World Book Day meme

Courtesy of oursin, with an addition of my own; regular bimonthly book post later today.

The book I'm reading: Jo Graham, Hand of Isis. Okay, so Jo Graham: she is now fairly firmly cemented as That Person Who Writes Books I Think I Won't Want To Read But I Do. If porphyrin hadn't lent me this one, I probably wouldn't have gone, "Oh yeah, and did I like Black Ships all right? I think I did." I mean, it's not a perfect book (notably we have the bit where the unfashionable-looking girl just happens to be our culture's standard for pretty again, great thanks), but I'm enjoying it, it's definitely a thing I want to read, so I will want to read another of hers later too probably.

Books I'm writing: I'm hoping to have enough brain to do this soon, because I have had the kind of fever that means that the right word is not really there. But I am doing some revisions on What We Did, and mostly I am getting all my ducks in a row to write The Spy from Atlantis, which is so far being great fun, and I have hopes that it won't be like the last thing I thought would be fun to write.

The book I love the most. I like books too much to have one of these. This is true every World Book Day. It's true now, too. But if you want to buy me easily in your book, I am very fond of sea serpents.

The last book I received as a gift: Angelica Gorodischer, Kalpa Imperial, to be reviewed later today in book post.

The last book I gave as a gift: Charles C. Mann, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, and I'll tell you why. I had meant to get it for markgritter once I found out that he hadn't read it before 1493, and then on February 13 he turned to me and said, "Oh, hey, did you want some chocolate for Valentine's Day?" And I said, "I think the boxes Mother and Dad and Grandma gave us have chocolate in, so why don't you wait and get me March chocolate so we don't have it all in a bunch and I'll get you March 1491," and he said this was a good plan, so now it's March and 1491 was waiting for him when he woke up. Or, as I write this, will be waiting for him when he wakes up.

Where's my chocolate, monkey.

(This is a joke, I don't actually feel up to eating chocolate yet.)

The nearest book: If you don't count the Jo Graham thing, Brian Kennedy's Growing Up Hockey is probably the linearly nearest book to me, or possibly Ted Gioia's The History of Jazz, since they are both shelved on the shelf behind me. I now keep my book piles on the other desk, which is farther than the shelf.

The book I want someone else to please write for me: I have been saying this all week in places where no passing ruffians historians might hear it. I want someone to write me a history of the 1852 US Presidential election and how the immigrant '48ers from Europe might have affected it. This might have to go out into the 1856 election, depending on how things went. Someone should look into it. If I was a supervillain I would totally have an army of historians. With wings. That's the kind of supervillain I would be.

Books read, late February.

Ed Brubaker, Sleeper: All False Moves and Sleeper: Out in the Cold. I like the evolution of Miss Misery in these. They were entertaining enough. Not my favorite comics series at this point, but worth my time.

Mike Carey, Lucifer: A Dalliance with the Damned. I think I liked the art in that less than in any comic I've ever read. Which, granted, does not make me the grand voice of all experience in comic art; I am still a total dilettante here. But I know what I like! And it's not this!

Angelica Gorodischer, Kalpa Imperial. This is Borgesian and lovely, and sometimes plottier than Borges. What it is not is one of the things it says on the tin, which is a novel. I don't want people disappointed in this perfectly lovely story-and-vignette tradition in the South American fabulist tradition because it's labeled a novel and is not one.

Barbara Hambly, Die Upon a Kiss. Another Benjamin January mystery, this one with the opera of the time. Less mysterious than it might have been, more than made up for in period opera detail if you like that sort of thing, which I do.

Ari Marmell, Thief's Covenant. This is another "if you like that sort of thing, which I do." It's a YA thiefy fantasy adventure, and the threads of past and present come together most satisfactorily and with fun for all. At least for me. If you don't like high fantasy adventure with thieves, this will not be your thing.

Sharon Bertsch McGrayne, The Theory That Would Not Die: How Bayes' Rule Cracked the Enigma Code, Hunted Down Russian Submarines, and Emerged Triumphant from Two Centuries of Controversy. I feel that having typed the title ought to be nearly enough, but this is the sort of book that people might well overlook as too technical for them when really it's hardly technical at all. There's barely any math. Mostly it's about mathematicians fighting. It's almost fluffy. It goes through all sorts of good bits of applying statistics to things people are interested in. It's short and interesting. She has a few very weird tics, at one point referring to "engineer Thomas H. Flowers," which threw me as it is the Bletchley Park equivalent of referring to "musician David Grohl." But seriously, you might like this. Mathematicians fighting! Statistics nerdery without having to do the statistics yourself!

David Pietrusza, 1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America. David Pietrusza can keep writing about election years until he keels over as far as I'm concerned. This was light and breezy, and the 1948 election sort of deserved it. I thought I might be So Done With Elections, but actually someone else's election woes were quite refreshing, and I will go to the library for his 1960 one before November, I feel sure.

Greg Rucka, Queen and Country Vol. 4. Okay, that was random. End Volume 3 on a cliffhanger! Then spend Volume 4 on backstory! There is no known or forthcoming Volume 5! Yay! Sigh. Not-yay.

James C. Scott, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance. I so want a book that matches this title. Alas, this is not that book. This is a fairly close case-study of a small Malaysian village in the late 20th century and its social and economic relationships. It really ought to have been called Rice, And Quite a Lot Of It. I mean, there were interesting parts once I got over the disappointment. But I have another interestingly titled book by this gentleman on my pile, and now I am giving it the stinkeye.

Janni Lee Simner (janni), Faerie Winter. In addition to being fun and wintry (wintry yay!), it was fascinating how clearly I could see how differently Janni does things than I do, because while I don't have a similar premise, it was a lot closer to a premise I might want to use than many out there--I felt a lot more kinship with what she does than with what many authors do, and so our differences in approach were particularly delightful, if that makes any sense. The similarities made the differences pop. Will be interested in seeing how the series ends, too. Go series yay.

Barbara Tuchmann, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. Speaking of misleadingly titled books, this is really One French Knight: And a Bunch of Stuff About Him. Luckily I liked that better. I wish I'd gotten to it sooner, so I'd read it before the stuff that refuted bits of it. But still it was worth my time, and it's one of those things every fabulist reads sooner or later, and now it was my turn.

Mark Waid, Irredeemable Vol. 1 and 2. Oh how I like Volt. I mean, there were other things and this was fun. But Volt: he is my favorite.