Recent reading
Apr. 17th, 2014 11:28 amI hope all you people who were at Bitching Party had fun! *envious* Am on a train all day; might as well do some booklogging. Also I did some writing--my due South Big Bang is now at 5000 words. \o/
The Genocidal Healer, by James White
SF about a multi-species hospital, with lots of interesting alien biology and psychology, and also ethical problems. I enjoyed it! Would read more in the series (but not any time soon on account of my large to-read pile). I got the rec for this from
rushthatspeaks' book reviews, which are enjoyable reading in themselves.
Pilgrimage: the Book of the People, by Zenna Henderson
cahn, you were right that I would like this! I liked the atmospheric language, and I enjoyed the feeling of warmth and longing and community, although not being a Christian, I could not quite identify on that front (well, okay, I know it's supposed to be an alien religion, but it does feel very Christian to me). Most of the short stories (and also the frame story itself) is a variation on the same theme, so it's quite predictable, but I didn't mind. Also, I was not at all surprised when I read that Henderson was a teacher. Write what you know, and all. *g*
Laura's Wolf, by Lia Silver
Written by someone in my DW circle. This is het romance where the guy is a werewolf, which is the sort of thing I would be wary about if I knew nothing about the author (because the gender roles might not work for me). No worries about that here! I liked the characters and their relationship--the woman is a former con artist, and I liked seeing that side of her personality in the way she got out of tight spots and handled relationships. The guy showed plenty of vulnerability and was pretty damaged--in fact there's tons of h/c here, if that is your thing. I liked that the book ended with lots of relationships being important aside from the main romantic one! On the negative side, I didn't feel the immediate sexual attraction. That's not necessarily a fault in the book, though--in fact I suspect the reason I pretty much never read romance novels and get my romance/porn from fic is that in fic I can read about people whose attraction to each other I already believe in, because I usually need a fair amount of build-up.
Oh, and have a fic rec:
mistyzeo's The Vast Profundity Obscure, which is an ACD-canon Holmes/Watson crossover with His Dark Materials. Thoughtful plot and worldbuilding, and great daemons!
The Genocidal Healer, by James White
SF about a multi-species hospital, with lots of interesting alien biology and psychology, and also ethical problems. I enjoyed it! Would read more in the series (but not any time soon on account of my large to-read pile). I got the rec for this from
Pilgrimage: the Book of the People, by Zenna Henderson
Laura's Wolf, by Lia Silver
Written by someone in my DW circle. This is het romance where the guy is a werewolf, which is the sort of thing I would be wary about if I knew nothing about the author (because the gender roles might not work for me). No worries about that here! I liked the characters and their relationship--the woman is a former con artist, and I liked seeing that side of her personality in the way she got out of tight spots and handled relationships. The guy showed plenty of vulnerability and was pretty damaged--in fact there's tons of h/c here, if that is your thing. I liked that the book ended with lots of relationships being important aside from the main romantic one! On the negative side, I didn't feel the immediate sexual attraction. That's not necessarily a fault in the book, though--in fact I suspect the reason I pretty much never read romance novels and get my romance/porn from fic is that in fic I can read about people whose attraction to each other I already believe in, because I usually need a fair amount of build-up.
Oh, and have a fic rec: