Books Read 2007
Jun. 11th, 2007 11:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendi48. Cirque du Freak #11: The Lord of Shadows by Darren Shan. After the otherworldly adventures of the last novel, this one takes us back to the titular Cirque, with some devastating consequences for many of the members (including one that completely floored me). Those consequences, combined with a prophecy that seems to indicate that the world will be destroyed no matter what the hero does, ratchet up the tension quite nicely. Recommended
49. Cirque du Freak #12: Sons of Destiny by Darren Shan. And this one finishes it off perfectly. The resolution to the primary conflict is well-handled (if not entirely surprising to older readers). The twists that come after that, though, are amazing, and manage to resolve some issues that had lingered since the first novel. It's surprisingly -- and effectively -- metafictional, without subverting the eleven and a half books of narrative that come previously. Highly recommended.
50. Generation Loss, by Elizabeth Hand. I was not a fan of Hand's work (based, admittedly, solely on Walking the Moon) before reading this book . I am now. Generation Loss defies easy categorization/genrefication, combining trappings of the gothic, the thriller, and something else that I can't even begin to put my finger on. It tells the story of Cass Neary, a photographer whose flame burned briefly and brightly during the '70s punk movement. Now, as she continues on her downward spiral, she gets convinced to take a job up in Maine, writing about another famous (and now-reclusive) photographer. On the surface, the rest of the novel deals with a mystery involving disappearing teens, but underneath that, it's a story about damaged people, brilliantly paced, somehow taking a group of unsympathetic characters (Cass first and foremost amongst them) and forcing the reader to care deeply about what happens to them. Highly recommended.
51. Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde. Thursday's back! Yay! It's fourteen years later, and she's thus older and wiser, but it's still a Thursday Next novel, with all the chaos and literary twists that entails. Alas, the ARC I read (thanks,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
yunatwilight) lacks the illustrations, but otherwise, this was as enjoyable as the first four, with some nice shots at reality TV, Bush, and the state of literature as a whole. We also get the first cameo by someone else's copyrighted character in the series. Warning: although the primary plotline is wrapped up, there's a secondary one that remains open for the sequel. Highly recommended
52. The Pusher by Ed McBain. I'd forgotten about this series for a while, but I'm back reading it. McBain's not Hammett, but he's certainly on a par with MacDonald or MacDonald (and thus better, if less funny, than McDonald), writing sharp action sequences, crisp dialogue, and nifty criminal twists (which still stand up fifty years later). This one develops Peter Byrnes (the lieutenant) for the first time, and features the usual solid police procedural work by the rest of the crew (with some emotionally gut-wrenching moments for some of the cops). It also, according to the author's note, featured a different ending when McBain turned it in originally. His agent and his editor both yelled at him to change it; if he hadn't, I'm very curious how the rest of the series would have turned out. Highly recommended.
49. Cirque du Freak #12: Sons of Destiny by Darren Shan. And this one finishes it off perfectly. The resolution to the primary conflict is well-handled (if not entirely surprising to older readers). The twists that come after that, though, are amazing, and manage to resolve some issues that had lingered since the first novel. It's surprisingly -- and effectively -- metafictional, without subverting the eleven and a half books of narrative that come previously. Highly recommended.
50. Generation Loss, by Elizabeth Hand. I was not a fan of Hand's work (based, admittedly, solely on Walking the Moon) before reading this book . I am now. Generation Loss defies easy categorization/genrefication, combining trappings of the gothic, the thriller, and something else that I can't even begin to put my finger on. It tells the story of Cass Neary, a photographer whose flame burned briefly and brightly during the '70s punk movement. Now, as she continues on her downward spiral, she gets convinced to take a job up in Maine, writing about another famous (and now-reclusive) photographer. On the surface, the rest of the novel deals with a mystery involving disappearing teens, but underneath that, it's a story about damaged people, brilliantly paced, somehow taking a group of unsympathetic characters (Cass first and foremost amongst them) and forcing the reader to care deeply about what happens to them. Highly recommended.
51. Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde. Thursday's back! Yay! It's fourteen years later, and she's thus older and wiser, but it's still a Thursday Next novel, with all the chaos and literary twists that entails. Alas, the ARC I read (thanks,
yunatwilight) lacks the illustrations, but otherwise, this was as enjoyable as the first four, with some nice shots at reality TV, Bush, and the state of literature as a whole. We also get the first cameo by someone else's copyrighted character in the series. Warning: although the primary plotline is wrapped up, there's a secondary one that remains open for the sequel. Highly recommended52. The Pusher by Ed McBain. I'd forgotten about this series for a while, but I'm back reading it. McBain's not Hammett, but he's certainly on a par with MacDonald or MacDonald (and thus better, if less funny, than McDonald), writing sharp action sequences, crisp dialogue, and nifty criminal twists (which still stand up fifty years later). This one develops Peter Byrnes (the lieutenant) for the first time, and features the usual solid police procedural work by the rest of the crew (with some emotionally gut-wrenching moments for some of the cops). It also, according to the author's note, featured a different ending when McBain turned it in originally. His agent and his editor both yelled at him to change it; if he hadn't, I'm very curious how the rest of the series would have turned out. Highly recommended.