Ju-ken is a Japanese bassist who mostly tours as support for various artists (site, blog). He is a member of the band GLANZ; he is also a member of the band Quintillion Quiz (site, blog, twitter, youtube), though I don’t know if they are still active. This post will be updated as the year progresses.
As near as I can tell, he took pictures for the Rude Gallery Black Rebel Spring and Summer 2012 photo book (Ju-ken blog; Rude Gallery Black Rebel blog)
Read in December:
Ngaio Marsh – Singing in the Shrouds (library)
Terry Pratchett – Snuff (library) — I feel bad for not finishing this, but I did not enjoy reading it
Liz Williams – The Demon and the City (own, reread)
Liz Williams – Precious Dragon (own, reread)
Jocelynn Drake – Nightwalker (library)
Erle Stanley Gardner – The Case of the Mischievous Doll (library)
Erle Stanley Gardner – The Case of the Amorous Aunt (library)
Elizabeth Bear – All the Windwracked Stars (own, reread) — I love this book
Read in November:
Haruki Murakami – 1Q84 (library) — I feel like I should write something about this after reading the whole thing, but I don’t have anything to day about it; I’m not sure I liked it (I didn’t dislike it)
Ngaio Marsh – Overture to Death (library)
Ngaio Marsh – Final Curtain (library) — not this month, but I’m 99% sure I’ve read it already
Darynda Jones – First Grave on the Right (library)
Caroline Stevermer – A Scholar of Magics (own, reread) — I love this book
Darynda Jones – Second Grave on the Left (library) — and I don’t think I’ll be reading any more of these; I don’t care about Reyes and he’s clearly the focus of these books
Umberto Eco – The Prague Cemetery (library) — did not finish, didn’t like the lead and didn’t want to read any more about him
Terry Pratchett – Snuff (library) — another did not finish; I don’t care about Vimes in the country, but will try it again
Mercedes Lackey – Beauty and the Werewolf (library) — enjoyable fluff
Once again, I’m failing to write about what I read. In addition to the books below, I read the first 150 or so pages of Neal Stephenson’s REAMDE (not the book for me) and the first half of Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 (still reading, will hopefully finish before it’s due back at the library).
Read this month:
Will Hill – Department Nineteen (library)
Tom Holt – Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages (library)
Patricia McKillip – The Bards of Bone Plain (library) (DNF)
Ngaio Marsh – A Man Lay Dead (library)
Lev Grossman – The Magicians (library)
Ngaio Marsh – Clutch of Constables (library)
Kate Elliott – Cold Magic (library)
K. E. Mills – Witches Incorporated (library)
Patricia C. Wrede – Thirteenth Child (library)
Patricia C. Wrede – Across the Great Barrier
I have a post for Ju-ken, 2011 that is being updated as the year goes on, but I felt a new band needed a new post.
Ju-ken has joined the band GLANZ:
Members are Cherry (drums), Takako (vocals), ShigE (guitar), sHIGe (bass, aka Ju-ken). Their first show with this lineup was September 3 at Shibuya THE GAME; it was an audition to play in a free area at Inazuma Rock Fes. They passed the audition; their second show will be at Inazuma on September 18 (Inazuma site originally said Sept 17; they’ve updated it to the 18th now). They’re also playing on Nov 2 at Morph Tokyo and are having a small tour in December.
This is what I read in August; I did better this month about writing about what I read. Hopefully, I can keep that up.
Barbara Hammet – The Art of William Morris in Cross Stitch (library)
Cherie Priest – Four and Twenty Blackbirds (library)
Cherie Priest – Those Who Went Remained There Still (library)
Melissa Marr – Graveminder (library)
Lisa Shearin – Magic Lost, Trouble Found (library)
China Miéville – Embassytown (library)
Jim Butcher - Small Favor (library)
Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill – Legacies (library)
Shelley Faye Lazar – Shelley Faye Lazar’s Oriental Collection (library)
Barbara Hammet – The Art of William Morris in Cross Stitch
This book had an introduction with information about William Morris and his works. A number of his works were used as inspiration for the items in the book. Each work inspired a group of items, or a group of works were used to inspire a group of coordinating items. Each group of items had a description of the inspiration, a photograph, full color charts (no symbols), and ideas for variations on the theme. This was a lovely book, and I may try to get a copy of it someday.
Shelley Faye Lazar – Shelley Faye Lazar’s Oriental Collection
This book was inspired by Shelley Faye Lazar’s travels through Asia. There was an introduction about her travels and how they inspired her. Each item had a description of the inspiration, a photograph of the completed piece, and a chart. Items were mostly needlepoint and other stitches. It was an older book, and the charts were hand-drawn. Anything repetitive had only a small section of the chart drawn; some items had line drawings only and the instructions to blow it up and draw it on the canvas. I liked some of the items but would have wanted to change the colors a little; changing colors is not really an option for me because I have no eye for color.
These have mostly gone back to the library, so will be a little vague. Books here are Cherie Priest’s Those Who Went Remain There Still, Melissa Marr’s Graveminder, Lisa Shearin’s Magic Lost, Trouble Found, Jim Butcher’s Small Favor, Parnell Hall’s The KenKen Killings, and Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely.
![[China Mieville - Embassytown]](http://zabez.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/images.jpg?w=640 "[China Mieville - Embassytown]")
Embassytown lies on a planet on the edge of explored space; the natives of the planet, the Ariekei, have useful technology for trade. The Ariekei language can only be spoken by a few altered humans, the Ambassadors. Avice Benner Cho is part of the Ariekei language as a simile. She leaves Embassytown for years, and returns with her husband, who is a scholar of languages and is interested in the Ariekei language. A new Ambassador arrives, and things begin to go badly wrong. Avice finds herself in the middle of the crisis. The book is in the first person, from Avice’s point of view. The nature of language is a theme throughout the book; the Ariekei language is unique. The beginning of the book has chapters Formerly and Latterly(?); they eventually converge and action continues from there.
I’m not sure if I liked this book or not; I did finish it and didn’t really stall out reading it. I don’t know if I liked Avice very much, but she was interesting to read about. I thought the worldbuilding was good; the aliens were indeed alien, and the way the Ambassadors worked was interesting. I was not sure about the ending. The bulk of the book was world-building, building up to the catastrophe, during the catastrophe, and the catastrophe’s resolution. I think I would have liked to see a little more of the aftermath. Also, one of the side characters that I was interested in just faded out of the story.
