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July 2015 Reads


First of My Name

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Just finished Norvik's Uprooted. I really enjoyed it. It has a refreshingly different voice and it felt like it drew upon a different culture than most fantasy. The resolution was far more like Daniel Abraham (or even a serious Terry Pratchett) rather than standard genre fare. The description of the book doesn't really do it justice. The quality is all in the main character, the world view and cultural tone, not in the basic plot dynamics. Perhaps I should try Temeraire -- the description of that wasn't very compelling either.

Clockwork Orange: I agree, beautiful use of language that gave it a lyrical feel at odds with the violence.

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Put me firmly in the Fans of Abercrombie club, please. I have just finished 'The Blade Itself' and if what others here have said is true (that this is his worst book) then I'm positively salivating over the prospect of the rest.

Yes, there were a few writing flaws in this one - early on I almost screamed at his constant use of present participles - but in the middle of the book he shed most of these and the writing was better. But by then I was already hooked on the characters and the gritty humour.

I'm leaping straight into 'Before they are Hanged' now, because I want to spend more time with Glokta, Logen, Ferro, Bayaz,.......heck, all of 'em.

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Just finished Norvik's Uprooted. I really enjoyed it. It has a refreshingly different voice and it felt like it drew upon a different culture than most fantasy. The resolution was far more like Daniel Abraham (or even a serious Terry Pratchett) rather than standard genre fare. The description of the book doesn't really do it justice. The quality is all in the main character, the world view and cultural tone, not in the basic plot dynamics. Perhaps I should try Temeraire -- the description of that wasn't very compelling either.

Clockwork Orange: I agree, beautiful use of language that gave it a lyrical feel at odds with the violence.

I enjoyed Uprooted too, and was considering the Temeraire novels because I liked Novik's writing style. I might get around to it...some day.

Finished up Othello. Probably ranks lowest of the Shakespeare I've read so far, but was enjoyable enough.

Now reading Howard's End, which has managed to charm me so far

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I enjoyed Uprooted too, and was considering the Temeraire novels because I liked Novik's writing style. I might get around to it...some day.

Finished up Othello. Probably ranks lowest of the Shakespeare I've read so far, but was enjoyable enough.

Now reading Howard's End, which has managed to charm me so far

You had mentioned Tempest in one of you previous posts

This has nothing to do with books, but there was a film adaptation that came out a few years ago, with Helen Mirren & Djimon Hounsou

I caught it on TV last week and recognized Reeve Carney from Penny Dreadful

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You had mentioned Tempest in one of you previous posts

This has nothing to do with books, but there was a film adaptation that came out a few years ago, with Helen Mirren & Djimon Hounsou

I caught it on TV last week and recognized Reeve Carney from Penny Dreadful

I have The Tempest in my kobo library so will be reading it later this year. Was debating which Shakespeare to read in my last post.

And I'm quite interested in seeing visual representations of some of the things I read (I want to try and see the Neverwhere mini-series) so if I like the play I might check that out :)

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I finished A Civil Campaign, and it was excellent. Lois McMaster Bujold - you rock. Miles rocks. Mark rocks. Ekaterin rocks. Butter bugs really rock.

Now re-reading Tower Lord in anticipation of Queen of Fire.

How about that

dinner party

:lmao: That was one of the funniest things I've ever read.

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I read The Gospel of Loki by Joanne Harris. Fun, but I was slightly disappointed by how straightforward it is - I was expecting it to give some clever twists and alternate angles on the stories based on it being 'Loki's version of the story', but it's really just a basic retelling of some of the classic stories with a bit of snark on the side from Loki's narration. There was nothing I didn't know from having been very interested in the stories as a kid, even though I've not read any interpretation of them (bar Marvel's which isn't really) for a very long time.

The most interesting thing about it is the final line which, after several hints throughout that Loki is Satan, somehow implies that he instead somehow becomes the Christian God in the post-Ragnarok creation. Which is a bit odd and adds very little tbh, just felt a little smart-arsed.

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How about that

dinner party

:lmao: That was one of the funniest things I've ever read.

I.DIED.

The

butter bug butter battle, with the naked armsman

was hysterical, too!

You know, that's one of the things I was telling my daughter about the Vorkosigan books - I literally laugh out loud, a lot, while I'm reading them.

Editing to add I loved Cordelia in this book! What a strong character she is. I loved seeing and listening to Aral as well.

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I read The Gospel of Loki by Joanne Harris. Fun, but I was slightly disappointed by how straightforward it is - I was expecting it to give some clever twists and alternate angles on the stories based on it being 'Loki's version of the story', but it's really just a basic retelling of some of the classic stories with a bit of snark on the side from Loki's narration. There was nothing I didn't know from having been very interested in the stories as a kid, even though I've not read any interpretation of them (bar Marvel's which isn't really) for a very long time.

The most interesting thing about it is the final line which, after several hints throughout that Loki is Satan, somehow implies that he instead somehow becomes the Christian God in the post-Ragnarok creation. Which is a bit odd and adds very little tbh, just felt a little smart-arsed.

Harder to find these days but have you read 'Eight Days of Luke' by Diane Wynne Jones?

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I was poking at The Gospel of Loki in the store last week but the excerpt on the back complete turned me off. Some one is not as clever as they think they are.

its decent but nothing ourstanding. An easy entertaining read but not something that made me want to read more from the author. Pick it up if its cheap but if i were you i wouldnt go out of my way to read it

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Last night I finished Blood Song by Anthony Ryan. It's been a book I've been wanting to read for a while, but I decided to hold off on the book until the series was complete. Great book by the way, I gave it 5/5 stars.



Today I started Tower Lord by Anthony Ryan, and after that I'll probably read Queen of Fire. I love how Tower Lord has rotating POV chapters, unlike Blood Song.

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Kinda struggling thru Star Wars A New Dawn. Almost halfway thru it, and so far I'm not impressed. I expected, bigger. I know that it features characters from the Rebels cartoon series, of which I've only watched a few episodes, yet so far I don't care much for any of the characters.


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Just finished American Psycho (benefits of no job include victory, Cora ;)).

I thought it was a pretty good novel for the most part. Very disturbing, definitely the most vivid horror descriptions I've ever read (with honourable mentions to Palahniuk's ''Guts'' and various Bakker scenes). I thought the book was really well executed. There is a definite sense of...spiralling.

Although the extensive album descriptions (Talking Heads, Whitney Houston, Huey Louis and the News) and clothing descriptions got a little tiresome, I think they were pretty influential on Bateman's character, plus the overall tone.

I quite enjoyed the brief switch to third person narrative, it worked really well at that stage (which felt quite climactic at the time). And now that it's been mentioned in the grimdark-tone thread, it occurs to me that this interlude is kinda McCarthy-esque.

Leap, if your read one other Ellis novel after American Psycho, make it Glamorama. Patrick Bateman even makes a cameo.

Funny, I was just thinking of American Psycho while reading Home Fires... AP has got to be one of my favorite examples of an unreliable narrator I've ever read

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