Eleven Eleven: November reads

[Ormond]

I'm surprised no one else has started this yet. :)

After finishing ADWD my October reading was Fitzpatrick's War by Theodore Judson. This was a very interesting book which combined Steampunk with Future History. It's presented as the memoirs, written when he was in his 90s, of a man who in his youth was one of the chief aides to a dictator in the 2400s who fancied himself to be the new Alexander the Great. The dictator conquers the whole world at a young age and then is assassinated before he's 35. In an unusual twist, later political developments in this world have led to that dictator being revered as a heroic figure, and the memoirs are full of footnotes from a historian of the next century saying that the writer of the memoirs must be a liar, because we all know that "Young Fitzpatrick" just couldn't have deliberately murdered millions of people on his rise to power.

The footnote thing is an interesting idea, though sometimes they are so heavy-handed one wonders how even readers in the culture described in the book wouldn't think they "protest too much" and really are confirming the facts of the original memoirist. Plus we have a world here that's been thrown back technologically by a system of satellites that renders electric power unusable. Conservative "militia-like" rebels have overthrown the US government, and have created a culture that seems like a nightmare of Victorian England, including a hereditary aristocracy. It was never clear to me just how that would work. Plus the organization that controls those satellites is a little hard to believe in the end. But Judson is a great writer and I think anyone who generally likes "Steampunk" should give it a try.

My other October read was Room by Emma Donoghue, which I read for the all-university book discussion. It's a novel told in the voice of a five year old who is the biological son of a kidnap victim and her rapist. She's been held in a converted shed in the rapist's back yard for seven years when the story begins. A couple of the plot points involve hard to believe incredible luck, but for the most part it's an excellent book where Donoghue did a great job of getting inside the head of a what it would be like to be a child whose entire first five years of life had been lived in one room with just his mother and a television for company. In some ways he's incredibly precocious (she's taught him to read very well) and in some ways he's incredibly naive and backward. There's also some interesting implications about modern materialistic culture.

I have just started Literary Murder, the second book in the mystery series featuring Israeli police detective Michael Ohayon, written by the late Israeli author Batya Gur. Gur was a great writer but I can't help but notice how much her characters smoke, and link that to the fact the she died at age 57 of cancer. I had exactly the same odd feeling reading Roger Zelazny's first five books in his "Amber" series -- the characters do a lot more smoking than in almost any other fantasy books I've read, and Zelazny died of cancer at age 58.

[Spring Bass]

I'm re-reading Dune by Frank Herbert. I last read the book more than ten years ago, when I was in my early teens. Now, though, it's been much more fun and interesting to read (the kindle e-book format seems to help in reading it as well).

After that, it will probably be Alloy of Law.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I'm 140 pages into Heirs of the Blade by Adrian Tchaikovsky and the fangirl in me is loving every bit so far.

Next is Collapse by Jared Diamond. I've had this on my to read pile for years and loved his Guns, Germs and Steel book.

[williamjm]

I finished Chris Wooding's The Iron Jackal. Like the earlier books in the series it was a very entertaining read, it probably had more depth to the world-building than in the previous books (particularly in the last section of the book) and there is plenty of potential for a more epic storyline in future books, although I don't know if Wooding is going to go down that route. There were some very effective scenes, Frey's pursuit by the Jackal was suitably nightmarish and there were some good action scenes, particularly Harkins' race through the canyons and the final section of the book.

Now I'm reading Richard Morgan's The Cold Commands.

[Datepalm]

I'm 140 pages into Heirs of the Blade by Adrian Tchaikovsky and the fangirl in me is loving every bit so far

Me too. I've forgotten how, along with all the other, increasingly grim stuff, this series can still have these awesomely bizzare/cute little descriptions that I just squee at. A little giant beetle! (I keep thinking of the Discworld Luggage.) Horse-sized bumble bees...bumbling.

[nickg]

I'm 140 pages into Heirs of the Blade by Adrian Tchaikovsky and the fangirl in me is loving every bit so far.

Next is Collapse by Jared Diamond.  I've had this on my to read pile for years and loved his Guns, Germs and Steel book.

I finally finished the Scarab Path this morning. I had some trouble making it through this one, and actually dropped it for more than a month. I picked it up the other day though and could hardly put it down. Definitely a big fan of the series. I've even read all of the stuff he has on his site. Still reading God's War and its still awesome.

[Ser Tom]

Jeff Lindsay's Double Dexter at the weekend, just 176 pages and fairly obvious. Made me think dexter deserves better, he's a great character but Lindsay's not using him to his full potential. I'm thinking of a more James Ellroy type plot. Dexter's Dahlia?

I read Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke yesterday, well worth a read. I find his writing to be quite clinical at times, there's not a lot of time spent on fleshing out characters but it's more driven by events than the characters. Some interesting ideas considering it's from 1953. How many movies/t.v. shows have ripped off the invasion from the start?

"the Overlords" cracked me up as soon as i read it and the reveal of them being a bunch of satan lookalikes just made me like them more. My only gripe is more with myself, I read Forever War not too long ago so as soon as he mentioned relativistic travel I thought Jan was going to find himself alone when he got back. Turns out I was wrong about why.

[Yana]

1610: A Sundial in a Grave by Mary Gentle. It's too early to say what I think about it, still on chapter one.

[Horza]

Rocketing through Reamde, which, if you like Stephenson (as I do) is pretty unremarkable. It is tempting me to get a Kindle as I'm not really keen on lugging its 1051 pages around.

Midway though Wolf Hall, which is utterly fantastic and a joy to read but I've unaccountably paused.

Just completed The Half-Made World which was as awesome as everyone was saying. Really hope Gilman writes a sequel.

Just bought Extreme Money by Satjajit Das andDavid Harvey's The Enigma of Capital. I'm hoping the cynical insider and the Marxist takes will inform and contrast.

[JGP]

Still on my Glen Cook tear. Currently midway through the omnibus titled, A Cruel Wind. Sneaking up next, along with a particular and creeping dread, is Matterhon.

[nickg]

A Cruel Wind kicks ass. You timed it pretty well too because you can get the final three books by January. I'm diving into a Glen Cook marathon myself after I finish Children of Hurin. Gonna read Reap the East Wind and the first 3 Garret books.

[VarysTheSpider]

Next is Collapse by Jared Diamond. I've had this on my to read pile for years and loved his Guns, Germs and Steel book.

This has been on my list for ages (after reading GG&S) but slid loads of places after I found out that he's a fan of that discredited Malthusian bullshit. Thought he was cleverer than that.

Just finished up The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy, and now I am sad.

Not really sure living a "good" life would have made Ivan's death more bearable when he was in physical agony and obviously had a crisis of faith towards the end, but I guess like with any Tolstoy it's food for thought.

[kcf]

Well, I just got my review of The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson posted. It was good fun. Now I'm reading Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey.

[Grack21]

A Cruel Wind kicks ass. You timed it pretty well too because you can get the final three books by January. I'm diving into a Glen Cook marathon myself after I finish Children of Hurin. Gonna read Reap the East Wind and the first 3 Garret books.

I"m trying to get through the C part of my reading pile, which is to say Cook and Cornwell I'm behind on. I got Darkwar, 2 Starfishers, A Matter of Time, and Reap to go through still. Maybe something else lurking in there. Seriously Nightshade, give me a chance to breathe!.

[peterbound]

Trying to track down the rest of Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series, just found Bloody Red Baron, so i'm picking through that.

[nickg]

Trying to track down the rest of Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series, just found Bloody Red Baron, so i'm picking through that.

I saw Bloody Red Baron is getting re issued next April so I'm probably gonna wait until then. Anno Dracula was fucking awesome though.

[nickg]

I"m trying to get through the C part of my reading pile, which is to say Cook and Cornwell I'm behind on. I got Darkwar, 2 Starfishers, A Matter of Time, and Reap to go through still. Maybe something else lurking in there. Seriously Nightshade, give me a chance to breathe!.

Yup, it seems I've been on nightshade kick myself with God's War, Reap, and Infidel pretty soon. I have the first Starishers book and thought it was really good. And Darkwar has been tempting me from the shelves for a few months now. I will come home with it one of these days.

[Spring Bass]

My immediate reading plans have changed drastically upon finishing Dune (which was absolutely fantastic to read this time). I've got the library kindle e-books for Dune Messiah and Children of Dune checked out, and they're up next. The Night Circus should be coming in on a library hold pretty soon as well, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get to it between all the Dune series reading I'll be doing.

[Larry.]

Reads so far this month:

Nikky Finney, Head Off & Split - finalist for the 2011 National Book Award for Poetry. "Red Velvet" is a very strong, moving poem in this collection. Very solid collection.

Umberto Eco and Jean-Claude Carrière, This is Not the End of the Book - A leading French historian and Eco himself sit down and discuss aspects of books, why we read, how books are changing, and why having unread books is a good thing. Excellent, as might be expected for this conversational non-fiction piece. Not yet available in the US, but out in the UK. (I had to import mine)

David Abulafia, The Great Sea - Outstanding general history of the Mediterranean and its role as a facilitator and hindrance to cross-cultural trade over the past 20,000 years. Very good writing and a look at the cultural, military, political, economic, and social aspects of the Mediterranean and how the cultures around it (and later outside it) were shaped. Came out last month and was one of Amazon's Best Books of October 2011 for a reason.

Carl Phillips, Double Shadow - Another finalist for the 2011 National Book Award for Poetry. Good, but a bit too brief (58 pages) compared to the others on the shortlist for my liking.

Yusef Komunyakaa, The Chameleon Couch - Still another 2011 National Book Award for Poetry finalist. This, the Finney one, and Bruce Smith's Devotions (which I read in late October) are all very strong poetry collections. I hope to write short reviews of each of these this week, likely later today.

Will finish two more books today, both shortlisted for the 2011 National Book Award for Young People's Literature (yes, I'm reading all 20 of the shortlisted books for those awards): Debby Dahl Edwardson's My Name is Not Easy, which deals with the treatment Inuit children received at Alaskan boarding schools in the 1950s and 1960s, and Franny Billingsley's Chime, which is the only overtly fantastical entry in the YA category this year. Haven't read enough of the Billingsley to comment, but the other four shortlisted books are uniformly strong, with a slight nod to Thanhha Lai's Inside Out and Back Again, which I read in late October and will review shortly.

[Ayx]

Giving fantasy/scifi a break and started on "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman, i'm into first 30 or so pages, and so far its as good as advertised:

Definitely getting Bekkeresque vibe from this book, many quotes would not look out of place as PoN chapter epigrams.

Most impressions and thoughts arise in your conscious experience without your knowing how they got there. You cannot trace how you came to the belief that there is a lamp on the desk in front of you, or how you detected a hint of irritation in your spouse’s voice on the telephone, or how you managed to avoid a threat on the road before you became consciously aware of it. The mental work that produces impressions, intuitions, and many decisions goes on in silence in our mind.

Kahneman, Daniel (2011-10-25). Thinking, Fast and Slow (p. 4). Macmillan. Kindle Edition.