Here’s what I read in October.

1. THIRTEENTH HOUSE by Sharon Shinn (423 p.) Second in the “Twelve Houses” series–a very “standard” kind of fantasy book, but more character-driven than most. Kira is a shape-shifter, and when her father asks her to go, disguised as her sister, on tour with the reclusive princess, she does happily . . . but as they travel, she finds herself attracted to the newly-appointed regent, a married man.

2. INSPIRED FAIR ISLE KNITS by Fiona Ellis (132 p.) Acompletely disappointing knitting book–so bad, I actually returned it. You can read more about my opinion here.

3. DARK MOON DEFENDER by Sharon Shinn (435 p.) Third in the “Twelve Houses” series. Justin, one of the King’s Riders, working undercover, falls in love with a novice at the convent.

4. BLUE SWORD by Robin McKinley (248 p.) Classic YA fantasy book. Young Harry moves to the “Outland” when her father dies, but one night is kidnapped by the Damarian king and soon learns the ways of the desert.

5. MIRABILE by Janet Kagan (278 p.) An interesting sci-fi book, taking place on another world settled by people from earth who brought genetically-altered seeds and embryos with them. Genetically-altered in such a way that the genetic codes are . . . layered, so that you never know what might come out of any given crop. Very interesting, indeed!

6. BELLWETHER by Connie Willis (247 p.) An absolute favorite of mine. Sandra Foster studies the sources of fads while dealing with all sorts of frustrations at her work at HiTek labs, mostly because of the complete ineptitude of the company assistant, Flip . . . it’s hilarious. I love this book….

7. DEEP SECRET by Diana Wynne Jones (375 p.) So, suppose that earth is just one dimension of a series, and that there are Magids who help make sure things work the way they’re supposed to. Now suppose there’s an empire that’s falling apart, just as the world’s youngest magid needs to pick a replacement . . . throw in a fantasy convention in a truly bizarre hotel, a dead mentor haunting a car, and missing heirs, mix well….

8. OD MAGIC by Patricia McKillip (315 p.) Brenden Vetch comes to the king’s city to become gardener at Od’s school of magic. This is a lovely, gentle, sweet kind of book.

9. BROKEN FOR YOU by Stephanie Kallos (368 p.) This is such a nice book. When Margaret learns that she has a fatal brain tumor, instead of going for treatment, she opens her house up to a boarder, Wanda Schultz. But there are secrets and mysteries here–Margaret’s house is filled with relics her father left her–valuable pieces stolen from the Jews sent to the Nazi concentration camp. Wanda is trying to find the boyfriend who left her, not knowing that he was not the person who sent her a Seattle postcard. Little by little, piece by piece, the story comes together, and it’s just delightful.

10. HAPPY ALL THE TIME by Laurie Colwin (214 p.) Another long-time favorite of mine, telling the story of Guido and Vincent as they meet and fall in love with Holly and Misty. It’s just a sweet book, perfect to curl up with on a dreary day. I pull this out at least once a year because it’s just so, so nice to visit.

11. ABOUT A BOY by Nick Hornby (307 p.) Will is an idle, girl-chasing single man who one day decides to pretend he has a son so that he can join a single-parents’ group to hit on the women. It doesn’t work out quite the way he plans, though, because the son of one of them starts coming by his flat after school….

12. SUMMER MOONSHINE by P.G. Wodehouse (282 p.) Classic Wodehouse–which is to say, silly, funny, wacky, unpredictable, unlikely, and purely enjoyable.

13. RENDEVOUS WITH RAMA by Arthur C. Clarke (243 p.) A very sci-fi book. In the not-too-distant future, a massive, empty space ship heads through our solar system, and a team of astronauts are sent to explore it. The science end of it was interesting, but there’s not much to say about the human side of it. Not much by way of character development, but interesting in its way.

14. FREEDOM’S LANDING by Anne McCaffrey (342 p.) First in a trilogy. Earth has been invaded by the Catteni, a race of mercenaries who sweep away the population of a number of our cities. Kris Bjornsen was one of them and, on another planet, spots a Catteni being pursued by his own people and saves him. Things don’t turn out as she planned, though, because she and he are both swept up in another raid and left on another planet as unwilling colonists…

15. FREEDOM’S CHOICE by Anne McCaffrey (293 p.) Second in the trilogy. The Catteni’s overlords are determined to bring Zainal, Kris’s rescued Catteni back, but he’s got other plans in mind–he wants to free not only the humans but the Catteni, but first, they just need to steal a spaceship….

16. FREEDOM’S CHALLENGE by Anne McCaffrey (277 p.) Third in the trilogy. Zainal’s plan is in full force, now all they need to do is figure out how to kill the Eosi….

17. LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY by Frances Hodgson Burnett (190 p.) After reading the biography on F.H.B. a month or so ago, I’ve kind of been in the mood to reread this one. If you don’t know the story, little Cedric Errol turns out to be the next Earl of Dorincourt when his uncles die. He goes to England to meet his bitter, selfish grandfather, who ends up being enchanted by his grandson’s winning ways. But what happens when an imposter turns up?

18. LOST PRINCE by Frances Hodgson Burnett (287 p.) Continuing the sweet, twee, F.H.B. trend, this is the story of Marco Loristan, a young boy being raised to be the secret soldier for the (imaginary) European country of Samaria. He and his friend are sent on a secret mission to different countries in Europe to pass the message that the “Lamp is Lighted,” all in the effort to bring the descendent of the long-lost, true prince to the throne….

19. GENERAL WINSTON’S DAUGHTER by Sharon Shinn (342 p.) A new YA book by a author I love. The description scans as similar to Robin McKinley’s “The Blue Sword,” but after the first chapter, they couldn’t be more different. Averie has come to visit her father and fiance in the very hot country of Chiarrin, where she immediately embraces as much of its culture as she reasonably can. The dress, the codes of colors, the exotic foods, but all is not well, because there are rebels fighting for their country’s freedom, and in one of the attacks, Averie becomes friends with Jalessa, a young fabric seller. This was very good, with a big twist at the end. I saw some of it coming, but not the degree of it, and am still thinking about it, which I consider to be a good sign.

20. CHILD OF THE NORTHERN SPRING by Persia Wooley (468 p.) Book one of a King Arthur trilogy with Guinevere as the main character. It’s good and reasonably authentic, historically speaking. As in, it takes place around 500 AD rather than in the Middle Ages….

21. QUEEN OF THE SUMMER STARS by Persia Wooley (426 p.) Book two of the trilogy, Guinevere and Arthur are married now and trying to make a brave new world. The thing is, Guin is falling for this new knight…. Gosh, I wonder how that will turn out….

22. OWL AND MOON CAFE by Jo-Ann Mapson (352 p.) A nice enough, chick-lit kind of book, multi-generational, family in trouble. Quite good, really, although the genius-but-troubled granddaughter with her oh-so-special science project kind of gets on my nerves. Still, a good book by a good author and a much more upbeat ending than any of her “Bad Girl Creek” books.

23. SHAKESPEARE by Peter Ackroyd (518 p.) Bio of the great man himself. Very good in a short, snappy kind of way. The chapters tended to be just a few pages each, making it easy to pick up and read in small increments. I never knew that Shakespeare died on his birthday.

24. ELVES AND THE OTTERSKIN by Elizabeth Boyer (257 p.) An old fantasy favorite, I bought this book in high school. It’s a Scandinavian-flavored and full of silly kind of fun. Enjoyable and unorthodox.

25. TOUCH NOT THE CAT by Mary Stewart (302 p.) Ah, Mary Stewart. She wrote such elegant little mystery/romances that were oh, so evocative of time and place. (And her descriptions of food are drool-worthy.) This one, Byrony comes home after her father’s sudden death, and finds herself in the midst of an inheritance dispute as well as the mystery of just who she’s had a psychic connection with for her whole life…

26. NINE COACHES WAITING by Mary Stewart (317 p.) Basically, a Mary Stewart Cinderella story. (An analogy driven home a number of times.) Linda takes a governess job in a remove French villa but her charge keeps having accidents. She’s distracted, though, by the dashing son of her employer, who knocks her off her feet . . . literally.

27. HOME FROM THE VINYL CAFE by Stuart McLean (255 p.) A series of short little vignettes about the home life of a record store owner that are on the funny side but I didn’t find them as hilarious as they were supposed to be.

28. KNITTING AMERICA by Susan M. Strawn (197 p.) A nice history of knitting in America, going back to the earliest settlers right up to present day. Great illustrations, though this is more of a coffee table book than a history book (there are a few inaccuracies), it was enjoyable to read through.

29. YOUR PORTABLE EMPIRE by Pat O’Bryan (208 p.) All about internet marketing inspiration….

• Tags: Monthly Reading List, Reading • Permalink:Books Read in October //