So, I’m finding myself getting a slow start on this faux-Monday morning, after an afternoon and evening spent in the sublime company of Sunshine, Mr. Cavin, and the inimitable Bet. Christopher suggested last week that everyone post a list of the books they have out from the library. Mine after the cut (though I’m taking a bunch back so the "block" on my account will come off and I can pick up Skin Hunger and Innocence) — lack of caps can be blamed on the library ELF:
Evil genius / Catherine Jinks
The long gone lonesome history of country music / by Bret Bertholf
The white darkness : a novel / by Geraldine McCaughrean
Blackbringer / Laini Taylor
Imps, demons, hobgoblins, witches, fairies & elves / by Leonard Baskin
The restless dead : ten original stories of the supernatural / edited by Deborah Noyes
Amphigorey again / Edward Gorey
Falling boy / Alison McGhee
Green angel / Alice Hoffman
Reflections and shadows / Saul Steinberg with Aldo Buzzi ; translated from the Italian by John Shepley
Shark girl / Kelly Bingham
Snow, fire, sword / by Sophie Masson
Tamar / Mal Peet
The catalogue of the universe / Margaret Mahy
The red shoe / Ursula Dubosarsky
The tale of Despereaux : being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread / Kate DiCamillo ; illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering
The Wall and the Wing / Laura Ruby
The Wednesday wars / by Gary D. Schmidt
Wildwood dancing / Juliet Marillier
Listening at the gate / written and illustrated by Betsy James
The new policeman / Kate Thompson
The shadow thieves / Anne Ursu
Writing in an age of silence / Sara Paretsky
Stories of the flood / Uma Krishnaswami ; illustrated
The owl service / by Alan Garner
Rex / Ursula Dubosarsky ; illustrated by David Mackintosh
Madame Bovary’s ovaries : a Darwinian look at literature / David P. Barash and Nanelle R. Barash
The Medici giraffe and other tales of exotic animals and power / Marina Belozerskaya
The changeling / Zilpha Keatley Snyder ; illustrated by Alton Raible
The writer’s voice / A. Alvarez
The hummingbird cabinet : a rare and curious history of romantic collectors / Judith Pascoe
The din in the head : essays / Cynthia Ozick
The annotated Hunting of the snark : the full text of Lewis Carroll’s great nonsense epic / original illustrations by Henry Holiday ; edited with a preface and notes by Martin Gardner ; introduction by Adam Gopnik.
Good timing; I just started reading this post while checking on my ILL requests in another window. Right now I’ve got:
Skin hunger / by Kathleen Duey.
Terminal café / Ian McDonald.
Don’t look down / Jennifer Crusie, Bob Mayer.
The secret life of Sparrow Delaney / by Suzanne Harper.
The city of Ember [sound recording] / Jeanne DuPrau.
The road / Cormac McCarthy.
The Game of Sunken Places [sound recording] / M.T. Anderson.
“Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?” : and other conversations about race
Bad monkeys / Matt Ruff.
The rabbi’s cat / Joann Sfar.
No one belongs here more than you : stories / by Miranda July.
Last junior year / Barbara Morgenroth. —
Stray : a novel / Stacey Goldblatt.
Everyday friends / Lucy Diggs.
Flying changes / by Lynn Hall.
With another five waiting at the library for me to pick up. (Including Barzak’s book; wahoo!)
I get to the library at least 1-2x/week, so my turnover is quick enough that the overall number of books-out stays fairly low.
My list is far less interesting than the ones above. Full of very typical speculative fiction/fantasy/science fiction. I live in shame!
M. John Harrison – Viriconium
Michael Swanwick – Iron Dragon’s Daughter
Scott Lynch – The Lies of Locke Lamora
Matt Ruff – Bad Monkeys
Iain M. Banks – Consider Phlebas
William Gibson – Pattern Recognition
Warren Ellis – Crooked Little Vein
Charlie Huston – Already Dead
I wonder how you folks manage to read so much. I can barely get through 100 pages of day. Of course I am not any kind of writer/editor, etc. I do have loads of free time though, but I just cannot bring myself all the time in the world to devour at a constant clip. Wah.
And my post was full of typos. I am not exactly sure what I was trying to say. Oh mysterious Hotspurdog! This persona will be the death of me.
I have no books out – are you kidding? I have 100 sitting here looking at me! But I thought I would comment on your books (more fun anyway!)
The White Darkness – I wrote about this for Endicott this summer and loved it. LOVED IT! So did Leila. A great YA thriller and also lots of wonderful history/polar mythology. It’s fab.
The Restless Dead disappointed me; it was just too uneven and I didn’t find enough good to outweigh the eh. Kelly Link’s story was great (as usual) but this collection almost seemd rushed to me. I decided not to review it.
I reviewed Shark Girl in July. I thought it was overall very good but I wished that she had further explored the idea of being an artist who can’t make art in a traditional manner. I think there was more she could have done here and although I did like the book it almost seemed a bit too pat at the end.
Snow, Fire, Sword really impressed me. I reviewed this last Sept or Oct. I haven’t read anything like it and was quite pleased to find a YA fantasy set in SE Asia.
Tamar is on tap for review this winter. It starts out very heavy on history which might be just fine eventually but is rather slow. We’ll see.
I loved Laura Ruby’s The Wall and the Wing. I thought it was a great new world she constructed and the characters were really well done. Plus there are walking rats; you have to love walking rats!
I’m a sucker for all Irish books where music is the center stage. I thought The New Policeman was a great take on our rushed society. I’m puzzled why it didn’t get bigger notice in the US; it’s quite well done.
I got The Medici Giraffe for Christmas last year and still haven’t read it which is criminal. I need to start this soon – maybe I’ll take it along on the trip to the East coast later this month – I’m really curious about it.
I’ve never heard of The Hummingbird Cabinet. Did you read it? It sounds really good just from the title.
YES! to Innocence. 🙂