RedEyedGhost Posted October 13, 2017 Author Share Posted October 13, 2017 2 hours ago, Lily Valley said: I am over here sharpening my sword. I have not been able to put this book down. I'm about 30% through and I've wept twice already. Author NAILS the feeling of being closeted and how the female gaze makes that really hard. Pissed at myself for resisting this book for so long, but frankly it might have broken me two years ago. Ha, I almost posted this the other day (and I know I've said it before when talking about this book), but I flew through the first 29% of the book in two days, and the last 71% took me two weeks. I hate giving up on books, so I forced myself to finish but it really wrecked my October reading that year. Good luck, I do really hope you enjoy it more than I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isis Posted October 14, 2017 Share Posted October 14, 2017 Lincoln in the Bardo was very good, but still not my favourite of the Booker short list. I have started Autumn by Ali Smith. In between I read The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it and how little it turned out to be what I was expecting. For one thing it was far less sentimental than I imagined a book about the death of a child would be. I appreciated its frank, honest descriptions of how grief affected those left behind. Now I feel that I get what the fuss was about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garett Hornwood Posted October 14, 2017 Share Posted October 14, 2017 Okay, there's what I've been reading the first two weeks of the month. I started the month by continuing to read Going Postal, I enjoyed it but you could tell it wasn't up to Pratchett's prime. I read Renegade: Martin Luther, the Graphic Biography which was alright, but the artwork was so-so at best and took away from the biographical part of the book. Next I finished William Shakespeare's The Force Doth Awaken by Ian Doescher, this was a fantastic adaptation of the film into the prose and theater of the Elizabeth era just like Doescher's previous six books. Finally Thursday I finished The Stairway to Heaven by Zecharia Sitchin, this is the second book of his series on this ancient aliens theory and while interesting he was a bit repetitive in his information and not as well written as the first book. I started reading The Division of Christendom by Hans J. Hillerbrand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isildur's Mane Posted October 15, 2017 Share Posted October 15, 2017 So I finished reading The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett and I loved it. Can't wait to get the next one but I've just bought 2 illustrated Harry Potter books (Chamber and Prisoner) and so I'll have to wait again before I can buy some more... But I have like a billion unread books so I better read them first. I am about 4 chapters into Myth and Sexuality by Jamake Highwater and I'm loving that too. Very interesting read. Still trying to read The Eye of the World but still not liking it. About to start reading Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson as my Halloween read. It has been on my to-read bookshelf for far too long now and I have been wanting to read it for ages, but I got it when I was studying and it got forgotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted October 15, 2017 Share Posted October 15, 2017 I recently finished Babylon's Ashes which was ok but I had a few issues with how it went after the events of the previous book. Now I'm reading Peter Clines' Paradox Bound. Generally I really like his books for some lighter fare but this one's pretty odd so far. I'll have to see how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRider Posted October 15, 2017 Share Posted October 15, 2017 I'm immersed in Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Really liking it. Have watched the film twice now, love it, and an enjoying the differences and the expanded stories in book. Mitchell wrote each storyline in a different style and as far as I'm concerned, he pulled it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 I just finished the non-fiction American Colonies history by Alan Taylor. It's a worthy read but not exactly gripping. It took me 3-4 weeks to read it because my late-night reading saw me drop off to sleep very quickly each time. I really enjoyed the context of the geopolitics in Europe driving the race for colonies, and how the different governance and economic models influenced varied outcomes, and there was an expansive POV for the natives (colonists themselves, from much earlier), but too many chapters drifted into a repetitive recital of facts and incidents that delivered completeness of record at the expense of brevity and flow. I just started yesterday Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell. Really good so far, and noticeably compelling my attention and time much more than the last book. The setting, style and character feel similar to Cormac McCarthy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 I finished The Shipping News. I didn't plan on falling in love with the awkward Quoyle, his gruff aunt and bratty kids, but that's what happened. There wasn't much to speak of in terms of plot - it's the characters, humour and descriptions of the Newfoundland coast that make this one a winner. I made it two Pulitzer Prizes in a row by following up with The Old Man and the Sea. I didn't think I'd like Hemmingway's prose based on what I'd heard about it, but in the end I really enjoyed this. One of those books that can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be, depending on your willingness to analyse. And I quickly read the graphic novel adaptation of Martin's The Mystery Knight. I really enjoyed this, perhaps more than the actual source material. I'm now about halfway through The Underground Railroad. On 8/10/2017 at 1:18 AM, Isis said: Finally, realising that I'd sort of accidentally read two of the Booker prize short listed novels I figured I'd have a crack at reading them all before the winner is announced. So the last book I completed was Elmet by Fiona Mozley. HOLY CRAP WHAT A BEAUTIFUL BOOK. Incredible juxtaposition between tenderness and violence, harshness and sentiment. So good, so precious, I wanted to cradle it in my hands like a fledgling bird. How could I resist after that review? Added to my 'to-read' list! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily Valley Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 On 10/13/2017 at 6:49 PM, RedEyedGhost said: Ha, I almost posted this the other day (and I know I've said it before when talking about this book), but I flew through the first 29% of the book in two days, and the last 71% took me two weeks. I hate giving up on books, so I forced myself to finish but it really wrecked my October reading that year. Good luck, I do really hope you enjoy it more than I did. I loved it, and it broke my heart. I'll confess to trying to skim some of the battle scenes, I lack sufficient imagination to really picture them. Glad I went back and read them. There was additional information buried there. On 10/13/2017 at 8:36 AM, SkynJay said: Your right, it wasn't 1st person. I remember having access to Baru's thinking and forgot it was through a third person view. But i maintain my stance; the auther gave me access to Baru's thought processes on many events and (I feel) they didnt jibe with the eventual outcome. Had the narration been completely over the shoulder i would have probably loved the book. It really was all there. She states repeatedly that she has plotted all her moves to the capital. On 10/13/2017 at 4:44 PM, Darth Richard II said: That's...unexpected. A lot of female authors in the LBGT community tore that book to pieces. I'll go fight them too. It outlined my experience very well. Every time there was a woman in the room that she found attractive, everyone else vanished into the wallpaper. She fixated on their flaws to control her gaze. The things she noticed were build or skin or the way they moved. I found that way of describing the beauty of women to be very much in line with the way I admire them. Back to weredeer and then I have Sarah Gailey's River of Teeth. It's set in Louisiana. I have high hopes for it. The sequal to Cormorant is at the editor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 3 hours ago, Lily Valley said: It really was all there. She states repeatedly that she has plotted all her moves to the capital. Yeah, the twist is well set up. The narration does have to skate around certain thoughts in certain places to achieve it, but it manages that well, and felt like her skating around what she needed to do. Things felt of kilter (and I'm pretty sure I cottoned on some time before it happened, although at this distance-since I read it on release- I can't remember for certain). That book had its issues, but they were more to do with an over-abundance of tell-not-showing, some pacing issues, and the empire feeling more cartoonishly, completely, villainous than the complexity of the rest of the narrative could really carry which led to occasionally getting the feel of being preached at (but sometimes a bit of preaching is necessary so hey). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 Liz Bourke and Fox Meadows had blog posts about it when it came out, but I think if we really want to go down that route maybe we should start a seperate thread before we derail too much. And on that note I got the new Elizabeth Bear here so I'll see you all in a couple days/. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 It took me a while to get into it but "Deathless" proved a great dark fantasy with a lot of russian elements in the end. Using World War 2's Leningrad is always welcome when trying to convey desperate too. Currently reading Hurley's "mirror empire". It's quite dense with characters and ideas at the moment but I'm finding it interesting. I can't help but think it's similar to Bakker's fantasy in terms of scope and callousness which is sort of odd given their gender politics are so polarised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 I finished Paradox Bound. It was a quick read and it wasn't bad but it's probably my least favourite of Peter Clines' books. Elements of it were good but it was a bit too American Exceptionalism-y for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 On 10/15/2017 at 11:13 PM, Iskaral Pust said: I just started yesterday Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell. Really good so far, and noticeably compelling my attention and time much more than the last book. The setting, style and character feel similar to Cormac McCarthy. I finished Winter's Bone last night. It's pretty short at only ~200 pages (excluding the book club question fluff and sample chapters) but even so very noticeable that I finished it in three days after my last book dragged for three weeks. Very well written. The style echoes Cormac McCarthy, especially No Country For Old Men. Recommended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily Valley Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 On 10/16/2017 at 9:19 AM, polishgenius said: Yeah, the twist is well set up. The narration does have to skate around certain thoughts in certain places to achieve it, but it manages that well, and felt like her skating around what she needed to do. Things felt of kilter (and I'm pretty sure I cottoned on some time before it happened, although at this distance-since I read it on release- I can't remember for certain). That book had its issues, but they were more to do with an over-abundance of tell-not-showing, some pacing issues, and the empire feeling more cartoonishly, completely, villainous than the complexity of the rest of the narrative could really carry which led to occasionally getting the feel of being preached at (but sometimes a bit of preaching is necessary so hey). I had my son in school in post-katrina New Orleans. We have done all of these things (not necessarily at the same time) to other people. 19 hours ago, Darth Richard II said: Liz Bourke and Fox Meadows had blog posts about it when it came out, but I think if we really want to go down that route maybe we should start a seperate thread before we derail too much. And on that note I got the new Elizabeth Bear here so I'll see you all in a couple days/. Read those. I stand with Kameron Hurley. I also do not want to derail this, back to my cats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astromech Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 Paul Tremblay's A Head Full of Ghosts was just ok for me. The ending really saved it and forced me to rethink my initial opinions of some of the characters. I was expecting something scarier. Now onto Christopher Buehlman's The Necromancer's House. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 I finished Ada Palmer's Seven Surrenders. I thought it was better paced than the first book, the way some of the seemingly unconnected plot threads are brought together is cleverly done and it manages to remain coherent despite the ever-increasing number of plot points. It's a very readable story, and does have quite a few interesting ideas, although sometimes the world building and character actions don't seem entirely believable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily Valley Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 I somehow missed Penric's Fox out of the Penric and Desdemona books. I really love these for a lazy afternoon read. Looks like I'll have plenty of time for that this weekend. We're taking a forced vacation while our house is getting treated for termites. Nearly done with the Weredeer book. It's pure Urban Fantasy silliness with way WAY too many puns. I think I miss three or four for every one that I catch. Enjoying the main character quite a bit. I'm also liking that it's less purple than a lot of other urban fantasy novels. I'll be getting the second one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Writhen Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 On 10/14/2017 at 0:48 PM, Isis said: In between I read The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it and how little it turned out to be what I was expecting. For one thing it was far less sentimental than I imagined a book about the death of a child would be. I appreciated its frank, honest descriptions of how grief affected those left behind. Now I feel that I get what the fuss was about. I read this a few years ago just on the strength of the title, thought it was very well done. Enough so that I also read The Almost Moon, which was entertaining as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted October 19, 2017 Share Posted October 19, 2017 On 18/10/2017 at 7:56 PM, Lily Valley said: I somehow missed Penric's Fox out of the Penric and Desdemona books. I really love these for a lazy afternoon read. Looks like I'll have plenty of time for that this weekend. We're taking a forced vacation while our house is getting treated for termites. Bujold's just announced that the next story The Prisoner of Limnos should be out in November, following on from Mira's Last Dance. For someone who claims to be semi-retired, she's certainly been prolific in publishing these stories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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