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A good month for nice long books...as long as you have electricity.
BOOKS READ IN JANUARY:
1. Alan Garner, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: Maybe reading on the plane wasn't the best environment for this book. The plot (innocents assisted by wizard, dwarf, elves, trying to destroy a ring of power before the evil magic creatures use it to enslave the world) seemed too close to LOTR, and I didn't really love any of the characters. A very short book, so I'll try again sometime.
2. Sherwood Smith (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sartorias), The Fox: More of the Inda Saga. I would love this anyway for the pirates, for the character of Inda, for the intricate plot, for all the characters, but two things especially: the women, who not only have their own history and magic, but even their own fighting skills, and the way the magic grows and spreads, from the early parts of Inda where it's just garbage disposal, to the Mages and the terrible hints of the other/underworld of Norsunder.
3. Amitav Ghosh, The Hungry Tide: (reread for book group)The tough knot of resolving the limited space in the world--swimming tigers or refugees? Great descriptions of the tide country, similar and different from our own Low Country, and great and detailed history, the conflict of idealism and terrible necessity. The life of Fokir and his mother, always out of place, and the life of the Sundbarans, the great mangroved island in the delta of the Ganges. Elegantly simple style.
4. Erin Bow (erinbow), Plain Kate: A talking cat, and traveling with the Romani would be enough, but Plain Kate herself is such an admirable and endearing character, with talent and pragmatism. Cast out of her village under suspicion of witchcraft, she finds what witchcraft can really do. Nicely written!
5. Connie Willis, All Clear: Sequel to Blackout. Time traveling historians find themselves marooned in WWII London, during the Blitz and other events. Willis as always has intriguing characters and great details from history, though things move a bit slowly at times…but now that I'm about three-quarters through, the complexities of the plot make the slow parts worthwhile.
6. Thubten Chodron, Working with Anger: Ven. Chodron combines Buddhist wisdom with the practical understanding of Western psychotherapy. Not New Age-y at all, this book follows the ideas of Shantideva, but explains simply, clearly, and realistically how to find ways to manage anger so that it doesn't eat your soul. NB: working with anger does not mean repressing it.
7. Dalai Lama, Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist Perspective: His Holiness follows Shantideva even more closely, and his explanations are more technically Buddhist and more intellectual in some ways than Ven. Chodron, but he shows how to live a reasonable life in a sometimes unreasonable world.
BOOKS READ IN JANUARY:
1. Alan Garner, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: Maybe reading on the plane wasn't the best environment for this book. The plot (innocents assisted by wizard, dwarf, elves, trying to destroy a ring of power before the evil magic creatures use it to enslave the world) seemed too close to LOTR, and I didn't really love any of the characters. A very short book, so I'll try again sometime.
2. Sherwood Smith (
sartorias), The Fox: More of the Inda Saga. I would love this anyway for the pirates, for the character of Inda, for the intricate plot, for all the characters, but two things especially: the women, who not only have their own history and magic, but even their own fighting skills, and the way the magic grows and spreads, from the early parts of Inda where it's just garbage disposal, to the Mages and the terrible hints of the other/underworld of Norsunder.3. Amitav Ghosh, The Hungry Tide: (reread for book group)The tough knot of resolving the limited space in the world--swimming tigers or refugees? Great descriptions of the tide country, similar and different from our own Low Country, and great and detailed history, the conflict of idealism and terrible necessity. The life of Fokir and his mother, always out of place, and the life of the Sundbarans, the great mangroved island in the delta of the Ganges. Elegantly simple style.
4. Erin Bow (
erinbow), Plain Kate: A talking cat, and traveling with the Romani would be enough, but Plain Kate herself is such an admirable and endearing character, with talent and pragmatism. Cast out of her village under suspicion of witchcraft, she finds what witchcraft can really do. Nicely written!5. Connie Willis, All Clear: Sequel to Blackout. Time traveling historians find themselves marooned in WWII London, during the Blitz and other events. Willis as always has intriguing characters and great details from history, though things move a bit slowly at times…but now that I'm about three-quarters through, the complexities of the plot make the slow parts worthwhile.
6. Thubten Chodron, Working with Anger: Ven. Chodron combines Buddhist wisdom with the practical understanding of Western psychotherapy. Not New Age-y at all, this book follows the ideas of Shantideva, but explains simply, clearly, and realistically how to find ways to manage anger so that it doesn't eat your soul. NB: working with anger does not mean repressing it.
7. Dalai Lama, Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist Perspective: His Holiness follows Shantideva even more closely, and his explanations are more technically Buddhist and more intellectual in some ways than Ven. Chodron, but he shows how to live a reasonable life in a sometimes unreasonable world.
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I should note that you and Erin Bow are on LJ--will ETA.
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