Category Archives: reading

#TBRChallenge – Competition: The Galaxy Game by Karen Lord

Posted on November 17, 2021 by Victoria Janssen

The Galaxy Game by Karen Lord is a complex, far-future space opera that includes the sport of Wallrunning. The skills and implications of Wallrunning, it turns out, influence events on an interstellar scale. I was very pleased to re-encounter characters … Continue reading →

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#TBRChallenge – Gothic: Doll Bones by Holly Black

Posted on October 20, 2021 by Victoria Janssen

Doll Bones by Holly Black is Middle Grade, but more than spooky enough for my tender sensibilities. What I love most about this book is that it’s really about making stories, and the power of making stories. Narrator Zach and … Continue reading →

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#TBRChallenge – Unusual Profession: Set This House in Order by Matt Ruff

Posted on September 15, 2021 by Victoria Janssen

Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls by Matt Ruff won the 2003 James Tiptree, Jr. Award, now renamed the Otherwise Award, which “celebrates science fiction, fantasy, and other forms of speculative narrative that expand and explore our … Continue reading →

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My August Reading Log

Posted on September 10, 2021 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction: The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein, set mostly in Scotland during World War II, is a prequel to Code Name Verity. The main characters are Louisa Adair, a half-English/half-Jamaican teenaged girl; an elderly German immigrant woman who adopts the … Continue reading →

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#TBRChallenge – Author with More Than One Book in TBR: The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages

Posted on August 18, 2021 by Victoria Janssen

Coincidentally, like last month’s TBR Challenge book, The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages is set during World War Two and revolves around a friendship forged between two girls. However, these girls are ten years old, and the story is … Continue reading →

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My July Reading Log

Posted on August 13, 2021 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction: Demon Fighter Sucks by Katherine Crighton is short fiction at Apex Magazine. It’s speculative fiction about YouTube and grief. After the Gold: A Twin Cities Ice Book by Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese is a contemporary romance whose protagonists … Continue reading →

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#TBRChallenge – Secrets and Lies: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Posted on July 21, 2021 by Victoria Janssen

I know, I know, I should have read Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein back in 2012 when it came out because I had pre-ordered it, but I never felt quite ready. By exerting a magnificently huge effort, I managed … Continue reading →

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#TBRChallenge – Book with One Word Title: Distances by Vandana Singh

Posted on June 16, 2021 by Victoria Janssen

The novella Distances by Vandana Singh is Volume 23 in the “Conversation Pieces” series from Aqueduct Press. It won the 2008 Carl Brandon Society Parallax Award and was on the Honor List for the 2009 James Tiptree, Jr. Award, now … Continue reading →

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My May Reading Log

Posted on June 4, 2021 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction: Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell mashes up space opera with a Marriage of Convenience, with the added level of this being one partner’s second marriage of convenience after his husband is killed in what appeared to be an accident. … Continue reading →

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#TBRChallenge – Fairytale: The Serial Garden by Joan Aiken

Posted on May 19, 2021 by Victoria Janssen

Small Beer Press page for The Serial Garden. The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories by Joan Aiken “is the first complete collection of Joan Aiken’s beloved Armitage stories — and it includes four new, unpublished stories.” The world … Continue reading →

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