The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

Well, I did it. I didn't think it would take eleven years when I started, but I read all 71 books that have won the Hugo Award for Best Novel to date . I am not counting and did not seek out the handful of "Retro Hugos" because those were awarded much later and part of the point of this exercise for me was seeing what books were celebrated in their first publication year, not by later audiences looking back.  It's been a long time in my life as well as the world, and so I wonder if any of my experiences of the first few books on the list would be the same now. My tastes and opinions have shifted and (I think) matured, partially through this very experience!  A few of the earliest books I read in their entirety in the gorgeous Rose Reading Room in the NYC Public Library, as they were "rare" copies that couldn't leave the building. The most recent books were read on the Kindle App on my phone, in my home on the West Coast.  It was interesting to watch vari...

From Turtleback Mountain, Orcas Island, WA, 6/13/15 Hi all, You may have noticed that my posting here has been more and more sporadic. I still like writing and sharing book reviews, but I've been extremely busy and haven't been able to finish any posts lately. Part of being busy has been, ironically, related to finally getting a few days off! We just got back from a great camping trip. Lots of hiking and watching wildlife - I'm exhausted, but feel more together than I have in a while. And part of the aforementioned busyness is related to this bit of awesome: Shiny-new, and available later this week! As is now standard for Erin's books, I did a lot of the final editing and all the formatting, so you can blame me for any last lingering typos. Pre-order for Kindle! Paperback should be available this week as well. I love the world that Erin's building, and I think you're going to like meeting Alaji. She's stubborn, sharp and fiercely loyal, a...

Man, 2014 was a year, huh. It's definitely been an odd year for me. I have been reading, but not so much posting reviews. A few reflections from the year: I read the Paradox series by Rachel Bach, really enjoyed them. I took up with both of Kerry Greenwood 's cozy mystery series, as they make excellent bus and airplane reading. Total read so far between both series: eight! As a side note, this year I traveled twice for my job, which is twice more than ever before. I reread one of my favorites ( Memory , by Lois McMaster Bujold) compulsively for a few weeks during a particularly stressful time. I reread the entire Star Wars Thrawn trilogy this fall. It was less good than it was when I was a teenager, but still okay. I expanded my genre window, reading literary fiction, memoir, YA, historical thriller … I've continued to cut down on the number of comic series I buy as single issues, but bought a ton of graphic novels I haven't read yet. Even so, I read a bunch...

I’ve been thinking lately about how books get on my radar. I usually consider reading a book for one of three reasons: (Note, this is all regarding books by authors I’ve never tried before . Authors I follow, I already know whether I’m going to read their next one.) One: Proximity and Pretty Covers There have been times in my life, some not so long ago, in which the easiest way for an unknown book to end up on my list was for it to be available at my local library and have an interesting cover. That’s how I read Recursion and Illium and By the Mountain Bound when we lived in New York. It’s why I picked up books from the middle of these series before reading the first one: Lost Fleet , Mercy Thompson , Kris Longknife , probably others. It’s why I’ve read a great deal of odd/obscure stuff from the 90’s. The Winter of the World . King of Morning, Queen of Day . It’s probably how I started on Anne McCaffery and Mercedes Lackey. In the town where I grew up, I eventually read al...

I was going to write this big long post about the best of the year, but I’m getting over a cold and the holidays, and now I’m thinking I’m just going to link you to reviews you might have missed. Most books I read this year and absolutely loved were either classics or graphic novels. There were a few books that were new in 2012 that got 5 stars from me, though. Without further ado... My Favorite Books published in 2012! Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance is the most recent, and it was a heck of a lot of fun. The Wise Man’s Fear is the sequel to The Name of the Wind , and both are magnificent. Code Name: Verity This is on EVERYONE’S Best of the Year Lists for a reason, people. If you haven’t read this, you are missing out. Classics! DUNE  Yeah, DUNE. Dune is awesome on so many levels, and only one of two Hugo Winners to get five stars from me so far. (And the other one is Downbelow Station , which I read before starting the Read-all-the-Hugos Project.) Master and Comma...

It came to my attention last year that many of my friends, despite being aware of my affection for American Vampire, have not yet tried out this series. They claim to not be comic readers themselves (LAME) and/or seem to be of the opinion that vampires are played out. While I will admit that the series is not for everyone, I wanted to take a moment to clarify just how awesome it is. Caveat: Before we go any further, I should mention for anyone new, American Vampire is a currently-running comic book series which is “suggested for mature readers.” That means there is nudity, sex, and graphic violence. Just FYI. Okay! I first heard about AmVamp in Spring 2010, when I was finishing up my series of reviews of vampire novels , both classic and modern. I found it somewhat randomly; I was researching something else related to the books I was reading and saw that Stephen King was involved with a new comic book about vampires. I had just re-read and loved Salem's Lot , so I decid...

Books in 2011 Best Book I read for the first time this year: Dawn , by Octavia E.Butler Runner-up: Elric: The Stealer of Souls , by Michael Moorcock Very different books, but similar in their sense of depth and ability to shake me with their awesomeness. Favorite Graphic Novel I read for the first time this year: Batgirl Rising (Bryan Q. Miller, et.al.) Runner-up: Blue Beetle: Reach for the Stars (John Rogers, et. al.) Best Book I read this year that was published in 2011: Reamde , by Neal Stephenson (review in queue) Runner-up: Either Snuff , by Terry Pratchett or Stray , by Andrea K. Host . All three very different books, enjoyable in very different ways. Most fun bookish moments: Browsed some awesome used bookstores in Seattle this summer. I can put library ebooks on my Kindle now. This is super-exciting! Comic Books in 2011: Favorite Issue of a Series: Batgirl #18 Absolutely gorgeous Valentine's Day themed one-is...

So I hadn't chimed in yet on the ridiculousness going on at DC Comics. I thought I'd give it a little time for the dust to settle, but most of the fallout is looking unhappy from my perspective. In case you haven't heard, DC is canceling all of their books and 're-launching' (not rebooting) their line with 52 #1 issues in September. They've said they realize that their titles weren't modern and diverse enough... or something. Which is fine, and maybe a few of the titles that were obviously green-lit to court a non-white audience will do well. From the part of “diversity” known as the female comic reader, I'm less thrilled. Most of the characters I care about look to be either changed or missing/dropped from prominence/made 'edgy'. Damn, I hate doing things in the name of 'edgy'. I haven't seen one pitch yet that looks fun: it's all spiky art and oh-look-how-dark-and-tormented-we-are. It sucked in the 90's, DC, and it sucks...

Just a quick retrospective for 2010, my book habit, and this blog: Best and Worst: Best New Book I read this year: Under Heaven Best Old Book I read for the first time this year: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian Best Book I read that I haven't reviewed on this site: Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Gods Worst New Book I read this year: A Mighty Fortress   Worst Old Book I read for the first time this year: Twilight , I guess, but that feels like cheating. Blog Stats: Posts in 2010: 90 54 Books reviewed in 50 posts Most Viewed Book Reviews on this site, according to Google Analytics: The Atheist's Guide to Christmas Basil of Baker Street Cryoburn According to Blogger Analytics: The Atheist's Guide to Christmas The Red Wolf Conspiracy Cryoburn I'm not sure what causes the discrepancy, but both most-viewed lists have a high proportion of obscure books and relatively new ones. Not to mention the weekly Comics Briefly posts: those seem ...

Everyone has those books that you know you're "supposed" to like, but you just don't. Most of them are books you read in high school.  I've come around on some of those volumes since that time, understanding that I didn't have the mental architecture or context to appreciate them at that point. I mean, I'm not in a hurry to re-read Grapes of Wrath to find out whether it's any good, but I will admit that my complete and utter hatred of it had much more to do with it being assigned for summer reading than with anything in the text. There are plenty of books that are technically good, but just don't click for everyone. If you've gone all the way back in the archives, you probably saw my disappointed disdain for Little Women . But it can feel like you're the only one who doesn't like whatever the newest 'modern classic' is. I'm not a fan of One Hundred Years of Solitude , surprisingly.  I found it well written, but to...

With Tangled opening, I thought it would be a good time to touch on fairy tales again, this time to talk about interpretations thereof. One of the complaints I've always heard about Disney flicks is that they 'tone down' or 'sanitize' the old stories. While I understand where the idea is coming from, sometimes I want to ask, tone down compared to what? Fairy tales and folk tales have been altered, changed, made more or less sexual, more or less violent, etc. throughout time. The people who finally collected and wrote down the stories had their own agendas and made their own changes.  Tales change from region to region. There is no true “original” version, just the oldest we have extant. I'm not saying I always approve of Disney's editorial decisions, just that you can't fully justify the argument that the writers are being “untrue” to the “original” story. Well, not when the story is a fairy tale.  When it's a history, okay.  Then I comple...

I learned the most delightful bit of fanspeak the other day. Watsonian Vs. Doylist. (Time-Sink Warning, that is a TVTropes link.) In short, this means the difference between rationalizing a story element within the context of its own continuity, or within the context of its author's purpose or circumstances. For example, a Watsonian might say: "I guess the character is right that they never noticed the vampires before because they were hiding", when a Doylist might say "I bet the author is just jumping on the bandwagon, there weren't any vampires in this series before!" Another example: whether a character was 'meant' to die in a particular TV episode vs. whether the actor wanted to leave the show. I am personally quite Doylist, more and more so as I get older. I am fascinated by authors, and the larger stories behind, for example, making movies. Audio Commentaries are often a Doylist's dream come true. But few people are always one...

I've been thinking recently about favorite characters, both in books and movies/TV.  I still love all the usual suspects: strong women, troubled heroes, characters of ambiguous morality.  But what I love about them changes over time. It's only been a handful of years... 5 or 6? since I was introduced to the work of Lois McMaster Bujold, and now she's one of my very favorite authors.  ( Sample book free at Baen! ) Her main series, The Vorkosigan Saga, is a great example of what I'm talking about.  When I first read the books, all in a rush, I loved all of them, but was most interested in the first few about Miles: his adventures as a young man, the warrior women who tended to surround him and their daring escapades.  I still enjoy those books, but the ones I reread now are mostly the later ones, that center on coming to terms with adulthood, his parents' long romance, and the strength of Cordelia and Ekaterin, both strong female characters who are mentally, ...

So we're told by fairy tales, and authors of novels spend plenty of time coming up with names for their characters.  Names are tricky, and I'm sure different readers are more or less forgiving of different naming conventions. I can be forgiving of many naming sins if I like the story enough, but here are a few starting rules, starting with the most important: Names must be pronounceable.  Simple, right?  I just need to be able to read the name and have some idea of how it would sound.  I don't even have to be correct in my pronunciation.  I read about Eilonwy ( The Prydain Chronicles ) for a long time before I realized I was mentally pronouncing her name wrong. Quit it already with the weird spelling/punctuation! A little of this goes a long way.  A few works get a pass for when they were written, or if it's not too pervasive.  Mercedes Lackey popularized the abuse of apostrophes in the Valdemar books, (Shin'a'in, Ma'ar, k'Whatever) but at lea...

I've been thinking recently about hating fictional people.  Generally, of course, characters fall into protagonists and antagonists.  (And bit players, but only seldom would the unnamed shop vendor arouse the kind of passion I'm talking about.) Generally, if I hate a protagonist, it is for not being what I want him/her to be.  Which might simply mean the author has written a book I do not wish to read.  I might hate a protagonist for being stupid, or annoying, or cloying, or insufficiently feminist, or too superficially feminist.  I think I hated the protagonists of The Lightstone just for being cliche, although I've repressed most of that idiotic book.  I sometimes become irritated at the main characters for the resolution of the plot, if they screw up or otherwise act like idiots.  Antagonists get more complicated.  I can hate an antagonist in the healthy way, the "how could you do such a horrible thing to this protagonist I like" kind ...

Once upon a time, in late 1995, I was in a bookstore.  Probably a Borders. And I saw a book.  Not just any book, THE book I had heard about, waited for, anticipated.  I ran over, seized a copy off the shelf, and crushed it to my chest, proceeding to do a rather ridiculous happy dance there in the store. As it turned out, that book was not worth my eager enthusiasm, as the quality was somewhat mixed, shall we say.  (Shame on you, Weis and Hickman, for toying with my affections!) But the memory of that feeling remains.  Even today, now that I get my new hardcovers from the library, and only buy books that I've read at least once, the first time I see a book I've been anticipating is a thrill. Yes, even when I don't read it right away.  I occasionally check in at Barnes and Noble to look longingly at the new editions that I'll read when they appear at the library. When the book I'm on the lookout for appears on the New Releases shelf, I feel an ...

Second in a series.  Read the first post here . I love it when books include small concrete details, such that I learn something independent of the story.  This is more prevalent, and more universally enjoyed, in children's literature, but for me occurs elsewhere as well.  Extra points if the activity or knowledge is useful in either historical recreation, or otherwise comes up in real life. Some examples: I only vaguely remember the book Five Children and It , but I remember that the kids had a trick to make themselves wake up at any particular time they chose.  I couldn't get this to work for me as a kid, but it ensured that I never forgot the book. Similarly, I don't recall being able to make maple candy as described in Little House in the Big Woods , but I may have ruined some maple syrup trying. A YA historical fiction novel called Quest for a Maid I mostly remember for the main character using whole cloves for toothache. Another YA book I love...

This is the first in a trial series of pieces from a more personal point of view, each focusing on a subject related to reading or books, but not necessarily on one specific work.  Comments are encouraged! I've been thinking recently about the controversy surrounding the Twilight novels.  You can slam them for being badly written, or for warping the archetype of the vampire, but some of the more interesting commentaries I read were from people worried about the message absorbed by young girls.  Bella is a doormat, and apparently the later books are even more troubling in their messages about love: Simmons, an educator who specializes in raising girls' self-esteem, lays out what parents and teachers are up against. "Among the cringe-worthy morals of this story: When you're in love, the only thing that matters in life is your man. If you get dumped, your life is over, so feel free to act suicidal to get him back. Even if he tells you he never wants to see you a...