Alchemical Thoughts

And here we go with list #34 of the ever popular (well, to me at least) series of books and stuff about I want to read. I have not posted this for a while, but it is not for lack of books I want to read. I hope now that some things are settling down that I can get back to posting them more regularly. So, here we go.

Items about books:

• I will admit that I am not much into the modern incarnation of vampires in fiction. I will keep my opinion of that abomination known as Twilight to myself this time. However, the plot description and review of The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa caught my eye. It is classified as a YA book, but it might be something to take a chance on. Find the review here at My Favourite Books.
• I have kept a personal journal for years. Though I have always fantasized about adding a bit of art to my notebooks, I never really get to it. Maybe I need a book like Quinn MacDonald’s Raw Art Journaling. The book is reviewed in A Penchant for Paper.
• Via Grist, Wenonah Hauter is interviewed and discusses her book Foodopoly: the Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America. From her interview, something to think about: “Just 20 companies produce most of the food eaten by Americans (yes, even organic brands). These companies are so large, they have the economic and political power to dictate food policy, from laws on advertising junk food to children and manipulating nutrition standards to weakening federal pesticide regulations and blocking the labeling of genetically engineered foods.” If you need a bit more convincing, AlterNet has an excerpt of the book.
• This story by Sarah Posner in AlterNet caught my eye about one of those Christian megachurch huckster con-men who had his church put in foreclosure (he, however, kept on reaping money and paying himself handsomely. No surprise there). The story certainly has a nice ironic element to it, but what caught my eye as well was the fact that Ms. Posner has a book out, and I may be interested in reading it. The book is God’s Profits: Faith, Fraud, and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters.
• Via Lambda Literary, a review of Chicago Whispers: a History of LGBT Chicago Before Stonewall.
• Early review (Spanish language) of a new forthcoming complete collection of Gabriel García Márquez short stories. Published by Mondadori, it is simply titled Todos los cuentos. (link to publisher as there is no WorldCat record yet) Review from Papeles Perdidos.
• Something work-related for me. Via Marketing Matters for Librarians, a small recommendation for 101 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits: A Field Guide. Apparently, it has a few things we librarians can use.
• Via Bookgasm, a review of The Year’s Best SF 17 edited by Hartwell and Cramer. This is the one anthology series I pick up every year, even if I do not get to it right away. The Better Half reads them as well. Initially just Hartwell, and then with Cramer, for me, this is the anthology that really does a good job putting a compilation of solid hard science fiction stories. The Dozois series is usually pretty good as well, but it is not one I read regularly. I have not tried the ones edited by Horton.
• Something different via Bending the Book Shelf blog, some transgender romances. Not the usual stuff I read, but I am always curious about new (to me) things to read. For the most part, these are e-book editions, so I may not get to them right away, but I am jotting down for reference, plus for the unlikely possibility someone may ask, “can you recommend something” in this topic. First, a review of Shemale Vice by Crystal Veeyant. I admit I giggled a bit at the title, which yes, did make me think of the Miami Vice series (the original 1980s television series, not the piece of shit movie remake Hollywood pooped out later). The book seems to be about a prostitution ring and corrupt cops (not a bad combination) with some good sex thrown in. Next, a set of short reviews of novels by Prudence MacLeod. In addition, the blog also features an interview with MacLeod.
• Jessa Crispin, writing for Kirkus, reviews Eddie Campbell’s book about money in the art world entitled The Lovely Horrible Stuff. By the way, it’s a graphic novel.
• Blogging for a good book provides a review of Jay Bahadur’s The Pirates of Somalia. According to the reviewer, Bahadur “provides excellent analysis on the evolution of piracy in Somalia.”

Lists and bibliographies:

There are a couple of 2012 award lists here. I will likely add the 2013 lists in a later post if I find items of interest. The links have been in my reader for a bit, so I am catching up now in adding them here. I hope readers out there looking for some ideas find these useful. I know I do.

• Katherine Dacey, The Manga Critic, offers a list of “7 Essential VIZ Signature Manga.”
• From IO9, a list of “Essential Star Trek Novels That Even Non-Trekkers Should Read.” I think that the Better Half has read all of them already. From the list, I have read Peter David’s Imzadi.
• An award list. This one is the Goldies, which are the literary awards of the Golden Crown Literary Society, which is “a literary and educational organization for the enjoyment, discussion, and enhancement of lesbian literature.”  This is the 2012 list. The 2013 awards are soon to come. Hat tip to Lambda Literary. I am always looking to expand my reading horizons, and there are some items in speculative fiction that may be of interest.
• For more science fiction and speculative, here is the 2012 Locus list.
• From Bookgasm, a Eurocomics roundup with some interesting items. Not sure how easy or not some of these items will be to find. More often than not, by the time I read about some of these, they have already gone out of print, making them a pain in the ass to find since I would rather avoid, as the blogger describes it, “the overpriced black pit known as Amazon Marketplace.”
• Via The Prosen People, here are “Five Comix about Israel Worth Reading.”