Iskaral Pust Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Finished Iron Lake, a well written and well executed crime novel. The cliche main character of an ex-cop with personal problems is a bit tired but I understand why the type of novel often needs this type of character. Novelty in the character makes their participation in crime investigation less plausible. I enjoyed the setting and mix of characters in a wintry northern Minnesota in a town next to a Native American reservation. Now reading Amid The Shadows, a SF thriller that starts pretty well. I think this was recommended by Amazon after I read Dark Matter. Amazon has a large range of free Kindle books, technically a Kindle lending library, for Prime users. I keep overlooking the expansion of Prime services. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Dalton Vaas Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 About 150 pages through Harlequin by Bernard Cornwell, Wanted to give it a shot as I absolutely loved The Warlord Chronicles. So far not quite as engrossing as the aforementioned but still a good read.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Pesci Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Finished The Queen's Poisoner, The Thief's Daughter, and The King's Traitor by Jeff Wheeler. I was really impressed with the story crafted in these books. Starting Frostborn: Excalibur by Jonathan Moeller. This series is about as formulaic from book to book as you can get (this is 13 out of 15), but I just can't help myself. I've gone into a heavy dose of Arthurian legend based books as of late, and I've rather enjoyed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mashiara Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 I read The Sword-Edged Blonde and Burn Me Deadly by Alex Bledsoe, the first two books of the Eddie Lacrosse series. They were good, I guess? They didn't blow me away, there were some good elements and moments, decent plot... they just fell a bit short. I might read more in the series at some point. I'll be starting Tana French's The Trespasser. I'm fairly excited about that one, I've loved all her previous ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astromech Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Ivo Andric's The Bridge on the Drina deserves all the accolades it receives. Wonderful novel. Not quite sure what to read next, but leaning towards Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3CityApache Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 58 minutes ago, Astromech said: Not quite sure what to read next, but leaning towards Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. One of my youth fascinations from more than two decades ago. Don't remember much, but remember I loved this book wholeheartedly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 2 hours ago, Astromech said: .... Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I looked for that on Kindle and it's not available. That's a disappointing omission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkess Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 I finished Patricia Wrede's Shadow Magic. I love her other books, but this was her first effort and it shows. Between the passing of time (different standards for YA genre fic then vs now) and her lack of developed storytelling, it felt really flat, rushed, and just filled with tropes without effort. But I've moved on to the next in the series, Daughter of Witches, and it's already much better (set in the same world, but separate stories). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1000th Lord Commander Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Worked my way through the Iron Druid Chronicles. by Kevin Hearne. Not as good as some of the other urban fantasy I've read, but its still got a few good moments. Currently browsing this thread for new ideas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peadar Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 I enjoyed the first book of Robert Harris's The Cicero Trilogy. Taking a break with The Rift by Walter Jon Williams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garett Hornwood Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 I finished two books today, the first was Don Quixote and I enjoyed the central narrative very much, stuff not directly related to DQ and Sancho was somewhat annoying. The second was The Acts of the Apostles by Ellen G. White. Tomorrow I'm starting Centuries of Change by Ian Mortimer which was a Christmas gift from my aunt, who had no idea that I've been wanting to read one of Mortimer's biographies of English monarchs for year so anything by him to get a sense of his writing style is welcome. While Mortimer is my primary read, my home read is The Great Controversy by Ellen G. White which is the last of her Conflict of the Ages series that I've been reading for the last few months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isildur's Mane Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 I finished reading 'Life the Universe and Everything' by Douglas Adams. Absolutely loved it even if it does talk about Krikket an awful lot. Can't wait to start reading the next one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 I finished TH White's The Once and Future King and had mixed feeling about it but did think that it got better as it went along. I'm kind of amazed that Lev Grossman says it's the best book ever (or rather that it's the one in his library that he returns to most). Speaking of, that first book in the Magician's trilogy is next on my list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 Finished David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, which I thought was very good. I found the first section a bit slow, but thought the rest was up there with his best work and I thought there was some fascinating characters in it, I liked Marinus, Orito and Ogawa a lot and Abbot Enomoto was a very effective antagonist. The supernatural aspects of the plot felt better integrated into this story than in The Bone Clocks. I've now started Brandon Sanderson's The Bands of Mourning. I think it's fair to say Sanderson isn't Mitchell's equal in terms of prose or characterisation, but it's entertaining so far although Wayne continues to be an irritating and unbelievable character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astromech Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being was excellent. The hilarity of the Grand March, the sadness of Karenin's Smile and the fortuity of Tereza and Tomas' first meeting were some of the highlights for me. I loved it. Now on to GGK's The Children of Earth and Sky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 4 hours ago, williamjm said: I think it's fair to say Sanderson isn't Mitchell's equal in terms of prose or characterisation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eponine Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 9 hours ago, Triskan said: I finished TH White's The Once and Future King and had mixed feeling about it but did think that it got better as it went along. I'm kind of amazed that Lev Grossman says it's the best book ever (or rather that it's the one in his library that he returns to most). Speaking of, that first book in the Magician's trilogy is next on my list. I wonder how old Grossman was when he read it. There's a subset of books that are well-written, but are magical for children in a way that doesn't translate well into adulthood. I believe I ran into several of them on the old fantasy rec list - I thought "wow, I would have absolutely loved this when I was [11-16]" but without that emotional connection, it just didn't grab adult me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 10 minutes ago, Eponine said: I wonder how old Grossman was when he read it. There's a subset of books that are well-written, but are magical for children in a way that doesn't translate well into adulthood. I believe I ran into several of them on the old fantasy rec list - I thought "wow, I would have absolutely loved this when I was [11-16]" but without that emotional connection, it just didn't grab adult me. Maybe thats why Grossman is so bitter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maester Llama Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 Finished Robert Jackson Bennett's City of Blades, the sequel to City of Stairs. Old cranky general from the first book hauled out of retirement to go investigate suspect goings-on in colonized once-powerful fantasy city. Extremism, lingering psychological effects of violence, people not getting what they want. It's awesome sauce. Great book, great sequel. I both can't wait for and dread the last one, coming out in May. Bennett can kneecap you in the feels with the best of them. Also finished Kij Johnson's novella The Dream Quest of Vellitt Boe. I love it when writers revise Lovecraft, with whose work I don't get along, and this is both an incisive critique and a satisfying, atmospheric standalone journey. Well-written and economical. Dug it. Zadie Smith's Swing Time, about two girls from a council estate in north London who both love dancing and are both mixed race, but who take radically different directions in adulthood, worked quite well for me. The plot loses some of its momentum once it starts jumping back and forth in time more frequently, and the scenes feel more unanchored and disconnected -- which may be the intention -- and it just generally goes on a bit, but in terms of mixing thematic work and social critique with plot and character that are satisfying in and of themselves this is the work of Smith's I've found most absorbing since White Teeth. It's a very good book and I could see myself returning to it. I blitzed through The Invisible Library, the first book in Genevieve Cogman's series of the same name about dimension-hopping librarian agents who shift between alternate earths to retrieve unique works of fiction. It's ... it's fine. Like I read the whole thing and I had fun doing so, and I could see myself reading another. The pace is fast; the plot is rompy. But it didn't ... it didn't spark for me, didn't prompt that feeling of elation the best escapist adventure fiction brings on. I think this might be in part because I found the prose fairly flat -- it has a good line in occasional dry quips, but that's about its only spicing. I see why people dig these and I'll probably read another, but this wasn't a knock-out punch for me. Reading Yoon Ha Lee's military sf novel set in a brainwashed empire full of advanced mathematics, Ninefox Gambit, now. I suspect this is gonna be an admire-rather-than-love book for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 17 hours ago, Darth Richard II said: Maybe thats why Grossman is so bitter? Oooh, tell me more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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