November 2008 reads

[mashiara]

New month, new thread. Post here what you're reading, what you have already read or what you are planning to read. :) Tell us what you liked or didn't like about them.

During the past week I read [i]The Princess Bride[/i], by William Goldman. It was a nice little story and I'm glad I found it at the local library. To me it felt more like Young Adults material, something I would have loved had I read it ten or fifteen years ago. Not that I have anything against YA books, some of them are fun to read at any age.

I also read [i]Fox Evi[/i]l by Minette Walters. It's supposed to be a crime mystery I guess but it wasn't very entertaining.

I also read [i]Το εβένινο λαούτο[/i] by Panagotis Agapitos. (it translates to [url="http://www.agra.gr/english/34.html"]The Ebony Lute[/url]) It's a multiple murder mystery set in a Byzantine city, where someone abducts young girls and discards them days later murdered and abused. The combination of a byzantine setting with a 'crime' novel was surprisingly good. Throw in some plotting and intrigue, a couple of corrupt clerics, a few Arabs, soldiers, a little romance and a passing dignitary with a passion for logic who solves the case, and you have an unexpected book that was a lot more than I thought it would be. I thoroughly enjoyed it, I read all 590 pages in under two days because I wanted to find out who did it.

I'm currently reading [i]The guy not taken[/i], by Jennifer Weiner. It's a collection of stories, not a novel but I'm liking it a lot so far.

[Wik]

[quote name='mashiara' post='1573988' date='Nov 1 2008, 00.20']I thoroughly enjoyed it, I read all 590 pages in under two days because I wanted to find out who did it.[/quote]


Your crazy :P lol I thought I had been reading quick!

Anyhow "The Blade Itself" is next up. I had a tough time deciding beetween that series and Bakker's series.

I ended up starting the Prince of Nothing series about a month ago, and just finished it tonight. I very much enjoyed it but have some questions about it (go look for the post I made here in the Lit. section!)

After Joe's series, I don't know what I will do...guess it's on to my book about Charlemagne, which is cleverly titled "Charlemagne", by Derek Wilson.

[zollo]

I am still not done with Iggulden's "Bones of the Hills". Probably because it is just not very good. Anyhow, started it, will see it through.

Not started on last month's other purchases yet, as work has been so mental in the past weeks that reading doesn't really help me unwind at the moment (instead I go running).

Have to start Abraham's "The Long Summer" again as I have read bits and bobs of it spread out over a few months (other things seemed to interfere a lot) and by now have kind of "lost the plot", if you like.

I also have a TON of things I want/need to read for work. Not joking when I say that books and articles combined...it is probably a pile of two feet high at the moment. All interesting etc etc, but getting around to it, particularly in such busy times....not easy.

I really like Minette Walters (try The Ice House, The Sculptress, Acid Row) but her latest are getting a bit formulaic, although I quite liked Fox Evil and The Chameleon's Shadow both.

Ah, the good old days of childhood when I practically lived at the village library...

[Astra]

I am 2/3 into [i]In the Ruins[/i] by [b]Kate Elliott[/b], book 6 of the Crown of Stars series.
Enjoyable reading but... too much of religious gibberish 6/10
When I finish, I will star book 7.

[Ormond]

Last night I finished [i]The Shadow of Ararat[/i], the first in the four-book [i]Oath of Empire[/i] series by Thomas Harlan.

It seemed like it took forever for me to read this book. And before the last hundred pages I would have just given it a C- grade, with just enough redeeming qualities for me to continue to want to read it. I found the last 20% much better, though, and Harlan set up enough interesting twists in them that I will eventually go on to read the second book in the series -- though he certainly didn't wow me to the extent that I feel like making that the very next book I will read.

Harlan's setting is an interesting blend of alternate history and fantasy, as it is set in a version of the Roman Empire where magic really works. In his world, the western Roman Empire has lasted longer than it did in ours. His story is set in what would be our 7th century A.D., and his history of the Byzantines and Persians at that period is fairly close to what our reality was. But the Western Empire hasn't fallen yet; there is still an Emperor in Rome, who is leading an army which is helping the Eastern Emperor fight the Persians.

The main difference between Harlan's world and ours is that Christianity is no where in evidence. I am not sure if that's because Jesus never existed in his world, or if it will turn out that Christians are around but are a completely underground persecuted minority. He has female characters named Krista, Anastasia, and Maria, and Krista gets mistakenly called "Kristina" by another character at one point. I don't know if those names are hints Harlan is giving the reader that Christianity is somehow there under the surface, or if he's just dumb enough about naming characters not to realize that those names probably wouldn't have been used in a world where Christianity didn't exist.

There are four main viewpoint characters: Thyatis, a woman centurion who leads a sort of clandestine guerilla band for the Western Emperor; Dwyrin, a teenage Hibernian (Irish) boy with great magical talents for fire throwing who's drafted in the Roman army; Ahmet, an Egyptian priest who starts out as the boy's teacher but ends up with a very different plot line; and Maxian, the younger brother of the Western Emperor, who at the start of the tale is primarily a "healer" but ends up being involved in some very dark magic.

I don't think Harlan was particularly good at characterization. I found Dwyrin to be rather boring, and the other three main characters only a bit more interesting. Maxian got a bit more interesting toward the end, but a lot of that interest for me comes from it being unclear whether Harlan wants you to see him as a purely "good guy" using unusual means to save the Empire, or as someone who is letting himself be corrupted by the "dark side" of magic.

He also has the annoying (to me) habit of using his characters' ethnic identities as substitutes for their name and/or pronouns all the time. This is especially noteable with Dwyrin, who he seems to refer to as "the Hibernian" in at least every third sentence.


The other book I read last month was Fareed Zakaria's [i]The Post-American World[/i], which was the selection in the faculty book club at my university this semester. It was an interesting take on the changes that are taking place in regard to the world economy and world power with the rise of China and India as major players on the world stage. It was published only about six months ago -- there are references to the Democratic primaries in it -- and it was fascinating to see how his ideas fit in with the present economic crisis and political climate. It's well worth reading for anyone who likes to think about what the near future really might hold.

[Wik]

[quote name='Astra' post='1574135' date='Nov 1 2008, 10.23']I am 2/3 into [i]In the Ruins[/i] by [b]Kate Elliott[/b], book 6 of the Crown of Stars series.
Enjoyable reading but... too much of religious gibberish 6/10
When I finish, I will star book 7.[/quote]

Crown of Stars in another one that some people have highly touted and others have said don't waste your time. Whats your opinion? After The First Law of Men I will need another series or title and was thinking about this one after you mentioned it...

[Larry.]

Well, I'm first going to try picking something from one of [url="http://ofblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/october-31-november-1-book-porn.html"]these books[/url]. Then likely Brian Francis Slattery's [i]Liberation[/i], as well as Roberto Bolaño's [i]Estrella distante[/i] and Andrzej Sapkowski's [i]Bautismo de fuego[/i] when they arrive from Spain in the next few days.

[Peadar]

I have just started Steven Pressfield's [url="http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/055338368X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225558753&sr=8-1"]Gates of Fire[/url]. Very like reading Cornwell, so far. :)

[Astra]

[quote name='Bigpop' post='1574168' date='Nov 1 2008, 16.29']Crown of Stars in another one that some people have highly touted and others have said don't waste your time. Whats your opinion? After The First Law of Men I will need another series or title and was thinking about this one after you mentioned it...[/quote]

Well, I am not much of reviewer :) Let alone in English.

All in all the series is not bad.
It definitely is not great, I would say it is between OK and very good. I am tempted to say it is very good but there are a few things that are quite annoying. One of them: too much of religious stuff. The series is 7 books long and some of them are close to 1000 pages. I believe after 5 and 2/3 I have developed some sort of immunity to religious stuff but sometimes it is too much and I start to notice it. I believe books 4 and 5 were religionwise "light" but book 6 is hit by religion again :)

Unfortunately, sometimes I have to skip some paragraphs because of boring description of character's surroundings/feelings that could be entirely omitted.

I like most of the main characters and dislike some. I like the story line, although there are so many different plot lines, characters and the story is very long that I get a bit confused who is who and have to pick up previous book and browse through it.

Another good thing is that the books become better as you move deeper into the series with book 1 being the weakest and then the series gradually improves. I believe books 4 and 5 were real page turners. Book 6 is back to quality level of book 3.

So far, I do not regret that I started the series but I believe there are better books out there such as Robin Hobb for example.
I left short reviews for each book on amazon.com/.uk

I think you might give the series a try. If you manage to finish book 1 then read book 2. If you didn't like book 2 at all then stop. If you saw an improvement in book 2 over book 1, then go on and read the rest.

[Quarterman]

Through A Glass, Darkly by Bill Hussey. Turning out to be a cracking great read. I may have found a true talent that stands outside the margins of the typical horror hack.

[lessthanluke]

Just started The Somnambulist(sp?) by Jonathan Barnes. Only 50 pages in.

[Shield]

I've just finished The Painted Man.
Although the first half seems incredibly predictable and so done before, it was incredibly easy to read and so I stuck with it. And I was glad. The second half is much better (original) and now that the actual painted man is all serious and invinciblish, I'm glad I got to read all about him when he was just a little feller.
I'm actually looking forward to and curious as to what will happen in the next installment in this series.
Currently I'm reading The Once and Future King which is a happiness and light so far compared to the darkness of The Painted Man.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I'm about 40 pages from finishing [i]The Gilded Chain [/i]by Dave Duncan. It has been an interesting read. It explores the concept of absolute loyalty and this is enforced by magic. The flaws are that the story jumps around chronologically alot and large chunks of time are not smoothly transitioned. The author also is quite fond exclamations and it gets annoying after a while. The good is the originality of the magical system and the idea of the King's Blades. The author has a quite a wry sense of humour that had me chuckling throughout the novel.
I'm getting a bit tired of fantasy and will probably pick up [i]Where God was Born[/i] by Bruce Feiler. It is a non-fiction book about the archeaology and history of the events in the Bible. I'm not religous, but I'm fascinated by events in the Middle East from 2000 BC to 1 AD.

[arya_underfoot]

[quote name='Astra' post='1574228' date='Nov 2 2008, 04.32']Well, I am not much of reviewer :) Let alone in English.

All in all the series is not bad.
It definitely is not great, I would say it is between OK and very good. I am tempted to say it is very good but there are a few things that are quite annoying. One of them: too much of religious stuff. The series is 7 books long and some of them are close to 1000 pages. I believe after 5 and 2/3 I have developed some sort of immunity to religious stuff but sometimes it is too much and I start to notice it. I believe books 4 and 5 were religionwise "light" but book 6 is hit by religion again :)

Unfortunately, sometimes I have to skip some paragraphs because of boring description of character's surroundings/feelings that could be entirely omitted.

I like most of the main characters and dislike some. I like the story line, although there are so many different plot lines, characters and the story is very long that I get a bit confused who is who and have to pick up previous book and browse through it.

Another good thing is that the books become better as you move deeper into the series with book 1 being the weakest and then the series gradually improves. I believe books 4 and 5 were real page turners. Book 6 is back to quality level of book 3.

So far, I do not regret that I started the series but I believe there are better books out there such as Robin Hobb for example.
I left short reviews for each book on amazon.com/.uk

I think you might give the series a try. If you manage to finish book 1 then read book 2. If you didn't like book 2 at all then stop. If you saw an improvement in book 2 over book 1, then go on and read the rest.[/quote]

i finished crown of stars about 3 months ago. i think your assessment of the series is very accurate. there are several extremely annoying things, made worse by their metronomic repetition:

1. as you say, religion- i couldnt really care less. especially the entire plot line which follows the "transformation" of the main religion

2. astronomy- i care even less about "fleet" erekes or "bright" somorhas or which quadrant they appear in at different times of the year.

3. annoying phrases-

- "blah blah" sanglant said, in a hoarse, gravelly voice, but then....his voice always sounded like that

- "i pray you, sister rosvita...."

- da always used to say "blah blah blah"

now these may sound innocuous, but when you read them 2-3 times per chapter over 7 books, it really gets to you.

but despite all this, it was a really good series that i would highly recommend. of course, i must warn you, dont expect it to be of the quality of asoiaf or pon.

as far reading is concerned, i find myself somewhat becalmed halfway thru before they are hanged. the first law trilogy came highly recommended from several sources, not the least of which was this asoiaf forum, and certainly the blade itself lived up to the hype, but the second book is failing to keep me engaged. so, in parallel, i've started a asoiaf re-read...

[Wik]

[quote name='arya_underfoot' post='1574496' date='Nov 1 2008, 22.31']but despite all this, it was a really good series that i would highly recommend. of course, i must warn you, dont expect it to be of the quality of asoiaf or pon.

as far reading is concerned, i find myself somewhat becalmed halfway thru before they are hanged. the first law trilogy came highly recommended from several sources, not the least of which was this asoiaf forum, and certainly the blade itself lived up to the hype, but the second book is failing to keep me engaged. so, in parallel, i've started a asoiaf re-read...[/quote]

Wow Arya i'm very shocked. I have honestly not heard one bad thing about First Law trilogy, which I had planned on starting very soon. And from everythig I had heard, book 2 is even better then 1, which is the exact opposite of what you said you felt, if I am reading correctly.

[Isis]

[quote name='Bigpop' post='1574551' date='Nov 2 2008, 04.16']Wow Arya i'm very shocked. I have honestly not heard one bad thing about First Law trilogy, which I had planned on starting very soon. And from everythig I had heard, book 2 is even better then 1, which is the exact opposite of what you said you felt, if I am reading correctly.[/quote]There is a whole thread somewhere dedicated to the overhyped-ness of this trilogy. I saw it the other day so it can't have dropped that far back.

[Argon]

Time for some SciFi. I'm almost 200 pages into [b]Peter F. Hamilton[/b]'s "[i]Pandora's Star[/i]", 1st of Commonwealth novels. And yes, commonwealth can be taken literally here as it seems to be the British Empire in space.
I think the introduction of the characters was clumsy done, still waiting to discover why I had to read about this Tara woman. And clichés, gosh. There's Ozzie (not Osbourne, btw) a genius scientist, that kind of cool, hip guy who starts almost every dialogue with "Yo, man", heh, of course he's an Afro-American. Because you know, white guys can't jump.
What more. Hmm. I've almost quit reading SF because of, how to say this: limited visions and over-traditionalism of some authors. In this book, for example, the society has got the technology to create wormholes. Wormholes. Yet they still use trains which are powered by diesel engines. Oil combustion motors in 24th century. That's so anachronistic.

Anyway, I'm waiting for some "sense of wonder" in this book. A glimpse of this phenomenon behind Dyson Pair enclosure or something to build my anticipation. But no, all I get to read at the moment is tedious everyday routine of some of the protagonists.

[Ser_Denys]

OK, I gave [i]Gardens of the Moon[/i] 350 pages and it never connected with me, so onto something else...

Just started to read [i]The Elfstones of Shannara[/i] by Terry Brook - I am in the mood of some fun simple fantasy (light epic fantasy), and this should hopefully fit the bill (I am not currently looking for the next GRRM, just something to entertain me for a few hours). A couple months ago I trudged through [i]The Sword of Shannara [/i]with the sole purpose of getting it out of the way so I could go on to other books in the series… all arguments about [i]Sword of[/i] being derivative of Tolkien are pretty damn accurate, but I am under the impression that after [i]Sword of[/i], Brooks becomes more original with somewhat better writing, and that there are some highlights throughout his writing career including the current Genesis of Shannara series? Well, we'll see.

[Larry.]

I finished Cyril Pedrosa's graphic novel, [i]Three Shadows[/i] last night. After I got used to his unusual drawing style and I started to pay attention to how it fit with the action (as much of it being internal/symbolic as external/concrete), I began to really get sucked into the story. Very sad, bittersweet ending, but a powerful, appropriate one. Very well-done.

Now I'm alternating between finishing a read of Paul Fussell's [i]The Great War and Modern Memory[/i] (it's bringing back pleasant memories of my Cultural History of WWI class), Kelly Link's [i]Pretty Monsters[/i], and the bilingual anthology, [i]Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction[/i].

[Deedles]

I'm about 1/3 of the way through Mistborn: Hero of Ages. I'm enjoying it greatly and would expect to finish up in the next 2-3 days. I'm looking forward to seeing more of the Kandra, hopefully.

Just finished Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara (West). It's a quick fun read. Highly recommended for commuting. Probably not so much if you're jonesing for something meaty. Cast in Courtlight will be my bus read this week.

I'm half way through a reread of Klavier and Clay but won't have much of an opportunity to finish off before the end of the month, as it's at my parents house.