Unabridged Opinions

Well, I’m finally back from a sort-of vacation back to Southern California.  (One of the highlights of which was eating as much Mexican food as I could in ten days.  Hint, that’s a LOT of Mexican food, but not ENOUGH Mexican food: subtle difference there…) I went to announce at the horseshow at Copper Meadows, an eventing venue in Ramona, California. It was a fantastic time–I announced all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (basically, I was blathering on about horses, sponsors, photographers, and following rules for twelve hours a day–and yet, totally fun.)  I then tried to hang out with everyone possible in the ten days remaining.  And ride. a lot.  I got the riding in (thanks Sarah and Nancy!), but I had a hard time finding enough time to hang out with everyone.  Partially, it was because a friend of mine has just had a baby, and it was just so easy to spend a few days just being mellow with the new mom and baby–and partially it was because, between the riding and the working and the running around, I kept falling asleep by 9pm.

I made an unusual choice (for me) on this trip: I only brought three books.  Well, three books in my bag.  On my iPhone, I had about fifteen books in e-book form and ten audio books.  Except for one minor breakdown (I saw Christopher Moore’s newest Fool, and I had to buy it to get me through the 5 hour wait for the second leg of my trip). It worked quite well–my carry-on was much lighter, and Iwas able to live out of one small bag for the twelve days.

Of course, I knew I would be able to borrow books (from friends and family) and, it turned out, I was so busy I basically stuck my headphones in my ears with an audiobook on at 9pm and was asleep by 9:15, so it wasn’t a regular vacation.  I think, if any down-time had actually been possible, I would have *needed* my normal ten or twelve books, but this time it worked. (Now, if anyone could help me out with the really, really bad farmer’s tan I managed to acquire while there, that would be great.)

I first came across these books in a post on Orbit publishing’s blog.  It was a cool two-part piece on the covers of her books (the first part can be found here)–and I immediately filed Jennifer Rardin’s name away for future reference. Normally, when I start a series, I am very particular about starting with the first book and moving on, but the only copy of the first book, Once Bitten, Twice Shy, seemed to be lost in permanently checked out limbo at my local library, so I began with the second, Another One Bites the Dust.

This one begins with Jaz, very reluctantly, astride a moped.  Separated from the powerful (and not-lame) car she clearly prefers, Jaz is heading for a county fair in Corpus Christi, Texas–where she and her team have been sent to stop an ancient Chinese vampire from joining forces with their old enemy, Edward Samos. Chien-Lung has already managed to steal a suit of armour so high-tech that it bonds to the skin and serves as a nearly impenetrable defense–and that’s if you are not already a half-crazed vampire without a conscience.

So yes, the book begins with the odds stacked against Jaz and her team.  Add to it Jaz’s continuing difficulty in coping with the grief of the loss of her fiancee and some uncomfortable feelings for her boss, an unstable alliance between the tech guy and the seer girl, and the, you know, evil-doers wandering around, and the entire team is under an amazing amount of strain.  Rardin does an excellent job making each member of the team seem essential and logical–there is a real feeling that they work in concert and that they need each other to succeed.  I found this a nice change from the lone-wolf type of fighter that seems so popular in urban fantasy.  It allows Jaz a nice vulnerability without making me feel as if any vulnerability would make her instantly…dead. Continue reading

One of the most consistent aspects of my reading life is the re-reading of books. I read all of my books at least once every couple of years; I read some of them once a year (or more), and I read some of them once a year at very specific times (ahem, Tolkien, during the Winter holidays, without fail). Redwall has been a favourite of mine for a number of years now.  In fact, I still own the (pristine originally but now incredibly battered) copy that my dad gave me for my birthday (ummm twenty years ago? Oh whoa).  This was the same birthday that I got Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown, so my dad obviously has excellent taste in birthday gifts. I loved bringing this book in to show to my students because I put off reading it forever–in book terms, about two weeks in real life–because I wasn’t sure how interesting a book about a mouse could be.  And then, well, I opened it up and read:

Matthias cut a comical little figure as he wobbled his way among the cloisters, with his large sandals flip-flopping and his tail peeping from beneath the baggy folds of an oversized novice’s habit. He paused to gaze upwards at the cloudless blue sky and tripped over the enormous sandals. Hazelnuts scattered out upon the grass from the rush basket he was carrying. Unable to stop, he went tumbling cowl over tail.

Bump!

Well, I was hooked. And then, oh my, there was the food. Continue reading