Reading Round-up: 2018

Here we are at the end of the year. Between drafting and re-writing on two different romance novels, I’ve written over 100K words — plus all the words that have gone into this blog. I can’t count how many blog articles I’ve read, or how many tweets I’ve sent or read, but I can, thanks to Goodreads, look back over the books I’ve read this year. My reading falls mainly into three categories: 1) the Romance MFA reading list, 2) other romances, and 3) speculative fiction, mainly steampunk.

Romance MFA readings in 2018

A Room With A View (1908), by E.M. Forster – Reviewed 1/8/18.
The Sheik (1919), by E.M. Hull – Reviewed 1/29/18.
Gone With the Wind (1936), by Margaret Mitchell – Reviewed 4/2/18.
Rebecca (1938), by Daphne du Maurier – Reviewed 5/1/18.
Forever Amber (1944), by Kathleen Winsor – Reviewed 7/16/18.
Désirée (1951) by Annemarie Selinko – Reviewed 8/13/18.
Angelique (1956), by Sergeanne Golon – Reviewed 9/17/18.
Grand Sophy (1950), by Georgette Heyer – Review forthcoming 1/14/19.

Speculative fiction read in 2018

Empress of a Thousand Skies (2017), by Rhoda Belleza – What put this on my radar? I can’t remember, but it’s a YA space opera with a princess on the run and I liked the world building.
Trail of Lightning (2018), by Rebecca Roanhorse – Post-climate-change-apocalypse Dine (Navajo) urban fantasy with a monster hunter heroine. Deserves the hype.
Spinning Silver (2018), by Naomi Novik – Also deserves the hype. My undergrad was in Russian Studies and I love poking into the underlying themes of fairy tales: this book was pretty much written to be my catnip.
Clockwork Heart (2008), by Dru Pagliassotti) – a steampunk that’s not London. Not a romance, but strong romantic elements (hero is so cranky! and adorable!) and the technology is a strong part of the plot, not mere window-dressing.
Kindred (1979), by Octavia Butler – another of my post GWTW cleansers, this is the tale of an African-American woman from the 1970s pulled back to help a white slaveowner who will become one of her ancestors. No sugar coating. It was a slow start, but once it got going I couldn’t put it down.
Airman (2007), by Eoin Colfer – A light YA steampunk adventure romp with young protagonists of scientific leanings fighting against corrupt medievalists. An old theme well done. Someday I’ll reread it with my kid.
The Last American (1889), by John Ames Mitchell – More social commentary than plot in this early post-apocalyptic novel, which describes a Persian scientific expedition exploring the ruins of America in 2951.
The King in Yellow (1895), by Robert W. Chambers – An early bit of Weird Fiction that apparently inspired Lovecraft, this short story collection explores whether art can cause insanity, and dips into time travel romance.
The Difference Engine (1992), by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling – This book is supposed to be a classic/creator of the steampunk genre. It’s a hefty tome of manfic whose female characters suffer from the virgin-whore dichotomy. No discernible plot. Resounding meh.
The Half-Made World (2010), by Felix Gilman – Have you seen Terry Gilliam’s Brazil? Imagine the forces of that world in conflict with every Clint Eastwood character as civilization creeps West toward a land that shifts its shape and creatures from your dreams follow you into waking while the first inhabitants of the region consider whether or not they want to get involved. Also demonic possession. Probably not for everyone, but I found this book delightful.
His Majesty’s Dragon (2006), by Naomi Novik – Napoleonic Wars, but with dragons. Writing style is more Regency than 21st century and may leave some readers feeling dry, but I’d set this on the shelf next to A Natural History of Dragons.
The Doomsday Vault (2011), by Steven Harper – Airships and London and mad inventors and a few other steampunk elements stirred together into a serviceable story.
The Crimson Skew (2016), by S.E. Grove – This book finishes out a YA fantasy trilogy in a world which is fragmented in time: New England is in the late nineteenth century, Canada is in a prehistoric ice age, Europe is in the medieval period, Australia is somewhere in the far future, and a precocious teen is searching for her parents through the whole mess with the aid of magical maps and curious companions.
Dragon’s Bait (1992), by Vivian Vande Velde – From my vague adolescent memory, I thought this might be an early paranormal YA romance, but it’s more an exploration of how revenge serves no one.
The Aeronaut’s Windlass (2015), by Jim Butcher – Sort of steampunk, but mostly fantasy. High point was a talking cat.
Darkangel (1982), by Meredith Ann Pierce – Another book I reread because of vague memories. YA fantasy that would go nicely on the shelf next to Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories.
Within the Sanctuary of Wings (2016), by Marie Brennan – I adore this series, and I found this to be a fitting conclusion to the adventures of Lady Trent, dragon naturalist.
Red Seas Under Red Skies (2007), by Scott Lynch – There’s a great social media post by Lynch advocating for his Black female mother pirate character in this book… but she doesn’t show up until the second half, and the book ends with rather egregious fridging. Meh.

Other

The Wind Done Gone (2001), by Alice Randall – Not a parody, no matter what the Mitchell Estate has forced it to be labeled as. Probably the most Literary book I read all year. Reviewed 12/3/18.
The Secret History of Wonder Woman (2014), by Jill Lepore – The only nonfiction book I read all the way through this year, and whoa does it cover a lot of ground. Feminism, birth control, free love, lie detectors, early screenwriting, effects of violent media on children… Fascinating saga.

So far for the new year, I’ve been listening to an auiobook of Christopher Priest’s The Prestige, which is still plenty mysterious even though I have seen the movie version. And there are so many books awaiting me…