Bellis Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 I want to run away with Orhan Pamuk and have his babies. Orhan if you're reading this - call me! So I just read Snow and I think I actually liked it better than My Name is Red. There's something deceptively simple about his style, and yet there's so much packed inside. At first Snow seemed like a modern re-telling of My Name is Red (which was set in the 17th century), plotwise, but it is really quite different. I am most impressed by Pamuk's respect for all the different voices, whether they are secular militants or political Islamists or just ordinary people in love. A lot of Snow spoke very personally to me, so I understand if not everyone is as enthusiastic as I am. However, IMHO, a well-deserved Nobel, this one. I also read Nights at the Circus, which, like everything by Angela Carter, was also quite special. This story combines myth, unreliable narration, magic realism, and of course feminism. It continues to surprise. I would run away with Carter and have her babies too, except for the fact that 1. it would be biologically difficult and 2. she's deceased. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fastia Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 I'm reading my first of Guy Gavriel Kay's novels now - Ysabel, which I have barely been able to put down. From what I understand, it's a simpler book than what he normally writes, but it's a lot of fun and I keep wanting to know what happens next. I'm definitely going to have to read some more of his books. Before that, I read The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons and Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time. I liked them both, although I had a lot of mixed feelings about the former. It was a good story, but it didn't seem like a well put together story to me. Thief of Time was, of course, hilarious - Death cracks me up. I'm not sure what I'll read after Ysabel (which I'll be done with pretty soon). Probably either another one of the Discworld books I haven't read or The Lies of Locke Lamora. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubby Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 Beyond Band of Brothers Is that the one Maj Winters wrote? If so, let us know how that goes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deornoth Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 I've just finished reading a review copy of 'The Man with the Golden Torc' by Simon R. Green, my review is Here I'm now reading 'Before they are hanged' (Joe Abercrombie) and I also have 'Children of Hurin' on the TBR pile as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voland Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 The Unquiet by John Connolly. Before that I read The Blade Itself and Before They are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparky Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 Finished Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson and LOVED it. Really. I loved it. I liked it more than I liked Snow Crash, and I loved that book. Not at all surprising. He'd be a god for Crytonomicon alone, and yet he turned right around and dropped The Baroque Cycle on the world. Simply an amazing writer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winterfella Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 Currently getting bogged down in The Bonehunters. Probably mostly a time issue, in the lack thereof to read sense, but it's not grabbing me yet either like most of Erikson's others have. Midnight Tides was probably my favorite and I burned through that. I'm about 270 pages into Bonehunters and really getting annoyed at the jumbled mess of Malazan army characters (you know, Sleepy, Grumpy, Doc, Knife, Fork, Spoon, Table, Screwdriver, and the rest of the gang). This might be one I have to put down for a while, especially since I'll be going with the family to Disney World in a couple weeks, and can't lug it around. And I'm getting more involved in A Song for Arbonne, so that might take over. I also got Goldman's Boys and Girls Together from Amazon, on recommendation from the board here, I think Mult. It looks really good, but who knows when I'll get to it since it's another 750 page book. I think I need to pick a few shorter ones here in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Midnight Tides was probably my favorite and I burned through that. I'm about 270 pages into Bonehunters and really getting annoyed at the jumbled mess of Malazan army characters (you know, Sleepy, Grumpy, Doc, Knife, Fork, Spoon, Table, Screwdriver, and the rest of the gang). LoL, I so know what you mean, his Malazan characters annoy me to no end as well and they are so interchangeable. I like some of his more prolific non-human characters better but generally the characterization is just poor. I also bought Boys and Girls Together on Mult's rec btw, but I haven't read it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isis Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Last week I zipped through Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, just another one crossed off the 'should have read that' list really. Currently stuck into City of Saints and Madmen and waiting for it to deviate from the Viriconium blueprint... Oh yeah, and still slogging through The System of the World at a few pages a night. I'm up to about page 200 now I think. Am I still beating you, wert? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 You've left me in the dust. My bookmark is still on page 355 of The Confusion. May get back into it once I finish Keeping It Real, which is turning into a slog of epic proportions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IheartTesla Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Currently reading Fortune's Favorite, part of the Masters of Rome series. This is when good ole' Julius shows up prominently, so I find it slightly better than the previous two books. Although the hagiographic portrayal of the Kaiser will no doubt put me off the subsequent books. Also, cant wait for my copy of Before They are Hanged to arrive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight of Ashes Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Nothing and I'm still disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arbor Gold Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 40 pages into The Grapes of Wrath and I put it down in favor of The Blade Itself. Halfway through and it's...not bad. Very readable, which is what is keeping me going. I'm kinda disappointed with myself, but I really hope I will get back to Wrath eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellis Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Last book read in St. Louis - The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers. Fun, short, if needlessly complicated, read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waterdancer Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Les Miserables should keep me occupied for a while. I was trying to get Taiko (Eiji Yoshikawa and William Scott Wilson) or Tigana (Guy Gavriel Kay) from my crummy local library, but they don't carry 'em. Darn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Barry Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 The Warrior Prophet by R. Scott Bakker. A step forward from TDTCB. People are able to have conversations without a paragraph of inner-monologue between each sentence. The Holy War actually starts to, you know, war and stuff. More of the back story is revealed and it is good stuff. Less Kelhus POV is a good thing, good God his sections are awful. I am aware that I have a personal hatred of any 'Jedi' character (it made me put aside Dune for example) but the annoying thing with Kelhus is that he is a great character 'off-screen' and I have no need to attempt to get inside his head as it is an impossible task for RSB to tell us what he is doing without sounding wanky. This dude should be shown and not heard. The plot also suffers from a lack of suspense. Yes there is intrigue and it is not possible to predict every plot detail but if you sat down at the beginning of the book and made a general stab at where we would be by the end of it I would reckon you would be not far from the truth of it. While RSB's philosophising can be interesting there is far too much of it. The book is bloated by it and on a smaller scale it can really lessen the dramatic impact of events. Criticisms aside it rattled along at a much quicker pace than TDTCB and there is now a cast of interesting characters set up for some major action which quickens my juices. The only shame is that it took 1400 pages to reach this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lokisnow Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Kafka on the Shore Absolutely superb, I could barely stand to put it down, reading almost every spare moment I wasn't cooking or at work, blazed through it and want to savor the feeling of hte book for a few days, don't want to read anything else just now. Wonderful Wonderful book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Could you describe what the book is about Lockesnow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nous Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Last wednesday I made the mistake of picking up the first half of James Clavell's Shogun. I finished the book at 3 am, having disregarded pressing deadlines and physical tiredness. The next day I read his King Rat, since I couldn't get my hands on the second half of Shogun. The need for a fix has subsided, and I've managed to resist picking up Noble House. I have too much to do this weekend to touch that 1369-page behemoth. Shogun is among the very best historical fiction I've read. King Rat, a tale of survival in a Japanese POW camp in WW2, is just as gripping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Finished Keeping It Real, but couldn't face a return to The Confusion. No reading Un Lun Dun by China Mieville instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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