The following books were read from January to March 2006.
Bridget Jones’s Diary, by Helen Fielding: I’ve seen Bridget Jones referenced obliquely so many times—in magazine articles, in the Very Secret Diaries, in passing conversations—that reading the actual book was somewhat of an anticlimax. I suppose it also didn’t help that I had watched the movie [...]
The following books were read in December 2005.
Cut to the Quick, by Kate Ross: The first of the Julian Kestrel mysteries featuring a Regency dandy as the detective. When you hear such a premise, the sort of protagonist brought to mind is a flippant, well-dressed wit whose trivial façade hides a sharp intellect. In a [...]
I haven’t updated this blog since last October, due to considerable laziness on my part. But that doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned it, and I shall try my best over the next few days to catch up on the backlog. In this post, some notes on the books I read from October to November [...]
Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett: Another Ankh-Morpork novel along the lines of The Truth, i.e. a look into the chaos that explodes when the Discworld equivalent of a modern-day convenience develops. Vetinari at his absolute best here. There’s definitely a gentle parody of that 50s film stereotype of the con man who ends [...]
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling: I bet it’s still not safe to post spoilers. What I will say is that The Half-Blood Prince has replaced The Prisoner of Azkaban as my favorite in the series. I’m sure some people will violently disagree with me (especially due to the, er, [...]
I finished these books last month. My reactions have muted with time, so I’ll try to note down quickly my most memorable impressions.
Claudius the God, by Robert Graves: I’ve been meaning to read Claudius the God ever since I finished I, Claudius two years ago, and finally I’ve gotten around to borrowing it from Lamont. [...]
The Fairy Godmother, by Mercedes Lackey: What is there to say? It’s exactly what one expects from Lackey, complete with empowered female protagonist and all. It “overthrows” romance novel conventions in such a predictable way that nothing about the plot is unusual or surprising. Lackey does her best to make her [...]
The following books were read from March to May of this year:
Taltos, by Steven Brust: The first book in the Vlad series, chronologically-speaking, and tells how Vlad meets Morrolan, Sethra Lavode, and Aliera. Also explains how he got Spellbreaker. I’ve noticed that Brust varies his narrative technique for each Vlad novel, and in Taltos, he [...]
The following books were read from late January to March of this year.
Comfort and Joy, by Jim Grimsley: My friend lent me this sequel to Winter Birds after I finished the first two Grimsley books, and despite the lack of novel narrative devices, I think I preferred this novel to its prequel. That being said, [...]
Samguk Yusa: Legends and History of the Three Kingdoms of Ancient Korea, by Ilyon (trans. Tae-Hung Ha): I was in Yenching, looking for books on Yi Sunsin, the famous Korean admiral who nearly single-handedly led the Korean navies to victory against Hideyoshi’s invasion, when I came across this translation of Samguk Yusa, written by the [...]