"Quarterly" Book Report

I say "quarterly" - I mean, when I get a chance to update it.

Reads from January to March-ish

Lucifer Box series - Mark Gatiss
Fun, fun, and fun! Nice to see the action-adventure-James Bond tropes played out here, certainly he doesn't take himself to seriously, which is nice to see. Sort of a latter-day Harry Flashman, although, I find Lucifer much more endearing. Probably because Flashman's such a scoundrel that eventually he just put me off. Lucifer on the other hand, is equally a scoundrel but with a little more, not morals (never those) but oh, hell, maybe he's just nicer.

**note to self - try to write blog posts when you're more awake**

Lavinia - Ursula LeGuin
Wow. Epic wow, actually. Although it sags in parts (and it's going to, it's huge), this is a fabulous look at Lavinia - wife of Aeneas - queen of Latium, Latinus' daughter, etc. I love the pre-Roman history that LeGuin puts in, as well. No surprises that I enjoyed this - although I am leery of the ancient-novel genre. Just... I teach it, doesn't mean I have to be obsessive about it. Plus, they're generally not well written. This is the happy exception.

Death Comes to Pemberly - P.D. James
Jane Austen fanfiction. Written by P.D. James, so it's GOOD Jane Austen fanfiction, but it's still Jane Austen fanfiction. Which I'm okay with. I haven't been able to get into her latest Adalm Dalgleish mystery, so this was reassuringly readable.

American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Still working on this. And I'm trying, I really am. I enjoyed Anansi Boys - even chose it as Summer Reading two years ago and had an interesting discussion with the kids (2 boys) about it. I think perhaps because I was drawn to the strong sense of place that infuses the book - especially the Floridian scenes, the werid mix of Floridian Gothic and Englishness. And that sense of place infuses American Gods, too. I'm just having to work at it a bit more. I like the concept, I've read it before (Small Gods - Prachett), and it's a cool thing to play with. I just... I want to get into it, I really do, but I'm not sucked in the way I was by Anansi Boys.

Gambit - Rex Stout
Ongoing with American Gods - interesting mix, but there you go. Classic Nero Wolfe - maybe not one of the best, but still, little emotional investment needed here. Although, gotta say, I'm not fond of the "later" ones. I much prefer them set pre-war, I think. Gambit is set in the sixties and that seems to be stretching it for me. Of course the other nice thing about the Nero Wolfes is that it's New York. And really, who can complain about that?

So... what's next? No idea. Thoughts? Ideas? If it's in kindle format, that's a big plus, considering I really only have time to read for those forty minutes or so when I'm putting Megan to bed.