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November was a bit of a whirlwind. Conference in Pittsburgh, moving back to Joliette, and starting my new contract have all cut into my time off considerably. Throw in traveling back and forth between Ottawa and Joliette on weekends (6 hours round-trip) and you get an idea of how much free time I have.
Still, books.
Magic City, Recent Spells edited by Paula Guran - I picked this up because my dear friend A.C. Wise was published in this anthology, alongside some of my absolute favorite authors, like Catherynne Valente and Patricia Briggs. As usual, I'm not much of a short story person, but it's nice to discover new authors.
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake - borrowed this from a friend and wasn't overly impressed. Yes, it was an interesting story but it never seemed to have any coherence, it meandered into random directions before coming to a complete stop for no reason, and it just kind of peters out. Not awful but certainly not deserving of the heaps of praise that have been laid on it.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (reread) - I recently rewatched the movies and that got me wanting to reread the books. The movies are good, but the books have so many more layers. I think I enjoyed the books even more this time around.
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (reread)
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (reread)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - probably one of my favorite Neil Gaiman books, actually. Interesting story, not too drawn out, with mysteries left over and a pervading sense of wonder.
Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - another disappointment, since I'd heard such good things about it. I love the concept of building a story around these odd and slightly disturbing old photographs, but the story itself dragged on and I found the pacing very difficult. I won't be reading the sequel.
Movies
Ice Princess (2005) - because it was on TV while I was in Pittsburgh. I put it on as background noise at first and actually got sucked into the story. Turns out Michelle Trachtenberg is only that annoying when she's playing Dawn.
Mockingjay, Part 1 (2014) - cheating a bit, I'm actually going to see this tonight, so I can't give much of a review on it.
Random Cultural Stuff
I went to Pittsburgh! I attended a two-day extra-geeky museum conference on packing and crating artefacts, but had time to do some sight-seeing while I was at it. I actually forgot that I hadn't posted anything about this yet. I'll do that. See cultural stuff there.
Still, books.
Magic City, Recent Spells edited by Paula Guran - I picked this up because my dear friend A.C. Wise was published in this anthology, alongside some of my absolute favorite authors, like Catherynne Valente and Patricia Briggs. As usual, I'm not much of a short story person, but it's nice to discover new authors.
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake - borrowed this from a friend and wasn't overly impressed. Yes, it was an interesting story but it never seemed to have any coherence, it meandered into random directions before coming to a complete stop for no reason, and it just kind of peters out. Not awful but certainly not deserving of the heaps of praise that have been laid on it.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (reread) - I recently rewatched the movies and that got me wanting to reread the books. The movies are good, but the books have so many more layers. I think I enjoyed the books even more this time around.
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (reread)
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (reread)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - probably one of my favorite Neil Gaiman books, actually. Interesting story, not too drawn out, with mysteries left over and a pervading sense of wonder.
Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - another disappointment, since I'd heard such good things about it. I love the concept of building a story around these odd and slightly disturbing old photographs, but the story itself dragged on and I found the pacing very difficult. I won't be reading the sequel.
Movies
Ice Princess (2005) - because it was on TV while I was in Pittsburgh. I put it on as background noise at first and actually got sucked into the story. Turns out Michelle Trachtenberg is only that annoying when she's playing Dawn.
Mockingjay, Part 1 (2014) - cheating a bit, I'm actually going to see this tonight, so I can't give much of a review on it.
Random Cultural Stuff
I went to Pittsburgh! I attended a two-day extra-geeky museum conference on packing and crating artefacts, but had time to do some sight-seeing while I was at it. I actually forgot that I hadn't posted anything about this yet. I'll do that. See cultural stuff there.
