melita's booklog - mostly

I knew it had been a long time since I posted, but really! The move to dreamwidth derailed me, and I never seem to have the energy to put together even my lackadaisical post on what I've been reading.

I'm not going to bother to really write up stuff now, but just list what I can remember. If anyone wants more information (hollow laughter), feel free to comment and I'll try to remember what I thought of the book. Without further ado, and in roughly latest to oldest order. Peters is interwoven, Wells has been read and read in this time frame...

Martha Wells, Murderbot: All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol (ARC)
Martha Wells, Raksura books (Stories of the Raksura volumes 1 and 2, The Cloud Roads, The Serpent Sea, and The Siren Depths, The Edge of Worlds, The Harbors of the Sun, and Fall of Ile Rien (The Wizard Hunters, Ships of Air, Gate of Gods) novels
(of the less than novel length, I adore "The Tale of Indigo and Cloud")
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Penric's Fox", "Mira's Last Dance", "The Prisoner of Limnos", "The Flowers of Vashnoi"
Elizabeth Peters (reread): Crocodile on the Sandbank, The Ape Who Guards the Balance, Children of the Storm, The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog, The Hippopotamus Pool, Lord of the Silent, He Shall Thunder in the Sky, The Falcon at the Portal, Lion in the Valley, The Mummy Case, Curse of the Pharaohs
(Now reading The Ape Who and finally hit the scene where the romance became public--so wonderful! I have a soft spot for Ramses)
Elizabeth Peters and Joan Hess, The Painted Queen (posthumously finished, meh)
Cecelia Grant, "A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong" (fine, but not enough to make me read her other books)
Melissa Scott, Point of Sighs, Fairs Point
Jessica Day George, The Rose Legacy
Underwater Ballroom Society anthology
Daniel Keys Moran, "Sideways", "Platformer", "Play Date", The Long Run, Emerald Eyes, The A.I. War (part 1), The Last Dancer, "Leftbehind", "Old Man"
C.S. Pacat, "Pet", The Captive Prince, Kings Rising, "The Summer Palace", Prince's Gambit (still not sure why I found these so compelling--two princes of neighboring kingdoms are fighting for their crowns. One ends up the slave of the other, many shenanigans and it turns out to be a love story in a roughly greek vs persian world)
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, "Degrees of Separation", Local Custom, Mouse and Dragon, "Heirs to Trouble", Neogenesis, "Cultivar", Scouts Progress, "Due Diligence"
C.J. Cherryh, Emergence, Convergence
Diane Duane, "Lior and the Sea"
Faye Kellerman, Bone Box - I really liked the first few books in the this series. Main characters have since relocated from southern California to upstate NY. Practically anyone who was of note in the series showed up in this book--how conveeenient. I'm not going to try to catch up but will likely reread the early ones at some point)
D.M. Quincy, Murder in Mayfair: An Atlas Catesby Mystery. Eh.
Helen S. Wright, A Matter of Oaths (originally published in 1990, finally released on ebook)
Melissa McShane, Pretender to the Crown, Guardian of the Crown, Abounding Might, Wondering Sight
David Pagel, The Forever Girl - love story of a G.I. who falls in love with a Japanese woman (post WWII)
Charles De Lint, The Wind in His Heart
Ann Leckie, Provenance
F.M. Busby, Renalle Kerguelen (story of Rissa's clone daughter, compelling because I like this series, but ultimately eh, only for completists)
Stephanie Burgis, Snowspelled, "Shadow Duet", "Forbidden Magic", "Flying Magic", "House of Secrets", The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart
P.C. Hodgell, The Gates of Tagmeth
SJ Rozan, "Prosperity Restaurant", "Heartbreak", "Body English" (short stories in the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series)
Nevil Shute, The Far Country (problematic handling of natives, but I found the love story very compelling and the information that various countries took in refugees from WWII very interesting and surprising)
Megan Whalen Turner, Thick as Thieves (Pretty sure I reread the rest of the series during this period--probably at least twice)
Jo Graham, The Marshal's Lover
Jo Graham and Melissa Scott, Lost Things, Steel Blues, Silver Bullet, Wind Raker, Oath Bound

I may be mislabeled some novellas as novels and vice versa. List also omits a bunch of stuff started but not finished.

Whew, it's been a while since I posted. I had a few dry periods, particularly over the holidays, but have been cracking along (relatively) since mid-January.

I was waiting for a few books to come out, and none of the new books sitting around were enticing so I ended up (re)reading a few Elizabeth Peters books in the Amelia Peabody-Emerson series. Both were later books, set after Ramses is an adult: Children of the Storm and The Golden One. I enjoyed the later books, after Ramses (Amelia's son) became an adult and had more control over his own destiny. These are set in and around WWI. This series can be an acquired taste. I liked the first book when I read it, somewhat of a pastiche on the old Haggard / romance novels, but Amelia, Emerson, et al. really grown on you, and I've wildly enjoyed almost all the books. I'll shall likely continue to acquire the ebooks and re-read the rest of the series this year. Oh, the Peabody-Emerson clan are British archaeologists in Egypt who end up tangling with a Master Criminal, tomb robbers, spies, and other nefarious characters.

It was definitely a short novel, but I managed somehow to finish Jo Walton's My Real Children over a weekend. It's the story of a woman relegated to an Alzheimer's unit who has confused days, and really confused days. So confusing that sometimes she remembers having 4 children and sometimes remembers having 3 children. The book tells both stories which led out of her having to answer 'yes' or 'no' to her boyfriend about whether she would marry him. Both stories had good and bad parts, so there's no answer as to which answer was correct. I found it very haunting and sad, and very difficult because I'd had a hard week, and it made for a hard weekend too. The ending though, wow. Also hard because my father lost his facilities before he died (as his mother did but hers was gradual and his more abrupt), and my maternal grandfather had also had problems before he died.

I definitely needed an upper after that, and settled on A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold. Miles Vorkosigan has fallen in love...he has a plan! I'm still not sure about the very visceral fight near the end (a bit too slapstick for my liking), but the Council of Counts scene, and of course, the dinner party earlier--priceless! Although someone could read this as their introduction to the Vorkosiverse, reading the rest of the series adds quite a bit to understanding the undercurrents and comments that occur in the book.

The eARC (electronic advanced reader's copy) of Dragon in Exile by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller was released either late in January or early in February. It continues from I Dare, Dragon Ship, and Necessity's Child. It opens a new five book series. Set mostly on Surebleak, it reveals that DoI is definitely still after Korval, and that there are likely other enemies of the clan heading to Surebleak to have their revenge, or to revel in Korval's downfall (as they think). Not a good place to start in the Korval Universe.

I then happened to see a reference that the Cormac and Amelia book was out, Low Midnight. This is a side book to the main Kitty Norville series, featuring Cormac, her husband's cousin, and his resident magician/wizard, Amelia. Cormac was convicted of manslaughter (I think) and has to spend several years in prison. While there, he's taken over by a ghost or spirit of a woman who had been convicted of murder and witchcraft a hundred years earlier. They combine forces to kill a supernatural creature, and Cormac agrees to Amelia's continued presence in his life. In this book, they take on a few mysteries trying to help Kitty and her battle against an ancient vampire who plans to take over the world. I like Cormac and Amelia a lot so was quite happy to read this book.

Meanwhile, the latest Order of the Air book, Wind Raker, by Melissa Scott and Jo Graham was released. Yeaaaa!!! These books deal with a set of aviators in Colorado, Gilchrist Aviation, a medium (she can see and talk to ghosts), and an archaeologist. They're also part of a lodge (magical). In this book, the archaeologist has been given a job on Oahu to prove that he can handle a dig. If it works, he'll be able to work on a dig in Alexandria, where they may have a lead to Alexander the Great's mausoleum. Why is it a problem? Jerry lost part of a leg in WWI, and it's the 1920s so getting around can be difficult. Meanwhile, Gilchrist Aviation is asked to test the new Catalina sea plane, also in Hawaii. At the same time, one of the aviators, Mitch and his wife (the medium), Stasi have custody of the three kids of a laborer/mechanic who left the kids and hasn't returned. Everyone ends up in Hawai'i, where they encounter Pelley again, a woman under a curse, and some early German shenanigans. Lots of fun.

I kept holding off on posting hoping that I'd get another book read, but it's taking longer than I expected. In early October, I finished The Emperor's Agent by Jo Graham. It's the sequel to The General's Mistress which came out last year. The series is a fictionalized account (or maybe secret history) of Ida St. Elme aka Elzelina van Aylde aka Maria Versfelt. She was born in the Netherlands and married young. She ends up abandoning the marriage and becomes the lover of General Moreau in France. Later she becomes Marshal Ney's longtime lover. This book focuses on early love affair with Ney and how she becomes an imperial agent for Napoleon. She's quite an interesting character: bi sexual, a cross-dresser on occasion and can even get glimpses of the future. There are a few sex scenes if that matters to you.

Graham has connected Elza to her Numinous world books--Elza was also Gull (Black Ships), for instance. This closely connected worldbuilding of reincarnation after reincarnation gives depth to the book.