call by not finishing it because it made my jaw drop several times in the final chapters. You make an excellent point about not continuing because you didn't care enough about the characters (especially Emilio), but I found that I did care about them enough to learn what happened.

Nonetheless, not a book for the faint of heart or stomach. :S

I'm still really surprised that I abandoned it. I'm not a very disturbable person, but what happened to his hands just cut too close to home for me.

I finished Bangkok 8 by John Burdett this afternoon. Here's my review, x-posted from my reading list:

Bangkok 8 by John Burdett - seller

A Thai detective seeks vengeance after his soul brother dies in the line of duty.

I found this to be a good book but not a spectacular one. The characters were interesting, but I never really engaged with them. Some the character dynamics also felt like they could have been fleshed out a bit more. I got some sense of how these people related to one another, but I never really felt it.

The plot, however, is nice and complex, with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing, (or too confused for words; it could go either way), and I found that the mystery was set out in such a way that I could see it unfold just as Sonchai did: intuitively rather than factually. It made for a different sort of mystery, and a pretty good one at that.

But what really sets this book apart is the focus on the Thai mindset. The story is steeped in Thai culture. Burdett paints a vivid picture of a society completely unlike anything westerners are used to. The justice system operates under different rules. The morality is complex and often surprising. And, most importantly, the boundaries between the living and the dead are much less rigid. There's a lot of emphasis here on Buddhist ideas, especially those regarding reincarnation. It makes for fascinating reading.

Overall, I found this book quite enjoyable, but it's nothing I'll need to read again. I feel okay about passing it along. I will, however, keep an eye out for the sequels. (3.5 stars)

I finished A Canticle For Leibowitz on the flight out. My review is below, x-posted from my reading list:

The story of humanity's rise and fall after a nuclear disaster changes the face of the world.

Like the best classic science fiction, this book is about ideas. Miller thrusts us into one hell of a "what if" scenario and runs with it. I must say, I was quite impressed with the end product. It's broken into three parts, each of which takes place about six hundred years after the previous segment. This doesn't give the reader much of a chance to get to know the characters, but it does give Miller an effective platform from which to develop his themes. He does so very, very well.

On a technical level, the prose is readable and occasionally quite funny. The world is realistically delineated, and the characterization is really quite good given how little time we spend with each of these people. I found it easy to sink into the book. This was never a struggle to read. It was often quite a pleasure.

I did feel that the last segment, in which Miller takes a decidedly more science fictiony approach, was a bit weak compared to the previous two. This is likely just my own bias coming through, though; I'm not terribly big on sci fi, as a general rule.

I'm glad I gave the book a try, though. It was certainly worth it. I doubt I'll ever feel the need to revisit it, but I'm happy to have read it. Recommended. (four stars)

I remember A Canticle for Leibowitz having a big impact on me when I read it in college about 40 years ago. I was quite enthusiastic about recommending it to friends who also read SF.

I ended up abandoning The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray. My thoughts in brief, x-posted from my reading list:

I wouldn't normally abandon the third book in a trilogy, but I just couldn't see myself reading any more of this. I made it through the first three hundred pages and that was plenty.

I read the first two books sometime in late 2006, having hearing about them on LiveJournal. I found the first installment somewhat interesting, but I wasn't really invested in it. The second one really grabbed me, but I still lacked that involvement with the characters that is, to me, so essential in any longer work. I tried very, very hard to like this third one, but it just didn't happen.

Honestly, I found it a bit silly. Bray still didn't seem too sure of how her magical system works, and the characters continued to bother me. I couldn't really believe in their friendship, and so this book with its strong themes of friendship and sisterhood failed for me.

Oh well.

I finished Atonement this morning, thanks to a sick day. My thoughts, x-posted from my reading list:

I must say, I'm rather... underwhelmed. McEwan writes beautifully and displays a stunning command of language, but I felt that the storytelling here left much to be desired. This is a psychological novel, above all else, and he's set out to show us what a large impact our perceptions and choices can have on our lives and the lives of those around us. He does so by layering event after event, observation after observation. Tiny occurrences are given the same weight as life-shattering moments. In many cases, the very pointlessness of it all is, in and of itself, the point. I don't deny that this is clever, and that it gives McEwan a perfect area in which to toy with these pretty, pretty words of his, but I could never help hoping that something would happen, for god's sakes! Every time the story seemed to be on the cusp of something, the author backtracked and indulged in more of his (admittedly gorgeous) descriptions. It bothered me.

Things did improve somewhat after Part I. I found that McEwan's approach captured wartime events much better than country life. The book began to engage me, at long last. I really sank into it. I found myself trudging through France with Robbie, working in the hospital with Briony. I particularly enjoyed the rejection letter she received, which seemed to be a commentary on Atonement itself. I started to think this might be a book worth keeping around for another rereading.

Then the ending killed it for me.

I won't say more than that. I don't want to ruin it for the rest of you. I find, though, that endings are almost more important to me than everything that came before. The ending can cast the entire book, (or film, or television show, or whatever), in a whole new light. It can elevate certain prior events, downplay others, make the reader rethink everything that's come before. Sometimes this is a good thing. Sometimes it... well, isn't.

I'm sure there are plenty of readers who found Atonement's ending fantastic. I'm really, really not one of them.

But, despite my own issues, I do recommend this. If you enjoy beautiful language and elegant writing, you'll love this. I give it top marks on that front, and cannot justify giving it fewer than four stars overall. (4 stars)

Eek, that's not a promising review of The Sweet Far Thing. I already absolutely despised Rebel Angels but was planning to finish the trilogy anyway....

I seem to be in the vast minority in disliking The Sweet Far Thing, so you may still enjoy it! I think I'd probably have stuck with it if it had been considerably shorter, but as it stood... well, I was three hundred pages in and could not see myself reading another five hundred pages of it.

I finished The Pink Fairy Book last week and enjoyed it more than The Brown Fairy Book. My review:

A collection of fairy stories and folktales from around the world.

This installment of the coloured fairy books does include stories from Japan, Italy, Africa and Spain, but there's a real emphasis on Scandinavian stories. Several of Hans Christian Anderson's less morbid stories help open the volume, and a large number of the remaining stories hale from Sweden and Denmark, in particular. The tales themselves are a combination of prince and princess stories, (with differing levels of fairy involvement), brother stories and animal fables, with the occasional story about simple folk who make good.

As is usually the case with Lang's collections, the writing is clear and enjoyable, but highly colonial. It's virtually impossible to tell where each of these stories originated based on the writing style. Lang has purged them of all local colour and regional feel. Many of the animal stories are easily identifiable for obvious reasons, (ie, leopards are not native to northern Europe), and sometimes the climate helps determine the location, but in most cases I wouldn't have recognized the source country from the story itself.

If you're looking for careful ethnography, these collections probably aren't the way to go. If you're just interested in entertaining stories, however, or are looking for a bit of a nostalgia trip, they can be a good resource. The illustrations are another high point.

And yesterday I polished off The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Twentieth Annual Collection, so here's my review for that one:

A collection of the best fantasy and horror short fiction published in 2006.

I always enjoy these anthologies, and this one was no exception. The stories are both literary and entertaining, and there's a good mix of styles. As is usually the case, however, I found that the fantasy selections were strongly weighted in favour of contemporary and/or urban stories, with a few historical pieces thrown in. Are there really so few authors doing good work with traditional fantasy? The few traditional selections were not, to my mind, all that they could have been. They mostly employed dense, difficult language that forced me out of the story and I decoded the author's meaning.

While I found most of the stories enjoyable and thought-provoking while I was reading them, very few jumped out at me this time around. The sole exception was "The Lineaments of Gratified Desire" by Ysabeau S. Wilce. Oddly enough, the story uses the dense, difficult language I mentioned above, but the author makes it work for her. Instead of shunting me out of the story, it forced me further in and kept me involved. The story itself is rather gruesome and cruel, filled as it is with characters who navigate via a very different sort of moral compass, but I found myself utterly entranced by the worldbuilding. I absolutely loved it, and intend to seek out more of Wilce's work.

I definitely recommend the collection as a whole to those who like short fiction. I didn't feel that it was as strong as previous entries in the series, but it was still most definitely worthwhile. (4 stars)

My review for Wild Magic, x-posted from my reading list:

A young girl with the ability to speak to animals comes to Tortall.

I can see why Tamora Pierce's books have gained a strong readership. They deal with many themes that I usually enjoy very much. Daine, this book's central character, feels like an outsider. Throughout the course of the book, she comes to realize that she's found a home for herself, despite an unusual talent that has caused problems for her in the past. It's a solid scenario that a lot of readers, (especially young people), can really relate to.

Unfortunately, I found it impossible not to compare Pierce to Mercedes Lackey, an author who I feel has done a much better job with the whole outsider-finding-acceptance theme. It's all a matter of taste, I know, but I found Pierce's narrative just a little too simplistic for my tastes. Despite the strong themes she'd working with, nothing goes very deep. I know this is a children's novel, but I don't think that's really an excuse. I wouldn't exactly say that Pierce has written down to her readers, but there's definitely room for more than she's giving.

I can see why others have really enjoyed the Tortall books, but this one just didn't click for me. I might try the rest of the series at a later date, but it's not a priority. (3 stars)

My review for Westmark, x-posted from my reading list:

A young man gets caught up in his country's political situation after soldiers destroy his livelihood.

Why had I never read this before? Why had I never even considered reading it? I've been a big fan of Lloyd Alexander's for almost fifteen years. I've loved everything I've ever read of his. And yet, I somehow missed out on most of his bibliography. Huh.

I wish I'd read this fifteen years ago, but I'm not sure I would have appreciated it then. Alexander does some fantastic things with this story. He packs in tons of commentary on right and wrong, justifiable and inexcusable. Each of these characters has differing views on what is and is not appropriate, both on a personal level and on a political level, and it's difficult to say who's really right. Everyone gets plenty of opportunities to explain where they're coming from, and everyone has valid points. The book really challenges the reader to think about where these people are coming from and how s/he would act in their place.

And on top of that, it's just a good story. The plot is a bit unconventional, but I didn't find that it took away from it at all. Rather, it enhanced the issues Theo dealt with and helped make his choices clearer. The twists and turns were also set up very nicely; unfortunately, I had the final surprise spoiled for me by some ill-considered blurb reading, but I still found it interesting to see how Alexander laid out all the clues.

The book is teeny-tiny, (184 pages in the hardcover edition), but I found that it had the same impact as something much longer. I highly recommend it to those who like their children's literature with a bit more of a punch. (4 stars)

Well, it's been a long, long time since I crossed anything off my 888 list. I got kind of distracted. I've read two in a row now, though, and am looking forward to getting through some of the others pretty soon!

I spent the past couple of days reading some Agatha Christie, including both Dead Man's Folly and After the Funeral. Reviews are now up for both of them.

I finished The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes the other day; just one more book to go and I'll be done with Mystery! My review is up on my blog.

OMG i just finished the same book

I've finally managed to knock another one off: The Book of Ballads by Charles Vess. My reviews are on LT and on my blog.

I've finally managed to knock Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition off my list. I've wanted to read this book for upwards of five years now. My review is here.