Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (reread)
Memoirs of a Master Forger by William Heaney (aka Graham Joyce)
A Star Shall Fall by Marie Brennan
Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
This was a top-notch month. The only thing I had a problem with out of the new books I read was The Night Watch, which felt a bit distant and never really grabbed me. I kept comparing it (quite unfairly) to Connie Willis’ Blackout, the last WWII London book I read. (And this has just reminded me, oh frabjous day, that part two, All Clear is, is due out in three weeks!) Under Heaven was a very nice surprise since the last two or three Kays have left me wanting something a bit more, and also because Asian history (or alternate riffs thereon) usually aren’t my thing. The language was lovely. The Hunger Games lived up to the piles of excellent reviews that made me avoid it as being overly popular since it was published. And Enchanted Glass was just perfect in that particular Diana Wynne Jones sort of way.
The boy and I finished The Guardians of Ga’Hoole: The Capture and are two-thirds of the way through The Journey now.
After having just read The Little Stranger, Night Watch was a huge disappointment to me. Actually, I found it so slight that I don’t believe I actually finished the thing. It was the first of any of Water’s novels — and I have read them all — that didn’t instantly captivate me.
I have found so many good reads I would not otherwise have run across through your mini book reviews. Thanks for doing them!
Oh no, I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy The Night Watch. Like I said on Twitter, I think part of my joy reading it was living in the neighbourhoods she’s describing at the time. I will have to check out the Connie Willis you mentioned.
I think it may have been reading it too soon after Little Stranger, like Paze mentioned above. And I’ve also been having a lot of trouble focusing on things thanks to the fibro, so I found myself at the end of chapters wondering what had happened. Not the best state of mind in which to be reading very subtle stuff. I do hope you enjoy the Willis; have you read any of her other stuff? I don’t think I’ve read one I haven’t enjoyed.
GGP: Really? I’m so glad!
Good call on The Hunger Games, BTW. Quite enjoyed it, and finished the sequel last night. Probably never going to win a Hugo, but YA novels teaching the importance of bushcraft and that the media and the government aren’t your friends? Yowza!
Yes, I thought you’d enjoy it. ;)