So I recently had a birthday, and I also had a tax refund. I bought some books!

Cygnet by Patricia A. McKillip.

This book collects two previous novels into one volume, The Sorceress and the Cygnet, and The Cygnet and the Firebird. McKillip can take the simplest and most conventional fantasy premise and weave it into a brilliant tapestry of colour and sensation. I’m not totally sure, but I believe this may be one of her tales inspired by the Russian Firebird legend.

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor.

This novel purports to tell the “real” story of Alice in Wonderland, or more correctly, Alyss Heart, a Wonderland Princess. It looks like an exciting story that takes off from the original tale and makes a big departure from it in the process. In fact, it hardly sounds like the same story at all. The guy at the checkout flipped when I brought it up; he said it was so good he was rushing through it to get to the sequel (Which is the opposite of what I’d do if I really liked it, but to each their own.)

Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold.

I grabbed this because it sounded familiar, and I had this hope that it might be the first Vorkosigan novel. It wasn’t, but it’s one possible starting point for the series. In my typical fashion, I held off reading it until I found the real first book, Shards of Honor. The back cover copy on these books is amusing in a way that’s reminiscent of Jane Austen, which is made even more amusing by virtue of the fact that they’re space opera. This is the first book in Miles Vorkosigan’s second career. I’ve never really read space opera before, but I love how the cover announces its genre with a giant, exploding purple spacecraft.

Cordelia’s Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold.

This book contains the first novel in the Vorkosigan Saga, Shards of Honor (as well as Barrayar, next in chronology but written much later with books in-between) and I’m glad I finally realized that since the original novel is very out of print and my choices were either an overpriced paperback or a hardback that was more than I wanted to pay at present. This series suffers from some of the ugliest covers, this one being extremely ugly (it looks much worse in person) which is too bad because from everything I’ve heard, it’s great. It looks like these two stories are about the parents of Bujold’s hero, Miles Vorkosigan.

Hannah’s Art of Home by Hannah Keeley.

This is a book that tells you how to keep house according to your personality, and it includes a personality quiz. I did not, contrary to popular belief, buy it just so I could take the quiz! I can take quizzes online. *offended sniff* I got it because it’s highly recommended and I like the idea of a housekeeping regime geared to one’s individual character (lots better than trying to force oneself to keep house like somebody else!) The cool thing is, I expected a thin little volume and it turned out to be fairly thick, a good thing in a housekeeping manual, where you want helpful information, not pure fluff.

Cavalier: A Tale of Chivalry, Passion and Great Houses by Lucy Worsley.

I had to get at least one history book. This is an in-depth look at the life of one man during the Cavalier period, a Cavalier (supporter of King Charles I) himself, “William Cavendish, a champion of poetry, music, horses, women and architecture”. This is just the sort of historical minutae I adore, and I’ve always found myself sympathetic to Charles I. I’ve recently started learning about this period of history, and I find the personalities and political goings-on fascinating. Author Lucy Worsley is the chief curator of Britain’s Historic Royal Palaces.

Dark Genesis: The Birth of the Psi-Corps by J. Gregory Keyes.

Since we’re almost finished watching Babylon 5 for the second time, I’m preparing for the withdrawals by starting to read the novels. The cool thing about the B5 novels is that most of them are considered canon by J. Michael Straczynski (the series creator). This one goes into the origins of Psi-Corps, and if the cover can be believed, Bester is a principal character. Bester is one of those characters I hate, and yet smile every time he comes on-screen because I know I’m going to be entertained. Walter Koenig (Star Trek’s Chekov) is just that great an actor.

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley.

This was Robin McKinley’s first novel. Beauty and the Beast, along with Sleeping Beauty, is one of my favourite fairy tales. I think I like the idea of a young woman seeing not only beyond the gruff, frightening exterior of the Beast, but beyond the walls of anger and hurt that must surround the better parts of his soul. I’m looking forward to reading this one, as I enjoyed Spindle’s End, another retold fairy tale by McKinley.

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.

I bought this because I wanted to try a Connie Willis novel before jumping into her short story and novella collection (see below). I figured as a Hugo and Nebula winner (and Mythopoeic, I believe) it was a good place to start reading this author I’ve heard so many positive things about. This is a time-travel story: a history student from 2048 is transported to the Middle Ages on the eve of the Black Plague.

The Winds of Marble Arch by Connie Willis.

A collection of Connie Willis’s short stories and novellas. I was really surprised at the size of this volume, about the size of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, so it was definitely worth the money if Willis is as good as I’ve heard. This is my first Subterranean Press edition! I don’t have to be jealous of others who own them anymore!

Joie de Vivre: Simple French Style for Everyday Living by Robert Arbor.

A book on French lifestyle, written by “a Frenchman transplanted to New York City”. I’m always looking for ways to live more authentically, I suppose you could call it (though that sounds kinda pop-psychology to me), and although I realize the French lifestyle talked about in this type of book is probably the ideal and not precisely reality, it’s certainly inspiring. This book too was larger than I expected; I’m so happy to have low expectations, hehe. The first chapter of this book is about breakfast! I’m not a big breakfast eater, but happily, neither are the French; my favourite breakfast, toasted slices of baguette with butter and sometimes jam, happens to be the typical French breakfast. I don’t get to have that often enough.

On the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson.

I have no idea what this is about. The full title (On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness: Adventure. Peril. Lost Jewels. And the Fearsome Toothy Cows of Skree.) just sounded funny. It’s the first volume in the Wingfeather Saga, and the inside is beautifully designed, with a hand-sketched map, black-and-white illustrations, a feather ornament for scene breaks, and (sometimes humourous) footnotes. I can’t resist a really cleverly designed book, nohow.

New stuff I’ve picked up this month:

Orphans of Chaos by John C. Wright.

From the back cover: What if your teachers taught you everything–except who you really are?

John C. Wright previous fantasy novels, the Epic Chronicles of Everness, were lavishly praised by both readers and reviewers. Now he embarks on an ambitious new saga that explores the overlapping boundaries of science, mythology, and the imagination.

The Fair Folk: Six Tales of the Fey ed. by Marvin Kaye.

This one was a winner of the World Fantasy Award. From the back: Some are fair. Some are foul. All are Fantastic . . . Here are six stories from some of the most famous names in fantasy, all with one common thread—The Fair Folk.

The elves’ serenity is tested in a fable of a magical apprentice and the less-than-enchanting creatures that surround him in Craig Shaw Gardner’s “An Embarassment of Elves.”

Next, because I’ve set aside so many books for Powell’s without taking note of them, and so many books weren’t added in the first place, I’m going to have to delete the entire contents of my LibraryThing and build it again from scratch. For some odd reason, that sounds kind of fun.