March 2009 reads

[Bellis]

[b]A Lion Among Men[/b], Gregory Maguire's latest "Wicked" book. I like Maguire as a writer, I am fond of Wicked and Lost, especially. This book would have been entirely unreadable if it wasn't for his witty, fluid prose. What happens? Absolutely nothing. Well, some not-very-interesting characters reminisce about their lives and about events in the previous two books. Then they get together with some other people and make a promise to do something in the next book. Don't worry too much about skipping this one. At least Son of Witch had a plot.

[b]White Tiger[/b] by Aravind Adiga, winner of last year's Man Booker. I'm always skeptical of these award winners (I thought Inheritance of Loss was forgettable). So I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It's witty, clever, with lots of black humor about modern India and her persistent struggles with class and caste/communal divisions. It even has a plot! A perfect antidote to too much Slumdog Millionaire love, this tale's slumdog deserves his own movie too.

[Myshkin]

Just finished [i]Dragonfly Falling[/i] by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It was even better than the first book in the series, and I can't wait for the final book.

[Larry.]

Finished Sarah Monette's [i]Corambis[/i]. Now I know why Monette calls these novels [i]The Doctrine of Labyrinths[/i]. Fitting end to a pretty good series. More later in a formal review this weekend.

Also read the first [i]Viriconium[/i] story by MJH. Will also write a review of it this weekend, time permitting. Almost halfway through the second story.

[Teng Ai Hui]

Just started [i]Jurassic Park[/i]. I'm enjoying it so far, but I almost threw it in the trash after reading the sermon-esque introduction.

[Mexal]

I just finished [i]Thirteenth Tale[/i]. It was a good book but it didn't capture me like I thought it was going to early on.

I had a real hard time deciding what to read next. I had a reread of [i]A Shout for Dead[/i], a first read of [i]First Man of Rome[/i] and Race of the Scorpions yet I ultimately decided on rereading [i]The Religion[/i]. I think I was just in the mood for a book with some awesome graphic battle sequences and some interesting characters. Just like the first time, I'm enjoying it thoroughly.

[mashiara]

[quote name='Mexal' post='1726733' date='Mar 20 2009, 13.52']I just finished [i]Thirteenth Tale[/i]. It was a good book but it didn't capture me like I thought it was going to early on.[/quote]

Sorry to hear that. Not everyone reacts the same way to a book, we all know that. On the bright side, you didn't hate it.

[Mexal]

[quote name='mashiara' post='1726880' date='Mar 20 2009, 09.39']Sorry to hear that. Not everyone reacts the same way to a book, we all know that. On the bright side, you didn't hate it.[/quote]

Oh no, I thought it was a reall good book and it's one I'd recommend. It's just that it didn't capture me to the point where I would do nothing else but read like I thought it was going to. Nothing wrong with that.

[Werthead]

Now reading [i][b]Gates of Fire[/b][/i] by Steven Pressfield.

[Mexal]

[quote name='Werthead' post='1727002' date='Mar 20 2009, 12.27']Now reading [i][b]Gates of Fire[/b][/i] by Steven Pressfield.[/quote]

First time?

[mashiara]

[quote name='Werthead' post='1727002' date='Mar 20 2009, 18.27']Now reading [i][b]Gates of Fire[/b][/i] by Steven Pressfield.[/quote]

I [i]loved[/i] that book! I still think it's the best one Pressfield ever wrote. The rest of them are good, but not [i]as[/i] good.

Too bad dalThor lent out our copy to a friend of his from greek class three years ago.. and never got it back. :(

[Dark Wolf]

I finished "The Dog of the North" by Tim Stretton. The novel has some interesting ideas behind the story, but with a slow pace and rhythm. It left me with mixed feelings and although I liked some of the authors ideas, this novel was a rather unsatisfactory one for me. ([url="http://darkwolfsfantasyreviews.blogspot.com/2009/03/dog-of-north-by-tim-stretton.html"]my full review[/url])

[Werthead]

[quote name='Mexal' post='1727015' date='Mar 20 2009, 16.37']First time?[/quote]

Yup.

[duchess of malfi]

Just finished up a quick reread of [i]The Hobbit[/i], my first in probably twenty years. It still charms me. :)

This morning I am about to start Bakker's [i]Judging Eye[/i], a book I have been really looking forward to reading. :) i have not had the time or opportunity to reread Prince of Nothing, and hope that will not hurt me. :wideeyed:

[Antonius Pius]

I'm currently reading Glen Cook's [i]Chronicles of the Black Company[/i]. It's an omnibus of the first three books of the Black Company ([i]The Black Company, Shadows Linger, The White Rose[/i]). According to the back blurp, Steven Eriksson calls it "like Vietnam War fiction on peyote." Until now (I've read about three quarters of [i]The Black Company[/i]) I quite like it. It's a fast-paced, down to earth mercenary-story. The characters are mostly low-level soldiers, with some villaings in the fray as well. I've also got [i]The Books of the South[/i] (I got them both on a sale), which is an omnibus of book four and five. Right now I feel I'll likely finish both.


[quote name='mashiara' post='1728168' date='Mar 21 2009, 06.42']I [i]loved[/i] that book! I still think it's the best one Pressfield ever wrote. The rest of them are good, but not [i]as[/i] good.[/quote]

I've got some more Pressfield to go, but I quite liked [i]Gates of Fire[/i]. I've got [i]Tides of War[/i] on my nightstand, but for now I'm still focused on The Black Company.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

Mark Ferrari's [i]The Book of Joby[/i] was a fun read. You ride the emotional roller coaster of Joby's life who was one of the most convincing characters from a boy of 9 to an adult I've ever read. For a minor character, Lucifer absolutely stole every scene in the novel.
Next up is [i]Hand of Isis [/i]by Jo Graham. I loved [i]Black Ships[/i] so I'm looking forward to this one.

[Astra]

Finished [i]The Mad Ship[/i] by [b]Robin Hobb[/b], [u]Liveship Traders, Book 2[/u].
Superb re-read.
It has been discussed so many times that I am not going to add anything new. I just loved it and it was a real page turner.

Started to read [i]24 Hours of a Woman's Life[/i] by [b]Stefan Zweig[/b] (in Russian).

[WarGalley]

It's been a few months since I've been to the library and I got to fix that today.

I picked up The Blind Side by Michael Lewis and Woken Furies by Richard Morgan.

[K_P]

Just finished [b]The Fade[/b] by Chis Wooding. Very solid book, hooked within the first couple of pages and good all the way through.

Not sure what is next - staring at more than a hundred to select from...

[gyrehead]

Just finished John Crowley's [i]Four Freedoms[/i]. Not a huge Crowley fan, but never actually a detractor by any means. Interesting but a bit dry. Crowley can produce wonderfully structured prose and still leave me wanting a bit more in compelling and just plain interesting reading.

Next up is probably [i]Julian Comstock[/i] by Robert Charles Wilson.

[Gold Storm]

Benn on a mystery kick lately finished [i][b]B is for Burglar[/b][/i] by Sue Grafton continuing her Kinsey Millhone Alphabet mysteries and [i][b]Catnap[/b][/i] by Carole Nelson Douglas the first in her Midnight Louie mysteries. I am liking Grafton's books. She does a good job in making her character Kinsey real and acts like actual person. It's also flashback for me, as it takes place in the early 80s, and everybody smokes in their offices, restaurants, and buildings. I had forgotten how prevent smoking was back in the day. I read a several of Douglas' books when I was in the Navy and I liked them, but I never read the first one in the series. [i]Catnap [/i]was ok I liked the books later in the series they writing is better and how she defines her characters. Still overall two good mysteries, I will look for more books by these authors.