The Wind’s Twelve Quarters

The State of the Reader: 10/20/21

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<–The State of the Reader: 10/6/21         The State of the Reader: 12/1/21–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Purchased: 2

Total: $2.98

Books Finished: 2

Title: The Wind’s Twelve Quarters
Series: Hainish Cycle
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Date Added: August 30, 2014
Date Started: July 26, 2021
Date Finished: October 7, 2021

Cover of The Wind's Twelve Quarters by Ursula K. Le GuinMedia: eBook/Kindle

I almost forgot to add that I finished this.  I moved it to my “Book Review” tab in OneNote, which I usually don’t do until I post about it.  I’ll review it like I review other short story collections by focusing on the stories I actually liked.

Title: Big Little Lies
Author: Liane Moriarity
Date Added: September 25, 2021
Date Started: October 1, 2021
Date Finished: October 16, 2021

Cover of Big Little Lies by Liane MoriarityMedia: eBook/Kindle (Library)

My BFF informed there’s a TV series about this book, and my brother has HBO Max, so I will be checking this out.  It’s apparently very true to the book, and the book was fantastic.  It had me guessing the entire time who the Trivia Night victim was.

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The State of the Reader: 10/6/21

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<–The State of the Reader: 9/22/21         The State of the Reader: 10/20/21–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Purchased: 10

Total: $58.80

Books Finished: 3

Title: The Husband’s Secret
Author: Liane Moriarity
Date Added: August 18, 2021
Date Started: September 15, 2021
Date Finished: September 22, 2021

Cover of The Husband's Secret by Liane MoriarityMedia: eBook/Kindle (Library)

The more I think about it, the less weird it seems that I like stuff like this.  While I definitely have favorite genres, at the end of the day I just want a good story and Liane Moriarity delivers.  This is one of those where I guessed some of the main points, but it doesn’t take away from my enjoyment, because there are aspects of the situation that could go another way (plus I sometimes just know how a story is going to go).  I am noticing a pattern with this author though.  She likes to have a character wind up with or rather stay with someone I don’t think they should.  That kind of frustrates me, but it is what it is.  I enjoy stories that don’t have easy answers or choices, and Moriarity has the talent to at least have acceptable justification for her characters’ (poor) decisions.

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The State of the Reader: 9/22/21

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<–The State of the Reader: 9/8/21         The State of the Reader: 10/6/21–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Purchased: 4

Total: $14.96

Books Finished: 0

Books DNF: 1

Title: Something from the Nightside
Series: Nightside
Author: Simon R. Green
Date Added: July 1, 2017
Date Started: August 27, 2021

Cover of Soomething from the Nightside by Simon R. GreenMedia: eBook/Kindle
Progress: 48%

I DNF’d it the day after I posted my last SOTR.  It was the cliched “two women characters who obviously hate each other” that did it for me (which makes me look like a hypocritical asshole, but it’s why I’m planning a major overhaul of my first novel so…).  It’s such a problematic trope on so many levels and was just the icing on the tombstone for this book.  I did check the reviews before I made my official decision and found a lot of my own critiques there.  I’m at the point now where if a piece of media does not spark joy, I’m not spending more time on it.

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The State of the Reader: 9/8/21

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<–The State of the Reader: 8/11/21         The State of the Reader: 9/22/21–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Purchased: 7

Total: $1.99

Books Finished: 0

Currently Reading

Title: Something from the Nightside
Series: Nightside
Author: Simon R. Green
Date Added: July 1, 2017
Date Started: August 27, 2021

Cover of Soomething from the Nightside by Simon R. GreenMedia: eBook/Kindle
Progress: 48%

My interest in this has unfortunately waned the more progress I make.  It had your stereotypical, trope-y, PI stuff, but I loved the way it was written.  Green really captured that “hard-boiled detective” feel (even though John Taylor insists that’s not what he is).  It was immediately reminiscent of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, which if you know me is…not really a compliment.  I read the first and second books in that series quite a few years apart and when I got through the latter, it left a really bad, misogynistic taste in my mouth.  This novel has some problems with that, but it’s not really my major issue (yet).  The vibe I was getting from Taylor was more akin to John Constantine and less Harry Dresden, but I have some issues with how quickly the romance angle gets underway.  I always worry I’m being a hypocrite with that since it can be really hard to know when to switch when you’re doing a sort of Enemies to Lovers thing, but here it just seems really contrived, and it’s dampening my enjoyment.  I actually started reading this because I wasn’t enjoying the Le Guin book as much, and now I’m having a similar problem.  I’m going to keep pushing through.  I’m about halfway done, so hopefully I can finish it.

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The State of the Reader: 8/25/21

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<–The State of the Reader: 8/11/21         The State of the Reader: 9/8/21–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Purchased: 1

Total: $0.00

Books Finished: 1

Title: What Alice Forgot
Author: Liane Moriarity
Date Added: July 24, 2021
Date Started: August 9, 2021

Cover of What Alice Forgot by Liane MoriarityMedia: eBook/Kindle (Library)

I breezed through this because it was impossible to put down.  It’s one of the only times I’ve finished a library book without having to renew at all.  My notes for it are still thankfully there (Kindle retains it even after the book is returned), so I should be able to write my review when I eventually get around to it (if I don’t wind up picking the book up).

While I have some mixed feelings about the end, this was ultimately an amazing novel where not only the main character’s story held my interest.  I may have even been more engaged with Alice’s sister Elisabeth, because some of the things she wrote to her therapist could have been taken straight from my head.

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The State of the Reader: 8/11/21

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<–The State of the Reader: 7/28/21         The State of the Reader: 8/25/21–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Purchased: 4

Total: $7.97

Books Finished: 0

Currently Reading

Title: What Alice Forgot
Author: Liane Moriarity
Date Added: July 24, 2021
Date Started: August 9, 2021

Cover of What Alice Forgot by Liane MoriarityMedia: eBook/Kindle (Library)
Progress: 9%

Amnesia is such a common gimmick in fiction/fantasy, but that doesn’t make it any less intriguing (at least for me).  There’s a reason it’s so popular, because it presents an easy (if convenient) reason for a mystery, and there’s no better motivator for solving an enigma then when it involves yourself.  The main character Alice slips on her bike during spin class and wakes up with no memory of the past ten years.  She thinks she’s still pregnant with her first child and is in a loving relationship with her husband as they work on their house and prepare for the blessed event…but in reality Alice has three children, is in the midst of a divorce, and isn’t talking to her sister whose own point of view is extremely interesting.  Elisabeth (the sister) is writing letters to her therapist that resonate with me more than I’d like, so for many reasons this has become a book I look forward to reading every day.

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The State of the Reader: 7/28/21

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<–The State of the Reader: 7/14/21         The State of the Reader: 8/11/21–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Purchased: 3

Total: $11.97

Books Finished: 1

Title: We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep
Author: Andrew Kelly Stewart
Date Added: May 22, 2021
Date Started: July 16, 2021
Date Finished: July 23, 2021

Cover of We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep by Andrew Kelly StewartMedia: eBook/Kindle

I loved the lyricism of this novella, words I can fall in love with.  I’m also a fan of the specific, post-apocalyptic trope where people, usually children, are lied to about the circumstances/situation and they have to figure out what’s really going on.  This is the author’s first book, and he absolutely captured not only the trapped and claustrophibic elements of subsisting in a derelict and failing nuclear sub, but the same for the cruel and monastic order forced upon the main character and their peers.

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The State of the Reader: 9/12/18

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<–The State of the Reader: 8/29/18          The State of the Reader: 9/26/18–>

A weekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Books Purchased: 4

Books DNF: 1

Title: The Riddle of the Wren
Author: Charles de Lint
Date Added: August 24, 2014
Date Started: August 26, 2018
Date DNF: September 5, 2018
Reading Duration: 10 days

The Riddle of the Wren coverMedia: Physical (Library)

This is one of those books I would’ve devoured in high school.  It’s an old school fantasy (published in 1984) by one of my favorite authors back then.  This was actually his first published work…and it shows.  It’s not bad, but you can see where the cracks haven’t been smoothed over.  When I’m less concerned  with how a story gets to where it’s going and more about how the characters resolve it, I know it’s not something I’ll enjoy reading, and I’ll usually just flip to the end to see how it all plays out.  I didn’t bother doing that with this one.

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