April 2016 Reads

[RedEyedGhost]

On ‎4‎/‎18‎/‎2016 at 9:12 PM, Darth Richard II said:

This place is dead lately, and I don't know why.

The whole miscellaneous sub section (maybe the whole board, but this is really the only part I visit) has been quite slow lately.

 

16 hours ago, Sheep the Evicted said:

Same. I guess alot of us may have been riding momentum from last years Reading Challenge or made new years resolutions to read more and it's now fizzled out four months in. Certainly the case for me.

It's weird, because January had our second longest monthly reading thread ever (only second to last October's which was unfortunately lost in the forum upgrade).  Personally, I'm just not as good about updating in these threads as I once was, but my reading rate has been rubbish for about a year and a half now.

[Darth Richard II]

Well, I personally  am graduating in two weeks and have barely had time for sleep, let alone reading. First thing I'm going after graduation though is locking myself in a room with my books. And maybe some Star Wars blu Rays 

[The Marquis de Leech]

I've only read four books so far in April (down from eight in January, eleven in February, and twelve in March). I'm still on track for a hundred books in 2016, but April has definitely been my roughest patch. Whether that is a comment on the books I'm reading or on my mental state (or both), I don't know.

[Maia]

Well, in my case, even apart from having been very busy for several weeks, I had odd problems with the board since the "upgrade" - it has been loading much slower for me than the older version and when I was writing a post, it would gradually slow down more and more until the window hung up and had to be closed :(. This seems to have cleared up a bit on PCs during the last couple of weeks, but my iPad is still too slow and too busted to post comfortably, which significantly cut down on my presence here.

I have also noticed that my efforts to read  and listen to short fiction have cut down on my novel reading. Turns out that I need time to digest every piece.

Oh, and in addition to the above, I have hit a significant snag with K.J. Parker's "Savages". I have been expecting great things from it, having loved his recent novella "Last Witness" that is set in the same world, and it does begin well, but about half-way through I started to feel disappointment seeping in and at 3/4 or so I hit "8 deadly words" stage. Basically, every character (of half-a-dozen or so) we follow, is a genius dude who is revolutionizing his area of activity and is also extraordinarily lucky. And their characters tend to amalgamize after the very strong and distinct introductions, because their mind-sets are, for the most part, so modern.  Like, they live in a secondary world that is in the equivalent of 12th century or so, but none of them are religious, 13-year-old royal heirs have no clue about the basic tenets of their society, they are all extraordinarily open to trying new things at all times, etc. In fact, there is only one religious character, and he is seen as an oddity. Yet, of course, the societies are all patriarchal, which allows for near-elimination of female characters in any significant roles - because pandering to the idea of "realism" among certain parts of the SF readership (which is not even true to history, BTW), I guess.  It all feels so very fake and ultimately boring. Such a  let-down...

I did bounce back with  "Shining Girls"  by Lauren Beukes. I really love her output and her willingness to try different SF genres. Novel-wise she has been 3 for 3 for me so far. Only one more to go, alas...  Anyway, this one is a thriller with strong fantastical element, set in Chicago. I am by no means an expert, but the historical component seemed well-researched to me and it gave me a vivid impression of the city (whether true to reality or not). Loved it, devoured it feverishly and greatly enjoyed every minute of the process.

I am now reading "Willful Child" by Steven Erickson, which, as it turns out, is a Star Trek : TOS parody. Somewaht dubious at the moment, but it does look like it will be a quick read, at least.

 

[KiDisaster]

Putting Broken Angels aside for now. It still hasn't really grabbed me and I've found myself zoning out and having to rewind the audiobook so much because I have no idea what's going on. Sometime shortly after the first excruciatingly detailed ass-eating scene I lost the will to keep backing it up to find my place. 

Going to start Way of Kings today. This'll be my second attempt at Sanderson. I tried Mistborn a few years ago and couldn't get into it at all. 

[Peadar]

I'm starting A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab.

[Jo498]

Finished "Thief of Time". Now this is much closer in weird, nerdy, over the top humor to the discworld I remember from the 1990s than the serious "Nightwatch". Unfortunately, it ends fairly anticlimactic and the last quarter or so (when all hell should break loose) is rather weak. But before that it is quite hilarious (and the auditors and their fates a wonderful criticism of reductionism).

I started "The colour of magic". I don't exactly remember which of the discworld books I read (in German translation) in the early-mid 1990s, the only ones I am completely sure about are "Mort" and "Guards, guards!" but I must have read about two of the Rincewind books as well. Now, this one, the very first, is still rather different from the typical discworld feeling, but so far quite readable nevertheless.

 

[Richard Writhen]

Started The Blade Itself.  Only about a hundred pages in, very raw and entertaining. Also still working on The Lies of Locke Lamora, Demon Lord of Karanda and a Del Rey Conan Collection by REH.

[polishgenius]

On 20/04/2016 at 4:18 PM, Maia said:

I did bounce back with  "Shining Girls"  by Lauren Beukes. I really love her output and her willingness to try different SF genres. Novel-wise she has been 3 for 3 for me so far. Only one more to go, alas...  Anyway, this one is a thriller with strong fantastical element, set in Chicago. I am by no means an expert, but the historical component seemed well-researched to me and it gave me a vivid impression of the city (whether true to reality or not). Loved it, devoured it feverishly and greatly enjoyed every minute of the process.

If the one left is Broken Monsters, you're in for a treat (well, you're in for a treat anyway but this might be her best so far).

 

 

On 20/04/2016 at 4:18 PM, Maia said:

I am now reading "Willful Child" by Steven Erickson, which, as it turns out, is a Star Trek : TOS parody. Somewaht dubious at the moment, but it does look like it will be a quick read, at least.

This, on the other hand, I didn't get on with at all. And I'm a huge Erikson fan normally. It has a fatal flaw, for a parody: it isn't funny.

[Iskaral Pust]

On April 20, 2016 at 1:03 AM, RedEyedGhost said:

The whole miscellaneous sub section (maybe the whole board, but this is really the only part I visit) has been quite slow lately.

The politics threads may be consuming a lot of posting time. 

I've been on the Book Of The New Sun reread project so posting less in these reading threads.  I'm finished vol 3 and have made a good start into vol 4, but I'm definitely reading less as I have to make myself stick at this.  The pages do not fly by. 

[Peadar]

I've decided to read Lloyd Alexander's The Book of Three after receiving it as a peasant present.

[mashiara]

Ugh, this month has probably been my worst month for reading in years. I don't know if it's the books I picked, or my mental state, or whatever... anyway, I had a hard time concentrating on reading.

One of my last two reads were The Naming of the Beasts by Mike Carey, the 5th book in the Felix Castor series. It was a good book, with some very good moments. I expected the series to go out with more of a bang than a fizzle -but then, I saw recently that he's writing another one, so the series isn't over yet.

My second read was The Skull Throne by Peter Brett, which I finally managed to finish tonight, after slogging through it for what felt for forever. I was really disappointed -not that the previous installment was stellar in any way, but this one just kept making me roll my eyes. I just didn't give a damn about any of the people or what was going on. No wonder it took me ages to make it to the end.

I'll start Justice by Jennifer Harlow next. I remember Lady Narcissa praising it, I need something that I can enjoy.

[williamjm]

I finished The Best of Ian McDonald. I thought it was a really good collection and the writing was of a consistently high quality all the way from the late 80s up to the present day. My favourites were probably the high-concept space opera of The Tear and the two stories set after alien artefacts land in Kenya and start reshaping the landscape, Towards Kilimanjaro and Tendeleo's Story. I know he's written some novels set in the same setting as the last two, I might have to read them sometime.

Next up is Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Tiger and The Wolf (which I think has a really great cover).

[Jo498]

Finished "The colour of Magic". I don't think I ever read it before but I am not sure (I must have read about 4-5 of the early discworld books in German more than 20 years ago and the only ones I distinctly remember with titles are "Mort" and "Guards, Guards!" but there must have been at least one with Rincewind and the Luggage, probably "Sourcery"). It is somewhat different in style from the later discworld books and relying (too) heavily on making fun of fantasy clichees, a much closer parallel to the Hitchhiker's Guide than the later books. (And Death is quite different as well; he seems almost hunting for Rincewind only to be disappointed several times.) Still, it's not at all bad. Now am about 2/3 through "Small Gods" and this is surely one of the justly famous discworld essentials!

[HexMachina]

On 20 April 2016 at 6:57 AM, RedEyedGhost said:

I'm glad you're finally getting around to it.  Although, be prepared to need to pick up book three immediately upon finishing this one.  Great series.

Finished it tonight. You weren't wrong. Such a brilliant book. One of those 'just one more chapter!' novels that have you reading until 3am. Tregillis is definitely a very talented author, what with this and the Alchemy Wars. I really want to read Necessary Evil now...I might still cave and buy it in the morning

[RedEyedGhost]

2 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Finished it tonight. You weren't wrong. Such a brilliant book. One of those 'just one more chapter!' novels that have you reading until 3am. Tregillis is definitely a very talented author, what with this and the Alchemy Wars. I really want to read Necessary Evil now...I might still cave and buy it in the morning

Do it

[SkynJay]

Finished The City and The City finally.  Took me over a week to read the first hundred pages.  Read the next 200 tonight.  Somehow weirder feeling than the Bas Lag stuff despite appearing to be more grounded in reality with only a small (but very important) amount of the fantastical.

Now I am going back to The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet which I pushed aside only due to a library trip.  I am also working through Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson because it is listed as THE Civil War book if one wants a single volume recap.

[HexMachina]

5 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

Do it

The funds protested, but the willpower willenskraft was weak  

[Starkess]

I finished Ancillary Mercy this morning. It was quite good. Makes me want to do a fan edit and combine the relevant portions of Ancillary Sword into this one and make the series a duology. But since I won't do that, I will just say that if you start the series you may as well finish it, as it does end up working as a whole.

I also recently completed a writing book called The First Five Pages which was a bit disappointing in that it did not, as I hoped, focus exclusively on making the first five pages compelling to an agent. It was written by an agent with that stated goal, but most of the book was just generic writing advice illustrated by terrible examples made up by the author. Not very helpful.

Next up for me is going to be Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge, alongside the Dangerous Women anthology.

[williamjm]

Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Tiger and the Wolf has got off to a good start. The book's premise is based around various tribes of humans who each have the ability to shapeshift into the form of an animal. As the title might suggest, some of the characters can shapeshift into the form of tigers or wolves which are abilities I've seen in other books in the past but as the book has gone on there have been some more exotic choices. It certainly makes the action scenes fairly fresh to have a battle between a pride of lions facing some stallions, a hyena, a Komodo Dragon and what appears to be a Jurassic Park-style Velociraptor.