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What I read -- June 2018


“The Red” Linda Nagata. Ed was quite taken by the form factor of this book. It’s been lying around the house for probably 1.5 years. I found it unsettling, which is a good thing. Oh, and at a certain point I was really happy when a certain character just died already, as I was really sick of that character. 

“The Kindred of Darkness” by Barbara Hambly. Library book but not on the hold challenge because the author was recommended by Scott Lynch a couple of weeks ago. This was the first BH book that appeared in my library search, so I requested it, not realizing it’s book 5 in a series. That’s probably why I had a challenge keeping track of who all the characters were – I don’t have any history with them, though I suspect a lot of the society people were new for this volume. Just, I had to use extra cycles to keep track of the others. I loved how the author used Lydia’s poor eyesight and vanity to fill in the scenes. This is something I need to learn to do for example for Abigail in WWS.

LHC#11: “Ninefox Gambit” by Yoon Ha Lee.I was reading this and thinking the background is not quite Japanese, not quite Chinese, and then I googled and yeah. That's a microaggression, I suppose. This was a really good example of how a reader of SF can just kind of go with it, not really know what's going on, but as you read along it kind of filters in. A lot of stuff isn't really explained, it's just how the world is. Skillful use of that technique. Interesting characters, too.

“Eight Days of Luke” by Diana Wynne Jones. Terri Windling mentioned it on her blog, and mentioning DWJ is the library hold equivalent of a drinking game. I haven't read that one! I have to request it right now! I liked the subtlety of it, figuring out who Luke is really, etc.



LHC#12: “Experimental Film” by Gemma Files. I read this for Canada Day actually! Everything about her writing hits me in the right places, maybe because I follow her on twitter and read her LJ and used to read her reviews in Eye... Such a personal approach to fiction, wow. I could probably learn a lot from her if only I could get it together to sign up for her litreactor course, but I always just leave the sign-up page open until it's too late.
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