The Year of Finishing Things

I have made this year a year for clearing out some of my long-term to-do lists. In specific, when it comes to reading, I want to try authors I have always meant to, and get read some of the books that my friends swear by that I haven't tried or failed to get into when I did try them in the past.

When I was in law school, there were books I simply couldn't bring myself to read. I knew I didn't have the spare brain power to read truly demanding things, and I had a strong hankering for happy endings and tidier stories at that time. I passed on a lot of things I knew I simply wouldn't be up to parsing. But it's left strange gaps in my reading, and I know there are authors and stories I will like that I haven't so much as dipped a toe in. There are also a few series I'm behind on because I knew I couldn't give them the attention they deserve.

So 2014 is the Year of Catching Up. First up, Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. Also in the immediate future: catching up on Michelle West's House War series, and reading my first China Mieville. I'm looking forward to all of them very much.

Review: Girl Goddess #9: Nine Stories

Girl Goddess #9: Nine Stories by Francesca Lia Block

My rating: 3 of 5 stars




I loved Wasteland when I read it several years ago, and I always meant to pick up another of Block's books when I had the chance. When one of the short stories in this collection came up recently in a Dear Prudie column at Slate.com, I decided to return to see if the rest of her fiction had the same raw, poetic beauty that took my breath away in Wasteland.

And I'm sorry to say the answer is "Not so much."

There are good short stories here: "Blue" and "Dragons of Manhattan" (the short story mentioned in the Dear Prudie column) were both memorable and good, but in many cases the other pieces felt more like mediocre writing exercises more than conventionally structured stories with something to say.

I might have loved them to pieces when I was younger, but most of the collection left me pretty cold.



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Review: The Republic of Thieves

The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch

My rating: 5 of 5 stars




I cannot say enough good things about Scott Lynch's wonderful third installment in his Gentleman Bastards series. While I love a well-written fantasy novel or series, I have typically avoided the thief/assassin subgenre as being not for me.

These books are for everyone.

They are George R. R. Martin meets Ocean's Eleven. They are sly, smart, profane and completely entertaining.

This book in particular strikes a vital balance that I wasn't sure if Lynch would pull off. At last, we have an appearance by Locke's absent beloved, Sabetha, who has only been referred to in previous books. She has to be something special to be worthy of Locke's fixation, and Lynch risks her worth by making her the opponent in a game of election rigging that comprises most of the action of the book. Locke has to be bested by Sabetha as often as he bests her, or this little contest risks shredding the audience's disbelief in one way or another.

But Scott Lynch absolutely nails the dynamic between the two in a way that is both exciting and rings true. Sabetha is more fully-formed than I had dreamed she would be, from the hints in the first two books.

I am not sure how I will wait for the next installment of this series.



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For what it's worth, my Reading Challenge at Goodreads is on track:

2014 Reading Challenge

Kristen has read 8 books toward her goal of 75 books.

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8 of 75 (10%)

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I will try to make all subsequent reviews propagate over here, even if it ends up being manually.

Book Reviews and some random thoughts about life and Livejournal.

Irked to find that my book reviews at Goodreads aren't propagating over here as promised.  Now, I'll end up trying not to care, then wrestling with it for hours when I should be doing something else more productive.

I'm still job-hunting and working as one of those under-employed people you hear about on the news if you watch MSNBC.  I think the worst part of a job like that is how unchallenging it is, inherently, and yet so very draining. Sometimes I come home and I feel like I'll never have a single intelligent thought ever again because I'm so numb from a day at Major Box Retailer.

I miss LiveJournal. At it's heyday, it was a really good platform for amateur blogging, and some of the friends I made there are with me still, on Facebook/Twitter/elsewhere, but it's just not quite the same as refreshing my Livejournal feed.

Break over. Time to be actually productive for a bit.