the wrong end of the telescope

Thank you everyone for your TV show recs! I ended up giving my brother a multiple choice card based on some of your suggestions and some of my own, and now he gets to pick one. He was super super pleased.

I'm hopelessly behind with my book recs. I've read so many books this year, and I can't remember where I left off. But.

I thought I'd do a short post about the books I read recently, and then, if you wish, we could trade book recs? Which means you ask me for book recs based on three books you like and also rec me something. I did that once before, and it was lots of fun.

( Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta )

( Love Walked in and sequel by Marisa De Los Santos )

( How the soldier repairs the gramophone by Sasa Stanisic )

( Another Time by Auden )

( Tamburlaine by Marlowe )

ETA: Also, I have read nearly everything Robin McKinley has ever written and I can tell you that it is all excellent.

Now you! Rec me a book and/or tell me three books you like so I can tell you a book you might like in return.

I read six books in Amsterdam! I reviewed one of them already, oh my heart, and here are the other five plus the one I've read since I came back.

24. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.

( fiction! by turns terribly sad and beautiful, by turns funny and a bit cold )

25. Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

( fiction--this book has a RIDICULOUS ending: surprise!genre switch, ahaha )

26. Three Men and a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome.

( fiction! could not stop laughing. could not. )

27. Three plays by Christopher Fry. ♥

( one with Biblical references, one about strength of spirit under difficult circumstances, and one about Henry, Becket and Eleanor of Aquitaine )

28. Passage by Connie Willis.

( a very good book, but it's impossible to talk about this much without spoiling it )

29. Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith.

( the most gorgeous, queer, sweetest gem of a book I've found in a while--and a lesbian love story with a happy ending )

This entry is a demonstration of why it is hard for me to keep up regular book reviews when I'm reading at my normal pace. These are the books I've read in the last four weeks. Most of them were read in a week and a half. Also, I'm sure I've forgotten one or two. Augh. But I'm going to make an effort to keep this going, and in order to catch up, here are some one-sentence reviews of these books. Feel free to ask questions if you want to know more about any of them! Or if you want quotes. I'm valiantly resisting quoting from all of them or I would be here ALL NIGHT, but I am happy to provide quotes if you ask.

Mild spoilers for some of the books, but generally nothing you wouldn't get from reading the blurb, except for when I'm warning for something.

( 7. Tigers at Awhitu by Sarah Broom )

( 8. Smoke and Shadows by Tanya Huff )

( 9. Smoke and Mirrors by Tanya Huff )

( 10. Smoke and Ashes by Tanya Huff )

( 11. Blackout by Connie Willis )

( 12. All Clear by Connie Willis )

( 13. A Lady of Quality by Georgette Heyer )

( 14. Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer )

These are getting longer, sigh. Let me try to rein myself in.

( 15. Break, Blow, Burn by Camille Paglia )

( 16. A Writer's Diary by Virginia Woolf )

( 17. The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck )

( 18. Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie )

( 19. The Lady's Not For Burning by Christopher Fry )

( 20. I Have The Right To Destroy Myself by Young-Ha Kim )

( 21. The Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones )

ETA: I knew I'd forgotten at least one!

( 22. The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin )

Previous reviews: Free Love by Ali Smith | Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey | The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera | Libyrinth by Pearl North | Ash by Malinda Lo | The Changeover by Margaret Mahy

This collection has some of the best poetry I've ever read, for the record. Just to get that out of the way.

It deals with difficult subject matter that is personal (the end of a relationship) and that is bigger than that (race relations past and present in the US, and isn't that a polite way to talk about racism and the Civil War), but it also reverses that, because the personal can be for everyone, and the political or historical can be very personal indeed.


Native Guard by Natasha Tretheway.

( we tell the story every year )


Previous reviews: The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera | Libyrinth by Pearl North | Ash by Malinda Lo | The Changeover by Margaret Mahy

New default, many other new icons. Yes, as of last night I have a paid account, I caved and used the waiver from modillian because I wanted Barbara Gordon (and Martha Jones) and couldn't figure out what to delete. ♥

ETA: I see today has officially been declared to be International Weekend of Friending The People You've Been Too Shy To Friend. I will probably do some of that later, so, um, hi? And on the off-chance that anyone decides to friend me, hello and welcome. *grins*

In other news, I'm spending my time working on my literature review, breathing, skiing, writing political poetry, mentally composing irate monologues about John Mayer and his utter, utter, (racist) douchetasticness, and reading YA novels.


Ash by Malinda Lo.

( cinders and glowing coal )


Previous reviews: The Changeover by Margaret Mahy