May 2009

[Trinuviel]

Now reading Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle.

Gentle is one of my favorite authors and Ash is, in my humble opinion, a masterpiece of speculative fiction. If you're interested you can check out my thoughts on it here.

[Ratatoskr]

I'm almost finished with Hamilton's The Reality Dysfunction. I'm enjoying it immensely. Great stuff. Whether I start The Neutronium Alchemist right away depends on just how compelling the ending is. At the moment I'm contemplating sliding in something fast and fun, just to keep my mind from boggling down. Tell ya in a hundred pages.

[Cuchulain]

Finished Pratchett's Sourcery yesterday. It was another fun read, but nothing too special imo.

Today I've started Brasyl by Ian McDonald. Only fifty pages in I can't say a lot about it yet, but for now the priest's storyline, with its Heart of Darkness premise, seems the most interesting.

[Larry.]

After taking most of the past three days off from reading, started reading Nicola Griffith's Slow River, Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and am about to begin reading the new Tolkien, which just arrived.

[williamjm]

Today I've started Brasyl by Ian McDonald. Only fifty pages in I can't say a lot about it yet, but for now the priest's storyline, with its Heart of Darkness premise, seems the most interesting.

I'd agree the priest's storyline was the most interesting of the three, although the other two storylines did become more interesting as the book progressed.

[snookyrump]

Just finished Sharpe's Eagle by Cornwell, started Eco's Foucault's Pendulum yesterday, with some Michener on deck.

[delete this account pls]

Just finished Huston's No Dominion. :thumbsup: On to Half the Blood of Brooklyn.

:thumbsup:

I just ripped through the whole series on about a month, really loved it.

[seastarr]

I am starting A Mercy, by Toni Morrison.

I just finished Thirteen by Richard Morgan. A heavier book than the other ones I have read by him, literally and figuratively, at times it clobbered me over the head with the significance of "maleness." But, as usual, there was good food for thought within the premises, and I liked it for the ride. I found Carl Marsalis to be more likeable than Morgan's usual anti-hero.

[mashiara]

Just finished Huston's No Dominion. :thumbsup: On to Half the Blood of Brooklyn.

I finished No Dominion yesterday, practically in one sitting. Fun book. I'll be ordering the rest of them soon, I think.

The long wait for the mass market paperback of The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson is finally over. The book arrived at our place yesterday and I'm all over it. It's a good thing dalThor is still halfway through his book or we'd have to fight over who gets to read it first.

[beniowa]

Mash, I have no doubt who would win. Enjoy the book!

I recently finished The King's Gold by Arturo Perez-Reverte. It was pretty good, although plotwise, I thought it was a little too similar to Purity of Blood. I'm still looking forward to reading the next book when it gets translated.

I know REG will happy to know that I'm now reading Devil's Cape by Rob Rogers.

[lokisnow]

started reading Society's Child, Janis Ian's autobiography. Wonderful book.

[Annelise]

I just ripped through the whole series on about a month, really loved it.

I finished No Dominion yesterday, practically in one sitting. Fun book. I'll be ordering the rest of them soon, I think.

I actually took a detour for another vampire-laden book.. Charlaine Harris' newest Sookie Stackhouse installment. But I'll be back to Joe momentarily as Harris' books read quickly, too.

I think my favorite bit from No Dominion was this:

SPOILER: Joe

Terry: ... Anyway, what she thinks is, she thinks she's letting you go to come down here to rock my boat.

Joe: Letting me go? Lady got a stomach full of bullets.

Terry: Uh-huh, I hear you.

Joe: I pumped her full of anathema.

Terry: Yeah.

Joe: Terry, I bit her fucking eye out.

Terry: Sure, sure, I know.

Joe: She did not let me go.

Terry: Well, you know, like I said, it's complicated. And you shouldn't feel bad about the way you handled yourself, but, yeah, she let you go.

Joe: Bull.

:rofl:

[Bellis]

Add me to the list of those counting the fucking days until the release of My Dead Body: Joe Pitt #5.

I've been taking a break from genre, reading some family and coming of age and immigrant tales: Junot Diaz's Drown and Julia Alvarez's How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, both quite nice. And William Maxwell's So Long See You Tomorrow. Note to self: pick up some Capote.

I've also started Barry Hughart's collection of novellas of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, which is promising so far.

[Larry.]

Finished reading Tolkien's The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún last night. Solid commentary by the son, the poems were nice renderings of the original tales, but in places it felt a bit flat, which doubtless Tolkien himself experienced when writing it as an experiment. Might write a full review in the next couple of weeks, whenever I'm fully recovered from my latest bout of bronchitis.

[mashiara]

I actually took a detour for another vampire-laden book.. Charlaine Harris' newest Sookie Stackhouse installment. But I'll be back to Joe momentarily as Harris' books read quickly, too.

I have both From Dead to Worse and Many Bloody Returns waiting for me, I don't know how I end up reading something else all the time.

I think my favorite bit from No Dominion was this:

SPOILER: Joe

Terry: ... Anyway, what she thinks is, she thinks she's letting you go to come down here to rock my boat.

Joe: Letting me go? Lady got a stomach full of bullets.

Terry: Uh-huh, I hear you.

Joe: I pumped her full of anathema.

Terry: Yeah.

Joe: Terry, I bit her fucking eye out.

Terry: Sure, sure, I know.

Joe: She did not let me go.

Terry: Well, you know, like I said, it's complicated. And you shouldn't feel bad about the way you handled yourself, but, yeah, she let you go.

Joe: Bull.

:rofl:

There were a lot of times this book made me chuckle, this was definitely one of the best.

[Werthead]

Ash: A Secret History has the most brutal opening of any book I've ever read, including Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy. It's hard-going and difficult to get into, but I'm perservering.

[delete this account pls]

Ash as a whole is pretty brutal, but it's a great read. And the world is genuinely fascinating.

Anne - I almost picked up the first Sookie Stackhouse book the other day. Worth checking out?

[RedEyedGhost]

:)

I really like the way this thread is going - it's nice to see all this Charlie Huston love.

I know REG will happy to know that I'm now reading Devil's Cape by Rob Rogers.

It's about time! ;)

[Biter]

I'm just getting started on Krakauer's Into the Wild (no, I haven't seen the movie yet). I like it so far.

[Isis]

Cool. I really enjoyed the film, but haven't read the book yet. But I plan to one day soon as people have told me it's great.

I'm still reading Peter Hoeg's The Quiet Girl. It's taking me ages because a) it deserves to be fully appreciated, b) because I decided to interrupt this book to read Best Served Cold*, and c) I don't have much spare time for reading atm.

*it was alright.