Checking Reading Goal List

Let's see:

Late Eclipses, by Seanan McGuire -- purchase, read, enjoyed, recommended. We've bought crash_mccormick a copy of all four books in the Toby Daye series to date.

Deathless, by Catherynne Valente -- three copies purchased, one copy read, two copies placed. I'd not heard the source tale before, or if I did, I'd long since forgotten it.

Deadline, by Mira Grant -- not yet out. T-18 days. The problem is that this is part two of a trilogy, and likely to end on a cliffhanger, so while we clearly buy it as soon as it's out, do we read it at once and then wait a year for the next? Or do we wait until the next one is out? Ah, decisions, decisions.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Catherynne Valente -- One copy on order from Amazon, one purchased from Barnes & Noble so we wouldn't have to wait for the first. I just finished reading the original electronic version yesterday (long story, which I'll try to post).

The New Borderlands Book that's being edited by Ellen Kushner and Holly Black -- Not yet out.

I'm also considering the Cthulhu Invictus Companion. -- Purchased, not read.

Books I'm Hoping to Reread:

Chronicles of Narnia (In publication order, IF you please!)
Ultimate Sandman
Masks of Nyarlathotep, perhaps accompanied by the Companion for same, presuming that manages to get completed soonish

Nope, nothing here yet.

Other Books to Read

Gaming:

Leverage RPG -- Not yet.
Havering Adventures for Victoriana -- Started.
The Fearmaker's Promise -- read.

Novels / Anthologies / Short stories
Bards of Bone Plain, Patricia McKillip -- read, recommended.
Anything by Ted Chiang I've not read -- Not yet.
Kraken, by China Mieville -- read, pondering how to use a lot of the really cool bits when running modern day RPGs with occult elements. Seriously, Unknown Armies fans should take a look at this.
The Sorcerer's House, but Gene Wolfe -- read. I'm ambivalent about this one. I enjoyed while reading it, but I know that I'm missing a lot that the author isn't saying outright, possible so much that it completely changes the story from what it seems to be. And, I don't mind that kind of major twist. But, I do mind, more and more, not being able to figure out what I'm missing. I know that Wolfe is assuming that I am every bit as smart as he is, and I am flattered. But I would prefer it if he insulted my intelligence just enough for me to know what's going on.
Home Fires, by Gene Wolfe -- Not yet.
Sam and Max -- read, enjoyed, recommended for fans of the Fables series.
Something by Connie Willis -- Doomesday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog -- actually, it's more likley to be Blackout / All Clear, if I can do it quickly enough to vote for the Hugos.
Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay -- read, enjoyed. I think it's the characterization that does it for me with Kay's novels.
Instructions, by Charles Vess and Neil Gaiman -- Not yet.
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, by Charles Yu -- read, not to my taste.
Various anthologies sitting patiently on my shelf -- making some headway on these.

Things I want to read, but am not sure I'll do this year:
Nation, by Terry Pratchett
80 Memories and Reflections on Ursula K. Le Guin
The Heinlein biography that's out
It, by Stephen King
The Wiscon thingie that I'd have a better chance of reading if I recalled its name

None of the above as yet.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making is out in print! We have two copies of the printed book, and I am highly tempted to pick up the unabridged audio book as well.

This book started off life as an imaginary book. I suppose all books do, but this book belongs to the subset of books made up and mentioned in other books. This book is mentioned in Palimsest, also by Valente, also good. A small section of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland appears in that book, and that was intended to be the end of that.

Then, the author started writing the rest of the book. Many of us donated money for that project, and the results were posted online for all to read. While there are only the first eight chapters on there as I type, the entire novel was available for free, to everyone, for quite a long while.

This was the version I read to my mother from when I was visiting her in the nursing home. I read it on my phone, only while visiting her, as an incentive to make sure I did that regularly. I got as far as the end of chapter twelve, which ends beautifully. Then, I switched over to a different book, trying, futilely, to read all of the 2010 Hugo Nominees, and then to singing, which made my mother less restless than being read to.

In the meantime, Feiwel and Friends made an agreement to publish The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland. As part of this agreement, the author had to take down most of the novel after a certain point. I managed to miss the announcement about this, despite Valente making is loud and clear and more than once. So it goes.

Then, she received permission to put the entire online version back up again, for a brief period of time, for free download. This was about two weeks before the actual book was due out.

Naturally, I downloaded it, and I finished reading it yesterday. And, of course, now that I have the hard copy, it's time to start reading it again.

It's very good. You probably already knew that. Wonderful prose, characters, fairyland logic, plot, blending of older and newer tropes, all of it. And, as pocketnaomi noted, this is a book that managed the delicate act of not merely being excellent in its own right, but also of being exactly the kind of book that the character from Palimpsest would have fallen in love with when she first read it. And, like many of the best stories, it is not simple. It tackles a lot of difficult questions, it avoids easy answers, and such answers as it gives and chooses not to give are satisfying.