May 2016 reads

[mashiara]

I finally finished reading The October Horse by Colleen McCullough. It took me nearly 2 weeks not because it's a bad book, but because it's a difficult one, that can be a bit tedious when you mix up your Roman generals and their battles. It's a book that you can't describe without using the word "epic", and the same goes for all previous volumes of the series. I can't even imagine the amount of research that went into those books. They do bring roman history to life for me, and I love them. I just need to space them out over the year because they are so long and so overpowering. One more book left in the series, it will be a while before I read it. I need a break from Romans.

I started Hugh Howey's The Hurricane on my way to work yesterday and I'll keep that as my commute read, when I get time to read.The little I've read of it is meh, but it's a short one and it was a kindle freebie, so I'll keep going. I'll be starting In the Woods by Tana French this evening, all things permitting.

 

 

[Seasick Shrimp]

14 hours ago, Jo498 said:

I admittedly also got stuck in the middle of Anna Karenina (mainly because of the sentimental Kitty/Levin sideplot) but I have read Crime & Punishment at least twice and did not find it boring or particularly slow at all.

"The gambler" is considerably shorter and might be the most accessible by Dostoevsky. There are several novellas/short stories by Tolstoy (e.g. Master and Servant, The Death of Ivan Ilich and a few more).

Yes, I'm right now at; 

Spoiler

Levin's and Kitty's wedding

and it's not exactly super-exciting stuff hehe. The issue isn't that I have a problem with long books, the feeling of finding a really good door-stopper is just awesome, but it is something about the way that both Dostojevskiy and Tolstoy write, that doesn't really make me connect with their characters. I don't know if it's their tendency to be a bit melodramatic at times, or if it is because they choose to often describe everything in an insane amount of detail... Or that they (especially Tolstoy), gets very repetitive at times, like, if you have described exactly how a character's state of mind and inner feelings are five sentences earlier, you don't have to use similar adjectives to describe it one more time, and then again a few lines ahead... I get that they are excited/angry/sad/whatever, you just told me that!!!

Enough ranting. I am fascinated by Russian culture and it would be fun to find something out of the Russian canon that I get really fond of... Gogol maybe, or is his style similar to Dostojevskiy and Tolstoy? 

[Astromech]

I recommend Bulgakov's Master and Magarita. I have several Russian novels on my TBR namely Grossman's Life and Fate, Bely's Petersburg and Sholokov's And Quiet Flows the Don. It sounds like you are simply held up on the long-winded Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. However, I loved Crime and Punishment. Wasn't the greatest ending I've ever read, but worked spiritually for Raskolnikov.

I'm currently towards the end of Simon Schama's Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution and have been splitting time with David Hackett Fischer's Champlain's Dream. I'm to the point of holding off on the latter until I finish Citizens. I feel like I've been reading Citizens for too long now and just want to finish so I can read one book at a time. Both books are very interesting. I enjoy having the anecdotal history of the French Revolution, but probably should have read a more traditional take on it to refresh my recollection of people and events. Champlain's Dream is excellent so far.

[Lyanna Stark]

Finished my serious reading (i.e. the stuff I read outside commuting, where I generally stick to pulp) and felt most of Joseph Conrad's highly rated classic "Heart of Darkness" went straight over my head. Worth the read, if not solely for the reason I figured out that "Apocalypse Now" is based on "Heart of Darkness" without actually looking it up. I felt somewhat smug about that for about 20 seconds, before I realised I still probably hadn't grasped even half of the themes.

I can say this tho, it has a lot of fog in it. Literal fog lying about in the landscape and on the river, mental fog the characters move through and then the fog clouding the somewhat obtuse text. Fog and metaphorical darkness, if you like those things, this novel has it in abundance. If you don't then well, it's probably going to be somewhat heavy (and foggy) going.

Is it just me, but is every novel about the Congo either gloomy, depressing, frightening, sad, or all of the above? It seems like the world's most depressing place.

On a more positive note, I went ahead and ordered a huge (Uuuuuge) batch of used paperbacks, mostly Tanith Lee (yay) and some Paula Volsky from the 90s, for me to read during my upcoming summer holiday and I AM EXCITE!!! "Red as Blood" and "White as Snow" are coming my way.

[Jo498]

Master and Margarita is great although far more fantastic/surreal than I had expected. It's certainly faster paced and more immediately entertaining than e.g. Dostoevsky.

I read Gogol's Dead Souls and probably Diary of a Madman and The Overcoat as well but this was almost 25 years ago and I do not remember much. None of the other Russians impressed me as much as Dostoevsky (although Tolstoy is also impressive and I read War and Peace and Resurrection and certainly want to re-read and finish Anna Karenina some day). 

[Richard Writhen]

Gonna give A Head Full of Ghosts a shot as I read Last Argument of Kings. Mad buzz.

[The Marquis de Leech]

5 hours ago, Jo498 said:

Master and Margarita is great although far more fantastic/surreal than I had expected. It's certainly faster paced and more immediately entertaining than e.g. Dostoevsky. 

Behemoth the Cat remain one of my favourite literary characters.

[Starkess]

Yeah, I found Anna Karenina to be a slog. There was a good story in there somewhere underneath treatises about Russian farming and an onslaught of names. I did finish though. War and Peace--nuh uh. It's almost blasphemy for me, but if I want to read other Russian classics I might seek out an abridged version...

[Biter]

11 hours ago, Lyanna Stark said:

Is it just me, but is every novel about the Congo either gloomy, depressing, frightening, sad, or all of the above? It seems like the world's most depressing place.

Last year, I read Midnight in Congo, which was really depressing and sad. It's about the Congo Crisis, the U.N. and Hammarskjölds death.

[Joe Pesci]

Currently in the midst of the second book, Golden Son, of Pierce Brown's Red Rising Trilogy. Very good reads so far.

[Peadar]

Finally starting Devil's Blood by Prentice and Weil.

[Iskaral Pust]

I think I'm an outlier but I really enjoyed War & Peace, just about stuck through Crime & Punishment but resented the overwrought meandering of Raskolnikov's guilt, and then abandoned Anna Karena early when it looked like another unsatisfying morass.

[GallowKnight]

I just finished reading The Pagan Lord by Bernard Cornwell. I think this marks my the end of my journey with Uhtred, because I don't think I have any interest in continuing the series any longer.

[TheRevanchist]

Finished the Lies of Locke Lamora and it really was great.

Also, I visited Lynch's site, and there he mentioned that the name of Locke comes from Locke of Final Fantasy VI. I was expecting that, considering that both are awesome and funny thieves.

[Darth Richard II]

1 hour ago, TheRevanchist said:

Finished the Lies of Locke Lamora and it really was great.

Also, I visited Lynch's site, and there he mentioned that the name of Locke comes from Locke of Final Fantasy VI. I was expecting that, considering that both are awesome and funny thieves.

Ha, I did not know that, but that's AWESOME.

[Starkess]

I finally finished Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power (by Jon Meacham)! Huzzah, it only took 11 months. I didn't think the book had enough focus, not sure if it wanted to be an overview of TJ's entire life or a focused exploration of his politics or what. It wasn't terrible, but it was hard to really get into and I struggled to read more than one chapter at a time. Compared to say, McCullough's John Adams, it was a letdown. But it's still a person and time period that I find interesting, so it wasn't terrible or anything.

I also finished up Story Engineering by Larry Brooks, the writing book that I was reading. While it was a bit padded out with repetitive bits, I found it to be a helpful and enjoyable read. I am going to read his Story Physics as well.

Now that I've whittled down my "currently reading" list just slightly, think my next fiction read is going to be The High King's Tomb, the next Green Rider book, since I just got notification my hold is in at the library.

[Procrastimancer]

I finished The Traitor Baru Cormorant a while back and I very much enjoyed it. I can't say that I had any issues with it.

Unfortunately, I haven't read anything since and don't know what I'll be picking up next. 

[TheRevanchist]

9 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

Ha, I did not know that, but that's AWESOME.

They are the only two known Locke in the universe, and they are both thieves. It would have been a big coincidence if it was unrelated.

Anyway, I really really loved this book. After the biggest draining experience that I got with Dune books, this was a nice change.

[The Marquis de Leech]

2 minutes ago, TheRevanchist said:

Anyway, I really really loved this book. After the biggest draining experience that I got with Dune books, this was a nice change.

The Lies of Locke Lamora is indeed awesome. Sadly, Red Seas Under Red Skies (nonsensical and cheesy) and Republic of Thieves (lacks all tension and structurally screwed) don't live up to the first book.

[TheRevanchist]

19 minutes ago, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

The Lies of Locke Lamora is indeed awesome. Sadly, Red Seas Under Red Skies (nonsensical and cheesy) and Republic of Thieves (lacks all tension and structurally screwed) don't live up to the first book.

I've heard that the third book isn't that good, though I thought that people rate the second book. Will find it myself soon enough.

Hoping that now that Lynch is a bit better, we will get good books in the remaining ones.