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What are you reading in May?


Sansa_Stark

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I adored Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain. I wish my extroverted parents and relatives read this! She tends to make some sweeping generalizations but some of the psychological case studies were fascinating. Recommended!

Now reading The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran. It is about Nefertari, wife of Ramses II.

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I'm hoping to finish Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin and Valente's In the Night Garden this month. Both are compelling but sort of hard to read in small chunks, which is what I have... I also mean to power through That Hideous Strength by CS Lewis. Tolkien called it "that hideous book" and Orwell, while giving it a mixed review, was generally positive. It's a worthy read, I guess, but maybe a bit too long.

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Just begun Richard the Third by Paul Murray Kendall yesterday. Next will be Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie. Then comes The Princes in the Tower by Alison Weir.

The two historical books are in response of the positive identification of Richard III's skeleton in February. I've had both books on my shelves to read for years, Kendall's book for about 3 1/2 and Weir's book for almost a decade that I just haven't gotten around to reading. From opinions I've read Kendall seems to be pro-Richard while Weir is anti-Richard. I've read Weir's work before, Eleanor of Aquitaine and The Wars of the Roses, both of which are excellent and I'm currently using The Wars of the Roses as one of my references for my alternate history about the period (see my signature).

Also I was notified on Monday that I won a giveaway on Goodreads for the book Fighting for the Press by James C. Goodale, I'll be one of the first to read it in paper format as it is only currently available for e-books. It'll arrive in 4-6 weeks, so I'm mentioning it just in case I receive it by the end of the month and will be able to start it. The book will immediately be put in the "on deck circle", for lack of a better phrase, upon receipt.

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I'm hoping to finish Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin and Valente's In the Night Garden this month. Both are compelling but sort of hard to read in small chunks, which is what I have... I also mean to power through That Hideous Strength by CS Lewis. Tolkien called it "that hideous book" and Orwell, while giving it a mixed review, was generally positive. It's a worthy read, I guess, but maybe a bit too long.

I've read the first two of the space trilogy, Perelandra twice, but I've never made it through That Hideous Strength, tried thrice (once on a listen). Re-reading Gone-Away World cause it's fucking awesome.

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still reading Live By Night by Dennis Lehane, definitely didn't go as I thought it would, but still amazing.

planning on rereading A Clockwork Orange and ASOIAF for the summer

by the way, can anybody recommend any books borderline absurd, they can be about anything really, something that provides WTF moments in a ridiculous/humorous sort of way.

I was trying to find something but settled for A Clockwork Orange, maybe something as absurd yet seriously satirical as a clockwork orange

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I'm 70% through Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold, and I'm enjoying but it's definitely not my favorite in the series. A few months back somebody on here said that Ivan's internal voice was just the same as Miles's, but I do not find that to be the case at all and Ivan's is very consistent with what it was in A Civil Campaign.

Read London Falling by Paul Cornell.

It's like Ben Aaronovich Rivers of London but with a bit of horror, and frankly i enjoyed it more.

I enjoyed it more than Aaronovitch's books too (not that those are poor by any stretch of the imagination). My favorite scene was about 75% in when Quill gets home after

Harry dies and he's walking around the house with his wife, and he brings up how their marriage isn't working. And we realize what's happened before Quill does because of all the prior hints dropped through the novel

Goose. bumps!

Got and read MLN Hanover's (aka our own Daniel Abraham) Graveyard Child. A lot of fun afterwards to go back through the other books and read some conversations that decidedly mean something else now.

This is what I'll be reading next, and I'm really looking forward to it!

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I enjoyed it more than Aaronovitch's books too (not that those are poor by any stretch of the imagination). My favorite scene was about 75% in when Quill gets home after

Harry dies and he's walking around the house with his wife, and he brings up how their marriage isn't working. And we realize what's happened before Quill does because of all the prior hints dropped through the novel

Goose. bumps!

I thought it was slightly overplayed. You could tell just as soon the MO of the perp was exposed that that was what was going on, because the repeated internal narration was a gigantic red flag. The ending falters sometimes too. I wouldn't say that sassing the (horror) devil is a particular good idea for the sequel oh well.

The whole book has a bit of a 'unreality' to it - not in a bad way - but as if the outside world didn't matter. What i mean is that this is not a series concerned about masquerades... but no one is bothered ... the climax makes that clear.

I like this approach better than convulsed justification for being able to hide (but prefer broken masquerades) - the book has that with the sight, but doesn't really work for notable scenes.

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I thought it was slightly overplayed. You could tell just as soon the MO of the perp was exposed that that was what was going on, because the repeated internal narration was a gigantic red flag. The ending falters sometimes too. I wouldn't say that sassing the (horror) devil is a particular good idea for the sequel oh well.

I did like that Lofthouse didn't know why she was helping them, even though it was obvious that she was the one who gave them the "protocol" - another area in which Cornell wasn't particularly subtle. I'm more interested in what happened to her crew, I also really enjoyed the scene at the street fair and would like to see more in that vein, and honestly those two things interest me more than the "devil" storyline which I think will actually develop over several books rather than being the focus of book two.

The whole book has a bit of a 'unreality' to it - not in a bad way - but as if the outside world didn't matter. What i mean is that this is not a series concerned about masquerades... but no one is bothered ... the climax makes that clear.

I like this approach better than convulsed justification for being able to hide (but prefer broken masquerades) - the book has that with the sight, but doesn't really work for notable scenes.

I agree, but it also kind of works for me because people will go to incredible lengths to explain away the inexplicable and there really doesn't need be a stated rule that magic wipes the memory of those in the immediate vicinity or some such other rule. Which I think is what you're getting at...

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I agree, but it also kind of works for me because people will go to incredible lengths to explain away the inexplicable and there really doesn't need be a stated rule that magic wipes the memory of those in the immediate vicinity or some such other rule. Which I think is what you're getting at...

It's not a immediate reaction thing, but like, if i get out of the 'horror book' framework, and start thinking about the larger world as reactive, the government/universities/press would be all over some very public events in very different ways from what is depicted (at least in the press case depicted). I guess you could say that the innate magic of the villain was preventing that... and then her boss took over (though why should he care i don't know).

As i said, i liked the approach - it's daring not to justify itself - or justify (sight) but not really, things are still strange - unlike 90% of other masquerade urban fantasies - still i think it works best with the horror angle than it would in a more normal uf book. This is another reason why i was disappointed about sassing the devil - it weakens the horror.

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It's not a immediate reaction thing, but like, if i get out of the 'horror book' framework, and start thinking about the larger world as reactive, the government/universities/press would be all over some very public events in very different ways from what is depicted (at least in the press case depicted). I guess you could say that the innate magic of the villain was preventing that... and then her boss took over (though why should he care i don't know).

As i said, i liked the approach - it's daring not to justify itself unlike 90% of other masquerade urban fantasies - still i think it works best with the horror angle than it would in a more normal uf book. This is another reason why i was disappointed about sassing the devil - it weakens the horror.

If things are more out in the open the large scale workings he is enacting on the city as a whole could be easily reversed and foul his long term plans. The enormity of the Losley case would definitely be problematic, but mainstream media would also look for any rational explanation - they had that chopper in the air as she's teleporting and running through the fence, but there's no mention of this ever making it on air. So, they obviously don't trust what their cameras recorded enough to release that footage to the general public (without a second corroborating source). I can't remember off the top of my head, but was one of the prior 5 a member of the media? There was the lawyer, Lofthouse, a politician, and two others (a doctor?) - which definitely was a better set up for keeping things under wraps wide scale.

Standing up against the big bad (I'm far from 100% that he's actually "the" devil) is a perfectly valid fear response, imo. Fight or flight - I would hope that cops would choose the former, even in the face of such impossible odds.

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I'll probably read another Miéville book. Kraken or The City and the City, I'm not sure yet. I also want to read Prince of Thorns, another Ruiz Zafón book (The Prince of Mist or The Prisoner of Heaven) am considering giving Dune Messiah a second try... I can't decide :lol:

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Still reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. It's finally heating up, and while I get the effect it's supposed to have, the constant descriptions of what people are wearing is starting to get on my nerves. But overall I'm enjoying it.

Next will be The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson. The TV adaptation is currently on ITV1 in the UK (final part to air this Friday), and I thoroughly enjoyed the first two parts, so I had to get the book. It's definitely creepy and horrible, but deals with the real issue of people in power taking advantage of young girls.

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Still reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. It's finally heating up, and while I get the effect it's supposed to have, the constant descriptions of what people are wearing is starting to get on my nerves. But overall I'm enjoying it.

Next will be The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson. The TV adaptation is currently on ITV1 in the UK (final part to air this Friday), and I thoroughly enjoyed the first two parts, so I had to get the book. It's definitely creepy and horrible, but deals with the real issue of people in power taking advantage of young girls.

When you finish the American Psycho, look up a quote Bret Easton Ellis said about the clothing choice for the book. It also got on my nerves when I was reading it, but after reading the quote I had a good laugh and kinda want to read it over to see if it's true.

It's nothing spoilery, but something to look for after you've read it

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