Books I've Read: September 2025
Dec. 31st, 2025 05:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjI read a shit-load of books in September, in part due to the New Zealand trip. On most overseas trips, I keep myself so busy I don't do much reading, but this time we planned for a laid-back schedule and most days spent a lot of time just hanging out doing parallel play. This also meant that more than half the books were text rather than audio.
Copper Script by K.J. Charles -- (text) Usual lovely K.J. Charles book. M/M historic romance with excellent character work. The middle feels a bit rushed or foreshortened, though the climax works. I like the conceit of handwriting analysis on an almost psychic level, even knowing it's fantastical. Great pun in the title.
The Rosetti Diaries by Kathleen Williams Renk -- (text) F/f cross-time story (historic story unfolds via a modern person doing research). Alas, this was a DNF (did not finish) for me. The historical premise is intriguing, but the writing style - ugh - perfectly literate but it reads like a textbook. I found it especially problematic, given that it's formatted as a diary, that the protagonist is always explaining things. To whom? This isn't the sort of stuff you'd put in a diary. And some of the technical details are implausible, like reading archival documents in a vault using a candle. It all just added up and threw me out.
That Self-Same Metal by Brittany H. Williams -- (text) YA historic fantasy involving malevolent elves and West African-based magic in the England of King James I. There were a few logical inconsistencies, but quite enjoyable. Queer-normative, racially-aware, lots of room for further adventures, and a "why choose" bi romantic polygon.
The Illhenny Murders by Winnie Frolik -- (text) Another DNF, alas. I'm in one of my periodic phases of allowing myself to drop books if they're just not working for me. In this case, it's was just that the prose was so very pedestrian. In theory there was a f/f romance in there somewhere but I never got to it.
Problems and Other Solutions by Allie Brosch -- (text) Ok, so I started reading this several years ago. This is a collection of semi-comedic personal sketches by the author of Hyperbole and a Half. Although the individual pieces are interesting, they work best taken in separate bites, hence the long time to finish.
Illuminations by T Kingfisher -- (audio) Solidly YA in tone. Secondary world fantasy with an eccentric family of magical artists and a kid who looses and then needs to fix a Problem. Complex, with a focus on life lessons of cooperation, honesty, grit. It was interesting listening to this in alternation with the Diana Wynne Jones Chrestomanci books, because there's a very similar feel: a kid in a magic-working family feels marginalized but needs to solve a big problem. Family then pitches in.
The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones -- (audio) And speaking of which... Part of my semi-random DWJ reading program. An interesting story but I want to slap the protagonist silly. I probably needed to have read this book when I was a bratty kid. Oh wait, I never was.
Hemlock and Silver by T. Kingfisher -- (audio) Loosely inspired by Snow White, but only in terms of the MacGuffins. A standard Kingfisher heroine (complete with standard Kingfisher romance arc), but the plot is fun. There are lots of twists and turns trying to figure out the rules of the magic. In the end, the worldbuilding logic all comes together and makes sense.
The Magicians of Caprona by Diana Wynne Jones -- (audio) A gripping and well-written magical family saga. (This is the one that felt most parallel to Illuminations.) The only down side was the annoying use of Italian ethnic stereotypes.
Copper Script by K.J. Charles -- (text) Usual lovely K.J. Charles book. M/M historic romance with excellent character work. The middle feels a bit rushed or foreshortened, though the climax works. I like the conceit of handwriting analysis on an almost psychic level, even knowing it's fantastical. Great pun in the title.
The Rosetti Diaries by Kathleen Williams Renk -- (text) F/f cross-time story (historic story unfolds via a modern person doing research). Alas, this was a DNF (did not finish) for me. The historical premise is intriguing, but the writing style - ugh - perfectly literate but it reads like a textbook. I found it especially problematic, given that it's formatted as a diary, that the protagonist is always explaining things. To whom? This isn't the sort of stuff you'd put in a diary. And some of the technical details are implausible, like reading archival documents in a vault using a candle. It all just added up and threw me out.
That Self-Same Metal by Brittany H. Williams -- (text) YA historic fantasy involving malevolent elves and West African-based magic in the England of King James I. There were a few logical inconsistencies, but quite enjoyable. Queer-normative, racially-aware, lots of room for further adventures, and a "why choose" bi romantic polygon.
The Illhenny Murders by Winnie Frolik -- (text) Another DNF, alas. I'm in one of my periodic phases of allowing myself to drop books if they're just not working for me. In this case, it's was just that the prose was so very pedestrian. In theory there was a f/f romance in there somewhere but I never got to it.
Problems and Other Solutions by Allie Brosch -- (text) Ok, so I started reading this several years ago. This is a collection of semi-comedic personal sketches by the author of Hyperbole and a Half. Although the individual pieces are interesting, they work best taken in separate bites, hence the long time to finish.
Illuminations by T Kingfisher -- (audio) Solidly YA in tone. Secondary world fantasy with an eccentric family of magical artists and a kid who looses and then needs to fix a Problem. Complex, with a focus on life lessons of cooperation, honesty, grit. It was interesting listening to this in alternation with the Diana Wynne Jones Chrestomanci books, because there's a very similar feel: a kid in a magic-working family feels marginalized but needs to solve a big problem. Family then pitches in.
The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones -- (audio) And speaking of which... Part of my semi-random DWJ reading program. An interesting story but I want to slap the protagonist silly. I probably needed to have read this book when I was a bratty kid. Oh wait, I never was.
Hemlock and Silver by T. Kingfisher -- (audio) Loosely inspired by Snow White, but only in terms of the MacGuffins. A standard Kingfisher heroine (complete with standard Kingfisher romance arc), but the plot is fun. There are lots of twists and turns trying to figure out the rules of the magic. In the end, the worldbuilding logic all comes together and makes sense.
The Magicians of Caprona by Diana Wynne Jones -- (audio) A gripping and well-written magical family saga. (This is the one that felt most parallel to Illuminations.) The only down side was the annoying use of Italian ethnic stereotypes.
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Date: 2026-01-01 11:22 am (UTC)