8 days til pub day, the AMOLM virtual tour has begun, & I'm starting to organize all the book swag in my house for the onslaught of upcoming in-person events. If you're interested in a deleted scene from AMOLM and a BOOK GIVEAWAY, head over here: http://www.twochicksonbooks.com/2024/06/blog-tour-misfortune-of-lake-monsters.html
I took my own approach to reading the Horus Heresy books where I read the White Scars books first because the White Scars are cool. I enjoyed them, they were good books.
But this lured me into a space of reading the first two Horus Heresy books and I very much regret that. I cannot imagine getting through False Gods and then intentionally reading Galaxy in Flames.
The #JaneAusten Literacy Foundation is asking the public to vote on the short story compeition! There are three finalists. Voting ends at midnight GMT (7 pm EST) in TWO DAYS (june 21)!
Registration for #JASNA AGM opens TODAY! This year, the theme is “Austen, Annotated: #JaneAusten's literary, political, and culturual origins." The event is held in Cleveland, OH on October 18-20.
Book 23 of 2024: Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble
2.75 stars
I expected this to be a cute romance in a charming setting, but this was...not that. The protagonist's anxiety was extreme to the point that I found the book stressful to read. It felt like the central romance was fundamentally incompatible; they spent most of the book upsetting and talking past each other. The bake-off theme was also pretty underutilized, in my opinion. I like to imagine that behind the scenes, those cozy baking shows are friendly and collegial, but the producers in the book were portrayed as mean and predatory.
I was really expecting some low-intensity fluff, so I'm pretty disappointed. It was fairly well-written, it just didn't feel like a romance novel to me.
Book 24 of 2024: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
4.5 stars
I picked this one up because I enjoyed Station Eleven, which means I went in knowing basically nothing about the plot or premise. Honestly I think this is the best way to experience a book like this.
The mystery unfolded like a puzzle, no less enjoyable when it became a little predictable by the end. I loved many of the characters and settings, particularly the lunar colonies and the parts clearly inspired by Mandel's experience writing a book about a pandemic shortly before an actual pandemic.
I admire her lyrical prose and very effective use of spec fic to explore some thought-provoking themes. It actually felt quite similar to Cloud Atlas in scope and structure. And similarly to David Mitchell's books, there's apparently quite a bit of crossover between this book and Glass Hotel. I'll have to read that soon!
There's going to be a joint Sea of Tranquility/Glass Hotel adaptation with the same creative team who adapted Station Eleven. That's one of my favorite TV shows of all time, so I am incredibly excited.
The #JaneAusten Literacy Foundation is asking the public to vote on the short story compeition! There are three finalists. Voting ends at midnight GMT (7 pm EST) on June 21.
I'm reading through the Clarke Award nominees, and I'm getting very tired of all the wallowing in dystopian futures that have been constructed solely to indict the trajectory of the present.
Like, I get it, SF is and has always been political. And that's fine! But can we please have a STORY as well? And fewer footnotes referencing Supreme Court case outrages?
Something a little different this week: after finishing Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin, I'm pivoting hard to The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean. I didn't love Tales of the City, and I think a large part of that had to do with Maupin's narration: for me, his North Carolina accent didn't translate well to a character driven story set in 1970s San Francisco. Hoping the next book will taste better (pun intended). 😂
No idea how this amazing trilogy have eluded me for 2 decades!
"The best epic fantasy book I have read in a while. Tons of names, tribes, nations, cities, countries, factions, individuals clash in a massive once-in-a-millennium undertaking. What more does a bookworm need? Simply top-shelf stuff, imho. "
The #JaneAusten Literacy Foundation is asking the public to vote on the short story compeition! There are three finalists. Voting ends at midnight GMT (7 pm EST) in EIGHT DAYS (June 21)!