- Mutiny on the Amistad: The Saga of a Slave Revolt and Its Impact on American Abolition, Law, and Diplomacy (1987) by Howard Jones (first time)
- This is a scholarly study of an incident I never heard of until the movie. While interesting, the book was a bit more dry than I had hoped, and some of the technical details of the trial would be of more interest to a law student.
- 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save the Earth (1989) by The Earth Works Group (reread)
- She's Come Undone (1992) by Wally Lamb (first time)
- At first I didn't much care for the main character; she seemed thoughtless and cruel. At first, however, she was a child. I came to like her as she passed through one tragedy after another, culminating in a nervous breakdown, then started over.
- Beloved (1987) by Toni Morrison (reread)
- Beloved is the enthralling story of Sethe, who escaped slavery with her children around 1855. The story is so interdependent that I can tell you very little about it without giving away many things. This moving work is about determination, fierce love, difficult courage, and the sin of slavery and slavery's highest price, destruction of the self. This is one of the best books I have ever read, and no description can do it justice.
- The Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs (reread)
- Burroughs, the respected elder of the Beat Generation, was extremely observant, but his work was a little too stream-of-consciousness for my taste. My beat of choice: late poet Allan Ginsberg every time.
- Almost Vegetarian (1994) by Diane Shaw (reread)
- A cookbook, but with lots of nutritional information and veggie facts.
- Witch World (1963) by Andre Norton (first time)
- Although it leans toward the sword-n-sorcery school of fantasy, it's not bad. Sort of Roger Zelazny with less testosterone.
- Web of the Witch World (1964) by Andre Norton (first time)
- Year of the Unicorn (1965) by Andre Norton (first time)
- I thought this would be a continuation of the last two, bu it wasn't. The main character, Gillan, assumes another's role in an arranged marriage treaty (13 couples are involved). Gillan turns out to be of Estcarpian witch blood, and the husbands turn out to be were-riders. The writing is a bit unclear at times because so much of it involves a shadowy otherworld of doom.
- Planet Doonesbury (1997) by Garry Trudeau (first time)
- I'm a Doonesbury fan from way back. These are fairly recent storylines like Mike and Kim's wedding and Mark's coming out.
- A Thousand Acres (1991) by Jane Smiley (first time)
- I liked this book very much at first, largely because the main character had a relationship with her father that reminded me of my relationship with my mother (except I wasn't abused). Here's a bit: "I feel like there's treacherous undercurrents all the time. I think I'm standing on solid ground, but then I discover that there's something moving underneath it, shifting from place to place. There's always some mystery. He doesn't say what he means." Plotwise, I liked the back half less.
- The Science Fiction Century (1997) edited by David G. Hartwell (first time)
- This is a large anthology of short stories, so I won't write about them all!
- Songmaster (1987) by Orson Scott Card (reread)
- Card is one of the most gifted, moving writers of our time. He's very hard on his characters -- they're not spared suffering -- but they end wiser, matured, and knowledgeable after their struggles. Songmaster is about love and fear, hatred and hope, healing and tragedy, learning and despair, loss and success.
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