Sunday, April 2, 2017

Books and Cats Jan - March 2017

Books and Cats  Jan - March 2017


How come there aren't more of our cats on my blog!!  

-by Terry Pratchett
The Color of Magic:  Everyone has 'holes' in their reading history.  I came late to sci-fi and fantasy so while many develop a love Pratchett early on, I am late to the game.  Bunny and I were talking and turns out he has the same hole.  So we are going to have a tiny book club.  There are a ton of opinions on where to start with Discworld and even though many say "Don't start with his first book, it is not the most awesome!"  We decided to start with his first book.  And I thought it was pretty awesome!  A bit light-hearted, great people, fun world and puns (so bad...so good)  Sold!

The Light Fantastic:  Moving right on the second book, same main group of folk, more good stories.  Looking forward to following the luggage.

Equal Rites:  The introduction of Granny Weatherwax-excited for the next one!

Dragons at Crumbling Castle:  Early short stories for kids.  Interesting to see how he had some ideas early on that evolved.



-by Terri Gross
All I Did Was Ask:  Snippets from the radio show, delightful.



-by John Green
Paper Towns:  Continuing the theme of teens in funky situations finding themselves via road trip.

-by Max Brooks
World War Z:  Glad I read this.  I feel zombies are fairly overdone currently but this feels fresh.  No wonder it is so popular.  Don't feel I need to watch the show though.



-by Laurie King
Dreaming Spies:  I managed to read this one out of order, but no worries, it all hangs together nicely.

-by Cheryl Strayed
Tiny Beautiful Things:  Cheryl is mostly known for her book Wild, which is well written but kind of infuriating.  She was also the advice columnist Dear Sugar-where she is amazing.  Probably from having gone through all the stuff that made Wild infuriating.  I love long form online advice columns.  This book is many of those columns, so for me, a fun read.



-by Helene Wecker
The Golem and The Jinni:  Not sure what to call this.  Clearly there is the supernatural going on, but only for the two main characters.  Definitely could not put it down.

-by Octavia E. Butler
Seed to Harvest, a set of 4:  Opps, actually finished this last year.  Also about supernatural beings, but whole groups, though not everyone.  Over the course of the books it has a nice long story arc, though you could actually read them individually.



-by Rex Feral
Hit Man:  I was helping a friend clean out his storage unit and we came across this book which is a How to Be a Hit Man (Like I Was) book...from 1983.  Much of the advice is Be prepared, Make a Plan, Don't be Stupid.

-by Jamie Ford
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet:  Wow, kind of a crazy time to be reading this as it is all about the Japanese interment in WWII from a very personal perspective.  Quite emotional, well written, but I need to take some breaks (which is when I read Hit Man for a change of pace-lol!!)



-by Tim Gunn
Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible:  Mainly a history lesson, but told in Tim Gunn's voice.  I found it delightful, but I love Project Runway and everything I have ever seen Tim Gunn do.

-The New Yorker Book of Cats:  Fun compilation of cat stories over the ages.  Everything from true stories of exotic cat breeders to fun fiction, especially from the cats POV.



-by Jo Walton
Farthing (Small Change):  Wow is this relevant to our current time (President Trump (!?!) instituting travel bans that sure seem to be based on religion).  Very clever use of a classic book style,English murder mystery, to say something way more.

-by Garth Nix
Sabriel, Lireal, and Abhorsen:  Classic fantasy trilogy.  Excellent world, good characters-there was a smidge of teen angst in the middle, but pleased with the ending.



-by Hope Jahren
Lab Girl:  Story of how she became a botanist.  Sounds like it could be dull, but it was a real page turner for me, descriptive writing brings the lab and plants to life.  Made me see how my graduate life could have been waaaaay more nuts than it was.

-by Mark Manson
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck:  Got intrigued by the sample chapter enough to read it all.  Not amazing, but a couple of key insights presented in a fun way.  Feels like it needs an editor to make it all flow better.

Getting ready for Free Comic Book day means catching up on some graphic novels
Mockingbird
Tiny Hellboy


1 comment:

  1. You can learn a lot about your friends cleaning out their storage units ;)

    ReplyDelete