August 2008 Reads, Near-reads, and Aborted Reads

[The Pita]

Started and finished Making Money yesterday during a four hour car drive.
Much better than I thought it would be, due to a barely remembered negative review Pat made.
I absolutely loved the ending, loved the villain, loved the protagonist, and found the whole clown bit close to the end to be histerical.
about 50 pages from the end of Gardens of the Moon. I don't get what is going on, possibly because I'm skimming. I need to re-read this. After I finish Amber.
Finished dreamsongs. Thought Portraits of His Children was a great story, found the glass flower good but not memorable, the Hedge Knight was great (even though I had read it before). I'm amused that Guardians, supposedly the best Tuf story, wasn't my favorite of the two. A Beast for Norn was great. Shell Games was good, but I didn't like From the Diary of Wotsisname. The Skin Trade was a good read.
Still stuck on Amber (about 20 pages from the end of book 6), and still can't see why, when at a recent MTG Prerelease, when I stated that Martin pwned Zelazny, people got pissed and told me I don't know what I'm talking about.
Still pining for Bakker.

[Dumas]

Sinclair Lewis's [i]It Can't Happen Here[/i] about the rise of American fascism through a combination of televangilism (over the radio; it was written in '35), muscular isolationism (or just outright militarism), and fear of encroaching Communism. All wrapped up with a self-contradicting economic program and racism. As one character put it, 'Negroes, Jews, women- they all banned and they leave us Catholics out, this time?' And the Chinks. No one ever mentions the Chinks in the US.

The novel's a bit eerie when compared with current politics.

Edit: Got Sinclair Lewis crossed up with Upton Sinclair so I got his name backward. Blame Wheel of Fortune.

[beniowa]

The other day I finished [i][url="http://thedecklededge.blogspot.com/2008/08/inverted-world.html"]The Inverted World[/url][/i], one of Christopher Priest's earlier works. It wasn't quite as good as some of his later stuff, but still heads above most out there. Highly recommended.

I'm now starting [i][b]This Forsaken Earth[/b][/i] by Paul Kearney.

[diabloblanco18]

This week I stayed up absurdly late reading [i]An Autumn War[/i] and [i]Watchmen[/i]. My resulting lack of sleep was well worth it in both cases.

[Joanna vander Poele]

Just finished [i]The Inferior[/i] and [i]Victory of Eagles.

TI[/i] has honestly one of the most original worlds I've read about... ever... but oh my god, [i]living [/i]there would be a fate worse than death. Seriously though, Stopmouth is an [i]adorable[/i] protagonist. I wanted to hug and squeal over him... except, you know, the whole cannibal thing. Pretty good read though, I'll buy the sequels when they come out.

[i]VoE[/i] will have a special place in my heart solely because it is a Temeraire novel, but there was a serious dearth of Temmy-Laurence moments and Iskierka was really kind of [i]annoying[/i], so pfft! There was Tharkay, who is totally badass.

Currently I'm reading [i]White Moon[/i] of the Dresden Files and [i]The Name of the Wind.[/i] I've only gotten seven chapters on the latter, but so far pretty good. Also, I may be reading a little into it but does it sound like Kvothe and Bast have something going on or what? :P

On my to-read list: [i]The Court of the Air,[/i] and when that's done over with, 40-some books that have backlogged my shelves and so far are untouched or unfinished. Oh, and I'm still achin' for [i]Midnight Tides/Reaper's Gale/Toll The Hounds[/i], but those will have to wait until I can actually get my hands on 'em... :drool:

[b]ETA:[/b] Odd about the Erikson thing. I have a soft spot for many of his characters and really love them. I wonder if it's my inability to see through thin characterisation, or if Trull Sengar really [i]is[/i] that adorable. Hmm...

[Gormenghast]

[quote name='Trencher' post='1465567' date='Aug 1 2008, 20.35']That is what I felt about it as well. He wants to drive a story, but the characters were too thin to keep me interested so far.[/quote]
I understand the comment if it's about GotM. For Deadhouse Gates it's not as reasonable.

I've yet to read fantasy with characters with a similar depth to those in DG. At least if you don't mind the lack of spoon-feeding and easily recognizable stereotypes.

[ThRiNiDiR]

[quote name='Foreverlad' post='1465585' date='Aug 1 2008, 14.51']D'oh!

Erikson Erikson Erikson Erikson Erikson.

I shouldn't mention authors until I know 'em too well to make such a stupid mistake.[/quote]

Hey, it's an honest mistake...no sweat about it.

I'm still dipping my fingers into the last Hairy Pottter, but it just doesn't flow (no fault of the book). I need something light and cute and fluffy (HP qualifies on all accounts as far as I'm concerned), but I guess August and July are just slow months and that's how it goes.

[Peadar]

[quote name='Joanna Nox' post='1465961' date='Aug 2 2008, 00.31']Just finished [i]The Inferior[/i] and [i]Victory of Eagles.

TI[/i] has honestly one of the most original worlds I've read about... ever... but oh my god, [i]living [/i]there would be a fate worse than death. Seriously though, Stopmouth is an [i]adorable[/i] protagonist. I wanted to hug and squeal over him... except, you know, the whole cannibal thing. Pretty good read though, I'll buy the sequels when they come out.[/quote]

Thanks a lot, Joanna :cheers:

Due to the return of "The Wire" to Irish TV, aided by The Dark Knight and other excuses too long to bore you with here, I'm only 250 pages into George Green's Roman adventure story, [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hawk-George-Green/dp/0553815385/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217664022&sr=1-1"]Hawk[/url]. I'm enjoying it, but wish I didn't have quite so many interruptions.

[Myshkin]

Just finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's [i]Empire in Black and Gold[/i], and it was excellent. A really stunning debut on par in quality with other recent debuts like Lynch, Abercrombie, and Ruckley.

Now reading [i]An Autumn War[/i] by Daniel Abraham.

[arya_underfoot]

currently reading:

[i]the serpent bride[/i], sara douglass

[i]troy (series)[/i], david gemmell

still sitting on the bookshelf:

[i]winterbirth[/i], brian ruckley- i started this one in july but then got waylaid by gemmell's troy series....ah well

[i]spirit gate[/i], kate elliott- same as above

on the shopping list:

[i]name of the wind[/i], patrick rothfuss- after all the rave reviews on this forum and others, its pretty much a must-read

[i]neuropath[/i], scott bakker

[Trencher]

[quote name='Gormenghast' post='1466026' date='Aug 1 2008, 19.55']I understand the comment if it's about GotM. For Deadhouse Gates it's not as reasonable.

I've yet to read fantasy with characters with a similar depth to those in DG. At least if you don't mind the lack of spoon-feeding and easily recognizable stereotypes.[/quote]

Erikson hints at depth, but it's the personalities are what they lack for me. Like I wouldn't care at all if half of the main characters were killed off. Duiker? Who needs him? Just replace with another "historian". They don't seem real enough for me to actually care about them or become emotionally involved. It's all about big battle maneuverings with characters that are all expendable. The refugees are treated like a herd of cattle and that's exactly how I feel about them. If another ancient army popped out of the ground again and swallowed them all in an instant, I would think, "Oh well, I guess that's just par for the course...".

Of course I am only halfway through DG and haven't read the Chain of Dogs portion.

[Joanna vander Poele]

[quote name='Peadar' post='1466178' date='Aug 2 2008, 01.01']Thanks a lot, Joanna :cheers:[/quote]
Hey, gotta support my local forum writer :cheers:

Just finished [i]The Name of the Wind.[/i] I assume it was to its credit that I stayed up until five in the morning reading it and then finished the last 200 pages as soon as I woke up :P Very fun, engaging read although frankly I was more interested in present-Kvothe than ickly baby prodigy-Kvothe.

SPOILER: oh jeebus

Okay, Bast clearly has something for Kvothe. Might be a giant teacher-crush, might be something else, but something bigger than pure infatuation. I certainly want to know how the Prince of Twilight became a bartender...

I didn't mind the Kvothe-Denna romance so much as I generally hate canon romance in general, so I just rolled my eyes and gagged and went on. Some of the stuff Kvothe said to/about Denna... :blush: :blush: :blush:

I loved Master Elodin; he reminds me of Daymar of the Taltos novels. The jumping off the roof scene was great, as was anything else he was in. Also, the description of Elxa Dal was brilliant (paraphrasing -- "Out of class he was charming, soft-spoken, even a little ridiculous at times, but inside he passed from mad prophet to galley-slave drummer" and such.) I bust out laughing at that.

I did thoroughly enjoy the book and await [i]Wise Men's Fear[/i] (or something like) when it comes out... in 2009 :drool: Are all the novels going to be flashback?

[BLU-RAY]

Let's see:

To finish:

The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam
The Sandman: Volume I, Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman

To start:
The Coldest Winter by David Halberstam
The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs
Cities fo the Red Night by William S. Burroughs

[Werthead]

After getting another 50 pages through [i]Yiddish Policemen's Union[/i], Chabon's alternating fantastic-then-lame sequences bored me once more, so I sidetracked into [b][i]The Sandman Companion[/i][/b], which is excellent. The book is basically one massive (nearly 300-page-long) interview with Neil Gaiman about the comic. As well as reinvigorating my pondering as to why Gaiman's non-visual works are pale shadows of his visual ones ([i]American Gods[/i] and [i]Anansi Boys[/i] are fun, but not a patch on [b]Sandman[/b]), it also reminded me that I still need to pick up vols 7-12 of [b]The Sandman[/b] graphic novel collection.

[Calibandar]

[quote]As well as reinvigorating my pondering as to why Gaiman's non-visual works are pale shadows of his visual ones (American Gods and Anansi Boys are fun, but not a patch on Sandman),[/quote]

That's just a taste thing. I myself much prefer his novels over Sandman, particularly AG and Anansi Boys.

[Gormenghast]

[quote name='Trencher' post='1466375' date='Aug 2 2008, 19.31']Erikson hints at depth, but it's the personalities are what they lack for me. Like I wouldn't care at all if half of the main characters were killed off. Duiker? Who needs him? Just replace with another "historian". They don't seem real enough for me to actually care about them or become emotionally involved. It's all about big battle maneuverings with characters that are all expendable. The refugees are treated like a herd of cattle and that's exactly how I feel about them. If another ancient army popped out of the ground again and swallowed them all in an instant, I would think, "Oh well, I guess that's just par for the course...".

Of course I am only halfway through DG and haven't read the Chain of Dogs portion.[/quote]
Then just stop.

I can't understand readers who keep reading books they hate only to be even more soured by it.

[Foreverlad]

[quote name='Gormenghast' post='1466794' date='Aug 3 2008, 10.12']Then just stop.

I can't understand readers who keep reading books they hate only to be even more soured by it.[/quote]

I don't think Trencher is implying any hatred for the books. A lot of us thrive on the recommendations of the board, sometimes they're hits, occasionally they're misses. Sure, it's easy to say 'it's not your style' but when you've got the standing Erikson has with these boards, a reader is bound to feel like they're missing something and continue on in hopes of understanding the appeal of the series.

[JamesL]

Just finished reading[b] Deadhouse Gates[/b] by Steven Erikson. I loved[b] Gardens of the Moon[/b], but [b]Deadhouse Gates[/b] is an inferior novel in my opinion. Far too long (over 900 pages) and most of the characters just didn't really connect with me. Writing was good and I never lost interest, but was left disappointed after I finally managed to trawl through the novel. Looking forward to [b]Memories of Ice[/b] though, as that seems to continue the stories of the characters from [b]Gardens of the Moon[/b] who I care about a lot more. Review of [b]Deadhouse Gates[/b] is [url="http://speculativehorizons.blogspot.com/2008/08/book-review-deadhouse-gates.html"]here[/url]

Next up is Pedar O Guilin's [b]The Inferior.[/b]

[Xray the Enforcer]

Still on my (mostly) non-fiction jag:

[b]Rubicon[/b] -- an account of the death of the Roman Republic. Quite interesting, although the author doesn't maintain a consistent timeline (jumping back and forth in time to cover the historical arc of certain persons, like Pompey or Lucullus), which can be aggravating.

[b]1215[/b] -- Basically, the authors try to describe the sociopolitical climate that led up to the signing of the Magna Carta. As with all books that try to do this, some topics are skimmed over that I wish had more depth, but I guess that just means I know which areas I'm most interested in.
[b]
Warriors of God[/b] -- Account of the early Crusades. Haven't gotten past the first few pages, because I became fascinated by [i]Rubicon[/i].

[Gormenghast]

[quote name='JamesL' post='1466815' date='Aug 3 2008, 17.07']Just finished reading[b] Deadhouse Gates[/b] by Steven Erikson. I loved[b] Gardens of the Moon[/b], but [b]Deadhouse Gates[/b] is an inferior novel in my opinion. Far too long (over 900 pages) and most of the characters just didn't really connect with me. Writing was good and I never lost interest, but was left disappointed after I finally managed to trawl through the novel. Looking forward to [b]Memories of Ice[/b] though, as that seems to continue the stories of the characters from [b]Gardens of the Moon[/b] who I care about a lot more. Review of [b]Deadhouse Gates[/b] is [url="http://speculativehorizons.blogspot.com/2008/08/book-review-deadhouse-gates.html"]here[/url]

Next up is Pedar O Guilin's [b]The Inferior.[/b][/quote]
Counter linking, for once, to offer [url="http://www.cesspit.net/drupal/node/1751"]a different opinion[/url].

It's interesting to see how the same book can lead to so much different opinions.