Tuesday, August 16, 2011

NPR's SF/F List

I originally posted this list on my LiveJoural blog, but I thought it could use a cross posting.

How many have you read?

Bold for read
Italics for intending to read
Underline for partial read series/books
Strikethrough for never ever reading

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams - read it on a dare from a childhood friend in January. Liked it.

3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert

5. A Song of Ice and Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin I read the first book in the series and liked it, but I never had the gumption to reread it so that I could read book two. And, as time went on, I started actively hating it and Martin's obsession with breasts.

6. 1984, by George Orwell

7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury .

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman - :)

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan -  I stopped reading them a few books back.  I'll finish the series once it's complete and I'm done with my diss.

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore

16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov

17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss Some of the best new fantasy I've ever read.

19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

22. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick

23. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood  I was too young for this when I tried it.  It deserves another chance.

24. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King

25. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke

26. The Stand, by Stephen King

27. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson .

28. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury

29. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut

30. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman

31. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams I hate books with animals as the primary protagonists.

32. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein

33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey

34. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

35. A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller

36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

37. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne

38. Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keys

39. The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells

40. The Chronicles of Amber, by Roger Zelazny

41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings

42. The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley  I hated this book violently and gave up midway.

43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson

44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven

45. The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin

46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien

47. The Once and Future King, by T.H. White I read this while in middle school. Yes I was a nerd.

48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman not my favorite.

49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke

50. Contact, by Carl Sagan

51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons

52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman

53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson

54. World War Z, by Max Brooks

55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle

56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman

57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett - I will get to this one. I've got almost all of the Discworld books.

58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson

59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold

60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett

61. The Mote in God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

62. The Sword of Truth, by Terry Goodkind Sorry. Not interested.

63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson

66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist

67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks

68. The Conan the Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard

69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb

70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger

71. The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson

72. A Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules Verne

73. The Legend of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore

74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi

75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson

76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke

77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey I'm two books away from finishing the whole thing.

78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin

79.Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire - I love Maguire. Haven't read the Wicked Years books yet, though.

81. The Malazan Book of the Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson

82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde. Love Fforde.

83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks

84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart

85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson

86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher

87. The Book of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe

88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn

89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldon I've read half of it. That was enough.

90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock

91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury

92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley  One of her last good books.  What happened that created Pegasus?

93. A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge

94. The Caves of Steel, by Isaac Asimov

95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson

96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis

98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville

99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony - I gave up on this long ago.

100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis I hate C.S. Lewis.

Sunday, August 07, 2011

Review: Kiss an Angel


Kiss an Angel
Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



I bought this book for $1.99 yesterday from Barnes & Noble. I want my money back. Or at least the hours I spent reading it.

When I bought the book, I couldn't see the summary of the text, as BN was displaying information about a book by Eloisa James. However, having worked in a bookstore, I know how popular Phillips is, and I decided to give her a chance even though I had no idea what the book was about. Big mistake.

Daisy Deveraux is the spoiled (and illegitimate) daughter of a former model and an ambassador. After her mother's death last year, Daisy went on a completely insane spending spree; she didn't know how to handle her grief or the perplexing notion that she was finally free of her mother. However, her finances, even with her inheritance, couldn't keep up with the money she spent, and Daisy passed a bad check. Facing jail time, she turned to her father for help. However, the only way he'd help her is if she'd marry someone he picked out for her.

Already, this isn't my cup of tea.

Daisy marries Alexander, and she even has to be reminded of his name during the ceremony. Alexander very quickly moves to establish his dominance of her, quickly taking Daisy away from the wedding and on a flight to South Carolina. We learn in the elevator of her building that Daisy is afraid of dogs and most animals. This is amusing to Alex because he works for a circus.

Alex threatens Daisy that she'll learn her place, and he doesn't really explain either what her place is or how he plans to enforce it. When she arrives at his trailer, she's horrified by the terrible conditions he lives in, and even more horrified by the sight of a whip on his bed. Don't worry, though--Alex isn't that much of a jerk. It turns out that the whip is a prop in his circus performance. However, he does understand that she fears the whip and continues to use it a vaguely threatening manner.

The novel tries to redeem Alex's initial bad treatment of Daisy, and tries to kill of any interesting aspects of Daisy's character. The slightly befuddled Daisy of the wedding is interesting; she rebels against the solemnity of the marriage by wearing a short gold dress and gladiator sandals. However, upon arrival at the circus, she quickly learns the value of hard work and bonds with the animals. (Including a bizarre and stupid telepathic link to the tiger SinJin.) The sweeter and more accommodating Daisy gets, the more I want to gag.

Also: the circus? That was a odd and lifeless group of carnies if I ever saw one.

Alex & Daisy's sexual encounters are interesting for a very little while. Of course, he doesn't realize she's a virgin and all that fun stuff that's so typical of a cheap romance. Suddenly, they're spicing up their love life with dominance games, as when he tells her in the restaurant to go into the bathroom and remove her undergarments. Of course, the sheath dress she's wearing is suddenly see through. Bleck.

I kept reading only because this was a quick book and because I wanted to see if it was possible for it to redeem itself. It failed to do so on every level.

When my husband and I find that we've wasted time watching a truly wretched movie, we'll say to each other, "Let us never speak of this again." That's how I feel about this book.



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Saturday, August 06, 2011

Review: Unnatural Issue: An Elemental Masters Novel


Unnatural Issue: An Elemental Masters Novel
Unnatural Issue: An Elemental Masters Novel by Mercedes Lackey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Another lightweight entry in the Elemental Masters series. This one tries to follow the "Donkeyskin" story by Charles Perrault. As the book opens, it would seem that Lackey does a good job of staying close to the tale, but by the end of the book, it's very much another one in her series. That's not necessarily a bad thing--the final confrontation is as good as anything that Lackey has written. However, despite her willingness to include extreme violence, Lackey's books are never all that horrifying. As readers, we know precisely what Susanne's father wants to do to her (heck, even the cover copy gives that away!), but Lackey's writing lacks the necessary punch for it to really sink in and disturb. I don't want to say that Lackey dodges the hard questions or fails to explore the darker side of this tale. That's simply not true. The sad fact is that Lackey is just not a good enough writer to make readers invest in the characters in such a way as to be horrified. She used to be able to that; her Last Herald-Mage series is one of the most disturbing litanies of character torture that I've ever read. But this book doesn't have that emotional force.

For a very dark, very emotional version of this tale, I recommend Robin McKinley's Deerskin. Be warned: it is dark, and if you read Lackey for her lightweight nature, you might not like Deerskin. But more than anything else, Deerskin is a novel about healing, and it is good.

Perhaps that's part of my problem with this book. Despite the horrific events Lackey writes about, only one character is deeply wounded mentally and still in recovery at the end of the book. If our protagonists can walk away from such things without psychic bruises, is it any wonder when I, as a reader, feel next to nothing of their pain?



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Monday, August 01, 2011

Review: Blood Magic


Blood Magic
Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



If a book were likely to give me nightmares, this one would be it. (Sadly, books don't give me nightmares at all, so I miss that little thrill.) I stayed up to 1:30 in the morning just to finish it.

I loved this book, but I'm hesitant to recommend it too much. If I were still working in a bookstore, I'd call it "dark" and say that it was for a "mature teen audience." What that translates to is simple: while not loaded with sexual content, this book is violent. Our main characters occasionally make bad decisions, and those decisions have devastating consequences.

This book is the story of Silla and Nick. Silla is in her senior year, and she's recovering from the recent death of her parents. She found their bodies together in the home--her mother shot in the chest, her father in the head. Murder/suicide. Except that Silla still trusts that her father was not capable of that sort of violence. She still loves him. Now she lives with Gramma Judy (just Judy, thank you) and her slightly older brother, Reese. When a package arrives in the mail for Silla, containing a book in her father's handwriting and a short letter from someone named "Deacon," Silla's world shifts again. The book is a collection of blood magic spells--fueled by the caster's own blood. Curious, wanting to believe that this might provide some sort of explanation for her parents' deaths, she tries a spell. And it works.

Nick is the new guy in town, and he saw Silla work her first blood magic spell in the graveyard that night. He knows blood magic, too--his mother was a practitioner, and he doesn't have good memories of what she did.

Nick and Silla are drawn to one another, and Silla is, in turn, drawn to the magic. But even as they explore the book, and each other, another force is waiting for a chance to attack.

I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. It was dark, which is appropriate for a book with this subject matter. I do think it's a bit much for some teens, but others will find it a welcome relief from the YA paranormals out there that duck the hard questions. Too often, YA magic is shown as something without a significant price, as something that is as bland as a suburban life. In this book, Gratton explodes those conventions and reminds readers that, no matter how young a teen may be, he or she is playing for real-life stakes. Decisions do matter, even if they're made by teenagers.

I do recommend this book highly, but only to a limited audience. It is not recommended for those that dislike dark and violent teen reads.



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