RedEyedGhost Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 I've moved on to Already Dead... "After finishing Jennifer Rardin's Once Bitten, Twice Shy, my vampire fix was not yet sated. So I eagerly dug into Already Dead by Charlie Huston... What a difference between the two books -- Once Bitten, Twice Shy was like finding a baby polar bear on a mountain-slope, thinking, "wow, this is cool", enjoying the time spent with it, thinking "I need more polar bear" ... and then stumbling across its big daddy (Already Dead), who promptly kicks you in the face, chases you, and then tries to ravage you as you ski away screaming... Which is not to say I didn't enjoy it. (The bear analogy really fails here). Just that Charlie Huston's take on the vampire novel, is grittier, more direct, sharper and more original. But clearly, not as nice." That was perhaps the weirdest bit of any review I've ever written! It was a very good read. A few flaws, however... Review here! ~Chris Great review. Huston definitely pulls no punches in the gritty, hardcore department. Glad you liked it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Mallister Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Just started the Prince of Nothing series, half-way through book one. So far I can see what all the hype was about, and happy to say I'm not disappointed with the story at all, especially after reading some really good authors lately, like Abercrombie, Lynch, Mieville, and Brust. After I finish the Thousandfold Thought, I am either going to start the second two compilations (Book of Taltos and Book of Athyra) of Brust's Vlad Taltos series. I'm kind of hesitant about picking them up though where each book is about a different period of the life of Vlad, and are not in chronological order (according to the overall storyline), but rather the order they were published in. Or, I am going to start Cook's Chronicles of the Black Company...I have a very good To Be Read list, which will only get better with the American debuts of Before They are Hanged and The Inferior Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted February 8, 2008 Author Share Posted February 8, 2008 Currently reading GRRM's Hunter's Run, cowritten with Dozois and Abraham. Pretty good, so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintertroll Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 So far I've read Before They are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie, which was entirely delightful and a joy to my eyes. Now I'm struggling through the first book in the Malazan-series by Erikson, and I really want it to be good, but so far it's just a mess of characters, names and events and I'm not really sure what's going on, except that there's a lot of magic people killing each other and everyone in the way with blood splashing around everywhere. I hope it will get more organized, because I really hate the feeling of having read through 700 pages without ever knowing what was going on all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Mallister Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Now I'm struggling through the first book in the Malazan-series by Erikson, and I really want it to be good, but so far it's just a mess of characters, names and events and I'm not really sure what's going on, except that there's a lot of magic people killing each other and everyone in the way with blood splashing around everywhere. I hope it will get more organized, because I really hate the feeling of having read through 700 pages without ever knowing what was going on all the time. That's exactly how I felt when I read it. Completely killed the rest of the series for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Sun Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Un Lun Dun by China Mieville, which was total garbage, or shall we say rubbish. I'm reading the same book, but I like it a lot. (How taste can differ.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted February 8, 2008 Author Share Posted February 8, 2008 I'm reading the same book, but I like it a lot. (How taste can differ.) Agreed. This book is excellent. I saw the new mass-market paperback edition in Easons today and it was superb. I really wanted to buy it all over again for the new, brighter cover but that would be rather OTT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellis Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 I thought Un Lun Dun was cute but not as good as some of Mieville's other work. But then, I hold him to a high standard I'm done with Infinite Jest, which did grow on me, especially the characters, though it took several hundred pages. I still maintain that it needs a good editing (nearly 1000 pages plus 100 of endnotes). What was fun was how the reader learns so much more about the situations, characters and relationships, slowly, putting the same events through different people and different endnotes together. And then, it just ended, as if the author had run out of paper and had to stop. I didn't expect a huge resolution or anything, not that kind of book, but I'm still going to knock off an Amazon star for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellis Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 I know Bellis said in the last thread that he/she found the Niccolo series better I know the name/avatar change is more overtly masculine... but there is a box under profile that can clear this up (and no, i'm not just trying to get you to click me!). Glad that you've been converted to Dorothy Dunnett love Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mexal Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 I know the name/avatar change is more overtly masculine... but there is a box under profile that can clear this up (and no, i'm not just trying to get you to click me!). Glad that you've been converted to Dorothy Dunnett love Uh huh. I figured you out! At least I didn't just assume you were a male. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Targaryen Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 I recently started the umpteenth re-read of Alcoholics Anonymous and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. I am reading 8 pages a day of Alcoholics Anonymous and once chapter a day for the 12x12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparky Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 I'm done with Infinite Jest, which did grow on me, especially the characters, though it took several hundred pages. I still maintain that it needs a good editing (nearly 1000 pages plus 100 of endnotes). What was fun was how the reader learns so much more about the situations, characters and relationships, slowly, putting the same events through different people and different endnotes together. And then, it just ended, as if the author had run out of paper and had to stop. I didn't expect a huge resolution or anything, not that kind of book, but I'm still going to knock off an Amazon star for that. Well, there are already a number of academic studies published with regard to the book, and all I can say with even a slight degree of confidence is that EVERYTHING in the book can be explained as being wild-assedly related to something else that sort of recursively refers to itself and folds into three relatedly-unrelated stories, etc. etc. Wallace, to be sure, is a genius, and I don't think anyone will ever successfully unwrap Infinite Jest in all its glory. Hence, its name. Even then, it's amazingly readable. Man, you make me want to get my copy back down off the shelf and start all over... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duchess of malfi Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 I've been on a bit of an Iain Banks kick lately...in the last few weeks I have read Player of Games, Use of Weapons, and Excession. While they are all a part of his Culture series, they are all written in very different styles (Player of Games is more of a straight forward narrative, Use of Weapons tells its story in a circular fashion, with snippets of the main characters' lives in an unlinear fashion, and Excession is political intrigue). I also fit in Dean Koontz's Darkest Evening of the Year, as I have a weakness for his dog stories. I think I will read a history of Mespotamia that has been in my TBR pile for a couple of years next... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mashiara Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 I also fit in Dean Koontz's Darkest Evening of the Year, as I have a weakness for his dog stories. Regardless of what others might say about his books, he writes about some awesome dogs. It is known. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virtua Icon Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 I just bought Last Dragon today. I'm not that far into it -- maybe 15 pages -- so I can't comment much on the book, other than that the prose is right up my alley, and I really should check out the other books Discoveries is putting out this year. I've had an Elric omnibus for ages that I haven't read, maybe I should get to that soon. I have more Moorcock as well, but Elric first, I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigei Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Just finished Tanith Lee's "Silver Metal Lover." Eh, not bad, Tanith Lee has always been on of my fave writers. Hmm but the book seems like its for YA. I'm just too old for this type of adolescent love books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalThor Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 I finished part one (paperback) of Storm of Swords (finally) and began part 2. I'm looking forward to finishing the reread so I can look at the book forums without spoiling myself due to old-aged memory loss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry. Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 I decided that I'm going to do a re-read of a chapbook-length (90 pages) collaborative story collection by Jeff VanderMeer and Cat Rambo called The Surgeon's Tale and Other Stories, to be followed either by some Ursula Le Guin books I checked out of the local library (their copy of Wizard of Earthsea was reported as lost, so that will have to await until later this year at least) or perhaps the Elric collection I received in the mail earlier this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teng Ai Hui Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 I just finished Moment in Peking by Lin Yutang. It's a historical fiction that follows the members of 2 families, the Yaos and the Zengs, as they live life (for the most part) in Peking, China. The story starts during the summer of 1900 in the middle of the Boxer Rebellion and ends on New Year's Day 1938 as people are fleeing Hangzhou as Japanese soldiers are pillaging the city. Next up in the queue is Wild Cards III: Jokers Wild. Hopefully, I will be able to jump into the series mid-stream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burnt hound Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 I'm reading The Chronicles of the Black Company, and when that is finished, I will start on Black Man by Richard Morgan. I have heard nothing but good things about both novels. Should be fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.