Kriti's (kgodey) 2022 reading

I'm Kriti, I live in a small college town in Ohio and I build software for a living. I'm interested in reading pretty much anything but usually I end up reading a lot of science fiction and fantasy and some nonfiction.

I haven't been active in this group for a couple of years, but I hope to at least keep up with my thread in 2022.

January - March

January
1. The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell (Jan 2, 498 pages, paperback)
2. The Fallon Pride by Reagan O'Neal a.k.a. Robert Jordan (Jan 3, 383 pages, hardcover)
3. The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard (Jan 8, 899 pages, hardcover)
4. The City in the Lake by Rachel Neumeier (Jan 10, 294 pages, hardcover)
5. The Windsingers by Megan Lindholm a.k.a. Robin Hobb (Jan 13, 392 pages, paperback)
6. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (Jan 17, 319 pages, paperback)
7. Petty Treasons by Victoria Goddard (Jan 18, 115 pages, paperback)
8. Tea with the Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy (Jan 21, 128 pages, paperback)
9. The Keeper of the Mist by Rachel Neumeier (Jan 22, 391 pages, hardcover)
10. The Runelords by David Farland (Jan 30, 479 pages, hardcover)

February
11. Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson (Feb 3, 231 pages, paperback, reread)
12. Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson (Feb 4, 298 pages, paperback, reread)
13. Dial-a-Ghost by Eva Ibbotson (Feb 9, 195 pages, paperback, reread)
14. The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson (Feb 12, 231 pages, paperback, reread)
15. The Great Ghost Rescue by Eva Ibbotson (Feb 13, 167 pages, paperback)
16. The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin (Feb 14, 128 pages, paperback)
17. Island of the Aunts by Eva Ibbotson (Feb 15, 281 pages, paperback, reread)
18. The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson (Feb 18, 377 pages, paperback)
19. The Haunting of Granite Falls by Eva Ibbotson (Feb 19, 216 pages, paperback)
20. The Beasts of Clawstone Castle by Eva Ibbotson (Feb 20, 243 pages, paperback)
21. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman (Feb 22, 281 pages, hardcover)
22. The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson (Feb 23, 405 pages, paperback, reread)
23. The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio by Lloyd Alexander (Feb 27, hardcover, 306 pages)
24. The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha by Lloyd Alexander (Feb 27, paperback, 213 pages)
25. Westmark by Lloyd Alexander (Feb 28, paperback, 184 pages)

March
26. The Kestrel by Lloyd Alexander (Mar 2, paperback, 244 pages)
27. The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian by Lloyd Alexander (Mar 3, hardcover, 204 pages)
28. The Beggar Queen by Lloyd Alexander (Mar 2, paperback, 237 pages)
29. Permanent Record by Edward Snowden (Mar 8, hardcover, 339 pages)
30. The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen by Lloyd Alexander (Mar 10, hardcover, 273 pages)
31. The Iron Ring by Lloyd Alexander (Mar 10, hardcover, 280 pages)
32. Lord of the Changing Winds by Rachel Neumeier (Mar 14, 367 pages, paperback)
33. Sabriel by Garth Nix (Mar 17, 292 pages, hardcover)
34. Don't Make Me Think, Revisited by Steve Krug (Mar 18, 192 pages, paperback, professional)
35. The Illyrian Adventure by Lloyd Alexander (Mar 18, 132 pages, paperback)
36. The Wizard's Butler by Nathan Lowell (Mar 21, 338 pages, paperback)
37. Lirael by Garth Nix (Mar 24, 487 pages, hardcover)
38. The El Dorado Adventure by Lloyd Alexander (Mar 25, 164 pages, hardcover)
39. The Best Interface is No Interface by Golden Krishna (Mar 25, 214 pages, paperback, professional)
40. Abhorsen by Garth Nix (Mar 26, 358 pages, hardcover)
41. Clariel by Garth Nix (Mar 28, 382 pages, hardcover)
42. Goldenhand by Garth Nix (Mar 29, 344 pages, hardcover)
43. Terciel and Elinor by Garth Nix (Mar 30, 338 pages, hardcover)

Abandoned
- A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark (Feb 25, paperback)

April - June

April
44. Microinteractions: Designing with Details by Dan Saffer (Apr 1, 146 pages, paperback, professional)
45. Letting Go of the Words by Janice (Ginny) Redish (Apr 4, 315 pages, paperback, professional)
46. The Team that Managed Itself by Christina Wodtke (Apr 6, 265 pages, paperback, professional)
47. Land of the Burning Sands by Rachel Neumeier (Apr 7, 441 pages, paperback)
48. Sprint by Jake Knapp with John Zeratsky & Braden Kowitz (Apr 8, 265 pages, hardcover, professional)
49. Law of the Broken Earth by Rachel Neumeier (Apr 9, 435 pages, paperback)
50. Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (Apr 10, 278 pages, hardcover, professional)
51. Across the Wall by Garth Nix (Apr 10, 305 pages, hardcover)
52. Clone Yourself by Jeff Hilderman (Apr 11, 203 pages, paperback, professional)
53. The Gawgon and the Boy by Lloyd Alexander (Apr 12, 199 pages, hardcover)
54. Just Enough Research by Erika Hall (Apr 13, 148 pages, paperback, professional)
55. House of Shadows by Rachel Neumeier (Apr 13, 323 pages, paperback)
56. Door into Light by Rachel Neumeier (Apr 16, 401 pages, paperback)
57. Conversational Design by Erika Hall (Apr 16, 125 pages, paperback, professional)
58. Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace (Apr 19, 342 pages, hardcover, professional)
59. The User is Always Right by Steve Mulder and Ziv Yaar (Apr 21, 282 pages, paperback, professional)
60. The Rope Trick by Lloyd Alexander (Apr 21, 195 pages, hardcover)
61. The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier (Apr 22, 388 pages, hardcover)
62. The Cat Who Wished To Be A Man by Lloyd Alexander (Apr 21, 107 pages, paperback)
63. The Sphere of the Winds by Rachel Neumeier (Apr 23, 328 pages, paperback)
64. The Lean Product Playbook by Dan Olsen (Apr 23, 289 pages, hardcover, professional)
65. Running Lean by Ash Maurya (Apr 24, 311 pages, hardcover, professional)
66. The White Road of the Moon by Rachel Neumeier (Apr 26, 376 pages, hardcover)
67. Getting Real by Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson, and Matthew Linderman (Apr 26, 179 pages, paperback, professional)
68. The Mountain of Kept Memory by Rachel Neumeier (Apr 27, 431 pages, hardcover)
69. The Town Cats and Other Tales by Lloyd Alexander (Apr 28, 126 pages, paperback)
70. Designing for Emotion by Aarron Walter (Apr 28, 99 pages, paperback)
71. Time Cat: The Remarkable Journeys of Jason and Gareth by Lloyd Alexander (Apr 29, 211 pages, hardcover)
72. Build Better Products by Laura Klein (Apr 30, 345 pages, paperback, professional)
73. Beyond the Dreams We Know by Rachel Neumeier (Apr 30, 317 pages, paperback)

May
74. The Girl and the Moon by Mark Lawrence (May 2, 398 pages, hardcover)
75. Remote: Office Not Required by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (May 2, 250 pages, hardcover, professional)
76. Dream-of-Jade: The Emperor's Cat by Lloyd Alexander (May 2, 48 pages, hardcover)
77. Skyward Flight: The Collection by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson (May 3, 617 pages, hardcover)
78. Winter of Ice and Iron by Rachel Neumeier (May 5, 561 pages, hardcover)
79. The User's Journey by Donna Lichaw (May 5, 139 pages, paperback, professional)
80. The Wizard in the Tree by Lloyd Alexander (May 6, 138 pages, hardcover)
81. Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan (May 7, 326 pages, hardcover, professional)
82. The Elements of Content Strategy by Erin Kissane (May 7, 79 pages, paperback, professional)
83. UX for Lean Startups by Laura Klein (May 8, 197 pages, paperback, professional)
84. Tuyo by Rachel Neumeier (May 9, 398 pages, hardcover)
85. Gypsy Rizka by Lloyd Alexander (May 10, 195 pages, hardcover)
86. Meeting Design by Kevin M. Hoffman (May 11, 207 pages, paperback, professional)
87. Circe by Madeline Miller (May 12, 393 pages, hardcover)
88. Lean Customer Development by Cindy Alvarez (May 12, 206 pages, paperback, professional)
89. The Year's Midnight by Rachel Neumeier (May 13, 205 pages, paperback)
90. Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher (May 14, 502 pages, paperback, reread)
91. Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher (May 15, 702 pages, paperback, reread)
92. Cursor's Fury by Jim Butcher (May 15, 442 pages, hardcover, reread)
93. Captain's Fury by Jim Butcher (May 16, 451 pages, hardcover, reread)
94. Princeps' Fury by Jim Butcher (May 16, 386 pages, hardcover, reread)
95. First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher (May 17, 465 pages, hardcover, reread)
96. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip (May 17, 237 pages, paperback)
97. The Arkadians by Lloyd Alexander (May 18, 272 pages, paperback)
98. Of Absence, Darkness by Rachel Neumeier (May 20, 301 pages, paperback)
99. As Shadow, A Light by Rachel Neumeier (May 20, 403 pages, paperback)
100. The Spirit Ring by Lois McMaster Bujold (May 21, 369 pages, hardcover, reread)
101. Shines Now, and Heretofore by Rachel Neumeier (May 22, 229 pages, paperback)
102. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (May 23, 232 pages, paperback, reread)
103. Not Just a Witch by Eva Ibbotson (May 23, 185 pages, hardcover)
104. The Talent Sinistral by L.F. Patten (May 25, 435 pages, paperback)
105. Black Dog by Rachel Neumeier (May 25, 443 pages, paperback)
106. Pure Magic by Rachel Neumeier (May 26, 350 pages, paperback)
107. Black Dog Short Stories I & II by Rachel Neumeier (May 26, 296 pages, paperback)
108. Shadow Twin by Rachel Neumeier (May 27, 384 pages, paperback)
109. Copper Mountain by Rachel Neumeier (May 28, 390 pages, paperback)
110. Black Dog Short Stories III & IV by Rachel Neumeier (May 29, 631 pages, paperback)
111. Fairest by Gail Carson Levine (May 29, 326 pages, hardcover)
112. Ogre Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (May 30, 337 pages, hardcover)
113. Nikoles by Rachel Neumeier (May 30, 265 pages, hardcover)
114. Tarashana by Rachel Neumeier (May 31, 435 pages, hardcover)

June
115. Keraunani by Rachel Neumeier (Jun 1, 289 pages, hardcover)
116. The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine (Jun 2, 241 pages, hardcover)
117. The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer (Jun 4, 372 pages, paperback)
118. The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer (Jun 5, 307 pages, paperback)
119. The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing by Mel Lindauer, Taylor Larimore, Michael LeBoeuf (Jun 6, 291 pages, paperback)
120. The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine (Jun 6, 385 pages, hardcover)
121. Ever by Gail Carson Levine (Jun 7, 244 pages, hardcover)
122. The Ill-Made Mute by Cecilia Dart-Thornton (Jun 9, 437 pages, hardcover)
123. Creative Selection by Ken Kocienda (Jun 10, 265 pages, hardcover, professional)
124. The King Beyond the Gate by David Gemmell (Jun 10, 336 pages, paperback)
125. Cotillion by Georgette Heyer (Jun 11, 355 pages, paperback)
126. Frederica by Georgette Heyer (Jun 12, 437 pages, paperback)
127. False Colours by Georgette Heyer (Jun 13, 341 pages, paperback)
128. The Wish by Gail Carson Levine (Jun 14, 197 pages, hardcover)
129. Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making by Tony Fadell (Jun 14, 382 pages, hardcover, professional)
130. A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer (Jun 15, 422 pages, paperback)
131. The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison (Jun 16, 245 pages, hardcover)
132. Sylvester, or The Wicked Uncle by Georgette Heyer (Jun 17, 386 pages, paperback)
133. Lady of Quality by Georgette Heyer (Jun 18, 299 pages, paperback)
134. Venetia by Georgette Heyer (Jun 18, 375 pages, paperback)
135. Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer (Jun 19, 423 pages, paperback)
136. Arabella by Georgette Heyer (Jun 19, 312 pages, paperback)
137. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz (Jun 20, 286 pages, hardcover, professional)
138. The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer (Jun 20, 303 pages, paperback)
139. Dave at Night by Gail Carson Levine (Jun 21, 281 pages, paperback)
140. Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer (Jun 21, 285 pages, paperback)
141. The Foundling by Georgette Heyer (Jun 22, 439 pages, paperback)
142. Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jun 23, 239 pages, hardcover, reread)
143. Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer (Jun 24, 279 pages, paperback)
144. The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer (Jun 25, 261 pages, paperback)
145. April Lady by Georgette Heyer (Jun 26, 270 pages, paperback)
146. Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer (Jun 26, 362 pages, paperback)
147. The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer (Jun 27, 373 pages, paperback)
148. Cousin Kate by Georgette Heyer (Jun 28, 373 pages, paperback)
149. The Magic and the Healing by Nick O'Donohoe (Jun 28, 324 pages, paperback)
150. These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer (Jun 30, 378 pages, paperback)
151. Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer (Jun 30, 310 pages, paperback)

July - September

July
152. Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer (Jul 1, 392 pages, paperback)
153. Charity Girl by Georgette Heyer (Jul 2, 273 pages, paperback)
154. Powder and Patch by Georgette Heyer (Jul 3, 183 pages, paperback)
155. The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jul 3, 290 pages, hardcover, reread)
156. Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jul 3, 199 pages, hardcover, reread)
157. Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jul 4, 307 pages, hardcover, reread)
158. Brothers in Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jul 4, 318 pages, hardcover, reread)
159. Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jul 5, 287 pages, hardcover, reread)
159. The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jul 6, 376 pages, hardcover, reread)
160. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jul 7, 363 pages, hardcover, reread)
161. Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jul 7, 392 pages, hardcover, reread)
162. Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jul 8, 302 pages, hardcover, reread)
163. Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jul 9, 345 pages, hardcover, reread)
164. Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jul 10, 311 pages, hardcover, reread)
165. A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jul 10, 405 pages, hardcover, reread)
166. Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jul 11, 307 pages, hardcover, reread)
167. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jul 12, 422 pages, hardcover, reread)
168. The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick (Jul 13, 126 pages, paperback, professional)
169. Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jul 13, 339 pages, hardcover, reread)
170. Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jul 14, 346 pages, hardcover, reread)
171. Suelen by Rachel Neumeier (Jul 16, 179 pages, hardcover)
172. The Flowers of Vashnoi by Lois McMaster Bujold (Jul 17, 93 pages, hardcover, reread)
173. The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer (Jul 17, 337 pages, paperback)
174. The Reluctant Widow by Georgette Heyer (Jul 18, 316 pages, paperback)
175. The Toll-Gate by Georgette Heyer (Jul 18, 313 pages, paperback)
176. Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer (Jul 20, 298 pages, paperback)
177. The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer (Jul 21, 347 pages, paperback)
178. Pistols for Two by Georgette Heyer (Jul 22, 232 pages, paperback)
179. An Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer (Jul 23, 492 pages, paperback)
180. A Ceiling Made of Eggshells by Gail Carson Levine (Jul 24, 371 pages, hardcover)
181. Storm Front by Jim Butcher (Jul 26, 322 pages, paperback, reread)
182. Fool Moon by Jim Butcher (Jul 26, 342 pages, paperback, reread)
183. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher (Jul 27, 378 pages, paperback, reread)
184. Summer Knight by Jim Butcher (Jul 28, 371 pages, paperback, reread)
185. Death Masks by Jim Butcher (Jul 30, 374 pages, paperback, reread)
186. Blood Rites by Jim Butcher (Jul 31, 372 pages, paperback, reread)
187. Dead Beat by Jim Butcher (Jul 31, 427 pages, paperback, reread)

August
188. Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher (Aug 1, 479 pages, paperback, reread)
189. White Night by Jim Butcher (Aug 3, 404 pages, hardcover, reread)
190. Small Favor by Jim Butcher (Aug 4, 420 pages, hardcover, reread)
191. Turn Coat by Jim Butcher (Aug 5, 418 pages, hardcover, reread)
192. Changes by Jim Butcher (Aug 5, 438 pages, hardcover, reread)
193. Ghost Story by Jim Butcher (Aug 6, 477 pages, hardcover, reread)
194. Cold Days by Jim Butcher (Aug 6, 515 pages, hardcover, reread)
195. Skin Game by Jim Butcher (Aug 7, 454 pages, hardcover, reread)
196. Peace Talks by Jim Butcher (Aug 7, 340 pages, hardcover, reread)
197. Battle Ground by Jim Butcher (Aug 8, 418 pages, hardcover, reread)
198. The Law by Jim Butcher (Aug 8, 99 pages, ebook)
199. Side Jobs by Jim Butcher (Aug 10, 418 pages, hardcover, reread)
200. Brief Cases by Jim Butcher (Aug 11, 437 pages, hardcover, reread)
201. Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files, Storm Front, Vol. 1, story by Jim Butcher (Aug 12, 128 pages, hardcover, graphic novel)
202. Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files, Storm Front, Vol. 2, story by Jim Butcher (Aug 12, 123 pages, hardcover, graphic novel)
203. Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold (Aug 15, 355 pages, hardcover, reread)
204. Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold (Aug 16, 377 pages, hardcover, reread)
205. Passage by Lois McMaster Bujold (Aug 18, 438 pages, hardcover, reread)
206. Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold (Aug 19, 453 pages, hardcover, reread)
207. Knife Children by Lois McMaster Bujold (Aug 19, 208 pages, hardcover)
208. Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon (Aug 21, 294 pages, hardcover)
209. The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon (Aug 28, 1123 pages, hardcover)
210. Marque and Reprisal by Elizabeth Moon (Aug 30, 324 pages, hardcover)
211. Engaging the Enemy by Elizabeth Moon (Aug 31, 401 pages, hardcover)
212. Command Decision by Elizabeth Moon (Aug 31, 384 pages, hardcover)

September
213. Victory Conditions by Elizabeth Moon (Sep 1, 398 pages, hardcover)
214. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (Sep 4, 405 pages, hardcover)
215. Empty Smiles by Katherine Arden (Sep 5, 205 pages, hardcover)
216. The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud (Sep 7, 462 pages, hardcover, reread)
217. The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud (Sep 8, 562 pages, hardcover, reread)
218. Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud (Sep 9, 501 pages, hardcover, reread)
218. The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud (Sep 10, 398 pages, hardcover, reread)
219. The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne by Jonathan Stroud (Sep 12, 421 pages, hardcover)
220. Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud (Sep 14, 483 pages, hardcover)
221. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. (Sep 17, 338 pages, hardcover)
222. Buried Fire by Jonathan Stroud (Sep 17, 300 pages, paperback, reread)
223. The Last Siege by Jonathan Stroud (Sep 18, 262 pages, paperback, reread)
224. Children of God by Mary Doria Russell (Sep 19, 436 pages, hardcover)
225. The Leap by Jonathan Stroud (Sep 20, 188 pages, paperback, reread)
226. Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal (Sep 22, 304 pages, paperback, reread)
227. Glamour in Glass by Mary Robinette Kowal (Sep 23, 327 pages, paperback, reread)
228. Without a Summer by Mary Robinette Kowal (Sep 24, 357 pages, paperback, reread)
229. Valour and Vanity by Mary Robinette Kowal (Sep 24, 401 pages, hardcover, reread)
230. Of Noble Family by Mary Robinette Kowal (Sep 25, 569 pages, hardcover, reread)
231. Hyperion by Dan Simmons (Sep 27, 481 pages, paperback)
232. The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik (Sep 28, 407 pages, hardcover)
233. Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson (Sep 29, 290 pages, hardcover, reread)
234. The Scrivener's Bones by Brandon Sanderson (Sep 30, 340 pages, hardcover, reread)
235. The Knights of Crystallia by Brandon Sanderson (Sep 30, 289 pages, hardcover, reread)
236. The Shattered Lens by Brandon Sanderson (Sep 30, 296 pages, hardcover, reread)

October - December

October
237. The Dark Talent by Brandon Sanderson (Oct 1, 284 pages, hardcover, reread)
238. Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson (Oct 1, 256 pages, hardcover)
239. Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones (Oct 1, 446 pages, hardcover)
240. Replay by Ken Grimwood (Oct 2, 311 pages, hardcover)
241. Uprooted by Naomi Novik (Oct 2, 435 pages, paperback, reread)
242. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (Oct 3, 466 pages, hardcover, reread)
243. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Oct 6, 314 pages, paperback, reread)
244. The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden (Oct 8, 350 pages, paperback, reread)
245. Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden (Oct 8, 356 pages, hardcover, reread)
246. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Oct 10, 782 pages, hardcover, reread)
247. A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher (Oct 10, 306 pages, paperback)
248. A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine (Oct 11, 328 pages, hardcover)
249. Stolen Magic by Gail Carson Levine (Oct 12, 322 pages, hardcover)
250. Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher (Oct 14, 240 pages, hardcover)
251. The Fairy's Return and Other Princess Tales by Gail Carson Levine (Oct 16, 390 pages, hardcover)
252. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke (Oct 17, 235 pages, paperback, reread)
253. Thorn by Intisar Khanani (Oct 18, 495 pages, hardcover)

November
254. Sparrows in the Wind by Gail Carson Levine (Nov 4, 337 pages, hardcover)
255. The Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani (Nov 5, 514 pages, hardcover)
256. A Darkness at the Door by Intisar Khanani (Nov 6, 464 pages, hardcover)
257. The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson (Nov 14, 325 pages, hardcover, reread)
258. Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson (Nov 15, 376 pages, hardcover, reread)
259. The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson (Nov 16, 437 pages, hardcover, reread)
260. The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson (Nov 17, 500 pages, hardcover)

December
261. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Dec 18, 288 pages, hardcover)

Not counted
- Ship of Smoke and Steel by Django Wexler (Oct 17, hardcover) – skimmed most of the second half

Hey, Kriti, welcome back!!

I'm Arlie, and I used to write software for a living. I saw your post in the intros thread. We've got some interests in common, so I'm dropping a star. Maybe I'll even manage to keep up with your thread.

Kriti! I'm very glad to see you joining the shenanigans again. I hope the year brings you only good reads.

Kriti's back! Glad you're joining us again.

>6 ronincats: >8 richardderus: >9 drneutron: Hi Roni, Richard, and Jim. :) I'm glad to be back. I think I burned myself out by reviewing books for my book blog, I realized I was reading a lot of books because I felt obligated to read what people sent me. I'm now reading whatever I feel like reading and it's much more fun.

>7 ArlieS: It's nice to meet you, Arlie! What kind of software did you work on?

What everyone else said, welcome back. Glad you got your reading mojo back

>10 kgodey: My main focus was operating system kernels.

This group always helps me to read; welcome back, Kriti.

Happy reading in 2022, Kriti!

Enjoy your 2022 reads!

>11 mahsdad: >13 PaulCranswick: >14 FAMeulstee: >15 thornton37814: Hi Jeff, Paul, Anita, and Lori!

>12 ArlieS: That's pretty cool, Arlie. What operating system(s) did you work on?

Happy New Year from me n Miss Po!

Yay! Great to have you back, Kriti! Happy 2022!

Happy new year, Kriti! Glad to see you back.

>17 sibylline: >18 alcottacre: >19 MickyFine: Hi Lucy, Stasia, and Micky!

---



1. The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell

I had never heard of this book before I received it for SantaThing recently. It's mostly set in 1900s New York and involves time travel and magic (and time travel magic). It's also YA, which I didn't realize until after I started it.

This book wasn't for me. The characters seemed like a collection of tropes with not much substance underneath. The magic system was vague and confusing. That's not always a bad thing, but didn't work for this book because the whole plot depended on how the the magic system worked. There were some twists towards the end that might have been fun if I was invested in the story, but I wasn't. It might have also been easier to overlook some of its deficiencies if it was tightly paced, but it's almost 500 pages long and slow. On the positive side, the historical setting does seem well researched.

Happy New Year, Kriti! Dropping a star. Lovely to see you back.

Happy New Year and happy new thread! Welcome back!

>20 kgodey: Oh dang. All the parts sound great, sorry to hear the execution was not.

>21 Crazymamie: >22 foggidawn: Hi Mamie and foggi!

>23 MickyFine: The Last Magician is fairly well reviewed and apparently an NYT bestseller, so I'm sure it worked for a lot of people. I've become increasingly pickier about character-focused books in the last few years.

>20 kgodey: Oh dear. Not the finest way to start the reading year. Maybe it's an omen...this is as low and as bad as it'll get, only better from here on?

>25 richardderus: Unfortunately not yet (see below), but hopefully the next book will be better.

--



2. The Fallon Pride by Reagan O'Neal (better known as Robert Jordan)

I'm a big fan of the Wheel of Time epic fantasy series, so I figured I should read some of the author's earlier work. This one is the second book in a historical fiction series following the Fallon family starting in the American Revolutionary era. I read the first book, The Fallon Blood, a few months ago and liked it okay - this one follows both the main character from that book and his son and the historical events involved are primarily the Louisiana Purchase and the War of 1812.

I found the book deeply unpleasant to read. I think it can be classified as some sort of masculine version of chick lit - almost every scene involved either battles, daring escapes, lurid sexual escapades, or some sort of historical event that our main characters play a critical but totally behind-the-scenes role in. I really didn't like any of the people, and not a lot of the events either (plenty of rape, incest, blackmail, murder, etc.). Most of the characters seemed to be driven by unquenchable lust or revenge (or both). The first book shared some of these issues, but it was dialed up to eleven in this one.

I know the author is capable of writing interesting and complex characters and excellent world-building, so I'm guessing this is a style he was going for, which is fine, it's just not up my alley. I wish there had been more history and less pulpiness, because the author clearly does love history and it came through. I probably won't be reading the third (and final) book any time soon.

>26 kgodey: Well. That's a disappointment indeed. Onward and upward, though.

3. The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard

I recently re-read The Goblin Emperor (in 2021, when I didn't have a thread) and I was wishing there were more books like it. I found Roni's review of this book when I was skimming through her last 2021 thread and immediately bought it.

The Hands of the Emperor is told from the point of view of Cliopher Mdang, the secretary of an Emperor, who is from a remote part of the Empire. When he invites his Emperor to take a vacation in his home islands, it starts a process of breaking down the traditional formalities in the Emperor's household and leads to larger personal and political changes.

Although this book's events are often about politics, there's no political intrigue. It's a character-focused, slice-of-life book whose central conflict is Cliopher and those around him becoming increasingly more comfortable in their own skin. It reminded me of Becky Chambers' Wayfarers books (The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, etc.) but the characters are much deeper and better drawn. As someone who grew up in a very different culture (South India) from where I settled down (Ohio), I also identified with some of Cliopher's issues.

There were a couple of things in the book which bothered me, but weren't a significant enough part of the plot to detract from the experience of reading it. One is the feasibility of the political system of the world and the political reforms that Cliopher was enacting. The Empire's government ran far too smoothly to be realistic, especially with the amount and frequency of new initiatives being rolled out. I also don't understand how the economics of the Empire made sense, given the trade patterns described. The other thing that bothered me was that most people seemed both competent and generous, except for the occasional person that Cliopher puts in their place. It makes for a pleasant read, but it made the world feel much less messy than it should have been and the political reforms weren't as impactful (of course a world of friendly, smart, and well-adjusted people would be easy to govern).

I've been learning more about history recently (I've listened a few dozen courses from The Great Courses over the past year or so and have been piecing together a general sense of how the world works) and it's made me more aware of all the economic, demographic, and social factors that lead to political and cultural changes. It's made me look at fantasy and science fiction worldbuilding much more critically.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. The author has a number of other books set in different parts of the same universe, which I'm looking forward to exploring.

>20 kgodey: >26 kgodey: Sorry to hear that your first books of the year were such disappointments. Hopefully things go up for you from here!

>28 kgodey: I already have that one in the BlackHole or I would be adding it again!

Yeah, that one sounds great!

Haven't heard a disparaging word yet about HoE! Glad you also enjoyed it.

Love it that you're doing the Great Courses. I've done a few, mostly history also.

Glad to hear you enjoyed The Hands of the Emperor even while recognizing its probably shortcomings!

>29 alcottacre: >30 drneutron: Thanks Stasia and Jim! I hope you're able to get to The Hands of the Emperor eventually. Apparently there will be a sequel this year.

>31 sibylline: Which ones have you done, Lucy? Any standouts? I usually play them on my phone while I do chores, it helps me avoid chores less.

>32 ronincats: Thanks Roni!

4. The City in the Lake by Rachel Neumeier

The City in the Lake is set in the Kingdom, a country intertwined with deep and wild magic. When the Prince disappears and spring turns unnatural, Neill, the king's bastard son, and Timou, a young mage, are drawn into events beyond their control.

This book is a quiet fairy tale that reads like a myth. The world reminds me of Robin McKinley's work, although the characters are maybe more like Ursula K. Le Guin. It was atmospheric and easy to read and I really enjoyed it. I can see myself re-reading it in the next year or two.

>34 kgodey: Reminiscent of Robin McKinley? You have piqued my interest...

>35 foggidawn: I think that The Hero and the Crown is probably the closest comparison. There isn't as much focus on the romance as most McKinley books (which was a plus for me), although there is still romance.

>34 kgodey: >35 foggidawn: Consider my interest piqued as well!

>37 alcottacre: I hope you enjoy it if you get to it, Stasia.

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5. The Windsingers by Megan Lindholm a.k.a. Robin Hobb

Robin Hobb is one of my favorite authors and I'm not sure why it took me so long to get to reading the books she wrote as Megan Lindholm. I've been making my way through them, starting with Wizard of the Pigeons and Harpy's Flight last year (both of which I really enjoyed).

The Windsingers is the second book of the Ki and Vandien quartet after Harpy's Flight. The first book focused on the meeting of the main characters, Ki and Vandien, and Ki slowly dealing with the grief of losing her family. This one is more of an adventure story, Ki and Vandien have settled into a comfortable partnership and find themselves (separately) in well over the heads in separate quests.

I really like the fantasy world this is set in - humans are only one of many vastly different sapient species, and trading with magical entities for things like favorable weather is part of everyday life. The details make it feel very lived in. The emotional arc of the story belongs to Vandien, which wasn't quite as compelling as Ki's arc in the last book, but still pretty solid. The characters (as is usual with the author) seem like real people, fundamentally likeable but with flaws that are really annoying.

The books seem fairly standalone so far, but I'd still recommend starting with Harpy's Flight before reading this one.

6. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

I'm not in a review-writing mood today, but this book was exceptional, like everything else by Le Guin. Perhaps even more so than her other works, it won both the Hugo and the Nebula when it came out.

If you're interested in thoughtful science fiction that insightfully examines both societies and individuals, I recommend it.

7. Petty Treasons by Victoria Goddard

This is a novella set prior to the events of The Hands of the Emperor with the backstory of how Cliopher ended up in his position. It's told from the emperor's point of view and probably best appreciated after The Hands of the Emperor. It was all right, it was an easy and pleasant read but didn't add anything to my understanding of the world or the characters.

>38 kgodey: I love all four of the Ki and Vandien books so much!

Dropping my star!

>28 kgodey: Nice review! Roni already hit me with that particular book bullet, but you make me want to read it soon.

>41 ronincats: I'm looking forward to reading the other two books in the series. I can't believe they are out of print, it was hard (and expensive) to find copies.

>42 bell7: Hi Mary! I'm glad you enjoyed the review.

8. Tea with the Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy

I enjoyed this short book. It's set in 1980s (contemporary for the time) San Francisco, and the protagonists are Martha Macnamara, a woman investigating the disappearance of her adult daughter and Mayland Long, a scholarly man who claims to be a dragon. It's a mixture of a bunch of genres - mystery, adventure, fantasy, and some romance. The characters are surprisingly well drawn for how short the book is, and the book largely works because of them.

The plot also involves computer programming and the 80s Silicon Valley tech scene, which was fun. I wasn't expecting to run into a reference to Donald Knuth's work when I started the book.

I'll be reading more of R.A. MacAvoy's work.

>44 kgodey: that's one of my favorites, glad you enjoyed it.

So glad you also love the Kai and Vandien books!

I liked the Lens of the World series by MacAvoy very much although not immediately. I'll have to try Tea With the Black Dragon.

>45 fuzzi: Thanks, fuzzi! Have you read the sequel too? I saw mixed reviews of it.

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9. The Keeper of the Mist by Rachel Neumeier

Keri is a struggling baker that's unexpectedly chosen to be the ruler of her tiny country by the magic of the land. She is immediately faced with a magical crisis, predatory neighboring countries, and three unknown half-brothers who she does not know whether she can trust and has to figure it all out.

This book gave me serious Chalice vibes and solidified my impression that Rachel Neumeier's a lot like Robin McKinley. I enjoyed it, although I got a little tired of the main character berating herself for not being good enough. I thought the worldbuilding was good and the author is particularly good at making magic seem otherwordly. The characters were nuanced and flawed but easy to like.

This was a YA book just like The City in the Lake, which I read earlier this month. At some point I want to try the author's adult fantasies and see what they're like.

>47 kgodey: I started it, once, put it down but never went back. I don't recall it being bad, just didn't engage me. I would be willing to give it another try.

Nice to see you so active here this year, Kriti. Good to have you back.

Have a great weekend.

>48 fuzzi: Good to know, thanks fuzzi!

>49 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! It's nice to have a place to talk about books. :)

10. The Runelords by David Farland a.k.a. Dave Wolverton

I read Brandon Sanderson's recent eulogy of Dave Wolverton (here it is) and it made me want to check out his work. I figured I'd start with the series mentioned in the eulogy, this is the first book.

I knew absolutely nothing about the book going in and was pleasantly surprised. It's fairly standard old-school fantasy (princes and princesses, wizards, battles, great darkness rising, etc.) and I found it cozy. I particularly enjoyed the magic system where people could choose to dedicate an attribute of themselves to another person and the consequences for the world.

I've been reading a lot of modern fantasy over the past few years and although I appreciate that there's been more diversity in characters and setting, I keep feeling like most new books lack something that older books had. I think it might be an appreciation for history or maybe a more meandering approach to worldbuilding (or both). It makes older books feel more grounded somehow. On a related note, I've been considering not reading anything that's newer than ten years old (unless it's by a trusted author). If people are still talking about a book ten years later, then it seems more likely to actually be good rather than just trendy.

Anyway, I enjoyed this book and have ordered the sequel. I'm not committing to the entire series (8 books) yet.

11. Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson

I was feeling down and wanted something easy and comforting to read so I decided to reread this one. Actually, I just pulled a random book from the Eva Ibbotson part of my bookshelf and it turned out to be this one. It's about a dutiful black magician who decides to get married and stages a competition among the local witches to find his bride. The heroine is a good witch who is determined to figure out how to perform an act of darkness that will win the competition, but all she ends up doing is making flowers bloom and birds sing and so on.

It's warm, silly, funny and delightful, just like I remember.

I WL'ed The Runelords -- very thoughtful comments (the something missing part). I know exactly what you mean!

Some great reading going on over here, Kriti! Thanks for the reviews and recommendations. I have added several to the BlackHole.

Just stopping by to wish you a great weekend, Kriti.

>53 sibylline: >54 alcottacre: >55 PaulCranswick: Thanks for stopping by, Lucy, Stasia, and Paul!

Since my last post, I've read a lot of books, including all of the Eva Ibbotson books I own. This was probably not a great idea since her plots and characters tend to be pretty similar, but I enjoyed them anyway. Many of them were rereads, some of them were not.

I'll do some quick reviews here.

      

12. Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson: This was a reread and probably my favorite Ibbotson book. It's set in 1910 and involves an orphaned young girl and her governess moving to her relatives' house in the Amazon. I really love the setting and the adventure (there's no magic) and the atmosphere. The adults are fantastic characters too, not just the kids (I particularly like the governess).

13. Dial-a-Ghost by Eva Ibbotson: An evil relative hires some scary ghosts to try and terrify his young nephew to death so he can inherit the estate. Due to a mix-up at the ghost agency, a wholesome family is sent out instead, and hijinks ensue. Prettuy good.

14. The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson: The prince of a hidden magical kingdom accidentally gets left behind in modern-day London. Nine years later, the rescue party finds that he's been adopted by a horrible family and is thoroughly unpleasant and spoiled. This was pretty good, but wasn't my favorite, it was pretty obvious what was going on and it was a little frustrating that no one realized it until the end.

      

15. The Great Ghost Rescue by Eva Ibbotson: The ghosts of Britain are losing their habitat as old buildings get pulled down and replaced with modern developments. Luckily, the ghosts have Rick, a schoolboy with a save-the-world streak who is determined to get the government to set up a ghost sanctuary. I think this was one of Ibbotson's first books and her characterization isn't as developed (although she does come up with an amazing bouquet of bad smells).

16. The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin: The peaceful Athshean world is colonized by humans. The native Athsheans learn to fight to take back their world, but it fundamentally changes their culture in the process. This novella was written during the Vietnam war during a time where Le Guin admits (in the foreword) that she didn't have her usual outlet for her activist tendencies, and it's a bit more on-the-nose than most of her work (e.g. the humans here don't seem consistent with their portrayal in the chonologically earlier novel, The Dispossessed). However, it is still remarkably good, both the characters and the worldbuilding. I particularly liked the centrality of dreaming and mastering the subconcious in Athshean culture. Be warned that it is a depressing read.

17. Island of the Aunts by Eva Ibbotson: I needed cheering up after the Le Guin book, so I went back to Ibbotson. In this one, three sisters who take care of a magical island realize they are aging and need help. The obvious solution is to kidnap some hardworking-yet-neglected children and train them. The children soon learn to love the island, but it is the modern world and kidnapping isn't very easy to get away with. This is a wacky but delightful book, I think it's one of her better ones.

      

18. The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson: Another one without any magic. World War II is about to break out and Tally leaves her beloved London home to go to boarding school. But this school isn't anything like she imagined it would be and she learns to love it there. She then gets mixed up in a European adventure helping a prince whose country is defying the Nazis. The three parts of this book are fairly different and I enjoyed the boarding school parts the most. The prince's story seemed too cartoonish to fit in with the rest of the book (and with World War II), but the underlying characterization is still good and has some nice subtleties.

19. The Haunting of Granite Falls by Eva Ibbotson: I really enjoyed this one, probably because it was set in the US and featured a outlandish mashup of Scottish and Texan characters (and even a Viking). An American millionaire buys a Scottish castle and moves it to his hometown in Texas, but the ghosts that live in the castle also end up there. There are hijinks and a evil kidnapping plot and a Secret Garden-esqe invalid-learning-to-live plot. The ending annoyed me a bit, but I don't want to spoil it.

20. The Beasts of Clawstone Castle by Eva Ibbotson: Ibbotson really likes ghosts, this story involves a rundown castle that's failing to attract the tourists it needs for the upkeep of its unique wild cattle herd. When the caretaker's great niece and nephew come to stay, they hit upon the idea of inviting some scary ghosts to help. Just when everything is going well, it alls falls apart and there's an evil plot that the kids and ghosts need to foil together. I didn't connect as much with the characters in this book, but it was all right. I think I was probably also getting Ibbotson-ghost fatigue at this point, there's a pair of ghost Feet in the book that seemed far too much like the ghost Hand in the previous book.

   

21. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman: My husband was playing God of War and asked me who the Vanir were. I didn't know the answer but I realized that I'd had this book for a while and never read it. I still don't know what the difference between the Vanir and the Aesir is, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Each story is great on its own, but they all also fit into a loose narrative. Neil Gaiman is an excellent writer and I think he did a great job of making the myths approachable (I assume Thor doesn't say things like "let's check it out" in other myth books) but also conveying their essential character.

22. The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson: The final Ibbotson book I own, and luckily this one didn't have any ghosts. It's set in pre-World War I Austria/Germany and is about Annika, a foundling who is being raised by a cook and a housemaid in Vienna. She has a great life but still daydreams about her real mother coming to claim her. Then one day, her dreams come true and her mother is every bit as regal and warm as her fantasies. But everything is not as it seems. It's pretty good, the main thing I liked about it is Ibbotson's obvious love for Vienna.

I also abandoned (Pearl-ruled?) a book today, A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark. I got it for the most recent SantaThing and I know others on this group enjoyed it so I wanted to give it a shot. But there were a million things that irritated me just in the first couple of chapters and I don't have the patience to read any more.

I'm not sure how to describe it except that the book read like a Marvel movie to me - tropey/smirky/quippy but lacking substance. The characters I encountered also seemed fixated on their identity, the PoV character in the prologue kept thinking about being white, male, and British, and other people he talked to also brought that up. The main character in the second chapter kept emphasizing how she was one of the few women in her job. It made them feel less like real people and reminded me of the current US culture war, which I do not want in my escapist fantasy. There's a bunch more annoyances where those came from but I'll stop here.

It's a shame because I enjoy Middle-Eastern settings in fantasy e.g. Throne of the Crescent Moon, The Desert of Souls, The City of Brass.

I have the Neil Gaiman on the shelves and should get to it shortly.

Well done on your plentiful reading since you last posted, Kriti.

>57 kgodey: A Countess Below Stairs is my favorite Ibbotson -- have you read that one? Reading all of your reviews is putting me in the mood for an Ibbotson reread!

>59 PaulCranswick: I'm sure you'll enjoy Norse Mythology, Paul.

>60 foggidawn: I have read A Countess Below Stairs but I don't remember it very well. I'm thinking about reading her adult fiction soon, including that one. I didn't have much appreciation for romance (and I didn't notice good characterization as much) when I originally read it so I think my experience will be different.

I also realized there were a couple of other middle-grade Ibbotsons I didn't own, so I bought them and I'll probably read them soon.

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23. The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio by Lloyd Alexander

If there's a theme to this year's reading, it seems to be making my way through the bibliographies of authors whose books I love. I've been doing that with Robin Hobb, Robert Jordan (although I didn't enjoy that one), Ursula K. LeGuin, Eva Ibbotson, and now Lloyd Alexander. I've only ever read his Prydain books before but he's written a lot more.

The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio is set in a barely-alternate Middle Ages, the protagonist (Carlo Chuchio) is a dreamer from not-Sicily who gets kicked out of his house by his long-suffering uncle and has to make his own way into the world. He finds a treasure map in a book given to him by a mysterious bookseller and resolves to go find it and prove that he's not useless. He travels to not-Persia (or what used to be not-Persia, anyway), gets mixed up in all sorts of adventures, and finds both love and friendship.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. I never get tired of Lloyd Alexander's humor. And although the adventure can get outlandish on occasion, there's also a core of realism and wisdom underneath it all.

>58 kgodey: sounds agenda-driven. Maybe the author had a checklist to complete...? 😉

Just tell us a story, that's all I ask.

Big news from Brandon Sanderson on his YouTube channel today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a-k6eaT-jQ

I listened to Gaiman reading his Norse Mythology -- he has an extraordinarily pleasant voice. The Vanir are probably 'older' gods, and considered 'lesser' (Freya is Vanir) -- the Aesir are mostly fighters, much more macho. The Vanir are just as dangerous in their own way however. At least, that is all I have retained!

>62 fuzzi: The author bio at the back of the book mentioned something about caring about diversity in speculative fiction, so it does seem deliberate. Although it seems to me that focusing on race/gender identity to that extent often ends up with authors writing more stereotyped characters (something I've noticed from other reading).

>64 sibylline: I did figure out that the Vanir were nature gods and the Aesir seemed like warriors, but I was curious about where they came from, and why they have different realms (Vanaheim and Asgard). One of the stories mentioned that Odin gave life to all the gods (and men), so I assume they started off the same, but I'm not sure. It's too bad the myths were only written down once the Norse had converted to Christianity, I'm sure a lot was lost.

I've continued on the Lloyd Alexander track I've been on (and will probably keep going for a while).

         

24. The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha by Lloyd Alexander: Lukas, also called Kasha, is the town ne'er do well in a small European-style town. When he volunteers himself as subject at a street magic performance, he's whisked off to a far off land and acclaimed as king. But being king comes with a lot of responsibility, and the last two people acclaimed as king met with mysterious accidents. This is a great coming of age/adventure story and I quite enjoyed Lukas's character growth. The other characters are great too.

25. Westmark by Lloyd Alexander: In the country of Westmark, the king mourns his long-dead daughter and the tyrannical chief minister holds the true power. Theo, a printer's apprentice, runs afoul of the censorship laws, resulting in his master's death and a desperate flight from his hometown. He meets many colorful people along the way and struggles with figuring out his ideals in a country overrun by tyranny.

Although everything works out in the end, this is a darker story than most of the author's other work. In the afterword, he mentioned that this series was inspired in part by trying to make sense of his World War II combat experience.

26. The Kestrel by Lloyd Alexander: This is the sequel to Westmark. I'm avoiding spoilers for the first book in my summary, but the short version is that Westmark is being invaded by a neighboring country and the main characters have to face the realities of war and what that turns them into.

Although this is a kids' book and none of this is explicit, it deals with grief, rage, post-traumatic stress, rape, pillage, the normalization of violence, etc. It also wasn't the most escapist book when reading about the Ukraine/Russia situation in the news (which I'm now avoiding reading more about). Again, things do work out in the end, but it's bleak along the way.

27. The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian by Lloyd Alexander: A light adventure novel along the lines of The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha. The protagonist is an earnest young scamp (and violinist) that ends up helping a princess take back her kingdom from an evil Regent. It seems somewhat Pied-Piper inspired.

Looks like Alexander is conquering again, Kriti!

>67 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! It's always nice to discover a whole bunch of reliably good books that you somehow never got to. I've been tearing through them because they're children's books and very easy to read.

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28. The Beggar Queen by Lloyd Alexander: The last book of the Westmark series. No spoilers for the first two books. Two years after the events of The Kestrel, the country of Westmark is now facing a coup and a revolution, and our main characters are caught right in the middle of the growing insurrection. Moral choices that Theo made in the first two books (both "good" and "bad") turn out to have consequences that he and everyone else have to deal with now. This was a well-written exploration of characters dealing with very difficult circumstances and doing their best in the moment. But things don't always work out even if people are doing their best. The author does an admirable job of making the book succinct but encompassing a whole lot of nuance in the process.

My only gripe was that the revolution and its outcome didn't quite make sense to me based on political events from previous books, but I generally find it hard to understand mob behavior so the fault may be with me. In any case, the story is about the characters, not the politics, and it does a great job.

29. Permanent Record by Edward Snowden: My first non-fiction book of the year. I'm sure everyone knows who Snowden is, this is his autobiography and also serves as an explanation of some of the programs that he blew the whistle on.

I had a similar relationship to computers and the Internet as Snowden growing up and I was able to relate to much of his experiences (at least until he joined the Army/CIA/NSA) and worldview. The narrative is well-written and compelling, and I think he does a good job of breaking down the technical aspects relevant to his story and the surveillance programs (I'm not the best person to evaluate that though, because I already knew everything he was describing). He seems like a thoughtful and conscientious person. One of my favorite parts of the book were the excerpts from his girlfriend's (now-wife's) diary from when he went missing.

I'd recommend the book to everyone, although it might make you never want to use the Internet again.

30. The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen by Lloyd Alexander

Back to Lloyd Alexander and the by-now familiar format of an idealistic but sheltered young man whose circumstances change abruptly, leading on a quest that will make them see the world (and themselves) with new eyes (and find adventure and love along the way). Although the general pattern is familiar, it's not boring. This book is inspired by Imperial China and stars Prince Jen, who leaves on a journey to another kingdom to learn how to be a better ruler. Instead, he gets lost, which is only the first of many unpleasant things to happen to him, but he's a better person by the end. I enjoyed the settling and the characters.

I read five more books since my last post, and only two of them were by Lloyd Alexander :).

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31. The Iron Ring by Lloyd Alexander

Another "idealistic but sheltered young man goes on a journey and grows in the process" story, this time inspired by Indian history and mythology. Lloyd Alexander does have a lot of other books but for some reason, I've been most drawn to read the ones that follow this formula. I think this is the last one, though.

I enjoyed this, but not quite as much as the rest. I felt like the book didn't flow as well as his usual work and there seemed to be more pausing to explain various parts of the mythology. I might have noticed the explanations more because I'm already very familiar with Indian myth, but this was the only book so far with a foreword by the author about the mythology (and how it's unfamiliar but cool), so I suspect it's not just me. It also had less levity than the other books I've been reading, but also didn't explore individual human experience in a relatable way like the Westmark series.

It was definitely a good book, though, and it did a good job of evoking the kinds of stories that you'd encounter in Indian mythology.

32. Lord of the Changing Winds by Rachel Neumeier

This is an adult fantasy from Rachel Neumeier, I read two of her YA books earlier this year. It follows two different characters who live in a country that has become the new home to griffins. Griffins turn any land they occupy into desert. This causes conflict with the king, and the two main characters become integral in preventing the situation from escalating beyond control.

I thought this was really good, Neumeier's good at crafting magical creatures that don't share the same psychology as humans. The griffins reminded me of Megan Lindholm's Ki and Vandien world. The characters and politics are much more nuanced than her YA books. I found both main characters compelling. I'm looking forward to reading the next two books.

33. Sabriel by Garth Nix

I can't believe it took me so long to get to Sabriel, it's one of the classics. Actually, I think I tried reading it when I was a teenager, but didn't get it at the time. Anyway, I've read it now and I loved it.

Sabriel has just graduated from school in the U.K.-like Ancelstierre, but she's not an ordinary girl. She's from the magical Old Kingdom across the Wall from Ancelstierre and she's been trained from a young age to lay the unquiet dead to rest by her father, the Abhorsen. When her father fails to show up for a scheduled visit, she sets off into the Old Kingdom on a dangerous quest to find him.

I loved everything about Sabriel – the characters, the setting, the story and character arcs, the metaphysics. I know I did because I'm extremely impatient to read the next book in a way I haven't been with a series in a long time.

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34. Don't Make Me Think, Revisited by Steve Krug

This is a book that I mainly read for work so I'm not sure if a review will be useful. I will probably be reading more books that help me at work. I've found myself in a position where I'm running my own project, but most of my previous experience is as a software engineer or a software engineering manager. I'm having to give myself a crash course in product management, design, project planning, marketing, user research, business model generation, and probably a bunch of other things.

Don't Make Me Think is a book about how to make good websites by trying to anticipate users as much as possible and reducing confusion. It's concise, practical, funny, and has good examples. I've read the second edition before so most of it wasn't new to me, but it was all still helpful.

35. The Illyrian Adventure by Lloyd Alexander

I'll use Lloyd Alexander's own summary here: "The Illyrian Adventure was intended as an entertainment, with a gloriously fearless heroine, legendary heroes, inscrutable mysteries, and fiendish villains." It's set in 1872 and is like a cross between Indiana Jones and Sherlock Holmes, except that the protagonist is a sixteen year old girl (the book is narrated in the first person by Vesper's guardian and sidekick, much like Dr. Watson).

I thought I might find Vesper insufferable (a sixteen year old who's good at everything?), but I should have had more faith in Lloyd Alexander. This book is great fun and also has heart.

Hi! I am enjoying your thread!
I've read The Floating Islands a few years ago and remember enjoying it, so I will have to explore more of this author's work.
I love the Sabriel, Old Kingdom books and have read some of them more than once. Recently I think Lirael has become a favorite but it's been a while since I read them so I will have to think of visiting them again.

Permanent Record is now on my TBR list and I am going to have to make time to discover a bunch of Alexander's books! How have I not read any of them since I do enjoy a good Fantasy now and then? I have a 12 yr old g dau, she is a voracious reader who would probably enjoy them as well.

Lastly, regarding post 58, I have noticed this as well and was purposely avoiding many newer works because of dissatisfaction when reading them, bad story telling and seeming to be ticking off boxes from some list. I was purposely looking for the older, time-tested stuff, too. It might be partly a reflection of what our present day reality has unfortunately become; what one has to do to get accepted by a publisher, etc. It does not make for good story telling, that is a talent, whether you include a, b, and c or not. I read for a variety of reasons, but when I choose to use my precious reading time for some escapist relief, let me find some! When I am engrossed in a story I really don't care about those things if it is actually a good story.

>70 kgodey: Your #34 has been added to my ever growing list. I don't plan to design web sites, but the more I learn about what designers think about, the more likely I am to be able to figure out how to use whatever they produce. (I absolutely can't figure that out their intentions from observing the results; I mostly conclude their twin goals are "make it pretty" and "make it hard to use, particularly for older people".)

>71 kaida46: Hi Deb, thanks for visiting! I haven't read The Floating Islands yet, I'm looking forward to it. I'm really enjoying the Old Kingdom books, I just finished Abhorsen and will start Clariel today, probably. Reviews coming soon.

I would have loved Lloyd Alexander's books when I was 12. I recommend starting with the Chronicles of Prydain (starting with The Book of Three), I think that's his most famous series and I've read it a couple of times.

Regarding newer works and bad storytelling, I've also noticed this with a lot of movies these days. I'm worried that social media is fundamentally changing the way people think and create, but that's a whole other topic.

>72 ArlieS: Hi Arlie! I think if more people took Don't Make Me Think to heart, websites would be much easier to use.

      

36. The Wizard's Butler by Nathan Lowell

This is a fantasy set in contemporary America. It's mostly a slice-of-life story about a guy getting used to his new life as a butler. Not only does he not have any experience with being a butler, but his new employer is an actual wizard. There is a plot, involving a scheming niece who wants her uncle committed so that she can inherit the property, but that was the weakest part of the book (but it doesn't take up much of it). I would have liked to see more showing (rather than the narrator describing) the main character's growth, but overall, it was a pleasant book that I'll probably reread someday.

37. Lirael by Garth Nix

The sequel to Sabriel, set 20 years later and following a different main character (the titular Lirael). Actually, there are two main characters, there's also Sabriel's son Sameth. The book is a coming of age story for Lirael, who is a Clayr, a clan of seers. Unlike the rest of her extended family, she does not have the Sight and isolates herself because of her shame. Although his circumstances are quite different, Sameth is dealing with some of the same issues. Both of them have critical roles to play in the battle against a rising new evil.

After I got over my disappointment that this book wasn't about Sabriel, I very much enjoyed Lirael. Unlike the hyper-competent Sabriel, Lirael and Sameth are inexperienced and insecure, but they are interesting characters because of it. Also, there's a new character called The Disreputable Dog who is the best part of the book. My only quibble with the book is that it's not a complete story, it's really just the first half of one.

38. The El Dorado Adventure by Lloyd Alexander

The second Vesper Holly adventure. Vesper has just found that she owns a volcano in Central America and there's some trouble involving the property so she's off to investigate, dragging her long-suffering guardian Brinnie along. The two of them get promptly kidnapped and have to deal with the jungle, a local tribe, and the machinations of an old enemy. I didn't like this one as much as The Illyrian Adventure, but it was still fun overall. Vesper seemed a little more insufferable. I do like the setting and the plot (inspired by the building of the Panama Canal).

   

39. The Best Interface is No Interface by Golden Krishna

This is another book by a designer that I read to help with my work. It seemed like the entire book could be summed up by one sentence - don't try to solve problems with screen-based user interfaces (for example, designing a mobile app with a screen that says "unlock car" that the car owner has to press, rather than a key that detects when you're near a car door and unlocks it automatically - no screen necessary). This is a decent point (and should be common sense, in my opinion) but it's fine that the author decided to write a book about it.

I was extremely frustated by this book, I really didn't like the author's style. I don't know if he was trying to pad out the book, but he used a lot of "funny" gimmicks. In one chapter, he constantly interrupted his prose with social-media style notifications (regular paragraphs where sentences were interspersed with " liked your tweet" and "Like" and "Subscribe" and whatnot). In another, he printed the same sentence 110 times in a row to illustrate how many times people use a phone, and then did the same thing 150 times because a different study said people took out their phone 150 times a day and not 110 times. His points also seemed both grandiose and incoherent at times (e.g. he talked about a "screenless" society similar to a "paperless" society, but without any concrete details). I'm not even going to go into the part where his idea of a good user experience involves collecting tons of data about users from every site they visit on the internet.

Generally, this seemed like it was written by someone in a very particular technology subculture for people in that same subculture. I am not in it.

40. Abhorsen by Garth Nix

The continuation of Lirael and Sameth's story from Lirael. Lirael focused on the characters coming of age, Abhorsen is about the characters fighting the main antagonist. I'm not sure how to review this separately since it seems like the second half of the same story. We learn a lot more about the world and characters (like Mogget and The Disreputable Dog) and we see a little more of Sabriel and Touchstone. It's a good ending to the series, although I'm really glad there's one more book since Lirael seems like she's just getting started (there are actually three more books, but two are prequels).

I'm nine books behind on reviews so I'll just do some really quick ones, without book covers:

41. Clariel by Garth Nix: Book 4 of the Old Kingdom, a prequel set 600 years ago. Not as strong as the first three, but I enjoyed it. Clariel is a compelling protagonist, although most her choices seem to go wrong.

42. Goldenhand by Garth Nix: Book 5 of the Old Kingdom, a direct sequel to Abhorsen, also ties up some of Clariel. I think this was the weakest of the series. Although stuff happens, there isn't much character growth and some plot points seem abrupt. It's still Old Kingdom, though.

43. Terciel and Elinor by Garth Nix: A prequel about Sabriel's parents, book 6 of the Old Kingdom. I enjoyed this, although we know what happens and the villains aren't entirely defeated. Still not as good as the first three, though, and the romance is lackluster.

44. Microinteractions: Designing with Details by Dan Saffer: Read for work. It essentially describes a framework for designing small details in software interfaces. Mainly useful for providing a vocabulary to talk about small details, otherwise just reads like a random collection of examples.

45. Letting Go of the Words by Janice (Ginny) Redish: Read for work. Excellent book about writing good content for websites. I read it straight through but it's structured like a reference on different topics. I got actionable advice on writing clearly even in non-website contexts. I read a review that said none of this advice was new – and it isn't, but it's all collected in one place and it's really well written and easy to use.

46. The Team that Managed Itself by Christina Wodtke: Read for work. This is a "business fable" about someone who gets promoted above her head and has to figure out how to run a project, followed by a non-fiction section that goes over all the ideas presented and how to apply them to your team. Although some of the ideas were fine, I don't think the author has a particularly realistic view of people, and seems to focus on metrics over humanity. I think it's aimed at making truly dysfunctional teams bearable, not to make good teams better.

47. Land of the Burning Sands by Rachel Neumeier: Second book in the Griffin Mage trilogy. It focuses on different characters in a different country, although the two main characters from the first book make an appearance. I like the slow pace and character-focus of these books, and the magic is interesting. Not enough griffins in this one, though.

48. Sprint by Jake Knapp with John Zeratsky & Braden Kowitz: Read for work. This book describes a 5 day process for testing out new business ideas quickly. It does a great job at describing the process, the book was very easy to read and I walked away with a good understanding of the process and what it's useful for. Unlike the previous work book I read, this does have a realistic view of people and group dynamics.

49. Law of the Broken Earth by Rachel Neumeier: The last book of the Griffin Mage trilogy. I didn't like this one as much as the previous two – there was more action, and I didn't connect with the new viewpoint characters. Some of the events also seemed quite abrupt and the character motivations and magic didn't always make sense. It was still a pleasant read.

Thanks for reminding me of Lirael and Abhorsen. I did read Sabriel a few years ago, and completely forgot to read the next ones.

>76 FAMeulstee: I highly recommend both Lirael and Abhorsen, Anita. The books after that aren't quite as good, but the first three are excellent.

---

   

50. Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson: Read for work. This is a collection of short essays about how to run various aspects of your business. A lot of them dispel myths about things businesses commonly feel they have to do, like working all the time, planning months or years ahead, growing larger, and so on. I've been a fan of how Basecamp runs their company for a while now, and I enjoyed the book. It is more of a manifesto than a how-to guide, though.

I think it was the right time for me to read it. The advice in it wouldn't have been actionable for me until my current job, where I'm essentially running my own company.

51. Across the Wall by Garth Nix: I bought this for The Creature in the Case, an Old Kingdom novella starring Nick (set between Abhorsen and Goldenhand). There are many other short stories in it (all by Garth Nix), some of which I enjoyed more than others.

Short stories are not my favorite format, but this was a pretty good collection, as far as they go. There are a wide range of tones and settings. I didn't dislike any of them, although the "choose your own adventure" story was not my thing.

52. Clone Yourself by Jeff Hilderman

Read for work. Based on the subtitle of Build a Team that Understands Your Vision, Shares Your Passion, and Runs Your Business For You, I thought this book would be about communicating your ideas (vision) better to your team. It actually turned out to be about replacing your own job with a new hire so you have time to do other things. I have no use for that.

I finished it anyway, but found it fairly dull. It's not devoid of good ideas – the fundamental idea is that you should know what you're doing and why you're doing it, and that's good. There are lots of acronyms, frameworks, and worksheets, which seemed of dubious helpfulness. There's also some bonkers advice, like asking your employees to regularly recite your mission, vision, and values.

I've been dealing with some sort of stomach flu, I've been extremely fatigued for the last few days. Today is an improvement because I haven't had a headache yet. I have had plenty of time to read, though.

I don't think I'm going to catch up with reviews, but here's a list of books I read:

Purely fun
53. The Gawgon and the Boy by Lloyd Alexander
55. House of Shadows by Rachel Neumeier
56. Door into Light by Rachel Neumeier
60. The Rope Trick by Lloyd Alexander
61. The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier
62. The Cat Who Wished To Be A Man by Lloyd Alexander
63. The Sphere of the Winds by Rachel Neumeier

As you can see, I've mainly been reading through books by the same authors I've been reading this year. I've been finding it hard to figure out what to read next, and sticking with what I've been doing is an easy choice. I have been noticing all sorts of story and characters patterns that each author seems to favor, which is both interesting and annoying (the books seem more similar than they would have if I read a bunch of other authors between them).

I particularly enjoyed The Gawgon and the Boy, which I would guess is semi-autobiographical. The protagonist is a boy growing up in Depression-era Philadelphia who enjoys writing stories. There's no magic, just a warm/crazy family, first love, etc.

To help with work
54. Just Enough Research by Erika Hall
57. Conversational Design by Erika Hall
58. Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace
59. The User is Always Right by Steve Mulder and Ziv Yaar
64. The Lean Product Playbook by Dan Olsen

I've been reading books from a wide variety of perspectives to help me think through what I should be doing at work. The books range from high-level management philosophy to very niche step-by-step how-to guides. My original approach was to try and find books that addressed my specific problems but I quickly realized that's not possible. Now I'm just seeing how different people think about how to solve all kinds of problems, and I can use those ideas to come up with what works for me.

My general impressions are that there's a lot of bullshit in the business-book world. Many of the books I'm reading are written by management or design consultants who make a living from peddling their specific process. This makes sense – someone who just works at a regular job doesn't have the breadth of experience to write these kinds of books (or the motivation to find additional avenues to sell their services). There are a lot of good ideas in the books, but you still need to carefully figure out what assumptions those ideas are built on and whether those assumptions are true for what you're doing.

One book I'd heartily recommend to everybody is Creativity, Inc, by the Pixar founder Ed Catmull. It's great to see a first-hand perspective of how Pixar was built and all the things they do to maintain their creative culture and release exceptional movies. It's thoughtful and rooted in reality (no jargon here).

>79 kgodey: You write: "My general impressions are that there's a lot of bullshit in the business-book world."

I empatically agree.

>80 ArlieS: I suspect it's not a controversial opinion. :)

I just finished book #65, Running Lean by Ash Maurya, which does have some good ideas about figuring out a business model and prioritizing the tasks which will help you achieve it, but there's so much Silicon Valley jargon in it that it was painful to read at times (e.g. naming different ideas things like "the Innovator's Gift" and "Growth Rockets").

It feels like either the author is being condescending or they just don't live in reality and thus their advice is not worth taking. Then again, these books sell well, so there must actually be people out there for whom "Innovator's Gift" doesn't sound like bullshit. Maybe it's just a cultural clash.

>81 kgodey: Some of us call it "Silly Valley". There's a reason for that. (I live in that area, as it happens.)

>82 ArlieS: I didn't know you lived in that area. I worked remotely for a Silicon Valley startup for four years so I'm familiar enough with the shenanigans to never want to do that again. I only visited the office a couple of times, it would have been much worse if I had to be there all the time.

I still regularly read Hacker News, though.

Well, I got to 75 books! Far earlier than I usually do.

Here's the books I read since my last post:

Purely for fun:
66. The White Road of the Moon by Rachel Neumeier: Secondary world YA with ghost-based magic, no romance. I enjoyed this one a lot.

68. The Mountain of Kept Memory by Rachel Neumeier: Secondary world adult fantasy, seems to integrate some sci-fi elements. I didn't like the characters as much as I usually do with Neumeier's work and the romance was too neat, but still pretty good.

69. The Town Cats and Other Tales by Lloyd Alexander: 8 short stories involving all sorts of clever cats helping out their clueless humans. Lots of fun.

71. Time Cat: The Remarkable Journeys of Jason and Gareth by Lloyd Alexander: Lloyd Alexander's first book for kids, even before Prydain. A cat takes his human on an adventure through different time periods. A little uneven, but it won points from me for the clear love of history.

73. Beyond the Dreams We Know by Rachel Neumeier: A collection of short stories, some of which serve as codas (and one prequel) to other books by Neumeier. All the stories were enjoyable and quite different from each other. It was nice to see some favorite characters like Neill from The City in the Lake and Bertraud and Kes from the Griffin Mage books again.

74. The Girl and the Moon by Mark Lawrence: This was a pre-order, the last book of the Book of the Ice trilogy. It wrapped up things satisfactorily and tied in nicely with the earlier Book of the Ancestor trilogy set in the same world. If you haven't read these books, I recommend starting with Red Sister.

76. Dream-of-Jade: The Emperor's Cat by Lloyd Alexander: This barely counts as a book, it's 48 pages and heavily illustrated. I enjoyed the portrait of imperial Chinese court life meeting a cat's common sense, and the illustrations were lovely.

To help with work:
I'm not going to review these, I assume the reviews are not of much interest or help to others. Here's the list, though.

67. Getting Real by Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson, and Matthew Linderman
70. Designing for Emotion by Aarron Walter
72. Build Better Products by Laura Klein
75. Remote: Office Not Required by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

>84 kgodey: Congratulations on reaching 75, Kriti!

Congrats!

Wow! Congrats on 75!

>85 FAMeulstee: >86 drneutron: >87 foggidawn: Thank you Anita, Jim, and foggi!

---



77. Skyward Flight: The Collection by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson

I've been waiting to read this book for six months. It's a collection of three novellas that were released as e-books last year to fill out the story of Cytonic. I really like reading books in print so I waited until this collection was released. Then the first copy they sent me was damaged and I had to send it back and wait a couple of weeks for a new copy.

I really like Brandon Sanderson's work so I figured I'd like this. It was written in collaboration with another author, but the characters and world seemed consistent. I find Spensa (the protagonist of the main series) a bit ridiculous, but I actually really missed her in these stories (she's off having her own adventures, covered in Cytonic). All the novellas were satisfying, both in terms of plot progression and character development.

Adding my congratulations on reaching the magic number, Kriti!

>89 MickyFine: Thanks Micky!

--

Books completed since last post:

   

78. Winter of Ice and Iron by Rachel Neumeier: A standalone fantasy novel set in a world where borders of countries and provinces are shaped by magical entities that encompass the land (bonded to a human, who is the king or noble lord). One of the kings goes mad and starts trying to conquer the rest of the kingdoms. Our protagonists are from two of those other kingdoms – a princess and a duke, who eventually cross paths.

The world and magic system reminded me of Vaskandar from Melissa Caruso's books, with a bit of Chalice (by Robin McKinley) thrown in. The romance had more depth than Neumeier's other work, the characters had to work through some complicated issues instead of admiring each other and falling into each other's arms spontaneously. It's not a light read, though, it's a book about war.

80. The Wizard in the Tree by Lloyd Alexander: A short book about a kitchen maid who finds a wizard in a tree, has some adventures while trying to help him, and eventually helps her whole town get out from under the thumb of an unscrupulous squire. Lloyd Alexander can't write a bad book, but it had slightly less of the ineffable charm that his work usually has.

Also, some work-related books:
79. The User's Journey by Donna Lichaw
81. Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan
82. The Elements of Content Strategy by Erin Kissane

I'm continuing to not review these. I don't think anyone is missing much. Any reviews will probably just be either "this was fine, I learned some stuff" or "wow, Silicon Valley people are nuts" (or a combination).

Missed you whizzing beyond 75, Kriti, well done!

Hi, Kriti! So glad you found the Old Kingdom books--they are favorites of mine, especially the first 3. And I love Lloyd Alexander--just seeing all those covers bring back so many memories.

I'm excited to have the Rachel Neumeyer recommendation! I fell in love with Diana Wynne-Jones' griffins recently!

I'm going to have to consider rereading Lloyd Alexander too!

>91 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul!

>92 ronincats: Hi Roni! I'm glad I found the Old Kingdom books too. I'm looking forward to reading more books by Nix eventually. It took me a long time to read more Lloyd Alexander despite my love of Prydain, but I'm glad I did.

>93 sibylline: Hi Lucy! Neumeier is a new favorite author of mine (as you can probably tell), I'm looking forward to seeing what you think of her work. I've been following your Diana Wynne-Jones reads, I'm probably going to do a reread of her work at some point. I don't think I've read all the Chestromanci books, although I have read some.

Here's some reviews. Skipping work-related books, as usual.



84. Tuyo by Rachel Neumeier

A young man is left as a ritual sacrifice in war. Instead of being killed as he expects, his enemy befriends him and they make common cause against a dangerous sorcerer that has been manipulating the war. As always, I enjoyed Neumeier's worldbuilding and characters. It's nice to have books where characters figuring out how to communicate across different cultures and assumptions is a major part of the plot.



85. Gypsy Rizka by Lloyd Alexander

After Rizka's mother dies, she waits for her gypsy father to reclaim her so her new life can begin. In the mean time, she gets up to all sorts of hijinks like uniting lovers, foiling nefarious plots, and so on. It's a fun romp, although Rizka doesn't have as much character growth as Alexander's male protagonists. Actually, that's a common pattern across most of his books – the men are doofuses and the women are pretty much perfect. That's probably why I prefer the books with male protagonists. Still, fun.



87. Circe by Madeline Miller

Occasionally while browsing Amazon, I notice that books I'm interested in advertise themselves to fans of Circe. So I picked it up. It's an interpretation of the life of Circe, the enchantress from Greek mythology (from her first person PoV). The book took itself very seriously and it seemed kind of mopey to me. I'm not sure how to articulate it any better. I suppose it felt unbalanced, there was not much joy or levity in its portrayal of people.

For a better book with a similar underlying concept, I highly recommend Lavinia by Ursula K. LeGuin.

               

90-95. The Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher, starting with Furies of Calderon (6 books)

This was a reread, I was looking for something familiar. I last read it a decade ago, so I didn't remember much. Jim Butcher writes good characters. Tavi is a great protagonist, his growth over the series is very satisfying. He's also got a good romance. The rest of the PoV characters (especially Isana and Amara) are not great, but it's really Tavi's story, so I can put up with them. The action goes non-stop, which gets a little tiresome at times.

It's not the best fantasy out there, but it's fun (don't think too much about it afterwards). It was what I needed at the time.

I'm reading far too much to be able to keep up with reviews. Quick thoughts follow.



96. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip
This is a fantasy classic for a good reason, I am having a hard time figuring out how to describe it or what's good about it (everything is good about it). It's beautifully written and has so many layers.



97. The Arkadians by Lloyd Alexander
Standard Lloyd Alexander adventure, this time inspired by Greek mythology. I wish I'd read these when I was a kid.

         

89, 98, 99, 101. The Death's Lady series by Rachel Neumeier, starting with The Year's Midnight (4 books)
Very interesting premise. Tenai is an immortal woman who fought a bloody war for centuries against an evil sorcerer-king. She gets transported to our world and ends up a mental health facility, where a kind psychiatrist helps her regain her sanity. That's the first book. The next two books are a portal fantasy where the psychiatrist and his daughter are transported to Tenai's world, and the fourth book is a companion novel.



100. The Spirit Ring by Lois McMaster Bujold
I wanted a cozy reread, this fulfilled it. Bujold is one of my favorite authors but I didn't want to get into a series, this is her only standalone book. It reads more young adult than her other work, but it's still great.



102. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Another reread, a loose retelling of Cinderella where the protagonist (Ella) has to deal with a curse that makes her obedient whenever anyone wants her to do anything. My favorite part of this book is the characters, Ella and Char are both unconventional and leap off the page. I like their relationship too.

I also watched the movie version, I really do not recommend it.



103. Not Just a Witch by Eva Ibbotson
This is probably my least favorite Eva Ibbotson book so far, the plot is muddled and there's all sorts of references to Ibbotson's political leanings that took me out of the story (even when I agreed with them).

104. The Talent Sinistral by L.F. Patten
This was a book bullet from Lucy, a fantasy adventure where a noble bastard and a streetwise slave have to team up to save their home country from an evil sorcerer. I found the writing style a bit hard to read. I liked the character development of the main characters, but the romances seemed to come out of nowhere. I enjoyed it overall, though.

               

105-110. The Black Dog series by Rachel Neumeier, starting with Black Dog (6 books)
Rachel Neumeier writes urban fantasy and it's just as good as her other work. I'm not a huge fan of urban fantasy or werewolves, but I enjoyed this take on them – in her words, she's "putting the demonic back in the supernatural".

In the Black Dog mythos, werewolves are people who have a demon attached to their soul. They can allow this demon more control, which changes their shape accordingly. As usual with Neumeier, these books are character focused (although there's plenty of action) and the most interesting part for me was their examination of how people's psychology would change in this mythos.

This is really an 8 book series (so far), each novel is followed by a book of short stories covering the period between the previous novel and the next novel. I read it in print, where the short stories are compiled into two collections so it worked out to 6 books for me.

   

111. Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
112. Ogre Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Since I enjoyed Ella Enchanted recently, I wanted to read these other books set in the same world. I'd never read these before though. Fairest is sort of a Snow White interpretation and Ogre Enchanted is probably inspired by Beauty and the Beast. They both feature characters from the first book as well, Ogre Enchanted more so.

They were pretty good, but not as good as Ella Enchanted.

      

113-115. Books 2-4 in the Tuyo series by Rachel Neumeier, starting with Nikoles (3 books)
I read Tuyo already, these are the remaining books in the series so far. Another book is coming out this month. Tarashana is a direct sequel to Tuyo, the other two books are a prequel and a companion book (and so is the one coming out soon).

I don't have anything unique to say about Rachel Neumeier at this point. I'm sad that I'm now caught up with her published work, although she seems to publish ~3 books per year so I'll have more soon.



116. The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine
Addie is a scaredy-cat princess that depends heavily on her brave and adventurous older sister Meryl. But when Meryl catches a magical plague, Addie resolves to go out into the world and find the cure – even if she has to face down ogres, dragons, specters, and so on. I don't have anything bad to say about it, but it's still not as good as Ella Enchanted.



117. The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer
I don't usually read romance, but Lois McMaster Bujold is a fan of Georgette Heyer and she seems to like things that I do. I wasn't sure where to start, but I picked The Grand Sophy because it sounded a little bit like Emma.

Sophy didn't turn out to be much like Emma Woodhouse, but she's great! The book is hilarious, I found myself laughing out loud at least once. I don't think that Heyer was going for realistic characters or plots, so I didn't evaluate it on that basis (if I had, there would be several problems).

Ooh yay for a new Heyer fan. I'm quite fond of Frederica if you're looking for others to try.

Wow, I was gonna say congrats for reaching 75, but... congrats on blowing past 100! I remember enjoying the Codex Alera series, despite all the war, but your comments make me wonder if it would hold up to a reread.

>97 kgodey: that Heyer is sitting on my shelves, waiting to be read.

>95 kgodey: Your book bullet (Tuyo) has belatedly scored on me.

>96 kgodey: And again for the Death's Lady series, though I'll just start with the first one to see whether it works for me.

>96 kgodey: Heh, yes, the Ella Enchanted movie is... not good. Congrats on blowing past 100 books already!

>98 MickyFine: Hi Micky! I did buy a bunch more, including Frederica. I found this LT thread: Bujold fan looking for a Georgette Heyer introduction and picked some off of it.

>99 bell7: Thanks Mary! Despite my review, I enjoyed my reread of Codex Alera, it was like familiar comfort food. I can see myself rereading the series again in another decade or so.

>100 fuzzi: I hope you get around to it, fuzzi.

>101 ArlieS: I'm looking forward to your reviews of Tuyo and The Year's Midnight, Arlie.

>102 foggidawn: Thanks Misti! The Ella Enchanted movie made me angry, which is rare because I like all sorts of movies. It made me realize why I like the book so much, though.

The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer
I didn't pick this Heyer for any good reason - it said it was the first of her Regency romances on Amazon (although it is actually a Georgian romance). It does appear to be one of her early works. It follows a young woman, Horry, who enters a marriage of convenience to a rich earl to save her family from destitution and allow her pretty sister to marry the (penniless) man she's in love with. Although Horry is oblivious, the earl seems to want to turn it into an actual marriage.

I cannot fault the book for its comedy or historical ambience, but it did not hold a candle to The Grand Sophy. I liked Horry (the female main character) in the beginning of the book, but by the end I didn't care about her at all. She's at least somewhat understandable – she's seventeen, has no financial education, and suddenly has the equivalent of an unlimited credit card limit. The results are somewhat predictable. Her husband baffled me, I couldn't figure out his motivation for doing anything and he seemed like pure wish fulfillment and not a person.



119. The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing by Mel Lindauer, Taylor Larimore, Michael LeBoeuf
Speaking of financial education, I've been working on this book for a few weeks now. My husband and I don't know all that much about investing and we've been trying to figure out what to do with our savings. This was a pretty good introduction. Although I don't have all the answers yet, I at least now know what questions I should be asking next.



120. The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine
This is a vaguely-Rapunzel inspired (basically one scene is Rapunzel-inspired) origin story for Bamarre, covering some of the events that have been mythologized in The Two Princesses of Bamarre. Peregrine (Perry) grows up believing that she is Lakti nobility, but it turns out that she was born a Bamarre – one of the underclass – and she has a fairy godmother who wants her to liberate her people. Politics, family drama, and other hijinks ensue. There was a remarkable amount of nuance for a childrens' book.



121. Ever by Gail Carson Levine
All the Gail Carson Levine books I've read until this one were set in worlds with the traditional Western fantasy canon – dragons, elves, dwarves, ogres, princesses, etc. The world of Ever is inspired by Mesopotamian folklore and involves a young god (Olus) falling in love with a mortal (Kezi) who is doomed to be sacrificed to a different god. There's only one hope for Kezi – she must undergo the trial to become a god herself. There's a lot of themes here that you don't ordinarily find in childrens' books, and I enjoyed the setting quite a bit.



122. The Ill-Made Mute by Cecilia Dart-Thornton
This book was another book bullet from Lucy and I'm finding it extremely hard to review. We follow a nameless, disfigured, amnesiac protagonist who escapes a hellish life as an ostractized servant in a remote castle to make her own life. The world she lives in is dangerous, the land is infested with wights that try to kill mortals (based on all sorts of British folklore).

The story and worldbuilding is excellent, but the sheer amount of the author's research (which she seems to want to show off at every turn) gets in the way. Lucy's reviews indicated that there were a lot of lists in the book, but I didn't quite understand the extent. It seemed like whenever the protagonist entered a new location (like a new room, or a different place outdoors), there was a complete list of every item in that location. It made for a frustrating read and I ended up skimming some paragraphs.

I did order the next book because I admire the work the author put into it, but I anticipate that it will be equally frustrating to read.

>104 kgodey: if you haven't read it already, I'd highly recommend A Civil Contract, which at first I thought you were reviewing.

It's my favorite Heyer, about an arranged marriage and the growth of a relationship between the two involved.

>105 fuzzi: I have A Civil Contract on my shelves. I've been saving it because I think it will likely be one of my favorites as well (based on the plot description and the fact that Bujold named one of her books A Civil Campaign). I've now also read Cotillion and Frederica, both of which I enjoyed very much – reviews coming soon, hopefully.

Send help, I'm in a Georgette Heyer rabbit hole. Or maybe don't send help, it's actually pretty nice down here.

Since my last update,

Heyer
125. Cotillion by Georgette Heyer
126. Frederica by Georgette Heyer
127. False Colours by Georgette Heyer
130. A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer
132. Sylvester, or The Wicked Uncle by Georgette Heyer
133. Lady of Quality by Georgette Heyer
134. Venetia by Georgette Heyer
135. Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer
136. Arabella by Georgette Heyer
138. The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer

I have some thoughts on the Heyers, I will write them up at some point. I thoroughly enjoyed most of them.

Non-Heyer
124. The King Beyond the Gate by David Gemmell
128. The Wish by Gail Carson Levine
131. The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison

Professional books
123. Creative Selection by Ken Kocienda
129. Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making by Tony Fadell
137. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

>107 kgodey: I'd imagine the Heyer rabbit hole is a lovely place to be. Enjoy!

>107 kgodey: wow on the Heyer run!

I've read some of those, but not all.

What was your favorite? Or favorites?

Hey everyone, although I haven't been posting, I've still been reading a lot, I just hit book 200. Here's my April to June post and my July to September post with the full lists. This is much, much more than I usually read, but I've been reading for stress relief since it's one of the only things that works reliably.

Since I've been trying to read books that are reliably pleasant, there hasn't been too much variety. I read almost all of Heyer's romances, then I reread the Vorkosigan saga by Lois McMaster Bujold and I just completed a reread of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (both have 16+ books in the series). I haven't read the Dresden Files graphic novels yet and may read them next.

The only other (non-professional) books I read were A Ceiling Made of Eggshells by Gail Carson Levine (which is an excellent kids' historical story set during the time where the Jews were expelled from Spain, deals with a harsh story with nuance and grace) and Suelen by Rachel Neumeier, which is tha latest book in her Tuyo series.

>109 fuzzi: My favorite Heyer books were probably:

- A Civil Contract: This was the most realistic romance of Heyer's work and I really liked both Adam and Jenny. I also liked that they were both introverts and found pleasure in work rather than being in high society.
- Sylvester, or The Wicked Uncle: I thought both characters seemed realistically flawed and I could see why they fit into each others' lives. Although Sylvester was the standard best-dressed / excellent whip / impeccably mannered Heyer hero, he seemed to make sense psychologically.
- Frederica, The Grand Sophy, Friday's Child, Cotillion, and The Foundling were all excellent screwball comedies. Friday's Child was probably my favorite romance out of those because Hero and Sherry are both such well-meaning idiots and I can see them growing up together well.
- The Talisman Ring was also fun even though the adventure is quite improbably, mainly because of Sarah Thane. I like the more unconventional characters.
- I liked The Toll Gate from a historical perspective, it was nice to have a look at a different side of society than Heyer usually portrays.
- An Infamous Army is more historical fiction than romance, but it was probably my overall favorite because I'm a sucker for history and military history. I read somewhere that it was taught in military academies because of its historical accuracy.
- Pistols for Two was also a lot of fun, Heyer plots work very well as short stories.

>110 kgodey: thanks! I got some book bullets from this post.

Hi! Congrats on reaching 200, wow! Good for you! Reading is one of my sure fire ways to deal with stress also.
I've only read a few of Lois McMaster Bujold's works but hope to get to more of them eventually.
I also enjoy the Dresden Files and have done the reread thing as well. Did you know that a new Dresden novella came out in July? It's called The Law and I just read it on my kindle. I also liked the Bigfoot stories which I think are novellas as well Working for Bigfoot.
Happy reading!

>111 fuzzi: I hope you enjoy them if/when you get around to them!

>112 kaida46: Bujold is probably my current favorite author, I really like the way she sees people and technology and the world generally.

I had pre-ordered The Law's Subterranean Press edition so I could read it in print, but since I was doing the reread, I gave in and bought the Kindle edition and read it on my phone. I read all the short stories too – Side Jobs and Brief Cases collect most of them (the Bigfoot ones are in Brief Cases) but I got some copies of anthologies that collected the newer ones. I liked the Goodman Grey story, Monsters, that was in Parallel Worlds – he's a very intriguing character.

---

Since my last post, I've re-read Bujold's Sharing Knife series (and read the follow up novella, Knife Children for the first time), which is excellent as ever. I know more about American history than I did the last time and I appreciated the inspiration for the worldbuilding better.

I also read the two volume graphic novel adaptation of Storm Front. It was pretty good, but graphic novels still don't seem like books to me, they're not as reassuring. I'll continue reading the Dresden graphic novels but probably at a slower pace.

Today I started Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series via Trading in Danger, which someone recommended to me on Reddit based on other books I like. I'm enjoying it so far, although I don't think the story has fully started yet. I've never read anything by Moon, although I also have The Deed of Paksenarrion on my shelf.

#208 is Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon. I enjoyed this miltary-ish science fiction story featuring Ky Vatta, a scion of a wealthy trading family who attends her planet's military academy to the consternation of her family. When she helps the wrong person and causes a PR scandal, she gets kicked out and has to revert to the family business. But when her maiden trading voyage gets interrupted by a war, her military training becomes the difference between life and death for her crew.

The author pulls no punches when it comes to the kinds of hard decisions that military officers routinely make (apparently she was a Marine before she was an author), and Ky's character growth takes the book up a notch. I have to wait a few days for the next book to arrive, but I'm looking forward to it.

---

While I wait, I've been reading The Deed of Paksenarrion, also by Elizabeth Moon. I have an omnibus edition so I'm treating it as a single book for my numbers, although it's three books collected in one volume. But I've finished Sheepfarmer's Daughter and I'm into Divided Allegiance.

Sheepfarmer's Daughter was pretty interesting because you don't usually see books from the perspective of the infantry, big events happen at the officer level. It was slow going because of the constant battles, although it was still very good. The worldbuilding seems extremely D&D-like, but the story and Paks' character are interesting enough to make up for it. I'm only a little bit into the second book but it's already more varied since Paks has struck out on her own.

Book #209: I finished The Deed of Paksennarion. Paks' journey from runaway sheepfarmer to mercenary to paladin was very enjoyable, with a good character growth arc.

      

Books #210-213: the rest of the Vatta's War series. I liked the first book (Trading in Danger) a lot. I read the rest of the books pretty quickly, and although they were entertaining in the moment, I didn't like them quite as much. Ky is apparently a "born killer", whatever that means, and all the characters who know her keep telling each other that like it means something. I think it's supposed to mean that she's very decisive about killing people when it will improve the situation (rather than waffling), but it seems very specific to be a notable character trait.

I was also waiting for all the behind the scenes politics and economics to make sense, but they never did. The ultimate villain turned out to be some sort of screaming psycho, but his motivations were unclear. It's never explained how he was able to assemble the largest space force ever seen and infiltrate every space government and major corporation, and various events that happen in the series seemed extremely implausible.

I have more complaints but I'll stop here. To be fair, it was entertaining and had decent suspense and space battles.



#214 was The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. I find stories about faith very interesting, especially when they are mixed with sci-fi (Contact is one of my favorite movies). This book tells the story of a Jesuit-sponsored mission that makes first contact with an alien world, alternating between the story of the mission and the story of its lone survivor back on Earth.

This is more literary than the sci-fi I usually read, but I enjoyed it quite a bit (for one interpretation of "enjoyed", the book is mostly sad and painful). There's a lot going on, but it all ties together well. I won't talk much about the events of the book because slowly watching them unfold is one of the appeals of the book. I am glad there's a sequel, though – I'd be much more upset if Father Emilio Sandoz's story ended at this point.

As an aside, I found the version of 2019 portrayed in the book amusing (asteroid mining, nanobots, advanced AI, a new Japanese empire). The book was written in 1996, and it's interesting to see what the author thought the world could have been like by now.

#215 is Empty Smiles by Katherine Arden, the conclusion to the middle-grade horror Small Spaces series. I enjoyed the story but it was over too soon, the book seemed shorter than the rest. The ending seemed a little abrupt, I didn't expect things to resolve themselves so quickly. Overall, it's a good series and I can see myself rereading it in a year or two. I like the Vermont setting, the setting plays more of a role than it does in most books.

      

216. The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
217. The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud
218. Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud
218. The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud

I reread the Bartimaeus series, which is just as good as I remember. It's not a very nice world, especially for a series aimed at kids, and the books go to some dark places. Bartimaeus is an extremely memorable character, though, and you can't help liking everything he's in, no matter how screwed up it all is.

I think this is the first time that I've read the prequel (The Ring of Solomon) so close to the main series, and I found it an interesting contrast. Bartimaeus is far less tired/jaded, but also has a more distant relationship with humans. You can see how the events of the prequel primed his relationship with Ptolemy (which would have been a good 800 years after this), explored in the main series. Also, it's nice to read these books after learning more about history, I get a lot of the references from Bartimaeus's past now.

>117 kgodey: I didn't love The Ring of Solomon as much, but I do like the original trilogy quite a lot and have read them more than once. Glad you found it worthwhile rereading :)

>118 bell7: Hi Mary! I was in it mainly for Bartimaeus, since I didn't care that much about Nat and Kitty in the original trilogy. I wish he'd write more in that world.

I've read a bunch more books since the last time I posted. I'll do a post about each general theme.

Theme 1: More Jonathan Stroud



#219 was Stroud's newest book (published in the US, the sequel is already out in the UK), The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne. Set in a post-apocalyptic England, we follow the bank robber Scarlett and the mysterious Albert Browne as they flee their pursuers and try to make it to safety. It's witty, the worldbuilding is excellent, and it's got that balance of dark-but-fun that Stroud is so good at. I'm looking forward to the sequel

   

#220, #222, #223, and #225 were rereads of Stroud's standalone works
- Heroes of the Valley is a homage to Norse sagas, both in the writing style and themes. I had forgotten pretty much everything about it, and all the twists were new again. Probably my favorite of the standalones.
- The Last Siege is also very good, although there is no fantasy involved. It's just about a bunch of modern day kids who are thrown together and end up sneaking into an old castle, and things escalate. It's about grief and trust and friendship.
- Buried Fire and The Leap are both fantasy/horror psychological thrillers for kids, which I haven't encountered much of. Although dealing with different subjects, they are both tense reads about a kid drawn in by forces they can't control and don't wish them well.

Theme 2: Sci-fi with religious themes



#221: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. - On a post-apocalyptic Earth, the monastic Order of Leibowitz preserves knowledge across the millennia. There's three parts set in different time periods, all following the Order's work. It's obviously a reaction to the fear of nuclear weapons (it was published in 1959), and that makes it feel a little dated, but it's good. I'm glad I read it, I don't see myself reading it again any time soon.



#224: Children of God, the sequel to The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. At the end of the previous book, Jesuit Emilio Sandoz had only begun to heal from his experiences on the alien world Rakhat. This continues both his story and the story of human impact on Rakhat. It's not as intimate as The Sparrow. I enjoyed the parts that focused on Emilio's story – he's put through even more in this one, but it's a story about faith and it makes thematic sense. The parts about Rakhat seemed a little more contrived, the inter-species conflict hinted at in the first book escalates rapidly and comes to a too-neat conclusion. And I didn't really get the point of Isaac, one of the new characters.

Still, worth it for Emilio's story.



#231: Hyperion by Dan Simmons: I was really interested in this book in the beginning but kind of hated it by the end. We follow seven very different people who are traveling to the Time Tombs on the world of Hyperion, to meet a mysterious and murderous entity named the Shrike. The book focuses on each of the pilgrims telling their stories. I was intrigued by the stories, the worldbuilding was interesting, but it didn't seem to add up to anything. None of the characters seem to care about much (except for one, who was taking care of his daughter) and a lot of the character motivations seemed shallow. Another LT review complains about too much sex, vulgarity, and nihilism, and that pretty much sums it up for me.

I will probably read the next book anyway because this one ends on a cliffhanger, but I'm grumpy at it because it seemed like it had so much potential in the beginning.

      

   

#226-#230:

I did a reread of Mary Robinette Kowal's Glamourist Histories series, starting with Shades of Milk and Honey. It's a Regency-era romance/adventure with magic, the first book is a romance and the rest follows the early years of the couple's marriage.

The "so much like Jane Austen" blurbs annoyed me, because nothing is actually like Jane Austen unless you're looking at it at a surface level. But once I got past that, I enjoyed the series. It's not the best in any way, but it was a quick, easy, and light read, which is what I was looking for.

It deals with some interesting topics that I haven't seen much in fantasy, like adult trauma from growing up in an screwed up family, and learning to communicate with your spouse. The quiet, domestic scenes are the best parts of the series. I wish the adventure had been toned down – there's gunfights and spies and heists and riots, and it doesn't quite fit. The fourth book (the one with the heist) seemed particularly contrived.

#232: The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik, book 3 of the Scholomance series.

My preorder arrived yesterday and I pretty much inhaled the book. I assume that if you've read the series so far, you're reading this. If not, start with A Deadly Education.

It's hard to talk about this book without spoilers for earlier books. It's nice to be out of the Scholomance and in the real world. Things were wrapped up well, I have no complaints. I saw the thing with Orion coming, but I don't think it was meant to be a huge secret, there are several clues in earlier books.

I hope to see more of El & friends at some point.

---

I'm currently rereading the first book Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series by Brandon Sanderson because the last book just came out and I don't remember the earlier books that well. I'm not a huge fan of the tone, Alcatraz is annoying (intentionally, but still). I have less patience for snark and self-deprecation these days.

>120 kgodey: Congratulations on reaching 3 x 75, Kriti!

So many good reads! You remind me that I've been meaning to read the new Stroud, and I stopped midway through the Glamourist Histories and want to pick them back up. I also have The Golden Enclaves waiting on me, since I preordered it as well, but I haven't been in the mood for fantasy in a while, and don't want to spoil the reading experience by not being in the right frame of mind.

>124 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita! I hope I can get to 4 x 75 by the end of the year.

>125 foggidawn:: I can highly recommend the The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne and The Golden Enclaves. Misti (although it's certainly worth waiting until you're in the mood). I'm a little more lukewarm on the Glamourist Histories, but they fit my reading desires at the time.

I read a whole bunch more books, but then I fell off a stepladder (only the last two steps) and managed to give myself a concussion, so I couldn't read for a while. I don't think I'm going to catch up with reviews, but here's the list:

233. Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson (Sep 29, 290 pages, hardcover, reread)
234. The Scrivener's Bones by Brandon Sanderson (Sep 30, 340 pages, hardcover, reread)
235. The Knights of Crystallia by Brandon Sanderson (Sep 30, 289 pages, hardcover, reread)
236. The Shattered Lens by Brandon Sanderson (Sep 30, 296 pages, hardcover, reread)
237. The Dark Talent by Brandon Sanderson (Oct 1, 284 pages, hardcover, reread)
238. Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson (Oct 1, 256 pages, hardcover)
239. Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones (Oct 1, 446 pages, hardcover)
240. Replay by Ken Grimwood (Oct 2, 311 pages, hardcover)
241. Uprooted by Naomi Novik (Oct 2, 435 pages, paperback, reread)
242. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (Oct 3, 466 pages, hardcover, reread)
243. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Oct 6, 314 pages, paperback, reread)
244. The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden (Oct 8, 350 pages, paperback, reread)
245. Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden (Oct 8, 356 pages, hardcover, reread)
246. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Oct 10, 782 pages, hardcover, reread)
247. A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher (Oct 10, 306 pages, paperback)
248. A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine (Oct 11, 328 pages, hardcover)
249. Stolen Magic by Gail Carson Levine (Oct 12, 322 pages, hardcover)
250. Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher (Oct 14, 240 pages, hardcover)
251. The Fairy's Return and Other Princess Tales by Gail Carson Levine (Oct 16, 390 pages, hardcover)
252. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke (Oct 17, 235 pages, paperback, reread)
253. Thorn by Intisar Khanani (Oct 18, 495 pages, hardcover)

Not counted
- Ship of Smoke and Steel by Django Wexler (Oct 17, hardcover) – skimmed most of the second half

(pause for concussion recovery)

254. Sparrows in the Wind by Gail Carson Levine (Nov 4, 337 pages, hardcover)
255. The Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani (Nov 5, 514 pages, hardcover)
256. A Darkness at the Door by Intisar Khanani (Nov 6, 464 pages, hardcover)

---

I'm still recovering, but I can focus on books now, which is great. I still get brain fogged after a while so I probably will not read as much for the next few weeks. Especially since I'm back to work as of today and focusing on the computer screen also makes me pretty brain fogged after a while.

Edited to add: It's probably of some interest that I fell off the ladder while shelving books.

>127 kgodey: So sorry to read that you fell while shelving books, Kriti. I hope your brain is back to normal soon!

>127 kgodey: Oww! Sorry to hear about your fall!

>127 kgodey: sorry to hear about your fall and injury.

Read as you can, but don't overdo it. Concussions are nothing to take lightly.

So sorry to hear about your concussion, Kriti. I hope your recovery continues to go smoothly.

Ouch! I'm sorry to hear about this, and glad that you are recovering.

So glad to have stopped by and so sorry you got concussed -- I know it can take longer to feel fully yourself than one expects.

Can't believe how long it's been since I stopped in. I agree with your assessment both of Patten's The Talent Sinistral and the really very odd Cecilia Dart-Thornton (what a name!) series. And tickled, that you, like me, are going to continue. I think it is worth it. I was annoyed by those lists, and yet, if I just let my eyes glaze over and enjoyed the sound of the words in my head, I didn't mind--there's nothing so significant in those lists that you have to pay attention. The story and characters to grow on you, or they did on me, and I remember the story quite vividly which is a sign that a book had something special.

As always, I've wishlisted too many books! I hope Hexwood is on Audible - probably it isn't, but I have hugely enjoyed listening to all of her work. The griffins, golly, but they are marvelous.

As for me, I've been rereading Daniel Abraham's Long Price Quartet, just finishing up, definitely in my top-ten (which is a joke) fantasies.

Hope to get back here sooner. I've become a terrible LTer as far as communicating goes, but I do try.

>128 FAMeulstee: >129 foggidawn: >130 fuzzi: >131 MickyFine: >132 ArlieS: >133 sibylline: Thank you for stopping by Anita, Misti, Lor, Micky, Arlie, and Lucy!

I thought I was feeling better, jumped straight into full-time work, and now I feel worse again so I'm severely limiting screen time. I'm having a pretty frustrating time, because I do not like sitting still and resting and that's pretty much the only thing that helps. The project I'm working on is at a critical stage - we're about to launch! I'm really itching to make progress.

I did read 4 more books – rereads of the second Mistborn arc by Brandon Sanderson – The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, and Bands of Mourning. This was in in preparation for the release of The Lost Metal, which I also devoured. Reading is still pretty heavy on the cognitive load, so I haven't been doing much of it.

>133 sibylline: I haven't read the second and third books of the Bitterbynde series yet, although they are on my shelf waiting. I think if I let myself skim some of the lists without guilt, I'll enjoy them too.

I think I read the first Long Price Quartet book a long time ago, but don't have much memory of it. I should give it another shot. I hope I'm able to get a good copy, the last time I looked, some of the books in the series were insanely expensive used.

Thank you as always for books, thank you for this group and thanks for you. Have a lovely day, Kriti.

>135 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul!

No more books finished yet, although I did start a reread of Mistborn. I have a diagnosis of post-concussion syndrome now, which basically means the concussion symptoms last for months. I'm spending a lot of time in a dark room curled up in a fetal position, and most of my cognitive load "budget" is going towards work.

I'm really looking forward to things being back to normal.

>137 kgodey: Oof sorry to hear about the latest diagnosis. Sending all the best wishes for your brain (and you) as it continues to heal.

>137 kgodey: Sorry to hear you still have concussion symptoms, Kriti.
I hope Mistborn provides a bit of comfort during this time. I loved it, when I read it back in 2016.

>137 kgodey: Ouch! That really bites. I hope your recovery proceeds as fast and smoothly as possible, and you find ways to offload tasks with large amounts of cognitive load.

>137 kgodey: oh no!

Here's to a complete and expedited recovery.

>138 MickyFine: >139 FAMeulstee: >140 ArlieS: > 141 Thank you, everyone. I'm starting to feel progressively better, although I'm still feeling extremely fatigued and not getting much done. I haven't read anything since my last post, though.

I did get my Christmas Swap package and opened it. Lori picked The Midnight Library and Catherine the Great for me, and I'm really excited about both of them. I also got some cocoa, chocolates, and bookmarks. I'm looking forward to curling up with a book and some cocoa.

We have Dec 24 - Jan 2 off for everyone at work, so I think I'll get some reading done then, when work isn't taking up all my cognitive budget.

>142 kgodey: I'm glad you liked your books. I found both on your wish lists at Amazon and have heard great things about both!

Sorry to hear about the post-concussion syndrome - that sucks! I hope you enjoy the Mistborn reread. I'm hoping to start the Wax and Wayne series in 2023.

>143 thornton37814: Thanks Lori! I already read The Midnight Library and enjoyed it.

>144 bell7: Thanks Mary! I really enjoyed the Wax and Wayne series, it has a lighter tone than Mistborn.

I got my SantaThing books recently, which were:

   

- Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
- Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker
- Behind the Throne by K.B. Wagers
- The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

I don't know much about any of them (except the Scalzi), but I'm looking forward to trying them out.

---



Book #261 was The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, one of my Christmas Swap books. It's basically a variant of It's a Wonderful Life – but the protagonist gets to try out a whole bunch of different lives instead of just one (and without the Christmas theme). I'm a sucker for alternate realities, and I enjoyed it. The protagonist was realistically depressed, which means she wasn't all that much fun to read about, and the ending was predictable from page one. I do wish her issues were not so easily resolved.

It was a quick read. and my brain is still having more trouble with complex narratives, so I appreciated that it wasn't too complicated.

Also, Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm not doing anything for the holidays (except taking some time off at home), but I assume most people are pretty busy.

>146 kgodey: The Scalzi is really fun! I hope you enjoy it.

I heartily agree with Jim about the Scalzi. It was one of my favourite books of 2022.

>148 drneutron: >149 MickyFine:: That's good to know, thanks Micky and Jim! I didn't enjoy Scalzi's The Collapsing Empire and didn't continue with that series, so I've been skeptical of his newer work. It's a good sign that both of you enjoyed it.

Hope your holidays are merry. Things have been quiet around here as hubby has come down with the flu so we are keeping a low profile. The Scalzi is a quick fun read, it kept me smiling. (I just read it before Christmas.) I loved the concept of Midnight Library, too, although it seemed a big slow in some places.

>151 kaida46: Thanks Deb! I hope your husband is feeling better by now. I'm glad to have your recommendation for the Scalzi too.

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I didn't finish any more books in 2022, so this thread is done. I did manage to read 261 books, which is a LOT!

If you'd like to follow me in 2023, here's my thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/346783

>152 kgodey: on my way!