December 2008 reads

[Myshkin]

Just finished [i]Beyond the Shadows[/i] by Brent Weeks. It was a nice end to a nice series. It did seem to lose focus through the middle of the book, but came together well in the end. [b]The Night Angel Trilogy[/b] brings nothing new to the table and has its share of problems, but it is still a fun and engrossing read.

Now starting [i]The Engine's Child[/i] by Holly Phillips.

[IheartTesla]

I am ahhhh.....[i]reading[/i] my copy of Erotic Fantasy Art at the moment. It is all I hoped it would be.

Alas, there are no facsimiles of [i]zaftig[/i] women or half naked men, so I cannot recommend it to a wider clientele. However the tastefully done images are quite pleasing to me and it is interesting to note the comments of the artists that are printed alongside.

[Larry.]

I'm reading Bertrand de Bar-Sur-Aube's [i]The Song of Girart of Vienne[/i]. I wonder how many here have heard of this, much less read it.

[RedEyedGhost]

This is not something I typically do, but I really want to pimp the book I'm [i]in the middle[/i] of right now. It's the debut book by Rob Rogers: [u]Devil's Cape[/u].

I think it's partly that I loved super hero comics growing up, but this book has a ton of awesomeness - great world-building, wonderful character development, realistic unpredictability, and very cool superheroes/villains. It also has a wonderful atmosphere, kind of Charlie Huston does superheroes (I [i]really[/i] need to read his Moonknight graphic novels).

[Calibandar]

REG

I have Devil's Cape myself but not yet read. This does make me look forward to it even more.

Speaking of Huston, I just found on Amazon UK that apparently his 5th ( and final I thought) Joe Pitt book comes out in December in the UK.

[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Joe-Pitt-v-Novel/dp/1841496820/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230717965&sr=1-1"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Joe-Pitt-v-Novel/d...7965&sr=1-1[/url]

[automne]

[quote name='Dylanfanatic' post='1634541' date='Dec 31 2008, 03.27']I'm reading Bertrand de Bar-Sur-Aube's [i]The Song of Girart of Vienne[/i]. I wonder how many here have heard of this, much less read it.[/quote]
Just curious. How do you like it?
it's been a while since I last read a chanson de geste.

[beniowa]

Yesterday I finished the latest Wild Cards book, [i][b]Busted Flushed[/b][/i]. At the end of [i]Inside Straight[/i], several aces from the reality tv show joined a new group of aces under the aegis of the UN. Busted Flush showed them dealing with several crisis's, a few of them that turned ugly including a showdown over oil. Nothing major happened but there was quite a bit of development for several of the characters. It'll be interesting to see what happens next.

The first book of the new year will be [i][b]The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox[/b][/i], an omnibus of three books by Brian Hughart.

[quote name='RedEyedGhost' post='1634617' date='Dec 30 2008, 22.53']This is not something I typically do, but I really want to pimp the book I'm [i]in the middle[/i] of right now. It's the debut book by Rob Rogers: [u]Devil's Cape[/u].[/quote]
I'll be sure to check that out!

[Larry.]

[quote name='automne' post='1634883' date='Dec 31 2008, 09.25']Just curious. How do you like it?
it's been a while since I last read a chanson de geste.[/quote]

I finished it last night (it was only 200 pages, much shorter than the Orlando Italian epics) and I thought while it was slightly below [i]The Song of Roland[/i] in storytelling quality, it was exactly the sort of book I wanted to read. I'm planning a very ambitious reading project for 2009: A reading of material from Einhard through at least the 17th century that deals with Roland/Orlando and how his character/story evolved. Sur-Aube's chanson revealed some interesting information on how Roland and Oliver developed their friendship; little to nothing was said of this in Pulci, Boiardo, or Ariosto's poems, if memory serves; they were just really close friends in those Italian works.

[Gigei]

Just read [i]Dime Store Magic[/i] by Kelley Armstrong.

Verdict: Don't bother buying it. Don't bother reading it either unless its free and you don't have anything else to read.

Pro: The heroine doesn't fall for the "bad boy"

Cons: The bad half-demon is superpowered but cannot directly fight our severely underpowered heroes because the supernatural community likes to keep a low profile.

Fair enough, I mean, when I read that, I totally bought it until...

said half-demon then proceed to publicly raise all kinds of hell and even commit blatant murder.

Of course, she never murders who she is working against, she murders [i]other[/i] people only. Yeah, 'cause you know, if she had a clue and murdered the narrator, there wouldn't be a book. P.S. the evil enemy had previously murdered the narrator's mother.

"Evil overlord"-type flaws, anyone? Lookee, I can murder and the girl was right there in front of me but do I kill her even though there is nothing stopping me? Nope, I kill the random minor characters instead. It's in the script.

*rolls eyes*

[lumer]

After a stretch of popular science books, I've decided to get back on track on regular fictional books. I figured now is as good a time as any to catch up on classics, so I'm currently reading [b]Love in the Time of Cholera[/b]. I'm about fifth of the way through, pretty good so far.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I finished [i]Victory of Eagles [/i]by Naomi Novik. I really liked the first three as it seemed original and fresh, and the characters were "growing". This one was all right, but I wasn't as engaged into the story as I was in the past. Like other bloggers, I wonder where the next story goes and if the author can keep the originality of the series or if she unnecessarily drags it out.
Next is [i]The Jason Voyage [/i]by Tim Severin and then the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.

[Bellis]

Not much reading going on while on break visiting family. On the flight, I read [b]Dreams Underfoot[/b], Charles de Lint's short story collection. I hadn't liked the de Lint book I read a few years ago, but this collection is overall pretty solid. I'll probably give another of his novels a try in the next month.

Also, [b]Shoots, Eats and Leaves[/b] and [b]The Tales of Beedle the Bard[/b], courtesy of raiding my sister's bookshelf. Both pretty cute in their own ways and worth the look.

I will be starting [b]Thunderer[/b] on the flight back tomorrow; I picked it up while after Xmas shopping and am expecting big things :)

[Fat Belwas]

I finished Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan, that book is [i]awesome[/i]. Takeshi Kovacs (pronounced Kova[i]ch[/i], fool!) is a total bad ass, and the world is amazing. People's consciousness is stored in a computer chip in their skull, and if the body dies, the chip is inserted into a new body, a "sleeve". Thus, death has lost it's meaning, and is referred to as "biological damage". And the idea of Martians as a race that became extinct millions of years ago is sick, I totally wanted to know more about them.

Now I'm starting the sequel, Broken Angels, and on the back it says there will be a lot about the Martians. Yay!

I'm also reading The Fall of the Roman Empire, A History of Civilizations, and The Encyclopedia of World Mythology, all Christmas presents. I have three other sci-fi novels that my aunt's fiance lent to me on the waiting list, and am reading The Catcher in the Rye for school. I don't think I have ever been this bogged down, book-wise. It feels good having something new to read, instead of rereading ASOIAF over and over...

[Werthead]

[b][i]Non-Stop[/i][/b] by Brian W. Aldiss. About time I got round to this much-acclaimed classic.

Interesting book with very fresh writing considering it was published just over fifty years ago.