Book Round-Up

A Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths: This is the fifth in the Ruth Galloway series about a forensic archeologist, but my library did not have the the first four in e-book form. It's written in the present tense, which was sometimes distracting, and the personal lives of the characters were soap-operatic (soooo many affairs, love triangles, and extra-marital babies). But the mystery was great, and I had a hard time putting it down every night.

Damoren by Seth Skorkowsky: The first in a series about a secret group of hunters who kill demons and monsters with magic weapons. The fetishizing of the weapons had me rolling my eyes quite a bit, and the narrative was distressingly blasé about the large number of innocent casualties, but the world-building was fun and Skorkowsky sure can tell an exciting story.


 The Islands of Chaldea by Diana Wynne Jones: This fun novel, Jones's last and published posthumously, had the standard fantasy tropes only slightly off-kilter and satirical. The ending was a little rushed, though (probably because her sister had to finish it).

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym: one of my favorite novels,* and a comfort-read when I can't get to the library. Excellent women are those spinsters and widows who keep churches and communities functioning by taking on the tasks no one else wants. Mildred is such a woman, often underestimated and taken advantage of but intelligent and observant, with a good understanding of human nature.

Emma by Jane Austen: another re-read in preparation of the digital release of the latest movie version (which is supposed to be great). Emma is rather famously a snob and meddler who comes close to ruining a lot of lives before she finally learns to mind her own business. Austen's novel is, like her others, witty and frothy but also teeming with sharp social commentary.

*So much so I'm writing about it again!

Book Round-Up: Autumn Edition

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-García: This was a good read, a supernatural tale involving Mayan mythology set in 1920s Mexico. The third-person narration was a bit inconsistent in its voice, sometimes subjective and limited, sometimes objective and omniscient. The ending was bittersweet, and entirely fitting for the characters and world Moreno-García described.

Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym: A melancholic look at four older characters, each lonely and uncertain to a greater or lesser extent as they approach the last phase of their lives. Pym's gentle narrative does not shy away from the sadness or regrets the four experience, but there are lovely notes of grace, too.

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths: a rather gentle but still creepy modern gothic novel. It's a little meta -- one of the main characters is an English teacher specializing in gothic fiction -- and a wee bit satirical, with interesting characters and suitably foggy, dark atmosphere.

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware: a more traditional gothic novel, complete with crumbling mansion, nasty housekeeper, and cold, grey weather. There are cell phones and lattes, but the thrilling plot is timeless.

Yarrow: an Autumn Tale by Charles de Lint: in my early twenties I went through a period where I read a bunch of de Lint's works -- urban fantasy stories set in Canada, incorporating Old and New World mythologies and folklore. This fall I was in the mood to read more by him, so I picked up Yarrow. It's an early novel, and it shows. His storytelling style is there, in the use of parallel worlds and the importance of creativity, but the resolution wasn't quite coherent. On the other hand, his secondary characters, particularly the ones that aren't on the side of the protagonists, were more well-rounded than they would be in later novels.