false 29 223 219 true 5626659 read 3 true 560089 currently-reading 1 true 560088 to-read 108 false 653626 sf_and_f 97 false 703525 fiction 96 false 653627 audiobook 34 false 828053 mystery 32 false 672674 classics 32 false 653599 nonfiction 23 false 1415411 history 19 false 1816061 feminist 15 false 3591110 detective 13 false 735985 library_book 10 false 1501328 short_fiction 9 false 4358076 african-american 9 false 3558139 horror 9 false 3302354 hugo_nebula 8 false 649015 yarncrafts 8 false 3520442 police-procedural 7 false 2896414 thriller 7 false 2896421 glbt 6 false 2124176 borrowed 6 false 4625064 paranormal 5 false 5428343 spy 5 false 3941134 young-adult 4 false 703522 memoir 3 false 4641439 food_cooking 3 false 3419886 tiptree 3 false 4030934 space_opera 3 false 703509 graphicnovels_comics 2 false 8544757 britain 2 false 7201590 science 2 false 703520 writing 2 false 6829090 japan 2 false 3500569 biography 1 false 8287809 noir 1 false 8468938 mythology 1 false 8544753 humor 1 false 8468932 china http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79543807 to: The Farthest Shore (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 3) by Ursula K. LeGuin
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79543803 to: The Tombs of Atuan (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 2) by Ursula K. LeGuin
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79543791 to: The Left Hand of Darkness (Paperback) by Ursula K. LeGuin
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79543788 to: A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, #1) by Ursula K. LeGuin
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79365231 to: Gifts (Audio Cassette) by Ursula K. LeGuin
bookshelves: audiobook, feminist, fiction, sf_and_f, young-adult
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78970219 to: Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega, #2) by Patricia Briggs
bookshelves: audiobook, horror, mystery, paranormal
The audiobook is competently narrated by Holter Graham. Briggs brings some depth to the paranormal romance/thriller genre but these books still qualify as (enjoyably) light reading. The relationship of the two main characters is complex and healthy. One of the main characters is a survivor of abuse. This affects her sexual expression in believable ways and she isn't portrayed as a victim. I'll be reading more of this series. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78504314 to: Howards End (Audio Cassette) by E.M. Forster
bookshelves: audiobook, britain, classics, fiction
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73369965 to: Silk Road: A Novel of Eighth-Century China (Hardcover) by Jeanne Larsen
bookshelves: borrowed, china, feminist, fiction, history, mythology
Silk Road is a beautifully written, richly descriptive, meandering story of a young woman who is trying to find her family and who, along the way, finds her own power. It weaves together history, story, mythology, and poetry. Interspersed with the story (the chapters named "Parrot Speaks") are a number of fragmentary 8th-century Chinese texts, translated by the author, along with prose poems that address the reader directly.

The story itself and its writing style kinda scratched the same itch for me that Little, Big by John Crowley does. I'm failing to come up with the right words to describe the similarities, though.

In Silk Road's descriptions of the life of a courtesan I am reminded a bit of the popular Memoirs of a Geisha (which was written quite a while later). But Memoirs of a Geisha is in the end a thoroughly conventional romance novel. Silk Road isn't conventional and isn't a romance-genre novel at all.

I don't know very much about Chinese culture, history, or mythology, except what I learn from watching Yimou Zhang (House of Flying Daggers) and Jet Li movies. I expect people who know more about those things would get more out of this book.

Finally, I'm going to describe how I found out about this book, because it amuses me. I am involved with a Buddhist sangha called Insight Meditation Center. A frequent guest speaker at this sangha is Thanissaro Bhikkhu, abbot of Metta Forest Monastery in California. I really like his dharma talks. So I was reading about him on the Web one day and I came across this interview with him in the Oberlin alumni magazine:
http://www.oberlin.edu/alummag/spring200...

In the interview, he was asked whether he reads for pleasure and he said that the only fiction he reads is Jeanne Larsen and Harry Potter. That seemed like a good reason for me to check out Jeanne Larsen's books! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77483993 Train [UNABRIDGED] (Audiobook) by Pete Dexter
bookshelves: african-american, audiobook, fiction, noir
Narrated by Dion Graham ]]>