September Reading Thread

[Bellis]

Just finished reading Neil Gaiman's Stardust, which was cute, in a 1980s Jim Henson production sort of way. Too bad it took this long to get it to the screen.

Coming up The Bestiary, Rainbows End and a re-read of Wolfe's Book of the Short Sun. And maybe War and Peace. The list is short these days.

[IheartTesla]

I am continuing with The Weather Makers, and plodding through The October Horse. The latter book is turning out to be a real chore though. It's like Caesar is May Sue raised to the power of Kelhus.

There are other problems with the series too. I think a good editor could have made it so much better.

[Jon Targaryen]

I'm reading a few books right now.

All the Catelyn chapters in ASOIAF.

A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman

Tiberius the Politician by Barbara Levick

Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan

Competitive Strategy by Michael E. Porter

[Amras]

Just finished Consider Phlebas by Ian M. Banks. Needless to say that I enjoyed a lot and I'm really looking forward to continuing onwards with the Culture novels. Full review as always on my blog.

I'll be giving Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson a try now. I really hope this one is better than Scar Night or Winterborn, both of which got the boot after the first hundred pages.

[pat5150]

Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Wizard of the Crow is magical realism, not fantasy.

Set in the fictional African republic of Aburiria, in Wizard of the Crow the author "set out to explore human relationships against the backdrop of a rapidly globalizing world." Thiong'o, naturally, as an exiled Kenyan, has a long history of political activism.

Weighin in at 766 pages, Wizard of the Crow is a work of titanic proportions. And its principal shortcoming is that the pace is at times atrociously slow. Which, in the end, killed this novel for me. Too many unnecessary POV characters make for an unbearably sluggish rhythm in several portions of this book. Indeed, I came very close to stop reading on more than one occasions. . . Even though some parts are quite interesting, others bored me out of my mind.

Sections of Wizard of the Crow appear to be undisguised attacks aimed at the dictatorship of Kenya's Daniel arap Moi. Which is not surprising, given the fact that the dictator's regime imprisoned the author in the 70s, banned some of his books, and then forced him into exile, first in Europe and then in the USA. I believe that, in order to fully appreciate/understand Wizard of the Crow, one needs to be familiar with world politics. Leftists will doubtless enjoy it more than their Right-wing counterparts, methinks.

Though Thiong'o is on the money more often than not, I did find some of his political "comments" to be a bit narrow on the ideological side. While I agree that international financial forces can be disruptive with their efforts to engender development (something this continent desperately needs), following decades of economic stagnation in so many African countries I found that the way he depicted market forces more than a little overdone. Given the author's past, tyranny and egomania are themes that Thiong'o explores through the Ruler and his entourage of sycophants.

Wizard of the Crow is an ambitious literary endeavor filled with great ideas. The humor, however, is more intellectual than funny. The political commentary is quite heavy-handed at times, yet that doesn't take too much away from the reading experience. It's the snail-slow pace which makes what could have been an excellent read merely a good one.

Check out the blog for the full review.

Patrick

[PuroGeo]

I just finished Watchmen by Alan Moore. First time I ever read it and loved it. One of the best things I have ever read. Rorschach and Veidt are so awesome and it has one of the best endings ever.

Right now I am reading V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and so far it is a pretty fun read.

[oneeye]

Hi. Seconding a request for your thoughts and opinions on Rose of the Prophet. I confess I am a Weis & Hickman fanboy but this is one series I never got around to. I know I would've loved it at 13, but at 31? Is it good light reading?

I'm not great with reviews, but it's not captivating me as much as the original Dragonlance. (Perhaps because I too, have aged a little since then

Still it has a lot of similiar elements such as the gods play a huge role in mortal affairs.

I didn't really feel the arabian touch as much as I would have hoped and none of the characters gripped me as much as raistlin, tanis, tasselhof did back then.

Still the djinni were amusing and the story was good, though the war of the gods was distracting. Even in dragonlance the gods though important were still relatively aloof , but here we occasionaly got god povs which was eh.

[Budgie]

Hi, this is my first post!

Currently i am reading:

Fevre Dream - George rr Martin. I am really enjoying this!

Banewreaker - Jacquline Carey. This has been good to so far.

In my to read list is:

Godslayer - Carey

Renegade's Magic - Robin Hobb

Tyrant - Valerio Manfredi

[Isis]

Welcome!

[Budgie]

Thanks!!

[Peadar]

Just finished reading Issue #11 of Black Gate and Max Brooks' World War Z.

About to start, The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin. After that, I might try to find a copy of Hunter's Moon.

[Xray the Enforcer]

Welcome Zan!

I'm also interested in your take on Hobb. Although I will admit that I'm not a fan of Banewreaker. I appreciate what Carey was trying to do with it, but I just couldn't get into it.

I finally finished the Name of the Wind...by skipping a huge chunk of the middle. Gods, was that middle ponderous. Gah. Now I'm bouncing between Wild Cards Vol 1, Elantris, and War for the Oaks.

[Inigima]

Just finished Bujold's Young Miles, which Os has been pushing me to read for months, by staying up until 4:30am. It was worth it. Highly recommended.

I have the following on hand and on my to-read list. What should I read next (reading by committee! ):

- Cook - The Tyranny of the Night

- Pressfield - The Gates of Fire

- Mieville - Perdido Street Station

- Pullman - The Golden Compass

- Rowling - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

- Huxley - Brave New World

I haven't read any of the above.

There are some more books as well, some rereads, a few not, but these are the ones I'd like to select from at the moment.

[Happy Ent]

I finally finished the Name of the Wind...by skipping a huge chunk of the middle. Gods, was that middle ponderous.

I'm still stuck there...

I think this books needs a parody real quick. It could be written from Arya's perspective, when she is homeless in King's Landing. She witnesses her father's trial,

while random people in the crowd give her gifts, praise her singing voice, and discuss the merits of different editions of Arcanist Keath's Lives of the four kings. She will reflect on the the general wretchedness of humanity, what with some children in the crowd having unwashed clothes. The belly-churning culmination of the scene is when King Ambrose, to the suprise of his councillors, bans Ned Stark from visiting the archives for five spans.

I'd write it myself, but I just can't make it boring enough.

[Bellis]

Just finished Bujold's Young Miles, which Os has been pushing me to read for months, by staying up until 4:30am. It was worth it. Highly recommended.

I have the following on hand and on my to-read list. What should I read next (reading by committee! ):

- Cook - The Tyranny of the Night

- Pressfield - The Gates of Fire

- Mieville - Perdido Street Station

- Pullman - The Golden Compass

- Rowling - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

- Huxley - A Brave New World

I haven't read any of the above.

There are some more books as well, some rereads, a few not, but these are the ones I'd like to select from at the moment.

Read the HP. It's a quick read and the longer you wait, the more spoiled you'll be. And if you wait too long, it won't matter anymore because the world will have moved on to the next big thing ™.

Then read Perdido Street Station.

Then the rest.

[RedEyedGhost]

I finished Ragamuffin last night and...

Ragamuffin [is] a loose follow-up to Crystal Rain. The focus of this book is completely different from that of Crystal Rain, and I'm liking what Buckell is doing very much. He's definitely building an interesting and complex universe.

Boy was I wrong on it being a loose follow-up; once we get into part two of the book it connects directly to Crystal Rain. I like the versatility of the series, because the two books cover completely different aspects of sci-fi. Crystal Rain is a post-technology sci-fi, and Ragamuffin is a space-opera adventure with big ship, big guns, wormholes, nanotech advanced humans, powerful aliens, etc.

Ragamuffin has been the most enjoyable 2007 release sci-fi that I've read. More enjoyable (to me) than Black Man and Brasyl. It's not political and preachy like Black Man, or as boring and unfinished as Brasyl. Don't get me wrong, though, I did enjoy Black Man and to a lesser extent Brasyl, but I feel that they both fall short of the massive amounts of hype that they have received.

Ragamuffin was just a fun book (that also has some cool science). I felt that Buckell's storytelling has improved since Crystal Rain, and it was much tighter in Ragamuffin. His universe is very interesting and complex

SPOILER: speculation

It seems obvious that the Satrap are the same alien species that eliminated the main population of the Teotl, and they are now going to turn their attentions to getting rid of humans (I liked the Satrap setting up habitats to study humans angle). It makes me wonder how many "wormhole system" the Satraps control. I also can't wait to see how advanced the humans on Chimson are after 300 years of isolation, and has Earth recovered? Is there a wormhole that connects the Satraps systems that the humans don't know about or do they have FTL technology. Hopefully we get some answers in the next book.

disclaimer: I liked this better than Black Man and Brasyl because I had more fun reading, not because I thought the science was better or that it was better written. It's just more fun, plain and simple.

9/10

I also read Mr. Punch by Neil Gaiman yesterday, and it was a good read. The artwork was gorgeous. It's an odd little tale about a boy's eccentric relatives and him coming to age as he is frequently disturbed by the Mr. Punch puppet show. The writing and dialog were good, but the depth just wasn't there. Nowhere as good as Sandman, but it was a decent read. Recommended for Gaiman fans.

6.5/10

[williamjm]

I didn't really feel the arabian touch as much as I would have hoped and none of the characters gripped me as much as raistlin, tanis, tasselhof did back then.

Still the djinni were amusing and the story was good, though the war of the gods was distracting. Even in dragonlance the gods though important were still relatively aloof , but here we occasionaly got god povs which was eh.

The Djinni were fun, from what I remember. I suspect some of the squabbling human characters might irritate me now, however.

Just finished Bujold's Young Miles, which Os has been pushing me to read for months, by staying up until 4:30am. It was worth it. Highly recommended.

I did find the Miles books very addictive as well. I'm a bit sad that I now read them all and there's no ETA on a new one

[True Blue Mug]

It's been awhile...

Just finished Magic for Beginners and was a little underwhelmed. A nice attempt at making fantasy a vital if not misunderstood influence upon "real life," but very one noted.

[Talyn]

I just started reading The Devil's Right Hand by Lilith Saintcrow.

I just started so I don't feel like I can give a valid opinion on it yet. Maybe latter.

[Deornoth]

Just finished reading Paul S. Kemp’s ‘Shadowstorm’. An absolutely cracking read that strikes a good balance between epic magical battles and human drama. However, you are left wondering if Kemp has overdone it and left himself with too much to do in the third book… My full review is Here

I’m now reading John Beachem’s ‘Storms of Vengeance’ but will be taking a break from then when I get my little hands on the new Felix Castor novel ‘Dead Men’s Boots’ (Mike Carey)…