Reading Reading Reading.

[lit_gal]

Thanks so much for the advice on "abet" guys. Um... I got so much good advice that I don't think I'm going to answer all those comments because WOW... ya'll are logophiles! I'm trotting right along with my Moonridge stories. I'm discovering all sorts of things about the characters by writing this story. And the manips have now been beta'ed and I'm rather proud of them. And I've been reading more print books.

These are out of five stars.


Pretender by C.J. Cherryh.  God I love this series.  I feel like I should take notes on the psychology and political maneuvering she includes, and that makes the geek/nerd in me so very, very happy.  The first book in the series starts weak, finds its feet halfway through the novel, and after that, it's all golden.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. I wanted to love this book; I tried to love this book.  I can't.  I can appreciate the poetic language and her viewpoint, but these short snippets of life on Mango Street leave me not knowing the characters as little more than dressing on an artsy-fartsy window.  I can appreciate this book but I will never love it.

An Unfinished Life by Mark Spragg.  I really loved these characters--flawed, struggling, real and lovable. And Spragg just has a remarkable talent for turning a beautiful phrase.  And unlike many books, there are no villains here.  All the damage done is done by people who believe they're in the right.  I do like that in a story.  So, why not five stars?  It's not the sort of book that leaves you thinking about the implications when you've finished the last page.

Comments

[joyleaf41.livejournal.com]

I see I shall have to start tracking down Cherryh's Foreigner series and start reading that. I started by reading her Faded Sun trilogy and then found Serpent's Reach in her Alliance-Union universe. I have read and enjoyed several more set in the universe. A bit creepy with their Azi but I did like the fact that several of her characters in the Cyteen trilogy are gay.
Hubby prefers the Chanur books.

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

If you like books with gay-characters: Have you ever read the books of Lyn Flewelling? They are really great.

[joyleaf41.livejournal.com]

I enjoy slash so I must have some fondness for gay characters. But I was more impressed that that was only one aspect of her characters, not their defining characteristic and she showed them in long term stable relationships. Just as McCaffrey's Dragonriders are most often gay, something she takes for granted the readers will pick up on in the early books but make plain in later books, but that is not what makes them take the risks they do to protect Pern. It is just a fact of life.

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

My recommendation stands...Lyn Flewelling (luck in the Shadows) writes the development of the realationship between her two main characters really great, but it is not the main focus of the story (heck, they need two books to get together). And her characters aren't "gaygay" if you get my drift.