Books read in 2009
Dec. 31st, 2009 12:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gowsLet's see if I can beat my total from last year.
Finished Caves of Steel*, Isaac Asimov. Ought to read it in book format.
The Queen's Bastard, C.E. Murphy. Good story & writing. Lots of hot sex. Will be extremely disappointed if those are aliens referenced in that-there smacks-of-deus-ex-machina bit at the end.
The Deed of Paksenarrion I: Sheepfarmer's Daughter, Elizabeth Moon. Read the first time in the hospital my senior year of high school. Finished this time during the flu. Too many names and not enough characterization & don't know military ranking, so confusing. Still good.
Fathom, Cherie Priest. Fast-paced, but . . . missing something. A couple of "WTF? Seriously, WTF?" plot points, too.
We Need to Talk About Kevin*, Lionel Shriver. I didn't care for the epistolery style until the end, when the reason why was revealed, but a good stick-with-you book.
Beadwork How-To: Findings and Finishings, Sharon Bateman. Pretty pretty! Snagged from the library for the extremely short-lived bead store job.
Getting Started Stringing Beads, Jean Campbell. Bead store job book.
Beadwork Basics, Ann Benson. Bead store job book.
Hip to Bead: 32 Contemporary Projects for Today's Beader, Katie Hacker. Bead store job book.
Macrame: 20 Great Projects to Knot, Jim Gentry. Some interesting stuff, but mostly basic.
Creative Machine Stitchery. Good for adaptations, but most projects were too country-kitsch for me.
Creative Recycling in Embroidery: Add Texture, Meaning, and Individuality to Your Work, Val Holmes. Oooh! Awesome! Gave me lots of cool ideas!
Ready Made: How to Make (Almost) Everything: A Do-It-Yourself Primer, Shoshana Berger. Not quite what the title claims, but some interesting ideas in there.
A Mercy*, Toni Morrison. God, this woman is the master of "show, not tell." Gorgeous and intricate as always.
Anansi Boys*, Neil Gaiman. Fun, but I think the best part of this was the gentleman who read it. Fabulous voices for every single character--just wonderfully rich!
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan* (Abridged), Lisa See. Normally, I don't even bother with abridged audiobooks, but this one looked so good I had to, and I'm glad I did! Fascinating insight into mid-1800s rural China, regarding footbinding and the secret language of women, nu shu.
The Dirty Girls Social Club* (abridged), Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez. Again, I hate abridged audiobooks. Fun insight into some of the variations of Latina culture. I'll be going for the sequel.
Dirty Girls On Top*, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez. Enjoyable, but why does /everyone/ want to get married and have babies? Even the gay girl?
Fired*, created by Annabelle Gurwitch. Short performance pieces, rather than a book--some a bit enjoyable, others terribly overdone. Better live and in person, perhaps?
A Fantasy Medley, ed. by Yanni Kusznia. Four short stories with strong female protagonists--two were okay, but the other two (including C.E. Murphy's "From Russia, With Love") made me want to howl and pound my fists in delight.
The Deed of Paksenarrion II: Divided Allegiance, Elizabeth Moon. Drags on. Forever. Way too much religion and FAR too much exposition. Gah.
Ravens in the Library: Magic in the Bard's Name, ed. by SatyrPhil Brucato & Sandra Buskirk. Kind of "meh" overall--some good, some a bit too esoteric. Just . . . eh. I think it was the flow/selection that didn't quite work for me.
The Violet Shyness of Their Eyes: Notes from Nepal, Barbara J. Scot. A bit meandering, but I want my mom to write a book like this about sailing across the Pacific.
Beadwork How-to: Findings and Finishings, Sharon Bateman. More bead stuff.
ReadyMade: How to Make (Almost) Everything: A Do-It-Yourself Primer, Shoshana Berger and Grace Hawthorne. Some interesting stuff, although making almost everything is pretty far-fetched. Mostly art/craft type ideas.
Gang Leader for a Day*, Sudhir Venkatesh. Awesome. Sociologist grad student goes ethnographer and studies a crack gang from the inside. Fascinating study on the economics and power structure not only of the gang, but the surrounding projects. Great stuff!
The Deed of Pakssenarrion III: Oath of Gold, Elizabeth Moon. As annoying as book II, but more so. Ugh!
Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story*, presented by Symphonyspace. Eh. Okay, but not great. Pretty forgettable stuff, even if it was good during.
Iodine*, Haven Kimmel. Fascinating novel, full of stuff about archetypal psychology and literature, with a twist at the end. I was so entranced that I listened to it again a couple of weeks later; I think this is one I'd like to own.
Spiritride, Mark Shepherd. Oh god, this was awful! Bland, cliched characters, trite plot--ugh. Couldn't even enjoy it in a fluffy popcorn sort of way.
Eros Rising: Tales of the Velvet Comet I, Mike Resnick. I love Resnick's space opera writing--deliberate, over-the-top cheese and cheerfully flinging away willing suspension of disbelief. This is good popcorn!
Never Throw Out a Banana Again, and 364 Other Ways to Save Money At Home Without Knocking Yourself Out, Darcie Sanders and Martha M. Bullen. Handy little tips that are practical and people are likely to use, like putting a sponge in the veggie crisper to absorb extra moisture to help preserve veggies.
Your Rabbit: A Kid's Guide to Raising and Showing, Nancy Searle. Don't let the title fool you--this is great for all ages. Incredibly informative 4-H type of book giving all sorts of information on rabbits. A wonderful resource; I've
seen it excerpted all over the place.
Farm Animals: Your Guide to Raising Livestock, Jeanie Peck-Whiting. The editor should be shot; horrific amounts of it's/its confusion. Plain-spoken and direct, but the writing is a bit stilted. Not bad information, but wish it had been more detailed.
Backyard Livestock: Raising Good, Natural Food for Your Family, Steven Thomas and George P. Looby. So far, have only read the sections that apply to me. Again, need more of the specific information, but these guys definitely know what they're talking about.
The Sustainable Vegetable Garden: A Backyard Guide to Healthy Soil and Higher Yields, John Jeavons. Half of this was detailed information about specific crops, which I find problematic due to different zones, but the overall scope and general stuff was very useful.
Planters, Containers, & Raised Beds: A Gardener's Guide, Chuck Crandall & Barbara Crandall. Lots of info on ornamental stuff; not quite what I was looking for, but a good basic book to start with.
200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes: From Cheddar and Brie to Butter and Yogurt, Debra Amrein-Boyes. Good info and recipes so far.
The Goat Care Handbook, Mary Turner Stille. Awesome! Very well-written and chock-full of info. One I'd like to own.
The Self-Reliant Homestead, Charles A. Sanders. Another one with tons of good info, although I'd heard most of it before. Some great new ideas in there, though.
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals*, Michael Pollan. This is one of those monumentally life-changing books. Want a hard copy of my own. Utterly riveting.
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto*, Michael Pollan. Not as good as Omnivore's Dilemma, but still interesting information that I didn't know--mostly in that vegetable oils may not be as good for us as we think they are.
Slumdog Millionaire*, Vikas Swarup. Awesome story, read by an actor named Christopher Simpson who did an absolutely amazing job with voices and accents.
You Can Farm, Joel Salatin. Brilliant and inspiring.
Pastured Poultry Profit$, Joel Salatin. Again, even if he's rather conservative.
The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan. Not as good as Omnivore's Dilemma, but fascinating info about some the downsides of GMO food.
The Strain*, Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan. The first 1/2 of this book was awesome. The next 1/4th was less so. The last quarter was pretty predictable and boring. What happened, guys?
The Paladin, C.J. Cherryh. I love this book more than I can say. I've been reading it for 20 years, and it never disappoints.
Hunting Party, Elizabeth Moon. A good adventure story, but I just don't buy the sudden character change mid-book. I know why it's there, and the attempt is plausible, but not enough.
Death in Bloodhound Red, Virginia Lanier. Damn good characters. Downside: you think all is going well until about 7/8 of the way through, when things suddenly get /very/ confusing.
Diggin' in & Piggin' Out: One Man's Love for Real Food, Home Cookin', and High Spirits, Roger Welsch. A fun read, including gentle jokes about the mysteries of "Woman School."
* audiobook
Finished Caves of Steel*, Isaac Asimov. Ought to read it in book format.
The Queen's Bastard, C.E. Murphy. Good story & writing. Lots of hot sex. Will be extremely disappointed if those are aliens referenced in that-there smacks-of-deus-ex-machina bit at the end.
The Deed of Paksenarrion I: Sheepfarmer's Daughter, Elizabeth Moon. Read the first time in the hospital my senior year of high school. Finished this time during the flu. Too many names and not enough characterization & don't know military ranking, so confusing. Still good.
Fathom, Cherie Priest. Fast-paced, but . . . missing something. A couple of "WTF? Seriously, WTF?" plot points, too.
We Need to Talk About Kevin*, Lionel Shriver. I didn't care for the epistolery style until the end, when the reason why was revealed, but a good stick-with-you book.
Beadwork How-To: Findings and Finishings, Sharon Bateman. Pretty pretty! Snagged from the library for the extremely short-lived bead store job.
Getting Started Stringing Beads, Jean Campbell. Bead store job book.
Beadwork Basics, Ann Benson. Bead store job book.
Hip to Bead: 32 Contemporary Projects for Today's Beader, Katie Hacker. Bead store job book.
Macrame: 20 Great Projects to Knot, Jim Gentry. Some interesting stuff, but mostly basic.
Creative Machine Stitchery. Good for adaptations, but most projects were too country-kitsch for me.
Creative Recycling in Embroidery: Add Texture, Meaning, and Individuality to Your Work, Val Holmes. Oooh! Awesome! Gave me lots of cool ideas!
Ready Made: How to Make (Almost) Everything: A Do-It-Yourself Primer, Shoshana Berger. Not quite what the title claims, but some interesting ideas in there.
A Mercy*, Toni Morrison. God, this woman is the master of "show, not tell." Gorgeous and intricate as always.
Anansi Boys*, Neil Gaiman. Fun, but I think the best part of this was the gentleman who read it. Fabulous voices for every single character--just wonderfully rich!
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan* (Abridged), Lisa See. Normally, I don't even bother with abridged audiobooks, but this one looked so good I had to, and I'm glad I did! Fascinating insight into mid-1800s rural China, regarding footbinding and the secret language of women, nu shu.
The Dirty Girls Social Club* (abridged), Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez. Again, I hate abridged audiobooks. Fun insight into some of the variations of Latina culture. I'll be going for the sequel.
Dirty Girls On Top*, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez. Enjoyable, but why does /everyone/ want to get married and have babies? Even the gay girl?
Fired*, created by Annabelle Gurwitch. Short performance pieces, rather than a book--some a bit enjoyable, others terribly overdone. Better live and in person, perhaps?
A Fantasy Medley, ed. by Yanni Kusznia. Four short stories with strong female protagonists--two were okay, but the other two (including C.E. Murphy's "From Russia, With Love") made me want to howl and pound my fists in delight.
The Deed of Paksenarrion II: Divided Allegiance, Elizabeth Moon. Drags on. Forever. Way too much religion and FAR too much exposition. Gah.
Ravens in the Library: Magic in the Bard's Name, ed. by SatyrPhil Brucato & Sandra Buskirk. Kind of "meh" overall--some good, some a bit too esoteric. Just . . . eh. I think it was the flow/selection that didn't quite work for me.
The Violet Shyness of Their Eyes: Notes from Nepal, Barbara J. Scot. A bit meandering, but I want my mom to write a book like this about sailing across the Pacific.
Beadwork How-to: Findings and Finishings, Sharon Bateman. More bead stuff.
ReadyMade: How to Make (Almost) Everything: A Do-It-Yourself Primer, Shoshana Berger and Grace Hawthorne. Some interesting stuff, although making almost everything is pretty far-fetched. Mostly art/craft type ideas.
Gang Leader for a Day*, Sudhir Venkatesh. Awesome. Sociologist grad student goes ethnographer and studies a crack gang from the inside. Fascinating study on the economics and power structure not only of the gang, but the surrounding projects. Great stuff!
The Deed of Pakssenarrion III: Oath of Gold, Elizabeth Moon. As annoying as book II, but more so. Ugh!
Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story*, presented by Symphonyspace. Eh. Okay, but not great. Pretty forgettable stuff, even if it was good during.
Iodine*, Haven Kimmel. Fascinating novel, full of stuff about archetypal psychology and literature, with a twist at the end. I was so entranced that I listened to it again a couple of weeks later; I think this is one I'd like to own.
Spiritride, Mark Shepherd. Oh god, this was awful! Bland, cliched characters, trite plot--ugh. Couldn't even enjoy it in a fluffy popcorn sort of way.
Eros Rising: Tales of the Velvet Comet I, Mike Resnick. I love Resnick's space opera writing--deliberate, over-the-top cheese and cheerfully flinging away willing suspension of disbelief. This is good popcorn!
Never Throw Out a Banana Again, and 364 Other Ways to Save Money At Home Without Knocking Yourself Out, Darcie Sanders and Martha M. Bullen. Handy little tips that are practical and people are likely to use, like putting a sponge in the veggie crisper to absorb extra moisture to help preserve veggies.
Your Rabbit: A Kid's Guide to Raising and Showing, Nancy Searle. Don't let the title fool you--this is great for all ages. Incredibly informative 4-H type of book giving all sorts of information on rabbits. A wonderful resource; I've
seen it excerpted all over the place.
Farm Animals: Your Guide to Raising Livestock, Jeanie Peck-Whiting. The editor should be shot; horrific amounts of it's/its confusion. Plain-spoken and direct, but the writing is a bit stilted. Not bad information, but wish it had been more detailed.
Backyard Livestock: Raising Good, Natural Food for Your Family, Steven Thomas and George P. Looby. So far, have only read the sections that apply to me. Again, need more of the specific information, but these guys definitely know what they're talking about.
The Sustainable Vegetable Garden: A Backyard Guide to Healthy Soil and Higher Yields, John Jeavons. Half of this was detailed information about specific crops, which I find problematic due to different zones, but the overall scope and general stuff was very useful.
Planters, Containers, & Raised Beds: A Gardener's Guide, Chuck Crandall & Barbara Crandall. Lots of info on ornamental stuff; not quite what I was looking for, but a good basic book to start with.
200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes: From Cheddar and Brie to Butter and Yogurt, Debra Amrein-Boyes. Good info and recipes so far.
The Goat Care Handbook, Mary Turner Stille. Awesome! Very well-written and chock-full of info. One I'd like to own.
The Self-Reliant Homestead, Charles A. Sanders. Another one with tons of good info, although I'd heard most of it before. Some great new ideas in there, though.
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals*, Michael Pollan. This is one of those monumentally life-changing books. Want a hard copy of my own. Utterly riveting.
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto*, Michael Pollan. Not as good as Omnivore's Dilemma, but still interesting information that I didn't know--mostly in that vegetable oils may not be as good for us as we think they are.
Slumdog Millionaire*, Vikas Swarup. Awesome story, read by an actor named Christopher Simpson who did an absolutely amazing job with voices and accents.
You Can Farm, Joel Salatin. Brilliant and inspiring.
Pastured Poultry Profit$, Joel Salatin. Again, even if he's rather conservative.
The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan. Not as good as Omnivore's Dilemma, but fascinating info about some the downsides of GMO food.
The Strain*, Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan. The first 1/2 of this book was awesome. The next 1/4th was less so. The last quarter was pretty predictable and boring. What happened, guys?
The Paladin, C.J. Cherryh. I love this book more than I can say. I've been reading it for 20 years, and it never disappoints.
Hunting Party, Elizabeth Moon. A good adventure story, but I just don't buy the sudden character change mid-book. I know why it's there, and the attempt is plausible, but not enough.
Death in Bloodhound Red, Virginia Lanier. Damn good characters. Downside: you think all is going well until about 7/8 of the way through, when things suddenly get /very/ confusing.
Diggin' in & Piggin' Out: One Man's Love for Real Food, Home Cookin', and High Spirits, Roger Welsch. A fun read, including gentle jokes about the mysteries of "Woman School."
* audiobook
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 05:49 am (UTC)*poke*
no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 06:04 am (UTC)*pokes back*
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Date: 2010-01-02 06:14 am (UTC)If I were to own my own farm, I believe I would be more "veg" than vegany, though a recent bout of illness during the Summer I am back to just veg. I just don't trust a company raising my food, I want to care for them myself.
I am listening to Jim Gaffigan and I wanted to share this gem about bears: Play dead? Who came up with that? Maybe the BEARS! "Play dead cover yourself in honey and crawl onto a white plate. Don't try to run away from us -- I mean the beeeears!" "
no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 06:30 am (UTC)I've been big on knowing where my food comes from for the last couple of years, but this summer, listening to Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma on audiotape, I came home to my sweetie, saying, "We CANNOT eat feedlot beef anymore!" Hence, goat. We trade with neighbors/friends for elk, though, and know where our beef and lamb come from, so no guilt there.
As for veg/vegan . . . IMO, veg is OK, but there are no historically vegan societies. They all at least ate bugs. Re: companies raising my food, I hear ya; I'm on the Board of Directors for a local-foods organization where I live. Being able to look your farmer in the eye makes all the difference in the world.
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Date: 2010-01-02 06:43 am (UTC)And you're not that old, pfft.
P.s: I know too many twilight fans who are your age.
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Date: 2010-01-02 06:51 am (UTC)And . . . you're darling, but I have clothes older than you. *facepalm* Aiee!
Twilight fans of any age need to STFU, NOW, IMO. *twitches*
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Date: 2010-01-02 06:57 am (UTC)And how Meyers filled it with her racist Mormon rhetoric about Native Americans.
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Date: 2010-01-02 07:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 07:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 07:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 07:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 07:42 am (UTC)Those names mean nothing to me. At all. Woe, I am old!
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Date: 2010-01-02 07:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 08:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 08:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 08:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 06:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 06:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 06:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 06:44 am (UTC)Speaking of TMJ, I never had issues but my left side has muscles spasms, and I think it's extending to me clenching the left side of my jaw :/ Ugh, puts a damper on things.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 06:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 07:01 am (UTC)Wait. Was that a come on? Lmao
And yeah, I did attend the class when they discussed TMJ work.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 07:08 am (UTC)It's great work, although I do more psoas/iliacus work than intraoral TMJ. Waggling eyebrows or none, you.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 07:20 am (UTC)I can still do Shiatsu which is easier on my leg, and Reiki of course since I can mostly sit while doing it.
And I can waggle my eyebrows all day. I am told I have epic eyebrow arch.
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Date: 2010-01-02 07:29 am (UTC)WTF? Car accident? I'm gathering that you're somewhere along the hearing-impared/Deaf spectrum, and/or along with other assorted boogerisms.
Haven't done much with Reiki. I've received a couple of times and it's done jack-all for me. I don't discount energy workers entirely, just the ones who love purple, carry crystals, and call themselves "healers."
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Date: 2010-01-02 07:39 am (UTC)And I am actually not on the deaf or hard of hearing (better term than hearing impaired) spectrum, I am actually just a Deaf Studies student. I am back in school to become a social worker and ideally an Office of Disability coordinator that works specifically with Deaf/Hard of Hearing folks :)
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Date: 2010-01-02 07:45 am (UTC)I've taken a wee bit of ASL: when I was in college, my (gay, male) lover directed Children of a Lesser God and casted me in one of the smaller roles. I took a couple of ASL classes after that, but was never able to stick with it for one reason or another. Granted, that was back in, oh, 1994 or so . . .
no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 07:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 08:01 am (UTC)It's just at traditional party times of year, I'm starting to become keenly aware that I can't rock and roll all night while working 6-7 days a week. Getting ready to head for bed now, as a matter of fact. It's more of a societal disconnect than anything.
Hell. I couldn't party like a rock star when I was 19. Who am I kidding?
(And, personally, I love my age. I discovered a gray hair from my temple to my shoulder this morning. I grinned and wished it well as I tucked it back up with the rest.)
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Date: 2010-01-02 08:09 am (UTC)Ha! I've been going platinum white since I was 14. Premature greying is in my family both sides.
You have a goodnight *peck on the cheek* <3 I friended you, if that was okay. I am going to pass out now too, after reading a bit of The Ethical Slut (new edition).
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Date: 2010-01-02 08:16 am (UTC)My shenanigans have seriously diminished since moving to a small mountain town. Doesn't mean I don't miss 'em, tho.
And friend away! My friending policy is eclectic, although you score well on initial review. The Ethical Slut is an awesome book, too.
Muah!
no subject
Date: 2010-01-03 07:43 am (UTC)So, how are you? I have questions! 'Cause I ask many folks questions, however I am unsure how public you are okay to answer them.
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Date: 2010-01-03 08:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-03 06:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-03 10:21 pm (UTC)When I was in high school, I looked around at my friends pogoing from one relationship to another, or locking themselves into a 3-year commitment. I considered the dating ethics of the 1950s, in which it was perfectly acceptable to date multiple people--particularly in high school/college--and realized that it made far more sense/was healthier to do it that way than the current model.
My ex-husband and I met when I was 19 and really just getting started on the whole dating thing. I wasn't ready to settle down and told him as such. As is to be expected, we had some ups and downs the first few years, but eventually settled upon the definition "open marriage" for what we had. I was out in the Bay area, hanging out with a friend and some of her friends. One of them asked me if I was poly, and I said no . . . but that I'd had an ongoing relationship with another guy for a number of years, so, yeah, dammit, I guessed I was poly after all.
The Ethical Slut is a great book. Didn't read it until . . . well, probably ten years into the whole thing, though. I'm in a mostly-mono relationship right now (and have been for the last 4 years or so), but it's good.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-03 11:11 pm (UTC)Right now I have my eyes set on this one cutie I met through OkCupid, but I don't know how it will play out. I am okay doing the single poly thing.
Do you have a messenger handle? I ask only because I am half on LJ/email and half battling robotic soldiers on my PS3. My email doesn't flash, only the IM windows do.
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Date: 2010-01-03 11:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-04 12:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-04 05:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-04 05:15 am (UTC)