September Reads

[Serious Callers Only]

Reading book 1 of the Andrew Swann apotheosis sci-fi series.

Was a bit miffed at first because there is a prominent anarchist planet that should have collapsed into complete chaos or a government, but that was dealt with soon with a acceptable justification.

Now i'm near the end of book 1 and the writer is obviously having fun with making the situation as chaotic as he can without stretching believability (not quite successfully).

[Astra]

I am taking a short break from The Malazan Book of the Fallen after Reapers Gale by Steven Erikson.

A bit of modern classic? To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

[TheEvilKing]

Got about 80 pages left of Sharps by KJ Parker. Enjoying it immensely so far.

About 75 pages into The Scar by China Mieville.

[SkynJay]

I finished the first Flashman book, found through the thread on this board. Really enjoyed it, and will read some more in the series for sure.

Going to give a second shot to Caliban's War, which I quit on a few months ago. Damn it, I liked most of the first one, why couldn't I get into this one last time? We shall see if it goes better.

[Isalie]

Finished Kafka on the Shore yesterday, it wasn't for me. I both didn't get it and I didn't get it. For one thing, I never once cared about any of the characters. Another thing was, there's plenty of info dumping, this old myth here and that old nazi there, and at the same time, where is the point of it? I suppose it's the kind of book that grows on rereads, and to be fair, I actually listened to it rather than read it, still. I might give Murakami a third chance some time, because of all the hype and what not, but so far he really hasn't been struck a chord with me.

[jdiddyesquire]

Finished the last few days:

Slow Apocalypse by John Varley - preachy, but good. overly long.

Bullettime by Nick Mamatas - Excellent in a deranged way.

Armor by John Steakley - Interesting structure, lots of contrivances, but fantastic book.

Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone - Lots of promise, good debut, didn't completely gel for me

Chimera by TC McCarthy - Good finish to the series, not as good as Germline, better than Exogene.

Clean by Alex Hughes - Standard UF, very standard.

I've been traveling, obviously.

On to:

Evil for Evil by KJ Parker.

[Datepalm]

FInished Brin's Existence and on finally on to the Air War, which i'm having a blast with, despite missing the familiar characters. Tchaikovsky just keeps getting better and better. Everyone who was moping about the character driven detours of the past few books should be more than happy with all the plot and action in this one.

[Sci-2]

Revisting Calvino as I've a lot of unfinished books by him - Path to the Spider's Nest, If on a Winter Traveler's Night.

Also doing at least a partial reread of Invisible cities and likely Cosmicomics. [Also some shorts by him from the Numbers in the Dark collection.]

[Garett Hornwood]

I'm 60% of the way through Lord of Chaos right now on my first read through of WoT.

Then comes Every Man a Tiger by Tom Clancy, a nonfiction work about the Gulf War Air Campaign.

Following that will be A Crown of Swords, which I'll probably start before the end of the month but like LoC not finish before October.

[Biter]

Finished Kafka on the Shore yesterday, it wasn't for me. I both didn't get it and I didn't get it. For one thing, I never once cared about any of the characters. Another thing was, there's plenty of info dumping, this old myth here and that old nazi there, and at the same time, where is the point of it? I suppose it's the kind of book that grows on rereads, and to be fair, I actually listened to it rather than read it, still. I might give Murakami a third chance some time, because of all the hype and what not, but so far he really hasn't been struck a chord with me.

Hey, I just read that a couple of weeks ago and it was my first Murakami novel. I'm not sure I got it either but I thought it was enjoyable anyway. What was the first Murakami book you read?

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I finished The Path of Daggers. If I read this one before, I must have stopped halfway through as the climax drew blanks for me. For me the plot dragged slowly and not alot got accomplished aside from

the Bowl of Winds subplot

.

I've started Crusader: By Horse to Jerusalem, by Tim Severin, a tried and trusted author that I've read many times and enjoyed.

[williamjm]

FInished Brin's Existence and on finally on to the Air War, which i'm having a blast with, despite missing the familiar characters. Tchaikovsky just keeps getting better and better. Everyone who was moping about the character driven detours of the past few books should be more than happy with all the plot and action in this one.

I just finished The Air War. I liked it, although I'd probably say I preferred The Scarab Path and Heirs Of The Blade out of the recent books in the series, I do like the battles (particularly the way they're influenced by the development of technology) but although it has some decent characterisation in it I think it's missing most of the best characters in the series and I did like the recent character-focused stories.

[Myshkin]

Let's see, since I last posted in these threads I finished Ben Okri's The Famished Road, which was beautiful; Peter F. Hamilton's Mindstar Rising, The Reality Disfunction, and The Neutronium Alchemist, all of which were very good; Paolo Bacigalupi's The Alchemist, which was extremely dull and terribly overwritten; and Ben Aaronovitch's Whispers Under Ground, which was great.

Now reading Haruki Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.

[Sis Who Swears]

Finally got my anxious little paws on Last Argument of Kings! I probably won't sleep tonight...

[peterbound]

I'm going to re read Dune.

[GoodGuyA]

Not so much reading, but listening to The Once and Future King! Knocked out Sword and the Stone, and I'm readied on for the next three books. If that goes by, Name of the Wind comes next on my Audible list. If I feel like actually reading something, I could probably find something... Somewhere...

EDIT: Ah, found Children of Hurin! Haven't read this yet.

[mythsandstuff]

Let's see, since I last posted in these threads I finished Ben Okri's The Famished Road, which was beautiful; Peter F. Hamilton's Mindstar Rising, The Reality Disfunction, and The Neutronium Alchemist, all of which were very good; Paolo Bacigalupi's The Alchemist, which was extremely dull and terribly overwritten; and Ben Aaronovitch's Whispers Under Ground, which was great.

Now reading Haruki Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.

The Famished Road is so, so good. Did Bacigalupi write an Alchemist, or do you mean Coelho?(in which case, what you said. So much)

[Isalie]

Hey, I just read that a couple of weeks ago and it was my first Murakami novel. I'm not sure I got it either but I thought it was enjoyable anyway. What was the first Murakami book you read?

Had to look it up, but first one was After Dark, liked that one better, don't remember all that much about it though. It was shorter and more up front so to speak.

[Myshkin]

The Famished Road is so, so good. Did Bacigalupi write an Alchemist, or do you mean Coelho?(in which case, what you said. So much)

He did. I read The Windup Girl last year, and loved it. That's why I was so severely disappointed with The Alchemist; it read like the worst kind of cliched melodramatic crap. I read Coelho's book years ago, and was disgusted by it.

[mythsandstuff]

He did. I read The Windup Girl last year, and loved it. That's why I was so severely disappointed with The Alchemist; it read like the worst kind of cliched melodramatic crap. I read Coelho's book years ago, and was disgusted by it.

That makes me kind of sad. I'm not a fan of his YA stuff, though (haven't read the new one, but really disappointed in Shipbreaker, which half-asses a Huck Finn homage, of all things), so I'm not that surprised.