Okay it's been... nearly two months since I posted one of these. Because it took about two months for me to finish more than one book. *hands*
Currently Reading:
For work: Wolfgang Iser, 'The Fictive and the Imaginary'. It's doing my head in.
For funsies: Uh... I've let them lapse, but technically I'm reading Science of the Discworld II, and The Hanging Tree (Ben Aaronovitch). And I've been puttering through Glenarvon again.
I've also been reading mountains of fanfic, in news that surprises no one.
Recently Finished:
Coffee Boy by Austin Chant
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Meh. It was cute. It made me a leeetle uncomfortable with the boss/intern thing.
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was every bit as good as the internet lead me to believe it was. Probably the only complaint I have against it was that the first half was kind of slow - but that might just have been that my brain was over-full at the time I started it. (Wait: it's kind of low on female characters, and the first interesting one of them died early on.)
For it's genre it's... hard work? Harder work than Six of Crows, certainly. I do intend to read the sequels, but probably not during semester.
Death by Coffee by Alex Erickson
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
This is not a good book. It's not an egregiously terrible book in any particular way, but collectively, it annoyed me. The mystery case itself was interesting but the resolution was forced; the detective's methods of investigating made no sense; the characterisation was flat; the romance pasted-on.
I might've given it two stars if it weren't for the incredibly lazy use of 'poor me i am dumpy and my friend is beautiful - but I'm not FAT fat, just regular fat' as a short-cut to Everywomaning the protagonist. If the protag is THAT jealous of her best friend the best friend has made a poor life choice opening a business with her.
As La Vista Turns by Kris Ripper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a good ending to the whole series! Pretty delightful all round.
The romance plot suffered from the same failure mode that I noted re The Butch and the Beautiful: only one internal relationship conflict and it resolved too easily. The secondary plot(s) were great, though. Really great.
Up Next: Look, my hard copy to-read pile is getting terrifying. Also I found my summer Meanjin (it went missing for two months) AND my autumn edition has arrived, so I have catching up to do.
Music Notes:
I think the last time I added music notes to one of these I'd just discovered the Carolina Chocolate Drops; and mid-feb I did a top-75 tracks roundup that featured the YOI soundtrack, some more Mountain Goats and Lumineers tracks, and the like. I discovered binge-listening single tracks somewhere in there.
Music I have loved in the past few months:
- Hanggai, 'Horse of Colours' album (Mongolian folk-rock, discovered via![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
leareth)
- The Waifs, 'Ironbark' album (SO GOOD. My gosh.)
- Sia's 'The Greatest' (from the album This Is Acting, which is pretty good but not as awesome as that one track is)
- Taylor Swift, '1989' album (binge-listened on a long-haul flight, I have no excuses)
Most recently I have acquired David Bazan's 'Curse Your Branches' (because this is a great time of year to discover a former christian rocker's break-up-with-God album) and Carbon Leaf's 'Nothing Rhymes with Woman' (via a new fandom pal). They are good musics.
Currently Reading:
For work: Wolfgang Iser, 'The Fictive and the Imaginary'. It's doing my head in.
For funsies: Uh... I've let them lapse, but technically I'm reading Science of the Discworld II, and The Hanging Tree (Ben Aaronovitch). And I've been puttering through Glenarvon again.
I've also been reading mountains of fanfic, in news that surprises no one.
Recently Finished:
Coffee Boy by Austin ChantMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Meh. It was cute. It made me a leeetle uncomfortable with the boss/intern thing.
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott LynchMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was every bit as good as the internet lead me to believe it was. Probably the only complaint I have against it was that the first half was kind of slow - but that might just have been that my brain was over-full at the time I started it. (Wait: it's kind of low on female characters, and the first interesting one of them died early on.)
For it's genre it's... hard work? Harder work than Six of Crows, certainly. I do intend to read the sequels, but probably not during semester.
Death by Coffee by Alex EricksonMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
This is not a good book. It's not an egregiously terrible book in any particular way, but collectively, it annoyed me. The mystery case itself was interesting but the resolution was forced; the detective's methods of investigating made no sense; the characterisation was flat; the romance pasted-on.
I might've given it two stars if it weren't for the incredibly lazy use of 'poor me i am dumpy and my friend is beautiful - but I'm not FAT fat, just regular fat' as a short-cut to Everywomaning the protagonist. If the protag is THAT jealous of her best friend the best friend has made a poor life choice opening a business with her.
As La Vista Turns by Kris RipperMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a good ending to the whole series! Pretty delightful all round.
The romance plot suffered from the same failure mode that I noted re The Butch and the Beautiful: only one internal relationship conflict and it resolved too easily. The secondary plot(s) were great, though. Really great.
Up Next: Look, my hard copy to-read pile is getting terrifying. Also I found my summer Meanjin (it went missing for two months) AND my autumn edition has arrived, so I have catching up to do.
Music Notes:
I think the last time I added music notes to one of these I'd just discovered the Carolina Chocolate Drops; and mid-feb I did a top-75 tracks roundup that featured the YOI soundtrack, some more Mountain Goats and Lumineers tracks, and the like. I discovered binge-listening single tracks somewhere in there.
Music I have loved in the past few months:
- Hanggai, 'Horse of Colours' album (Mongolian folk-rock, discovered via
leareth)- The Waifs, 'Ironbark' album (SO GOOD. My gosh.)
- Sia's 'The Greatest' (from the album This Is Acting, which is pretty good but not as awesome as that one track is)
- Taylor Swift, '1989' album (binge-listened on a long-haul flight, I have no excuses)
Most recently I have acquired David Bazan's 'Curse Your Branches' (because this is a great time of year to discover a former christian rocker's break-up-with-God album) and Carbon Leaf's 'Nothing Rhymes with Woman' (via a new fandom pal). They are good musics.