Reading in August

[Gilder]

I'm currently reading A Storm of Swords (I only discovered ASoIaF a few months ago), Julius Caesar, and after I finish Caesar, I'll start Oedipus the King.

[sologdin]

Sallust's Conspiracy of Catiline

yeah, dig sallust (the jugurthine war is a bit less impressive than the cataline). have fond memories of reading him at the green house in st. thomas while drinking lotsa beer, while the soon-to-be-ex-wife gambled away all of our moneys.

also spoken to a lot of companions of Scipio Africanus

ooooooo did not know that. will bump him up to top of queue. thanks!

[A Bengali Menace]

Bengali Menace:

How old is the first edition of The Assassins by Lewis? It should be mentioned in fron of the book (the earliest copywright). IIRC, it's come out somewhere in the 1950's or 1960's. I hear it's a good study, but some aspects of Lewis' approach have become somewhat outdated. At least according to a friend of mine who specialized in the Muslim stance on the Crusades and Crusaders.

1962, and yes, it's a little dated, but still respected enough that it's been reprinted in many languages, including a number of unauthorized Middle Eastern ones

[Werthead]

Concluded Neverwhere. It was great. Moving on to Anansi Boys.

[Knight of Ashes]

First trade paperback of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore.

And I still don't wanna see the movie.

[Werthead]

I saw the movie first, thought it was okay, read the graphic novel, then realised what they'd lost in translation (shudders). The only comforting thought is the absolutely living hell that Sean Connery put the director through on that film (cackles evilly).

[Bellis]

Since the last weekend of July:

Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber 1-5 - kind of meh with interspersed wittiness (the dialogue was great), couldn't get too interested in the world and ended up skimming huge chunks of it, but i understand what others see in it, just wasn't my thing. Lord of Light was much better.

Pale Fire - Nabokov - really really cool. need to re-read someday, probably missed tons of stuff but highly recommended.

Lies of Locke Lamora - Lynch - 8/10. not literature, the ending was a bit too cliche and too neat, not as good as Dunnett or Mieville (I guess I'm the only one who sees this as a cross between those two) but undeniably fun! fun! fun! to read and i'll definately be reading the rest.

Viriconium - Harrison - this was so hyped by Jay and all the authors on the back cover, and as I am a big fan of Mieville and Vandermeer.. well, I was actually disappointed. couldn't really get into the writing style, too many long-winded go-nowhere sentences and obscure vocabulary. I can see the influence on other writers, and i wanted to love it too... but....

Coming up starting tonight:

Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun - I read Book of the Short Sun last month and now I'm going to see just how strange it will be to have read these in the wrong order.

Vellum - Duncan

Murakami

Thinking of buying The Ethched City since my library doesn't have it, as well as AFFC when it comes out in US Paperback next month so I can re-read it now that these boards have convinced me that it's not entirely without merit :|

[Calibandar]

Alright, how come nobody told me that Catch-22 was like, the greatest effing book in the history of the world.

I'm going to but this book next month, I know it's a classic and have seen so many people here recommend it over the years, I just never thought I'd really like it. But some recent comments have tied me over, it seems really cool.

[Anakin]

Reading "Byzantine Empire's Emperors" at this time and I have recently finished reading "The Perfect Society" of Plato.Light books for the summer

[Sir Thursday]

Having finished the first two volumes of Wolfe's Book of the New Sun (Shadow of the Torturer and Claw of the Conciliator), I am now reading Hal Duncan's Vellum. Some interesting stylistic stuff, haven't got very far yet though.

After that:

Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman

The Chronicles of Amber 1-5 - Roger Zelazny

Lyonesse 1&2 - Jack Vance

Depending on my mood I might go out and spend some more book tokens, or perhaps reread MBotF depending on my mood.

I'm of the school of thought that you should give Gardens of the Moon a shot. If you honestly can't stand it, read all of Deadhouse Gates (and make sure you read it all, because along with Memories of Ice and Midnight Tides it has an extremely poignant conclusion - Erikson is very good at these). If you liked it, then go back and finish Gardens of the Moon before you read Memories of Ice.

Sir Thursday

[Crow's Eye]

Now that the bar exam is over, I can actually read again. So in the past two weeks, i've been busy..

I've read The Darkness that Comes Before, The Warrior Prophet, and the Thousandfold Thought. Great books, all. I was extremely disappointed with the ending, before I found out that there will be more books to come, albeit with only a few of the same characters. (thought it was just a trilogy).

Finally read The Sworn Sword. I can't believe I took so long to get around to reading it. Didn't like it as much as the Hedge Knight, though.

Just started "Mushashi" by Eiji Yoshikawa. I'm into all that medieval japan stuff - samurai, culture, etc. I loved Shogun, and this novel sounds like it's worth a read.

I've also got "Noble House" by James Clavell, "Century Rain" by Alastair Reynolds, and "The Lions of Al-Rassan" by Kay in my queue for this month. At the rate I've been going, I'll need more books by the middle of the month.

[Happy Ent]

As audiobooks: finished Bernard Cornwell, Vagabond and Heretic, thereby finishing his Grail Trilogy. Good historical fiction (battles, armour, unflinching descriptions), but he manages to not make me care for any of his characters, major or minor. Nothing wrong with it either, but certainly not books I would recommend.

Now, listening to Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, to see what the fuss is about. (Also, it's a lot of hours of audio per credit.) I am surprised it's not better (many people on this board say that early WoT is quite good), but it is certainly not slow-moving, which I understand is a serious complaint about the later books. I am also surprised at how extremely derivative it is of Fellowship of the Rings. I suppose that is intentional, and wouldn't chalk it up as a Bad Thing. Also, so far, no braids have been tugged.

Nonfiction reading: finished Wide as Waters: History of the English bible and the revolution it inspired. Bible translations hold my perverse interest, and I knew little about the English bibles. (The book covers translations from Tyndale's to the King James/authorised version, roughly.) Well, now I know a bit more, but Light! what a boring book. Easily the worst nonfiction book I have read in years. Boring and annoying. Not recommended.

Fiction reading: currently The Falls by Ian Rankin. Warmly recommended by a friend of mine as the Inspector Rebus novel to read.

[Knight of Ashes]

I saw the movie first, thought it was okay, read the graphic novel, then realised what they'd lost in translation (shudders). The only comforting thought is the absolutely living hell that Sean Connery put the director through on that film (cackles evilly).

Now you got me curious. :mad:

[Isis]

Alright, how come nobody told me that Catch-22 was like, the greatest effing book in the history of the world. This is a detail that someone should have shared with me before now. I had to find out on my own (still 100 pages to go, and if it isn't the greatest, it's at least the most fun).

I'm dissapointed in all of you for this oversight. Please do better in the future, thank you.

Exsqueese me? I've said it more than once. And not many people say bad things about it. It's fantastic, well worth investing the time to read it - anyone who hasn't done so already.

Currently working on Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace - only about 150 pages in. Atwood is SO easy to read, but as far as you can get from fluffy. I have huge crush on her right now.

Also trying to kill off The Confusion piece by piece. After that, there's only about 50 unread books on my shelf that I need to whip through starting with: Virconium, The Dispossessed, The Anubis Gates, Hyperion, Tigana, The Warrior Prophet...and so on.

[Werthead]

Shame you were out of the country when the Bakker signing was going down. Cool dude. And Forbidden Planet could so be my second home. Good thing I don't live in London or I'd be permanantly in there just gawping at the bookshelves (and laughing at the fact that Mercedes Lackey has five times as much shelf space as Goodkind).

Knight of Ashes: Sean Connery clashed with the director Stephen Norrington on the movie big-time. Check it out.

When asked where the 38-year old moviemaker - who had boycotted the event - was, Connery replied, "Have you checked the local asylum?" He then added, "Ask me about someone I like, will you? Everyone else in the film was a pleasure to work with. Not him."

[Angalin]

Just starting the second of Madeleine Robins' "Sarah Tolerance" mysteries, Petty Treason. I think Linda recommended them over on their main (personal?) site, and they have been fun.

Also picking up and putting down A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyum Li. A very, very good collection of short stories, but all rather sad, and I can only take so much of that at a time.

[Arbor Gold]

I am still working on I, Claudius

But I have been getting caught up on my issues of The New Yorker...I just read an amazing short story by Edward P. Jones, who wrote The Known World, which I loved.

Once I finish I, Claudius, it's on to "The Sworn Sword".

[VerySmallMonster]

I've just finished the Warrior Prophet (amazing! Thank goodness I gave the Darkness that Comes Before a second chance, how could I not have loved it?)

I'm currently rereading Deadhouse Gates, and next will be a Tad Williams, or maybe 100 Years of Solitude.

[Scion of Valyria]

From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman. That's all, for now. I figured with whats going on over there right now, it might be good to get a better handle on the history of the two places, as well as some understanding on the issues they've had in the past and how that's a factor in the problems now.

I am thinking I might want to read a book from a Lebanese/Arab point of view as well, to kind of balance it all out.

[Arbor Gold]

I'm currently rereading Deadhouse Gates, and next will be a Tad Williams, or maybe 100 Years of Solitude.

I hope you try One Hundred Years of Solitude...it's amazing!