April Reading Thread

[RaceBannon42]

WoW is really cutting into my reading time.

But I did manage to finish up The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

Depite the fact that I felt like I'd read it all before it was very entertaining and I just ordered Before They are Hanged.

Full review on my Blog

Started on Old Man's War by John Scalzi.

[kcf]

I just finished Keeping It Real by Justina Robson (full review). My reaction is a bit mixed, but overall I still enjoyed it.

[nobodymN]

You know I'm in this bind and won't be reading anything until after the weekend (I'm going to lock myself up in a room in front of the computer with Guinness, and JLA Unlimited on as background ambiance as I finish up a few reviews - one being the subject of another thread here already Acacia by David Anthony Durham.

After the weekend I'm hoping to continue reading Lycnh's Red Seas Under Red Skies - I did so love TLLOL and perhaps Logorrhea the anthology edited by John Klima that has fiction by Hal Duncan, Jeff VanderMeer, Liz Williams, Elizabeth Hand, Michael Moorcock, Daniel Abraham - among many others.

I can't pry Thirteen (Richard Morgan) away from my cousin, so I'm probably going to make her write a review of it - she is much more gifted than I ever could be, and infinitely more perceptive. Damn it must be good Friday for me being that nice!

What have I read recently...I find Abercrombie (which I understand I'm late on but pardon my sabbatical) rather intriguing and refreshing as he is absolutely not apologetic (not that their should be - but I can't explain it; there just isn't what I can't explain) about this debut series at all - there is a bravado on the page that I find rather compelling. I definitely plan to revisit some of the themes Abercrombie lays in (not in the way of the story) with a review - I'm very thankful there are such themes!

My daily travel book at the moment is Tobias Buckell's Ragamuffin as I'm finishing up Jay Lake's Mainspring. This is the third book I have read by Lake, there is a very readable quality to his work, I'm not sure if it's as effective here as it is in a real Golden Age Science Fiction homage like his Rocket Science, butdefinitely enjoyable.

[Vagrancy]

-Firethorn by Sarah Micklem; I'm about halfway through it, and I'm liking it a lot, even though the scope of it is rather small in that it fixates on Firethorn and her relationship with Sire Galan for the most part, but it's gritty and brutal with very realistic portrayals of how life would be in a medieval war camp, and it's very prettily told.

-The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie; I'm only a few chapters into it, but I like it; it's a bit quirky and the characters are really vivid already, I find. I'm really looking forward to reading more of this.

-Across the Wall by Garth Nix; I'm only a few pages shy of finishing this one, and it's wonderful. It's a collection of short stories written by Nix throughout his career, with a couple set in the Old Kingdom. I've always liked his writing style and it's very well showcased here.

-The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams; I'm only a few pages into this one, so I can't really tell how I feel about this one yet, but I think it's interesting enough at the moment that I'll keep reading.

I finally got myself into the Berserk manga too and I'm up to volume five at the moment; it's definitely very graphic, much more graphic than most of the anime certainly, but already the story is proving itself to be deeper than in the anime too, which I think is impressive.

[Multaniette]

I finished Look to Windward by Iain M. Banks, it's easily the worst of the Culture books.

6.5/10

[Bellis]

I, too, just finished Look to Windward. This was Iain Banks' second chance for me - I was un-wowed when i read Consider Phlebus. LtW was alright, but I wasn't planning on giving Banks a third chance until I saw Mult's review. Mult, what would you suggest?

I also read Eifelheim by Michael Flynn. Very ambitious, but I really liked this one on the whole. Yes, the "now"sections were a little flimsy, particularly the character development, and it gets bogged down in the middle. But the discussions on philosophy and science and religion in the 14th century were fascinating and the entire concept gets extra points for originality. this is one I'd want to return to on a re-read. I'm going to say I preferred it to the other two Hugo nominees I've read, Glasshouse and Blindsight, and while I won't be voting, I'll be rooting for Eifelheim.

I'm now reading Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment.

[Plessiez]

I'm not sure I'd agree that Look to Windward is easily the worst Culture book - I think it is, but Excession is also a contender for that prize. The Player of Games and Use of Weapons are the strongest books in the series, I feel.

Currently rereading The Darkness That Comes Before (and liking it a lot more than I remember doing the first time I read it).

[Multaniette]

Bellis,

At this stage I'd recommend Use of Weapons. It is probably the most hard hitting and technically brilliant [with the exception of Excession] of all Culture novels, though its fairly convulted, non-linear narrative can put some people off. If you don't care about it as well, then I guess it's safe to the Culture books aren't for you.

Crime and Punishment was the bane of my existance for several years, and turned me off Dostoevsky, a mistake I thankfully rectified later.

Plessiez,

While Excession is pretty weak on plot progression and characterization, I find the interaction between the Minds to more than make up for that.

[Caine]

Dropped Dave Duncan's The Guilded Chain. Pity, I was mildly entertained by a couple of his other books on the King's Blades, and I was three-quarters through The Guilded Chain, but still horribly bored to death.

Finished the second installment in Elizabeth Vaughan's romantic barbarian/medieval trilogy, Warsworn. Vaughan took a decided morbid/dark turn with Warsworn, and the result wasn't nearly as enjoyable as the very entertaining and endearing opener in this trilogy (Warprize). A dark plague just didn't fit for me. Up next: Warlord, the finale in the trilogy.

Started Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon, and it's keeping me interested despite being entirely in the first-person (boo).

[senseichow]

Currently chomping through;

1. The Summoner - Gail Z. Martin

2. Necroscope: The Touch - Brian Lumley

3. The Hall of the Wood - Scott Marlowe

And still waiting for my copy of The Name of the Wind

(Oh and for my money, Excession was easily the best Culture book, with Player of Games coming in a close second. Use of Weapons was merely ok.)

[zollo]

Currently rereading 'Bury my heart at Wounded Knee' by Dee Brown.

[Ser Barry]

The Trial by Franz Kafka

Hard for me to think of a book I have read which was so open to immediate interpretation and yet has me wanting to read up on other people's analysis of it. I will be mulling this book over for weeks/months. A book to be lingered over and savoured.

[Isis]

Have you read The Castle? Because I read that before I read the The Trial and that one has stayed with me more over the years. Maybe because I was working nights at the time and did most of my reading on breaks, so it was always dark outside. I think that added to the atmosphere. Both books are definitely worth rereading, unlike some of the stuff I've read lately. More of that later, perhaps.

[Ser Barry]

Have you read The Castle? Because I read that before I read the The Trial and that one has stayed with me more over the years. Maybe because I was working nights at the time and did most of my reading on breaks, so it was always dark outside. I think that added to the atmosphere. Both books are definitely worth rereading, unlike some of the stuff I've read lately. More of that later, perhaps.

I have not read any other Kafka but I surely will be.

[Isis]

I'll lend you mine if you want.

Love you, Barry. *mwah*

[Ser Barry]

I'll lend you mine if you want.

Love you, Barry. *mwah*

You know Hereward has put me on his top 5 ideal shags and now you love me. I wish I could remember most of what happened on Thursday

I already ordered them but thanks anyhoo.

[Werthead]

You know Hereward has put me on his top 5 ideal shags and now you love me. I wish I could remember most of what happened on Thursday

I remember you asking if you could enter my Wertzone I said okay, but you'd only get three stars at best.

I can't remember if this was before or after you promised to smear Sean in faeces. Interesting day!

I vaguely on-topic-related stuff, I'm struggling through Keeping It Real. I can't get into it at home, so it's going to be a lunchtime-only read I think. Luckily it's quite short.

[zach]

blood meridian (mccarthy). nihilistic dark "cowboy" (kind of) story set in the middle of the 19th century in texas/mexico. I imagine most of you are familiar with it. very brutal and intense but somehow beautiful at the same time... reminds me a lot of kosinski's painted bird. I highly recommend it.

[The Wedge]

The Darkness That Comes Before

I'm usually one to struggle getting into a book, and was really leary of starting this one because of all the babble on the boards and elsewhere with how slow the first 100 pages are. Remarkably, this has not been the case with TDTCB as I'm through about page 110. It's moving much faster than I thought, even with frequent trips to the appendix for little overviews on what's what and who's who.

If it get's better/faster because of character familiarity and plot understanding, then I'm very much encouraged that I will like the book/trilogy and can see where a re-read down the line will reveal tons of subtlety.

[TheHoundRules]

I had to report to jury duty last week so I decide to read Crime and Punishment. Excellent so far.