reading matter(s)

[mamajoan]

I haven't mentioned, but one thing that has been great about my new commute is that it gives me some time to read. Depending on which route I choose to take (generally either a) leave car near sandykidd's house and wait for the 69 bus or b) park on the city border and walk through Harvard Yard), and depending on how long the bus takes on days when I take the bus, I get between 5 and 20 minutes to read, morning and afternoon.

(I do read while walking, which takes me back to my childhood when my mom was always telling me I'd kill myself that way someday ;) and also is kind of amusing considering that the book I recently read, The Namesake, includes a whole bit about a character whose parents tell him not to read while walking.)

I can't really express how lovely it is to not be doing 90+ minutes per day of driving, the way I was at my late unlamented job. Being able to relax and read during my commute, rather than having to focus on driving, is great. (Plus, the walking is undoubtedly good for me and possibly the reason I seem to have lost about 5 pounds recently.)

So I've finished The Hallowed Hunt by Bujold, which, as ide_cyan had implied, was a bit disappointing. Of course, it was as well-written and engaging a story as Lois always provides, but it was pretty heavy on the chauvinism, and the overall plot, including particularly the characterization of the protagonist, felt a lot like a rehash of her previous Chalion book. Ah well. I'm still glad I read it.

Now I'm on to Locked Rooms by Laurie King, the latest in her Holmes/Russell series. So far it's pretty interesting and a bit different. I'm already looking ahead, though, and not too excited about anything on my "to read" pile at home. I find that my tolerance for white-man-fic is extremely low right now, and unfortunately that seems to describe everything I have waiting in the wings at home. I'm thinking of going to Amazon to get some new stuff; I see that Nalo Hopkinson has a new book out, and if anyone will cure you of the white-man-fic blues, it is she. ;) Any other recs for recent non-white-man-fic, preferably also without dragons or vampires? (What IS it about the popularity of vampires in sf lately?)

Comments

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

Well, you could always read my book journal, which talks from time to time about books that are not white-man-fic (although I must confess that a fair amount of what I read is written by white women).

Have you read anything by Tananarive Due? So far, I've only read some of her short stories in collections edited by either Nalo Hopkinson or Sheree Thomas, but I'm looking forward to reading more based on those stories.

Ditto for Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, who has a YA fantasy out that I'm looking forward to reading, Zahrah the Windseeker.

How about Karin Lowachee? Warchild, Burndive and Cagebird are hard SF, and very good.

Charles Saunders' fantasies Imaro and The Quest for Cush have been republished if you missed them the first time around.

I can't remember if you've read Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go but if you haven't, it's very thought-provoking.

if you haven't picked up "the sharing knife" yet

[lightningrose.livejournal.com]

wait and read it back to back with its "sequel" -- it was meant to be one book, but because of length, they convinced her to split it. And the book feels like it ended in the middle; the pacing is awful, and I am hoping it makes more sense as a pair. There was good stuff in it, but it felt like... man, this is a lot of exposition, get to the point please? And she never really did.