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I am reading Stalking Darkness, book 2 of the Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling. I am having a lot of fun with this series. And while it's pretty light reading (for me, coming off all the pretentious shiznit I read), the writing is pretty decent. Some fantasy novels I have to put down because I just can't stomach the prose. These books are reasonably well-written.
Update: I just breezed through the last 200 pages because I couldn't put it down. That is always a good sign.
I am reading The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan. Fantastic book.
read a short Filmguide to The Battle of Algiers by one Joan Mellen,I'm actually watching the Battle of Algiers right now. It's kind of rough.
The Battle of Algiers, bien sur, was kind enough to name drop moi.
Currently making my way through Dave Gross' Queen of Thorns. I'm enjoying how Gross is alternating chapters and giving each narrating character a distinct voice.
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I enjoy that structure and the first-person narrative, but some of his readers seem to have big objections to both.
I decided to update Goodreads yesterday because I'd been posting books in this thread but not keeping Goodreads up to snuff. When I went to Facebook, I found it had posted every single one of my rated/reviewed changes to my Timeline. *headdesk*
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Yeah I liked it a lot too. Was kind of surprised to see so much hostility to it in some of the reviews.
That said I liked the two books everybody else seemed not to like and didn't care for Queen of Thorns as much while most people seemed to think that's his best one ever, but that's mostly because I don't like Calistra or Golarion's elf culture very much.
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Finished with Thursday Next, at least until Dark Reading Matter comes out (date as of yet unannounced...).
Currently reading through Queen of Roses by Elizabeth McCoy.
However, restarting Kim Harrison's Hollows has been delayed by discovering that Richard Roberts has put out a second book - Please Don't Tell My Parents I Blew Up the Moon, sequel to Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm A Supervillain. Loved the first immensely so eagerly anticipating the sequel.
I think I read Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm A Supervillain!!! Is the POV dude a big jerk and nerd?
It was surprisingly good, considering how unpleasant the POV is.
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel.
I think I read Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm A Supervillain!!! Is the POV dude a big jerk and nerd?
It was surprisingly good, considering how unpleasant the POV is.
No, the POV character is a teenage girl who's a budding mad scientist and not a jerk at all.
Currently working my way through the Quadrail series by Timothy Zahn, the second one-The Third Lynx, as of right now. Murder mystery on a galaxy spanning, light speed train line? Yes please!
The Faber Book of Madness, which is pretty interesting.
Finished with Thursday Next, at least until Dark Reading Matter comes out (date as of yet unannounced...).
Yeah, someone needs to tell Jasper Fforde to get cracking on Colour by Numbers, too. Have you read his Last Dragonslayer series?
I'm currently half way (Book Two) through the Kojiki. After that it is the Nihon Shoki.
Finished with Thursday Next, at least until Dark Reading Matter comes out (date as of yet unannounced...).Yeah, someone needs to tell Jasper Fforde to get cracking on Colour by Numbers, too. Have you read his Last Dragonslayer series?
I've not read any of his non-Thursday books yet, no.
Finished Fevre Dream last night
It was great to read a novel by GRRM that didn't have a million POV's and was a rather quick 400ish pages. The vampires themselves were probably not that original, but the setting (Mid 1800's Mississippi)was.
Next book for breakroom reading will Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. It sucks to be underemployed, but I guess I am at least getting caught up on my reading...
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I found the vampires to be a little bit original, at least.
Twilight it ain't, and it's a better book for that.
Speaking of early GRRM, anyone here read "The Monkey Treatment"? That's the fun one!
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Finished Old Venus yesterday
Pretty good anthology, although the book would have benefited from reading a few stories at a time in between other books and anthologies, since unsurprisingly a book of short fiction set on pulp Venus is bound to be a bit repetitive.
As with any anthology, there is a bit of range in quality as well. There are some straight up pastiches which...err...don't read that well, especially compared to some stories which subvert those cliches while still providing a solid story.
At any rate, might take a look at Old Mars next, not sure...
Would you mind calling out those you liked in particular?
Anyway, finished reading FIRES OF HEAVEN (WHEEL OF TIME #5) and devoured THE MARTIAN (By newcomer Andy Weir) in a few days.
The book is really a series of incredibly well thought out disaster scenarios that can happen in a mission to Mars, most of which felt completely insurmountable until the incredibly smart characters found some truly ingenious way to work around them. I am thoroughly impressed.
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I've not read any of his non-Thursday books yet, no.Finished with Thursday Next, at least until Dark Reading Matter comes out (date as of yet unannounced...).Yeah, someone needs to tell Jasper Fforde to get cracking on Colour by Numbers, too. Have you read his Last Dragonslayer series?
It's much the same tone as the Thursday Next, without the novel-hopping and Jurisfiction and subbing in dragons and wizidrical energy (actual term from the book). If you enjoy the Thursday books, you might consider checking them out.
Michael Shea's 'The Quest for Simbilis' - Cugel actually turned a profit at the end of that particular adventure, which doesn't happen very often - and 'Conan The Liberator' by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter. Also picked up 'Beyond the Gate of Dreams' by the Master Carter, which had a passage in the foreword which I intend to get framed and mounted above the mantlepiece:
...I would not for any price have missed being a kid in the golden age when I was a kid. Thank God I had my mind thoroughly rotted with all that golden, priceless trash! Thank God my morals were wrecked, my ethics perverted, my taste forever tainted with a thirst for the gloriously fourth-rate! Thank God nobody worried about what loathsome effect all those junky comic books, movie serials, pulp magazines, horror movies and other magnificent garbage were doing to our impressionable young minds! Of course we all became sadistic young perverts, the whole starry-eyed, Lovecraft-loving, Shadow-collecting generation!
In my case, it was He-Man, Fighting Fantasy/Lone Wolf gamebooks, Michael Moorcock and nuddie mags found in hedges (the latter being something that today's kids will probably never experience, poor deprived things) and my parents *did* worry about the effect such things were having on my mind, but I approve of the sentiments nonetheless.
You dirty old dendrophiliac!
Never got into He-man myself, Lego and Playmobil were much more versatile, also I was more into Roy of the Rovers and the Phantom (the latter at least making sure I can claim to be a member of the same club as several former cabinet members). But I fully agree with the sentiment. (And hedges are a lot less exciting these days, arent't they?)
Since my extracted tooth went all nuclear dry socket, meaning I can't sleep and I'm now on Percocet, my ability to do anything productive has gone bye-bye.
Fortunately, my library lends e-books and I got their e-reader working. I finished Pratchett's "Snuff" and have Krakauer's "Into the Wild", Morgenstern's "The Night Circus", and Atwood's "The Blind Assassin" loaded and ready to go for the sleepless, woozy nights. Hooraw.
Delver Magic book 1 by Jeff Inlo. High fantasy, magic is re-released upon the world, humans, elves, dwarves, delvers (halflings), must unite against goblins, undead, and all manner of nasties ressurected by magic.
Loch Ness Monster, a doctor who novelisation of the 4th doctors (Tom Baker) series by the same name.
Finished No Truce with Kings, flipped the Tor Double over and was gonna start Leaves of Grass, but got annoyed reading about all of the different editions that Whitman had put out, particularly the way it had gone from 90-something pages to 400+. Instead, read Black History and the Class Struggle: On the Civil Rights Movement and Black History and the Class Struggle: Massacre of Philly MOVE. Not sure what I'm gonna read next.
I found the vampires to be a little bit original, at least. ** spoiler omitted **
Speaking of early GRRM, anyone here read "The Monkey Treatment"? That's the fun one!
Yeah that was pretty good. The way they treated the "Renfield" concept was pretty novel and quite excellent.
Finished Old Venus yesterday
Pretty good anthology, although the book would have benefited from reading a few stories at a time in between other books and anthologies, since unsurprisingly a book of short fiction set on pulp Venus is bound to be a bit repetitive.
As with any anthology, there is a bit of range in quality as well. There are some straight up pastiches which...err...don't read that well, especially compared to some stories which subvert those cliches while still providing a solid story.
At any rate, might take a look at Old Mars next, not sure...
Would you mind calling out those you liked in particular?
Will try to do so later, when I can look through the list of stories/authors again. It's hard to do so from memory, because there is a blurring of stories because the Venus theme does lend itself to similarities in stories.
Finally finished The Dark Defiles by Richard K. Morgan. What a weak ending for such a great trilogy! It was maybe 100 pages too long, and instead of finishing strongly, left a bunch of loose threads dangling.
I'm now reading M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman, but I think I've read most of the stories in it already.
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Will try to do so later, when I can look through the list of stories/authors again. It's hard to do so from memory, because there is a blurring of stories because the Venus theme does lend itself to similarities in stories.Finished Old Venus yesterday
Pretty good anthology, although the book would have benefited from reading a few stories at a time in between other books and anthologies, since unsurprisingly a book of short fiction set on pulp Venus is bound to be a bit repetitive.
As with any anthology, there is a bit of range in quality as well. There are some straight up pastiches which...err...don't read that well, especially compared to some stories which subvert those cliches while still providing a solid story.
At any rate, might take a look at Old Mars next, not sure...
Would you mind calling out those you liked in particular?
Going through the list of stories, I would say probably the most powerful (as well as the most depressing) was Tobias Bucknell's "Pale Blue Memories", which is a parable of racism, slavery, and privilege set in a Venusian setting. good enough that this was the one story whose author was clear in my mind even weeks later. Other stories I really liked were Michael Cassett's "The Sunset of Time" and Stephen Leigh's"Bones of Stone, Bones of Air"
Overall even the weaker efforts hear were still pretty enjoyable.
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Finally finished The Dark Defiles by Richard K. Morgan. What a weak ending for such a great trilogy! It was maybe 100 pages too long, and instead of finishing strongly, left a bunch of loose threads dangling.
I'm now reading M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman, but I think I've read most of the stories in it already.
I was waiting for you to finish. I agree completely about the ending.
Planning for a myriad of life-changing possibilities, none of which allow me to keep my voluminous library intact, I have decided to model myself after Harvey Pekar and peddle my books at Branch Meetings.
This week I sold:
The Struggle for a Proletarian Party by James P. Cannon
Labour in Irish History by James Connolly
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois
Malcolm X on Afro-American History
The Wages of Whiteness by David Roediger
the proceeds of which I thereupon spent at a Mexican restaurant on frozen strawberry margaritas.
I also gave a beat-up thirties hardback of Victor Serge's Russia: 20 Years Later to a dear comrade of La Principessa's that I had outrageously priced at $12, mostly, I think, in hopes of dissuading people from buying it.
In fact, I'm kind of pissed about losing all of them. Why couldn't people buy Capital Vols. II and III instead?
Anyway, in my own reading I have settled on , The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by Himself.
I found the vampires to be a little bit original, at least. ** spoiler omitted **
Speaking of early GRRM, anyone here read "The Monkey Treatment"? That's the fun one!
I thought "Fevre Dream" presented the most sympathetic treatment of vampires in recent memory. People really should read that one.
"Monkey Treatment" reminded me a bit of King/Bachman's "Thinner." Cool and creepy at the same time.
I just found a copy of "Tuf Voyaging." It's a shame GRRM isn't better known for his sci-fi.
The Mystery of Grace by Charles De Lint. Urban fantasy in the Southwest.
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On the one hand, 'The Return of the Native' by Thomas Hardy. On the other hand, 'Assassins of Gor' If I find somebody's draped Eustacia Vye over a giant carnivorous chicken and spanked her, I shall know I've got the two mixed up.
It also says in the blurb for AoG that someone makes an end of Tarl Cabot at some point in the plot. YES!!!
However, given that there are 30 odd Cabotified volumes after this, Gor's Assassins have clearly bungled the job. Sloth and incompetence! Not impressed.
The Elfstones of Shanara. I must admit, I like it better than The Sword of Shanara...
I don't see why that's an admission. I seemed to me like a lot of people liked Elfstones better than Sword... at least, back in the 1980s when they were new.
As I wrote this, I began to wonder if it was still true, so I looked around the web, and found this page which included the quote "If you were to start reading Terry Brooks today, there’s no better place to begin than with The Elfstones of Shannara." It also explains that Sword is difficult to read today because there are so many more Tolkien ripoffs today.
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Sword was a difficult read when it came out. It made me angry.
Finished Into the Wild, which was more of a self-examination by proxy on Krakauer's part than his other books. Kinda dull. I had really looked forward to Night Circus, but it is not grabbing me. I hope it picks up.
Well, I don't know. Back in the 1980s, when I first read Sword of Shannara, I was GLAD to get a familiar story in a style easier to read than Lord of the Rings.
On the other hand, when I re-read it 14 years later, some of the book's flaws seemed glaring to me. It didn't seem to age well, as Lord of the Rings did.
But then again, I didn't find the next 7 or 8 "Shannara" books to be much better either, that second time around. They had their moments, but their plausibility problems seemed too obvious, even by fantasy standards. So you probably shouldn't take my opinion too seriously.
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Haven't had time to read in the past few months. :(
Just finished Prudence by Gail Carriger last week.
Never thought I would like Steampunkish novels. Tried to read them before and could never got into them.
Just started reading Boundery by Eric Flint and Ryk Spoor. First thirty pages have kept me interested. looking foward to the rest.
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Haven't had time to read in the past few months. :(
Just finished Prudence by Gail Carriger last week.
Never thought I would like Steampunkish novels. Tried to read them before and could never got into them.Just started reading Boundery by Eric Flint and Ryk Spoor. First thirty pages have kept me interested. looking foward to the rest.
Have you read the [I]Soulless{/I] series by Gail Carriger?
It's hilarious! A comedy of manners.
The protagonist gets attacked by a vampire, and then scolds him for the impropriety of being with an unchaperoned young lady!!! She kind of deserved it, as she was in the middle of the unladylike activity of perusing a library, of all things!
By coincidence, actually reading Voyage of the Jerle Shannara right now, airships and a wishsong user as the villain?! Awesome. (at least someone is using magic right in this series for once, i.e. really effectively, causing people to implode and making monsters to send after the heroes)
Almost done with The Interesting Narrative, etc., read a commie theoretical journal with exciting articles about Clara Zetkin and the Greek Civil War, and swallowed a sizable chunk of Leaves of Grass.
Took the latter to the "Soup and Art Night" at the second Brooklyn Soup and Art night. If challenged on my lack of art, I was gonna declaim homoerotic verses about pressing my breast to the breasts of drovers and machinists. Fortunately, I wasn't challenged, but some other dude heard I had a copy in my pocket and asked to see it. "Yeah, I don't know, man. Strange dude I just met, wants to see my Whitman? Sounds a little intrusive, if you ask me..."
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Show him your Walt instead.
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Currently reading: The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett.
There is some "rounding out" of the loose threads I saw in the movie, but otherwise I feel the movie captures the essence of the novel. The only real difference is the Hays Code, because Spade does more with the ladies in the book than Bogey ever does in the film. Hammett doesn't pad his story, but I can see his process at work -- the procedural aspects that make the reader question who-dun-it, which is a thing there is less time to do as a film-viewer. I think that really is a tribute to John Houston's work.
Because I saw the movie first, all the characters sound like their counterparts, even on dialogue that wasn't in the film. Joel Cairo looks more dashing in the book, but it is hard to beat Peter Lorre for his good looks, innit?
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Finished blitzing through THE KILLING MOON (DREAMBLOOD #1), and settling in to read LORD OF CHAOS (WHEEL OF TIME #6). Gonna be a long and quite possibly tiresome one, as I am entering what many have told me is the worst stretch of this mammoth series.
From the beginning of the book I was expecting to see a lot of weird and creepy dream segments, since the magic IS dream based and is all about the magic users entering into other peoples dreams. However, there was virtually none of that.
The plot was well paced until the very end, that felt a bit rushed, and some nice plot twists were set up nicely ahead of time. As a savvy fantasy reader who has been through the Sanderson crucible I was able to predict almost all of them, but I still appreciate the way they were built into the story. I will certainly read the second book in the series one day.