The Dog Days of August Readings

[Arbor Gold]

That actually sounds pretty interesting. Think I'll check it out when I have the chance. Always been interested in reading a good book with a circus background, after watching HBO's Carnivale.

MakahaBoy, I am loving this book. I bought it for a business trip, and while I was reading it in the hotel bar the other night, I started chatting with the bartender. He had read the book, and said, "You know, if you like that, you might want to check out Carnivale." I watched the first half of the first season of Carnivale, and while they do share similar settings, the stories told are vastly different.

Water for Elephants is told in the first person flashback, part of the story taking place now, most (so far) taking place on the road with a circus in the late '20's/early 30's. Definately during prohibition. I am finding it to be compulsively readable -- the setting is so well-researched and the characters are so compelling that I can't put the book down (except, of course, to post here). It has certainly gotten me out of my recent "I can't read anything" rut.

[RedEyedGhost]

How is a tract

...of 100 pages or more that are totally boring...

not "bad writing"?

[Angalin]

I very much enjoyed Water for Elephants, which I borrowed from the library in the spring.

Right now I'm onto William Boyd's Restless, about a woman whose mother turns out to have spied for the British in WWII. So far, so enjoyable; it reminds me somewhat of Alan Furst's WWII novels, but with less noir atmosphere.

[Innominandum]

Because as I've said, at least Tad Williams knows how to write. So much crap out there seems to have come from a seventh grader.

Maybe Tad Williams knows how to write (I don't know, I read a translation) but he doesn't really know what to write. Hundreds and hundreds of pages for novella-size stories.

[Lawrence]

Perhaps a bit late reaction, but I was staying in Berlin for a couple of days, without any internet resources. So.

Lawrence,

If you really want a good Joyce starting point, start with his short fiction, collected in Dubliners. Then it would be Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which is where his style begins to morph a bit. Then Ulysses and only after all of the others should Finnegan's Wake be attempted. I'd say Duncan is more between the Portrait and Ulysses stages of that type of style, although he does vary a bit from Joyce in theme and on the sentence level (Joyce, I believe, is the better conveyor of emotion and word-thought relationship).

Thanks, I really appreciate the input. I should clear up some things myself, because apparently I was the one who confused Graham Joyce (mentioned by REG) with James Joyce (who you mentioned in the Duncan thread). Doesn't matter anymore though, because I will just read them both. I'll follow your advice and start with Dubliners. Curious what I make of the 'real' literature..

Definitely let me (and the board ) know what you think after you've read them both (of course after reading my reply below...).

Certainly! By the way, I admit I have some trouble finding that comments section you referred to in your librarything.

[direwolf]

Innominandium: Thats exactly what I meant about Williams

[Stego]

If you haven't read a book by Graham Joyce do yourself a favor and buy one of his books this weekend.

I will not be waiting another eight months before I read him again. Can anybody suggest which book of his I read next?

Requiem

Smoking Poppy

The Limits of Enchantment

Indigo

In that order.

[Deornoth]

I just finished reading the first book ('Shadows') in Shaun Hutson's omnibus 'Shadows and Nemesis'. A genuinely creepy tale that is spoilt by Hutson overdoing it on the gore. It's almost like he tries to outdo himself with each act of sickening violence I wonder how he sleeps at night with that stuff going on in his head... My full review is Here I'm now reading the second story 'Nemesis'...

[RedEyedGhost]

Perhaps a bit late reaction, but I was staying in Berlin for a couple of days, without any internet resources. So.

Thanks, I really appreciate the input. I should clear up some things myself, because apparently I was the one who confused Graham Joyce (mentioned by REG) with James Joyce (who you mentioned in the Duncan thread). Doesn't matter anymore though, because I will just read them both. I'll follow your advice and start with Dubliners. Curious what I make of the 'real' literature..

Certainly! By the way, I admit I have some trouble finding that comments section you referred to in your librarything.

No worries.

When you're looking at my list of books there's two different ways you can view it: "list view" and "cover view". Select "list view" - right below the Librarything logo. Next to that there is a selection of "display styles: A B C D E edit" click on "edit" and you'll be taken to another page that has options A-E. Pick one and you can customize it with the drop-down menu bars. Select "comments" for one of the columns and voila!

Requiem

Smoking Poppy

The Limits of Enchantment

Indigo

In that order.

Thank you! I was probably going to read Smoking Poppy as my next Graham Joyce book, but I'll pick up Requiem instead.

[KazigluBey]

I'm on a history (not historical fiction) kick right now. I just read The First Crusade: A New History by Thomas Asbridge. I knew something about the first crusade before this, but damn, I never knew how badly the odds were stacked against the crusaders. It's also nice that it doesn't have an anti-christian slant, it actually seems somewhat non-biased. Very interesting read.

I'm now in the middle of The Ottoman Centuries by Lord Kinross. Again, I already knew a bit about the Ottoman Empire, but seeing it's history told in a linear way, from one sultan to the next, is very enjoyable for me. This one has a pro-ottoman slant, but I still have to wince every once in a while after reading of all the towns that were completely massacred, people sold into slavery, rape, pillage, etc. The Ottomans might have been civilized for their time, but they were also greedy, unscrupulous barbarians.

Anyone know of a good book that tells the history of the Holy Roman Empire or medieval France in a linear fashion? (I hate it when history books go back and forth in dates, I like my history told chronologically!)

[pat5150]

Inexplicably, this latest offering by acclaimed author C. S. Friedman has been flying under the radar since last January. And given its quality, this sad state of affairs continues to baffle me. Feast of Souls marks Friedman's return to the fantasy genre. That, in and of itself, should be reason enough to buy this book! Like many other readers, I have been waiting for this moment since Crown of Shadows was published.

And yet, having read both Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind and Williams' Shadowplay earlier this year, I decided to wait a while before giving this one a chance. I try to balance everything by reading titles from various publishers -- an attempt to spread the joy, if you will. However, electing to wait before reading Feast of Souls proved to be a dumb move on my part, for the first volume of the Magister trilogy is without a doubt the very best of Daw Books' "big guns" of 2007.

More epic than dark fantasy this time around, Feast of Souls is a compelling opening chapter in a tale which appears vaster in scope than anything C. S. Friedman has written up until this point. Having said that, I feel that it's also the least self-contained novel the author has ever written. Whereas each volume of the Coldfire trilogy was more or less stand-alone -- even though part of an overall story arc -- Feast of Souls is definitely an introduction to a much more ambitious and complex fantasy epic.

Imaginative and entertaining, with an ending that I never saw coming, Feast of Souls is probably the most underrated fantasy book of 2007. Give C. S. Friedman's latest a shot, lest it remains this year's best-kept secret!

Check the blog for the full review.

Patrick

[Larry.]

A copy/paste from a comment in a similar thread elsewhere:

I finished reading Adam Roberts' debut novel, Salt, last night and it's one of those stories that I've read before "somewhere," but Roberts puts some nice touches upon it. Told via two main PoVs of two separate cultures that develop (one more of an anarchistic commune similar to that of Le Guin's The Dispossessed, the other more akin to the Southern Baptist Convention/Moral Majority-influenced hierarchal semi-theocratic governmental system), the tale revolves around the settlement of this salt-laden world appropriately called Salt and how a cultural mistake ends up having such profound effects on both societies.

Like I said above, I feel as though I've read the basic story elsewhere, but Roberts does an excellent job in making me want to pause, read slowly, absorb what is transpiring, and then to consider the impact over 24 hours after finishing the last page. It was a worthwhile read.

Now I'm reading Brandon Sanderson's two Mistborn novels for a review later this month. A bit of a change of pace in many ways, to say the least, although it's at least better than Elantris was for me last year.

[Ser Barry]

It looks like CS Friedman is called Celia Friedman on the UK releases of her books. Why the difference?

[Stego]

It looks like CS Friedman is called Celia Friedman on the UK releases of her books. Why the difference?

Cause Merkans are sexist scum.

[Bellis]

I finished Comte de Monte Cristo. It was as excellent as one would expect from a book written 150 years and still talked about today. Monte Cristo recalls the prototype of the mysterious dark hero, exemplified later in Bruce Wayne or Wesley from the Princess Bride. But not just adventure, I was impressed by the complex plotting and good character development, even the bits of social commentary. Read it.

A bit of advice to the other native English speakers on this board - do, do, do (if you can) read a foreign novel not in translation (doesn't apply to non-English speakers since they obviously read this English board already).

I find I read much too fast in English, and it's sometimes hard to stop myself from skimming. Because I read Monte Cristo in a language in which I consider myself barely literate (French), I was forced to slow down and savor it in order to understand what was going on. Plus, clever bits are so much more rewarding to pick up on in your non-native language.

[Fingolfin]

Just finished The Farseer Trilogy, belatedly I will admit as I have had them sitting gathering dust for about 3 years now, and enjoyed it immensely. Of the three for me Royal Assasin was the strongest in a very strong set of books. It was nice change to see a world from a first person perspective and Fitz was a fantastic narrator and character.

I plan to read the Tawny Man Trilogy next because I really want to discover more about Fitz and co. But I am worried that skipping the Liveships will affect my reading expirence. Could someone please inform me if I need to read Liveships to fully appreciate the Tawny Man. Thanks.

[Fastia]

I plan to read the Tawny Man Trilogy next because I really want to discover more about Fitz and co. But I am worried that skipping the Liveships will affect my reading expirence. Could someone please inform me if I need to read Liveships to fully appreciate the Tawny Man. Thanks.

I would recommend reading The Liveship Traders trilogy before reading the Tawny Man trilogy. It does take place in a different part of the world, but there are events in Liveship Traders that tie in to Tawny Man and there are parts that you won't understand or appreciate as much if you skip Liveship Traders.

I too wanted to immediately start reading Tawny Man after finishing Farseer, but I'm glad I read Liveship Traders first. The first book was somewhat hard to get into, but once it got going, I ended up really enjoying them.

[Calibandar]

I plan to read the Tawny Man Trilogy next because I really want to discover more about Fitz and co. But I am worried that skipping the Liveships will affect my reading expirence. Could someone please inform me if I need to read Liveships to fully appreciate the Tawny Man. Thanks.

You could read Liveships first but it's not a big loss if you don't. I thought Farseer and Tawny Man were a heck of a lot better so I'm not keen on Liveships anyway. I'd say if you feel you must read Liveships first, give it a shot and if you don't like it, drop it and continue with Fool's Errand. It's not like the last trilogy will not make sense without reading Liveship.

[kcf]

I finally finished up The New Space Opera by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan (eds) - it had a few great stories, and too many mediocre stories. Next up is Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley.

For those that are fans of space opera, old and new, The New Space Opera is a collection you’ll enjoy, and for those that are seeking adventurous stories in fascinating settings afar, this is a collection you’ll enjoy. For me it is too much mediocrity surrounded by too few gems – but those gems just might be enough. 6/10 (full review)

[Arbor Gold]

Just finished Water for Elephants.

Now moving on to RSURS, mainly so I can read the threads.