March Reading Thread

[Joanna vander Poele]

What?

I just finished The Favoured Child, the second of the Wildacre trilogy by Philippa Gregory. I found the first book immensely enjoyable, and the narrator is someone I love to love and hate and despise. Beatrice Lacey is what Cersei Lannister should aspire to be.

The Favoured Child has one theme which it emphasizes very well, and frequently: Julia Lacey has no fucking spine.

I don't think I was ever so angry with a book. Julia was so self-effacing, so frustratingly reactive, so bloody fucking useless that when she actually did something that succeeded, at the very end of the book, I was just so tired that I didn't give a damn about her anymore.

However, Richard, her husband and brother (... yeah) is one of the characters I am always gong to hate. I hate him. I hate him. I want him to die a thousand deaths in hell. I want him to hang by his ankles. I want his throat to be torn out. I want him to fucking die. Julia has no backbone, but Richard makes me so goddamn sick.

Everytime Julia attempts to do something, Richard foils it. It's insane. I wanted to wring his neck. I wanted to kill him. I wanted him to completely shatter before his death and I wanted him to go to hell.

Um. Gregory's writing style is very well-written, however. I'm going to have to buy the final book because I love her writing, but WHY MUST SHE MAKE ME SUFFER FOR WILDACRE? I hated and raged against Beatrice, who was a deceitful and sly bitch; I wanted to slap Julia and knock some sense into her; I can barely imagine the kind of shit I'll be thinking about Julia's daughter, Sarah Lacey when I get Meridon.

The Wildacre trilogy is fantastic. It takes place in Georgian England about a family called Laceys, who live in Wildacre and are mad about the land. The narrative starts with Beatrice Lacey, continues on with Julia, her niece-but-was-actually-her-daughter-with-Beatrice's-brother-Harry and I presume the last book's narrator is Sarah, Julia's daughter. It is good in the way that it is great, but you will scream and rage and hate these characters like nothing else, and I don't even get emotional satisfaction in this, I'm just too freaking invested in these goddamn Laceys.

Other Notes:

- I thought Ralph, who was given a very villainistic appearance in Wildacre, was characterised brilliantly here and I felt his frustration and oh I loved him.

- I can't believe the fucking irony in that John MacAndrew, Beatrice's husband, who was actually institionalized because Beatrice convinced everyone he was ill, would so easily believe that Julia (who had the fabled Sight of the Laceys, aka premonition) was "delusional".

- Julia's almost-husband James was amazing, and it breaks my heart, really, to think of him. I think both of the Lacey husbands (Richard excepted) were very, very well-done in their respective novels (I loved John liek woah in Wildacre, but he's not very good here).

- Fuck you, Richard.

- Clary and Matthew's relationship was so sad.

- I think Julia seriously screwed over Acre by asking James to bring back Sarah. Fuckit, hasn't she learned anything? Lacey + Wildacre = hell on earth.

- Julia Lacey has no fucking spine.

[TheHoundRules]

I recently finished Pompeii by Harris. I really enjoyed it. I do not really know why. Not to much happens during the book. The whole book is leading up to a big ending which was very good. It was an easy read.

I started The Prestige by Priest. I am about a 1/3 of the way through, and it is a bit slow for me. I want to see the movie and found this at a discount store for cheep, so I decided to read before the movie. I hope it picks up or I will just skip to the movie.

[beniowa]

Saturnalia by Lindsey Davis.

Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin. I loved this dark and melancholy book about vampires during the steamboat-era on the Mississippi. As always, Martin's characterization is top-notch. The vampires seem like real people and a real race rather than just the standard cartoon-villians you see in the movies. I've lived within an hour of the Mississippi all my life and never ridden a steamboat. Time for a daytrip!

The Armageddon Rag by George R.R. Martin. I have mixed feelings about this book. This novel is the one that Martin put most of himself into and really captured the feelings and emotions of rock 'n roll and the counterculture of the 60s. However, I feel the story suffered for this. I'm too young to have lived this time period so it was difficult for me to fully feel the emotions that Martin is trying convey. It's a good book, but it's my least favorite Martin novel.

Old Man's War by John Scalzi. This book reminded me a lot of the movie Starship Troopers, but a lot better. I should really read the book to make an accurate comparsion. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of Scalzi's novels.

Deliverer by CJ Cherryh. I really tried to read this book since the Foreigner series is one of my all-time favorites. But I couldn't. The first couple chapters seem almost amateurish. Plus, for the first time, Cherryh added a POV besides the main character. There have been eight Foreigner books and she has never used more than a single POV. But now she feels it's necessary in order to tell the story? Seems that Cherryh's creative juices have dried up for good.

[Daeric]

I've just finished reading Shadowplay by Tad Williams, the follow up to Shadowsong, decent read, through it is like alot of his works that you have to perserver with some information which is good and well constructed you just wish you didn't have to

[Xray the Enforcer]

Reading Infoquake. It's got great ideas, but the prose is unforgivably clunky. I'm reading an ARC, though, so maybe somebody saved it from its worst tendencies before it went out the door?

Also just read 2 Ex Machina volumes, 3 The Boys issues and 1 Planetary. Not sure what I'm going to attack next.

[nobodymN]

I'm really enjoying The Terror by Dan Simmons - wow!

At the moment I'm rather plaesed with Lane Robin's Maledicte What I fin fstriking thus far is how substantial the read feels even while I'm only a few dozen pages in, which I find doesn't usually occur outside of the very best epic styled fantasy.

Hooking Up, a collection of essays and short fiction by Tom Wolfe has some pretty interesting insight into magazines and editorial direction of The New Yorker and Esquire (which featured work from some of the greatest writers ever like a Salinger, Capote, Wolfe, Shirley Jackson, Nabakov, Helrpin, Le Guin, Dahl, Barthelme etc ).

[MeanMrMustard]

A lot of people not named Arthur Schlesinger.

[Stubby]

Absolutely racing through a couple of short novels by a bloke called Jeff Lindsay.

They both follow the adventures of a sociopathic pattern killer called Dexter, and are ( often amusingly) written from his POV.

First one is called Darkly Dreaming Dexter and the second one is called Dearly Devoted Dexter. I'd recommend them both for a quick, interesting and entertaining read.

[Arbor Gold]

Partway through Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen.

I find our heroine to be insanely annoying, but she is only 15 and perhaps soon she will shut the fuck up with her constant crying. I find myself really liking her mother, who is suppossed to be a "bad" character - lying, selfish, alcoholic, beautiful slut. The grandma is cool too but I suspect we won't see much more of her.

The author is bugging me with her constant use of parentheses. That aside, I am totally sucked into the setting...London/Paris ~1715. High society. Lots of scheming and devious behaviour. Fun! Perfect for a rainy evening.

[Larry.]

I'm almost done reading the 2005 Alfaguara Prize-winning novel by Graciela Montes and Ema Wolf called El turno del escriba. It is about a person who befriends Marco Polo after he was put in a Venice prison a bit after his return from China. Interesting, so far.

Next up will be Hal Duncan's Ink, Nalo Hopkinson's latest book, The New Moon's Arms and then either Roque Dalton's Las historias prohibidas del Pulgarcito or two Serbian translations of interesting works - The Little Prince and Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Those last two (as well as the other three mentioned here, but from other sources) I received in the mail today from a Serbian girl I know

Oh, and I still need to finish reading Ngugi wa Thiong'o's most excellent Wizard of the Crow this weekend!

[Drew Bowling]

Recommended:

The Terror by Dan Simmons (best book I've read this year)

Un Lun Dun by China Mieville

Scar Night (was released in December)

This Forsaken Earth by Paul Kearney

Death's Head by David Gunn (upcoming from Del Rey)

Currently Reading:

Thirteen by Richard K Morgan (upcoming from Del Rey)

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (upcoming from DAW)

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

Drew

[Yrael]

Partway through Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen.

I find our heroine to be insanely annoying, but she is only 15 and perhaps soon she will shut the fuck up with her constant crying. I find myself really liking her mother, who is suppossed to be a "bad" character - lying, selfish, alcoholic, beautiful slut. The grandma is cool too but I suspect we won't see much more of her.

The author is bugging me with her constant use of parentheses. That aside, I am totally sucked into the setting...London/Paris ~1715. High society. Lots of scheming and devious behaviour. Fun! Perfect for a rainy evening.

I just finished the prequel, Dark Angels, which tells the story of Alice, the grandmother. I haven't read Through a glass darkly, but I enjoyed Dark Angels a lot. Alice is definitely not a whiner. She's 20-21 and smart and devious and very entertaining!

I feel there ought to be a sequel because there's so many loose ends, but I wonder if my questions are not answered in Through a glass darkly.

So tell me, Arbor Gold, does it say anything at all about Henri Ange? D'Effiat? Breuvon? What about Walter? and Renee?

Thanks in advance.

[Ser Mosh]

Absolutely racing through a couple of short novels by a bloke called Jeff Lindsay.

They both follow the adventures of a sociopathic pattern killer called Dexter, and are ( often amusingly) written from his POV.

First one is called Darkly Dreaming Dexter and the second one is called Dearly Devoted Dexter. I'd recommend them both for a quick, interesting and entertaining read.

I recently read the first book in this series. It was one of the very rare occasions when I could say that the book was not as good as the movie (or series, in this case). Michael C. Hall was born for this role, and the series was fucking amazing. Having seen the series first, the book seemed like a simplified version of the story. It was still enjoyable, though. I'll get around to reading the second one sometime before the next season.

I recently finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman, which I enjoyed immensely. I find it hard to describe exactly what I liked about it (I'm not much of a reviewer). It's amazing how different my opinion is of this one and Neverwhere, which I almost gave up on twice.

I also read Idlewild by Nick Sagan, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, and The Prestige by Christopher Priest last month. Given my aforementioned lack of reviewing skills I will simply say that I enjoyed all of them, with Snow Crash coming out on top.

I'm currently reading The Confusion by Neal Stephenson, which is the second book of the Baroque Cycle. I needed a break after the information overload that was Quicksilver, so I waited a year or so before finally picking this one up. A lot happened in that book though, so I was kind of lost at the beginning of this one, but I'm half way through and really getting into it. I will probably have to read the third book, The System of the World, right after this one so as to avoid that initial confusion.

I'm looking forward to reading Anansi Boys after I finish the Baroque Cycle, followed by either Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell or The Blade Itself.

[RedEyedGhost]

I'm still reading Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link. It's alright, but most of the stories seem incomplete, and end in a WTF! manner. I'm a little disappointed after all of the good reviews I've seen. Should finish it tomorrow. I think I'll read Anno Dracula by Kim Newman next.

[Stubby]

I recently read the first book in this series. It was one of the very rare occasions when I could say that the book was not as good as the movie (or series, in this case). Michael C. Hall was born for this role, and the series was fucking amazing. Having seen the series first, the book seemed like a simplified version of the story. It was still enjoyable, though. I'll get around to reading the second one sometime before the next season.

Hah. I didn't even know there was a series filmed for this.

Cheers, I'll have to check it out now.

[Arbor Gold]

I just finished the prequel, Dark Angels, which tells the story of Alice, the grandmother. I haven't read Through a glass darkly, but I enjoyed Dark Angels a lot. Alice is definitely not a whiner. She's 20-21 and smart and devious and very entertaining!

I feel there ought to be a sequel because there's so many loose ends, but I wonder if my questions are not answered in Through a glass darkly.

So tell me, Arbor Gold, does it say anything at all about Henri Ange? D'Effiat? Breuvon? What about Walter? and Renee?

Thanks in advance.

Aarrgghh...I wanted to buy Dark Angels but after The Lies of Locke Lamora and The God Delusion I didn't want to buy a hardcover. Alice is so cool...I am definately interested in her story. Yrael...to address your questions: no, no, no, no, and no. At least not yet!

Does Dark Angels mention Roger Montgeoffrey? He is a major player in this book.

[Arbor Gold]

I just finished The Favoured Child, the second of the Wildacre trilogy by Philippa Gregory.

I read The Other Boleyn Girl while on vacation in St. Lucia, and I enjoyed it immensly!!! Philippa Gregory certainly has a gift for transporting the reader to a certain place and time. I have wanted to read her other books, but I have been hesitant, because I loved The Other Boleyn Girl so much and I was afraid she couldn't keep up the high standard. I am totally in the mood for this type of historical fiction...I might give this trilogy a try.

[off topic] looking forward to The Other Boleyn Girl movie, with Scarlet Johansen and Natalie Portman [/end off topic]

[nobodymN]

Death's Head by David Gunn (upcoming from Del Rey)

I have that on my shelf and I have been thinking of picking it up as my daily boat ride read. When I get done with Lucius Shepard's Softspoken (which is terrific), I might just do that. Shepard does nothing to bring dispute to the fact that he is one of the very best in this business.

[Drew Bowling]

I have that on my shelf and I have been thinking of picking it up as my daily boat ride read. When I get done with Lucius Shepard's Softspoken (which is terrific), I might just do that. Shepard does nothing to bring dispute to the fact that he is one of the very best in this business.

Death’s Head was great, Jay. I’m not a rabid fan of Mil/SF (although I enjoy many classics in the subgenre), but I blazed through David Gunn’s debut in one sitting. The book is an ultra-violent thriller rather than a bloody noir adventure, yet it owes a debt to Altered Carbon. Sven, the anti-hero protagonist, is reminiscent of Kovacs; and the narrative even mentions Real Death. But Death’s Head is a gripping book that makes for a very fun read (if you can stomach massive amounts of carnage, that is).

Drew

[oneeye]

Started Urban Shaman, it's another one of those present day fantasies, and it has a lot of humor/interest early on.