Slow Saturday

[yendi]

Elayna has discovered the joy that is Tekken 4, and is beating people up (virtually). She's alternating this with reading Chasing Vermeer, a nifty YA novel about stolen classical paintings, pentominos, and secret codes (featuring art by Brett Helquist). She's ping-ponging from one extreme to the other, culturally. :-)

I spent the morning reading Sue Grafton's A is for Alibi, which I found quite enjoyable. Kinsey Millhone's a lot more fun than most of the carbon copies she inspired (Anita Blake included), and Grafton pulls some nice tricks, including some well-used dramatic irony. I don't think I'll follow the series obsessively, since I can't imagine any detective series staying fresh for more than a few novels (Burke excluded, but those aren't mysteries), but it was a fun diversion (especially for something I picked up for free from the freebies table at work). If nothing else, it was nice to spend the morning sitting on the couch, reading a book, and drinking coffee.

One of the more interesting things to come in the mail: A sample issue of Old News Magazine. No, it's not another name for US News and World Report. Rather, it's a "newspaper" highlighting stories from throughout history. I like the concept, but haven't had a chance to read enough of it to know if I like the execution.

The Hugo Ballot is up. There's a book I despise on the Best Novel ballot (you all know the one). There's also a book that yuki_onna considers highly overrated there. That leaves three books for the rest of you to form some sort of negative attachment to. The other fiction categories are filled with the usual suspects (Resnick, Bujold, and another sixteen noms for Charles Stross), and since I'm years behind, I'm largely unopinionated there (although I'm fully prepared to bitch about the results). Also worth noting -- matociquala is up for the Campbell.

Not much else happening. But now I need a new book to read.

Comments

[magenta-girl.livejournal.com]

Just to let you know, Sue Grafton's series gets better and better, especially up to K, and then M, O, and R are good as well. I read all of her stuff because my mom and another woman co-authored an Edgar award winning book about Kinsey.

[yendi]

I knew your mom had won an Edgar, but I'd forgotten who she's written about.

I'm glad to hear they stay good -- most series either go downhill (Anita Blake), or dig a nice comfy rut (Evanovich). I snagged the second one from the freebies shelf as well, and used copes/omnibuses of the later ones are easy enough to come by.

[magenta-girl.livejournal.com]

Grafton does a really good job of keeping Kinsey from Mary-Suedom, and stays within her time frame of the 80's. And Kinsey develops well as a character. K is probably the best of the books, although for humor, I like O a lot. And she named some characters in P "Hevener" after my mom (even though that's my mom's middle name now).

[magenta-girl.livejournal.com]

And yes, I'm dismayed at the decline of the Anita Blakes, although I do enjoy Evanovich for the humor, although I don't follow them obsessively.
I would recommend Laura Lippman or Sujata Massey as good detective writers. Lippman's books take place in Baltimore, and Massey's in Japan.

[ydnic.livejournal.com]

_G is for Grafton_? That's an excellent book.

I, too, recommend the series. ;-)

[magenta-girl.livejournal.com]

I thank you on behalf of my mom. :)

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

Read the Stross, I think you'll like it....

[yendi]

I'd heard about the '80s thing in a recent review, which is part of what caught my interest -- PI work is, imho, more fascinating pre-Internet. And hooray for your mom's Tuckerism! :-)

[alecto23.livejournal.com]

If you haven't already read John Barnes's Gaudeamus, I highly recommend it.

[yendi]

It came in our last Amazon order, and is sitting on my to-read pile. I adore Barnes.

[taiste.livejournal.com]

The Grafton books are really good. Kinsey is one of my all-time favorite characters, and there's very little of the repetition common in most series that long.