Sharp Words

The Good, The Bad and The Undead, Kim Harrison. Own copy, first read.
A Fistful of Charms, Kim Harrison. Library book.
At last, #2 in the series (and then I read #4 again from the library). I’ve now read 1-5 although not in order… and I think this is maybe one of my favourite urban fantasy series, for its blend of magic, thrills and relationships.

Gods Behaving Badly, Marie Phillips. Library book, first read.
Comic fantasy, with the Greek gods alive (if not well) and causing trouble in London.

Stranger than Fiction, Jim Murdoch. Review copy, first read.
Liked it, I really did, and I owe Jim a review – coming some time in October, promise. I think I want to re-read Living with the Truth first too.

Bellwether, Connie Willis. BookMooched copy, first read and a re-read.
Brilliant and intelligent; it’s technically SF although it’s all pretty contemporary and rather plausible. I love Willis’s stuff and I wish I had more of it. In this fairly short novel (I read it in the bath), scientific studies into fads and chaos theory produce an interesting outcome.

Across the Nightingale Floor, Lian Hearn. Borrowed from Marion, first read.
Really nice YA fantasy with a strong Japanese flavour. Looking forward to reading the other two in the series.

The Visitor, Sheri S Tepper. Own copy.
One of her more recent novels, and one that repeats many of her familiar themes though as always, mixing them up and blending them around and coming out with something different.

Pigs Don’t Fly and Master of Many Treasures, Mary Brown. Own copies.
I still don’t like these as much as The Unlikely Ones, though I enjoyed them more this time I read them.

Dark Fire, C J Sansom. Library book, first read.
The second of the Shardlake novels; I found it harder to get through than Dissolution but still good. Annoyingly though, after weeks of the next books being in the library, they’re no longer on the shelves. Reservation time, methinks.

The Summoning, Kelley Armstrong. Library book, first read.
Kelley’s first YA novel, with the same setting as her Women of the Underworld series. Very good; dragged me right back to being 15.

Saturn’s Children, Charles Stross. Library book, first read.
I wasn’t sure what to make of this, although I’m glad the copy I had wasn’t the one with the very blatantly sexual cover. It reminded me of some Heinlein novels though in its scope and especially its protagonist.

The Sword of the Lady, S M Stirling. Own copy, first read.
I thought this was going to be the 3rd book of the trilogy – but it ended on a cliff-hanger, and I was left to assume (and hope) there’s another. Just as good as the rest though, with a very detailed post-Event America. (The Event in this case being a complete breakdown of all modern technologies… It was the alien space bats wot did it!)

Poison Study, Magic Study and Fire Study, Maria V Snyder. Own copies, first reads.
A great little fantasy series. Pretty light, but enjoyable.

Friday, Robert Heinlein. Own copy.
A friend and I were debating this book earlier in the month, but I couldn’t remember the whole plot. So that was an excuse for a re-read, and a re-evaluation of my relationship with Heinlein’s novels, which I shall be writing about at some point.

Un Lun Dun, China Miéville. Library book, first read.
Fabulous YA novel, set in and around an alternative London – UnLondon, just one of many abcities in the world. I’d love to see Miéville write about some of the others! Shades of Gaiman’s Neverwhere of course, and also Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, but still beautifully original (carnivorous giraffes!). I love Miéville’s stuff though, so am very biased.

Inversions, Iain M Banks. Borrowed copy (I think), first read.
The reason that I’m not sure whether this is a borrowed copy is that my Dad bought it for me and had it delivered to my house… and I’m not sure if he wants it next. Probably. Good Banks though, even if I’d consider it more fantasy than SF – there’s a lot going on underneath the obvious linked stories.

Total for September 2009: 20 + 1 re-reads

Ongoing total for 2009: 150 + 5 re-reads