Another tracking post - Honor Harrington series

You'll remember my "Skating School" tracking post from some time back.

Having returned to reading David Weber's Honor Harrington books (now at 13 (or 14 depending how you count it) main books, six anthologies, and eight (or seven) spin-offs in three series for a total of 27 titles - I think), I realised  at the beginning of At All Costs (book 11 in the regular series) that events were being referenced that I hadn't read about and clearly was expected to know more about.  Making my way to the ever-helpful Honorverse Wiki, I found a table of the current books and short stories in reading order, which I have, in part, reproduced below the fold.  This helped me work out that I should have branched off to the two spin-off series' before attempting At All Costs.  I've been looking forward to reaching those two series, so it's not like it's a hardship.

(Book titles are in italics, short stories are in plain type with the title of the anthology in the next column.)

I'm now thinking there may need to be some more posts on Honor and the odd way in which I love the books but can totally see the problems in them as well.

Wednesday Reads/Where I am up to Wednesday

Recently, during the local "International Film Festival", we went to see - among others - a film called "The Summit", about the death of eight mountaineers on the ascent and descent of K2, the second-highest mountain in the world.  You may see the influence of this movie in the following.

I've just finished reading:
Three books that I am planning to post reviews for...
Life after Death - Beck Weathers - bio of one of the 1996 Everest clients.
High: Stories of Survival from Everest and K2, Clint Willis, ed - an anthology of narratives.
Savage Summit: the life and death of the first women of K2, by Jennifer Jackson - an absolutely fabulous narrative of the lives and climbs of the first five women who summitted K2, all of whom have now died.


I'm currently reading:
Into Thin Air by John Krakauer - the supposedly quintessential narrative of the 1996 Everest season.

K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain by Ed Viesturs and David Roberts - a history of a number of the most dramatic climbing seasons on K2.

Unpolished Gem, by Alice Pung - I've been listening to this at the gym, and now thinking I really must conclude it by getting out my paper copy.  So close to done.

After Elizabeth: The Rise of James of Scotland and the Struggle for the Throne of England by Leanda de Lisel - put aside because of my sudden mountaineering obsession.

The Bible.  Seriously, I've got about 50 pages of Revelation to go.

Next I plan to read - It's September, and I've read very few of the books comprising my 30 2013 challenge books.  So that's what I really need to get to.  These books include:

Gaysia, by Benjamin Law
The God Box, by Alex Sanchez
Dead Aid, by Dambisa Moyo
Manhattan Dreaming, by Anita Heiss
The Boundary, by Nicole Watson

I really need to turn my mind to these books.  And yet I really am captivated by all these dratted mountaineering books.

I also have, sitting next to me on the sofa right at this moment, Sheer Will: The Inspiring Life and Climbs of Michael Groom, by Michael Groom.

Review: Mouseton Abbey

Mouseton Abbey by Nick Page

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This is absolutely gorgeous. Between the obvious links to a television show that shall remain nameless, the delightful knitted mice, and the writing, which made me giggle on every page, it's absolutely priceless.

I do rather wish that knitting patterns for the mice were included, but I rather hope that I will be able to work out how to crochet them eventually. :-)

Meanwhile, I strongly hope that there will be more Mouseton Abbey books on the way.



View all my reviews

Skating School - for my reference

It's proving harder than it should to work out the reading order of these.  Fantastic fiction has the books listed, but not entirely in reading order. Goodreads doesn't even list them as a series (I'll fix that at some point).  But my colleague, our YA librarian, thought to check Amazon, and they did have the reading order.  Thank you, YA librarian!!

Skating School - by Linda Chapman

1. White Skate Wishes (2009) - read
2. Scarlet Skate Magic (2009) read
3. Violet Skate Friends (2009) - read
4. Pink Skate Party (2009) - read
5. Blue Skate Dreams (2010) - read
6. Silver Skate Surprise (2010) - read

2nd generation stories

1. Sapphire Skate Fun (2010) - read
2. Amber Skate Star (2010) - arrived
3. Emerald Skate Promise (2010)
4. Ruby Skate Secrets (2010)
5. Diamond Skate Forever (2010)
6. Topaz Skate Sparkle (2010)

Where I am up to Wednesday

It's Wednesday again!  There have been many Wednesdays since the last time I wrote.  But this is where I'm up to:

I've just finished reading:

I finished The Follies of the King by Jean Plaidy in the last couple of days.  It's the Edward II installment of the Plantagenet saga, and I found myself with far more sympathy for Isabella than I expected.  And far less for Edward. Obviously there's some authorial bias at work, and I've got the Alison Weir "She-Wolf of France" (or is that about Eleanor?  Or Margaret of Anjou?)  on eBook.  Once I recharge my Kobo.  I'm definitely looking forward to the next one, although I won't get to that for a little while.

I finally finished Pray for me in Santiago while I was in Adelaide, and I still need to write a proper review of that one.  

I'm currently reading:

The Red Queen, by Philippa Gregory, which jumped up the to-read list when @sawcat pointed out that it was about Margaret Beaufort and not Margaret of Anjou as I'd assumed it was.  Watching the TV adaption of The White Queen I was absolutely captivated by Margaret Beaufort.  And I'm thoroughly enjoying reading the book.  

Still working on Alice Pung's Unpolished Gem, somewhat on hiatus because of a) the changeover of libraries resulting in not actually having access to the audio book version and b) my gym being in the middle of renovations.  I listen to my audiobooks while I'm at the gym.

Also still working very slowly on Mark Bowen's Guests of the Ayatollah, and Noel Tovey's Little Black Bastard.

Next I plan to read:

Rebecca Lim's Exile, which has been sitting there in waiting for a while; a few more Linda Chapman Skating School books (which I have on reserve through Swift, now that my library is a member of Swift); and Manhattan Dreaming, by Anita Heiss, because I really should have read it by now.

Review: The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf

The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf by Ambelin Kwaymullina

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



It took me a while to get into this, but once I did, *what* a ride!

Ashala Wolf is in Detention Centre 3, watched over by her betrayer, Connor, and interrogated by the Chief Administrator Neville Rose. They want her to give up her family, her Tribe - the group of Illegals, the possessors of rare abilities, who live together in the Firstwood, protected by a Pact they have made with the Saurs who live on the grassy plains between the Firstwood and 'civilisation'.

This is utterly brilliant dystopian spec fic. There's just enough world building to get me wanting so much more about this post-Reckoning world. The novel is structured in three almost-perfect acts, and despite being marketed as part of a series, works absolutely as a stand-alone book.

People have been raving about this book since the ARCs became available, and they're absolutely right to rave. The ideas that run through this book are twisty and fabulous: you can see Kwaymullina's view of the world and the way it has evolved in this 300-years-from-now future. And I have to assume that she knew exactly what she was doing naming the Chief Administrator "Neville Rose". It was that fact that made my gut churn all the way through the first third of this book. That fact that made the interrogation that much worse than if he'd been named, say, Gary. It has *such* a profound effect and surely anyone with an ounce of understanding of WA history would have the same reaction. It's not just me, right?

I am so looking forward to there being another book set in this world. I want to know so much more about it, and the people in it. But in the unlikely event that that doesn't happen, I will still have had *this* book, and that is a really important thing.



View all my reviews

Review: The White Queen

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I hadn't written a review of this, and then, all unbenownst to me, there's a TV adaptation started in the UK this past weekend. So, having seen episode one of the adaptation, I'm writing a review of the whole book (and wondering whether there are plans for the adaptation of other books in the series.)

Important point to understand #1 - I am not a Richardian.

Important point to understand #2 - Neither am I anti-Richardian. (I blame Buckingham, although I'm not sure who he was working for.)

Ditto #3 - Despite #s 1 and 2, I really rather enjoyed Sharon Penman's "The Sunne in Splendor".

Ditto #4 - I really can enjoy books even though they aren't all that historically accurate or faithful. I will roll my eyes at the problems while still enjoying the narrative/characters/whatever.

Given the historical use of 'witchcraft' as a stick with which to beat intelligent, assertive women, I don't really like that Gregory decided to make the allegations true. Once I was past that and into the story, I appreciated the ways it contributed, and yet the inner feminist still isn't okay with it. The Perkin Warbeck story also irks me, and yet again: once I was back into it... as always Gregory gets the narrative pull just right. It may have taken a few tries to get going (but that was mostly due to not wanting to read books by non-Australian white women (see challenges)) but once in, I was *in*.

Unfortunately, right now my mind is rather taken up by episode one of the TV adaptation.

What I know is that while certain elements of the book annoyed me, and/or took historical positions that I have issues with, I still really enjoyed reading it.

More later, perhaps. Possibly after having watched episode two.



View all my reviews