July '08 Reading Thread

[ambyr]

[quote name='Isis' post='1445826' date='Jul 18 2008, 10.56']You just have to get stuck in and persevere and at some point you'll remember why you wanted to read it in the first place.[/quote]

That approach got me through [i]Quicksilver[/i], but it hasn't been enough to get me to pick up [i]The Confusion[/i], even though it's been sitting on my bookshelf lo these many years.

I'm on an investment book kick now, though, so maybe hitting the dry bits will persuade me that Eliza's adventures would be a more entertaining illustration of the concepts.

[sparky]

[quote name='ambyr' post='1445849' date='Jul 18 2008, 11.05']That approach got me through [i]Quicksilver[/i], but it hasn't been enough to get me to pick up [i]The Confusion[/i], even though it's been sitting on my bookshelf lo these many years.[/quote]

Odd. The 'fun factor' of [i]The Confusion[/i] is off the charts - compared to [i]Quicksilver[/i], anyway. Of course, having just said that, I STILL haven't read the third book, and I read the first two within months of their original release. Sigh.

[Peadar]

[quote name='sparky' post='1446232' date='Jul 18 2008, 19.56']Odd. The 'fun factor' of [i]The Confusion[/i] is off the charts - compared to [i]Quicksilver[/i], anyway. Of course, having just said that, I STILL haven't read the third book, and I read the first two within months of their original release. Sigh.[/quote]

The Confusion was my favourite volume of the series...

Just finished [url="http://www.amazon.com/Niros-Game-Novel-P-S/dp/0061470570/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216407896&sr=1-4"]De Niro's Game[/url] by Rawi Hage. It is set in a Beirut that has been brutalised by the Lebanese civil war. I enjoyed it a lot. The main character, a young thug with a heart of mostly debased gold, reminded me strongly of Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt.

Mind you, I don't read a lot of noir and this is probably as much a trope as farm boys in fantasy books.

There's a fair bit of fancy writing between the more gritty sections of the story, but they were the weakest part for me, feeling a bit forced. Otherwise, chilling and nasty in the best possible way.

[ThRiNiDiR]

I've finished "[b]The Last Realm (Book 1): Dragonscarpe[/b]"; a coffee-sized fantasy graphic novel written by Pat McNamara in collaboration with Michal Dutkiewicz & Gary Turner. I'm still contemplating writing a review, but since I wasn't as impressed by the project as I wanted to be...I'll probably pass this one up. Check out the great [url="http://www.thelastrealm.com/"]official presentation page[/url], though! (yes, it has pics :)).

[Ser Barry]

[quote name='Isis' post='1445826' date='Jul 18 2008, 15.56']My previous method of reading it at a pace of two pages per night[/quote]

Wasn't this lie already cruelly exposed?


Matter by Iain. M. Banks

A return to form. Banks manages to keep things alien without the alienation which he fell into during The Algebraist. Interesting exploration of how civilizations at different tech levels interact and how this affects the people caught in the middle.

[Werthead]

[quote]My previous method of reading it at a pace of two pages per night[/quote]
Ah, but were you reading at two pages per night [i]with comprehension[/i]? :P

[quote name='Isis' post='1445826' date='Jul 18 2008, 15.56'][i]I was confused[/i] has suddenly become the ultimate excuse. For. Anything. :)

I have at least 50 books at home I would rather read. But I also refuse to be beaten. My previous method of reading it at a pace of two pages per night wasn't all that successful really, especially when I got sick of the sight of it and banished it downstairs. You just have to get stuck in and persevere and at some point you'll remember why you wanted to read it in the first place.[/quote]

Oh, I remember why I wanted to read it in the first place:

Jack.

Motherfucking.

Shaftoe.

However, his sheer badassery is not enough to get through the longeurs.

[Larry.]

I'm struggling to regain interest in reading (hard to read when it's summertime and I am on vacation), but I have started reading the condensed one-volume edition of John Julius Norwich's [i]A Short History of Byzantium[/i]. Excellent, excellent old-school narrative history that serves as an introduction to the long-neglected Eastern Roman Empire.

Also reading bits and pieces of Vladimir Nabokov's [i]Pnin[/i] and Fernando Pessoa's [i]The Book of Disquiet[/i].

[Isis]

[quote name='Barryiah Faber' post='1446498' date='Jul 19 2008, 00.00']Wasn't this lie already cruelly exposed?[/quote]Well, that's a controversial view. It wasn't so much a lie as a statement that was only true for a limited period of time.

Or something.

[Werthead]

Finished Kristin Cashore's [i][b]Graceling[/b][/i]. A pretty decent debut novel, with interesting characters and, shockingly, not the first in a series (although other books set in the same world are forthcoming, they will apparently jump around in time, space and cast; the second book, [i][b]Fire[/b][/i], is a prequel with only one cross-over character apparently). Full review forthcoming.

Couldn't decide between [i][b]The Briar King[/b][/i], [i][b]Axis[/b][/i], [i][b]Doomsday Book[/b][/i] and [i][b]City at the End of Time[/b][/i], so I decided to compromise and reread [i][b]Watchmen[/b][/i] instead.

[IheartTesla]

I am currently reading Greg Bear's [i]Foundation and Chaos[/i]. The story is pottering along and seems to have no urgency or overarching threat that makes for a compelling storyline. I already kind of know how the Foundation "plot" ends as well, so its tending towards boring for me. I am not impressed by my first reading of Bear.

So.... I have been keeping track in the book of how Bear treats women. Have to say, I am not impressed by it either and you can add him to the list of male authors who cant write women or has threads of misogyny running through his writing.

[Werthead]

[quote name='cyrano' post='1446914' date='Jul 19 2008, 16.08']I am currently reading Greg Bear's [i]Foundation and Chaos[/i]. The story is pottering along and seems to have no urgency or overarching threat that makes for a compelling storyline. I already kind of know how the Foundation "plot" ends as well, so its tending towards boring for me. I am not impressed by my first reading of Bear.

So.... I have been keeping track in the book of how Bear treats women. Have to say, I am not impressed by it either and you can add him to the list of male authors who cant write women or has threads of misogyny running through his writing.[/quote]

I remember Bear have some good female characters in [i]Eon[/i] and [i]Blood Music[/i]. I'm wondering if their treatment in [i]Foundation and Chaos[/i] was due to Asimov's universe (created in the 1940s, and rather condescending in their treatment towards women; the late 1980s sequels are a bit better, but not much).

[ThRiNiDiR]

Trin finished [b]Dan Ronco[/b]'s "[b][color="green"][size=3]Unholy Domain[/size][/color][/b]", a futuristic sf thriller in vein of Dan Brown...only better :) ([url="http://sf-fantasy-books.blogspot.com/2008/07/dan-ronco-unholy-domain-book-review.html"]review[/url])

[Turinqui-Calima]

I had some trouble getting started on anything major, so I've been reading short fun reads for a while.

So far in July:

[b]Minette Walters - [i]The Dark Room[/i].[/b] Hey sometimes thrillers are fun and I kinda like Minette Walters. The book was predictable because it was supposed to be unpredictable, like most thrillers, but it was enjoyable. Good for it's genre.

[b]Kevin Smith - [i]My Boring-Ass Life[/i][/b]. My first thought when I started readign this was that "wow, this really is boring-ass". It's a little too much diary "first I did this, then I did this" rather than fun observations as I was hoping for. However I got into it and the dairy part is enjoyable enough if one already has some kind of interest in KS. Then, about 2/3 into the book, it totally change. KS stops making daily entries and instead start writing stories, including the story of Jason Mewes drug abuse and I really liked this part. I liked so much my next read was...

[b]Kevin Smith - [i]Silent Bob Speaks[/i][/b]. Short book that is actually just a collection of magazine articles by KS and it's really short. Might not be a good read unless you have an interest in Hollywood as a hole or in KS.

[b]Neil Gaiman - [i]Stardust[/i].[/b] Here's the deal; I didn't like this. At all. I didn't even finish it. I really like the other stuff I've read by Gaiman and therefore couldn't believe it, but I didn't care at all for this book. I'll have to read some other book by Gaiman soon so I can forget about this. Wonder if the movie is better? Did anyone else find Stardust less enjoyable then Gaimans other books?

[b]Richard Adams[i] - Watership Down.[/i][/b] Reading this right now (almost done) because of the list of 50 books that Dylanfanatic posted. I didn't even italisize it then, but when I saw people sayign we should I got curious. Can only say it's adorable and I'm glad I did read it. Great summer read :)

Next up is [b]Douglas Adams[i] The[/i] [i]Salmon of Doubt [/i][/b]which I've never read before.

[Bellis]

[quote name='Turinqui Calima' post='1447331' date='Jul 19 2008, 18.19'][b]Neil Gaiman - [i]Stardust[/i].[/b] Here's the deal; I didn't like this. At all. I didn't even finish it. I really like the other stuff I've read by Gaiman and therefore couldn't believe it, but I didn't care at all for this book. I'll have to read some other book by Gaiman soon so I can forget about this. Wonder if the movie is better? Did anyone else find Stardust less enjoyable then Gaimans other books?[/quote]

Raises hand. I thought it was kind of silly and formulaic.

[Mexal]

I just finished [b]Shadow of the Wind[/b] by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It was by far the best book I've ever read. It captivated me. I loved every minute I spent reading it.

I highly highly highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it.

I think I'm going to read [b]A Betrayal in Winter[/b] next. Either that or [b]Mistborn[/b].

[dalThor]

I finished Bakker's, [i]The Darkness That Comes Before[/i] and am a 100 or so pages into [i]The Warrior Prophet[/i]. A very good series so far and I'm quite interested to find out how it will turn out.

[duchess of malfi]

Finally finished up my Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone series read with [i]Son of the White Wolf[/i]. :)

Next up: [i]The Inferior[/i]. :)

[Larry.]

[quote name='Mexal' post='1447387' date='Jul 19 2008, 21.45']I just finished [b]Shadow of the Wind[/b] by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It was by far the best book I've ever read. It captivated me. I loved every minute I spent reading it.

I highly highly highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it.

I think I'm going to read [b]A Betrayal in Winter[/b] next. Either that or [b]Mistborn[/b].[/quote]

It'll be interesting to see what you think of Zafón's sequel when it comes out about 10-12 months from now. I liked it better than the first one.

[Isis]

[quote name='Turinqui Calima' post='1447331' date='Jul 20 2008, 01.19'][b]Neil Gaiman - [i]Stardust[/i].[/b] Here's the deal; I didn't like this. At all. I didn't even finish it. I really like the other stuff I've read by Gaiman and therefore couldn't believe it, but I didn't care at all for this book. I'll have to read some other book by Gaiman soon so I can forget about this. Wonder if the movie is better? Did anyone else find Stardust less enjoyable then Gaimans other books?[/quote]The film is definitely better than the book.

The book is derivative.

[mashiara]

Over the past 10 days I reread [i]Dead as a Doornail[/i] and [i]Definitely Dead [/i]by Charlaine Harris, and then read [i]All Together Dead[/i], by the same author. Quick, fun reads, I enjoy them a lot.

Then I remembered that I had the last two books in the Runelords series by David Farland that I needed to read. Because I didn't remember much about the series I reread [i]The Runelords[/i],[i] Brotherhood of the Wolf[/i] and [i]Wizardborn[/i] and then proceeded to read [i]The Lair of Bones[/i] and[i] Sons of the Oak[/i]. I really can't see what attracted me to this series in the first place, I had to force myself to keep reading at some stage just so I could get it over with. The characters? Shallow and annoying. The plot? Weak, laughable at times.. and irritating in the fact that there were inconsistancies all over the place! And I know that as a fantasy reader I should be used to things happening miraculously so that the protagonists get to achieve their goals or at least survive until the next day .. but Farland just didn't make it believable at all. I mean.. people discovering they have magical abilities out of the blue and then, without any training whatsover (or worth mentioning) -and without finding a mysterious book of runes or having an epiphany-, they immediately turn out to be powerful and practically invincible. :bang: There were so many things I didn't like it would take a long time to list them all..

I don't know what I'll read next. We're leaving for the States on Tuesday, I'll have lots of time to read on the plane but I find it hard to concentrate on something demanding. And once we're there I don't know if I'll be able to do much reading.