reading update

[mamajoan]

My "read in 2009" tag on LibraryThing is up to 8 books, shortly to be 9. I read six in January! Well on my way to another 40-book year. :)

Books I have read thus far in 2009:

* In the Garden of Iden and its sequel Sky Coyote by Kage Baker. It's a long story, but I have been waiting to read these two books for literally years -- maybe a decade. (I SAID it's a long story.) And they did not disappoint! I've gotta get hold of the rest of the sequels. Huge thanks to hawkeye7 for sending me the first book.

* Bonk by Mary Roach is a sometimes hilarious, sometimes horrifying romp through the weird world of sex research throughout the ages. Highly entertaining. Her Stiff (about the weird world of mortuaries) is on my to-read-very-soon pile.

* The Last Colony by John Scalzi was, I must say, a disappointing end to (what started out as) a great series. I felt the book was just weak overall, and with an enormous plot point left dangling unresolved, which drives me nuts. Possibly this would be resolved in his Zoe's Tale which takes place in the same universe, but I dunno.

* Three Cups of Tea is nonfiction about this guy Greg Mortenson who made it his life's work to build schools for girls in Pakistan. It's a fascinating story, and certainly an uplifting subject, but the writing style made me want to throw things.

* The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon is a near-future scifi story about an autistic man who is offered the chance to undergo treatment that might cure his autism. So right away you're thinking "Flowers for Algernon" but it's not really like that at all. It's quite a moving story and gives you lots to think about. I'd recommend it.

* The Milk Memos was written by two moms who worked at IBM and met each other while pumping their breastmilk in the lactation room at work. It's all about the life of a working, breastfeeding, pumping mom. I wish I had had this book back when Isaac was first born and I started back to work. I'm definitely going to be making it my new standard gift for any woman I know who gets knocked up and is likely to be returning to work. It does a great job of covering all the usual (but not often talked about in "mainstream" parenting books) pitfalls and issues of the working-and-pumping mom, with lots of humor and compassion. Really good stuff.

* And last but definitely not least, His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik: another book I've been wanting to read for ages. Thanks sandykidd for giving it to my mom so I could borrow it! ;) I can't recall who first recommended this series to me, but whoever it was and whatever s/he said, it convinced me that this would be a dragon book I'd actually like. ;) And they were so very right! Normally I avoid dragon books like the plague, but here's the perfect exception. I'm almost done with the second in the series now, which will be my #9 for the year. :) w00t!

anyway, so there you have it -- my reading list so far for the year. :) More to come!

Comments

[mofic.livejournal.com]

Three Cups of Tea does not sound promising!

Thanks again for the tip on using Library Thing to track my reading.