Reading in August

[Knight of Ashes]

Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny.

Polished off a Star Wars novel lin one night too. I forget the title but it's about Vader just after Revenge of the Sith. Funny how some writers can make Lucas' prequels seem better than it is.

[Werthead]

Actually I pushed back the Look to Windward in favour of Elantris. 'Tis okay. I had forgotten how much I dislike American paperbacks though.

[Xray the Enforcer]

Finally finished The Hidden Family by Charlie Stross.

was pretty good, but man that guy has no fucking clue how to write dialogue. Or women.

[MeanMrMustard]

I planned on picking up a book at the airport. They had a comical selection of absolute garbage, and then a table of books for people too good for...airplane reads. It was comical in a different way. Decided against picking up the latest McEwan, Irving or Foer and wound up with magazines (of course, I also re-read The Autumn of the Patriarch on the trip because I'm just that much better than you).

I thought Seed was a decent magazine (hadn't read it before). A little too satisfied with itself, but at least it was trying for something. It may be egregiously shallow in the long run, but this particular issue had a pretty clutch Chomsky/Trivers feature which may have skewed results considering the sample size of one I have with this rag.

[Xray the Enforcer]

Interesting take on Seed, MMM. I watch it with a gimlet eye -- it is basically the brainchild/pet project of a 23-year-old dork (or is he 24 now?) and, frankly, it shows.

I know people who worked for it when it first launched -- it was a disorganized disaster and folded after 5 or 6 issues. It relaunched again a few months ago with new financial backing, but still had the shallow, insular, vain worldview that it had in the beginning. I dunno -- I think that edgy science/culture/politics coverage could be completely fucking awesome -- and attract a younger, more involved non-science crowd than any of its competitors (Wired, PopSci, Discover, SciAm, PopMech), but it sure as hell better get a focus, a message, and lose the bullshit Williamsburg mid-20s hipster attitude if it really wishes to succeed.

[MeanMrMustard]

I like that it tries to have an aesthetic. A bit arrogant, but as I said -- I appreciate the effort.

[Xray the Enforcer]

I like that it tries to have an aesthetic. A bit arrogant, but as I said -- I appreciate the effort.

I think we essentially agree on Seed. I think the idea is great...it just requires a bit more focus at the helm to really distill the concept and steer it away from its baser "we are so s-m-r-t" tendencies.

[Jabberwocky]

Tad Williams : Memory, Sorrow and Thorn.

I have books one and two. They will take me awhile to read. There were ,I think, three parts for the third book. They will have to wait for next month.

[Herbie of High Heart]

I'm on book 2 of the Riddle Master of Hed trilogy by McKillip. I'm enjoying it, but I'm getting the feeling I may have read it many years ago.

Anybody else ever done that? Started reading a series and then realized--hey, I've already read this!

[Multaniette]

Finished Walking the Labyrinth by Lisa Goldstein.

It's a fantasy mystery focusing on the occult craze of the late nineteenth century and tying it with the vaudeville performers of the early twentieth.

However, in practise, it is much more boring then it sounds. Written in the bare-bones chick-lit style, it has the obligatory slighty-dumb heroine with a heart of gold trying to balance her love life against a series of unfortunate and mysterious events linking her inextricably to her eccentric family - a family she didn't know existed until she joins ranks with a private investigator and the usual mayhem ensues.

The actual plot is pretty haphazardly assembled and the romance is trite and perfunctory. The most interesting bits are the glimpses we get into the vaudeville scene and the late nineteenth century life, culminating in a couple of exciting scenes. I am not really sure why I finished the book other then the fact that it is in an extremely quick read.

4/10

at the moment I am going through the The Partimony by Robert Adams and The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin.

The former is a horseclan book, hence a quick effortless read. The later is something I will only be able to comment on when I finish it. The leap in quality from Goldstein/Adams to Le Guin is astronomatical.

[whoareyou?noone.]

Just finished Lies of Locke Lamora. I agree with a earlier poster re: predictability and a nice, neat ending. It was a fun read though, and I too will be reading the rest of the series.

Also just finished, When Darkness Falls by Lackey and Mallory. It is the 3rd book in the Obsidain Trilogy, and I loved it! Great ending to the a series that was slow to start.

Currently reading, The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, by Gordon Dahlquist. If this book wasn't so intense, and not so long (700+ pages) I would have devoured it by now. More of an alternative history than pure sci-fi/fanstay, it is truly impressive. Drawbacks, a lot of "coincidences" and the use of long chapters (All so far have been more than 50 pages).

Will start Black Girl Lost by Donald Goines for my book club sometime this week.

[Antonius Pius]

Just finished In the Name of Rome: the Men who won the Roman Empire by Adrian Goldsworthy. It was a good read, but after Titus the pace slackened a bit. Maybe it was just my level of interest, but I got the impression that Goldsworthy kind of rushed through the last generals (Julian and Belisarius most of all). The Republican generals were thoroughly interesting though, with the emphasis on Pompeius and Caesar. Sulla is slightly skimmed, whereas Sertorius gets a lot of attention.

All in all it was a good read, but you have to be interested in Roman warfare, because that is the essential topic.

[Jaxom 1974]

Just finished In the Name of Rome: the Men who won the Roman Empire by Adrian Goldsworthy. It was a good read, but after Titus the pace slackened a bit. Maybe it was just my level of interest, but I got the impression that Goldsworthy kind of rushed through the last generals (Julian and Belisarius most of all). The Republican generals were thoroughly interesting though, with the emphasis on Pompeius and Caesar. Sulla is slightly skimmed, whereas Sertorius gets a lot of attention.

Good tip! I've looked this one over a couple times, but not as yet picked it up. Now I might just have to give it a go.

Otherwise, I'm currently plowing through Turtledove's Return Engagement, Settling Accounts, Book 1. I know that most aren't overly in love with Turtledove, but this cycle of books from How Few Remain through the current series I've loved.

[Lord Baelish]

I've just started reading Fevre Dream by GRRM. It's pretty interesting so far. I've also still got to read In The Eye of Heaven by David Keck and the last half of Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Avatar, which I'm not sure if I can be bothered to do.

[Bellis]

Finished Book of the Long Sun (Gene Wolfe). Actually found it worked out pretty well to have read the Short Sun cycle first, since I was already introduced to the major characters and the whorl and had an idea where everything was going to go and what the deal was with a certain non-human character. A lot more straightforward than New Sun or Short Sun. Can't really say which of those sets is my favorite, they are all very different and all have things to recommend themselves (didn't much like Urth of the New Sun though). As a suggestion, it is important to read New Sun before Short Sun, since the latter has cute references to Severian that would otherwise leave you lost. Then again, if and when I re-read Short Sun, I'm sure I'll find lots of new things to catch now that I've read all three.

I think I'll take a break from Wolfe for a while though.

Currently reading Hard-boiked Wonderland and the End of the World by Murakami. Review in a couple days...

[Xray the Enforcer]

Reading Deadhouse Gates (Erikson) and Paladin of Souls. Pretty decent, both.

[Ser Barry]

Just finished American Gods, Neil Gaiman.

When it was recommended to me I was told that it read a bit like a graphic novel and that stuck with me throughout. The descriptions are very visual and it sometimes felt like it would have been easier to look at a picture rather than have it 'painted' in words. Some of the story threads got swamped in the middle of the story and the ending did not really fit with the rest of the book. Storylines which had been given hardly any attention in the main body of the book became a focus at the end, which jarred a little. I enjoyed the book though and I will read more of Gaiman as the writing was smooth and the ideas fresh.

[Deornoth]

Gearing up for 'The Blood Knight' by re-reading 'Briar King'. Love it

[MinDonner]

Finished The Sundering by Walter Jon Williams - part 2 of Dread Empire's Fall trilogy and a whole lot of classic space-adventure fun, will probably pick up part 3 this weekend. I have the Otherland series lined up next as it's been recommended by a mate.

[nobodymN]

Two stories into Richard Bowes' latest, a collection entitled Streetcar Dreams and other Midnight Fancies and loving it, this is a nice follow-up (not a sequel) for Bowes, after last year's From the Files of the Time Rangers. Bowes just magnifies reality to see the fantastic and has the most authentic NYC of any author I have read recently. Great introduction by Jeffrey Ford who lets us know some very interesting tidbits about Bowes and his ties to the city and indeed the art culture of the city. One story in and you know you have to take Bowes seriously, you take him at his word - you are not there, but you don't question he was. Good stuff.

I'm also reading Star Wars on Trial, I'm only two the opening statements by David Brin but this looks to be interesting as several author debate the merits of Star Wars including Brinn and Matthew Stover (on the defense).