Another Green World

Fun - I organized my list. It looks like I'm averaging one book every four days. Hm, let's add a star for the ones I especially recommend.

FANTASY - Lois McMaster Bujold, World of Five Gods
★ The Curse of Chalion
★ Paladin of Souls
The Hallowed Hunt
★ Penric's Demon (read twice)
Penric and the Shaman (read twice)
Penric's Mission
Mira's Last Dance
Penric's Fox
The Prisoner of Lemnos

FANTASY - Elizabeth Moon, Paksennarion series
Oath of Fealty
Kings of the North
Limits of Power
Surrender None
Liar's Oath
Crown of Renewal

FANTASY - L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Imager series
Assassin's Price
Endgames

FANTASY - L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Recluce series
The Mongrel Mage
Outcasts of Order
The Mage-Fire War

FANTASY - OTHER
The Redemption of Althalus, by David and Leigh Eddings
Rose Daughter, by Robin McKinley
The Tiger's Daughter, by K Arsenault Rivera
Quidditch Through the Ages, by J.K. Rowling
Among Others, by Jo Walton
Thirteenth Child, by Patricia Wrede


SCIENCE FICTION - Charles Stross, Merchant Prince series
The Bloodline Feud
The Clan Corporate
The Merchants' War
The Revolution Business
The Trade of Queens

SCIENCE FICTION - Mary E. Lowd, Otters in Space series
Otters in Space
Otters in Space II: Jupiter Deadly
Otters in Space III: Octopus Ascending

SCIENCE FICTION - OTHER
The Pool of Fire, by John Christopher
The Tea Master and the Detective, by Aliette de Bodard
European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman, by Theodora Goss


MYSTERY - Stephanie Barron, Jane Austen Mystery series
Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor
Jane and the Man of the Cloth
Jane and the Wandering Eye
Jane and the Genius of the Place
Jane and the Stillroom Maid
Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House
Jane and the Ghosts of Netley
Jane and His Lordship's Legacy
Jane and the Barque of Frailty
Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron
Jane and the Canterbury Tale
Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas

MYSTERY - Lindsey Davis, Flavia Albia series
Pandora's Boy
A Capitol Death

MYSTERY - Alexander McCall Smith, No.1 Ladies series
The House of Unexpected Sisters
The Colors of all of the Cattle
To the Land of Long Lost Friends

MYSTERY - Tony Hillerman, Leaphorn and Chee series
The Fallen Man
The First Eagle
Hunting Badger
The Wailing Wind
The Sinister Pig
Skeleton Man

MYSTERY - OTHER
The Secret of the Old Clock, by "Carolyn Keene" (really Mildred Wirt Benson)
The Labors of Hercules, by Agatha Christie
Still Life, by Louise Penny


GENERAL LITERATURE
Dolly and the Nanny Bird, by Dorothy Dunnett
The Paragon Hotel, by Lyndsay Faye
Wild Life, by Molly Gloss
The Jump-Off Creek, by Molly Gloss
★ The Hearts of Horses, by Molly Gloss
Falling from Horses, by Molly Gloss
Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen
The Proposal, by Jasmine Guillory
The Plotters, by Un-So Kim
Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver
Crazy Rich Asians, by Kevin Kwan
China Rich Girlfriend, by Kevin Kwan
Rich People Problems, by Kevin Kwan
My Italian Bulldozer, by Alexander McCall Smith
The Second-Worst Restaurant in France, by Alexander McCall Smith
Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owen
★ The Overstory, by Richard Powers
I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith
Saving Fish From Drowning, by Amy Tan
August Folly, by Angela Thirkell
Under the Feet of Jesus, by Helena María Viramontes
Before Green Gables, by Budge Wilson
Serve the People!, by Yan Lianke
The Explosion Chronicles, by Yan Lianke


NON-FICTION: MEMOIR
Red Dust, by Ma Jian
Becoming, by Michelle Obama
The Autobiography of Malcolm X

NON-FICTION: HISTORY AND CULTURE AND POLITICS
★ Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes, by Tamim Ansary
This America: The Case for the Nation, by Jill Lepore

NON-FICTION: OTHER
The Everything Essential Music Theory Book, by Marc Schonbrun

Note: I did read quite a lot of non-fiction, but my rule here is to include only books that I read from cover to cover. Books of which I read the vast majority but skimmed a bit (like Steven Pinker's "Enlightenment Now") don't get to be included, let alone those from which I only read the interesting or relevant bits.

_______________________________
94 total, 33 by men, 19 rereads

Still Life, by Louise Penny. Very good. This is the first in the Inspector Gamache series, set in a rural village in Quebec.

A few years ago, I ran into KS in our neighborhood Safeway, in the bakery section, and she told me with enthusiasm about the Louise Penny series. That was the first time I'd heard of them. But my ensuing mental image was of bleak Quebec winters, so I didn't rush right out to get them. Recently, however, when we ran into SR at the holiday farmer's market, she also told me all about them, and her description painted such a rich social life and quirky individuals that I realized I really would like them. When I was buying the first book, the woman at the bookstore told me it was rather spare compared with the others, and that "that was the point," in some sense. I didn't really notice any spareness; I guess it will come with comparison?

That said, during the day yesterday when I was busy doing non-reading things, having stopped about two-thirds through the book the night before, I concluded that I had a very good idea of whodunnit, and I was correct. I was also correct in my theory about the cause of the teenage boy's hostility problem. That's okay; I don't always need to be surprised.

Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen. This is our book club book for January. It's the early 1930s, and young Jacob is about to complete his veterinary degree at Cornell when word comes that his parents have been killed in an accident. He wanders off in shock, ends up on a train, and it's a circus train. We learn about life in a particularly dysfunctional travelling circus. The ending is especially satisfying.

Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas, by Stephanie Barron. I enjoyed this entry in the series (the next-to-last), even though the whodunnit aspects are moderately predictable given the reader's possible awareness of which characters are historic and which are fictional.

Penric's Fox, by Lois McMaster Bujold. This book, the fifth Penric episode, takes place fairly soon after the second one, Penric and the Shaman. Rather thin in terms of plot, but interesting.

Under the Feet of Jesus, by Helena María Viramontes. This was our book club book, a novel about migrant farmworkers in California. There are four point-of-view characters: Estrella, who is 15; Alejo, interested in Estrella and exposed to pesticides in the middle of the story; Estrella's mother Petra, who keeps having babies; and Perfecto, an older man who's been partnered with Petra since her husband abandoned her. It's pretty brutal, but I'm sure it could be more so, and it's short.

The book was our university's "common reading" for freshmen this year, and Viramontes came to speak at both the university and the public library. I missed both events, though.

Penric and the Shaman, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Very nice - more complex than one might expect for a novella.

Thanksgiving details tomorrow. (It was fun.)

The Hallowed Hunt, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Reread. Still not as great as the previous two, though I think I enjoyed it more this time. And now I can start on the Penric books - I hadn't realized they were in print, but it turns out our local library has several!

Meanwhile, a few minutes ago I had a spider on my face - a moderately large one, maybe an inch across, including the legs. Mildly horrifying to contemplate.

The Curse of Chalion, by Lois McMaster Bujold. (reread)

This is one of my favorite books. I really like the main character, Cazaril, and the world (fantasy Spain).

Hm, what else about my day? I worked a bunch on chapter 4. I went to G's lab, and today he was doing something different, encouraging us to have a discussion that he wasn't officially leading. Turns out we're all introverts, every one of us. I returned books to two libraries, then bought stuff at PetSmart and Market of Choice. I finished watching Won't You Be My Neighbor? while eating some lovely soup. I had a long phone conversation about a youth orchestra thing. I didn't go to the symphony, thereby saving $30. That about sums it up.

Skeleton Man, by Tony Hillerman. This one had an exciting Grand Canyon flash flood scene. It looks like I have only one more book in the series to go, plus the three sequels written by his daughter.

J's pro tour day was less exciting than yesterday; he went 1-6 then dropped before the final round, as he was too tired and wasn't going to be "in the money" beyond the $500 they all receive (that's in lieu of the airfare they used to provide). He finished 253rd out of 494, and he got to talk to multiple pros whose streams he watches.