Summer reading

I just created an account on Goodreads, and I think it will end up being fun to track the books I'm reading in a slightly different forum. I'm also hoping to find some good recommendations there.

This is a brief list of books I've read recently. I had actually saved up about 5 or 6 to read during the long flight to/from japan for vacation, but ended up not reading many of them. Seems I just needed some sleep!

Yesterday, I finished reading Under the Dome: A Novel by Stephen King, of course. I had not read any of his books since the gunslinger series, so it was refreshing to get back to the classic King, although I find that I have to be in a certain frame of mind to really tackle his books.


I really enjoyed this series by Jeri Smith-Ready, mainly thanks to a quick read through her prequel: The Wild's Call, which explains that this is an alternate future. However, you don't really need to know that to enjoy the series.
Eyes of Crow, Voice Of Crow (Aspect of Crow), The Reawakened (Aspect of Crow, Book 3)

I also read the The Reluctant Swordsman (The Seventh Sword Trilogy Book 1) series by Dave Duncan.
This is an alternate universe where the main character finds out quickly that he has destiny. Of course, I make it sound unoriginal by typing that, but it was a nice step away from some of the formulaic novels i come across.

I had been waiting to read Faith Hunter's Bloodring (Rogue Mage, Book 1) , but gave up on waiting for book 1 to be on Kindle, so I read 2 and 3. It was the classic bad-ass witch/heroine living in a small town, but the fun part is that there are angels and demons. I really enjoy the differences that each author creates to make their own version unique.


While Cast in Chaos (Chronicles of Elantra, Book 6) was a good addition to the series by Michelle Sagara, I have finally decided that the series is probably best read by young adults because the violence is limited, and you have the tough heroine who comes from a poor background.

Although I have purchased it, I have not read Pray for Dawn (Dark Days, Book 4). Jocelynn Drake is clearly in the supernatural/paranormal romance world with this one, but I really enjoyed her Macchu Picchu talk in the previous books. It vaguely reminds of me of Laurell K. Hamilton, but without the overbearing men-with-long-hair loving, short heroine with high heels, and .. then again, maybe it doesn't remind me of that. Maybe it's just a writing style thing.

In July, I read S.L. Farrell's Cloudmages series, starting with Holder of Lightning (The Cloudmages, Book 1).
I really enjoyed reading that series. A bit of alternative magic.
I was just surprised to note that I have read all of his books that were published on Kindle to date...

Going back to May/June, I was doing a bit less reading. I was not surprised to learn that Karen Hancock's Light of Eidon (Legends of the Guardian-King, Book 1) series was Christian fantasy, but I was baffled because I thought that many serious Christians thought magic was the devil's work. I guess it's part of the shades-of-gray because the 'magic' was believing in the One God..

Back to the shameful paranormal romance genre

Rachel Caine's book, Fade Out (Morganville Vampires, Book 7), heralded my visit back to the love-with-a-vampire. I'm actually starting to be a bit irked by the heroine, whom I would like to call Miss Polly Prissy Pants because she is so perfect and so wonderful and so humble, but I'm far too mature to be so petty about a book that clearly is trying to please young female readers.
It actually reminds a little bit of the main character in The Clan of the Cave Bear series, which I did not read. A friend of mine (who was a young female reader) expressed her exasperation that Ayla was too perfect.

Kalayna Price

So, the last book that I read in February in worlds-that-touch-ours subgenre was called Once Bitten.
Although it came out in January, 2009, it only recently caught my eye.

Instead of just a vampire-werewolf love triangle, the protagonist is from a world where everyone is a shapeshifter, hiding out in plain, old Earth. With the addition of visitors from other worlds, including one that considers itself to be the police force for all others, it plays out in a somewhat fantastical way (although I'm not sure if I can really use that adjective since it is almost an oxymoron). 
I enjoyed the book but have not yet bothered to read the second installment.

Caitlin Kittredge: Black London

I had not ready anything yet by Ms. Kittredge, but decided to check out Street Magic (Black London, Book 1) a few weeks ago. I think it's the first novel I have ever read about about a London police officer.
DI Caldecott works at Scotland Yard and is a bit haunted by a few events from her past, and doesn't believe in magic.
It was good enough that, as soon as I finished Street Magic, I immediately read Demon Bound (Black London, Book 2).

The feel of the novel reminded me a bit of Simon R. Green's Nightside novels. I think mainly because of the dark feel, and wandering down the random streets in order to transition into the Black, a parallel world.

I am starting to notice a trend in my reading habits lately -- how come I started reading all these parallel world novels?

Toni Andrews: Mercy Hollings series

Cry Mercy is the latest installment in a serious about a psychologist with a special gift called the press. It has a unique mix of characters ranging from the rich widow and her young Latin lover to the sweet, perky office assistant who is learning to become a private investigator.
I think that one of my favorite elements of these stories is that she and her assistant rescued a rottweiler from a bad guy. The dog had been trained to kill, but with bizarre commands. They renamed the friendly dog Cupcake. Why not?

Ilona Andrews

I have been reading Ms. Andrews novels for the past couple of years, primarly reading the Kate Daniels series.

Last September, On the Edge (The Edge, Book 1) came out on Kindle. This new world is a fun twist in the worlds-that-touch-ours subgenre (after reading my blog entry with 'there-be-other-worlds-next-to-ours genre', I decided that this new name fits better).
It has the classic elements you need for the barely-struggling young woman who had to raise her brother ever since the catastrophic loss of their parents, but with the added take that there are two worlds that touch with a small "edge" between them: the Broken, a mundane world like ours where magic is not readily available and the Weird, where it's all magic all the time.

Mark Del Franco

I first read the Connor Grey series when Unshapely Things (Connor Grey, Book 1) came out in paperback. This was before my Kindle-owning days.
I read it initially because I wanted to support a male author who was contributing to the supernatural-urban-paranormal-modern-fantasy.
The classic fantasy genre was dominated by men at one point with a few exceptions like Morgan Llewellyn. The urban fantasy genre was dominated by female authors. This is makes perfect sense with the shift in demographics and the romanticizing of all those pesky mythical creatures.
I find that the male authors in the genre tend to add a little grit to the story. The protagonists are often chivalrous, of course. That caters to any audience, really.
Returning to Connor Grey, I like that Connor used to be a arrogant jerk who lost most of his "mojo" and was humbled. Most stories end with that idea, but this series starts with it. The underlying reason for his loss is something that has not yet been revealed, but is being developed slowly over the novels. It definitely keeps the reader interested!
Unperfect Souls (Connor Grey, Book 4) was not a disappointment. It was a fast, enjoyable read.

Jazz playing dog owner

John Levitt's Unleashed was a good third installment to his series about a former magic enforcer who is the lucky owner of an ifrit.
The odd thing for me was tht I had trouble really staying hooked in the novel. I had to force myself to continue reading at times. I'm unsure whether this was a sympton of the novel or just a case of the winter blues.
I'm definitely going to read his next one in this series, although there is not one announced yet.

Urban Fantasy Author Kelly Gay

Whenever I try to use the Amazon recommendations, I find that it doesn't actually work for me. I get the same books for all 3 of the settings for all, recent releases, or upcoming novels.

At any rate, I decided to read The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay. It was published in 2009.
I wish taht there were already a sub-genre categorization under "urban fantasy". I would put this novel into the there-be-other-worlds-next-to-ours genre. I think that Ms. Gay does a nice spin on on this theme with a heaven-and-hell duo called Elysia and Charbydon. It was a good read and a nice start. I will most likely read the follow-up, The Darkest Edge of Dawn (Charlie Madigan, Book 2), due out in August 2010.

February Reading

At some point during the month of February, I decided that it was the worst month of the year. Because of it being the worst month, I was entitlement to completely ignoring any sort of action item (at least in my personal life, whereas work was a completely different story!)

Shortly after writing my previous entry, I went ahead and read Divine Misdemeanors: A Novel (Meredith Gentry, Book 8). I was happy to discover that Ms. Hamilton decided NOT to make it all about the long hair. I felt more like this one was a "day in the life" of Merry and her .. er.. merry band.

Paranormal Romance

This genre name is somewhat apt, but totally embarassing when you say "ah, yes.. I am quite familiar with the popular paranormal romance books". Of course, the HBO series TrueBlood totally helped to make it more well known. New Moon made it a teeny-bopper film fest. Of course, the New Moon books were too, and I would never admit that I read all of them -- but before the film was ever done.

Last night I finished reading Magic in the Shadows: An Allie Beckstrom Novel by Devon Monk. It was the (3rd?) novel in the series, and that was a pretty good one.
I don't think it really is a paranormal romance -- I mean sure, the main character is a "tough chick" who has a love interest that makes her lip quiver, but that's not the main focus of the book, right? As a male reader, I tend to gloss over the lovey-dovey bits (fully validating their presence) and remember the action parts of the story more.
I liked the world that the author creates because she does not immediately fall into the now-formulaic vampire/werewolf love triangle where there heroine is short of stature and torn between her two Greek gods, who are night and day (literally). In the Allie Beckstrom novels, magic was "allowed" to be "discovered" after a safe way of harnessing the flow of it was devised by her father. I won't tell anything more about it here because then I just start running into the various blurbs about the book that you can read elsewhere.

A lot of these stories, for some reason, are located in the Pacific Northwest. I get that it's handy for vampires with all clouds and rain (a la New Moon), but I think it's interesting that so many of them take place there, with exceptions like the Sookie Steakhouse series by Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher's Dresden Files (St. Louis?), and.. well, now I'm starting to rattle off more than one or two :)

Some authors are my current favorites and I tend to be willing to pay the full Kindle price for their books (or even pre-order them). The ones mentioned above, of course, and a few I'm listing below, although Jim Butcher's publishing company was a bit slow about the Kindle publications and like to put them over the $9.99 price point.

Kim Harrison: the Hollows series, although I have read a few others
Patricia Briggs: Mercy Thompson series or the not-modern fantasy Raven series

Some people may wonder why I don't go on and on about Laurell K. Hamilton or Stephanie Meyer.

I read Hamilton's her Anita Blake series long ago and enjoyed them up until they became all-uncontrollable-sex. I think that her series was the first major gain in the genre, that Anne Rice made famous with her Lestat series. Up until then, there were not a lot of vampire-friendly novels out there, although I can name a few.

In the I got very tired of Hamilton's main character reminding us that she is short, and that her blood looks just as good on black marble as on whilte; and that her male characters always have luxirously long hair that the aforementioned main character likes to nap in because it goes to their ankles.
I liked the world a lot, but when it started to be a bit rote / rinse-and-repeat I started to lose interest, but I just noticed that Divine Misdemeanors: A Novel (Meredith Gentry, Book 8) is out, so I might give a sample a try to see if she's out of her rut :)

Twilight Saga gets a lot of its own hype so I'm not touching it. I think that the films they made out of it are palatable for the male viewer, although they are totally borderline chick-flick / date films.

What I hope is that Ms. Meyer decides to do more like The Host, which I found to be an interesting sci-fi experience, completely ignoring that iw as a bit of a reminder of the Goa'Uld from the Stargate SG1 series.

Long weekend!

I just read the sample of Acacia: The War with the Mein (Acacia, Book 1) and it looks pretty engrossing to me! I might just go ahead and buy it, but I still have a few other free books lying around :)

The plan for this weekend is to do a bit of regular reading and to get past page 1 of 1q84. It's kind of funny how this book is being so widely discussed here. I guess that Haruki Murakami's approach of not actually publiczing the book has really taken off.
One of my classmates at the Japan Society is looking into doing a translation of it, but translating a novel is incredibly difficult because of the many nuances that the author might have that you need to convey in the target language. IMHO, you have to be near native in the source language to be able to do it.

Maybe instead I should be working on a kid's book, although I think traditional stories can be much harder for a non-native speaker because -- well, how often in the modern world do we talk about going down to the river to do the washing? (Bad example because Momotarou is actually much easier to read than some).

I'm currently at 992 of 5288 flashcards due to review in Anki. I've been taking a few weeks off / slowing down my pace. The rough part is that my cards that are at a 1-year cycle now because I basically know them are all coming due!
I had been using Mnemosyne for a long time. It was nice, but not as extensive and extensible as Anki is. Of course, I started with a deck of about 1k cards. I've been adding a lot as I come across words in class, reading, or skimming a news article.
In news, I'm still at the stage where I pick out words I've seen a few times or that are sure to have future articles: 火災, 死亡, 大統領. I'm very glad to have the Rikaichan plugin for Firefox. Huge time saver. 
Of course, I still end up going to http://jisho.org/ constantly to look things up.

Kindle reading: Warbreaker

I bought my Kindle soon after Amazon came out with the device, and made the promise that I would only read electronic books. With the discount of buying it electronically, I was certain that I would save a lot of money.
I kept my promise, but I think that I probably read a lot more now than I did before!

I had been waiting for  up Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker to drop in price, but this week I decided to buy it. I had already read his Mistborn Series in anticipation of the final set of books for the Wheel of Time Series. Since he was co-writing (The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time)) after Robert Jordan's death.


Warbreaker was worth the time spent reading, although I could see that some hard core people might not like the a few of the characters.
Considering some of the "trash reading" I do across multiple genres, my reactions might be skewed, but I definitely enjoyed it.

Blogging

With the January blues kicking in, I decided that I needed to get started on something new -- partially to procrastinate on any other productive stuff and partially to just get through the month of January.

My friends Oliver & Elke maintain a blog, and his post on New Year's for My 2009 Favorites inspired me to pick up the blog pen again.

I had created this entry in 2005, when my Mom was diagnosed with brain cancer. I had planned to use it as an outlet / log for the things that my family was going through. When she died in within a few months of the diagnosis, I wasn't inspired to continue and didn't even want to look at the recent posts.