February Reading 2017

[unJon]

Crazy coincidence I just started Too Like the Lighting. So far it's a good premise with promise. 

Just finished Hillbilly Elegy and it was excellent. Every American should read this book for some good context about our current political environment. 

[Starkess]

Finally got my library copies so I can re-read HP in prep for a trivia event next week. Read Sorcerer's Stone and was just blown away by how masterfully Rowling sucks the reader in to this world and creates atmosphere with phrases and details. Also read Chamber of Secrets, which is probably my least favorite of the series but still enjoyable. I actually laughed out loud several times while reading it, despite the fact that I have read it about a zillion times.

[Queen of Procrastination]

On 9.2.2017 at 2:37 AM, Paxter said:

I also finished Elantris recently and found it to be a bit of a slog. This was my first Sanderson novel and I was left underwhelmed, particularly in relation to the world-building and characters. The plot was the saving grace - I actually found myself enjoying some of the political machinations and court intrigue. But overall this was nothing more than mediocre fantasy.

I'm now reading Mantel's Wolf Hall and am enjoying it so far, despite finding some of the prose a little confusing initially.

 

 

I'm also going to start Wolf Hall next. The other people on my reading group already complained about the prose, so I'm interested in seeing weth or not I'll like it.

Just finished Dawn Study by Maria V. Snyder. It was a bit of a let-down, beause the prequels were much better and I had the feeling that the author tried to wrap things up to quickly. Plus the characters were getting captured over and over again, at some point it just became annoying. 

[Peadar]

Wildcards Volume 1 -- I read this a decade ago and am having fun all over again...

After that, I'll be moving onto Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Bear and the Serpent. I always enjoy his books. I'm surprised more people haven't read the first in this series. It should be right up the alley of most of us on this board.

[Jo498]

I am about 2/3 through Le Guin's "The left hand of darkness". Certainly an interesting book but somewhat slow-paced.

[matt b]

Finished Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow about a week ago. What a mindfuck. By far the most difficult book I've ever read and I'd be lying if I said I understood the half of it. Still, there's something there and I think I might return to it in a year or 2 and see if I can make more sense of it. The man can write a sentence though, the prose is gorgeous throughout. 

Followed that up by ripping through Neil Gaiman's new one, Norse Mythology. It's exactly what it sounds like: Neil's take on Norse mythology. The prose is very simple and straightforward. Other than a rather graphic description of Loki's binding it's probably appropriate for children. Thor and Loki make for an awesome comedy duo.

Next up is a reread of Wolfe's Latro in the Mist. I could be wrong but I think I've only read this one once, which is a damn shame.

[Iskaral Pust]

I took a break from fantasy with a quick read of Die Trying, the second Jack Reacher novel.  I have a friend pushing the crime/thriller genre.  This was a good read and varied the plot and narrative structure from the first, while sticking to the core of the character: a modern day knight errant, like Clint Eastwood's High Plains Rider, with ultra competence and self reliance deployed mercilessly in his rigid moral code but with no truck for due process.  Whereas the first book would have appealed to Trumpians, this second dismisses their paranoid conspiracy theories.

Now reading The Long Ships by Bengtsson. 

[maarsen]

4 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I took a break from fantasy with a quick read of Die Trying, the second Jack Reacher novel.  I have a friend pushing the crime/thriller genre.  This was a good read and varied the plot and narrative structure from the first, while sticking to the core of the character: a modern day knight errant, like Clint Eastwood's High Plains Rider, with ultra competence and self reliance deployed mercilessly in his rigid moral code but with no truck for due process.  Whereas the first book would have appealed to Trumpians, this second dismisses their paranoid conspiracy theories.

Now reading The Long Ships by Bengtsson. 

If your are trying crime/thriller novels, jump to the best and go to  James Ellroy, specifically his Hollywood Quartet novels.

Personally I am on an ancient history jag now just finishing a book called Egyptomania by Ronald Fritze, and a novel called The End of Sparta  by Victor Davis Hanson.

[stonebender]

Reading The Sundered Worlds by Moorcock.  Didn't realize he ever did something so obviously "sci-fi" as far as window dressing.

[williamjm]

I finished Ian Esslemont's Dancer's Lament. I think I probably enjoyed it more than any Malazan book I've read in the past few years. I'm often a bit wary of prequels but I think this one worked well because it focused on a portion of Malazan history that was very important but little discussed in the main series, we hear a lot of the Malazan Empire at its height and its decline but there's a lot of mystery about how it came into being in the first place. I also don't remember there really being much detail before about what Dancer and Kellanved had done before that so it's interesting to see a lot from Dancer's perspective, although I think it's a wise choice to keep his partner in crime's motives more enigmatic. The central plot about the siege of Li Heng was also interesting and more focused than some of Esslemont's books have been in the past.

11 hours ago, Peadar said:

After that, I'll be moving onto Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Bear and the Serpent. I always enjoy his books. I'm surprised more people haven't read the first in this series. It should be right up the alley of most of us on this board.

I'm just about to start reading that as well, looking forward to it.

Followed that up by ripping through Neil Gaiman's new one,

Norse Mythology. It's exactly what it sounds like: Neil's take on Norse mythology. The prose is very simple and straightforward. Other than a rather graphic description of Loki's binding it's probably appropriate for children. Thor and Loki make for an awesome comedy duo.

I did look at that in the bookshop yesterday but I think I might leave it a while before getting it. I read a random passage which felt almost identical to the equivalent tale (Thor and Loki facing Utgart-Loki) in Joanne Harris' The Gospel of Loki which I read a couple of months ago, I think reading more Norse mythology now might feel a bit repetitive.

[polishgenius]

10 hours ago, williamjm said:

I did look at that in the bookshop yesterday but I think I might leave it a while before getting it. I read a random passage which felt almost identical to the equivalent tale (Thor and Loki facing Utgart-Loki) in Joanne Harris' The Gospel of Loki which I read a couple of months ago, I think reading more Norse mythology now might feel a bit repetitive.

 

I have the exact same concern. But I hope Gaiman does a bit more with it because The Gospel of Loki was a disappointment on the promise of giving Loki's alternate view to the myths- apart from some snark by Loki and a bit of embellishment at the very start and end, most of the key stories were identical to what I'd read about them growing up, didn't paint a new picture at all.

[Ealdorman Halasahr]

I'm currently reading the Swedish author Erik Granström's "Slaktare små" (literally Butcher Small), the second volume in his four part-series Krönikan om den femte konfluxen (The Chronicle on the Fifth Conflux). (A "conflux" in this series represents an epic event in history, for instance a global catastrophy.)

[aceluby]

Finished up Dragon Keeper on Friday.  Taking a small break from that story as I read The Circle, on recommendation from my fiance.  Then I'll get back to Hobb and finish up the Rain Wilds before continuing my Cosmere journey w/ Warbreaker.

[williamjm]

9 hours ago, polishgenius said:

 

I have the exact same concern. But I hope Gaiman does a bit more with it because The Gospel of Loki was a disappointment on the promise of giving Loki's alternate view to the myths- apart from some snark by Loki and a bit of embellishment at the very start and end, most of the key stories were identical to what I'd read about them growing up, didn't paint a new picture at all.

I agree The Gospel of Loki was a bit underwhelming. Some of Loki's commentary was amusing, but overall I felt he wasn't witty enough to really carry the story.

[ljkeane]

I just finished my Liveships reread with Ship of Destiny. I was planning to go onto the The Rain Wilds Chronicles but I'm quite enjoying getting back into Robin Hobb so I might read the Tawny Man Trilogy as well and do a full reread before the new book comes out. Before that though I think I'll read Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Bear and the Serpent too, as Peader said the first book was very good so I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Teng Ai Hui]

Currently, I'm reading Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Badar Ginsburg.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Finally finished off Burial Rites, by Hannah Kent. Certainly an incredibly well-researched (and well-written) piece of historical fiction, though I personally found it slow-going: it's a novel-length tribute to a woman condemned to death, but that's really all it is, an exploration of character without any meaningful plot to hang it on.

Next up is The Call, by Peader O'Guilin.

[Astromech]

Scott Hawkins' The Library at Mount Char was excellent, extremely entertaining. I usually take my time with novels but  flew through this one.

[Darth Richard II]

28 minutes ago, Triskan said:

I finished Grossman's The Magicians.  I didn't love it, but I did like the second half more than the first, and I've since dabbled in the first few episodes of the show and been surprised by how much I like it which makes me consider giving the next book a try.

boooooooooooo

[Darth Richard II]

No! We can't be friends anymore AND ITS MY BALL IM AKING IT AND GOING HOME