Bellis Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 Joan Vinge's [b]The Snow Queen[/b] - I like her prose style better than her husband's and I also enjoy reading a re-working of the same general plot as one of my favorite stories of Hans Christian Anderson's. But I don't love this book, but that might be a limitation of the SF genre and me. Gabriel Garcia Marquez' [b]Love in the Time of Cholera[/b] was of course very wonderful, because he is a master. Enjoyed the ruminations on love, sex and marriage. I looked over [b]Newtons Sleep[/b], the online free book. He's a very good prose stylist, and creates a very nice picture of the 17th century, by way of mcguffins and secret societies and interdimensional beings with conspiracies. There is a lot of sex. I think I might do a LoTR (re)read this spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuchulain Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 Just finished Abercrombie's [i]The Blade Itself[/i]. It's a bit of a slow start to the series, but that didn't bother me. I never lost interest and the book was above all very fun to read (reminds me of Scott Lynch's novels in that regard). I really want to start [i]Before They Are Hanged[/i], but I have to read Toni Morrison's [i]Beloved[/i] first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookWyrm Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 [quote name='duchess of malfi' post='1728573' date='Mar 21 2009, 13.14']Just finished up a quick reread of [i]The Hobbit[/i], my first in probably twenty years. It still charms me. :)[/quote] That's the only book I reread every year! I hope in twenty years I'm still reading it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEvilKing Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 Finally finished the first book of [i]Lyonesse[/i] and started KJ Parker's [i]Evil For Evil [/i]yesterday. :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trinuviel Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 Just started on Jo Graham's [b]Hand of Isis[/b] - I really liked her previous novel [b]Black Ships[/b] and it'll be interesting to see if she can match the quality of a very strog debut in her second novel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 Mickey Reichert's Western Wizard had its share of middle book problems. Timeskips and repeated zig-zagging across the map, thin on plot. I like how she handles her characters but I don't like most of the characters themselves, a problem when, as I said, it was mostly said characters zig-zagging. I re-read Kay's Arbonne, Al-Rassan and Sarantium, and then bought Last Light of the Sun, the only historical fantasy of his I'd yet to read. I was disappointed. Lots of dull characters romping about, really. I didn't mind reading about Bern actually, but Alun ab Owyn, whose role mopolized the book either by himself or in relation to others, was as interesting to read about as contemplating the manifold nuances of a brick wall on a cold winter night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat5150 Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Just finished L. E. Modesitt, jr.'s [i]Imager[/i], the first volume in The Imager Portfolio. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that this could well be the best and most accessible opening chapter in any of his fantasy series to date. Check out the blog for the full review. :) Cheers, Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myshkin Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Just finished [i]Swordpoint[/i] by Ellen Kushner. It was pretty good, though I liked [i]The Privilege of the Sword[/i] better. Now starting a reread of [i]The Darkness That Comes Before[/i]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookWyrm Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 [quote name='TheEvilKing' post='1729204' date='Mar 22 2009, 03.54']Finally finished the first book of [i]Lyonesse[/i] and started KJ Parker's [i]Evil For Evil [/i]yesterday. :cheers:[/quote] Jack Vance's [i]Lyonesse[/i]? Did you like it? [i]Lyonesse[/i] is one of my favorite works of fantasy to date. That said, I have started [i]Rendezvous In Black[/i], by Cornell Woolrich. Here's a description from the back of the book: [quote]On a mild midwestern night in the early 1940s, Johnny Marr leans against a drugstore wall. He's waiting for Dorothy, his fiancee, and tonight is the last night they'll be meeting here, for it's May 31st, and June 1st marks their wedding day. But she's late, and Johnny soon learns of a horrible accident - an accident involving a group of drunken men, a low-flying charter plane, and an empty liquor bottle. In one short moment Johnny loses all that matters to him and his life is shattered. He vows to take from these men exactly what they took from him. After years of planning, Johnny begins his quest for revenge, and on May 31st of each year - always on May 31st - wives, lovers, and daughters are suddenly no longer safe.[/quote] I haven't read a revenge story this good since [i]the Count of Monte Cristo[/i]. The pace is very nice, not too fast that you can't pick up on hints and clues along the way, but slow enough to give those clues leisurely space. This is the first Woolrich novel I have ever read, and I'm happy to have found out about him. His book [i]Night Has a Thousand Eyes[/i] will be the next Woolrich book I pick up next. Has anyone else read this monster of noir fiction? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEvilKing Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 [quote]Jack Vance's Lyonesse? Did you like it? Lyonesse is one of my favorite works of fantasy to date.[/quote] Sadly I found like the whole middle of the book (basically the parts with fairies and where various characters were going around questing) to be pretty boring. Not my cup of tea. However the last 60-odd pages flew by - basically when all the plot strands came together it was great. Hilarious dialogue though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallichore Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I've read [i]Kushiel's Scion [/i]and [i]Kushiel's Justice[/i], both of which I loved. I love Jacqueline Carey's writing. Then I read Tchaikovsky's [i]Dragonfly Falling [/i]and was bored witless. The first book I thought was quite good, not amazing, not 5* or anything, but readable. Second I had issues with. And then I read a couple of Georgette Heyers for the giggles. Now I'm reading [i]The Rendezvous[/i], some Daphne du Maurier short stories. Then it's [i]Watchmen[/i], and then it's either [i]Metamorphoses[/i] or [i]Chronicles of Amber [/i](which I've started three times and never finished and it's preying on my mind). I've just realised I have [i]Lyonesse[/i] on my bookshelf. Maybe I'll read that next? God knows. I'm too ADD to plan ahead. It depends which book catches my attention first. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheep the Evicted Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Recently i read [b]Contract by Simon Spurrier[/b]. Its very different; the prose - [b]which is as far as i know unique, you can read a bit [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/0755335902/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-page"]here[/url][/b] - and the side-splitting pitch black humor are freakishly reminiscent of Abercrombie (more his blogs then his books though) and the central premise, which is a riff on Assassin-with-a-past™ stories and Gothic Horror, is extremely interesting. Another highlight is the worryingly extensive research Spurrier did in finding out the best ways to kill people and his documentation of said research within the book. Though one wonders why a real life assassin would use a gun in the first place - wouldn't it be better to just use poison or something equally subtle ? Artistic license i guess. Anyhow the book got weaker towards the end as things got more surreal and Spurriers repetitive style got more annoying. Also Spurrier refused to wrap up some mysteries which i felt needed answering. Still, it was an extremely accomplished debut. 8/10 I also just finished the Braided Path by Chris Wooding but ill leave my thoughts in the actual thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mashiara Posted March 23, 2009 Author Share Posted March 23, 2009 I somehow found myself reading three books in a row that had a common element, Turkey. They were books I picked from the library and I did not do it deliberately so it surprised me when it finally dawned on me. I recently read [i]Snow[/i] by Orhan Pamuk. It's only the second book of his I've read and I loved the first one. I liked this one too but not as much. It was a sad and moving book but I had trouble staying focused on the story. It was interesting to gain more insight on the lives of the simple people and the political situation there but I wouldn't call it one of my favorite books. The second book was one by a Greek author and a huge mistake of mine. Book is called [i]ΜαÏμαÏωμÎνος Βασιλιάς[/i] by Giannis Sideris (not that any of you might actually pick up a copy of this, but maybe I can warn the Greek boarders). It's a prime example of why you should not get excited about what you read on the back of a book, because sometimes this is the best writing you'll encounter in the whole thing. In a nutshell, a spy story involving Greeks, Turks, a gorgeous Armenian woman and a secret formula for a killer virus. It [i]could[/i] have been interesting... if it was half the size and someone had gotten rid of all the philosophical musings of the writer and the blatant propaganda and stereotyping. Earlier today I finished my favorite book of the three[i], Skylark Farm[/i] by Antonia Arslan. The book talks about the story of a family shortly before and during the Armenian Genocide. It was a heart-breaking, powerful book and it made me tear up, especially knowing that the writer used elements of her family's history to write it. I need to read something less demanding, so [i]Caught Stealing [/i]by Charlie Huston is next on the list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deornoth Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Finished reading Bruce Sterling's 'The Caryatids' last night, I absolutely loved the world that Sterling put together but it was a shame that this seemed to come at the expense of the story itself... My full review is over [url="http://www.graemesfantasybookreview.com"]Here[/url]. I'm now trying to finish off Adrian Tchaikovsky's 'Dragonfly Falling' (realised that I put it down, half finished, a week ago and forgot to pick it up again which is weird seeing as it's pretty good...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Low-Key Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Recently, I've been re-reading the Wheel of Time series. I got up to book seven while doing my dissertation last year, but when my workload got too heavy, I abadoned it and never really got back round to read it. Since I cannot remember half of what happened, thanks to those crazy, energy-drink crazed days, I've restarted the series and got as far as the final chapters of [i]The Dragon Reborn[/i]. That aside, not much on the literature front. I've been slogging through [i]Writing Security: US Foreign Policy[/i] and the Politics of Identity, which is apparently the seminal postmodern theory text in International Relations. Most of the theory seems lifted wholesale from Foucault, but the evidence he finds to support that is interesting (not least the National Security focus on the ideological threat, above and beyond the material, military one, during the Cold War). Finally, a collection edited by Harry Turtledove and Martin Greenburg is [i]The Best Alternate History Stories of the 20th Century[/i]. Not a bad collection of "what if"-ery at all, at least so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratatoskr Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I'm currently splitting my reading time between Gemmell's [i]Waylander [/i](fiction) an Nassim Nicholas Taleb's [i]The Black Swan[/i] (non-fiction). It's too early to say something definitive on the latter, so you'll have to make do without my opinion for now. I'm more than halfway through [i]Waylander [/i], and it's not really my cup of tea. There's a place for this kind of literature, definitely, but it doesn't really appeal to me. The story is somewhat inane, the writing is quite bad and the worldbuilding is atrocious. I might come back to Gemmell (I've read [i]Legend [/i]before) if I need a quick fix of mindless-but-entertaining heroic fantasy, but I don't think I'll become a huge fan. After Waylander I'll tackle one of the multi-volume SF series of the space opera variety I've got sitting on my shelf: Donaldson's [i]Gap[/i] Sequence, Hamilton's [i]Night's Dawn [/i]trilogy or Ballantyne's [i]Recursion/Capacity/Divergence[/i] trilogy (does that series have a name?). Actually, I could use the help of the board with my decision. In fact, a decision with such vast consequences (it could tie me down for weeks, after all) should even warrant its own thread. I'll see you there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serious Callers Only Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Dave Duncan - The Alchemist trilogy. A good Venice alternate history fantasy. Characters too smart for believability. Who-dunnits. James Barclay - Chronicles of the Raven 03 - Nightchild Generic world sucks fantasy series. Video Game spell names ([i]HELLFIRE[/i]). Kelley Armstrong - Nadia Stafford Series - Exit Strategy & Kelley Armstrong - Nadia Stafford Series - Made to be broken Hit(wo)man books. Entertaining, somewhat slow, but i like slow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuchulain Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Just finished Toni Morrison's [i]Beloved[/i]. I didn't care for it at all (and I couldn't care less that Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature). Reading would actually be too strong a word for what I did; After a while I just started skimming. If it wasn't necessary for my postmodernism class, I wouldn't have finished the novel at all. Life is too short to read books you don't give a fuck about. Next up is Abercrombie's [i]Before They Are Hanged[/i]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myshkin Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 If it make you feel any better, I'm not a fan of Morrison's work either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookWyrm Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 [quote name='TheEvilKing' post='1730069' date='Mar 23 2009, 06.07']Sadly I found like the whole middle of the book (basically the parts with fairies and where various characters were going around questing) to be pretty boring. Not my cup of tea. However the last 60-odd pages flew by - basically when all the plot strands came together it was great. Hilarious dialogue though.[/quote] :tantrum: WHAT?! :bang: :bawl: I guess I can't say anything else about that. Everyone has their own taste (and yes, Vance has some funny dialogue :P). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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