How to Catch a Wild Viscount, Tessa Dare

I was worried because a) this is a novella and b) this is Tessa Dare's first novella, which doesn't always bode well. (I picked up Julia Quinn's first book the other year, and it was nearly unreadable.) But this was a charming little story. I was worried that the hero was going to be too much of a jerk, bu the pulled it out in the end. I was worried that the heroine was going to be dumb, but she was not only as smart as I hoped, but also had some great backstory he didn't know about. Overall a charming little story, which avoids some of the super melodrama Dare goes for sometimes (maybe because it's only a novella).

Grade: B
#58 in 2016

Capturing the Silken Thief, Jeannie Lin

I LOVED THIS. A romance set in Tang Dynasty China, between a scholar studying for the civil service exams, and a woman who plays music for a troupe but who is pretending to be a courtesan? Oh man. They were both so likeable, and they were both so smart and into each other. My only complaint, as usual, is that this is a novella and not a novel, because I would have read a lot more of this. (Yes, I know, it's part of a series, and I will go get the rest of it, don't worry.)

Grade: B
#57 in 2016

The Corrupt Comte, Edie Harris

This is a DNF and I'm not counting it, but -- yikes, no. I made it three chapters, and there was just too much of a creepy power dynamic right off the bat -- tying up a stranger so you can finger bang her in a closet without telling her what you're doing or who you really are? No. Especially when he can feel her virginity (?? that is not how the hymen works) and just HAS to take it, after years of pretending to be homosexual to be a spy. No nope no no nope no.

DNF

The Queen of the Tearling, Erika Johansen

I know my goal for the month was NOT to buy any new books but JUST ONE isn't bad. And this one was on sale when I picked it up, it barely counts as a purchase!

This is fantasy -- our heroine is a princess who has been raised in a cabin in the woods because her uncle the Regent would kill her if he knew where she was. The Red Queen in the next country over would kill her, too. And so would the assassins who've been hired, and maybe a whole bunch of other people, including the soldiers who are supposed to be protecting her. When she claims her throne she finds out just how screwed up her country is, and she has a lot of difficult choices about how to fix it, when changing anything will mean inevitable war with the neighboring countries that have been preying on it in her absence.

This is a familiar story, but I still found it really interesting. I liked that the main character is a girl, and that her kingdom seems to have been ruled by lots of queens, good and bad. The main antagonist is a woman as well. I like that our heroine isn't beautiful or thin. She isn't a great swordswoman, but she has a very firm sense of right and wrong. She's driven by a need to be better than her mother -- I can't remember a lot of high fantasy where that's a driving character motivation. I liked that instead of a generic fantasy land this place was settled by the English and Americans after some kind of "crossing" that destroyed all their technology. It means historical references and books and religion can all be familiar. It also adds a vague dystopian element to the world, which I hope is explored more in later books. (On the other hand, some of the language is jarringly not fantasy; royals and nobles suddenly shouting "fuck you!" breaks the mood of the book a little.)

This is so compulsively readable that I wonder if it's YA -- if it is, there's a lot of fairly graphic sex going on, most of it creepy or non-consensual, and lots of referenced rape and murder. There are also a bunch of mysterious elements I want explained. Who is the evil spirit? What's the deal with The Fetch? Who is Kelsea's dad? I'm going to pick up the second one to read on summer vacation next month and I'll let you know.

Grade: B
#56 in 2016

The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets, Simon Singh

My favorite popular math writer is Simon Singh. He just makes it feel really understandable and accessible, even when he's writing a whole book on Fermat's Last Theorem. I took calculus in high school, and haven't thought much about math since then; I have only the vaguest idea what e or log mean anymore, I only vaguely ever understood limits and derivatives. But when I read his books I feel like I do, and that's awesome. He writes books that make me wish I'd taken math in college (and understood them).

This book doesn't have much math; he talks a lot about how smart all the Simpsons and Futurama writers are, how many math awards and papers they've published, and all the math jokes they've snuck into the shows. It's fun, it's a fast read, and there are math jokes scattered through it. I think this was a .99c kindle deal of the day a year ago, and I'm glad I bought it then.

Grade: B
#55 in 2016

Danubia: A Personal History of Habsburg Europe, Simon Winder

So on the one hand, I loved this book. The author is just plain old funny. He is wry and a often sarcastic, and there's a lot to mock about the poor Habsburgs, who had an empire but never really did much with it, and certainly weren't successful at much. In his introduction he promises to avoid talking about how one ethnic group is spicy, or another is cold, or another is always joyful and drinking, and I love that level of metacognition about history writing, especially when discussing Eastern Europe, where everyone is constantly trying to merge or differentiate themselves.

On the other hand, he constantly describes castles, or paintings, or suits of armor, or museum exhibits in a way that sounds hilarious, but I want to see it. There are almost no photographs, but the whole book is predicated on traveling from city to city and castle to castle. I spent a lot of time on my phone looking at google images, and it added a ton to the book. It needs both maps and photographs. Also, Winder talks about classical music as if we're all totally familiar with every Austrian (etc etc) composer. I like classical music, too, but it genuinely made me feel like he was condescending to me a little, and that made me like him less.

Grade: C
#54 in 2016

The Black Mountain, Rex Stout

Normally when the Nero Wolfe books go outside the standard formula I love it. This one, though, removed all the mystery elements and turned it into a travelogue. It ended up being "Archie and Wolfe go on an international adventure," which was so different that it threw me off. Because of a murder, Wolfe has to go home to Yugoslavia, and Archie goes with him. It's a lot of description of airplanes and hiking and boats, and almost no actual mystery.

Here's what I liked: I liked that Archie thinks about Lily Rowan four separate times. (Just get married.) I liked reading what it was like in Yugoslavia under the Tito regime. Archie was funny as always, although severely hampered by only speaking English, so he couldn't argue with anyone. I liked Wolfe's secret plan that comes to fruition in the last couple of paragraphs of the last page.

Otherwise.... eh. Not a lot happens except walking around the mountains.

Grade: C
#53 in 2016