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What I read -- November 2018


LHC #20: “The House of Shattered Wings” by Aliette de Bodard. Another one I’ve heard tons about. It lived up to its hype. 

“Mortality” by Christopher Hitchens. Not as depressing as I expected. The boy told me once that if he could have anyone’s career it would be CH’s… maybe without the rest of his life however. 

“The Year of our War” Steph Swainston (reread). I have no idea how she did it, but I read one chapter and I was already totally obsessed with Jant. This book woke me up at night and took over my mind and infiltrated my own personal Paracosm in a totally unhealthy way. I went back and looked at my comments from the first read-through (August 2011), where I said I was unsatisfied with the ending. This time through I didn’t have that problem, but that might be helped by the fact that I have the next two in waiting on my TBR stack. Also, I seem to have misremembered some important plot points, which added to the stress of reading this book. Even the thought of starting book 2 is causing me anxiety. So did lending the book to the boy. He’d better read it promptly and give it back!

LHC #21: “Consider Phlebas” by Ian M. Banks. The second book I’ve read by him. Ahem, quite different from the first one (The Wasp Factory). It’s a functional space opera, but it might have suffered from adjacency – being read after or probably between the Jant stuff. The main character just seemed so unengaging, in comparison. Or maybe space opera really isn’t my genre. So now I’ve read a Culture novel, but I don’t feel like I have to read another one.

LHC #22: The Worst Witch” by Jill Murphy. I read this because it was on the list and it was short, to be honest. It was quite charming!

LHC #23: “Steeplejack” by AJ Hartley. This also really worked for me. The subplot with the baby made me uncomfortable but it was a tidy little mystery with an awesome main character and worldbuilding.
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