FF: No Real Theme. Sorry!

This week my reading has been all over the place…

A reminder… The Friday Fragments feature lists of what I’ve read over the past week.  Most of the time I don’t include either short fiction or magazine articles.

Another Stark Landscape

The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive 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 few opinions tossed in.

Recently Completed:

The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones.  Audiobook.  I really enjoyed this.  Christopher’s growing realization as to who he is and what consequences are doesn’t automatically make him a “nice child.”  The transformation is a lot more subtle and a lot more interesting.

The Hunt for the Big Bad Wolf by E.M. Tippets.  The third book of Tippets’ series which began with Someone Else’s Fairytale continues being more about “relationships” than romance. This is a plus, as far as I’m concerned.  The mystery/crime plot was well-handled, with an interesting resolution.

In Progress:

Bluefeather Fellini by Max Evans.  I picked this up on impulse.  It’s episodic, almost like novellas woven together.  I’m currently on the battlefields of WWII.  Scary.  There has also been love, sorrow, discovery, friendship, and obsession.  And some gorgeous descriptive writing.

Children of Dune by Frank Herbert.  I’m on a panel at Conduit this weekend on Dune.  I decided I wanted to remind myself how “Dune the next generation” progressed.

Conrad’s Fate by Diana Wynne Jones.  Audiobook.  I’d seriously intended to move on to the second book in the much-discussed Southern Reach triology as soon as a copy became available on audio, but I gave into the lure of watching Christopher as a teenager.

Also:

I started Ursula K. Le Guin’s “rendition” (her word, not mine) of Lao Tzu Tao Te Ching: A Book About the Way and The Power of the Way.  Reading slowly, as such deserves.