More ladies

I created some more ladylike peyote tube earrings for Christmas. These little blue girls were a gift for my cousin's daughter, who requested them several months ago. I made them using size 15 seeds.


And these were my christmas earrings. I added wings to the basic tube pattern to create little angels. (Ok, I know they're cheesy, but sometimes I like that sort of thing.) Like the blue ones, these are 12 around even count peyote. The skirt is two rows of 3 bead netting followed by two rows of 5 bead netting.

Lady Sophia's Lover by Lisa Kleypas

Ok, I suppose the lover was a fine enough fellow, if rather uninteresting and occasionally unperceptive. But as far as the focus of the plot and centre of interest for Lady Sophia herself went, the book would have been more aptly titled Lady Sophia's Brother.

The Buried Pyamid by Jane Lindskold

Odd but enjoyable.

I like Jane Lindskold's books. Ok, I lost interest in the Firekeeper saga a couple of books in, but I like her stand-alones. I especially like the way she bounces around between subgenres - she's done sword-and-sorcery (When the Gods are Silent), near-future cyberpunk (Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls) and an off-planet SF espionage (Smoke and Mirrors), among others. This one was particularly odd: a Victorian-era novel of an Egyptian archaeological expedition, not unlike Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody mysteries and complete with mysterious murderous thugs, which abruptly turns into a journey through an egyptiam mythological landscape accompanied by a sun god. Left me with a bit of whiplash...

Novels and stories from Kage Baker's Company series

The Graveyard Game, Life of the World to Come, The Children of the Company, Black Projects, White Knights. I read these fairly in one steady Company binge.

I'm not going to review these - it's been done better. All I can say is I like the Company... but. The Children of the Company drove me nearly insane! Life of the World to Come ended on practically a cliffhanger for Alex, and Graveyard for Joseph. I picked up Children desperately needing to find out What Happens Next to the characters I care about - and instead got what I later realised was a fix-up of short stories. If I'd been expecting short stories about random company-related things, that would have been one thing (as with Black Projects, White Knights), but I thought I'd picked up a novel.

Not that some of them weren't excellent short stories. But the main plot, such as it was, seemed to involve a rivalry between the unpleasant Labienus and one Aegeus, who is probably equally unpleasant, but stays offstage. Fight between Unpleasant and Unknown. Don't Care.

I was piqued enough that I haven't gotten the next book in the series, even though it apparently does carry on the plot from Life. I'm trying to hold out until it shows up in paperback, at least.

An absence of posts

It seems that keeping up with the very simple premise of this blog - post a few words about each book I read, as I finish reading it - isn't as simple to accomplish as I thought it would be. I'm not sure why this is.

Partly, I think, my perfectionist tendancies combined with the fact that this is a public forum. I find myself wanting to post something close to a full review of each book, which requires that I set some time aside and think deeply and carefully, rather than simply writing an unvarnished reaction. And to also write serious reactions, thoughtfull meditations on this or that inspired by my reading - after I get the full review out of the way, of course. Which all becomes something like homework.

And really, much of what I read doesn't inspire such serious reactions. I read a grab bag that includes quite a bit of genre fiction - romances, murder mysteries, meant to be pure pleasant escapism. Maybe I don't want my less intellectual preferences showing.

Well, here's a list of unposted boks from the last little while. I'll write about some of them in more detail later, if the mood strikes.

Books and short stories from Kage Baker's Company series:

• Mendoza in Hollywood
  
• The Graveyard Game
  
• The Life of the World to Come
  
• The Children of the Company
  
• Black Projects, White Knights (short story collection)
  

Mysteries and romances by Nora Roberts:

• Going Home compilation, containing the books ”Mind Over Matter”, “Unfinished Business”, & “Island of Flowers”
  
• Cordina's Royal Familiy series: Affaire Royale, Command Performance, Cordina's Crown Jewel
  
• Mysteries written as J. D. Robb: Naked in Death, Ceremony in Death, Witness in Death

Other:

• The Runaway Princess, Christina Dodd
  
• Hidden Honor, Anne Stuart
  
• Windflower, Nick Bantock
  
• Forcing Amyrillis, Louise Ure
  
• A Great and Terrible Beauty, Libba Bray
  
• Beguilement, Lois McMaster Bujold
  
• The Buried Pyramid, Jane Lindskold
  
• The Silver Bough, Lisa Tuttle