My reading list for January is unusually short (19 books), though I really can’t imagine why. It totals 7,777 pages, though, so really, it’s not like I was completely slacking off, or anything. There’s a lot of fantasy/sci-fi in the list, and I went on an alternate-history jag, because, well, the whole “What if” concept is fun. Anyway, here’s the list:

1. DEEP SECRET by Diana Wynne Jones (375 p). A fantasy set in modern day England, as a fantasy convention kind of goes . . . awry. Entertaining, and one of the few books by this author not directed specifically at a young adult audience. It’s highly enjoyable.
2. VANISHING ACTS by Jodi Picoult (418 p). What happens when you find out your father kidnapped you as a toddler, but you don’t find out until you’re an adult, with a child of your own, and engaged to be married? Welcome to this world. Now, I enjoy Picoult’s books–they’re light and fluffy, but address some serious issues. “Plain Truth” was excellent, as was “The Pact.” This one, though, left me cold. It spent far too much time following Dad/Grandpa’s all-too-graphic stay in prison, and didn’t spend enough time addressing the actual characters, which has always been her strong suit. It was too fragmented. She’s done this all along–following each character for a chapter–but this book just felt like it was going too many directions at once. And, did I mention the excessive prison scenes?
3. MERLIN CONSPIRACY by Diana Wynne Jones (468 p). Sort of a sequel to “Deep Secret” above, but not really. One character gets a main role here, but it takes place in one of “many” alternate universes . . . he sort of gets lost . . . but it’s also back to the YA category. I’ve been a fan of Jones’ for 25 years and always enjoy her books, though this one isn’t a favorite. Enjoyable enough, but slow-starting.
4. MADAM, WILL YOU TALK? by Mary Stewart (189 p). Ah, light and fluffy, one of the early “mysteries” by Mary Stewart. Charity is on vacation in France with a friend, when she meets a young boy named David, apparently terrified of his murderer-but-got-off father, who stalks her through the countryside of post-WWII France, trying to find out where his son is. By modern standards, this book has little substance and the plot is long on exposition and short on action . . . but “modern” isn’t always good, and what this light little book has is plenty of old-fashioned charm . . . if a murder mystery can be considered charming. And, oh my word, Ms. Stewart could describe food and countryside so that you almost feel like you’re there yourself.
5. THE GRAND IDEA by Joel Achenbach (300 p). I wrote all about this book on January 5th. To quote myself: “It tells the true story of George Washington’s plan to make the Potomac
   (aka Patowmack) River a main, commercial artery to the Western part of
   the new United States. It’s interesting in and of itself, but I’m
   enjoying the author’s subtle sense of humor, which sneaks in from time
   to time. How many historians can work the word “squishy” into a serious
   work? (”Even so, they might have gotten away with it, for frontier law tended to be squishy.”) I’m enjoying the main story, but I’m loving the little tongue-in-cheek asides.”
6. FIRE ROSE by Mercedes Lackey (433 p). Another fantasy, this time taking place around turn-of-the-century San Francisco. Our San Francisco, except . . . there are magicians. It’s not well known, but . . . in this book . . . true. Rose has no idea when she takes a job for a mysterious recluse . . . this is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, through Lackey’s unique viewpoint. She’s been retelling a lot of fairy tales lately, and doing a fine job, but this, I think, is my favorite.
7. LORD DARCY by Randall Garrett (673 p). By rights, this should count as 4 books. See, I have all of these stories in other volumes (three, to be exact), but one of the stories in this omnibus is a novel-length story that I had back in high school, lent to a friend, and never saw again. It’s been out of print for years–until this collection was published. So, I could, quite honestly, have counted this as four separate books, because I have them as four separate books, but I felt that would somehow be cheating. Anyway, the story? Another alternate world (I love the idea of alternate universes)–not only is the Plantagenet family still ruling over in Europe, but, yep, magic works, too. Lord Darcy is, well, picture Sherlock Holmes as a British peer, and Watson as a small, plump Irish magician. I know, it sounds corny, and yet they’re very entertaining. Murder mysteries with logic and evidence and clues . . . and yet, magic, too. What’s not to love?
8. THE TWO GEORGES by Richard Dreyfuss and Harry Turtledove (596 p). Continuing the alternate universe theme, here, the USA never broke from England and is still part of the Commonwealth. The best-known, best-loved symbol of the country is a painting of George Washington and George III meeting, symbolizing the joining of the two countries. Skip ahead 200+ years to present day California. The Two Georges is stolen, just before the current King of England is about to visit the North American Union . . . this is a delicious alternate reality, with hints of reality thrown in for fun. (Two scottish brothers who make excellent fish and chips, the leader of the NUA is Sir Martin Luther King. John F. Kennedy runs the radical newspaper supporting the radical group Sons of Liberty (who drink John Adams Ale).) It’s another mystery, but in a slightly different world–though, no, no magic here. Normal rules of physics apply!
9. THE CLIENT by John Grisham (421 p). It’s been a while since I read anything of Grisham’s, and I needed something to kick myself out of alternate-mode, so . . . Do I really need to tell you the story? Young Mark witnesses the suicide of Romy, a mob-lawyer who knows a secret too big and breaks under the strain . . . Mark’s little brother goes into shock, Mark hires a lawyer, the mob makes threats . . . nonsense, really, and not earth-shattering, but again, enjoyable enough.
10. MAGICIAN’S ASSISTANT by Ann Patchett (357 p). (swoon) I just love the way this woman writes! At the sudden death of her (gay) magician husband, Sabine finds that he’s kept an enormous secret from her all these years–his mother, his family, are not dead as he’d told her, but alive and well in cold Minnesota. This is a wonderful book. She’s an incredible author. Delicate. Descriptive. Light-touched rather than heavy-handed with the emotional details. Wonderful.
11. THE TIME-TRAVELLER’S WIFE by Audrey Niffenegger (518 p). I had a couple of people mention this to me within a week, and so I just had to pull it off the shelf and reread it. Henry and Clare. Henry has a genetic disorder that leaps him unexpectedly through time, and he’s been visiting Clare for most of her life, before they ever “meet” in real time. I love the twists and turns of the different meetings–the ages of the two vary every chapter, as they date and get engaged, try to get pregnant . . . it’s a completely unique take on time-travel, and darn good, although my feeling is that it kind of peters out at the end, and goes for pathos rather than a really satisfying ending. And yes, there are paradoxes that aren’t explained away by the book’s internal logic, but . . . hugely enjoyable.
12. THE ALPHABET OF THORN by Patrica McKillip (291 p). Haunting. Delicate. Nepenthe is an orphan, raised to be a librarian/scholar, when she’s given a book no-one can read, written in an alphabet made of thorns. It’s a fantasy of the first order. McKillip has such a deft touch for misty kinds of stories–wafting by in their mysterious way, leaving hints of scent and spice and intrigue in their wake. This is one of my favorites.
13. ROSE DAUGHTER by Robin McKinley (306 p). Another re-telling of Beauty and the Beast, not only my second of the month, but the author’s second as well. Her very first book was “Beauty,” and here, she revisits the same fairy tale but in a completely new way. I admit I like the first one best, but this one, too, is a delicate, mysterious little story, with roses and magic, and three sisters . . . Another author I wish would write faster!
14. THE WIND WITCH by Susan Dexter (335 p). Yes. Another fantasy. The middle of her “Valadan” trilogy, but one of my favorites by an author who is sadly mostly out of print these days. A real shame because I just adore her style of writing. And, oh, there’s spinning and weaving. Druyan is struggling to save her farm, now that her husband has been killed in a raid by Viking-like raiders from overseas. They have a captive, though, a man who can sometimes see hints of the future, so that Druyan tries to bring warnings to towns in danger of being invaded, all on her sired-by-the-wind horse, Valadan. Really enjoyable book. I have all of this authors’ books and so wish she would write more!
15. THE LIADEN UNIVERSE COMPANION by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (292 p). I think we’ve established over the months that I really enjoy the Liaden sci-fi stories by these two. They’re wonderful. Well, here are a bunch of short stories that help round-out, support, back-up some of the stories told in the full-length novels. As much as I don’t love short stories, these I enjoyed, because the world was familiar, the characters were loved, and yet, the adventures were new.
16. EXILE’S SONG by Marion Zimmer Bradley (493 p).
17. SHADOW MATRIX by Marion Zimmer Bradley (556 p).
18. TRAITOR’S SUN by Marion Zimmer Bradley (534 p). A Darkover trilogy, the last written . . . well, co-written, really . . . by MZB before she died. They follow the story of Marguerida Alton as she returns to Darkover as a music scholar and learns that she is an heir to a Domain and has laran to boot–not that she believes in laran. Deborah Ross, who completes these stories, has an excellent match in voice to MZB, and this trilogy is wholly enjoyable, especially since it puts at least some closure on the Darkover saga . . . a relief since its creator is now gone.
19. KNITTING YARN AND SPINNING TALES edited by Kari Cornell (222 p). A series of essays, mostly about knitting, by some highly accomplished people–both as writers and crafters. Good.

• Tags: Monthly Reading List, Reading • Permalink:A Little Light Reading //