April 2009

[BookWyrm]

[quote name='hadaad' post='1751590' date='Apr 10 2009, 12.58']I picked up The Knight by Gene Wolfe. I'd read the first hundred pages of the Book of the New Sun before losing the book and I liked it enough that I decided to find some more Wolfe. I'm a couple of chapters in.[/quote]

I recently finished my first reread of Wolfe's [i]Wizard Knight[/i]. He's such a great writer. If you think [i]Wizard Knight[/i] is even remotely interesting, then I definitely think you should get another copy of tBotNS. I'm finishing it for the first time and it's getting intense, now that I'm near the end of the series.

[delete this account pls]

I finished Lush Life by Richard Price and enjoyed it muchly. A fascinating potrayal of a murder investigation from all sides involved, and about the interconnectedness of life, even in a city as big as NY. Anyone who liked The Wire would like this book.

[TheEvilKing]

Just finished [i]Evil for Evil[/i], by KJ Parker, which was excellent, and Alan Campbell's [i]Iron Angel [/i]which was very good.

Gonna head to the book shop now to purchase [i]The Escapement[/i], the sequel to Evil for Evil, and also to see if they have [i]The Sword Sword [/i]graphic novel. Also gonna start Daniel Fox's [i]Dragon In Chains [/i]today.

[Larry.]

Received Marjane Satrapi's [i]Chicken with Plums[/i] as a review copy and read it in one day. Very good story about her great-uncle. Reminded me of [i]Maus[/i] in regards to the storytelling as well as to the drawing style, which is a very good thing.

Also read the English translation of António Lobo Antunes' [i]Knowledge of Hell[/i] and that was for the most part a fairly good read. At times, his exploration of the psychological traumas that can lead to personal hells was a bit heavy-handed, but on the whole, it was a good read.

About 1/4 into A.S. Byatt's [i]Possession[/i]. Very good so far.

Also began reading [i]Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman[/i] today, despite having the book for around six months now. Read the section devoted to [i]The Sandman[/i] and found it to be concise but informative.

[Dark Wolf]

I finished Samantha Henderson's "Heaven's Bones". I enjoyed the most of the novel, but I believe that will not appeal to every reader. I struggled for the first quarter not to put the novel aside and it's only after the first half that the things become interesting. It is a little rough and bumpy, but the novel has many interesting things. ([url="http://darkwolfsfantasyreviews.blogspot.com/2009/04/heavens-bones-by-samantha-henderson.html"]my full review[/url])

[Bellis]

It seems that I've been burning through books lately:

[b]Gears of the City[/b], Felix Gilman's sequel to Thunderer - a lot more focused this time around; in fact, a pretty straightforward tale... and yet... I still feel that I've seen this all before somewhere, not Mieville, but maybe Jeff Ford's Well-Built City Trilogy. I suppose he just can't please me somehow, but I'll still check out what he writes next.

[b]No Dominion[/b], Charlie Huston. These books are like candy. It's interesting, because I'm not interested in noir or urban fantasy, nor do I wish to read more of those genres, but I dig [i]this[/i]. I wish though that gf was developed into more than the token "Mary Jane' who doesn't know her man's secret identity. It feels like a very male story.

[b]Children of Hurin[/b] - too much like reading mythology, which I understand is the point for some.

[b]Sea of Poppies[/b] Amitav Ghosh. Really immersive historical fiction set during the 19th century Asian trade of opium and labor. You get a good feel for this time period as one of intense globalization and migration, not too different from today in some ways (the geopolitics of the west, India and China especially). The characters - Indian, British, American, and more, explore in their storylines the mixing of cultures, castes, races, and even genders. Even the language of the book is mixed. Though not a lot happens, it's really quite engrossing. My only problem is that it ends much too abruptly (and followed by a lengthy appendix so you really don't expect it!). I finished it earlier today and really wish I had more. Very recommended.
ETA: Buzz on Amazon reviews is that this is the first of a planned trilogy. If so, I temper my criticism about the ending, because I would love to see more about the future of these characters.

[RedEyedGhost]

[quote name='Bellis' post='1752580' date='Apr 11 2009, 21.45'][b]No Dominion[/b], Charlie Huston. These books are like candy. It's interesting, because I'm not interested in noir or urban fantasy, nor do I wish to read more of those genres, but I dig [i]this[/i]. [u]I wish though that gf was developed into more than the token "Mary Jane' who doesn't know her man's secret identity.[/u] It feels like a very male story.[/quote]

hmm... that is a good idea.

;)

[Bellis]

[quote name='RedEyedGhost' post='1752597' date='Apr 11 2009, 23.10']hmm... that is a good idea.

;)[/quote]

I look forward to reading the next couple installments soon!!

[BookWyrm]

[quote name='Triskele' post='1752584' date='Apr 11 2009, 23.50']I suspect another somewhat unreliable narrator.[/quote]

:P You're right to suspect one, Able is pretty much a kid and tells the story as a kid would.

It took me awhile to get through the Wizard Knight on my first read, I found it to be much improved on a second one. I hope you end up enjoying it!

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I'm about 50 pages from finishing [i]The Prince of Shadow[/i] by Curt Benjamin. I don't know what to feel about this book. It has got an interesting plot and world-building but the writing is very awkward and that killed the enjoyment for me. He tends to ramble and at times it is hard to figure out who is talking as the dialogue is not often clear. When the action picks up, the writing gets tighter and that is where it is fun to read. Another gripe is a lack of a map as they travel a span of a continent. There is even a scene where they describe the map!
[i]Prince of Dreams[/i] is up next and I hope the writing improves alot. It could be an interesting series if it does, or a very tedious one if not.

[Myshkin]

Just finished my reread of [i]The Warrior-Prophet[/i], and now starting reread of [i]The Thousandfold Thought[/i].

[Larry.]

More from this [url="http://ofblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/april-5-11-reads.html"]past week's reads[/url]:

Dino Buzzati, [i]La boutique del mistero[/i] (re-read from 2007) - Short fiction collection (in Italian) that contains a story, "The Columber," that I loved teaching in class a couple of years ago when I was a part-time English teacher in addition to my social studies classes. Very good stuff here. Buzzati might be an even better short fiction writer than he was a novelist.

Marjane Satrapi, [i]Chicken with Plums[/i] - newly-released tradeback English translation of Satrapi's graphic novel rendition of her great-uncle's final eight days of life. Moving, as Satrapi's story, along with her illustrations, remind me of Art Spiegelman's best work.

António Lobo Antunes, [i]Knowledge of Hell[/i] - One of the Portuguese writer's earliest works (1981), this is a dark, psychological novel that explores in part the ways that we can create our own hells. Very good.

Also, finished reading Peter Beagle's [i]A Fine & Private Place[/i] yesterday. Amazing that Beagle began writing that when he was 18 and that it was published when he was 20-21. Very nuanced work, full of several interesting character interactions that usually aren't present in first novels, especially first novels written by someone just leaving adolescence.

Currently about 20 pages into Beagle's [i]The Last Unicorn[/i]. Very good so far. Will be writing a review of this book sometime in the next week.

[Trinuviel]

I've just started on [b]Dragon in Chains[/b] by Daniel Fox.

[seastarr]

Finished Richard Morgan's [i]Market Forces[/i] this afternoon. It just went whizzing by...I liked [i]Altered Carbon[/i] more, but I did find what he was doing in MF interesting. I enjoy that he can craft an exciting story and yet weave these Ideas into it pretty deftly. Only once or twice did the Ideas feel heavy handed. I'll read some more Morgan.

[Ned]

I’m reading S.L. Farrell’s [i]A Magic of Twilight[/i]. I’m only 50 pages but it is the kind of fantasy I adore. The land of Nessantico is lushly and intricately described, and a complex plot is being set up, revolving around the Jubilee of the Empress. I already get a feeling that her son is scheming something and an armed rebellion is on the horizon. There are a lot of complex characters introduced early, but Farrell never makes it difficult or confusing for the reader.

[quote name='Black Dow' post='1741647' date='Apr 2 2009, 11.02']I am expecting Daniel Abraham's first novel in a few days, but am not sure if I want to get started on that just yet, since the whole series will be complete by the end of July. I might just wait till later and begin the series when its available in its entirety (assuming that the first book doesn't suck; and I doubt that it will, considering the positive reviews it usually gathers).[/quote]

[quote name='Arbor Gold' post='1743030' date='Apr 3 2009, 12.00']I'm reading Daniel Abraham's [i]A Shadow in Summer[/i] and I'm kind of meh about it thus far. All the posing is distracting - I keep picturing yoga poses or silly America's Next Top model poses. That's likely the fault of the reader, rather than the writer, though.[/quote]
I read [i]A Shadow in Summer[/i] sometime ago and loved it. I was a fan of the way gestures are used as a form of communication, and this seemed to fit well with the Confucian setting. I also liked the idea of poets who can create and bind powerful demigods, and the way this was integrated into the political and economic landscape of the world; for example, the way one demigod is used to magically remove seeds from cotton plants. The only thing that has held me back from reading the rest of the books is that Tor is so damned slow to release paperback editions and, generally, I don’t buy in hardback. But I notice the second book is out in paperback so it might be time for me to revisit Machi soon.

[quote name='Gormenghast' post='1745356' date='Apr 5 2009, 17.56']- A Games of Thrones - George Martin, I'm about 100 pages in and not finding it so extraordinary (!)[/quote]
Why have I suddenly got an image in my head of somebody walking through the Akshardham, dragging a dead cow behind them?

[quote name='hadaad' post='1751590' date='Apr 11 2009, 02.58']I'm about ten pages away from finishing The Watchmen.[/quote]
A masterpiece (the film was quite good too). More like a symphony than a graphic novel, with different elements all working perfectly in harmony.

[polishgenius]

[quote name='seastarr' post='1753100' date='Apr 13 2009, 01.00']Finished Richard Morgan's [i]Market Forces[/i] this afternoon. It just went whizzing by...I liked [i]Altered Carbon[/i] more, but I did find what he was doing in MF interesting. I enjoy that he can craft an exciting story and yet weave these Ideas into it pretty deftly. Only once or twice did the Ideas feel heavy handed. I'll read some more Morgan.[/quote]


Especially when you consider that Market Forces is comfortably his worst book.


Myself, I've just finished a rather ace sci-fi, Kethani by Eric Brown. It's an interesting one, very out of place in the modern trend of action, high concept, intricate worldbuilding and space-opera, as it's a very quite piece, much more concerned with the effect of science (here, immortality bestowed by an alien race) on humanity than the science itself. It's a series of connected short stories (several of the chapters had previously been published as such) describing the reactions of different people in a group to the events over time. More than one story covers similar events, but Brown managed to avoid it being repetitive, and manages to pull a great deal of emotion out of characters that are mostly very briefly sketched.
One thing that was a slight flaw but at the same time highly impressive was his handling of religion - as a Catholic myself, I didn't really connect with his depiction of the religious reaction, I got the sense that he himself isn't a believer and was trying to get a handle on something he doesn't really understand. at the same time, he deserves great credit for trying, for presenting various points of view (he's interested neither in villifying nor appeasing or praising religion with the book), for not presenting the in-book universe with a right answer... in fact, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with his depiction, I just didn't get the gut connection with it that I did with the more universal emotional side of things. In fact for all I know he is religious just with a different approach from me.

Highly recommended, anyway.


Will probably move on to The Damned United next.

[Werthead]

Started reading [b][i]Fool Moon[/i][/b] by Jim Butcher. Bit of a step-up in writing quality from [i]Storm Front[/i] but nothing spectacular. Not sure if I'm going to carry on with the series unless I find more of the books going second-hand or remaindered. They're good, but not worth £8 a time.

Not really sure what to read next, which is unusual. Barring the arrival of eagerly-awaited ARCs, I think it will be a choice between Dan Abnett's first WH40K [b]Gaunt's Ghosts[/b] omnibus or Tom Lloyd's [i]The Stormcaller[/i]. After that I'll resume the Banks reread with [i]Use of Weapons[/i].

[polishgenius]

[quote name='Werthead' post='1753161' date='Apr 13 2009, 02.35']Started reading [b][i]Fool Moon[/i][/b] by Jim Butcher. Bit of a step-up in writing quality from [i]Storm Front[/i] but nothing spectacular. Not sure if I'm going to carry on with the series unless I find more of the books going second-hand or remaindered. They're good, but not worth £8 a time.[/quote]

If you can bring yourself to trust in the Butcher, try to hold out until book 4, it's a significant kick-up in the opinion of a lot of people (me included).
Aren't they currently on a 3 for 2 at Waterstones? They were a couple of weeks ago. Not that you necessarily want to buy in bulk, but worth mentioning I reckons...

[Procrastimancer]

[quote name='Bellis' post='1752580' date='Apr 11 2009, 23.45'][b]No Dominion[/b], Charlie Huston. These books are like candy. It's interesting, because I'm not interested in noir or urban fantasy, nor do I wish to read more of those genres, but I dig [i]this[/i]. I wish though that gf was developed into more than the token "Mary Jane' who doesn't know her man's secret identity. It feels like a very male story.[/quote]

I just finished No Dominion this afternoon and have just started on Half the Blood of Brooklyn. I love these books, but I am a fan of, and very interested in, noir. Not interested in (the new) urban fantasy though. I became a quick fan of Huston's with Shotgun Rule and haven't been let down yet. The Joe Pitt novels are very fun though, very quick and very enjoyable reads (and I think I'd have paid for a book of just Joe and Tom going at it).

And the girlfriend/Mary Jane thing is very annoying.

[Peadar]

I finished [url="http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Ambrose-James-Enge/dp/1591027365/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239638325&sr=1-1"]Blood of Ambrose[/url] by James Enge. It's good stuff, as I expected, with plenty of weird twists and turns in both the character development and the world-building.

Next up, [url="http://www.amazon.com/Tender-Morsels-Margo-Lanagan/dp/0375848118/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239638376&sr=1-1"]Tender Morsels[/url] by Margo Lanagan.