New Book Recs
It's been a while since I did one of these, so here are a few new book recs:
Shades of Milk and Honey
Imagine the world of Jane Austen. Remember to add sibling rivalry, foolish engagements, dances, and outings to pick strawberries. Now add that, along with skills like playing the piano and needlework, it's considered essential for a woman of quality to be able to manipulate glamour, or magic. And so you have Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal, which is the book that has charmed me the most in recent days.
Seriously, I loved this book. The magic that Kowal adds to her alternate Britain is so wonderful and unique--and even gives an actual excuse besides tight corsets for young women to faint (or at least pretend to). The characters are all nicely familiar from Austen, but without being mere copies--they're vivid and intriguing, from the Jane, the plain sister who's great at using glamour, to her beautiful sister Melody, who isn't good at anything besides being beautiful and knows it, to the gruff, often annoyed glamourist Mr. Victor. Very excited to hear that there's a sequel in the works.
Sleight of Hand
Sleight of Hand is Peter S. Beagle's newest short story collection, and I have to say that I'm pissed at him. He made me cry--completely unexpectedly--twice during the course of reading it, once during lunch at work! The title story, about a woman whose husband and child has just died, is heart-wrenching and happy-making all at once. And the collection ends with a new story about Schmendrick, the rather hapless magician of The Last Unicorn. We get to learn a little about him before he meets a certain unicorn in a certain midnight carnival, and that's just fine with me.
Wee Free Men
So, I'm a little behind the times on this one, seeing as how it came out in 2003 and there are over 30 books in Terry Pratchett's Discworld universe. (Honestly, though, that's part of the reason I'm behind the times. Does anyone else freeze up when they find a book series or world that is ginormous? Because if you like it, that's a lot of books to buy, and a lot of time to spend reading them. It can be a bit daunting to me.) Anyway, I finally took the plunge to read the first of his books concerning young witch Tiffany Aching.
And I'm really glad I did. I wasn't sure going in how I would deal with the tone of Wee Free Men. The book is . . . silly, there's no other word for it, and mixes modernisms and typical fantasy tropes so liberally it makes Peter Beagle's "Have a taco" moment look like chump change. And sometimes I don't do very well with books like that. But Wee Free Men is just plain funny, and right when you think you're surrounded by nothing but silly, Pratchett pulls out a line or an archetype that leaves you reeling. Can't wait to read the rest of Tiffany's books, and, if I'm brave, the other Discworld books as well. (Typo when writing that last line: Discoworld. I think that would be a different thing altogether. . . . )
Liar
I've left this book for last because there's almost nothing I can really say about it. I mean it. Anything I say is likely to ruin some aspect of it for you. What I can say is that Liar is a psychological thriller told from the POV of a compulsive teenage liar. And it's awesome. You can read it so many ways, and probably argue with another reader (or even yourself) about them for days. Just check it out, and I think you'll be glad you did.
So, are there any books you've loved recently that I ought to add to my TBR pile (scary though it is)?
Shades of Milk and Honey
Imagine the world of Jane Austen. Remember to add sibling rivalry, foolish engagements, dances, and outings to pick strawberries. Now add that, along with skills like playing the piano and needlework, it's considered essential for a woman of quality to be able to manipulate glamour, or magic. And so you have Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal, which is the book that has charmed me the most in recent days.
Seriously, I loved this book. The magic that Kowal adds to her alternate Britain is so wonderful and unique--and even gives an actual excuse besides tight corsets for young women to faint (or at least pretend to). The characters are all nicely familiar from Austen, but without being mere copies--they're vivid and intriguing, from the Jane, the plain sister who's great at using glamour, to her beautiful sister Melody, who isn't good at anything besides being beautiful and knows it, to the gruff, often annoyed glamourist Mr. Victor. Very excited to hear that there's a sequel in the works.
Sleight of Hand
Sleight of Hand is Peter S. Beagle's newest short story collection, and I have to say that I'm pissed at him. He made me cry--completely unexpectedly--twice during the course of reading it, once during lunch at work! The title story, about a woman whose husband and child has just died, is heart-wrenching and happy-making all at once. And the collection ends with a new story about Schmendrick, the rather hapless magician of The Last Unicorn. We get to learn a little about him before he meets a certain unicorn in a certain midnight carnival, and that's just fine with me.
Wee Free Men
So, I'm a little behind the times on this one, seeing as how it came out in 2003 and there are over 30 books in Terry Pratchett's Discworld universe. (Honestly, though, that's part of the reason I'm behind the times. Does anyone else freeze up when they find a book series or world that is ginormous? Because if you like it, that's a lot of books to buy, and a lot of time to spend reading them. It can be a bit daunting to me.) Anyway, I finally took the plunge to read the first of his books concerning young witch Tiffany Aching.
And I'm really glad I did. I wasn't sure going in how I would deal with the tone of Wee Free Men. The book is . . . silly, there's no other word for it, and mixes modernisms and typical fantasy tropes so liberally it makes Peter Beagle's "Have a taco" moment look like chump change. And sometimes I don't do very well with books like that. But Wee Free Men is just plain funny, and right when you think you're surrounded by nothing but silly, Pratchett pulls out a line or an archetype that leaves you reeling. Can't wait to read the rest of Tiffany's books, and, if I'm brave, the other Discworld books as well. (Typo when writing that last line: Discoworld. I think that would be a different thing altogether. . . . )
Liar
I've left this book for last because there's almost nothing I can really say about it. I mean it. Anything I say is likely to ruin some aspect of it for you. What I can say is that Liar is a psychological thriller told from the POV of a compulsive teenage liar. And it's awesome. You can read it so many ways, and probably argue with another reader (or even yourself) about them for days. Just check it out, and I think you'll be glad you did.
So, are there any books you've loved recently that I ought to add to my TBR pile (scary though it is)?
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