SkynJay Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 So far in Jan I have read Gifts by Le Guin, which was good but perhaps not as deep as it's premise. I also read a novella called Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu by Mercedes Yardley, which was a horror/romance type thing. Not my usuall thing at all, still trying to figure out how I feel about it. Now reading Malice by John Gwynn. Yet another book that hasn't really sucked me in by the 10% mark, apperently I am cursed with slow openings lately. I will keep reading, Mage's Blood got better after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deleted01 Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I started The Reader by Bernhard Schlink last night, as it's been on my shelf for a while, and is on my reading list for uni this term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isis Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I'm reading Guns, Germs, and Steel. It's fabulous. That's based off the first 40 pages. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lojzelote Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I started The Reader by Bernhard Schlink last night, as it's been on my shelf for a while, and is on my reading list for uni this term. Huh, what uni you study at? I want be their student too! :o Still reading The Dying of the Light, two thirds in. I like it. Frankly, I didn't expect I would because many reviews for the book are lukewarm, but so far I don't share the sentiment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearly Headless Ned Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Cloud Atlas-David Mitchell. Pretty good stuff this, the storytelling is top notch but as a whole I didn't feel it completely hung together.Basically a collection of decent novellas (short stories?) linked together in a way that didn't entirely convince me. Next up is Solaris-Stanislaw Lem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peadar Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I'm reading The Ocean at the end of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. Very short, but so far, halfway through, it's excellent. Next up: I have to make dinner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eponine Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Cloud Atlas-David Mitchell. Pretty good stuff this, the storytelling is top notch but as a whole I didn't feel it completely hung together. Basically a collection of decent novellas (short stories?) linked together in a way that didn't entirely convince me. This was my opinion too - I was a little surprised at how many people were blown away by it. The story-telling was good, the prose was good, I'm glad that I read it, but I never felt like - whoa this came together perfectly - the links between the stories were neat but not amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bolivar Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I finished the White Company and overall enjoyed it despite having some issues with the writing. I bought dangerous women and have an idea of a few stories I want to dig into first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearly Headless Ned Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 This was my opinion too - I was a little surprised at how many people were blown away by it. The story-telling was good, the prose was good, I'm glad that I read it, but I never felt like - whoa this came together perfectly - the links between the stories were neat but not amazing. Yeah. Individually the stories were good, and in the case of An Orison Of Sonmi, excellent and thematically it resonated, particularly on slavery/imprisonment, but as you put it there was no 'whoa!' moment where it fitted together perfectly. An excellent effort, just not the classic the blurbs would have you believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I'm currently about half way through Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep. I'm enjoying it so far although I do get the feeling certain elements of the story were included so he could have a character based on his pet dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Finished The Dragonbone Chair. It got a lot better after the awful terrible horrible Part 1. The weird thing was that I started being interested in the mechanics of the story without ever really liking a single character. I still find Simon boring and obnoxious. If I read the word "mooncalf" one more time, I will eat a kitten. I might and I might not come back and finish the series later, but I don't want to spend any more time on it right now. I found the first book to be the hardest to get through in the series, although the latter parts were enough of an improvement to convince me to read the others. That's not to say that the other books don't sometimes suffer from the same problems as The Dragonbone Chair, but not to the same extent. I liked some of the supporting characters, but I found Simon to be a fairly bland hero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I found the first book to be the hardest to get through in the series, although the latter parts were enough of an improvement to convince me to read the others. That's not to say that the other books don't sometimes suffer from the same problems as The Dragonbone Chair, but not to the same extent. I liked some of the supporting characters, but I found Simon to be a fairly bland hero. Even when i was gaga for Williams back in high school I found The DragonBone Chair to be slooooow. I like slow moving stories too. Even on reread, which I've done at least four times, my god, that first book. Slooooow. So if you thought it picked up a bit at the end you'll probably like the rest. Be careful if you get the hardcover of book 3 though, as its known to break bones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deleted01 Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Huh, what uni you study at? I want be their student too! :o:laugh: Trust me, you don't. I also have QBVII coming tomorrow, which I have to read, and I have yet to figure out how these will relate to my assignment. However, I'm very much enjoying The Reader so far. I'll attempt to finish it tomorrow, and maybe make some notes. I'm in the middle of too many books atm, I really want to finish some before starting new ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arbor Gold Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 I finished And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini the other day and will probably start The Son by Philipp Meyer soon. In the meantime, I'm reading Wet for Nessie by Vivian St. Black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eponine Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 In the meantime, I'm reading Wet for Nessie by Vivian St. Black. Cryptozooites are the new vampires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anatúrinbor Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 I've started Gardens of the Moon, the first book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen, and it's honestly no where as near confusing as many people made it out to be. Yeah, I started it a few days ago and I can't say that it's more confusing or hard to read than say, WoT or PoN. I got stuck on the first page though (the one that talks about Mock's Vane) and it took me about an hour to get past that, but since then it's been a smooth read. There is a lot of weird vocabulary though, for example: 'Use the militia if the locals are recalcitrant.' Maybe because I'm not a native speaker but...'recalcitrant'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leofric Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Over the Christmas break, I went on a binge and finished off 4 books, helped by long flights and airport layovers: The Breeds of Man by F.M. Busby, The Longest Way Home by Robert Silverberg, and Brothers in Arms and The Vor Game, both by Lois McMaster Bujold. So far in January, I've read The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch and am currently reading The Old Wine Shades by Martha Grimes. I also picked up the Dangerous Women anthology ( and read the first story ) and Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence which are next on my list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrum Aeternum Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Yeah, I started it a few days ago and I can't say that it's more confusing or hard to read than say, WoT or PoN. I got stuck on the first page though (the one that talks about Mock's Vane) and it took me about an hour to get past that, but since then it's been a smooth read. There is a lot of weird vocabulary though, for example: 'Use the militia if the locals are recalcitrant.' Maybe because I'm not a native speaker but...'recalcitrant'? I started reading Gardens of the Moon right around Christmas and just hit 80% today on my lunch break. I haven't found it especially confusing, but for me the story took a long time to get going in a meaningful direction, which in fairness is a pretty common complaint of mine for first volumes of fantasy series. Everything's starting to come together though, and by this point I'm starting to really get into it. Regardless of how this book ends, my curiosity is piqued to see what happens next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagilki Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Finished Republic of Thieves. Moving on to Doctor Sleep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deleted01 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Finished The Reader, onto QBVII by Leon Uris today. Doesn't look as bad as I expected it to be, but I still think I'd rather be finishing off Broken Homes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.