SBD: samples on my Kindle
Jan. 31st, 2011 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jmc_bksI haven't read any books in the last week, have been too brain dead to start anything new and see it through to the end. Have picked up a couple of old favorites and read random passages, but otherwise, not much. I have downloaded a few Kindle samples, so for SBD, I'll share my opinion about them:
Hello Kitty Must Die by Angela Choi. I think limecello recommended this on Twitter. Or maybe someone else? The sample intrigued me, mostly because I appreciated the POV of the narrator, who is jaded and sarcastic and kind of crazy. Also, the Kindle price is pretty good, especially in comparison to paper prices.
Skin Heat by Ava Gray. This is a pen name of Ann Aguirre, whose Corinne Solomon series I enjoy; the first book of the series had h/h who did not appeal, so I skipped it, but this one seems sort of interesting. I've read the first few screens, and the hero seems to be sort of disoriented and struggling with some sort of newly acquired abilities, kind of like the Million Dollar Man or Bionic Woman. Am leaning toward buying a copy.
The Long Struggle: The Muslim World's Western Problem by Amil Khan. Khan wrote a thoughtful piece on Egypt over at CNAS's blog, and mentioned this book. It seems sort of timely, so if I his prose is as readable in the book as it is in the blog article, I'll probably download a copy of this.
Artichoke Heart by Suzanne Supplee. YA fiction, reviewed positively by a YA reader/reviewer. Downloaded the sample this evening, so I'm not sure how I'll jump on this one.
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson. This was well-reviewed at Dear Author and a few other places. Eh, the opening sample didn't really work for me: the hero, even taking into consideration the shock he's had at the beginning of the book, is crotchety and not very engaging to me.
Hello Kitty Must Die by Angela Choi. I think limecello recommended this on Twitter. Or maybe someone else? The sample intrigued me, mostly because I appreciated the POV of the narrator, who is jaded and sarcastic and kind of crazy. Also, the Kindle price is pretty good, especially in comparison to paper prices.
Skin Heat by Ava Gray. This is a pen name of Ann Aguirre, whose Corinne Solomon series I enjoy; the first book of the series had h/h who did not appeal, so I skipped it, but this one seems sort of interesting. I've read the first few screens, and the hero seems to be sort of disoriented and struggling with some sort of newly acquired abilities, kind of like the Million Dollar Man or Bionic Woman. Am leaning toward buying a copy.
The Long Struggle: The Muslim World's Western Problem by Amil Khan. Khan wrote a thoughtful piece on Egypt over at CNAS's blog, and mentioned this book. It seems sort of timely, so if I his prose is as readable in the book as it is in the blog article, I'll probably download a copy of this.
Artichoke Heart by Suzanne Supplee. YA fiction, reviewed positively by a YA reader/reviewer. Downloaded the sample this evening, so I'm not sure how I'll jump on this one.
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson. This was well-reviewed at Dear Author and a few other places. Eh, the opening sample didn't really work for me: the hero, even taking into consideration the shock he's had at the beginning of the book, is crotchety and not very engaging to me.
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Date: 2011-02-01 01:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-03 04:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-05 02:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-08 12:48 pm (UTC)Heheh. Yeah, it was probably limecello. Avidbookreader mentioned HKMD to me, which got me talking about trying to buy HKMD (due to geographical restrictions), prompting SarahTanner and Limecello to ask who wrote HKMD. Once we all figured out how to get our mitts on a copy, we bought copies. I think limecello actually downloaded a sample first and she liked it enough to buy a copy. It was a long discussion if I remember right.
I have mixed feelings about Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. On one hand it tried too hard and on the other, it's typical of an English village novel. Even with the hero being crotchety (a classic or stereotypical trait in an Englishman).
It's an old and still popular genre in the UK. Popular authors include Mary Pearce, E.F. Benson, Barbara Pym (favourite), Rebecca Shaw, H.E. Bates, Miriam Wakerly, Joanna Trollope, Angela Thirkell (also a favourite) and more. The Queen of all is, IMO, Miss Read; even though I'm not that keen on her novels.
The best known authors, though, would be Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, E.M. Forster, Laurie Lee and D.H. Lawrence. There are more, but my brain is flatlining at the moment.
So yeah, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand isn't that exceptional to me. I suspect the DA author and others aren't familiar with the genre, hence the positive reaction? Maybe I'm wrong.
FiaQ (M)
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Date: 2011-02-08 12:52 pm (UTC)Er, I meant the DA *reviewer*. See, my brain -> flatlining. Sorry.
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Date: 2011-02-08 06:39 pm (UTC)Where have you been? Haven't seen you on Twitter in ages! (Assumed you were busy with work and life :)
Miss Read is one of my mother's absolute favorites. She has (I think) nearly every book, and uses them as comfort reads.
Oh, I'm sorry I missed the convo about HKMD. But if it was twittered (tweeted?), I can look it up. Or try.
Hope all is well,
jmc