April Reading Thread

[beniowa]

New month, new reading thread. You know what to do.

Latro in the Mist by Gene Wolfe, comprising Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete. Very interesting and read like historical novels. Narration was a little difficult to follow at times due to the narrator’s injury, however, it did make the books more interesting.

The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi. A worthy sequel to Old Man’s War, Scalzi kept the universe interesting by creating a new character for the novel and furthering the background. Looking forward to the third book.

The Android's Dream by John Scalzi. Guy farts his way into a diplomatic incident, what's not to like? I really enjoy Scalzi's brand of humor. This book is separate from his Old Man's War universe and isn't as good, but worth reading.

Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie. Others have said the sequel is better the TBI itself and I agree. More character development and faster pacing help as well as Abercrombie's willingness to poke fun at fantasy cliches. A must-read.

Going to be starting on The Name of the Wind next.

[Caine]

Finished China Mieville's Perdido Street Station.

My first reaction: I'm glad I read The Scar previously because I don't think I'd continue with China Mieville if I had read Perdido Street Station first. Similar to The Scar, the characters are pawns to Mieville's vivid imagery in interesting creatures, places, settings and environments, even at the very end -- not necessarily what I'd call an enjoyable read at all. In the Crisis part, he spends 62 pages of set-up (5 chapters!) for the first slake-moth to arrive at Perdido Station Station! The actual action comprising the climax last a small fraction of that! Just like I didn't care for Bellis from The Scar, I found Isaac consistently annoying throughout.

Spoilers on PSS --

Given the putrid, decrepit way the book describes New Crobuzon and the debauchery of its inhabitants, I was actually rooting for the slake-moths to wipe everyone out, especially after Lin's first alleged death. I mean who really cares?

Unsatisfying endings really leave a bad taste in my mouth. Leaving Lin in the state of mind she was in at the end and having Isaac cry and mourn for her as if she were dead was a pretty bitter ending. It would have been better having Lin & Isaac die, then at least we wouldn't see Lin in the condition she's left in, and Isaac's emotional anguish.

The final Judgement part was very preachy, trying to teach us the morality (or lack thereof) of reversing Yag's justice. And overshadowing it all was Lin's irrecoverable, pathetic condition. Given the results, I don't see how half-draining a mind and fully draining a mind are all that different.

Continuing to read: Dave Duncan's The Guilded Chain (blah, pretty boring, and I was mildly entertained by a couple of his other stories on the King's Blades). Going to try: Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon.

[The Wedge]

Finished American Gods last night and thoroughly enjoyed it, in part because many the places visited throughout are near me, or I have visited them. Gaiman's take on America is an interesting one and is a book I can see recommending to people who are normally not into SF/F.

With that, I've grabbed The Darkness That Comes Before off of the unread stack. I'm a bit tentative about this one and wonder if it would be better suited to late-Fall or Winter reading. I've always liked a good world building series, but need time to get into it. With Spring and nice weather and extra daylight beckoning, this might be a tough one to start.

Am I making a mistake starting this one now? Vamos a ver.

[aergern]

My april reading list is as follows.

Before They Are Hanged - Abercrombie

Tigana - Guy G. Kay

Night of Knives - ICE

At least *I* think this is what I'll get to this month .. depends on how busy my PHB at work has me.

[Ser Hot Pie]

About to finish It Can Happen Here: Authortarian Peril in the Age of Bush by Joe Conason. After that I'm going to start Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris (about Teddy Roosevelt).

[dornish prince]

on a slight break from from reading, but i am perusing the idiots guide to conversational japanese and business plans for dummies.

[Snowbeat]

Currently plugging my way through The Blade Itself by Abercrombie. It's good, if a little slow. Also, Jezal is a giagantic ass. After finishing that off, I'll dash through Storm Front by Jim Butcher, then on to The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker. All done during Spring Break.

Afterwards, I'll order Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind and Ruckley's Winterbirth.

I love books.

[Fenryng]

Currently wending my way through Tuf Voyaging, a compilation of George's stories about Haviland Tuf. It is decent, before bedtime reading. No complaints so far. When I finish, if she still is not into it, I am going to borrow my better half's copy of the Erikson Malazan Empire book, the first one. If she is still into that one, probably going to try Fevre Dream next.

[oneeye]

I'm reading "spin control" which is a lot better than the first book, faster paced and the syndicate clones are more interesting somehow than the AI's, constructs and humans.

Later this month I'm going to read "for a few demons more".

[Multaniette]

I finished Queen of the South by Arturo Perez-Reverte in one sitting.

Probably the best coming-of-age novel I have ever read.

9/10

[Ser Mosh]

I spent the better part of last month on Neal Stephenson's The Confusion and am now half way through The System of the World. I love these books. I'm hoping to finish them soon though, since I just started what promises to be a very difficult quarter at college and I will probably want to read something that requires less brain activity.

Maybe a re-read of LoLL...

[IheartTesla]

I just began the Armageddon Rag. Just about 50-60 pages into it, and it seems an easy read so far. It's a little odd reading GRRM in a non-fantasy/sci-fi context, but I am catching hints of an underlying theme pitting the 60's against later times. A loss of innocence, so to speak.

[Multaniette]

deliah,

I did say that about Norwegian Wood, and NW does pip TQOS but that's because the later is a coming-of-age novel in the broadest sense of the phrase, I originally wrote thriller before editing it to coming-of-age, I guess having just finished it I wasn't in the best of states to describe it clearly.

In any case, it's a damn fine story. I want to go to Mexico after reading it.

[Larry.]

I just finished reading the Rothfuss - interesting/fairly good story.

Halfway done with So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolionial Science Fiction & Fantasy, co-edited by Nalo Hopkinson and Uppinder Mehan. Some interesting stories here - should finish by tomorrow at the latest.

Will try to return to Justina Robson's Living Next Door to the God of Love, but I just started a re-read of Roberto Arlt's story collection El Jorobadito (The Hunchback), which I enjoyed the first time I read it early last year.

Should be receiving Jorge Luis Borges' Biblioteca Personal, which is a collection of intros he wrote for Spanish-language editions of his favorite works of fiction. It's Borges, so it's a natural for me to want this.

Will be receiving a lot of books later this month in the mail, including Cormac McCarthy's The Road, the "new" Tolkien, hopefully the next two Jerusalem Quartet novels by Edward Whittemore will ship before the end of the month, and scads of others. I read 27 books in March. Might surpass that this month, especially since I have most of this week off from work of any sort!

[Stubby]

Going through a bit of a thriller phase again.

Bad Luck and Trouble is the new Jack Reacher tale by Lee Child. Very much what one would expect from this series - good fun and a quick read. After 11 novels featuring this guy we know what he is all about so its straight into the thick of it. If you like contemporary action/thrillers and haven't read about Jack yet go get it - for pure unapologetic action-packed stuff.

I've also started in on Daniel Silva's series about the Israeli assassin Gabriel Allon, which is pretty good so far.

[Jaxom 1974]

I'm going to finish reading Fantasyland: A Sportswriter's Obsessive Bid to Win the World's Most Ruthless Fantasy Baseball League and then move onto The Name of the Wind.

It's up in the air after that.

[Arbor Gold]

I just started The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

I read East of Eden a year and a half ago, and just re-read it last month. It is now one of my favorite books of all time. My love for East of Eden launched a major Steinbeck kick, so I've decided to give other works a try.

[lokisnow]

Complexity by M Mitchell Waldrop

History of the development of science around complex adaptive systems research in biochemistry, medicine, economics, quantum mechanics, fluid dynamics, computer sciences, artificial intelligence etc.

Wonderfully written so far, I had a fun weekend but am a bit dissappointed I didn't get a lick of it read.

[Joanna vander Poele]

East by Edith Pattou. Rose leaves her home one day when a polar bear asks her to go, promising that her poor family and dying sister will find health and prosperity. Rose agrees, and when the bear leads her to a castle, at night, a stranger joins her in bed (not in that way ). Rose tries to discover whom this is, and when she does, there are disastrous consequences. It is very cute and definitely aimed toward the pre-teen section. That being said, it's a lovely piece of kid fantasy.

Aesop's Fables. Admittedly, knowing this guy's fables is easier than to read through them, but I poke myself to do it.

Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson. Undoubtedly going to be a more enjoyable read than GotM, which I kind of wandered through and haven't finished yet. Erikson has a massive world and massive subplots and frankly... I'm afraid I'm going to enjoy them.

Alex Rider: Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz. Love the writing, love the art. Alex is fantastic, Yassen great (mmm, chemistry!), Jack is a wonderful character, except I want to stab the MI6. I hate them. Hate them hate them hate them. Don't know how to feel about Sabina, don't like her much. Great kid spy stuff though.

Meridian: Flying Solo by Barbara Kesel. Simply fantastic. Has stuff about living on floating islands that I'd never think about (bottom masses) and the self-manned airship that Sephie used is quite stunning. The cities being categorised according to jobs (like, one city exclusively of ironmakers, another of bookbinders, another of carriagemakers) seemed economically naive and retarded, frankly. I was a little disappointed with the classic Evil Uncle arc, but his miss protege seems quite interesting. The Minister of Akasia quite had a lead on me. I definitely want Sephie to get the hell out of Akasia, and I can't believe the Minister's audacity. So this saviour person heals your shithole of a city and gives it pure greenery and grass and healthy plantlife for miles on around... AND YOU LOCK HER UP AND CHAIN HER BECAUSE SHE'S TOO USEFUL TO LET GO? What shittin' logic is THAT?!

Anasi Boys by Neil Gaiman. At the second chapter. Love it.

[Spring Bass]

I started and read a sci-fi novel called Eifelheim by Patrick Flynn, which won the Robert A. Heinlein award. It's somewhat interesting to read. It's about a kind of historical scientist examining an area in Germany that has been uninhabited for centuries. What he finds out is that, just around the passing of the Black Plague, the villagers encountered aliens whose ship had crashed into the forest nearby. Pretty good premise, but I didn't find any real appealing characters.

I tried (and pretty much failed) to read Ink by Hal Duncan last night. I just couldn't get into it, even having read the previous book.

Other than that, I bought a paperback omnibus of Jack Vance's This Dying Earth along with Mieville's Perdido Street Station. I'm going to give Vance the first shot.

There's also Gaiman's American Gods, and Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep. I've heard the latter is an excellent example of what space warfare in the future would really be like.