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oh, look, we haven't been swept away by the rising creeks
It’s been raining in ATL for something like 2 weeks, lots of gray skies and terrible traffic. And I think there was enough water that we had some minor leaking in the basement, ugh.
Anyway, it started clearing up yesterday and there is blue sky visible today, \o/.
Lots of stuff has been going on, but that would require me to process and organize it all in order to write about it, so I will stick with thanking everyone for the birthday good wishes (♥ to you all) and just go for a catch-up for the Wednesday book meme.
finished
Neanderthal Seeks Human, Penny Reid - Contemporary romance that skated a little too close to the To Stupid To Live trope in the beginning, even though the protagonist is actually very intelligent. There’s a difference between social anxiety/Aspergers and utter obliviousness, and we came perilously close to the latter in a couple of instances (specifically, when the protagonist is self-loathingly certain that the reason nothing happened with the gorgeous guy she’s in lust with is because he knows he’s way out of her league and is offended she would even think that something might happen, rather than the guy being horrified at the implication that he would start something with a date-rape-drugged woman he’s just rescued.) Said guy is also a little toooo Alpha for my tastes, but not so much that he’s tipped over into asshole territory. The real joy of this book is Janie’s interior monologues, which range far and wide and random, and how she consciously works through her social anxiety with some very good mental health techniques, AND how that frequently ties into her being good at what it is that she does. There’s obviously more to come (lots of background details that are dying to be expanded) and I think I’ll add the sequels to Ye Olde TBR stack. (I whispersynced this one and I thought Jennifer Grace did a good job dealing with Janie’s first person internal monologues, but I have to admit this is the first book I’ve ever listened to on a sped-up playback. It was just taking *forever* to get through chapters at 1x speed.)
Dead Beat, Jim Butcher – Book 7? 8? of the Dresden Files, aka, the one with the zombies. I think this is my favorite of the series so far. I like this circle of found family Dresden has accumulated around him and the zombification he managed to pull off was pretty awesome. I still wished for a 2x4 to club some sense into him occasionally, but it wouldn’t be a Dresden book w/o that feeling. Also, James Marsters is still excellent at the narration of the audiobooks.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving, narrated by Tom Mison – As part of my Embrace-The-Season strategy for getting through the upcoming winter, I binged watched/read/listened to Halloween-themed media and this was a fabulous kitchen / treadmill accompaniment. It’s been decades since I had to read this for school, and it is MUCH BETTER to have Ichabod himself narrating it rather than disinterested, unengaged high school freshmen.
now
The Raven Boys, Maggie Stiefvater – I’m only a few chapters in, but the library wants it back shortly, so it’s moving to the front of the line.
Proven Guilty, Jim Butcher/James Marsters narrating – The next of the Dresden audiobooks, and at this point, my commute is Not Right w/o Marsters’ Dresden in my ears.
next
Fangirl and Carry On: The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow, Rainbow Rowell – The library came through with both of these super quickly, which made the librarians so happy when I picked them up that I am ducking them whenever I go in for another reason because they want to know what I thought of them. Ugh, social pressure. :/
Anyway, it started clearing up yesterday and there is blue sky visible today, \o/.
Lots of stuff has been going on, but that would require me to process and organize it all in order to write about it, so I will stick with thanking everyone for the birthday good wishes (♥ to you all) and just go for a catch-up for the Wednesday book meme.
finished
Neanderthal Seeks Human, Penny Reid - Contemporary romance that skated a little too close to the To Stupid To Live trope in the beginning, even though the protagonist is actually very intelligent. There’s a difference between social anxiety/Aspergers and utter obliviousness, and we came perilously close to the latter in a couple of instances (specifically, when the protagonist is self-loathingly certain that the reason nothing happened with the gorgeous guy she’s in lust with is because he knows he’s way out of her league and is offended she would even think that something might happen, rather than the guy being horrified at the implication that he would start something with a date-rape-drugged woman he’s just rescued.) Said guy is also a little toooo Alpha for my tastes, but not so much that he’s tipped over into asshole territory. The real joy of this book is Janie’s interior monologues, which range far and wide and random, and how she consciously works through her social anxiety with some very good mental health techniques, AND how that frequently ties into her being good at what it is that she does. There’s obviously more to come (lots of background details that are dying to be expanded) and I think I’ll add the sequels to Ye Olde TBR stack. (I whispersynced this one and I thought Jennifer Grace did a good job dealing with Janie’s first person internal monologues, but I have to admit this is the first book I’ve ever listened to on a sped-up playback. It was just taking *forever* to get through chapters at 1x speed.)
Dead Beat, Jim Butcher – Book 7? 8? of the Dresden Files, aka, the one with the zombies. I think this is my favorite of the series so far. I like this circle of found family Dresden has accumulated around him and the zombification he managed to pull off was pretty awesome. I still wished for a 2x4 to club some sense into him occasionally, but it wouldn’t be a Dresden book w/o that feeling. Also, James Marsters is still excellent at the narration of the audiobooks.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving, narrated by Tom Mison – As part of my Embrace-The-Season strategy for getting through the upcoming winter, I binged watched/read/listened to Halloween-themed media and this was a fabulous kitchen / treadmill accompaniment. It’s been decades since I had to read this for school, and it is MUCH BETTER to have Ichabod himself narrating it rather than disinterested, unengaged high school freshmen.
now
The Raven Boys, Maggie Stiefvater – I’m only a few chapters in, but the library wants it back shortly, so it’s moving to the front of the line.
Proven Guilty, Jim Butcher/James Marsters narrating – The next of the Dresden audiobooks, and at this point, my commute is Not Right w/o Marsters’ Dresden in my ears.
next
Fangirl and Carry On: The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow, Rainbow Rowell – The library came through with both of these super quickly, which made the librarians so happy when I picked them up that I am ducking them whenever I go in for another reason because they want to know what I thought of them. Ugh, social pressure. :/
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Oh, Tom Mison reading Sleepy Hollow sounds awesome!
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The Dresden Files is a very good choice. I loved him rampaging through town with a dinosaur!
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Dead Beat is either my favorite or second-favorite Butcher, in a close run-off with Proven Guilty. More of the cast of characters around Harry, as you say, than Harry himself, but he's collected a really fun ensemble.
Looking forward to your thoughts on the Raven Boys, too, having recently read it, and the Fangirl/etc. books -- those I haven't read, but am curious about them, having heard a lot of mixed things.
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I've seen some relative excitement (and fic recs) about the Raven Boys on my flist/circle, which is something that generally points me toward trying books. And I tried Fangirl before but couldn't get started, but am trying again with the new one out there. We'll see, as I've also heard mixed reactions and I am not sure she's not going to trip one of my pet peeves. But I did get a lovely chat with the librarians out of it, so that's a plus. (They were excited that someone with gray hair was checking it out to read for herself. :D)