September Reads -Back to school time!

[mashiara]

I haven't posted back since I started the thread, shame on me. I kept meaning to.

 

Caesar's Women by Colleen McCullough was really well written and well researched and I liked it. I've liked all of her Rome books so far but they do get to tire one out after a while, that's why I'm taking so long between books.

 

Kitty in the Underworld, book 12? of the Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn was supposed to be my light reading between more involved books but it ended up being a disappointment. A series that had started out so well and now I'm not even looking forward to reading the last couple of books.

 

I just finished The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman and I thought it was amazing. I was apprehensive at first because it wasn't going to be a novel about specific people but rather a collection of stories featuring a small town from its founding up to the present and giving us stories about the people throughout the years. I loved it, I was just sorry that as soon as I found characters I loved I had to say goodbye to them, I would have liked more. I loved the slight magical elements and I loved the writing, somewhat sad but beautiful.  A lovely, delightful book.

 

I'll start reading Stephen King's Finders Keepers next.  Changed my mind. I'll read The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu, I forgot it was a Kindle daily Deal that actually worked for for a change and I bought it a couple of weeks ago, I'll read that instead.

 

 

 

Has anyone read anything by Kristen Britain? Specifically the Green Rider series? If so, what's it like please?

 

I have. I loved the first 2 or 3 books, then was really disappointed. I think it would have worked better as a trilogy

[Peadar]

Moving on to N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season. Love the opening.

[C Rutherford]

I'm rather shocked to be saying this, but I am putting Butcher's Cinder Spires book aside.  It is just not grabbing me despite a great opening.

 

The below is not a spoiler really but an element of his story that some might want to remain pure in their reading approach. 

 

[spoiler]I just cannot with the cats! Animals as characters can be tricky. I'm more of a dog person. But if dogs were written with the same cloying claptrap these cats are? I just cannot. At least right now.[/spoiler]

 

Going to read The Traitor Baru Cormorant.  Or An Apprentice to Elves by Bear and Monette since despite some of the sexual graphicness I do enjoy their series.  Also just got The Girl in the Spider's Web but not sure if I want to dispappoint myself again so early after the Butcher thing (I will go back and read this. But just not in the mood)

 

Wait, first I am going to polish off the Isaac Marion novella New Hunger that is being released in a few weeks.

[deleted01]

Did indeed start Doctor Sleep. Really enjoying it - I just wish I had another day off work to read! Going to snatch some reading time during my lunch break.

[Darth Richard II]

I started King again finally after HATE HATE HATING under the dome, with 11/22/63, and am loving the fuck out if it.

[deleted01]

I started King again finally after HATE HATE HATING under the dome, with 11/22/63, and am loving the fuck out if it.

Under the Dome was... boring. I really enjoy the TV show, but the book just never seemed to get off the ground. That being said, his style is fairly easy to read, and so it was still somewhat enjoyable.

[Xray the Enforcer]

Jemisin's The Fifth Season, on the other hand, is a come one come all situation so far as I'm concerned: I just finished it and I think it's great.

 

BTW, we have a dedicated thread for discussing this one. I've just started a targeted reread (and I don't think I'm the only one) to try to suss out some of the details.

[SkynJay]

I finished The Traitor Baru Cormorant last night.  It was full of ambition and some parts really shined but ultimately it was disappointing.  Too much being shoved into one book but the biggest distraction was how many times it took a leap of faith to believe events would line up the way they did for the character.  Still it should be worth picking up for KJ Parker fans who enjoy it when a book revels in the minute detail (as well as some really dark themes).  And when it shines I loved it; especially when focusing on the cultural assimilation the dominate group is working and the mindset of not just the conquerors and the 'conquered' but also the children whose education puts them right in the middle of it all.

[First of My Name]

Finished Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison already, my main complaint was that it was too short, the story had potential for much more. But the writing was very good and the art outstanding. Enjoyed every page. Liked that it was pretty dark, for a Star Wars story.

Next is De Tranen der Acacia's (meaning The Tears of Acacia's) by Willem Frederik Hermans. This is required reading for school, but I'm hoping I'll enjoy it nonetheless.

I started King again finally after HATE HATE HATING under the dome, with 11/22/63, and am loving the fuck out if it.

It drags in the middle, but yes, very good read overall.

[HexMachina]

I'm rather shocked to be saying this, but I am putting Butcher's Cinder Spires book aside.  It is just not grabbing me despite a great opening.
 
The below is not a spoiler really but an element of his story that some might want to remain pure in their reading approach. 
 
[spoiler]I just cannot with the cats! Animals as characters can be tricky. I'm more of a dog person. But if dogs were written with the same cloying claptrap these cats are? I just cannot. At least right now.[/spoiler]
 
Going to read The Traitor Baru Cormorant.  Or An Apprentice to Elves by Bear and Monette since despite some of the sexual graphicness I do enjoy their series.  Also just got The Girl in the Spider's Web but not sure if I want to dispappoint myself again so early after the Butcher thing (I will go back and read this. But just not in the mood)
 
Wait, first I am going to polish off the Isaac Marion novella New Hunger that is being released in a few weeks.

For what its worth, reviews of The Girl in the Spiders Web havent been too bad. The only real blip seems to have been Larsson's long-time partner being unhappy with another author continuing his stories. Still notnsure whether I'll read it though.

Finished the Dragons Path this evening. Very good, I really enjoyed the focus on political maneuvering for one set of characters and the business/banking focus for the others. I'll be continuing this series in the future, very promising start.

Up next though I'm torn between Sorceror to the Crown, The Traitor (otherwize known as The Traitor Baru Comorant, stupid publishing changes) and Salman Rushdie's new book. I'll be reading them all at some stage this month but which first? Gah,I feel like a child in a sweet shop, i dont know what to pick.

[beniowa]

Finished The Fox Woman this weekend.  It's about a fox who falls in love with a man in Heian period Japan and uses fox magic to become a woman.  It some places the book verges on erotica, but it also has strong themes of longing and belonging as well as the difficulties that can happen in relationships.  I've read the short story this novel is based on and it was all right, but the novel is better I think as it fleshes things out (no pun intended). 

 

Now reading Mother of Eden by Chris Beckett. 

[C Rutherford]

For what its worth, reviews of The Girl in the Spiders Web havent been too bad. The only real blip seems to have been Larsson's long-time partner being unhappy with another author continuing his stories. Still notnsure whether I'll read it though.

 

 

Yeah but then again, I remember how thrilled so many were about Brandon Sanderson's authorized fanfiction finishing of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time.  I have actually read many reviews that said they liked his stuff better.  And I just wanted to wrap the fat bad writer (Sanderson) in a baby seal costume and let him adrift on an ice floe close to where Russian hunters with clubs hang out.

 

I know, I know, to each their own.  But I still am amazed at how much Sanderson simply didn't understand let alone at how poorly I think he writes. 

 

I'm haflway through The Traitor... and finding it has some flaws but is still strong enough to keep my interest.

[Darth Richard II]

O.o

[Mauvka]

I'm almost done with Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel. Picked it up mostly because of Martin's review on it. I wanted to like it,and kind of did in the middle of the book.  The book is very readable and and the characters are enjoyable enough.  But her worldbuilding is so painfully underdone, that I  just could not get over it.  

 

Spoilers about premise/worldbuilding [spoiler]Her premise is that a fast-acting super lethal flu wipes out 99% of earths population within a few days (though wouldn't a 99% lethal disease with an incubation time of 3-4 hours be too virulent to ever spread into a pandemic?). As a result of lack of people coming in to work, the power grids go out, rendering all technology useless.  Apparently solar powered batteries, or self sustaining and self powered pockets of technology, like nuclear subs do not exist, and a general power outage is enough to wipe out technology.  Meanwhile, within 5 years of the collapse, a travelling symphony/Shakespearean acting troupe can form, but 20 years later all economy/industry and technology is still somehow trapped in a pre-industrial state.  I could almost suspend disbelief in this, until she started describing the transition between the collapse and the world as we see it 20 years later, and it seems like the world is overrun by wannabe prophets.  And while this in itself isn't unreasonable, it feels like the author never considered any of the other kind of opportunistic powergrabs that might take place in isolated communities, instead having "the good people trying to survive" or "the cults took over" as the only two possible modes of existence.  [/spoiler] Throughout the book it feels like the author never put more than a cursory thought into how a postapocalyptic world might develop, and instead just went about describing an image of what she wanted to have happen.  Everything feels too simplistic and one-dimensional as a result.  

 

Now I have about 60 pages left, and might as well finish.  But I am disappointed.  I really wanted to like the book, and just cannot see what others see in it.

 

Next up is the Water Knife, by Paolo Bacigalupi. Windup Girl was one of my favorite recently published scifi reads, so I am looking forward to reading the latest novel by this writer.

[Xray the Enforcer]

The Water Knife is a very different world from The Windup Girl, but it has some similarities in tone. I guess I'd say that it's much more brutal and pessimistic.

[Gasp of Many Reeds]

For what its worth, reviews of The Girl in the Spiders Web havent been too bad. The only real blip seems to have been Larsson's long-time partner being unhappy with another author continuing his stories. 

The 'blip' is more about the fact that because they never married, Gabrielsson didn't inherit any of Larsson's estate, which instead went to his family. Bear in mind that they were together for 30 years and didn't marry at least in part (I believe I remember hearing) because of fears their being registered would make it easier for far-right vigilantes to track them. Gabrielsson is also widely accepted to have helped Larsson with a lot of the research for his novels, though she has dismissed claims of co-authorship. So I think the issue is that, however good TGitSW is, there is still an underlying legal dispute between Larson's family, who commissioned the book, and Gabrielsson, who also claims Larsson's estate and wants control over her late partner's creative product.

[HexMachina]

The 'blip' is more about the fact that because they never married, Gabrielsson didn't inherit any of Larsson's estate, which instead went to his family. Bear in mind that they were together for 30 years and didn't marry at least in part (I believe I remember hearing) because of fears their being registered would make it easier for far-right vigilantes to track them. Gabrielsson is also widely accepted to have helped Larsson with a lot of the research for his novels, though she has dismissed claims of co-authorship. So I think the issue is that, however good TGitSW is, there is still an underlying legal dispute between Larson's family, who commissioned the book, and Gabrielsson, who also claims Larsson's estate and wants control over her late partner's creative product.

Yeah, I was aware of most of that (except the reasons why they didn't marry)). Partly why I don't know whether to read it or not, though I'm sure it's a decent enough story.

[Astromech]

The Big Sleep was a fun, stylish detective noir read. It seemed like Chandler wasn't overly concerned with plot and simply used Marlowe's investigative leaps of logic to uncover mysteries, but the characters and style made amends for any plot shortcomings.

 

I've tentatively started Chabon's The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Tentatively because I've been reading a number of novels set in the 30's and 40's and may switch to something a bit different for a change.

[gogorath]

I'm almost done with Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel. Picked it up mostly because of Martin's review on it. I wanted to like it,and kind of did in the middle of the book.  The book is very readable and and the characters are enjoyable enough.  But her worldbuilding is so painfully underdone, that I  just could not get over it.  

 

Spoilers about premise/worldbuilding [spoiler]Her premise is that a fast-acting super lethal flu wipes out 99% of earths population within a few days (though wouldn't a 99% lethal disease with an incubation time of 3-4 hours be too virulent to ever spread into a pandemic?). As a result of lack of people coming in to work, the power grids go out, rendering all technology useless.  Apparently solar powered batteries, or self sustaining and self powered pockets of technology, like nuclear subs do not exist, and a general power outage is enough to wipe out technology.  Meanwhile, within 5 years of the collapse, a travelling symphony/Shakespearean acting troupe can form, but 20 years later all economy/industry and technology is still somehow trapped in a pre-industrial state.  I could almost suspend disbelief in this, until she started describing the transition between the collapse and the world as we see it 20 years later, and it seems like the world is overrun by wannabe prophets.  And while this in itself isn't unreasonable, it feels like the author never considered any of the other kind of opportunistic powergrabs that might take place in isolated communities, instead having "the good people trying to survive" or "the cults took over" as the only two possible modes of existence.  [/spoiler] Throughout the book it feels like the author never put more than a cursory thought into how a postapocalyptic world might develop, and instead just went about describing an image of what she wanted to have happen.  Everything feels too simplistic and one-dimensional as a result.  

 

Now I have about 60 pages left, and might as well finish.  But I am disappointed.  I really wanted to like the book, and just cannot see what others see in it.

 

I don't think it's meant to be a comprehensive or pragmatic view of a post-apocalyptic world. It's a story about a group of people who have undergone loss and tragedy, who live lives that are fundamentally reduced to survival and pragmatic gains, who strive for something than mere survival because things like art and beauty and love are a requirement for them. "Survival is insufficient."

 

Her writing tone and world play into this feel -- in many ways the part in the post-apocalyptic world is a picaresque story not unlike Huck Finn -- limited in scope, moving from village to village, small lessons and movements. It's foggy and surreal at points; I don't think she's ever all that concerned with the level of realism that you allude to missing and I admit that I never expected it from the writing. This story was about characters, not plot.

 

I loved it (obviously), but it's not World War Z, which was a lot of fun in its own way. Or that one apocalyptic series I stopped because I had to read chapters about Wiccanism every few minutes.

[C Rutherford]

Breezed through the latest installment of Parker's Two of Swords which was available today.  It definitely is an exercise in self-torture since I feel like I should just wait until it is done since I know I will want to sit down and read it in it's entirety.  Complete lack fo self control.