Back in mid-February I decided it would be fun to post short thoughts on the books I’ve been reading. It’s taken me this long to do it because I keep reading (surprise!) and the list keeps getting longer.
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld – This had been on my to-read list for awhile and I finally got around to it because it was the monthly selection for a book club on Goodreads. I’m glad I did because it was a lot of fun. I’m not a fan of books where girls have to disguise themselves as boys to get to do cool things, but the things she got to do (spoiler: flying whale!) were cool enough that I got over it. I kept wondering how the SPCA will develop in this world of highly modified animals.
Love is the Drug by Alaya Dawn Johnson – I listened to the audiobook on my way to and from Confusion in January, where Johnson was the guest of honor. The characters were interesting people, and I liked the family interaction and the glimpse inside the wealthy DC world. And of course, the conspiracy.
The Bride Wore Size 12 – This is the final book in Meg Cabot’s Heather Wells mystery series about a former teen pop star in her mid-20s who now works as the assistant director of a college dorm in New York. A dorm where people keep getting killed, because Wells is the Jessica Fletcher of former teen pop stars. These are cute, funny, and fluffy. I read the opening of the first one in a writing class and got sucked in by the voice.
White Night – Book 9 in Jim Butcher’s Dresden files series – It took me five or six books to get into the series, but now I’m really enjoying it. That’s more than I usually give a series by at least 5 books, but I’d heard so many good things about it, and they’re quick reads, so I kept going. I’m halfway through book 10 now.
Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable, and What We Can Do About It by Marc Goodman – My audiobook nonfiction for December and January. All the ways criminals are going to use technology to screw us over in the future. Or even now. Full of great ideas for SF writers.
Patterns in the Sand by Sally Goldenbaum – A cozy mystery set in a seaside town full of artists in New England. The town sounds like a great place to visit for a summer vacation. The mystery plot worked well–I figured out part of it, but hadn’t quite put all the details together. That was partly because the huge number of knitter / artist characters were hard to keep straight. That’s what I get for starting with book 2 in the series.
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein – Gah. Thinking about this book still makes me sad, but it’s also a very hopeful book in a lot of ways. It’s the kind of book where you get to the end and have to immediately flip back to see what was really going on. I love that. Another one that had been on my to-read list for a while.