sholio | Misc things

I decided to buy myself a new Kindle Paperwhite to replace my ancient Kindle with the side buttons. It arrived in the mail today, so I've been setting it up and so far my thoughts are decidedly "hmmm." I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually, but I'm definitely not going to toss the old one anytime soon. I expect it'll be nice to have one that's backlit for reading in bed, though!

I had enough fun writing up my thoughts on The Pride of Chanur that I think I might just forget the "book club" idea for the time being, and simply make more posts on the Cherryh books I've read lately. Which one(s) are y'all most interested in hearing about?

Poll #19951

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 18

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The ones I've just read or reread:

View Answers

Heavy Time/Hellburner
5 (41.7%)

Merchanter's Luck
4 (33.3%)

Downbelow Station
5 (41.7%)

The ones I'm in the process of reading or have waiting to read:

View Answers

Rider at the Gate/Cloud's Rider
3 (21.4%)

The rest of the Chanur series
3 (21.4%)

Rimrunners
3 (21.4%)

Finity's End
2 (14.3%)

Cyteen
7 (50.0%)

40,000 in Gehenna
2 (14.3%)

Faded Sun trilogy*
4 (28.6%)

*I haven't actually acquired these yet, but they're definitely going to be part of the "read all the Cherryh" project. Apparently the library has them; they've got a good Cherryh selection, come to find out.

In other news, I've settled on Mar Delaney as my F/F pen name and set up a website. Now I just need, you know ... to write some books. (Details.)

Apropos of that,

rachelmanija has started a project called F/F Fridays, similar to Reading Wednesdays - post about an F/F book, story, or fanfic rec on Friday. Which I'm going to try to start doing, not every week, but as the mood takes me. (I'll probably post them here and also at Mar's website, to give it some content.) Also,

rachelmanija has a poll where you can vote on the next book she'll review.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'd read your thoughts of any of these. I tried to read Rider at the Gate but got bogged down. Maybe I should give it another go.

But I've read all the others and would enjoy your posts.

Yay! I need to write up some notes then. =)

I actually use my old non-backlit Kindle with the case-with-the-light to read it bed -- it's easier to fall back asleep without the backlighting. Of course, I suffer from morning insomnia, so I'm always trying to fall back asleep on weekends.

Yeah, I'm going to have to see how the backlighting works for me. Since my old Kindle still works fine, there's no reason why I can't switch back and forth ...

(Cyyyyyyteeeen!)

I like my Paperwhite a lot. I know the backlighting is supposed to be bad for you, but even with the case it's light enough it saves my wrists and thumb a lot. Plus I can dim the screen and read myself to sleep again, because T is a super light sleeper who would have blackout curtains if he could.

Being able to read in bed without having a light on is the #1 reason I wanted the backlit version! I'm looking forward to trying that feature out. :D

I've immersed myself so thoroughly in Cyteen and Heavy Time/Hellburner in the past that I don't really need a re-read to talk about them. The Nighthorse books are not super-faves, and that means I'm not really conversant about them without a re-read. (But I like them better than Hammerfall, which is so forgettable that I have indeed forgotten the plot.)

I could certainly re-read the others., and I do have OK memories of them, Rimrunners and Merchanter's Luck are quick reads. I remember the general outline of Downbelow Station, but I would re-read it for SIgny's POV and the details of the refugees.

What about Hunter of Worlds, Serpent's Reach, and Tripoint?

The ones I listed are the ones I've already got or had specific recs from other people to read, but she has so many books I haven't read; it's wonderful. :D I don't know why I never went on a reading binge with her books before. I think part of it is that I read most of the ones I've previously read in such a haphazard way that I never thought of it -- when I read most of them, I was a teenager and still at that age when I had no money and was entirely dependent on libraries, used bookstores, and Christmas/birthday presents for my reading material, so I was used to only reading bits and pieces of any author's total output. (I am realizing as I reread the Chanur books that I'm pretty sure I never actually read the last book in the series ... ever. Not the next-gen sequel, but the end of the trilogy. I just never knew how it ended. That was not unusual in those days.) So when I went back and got hold of the ones I really loved, Rusalka and Heavy Time/Hellburner and a couple others, it just didn't occur to me to go ahead and read the other books she'd written -- partly because those books were so different from each other that I didn't realize I'd actually like everything she wrote (which, so far, has been mostly the case; I'm sure I'm bound to hit something I don't like eventually, but so far it's been pure joy -- even Downbelow Station had redeeming features, though it wasn't a fave).

I just never realized how thoroughly she is into many of the same things I'm into, particularly the found-family/forced-domesticity thing (small groups of people living in close quarters on spaceships, stations and the like). So far, I don't think I've hit a single one of her books that doesn't have that, along with general themes of people making friends across lines of culture and/or species, which is another thing I love. And there's so much reading ahead of me! :D

I'm sure you have a list a mile long (she has written a LOT of books, wow), but I'm going to gently push you towards Fortress in the Eye of Time (first of the fortress books) and TriPoint, because those are two of my very favorites, for sure.

And I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Cyteen and Downbelow Station, because I haven't actually read those yet! They're so celebrated that they've been a bit intimidating, I guess.

Any :) I just like reading your rambling on the books. It's interesting, and when reading discourse on books I've read, it's most often bringing up a different view of the book I had not considered.

And wow - she's written a LOT of books, of which I've read a very small portion!

Misc things

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