stuck in the middle with you

The ones I gave up on:

Can a Robot Be Human?: 33 Perplexing Philosophy Puzzles  by Peter Cave 2007 (192/read 130ish)

Somewhat interesting, but written in an overly twee style that I could only take in short doses.

Fieldwork  by Mischa Berlinski (320 pgs/read 40) 2007

Love this book, but I’ll have to get it again later. So little time, so few renewals.

The Soul Thief  by Charles Baxter (210 pgs/read 95) 2008

Reads like an art school cocktail party. In a good way. The prose is sophisticated and intellectual without being pretentious. It’s the perfect style for this tale of the entanglements of graduate students searching for connection, while one tries to steal the other’s identity.

Solitaire  by Kelley Eskridge (353/read 213) 2002

Mmm, comfort book. One of my fav books, about a woman sentenced to solitary confinement in a virtual cell in her own mind (which is the point I started this time round). I love the evolution of her character and how being completely alone forces her to face herself.

Unaccustomed Earth  by Jhumpa Lahiri (333/read 45ish) 2008

Short story collection from an excellent author who winningly captures the dichotomous nature of the emigrant experience.

The Third Domain: The Untold Story of Archaea and the Future of Biotechnology  by Tim Friend (296/read 35) 2007

Archaea are microbes older than bacteria that are being discovered thriving in the most extreme environments- from volcanic vents to streams deep within icebergs. It’s a fascinating topic, but the meandering writing failed to grab me.

 

early to bedouin, early to rise

The Moonlit Cage  by Linda Holeman (487 pgs) 2006

As a strong, willful, inquisitive young woman in mid-19th century Afghanistan, Darya finds that traditional village life chafes. She has a hard time reconciling herself to such a narrow existence and feels there must be something more to life. When a tribeswoman levels a curse of barrenness on Darya that leaves her an outcast in her own village, she’s forced into marriage in a nomadic Bedouin tribe from whom she must conceal her curse. And thus begins her search for belonging.

I liked 2/3 of this book, Darya’s early life was interesting with fully described characters and the setting well captured. But when Darya heads to England, it turned odd, losing the flavor that had made it compelling.

it ain’t easy being a wizard

Small Favor  by Jim Butcher The Dresden Files # 10  (423 pgs) 2008

Dresden owes the Queen of Fairy a favor, and she’s calling in her marker. The deed appears simple enough- return a kidnapped man safely. But little in Harry’s world is ever as easy as it seems.

Cue the murderous hobgoblins, evil fallen angels, and increasingly deadly creatures who inspired the “billy goats gruff” fable. And they’re all out to get Harry.

good things come in small packages

Flash Fiction Forward: 80 Very Short Stories  2006 (227 pgs)

I typically won’t read an entire short story collection, but these stories are so quick (all under 3 pages!) it’s hard to skip any. A couple memorable ones were a tale about the fate of the orange who ruled the world by Benjamin Rosenbaum and story from Etgar Keret about a woman who tries to halt the dissolution of her marriage with superglue. And a truly resonate story that I read several time is Before the Bath by Ismail Kadare. It’s a looping thought-process narrative of Agamemnon, reliving the last couple minutes of his life over and over, as he is murdered (deservedly, for offering their only daughter as a sacrifice) by his wife the first day he returns from the Trojan war. It’s a stunningly powerful piece of story-telling, as he realizes over and over that he’s about to die.

magic carpet ride

The Blood of Flowers  by Anita Amirrezvani (377 pgs) 2007

Left destitute when her father dies suddenly, a young girl and her mother in 17th-century Persia struggle to survive without income. With no dowry, the girl has little hope of a marriage that could support them and they are forced to seek refuge with distant relatives. They journey from the rural farm town they’ve known all their lives to the bustling city of Isfahan, home to the Shah and his court.

The girl is awed by the city, its architecture, and its inhabitants. But she is most inthralled by the amazing carpets created by her uncle and others in the Shah’s employ who have elevated it to an art form. She enters a kind of sheltered apprenticeship with her uncle, devouring his teachings and spending her limited free time creating carpets of her own.

But her position is a precarious one, dependent upon her relatives’ continued goodwill. When they pressure her to accept a temporary marriage contract, she reluctantly agrees. Struggling with her conflicting emotions and the secrecy, she finds herself awakening to her own passions and her own power.

dream a little demon

Personal Demon  (Women of the Underworld #9) by Kelley Armstrong (371 pgs) 2008

The latest entry from this reliably enjoyable series centers on chaos-sensing half-demon Hope and her on-again-off-again werewolf boyfriend Karl. (How’s that for hyphenates!) Hope’s affinity for chaos makes her an ideal candidate to infiltrate a gang of rebellious half-demons. Unfortunately she finds herself liking the danger a little too much.