What I've been reading

As you might imagine, there are not a lot of English language books here in Japan. We did get library cards, and the library has maybe 30 books in English, most of which are criticisms on Shakespeare or D.H. Lawrence, but I have been picking up some children's picture books to help me with my Japanese. I'm starting to be able read simple words in katakana, but I don't know what all the words mean.

But I'm not completely cut off my regular supply. My Texas library card is still good and I've been using it to download ebooks and audiobooks. The selection is not as vast as it is in print, but I'll take what I can get. So here's a few titles that I've been reading:

The Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik. Read by Simon Vance. This is a historical fantasy series that takes place during the Napoleonic Wars. There's no magic or elves or anything like that, but there are dragons. In addition to land and sea troops, there are also air troops that ride dragons. The dragons are intelligent and bond to their captains when they hatch. The series follows Temeraire, a rare Chinese Celestial dragon who was captured by the British when he was an egg, and his captain, William Laurence. Simon Vance's voice enhances the story perfectly. He puts just enough emotion in his narration to keep you listening, but doesn't betray the sober, duty-bound British officer persona of the time period.

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. This series has gotten a lot of attention lately because of HBO's adaption, but its been on my to-read list for about a year. I'm about halfway through. Each chapter is from another character's point of view, and I think that http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifthehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gify are "good guys". The reader is not allowed to see what the real villains are doing or thinking. At least, that's my theory at the moment. We'll see if that's the same when I finish.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. Read by David LeDoux and Jenna Lamia. This is another one that I'm in the middle of. There are wolves in the forest that appear every winter and disappear every summer. Grace has been fascinated by them since she was 11 years old. Sam is a wolf every winter and a human every summer. He has also been fascinated with Grace. Now in high school, tragedy has allowed them to finally meet, but has also brought anger and fear to the wolves that threatens to destroy them all. The chapters alternate between Grace and Sam, and I'm enjoying Jenna Lamia's narration, but David LeDoux does not sound like a teenage boy to me, so I'm having a harder time paying attention to his chapters.