Blood Shot (1988) Sara Paretsky
V.I. Warshawski reluctantly heads back to the old neighborhood–her childhood next door neighbor wants her help in solving the mystery of her past. V.I.’s mother had befriended the single mother next door, and made V.I. take care of Caroline, the little girl. Now, as her mother lies dying, Caroline begs V.I. to look into the past.
Killing Orders (1985) Sara Paretsky
In Killing Orders V.I.’s bitter and unpleasant aunt asks her to look into a matter for her–securities have been forged at the church where Aunt Rosa works, and as everyone who had access to the safe is under suspicion, she is on leave from her job at the church. Worried, and wanting to clear her name so she can return to work, she bullies V.I. into looking into the case for her. But things aren’t nearly as simple as they seem, and soon one of V.I.’s friends is dead, attempts are made on V.I.’s life, and another friend is hospitalized, all for asking questions about securities fraud.
I’m starting to remember what frustrated me so much about these books.
Indemnity Only (1982) and Deadlock (1984) Sara Paretsky
I used to own the V.I. Warshawski series, but in a fit of pique–and shelf space squeeze–I sold them all. I recently decided that I wanted to give them another chance, which means that I needed to reread them, which means I had to find all the books again. Luckily, I’ve found most of them used.
The Dust Jacket
3200 Linwood Ave
Bright atmosphere, with books on every surface, boxes of books were covered with sheets and cloths to create displays for book. The building was obviously originally a home that had doors removed and every room filled with bookshelves and books. However, stock was hardback books, collectible books, expensive books. Not for me.
Duttenhofer’s Books
214 W McMillan
Front of the store was hardback books and old books, but in the back were lots of science fiction/fantasy and mystery paperbacks. Found a number of mysteries I was looking for, didn’t find too many fantsy books I wanted/needed. However, the building was in not the nicest neighborhood, and whole place smelled strongly of cat pee, while the staff was either mute or afraid to talk to strangers. The cat was very friendly though.
Half Price Books
8118 Montgomery Rd
Tons of books, all categories. Place was well lit, clean, and neat, more like a traditional bookstore. Huge paperback science fiction/fantasy section and lots of mystery paperbacks. Books were well-organized and alphabetized, and anthologies were placed together at the end of a section, which I found very helpful. Found lots of books I wanted and was looking for, as well as plenty of books I wasn’t looking for.
As for new book stores, we visited Joseph-Beth, which was, as always nice, but didn’t see much that I haven’t found at home. Strangely, they have divided up their mystery section into different types of mysteries, like “cosy mysteries” so I had to search a bit before I could find some of the authors I was looking for. I picked up a new mystery, and a fantasy anthology. Unfortunately the fantasy anthology looks to be not at all what I want.
We briefly perused a Barnes & Noble, but their stock seemed to be the same as the new Morgantown store, so nothing was purchased.
As usual we’ve managed to spend more on books than anything else, so all is right with the world.
The Dragonstone (1996) Dennis McKiernan
This is a good book, but not my favorite Mithgar books. Unlike other books set in Mithgar, there almost no characters from other books. Aravan is mentioned in passing, the great dragons make an appearance, and Vanidar accompanies Arin for awhile, but mostly the characters in this book appear only in these books. Which makes this an ideal Mithgar book with which to start into the series.
Voyage of the Fox Rider (1993) Dennis McKiernan
Dennis McKiernan is another author I appreciate for his ability to write duologies and single book fantasies. Of course as the Mithgar books all have the same setting, and contain recurring characters, I suppose that gives him the luxury of being able to continue in a known world, yet I do not believe that you need to have read any other books to appreciate this book. For the most part (excluding the very last Mithgar book) I believe that you can enter the story at any point and be comfortable.
Which is, I think, a fantastic skill, and one that I wish more fantasy authors had.
Small Vices (1997) Robert B. Parker
Okay, so I didn’t totally resist, but I’ve limited myself to just Small Vices, which is one of my favorite Spenser books. Small Vices was my introduction to Spenser.
It is also the reason I have some small affection for Burt Reynolds.
Illusion (1992) Paula Volsky
Illusion is a good book, however I can’t say I really like it.
The characters are good–very good. Despite starting out as a rich snob, I quite liked Eliste. Her snobbery was quite obviously a product of her upbringing, and beneath it she showed herself to be a decent human being. The same can also be said for her grandmother, and several other characters.
I was surprised by the Bookslut interview with Lois McMaster Bujold:
For quite a few years now I’ve been trying to figure out why speculative fiction still is one of the industry’s most gendered genres. Romance may still take the number one spot, in terms of which sex is most likely to be seen buying and writing the books, but spec fiction runs a close second. While it may be a stereotype, it still contains a nugget of truth: males tend to be overrepresented when it comes to science fiction and fantasy.
I readily admit that I don’t read Science Fiction–it’s just not my thing. But I read a lot of Fantasy, and I’ve never had a hard time finding good fantasy written by women.
I mean, scrolling through the past six months of posts in my book blog I find plenty of women:
Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Charlaine Harris
Ellen Kushner
Jennifer Roberson
Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
Pat O’Shea
Jo Walton
Robin Hobb
Lynn Abbey
Diana L. Paxson
And those are just from the books I’ve written since the beginning of the year. Looking through my list of Fantasy authors there are even more women. I fact, I sometimes wonder if women are over-represented on my bookshelves. (Not that it bothers me, but it might be unfair to Michael.)
Now I would not necessarily be surprised to find women underrepresented in Science Fiction, after all women have been traditionally underrepresented in the hard sciences. But I can think of two authors off the top of my head: Marion Zimmer Bradley and C.J. Cherryh.
And as more women study and are involved in the sciences, I would bet that the number of women writing science fiction would also increase.
Next time I go to the book store, I’ll take a harder look at the shelves, to check out the imbalance for myself.
The Last Unicorn (1968) by Peter S. Beagle
Although I’ve read other books by Peter S. Beagle, I had not read The Last Unicorn before. It’s mentioned as a classic, and I kept bering disbelief that I had never read it. So I finally picked up a copy and read the book.
The Word of the Day is:
svelte \SVELT\ adjective
1 *a : slender, lithe b : having even and smooth lines : sleek
2 : urbane, suave
Tigana (1990) Guy Gavriel Kay
Why is it that every time I finish one of Guy Gavriel Kay’s books, I ask myself, “How could I have forgotten how good his books are?” Even reading this book for a second time, I was still surprised at how good it was.
Any suggestions?
Tomorrow after work I’m going to The Bookshelf to look for mysteries to loan my grandmother. I’ve got the last batch of recommendations, and a complete list of everything I have, so I can fill in any missing books, but I’m always on the lookout for new books.
Only stipulations are that they’re for my grandmother, so a minimum of naughty bits. And I need to be able to find them used, because my grandmother gives me a hard time if I bring her new books to read, even though she’s only borrowing them.
Because she thinks that I’m buying the books just for her to read.
(innocent whistling)
No one tagged me, I just took it upon myself. Because the only thing better than reading books is talking and writing about them.
(via Making Light)
Total number of books owned:
1558. Not including new books that have not yet been added into the database.
This is the total for the house, so some of these books are Michael’s and I won’t ever read them.
Last book bought:
In the mail as I type…
Sabriel by Garth Nix – A birthday gift for someone.
Poland James A. Mitchner – A birthday gift for a different someone.
Latin American Folktales : Stories from Hispanic and Indian Traditions by JOHN BIERHORST – I love folktales, and I like the Pantheon collections the best. I’m really looking forward to reading this collection, and hope they continue to expand the collection (I’m hoping for more areas of Eastern Europe, but beggars can’t be choosers).
Brilliance of the Moon (Tales of the Otori) by Lian Hearn – I found the first two books of this series last month, and wanted to start reading them, but held off because I didn’t have book three.
Last book read:
The Shadow Roads (The Swan’s War) by Sean Russell – I just finished this book
The Assassins of Tamurin by S.D. Tower – I’m currently reading this book (as of Monday, 6 June 2005)
Five books that mean a lot to you:
Green Eggs and Ham Dr Seuss
The first book I ever read by myself.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
My Dad gave me the “illustrated” version (illustrated with pictures from the made-for-tv-movie [which I’ve never seen]) when I was in elementary school, and I loved it. For ages I thought it was the best book in the entire world. Despite the fact that within a few years pagers were falling out in chunks, I continued to read the book again and again. Several years ago my Dad got me a hardback version of the same book, so now I can go back and read without fear of losing pages.
The Complete Sherlock Holmes Vol I and II by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The first “grown-up” book I ever received as my own. At 12 1/2 I didn’t have too many hardback books with covers, so it felt like a big thing to receive these adult books for my own. I immediately loved Sherlock Holmes, and would try to improve my “powers of observation” in case I witnessed a crime, so I could be a good witness. Although the powers of observation never took, I still love reading those two volumes. I managed to keep the covers until I loaned the books to someone a couple of years ago, and the books came back naked. I’m still bitter.
Best-Loved Folktales of the World by Joanna Cole
I’m not certain when I received this collection, but I have so many fond memories of reading this book that even looking at the cover gives a small feeling of happiness. I didn’t get too much Disney as a child (although I remember being terrified during ‘Snow White’) but I at least knew the general stories. This collection contains stories from all over the world, and I was entranced by the Ananasi stories, and the other tales that were completely unfamiliar, as well as by the stories I thought were familiar, yet were different than I expected. I’ve found that I can read the same tales again and again, because different regions place a little different emphasis on the same tale.
Mythology Edith Hamilton
I’ve loved Mythology since third grade, when my reading book worked mythology into the stories. Because I so fondly remembered those stories, I signed up for Greek and Roman Mythology class in college, and this was one of the assigned books. It was fantastic. From there I moved on to Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Hesiod’s Theogony, and found that despite being “classics” they were actually quite readable. Reading mythology also re-awakened my love of folktales, and I’ve been buying folktale collections as I’ve come across them.
Tag five people to continue this meme:
erin
Tom
S Done!
Memer Done!
I’d really like to see what Solomon says, but he doesn’t read here, so this’ll just be a wish in vain.
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