Calendar Girl (kirilaw) wrote,
Calendar Girl
kirilaw

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Finally wrapping up 2006 books

59, 60. The Secret Books of Venus, I&II -- Faces Under Water and Saint Fire (Tanith Lee)
Sometimes Tanith Lee writes brilliant, chilling things. This was not one of those times, unfortunately. Both books in this volume started out with plenty of promise, but neither was as good as the evocative early images seemed to promise. Particularly annoying were the heroines -- in both stories, they were beautiful, unusual, handicapped, gifted, and frustratingly passive. I wanted to smack some sense into both of them. Which is not the reaction I generally hope to have to characters in a book. **

61. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (Gregory Maguire)
Like Wicked, this is a reimagining of a well-known story (Cinderella in this case). Unlike Wicked, this one purports to take place in a (quasi-)historical setting. I don't think the historical novel element works as well as the fantasy world did. The new light on the familiar story is interesting, and fun, and the twist at the end was a nice touch, although it stretched credibility a tad. The writing was clear and transparent, although not particularly beautiful in itself. A light read. ***

62. Seventh Heaven (Alice Hoffman)
This book had all the lovely writing and engaging characters you would expect, but the plot was somewhat lacking. It felt unfocused and unfinished. A bunch of marriages and relationships break up, people have personal growth, and there's a ghost. Who doesn't seem to want anything. It was a very enjoyable read, but ultimately unsatisfying. It almost felt like half of the book was missing. Truly lovely writing, though. ***

63. The Dream Hunters (Neil Gaiman)
I finally got this book for Christmas (although I had read it previously). I really do love it. Neil's writing is perfectly evocative of a fairy tale, and the pictures are gorgeous. Plus, it's all romantic and sad, which of course appeals to me. :) *****



1. Freud's Women (Lisa L. Appignanesi) ***
2. Practical Magic (Alice Hoffman) *****
3. What the Body Remembers (Shauna Singh Baldwin) ****
4. Serenity: Those Left Behind (Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, et al) ***
5. Y: the Last Man, vol. 6 -- Girl on Girl (Brian K. Vaughan et al) ***
6. In Her Own Time: A Class Reunion Inspires a Cultural History of Women (Maggie Siggins) ***
7. Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World (Nicholas Ostler) ****
8. V for Vendetta (Alan Moore and David Lloyd) *****
9. Vanity Fair (William Makepeace Thackeray) ***
10. Put the Book Back on the Shelf: A Belle and Sebastian Anthology (multiple authors) ***
11. Anansi Boys (Neil Gaiman) *****
12. Bachelor Girl: 100 Years of Breaking the Rules -- A Social History of Living Single (Betsy Israel) ***
13. The Snow (Adam Roberts) **
14. The Snow Queen (Joan D. Vinge) ****
15. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill) Vol. 1 *****
16. In Praise of Slow: How a Worldwide Movement is Challengeing the Cult of Speed (Carl Honore) **
17. Hard Time (Steve Gerber et al.) ***
18. Year's Best SF 2 (ed. David Harwell) ****
19, 20, 21, 22, 23. The First Chronicles of Amber (Roger Zelazny): Nine Princes in Amber, The Guns of Avalon, Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, The Courts of Chaos ***
24. A Song for Arbonne (Guy Gavriel Kay) ****
25. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill) Vol. 2 ****
26, 27, 28. The Fionavar Tapestry (Guy Gavriel Kay): The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, The Darkest Road ****
29. The Obesity Myth (Paul Campos) ****
30. Astonishing X-Men (Joss Whedon and John Cassaday et al) Vol. 1 ***
31. Inkheart (Cornelia Funke) ****
32. Black Water: The Anthology of Fantastic Literature (ed. Alberto Manguel) ***
33. History of Sexuality (Michel Foucault) Vol. 1: An Introduction ***
34. Darwinia (Robert Charles Wilson) ****
35. The Meaning of Wife (Anne Kingston) ****
36. Fables (Bill Willingham et al) Vol 7: Arabian Nights (and Days) ****
37. Lord Byron's Novel: the Evening Land (John Crowley) *****
38. When Nietzsche Wept (Irvin D. Yalom) **
39. Sexual Anarchy: Gender and Culture at the Fin de Siecle (Elaine Showalter) ****
40. The Motion of Light in Water: Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village, 1957-1965 (Samuel R. Delany) ****
41. Y: the Last Man (Brian K. Vaughan et al.): Vol. 7: Paper Dolls ****
42. 1602 (Neil Gaiman et al.) ****
43. Lucifer (Mike Carey et al.): Vol. 1: Devil in the Gateway ****
44. The Salt Roads (Nalo Hopkinson) ****
45. Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson) *****
46. Stars in my Pocket Like Grains of Sand (Samuel R. Delany) ***
47. The Big Over Easy (Jasper Fforde) ****
48. Green Arrow: Quiver (Kevin Smith et al.) ****
49. The War of the Flowers (Tad Williams) ***
50. A Paradigm of Earth (Candas Jane Dorsey) *****
51. Machine Sex and Other Stories (Candas Jane Dorsey) ****
52. Tesseracts Nine (ed. Nalo Hopkinson and Geoff Ryman) ****
53. Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (Bill Willingham et al.) *****
54. Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood) **
55. Tesseracts 3 (ed. Candas Jane Dorsey and Gerry Truscott) ****
56. Flesh and Gold (Phyllis Gotlieb) ***
57. The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova) *****
58. Y: the Last Man (Brian K. Vaughan et al.): vol. 8: Kimono Dragons ***
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