Jump to content

July reading


A wilding

Recommended Posts

I'm currently reading Breaking Benjamin, by Brent Meske. Assassins appeal to me. :) If you dislike jumping around in the timeline, this is probably not for you (sort of reminds me of Pulp Fiction). It's got a Sci-fi bent, set slightly in the future on Earth.

http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Benjamin-Br...9867&sr=8-1

Incidently, if any of you book review bloggers out there would be interested in reviewing it, drop me a PM; can see about arranging a copy for ya. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just started Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie. It's his autobiographical account of WWII on the Pacific side. I haven't even got past the Marine training yet, and am loving this book so far. It's humorous and has a realistic feel all around. I'm anxious for when he begins recoutning the actual fighting. Supposedly HBO is using some of this book as the basis for the next Band of Brothers series.

Afterward will be Old Man's War (John Scalzi) and hopefully With the Old Breed (another book being used for the 2nd Band of Brothers).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just finished Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell - this novel is very good and didn't get the attention it deserved when released last year. Next up is The Traveller by John Twelve Hawks.

Crystal Rain was unfortunately and unjustifiably too often overlooked when released last year as it was eclipsed by such releases as The Lies of Locke Lamora and His Majesty’s Dragon and the popularity of authors like John Scalzi. The story stands alone, yet introduces us to continuing saga that is followed up by Ragamuffin (released in June 2007) and future novels. This is science fiction and the beginning of a space opera, but the style and feel of Crystal Rain will satisfy fantasy and sci-fi fans alike. Do yourself a favor – read Crystal Rain – it was one of the best and most overlooked releases of 2006.(full review)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My recent reads include Lamb by Christopher Moore, Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan , Old Man's War by John Scalzi, the first 3 volumes of The Sandman by Neil Gaiman, Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill and a reread of LoLL.

I liked all of these, though I'm hoping The Sandman gets better, for all the claims of 'best comic ever'.

Altered Carbon and Old Man's War both had some great ideas but overall I enjoyed the latter more.

I'm now making my way through Red Seas Under Red Skies and am rapidly approaching the ending, damn me.

Coming up, I'm going to switch hats and try some of the classics, starting with The Catcher in the Rye, Catch-22, and The Brothers Karamazov.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finally decided to jump on the bandwagon and read the Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (who else?!) Review can be found here.

Now I decide to discover the 'source' of the Bridgeburners, ie. I started reading The Black Company by Glen Cook. I hope it's one hell of a entertaining story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now I decide to discover the 'source' of the Bridgeburners, ie. I started reading The Black Company by Glen Cook. I hope it's one hell of a entertaining story.

It's ten books long and while there are great bits there are also bits that will make you yawn... Overall though, a really good series :thumbsup:

I just finished reading 'The Atrocity Archives' by Charles Stross. Jam packed full (a little too full sometimes) of conspiracy theories, dimension-hopping Nazis and a 'Medusa Hybrid' CCTV system. Great stuff :smoking: I've reviewed it Here

I'm now reading 'The Good People' by Steve Cockayne...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Me too. I'm having a hard time getting into it (I say that about every book I start) but I'm only on pg 34 and lately I have not been dedicating a lot of time to reading.

I agree that the book starts slow, however I'm on page 200 (ish) right now and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I brought the book to work with me and just might have to sneak off for lunch and knock off 10 or 20 pages.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Working on:

Deadhouse Gates - just finished prologue, so no real opinion yet

Holy Blood, Holy Grail - interesting but I'm not ready to buy it HL&S - I'm not to the part where they assert Mary Magdalene is the Holy Grail; I'm still in part where they are trying to establish the existence of the secret society

A Game of Thrones - just picked it up and started re-reading for the heck of it

The Bourne Ultimatum - pretty good, but I'd never read the first two - now that I know that Carlos (The Jackal) is a central figure in all the books (and not at all mentioned in the movies), I'm probably going to stop this one and go back to the first Bourne book

On the way:

Fevre Dream

HP

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's ten books long and while there are great bits there are also bits that will make you yawn... Overall though, a really good series :thumbsup:

Hmm, I actually planned on reading only the first three installments, so far. I hope most the great bits are covered in these early books? Does the series maintain its quality throughout these ten books, you'd think? (just checking if it is worth purchasing the other seven books)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just finished Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Goes to Washington. It's a fun urban fantasy. Kitty doesn't differ all that much from any of the other female protagonists in the urban fantasy subgenre, the characters are either good people or complete sleaze, and anytime Vaughn starts writing about politics I want to wince (maybe the last to points have something to do with each other), but the stories themselves are still short, fun, and very readable.

hmm, it seems that Scott Lynch's RSURS has had a GRRM effect on me, where I'm having difficulty enjoying the books I'm reading and being more critical of the quality than usual. I think I'll get back to La Sombra del Viento or some other more 'serious' fantasy next.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm, I actually planned on reading only the first three installments, so far. I hope most the great bits are covered in these early books? Does the series maintain its quality throughout these ten books, you'd think? (just checking if it is worth purchasing the other seven books)

I only read the first book. It was OK, but I wasn't interested enough to keep going

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just finished Altered Carbon (my first skim-read, I'll probably be re-reading it over the next week). I have now started on Haldeman's Forever War which should be finished by this weekend too.

I'll go looking for some Richard Morgan threads so I can see what I missed in my first read.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I grabbed Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison off my SO's bookshelf earlier this week. I blame my Canadian education that I had not heard of let alone read this novel earlier. It's a still-provocative and captivating take on race, racism and identity politics (and identity) and apparently a classic of African-American lit. Needless to say, it's brilliant, and highly recommended, especially if you like Dostoevsky as the influences in the character development and plot progression are quite strong.

Right now, I'm reading Innocents Aboard, a recently released Gene Wolfe short story collection. It's Wolfe. If you like that sort of thing, which I obviously do, it's worth checking out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finished Black Man by Richard Morgan last night. It's my favorite book published in 2007 (that I've read so far). I liked it much better than McDonald's Brasyl (the two apparent frontrunners for the Hugo). It had cool science, and the 'history' was setup well. While the future tech was cool, I sure would have liked to have seen more of it. The ending had more emotional impact than I was expecting (of course, I never expect any emotional impact in SciFi).

SPOILER: Ending of BM vs Brasyl
Like Braysl this had an ambiguous ending, but this was the kind of ambiguity that I like. Whereas, it felt like Brasyl at the end of the second act.

All-in-all I whole heartedly recommend this one. I don't know if it will win the Hugo (or even if it should) but you should check it out if you haven't already.

9/10

I started Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston today, and I'm enjoying it so far.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey, I get to start the thread this month!

Just read Romanitas, a debut by a Sophia McDougal. This is an alternative history with a touch of SF, with the Roman empire still going strong at the start of the 21st century.

This book was annoying, because it has something and I wanted to like it, but there were just far too many things wrong with the plot and the world building. Non spoilerish examples:

- The imperial household is way too small and chaotic for an organisation that runs half the world (to be fair, the book dodges the question as to how much personal power the Emperor has, but it is clearly somewhere between very great and absolute). For example the adult heir to the imperium has only a single personal secretary, and the holder of this key plum job lives off site in a small flat with no servants or security because he "can't afford anywhere bigger".

- There is no explanation of why the social and political structure of the Empire has remained totally unchanged for two millennia. Given that the technological development is roughly equivalent to that in RL, I found this one particularly difficult to swallow.

- Slavery has been the bedrock of society for two thousand years, and just about nobody (other than the slaves themselves) objects to it, but suddenly a faction of the imperial family has decided more or less out of nowhere that it is wrong and plan to simply abolish it.

I hate it when that happens!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finished Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. This was the second book of hers that I've read in the last month and I am hooked. She is my favoriate author of the moment. My thanks to all of you that recommended her. If any of you have not sampled her works, you owe to yourself to read at least one of her novels this summer.

I'm onto Accelerando by Charles Stross.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Earthquake Weather finished off quite nicely. The last 1/4 of the book was much better that the first 3/4s.

Today I started in on Richard K. Morgan's Thirteen, so I can find out what all the board hype for this book is about. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...