meitachi | books, books, books: 2015 nov-dec

Didn't read as much I would have liked with all the travel happening for the holidays -- trip to Boston for a friend's wedding, then home for Thanksgiving, then to DC for Boy's Official Ph.D. Graduation, then straight to St. Louis for Christmas. I struggled with my attention span in reading on planes; these days I mostly try for music and crosswords.

Anyhow, books read and impressions:

The Tuesday Club Murders by Agatha Christie - A series of short stories featuring Miss Marple. They were all fun and I had a good time figuring some of them out and not getting the others. I didn't mind the constant theme of people underestimating Miss Marple or thinking her simple, because of the relatively small town life she's led. You'd think they'd know better by now! But I always enjoy it when she managed to surprise them with her acuity.

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho - Oh man, this book. What a wonderful premise: Malaysian author writing about Regency England and official sorcerers integrated into society, featuring an awesome POC character and a female, dealing with magical adventures but also the constrictions of society and its expectations and pressures. It could have been so good, but I really, really could not overcome how much I disliked the writing. It was incredibly heavy-handed, with a lot of dry Telling versus Showing, a recitation of Things That Happened that did not engage me emotionally with the characters or the environment. I didn't mind the social justice issues, actually, or the dealing with them: it didn't feel like lecturing or issuefic. I think it's both fair and interesting to show a POC wizard dealing with racism despite being so magically powerful, how some prejudices remain even if he's good. My main problem was that I didn't particularly like or care about the characters. No one felt particularly three dimensional. The world was flat (aside from the lovely but brief and off screen mentions of a whole other magical world of China and Malaysia). Pacing was plodding. The climactic events moved along better and I would say the second half of the book was stronger, with action at a faster clip, but I still finished the book resenting all the potential it had to be great, but vastly fell short of my expectations and hopes. I basically wished the story had been written by a defter author. :\ Frustrating.

These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer - A reread and a sheer delight. The first time I read it, it felt a little off, because it's set in the late 1700s, before the Regency period, and consequently read quite differently. It also felt so complicated and convoluted because of all the ridiculous antics and tropes crammed into one book -- masquerading as the opposite sex, switched at birth, kidnappings, escapes, duels, a whole cast of characters, etc. But upon reread, it is such a romp. It reads quickly because it is a silly drama, and everyone is kind of a caricature, but it's all so much fun. Also, so much random French!

Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer - Sequel to These Old Shades, about Leonie and Justin's son and his poor life choices. Less crazy antics in this one, but still enough: a duel, a flee from the country, accidental kidnapping, fun cameos from the cast of the first book, albeit older. Mary's mother and sister are not portrayed particularly sympathetically, but otherwise also quite fun of a read. The end is perfectly idtastic -- Mary thinks his family hates her, she loves him so she'll sacrifice to keep him happy, runs away, runs into the Duke of Avon without realizing, confesses all, etc. Glorious. Heyer is a master.

A Worthy Wife by Barbara Metzger - Weird premise, but I read it because it was the only Metzger novel our library had to check out and I wanted to try her works. It was...maybe too much a stretch of crazy circumstances to bring about the marriage of hero and heroine. As I've read more Metzger, I realize I just don't love her style as compared to Heyer. It's not the hijinks I mind, it's that hers are too unbelievable, too< fortuitous. The midsadventures stop being fun after you see them repeat over and over. I don't like her characters nearly as much -- they tend to be hasty sketches rather than fleshed out, and her dudes tend to be constantly lusty -- and she loves to highlight her "villain" characters, or antagonists. But I'm not here for the villains. Plus they're even more one dimensional, cartoonishly so. But if you really like fast-paced, frenetic, unserious and very frothy, you may enjoy this one. (Personally, I'll take the These Old Shades version of fast-paced and unserious hijinks. Somehow, there's still a fuller world with more developed characters.)

Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis - A children's book, not even YA! But a great premise: magic in the regency world, but from the perspective of a young girl trying to use her magic to help her older sisters find their true loves or whatever. It's lighthearted and not particularly deep, basically appropriate for its level, but quite fun. The sisterly relationships were really well-depicted, I think -- often antagonistic, but they will align with each other against the world. May consider checking out the sequels.

Sorcery & Cecilia: Or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Caroline Stevermer & Patricia C. Wrede - I basically adore mixing magic/fantasy and regency. This was a reread of a book I loved years earlier and it was still just as fun. Mystery! Epistolary style between two cousins who love each other! Magic and danger and flirtation with gentlemen! Discussion of fashion and gossip about society! This had it all and a lot of fun to read. The sequel has stymied me multiple times in my attempt to read it though. Maybe I really, really hate established relationship stories more than I think.

Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie - A set of short stories where Poirot comes up with the answer. Always fun, but less enjoyable than Miss Marple -- not necessarily because Poirot is far less humble, but because there's never that element of his being underestimated and surprising people. His solutions in these stories also often depend on knowledge that the reader doesn't have, and only after the resolution is reached are the steps to reach it explained. Less satisfying when the solution is basically off-screen.

One Piece Vols 31-42 by Oda Eiichiro - End of Skypiea into Long Ring Long Land, Davy Back game with Foxy, and then Water 7. God, Skypiea was a stressful arc but the conclusion was uplifting. Long Ring Long was strange but a nice break, and the key intro of Admiral Aokiji. Davy Back was fun, had Sanji and Zoro working together, and introduced Luffy reaching Gear Two, I think? AND THEN WATER 7. Franky and company were annoying at first, but oh, Robin's story! Then Franky and Iceberg's backstory! CP9! I'd totally forgotten about them. The sea train! We're right at the rescue of Robin from Enies Lobby, after the successful declaration of war by Luffy and crew. I'm so here for the epic CP9 fight. Things are about to get real now, with the government and Navy.

My library is being frustratingly slow to get me my next few volumes of OP, but soon! We'll continue on with that, plus I have to rearead Captive Prince 1 & 2 since the third and final volume will be out February 2. And of course there's still all of Hikaru no Go waiting for me... Maybe I'll try for more nonfiction this year too. We'll see!