October 2008 Reads

[Peadar]

[quote name='Isis' post='1539667' date='Oct 2 2008, 08.21']I might even wait until 2009 to read it so as I can enjoy a brief period in my life of [u]not[/u] having an unfinished Stephenson book on the go! :)[/quote]

I'll never believe you again when you talk tough. By 2009 Stephenson will have published four new books, each one taller than the Empire State building. I for one will be scaling them without safety equipment.

[Isis]

Nah. I think that NOT finishing books that you don't enjoy is one of the best things you could do for yourself. Different for you, Wert, if those lame books are ones you are meant to review. If it is just something you chose to read yourself then dump at will, I say.

I'm giving it a bit more of a chance than I usually would since it is proclaimed as a 'fantasy classic'. But man, the first few pages were seriously fucking awful. Just cringe-inducingly lame, and yet not quite lame enough to veer into so-bad-it's-good territory. I was shocked. And note, I'm not even going to mention Tolkien at this juncture. *polishes halo*

[Isis]

[quote name='Peadar' post='1539884' date='Oct 2 2008, 14.28']I'll never believe you again when you talk tough. By 2009 Stephenson will have published four new books, each one taller than the Empire State building. I for one will be scaling them without safety equipment.[/quote] :lol: Don't. I won't sleep tonight for worrying about that. (And if that's the case I'll make a start on [i]Cryptonomicon[/i]!)

I expected someone to turn up with a certificate for me as I finished the final page of TSOTW. Seriously.

[Astra]

[quote name='Werthead' post='1539881' date='Oct 2 2008, 14.27']I've got far less tolerance for bad books these days and have started giving up on them without completing them[/quote]

Ditto...only [i]But when I'm reading a bad book, the list of to-read books on my Sony Reader beckons so invitingly just a few clicks away...[/i]

[Myshkin]

I didn't get as much reading done on my vacation as I thought I would (a nasty double ear infection knocked me out of commission for a good 5 days), but I did manage to finish Arturo Perez-Reverte's [i]The Flanders Panel[/i], which was excellent.

I did manage to listen to a few audio books on the the drive down and back up the Baja. I brought with me four audio books which I had already read, but which my brother had not: the first two [b]Dresden Files[/b] ([i]Storm Front[/i], and [i]Fool Moon[/i]) by Jim Butcher, and the two Dunk and Egg novellas ([i]The Hedge Knight[/i], and [i]The Sworn Sword[/i]). They were great, as expected. Those four were not however enough to fill all the drive time, so we ended up listening to Lian Hearn's [i]Across the Nightingale Floor[/i] which was really, really, really bad. I mean really bad.

[Thrashalla]

I took a break from [b]Well of Ascension[/b] after about 25 pages to skim through my reading pile and determine some manner of order to proceed with. I read about 50 pages from 10 or 12 books on my shelf and then went back to Sanderson this past weekend because I didn't feel like lugging a TPB (Bakker's [b]Warrior Prophet[/b]) into the bathroom and ended up plowing through almost 200 pages in one sitting...little bastard sneaks up on you. Anyways, yeah, that's where I'm at.

[casrot]

I just finished [b]The Blade Itself[/b]. Loved it. Abercrombie created a wealth of intriguing and diverse characters. It was great to move on to different viewpoints and not feel like I was leaving behind a great character to spend some time with a tiresome and tedious one. The action scenes aren't too shabby either.

I'm moving directly on to [b]Before They Are Hanged[/b].

[RedEyedGhost]

[quote name='Thrashalla' post='1540478' date='Oct 2 2008, 13.36']I took a break from [b]Well of Ascension[/b] after about 25 pages to skim through my reading pile and determine some manner of order to proceed with. I read about 50 pages from 10 or 12 books on my shelf and then went back to Sanderson this past weekend because I didn't feel like lugging a TPB (Bakker's [b]Warrior Prophet[/b]) [size=6]into the bathroom[/size] and ended up plowing through almost 200 pages [size=6]in one sitting[/size]...little bastard sneaks up on you. Anyways, yeah, that's where I'm at.[/quote]

:stunned:

DAMN! Are you alright?


;)

[Argon]

I thought I'll do something for my education, even if it's way to late for that, and read some classics. So I've got cheap "[b]To the Lighthouse[/b]" by Virginia Woolf.
Does anyone know where to place this novel in her bibliography in terms of quality? Thx.

[RedEyedGhost]

Welcome to the board casrot and Argon :cheers:



I finished [b]Paul Kearney's [u]The Ten Thousand[/u][/b] and it was a pretty good read. I'm sure that most on the board know the premise by now, and in fact I'm sure most know what happens in the first half of the frickin' book because of how it has been described on the board. Because I knew where it was going it took me awhile to get into the story. Kearney has a very readable style, and while it was enjoyable, it was also very predictable (of course it would have been much less predictable had I not known that pivotal tidbit that defines the story...). Overall I would definitely recommend this book, and I look forward to buying his [i]Monarchies of God[/i] omnibi when they are released next year.

[b]7/10[/b]

[Marcin]

Yesterday I finished “The King Beyond the Gate” by David Gemmell.

Great book. It’s the second book in the Drenai series. It’s a sequel to “Legend”, but the action takes place some 100 years later. I think that “The King Beyond the Gate” is better, but you have to read “Legend” to truly appreciate it. “Legend” is very good on its own.

“The King Beyond the Gate” can be called heroic but realistic fantasy. The main characters are flawed and there are only few purely good ones. The fight and war scenes are good and realistic. The war itself isn’t a fairy tale in this book. The aspect of supplies and troops’ experience is well played out (something that makes me think of Glen Cook and his books). There is a little good humour – just as much as it’s needed. It’s arguable that some scenes are too idealistic, but even in our world there are people who are dying for their beliefs.

Overall “The King Beyond the Gate” by David Gemmell is a great book. It will disappoint hardly anybody who likes fantasy books.
[b]9/10[/b]

[Muttering Bill]

Just finished off [i]Anathem[/i] which was simply brilliant. It didn't suffer at all from any sort of the drag that I found with [i]Quicksilver[/i]. Characterization was a little weak, but I suppose that'll happen when your main cast is a bunch of scientists/philosophers; they just want to sit around discussing theories all the time, and nobody really emerges with a truly unique personality. The ending could have used a pinch more clarification, but was though-provoking nonetheless.

This has renewed my interest in science fiction. At least until I accidentally pick up some mindless sci-fi thriller that that makes me lose faith in the genre. I'm making a trip to the book store soon to pick up [i]Snow Crash [/i]and [i]Infoquake[/i]. Any other books I should look out for?

Anyway, next up is Gene Wolfe's [i]An Evil Guest[/i]. This will be my first time taking on Wolfe, so I'm hoping it hold up to expectations.

[Bellis]

[quote name='Muttering Bill' post='1541586' date='Oct 3 2008, 08.38']Anyway, next up is Gene Wolfe's [i]An Evil Guest[/i]. This will be my first time taking on Wolfe, so I'm hoping it hold up to expectations.[/quote]

Oooh I saw this on Amazon and I had been meaning to post whether anyone on the board had read it yet. Interested in your take, and anyone else who's more familiar with Wolfe's previous output.

[quote]So I've got cheap "To the Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf.[/quote]

I really enjoyed this but it's mad challenging. Also I don't claim to have any formal training with this sort of literature, so I'm sure I missed much and need to re-read.

[Deornoth]

I finished reading John Scalzi's 'The Last Colony' this morning. I didn't think it was quite up to the standard of his previous books, it looked like he was trying to cram too much into too small a space, but 'The Last Colony' was still a very entertaining read that I think promises good things for 'Zoe's Tale'. My full review is over [url="http://www.graemesfantasybookreview.com"]Here[/url].
I'm now well into Shaun Hutson's 'Body Count', I don't know what I'll be reading after that...

[Ser Stephen]

Tend to grind when I read, and hop genre's quite a bit. Enjoyed David Weber's [b]By Schism Rent Asunder [/b]and [b]Echoes of Honor[/b], Echoes is a military space opera in the Honor Harrington series. Also kept up with Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake and her recent exploits in [b]Blood Noir[/b]. Finished with shape changing dragons in Shana Abe's [b]Queen of Dragons[/b].

Off to the Library for another week's worth of reading.

[Muttering Bill]

[quote name='Bellis' post='1541606' date='Oct 3 2008, 09.53']Oooh I saw this on Amazon and I had been meaning to post whether anyone on the board had read it yet. Interested in your take, and anyone else who's more familiar with Wolfe's previous output.[/quote]
I'm only about 50 pages in, but so far I'm not all that impressed. The story, while still unclear, looks to be leaning toward generic urban-fantasy. And the pacing is really brief.

But it's still too early to tell; plenty of time of time for this to turn into something a little more special. It does seem to be a bit of a departure from they type of story that he'd normally write (I can only really guess though from reading a couple of back covers). I'd also like to know how this holds up to the rest of his works, if someone more familiar with him has read it.

[Thrashalla]

[quote name='RedEyedGhost' post='1541080' date='Oct 2 2008, 19.18']:stunned:

DAMN! Are you alright?


;)[/quote]


Yeap, and considerably lighter.

[Larry.]

With only a couple of short stories left to read, I think I can feel comfortable now in noting that Thomas M. Disch's posthumous short story collection coming out shortly, [i]The Wall of America[/i] is well worth reading, especially by those who are fans (like I now am) of Disch's [i]Camp Concentration[/i].

Might be reading Kevin Spicer's [i]Hitler's Priests[/i] or St. Teresa of Ávila's [i]The Way of Perfection[/i] next, if I have any time this weekend.

[dalThor]

I finished book two of The Dresden Files, [i]Fool Moon[/i] by Jim Butcher. They're good books for a break from serious stuff - which I need at this point.

I'm reading the third right now.

[Peadar]

I have just finished the delightful children's book, [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toymaker-Jeremy-Quidt/dp/038561358X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223107528&sr=1-1"]The Toymaker[/url] by Jeremy de Quidt. The author used to write one chapter a week, which he would then read to a class of ten-year-olds and it really shows: it is a book that demands to be read aloud. The strongest element for me was the grim atmosphere and the knowledge that the author, like GRRM, does not shy away from nasty outcomes.

I'm not sure what's up next. I'll have to check the stack :)