tinpra

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Literate Good Citizen   You read to inform or entertain yourself, but you're not nerdy about it. You've read most major classics (in school) and you have a favorite genre or two.
Dedicated Reader
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

thanks, jeymien :D

I really do read an astounding amount of fic. Not always the whole fic unfortunately.... Anywho, I haven't posted a reading list in ages (possibly not since just after New Year's!) and so this could get a lot scary. I think the novel reading list is going to be a lot shorter. Heck, I'm sure of it. Anywho, unto the breach before I forget:

As a note: This isn't necessarily a rec list. I may or may not give opinions on the books and fics. This is primarily a reading list.

The Family Trade by Charles Stross - "British author Stross mixes high-tech with medieval trappings in this highly entertaining science fantasy in the "misplaced modern" mode. Reporter Miriam Beckstein, recently fired for exposing a money laundering scheme and threatened by the criminals involved, finds that staring at her mother's antique brooch can move her from contemporary America to a Viking-settled parallel universe, where she discovers her true heritage as a countess among the world-walking, goods-smuggling Clan." I was not the biggest fan of this book and at the moment I don't have a good reason for why not. However, I did finish it and I borrowed the next book to read it. My biggest issue, I think, was with some of the storyline? But the plot is so intriguing that I keep wanting to know what happens next. *shrugs* (This is the Merchant Princes series, btw.)

City of Bones by Martha Wells (marthawells) - This has got to be my 4th time re-reading this book. I like it that much. I think the only other book I've read as many times are my Mary Poppins books. Seriously. Anywho: "Khat is a Krisman..., which places him even lower on the social scale than his foreign-born partner. The two are coerced into working with the Patrician Warder, Elen, who is searching out a specific relic... Warders have certain mental powers, although overusing these powers can cause them to go mad." Every time I read this, and I mean every single time I am invariably sucked in. I keep trying to get Mom to read. :D

Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris - this is the most recent Sookie Stackhouse Book. As a random point of interest for anyone who's just now coming to the books after watching the spinoff HBO series "True Blood"...these used to be called "The Southern Vampire Novels." I'm not sure when their designation changed, or whether it was b/c of the series or b/c it just made more sense to name it after Sookie. Anywho, the book was likable enough. I devoured it quickly enough, lol, but it's telling that even though I only read this a couple of months ago I don't remember much of the plot. There is a genuine mystery that Sookie gets, unfortunately, sucked into. Some nice people that we like end up dying and/or getting hurt. I dunno. We seemed to get one of everyone in this book. Maybe in the next book it, the series, will pull itself in some more? Don't get me wrong, not at all an unenjoyable book but definitely start with the first book in the series if you're a newbie. This book is not for the uninitiated.

And I'm going to cut here b/c, as I peruse my other reading list posts I was not nearly this wordy! ( Apparently when I'm bad, I'm really bad. )

Unless I can somehow remember what novels I read between UnChristian and the stuff I listed in the last post, this is all going to be fic-related. Really, it's a shame the library doesn't keep records of these kinds of things. It'd make my life so much easier ;)

I don't know if I ever mentioned this one, but it's worth it for the unique pairing alone: Common Respect by mgsmurf. It's a Firefly fanfic with...a Simon/Zoe pairing. Yes, that's right...Simon/Zoe, or Zoe/Simon depending on how you want to work it. It's not a full on pairing, but they are the featured "couple." Heck...just go read it. You may have never thought it was possible, you may have never thought about it at all, but it's worth the read.

( Read more... )

As I mentioned at some point previously, I had been reading a book called UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity...and Why It Matters by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. I borrowed it from the library. I want to buy it.

I've just started reading Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch (the same guy who brought me the awesome The Lies of Locke Lamorra). Once again I'm struck by the cussing (f-bombs like whoa), but they're thieves. Down on their luck thieves trying to take over a not-so-great gang at this point in the story. Cussing is, unfortunately, to be expected. Yet I soldier on. My brain/mouth filter's going to need more paying attention to than usual, though.

If I hadn't mentioned it, I've also read erinm_4600's California Sun. Admittedly I only managed it because Erin gave it to me in one doc, but what joy! Luckily Erin crosslinks like nobody's business so if, like me, you've missed a story or two you can find them from this link.

And there are other stories I've flipped over since my last "what I'm reading" post, but I can't think of them at the moment. It'll come to me. Eventually. ;)

All my readings lately have been of the ficcish variety so...there. ;) In no particular order:

When the World Ends by lieueitak (although this link will take you to ff.net). This one's a House fic. I know I don't mention and/or rec House fics very often, but I'm only a tangential House fan and haven't watched anything from this season at all. That said, lieueitak is excellent at capturing House's voice and his signature Proud to Be a Prick-ness. I know, I know, you're thinking "How the heck would she know if she doesn't watch House?" Don't believe me. Read the reviews. Anywho, I am happy to rec this one and not just mention it as something I read in passing. Be warned, it has spoilers for "Joy" (as you'll see in the Author's Notes) but if you don't mind mild spoiling it is so completely worth the read. I stayed up late to read this one.

Hero is another ff.net find, by Jedi Keladry. It's a Harry Potter, Snape and Hermione friendshippy fic. I know, I know, it's Snape, but Keledry makes this work. I promise. This was actually my second Jedi Keladry fic.

Hope's Sanctuary was my first Jedi Keladry fic. It's a Star Wars, Obi Wan/Padme Amidala fic. It's a slow build romance, and quite unlike what you'd expect of an Obidala fic. (And as a side note, for a second the auto-fix on my lj editor recognized "Obidala" as a correct word. Hee!) This is more of a "what if" fic, or perhaps an AH, than a true AU. It follows a lot of the SW mythology even while taking some small turns as our characters make different decisions and have to work through them. Even if you're anti-jedi pairings, I think you'll like this. Half the reviews for this one are from people going "I don't usually like Obidala fics, but I like this!" God knows I did (I do like Obidala, for the record. The stranger the combo, the more it fits my bill it seems like). It was enough to send me searching for more of Keladry's fics.

She Was Beautiful to Him is another Jedi Keladry (this time going as Keladry Lupin) fic, and another Snape/Hermion. Like "Hope's Sanctuary" it's a slow romance kind of thing, starting in 4th year or thereabouts to post-war. It goes seriously AU around Half-Blood Prince but it's well worth it. Much of Keladry's S/H fics are archived here (if she has any other SW fics, I don't know where to find them) and the ones I've picked through I've really liked. I'm mentioning this one in particular because 1) I'm too lazy to list everything else and 2) I really liked the way this builds. Keladry has a good handle on who the characters are and is willing to make the reader go through the paces of building up a story.

Annnnd that's it-ish. ;)

So apparently it's been a few days since I've checked one of my email addresses (I have 3 primary and my original hotmail acct that I check periodically) and I have 2 notices from the library that I have books on hold. Two notices and 3 books, and I'm sure that at least one of those books is as big as the tome I am currently reading (The Lies of Locke Lamora if you're curious. Good book. More cussing than I'd like, but what do you expect from a story where the heroes are thieves, con men and gangsters?). I think I've bitten off more than I can chew. Meep!

I should probably go back to posting my readings, but God knows it's been lots of WIPs (:p erinm_4600) and chain-read fanfic. I'll ponder...

Unrelated: One of my stories has received a spurt of interest on FF.net seemingly overnight. Yay!

I have a small slew of reads to catch up on mentioning. Real books first, fanfic second:


Southern Fire by Juliet E. McKenna. It's the beginning of a series and leaves you on a cliffy, of course, but satisfyingly so. I'm looking forward to finding the next one, since I'm not sure when this was written.

Aaaand that concludes the real books ;P Fanfics: ( and because there are lots, a cut! )

Just finished reading In the Black by feldman. If feldman has an LJ, I don't know since I got this from a random rec-page. If you're into either Firefly or Farscape, go read. It's a crossover fic featuring Crichton and River that's so perfect you'll feel bereft when it's over.

So I'm just about done with The Guiltless by Branwyn for Harry Potter. It's a Snape and Harry gen story in which Snape comes to discover just how abusive the Dursley's really are (which is more abusive than JK Rowling makes them) and Snape and Dumbledore make moves to do something about it. A fairly common-ish story. It's...okay. Not reccing it, just saying that I read it.

I feel like i'm incredibly behind on updating this. Which means either I've skipped a book or two....or I haven't been reading nearly as much as I thought i was :(

Anywho...listening to Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
reread Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

no novel-length fanfics...just bits of randomness. guess i haven't read a lot lately :( does re-reading my partially done 2005 nano-novel count?