Books Read in August
1. Young Adult Literature: From Romance to Realism – Michael Cart
A critical overview of YA. I enjoyed the history sections, but felt the SFF section was quite truncated and the LGBTQ chapter needed quite a lot of updating. For instance, the example of the first YA book with an intersex protagonist was one published a year after mine (and one that doesn’t have good reviews from actual intersex readers). This was published by the ALA and my book was on the Rainbow List, so a bit sad it was missed. Plus, no mention of Malinda Lo and other SFF writers that have published loads of LGBTQ YA lit. All in all, an interesting read and a good basis for the class I’ll be teaching next year.
2. The Last Nasmara (Iskari #1) – Kristen Cicarelli
In the beginning, there was the Namsara: the child of sky and spirit, who carried love and laughter wherever he went. But where there is light, there must be dark—and so there was also the Iskari. The child of blood and moonlight. The destroyer. The death bringer.
These are the legends that Asha, daughter of the king of Firgaard, has grown up hearing in hushed whispers, drawn to the forbidden figures of the past. But it isn’t until she becomes the fiercest, most feared dragon slayer in the land that she takes on the role of the next Iskari—a lonely destiny that leaves her feeling more like a weapon than a girl.
Asha conquers each dragon and brings its head to the king, but no kill can free her from the shackles that await at home: her betrothal to the cruel commandant, a man who holds the truth about her nature in his palm. When she’s offered the chance to gain her freedom in exchange for the life of the most powerful dragon in Firgaard, she finds that there may be more truth to the ancient stories than she ever could have expected. With the help of a secret friend—a slave boy from her betrothed’s household—Asha must shed the layers of her Iskari bondage and open her heart to love, light, and a truth that has been kept from her.
3. All Worked Up – Skylar Hill
A fun romance story about two people working in a sex toy company. I find Skylar Hill to be really nice
4. The Player of Games (Culture #2) – Iain M. Banks
The Culture–a humanoid/machine symbiotic society–has thrown up many great Game Players. One of the best is Jernau Morat Gurgeh, Player of Games, master of every board, computer and strategy. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel & incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game, a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game and with it the challenge of his life, and very possibly his death.
5. Wake – Elizabeth Knox
An invisible monster is what you can’t see coming. With an invisible monster you never know when you’re in danger and when you’re safe—if you retreat to your fortress you can’t be sure you haven’t locked it in with you. The invisible monster is something on which no one is an expert. But everyone has the same relationship to it. It could just as well be peering over your shoulder as mine.
On a sunny spring morning the settlement of Kahukura in Tasman is suddenly overwhelmed by a mysterious mass insanity. A handful of survivors find themselves cut off from the world, and surrounded by the dead. As the group of try to take care of one another, and survive in ever more difficult circumstances, it becomes apparent that this isn’t the first time that this has happened, and that they aren’t all survivors and victims – two of them are something quite other. And, it seems, they are trapped with something. Something unseen is picking at the loose threads of their characters, corrupting, provoking, and haunting them.
Wake is a book that asks: ‘What are the last things left when the worst has happened?’ It is a book about extreme events, ordinary people, heroic compassion—and invisible monsters.
6. Wishful Drinking – Carrie Fisher
In Wishful Drinking, Carrie Fisher tells the true and intoxicating story of her life with inimitable wit. Born to celebrity parents, she was picked to play a princess in a little movie called Star Wars when only 19 years old. “But it isn’t all sweetness and light sabres.” Alas, aside from a demanding career and her role as a single mother (not to mention the hyperspace hairdo), Carrie also spends her free time battling addiction, weathering the wild ride of manic depression and lounging around various mental institutions. It’s an incredible tale – from having Elizabeth Taylor as a stepmother, to marrying (and divorcing) Paul Simon, from having the father of her daughter leave her for a man, to ultimately waking up one morning and finding a friend dead beside her in bed.
7. The Tiger’s Watch (Ashes of Gold #1) – Julia Ember
Sixteen-year-old Tashi has spent their life training as a inhabitor, a soldier who spies and kills using a bonded animal. When the capital falls after a brutal siege, Tashi flees to a remote monastery to hide. But the invading army turns the monastery into a hospital, and Tashi catches the eye of Xian, the regiment’s fearless young commander.
Tashi spies on Xian’s every move. In front of his men, Xian seems dangerous, even sadistic, but Tashi discovers a more vulnerable side of the enemy commander—a side that draws them to Xian.
When their spying unveils that everything they’ve been taught is a lie, Tashi faces an impossible choice: save their country or the boy they’re growing to love. Though Tashi grapples with their decision, their volatile bonded tiger doesn’t question her allegiances. Katala slaughters Xian’s soldiers, leading the enemy to hunt her. But an inhabitor’s bond to their animal is for life—if Katala dies, so will Tashi.
8. Song of the Wanderer (Unicorn Chronicles #2) – Bruce Coville
The first book in this series was one of my absolute favourites as a kid – I read it until it fell apart. There was a long delay for the rest of the series, so finally catching up on them.
Cara must return to Earth to save her grandmother, the Wanderer. But to do so, Cara must first travel through the wilderness of Luster, land of the unicorns, full of unknown creatures and perilous adventure around every bend in the road. Only at the back of the dragon Ebillan’s cave will she find the gate that can return her to Earth.
Embarking on the journey of her life, Cara will face vicious terrain, delver attacks, and a surly dragon. Beyond all this looms one more danger: Beloved, Cara’s infamous ancestor, who has dedicated a lifetime to ridding the earth of unicorns. Is Cara strong enough to resist Beloved’s ruthless magic and trickery? Can she bear betraying her own blood?
Total books: 65
Loose reading goals:
Catch up on books I own but haven’t read: The Player of Games
Read more romance: All Worked Up
Re-read some old favourites: none this month
Read more classics: none this month
Continue to read diverse books/books by marginalised authors: Wishful Drinking, Tiger’s Watch
Read nonfiction: Young Adult Literature, Wishful Drinking
Read women: The Last Nasmara, All Worked Up, Wake, Wishful Drinking
