j_cheney | Nov. 13th, 2007

So, while I was on the road, I read. The great thing about trains and planes is that you can read fiction without the guilt normally associated with such leisure because....hey, you can't clean the house or write (much) while in a train or plane.

So:
Ghosts in the Snow by Tamara Siler Jones
I met this author at WFC, and she mentioned dead bodies...which is just up my alley, so I picked up a copy of her novel in Montreal and read it on the train and really liked it. I'll have to find the other ones.

Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest
Now normally, I don't read Southern Gothic, but I figured I'd give this one a try, and I actually liked it quite a bit. I thought her writing was charming.

The High King's Tomb by Kristen Britain
I've read all of her novels, and enjoyed this one as well. Not an ending to the sequence, if anyone's out there wondering. She's introduced a new character who might get a spin-off of his own, and for some reason, I feel like this is trending toward 5 books, not 4.

A Chinese Village by Martin Yang
OK, it's not fiction, but it is about people who're dead now. I actually loved this book for it's usefullness, as he outlines the daily life and family structures of a single Chinese village c. 1920. It was very helpful. (Found in used book store in Philly)

That is a shocking amount of fiction reading for me, and I got the newest Asimov's while I was gone, meaning that my periodicals pile continues to GROW. Oh, well....perhaps next con.

ETA: I also picked up a poetry book at the store in Philly....The Jade Mountain. Normally, I wouldn't touch poetry, but it's Chinese, so I'm thinking of it as research. Pretty good so far.