201 replies to this topic

[SkynJay]

Next up for me is The Spirit Rebellion, by Rachael Aaron, second of the Eli Monpress omnibus.  First one was pretty good, lets see how the series progresses.

[Reposado]

Read the first three Garrett PI books. Not bad at all. Definitely will continue on in the series.

But not yet. Next up, a Bakker re-read. Been meaning to scratch that itch for a while as I haven't read White Luck Warrior yet

[Rooster]

I read Black Gods and Scarlet Dreams by C L Moore, which is a collection of both Jirel of Joiry and Northwest Smith short stories. The book was a bit of a mixed bag. Overall I did not much care for the Jirel stories with the exception of Hellsgarde, which was the kind of creepy I enjoy. I found the NW stories more palatable, even if it was odd how such a - supposedly - hardened killer was so gleeful in jumping into danger. Shambleau was delightful, and Tree of Life lingers in my mind as well.

Next up I arbitrarily decided I had neglected the short form of SF for too long, and read the Science Fiction Hall of Fame (Vol I). An excellent collection. My five favourites were "A Martian Odyssey", "Mimsy Were the Borogoves", "The Little Black Bag", "Fondly Fahrenheit" and "A Rose for Ecclesiastes".

I'm also reading William Tenn's short story collection "Immodest Proposals", but it's too big to finish in one go (not a problem with novels, but with short stories by the same author...), so I'm switching it up with some other books, at which point comes Frank Herbert's Hellstrom's Hive. This was my first Herbert and I like his style; very easy to read. The first third was the best part but I did like the rest of the novel as well. I'll have to read more from him.

[Asathor]

I just finished Catcher in the Rye by Salinger. I thought it a pretty decent book, just short enough to not be repetitive.

I also finished The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett. That one I thoroughly enjoyed reading and I was sad to see it come to an end. I will most definitely read the next books in the series as well.

I read The Darkness that comes before by Bakker but I must say that it did not quite match up to my expectations. It did not seem to flow as some other books do an I had a hard time getting into it. Halfway through it picked up for me though as we left Esme's POV.

Atm I'm reading Gemmel's Shield of Thunder which is pretty darn awesome.

The future holds Delillo's Point Omega, The Guns of Navarone by Maclean, 1984 by Orwell and also The Way of Kings by Sanderson. Somewhere in between I will also need to make time for The Name of the Wind. Happy times are a coming!

[Nearly Headless Ned]

Mockingjay-Suzanne Collins. Enjoyed the trilogy rather more than I anticipated. Thought the post traumatic stress angle was handled particularly well.

Edited by Nearly Headless Ned, 16 April 2012 - 05:05 PM.

[UndergroundMan]

Just finished the first book of the Dresden Files. I was very entertained and it was good break coming off the challenging, but incredible "Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe. After finishing the series, I would rank those books from best to worst in this order : Sword, Shadow, Citadel, and Claw. They were all great though, and I will be mulling over that series for a long time. Meanwhile, I'm also in the middle of book 2 of Gormenghast and plan to start the second Harry Dresden book soon.

[jdiddyesquire]

Just finished Scourge of Betrayer by Jeff Salyards, new debut fantasy from Night Shade. (review) Lots of Glen Cook notes if Croaker was a sissy journalist, sort of. Quite good, and very felt new to me.

Finished Blue Remembered Earth by Al Reynolds, should have a review soon. Slow burn thinking man's space opera. The first half is a slog, but it pays off in the end, setting up what I think will turn out to be a great trilogy.

Now working on Devices and Desires by KJ Parker and The Croning by Laird Barron.

[Myshkin]

Finished Elfriede Jelinek's The Piano Teacher.  Profoundly affecting, stunningly written, and powerfully disturbing.  Don't let some crazy old Swedish guy dissuade you from reading this book.  The stream-of-consciousness prose style is a bit daunting, but if you're willing to work for it, this book really pays off.

Now on to Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth by Naguib Mahfouz.

[beniowa]

Finished Faith by John Love a couple days ago.  The battle between an alien ship and a ship of social outcasts is like watching a chess match where both sides are constantly changing the rules.  Such a game is engrossing, strange, and confusing.  Perhaps it's a bit more convoluted than it really needs to be, but it's quite an interesting read.

Now reading Among Others by Jo Walton for the Hugos.

[Starkess]

Finished Elantris. Was tough going at first--I could not stop thinking "Had no one ever taught him 'show, don't tell'?!?"--but it pulled me in more towards the end and I thought it was pretty satisfying overall. Definitely a debut novel, but I say that mostly for the actual writing itself than the novel as a whole, as I have no problem with happy endings.

Not quite sure what I'm picking up next.

[Greywolf2375]

Going to see what the buzz about The Hunger Games is all about - my wife is reading it now, I should get to it by this weekend.  Then it is back to the Dresden files - finished the first book but haven't gone back to them yet.

[Alytha]

Still dragging my way through The Years of Rice and Salt. I really liked the beginning, but the further it gets along, the more boring it gets. By now it's pretty much a game of "spot the correspondence": Oh look, they have one guy who discovered gravity, the speed of sound, and poison gas! And they have Luther mark 2, Marx mark 2, etc etc. At least they have invented the hot air balloon, which is nice.

[ljkeane]

I just finished The Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu which was pretty good although occasionally I found it a little difficult to follow with all the terminology that you're pretty much just thrown straight into.

I'm not sure what I'll read next, maybe The White Luck Warrior but I'm struggling a little to work up the enthusiasm to read it as Bakker's books do tend to be fairly relentlessly depressing.

[Tehol]

just finished faith by john love.
i did not like the book.
let me try to explain this....start and middle of the book i liked it, reminded me of an old movie called dirty dozen but the last sixty pages or so i got really bored and couple of time i skipped some pages. the book may look like dark and gritty outside but inside-the heart of the book imo; is star trek theme, and i don't like star trek. star trek movies, shows or books they don't work for me.

[jdiddyesquire]

Tehol, on 18 April 2012 - 09:56 AM, said:

just finished faith by john love.
i did not like the book.
let me try to explain this....start and middle of the book i liked it, reminded me of an old movie called dirty dozen but the last sixty pages or so i got really bored and couple of time i skipped some pages. the book may look like dark and gritty outside but inside-the heart of the book imo; is star trek theme, and i don't like star trek. star trek movies, shows or books they don't work for me.

I drew some Star Trek comparisons in my review. It seems like a Star Trek satire in some ways. The author refuted it in an interview I did with him though, for what that's worth.

[kcf]

I finally got my review for Arctic Rising by Tobias Buckell written - it's very fun and very good. I still owe a review for The Throne of the Crescent Moon. I'm currently reading Blade of Tyshalle by Matthew Stove - I'd forgotten just how good the Caine books are.

[Myshkin]

Finished Akhenaten by Naguib Mahfouz.  Great little book.  A little different, but well worth the read.

Not sure what I'll read next.  Maybe a re-read of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita

[Bellis]

I spent the last few weeks slowly reading Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. There was no plot to keep me coming back to finish, yet the prose was oftentimes captivating enough to keep me reading in the bursts in which I picked it up. We follow a distinctly unlikeable, amoral protagonist as he slackers around New York (Capricorn) or Paris (Cancer), avoiding responsibility, and basically trying to scam money and have sex with as many objectified women as possible. It's the sex in particular that has gotten this book in a lot of trouble with the censors. Occasionally, Miller rambles about the futility of life and the nature of reality. Even when it's pretentious bullshit, it's still somehow quite lyrically written. These are important novels - written in the 1930s, they occupy the bridge between turn of the century Proust's stream of consciousness on one hand, and the amoral rambles of the beat generation (e.g. Kerouac) as well as the more sophisticated ennui of the French existentialists (Sartre's Nausea, Camus' The Fall) on the other. While wankish, Miller's work is definitely influential .

Mostly though I've been re-reading along to newest boy reading ASOIAF. Nothing quite compares to the simple pleasure of Martin's storytelling.

[Triskele]

Bellis - That was quite the post.

[Grack21]

Reading. I remember that.

One day of class left.....