I just finished reading The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, which was my book club's pick this month. There was much I liked about it, including the structure and outcome. But I wonder if my taste in books has changed. I used to seek out 1000+ page sagas, or series; the longer I could live with a book the better. This time I found myself thinking the same experience could have been accomplished in 350 pages instead of 500. Not sure if it is me, or the book.

Ooh, I just realized I can cut the spoiler font & paste it in notes to Read!

And I must say I’ve completely forgotten that not of Paladin of Souls. . . Perhaps I should reread.

I think Paladin of Souls is my favorite (by a slim margin) of the Chalion books. And I read the latest Penric and Desdemona story and enjoyed it, although it was sad.

And I may be the only person who didn't really enjoy Mexican Gothic. It just ... didn't work for me.

Paladin of Souls is my favorite, but I do like them all, and more on each re-read, I think. I do particularly enjoy that the Penric & Desdemona novellas are novellas - quick reads and smaller stories (in that the problem they have to solve is not usually on the order of save an entire nation) and seeing more of the world as they move from place to place (although I do want the current settled domesticity to continue because I want the characters to be happy...). I would like to find out what happened after Paladin of Souls, though: did Chalion and Ibra successfully unite? How is Foix getting along with his bear (did he name it?), what do you do with all those Roknari if you *do* conquer their provinces, etc. Wouldn't mind the further adventures of Ista, for that matter.

t your spoiler font makes me go “gosh I need to re-read those don’t I?”

I found re-reading over the last week or whatever very rewarding, I had forgotten a lot! I'm into early Penric now and I had forgotten a lot of this, too

I do feel better about the death magic question that was bothering me before. Although I still wish there was a little more explanation in Penric's musings on despair and grace - I feel like I almost get it but not quite. Maybe if I finish rereading and give it another go I'll understand better...

My hold on The Gilded Edge by Catherine Prendergast came in! Super excited to read this.

I had several golds come in on my ebooks and am trying to not read them this weekend and instead wait until next week when I’m on a plane and on vacation!

The e-book of Cinnamon and Gunpowder is on sale at Amazon. It's good; took me a little while to get into it, but it has pirates, cooking, adventure and a good story.

I really enjoy the Chalion books, but my pleasure is somewhat tempered by my new understanding that they are based on Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella, and the Roknari are stand-ins for the Moors. So if you look at it that way, that's ... less awesome. One hates to think of the Quintarians as analogues for the Spanish Inquisition, but that's structurally what they are. And there's not much sympathy for the Roknari perspective, including the fact that the text itself shows the Roknari are theologically incorrect: the Bastard is a god.

In other news, I have found a podcast that goes deep on Tolkein: it's doing The Silmarillion chapter by chapter, and there are several hundred episodes. I think I have enough to cover my dogwalking for the next couple of years.