Currently reading
Gooseberry Bluff Community College of Magic: The Thirteenth Rib
DIY Cocktails: A Simple Guide to Creating Your Own Signature Drinks
The Lifecycle of Software Objects
JavaScript: The Good Parts
The Historian
Dead Beat (The Dresden Files, Book 7)
I'm not entirely clear on why I decided to read this series. Friends like it, but you can always find people who are passionately committed to a series once they've read a dozen books; it's like some sort of Stockholm syndrome. The first two Dresden books are not very good. The third is not good, but is interesting. And then it starts seeming like it might get interesting but spins around a bit. I liked them well enough, and they're quick reads, but I'm not sure I'd say they're good.This one - book 7(?) - is the first one where I've turned to Ann and said "yeah, you should read this". The series has definitely turned a corner.
Something from the Nightside (Nightside, Book 1)
It was fine. Some clever bits, some breezy bits. Felt more like a proof of concept than anything else.
 - Jenny Lawson)
Blood Rites (The Dresden Files, Book 6)
Starting to pull together as a series. This was definitely one of those books where the author re-establishes their footing and plot in a long series, but it ended up being a good story and not just housekeeping.
I, Crimsonstreak
I wanted to like this more than I did, but it just didn't click with me. Competent, but not too exciting.The book is a novella, with interwoven flashbacks and appendices providing additional background. That could be an interesting book structure if I were more engaged about the characters and their background.
Death Masks (The Dresden Files, Book 5)
blah blah 10-year-old book that's the fifth in the series. You're either going to read this regardless of what I say or, more likely, you've already read it if this is the sort of thing you like. I feel like the series is starting to open up a bit and Butcher's finally getting a hang for handling supporting cast.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character)
I think I would have loved this book if I had read it as a teenager. As an adult, less so.
Fool Moon (The Dresden Files, Book 2)
I'm pretty sure I've read this before. It's fine - full of werewolves and gangsters and things. I expect most people who would be interested in this have already read it.
The Hunger Games
What's there to say? A solid YA dystopian future novel with strong adult crossover appeal. The ending is basically a setup for the next book. It was a good, quick, read. I probably would have absolutely loved this book if I read it when I was 15. I enjoyed it well enough now, and will probably check out the sequels.
Succubus Blues (Georgina Kincaid, Book 1)
Yeah. I don't know why I'm reading this either. It was on my kindle, so it must have seemed like a good idea at some point.The only way this isn't standard urban fantasy romance is that the attractive woman on the cover is facing the reader instead of in a 2/3rds profile shot. It's a competently executed urban fantasy romance, but I think I'd rather watch Lost Girl on SyFy.
 - Richelle Mead)
Invincible: Compendium One
I love Invincible. I've read all this before, but this edition is new to me.This is the softcover, color, edition of Invincible, running through issue 47, with some bits and pieces. It's an enormous book - 1000 pages and sized like a softcover graphic novel.Reading this much in one go reminds me how this series really isn't plotted the same way as a lot of contemporary series - there's less of a fixed arc length.
Matchbox Girls
I was a little apprehensive about picking this up. I've known the author since high school and hadn't read anything she'd written since then. What if I hated it? I've hated friends' books before. And it's full of fairies and magic children and angels. Oh s***. I'm going to hate this and have to pretend I don't.What I had forgotten to keep in mind is that Chrysoula's smart and talented and just as bored by the cliches of contemporary fantasy as I am. And it took about 10 pages to get from concerned to "hey, this is pretty good", followed shortly by "wait, I genuinely like this". And I stayed there all the way to the end.The kids feel like kids, not like miniature plot devices. The protagonist isn't "a conflicted magic wielding female who kills big bad" as another friend of mine disparaged other fantasy novel protagonists. It's a great first novel. If there's a sequel, I'll read it.
The Last Werewolf
I think if you set this in the same shelf as a Twilight book they would annihilate each other in a blinding explosion. Not an easy book to recommend to people without a high tolerance for extremely graphic sex and violence, but an interesting one.
Breadcrumbs
I only picked this up because I have a daughter named Hazel and live in Minneapolis, but I'm glad I did. It's an excellent book that I would have loved at the right age.
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
This wasn't what I was expecting. Unlike the Zombie Survival Guide, there's no hint of a joke. And, unlike nearly all zombie fiction, this is a literal post-mortem, so there's no tension surrounding who lives and dies. It's a strangely fascinating thought exercise about how the modern world would react to a zombie uprising.
The Fuller Memorandum (A Laundry Files Novel)
I'm enjoying the Laundry books quite a bit, and I think Stross is getting better at writing them.
