Ser Barry Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Just finished The Road (Cormack McCarthy) and it is one of the most emphatic sad stories I've read. This is as good as it gets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparky Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 The Prisoner and The Fugitive, by Proust. Truly one of the strongest volumes (well, it was collected as one in the edition I read), when the reader begins to reap the rewards of sticking with the Search this far. The relationship between Albertine and Marcel(?) is real, touching, and for me, quite disturbing on a personal level. In fact, there were times when I could barely read more - it's rare I find a book so psychologically distressing! One more to go. The last three volumes make the whole thing worthwhile. The first three volumes have quite their fair share of tedium (as well as excellence, no doubt), but the last three are just amazing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawrence Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Just a quick note that I am missing Diablo's further third person explorations on Michael Moorcock's Elric: The Last Emperor. And Larry let me down with the absence of a review as well! As for reading, I have been busy lately. I read Charlie Huston's Half the Blood of Brooklyn, which I liked less than ND or AD. The Brooklyn (and his inhabitants) didn't appeal much. Also, the novel had some unexpected pacing problems - very unlike Huston. Overall, still a solid read but like I said, it didn't top the previous two installments. Still thinking of writing a full blown review. Afterwards I read Robert Crais' The Watchman. I am not even going to comment on it, just sucked plain ass. I discussed it to 'tears' in other place, quite fun, but the book itself wasn't worth my money. Then I moved on to Jeff & Ann VanderMeers The New Weird. I had high hopes for this anthology, in some parts it did live up - in some parts not. The laboratorium and the round robin Festival pieces were excellent (especially Sarah Monette's one!), the introduction by Jeff was also up to standard, the short stories were a mixed bag. Highlights were Jeffrey Ford's At Reparata, Alistair Rennie's The Gutter Sees the Light That Never Shines, Brian Evenson's Watson’s Boy (excellent), China Mieville's Jack, Jeffrey Thomas' The Immolation and Simon D. Ings The Braining of Mother Lamprey. Guess I did like some stuff after all. The rest was either not special (the Moorcock story for example) or damn near incomprehensible (M. John Harrison). If I can find a topic somewhere, I'll give my full thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaldanya Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Just finished Let the Right One In by John [something] Lindqvist. My opinion of it has increased further because the ending was satisfying - which is so, so rare. I'm now reading Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino. I really liked her other book, Out, so I have high hopes for this one. N Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lupigis Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Just finished Let the Right One In by John [something] Lindqvist. My opinion of it has increased further because the ending was satisfying - which is so, so rare. Good to hear that you liked it! As I said, it was a pretty major hit in Sweden, and it has now been turned into a movie. The movie premiered at the Gothenburg Film Festival about a month ago and the various bloggers who saw it seem mostly happy about it. It was set to have it's real premiere this spring, but someone decided that it would be easier to market it with a fall premiere, so now it's been pushed back to September - October! However, there is a trailer on Youtube! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttering Bill Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 I haven't done that much for reading lately (damned Guitar Hero!), but I managed to finish Gail Martin's The Blood King last week. The frist half of the book was boring. Just an a big drop in quality, overall, since The Summoner (which wasn't that great to begin with). Her writing was a little cleaner, but the story was stale. She just reused a bunch of plot devices from the first book (which itself was a bunch of generic fantasy plot devices). Her villain was incompetent, and her MC had too easy a time gathering allies - "real" kings wouldn't be so accommodating. And there was a little too much sappy romance for my taste. But it had a strong ending. Of course, she closed it out a little too cleanly, so I have no idea what the next couple of books will deal with (IIRC, she's working on a 4th book now). Someday I'll get around to writing up a review for the blog - which has been neglected these past few weeks. But all considered, I'd call The Blood King just slightly better than mediocre. I'm back to working through Parkers Evil for Evil. The break served me well, as I'm enjoying the story again. Still, it'll be slow going, and probably take me another week to finish it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isis Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 I'mback to working through Parkers Evil for Evil. The break served me well, as I'm enjoying the story again. Still, it'll be slow going, and it'll probably take me another week to finish it.I've just come back to it too. About 2/3 through and still enjoying it. I'd taken a little break from it to read The Red Wolf Conspiracy, which I really enjoyed. More so than TNOTW, because I think it's a more cohesive story, told in a much more compelling fashion. For pageturnyness I'd put it about the level of Scott Lynch. Trying to think of some negatives here and struggling... I'm not saying it's perfect, obviously. But when I REALLY like a book I immediately ask myself what I didn't like about it. I'll come back to that later, I guess. I'm looking forward to part two. Wertykins, do you know when we might see that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deornoth Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 I'm well into Joel Shepherd's 'Crossover' and it's turning out to be just the kind of sci-fi I like to read (fast paced, interesting characters/plot, not too technical) I've also been reading Matthew Sprange's 'Shadowmage' on the train to work, entertaining but sometimes stepping too close to 'Lies of Locke Lamora' territory for comfort... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Cool! This is the first I've heard of anyone outside Sweden reading [Let the Right One In]. I've tried to promote it one or two times in in the Literature board but never gotten much of a response. Let us know how you liked it! I'm interested in checking it out, and have added it to my wishlist. But the one I added is called Let Me In, and I just want to make sure. The synopsis sound the same, but the page count is wildly different and why the hell would the change the name between the UK and US versions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lupigis Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 why the hell would the change the name between the UK and US versions? It wouldn't be the first time - that's pretty common even with books in English (Harry Potter 1, Richard Morgan's latest and so on) and I assume it's even more common with translated books. Don't hesitate, buy it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 It wouldn't be the first time - that's pretty common even with books in English (Harry Potter 1, Richard Morgan's latest and so on) and I assume it's even more common with translated books. Don't hesitate, buy it! The change from Black Man to Th1rte3n doesn't surprise me - as over sensitive people here in 'Merika can be. But Let the Right One In to Let Me In seems pretty stupid. I would assume they used the same translator, but I couldn't find the name of the person who translated the UK version (Ebba Segerberg in the translator for the US version). I'll probably buy it this weekend. I've been a sucker (for quality) vampire fiction lately, and it's been two months since my last Joe Pitt fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 The change from Black Man to Th1rte3n doesn't surprise me - as over sensitive people here in 'Merika can be. While I can sort-of understand why they wanted to change the name from Black Man (although I think it was the wrong decision), there are some retitlings that seem completely unnecessary - Steph Swainston's The Modern World was renamed Dangerous Offspring in America, and while neither title is better or worse than the other, I can't see any reason to change the original title. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smeech Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 I'm about to finish Caught Stealing, by Charlie Huston. I really liked the beginning, but he lost me somewhere in the middle, and over all I'd call it a mild disappointment. I'm still going to give the next book a shot, and I loved Bud the cat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voodooqueen126 Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Trying to read Plutarch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voodooqueen126 Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 woops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voodooqueen126 Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Trying to read Plutarch's Parallel lives. Is any one set of parallel lives better than the others? I have read Lycurgus vs Numa and the comparison and can only say that neither Plutarch and Lycurgus understood economics. Do you think I should move this post elsewhere? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antonius Pius Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 The Internets hate you, that much is obvious. I've only read the Roman lives, in the Penguin collections (The Fall of the Roman Republic). I like to stay op topic. I've read bits and pieces of some of his Greek lives, but not enough to really give you advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tehol Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 dead thread walking. nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datepalm Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 in february 08, of all places.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICE CROW Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Im currently doing my first reread of ASOIAF, i have also bought the first three books in both the Wheel of Time and Malazan book of the Fallen series. I know around here both series have gotten some mixed reviews but im gonna give them a fair chance, i think 3 books in each series will be enough for me to make a decision whether to continue them or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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