I decided to read these books all over again. The length of my workdays, and the fact that today I was working at one place or another from six-forty in the morning until nine at night, has put the kibosh on any adventurous reading I might feel like doing. I returned all my library books to the library with the intention of reading my books that I already own (but not yet Suzy, Led Zeppelin, and Me, for which I’m still delaying gratification); and I came up with the bright idea of reading the entire Harry Potter series over from…
9 CommentsCategory: Favored authors
Getting the Girl, Markus Zusak (another unreviewy review)
Published 13 Oct 2008
by
Gin Jenny
Sheesh, I read this right after Fighting Ruben Wolfe and then completely forgot to review this. It’s because so many new things are happening. I’m not just making an excuse. There are a lot of things going on in my life at the moment. For instance: 1. New job 2. New commitment to regular writing schedule 3. New phone and laptop 4. New record player 5. Loads and loads of new records – some purchased, some given to me by kind aunt and uncle – and the discovery of a wondrous record store in town 6. New addiction to Jodi…
2 CommentsFighting Ruben Wolfe, Markus Zusak
Published 4 Oct 2008
by
Gin Jenny
I read this because I bought Getting the Girl, and then it turned out that Getting the Girl was a sequel to Fighting Ruben Wolfe. I haven’t liked reading things out of order since I was a young lass reading Patricia C. Wrede’s Dragons books. I read Talking to Dragons first and found it totally confusing, and after that I resolved to read things properly and in order thereafter. (The one exception being the Chronicles of Narnia. I can see a person being just as happy reading those books in the order they were written, which would give them the…
Leave a CommentLux the Poet, Martin Millar
Published 3 Oct 2008
by
Gin Jenny
I am afraid that if I keep saying sweet to describe Martin Millar’s book, it will seem to be that I am damning him with faint praise and denying that he has any edge. Because his books contain themes about racism and drugs and sex and whatnot, and these aren’t things generally associated with books that are sweet. On the other hand, if Martin Millar didn’t want his books to be described as sweet, he should not have written such extremely sweet books. So it’s not really my fault. Lux the Poet is about several things. It’s about a poet…
2 CommentsThe Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
Published 30 Sep 2008
by
Gin Jenny
The reason for the brevity of those last two reviews is that I am really mostly just excited about The Graveyard Book, which came out today. At last! The Graveyard Book! I have been yearning and yearning and yearning for it, and at last it came out, and I read it all outside on a blanket in my side yard, and it was nice and shady and breezy, and I felt very, very, very happy! I went to Bongs & Noodles today to get The Graveyard Book, and they had not yet even opened up the box with the display…
7 CommentsTom Finder, Martine Leavitt
Published 27 Sep 2008
by
Gin Jenny
I just bought a bunch of new books. Tom Finder is the fifth from the bottom. Two of the other books I got, I have not included in this picture, because I am going to get them for my oldest sister for Christmas, and although I’m pretty sure she doesn’t read this blog, I don’t want to take chances. See, it turns out I was entitled to get this gift card from Amazon for $100, so I claimed it, and then I spent it. I spent my money very sensibly, which allowed me to get free shipping and two of…
5 CommentsEleanor Rigby, Douglas Coupland
Published 18 Sep 2008
by
Gin Jenny
Well, wow. Looking back at my reference page, I apparently read about Eleanor Rigby first over at an adventure in reading, but I don’t remember that. I actually picked this up at the library as a substitute for Hey Nostradamus!, of which I liked the title and the cover when I saw it in audiobook form at Bongs & Noodles. I have such a love-hate relationship with new authors. On one hand, I desperately want them to be my Next Big Discovery; on the other hand, I know that Next Big Discovery people almost always disappoint, generally around the third…
8 CommentsGreensleeves, Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Published 6 Sep 2008
by
Gin Jenny
Omens are medieval. But – so are masks and dominoes, and a merrie singing cuckoo and a song called Greensleeves that will probably haunt me all my life. To me that whole fading summer has rather the flavor of medieval music. It had the shifting key changes, the gay, skipping rhythm and minor melody, and that unresolved, inconclusive end. I never feel that any review I could write of Greensleeves will ever be adequate. But I lent it to my friend Teacher to read during the hurricane, and she loved it a lot, and it made me jealous that I…
22 CommentsThe Laughter of Dead Kings, Elizabeth Peters
Published 6 Sep 2008
by
Gin Jenny
I would say – not her best work. People are never as interesting once they’re all kissy-face. Vicky and John have much I&D, as usual, and it was charming how Elizabeth Peters put herself in the book. I want to be Elizabeth Peters’s friend because she has read all the same trashy novels that I have read (like The Sheik! and she knows the bravest-by-far-in-the-ranks-of-the-Shah-damn-the-girl-she’d-been-laughing-at-him-all-the-time song!). And Schmidt is the greatest swordsman in Europe. And that’s about all I have to say about that.
Leave a CommentLonely Werewolf Girl, Martin Millar
Published 13 Jul 2008
by
Gin Jenny
I was very skeptical about Martin Millar. I heard about Martin Millar from Neil Gaiman’s website, because he (Neil Gaiman) wrote an introduction to The Good Fairies of New York extolling its manifold virtues, so I got it from the library because I liked the title. I didn’t expect much out of it. The last time I trusted Neil Gaiman’s opinion, I read four books by Jonathan Carroll and hated them all desperately. (Yes, the obvious question is why did I read four of them then, and the answer is, I’ve no idea, it was long ago and I can’t…
4 Comments