Favorite Books and Current Reads

[Trifkin]

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[zamisk]

[Kinokokao]

Recently:

Finished Dance with the Devil.
Liked it by the end of it. Interesting story gimmick; each chapter was a separate investigative case and took place at different points in the timeline. Not blow my mind awesome, but an entertaining enough read. Not as satisfying as Midnight. Set in the same world, like, modern-set as opposed to Midnight's ... almost-Victorian feel. And they referenced the characters in Midnight as a historical reference, so that was neat.

The Aristocrat and the Desert Prince
Horribly cliche. Like, I called the plot before it even had a chance to get rolling. Writing was okay, kind of silly and stilted in place (as is the case with most yaoi novels). Not terrible, not all that enjoyable... rather thoroughly "meh"

The Man Who Doesn't Take Off His Clothes, volumes 1 and 2
Actually one of the best translations/writings for a yaoi novel I've read. Story was rather entertaining; the suave and cool work supervisor vs. the disheveled and underachieving new guy who suddenly starts to improve. Dealt with a cosmetics business, with a surprising amount of detail paid to the actual work drama and the ins and outs of the industry. The romance was a little predictable after a point, and the seme acted like something of a jerk. Not bad though.

Now I've started reading Cold Sleep, which is just full of nummy little triggers: main character has amnesia (swoon!) and gets taken in by an older man who claims to be his friend from before the accident. I've been wanting to read it for years, but it's out of print. I finally got a hold of a copy, so I'm stoked. As I mentioned elsewhere, the sequel JUST fell out of print, so I'm gonna go ahead and snatch it up before it becomes impossible to find.

[Maxine MagicFox]

GUYS!! GUYS!!

by John Flanagan COMES OUT MAY 1ST!! XD GYAAAAAAAH!!!

.... o_o It comes out the day of my presentation. *gulp* Still, I'm preordering this :3 I can't wait to see Hal again.

[Kinokokao]

Doing the A Song of Ice and Fire re-read project on reddit. A chapter every other day, paced out so that we're finishing the series when (hopefully) the Winds of Winter is released.

So it's
Monday: read a chapter
Tuesday: discuss
Wednesday: read a chapter
Thursday: discuss
Friday: read a chapter
Saturday: discuss
Sunday: discuss for the entire week's reading

And when the community gets to AFfC/aDwD we'll be reading the POVs chronologically, rather than as individual chapters, so that's awesome and exciting. I've been wanting to re-read since there's so many more details and foreshadowing to catch on a subsequent read through, knowing all the theories and the latter revelations/plot mechanizations. Also Game of Thrones season 2 has me all hyped up again.

The hard part will be limiting myself to only a single chapter at a time, rather than just racing through them as I'm want to do.

[Kinokokao]

I have 1000 read books on Goodreads now.

That's counting 418 volumes of manga, however. Which is by means a comprehensive account of all the manga I have read but merely the ones I felt like keeping track of.

Also my 2012 challenge books (basically, everything I've read so far this year) really makes me laugh when you put them all into one collage... like so:



inb4 holy crap Kino you are such a fujoshi

[Rain]

holy shit kino

I'm currently in the process of trying to read these books:

Dune by Frank Herbert

Neuromancer by William Gibson

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

I'm almost halfway through Dune and I really enjoy the setting, although I'm trying to skim some of the more boring parts right now. Middlesex is really interesting too, but I'm only several pages in. Yes, I know, reading two books simultaneously ._. but the writing is really well done in Middlesex. Mmm, dat prose.

[Kimiko]

I read Dune for my English literature exam in middle (high) school. I'd already read the entire series translated in Dutch before that. The second book is quite dull, but the rest of the series is pretty good.
The Neuromancer trilogy was a favorite of mine too back then. All three books are good, although pretty weird at times.

[Maxine MagicFox]

[Kinokokao]

[Trifkin]

I finished reading Eona, the sequel to Eon. I really, really liked both of those. Really really a lot. They challenge gender stereotypes without being preachy about it and there's just so much action and intrigue! What? A woman who kicks ass better than a man? A man who identifies as and lives as a woman and is revered for it in her culture? Eunichs everywhere?! And just when you think you know how things will turn out--o ho ho! You, my friend, are incorrect. Plus it's all Asian culture-y, which is refreshing. Haven't read/seen anything that has done it this well in a long time.
: 3

I've started reading Code Name Verity. So far, so good.

I've also started a book about sign language and a self-growth type of book and a book about feng shui and I just can't seem to stop picking up more books to read all at the same time and I'm just not good at multitasking! Finishing Eona in two days flat has sent me spiraling into indecision as to what to focus on next.

D :

[Maxine MagicFox]

I purchased Eon thinking it was going to be one type of book and was surprised it wasn't. Put it down for two reasons: 1) wasn't in the mood for it 2) .... everybody but Eona just acts fucking stupid... I dunno. I guess the author was trying to pass off Eona as being very bright and intelligent, but fails a little at it. Shouldn't be TOO detrimental to the story but it caused SEVERAL "ummm" moments. And I got up to the part after that initial ceremony and she wakes up in her "new life" kinda thing.

[Etrian Veteran]

Eon and Eona were both pretty good, but like Maxine said, there were a lot of characters that didn't act very realistically. Still, pretty enjoyable overall.

[Maxine MagicFox]

Reading "A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness

^_^ I dunno if it's going anywhere, but fuck if I care. It's just a lot of fun reading about this witch-in-denial and vampire-who's-falling-for-her. I'm 43% through the book and I started it pretty much last night before I went to bed, minus 10 pages that I started reading on Friday (a few weeks or so after it went on sale during a Nook Daily Find for $2).

<333 Very cute scenes in it. :3 I've not been able to put it down since I got addicted to it last night. I thought "meh... it's 12am... not quite sleepy... do a half hour's worth of reading...." I went to bed finally at 2:30am. Got up at 9ish to continue my reading. ^_^


Edit: Also, somewhat mad that I failed to look at the Daily Find ONCE thinking "meh, it's not going to be anything" and turned out I missed a Sherrilyn Kenyon book. :[

[Kinokokao]

The Song of Achilles is so fucking good I never want to read it, because the more I read it the closer I'm going to get to the end, and I know how the fucking book ends because, spoiler alert, it's the goddamn Iliad retold.

But. Holy crap. ITS SO GODDAMN JUST RYTYTHFfffffff.....

Also I had Madeline Miller autograph my book.

"For fujoshi, with love. Madeline Miller"

It's probably the greatest thing ever.