Booktalk

[listersgirl]

Oh, you guys, once again I didn't write down anything about the books when I finished them and I now I have only faint memories of most of them. I suck as a recordist!

Wilkie Collins The Woman in White

I quite enjoyed this, which I wasn't entirely expecting, since classics often don't draw me in. In particular I liked the idea of piecing the story together from the different points of view. It relied too much on third-hand information though - it needed more "show, not tell". Recommended by alltheleaves.

Diana Gabaldon Outlander

I read this once years ago. I remember being annoyed because it had been marketed to me as a romance, but it felt too easy - where was her indecision about falling for Jamie? And I still felt that this time, but in the end the book completely won me over and now I'm going to have to read the rest of the series.

Nalo Hopkinson Midnight Robber

I'm really enjoying these Caribbean-inspired sci-fi novels. This one is about a young girl who gets sent to a punishment planet with her father, and finds herself taking on a persona from Caribbean mythology.

Ami McKay The Birth House

This was fantastic, I do remember that. It's the story of a tiny community in rural Nova Scotia, and battle of sorts between the young woman who finds herself the town's midwife, and the doctor who comes into the area and builds a birthing hospital. But mostly it's just a wonderful read. Recommended by starfishchick.

Jane Mendle Kissing in Technicolor

A fun book about a woman in drama school who gets involved with a soap star just as she's trying to direct her first film. Recommended by idella.

Richard Morgan Black Man

Not my favourite of his. It really didn't stick with me. Good if you like hardcore action sci-fi, maybe.

CS Richardson The End of the Alphabet

A tiny little gem of a book, beautifully constructed. Both clever and touching. Recommended by gingerale_kitty.

Charles Stross Hidden Family

The second one in the series, which I'm still enjoying in a mild way, despite the fact that the heroine seems to be able to do everything perfectly.

Ethel Wilson Swamp Angel

I enjoyed this book about a woman who leaves her husband to go live in a fishing lodge in the interior of BC, but it felt a bit...unfinished, maybe? Recommended by morag_gunn.

Comments

[sh1mm3r.livejournal.com]

Gabaldon- I was exasperated the first time but someone told me the audio books were good. I tried listening to them on a dark misty morning while driving and that wasn't a good fit, but I still like the idea of a narrator with an accent...

Writing down the McKay, that sounds interesting.

So now I use a Google Doc to keep track of my reading, and can update it from many places. I'm a dork.

[listersgirl]

That's clever! I still use a paper book - I have so many of them from presents over the years, it's nice to put them to use.

[blue-lotus.livejournal.com]

You could join the rest of us on www.goodreads.com

[anglaisepaon.livejournal.com]

I'm fond of The Woman in White, although it still doesn't quite measure up to The Moonstone.

[listersgirl]

I read The Moonstone years ago and didn't particularly like it, but I think I'll try it again someday.

[sarcasma.livejournal.com]

You'll have the next couple Gabaldons in your very own house once I've unpacked my books! And the last one (the one that is so long, the mass-market version is cube-shaped). I do love them in all their cheesy, overwritten glory, though the most recent two were a bit too much.

[listersgirl]

I remember seeing that last one in the bookstore - clearly she's someone else who needs a brutal editor. When your book is no longer book-shaped...

[sarcasma.livejournal.com]

Best-selling author syndrome -- why risk offending her with a red pencil when you know everyone will suck it up and buy the book (and the physiotherapy sessions after reading it) anyway?