FF: No Fooling!

Finished my library books, got out another, and am back to SPQR.  So, as usual, all over the place.

Kel Pretends to be the Big Bad Cat

For those of you just discovering this feature, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week.  Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazine articles.

The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.

Once again, this is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.

Recently Completed:

The Storybook of Legends “Ever After High #1” by Shannon Hale. Middle grade and built around fashion dolls, so I didn’t expect much.  However, between descriptions and some of the most annoying slang I’ve encountered ever (hexellent; “fairy” instead of “very” ex.  “You look fairy, fairy lovely today!”) I found much to like, including a much more thoughtful exploration of character motivation than the similar School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani that I read a few months back.

Of Dice and Men by David M. Ewalt.  “The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play It.”  Learned a bit more history of the RPG field, although the tight focus on D&D was a distorting element.

In Progress:

Maze of Bones, 1st 39 Clues novel by Rick Riordan.  Audiobook.  Part of a vast, multi-author project.  I’m obviously not the target audience but will stick to the end of this one.

Nobody Loves a Centurion by John Maddox Roberts.  SPQR 6.  Decius is with Julius Caesar in Gaul.

Gaming at the Edge: Sexuality and Gender at the Margins of Gamer Culture by Adrienne Shaw.  “Gamer” here means video, not RPG.  Will at least skim, but I’m not really a video gamer, so many references don’t mean a lot to me.

Also:

Origami books.  Still.  I have mastered the inflatable rabbit and am considering what next.