Books 2013: the log is still out of date

I will be forgetting books, probably. Because I haven't updated in a month.

Books 2013: 118-138


118-119. Roberta Gellis, Bone of Contention and Chains of Folly.

Medieval murder mysteries. Not half bad.


120. Rae Carson, The Bitter Kingdom. Greenwillow, 2013.

Tor.com, surprisingly, hasn't published the review I sent in. I should follow that up. Good conclusion to the trilogy.


121. Mary Renault, The King Must Die. Arrow, first 1958.

Already wrote this one up.


122. Carrie Vaughn, Kitty Rocks The House. Tor, 2013.

Not Kitty's best outing. But moderately entertaining nonetheless.


123. Julian Griffith, Love Continuance and Increasing. Ebook. 2013.

Historical poly romance. Pretty good, actually.


124-125. Lilith Saintcrow, The Iron Wyrm Affair and The Red Plague Affair. Orbit, 2012-2013.

Steampunk weird history that is perhaps a little too concerned with rushing through the plot than filling out the hints and implications of its characterisation and asides. Entertaining nonetheless.


126. Maureen Johnson, Devilish. Gift of jennygadget.

Demonic bargains in a US Catholic girls' school. Not actually as interesting as that makes it sound, but still entertaining.

127. Jean Johnson, Hellfire. Roc, 2013.

Third in series. Johnson hasn't quite got the hang of making her narrative an arc with actual development: I'm okay with training montage, which the first two books had a lot of. They also had climax, a bit. But here the narrative is far too bitty and episodic, as if Johnson had a checklist she was determined to knock off rather than make an organic whole.


128. Cat Hellisen, When The Sea Is Rising Red. Farrar Straus Giroux, 2013.

Pretty good fantasy that fails to stick its dismount. Still, an excellent debut.


129. Django Wexler, The Thousand Names. Ace, 2013.

Excellent gunpowder/military fantasy with a whole bunch of women in. Do recommend. GIVE ME NEXT ONE NOW.


130. Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, Trade Secret. Baen, ARC, 2013.

Good next installment. Safe book. Very much a series book. May discuss in column eventually.


131-132. Nahoko Uehashi, Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit and Moribito: Guardian of the Darkness. Scholastic, 2008-2009.

Why have the rest of this series not been translated already? WHY? Excellent if YA-ish Japanese fantasy series. The anime Moribito is based on the first book.


133. Jim C. Hines, Codex Born. DAW, 2013.

Not as good as the first book but still pretty damn fun.


134. Roz Kaveney, Rituals: Rhapsody of Blood. Plus One Press, 2012.

This book is AMAZEBALLS and you all should read it now. It is awesome and full of BOOM and LESBIANS and QUEERNESS and MAGIC and ANCIENT GODS and WOMEN and QUEERNESS and BOOM. Also, someone should snap up the television rights and make a series. Because AMAZEBALLS. It is CRACK FOR LIZES.


nonfiction

135. Daniella Dueck, Geography in Classical Antiquity. Cambridge, 2012.

Part of the Key Themes in Ancient History series. General overview of ancient geography as a discipline. Short and sweet.


136. Michael Scott, Space and Society in the Greek and Roman Worlds. Cambridge, 2013.

Part of the Key Themes in Ancient History series. Overview. What it says on the tin. Brief and not entirely comprehensive, but useful.


137. Lisa C. Nevett, Domestic Space in Classical Antiquity. Cambridge, 2010. 2011 reprint.

As above.


138. Peter Garnsey, Food and Society in Classical Antiquity. Cambridge, 1999. 2002 reprint.

As above. Really interesting.

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If there is anything else, I have forgotten it.

Anatomy of a day off

First there was sleeping until noon, which is in fact normal for me unless I have places to be. Then there was laundry. A lot of laundry. Then I minor-league-cleaned the toilet.

Then the parent arrived home, and we went off to the Naul for a lunch. Roast turkey and other tasty things. To be honest, it was more of a dinner...

Afterwards there was sunlight, and a walk on a beach, wading across a stream to walk south to a field growing soya beans, briefly barefoot on grass. The parent used me as a stepladder and general support, climbing down some rocks. Home, and companionable yoga, and I cooked dinner (supper, for me) and scrubbed a grotty pot shiny with a wire brush and sweat. And then I sat in an armchair and read and snacked on toast and smoked salmon.

I need to remember to value the small moments.

I may take tomorrow off from thesis and gym, in favour of getting more of the small stuff done. We'll see.