seeroread

#26 - His Majesty's Dragon

His Majesty's Dragon
Naomi Novik
Sci-fi / Fantasy
Read 6/22
My grade: 10

Shut up, this book was spectacular.

#24 - Your Money or Your Life

Your Money or Your Life
Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin
Non-Fiction
Read from 6/14 - 6/19
My grade: 10

Exactly what I was looking for.

#19 - L.A. Requiem

L.A. Requiem
Robert Crais
Detective
Read from 5/11 - 5/15
My grade: 10

Pike's second (second!) escape from LAPD custody. My love is boundless.

#18 - Free Fall

Free Fall
Robert Crais
Detective
Read from 5/9-5/11
My grade: 10

Heart.

#37 - Michael Martone

Michael Martone
Michael Martone
Fiction
Read from 8/22 - 8/24
My Grade: 10

So great! I read about this on the Lit Blog Cooperative (their summer 06 rec). I enjoyed it immensely. It's just contributor's notes, about 40 of them, each one providing a note from the writer of the rest of them (it's the kind of post-modern that doesn't make my head hurt). I loved the form - he actually made it work. Each one was sort of a short story, a little world with a unique Martone in it. The voice was really great - the impartial contributor's note voice, where one describes one's life in a forced third person. It has so many possibilities, and Martone explored a lot of them.

Anyway, ramblings aside, I particularly loved the plagiarism one, the Kafka one, and the acknowledgment of his first editor.

He reminds me of Vonnegut, who is mentioned, coincidentally.

I will certainly read more Martone. He proposes, in an interview I read online, a new dichotomy - not fiction/non-fiction but story/non-story. He writes non-story fiction, which he likes to call fictions. But it's all less pretentious than I made it sound. Martone = Good. 

#34 - Hey Nostadamus!

Hey Nostradamus!
Douglas Coupland
Fiction
7/18 - 8/2
My Grade: 10

The first of two Doppleganger recommendations.

Deeply intense, right from the start. I loved the four viewpoint structure, and it served the story perfectly. Great book.

I liked the questions it asked about violence and religion.

I thought the figure on the front was kneeling down, maybe at the shooting that opens the book, maybe shot. When I turned the last page, I turned the book over and realized he's praying. That, my friends, is not a realization to have on public transportation, because you might cry a little.

I was a little dissuaded by the hipster title and cover, but this was masterful, incredible, deep. I loved it; it was sad in just the right way. And it didn't engage in any dramatic hyperbole.

I have to ask, though, where is the comma in the title?

#32 - No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men
Cormac McCarty
Fiction
Read from 7/19 - 7/21
My Grade: 10

This is when I realized I'd spend about a month thinking about dragons and reading non-fiction, both of which are very uncharacteristic. So I returned to my roots - stuff that just came out in trade and which looks pretty good. And all was right with the world.

Dear God! This was fantastic - spare to the bone, frightening, sad, violent, amazing. My first McCarty, but not my last.

His writing style is almost like a hard-boiled detective novel, only even more hard-boiled. Borderline poetic. Sometimes when I start a book I'll read the first sentence or two, and I get this feeling - like "I can't believe this writer is going to do this, and get away with it, and I get to watch." There's a lot of crap writing out there, stuff that anyone could do with enough time and incentive. But there is still rare talent, and I get a sort of privileged feeling to read it.

I will say, however, that I bet this wouldn't stand up to a second reading, as it was a little bit like a parable, and the simplicity that was so effective the first time through means there isn't much more to find on another pass.

Spoiler Warning!

I was surprised that there was no confrontation between good and evil, and I'm not sure who won, exactly. I guess evil. Bell, the good guy, was perfectly drawn, just as Chigurgh (the bad) and Moss (the battlefield) were. The women, too. Every bit was perfect - you could carve diamonds on this book. The scene towards the end where Chigurgh kills Moss's young widow - I don't think I took a breath for ten pages.

#31 - Black Powder War

Black Powder War
Naomi Novik
Scifi / Fantasy
Read from 7/11 - 7/13
My Grade: 10

Delicious!

I want a dragon. I don't care if this makes me a 15 year old underweight chess loving nerd. I want a dragon. Screw you.

So many nice things showed up in this book - new fire-breathing dragon! Happy Granby! Lost egg! Lien! In conclusion: Eee! (Screw you).

#28 - Throne of Jade

Throne of Jade
Naomi Novik
Scifi / Fantasy
6/29 - 7/1
My Grade: 10

China + Dragons + Novik = AWESOME.

I can't get over how much I like these books. Even knowing the depths of my own geekiness more than anyone else, I'm still surprised.

I enjoyed the contrasted treatment of the dragons in China versus back in England. I love the Laurence-Temeraire bond, and its trials. I like that there were actual battles, and casualties, and it felt very real and risky.

She's a brilliant writer, and I was in geek heaven.

Also, the funny bits are very funny.

#14 - Knitting Rules!

Knitting Rules!
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Knitting
4/10/06 - 4/11/06
My grade: 10

Disclaimer: I am totally lame. I know it, and you probably know it, so let's just move on.

Here is the sound I made when this book was delivered: "eeeeee!!!!" It's written by a knitting blogger I read daily, here. I heart her and I heart knitting, and I will totally read hundreds of pages of someone nattering on about knitting and how great it is. It was funny (well, maybe it was only funny if you are so happy to read about knitting that you made that "eeeeee!!!!" sound). It had lists of reasons to knit various things - why socks are awesome, why hats are the best first project, why sweaters are the holy grail. I want to read it again right now.