February books

1. Circle of Magic: Daja's Book, Tamora Pierce


2. City of Glass, Cassandra Clare


3. Circle of Magic: Briar's Book, Tamora Pierce


4. Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer


5. Karen Memory, Elizabeth Bear


6. The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an IKEA Wardrobe, Romain Puertolas. Abandoned 44%
   This was billed as a humorous novel--I was expecting something picaresque--and I can see that it's meant to be farcical and absurd, but the humor seems to be mostly made of caricature representations of various ethnicities and cultures. Ugh.


7. One Nation Under Gods, Peter Manseau


8. Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris
   I couldn't help contrasting this book of humorous essays with the novel I abandoned...Sedaris makes fun of people all through it, but most of the people are himself, and all of the poking of fun is for the foibles of individuals rather than ethnic stereotypes. And the title, for the record, is his attempt to reproduce in English his own early attempts at French, not making fun of 'foreigners speaking English'. Makes all the difference.


9. The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison


10. Hallucinations, Oliver Sacks


11. City of Fallen Angels, Cassandra Clare


12. Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols & Other Typographical Marks, Keith Houston


13. Pretties, Scott Westerfeld


14. A Few Figs from Thistles, Edna St. Vincent Millay


15. Flame and Shadow, Sara Teasdale


16. The Circle Opens: Magic Steps, Tamora Pierce


17. Lock In, John Scalzi


18. The Just City, Jo Walton


19. Red Queen, Victoria Aveyard


20. Authority, Jeff VanderMeer


21. The Circle Opens: Street Magic, Tamora Pierce


22. A Talent for War, Jack McDevitt


23. The Circle Opens: Cold Fire, Tamora Pierce