Answer to the ask questions meme, on all sorts of topics.

Answers to the ask questions meme; feel free to ask more.

Do you and your boy discuss marriage on any level and what are your feelings on it?
Yes. We figured out a long time ago that we would get married some day—but that day may be a while off. We want to wait until are financially secure, rather than partially dependent on our families. In the meantime, marriage is my fantasy. I view it as security and safety, no doubt idealized but still a lovely thought. I also look forward to my wedding, which I intend to be largely unconventional—and where it breaks convention, I consider it beautiful and wonderful, so of course I look forward to it. In the meantime, knowing we both feel happy and secure enough that we plan to get married is (almost) enough for me. There's security and contentment in that knowledge.

( +8 more questions )

Book Review: Sabriel by Garth Nix

Title: Sabriel (The Abhorsen Trilogy/The Old Kingdom, Book One)
Author: Garth Nix
Published: New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 292
Total Page Count: 67,108
Text Number: 193
Read For: personal enjoyment, checked out from the library
Short review: In a world where the Dead haunt the Old Kingdom and threaten its unprotected residents, Sabriel must leave the safety of her boarding school to take up her father's mantle as Abhorsen, a magic-schooled necromancer with the ability to journey to the land of death and set the world back to rights. Sabriel is distinctly high fantasy, which may require some adjustment, but the setting is imaginative and original for the genre. In this first novel, Nix's story telling is cumbersome and amateur, but the solid plot, unique setting, and strong female protagonist make up for it. This is an imperfect but engaging, vividly realized book, and I recommend it.

( Long review. )

Review posted here on Amazon.com.

This is the 65th book which I've reviewed this year, which is the highest number of books that I've ever reviewed in a year. I originally began keeping track of book counts with the goal of reading 50 books a year; I read far more than that, of course, and don't review every book that I read, but I'm still proud to have produced so many book reviews in one year—and something tells me I'm not done by far. I'm also getting (slowly!) better about writing more concise reviews, and writing them faster—which, makes them easier to write and, I hope, more useful.