September 2011 Reading Thread

[Eponine]

Finished Stick Man by Richard Rossi. The author is sort of a friend of mine, it was his first book, and while it's somewhat unpolished in places, it's deeply personal. It's about a boy with a dysfunctional family who, after a series of abuse and misfortune, is put with a foster family of religious fundamentalists, and between his old family problems and his foster family problems, he struggles against a deep, almost pathological fear of a nightmare creature seemingly formed from distorted religious symbols and his own torments. He hangs onto a desperate hope that a first, teenage love can redeem him, but starts having to make his own decisions and hold to his own beliefs. So you can see why I know the author and why I found the book to be very personal.

[UndergroundMan]

I am still slogging through "The One Tree" by Stephen Donaldson, the fifth Thomas Covenant book. His books are a little hard to get through for me, but I always end up enjoying them.

Just started "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman, which is the first Gaiman book I've tried to read. Might read "Fragile Things" next, as Graveyard is a little too YA for me, so far.

Then started "Perdido Street Station" which I am absolutely loving so far. The only other Mieville novel I've read is "Kraken" which didn't suck me in like PSS did.

[Grack21]

Tried for weeks to get into In The Earth Abides The Flame by Kirkpatrick. Could not do it. I thought the first one was kind of neat if shallow, but this one is just atrocious. I have no idea what I'm going to read next, maybe I'll throw a dart.

[Biter]

I finished Kent Haruf's Plainsong yesterday, a book that I liked. The McPherons in particular were wonderful characters. However, the last chapter felt just a little bit too sugary sweet for my taste.

Now I think I might give The Girl Who Played with Fire another chance.

[Reposado]

Then started "Perdido Street Station" which I am absolutely loving so far. The only other Mieville novel I've read is "Kraken" which didn't suck me in like PSS did.

Haven't read Kraken but that makes sense. It seemed Gaiman was on a steady downward trend since PSS to me.

For me in September, I'm on a steady 50 pages a day schedule.

Did my second read of ADWD, like it better the second time.

After that I've been in Abercrombie's First Law series. Should be done with the second in a couple days. I'm finding it really enjoyable, if not my favorite thing ever.