Books!

Why do many literary novels have the subtitle, "A Novel"? It seems like a perfectly obvious and useless appellation.

Dropped by the library tonight and checked out three YA novels, two of which were shelf-grabs (the last is Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter, which is a NYT-bestseller and guaranteed comfort reading--I've already read the first chapter). I haven't read much YA lately--finally finished The Annotated Pride and Prejudice, currently working on Lolita--so it should be a refreshing change. Especially as NaNoWriMo starts in two days, so I won't have time to read much.

River of Gods, by Ian McDonald

River of Gods
by Ian McDonald
583 pages (trade paperback)
Genre: Fiction/SF

Okay, so I didn't actually read this book--I skimmed through several sections and read the first page, but the story doesn't grab me at all. Still, I'm recording it for posterity so that I don't accidentally pick it up again next year or in the future. Perhaps if I gave this an extended chance, it might prove itself--the prose is gritty and slightly jolting but promising--but there are so many other books to be read in the world, and I have so little time to read them.

So a pass on River of Gods; that's two strikes against Pat's Fantasy Hotlist as a reliable rec source (Pat called TPOTS "fantasy chick lit," which it is most certainly not). No recommendation either way, unless you know that your tastes coincide perfectly with mine on SF.

Halloween Spookiness

In celebration of Halloween tomorrow (and inspired by fireriven's boundless excitement about the holiday), I give you laitma (Sharon!)'s flash-fiction piece, "Angel Mother." (Line-edited by yours truly.) I think it's more lovely than scary, but other opinions have differed. Julia's writing has spoiled me for horror.