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larryhammerTravel, spotty journaling, and a borked e-reader threw my records out of whack -- some of this is reconstructed.
What I've recently finished since my last post:
The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper, a fluffy paranormal romance with, well, werewolves who get naked to shift -- specifically a female alpha and a human cryptozoologist. Second in a series, but explanations of most of the backstory are deployed well. I'd been happier if the first third did not have so many sudden-jerk transitions between scenes.
Cat Girl's Day Off by Kimberly Pauley, a YA contemporary light fantasy with a bi-racial protagonist who is the neglected one of the family because, unlike her older and younger sisters (or indeed her parents), her psychic Talent is a relatively minor one: being able to talk with cats -- an embarrassment she keeps firmly in the closet, in part by keeping her social profile as low as possible. Despite her intentions, Nat gets involved via her celebrity-obsessed friends in the filming of a teen-comedy homage to Ferris Bueller's Day Off and thence entangled with a pink-heavy kidnapping & petnapping, plus other hijinks. Pauley nails the ending, too. Highly recommended, and not just because it hits several tropes I really like. The only reason I haven't done a full review post is I haven't gotten to it -- my bad.
Yotsuba&! volume 12 by Kiyohiko Azuma -- the volume with the long-anticipated camping trip, finally out in English. Love this stuff. LOVE IT. And not just for the scenery porn. Nor just for the camping trip, though that's certainly a highlight.
The Art of Chinese Poetry by James J.Y. Liu, a classic short study aimed at readers of poems in translation. Still relevant after 50 years, but I also want an updated equivalent. Any suggestions?
What I'm reading now:
Madan no Ô to Vanadis volume 7 -- lessee: when we last checked in, our titular "king of the magic-bullet"* had gotten embroiled in foreign civil war at the behest of not his home kingdom but the one where he isa hostage an enforced guest. This volume: still embroiling. And I'm early enough in I'm still trying to find this installment's plot arc, but it looks like military maneuvers against overwhelming odds will be featured.
* Which is actually a bow technique -- this is a European-medieval-high-fantasy setting.
Technically, Divine Eagle, Gallant Hero, but in retrogress -- I had to back up to the beginning of the chapter I had been on, but got hardly anywhere beyond that.
Poems of Places volume 2, at least a little.
What I officially Did Not Finish:
Pirate King by Laurie R. King -- too silly, not interesting.
Cloud Gate Song: The Verse of Tang Poet Zhang Ji tr. Jonathan Chaves, which I didn't finish not for itself but because I had to return it after reading about a quarter of the poems. I adore the attempt at and justification for translating rhymed Chinese poems with rhyming English verse, but I wish Chaves was a bit better at making rhyme not sound quite so chime-y and meter not so metronomic. Surprisingly, he's better at this with the regulated verse than the old style or music bureau forms.
What I might read next:
Gakusen Toshi Asterisk volume 3, at a guess.
---L.
What I've recently finished since my last post:
The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper, a fluffy paranormal romance with, well, werewolves who get naked to shift -- specifically a female alpha and a human cryptozoologist. Second in a series, but explanations of most of the backstory are deployed well. I'd been happier if the first third did not have so many sudden-jerk transitions between scenes.
Cat Girl's Day Off by Kimberly Pauley, a YA contemporary light fantasy with a bi-racial protagonist who is the neglected one of the family because, unlike her older and younger sisters (or indeed her parents), her psychic Talent is a relatively minor one: being able to talk with cats -- an embarrassment she keeps firmly in the closet, in part by keeping her social profile as low as possible. Despite her intentions, Nat gets involved via her celebrity-obsessed friends in the filming of a teen-comedy homage to Ferris Bueller's Day Off and thence entangled with a pink-heavy kidnapping & petnapping, plus other hijinks. Pauley nails the ending, too. Highly recommended, and not just because it hits several tropes I really like. The only reason I haven't done a full review post is I haven't gotten to it -- my bad.
Yotsuba&! volume 12 by Kiyohiko Azuma -- the volume with the long-anticipated camping trip, finally out in English. Love this stuff. LOVE IT. And not just for the scenery porn. Nor just for the camping trip, though that's certainly a highlight.
The Art of Chinese Poetry by James J.Y. Liu, a classic short study aimed at readers of poems in translation. Still relevant after 50 years, but I also want an updated equivalent. Any suggestions?
What I'm reading now:
Madan no Ô to Vanadis volume 7 -- lessee: when we last checked in, our titular "king of the magic-bullet"* had gotten embroiled in foreign civil war at the behest of not his home kingdom but the one where he is
* Which is actually a bow technique -- this is a European-medieval-high-fantasy setting.
Technically, Divine Eagle, Gallant Hero, but in retrogress -- I had to back up to the beginning of the chapter I had been on, but got hardly anywhere beyond that.
Poems of Places volume 2, at least a little.
What I officially Did Not Finish:
Pirate King by Laurie R. King -- too silly, not interesting.
Cloud Gate Song: The Verse of Tang Poet Zhang Ji tr. Jonathan Chaves, which I didn't finish not for itself but because I had to return it after reading about a quarter of the poems. I adore the attempt at and justification for translating rhymed Chinese poems with rhyming English verse, but I wish Chaves was a bit better at making rhyme not sound quite so chime-y and meter not so metronomic. Surprisingly, he's better at this with the regulated verse than the old style or music bureau forms.
What I might read next:
Gakusen Toshi Asterisk volume 3, at a guess.
---L.
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no subject
Date: 12 December 2013 08:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 12 December 2013 02:41 pm (UTC)But, yeah, if the silly had been done better, that would have helped.
---L.