February 11, 2009
Agyar
By Steven Brust
This is a really interesting book. For one thing, the protagonist, who narrates the tale, is not a very good person. He's not a totally over-the-top scenery chewing vampire or anything, he's just ... not a good person. In a creepily realistic way, too. This is not your standard vampire novel, but it's utterly fascinating and I found it engrossing as hell. I hope Brust does more along these lines -- I really like his version of vampirism.
Book 8 in 2009.
February 09, 2009
Coraline
By Neil Gaiman
I reread this after seeing the film, and loved it at least as much a second time. SUCH A GREAT BOOK. If you haven't read it, do so. I know it's young adult lit, but it's great, and actually one of the more creepily scary books I've read in a long time. It reaches right into the lizard brain and flips the creepiness switch.
Book 7 in 2009.
February 04, 2009
Emily's Book of Strange
By Rob Reger
This is a charming little tome. I have enjoyed the various items in the Emily Strange line for some time, and it's fun to have a whole little book about her and her companion cats. This is more a small collection of art than it is a book, but I like it a great deal.
Book 6 in 2009.
Smart Packing for Today's Traveler
By Susan Foster
I borrowed this from a friend and quite enjoyed it! It's not exactly brand new, but the advice is pretty much all spot-on. There are several clever packing tips I would never have thought of, like layering clothes with those plastic bags you get from the dry cleaner -- it helps prevent wrinkling! Some very good stuff here, and I'm going to pick up my own copy one of these days, I think.
Book 5 in 2009.
Be a Goddess!
By Francesca De Grandis
This is an interesting book. It was written a while ago and has a lot of the flaws of metahysical books from the 90s. For one thing, the author tells us up front that she uses "witch" and "Wiccan" and "shaman" pretty much interchangeably (ditto "witchcraft," "Wicca," and "shamanism"). I almost put the book down right there. That kind of imprecision in language makes me crazy. But I decided to keep reading, and I'm glad I did. There are some very good exercises in this book, and while the writing makes me a little crazy, the exercises are worth the slog in my opinion.
Book 4 in 2009.