books, books, books

Recently, due to aforementioned sulking, I've been reading.

The Shadow Queen by Anne Bishop, latest of the Black Jewels novels. Possibly, this is the least sexually violent of the books so far--I know! Weird!--and it's possibly my favorite (for totally non-related reasons, though I will admit a refreshing lack of flinching). The novel follows two separate plotlines; one about Cassidy, a Rose-jeweled queen who goes to Terreille to become a territory queen at the request of the descendants of the Gray Lady, as their Territory is a mess, and the second following Daemon and Saetan's continuing traumatic flashbacks. Okay, I love Saetan and Daemon and everything, but seriously, the Cassidy stuff is fantastic and I could have lived without the other, but of all the Jewel novels, I'm going to say this one is my favorite. Cassidy is awesome.



I'm still thinking on how to review it, because Cassidy's experience as queen is new and different in the stories--a good queen with a First Circle that doesn't trust her, isn't sure they like her, and doesn't respect her entirely due to her power being not so strong, being Rose. But as a view of how a Queen is a Queen no matter what, and a good Queen gets shit done even when they can't command the power of the Black, it's unbelievably good. And Cassidy seriously kicks ass. For those who didn't really like Jaenelle becuase she felt Mary Sue (my continuing argument is, the point of Jaenelle was a.) to be a Mary Sue because otherwise, she has no point in exisitng and b.) the problems inherent in being a Mary Sue and why being a Mary Sue sucks, I could seriously meta that shit forever, because it is freaking awesome), Cassidy is a really interesting look at Queens who are good, not all-powerful, and raised in Protocol and Blood tradition.

Theran is annoying, but I'm hoping for more development of Cassidy's First Circle, Shira, a Black Widow and Healer, and Gray, who is--odd, along with Territory politics with the Shaladar. The next book is due out in March, and I'm seriously looking forward to it. Like, more than I looked forward to Tangled Webs and that's saying something. Cassidy is in fact that awesome.



House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street by William Cohan, which is self-explanatory on what it is about. I'm not done yet, and I do not even pretend to know how accurate it is so far, but I picked this one up because Fortune had an excerpt a while back and I really loved reading it.



Layman Readability: it was compared to Vanity Fair in terms of readability, and I'll concur, but I'd suggest (suggest!) picking up a basic primer on Wall Street or at least have google ready. I already read Standard and Poole's Guide to Money and Investing to entertain myself back in January, so most of the terminology is familiar to me from there, but I'm pretty sure you could get by with an online dictionary or Investopedia or something along those lines to double check some of the terminology if you arent' familiar with it. Also, you'd be surprised how many definitions there are for the concept of "mark to market" depending on whether someone is pro, neutral, or con on the subject.

Besides that--very readable, very, very interesting, and, at least to me, goes to a lot of trouble to be clear on what is going on and how it is happening. More when I'm finished, but so far, I find this much fun.



I have not yet read every Georgette Heyer Regency out there, but I am trying. So far:

Cotillion, Grand Sophy, The Nonesuch, The Corinthian, The Convenient Marriage, Frederica, False Colours, The Reluctant Widow. *grimly* I am trying. I will say, Cotillion and The Grand Sophy are my favorite, and I seriously loathed The Convenient Marriage like whoa. Really a lot. Like, DIAF to everyone. They were that annoying. Except oddly, the heroine's reprobate brother. He's kind of dim and sweet. I LIKE THE DIM, SWEET IDIOT WHO GAMBLES TOO MUCH. I mean, that's not a good sign.

Still in progress:

Antony and Cleopatra: A Novel by Colleen McCullough. I sort of need to be in a melodramatic mood to read the Masters of Rome series. Mostly because it just gets. More. Crazy. With. Every. Book. And people? I've been reading this series since I was fifteen years old. I have been reading this series over half my life. I also need to replace my paperback version of The First Man in Rome because it is now in several parts. In the inside cover is my name and the date I bought it. I treasure that.

...actually, I need to replace most of them, come to think. My mother borrowed these nad well, yeah.

Earth's Magic by Pamela Service, the YA King Arthur in the Post-Apocalyptic Future novels. Actually, in progress is it's prequel, Yesterday's Magic. There was this--thing. Wiht my bed and timespace.

A Short History of the Jewish People by Raymond P. Scheindlin. This one got lost for a while. it's a long and terrible story involving my bed and a strange series of events. (And timespace.)

Not Read Yet, Still Bracing Self:

Unmasked: An Erotic Tale of the Phantom of the Opera (I hate myself)
Master: An Erotic Novel of the Count of Monte Cristo (Don't judge me.)
House of Leaves (Like, I keep scaring myself with this one. IDEK.)
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (This is part of the terrible story involving my bed and a strange series of events. Possibly there is a timespace disturbance underneath? IDK.)

There is also a small pile of read Jane Austen sequels that make me hate myself, but I feel I should review them to warn people away. Some people have drugs. I have Jane Austen sequels as my kryptonite. Even when they are bad. Very, very bad.

Comments

More Heyer recs

[trienne-hovus.livejournal.com]

Heyer must've loved the Duke of Avon series like whoa, because it's actually a 4-book cycle. In order, those are: The Black Moth, These Old Shades, Devils' Cub, and An Infamous Army.

In The Black Moth, the characters have different names, but it's clear from These Old Shades that it's the beginning of the same story.

An Infamous Army is particularly interesting, for a couple of reasons. One, it's actually a sequel to another Heyer, "Regency Buck," as well as to the Avon series, so it's like a canon crossover. Two, the events take place against the backdrop of the Battle of Waterloo, with the characters from the Avon series and Regency Buck playing important roles militarily and socially.

Other recs: "Friday's Child," a very frothy Regency which is laugh-out-loud funny; and "The Conqueror," (one of Heyer's beloved "armors") about William the Bastard.

Re: More Heyer recs

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Ooh, marking down now.