October Reading Thread

[Happy Ent]

because otherwise if Moënghus becomes Moenghus

Tricky. Clearly, the German form cannot become Moenghus, because that would be understood as Mönghus (umlaut here). Moënghus seems to be the correct form, even in German, with the understanding that ë is always a diaeresis—no umlauted e exists anyway. On the other hand, Eärwa cannot stay as it is, and would be fine as Earwa anyway. I don't have a German Silmarillion, but from what I can google it seems to agree—those diaereses that merely prevent a native English speaker from assimilating two neighbouring vowels (Fëanor) are omitted in the German translation. Off the top of my head that should work for PoN.

[PhelanArcetus]

Finished Tigana, which was excellent, though Kay's tendency to hide information from the reader that is known to PoV characters for dramatic and emotional impact can be irritating.

Hastily grabbed a book for today; it's Dying of the Light by Martin, so it should be good.

[Agulla]

Books read this last month or so:

The Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers.

Black Blossom by Boban Knezevic.

Unholy Dimensions by Jeffrey Thomas.

Scar Night by Alan Campbell.

The Demon and the City by Liz Williams.

Alabaster by Caitlín R. Kiernan.

[MinDonner]

I've only heard of a few of those - any good?

[Winterfella]

Finished The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach. Very good read. Seems like a fantasy at first, with a civilization based on creating carpets out of human hair, but becomes more SFnal as the "lens" pulls back to show a more advanced civilization discovering this planet and investigating what the carpet making is all about. For the most part it actually reads like a linear set of linked short stories, each chapter introducing new characters and coming to a conclusion. Some of these characters make appearances in later chapters and it all comes together nicely. Some of the reviews told me to expect an earth-shattering ending, which almost never happens, especially when you're told to expect it, and the ending wasn't particularly jaw-dropping or anything, but it was a good ending that explained everything.

It was translated from German, and I do hope that some of Eschbach's other stuff gets traslated as well.

[Ser Barry]

The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker

A 628 prologue to what could be a very good fantasy series if anything actually happens in it. The whole book felt like one big set up. Ok, yes, I hear you, it is the first book of a series it is supposed to set things up but some action which was significant in it's own right rather than promising further significance would have been welcomed. The reader gets thrown in to the deep end with several thousand multisyllable makey-uppy words thrown at you, bunches of characters, ever changing POV, several different magical systems, enough political factions to fill a barn and a great big wtf?? going on. The fact that this all pulled together enough to make sense in the end and promise huge things to come is testament to the quality of the writing. RSB knows how to write even if he struggles to write people. I am pretty certain that most people I know are not having four page inner monologues in between each utterance in a conversation, apart from when they are stoned maybe. Despite the utter lack of flow in conversation the characters are interesting if not totally believable.

One 628 page prologue which was good enough for me to order the next two books as soon as I had finished.

[Agulla]

The Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers. One of Powers "old" novels, it's closer to Anubis Gates, On Stranger Tides and The Stress of Her Regard than to his later XX century novels. It's less well crafted than later works but this makes this book even more interesting since Powers manages a simple and fast paced sword and sorcery tale set in XVI century Europe.

Black Blossom by Boban Knezevic. Balkan fantasy. I liked this novella for the same reason I enjoy Andrzej Sapkwoski Witcher series (and I'm so angry with Bibliopolis Fantastica for delaying the publishing of the two last books of the series translated to Spanish), Knezevic gives us a fantasy tale set in a very different world than our usual Anglo-Saxon/Scandinavian setting we are used to. I bought this book after Stego's recommendation months ago.

Unholy Dimensions by Jeffrey Thomas. Jeffrey Thomas is one of my favourite writers because of this he can get away with this Derlethian approach the Cthulhu mythos. This book is a collection of stories inspired in Lovecraft, some of them are really good. In any case I recommend starting reading Jeffrey Thomas by Punktown or Letters from Hades.

Scar Night by Alan Campbell. Really waiting forward to read the next book.

The Demon and the City by Liz Williams. The second book of Detective Chen series started with Snake Agent. Liz Williams is a great storyteller, I've read a few of her books (Poison Master, Darkland, The Banquet of the Lords of the Night and of course Agent Snake) and none of them has failed to meet my expectations. This one is quite good.

Alabaster by Caitlín R. Kiernan. This book is loosely related to a previous Kiernan novel: Threshold (the only one that I had read from this author). Alabaster tells the story of one of the characters of Threshold before the events that take place in this novel; we follow the steps of Dancy Flammarion the monster killer in her quest across the Deep South. It contains several stories (one of them previously published as a novella: In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers).

[Werthead]

Just finished Flashman in the Great Game. Awesome book, the best in the series so far. The sheer depravity of the conflict (the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857-58) was eye-watering and Flashman actually liking a woman more than for just a gallop was unexpected. The ending, however, was brilliant. Utterly hilarious.

My next book will be the collected Viriconium collection.

[needle]

Must read flashman, sometime. Tried one and liked it, don't know why I haven't read the rest yet.

I'm on accelerando right now. Started so so well, getting a bit meh in the whole nonstop info dump. Yeah, I know, thats the point...but dammit I want to be entertained as well.

Read the Bone twin trilogy earlier this week..thanks to chaldanya's generous library. Was great concept, but the plot was a bit crap I thought. Kinda mediocre fantasy that left me thirsting for sci-fi..

[MeanMrMustard]

Just got Patrick Cockburn's The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq

[Klegane the Kinhater]

Ender's Game: Picked this up today. I am not a huge Science Fiction fan but I've heard great things about this one.

The Briar King: Also picked this up today which is supposed to have many varying cultures.

Im looking forward to reading them both

[Stubby]

I have just finished reading Shaman's Crossing and Forest Mage by Hobb.

I will not be rushing out to buy the third book but will probably get to it eventually. I have found the main character far too annoying and the double standard between the Gernians and the Specks equally (if not more) annoying.

I have reverted (due to lack of funds at the present time) to some spy stuff that has been floating around the bookshelves for a couple of years and at the moment I'm reading A Spy's Life by Henry Porter, which despite being standard fare in this genre is a rather good thriller.

[GoodQueenMaggie]

Jerome K. Jerome, Three men in a boat. - re-read. I find it hilarious.

Kurt Vonnegut - Galapagos, Cat's Cradle (even if the name might be quite unknown, I'll be happy to hear someone at least tried to get into it. It's one of the most spectacular writers in XX. And I just love everything Tralfamadore.

I really enjoyed Galapagos... I hope you like it!!

Hunchback isn't holding my attention over here... I've dropped it in favor of re-reading A Game of Thrones.

[diabloblanco18]

Currently reading At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill. It's perhaps a bit bloated, and the dialect and colloquialism are a bit of a struggle sometimes, but I'll be damned if it isn't the most poignant and moving book I've read in forever. One of those books that makes me almost afraid to reach the ending, both because I know it's going to tear my heart out and because I don't want it to be over. God but it's beautiful.

[lokisnow]

making my way through the bakker book surprisingly quickly. After the rockin first Cnaiür chapter I just skipped ahead and read the next three as this seemed the storyline most likely to meet up/pick up the prologue Kellhus story. I was not disapointed, Now I'm heading back and trudging through the political stuffs. I like the Caesar-analogue nephew Conphas

I know the difference between a diaeresis and umlaut, but one I was trying to make a point that using diacritical marks just makes 'makey-uppy' names look even more non-sensical. Especially when every other name on a map uses them.

and diacritical marks or not just using Eärwa will scan as Ear-wa to any phonetic English reader. If they've had good instruction in grammer and pronunciation they'll eventually root out the proper way to say it, breaking up the vowels so the syllables fall differently. It comes off unnaturally instead of working to achieve effortless immersion into the world.

[oneeye]

I'm reading Hobb's ship of magic (the first one). It's pretty good, I like the southern land atmosphere and the idea of wizardwood. The madship Paragon is especially fascinating.

I'm not really fond of most of Hobb's characters though. The heroes are always so miserable, the good supporting characters are dumb, and the bad guys are predictable with no redeeming qualities or hope of avoiding their own downfalls. Somehow GRRM just does characters better.

Later this month I plan on reading Phantom (grin).

[WhiteQueen]

When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Penman. It's over 740 pages and I am somewhere in the middle on page 352. I imagine, I'd be done in 2-3 days. It's a bit too long, but interesting -- about the Anarchy in England and a civil war between William the Conqueror's grandchildren -- Stephen of Blois and Empress Maude. After that I am planning to read Time and Chance, also by Sharon Penman. In general, I like her style, it's far from flawless but entertaining and the material seems to be well-researched. She is working on her new book now The Devil's Brood, which is the follow up to When Christ and his Saints Slept and to Time and Chance, so I want to be done with the first two books in the trilogy.

[Fiddler's Green]

Finally getting around to A Distant Mirror by Tuchman. As always, she is brilliant narrative historian and it's a fascinating book. Also currently re-reading Shogun and starting The Green Pearl by Jack Vance (second book in the Lyonesse triology).

[Anubiel]

Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett. It's a fun read

[angie]

I'm currently about midway through Shaman's Crossing and enjoying it well enough. I'm not sure what I'll move on to next. I have two half-finished biographies I want to get through and some other half finished fiction that I'd like to give another try (including Tigana) that I'd like to give another chance before moving onto something new.