Iskaral Pust Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 I'm finally giving Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose a shot. About 80 pages in and not sure what to say yet. Feels older than its time (1980) though it's based off an older manuscript or something, so perhaps that's a feature rather than a bug. I really enjoyed that. It felt like a realistic depiction of monastic society and of the religious worldview in the period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo498 Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 The longish intro about "translation of an older manuscript" etc. in "The name of the Rose" is a fictional frame. I think I read it twice in the late 80s/early 90s and enjoyed it a lot. (Probably should re-read it some time.) Despite rather lengthy excurses into medieval architecture, history, philosophy and theology everything fits together well, the mood is captured nicely and it keeps the tension. Of the 2.5 books by Eco I read, it's by far the best. I trudged through "Foucault's pendulum" but this one is definitely trying too hard and I never finished another one (the one with the shipwreck). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anasûrimbor Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 Ooh, that's a very appealing blurb. It really is. So much so that I went to purchase the book and found out it won't release to the general public until September 15th :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benpeek Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 I'm finally giving Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose a shot. About 80 pages in and not sure what to say yet. Feels older than its time (1980) though it's based off an older manuscript or something, so perhaps that's a feature rather than a bug. I really liked it. Really smart, really cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogorath Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 The longish intro about "translation of an older manuscript" etc. in "The name of the Rose" is a fictional frame. I think I read it twice in the late 80s/early 90s and enjoyed it a lot. (Probably should re-read it some time.) Despite rather lengthy excurses into medieval architecture, history, philosophy and theology everything fits together well, the mood is captured nicely and it keeps the tension. Of the 2.5 books by Eco I read, it's by far the best. I trudged through "Foucault's pendulum" but this one is definitely trying too hard and I never finished another one (the one with the shipwreck). I love Eco. Foucault's Pendulum was The DaVinci Code years before the DaVinci Code and actually well-written (and without the insulting marketing plan). I read The Three Body Problem. Pros for it: a great idea; dissection of science in that "it's fun to read wikipedia" way; some nice background into China at different stages of recent history (provided it's reasonably historically accurate). But the characters are exceedingly thin and the author turns every potentially exciting reveal into incredibly anti-climatic exposition. In fact, the last quarter of the book -- the supposed climax -- is one long piece of pseudo-science exposition. 75% of the way through I would have said "I can't believe it won the Hugo, but it's worth it." After finishing it, I wouldn't recommend it. Read Moriarty. Fun book by Anthony Horowitz, endorsed by the Conan Doyle Estate. Very quick read and entertaining. Clever. Currently reading Epitaph by Maria Doria Russell. It's a book about the gunfight at the OK Corral -- Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, the Clantons, etc. I had forgotten what an exceptional writer she is. After reading the above and the Goblin Emperor before that, it was a fairly big shift to read Russell -- her characters are simply more vivid, alive and fleshed out in a chapter or two than many of the above are in a whole book. I'm excited to see it develop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo498 Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 I am almost finished with "Half the world" but found it somewhat weaker than "Half a king"...not bad but somewhat slowly paced in the beginning and overall I begin to find almost all of his characters terribly clichéd. In between I read Gore Vidals (as Edgar Box) early 1950s "Death in the 5th position"; this is quite funny, smartly written light reading with an interesting peek into ~1950 Art (Ballett) scene and mores, although as a crime/mystery it's not really up with the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xray the Enforcer Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 I agree with the above assessment of Three Body Problem. First 1/3 was pretty engaging. By the end, I was ready to chuck the book in a lake, but I didn't want to poison the waters with all of them cliches and absurd exposition. Over the weekend I have finished: The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard -- not sure this will make my final nomination list. It was enjoyable but still felt a bit slight. Will do a reread in a couple of months to see if my opinion changes. One Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin -- OK. Not sure I will continue with the series. I liked The Fifth Season far, far more. The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley -- jury out. I am intrigued enough that I'll give book two a try, but I'm not as into this series as I was the Bel Dame series. I have learned that characters whose main motivations are "I swore an oath; I made a promise" are, to me, the most boring fucking things going in fantasy today. As Roy Batty so aptly summed: "Time to die." I also started a Lord Peter Wimsey reread, because why not? Those books are fun as hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicomo Cosca Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 Finished The Shinning yesterday. Overall a pretty strong book that I found difficult to let go. I wasn´t a big fan of the ending, I thought that it never delivered "the punch" it needed to make me tic. I thought the relationship between the family members and the development they had was amazing. I wish we could´ve seen a Little bit more from the managers of the hotel and what was up with them, but I think its nice to just live the mistery just like that, no everything needs to be perfectly explained. Continuing with my reread of the first three Wheel of Time books (I'm finally going to dive through the ENTIRE thing). About 80% through The Great Hunt and I find it VASTLY superior to The Eye of the World (which was an 8,5/10 from me). I love the "chain" efecto the main characters have on the rest of the world, especially regarding their actions on book 1 to book 2 (Else, Elayne, Domon). I´m finding all the story threads to be extremely intriguing and well plotted. I like how Jordan is expanding more and more into each of the main characters personalities and goals (Moiraine, Thom, Egwene, Nynaeve, etc). The worldbuilding, which was great on book 1, gets even better on this one. The Aiel, Seanchan, Cairhien, the White Tower,the Ogier are amazingly well portrayed and integrated into the story. If I remember correctly I´m in a hell of a ride in this last 20%, can´t wait for the weekend now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 One Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin -- OK. Not sure I will continue with the series. I liked The Fifth Season far, far more. While The Fifth Season is her strongest work pretty clearly, Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is the weakest book in that series, if that helps any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guinevere Seaworth Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 I really liked Endymion by Dan Simmons. Next up is the final book in the Hyperion Cantos, The Rise of Endymion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 While The Fifth Season is her strongest work pretty clearly, Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is the weakest book in that series, if that helps any. I have not read the third but I will support the notion that book two is far superior to the first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xray the Enforcer Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 :cheers: to the both of you. I can forgive many faults (especially in a first novel) but those faults, coupled with the Abraham Lincoln: Fucklord of the Universe vibe, was just a bit too much for me. If the second book fixes at least a few of the former issues, I can handle a fair bit of the latter. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garett Hornwood Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 I finished Soul Music at the end of last week, it was a mix of good and bad. I rated it 3 1/2 or 4 stars depending on the site, frankly the rating is lower because everything that wasn't related to Death, Susan Sto Helit, Death of Rats, Ridcully, and the always hilarious Librarian was basically just a rehash of Moving Pictures but for rock and roll music. I'm currently on my first re-read of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SheRa Seastar Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 I am half way through The Little Stranger and it is a chore. I read The Hunger Games trilogy before that, which was a giant bag of shite, and before that I read The First Law trilogy which I loved up until the ending. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all swedes are racist Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 about 85 pages into Assassin's Apprentice, first time getting into Hobb. fuckin' solid, expect to fly though this one despite my significantly decimated free-reading time. also grabbed Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, recognizing Jemisin's name from here, but without the following books, and seeing the impressions given above, will likely bump that further down the to-read pile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wolves Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Finally finished The Handmaid's Tale and it was okay I'm meh on it. It was depressing but I'm glad I read it. Started reading The Heiress of Lynn Hagh(A Detective Lavender Mystery) so far it's good so I'm reading through it fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C Rutherford Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Catching up what I've read to coincide with books that came out today. Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie. An author I go back and forth on; some I like, some I loathe. Okay maybe not loathe but just get overwhelmed by his penchant for a particular style that for me is a bit too jerky and all over the place. I know that is probably the very style that makes him beloved and admired by many, but I just can't get into books like that. And this is one of those books. I loved The Enchantress of Florence. And this kind of reminded of that in the beginning. But in the end, this is not ever gong to be close to, let alone, my favorite Rushdie novel The Sleeping King by Cindy Dees and Bill Flippin. Rather generic fantasy that tries hard at creating deep complex political plotting. And utterly failed. Everything is an extreme here. Emotions and actions. And the writing is the kind where three adjectives that all mean essentially the same thing are combined in one sentence. As well as using the most abstract synonyms instead of some simple but common words. Really, how this got past an editor is kind of surprising. Which either means editing at Tor has simply gone out the window (Three Princes last year was kind of hint in that direction for me), or this is the cleaned for publication version! How bad was it initially? Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff is up after I finished Butcher. Then I think I need to take a look at The Traitor Baru Cormorant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Writhen Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 I enjoyed Hunger Games trilogy greatly. If you want shite try Roth or Clare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuncle Stark Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Fifth Season by Jemisin. Her first trilogy was pretty good, though a little too romancy for my taste. Heard good things about this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procrastimancer Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 I finished Naomi Novik's Uprooted a few days ago. I haven't read any of her other books, but this one was getting enough praise that I figured I'd give it a go. I'm glad that I did. It had my attention right away and I really enjoyed the ride. Am I the only one who got a Deadite vibe from the corrupted? One Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin -- OK. Not sure I will continue with the series. I liked The Fifth Season far, far more. That's good to hear. I have The Fifth Season on my Kindle, but I bounced hard off The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and have been hesitant to read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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