The Wolves Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Started reading Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov I heard good things about it so I will come back later with my review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mashiara Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 The Martian by Andy Weir was Ok. I wasn't blown away by it. I can't comment on the science but the writing style itself annoyed the hell out of me. Blue Lily, Lily blue by Maggie Stiefvater on the other hand was a wonderful read. I love her almost lyrical writing in this series, I love the series itself and I can't wait to see what happens next. I've started The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoIaF Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Just over halfway through Misery, great read so far. I read that ages ago, but yeah, definitely a good read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garett Hornwood Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Finished City of Glass, one can only read "meh" for so long for you can't handle it any more. Done with the Mortal Instruments, on to other things. Started Mythology by Edith Hamilton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Oh I dunno I read nothing but "meh" through all of high school. :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maester Llama Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Ancalagon: You're very welcome for the Child of a Hidden Sea rec! Hope you're still enjoying it. Finished two things: Stephen King's Revival started out as a fairly slow-paced, occasionally foreboding life story with a lot to say about death and regret, and felt pretty in line with the recent more gentle pitches King's been throwing -- I don't say this as a criticism, just an observation. Then the last hundred pages happened. It's got quite an ending. I'm conflicted about it, but in a great way. I think it's abrupt, and shocking, and horrific, but in the most successful way. Good book, my favourite of King's most recent four published over the last two years, by quite a bit I think -- and I've enjoyed all of those to varying degrees. Max Gladstone's Full Fathom Five was another great installment in what's becoming one of my favourite new secondary world fantasy series. I'm pretty biased here, because I'm a geek for these, but I thought this volume introduced some really interesting new twists on Gladstone's world's use of souls and belief and divine power as currency and means of calculating exchange value, and balanced a cool new setting and some great new characters with some welcome returning faces in supporting roles and some more hints about the larger picture. The pacing feels a little off -- it takes quite a while for the major characters to come together and for the plot to come clear, and the climax comes quite fast and gets a lot done quickly. However, Gladstone really has planted almost everything he needs to reach for during that climax with enough care, even if only as an apparently unimportant detail earlier in the book, that it all hangs together for me; the pacing feels wonky but I don't think it actually is. It's a very well-built book. I would say, though, that while Gladstone's Craft Sequence books are meant to be entirely standalone, and Full Fathom Five's plot does totally work independently, I thought there was one piece of the plot that relied on knowledge of Three Parts Dead for its logic within the setting and its emotional punch to a surprising degree for a standalone. I'd recommend not reading this book first. Each of these books I read gets me more excited about the world and the ongoing plot and recurring characters. Dead gods, hypercapitalist undead lords, legal necromancers, priests as offshore bankers, badass winged holy warriors and brainwashed statue guardians beating the shit out of each other. Great stuff. I notice that upthread we were ragging on Ken Follett a little bit and he's one of a very few authors that I have a really hard time not being a huge dick about, so I'll take this opportunity to say that I tried to read Fall of Giants once, because I like me some epic historical fiction and I thought it looked awesome, and while I'm sure Follett's research is often rigorous and excellent I thought the book was godawful. The characters felt flat, the dialogue was expository, and the writing, good Christ. Blandsville. People like this? This received good reviews? [i've got no opinion on Pillars, which may well be much better.] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deleted01 Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 The Martian by Andy Weir was Ok. I wasn't blown away by it. I can't comment on the science but the writing style itself annoyed the hell out of me. Blue Lily, Lily blue by Maggie Stiefvater on the other hand was a wonderful read. I love her almost lyrical writing in this series, I love the series itself and I can't wait to see what happens next. I've started The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.I love Sue Monk Kidd. The Invention of Wings is also fantastic.I'm being picky with what I want to read. I'm in a historical fiction mood, but nothing on my shelves is jumping out at me. Might just close my eyes and point tonight :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guinevere Seaworth Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I finished my re-read of Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian. Up next is Tuf Voyaging by George RR Martin. I haven't read of his any other works outside of ASOIAF (including novellas and short stories) so it will be interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morticia Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Over half way through reading Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. An excellent read so far; if you liked Wolf Hall then I highly recommend this book. It brilliantly portrays Thomas Cromwell's rise to power; from rock bottom to becoming King Henry VIII's Master Secretary. It shows us that he was far much more than just Henry's pet. He was the real life equivallent of Littlefinger. :lol: Next on my list is Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearly Headless Ned Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 World Of Ice And Fire. Solid stuff that adds some meat to the worldbuilding bones of Westeros. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eponine Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Started The Bridges of Constantine by Ahlam Mosteghanemi. It's my book for Algeria and is a historical romance. It's an Arabic-language bestseller and the author was the first female Arabic-Algerian writer to be translated to English. It's been a little hard for me to get involved in the book - I don't know if it's an issue with translation or a surplus of emotional language or my unfamiliarity with the genre. However, the style feels pretty much like what I'd have expected from an author of historical romance of any nationality, very contemporary feeling. One of my issues with my list was trying to make sure that I picked works by authors that were "inside" their country, not just a Western-educated spectator who lived there for a few years of their childhood. Mosteghanemi definitely qualifies. So it's interesting to me that even though she's an Algerian writing about Algeria, just how much her style and tone feel universal instead of regional. The protagonist/narrator is a man who fought for national independence (and lost an arm), became an artist and has become attracted to and later, obsessed with, the daughter of one of his revolutionary leaders. He'd known her as a baby, but hadn't seen her for 20-ish years since then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deleted01 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Decided on Buried in Cornwall by Janie Bolitho last night. A short book, just finished it. A typical murder mystery, not particularly well-written, and even though I realised it was the third in the series, it didn't feel like I was missing out on anything, which is both good and bad I guess. Gave it 3 stars, which was mostly for making me feel nostalgic for Cornwall. "Anyone from across the Tamar was 'one of they' and therefore a Londoner." :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I finished Leviathan Wakes , which was an exciting read. Started Caliban's War, and I am very amused that one of the POVs is named Bobbie Draper. This a very fun series so far and has had some really memorable moments. I really liked Miller's chapters in the first one, and am looking forward to reading more about the Butcher of Anderson Station and Holden's Rocinante crew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mashiara Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 The Secret Life of Bees was good, just not spectacular. It had some really wonderful moments, overall a good read. Currently reading The Scarab Path by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YellowDogJen Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I just finished "The Mirror Empire" by Kameron Hurley. I see it hasn't received much love around here, but I really enjoyed it and intend to finish the series. The book starts strong, but as more characters and settings are introduced, it becomes somewhat complex. However, unraveling what exactly was going on was part of the story's appeal - there's no real infodump, so I had to work a little to "get it". Hurley plays with gender roles - and it's cool and natural, not forced. The main characters are decidedly not "Mary Sues"; holy crap! they go through some shit. Next up is "The Martian" by Andy Keir - I think. I've got some good rec's from this very thread, so I've got some ideas for my next few books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deleted01 Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Finally started The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M Valente, recommended to me by Patrick Rothfuss a few months ago. It's got an Unfortunate Series of Events feel to it. Enjoying it so far.Next review book is The Swimmer by Joakim Zander. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Finally started The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M Valente, recommended to me by Patrick Rothfuss a few months ago. It's got an Unfortunate Series of Events feel to it. Enjoying it so far.Next review book is The Swimmer by Joakim Zander.Is the title in fo.t size 8 or something? :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deleted01 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Is the title in fo.t size 8 or something? :p:lol: The title might be a mouthful, but the book is far too good to put down. Finished it last night. Now I have to get the others in the series. Woe is me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frey Pies Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 I finished Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch. It was pretty good for the most part, but didn't live up to The Lies of Locke Lamora. I didn't feel too invested in the pirate storyline, and often found myself wishing that Locke and Jean were back at Tal Verrar. Overall, it started out well, but finished pretty poorly. I didn't hate it, but it wasn't too great either. I'm still debating whether I should continue or simply stop. What do you guys think I should do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YellowDogJen Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 I finished Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch. It was pretty good for the most part, but didn't live up to The Lies of Locke Lamora. I didn't feel too invested in the pirate storyline, and often found myself wishing that Locke and Jean were back at Tal Verrar. Overall, it started out well, but finished pretty poorly. I didn't hate it, but it wasn't too great either. I'm still debating whether I should continue or simply stop. What do you guys think I should do? Continue, of course! :read: I just finished The Martian. Oh my freaking gawd! Awesomeness. :eek: It's a gripping, gripping book. I literally did not put it down. Highly recommended. Next up, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. Thanks, board! :bowdown: You guys are great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.